GBBR vs. AEG

[Drake]

Originally Posted by venture

Well time to resurrect this thread. Another season is quickly passing by and I have not seen the dominance of GBBR's that I had expected. Looks like electric guns are going to be around for some time to come.

Any thoughts?

I guess I've been in a similar boat as you: until now, I hadn't felt that GBBRs were ready for "prime time."

When the original GBB pistols appeared, there were a lot of different ideas and implementations that surfaced; it was a small company which produced aftermarket parts for a popular manufacturer of the day (MGC) that developed a blowback system superior to everything else on the market, a design which eventually became the basis for the blowback designs found in most GBB pistols day. That company was Western Arms and their system was the Magna Blowback -- at first licensed to companies like MGC, but they eventually went on to produce their own high quality pistols.

My feelings on GBBRs are that their development paralleled the GBB pistols', with every manufacturer adopting their own system, changes and refinements being introduced over time (perhaps WE is most notable for this) and similarl to W.A. of yesteryear, companies like RA-Tech are improving and helping normalize the design. Their NPAS, for example, has proven to be a must-have addition to WA/GP and WE guns (and how long until those manufacturers incorporate their own?)

As with most things, economics will also play a role in determining which technology comes out on top -- and right now it would seem WE has the upper hand in that respect. If the WE GBBRs gain any kind of market dominance, aftermarket parts and accessories manufacturers will shift their support accordingly (although an interesting twist with WE is the compatibility of many parts with real steel -- though this may prove appealing to companies like Magpul that could produce PTS products aimed specifically at the GBBR market without having any significant redesigning to do).

As for dominance, in Quebec (where there's also been an explosion in new players the past 2-3 years) I'd have to say I've noticed a very quick rise in popularity for GBBRs, especially this season. Unlike the Systema PTWs, for example, which always remained rare, there are currently a significant number of GBBRs present at almost every event. Their relatively low price (on par with a decent AEG) and easily adjusted velocity means one gun can be used both indoors and out (generally, the rules are 350fps in CQB and 400fps outdoors pretty much across the province -- which meant two AEGs for most people).

So while I never felt the PTWs caught on (perhaps due to the prohibitive pricing and the general impression it wasn't bringing enough to the table, compared to a regular AEG, to justify the price difference) I feel GBBRs have now moved beyond the "fad" stage.

Myself and the majority of my team have now decided to switch to GBBRs (thanks to Garrison Airsoft!): part of the reason is that M4 AEGs, while popular, have always been problematic if you're trying to set up a slick, compact, well-balanced blaster (no full stock, no huge battery case hanging off the side, no wonky handguard to fit the battery etc). My personal experience with M4s is woefully disappointing and they've always seemed to be underachievers, performing below par (in various respects, depending on the catastrophic failure flavor of the day) even compared to low end AKs.

After doing my research on the matter, my feeling is that WE's open bolt design is perhaps the first incarnation of what will become the "prime time" GBBR design. Ultimately I believe this is the most crucial factor, even if some will present arguments that certain aspects of other brands' design are superior: similar cases can be made for Betamax, HDDVD and every operating system that isn't Windows, but in the end those probably aren't the camps you want to find yourself in.




tl;dr:

WE is pretty popular and cheap. We're getting some to evaluate but its an almost guaranteed switch over since M4 AEGs are troublesome. WE 4-ev4r!11~1onetyoneone1

[Thenooblord]

well Ive been on the WE hate wagon for a long time, and while I still hate the company (you should read some of their company responses to customers who have had issues with their guns, some of the responses I've read are disgusting) and the shit materials and the hopup design, I still will say that bang for your buck, you can make a WE rifle as good as any WOC or ino with only $250 or so in aftermarket parts including hte full set of RAtech steel trigger group components, and a falcon VS Z hopup/barrel, with just these upgrades my WE M4 will not break down and can shoot almost as well as any of my AEGs, so no loss in performance, but its an amazing suppression weapon, because whenever it fires, any heads within 50 feet instantly go back to cover, and for me, that bark and that kick is why I can never go back to electric guns

mines is closed bolt AWSS, not open bolt, I prefer this, Ive had issues with the plastic nozzles they use...

[hollywood...]

I have a WE M14 with 9 mags and love it - game it often with no issues.
My go to weapon is still an AEG though.

To each thier own.

[audi_bhoy]

Running a KJW M4 as my primary for over a year, so far NO leaking mag, and the only failure I've ran through I was able to field strip it on the field and repair it, didn't even had to go to the respawn. My plastic body broke two weeks ago, but that body was already beaten by the previous owner, so it's time was counted. I see many people running WE's and even yesterday, my teammates' PDW and HK416 failed before the game, thus ruining their day.