Couldnt have been said any better.

If its your first gun just get something that works and is in the style you want. Nothing too extravagant yet unless you have money stacked 10 feet high in a 500 square foot room. Take it slow, set a budget, and look at all your options. Make sure parts are readily available if anything breaks in your gun, and further more make sure your gun is worth the money your going to pay. And in all honesty stay away from Cansoft (G&G, SRC, KJW) there is a lot better stuff coming real soon given you have the right means of aquiring it. And in all honesty man if your not 18 yet, just wait. Im in the same boat as you right now if you are under 18. Try buying a car before you buy any airsoft, cause then when you start playing you have your own ride and you have an all round purpose item now, you can go wherever whenever. Welcome to ASC too by the way :)

I completely agree. If this is your first AEG, dont scratch build it. You will run into alot of problems that will make you bang your head. Buy an entire AEG first, and gradually change the externals to your liking. I just finished reading this entire thread, and to be honest, i would never go with ACM, Dboys or Elements or JG. Once you see the quality of G&P, VFC and king arms, you will end up selling those pot metal brands. Based on my experience with external accessories, here is my order of preference. G&P > VFC > King Arms > Classic Army. Actually, G&P and VFC or a tie for me. I used to own a classic army M4 but I end up selling most of the externals because they weren't good enough for me. I ended up buying a G&P body, with G&P and VFC accessories.

Here is how it looked before:

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...Sniper30-1.jpg

And you can also see in the picture that I have a flip to side mount for my 3X magnifier. I can switch out the aimpoint and put a holo sight instead if I wanted to. The magnifer is only used to MAGNIFY your field of view of your RDS. Think of it like a magnifying glass.

Here is how a G&P metal body looks like:

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h1...t/IMG_3154.jpg
You can see the quality difference in the engravings and texture of this G&P body when compared to CA


For your rails, it best to go with G&P, VFC or madbull, those are the best ones I have seen so far. If you really want quality parts, why not just order them from overseas? Shipping is around $20 for a big package, and around $10 for a small package. Im sure you can get element, ACM, or JG from velocity arms, but i rather dish out the extra cash and buy quality parts overseas.

Thanks for all your advices. I have updated my shopping list again.

KWA M4 S-System

Hurricane 556 Replica Sight

Compact Fore Grip

Magpul CTR Stock - Black

Looking for a decent 3x magnifier. Any idea?

Looking for a good solid slip-to-side magnifier mount. Any idea? (I like yours, turok_t)

Looking for a smart charger for 11.1v mini-LiPo battery. Those that can auto stop charging when full. Any idea?

For the charger, get an IMAX B6. You can find them as low as 35$ at RC retailers like hobbyking. It will charge virtually anything.

All clones are the same for the 3x magnifier.. u can try with Huang
My Flip to side mount is made by Bomber, it has a nice CNC smooth finish.
http://www.tokyo-model.com.hk/ecshop/goods.php?id=5233