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So, I’ve just read this online and I have to say a lot of what’s been said I agree with. Here’s what I am talking about. Have a read. HPA rifle hate? I guarantee it’s not why you think So Polarstars have been around a while now. To begin with, there was a mass outrage about them, that I really didn't understand. Having been an airsofter, and a field owner for quite some time now, I’ve been through many of these hatred phases. First it was Systema’s, and how people where supposedly changing out cylinders mid-game and shooting hot. Shortly after this, there was the the LiPo haters, saying that people with LiPo’s had crazy ROF, yet they do nothing more than a well upgraded AEG will do with any regular battery. Alongside the LiPo’s were people hating on people using box magazines on M4’s (this one I agreed with) especially if they combined this with a LiPo , and the list goes on.. ... for a while people hated KWA AEG's because they all shot hot out of the box... ...there have been many things hated on in the airsoft community, but once Polarstars were introduced, we really had an ABSOLUTE WHINE-FEST on our hands. Some parks banned them completely, some put them in their own group away from others, other parks introduced guidelines such as ROF caps, that applied to everyone, in a hope to play fair. With Polarstars, the complaints seem to be that players believed that polarstar users were changing their FPS after chronoing (something we have NEVER caught anyone doing), or changing the ROF after chronoing (which we caught only ONE person doing ever). Fundamentally though, there is one thing that overrules any of these complaints, and that is that a rifle is an inanimate object, incapable of doing anything without the user doing it. Basically, it’s NEVER the rifle’s fault, always the player that did something wrong. Knowing human nature, there’s only ever a rare few people that ACTUALLY do the things they’re being accused of. Most people do play fairly. So why does everyone hate Polarstars? I’ve gotta admit, for the longest time, I was stumped, too. Until recently, I made an interesting discovery… ...we were short staffed at the park one day, and so I was chronoing some players. As I was chronoing these players, I was astonished by just how many guns were firing like absolute crap. I chronoed around 50 rifles that day, and almost all of them were shooting around 310fps. Here’s how it broke down; Out of the 50 rifles I chrono’d; · 3 rifles shot 270-300fps · 33 rifles shot 300-330fps · 8 rifles shot 340-360fps · 5 rifles shot 360-400fps · 1 rifle shot over 400fps (did not pass chrono) Even just a few years ago, if you chrono’ed people at around 330fps or below, the player would be shocked, and make some comment about getting his rifle serviced, as it wasn’t shooting right. They'd be heading to the store THAT day to get their rifle looked at! I was amazed as player-after-player handed me their rifles to chrono (some were even brand new rifles) and either didn’t pay attention to the chrono, or made no comment when they shot 310fps or so. So, what does this have to do with polarstars, you ask? EVERYTHING. The players in the higher end of the FPS spectrum were mostly Polarstar users. There was only 1 AEG at the park that day that had a respectable fps of 385fps. Everyone else was shooting WAY low. So why does everyone claim that polarstar users are ‘shooting hot’? It’s real simple. The reason everyone believes polarstar users are shooting hot, is because the majority of players’ rifles at Jericho Airsoft are shooting too LOW!! When you get hit by a .28g that was shot from a polarstar chrono’d at 385-390fps, and it feels like it hits you harder, it’s because it IS HITTING YOU HARDER, yet still WELL WITHIN our chrono limits. Why do people hate polarstars? Mostly because they’re used to being hit softly by weaker shooting rifles. Isn’t it also funny that the players complaining about polarstars shooting hot, are also the same players complaining about people cheating at OVER 100ft AWAY??? Also the same players complaining about the guy in the bush not calling it? This also explains why everyone was yelling ‘OW!’, when I shot them with my AEG shooting 385fps. So let’s wrap this up really quickly and explain what’s happening here. Most airsofters today, seem to go out and buy a rifle, and instead of upgrading the internals to shoot well, and keep maintaining that rifle, they don't. Instead they buy a helmet, a scope, or some other kind of accessory. Most of them have a full loadout, all the gear, yet don’t even own a full uniform. A lot of these players have over $800 dollars worth of equipment, yet only a $200.00 rifle, and complain that a uniform is too expensive to buy (you can buy a uniform top for the same price as a t-shirt). These players maintain their rifles, and therefore the rifle’s fps drops down by at least 50fps, and doesn't get maintained. Often these players will spend $200.00 on external upgrades such as a rail system and a silencer making their gun look cool, but it shoots terribly. I would personally rather have a gun that looks absolutely out-of-the-box-stock, but shoots beautifully, is accurate as hell, at around 385fps. So, what should you all do? Follow my rule of thumb here; Whatever the chrono limit is, aim to get your rifle shooting CONSISTENTLY 15fps lower than the limit. OUTDOORS: 400fps limit = aim for 385fps INDOORS: 350fps limit = aim for 335fps By consistently, I mean that your rifle should not vary by more than 2-3 fps +/-. This allows for any discrepancies, or any days where your gun shoots hot. At 15fps under, it should never shoot over. At lower than 350fps, bbs will NEVER break through bushes or brush. I guarantee if most players maintained and upgraded their rifles even slightly, to shoot within a reasonable FPS, the complaints about Polarstars would disappear. The playing field would be equal, because everyone would be shooting to their airsoft rifle's full potential. So there you have it, it’s not the Polarstars, nor is it the players shooting them, it’s actually the poor performance of people that neglect their rifles that have caused the misunderstanding, because everyone's used to being hit SOFTLY BY THEIR GUNS.

Got a little busy this afternoon with my Firehawk and SAS-12. I've always liked the whole "post apoc" and battered feeling! I'm looking to add a few bits, maybe some rope/tape. Maybe give them a steampunk feel! I've only ever painted a one coat on RiF's... Thought I'd get the paint brush and sponge out and paint away! Also have this "post apoc" looking chair in the garden so thought I'd use that to stage them on (Sorry for photo spam and bad quality!) You can't see it clearly but on this side, on the red dot I have stenciled "Antt570"

The town set for Defiance.

My biggest complaint with them has nothing to do with how they fire, just the bloody tanks (He says after having to convert a certain new acquisition to HPA to not use £20 of propane a day)

Have you tried an action man??.....

Answer on the back of a post card to ....... (Apologies to anyone under 25 who wont know what a post card is or what the hell am on about)

I wish id had the confidence to tell my friends and family that i wanted to run around with toy guns years ago. as it goes my mrs though it was paintball for the first few games, I didnt tell her its bb guns until id got a ukara. I showed her a YouTube vid of a us milsim event, first thing she says.... "Are these adults?" Yes love, "what... Like grown up adults?" yes love.

So I've been the travelling airsoft guy for a few months now and had a great time. I have noticed one key thing..... Marshals can make or break a day. I have been to a few sites where the marshals were professional and calm let the day flow freely. Sadly at some sites I have witnessed what can only be described as egotistical show offs acting as if they a special forces and you are plebs...who happen to pay for that privilege. I like many others airsoft for fun and maybe a bit long in tooth for that crap! I would be interested in you guys opinions on it?

You like his helmet.

I imagine those new we "eagle" speedloaders would be getting used more than usual

I'm yet to overhear anyone at a game complain about any particular system, but I think the environment here is a bit different to the US and 98% of people use G&G AEGs anyway. As long as your gun is within the appropriate energy limit then I do not care what it is at all, neither should anyone else. If you're using any HPA or gas-in-mag weapon and are planning to run a BB with more mass you need to take it upon yourself to chrono using that specific BB and calculate your own muzzle energy. If it's within the same Joule limits as a 0.2 at 350 then crack on.

errrrr -556 holo sight -1" raiser -grip pod -ra tech npas -silencer -2 bags of gunfire platinum rockets 0.4g -2 bags of gunfire platinum rockets 0.43g -army VSR hop chamber -3off tm vsr mags -extended mag release for VSR -weapon mountable laser range finder -guerrilla myth 68ci 3k pro tank -guerrilla myth 13ci 3k pro tank -ninja LPR with 42" line -scuba filling rig -polarstar JACK so much for my "i dont think i am going to buy anything airsoft for the next week or so"

Quitting or not i can still post in the forum, that's completely irrelevant isn't it. if you have something to say to me then bring it to PM rather than trying to be cocky. if you don't like it DON'T READ IT.

Any airport of decent size really, with a Jumbo jet thrown into the mix for the real CQB experience.

My home town, home advantage for the win...

I believe this is related to the heavier BBs spending more time in the barrel, so you can set the air volume up to accelerate them rapidly (and for longer), but when you put a .20g BB in, it leaves the barrel so fast that the over volume is not noticed? The net result is HPA guns should be chrono'd both on 0.2g and on the player's intended weight?

I used to wear a baseball cap but recently switched to an FMA FAST PJ style helmet. Playing a lot of CQB I was getting pissed off with welts on my forehead so it's been a good investment from that point of view. Having seen both in the flesh I would suggest an FMA one over an Emerson though. Plus all the helmet accessories (mounts, clips rails etc) are much better finished from FMA than Emerson too.

So, that's the Eden Project then? (imagine the plant damage :/ )

London Underground... with use of the trains too!

Another mistake...... Having a small skull means things like face masks do not fit very well should have tried one on first, might have to buy a kids version of the half mask and possibly a kids tactical helmet ....... small brain big....

Blue Peter badges at the ready!

A man who has made no mistakes has done nothing in his life.

This forum doesn't have the bandwidth for me to even start listing all my mistakes that I'm STILL making BUT the main mistake I think was why the hell didn't I get into this much much sooner ? (say 5+ years ago and I might not be quite so crap at it - well that is just a theory but I'd still be $hite no doubt)

The biggest mistake i made was buying shed loads of gear i didnt need, then trying to run around in it. Im all about the lightweight and practical now.

Magnified sights are for snipers and posers. Red dot sights don't always turn themselves off when you put your gun away. Red dot sights will sometimes turn themselves off just before you REALLY need to aim at something. Some people have no sense of fun.

Where would you play if you where granted access to anywhere for the day? I fancy having a skermish at Camelot theme now that it's abandoned.

Yea but not with a bb.

Yeah your right it’s hard trying to quit something you love doing. The only reason this whole thread went up is from a PM I received last night about my SMP. Then I saw that thing about why people hate HPA and thought it would be good to post and see. I have mine set at 25Rps as most PTW’s do that or some AEG’s do roughly 20Rps. 25Rps is reasonable I think and I only ever use full auto for those players that don’t take there hits….. if you have 25rps coming at you, you’ll take it. I see on the HPA pages all the time people with their ROF set outrageously high and myself being a HPA owner it pisses me off because I bet those with ROF that high wouldn’t want to be shot with it themselves so why shoot someone else with that kind of ROF.

I own some HPA stuff now, but I must say the level of dickishness amongst HPA owners seems to be notably higher than your average player. I realise a lot of them tend to be the older players who've been playing for years and this may be why they notice the bad stuff more easily, but they do complain a lot on sites about people not taking their hits I feel. Also, 35rps+ is always going to make one a target for criticism. One needs to be aware that they're going to be scrutinised a lot more when playing and just be extra sure not to be a knob. HPA is brilliant, but some of the people who use it aren't so much.

Only reason to hate HPA or any other type of airsoft gun is if your a whiny knob cheese and you got owned by someone using one. Bitches be jelly. As long as it passes chrono then who cares, doesn't matter if it might get a few more FPS from joule-creep or similar, there's plenty DMR and sniper out there doing leagues higher. Everyone seems to try use as heavy ammo as their gun will lift these days anyways and the heavier ammo is only reason something will hurt more. HPA lift heavier easier. If pains the issue people should bitch that everyone should be forced to use 0.2g instead, why limit the argument to HPA? HPA might have potential for silly ROF but AEG's can do a ROF silly enough to make no comparative difference. None of this stuff will make a significant difference to you getting shot or not, that's down to your actions and the other guy behind the trigger, so def agree with it not being the guns fault in the OP. People seem to take good care of their guns in UK, so all that OP talk of 'it's cos your guns poorly maintained and dropped 50fps' seems irrelevant. People pay attention to chrono's here, and if anyone finds their guns dropped they'll get right on it, sending it to a tech if they don't know themselves. Haven't seen a HPA setup last a whole day skirmishing yet, so even if you hate them just wait for the guys gun to break half way through the day and then get your revenge when he's reduced to using a 30rd semi pistol. But anyways, why do you care, thought you were quitting, something that def needs to be announced, again and again... Yawn, you aint going anywhere addict, here's a few bb's to stop you clucking

yeah you can buy a manual pump to fill HPA bottles. whilst cheaper it takes a lot longer and if the pump over heats you've got to wait for AGES for it to cool down

Has anyone else noticed that it's always the bloke at the back, dressed like a bomb disposal expert that is shouting "push up"

ahh ok. There are a lot of people against HPA, but at the post mentioned......people hated PTW's, LiPo's etc. Everyone will stop complaining when they become cheap enough for general purchase. Still debating on what to get myself

And use of a Minigun of course. . . :-)

Buckingham palace Houses of parliament Bull ring shopping centre

yeah i know what you mean..... i am however looking to get some 'clothing' only from abroad then hopefully i will stop...for a while....children and wife do help as they need to be fed and watered!

It is a tempting Aladdin's cave when you realise how big and varied the world of shopping online for airsoft kit is. Which is why I have removed the eBay and Amazon App's from my phone.

If you are shooting at someone and they aren't taking the "hits"(especially 35/40+ metres) it's likely they are dispersing around them, you are out of range or you are a bad shot. Even if you know someone is not taking their hits because you can see them bouncing off the player resist the urge to shout "take your hits!" - This is something that wasn't covered until I think the 3rd game I played to be fair. Now if it's at close range(i.e. indoor voice range) I'll politely say to the player that I have seen my shots hit them, or I will mention it to a marshal. I learnt fairly quickly that calmly explaining to a marshal that you suspect a player wasn't taking their hits holds more weigh than essentially moaning about someone being a cheat. Likewise I have had people shout at me for not taking hits when the sound is BBs hitting a material neither my gear nor my body is made out of , when I did actually get shot out I will mention to a marshal on the way to back to regen that I've been called for "not taking hits". Bring as many spares as you can. Whether that's clothing, BBs, batteries or guns, if something you need fails you could be going home before lunch.

I wish I knew what a kn*b I would sound every time I eplained what Airsoft was. Trying desperately to convince people it's not nerf! And ending up havin to say " it's like paintball but more tactical " I would like it however if someone could change the name of our sport to somthin more masculin. Maybe a good start of a topic.

As far as what scope "looks right" on the M14 - it's been in active service for so long pretty much every scope known to man will have been mounted at some point or other! You want an ACOG, you fit an ACOG!

I had a mount on mine which wasn't a G&G mount. I bought it second hand so I'm not entirely sure of brand but I believe it was CYMA? As to the ACOG, the Yanks have used them on m14's in the GWOT. Looks good.

Yeah the "Why didn't I do this sooner" haunts me, I guess I just didn't know about it. It also surprised me how honest people are when playing, I was expecting cheating left right and centre.

Can't give a lot of advice without knowing budget.

Common newbie mistake for me. Bought a chest rig and its too much so that will be sold and a molle with just enough mag pouches, bb holder and water holder. Lucky for me you lot have helped me research about other gear and all I need is my defense and I will be set up till the 'SHINEY' bug kicks in lol.

They don't work amazingly well - I've owned one. I bought a huge pack of hand warmers and just put one of those in for the morning and one in the afternoon - they last about 4-5 hours each. The reusable ones only last about 2 hours and are naff.

I can't see why either mate! Add some glitter to that gun and your loadout would be faaaaabulous!

You're right. VCRA only covers the selling and manufacturing of RIFs, not ownership. You still need a valid defence to remove the 2-tone, and so that's why tape should be replaced when leaving a site really. However, let's not forget that playing at that site is a valid defence in its own right, regardless of UKARA or site membership. Frankly, it's all a bit of a mess.

Dont waste your money

High quality mesh is perfectly fine and thousands of people use it without issue; have been for years and years. If you skimp on the most important bit of your loadout and opt for super cheap eye pro you roll the dice on your eyesight, simple as. Whether it's really cheap mesh or really cheap plastic, if the quality is extremely low there's a good chance shots could get through (from any muzzle energy gun at any range).