couple questions within my introduction rant

[lacanuck24]

Hey everyone, hows it going?

signed up back in the fall and now I'm finally getting around to getting my gear and getting started. I don't think I've used "getting" that many times in a sentence before. Anyway, I've been trolling the forums, learning what I can, and have come to a conclusion about what I'm planning to purchase. Leaning towards either the Tokyo Marui Sr-16 or the TM M4 Sopmod. I was all ready to pull the trigger on the sr-16, but then I noticed, everyone with a decent online price is sold out. The only places that have anything in stock are substantially more expensive, 200-300k more expensive. Is this likely because of the crackdowns by police I've been reading about here? Or is it worth contacting the stores that say out of stock, maybe they order the AEG's when customers order them? I've come to terms with paying the mark-up, between the effort of shipping one from abroad and all the favors I'll burn in the process, and my need for instant gratification, I'm gonna bite the weenie and just click "order."

M4 Sopmod or M4 SR-16?
Read about barrel wobble issues on previous m4 variants, thats what pushed me towards the sr-16. Then while checking out a shop I had overlooked I found the m4 sopmod. I want to do as little upgrading as possible early on, sr-16 will need a couple changes(change stock to crane or magpul, prefer a metal reciever) to it right off the bat and my limited knowledge of battery's doesn't help at the moment haha.

anyway, the one thing that keeps me from going with the sopmod is the magazines, they're friggin expensive and I prefer the idea of mid-caps(mag changes seem more realistic and fun to me, but gotta have the high-cap for the oh-crap situations) which won't help the wallet. Aside from the magazine/cost issue I love the sopmod, the recoil, the sound is meaner, metal reciever, pretty great m4.

The Sr-16, if its in the 500-600k area I'm cool, but when its almost 800k I think to myself, why not go for the sopmod, the 200k difference could be justified in the many upgrades to make the sr-16 similar to the sopmod. Cost is really killing my mind when it comes to the sopmod. Currently no plans to make my gun crazy, just throw on a eotech or other red dot sight, maybe a fake suppressor, and down the road components to get a higher ROF, thats about it. So I'm guessing people here have had experience with both, what might opinions be? Sopmod worth the price for out of the box readiness?

any advice would be appreciated. I much prefer going into stores to try things out, but understand about the price difference, though if stores are going for the same price as the higher net prices then I'd rather be able to walk into a store and purchase. I'm going to bypass the trying out stage, well, sort of, had a chance to try a couple guns here and there over the years, got m4 in my mind. Can't wait to get everything and join a team, start shooting people. I haven't played decent paintball since last summer, just a crappy experience outside of seoul in the fall, got that itchy trigger finger.

Look forward to meeting up with peoples from the ASK forum, gonna order my multicam soon

[ackme]

I found the SR-16 in stock on Gmarket for 743,000 (http://gen.gmarket.co.kr/challenge/neo_goods/goods.asp?goodscode=179107949) it's pricey, but at least it's in stock . There's a second hand site I can check for you as well if you want, you should be able to get a Marui M4 variant for around 3~400 there, but it will be second hand so you take your chances. That's how I got mine and it still works great. The sopmod has electric blowback and locks open but those are gimics and the blowback wastes battery, shakes the gun, and you can't share mags with all the other M4s. It looks cool but has it's drawbacks. It's no more 'ready' than the SR16 btw, they are both GTG right out of the box.

The reason that so much is out of stock is that the crackdown and tighter import resrictions make it hard to get the chinese airsoft guns. Marui is a Japanese brand and the guns shoot ~300fps out of the box, the acceptable limit in Korea. The Chinese ones are almost all 300+, illegal without an easy spring modification.

A good idea would be to come out to a game first and try the guns out and see what you like first.

[krobinson103]

I have to agree. The new blowback electric guns are cool, but there is just more to break. The blowback feature does nothing to enhance the gun in game besides looking cool. I would save your cash and get a marui m4 and use the rest of the cash to get a pistol and other toys.

I've seen the new marui m4 with blowback online for about 740,000, or the older version without for about 150,000 less. Either gun is will serve you well in game. There are other guns out there as well. You really should just come to a game and try out all the various guns we have to help you decide which is the best. With 800,000 you can get a lot of cool toys if you shop around.

http://www.gunday.co.kr/shop/list_sub.html?Acode=1&Bcode=3

[lacanuck24]

thanks for the advice guys! appreciate it. I'm gonna take a pass on the sopmod, the extra parts plus the proprietary mags has changed my mind.

So I'm planning to take a trip to Yongsan on Saturday because I really like seeing things in person. I went by there once way back in October, and only remember that he wasn't too well stocked in non-pistol items, am I wrong? Are there any other shops in Seoul that I could check out? I miss going into airsoft and paintball shops back home. Actually before I forget. I'm wondering, with the crackdown on online retailers causing the rise in pricing, has the internet pricing caught up with the walk in store prices, or even possibly surpassed them?

Common logic tells me to hang out, check out some guns. The stupid man in me says, get a gun asap, tear it apart and figure it out! haha. I give the same advice all the time in paintball, but I'm going to to against it and just get a gun haha. I'm eager to take something apart and figure out the workings of it. Really appreciate it though. Seems like the sr16 will be the logical choice, or the m14 socom. I figure I'll have both a m4 and a m14 eventually, now having the difficult decision of which to choose first. The lack of cosmetic upgrading for the m14 is a big plus, especially for the accountant! haha. I have big plans for a m4, might be good to delay that a bit. Who knows though, I'm itching to shoot at people so bad its clouding my purchasing judgement.

Thanks again!