[Jeppe]

I think the VSR-X is just a tad too specialized and custom (production time etc) for the average high end buyer.

The Novritsch SSG24 enjoys huge success because there is no other competitor on the market that offers a truly good to go high power, high quality, high precision rifle out of box.

I think there's deffo a market for pre-upgraded new rifles at the moment.
Maybe a BAR gspec with sight on and upgrades. Cylinder set, triggerset, barrel, AA chamber/modded stock unit.
It has to be dialed in (hop and scope) and confirmed shooting precisely.
And then it has to be made in advance so people can buy it at a whim, rather than wait months etc.

Dialing in hopup and scope properly does IMO require quite some skill and time. People tend to put 2-3m+ overhop on and dial the scope for the top of the curve, and that doesn't work well during actual gameplay.
Scope level alignment is often wrong as well, and especially if there's a bubble level on.

 

[Jeppe]

The MB-01 rifles are really brilliant. I've had some of them push 4 joule bone stock! For a 500fps setup the stock rifle will last a long time.

 

[Jeppe]

Send one to novritsch...
Fun fact, he and his support group was staying at the same hotel as me when i was at BorderWar. Only other airsofter in there. I did not recognize him at first because he is so incredibly short IRL...

The smart thing about Nov's system is that he avoids the distributor markup and, afaik, aftermarket support because who is gonna ship it to Taiwan...?

He also certainly took a chance by moving out to Taiwan for 3 months (iirc) and build a rifle with modify. I know he had an insane amount of changes done to the product before it was ok. All of that is only possible because he is buying many rifles from them.

Maple leaf, AA, etc are not gonna sit down and make you 10 rifles to your spec.
You really have to work with off-the-shelf products and assemble them on a hobbyist basis. But that's fine though, there's still a market for that. Just won't earn much.
But i still think assembly and finetuning is the biggest factor (and missing from other products on market).

At best, someone like AA would maybe be willing to sell you the unassembled parts in sets of 10-20 at a decent rate (Like 30% lower than retail). You'd only have to buy what you need, rather than buy a complete stock rifle and scrap half of it.
That's probably your best shot.
Be aware of JAE not liking unlicensed JAE stocks though