My setup as a suggestion
I've just put together a BAR10 based on the latest and greatest recommendations on this forum. Actually, most of the credit goes to 1tonne. If you read this: thanks man. Your knowledge and experience shared on this forum takes a lot of the guess work out of building a solid sniper rifle. Also thanks to other members for posting their stuff. I've been able to learn so much before even buying the rifle. The research has been half of the fun.
I know how easy it is to get lost in the myriad of parts, upgrades, setups, mods and tweaks available for the VSR platform.....so I'd like to show you mine.
BIG disclaimer: don't consider this a 'tried and tested' setup. I haven't been able to field test it at more than about 20 yards. This is also my first sniper rifle. As of now, it's looking very promising and I can't wait to use it in a real game.
Here goes!
JG BAR10 G-spec, the one with the 3-9x 40(?)mm scope. I figured it made a good package. Now I wish I'd spent slightly more to get the bare BAR10 and a decent air rifle scope (e.g. Nikko Stirling). The scope that comes with the JG is probably fine for airsoft though.
S-trigger by forum member Springer, available at
customsnipersupplies . More info here:
http://www.airsoftsniperforum.com/41-vsr-rifles/6449-custom-90-vsr-trigger.html
Price + shipping was very reasonable for me living in Europe. I also like the fact that it was carefully put together by a fellow airsofter. It also maintains use of the safety. Very solid unit. Trigger pull is super light and smooth. I can't compare to the other brands (AA, PDI, Airsoftpro etc), but I recommend it 100%
Action 90 degree piston: It's cheap and came recommended by some people here. I also had difficulty finding other pistons for a reasonable price. I'm not getting a perfect air seal at the moment. Looking into stretching the O-ring some more and using different lubrication. I'm using a light, acid-free machine oil at the moment.
You may want to get a different piston.
Alternative would be the Action Army trigger unit, which comes with a nice piston.
For a brief moment I used the stock piston, modified with a dremel to work with the 90 degree trigger. I guess it could work for a while...but airseal was lacking, the spring was binding inside and it didn't cycle smoothly anyway.
King Arms metal spring guide: I couldn't spot any big differences between spring guides. I'd say get the one that's cheap, available and works with your spring diameter.
Action Army hop-up chamber: A very solid unit, easy to install and get a great air seal. It's obvious why this is a huge improvement over the stock unit.
I'm using the Maple Leaf 75 bucking with the Prometheus Flat tensioner nub (the hard one). Not too happy with this nub: I've had to shave it to make it fit through the hopup window. My main reason for choosing this combination is wanting to get the rifle up and running while I experiment with R-hop.
Action Army 6.03 540mm barrel: It's cheap (I see a pattern here). The length is based on the fact that I'll be using .30 or .33 bb's. I've considered the Laylax 555mm one, at twice the price of Action Army. I'm not mentally prepared to spend twice that amount again on a PDI barrel.
Note: the AA barrel + Maple Leaf bucking requires you to file down the rear 'ring' of the hopup window, effectively making the barrel a 'VSR cut'. Easy to do.
If you plan on using heavier bb's, your optimal barrel length is likely shorter.
Action Army barrel spacers: This may be one of those purchases that I regret. Sure they look nice....but with hindsight the DIY masking tape spacers are more rigid and make it easier to install the inner barrel, since they're locked to the barrel. And it's cheaper. Cheap is nice. I like cheap.
DIY extended silencer: My new inner barrel was sticking out about 40mm. By now it was time for a reality check; I was spending a lot of money on a spring powered rifle that I had never even used in the field. It had to stop. A new silencer + adaptor was not an option. So, I got a piece of PVC tubing and used masking tape to make a friction fit between the tube and the BAR10's outer barrel. Same trick to fit the original silencer end cap to the PVC tube. A little camo wrap and done! I originally intended this as a temporary fix...but it's so nice and solid I'll likely keep it.
Another bonus: the stock silencer on my BAR10 is crooked. It's a good 2mm off center in relation to the outer barrel. Thanks, China. My el cheapo PVC silencer is pretty much dead on. I think I'll implement the Long Range Barrel mod by shimming the inner barrel against the silencer end cap. Easy. Cheap.
Other DIY mods: This cannot be overlooked. You can improve the BAR10 by about 300% with just sitting down and taking a file, sand paper and grease to make sure everything fits and moves properly.
I've done most of the stuff in 1tonnes
Advanced VSR Sniper Building Guide, including:
- smoothening the receiver from the inside. My BAR10 had very ugly seams rubbing against the cylinder. The receiver is made of your standard Chinese buttery soft zinc alloy, so easy to shape with hand tools.
- filing, smoothening and greasing the bolt handle mechanism. Mine had a lot of play in it and was horrible to operate. It's all good now. Just take it apart and look carefully where the parts get caught, and where you can remove material to make the mechanism tighter. In the long term I might get some teflon shims to go between the moving parts...but for now it's fine.
- shimming the nylon guide rings inside the receiver with tiny strips of electrical tape. Super cheap and worth the effort. I opted to leave some play in the front guide ring; in my opinion it allows the nozzle to freely find its way into the hopup unit for an optimal tension-free fit against the bucking.
- 'hollowing out' the nozzle by spinning it in a drill against a dremel and sand paper.
- making a nice ring-shaped damper out of an old sorbothane shoe inlay and glueing it onto the nozzle
I'm sure I'm forgetting stuff.
One thing I discovered is that it's not a matter of slapping together the most expensive parts. In fact, I somewhat regret not taking the time to get to know the stock BAR10 and starting with the cheapest DIY mods first, instead of succumbing to the urge of building the Awesomest Perfect sniper rifle straight away. Looking at it now, I'm sure you could get it to work quite well with just the stock parts, some cheap materials and a modicum of skill.
Whatever you do, good luck!
