This is the most important thing you will read in your airsoft career, especially as a newb.
www.airsoftohio.com/phpBB/newbie.phpread it through a couple times.
Now, to answer your questions specifically.
First, ebb's and mini's are garbage. any springer will beat the hell out of them easily. you don't have to worry about getting that kind of crap from pretty much any springer.
If all you want or can afford is a spring rifle, and there is no possibility to save more money, then that is what it must be. The two "spring rifles" mentioned by derick do not fall under the catagory of spring rifle. They are high end sniper rifles. They will run about 300 give or take, well outside of your current budget. and if you were to spend that money towards a gun, you would not want a sniper rifle. They only slightly out perform a stock AEG and need an extra 300-500 dollars worth of upgrading to make them effective. Check with frostee, the resident sniper here to see how much he put into his rifle.
so, spring rifles now. The XM is one of the better spring rifles available. the UHC mp5 is also one of the top springers available. Neither will compare to either an aeg or gbb. They lack power, range, and ROF. you'll want to stay away from anything made by Y&P or Academy. Both companies suck...a lot, and this holds true for AEGs (and i don't think either makes gbb's, but if they do, they will suck too).
If you decide to go for a GBB, you will need a budget of about 150-200 to get a skirmish viable gbb. The KJW m9, or USP line are the only good guns taht can be had for under 100. you will then need to add in a spare mag or two (very important if it is your only gun). Then add in gas.
Gas isn't too expensive and it last quite a while. The "about 100 clips" statement is inaccurate as well as "Each charge of gas will last about two clips".
How many fills you get out of one bottle depends on a variety of things. First, the size of the bottle. green gas tends to come in larger bottles, so if you get a gun that uses green gas (taiwanese guns) then you will get more gas per bottle and that alone will alter the figure derick sighted. The temperature, gun, and your own efficieny at filling all significantly impact how many charges you get out of one can of gas.
How many mags per charge also varies greatly from gun to gun, temperature, gas type, and whether or not you get a 100% full mag. My KSC glock 19 gets over 3 mags per full charge in warm weather. i haven't had a chance to test it out in cold weather because i haven't had it long enough. It will drop significantly though, as well as in power.
go to one of the larger forums, such as
www.airsoftohio.com www.airsoftplayers.com or
www.airsoftzone.com to search for a specific gun that meets your fancy. remember to take note of brands too.
AS you've stated, you're interested in either an M9, or a pP99.
As far as M9's go, most companies make them and most are fine. TM's, KSC's, and KJW's are all good and within your price range. The KWC light weight might look like a good deal, but it's garbage, stay away from that one. if you're interested in a higher quality gun, check out the WA, but the price tag reflects the extra quality, so that's probably out for you.
AS for p99's i'm not too well acquainted with these models from the various manufacturers, so i'll link you to a good read about them.
www.airsoftohio.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=4144&forum=3look into the posts by DumboRAT. he's also the guy that wrote the Newbie FAQ that i linked you to earlier. He's knows pertty much any basic questions, and most more difficult questions.
Typically, most gbb companies don't make a heavy weight and light weight version of their guns like springer companies do. KWC does make a heavy and light weight version of a few of their guns. the light weight versions are crap, but the heavy weights tend to be decent.
KSC also makes "hardkick" versions of their guns, but i don't know what the difference is between those and the normal versions of the guns.
any skirmish viable gbb will out perform any spring rifle (not counting the high end sniper rifles) in accuracy, ROF (being as gbb's are semi automatic) and range. They are a much better option to skirmish with.
It seems as though you're probably not going to save up for an AEG, but if you do, search around on the other forums i linked you to earlier and search around. Make sure you use the search function, it's a powerful tool.
Once again, i can't stress the importance of reading that Newbie FAQ, atleast the parts on the various types of guns and bbs.
I'm not sure if he linked the gas primer in that as well, so i'll give it to you here.
www.airsoftplayers.com/forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=177again, it's written by the same guy. it will tell you everything you need to know about gasses as well as some stuff you don't care about.
jdl_9th is quite correct in his assessment of the monies needed to upgrade one of the higher end sniper rifles. Unless you are quite set upon playing a sniper role and have the patience to wait for the good shot opportunities I would highly recommend staying away from bolt action airsoft guns.
