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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.

this guy likes his helmet

Like Monty says: No need to worry - just tell them it's a toy and they'll be on their way. The worst that can happen is they get a firearms officer to confirm it's a toy.

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.

Knackered city's would be cool... Chernobyl or however you spell it would be pretty cool

Sounds like our site at Eversley (without the humidity). It was nearly 30 deg C there on Sunday and the foliage which is fern is very dense. We even have the structures.

The iranian embassy I think would be a fun one off game (not necessarily with the SAS winning!).

Surprised no has moaned about the ICS split gearbox you can swap the top part out in seconds and nobody would have a clue. Far easier than anything else.

I find he's normally wearing hi-vis orange.

I've seen that done with upgraded AEGs. People always assume that their gun is fine and anything that shoots faster or harder must be in some way "cheating". I have no issue with HPA/P* whatever as long as the user isn't a dick and that applies to EVERY gun. I get annoyed by people being completely unnecessary with ROF more than specifically what the motive power source is.

A proper tropical woodland/jungle with dense foliage leading to very CQB firefights. Also some clearings with structures in here and there to play capture/defend games. Think the jungle setting from the first predator film.

Things I wish I had known before I started or when I was new: 1. "There's a good reason why some guns are priced at £50 and others are priced over £100." Yeah that Double Eagle G36C didn't buy itself... luckily I also brought a Double Eagle M56B shotgun at the same time. 2. "Just because someone is geared up to the eyes in special forces kit doesn't mean they're actually any good." First game surrounded by blokes in real steel kit - was more than a little intimidated till I realised I was having more fun than they were. 3. "Gloves." Self explanitary really. 4. "Why didn't I find this hobby earlier?!!!" And finally... 5. "Rent guns first and THEN buy them once you have a UKARA number."

cheapo FAST type helmet rather than a pith m88 helmet you don't absolutely NEED one until you bash/scrape ya noggin then you NEEDED one !!!! yes you can get by with something like a baseball cap/beanie but believe it or not a mediocre helmet and some cheapo knee pads does help avoid a few bashsed nuts n knees (especially if scrambling about in woodland or smashing your head on a door frame in cqb) edit - bashed nuts = head btw, for the other type you need a groin box and a little "chat" with your opponent if they keep shooting your own personal bb's cheapo snidey FAST type about £30 fleabay UK selleror about £20 upwards from EU or overseas and wait a while do tend to give you that "pro" image but only if you got some other attire as well mind you for cqb at places like the Mall I don't think anything beats a guy in suit dark shades/goggles and packing 2 x pistols (either he's extreme bad-ass or just doesn't give a toss about pain when you look that feckin' hard)

If you buy one, the EmersonGear fast helms have a good rep for the most simplistic level of helmets, but they have two types, basic - interior is one lump of polystyrene(i think) padding, and no adjustment screw, and advanced, which has removable pads and a size screw, measure your head before buying! Generally they're a rip off in this country anyway, so something better might be affordable, but don't ask me what, I started my airsoft hobby copying popular youtubers - I do not regret it. Note - as you will see from other forum topics (see search) these helmets are replicas and should not be treated as an object expected to protect your head in a situation you'd expect them to, that said, tree branches door/window frames, a basic knock into a wall, and BB's they're great. Just don't go jumping off a mountain in them - probably shouldn't ride a bike either.

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.

Not to worry Ian, I'm on the path to the darkside - got myself an AK!

I wish I knew skirmishes where happening when I bought my first gun wayy back in 1998. I didn't find out about skirmishes until 2012'ish

How much it was going to cost in time and money. That some people would take it so seriously and forget its a game. How to set the hop up correctly.

Like most wish i'd had a better knowledge of brands and the differences. I did as much research as i could and didn't do too bad for first gun - ICS M4 (metal new one) still was only a few months until i bought another gun i use regularly and the ICS got put back in the box Wish i'd known my local site was shite and their shop run by a scammer (absolute airsoft) Apart from that most of it you just have to try and see for yourself, or take the time to research Perhaps that if you regularily go more than once a fortnight you end up with enough marks to looks like you got meth-rot or frequent the needle exchange

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!

I'm not going to go into the full mathematical proof & diagrams stylee an ting here (it is available in several of our threads devoted to eyepro) but you are entirely mistaken if you think that a fragment of BB which can fit through the gaps in any commercially available mesh used for eyepro can do you any harm. It basically comes down to the way BB's shatter and the way that the possible fragment shapes tessellate into a sphere. When you consider that fragments will be spinning (since Newton tells us that the angular momentum of the whole BB will be preserved in its fragments), then clearly no dimension of whatever shape of fragment can be longer than the largest hole available, which handily enough is just less than 1/2 the diameter of a BB, at 2.97mm (found in Hero Shark goggles). Since a BB cannot shatter leaving a sphere of diameter 2.97mm, the biggest shape possible is a tetrahedron and if the longest side can be 2.97mm then that takes 18 of them to make 1 BB. Each fragment therefore cannot carry more than 1/18th the energy of the whole BB, which is to ignore the energy loss absorbed by the elasticity of the mesh when hit, the same of any BB's hit by our theoretical shattering BB in a full auto stream, and the energy lost as heat and sound during the shatter - when you work out that a 500FPS 0.2g BB carries 2.32 Joules divided by 18 = 0.129 Joules you see it just doesn't matter about the complexities: the very maximum possible is so little that it can literally do bugger all to your eye. As i've said before elsewhere, I realise that this seems extremely counterintuitive... I mean sharp fragments, eyeball, must end in tears... but if you looked at the shapes of particles of dust, tiny fragments of plant material/insects, and for eg grains of builders' sharp sand, you would find equally sharp and sharper edges and points, yet the most these cause even when blown into your eye by strong wind is a mild itch which only becomes a problem if you rub your eye before rinsing said fragment/s out with clean water. From personal experience I can promise you that it is the same with shattered BB fragments - you just retire to the safe zone calling "Dead man walking!", while refraining from excessive blinking, and rinse your eye with several palmfuls of water. Obviously, just like with even the rounder, smoother grained, beach sand, if you rub your eye then you risk scratching the surface of your eyeball, which does itch/irritate like a bastard... If you're getting no problems with fogging then fine, but i've tried at least 30 different types of eyepro and i have yet to find any which do not hinder vision in some way or other, even if the lenses have exceptional optical properties, as at the very least on the biggest goggles going, the frames of which are the furthest out of potential sightlines, the point of view is narrowed, particularly down in front of you (which makes walking quietly through brush/rubble, while aiming in front of you, more difficult), but most polycarbonate lenses also cause occasional problems due to reflection and/or refraction. In my and apparently the majority of people's opinion however it is not a question of if a polycarbonate lens will either fog or rain out* but rather when. Certainly if you are very fit and do not exercise hard while wearing them, then the time it takes may be long enough to be irrelevant to most skirmish days, but even so may interfere with a full day's play during specialised days/weekenders. That said, my bet is that you have just not really sweated in them yet... (*Distortion caused by liquid sweat condensed out on anti-fog coated lenses.) In my opinion, if you can skirmish wearing a full face mesh mask without the limitations of the design, such as being unable to lift the lower half alone to eat sweets/gum and/or drink, problems when combined with helmets, visored caps, and/or comms equipment, or problems with cheek-weld/aiming over iron sights/low fitted optics, irritating you significantly, then you should stick with that alone. After considerable research into the various types of interwoven wire mesh and perforated sheet type 'mesh' it is my opinion that the type used in those fencing mask stylee full face masks provides the best tradeoff between safety, useability, optical properties, and durability: obviously they never fog/rain-out; the shadows created across your vision by the crossed wires being much closer than the focal length of typical points of view are smaller than those generated by the offset holes in any perforated sheet offerings, which translates into fewer instances of involuntary refocussing of your eyes close up, which instances ruin the optical illusion of there being nothing between your eye and your POV, plus they also 'reset the clock' on however long it takes before your brain regenerates said optical illusion again in any given environment; interwoven wire creates a higher ratio of space to metal than perforated sheet of similar strength, so there is less of a 'shades effect', which could be considered a con rather than a pro, however when you consider that said effect is caused by a physical barrier between your eye and what you are looking at, which means that more of what you are seeing is actually your brain's interpolation of what should be there compared to transparent but darkened polycarbonate lenses, and then realise that spotting well camouflaged people in foliage is all about recognising a known shape from very little, and some of it conflicting, information, then it becomes obvious that if being blinded by bright sunlight is a problem, then a visor of some sort is the answer, not reducing what you can actually see; there are meshes which provide an even greater ratio of space to metal, however the only commercially available eyepro which uses one (304 Stainless Steel 0.71mm wire #8 mesh) (made by Begadi) cannot be considered truly appropriate for airsoft since 1 burst of full auto would render them unsafe for continued use (it takes 17 hits into exactly the same spot on full auto at around 330FPS from 25mm range to get a BB through the mesh, so it is perfectly safe for any possible skirmishing hit since, even if you tried, you'd be bloody hard pressed to keep your head perfectly still while so many hits bounced off your eyepro) because they deform - this deformation rather than catastrophic failure improves the performance vs full auto BB fire since it causes BB's to get trapped in the growing dent which means that subsequent shots hit BB's not mesh, causing some to shatter, and absorbing some of their energy, however it also means that after a good burst it may only take a few, ie a likely number, of hits to cause sufficient deformation to allow penetration - that said, they are built into those ubiquitous £3-15 shades stylee frames** which are inappropriate anyway since they do not provide a seal around the eye hence a ricochet could hit the eye from behind, above, and especially below; the SS304 0.91mm wire #8 mesh these masks are made from is very durable - it takes sniper hits to cause deformation and even then it is only the likes of a single wire moved 0.3-4mm across 2 holes / 3 cross-wires ie something which could be easily repaired with needle nose pliers but would make no real difference if you just left it, because the friction between the crossed wires will prevent them moving further no matter how many site-legal hits are sustained on that exact spot subsequently. **There used to be some ACM ski mask style goggles fitted with this lighter weight mesh, but I haven't seen any for sale for about a year. I'd guess that these are marginally safer than the Begadi shades type, simply because there is more mesh so any point deformation is resisted by more wires crossed over each other around the hit area, thus providing greater friction - they also provide a seal between the frames and your face. I've skirmished a set many times and not felt the need to junk them yet despite several bursts to the face while wearing them, however I would not wear them to CQB where hits to the face are more frequent. Lol that turned into a longer waffle than i had intended, but hey ho, it's all pertinent info for noobs and also lurkers.

jeez more ukara/vcra stuff lets be real - main thing is not to be a dick with ya gun so if you paint/tape or wtf you like with it it don't matter really before anybody starts quoting friggin paragraph 6 section 7 bollox.... when you leave the site then the gun "should" be transported in a bag/box etc..... so it ain't on show - so nobody is gonna know or care really unless you you gotta a firearms ban - whoooa wrong thread soz jeez & more jeez, it is really about how you conduct yourself with your toy gun tape/paint or friggin' 2-tone - above all don't wave it about in public whatever colour it is