LMG's- Worth the price jack?

[DanQuayle]

I have now played AEGsoft for about 6 months and I have accumulated a few guns like the M16 VN and the FAMAS SV, but I seem to love most the style of the FAMAS with its rate of fire in a support role, so I want the same but a bit more metal and even more powerful. But the LMG's (not TOP) are incredibly expensive, even stock, and I don't want one secondhand. Do you fellas have any experience with them, and if so, are they worth the hideous price?

[Skruface]

The ability to dump 2500 nonstop rounds is impressive. However, most LMG (in my humble experience) are far too expensive for the role they play. A moderately upgraded TOP M60 or M249 will run close to $2K of not more. Now, the STAR M249, which is brand new, might be a sub-$1K option for some.

On the other hand, a TM AK47 and an RPK kit with a 600-round hicap can be made into a legitimate LMG for around $1K as well, even less if you want to put in some elbow grease and do some of the work yourself (like making your own stock and foregrip). Parts are MUCH easier to find for an AK when something inevitably breaks.

[The Saint]

Never used one, but I have played against one. There's definately an intimidation factor involved, but otherwise it didm't seem that different from other AEGs especially when one takes into account the price. Looked pretty bulky to lug around, too.

[Stealth_Omega]

One of my team mates had a M60 and wow does that thing really provide great cover fire, if you have some one who uses it properly you can defend a position for a while, took them along time to finally get us out of there. You gotta make sure you can keep up the fire while the LMG is re loading. Attacking its the same way keeps their heads pinned down while you can move up under the base of fire. Definatly a nice gun to have but it is super expensive.

[attack-beaver]

buy a CA or TM G36 and make that in to a MG36 i now a guy with one its good for what u need it to do just need a C-mag and some time its should cost about $1k or less and it can throw BB's man.

[Drake]

I think it depends if you want the look of it (big gun with a belt of dummy rounds around your neck... ) or just something to perform the LMG/LSW role.

Cuz in the end, that's what you're paying for... looks. Performance-wise they arent really doing anything your FAMAS isn't (as far as airsoft is concerned). So in that case I'd go with attack-beacer's suggestion and make a LSW instead: MG36, AUG-HBAR, or RPK/RPK-74 (Aper had a really nice RPK he made). STAR is also supposed to put out an L86A2 when their L85 series comes out.

Or if you're bored over the winter months, you can try building yourself an M2HB

[attack-beaver]

pics from HKpro of the MG36 with a beta 100 round Cmag

[thePiRaTE!!]

I read a review recently that suggested the TOP M60's for example, are gravity fed from a well on top of the gun, and are designed differently than the typical TM cloning with constant, automatic fire in mind. It was said that the acceleration of wear on a typical TM vs the TOP was a factor in using an honest to goodness LMG for its designed purpose. It would be beneficial if anyone with experience had something to add here to corroborate this claim - if the design really served to make an actual M60 a more reliable MG.

[vondnik]

A properly upgrated TOP m60 will take the beating that would put a AEG to pieces... The cracked gen3 mechbox in my RPK sorta confirms it....the m60 is still rocking... SAWs are not for ev eryone as they are heavy, expensive ( to own, upgrade and operate ( hell when playing with the pic i ususlay whent truw about 2-4 bottles of ammo in a day))But their proper use on the field makes the investment worthwile IMO. Being a proper MG is a bit like being a sniper it's not for everyone as you spend most of the day setting up kills for the rest of your squad. Basicaly your setting down cover and suppressive fire so your squadmates can flank and move up. Outside of it's inteded role your just carrying a heavy, cumbersom but kickass gun, you're better off with a std aeg.

[Hillslam]

I second what vondnik said. The beefier mechboxs withstand prolonged fire better than regular aeg mechboxs (wear, heat, etc).

Oh and your prices are off abit. A CA 249 upgraded to shoot 450fps with rock solid stability and very nice accuracy isn't going to run you anywhere near $2,000. Mine's got 60,000+ rounds thru it (in one half-season mind you) at that upgraded level and to date all I've done is wear out one piston. Show me a regular aeg that could do that.

[Blastyman]

Originally Posted by Hillslam

I second what vondnik said. The beefier mechboxs withstand prolonged fire better than regular aeg mechboxs (wear, heat, etc).

Oh and your prices are off abit. A CA 249 upgraded to shoot 450fps with rock solid stability and very nice accuracy isn't going to run you anywhere near $2,000. Mine's got 60,000+ rounds thru it (in one half-season mind you) at that upgraded level and to date all I've done is wear out one piston. Show me a regular aeg that could do that.

Don't forget the prices in Canadian dollars are much higher. We are all talking in Canadian $ on this forum usually.

They were selling for around 1500 with no box mag. So add that and upgrades and wouldn't take long to hit close to 2g canadian funds but still tons cheaper then doing a TOP conversion.







Also somebody mentioned the m60 is gravity feed. That is not really true. the gun has a hopper but the BB's are actually fed thru a spinning wheel designed to push the BB's along.

[Arnisador]

Anecdotal evidence 1

One of our guys, Sideways, with a 2 week old SR16 decides he loves the support role so much, he singlehandedly defends our castle structure, with his SR and 3 hi-caps...for about 2.5 minutes.

The audio of the experience went something like this...

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPP

Pinned attacker 1:"holy crap, that's more than a 2 second burst"

Sideways: maniacal laughter
BRAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP

Pinned attacker 2: "he knows that sustained fire isn't good for his gun right"

BRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPPPPP
Sideways: "GET SOME"

Pinned attacker 1: "it was explained at the newbie day but not sure if he remembered"

BRAAAAAAAAAAPPPPPP- PING- WHIRRRRRRRRRRRR

Sideways: "uh, guys....I think somethings wrong with my gun"

Anecdotal Evidence 2

We're at the WCAN Edmonton game in May 2004. One of the players Litfuse has his new upgraded M249 out and loving every second.

Audio would be somewhat similar to the above. Constant trigger pull.

He's playing from about 2pm until 7 or 8pm if memory serves me correctly. His gun breaks down. Gears toasted.

We're all wondering...did he have a defective gun? Couldn't it handle long bursts of firing? Then we find out that he'd usually run the gun half dry to fully dry on one trigger pull. Sustained fire indeed. It didn't break down on him until about his 10th bag of ammo that day...allllll sustained fire

[Hillslam]

Anecdote 3:

Guy on ArniesAirsoft claims to have went thru 70,000 rounds on an M249 in one weekend. (Screaming Weasel)

Gun apparently still rocking n rolling.

-------------

Sorry about the US$ thing - I had a senior moment there and forgot.

But hey - just buy the Star if you're jonesing for a SAW. And help end the scourge of C-mag equipped AEG pretenders uglying up our fields.

[GovernmentGrant]

For what it's worth I own a TOP M60 DX. I bought it secondhand for about 1k, have used it moderately, no WestCan gun abuse stories from me.

It stripped a piston not too long after I started using it. Working just fine for me at the moment.

I briefly had a sort of RPK. It too stripped a piston the first game I used it in, but it had my rental mechbox in it so it might have already had quite a bit of wear and tear before being used hard as a support weapon.

Without the proper RPK stocks it just looks a little wrong. I figure if you are going to make a support weapon out of an AEG you should at least try to get the details better than just throwing on a cmag with a longer barrel.

The M249 Para seems like a pretty good option now that I think about it. Built as a SAW for sustained firing, plus a big electric fed box mag, short barrel and collapsible stock.

But some of us also like to carry an M60 and use it on the field!

[Arnisador]

I've got an M60 shorty which is pretty much stock, so not a lot of range or sting. But having 1200 rounds at your disposal during a mil-sim/tac-sim game with continuous fire capability, in a full support role is quite nice. As someone said earlier...its more for the "oh sh-t" factor to keep people down while your buddies flank around.