I want to put about $250 into a gun (before scope,batteries,etc..) and I don't know if it would be better to get a $150 gun and do a bunch of upgrades, or get closer to a $250 gun and just do smaller upgrades. Also, does it make much of a difference between v7, v2, and v2 extended gearbox? Would a long motor be beneficial?

Get a G&P, as they have perfect compression out the box and a very nice stock barrel, making you only have to worry about your bucking.

The different versions of GB are designed to fit into different formfactors to fit into different kinds of guns. I'd recommend v2 or v3 as these are the most common and have the most upgrade parts and support. v2 extended is just an extra long v2 for SR25 models, they are a good choice too, its just that there aren't many good SR25s in that price range (that I know of, and I know like 2 SR25s off the top of my head).

Hope this helped.

 

You don't buy a DMR... quite a lot of experience, time and potentially money gets you something you can legitimately call a DMR. But you can take a $200 G&P and with a few careful mods turn it into something that'll out perform most rifles on the field.
First thing you do is buy decent 0.28g BBs, ie ASG Devil. G&P barrels are fine. Clean and polish the stock one and save your money. To efficiently lift the heavier BBs you get a Modify or Prometheus soft flat hop and nub. Or have a go at modifying the stock G&P packing to a flat nub.
Good Lipo batteries, a basic Mosfet, Deans connectors and 16awg wiring make sure the motor gets the power it needs and give a bit more 'snap' to the trigger response.
Long and short motors are specific to particular gearbox configurations and don't refer to an upgrade. Before you think about changing a motor you need to be familiar with the internals of the gearbox and what it takes to adjust the angle of engagement and the shimming. Remember that an AEG is a system... Change one part and everything else will need to be optimised around it. It's not a video game where you stick an 'upgrade' part in and it magically becomes better.
Most upgrade parts are actually worse than stock stuff. Just look at the hundreds of threads that are basically, "I put a shiny part in and now my gun is rubbish. Please help..."

Not trying to sound negative, but if you want your gun to kick butt, then it's not as simple as you might think. It's actually a lot easier to become a better player, which is why kids with mega buck P* guns still get their butts handed to them on a plate by more experienced players using beat up hire guns at my local field.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and information guys, it really does help a newb like myself quite a bit with all the options out there.
M4Normie, when you say the G&P guns come already with good compression does that have anything to do with cylinder:barrel volume ratio, or is more about having a better air seal for your gearbox?
Hangtight, yea I could definitely get on board with just having a decently accurate regular rifle rather than a true "DMR." Are there any other brands other than G&P that would be pretty good after doing some minor upgrades? Also, does the inner barrel length not matter very much in this price range?

 

You don't buy a DMR...

You build it.

Hangtight's post was spot on. My biggest pet peeve is when someone takes an *insert any gun model*, slaps a cheap scope, a 2' long mock suppressor, and a 650mm inner barrel on it and calls it a "DMR". It takes away from people who legitimately tune and spend hours tweaking to get it just right. DMR is WAY over used in this sport.

Also, thank you for choosing rifle platforms when referring to a DMR. Kills me to see SMG's and carbines labeled as a designated marksmans rifle. Just nit picking, but rifle is in the acronym...

I would also recommend G&P as a base platform. I bought two M16's within the last couple of years (Colt A2 & FN A4). Both shoot very well for being stock. If you want to build a true DMR, having a platform that is TM spec will help a lot. High quality upgrade parts should fit with less hassle. The TM M14 is also a solid platform. I've seen used ones in your price range.

Barrel length isn't crucial if you are using an AEG. 300-509mm range is fine. Bore quality is more important than length. Compression generally refers to your piston o ring and cylinder. Good compression gives you a more stable FPS output and less wasted energy. Poor compression can rob you of FPS, which means you are pulling back a spring and only using some of the energy. Not good.

In the end, you can build a highly accurate platform out of almost anything. Airsoft guns operate on the same principal no mater what shape the gear box or hop up is. I would recommend something TM spec and easy to find parts for. You don't want to have to dig and find parts while you are trying to learn.

 

Thanks for the suggestions and information guys, it really does help a newb like myself quite a bit with all the options out there.
M4Normie, when you say the G&P guns come already with good compression does that have anything to do with cylinder:barrel volume ratio, or is more about having a better air seal for your gearbox?
Hangtight, yea I could definitely get on board with just having a decently accurate regular rifle rather than a true "DMR." Are there any other brands other than G&P that would be pretty good after doing some minor upgrades? Also, does the inner barrel length not matter very much in this price range?

Compression is good seal in the gearbox as you put it, and as long as you stick with the stock G&P hopup unit you'll have some good fitment between the GB and the hopup unit there. G&P guns come with full cylinder, so you will have overvoluming, which generally is fine. Balancing the cylinder to your barrel setup is only something I'd do when pretty much everything is finalised.

Inner barrel length, as mentioned before has effectively no bearing on range and accuracy.

A complete $250 parts and upgrades list would be something like this:

G&P Old Glory ($207), a Lonex 70D bucking ($4.50), flathop it, polish the stock inner barrel, grab a MOSFET ($22) and some 11.1v lipos (~$10 each at hobbyking).

Since you'll need to get into the GB to install the MOSFET you will want to reshim the GB as well and correct AOE to increase the piston life in this kind of setup. You could also upgrade the spring to your DMR limits while you're at it. You'll also want to radius they cylinder window and regrease the GB.

All told that is quite a lot of work, and I wouldn't undertake it if this is your only gun or your first gun. The modifications are very basic and well documented, but teching can be really frustrating and you've got to have a lot of time and patience (and money to replace any parts you break).

If this is your first gun, I'd start by running the GB stock, a 7.4v lipo and polishing your inner barrel and flat-hopping your stock bucking. You can start looking into other upgrades down the line when you have more experience, time and knowledge, and I wouldn't be surprised if you suddenly realise that you don't like being a DMR after all, and you'll save yourself a lot of time and money (thats assuming you aren't already a veteran DMR player lol).

 

The-End, that is good to know that I don't need a 500mm+ inner barrel. The main reason I wanted to buy a DMR was so that I could have some decent range, but it sounds like I could get away with purchasing a G&P m4 carbine and accomplish close to the same thing with enough put in to the gun. My thinking before was that having a long barrel was going to be a cheap and easy way to increase range, good thing I asked lol. So when I decide to purchase parts to upgrade, would I want to buy TM brand products, or does that mean it is higher quality out of the box if it is compatible with TM upgrades?
AnotherM4Normie, I really like your suggestion of buying a gun like the G&P old glory and then having the option to customize it in the future, there is a good chance I buy it and am perfectly happy with how well it shoots.
I have narrowed it down to three models, I was hoping someone could tell me the difference between these two G&P's:
http://www.evike.com/products/39956/
http://www.evike.com/products/62890/
The only thing I noticed was that one gearbox said it was reinforced?
This M16 is still in my budget, but would it perform any better than the first two:
http://www.evike.com/products/47924/

 

The-End, that is good to know that I don't need a 500mm+ inner barrel. The main reason I wanted to buy a DMR was so that I could have some decent range, but it sounds like I could get away with purchasing a G&P m4 carbine and accomplish close to the same thing with enough put in to the gun. My thinking before was that having a long barrel was going to be a cheap and easy way to increase range, good thing I asked lol. So when I decide to purchase parts to upgrade, would I want to buy TM brand products, or does that mean it is higher quality out of the box if it is compatible with TM upgrades?
AnotherM4Normie, I really like your suggestion of buying a gun like the G&P old glory and then having the option to customize it in the future, there is a good chance I buy it and am perfectly happy with how well it shoots.
I have narrowed it down to three models, I was hoping someone could tell me the difference between these two G&P's:
http://www.evike.com/products/39956/
http://www.evike.com/products/62890/
The only thing I noticed was that one gearbox said it was reinforced?
This M16 is still in my budget, but would it perform any better than the first two:
http://www.evike.com/products/47924/

TM compatibility is definitely desirable, but that doesn't mean that you want to go and buy TM parts as upgrade parts. TM compatibility is the closest thing airsoft has to a standard, and it will generally mean that you can throw aftermarket upgrade parts in the gun no problem. TM, however, is not a good upgrade brand.

The two M4 length G&Ps are exactly the same, except the old glory costs $10 more, has an ambidextrous mag catch and has a way better-looking receiver. The old glory will also have better resale value should you need it. The extra $10 is well worth it in my opinion.

The longer M16A3 will not perform any better. It'll just be heavier and longer than necessary and really just get in your way and be cumbersome while playing.

It sounds like this is your first gun, in which case I'd recommend you pick up the old glory, a bag of bbs, a 7.4v lipo, a smart charger and some eyepro, go out and shoot plastic. Once you better understand what you want from your gun (and your wallet has recovered), you can decide on what customizations and upgrades you want to do.

 

Thanks so much for all of your help! Tomorrow I'm going to visit a store and hopefully they have that model in stock, if not I'll just order from evike. On top of the things you listed I really do want to get a metal rail system for the gun, any suggestions on what type/where to buy a good rail?

 

Thanks so much for all of your help! Tomorrow I'm going to visit a store and hopefully they have that model in stock, if not I'll just order from evike. On top of the things you listed I really do want to get a metal rail system for the gun, any suggestions on what type/where to buy a good rail?

You can get a good rail from almost anywhere. G&P makes some really nice rails, and I really like Dytac rails as well. The problem is that metal rails can be kinda expensive, and you get what you pay for.

 

Look for something with a barrel length of around 360mm,as that'll give you about the ideal cylinder /barrel volume ratio for 0.28g BBs with a full cylinder. If you want to make it look more DMR then later on you can fit a longer outer barrel and rail, or a mock suppressor that fits inside a longer rail.
The G&P Daniel Defense rail is nice, but if you want to save cash, take a look on Dhgate.com. I've had a few rails off various suppliers and they've all been OK. Some have been excellent.
Beware of hanging too much stuff off the rail system. My son did just that and by lunchtime on his first game with the gun he was taking it all off again! It was just getting in the way and weighing him down.

 

You can also check out ZCI rails on Brill Armory.

 

take a look on Dhgate.com

Had a quick look for myself. Very impressed. Dhgate.com looks like another version of aliexpress or taobao (you need to speak mandarin to effectively use taobao, but you can get some silly stuff and a lot of convincing fake designer gear, if thats what you're into - im not).

Here are two cool looking ones:
http://www.dhgate.com/product/sinai...airsoft-bd-sai-style-picatinny-rails-14/394077465.html#s1-0-1b;searl|2316419912

http://www.dhgate.com/product/sinai...irsoft-5-56-m-lok-free-float-ultra-slim/392086951.html#s1-1-1b;searl|2316419912

I love M-Lok.