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Chasing that new toy? Need a new plate carrier for an “impression”, want to be adorned in the latest forward observations group drip? It happens to us all, we get lost down the rabbit hole, looking for that perfect load out, that ultimate “thing” that will make us the envy of Instagram / insert site name here…it costs time, it costs money…it can cost a lot more. If you’re struggling, talk to somebody…today I nearly lost a friend who is thousands upon thousands of pounds in debt, all from trying to impress everybody else. Is everybody doing ok? Vent here if you need, just remember it’s a game, don’t sink yourself financially trying to keep up, I’m guilty of it and I imagine there are quite a few others here too.

This. 7 Years ago - when I finally realised that I was in real trouble - I was £23k in debt with Credit Cards. Luckily I was (just about) paying the minimum payment on time (so no late payments or defaults), but those minimum payments were skyrocketing, interest free offers were ending, and I was struggling. Thing is - my Wife had no idea I was in debt. It was when she found out that I had to confront the issue and acknowledge what an idiot I had been - all to buy the shiny newest thing and get the dopamine hit of receiving parcels in the post. I was deeply unhappy with my job which compounded the issue as I would sit at work browsing for stuff to buy rather than...y'know...working. It was all the more galling that I had literally nothing to show for it - I would buy stuff then sell it before I even used it (that includes Paintball and Airsoft gear). The proceeds of the sales would just get frittered away on more random and pointless crap - and never to tackle the Credit Card debt that was steadily accruing. I was very lucky. My Wife didn't divorce me (but it was close) - I don't know where I would be today if she had. I was able to change jobs and dramatically increase my income. Every spare penny went into repaying the debt - and it took 5 years - but for the last 2 years I have not owed a penny to anyone and I am determined to keep it that way. It can be done - I would also suggest taking a look at the 'Debt Free Wannabe' section of the Money Saving Expert forums, it helped us to identify the best course of action for the circumstances I landed myself (and family) in.

I always remember what my dad told me "If it has tits, wheels, or a hop unit, you can't afford it, son." Yes, dopamine farming on social media is addictive as hell, and deliberately so. Billions have been spent to make it that way. All the best to your mate, I hope he digs himself out of that hole. Eyepro, boots and one gun is all you need to keep to have a great day.

If you're in debt, help is out there and it can get better. I was around £16k in credit card debt, had some ccjs and was very lucky to have some support from family and a debt management company/charity and managed to get out of that hole, even with help it wasn't easy but the journey of being out of debt made my day to day life better than when I was burying my head in the sand/being in a destructive mindset(more disposable income and better quality of life). Saw some dark days etc. Now I'm debt free, bought a house and just recently got my credit score back to perfect. But my point is there is help out there, for everyone, if you're in a dark place it can get better, there are people and charities that can help, just reach out. There's hope.

Hope your friend pulls through his situation dude. Financial awareness is something that is severely lacking from our education system, coupled with susceptibility to peer pressure and you have a very dangerous concoction. Thankfully for us we have reached peaked space constraints now, so no more pews after this evenings' acquisition. Now I just wish my customers would collectively pay the tens of thousands I'm owed so I can pay everyone else LOL. This game is a good release for both me and the boy from the day to day grind, and I hope it remains thus for everyone else. As you say, it's only a game, do no more than you need to have fun playing it; and balls to everyone else who try to make it otherwise.

Yeah, I'll give it a clean tonight when I put it all together. I'd been really impressed with it in the garden but that might in part have been the high FPS. All part of the fun of owning your own I suppose.

IF it were me, I would shove a V6 in it. You should have enough room and this allows you to use the standard P90 hop unit which will save you a lot of time and hassle trying to get a 3D printed unit to work. My version of we have Bren Gun at home...

Social media is cancer. People try to outdo each other when in reality "everyone" has the same grey and boring life. Airsoft is quite unique regarding spending money because it's not difficult to see how deep that rabbit hole goes. It's crazy how easy to get addicted to get more guns when you don't need them actually but you can always find an excuse for yourself. 🤔

I've just checked my home insurance policy, and apparently if my duvet is stolen in the middle of the night, l'm not covered.☹️

I hate one points. And those molle connecting ones are even worse because the weight on your rig becomes so lopsided. Get a two point. I have a viper VX sling with some amazon bought QD mounts (or I did until one QD point on my gun fell out, and the other rusted over due to my own negligence). It's just straps on the end so you can attach whatever mounting system you want, or just wrap it around the gun. But I don't think magpuls or other "real" gun slings are much more expensive.

Before the forces of righteous freedom became enamoured of MOLLE, they’d had a long standing flirtation with her older sister ALICE. Don’t get me wrong. Molle is reliable, strong, solid and generally stays put on her own. All great things in a soldier. Alice well, bit more of a wild child. Where Molle arrives to the party on time, Alice is late; drinks all the booze; sleeps with the band and legs it with all the weed. Alice can only be tamed with a good supply of paracord and cable ties. She’s just built different. This isn’t to say MOLLE and ALICE can’t work together. Alice used 2” webbing so quite a few molle pouches will fit and there are adaptors. Malice clips also work well.

Since im now reasonably competent at 3d modeling and printing I was planning to have a go at making a bren machine gun kit. Im finding plenty of blueprints but not many with measurements. If someone has a link to a more comprehensive set of measurements it would be appreciated. Also I have a couple of options with this and wanted to get some opinions. 1 do I make the pistol grip dimensionally accurate and shove an m14 or p90 gearbox in it 2 make the pistol grip a bit chunky and use as many standard v3 parts as possible. Either way im planning to make a 3d printable mag casing that can just have an ak midcap hidden inside and ill probably have to come up with my own hop unit. That is probably gonna be one of the more difficult things to get working.

Most sites around the country are woodland Back in the olden days there were ‘off world’ games going on trespassing in genuine disused buildings, but illegal and dangerous. You don’t need to these days As the emergency chimp says you can now legally play in both ex MoD sites and current MoD sites - it’s definitely much better to play in a current MoD training area with the facilities actually in use Current sites are leased by game organisers (at some expense!) and can get canceled / rescheduled if training needs change Airsoft has had ‘easier’ access to MoD sites as BBs can be swept up, in paintball it pretty much began with Swynnerton with the organisers paying for the additional time before and after for set up and clean up, but more sites became available when clear paintballs could be manufactured and there was a surge. With events in Afghanistan their were a few cancelled games and the novelty wore off a little There remain a couple of organisers still doing the odd MoD site paintball games Former sites are easier as a site can be established with regular games, and these last until the development market hits the right time for that location This gave us the Mall in Reading until it was developed and they have since taken on an alternative site Long standing players will say how much better it was, but these alternative locations do come and go, you just need to keep your eye open in the forums and be prepared to do some travel for the right game

Yes it is just a strange dress up fetish…. There are some very good things currently. I have a couple of nice special rifs. But I skirmish with a couple of inexpensive “starter” ones quite effectively. Some excellent kit from what we’re once knock off manufactuers. But then again that’s how Eagle Industries started, they were a sideline for a boat canopy maker. When I started airsoft was by default “milsim”. All the kit surplus no real option. Many of the players were ex-paintball and wanted something that wasn’t. Less competitive and day glow. The speed soft does remind me somewhat of paintball back in the day.

the barrel nut is most likely aluminium which are subject to getting munched up. I do think it's milspec indeed: https://www.reddit.com/r/airsoft/comments/4jdldi/tipmann_barrel_nut_thread_size/ I'll dig out and test the NSR one I have.

IIFS basic set up of vest, dressing pouch, belt, 2x canteen pouches and the field training pack. It’s actually a fairly comfortable set up. The IIFS version field training pack/butt pack is slightly different to the M1956 and ALICE models. The butt pack can be attached using the rear vest belt fittings. 1) The long upper straps thread through the vest D-ring first 2) THEN through the D-ring on the pack 3) and finally through the adjuster on on the pack to secure it The pack can be fitted higher up using ALICE clips. The straps on the top and bottom of the pack will hold items like poncho liners and there are ALICE loops on the sides. The butt pack is a single water resistant compartment with a drain grommet and expanding snow collar with draw cord.

Has @Mummybear gone and done a Keyser Söze ??

Play a couple of games and see how it goes. As others have said the hop rubber and barrel can make a difference- although cleaning the barrel with the unjamming rod and alcohol soaked rag is a good shout as there is usually gunk in it from the factory 😳

My latest AK74...when is too many....is there ever too many?

Couple pics

Thanks for the kind words, fortunately nothing came of an attempt on his own life as he was “talked down” from the situation. It’s not a nice space to be, with a family and prior to this a seemingly happy existence to rock bottom. We’ll be supporting him as much as we can…I’m already talking his wife through some debt management systems etc. Social media can be such a useful tool but also so detrimental and I think as humans were not ready for this and I can only see it getting worse. Lesson learnt, check on your friends and loved ones no matter how trivial it could be, people need each other.

Social media and tabloids can seriously damage your mental health. Hope your pal is OK.

LVOA kits are an acquired taste, even moreso at 16", I still have a new 13.5" for sale somewhere that I could never shift. Will probably let it go for £50, sick of looking at it 🙂 Maybe you should split the items?

Not a clue, bustin' makes me feel sad. I'd be surprised if there is a typical "market price" for a niche example of a niche gun in a niche hobby. What I would suggest is detailing whatever would be needed to make it shootable again, and the price/availability for that. Would you be better off spending the extra, and then selling it as usable?

Nah, it's spot on

Definitely agree. I have deleted Instagram several times due to the 'let's impress someone' mindset it gives you. I now just use it sparingly.

Just be careful if you try to sling the gun over your shoulder when you run around with the sniper, I managed to pop a mag out as it bumped around, I was very lucky someone found it and handed it in

Still not had a chance to get my Specna sent off to repair, so am stuck running DMR and pistols. So I needed a back up AEG. Also had a hankering for burst fire mode for some reason I can't quite think of. Didn't want to spend a lot either as I have a lot of house related out goings to come in the next 6 months. Considering using it as a secondary with my M7, which should be out for the weekend too (yay); although the 904 is longer than my Specna when collapsed. The boy has his long guns, but I don't like the running around game style with them. I am hoping that the batteries we have will fit in the stock, but I'm not adverse to a bit of gaffer tape if needed. I tried the links to the Thingiverse, from @mightyjebus, but the links are not working now. The 11.1v compatibility was an interest as well for CQB, assuming it lifts the ROF a little. So basically, it ticked a lot of boxes and was in budget. Otherwise, I would be looking at an L85A3 or a project - which I don't have the time or money for.

Well shitballs.... Just ordered the M904G for the weekend along with a cheeky little red dot to go with a magnifier I picked up on the cheap the other weekend. Hopefully SWMBO won't notice gun number 12 sneaking its merry way into the family. Jesus, the boy and I have only been doing this a little over a year. I blame you lot. Correction.... Gun 13... Hopefully won't be unlucky.

I used to use a three point sling back in the day, but when I came back to the sport I thought I’d be tacti-cool and go for the ol’ nutcrusher 3000 (aka the single point sling). After jeopardising the possibilities of continuing the family line twice whilst trying to climb through a window I opted for an adjustable two-point. I went for a Ferro Concepts Slingster because: A - I’m a bit of a kit tart B - It won’t fail and drop the gun Adjustable two point slings are easily the best way to work. Someone at your local site will probably have a Magpul, Blue Force Gear, or Ferro Concepts sling but if not the Viper version looks like a fairly decent version for not so much cash. A link to some wisdom:

OK, sound advice. I'll fix the fps / joules thing first and then see where I think I'm at

I would advise changing the spring, putting it back together and making sure it still works before diving into anything else 🤣. Other than getting serious and opening up the gearbox to change parts inside, the only other things you may want to look at upgrading if you aren't happy with the performance and consistency are the hop rubber and the barrel. Both of these depend on how good the stock performance is, and I am a big believer in 'if it 'aint broke don't fix it' because you are just as likely to make it worse and then have to spend ages fiddling to get it to work properly... don't ask me in how I became an expert in this.

Yeah, that would be sensible. Also be careful of the wiring when putting it back together. Can be very frustrating to do internal work and then pinch a wire during the reassembly phase.

Just got finished taking it to bits, realised half way through that was entirely unnecessary, two screws, tilt the gearbox up and you can access the QC spring port... Ho hum. Still, makes me more confident about stripping it down in the future. Whilst she's in bits is it worth doing anything else or I guess sensibly I should make one change at a time and see what works?

I'm of the other opinion. I think the sling should be fairly loose when aiming, as trying to shoulder transition with a tight two-point sling is a good way to choke yourself. That's why I love my Magpul sling, because I can easily loosen it when I'm playing, then tighten it back up if I'm standing around doing nothing.

Option to make do with what you have? Use some paracord through the ring on your sling to add the desire amount of length to get it comfortable. Option if you want something a bit nicer (Emerson is very much 'entry level Chinese clone gear', servicable for sure but not what I'd call decent per se), plenty of good options out there so I'll leave you to do your own research. Main point of advice would be consider what padding it has. The Ferro Slingster is a very popular choice but I've found it's just too much padding for what I want, with the T-Rex Arms one landing on my 'ideal'. You've got plenty of options for attaching them, so don't limit yourself to thinking it's QD or nothing. As with my initial response... there is very little you can't do with some paracord.

"in my day...." *Insert old man vibes here* This is a flippant comment due to starting work 10 minutes ago, however to the point Any day where you go Airsofting and think - worth it, or tinker and get things 'just right', buy any kit or *that* piece of kit, new gun day, first day you bring your mate along, hell even good toy cleaning day is part of the golden age.

When it was “Softair” and all the guns were kits. I’ll get my tartan booties, pipe, shawl and AMT Hardballer. And just to underline it. 😁

My man's ghillie suit needs a bit more work too.

This thread is a good example of why I don't buy anything from DCA

Arnies . Combat south woodland site lunches . TOP M60’s . Fireball weekenders . Town Assault 2 . Metal slide Glock 19 & Mac 11’s for £60 . Pyro … lots and lots of pyro being thrown like confetti . Road trips to Airsoft Warehouse & Airsoft Armoury . happy days & fond memories

Cheers buddy, huge help. I dare say I will be back with more questions such as "how does come apart?" And "I don't need this bit that's left over right?" 😄

Ahh beat me to it. I think if we magically went back to the selections/availability of guns and kit from any time more than a few years back everyone would lose their minds. Plenty of brands and products have come and gone, but there's never been a wider selection overall than there is right now I'd bet a lot on that. If you asked folks whether they though TM would make a recoil HK417, an AA-12 and a gas AK back when I started the forum threads would go nuclear. That's just one brand too. Many sites have definitely come and gone that's a big one I think and that will probably be something that affects certain people massively. If you had that perfect site that was right on your doorstep, great facilities, layout you enjoyed immensely, good player base, really well run, cheap prices, nice lunch etc etc and then that all just vanished one day, it'd be a really big deal I'd imagine. Obviously I personally wouldn't mind seeing some people stop thinking of Sunday skirmishes as a competitive sport vs a fun experience, or for the toxic clickbait content to go away, but all things considered there's no time I would go back to if I did have a time machine. Apart from when the mall was open maybe, that was the best site for me by a good margin and my enthusiasm for actually playing is somewhat lesser since it went, but I wouldn't swap it for the range of 'stuff' available now.

OMG I am an absolute idiot 🙄 I forgot to swap my chrono to 0.25 for the joule calculation so it was still displaying 0.28 values

I've just renamed my WiFi network to "police surveillance van #1” That should keep the neighbours on their toes for a while!

I've figured it out, he's been kidnapped by Airsofters lol, no one else would bastardize their gnus like that🤣

Hiya:) Thought I’d share a shot of my budget winter kit from the weekend. Photographer

I had a look at that but where I got 'P-Chan' at a really good price, there's no chance I can get the VP for less than £300. 😒 She'd see right through it and know I really bought it for myself. And what should be a "Cheers honey. That's really thoughtful." would probably become a "You spent HOW MUCH? On a pink toy gun?!" 😆