A quandary and a dumb question: Starting AEG?

[Tymothee]

What I am looking for:

- A good starting AEG
- under $300, but nothing too cheap to the point of lesser quality china clone or LPAEG
- Namely M4 type, or takes STANAG type magazines
- Mid length, 14.5" barrel, wouldn't want much longer, since I plan to use it in both indoor and outdoor situations
- Doesn't use a PEQ or external battey
- rails are not necessary, but at the very least room for inserts to allow at least a flashlight
- Magpul not necessary, but I effin' love Magpul


Thanks to the new shipping laws, getting these guns from america should be much easier than it used to be, especially since they all shoot within the range of 366-500FPS anyways. I want to basically get ASC members expert opinion on which guns I should invest in, or if you have a better reccomendation for a weapon that fits within my guidelines I would love to hear it! I am very new to the sport, and I plan to get into it for the long haul, but I want my first steps to be firm ones. If you also have any kit reccomendations I'm all ears

[Deadpool]

You want my opinion?

You should read the reviews. Like most of ASC does.

[Tymothee]

I have been reading them, the only cons people talked about were usually things about occasional, fixeable wobbles. My major problem is picking between the above guns, the cheapest may be the obvious choice, but I just want to be 100% sure, see what other people had to say

[ShelledPants]

If you're using it for indoor and outdoor, go 10.3" barrel (CQBR), the 4 inch barrel difference makes little to no difference in outdoor accuracy.

[lurkingknight]

man, people's google skills suck worse than mine if they can't find an m4 in canada for that price.

I hope 300 isn't your total budget. You may need a battery and charger... add 60... goggles add 60+.. extra mags.. add another 50... and whatever other gear you may need, boots, hydration etc... it's possible you have some of this already, but at least have it budgeted.

And chances are depending on where you play you'll need to swap the spring to conform to field regulations. 5-10$ plus labor rate.


I project a startup cost closer to aroune 700$ for all the necessary gun/safety gear.

[Tymothee]

lurkingknight, the $300 budget is for the gun alone. Not any of the extras. As for finding an M4 in canada for that price, I have been having this issue. Local airsoft stores really inflate the prices on these guns, saw that A&K masada for $380 in some places. I'm set for safety gear for now 9as I said I'm starting out) I enheritted some of my brothers proffesional paintball gear, namely his Vforce mask, as for everything else it isnt a big worry for me right now, a gun, 2 high caps, and a mask and I should be fine for the occasional CQB game.

Shelledpants, I appreciate the info, the MOE carbine linked up there actually has a convertable barrel, so I would be set there.

[ShelledPants]

Originally Posted by Tymothee

lurkingknight, the $300 budget is for the gun alone. Not any of the extras. As for finding an M4 in canada for that price, I have been having this issue. Local airsoft stores really inflate the prices on these guns, saw that A&K masada for $380 in some places. I'm set for safety gear for now 9as I said I'm starting out) I enheritted some of my brothers proffesional paintball gear, namely his Vforce mask, as for everything else it isnt a big worry for me right now, a gun, 2 high caps, and a mask and I should be fine for the occasional CQB game.

Shelledpants, I appreciate the info, the MOE carbine linked up there actually has a convertable barrel, so I would be set there.

Just an FYI, $380 for the A&K Masada is a really good price.
http://www.airsplat.com/Items/ERM-AK-MASADA.htm <- US Store, has them for 275ish, + shipping + tax + duty and you would easily be over $380.

[Tymothee]

Originally Posted by ShelledPants

Just an FYI, $380 for the A&K Masada is a really good price.
http://www.airsplat.com/Items/ERM-AK-MASADA.htm <- US Store, has them for 275ish, + shipping + tax + duty and you would easily be over $380.

guess I never looked at it in that sense, I knew about the shipping but I would never had figured duty would be such a big deal, guess thats something that plagues the beginners :P heh

[lurkingknight]

you could stand to save a few bucks, but nothing significant, you also run the risk of customs seizing the shipment for inspection, whether it has proper paperwork or not and if it meets importation requirements. So what's worth more, getting the gun from a local vendor in 1 week for about 20-30$ more, or rolling the dice with an out of country vendor and maybe waiting weeks or maybe even forever to get the gun released by customs, or find out they sent it to be destroyed and be out 300$?


It's available for a reasonable price locally, it's not super rare/hard to get, I think the extra few bucks is worth it to be honest. I'm one for saving money, but the out of country option isn't quite as clear cut as it seems to be.

Even if they include the proper paperwork, even if customs releases the package to you, both EVIKE and GI ship with ups ground, so you're looking at the cost of the gun 275, the shipping ups flatrate ground is probably 20ish, 13% hst, I believe 7% duty since it's made in asia, 30-50$ in customs brokerage for ups to clear your package. Where's your savings now?

If you are AVed we can tell you where to get that gun in country, if you're resourceful you can find it yourself

[Tymothee]

I know GI and evike both do free shipping over a certain threshold, so buying in bulk (gun, battery, charger, thrown in an accessory or two) and I might get it a little clearer, but I do know you can get pretty harsh charges on duty and etc.

The one thing that gets to me is the price in america versus here. I frequent torontoairsoft and the newly opened "select paintball/airsoft" up in vaughn, and even considering all the charges of shipping the prices seem so steep it hurts. They do sell a gun I want with intense passion from there, though,
and it is this one: http://www.torontoairsoft.com/GP-Can...ne_p_1454.html

My worry is that I'm getting ripped off at that price for a G&P :/ am I wrong there?

[lurkingknight]

that's free shipping in the US, they do not ship free to canada. And every place that offers free shipping uses UPS ground, which is the cheapest ups service that requires you to pay all the crazy customs fees.

There's a rule about posting links to guns outside of AVed areas, you might want to remove it before a mod does it for you.


That's not a bad price. It WAS 650$ at this time last year.

[Tymothee]

Originally Posted by lurkingknight

that's free shipping in the US, they do not ship free to canada.

ah okay, thanks for the clarification, would've pissed me off finding that out after spending the money, heh

[suzenonest]

319$ for a c8 is not a bad price at all!
Stop looking at US sites and comparing prices, its not worth the inconvenience of having to cross the border just to save a few bucks. Also support the Canadian airsoft industry. The more guns we buy, the more the price will likely go down.

[Tymothee]

Originally Posted by suzenonest

319$ for a c8 is not a bad price at all!
Stop looking at US sites and comparing prices, its not worth the inconvenience of having to cross the border just to save a few bucks. Also support the Canadian airsoft industry. The more guns we buy, the more the price will likely go down.

yea, what i thought about doing with the c8 was getting some OD magpul MOE stuff on it, sort of a modernized armed forces style. its good to know I'm not getting ripped off if I were to buy it

[JerryMcGoulBerry]

King arms M4. and most ASC members hate these kinda questions. I tolerate them, but put some though and research next time.