Warrior vs. UTG

[Rainbow6]

I have been playing airsoft for about two years now and I'm wanting to get into sniping. I've heard many good things about both the Warrior 1 and the UTG L96 AWP sniper rifles. Which, in your opinion/experience, is better? Are both easy to upgrade, and what upgrades should I do?

[vulrath]

They're the same gun. WELL makes the Warrior 1, and UTG buys them in bulk, repackages them, and resells them as their own product. If you're planning on upgrading, either one will treat you right.

I'd start the upgrade process by getting a PDI hop chamber and a good inner barrel (Edgi, PDI, and Prometheus are all considered "good"), and a Guarder black bucking (cheap, plentiful, and effective - it's what I've been running for 2 years). THen, I'd get a Laylax Tri-Element piston, either a Laylax or Guarder piston head, a Laylax spring of your choice (I'd go with either a 170 (~500 FP) or 190 (~550) spring, depending on your field's limits), and a Laylax piston head. Top it all off with a good scope, and you're set (Leapers is a good choice). Buy the stuff over the course of a year or so, and you should be able to pull it off quite nicely. Grand total should be around $500-600.

[xandman]

Just my 2 cents, unless you can blow the better part of a grand dont get in to sniping. In both stores I have worked at I have seen tons of people who are enthralled with the idea of sniping and they will go with a lower end gun like a WELL,BE,UTG ect (not trying to be mean but it is lower end seeing how l96s from other companies are 3 times the cost) and they expect for that gun to be the "end all, be all" of rifles seeing how they believe everything that airsofgi or any other airsoft store says about them and on a good day a stock echo 1 will out do it in range and overall accuracy. I have dumped a grand in to a sniper rifle and it still wasnt as good as I wanted it, I would recommend buying a good AEG like a M14 or full size M16 and turning it in to a DMR.

The bare minimum of what you will need to make a bolt action sniper.(stock these guns arnt that good)
L96-150
zero trigger-173
neo piston-40
cilynder- 50
cilynder head-35
spring guide-30
pdi hop chamber-70
barrel- 60
spring-15

TOTAL-600+

[Rainbow6]

I am going over to Parafrog today to get their opinion as well. I know what I'm getting into, I've looked at it for awhile, and I know that the guns I'm looking at right now aren't the best, but this is something I want to do. Besides, if all else fails, I have my G&P M16 RAS that I can sink the money in to make a DMR. On another note: I hate Airsoft GI, I've seen my friend buy too many guns there and have to return all of them .

[vulrath]

xandman, the Maruzen may cost 3x as much as a Warrior or a UTG, but they still upgrade exactly the same, and perform the same after the upgrades (Sniper actually used Warrior parts in his L96 as replacements when something broke like the stock or the trigger box until he could replace them with). I'm not counting the TM L96 in this part of the discussion because it's a completely different system.

With a fully-upgraded sniper rifle, all you get from using a higher-quality base gun is externals that are a bit nicer (I can back this up; I have a Maruzen upper on my UTG L96, and have handled both the Maruzen and UTG rifles more than once, and there are no trademarks worthy of note on the Maruzen except for a serial number that while cool, is not worth the extra $200). I even acknowledge this with my own (beloved) TM VSR-10 GSPEC (I'll admit, the main reason why I bought the TM is because I found someone selling a stock rifle with a working silencer for a great price, and the JG BAR is near-non-existent these days). So, if you're just going to be using the externals, I ask the question that's been asked dozens of times but never answered as adequately as I'd like: Why not skimp on externals and thus ensure that the internals are truly great?

[-EAF-]

[Sniper]

I had the Maruzen L96 and put well over a grand into it. I'd recommend going the UTG/Warrior1 way because you will save a little money in the long run, AND you'll have a stronger body. Yes, the clone bodies are stronger than the Maruzen bodies. Tested and dealt with that myself.

That being said, if you have the willingness and the money, I say do it. I was accurately shooting 100 yards (even a bit farther in some cases) when it worked right. I wouldn't recommend the PDI hopup anymore though, because it just isn't made too well. Get the guarder one (I think it's guarder...) It's a better hopup unit all-round.

[vulrath]

Sniper, are you thinking of the Laylax Aero Chamber? I don't think Guarder makes one.

[Rainbow6]

I had to drop my M16 off over at Parafrog to get the fire selector tightened, so while it was there, I had them put a m150 and about $200 worth of internals in it. I've been meaning to do this for awhile aways. Who knows, if I decide that I like using my M16 as a DMR, when I sell my Echo 614 (having a guy look at it tomorrow) I'll use the money to pay for a Wells Warrior 1 L96 instead of buying the 3-shot burst unit for my M16. I used my friends bolt action today and I really liked it, so I'll most likely end up buying a L96.

[amdsoccer94]

im selling my UTG L96 just in case you were interested. just thought id throw that in there...

[Dannick]

What's with the necros?

Also, that's what the For Sale section is for, not the Discussion forums.

[DRAGON64]

WELL has improved their L96 by making a version with the folding stock and fluted barrel...

http://www.airsplat.com/Items/AR-WELL-MB08-BK.htm

Video of an upgraded version shooting...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMzashw0hwU

I'm tempted, but must resist...

[NOWWHATSUCCER?]

UTG shadow ops. Don't upgrade it untill it is time to get a new spring.