Advice for weapon system.

[Desert Rat]

Looking to run an m4 kit.

New to airsoft, familiar with live weapons and gear.

I'll need recommendations for the following:

Weapon system, m4 series. semi/ burst desired, auto not preferred.
Mags- quality over price
BBs
Battery packs
Eye/face protection

Any other Airsoft specific items I may have missed please feel free to drop a comment or suggestion.

Cheers,
Desert Rat

[luke213]

On the gun you'll have to decide a few things one the type of platform whether gas or electric. I'd argue that electric is more practical, but less realistic. Gas is more fun, but a heck of allot more work to keep running and bar some examples doesn't do as well in colder weather. For myself that puts me on the electric side of the equation since I play year round.

Either way will give you semi/full generally by default because that's the most common fire modes. But electric I know with certainty you can swap to burst using a simple mosfet, even inline. So don't base your initial purchase on that part. Base it on the quality of the platform etc. On GBB I'm not sure but probably most would have an option for burst, I do know the polarstars and that HPA side do, but I'm not sure on the typical gas guns I don't have much experience with their workings to say. @T6e9a would probably have a better idea there.

The Mags, depends on platform but AEG mags are much cheaper. So add that into the cost idea for the whole setup and how many mags you want. Coming from real firearms(my background/current as well), generally speaking in most events you'll use far more ammo than you would with a real firearm. One BB doesn't equal one round of ammo it's just not that effective except in certain scenarios. So expect to double or triple your ammo consumption you'd expect from a real firearm. Again my 2 cents, but that seems to be the case most of the time.

Batteries, see the other post;)

Eye/face stuff, I like mesh masks just get a steel one that fits fair, then bend it to the shape of your face so it doesn't create hot spots and they work pretty well stopping teeth damage and the like. Eye's you're going to be looking at some sort of rated full seal. I'll let other guys jump in there, I own allot but most of my eyepro is old and no longer available. But ESS and other goggles that were used overseas are a good option if available. But fogging may be an issue, at a minimum get a thermal lens goggle. Which has two layers like a thermal window in a house. That helps with fog but may not solve it. I've got a post here were I built a fan system into my helmet to solve my fogging issues.

I might have more but that gives you a start;)

Luke

[TauterTwiggy]

Welcome to the hobby. As with most things in life there are two big factors for all your equipment. First being necessity and second being price/budget but I will give some examples to fit each.

Weapon system, m4 series. semi/ burst desired, auto not preferred.

Top Tier- Polar Star Fusion Engine: The Fusion Engine will give you the best trigger response and allow you to use a single gun for both CQB and Outdoors on the fly. The FE fits into most M4 bodies but will have the largest starting cost and steepest learning curve to get running to it's fullest. ~$1000 for the body/FE/tank/line/regulator

Mid tier- Krytac AEG m4 platform (LVOA etc): Krytac currently makes one of the best guns out of the box that money can buy. Their quality and features definitely make them stand out. ~$350-400 depending on style

Entry level/starter- G&G CM16: this is the gun most everyone starts with. It is a great gun out of the box but lacks some of the bells and whistles of a more expensive gun and will have a polymer instead of metal body. I still use my G&G CM16 with minor modifications for CQB.
 
Mags- quality over price

Top Tier- PTS EPMs: The best mags I've ever owned. They feed in everything flawlessly and can handle even high ROF guns but they are pricey ~$20 a mag

Mid Tier- KWA 120: Most people I see run these mags but they can be finicky in some rifles. ~$10 a mag

Low tier- G&G 120 round midcaps: I really like these mags in my G&G and even my better guns because of the long follower that feeds every last bb.

BBs- (weight will depend on the weapon platform but I tend to stick to .28g for my m4s for outdoor and .25g for indoor)

Top Tier- High Powered Airsoft bbs: I'm told these use the old bio val formula but are some of the most precise bbs out. Expect to pay out the @$$ for them. I use these in .40g for my Sniper. ~$19 for 3500 .28g

Mid Tier- Elite Force Bio bbs: Most fields require Bios and these are the ones I use most often.  ~$23 for 5,000 .28g

Low Tier- Valken BBs: found at most fields for purchase, cheap but you will definitely see some stray flyers. ~$17 for 5000 .28g

Battery packs - (Type and size will depend on weapon platform)

Top Tier- 11.1v 1600 Mah 20C Lipo battery w/ Deans connectors: Will make your gun shoot faster and improve trigger response. the higher ROF will obviously mean parts will wear out faster. If your gun does not have a mosfet built in it will likely burn out the trigger contacts. Price will be super expensive from an airsoft shop but you can get cheaper ones from Hobbyking ~$13 on there or ~$30 elsewhere.

Mid Tier- 9.6v NiMH/ 7.4v Lipo: The battery most people run will give average ROF and trigger response. The Lipo will perform slightly better than the 9.6 NiCad.

low tier- 8.4v NiMH: only recommended if your gun can't fit anything bigger

Eye/face protection- MUST BE ANSI z87.1 RATED

Top Tier- Oakley M frames w/ helo kit or Smith Optics Turbo fan: M frames are rgeat if you want a super low profile goggles but they are stupid pricey. They require a Helo kit to be full seal and may still fog (I know mine do). The Smith Optics turbo fans are great for a larger goggle style profile and with the fan will vent better and fog less (I have a Chinese rip off of these and love them). Mframes ~$120, Smith Optics ~$180

Mid Tier - Revision Desert Goggles: I started with these and liked them but without a fan and being a larger sweatier guy they would fog u on me if it rained or I forgot my anti fog for the day.  ~60-~$90 (depends on model)

Low Tier- Valken Sierra goggles- Everyone I've known who owns these has regretted them due to fogging issues but maybe with some antifog or an exfog system they will be ok. ~$30

If you have any questions on more specifics feel free to drop me a message. I'm Damian Strong on facebook.

[T6e9a]

In the way of burst, for gas blowback, I dont know of any M4s that have that function. The new .308 by KWA has 3rd, but that obviously isn't an M4.

In the way of AEGs, very few high end guns offer this. But those that have the option out of the box include:
-G&G newer generation guns, Predator, SRS/L/XL. These have the G&G ETU (Electronic Trigger Unit) that has a trigger board instead of contacts, resulting in a short trigger pull and cycle completion. The unit is programmable by pulling and holding the trigger in semi for 5 seconds to switch between Safe-Semi-Full auto and Safe-Semi-3rd Burst.
Really the only downside is the bulkiness of the wiring and mosfet unit itself in the buffer tube.
-Ares guns with the E. F. C. S. (Electronic Fire Control System) This includes the Ares OEM EMG guns (Hellbreaker, etc), Ares "Honey Badger"/Amoeba line, and possibly others.
The EFCS has active braking which offers better motor control for the system, at the cost of often times more heat build up. But for this system to be programmed, you have to buy the separate programming unit which is ~$60.
-Umbrella Armories gun with either BTC Spectre or Chimera, or the Gate Titan. These guns are completely rebuilt Krytac guns, at the price of ~$1000-1200. These are pretty much one stop shop, no need for upgrades, pick your performance, and buy once, cry once. Programming for these can be done either with bluetooth, trigger pulls or a programming card/USB connection.

Past that, there are a number of aftermarket burst mosfets that can be added to any AEG for the most part. They consist of:
-Plug and play, which don't protect anything, just offer burst or whatever functionalities it is advertised for. These are based on system cycle timing as opposed to cutoff sensors, so are not as accurate or as consistent as those which have sensors in the cutoff area. Some offer the ability to be hard wired in, meaning adjusting the wiring to actually offer protection to the trigger contacts as well as all the other, and possibly more features than just plug and play.
I don't recommend most of these, but they are on the cheaper side from $20-50. Of the ones out there, I only recommend the Gate Merf3.2.
-Drop in units. Such as Jefftron Processor, BTC Spectre, Gate Titan, and some others not as common. These units offer a plethora of features including burst, active braking, battery protection and more. They replace the trigger contacts with a trigger board on which all the electronics are contained on so the wiring is clear of any large chunks of electronics and guide cables, allowing for more battery space.
I highly recommend the BTC Spectre MKII if you can get one, but sell out fast when they are in stock anywhere and get sold on ebay and elsewhere for $180-200+. The Gate Titan offers similar features, but is more accessible as it is produced by a well established company where as BTC is a smaller operation, so product batches come far and few, with distributors and retailers having first dibs.

There are other mosfets out there, but I'll leave this for now.