Buyin TM sidearm

[ThunderCactus]

Anyway, I'm running a marui M&P, shoots like a laser to 200ft out of the box with .25s

Plastic slides are GREAT for gas efficiency. More so when you pair them with a lightweight blowback unit. It also means they'll run to colder temps than pistols with metal slides.
Durability wise, plastic is most often fine. Just stay away from the 5-7.

Hicapas are great due to the incredible amount of aftermarket support for them. But the 226s and M&Ps are also great marui pistols. Well worth the cost.

[WildBill357]

so it sounds like if i want a quality pistol from TM that will consistently pick off cans from 200 feet out without having to do any initial mods, upgrades or other work to it, then the TM M&P is a good choice for something with 200feet of accuracy, straight out of the box.

But if I dont mind spending the side money on higher quality parts (barrel or slider or something), and then if trust my ability to assemble it all correctly without damaging anything (which i dont think should be an issue, but i have never done it before haha) then i should look more at an upgradable Hi-cappa option if i really want that 300 foot accuracy?

[Ricochet]

With a pistol it's realistic to hit a target accurately at 100' (man sized target), but getting a BB out to 200' is a little more difficult, but certainly not impossible. I've had TMs that can do it and some that can't. All around they are reliable and reasonably accurate out of the box, except the FM 5/7, which doesn't like to cycle properly in cold, or hot, or days ending with 'Y'.

You can increase your velocity a little with a tightbore, which is pretty easy to install, and you consistency with an upgraded rubber and modding the hop arm to apply even pressure. These changes are not typically necessary to have the pistol run well, but there's always things you can do to any airsoft gun to up performance. Continually modding or upgrading an airsoft gun isn't really strange, neither is getting it to where you're happy and leaving alone at the 'good enough' level, depending on your tech'ing skill and cash flow.

Most TM pistols shouldn't require anything to run well, but there's always upgrades if you want to go that route.

[shelcoof]

Accuracy is totally dependent on the quality of the hop up rubber and inner barrel.
Reliability is depend on the design and construction of the gun.

When picking out a side arm look for specific gun reviews instead of brands. TM makes a lot of great pistols but at the same time they have made some poor pistols as well....

My pistols in my collection shoot straight like an arrow... performs almost as well as my R-Hopped AEGs. The only difference is distance due to the lower FPS.

Most TM and TM clones have pretty much the same hop up rubber and barrels. Pretty much accuracy isn't going to differ much between all the different guns available.

However design of the gun is what really differentiates between a good performing gun to a reliable performing gun.

Also take into consideration after market support. All guns break and if you can't find replacement parts your pretty much screwed.

Anyways something to think about before dropping 300$ plus on a Side Arm

[ThunderCactus]

My old ass KSC USP compact (pre-system 7) was a sniper rifle at 160ft. Had something ridiculous like a 2" grouping, and it was all stock.
Pistols with good hop rubbers can be VERY accurate, what's NOT accurate is you lol

Anyway, the 300ft range for a pistol is more about muzzle energy than anything else.
A tightbore will get you another 10-15fps, but ultimately you really need another 80.
This is the only time I'll say it, but you'll actually need a longer barrel.
It won't affect accuracy for better or worse, but you need the extra barrel length just to accelerate that BB more.
Something like a 160mm 6.01, using .32s, and either a good damn soft hop rubber or an Rhop.

But either way, 300ft shots with a pistol (If the pistol is even capable of that range) is pretty damn hard to do even when it's braced. It's hard enough to do with a full length rifle, prone, with a bipod.
200ft is far enough, I don't know under what circumstance you'd ever have to make a 300ft shot with a pistol.
If you run out of ammo on your primary, you have time to reload.
If your primary is down, you won't want to be wasting pistol ammo liberally trying to engage people that far out.
If your pistol is your primary and you're trying to use it like a sniper rifle, then you should take a long hard look at the weapon you've chosen for that role lol

[mikebarkski]

I have a brand new hi-capa 5.1 and every couple shots (quite often) it spits out the next round or it rolls out rather then goin into the chamber.....is there a fix to this?
and is there a proper way to remove a round from the chamber if your done firing?

[Ricochet]

Make sure your mags are properly filled. Also you may have your hop on too much. Try backing it off and then slowly reapplying to find the sweet spot. If the issue persists contact the retailer you got it from. A new hi-cappa should be problem free.

On that note; what type of BBs are you using, brand, weight, etc?

[mikebarkski]

i was actually still using the BBs that cam with the TM...but usually use .25s (i think they are krytak and elite force have a bottle of .28 if i wanna go up)
i will try the hop up advise

[Ricochet]

Those BBs should run just fine through that gun. Hopefully your gun isn't a lemon. That's happened to me before.

[SuperCriollo]

Adjust you hop up. If no hop up is being applied, bbs will roll out of your barrel. That's the case with most guns I've handled, including GBBRs, GBBPs and AEGs. You can always try to rack the slide, and gently shake the gun to get that bb out. If that fails, use your cleaning rod.

[vondnik]

my tm 5.1 was bought in 2004 when they came out.. no upgrades what so ever except the piston seal(the initial one would flip backwards and leak the whole mag down the barrel).. still runs the plastic slide, always ran on propane.. still works.... ok the slide lock is LOOOMMMGGGG gone but the gun still to this day performs like the day I took it out of the box...

[mikebarkski]

thats good to hear that you still run your stock 5.1 just like you did when it came out..
sometimes to clear chambers i take out the mag and blow lightly into the barrel (is that bad for it?) then when i pull the slide back it spits out the handle..

[mikebarkski]

Thank you for all the help i think it was the hop up, that got it going. This seems to be a pretty reliable side arm...i think im going to try and find a mag pouch and 3 more spares, i have come to find that i dont like dealing with gas guns, but this one is consistent for me, and i love that i get 60+ shots on one fill with these mags