Reach out and touch someone

[Fox]

So I love my T.A.R but it really is more of a mid-range to CQB rifle and I do find myself wanting to reach those people I can see but don't have the range for. I was thinking along the lines of an M14 EBR style with good range. This is not something I will be doing anytime soon but would be nice to be able to switch up roles when the need comes up. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[roboyle]

Barrel length is easily trumped by barrel quality.

[Foggy (CR4)]

What is the length/ID of your current barrel? Hop up upgraded any? although an M14 EBR is a good looking platform... wish they didn't cost a bloody arm and a leg.

[88B88888B88B888]

If you MUST have a longer barrel, find out your current barrel length and how much you want to add onto that. Then you can get a Mock supp. for it. That's a cheaper way instead of a whole new gun, and it's just as easy to convert it back to CQB.

[sonjamichelle]

In airsoft there's a WHOLE lot more affecting range than just barrel length.

Hop up
Compression
Barrel Quality
BB Weight
BB Quality
Battery Charge

My Echo 1 Zombat has a super short barrel and it reaches MUCH further than my longer Aftermath MP5 even WITH an upgraded tightbore barrel.

[dave OC-6]

you must add brl leingth 10%, quality BBs, 20%, fps 10%, gun extras (bipod, cheek rest, optics) 10%, shooter 50%.

[trenchraider]

To echo what some of the others have stated, upgraded barrels and picking the proper BB can make a world of difference. For example my friend Dave ("Don't Fear da Reaper" on the forums) has a little M733 "Colt Comando". Out of the box, it shot decently, but the range and accuracy were nothing to write home about. He put in an M4 tightbore barrel (after cutting it to fit the shorter rifle) and shoots nothing but good quality .28 BBs in it. Now it's a very capable field gun with suprising range and accuracy for such a short weapon.

As for recomendations for a whole new platform, I swear by my STAR L1a1. (a gun I picked up mainly because I'm a huge Rhodesian Bush War geek) I had some teething problems with it initially that turned out to be self inflicted by my trying to use a battery with too little power. But since then it has worked like a charm. It shoots right at 400 stock and has the best range and accuracy of any stock AEG I've ever enountered. With good quality heavy weight BBs it shoots as well as most AEGs that have been upgraded as "DMRs". The down side is that they are both expensive and hard to find these days....and don't get me started on how difficult magazines are to find for them.

TR

[dave OC-6]

i have the same L1A1, and as many of you know i can outrange nearly anyone.

the other rifle you have been shot at is the SA58, its out of the box nearly the best gun i have, and thats from someone that can get nearly anything and play with.

if you want a good rifle i would say that gun (SA58) and if you must just add a longer tight bore.

only down side is NO MIDCAPS

[wraven]

We might want to quantify the request and define it. Simply saying Mid to CQB range means different things to different people.

I have not seen anyone mention what their definition of these ranges are and I think we are all assuming we are on the same page.

Can you define your range and accuracy now and what kind of gains you wish to achieve over those numbers? How accurate is it? This may be something as inexpensive and easy as fine tuning the hopup.

For example:
Most of my AEG's shoot between 140-170 feet of range. I personally consider this to be mid-range based on my replica's and personal experience with airsoft. We also get into how accurate it is at the above mentioned ranges and I can achieve center mass body shots at those ranges.

So what we need is how does your replica perform now as far as range and accuracy? What kind of gains in both categories are looking for?

Oh and just because I couldn't help but think of it when I read the title!

[Fox]

As far as doing anything to the inner workings of my gun I'm in the dark as it comes. I can mess with and do some small working with my 1911s but then there a simple design both inside and out.

I'll need to get an actual range on my rifle to see how its doing. Likely it will be after RDG so I can start playing with different BB sizes and looking for what I might need.

Thanks for the feedback this is what I was hoping to get, a nice size grouping of experience lending some good advice. Personally I just like the M14 EBR layout myself, just looks different and unique might be just me though.

[dave OC-6]

use the known distance range at the field.