[L473ncy]

I'm a student as well and the only words of advice I can offer you are to save up your money and not blow it at the pub/bar/club (I have an advantage here cause I'm Asian) or spend it on girls (unless she's "the one" in which case try to keep her).

At minimum $400 should be what you're looking to spend (yes that's almost a months worth of rent...) and with that you'll get a used gun with battery, and maybe a cheapo scope.

Otherwise if you want NIB, for $450 you can get something decent with a battery, wallcharger (which goes where it should.... in the garbage), and a hi-cap among other things like manual and such.

After that $30-40 or so for 4-5 cheapo mags (STAR or Magpul Green Label (which STAR is the OEM manufacturer)), get mid caps (68 round) they're probably the most versatile ones.

Heres a breakdown of what I've spent so far:

$450 gun
~$65 mags (5x 30 round low caps and 5x 68 round mid caps)
~$80 vest
$60 on my BDU's (German Flecktarn)
~$50-60 on BB's (I still have 2 bags of 3000 rounds left to go through)

I have my own hiking boots that I use and some people may look down upon you but they have the same ankle/roll protection as military boots, they're just hiking boots. I spent ~$90+tax for my boots (on sale) from Coast Mountain or some other outdoor store. I have used them for practically everything though (hiking, outdoor work, airsoft, when it's snowy/icy outside) so that was money well spent.

Not really related however I have also bought a shemagh for airsoft and to protect my face from the wind (it's really windy here.... like REALLY windy and my skin is already kind of dry so it makes it worse).

I don't know about you but I have almost no money after buying those stupid textbooks that are required for my courses but anyways wait until you have a lot of money and buy things all at once rather than "piecemealing" it. Sellers are usually willing to give you better prices if you buy a lot of their stuff at once (ie. if they have multiple threads full of stuff they're trying to sell and you buy their gun, mags, and other random accessories they may give you free shipping or give you a small discount.

Also, for you it depends on what you like and think looks badass keeping in mind the suitability of the gun. Maybe a full size M16 is great for you but it's not too great for CQB or alternatively you like the MP7 which is great but not too great for outdoors in a full size field. Anyways you're probably smart enough to figure it out. If there's something you like except it's too big or small think about variants. You might like the M16 but can't get one so maybe an M4. Or you may like the full size G36 but maybe settle for a G36K ("kurz" or "short" which is in the middle of the full size and compact) or G36C variant (which is the smallest one).