- https://akgelblaster.com/
https://www.blastermasters.co.uk/
Looking for a few people to agree on a gun for my brother to buy. He’s not happy with his sr16, we were told it’d be better than my gun (arp9 xyl) but it seems to not fire as well or as far as it was told to us as he specifically asked for best gun for range and accuracy. He paid just under £200 for his (sr16) I paid £168 for mine (arp9 xyl) although my gun has gone up too the same price now so I got a good deal. Thanks for the help :). We got our guns from the second site but these are the current sites we’ve found that delivers to uk with not too hefty shipping price.
Like a lot of the blasters coming out of China these days, the poor out of the box performance may be by design.
China changed their regs a while back, standard FPS limits dropped so it’s not unusual for some blasters that were 250+FPS prior to the change to be sitting around 150FPS. Changing out springs, o rings and sometimes ported cylinders will usually bring them back up to speed, but be aware that tearing them down to do those modifications will void any warranty.
Hard to say whether or not the blaster in question is underpowered for that reason or it has another problem like poor air seal. Most of us here in Australia are happy to void any warranty and open up a new blaster straight out of the box, because we know there’s always room for improvement… always. We’ve also built up a considerable level of expertise over the five or six years the hobby’s been popular here. But for someone new to the hobby, modding can be daunting. Gel blasters may be new to the UK but any competent airsoft tech would be fine with working on one, there aren’t a lot of differences in form.and function.
As far as buying a replacement unit, if you have access to a retailer who can let you test before you buy, the solution’s simple. If you’re relying on online buying with no way to test prior then it’s a roll of the dice. You may end up with the same result. 
Hope all that is of some help.
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I’d prefer not to open a gun up and modify as all the times I’ve done it in the past with other types of guns I end up messing it up and it not working and throwing it away.
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Of course, and that’s totally understandable. 
it’s not for everyone.
Sadly, one thing we’ve all learned from years of interest in this hobby is that no blaster is maintenance free. Even ones sitting on the wall need o ring changes occasionally or they drop FPS.
That combined with the frequent wear and breakages of internal parts means that at some point they have to be opened up and worked on. China don’t really build them to last forever so whether that’s by you or a tech is a choice you’d have to make, but if it’s any consolation this forum and Youtube is full of content that helps out if you’re not too confident. Anyone here would be happy to offer tech advice if needed. 
We all started out shaky and nervous about pulling screws but once you’ve dived into one or two you’d be suprised how easy to work on AEG blasters are.
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I’d avoid blastermasters. I ended up cancelling my order.
Bought a gun which was meant for my 12 year old nephews birthday, ended up buying him one of those cheapo’s from eBay.
They’re having some bad stock issues, what I don’t like is they say nothing about this on their site. Everything appears to be in stock but it isn’t.
2-3 week delay it said in their email, ended up being a month and still nothing.
Things may be sorted now though, I’d ask before placing an order
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Blastermasters uk site seems to have disappeared Create an Ecommerce Website and Sell Online! Ecommerce Software by Shopify (blastermasters.co.uk)
Edit: it’s back up, temporary down.
WTH they got Flo Rida cranking 
To the OP the XYL ARP 9 was hard to beat for an out the box blaster. Better ones available today though but don’t seem to be for sale in UK and they are more expensive anyway.
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I’m thinking about getting something from another site then I’ve heard azraels armoury is like the best in Australia and ships to the uk but the guys won’t get back to me on how long it will take to ship. If you guys have any recommendations on the guns from that site or another that ships to uk please say. How would a pistol compare to the arp9 xyl?
Azrael’s make some very wild blasters, but you will pay for it, probably out of budget too.
Pistols compared to XYL ARP9, well if it is an electric pistol it is trash. end of. If it is gas, the pistol is fun, but think 14 shots vs 80 shots, more time consuming to reload the mag, needs gas, and spare mags are around $80AUD vs $25AUD.
Pistols are heaps of fun imo though far less practical in a game and far more maintenance required. You will need to learn how to tear down, clean, lube and take care of a gas pistol.
That said, if I ever want to just have a plink at home, I generally go for a gas pistol as it is very satisfying. Only time I plink with an aeg is when I am checking or setting hopup to get ready for a game.
XYL ARP9 is good. Not great. The trigger unit will fail, and then you need something else in it. But apart from that they are a decent blaster.
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I like modified KELe manuals for back verandah plinking… 
Same mag capacity as a GBB, and no gas recharging. I’m a lazy bugger.
What upgrades could I do to my arp9? I’m thinking longer barrel and hop up will that be enough for casual outdoor play?
It was good when it was released. Mine is still going, New seals and that is all your honour. Same reports from alot of others. Even BS saying the drum mags are shit, absolute BS, they run fine 
I found the drums ran better than the stick mags, drums ran sweet in mine up to close to 30rps, sticks did not love it as much and only just kept up.
Same trigger units went well but certainly not all., most were trying to run 11v and bigger springs though. I felt like I replaced heaps of mosfet in them, usually with something nicer though.
Yep all I did was AG 1.18mm and O ring and happy days. Kept 2s. I dunno if it aint broke don’t fix it 