If you are just getting started in airsoft and wondering where to start or are an experienced user looking for a new squeeze, it is hard to know where to begin or what reviews to trust. With influencers literally being paid to shill the latest products on the market every week, often promoting their affiliate links with no mention that it is a paid ad. I thought I would share with you my top 5 best and worst airsofts in my collection which I have built for more than a decade.
The 5 Worst…
Yes, there are only 4 here… That’s because the 5th was recently sent back to the shop where I bought it, so strictly speaking it’s not in my collection anymore and that is the…
Wolverine MTW: Purchased for over £1000, having used and seen these in action, I had high hopes. Unfortunately it didn’t shoot straight. FPS was inconsistent. I took it to a game and it failed miserably. Experienced MTW users spent hours trying to figure out what was wrong with it, swapping barrels, rubbers, playing with the dwell and pressure, swapping regulators… Nothing worked. It was a lemon. Thankfully the excellent customer service at Empire Airsoft insisted I return it, since then other people have approached me that they too had a ‘lemon’ like mine. I know there are many happy MTW users out there and when they work they are arguably the most effective airsoft out of the box on the market, but I am left very disappointed with my experience.
ICS Tomahawk: New on the market this year, I loved it when it arrived. Feels amazing in the hand, well balanced and great features…
The bolt pull is smooth and is perfectly balanced in your left hand while cocking it..
It is well made, and easy to work on, but… When you open it up the nub in the hop chamber nub has movement, the triple TDC design is flawed and a flat and stable flight path is impossible to achieve. The cylinder volume is huge, but the lightweight piston is not able to make use of it and I found it impossible to lift anything heavier than .4s with it’s unusual r-hop design rubber. The company TNT have been busy making upgrade parts for it that go someway to rectifying these problems but it is still well below what we should be expecting from an airsoft bolt action in today’s market. Hopefully ICS can rectify the issues because I have a lot of love for how this bolt action feels in the hand and operates which i why it so disappointing…
Novritsch SSG96: I used this is one game, it shot ok. the flight path of the BBs was not flat but it was very usable. Like most L96 variants, it is heavy, and it feels well built however, by the end of the day, just one day of use, and the bolt had locked up.
These things can happen, I’ve not spent time opening it to find out what went wrong, so maybe it is unfair to feature it here, however… A few months after this happened Novritsch accidentally sent me another. I offered to return it but they suggested I feature it in a give away video… Nice idea. I gave it to a young player at my local site who’s father had told me he wanted to get into sniping. I recorded giving it to him, and was going to record his reaction and in game the next time I saw them… But when this happened they told me that the SSG96 had broken, was not cocking correctly and it wouldn’t shoot. Hard not to feature it here after that…
Novritsch SSG90: It’s a P90 which I have always had a fondness of. I owned the Tokyo Marui version many years ago which shot great, was very quiet, if a little under powered. I had high hopes for this, and it does shoot very well. It’s easy spring change system allowed me to set the FPS perfectly but it was infuriating to use. The mags did not feed. It was super hard to get the mags to fit in place, even with hard slaps, and when they were in place the BBs would often not load and would require the mag to be released and smacked back into place again. Then half way through the day I noticed that the butt plate had fallen off and the battery was falling out. I’ve also met another player on my local field who lost his butt plate and now tapes over the hole. If I’d spent more than £400 on it I’d probably be doing the same, but for me this gun is a fail.
Novristch SSP18 with MP5 HPA adapter: Looks cool, feels good in the hand, solid and weighty… And with it’s hpa adapter to use MP5 aeg mags this package is huge fun to shoot… Kind of.
Unfortunately the HPA adapter, which was promoted as a cheap way to convert your pistol to hpa, leaked. There was a constant hissing coming out of it when it is attached to an airline. I swapped it out for a Primary Airsoft hpa adapter and the problem was solved (buy cheap buy twice). Shooting this, when it shoots, was impressive… With the TDC outer barrel installed it was lifting .36 BBs easily and accurately out to 50–60 meters. But the problem is, and you can see it clearly in the video I used it in, BBs only come out 2 or 3 times out of every 5 shots… I tried it with a green gas mag at home and the same result. Very disappointing and not a side arm, or a primary, that I would be able to rely on.
My 5 Best…
TM MK23… I have used this for over a decade as my primary go to side arm. With Hadron upgrades installed and the right hop rubber it is capable of lifting .48 BBs easily out to 75–80 meters, silently. Our record longest recorded shot with this pistol is 87 meters at 1 joule using .5 gram BB.
The main issue with this pistol is it’s size, it’s huge and difficult to holster. But I use my KMCS Hide Holster which has solved this problem after a decade of struggle…
This thing is so good I can happily use this as my primary due to it’s accuracy, long range and silence. If I had to choose only one airsoft gun to use for the rest of time, it would be the TM MK23.
Silverback SRS… I hate this thing, I always have so why is it here and why do I use it so much?
Weird ergonomics, it is difficult to cock often punching yourself in the face when you do it. It is very poorly balanced, being back heavy it has a habit of waving about when cocking as the SRS seesaws in your hand. The mags are difficult to unload and are very large for their capacity. The butt stock has a habit of falling off it is not perfectly installed… BUT… It shoots brilliantly. Ok, it needs some upgrades and a degree of technical knowledge to tune it, but I have not even cleaned my in over 4 years!!! It has been in wet mud, bounced of trees, dropped down rocky slopes and you see how well it still shoots in so many of my videos. I believe mine is a second gen model, and arguably these are the best version… and no matter how much a hate the design features of this thing it is the bolt action I reach to when I need a reliable, silent and consistent performer.
Modify Steyr Scout
It doesn’t shoot the furthest and it is not the quietest but it is the best out of the box airsoft bolt action on the market. Drop in an H-Nub (why Modify dont preinstall this I have no idea) and it sends .48s super accurately to 80 meters. It has a little spring twang, but an easy ‘coke can’ mod can be done to stop this. It is almost always in my car as back up if I am not using it in game and is the bolt action I recommend to anybody who wants to try airsoft sniping for the first time. The only issue I have had with it is one of the folding bipod legs snapped off. I have popped it back on but it can’t be used extended any more.
Tanaka M40
The best bolt action I have ever used. It uses 10 round gas mags. The longer 30 round mags don’t work well for some reason. The FPS is a little wild, fluctuating around 15fps between shots but it doesn’t effect it’s consistency. It is a monster. Upgraded with Spartan hop chamber, an old Nine Ball rubber (no fancy flat hop) and a 6.08 pdi barrel this reaches out past 100 meters and is so accurate and flight path so flat you don’t notice that you only have 10 shots per mag. My old friend Smithy always tells people to never shoot it because once you do no other airsoft gun will feel good. And it’s silent, not a whisper.
There is nothing that comes close to it. I only bring it out on very special occasions as they are very rare and almost impossible to find in perfect condition.
Tokyo Marui AKM GBB
The latest in my collection and I am so in love with it that I rate this as the best airsoft gun i have ever used. Out of the box it is good, lifting .28s to a fair distance with unexpected consistency, and amazingly for a gas powered rifle it performs in the game at temperatures as low as 5c!! But when this thing really performs is when it is paired with an upgraded hop arm by BBF, a Maple Leaf Omega nub and a Flamingo bucking. Stick with the original 200mm inner barrel to keep the joules under 1.3 and it will send .4 BBs to 80 meters, super accurately and with an incredibly satisfying kick and noise. It is as dramatic as it performs. And when you reach the last BB in the mag there is a satisfying, and at times OMFG, dead mans click to let you know you need to change mag.
Externally the plastic wood is good but not great and I have swapped mine out for real wood for an actual AK, a railed gas tube, railed top cover and folding stock. This has become a very expensive love affair… And there is more to come in the future as I have an incredible front end to install by Angry Gun. This is a most incredible airsoft replica and possibly the finest airsoft gun on the market today…
Thanks dude! Really hope to run into you one day ✌️
As someone that’s looking to get into this sport and participate in those events or events like you do, are weapon systems listed in your top 5 favorites a good place to start or should I start elsewhere and grow into them? Also if you’d rather converse via email we can do that, I have a lot of questions.
Thank you