M1 Twins will SHRED EVERYONE at your rank. Get it, in a kit if you can. Don't get the stable plasma alteration, it's useless.

Same! I usually hide behind a nice, slow Titan.

I mean, if you are playing in Sandbox and you get 4th on your team... that's not very good...

Just saying, you bought all of the cheap M1s. Don't worry about using M1s though, I'm a Major and I have no M2s yet. Skill is always the solution. Use that M1 Smoky, I use M1 Smoky M1 Hunter against tons of M2s (lotsa hornets, isidas, dictators, freezes, rails, fires, thunders, ricos, twins... everything). I will admit that equipment disadvantage is taking its toll, but I can usually still manage a KD above 1.2 and a good battle score. I'm guessing you join battles where you are at the lower end of the rank bracket, if you have equipment disadvantage, don't do that. I have seen colonels, only two ranks above me and buyers without doubt, with M3 Isida M3 Hornet, and my M1 equipment just cannot compete. I usually join battles with the rank bracket extending no higher than Brigadier. Even when Major is the upper limit of the rank bracket, half of the people i fight have M2s, and the rest have M1s, meaning that I have consistent equipment disadvantage. Also, I suggest you buy the Pro Battle Pass and join battles that do not allow drugs.

Joke's on them, they are getting terrible XP/hour that way. A smart player will use it on a CP, where tanks crowd around a point, so that the splash damage destroys everyone. A close-range Magnum user is generally either a complete noob that can't aim or an experienced user that knows how to maximize effectiveness by getting up close. Either way, they are probably getting better XP/hour than they would by camping, and they are running the risk of getting assaulted by a fire/freeze/twins/rico/isida and getting screwed over.

If you have never used Magnum before, make a new account and test it out there. It will be far more pleasing to learn how to use Magnum against a bunch of noobs rather than against people with skill. If you are too lazy to do this, as I was, get on a Polygon CP match where you are at the high end of the rank bracket and bombard the point. That way, your KD will not suffer too much, and you will get some decent XP. (This actually does help your team a lot, because a well-placed shot can pretty much clear out the point when opponents are trying to cap).

Magnum is a great turret. I would much rather use Magnum than Shaft, however, if you have never used Magnum before, you should create a new account to test it. The turret description is not lying about the tough learning curve, and it will be much more pleasing to adapt to the turret against a bunch of noobs than against the skilled players you probably encounter.

I am a player who recently started using Smoky. However, I use an M1 hunter M1 smoky combo at the Major rank, so I'm starting to feel like equipment disadvantage is holding me back (I consistently see almost all of the M2 turrets, and I sometimes see an M3 isida/hornet combo). I can usually manage a D/L of 1.2-1.5, and I place at the top of the scoreboard on most games that do not allow supplies, but M2 Firebirds, Twins, and Smokys can kill me pretty easily. I have 127K crystals, and I am deciding if I should save for Northener kit, buy an M2 turret by itself, or buy the Minotaur kit instead. Can anyone offer advice?