Why are bolt action snipers the same or higher price than AEGs?

[Omnivorous]

I've been thinking of buying a bolt action sniper for a while, but the possibility that I might not enjoy sniping in combination with the price of them has stopped me so far.

It just seems weird to me that a bolt action sniper costs $500-$600 ++ when there's no motor, no gearbox, and they are mostly polymer. Additionally, even some guns in the $500-$600 range require some upgrading. It just seems weird to me that I can get a sick full metal VFC or this basic bolt action which probably requires work.

I'm not upset about this, just curious.

[Drakker]

There's a bit of greed, some R&D costs, but mostly a lot of precision manufacturing for the few parts that actually move. You can get a cheap Well VSR10 for 130$, and it will work, but not be so accurate. Those "pre-upgraded" sniper rifles command a higher price and higher profit margin (which is usually a nice chunk of the retail price) so manufacturers and vendors spend a lot of marketing budget on convincing you that their 1000$ VSR10 clone is the best of the best. The truth is somewhere in the middle, do you really need the 150$ inner barrel and those CNC barrel stabilizers? Nope. If you build your own and select your parts carefully you can make a great sniper rifle on a budget, but you will have to build it yourself.

As an example, this is only one of hundreds of possible builds, but its what I use, so I'll describe it. Note that it was built a good many years back. I used a base Tokyo Marui VSR10 G-Spec I got for a good price, then added a PDI V-Trigger and vacuum piston and cylinder kit. I got a ThunderCactus custom made air brake that fits in the vacuum piston head. Replaced the hop-up rubber for a maple leaf, replaced the hop-up unit arm for a DangerWerx (though I would use a maple leaf today) and that's it. I tried other components and they were mostly placebo, they didn't do anything better than the stock parts. The VSR10 G-Spec brass inner barrel is great, so I didn't have to change it (though the TM VSR10 Pro come with an aluminum inner barrel that needs a lot of cleaning that isn't worth the trouble, so I would have changed it). That rifle shoots very, very well, and a lot of upgrade-kiddies don't believe me when I tell them what's in it. It was cheap to build, its durable and it's a lot of fun.

Always remember, most "upgrade" parts are not any better than stock parts, and often they are worse (I'm looking at you cheap china made inner barrels!). You need to research which parts are actually good and have a chance to improve your rifle's accuracy. Finally, for a bolt action rifle, its all about air seal. Once your air seal is perfect, and if your rifle doesn't wobble (cheap clones!), you'll have great accuracy.

[Ratters]

What you could do is invest in or build an accurate, select fire AEG where, at range you can fire full auto and suppress with effect or semi auto and snipe and when you close the distance switch to a PDW or secondary SMG to further suppress and pick off targets and up close switch to a pistol

This gives you the best of all ranges, teaches you about swapping weapons based on closing distances and makes things a bit more dialed up and progressive, aggressive, you know, the fun shite

One thing to remember is most fields will make you disable full auto if the fps is at sniper levels. You can use a velocity reducer or accept this fate and still be happy you can snap off shots as quick as you pull that trigger
but be aware of the minimal distance then switch to a secondary

The time it takes you to rack a bolt could be the time it takes to take a hit not to mention the fatigue and lactic acid build up from constantly racking a bolt action in a prone position

You might pray for an AEG at that point lol

Depending on your style of game play you can have one upper with a long inner barrel hidden in a suppressor and a gearbox with quick change spring design or a regular inner barrel for skirmish or cqb. it's versatile and doesn't hinder you to one specific play style

Or simply get them all and then crumple in a sad heap saying why have I spent so much on airsoft.....YOLO! Lol

Only my take on it, your own way to fly on the field is up to you plus I'm bored so I typed a lot