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So I went to AI500 this weekend and.... honestly, it was the best one I've been to so far. I preferred it to the Citadel in Dover and I definitely preferred it over what was a relative shitshow in Rochdale. It wasn't perfect, but it was a fantasticly fun weekend of airsoft with team Beans from Worthing Airsoft. I traveled as light as I could, as I was getting a lift up with two other guys and didn't want to monopolise car space, which meant that my backup rifle had to be left at home since I already needed to bring two rifles as bolt actions weren't allowed in a lot of the site. Brought the m700 and the MWS, as I was going for my US recce setup and therefore wanted long barreled rifles. We arrived on the Friday, dropped some kit off at the Premier Inn where a lot of us were staying, then headed up to the site. Chrono was present, but it was a bit of a mess through lack of communication. We were told we would be chronoed using their ammo, but they were told we were being chronoed on our own ammo. As a result, I got chronoed on .2s, which with gas guns is totally inaccurate due to joule creep, however using your own ammo can also be easily cheated so I don't have too many complaints on how they did chrono and was happy that they made a point to do so. Fortunately, I've got both of my guns set up honestly, so the m700 only chronoed at about 1.7J since with heavy BBs it creeps to around 2.1J, and the MWS chronoed at 0.9J and rises to around 1.1J when I put .3s in it. This means there could've been bad actors being dishonest with the chrono, however I will say that I didn't hear any reports of people taking hits from overpowered guns this weekend unlike at Rochdale where I definitely heard, saw and felt some questionable hits. HPA rigs were tournament locked and I think that outside of the lapse in communication it was done well. A large obstacle was thrown at the organisers last minute which sort of ruined the plans that I had for the weekend as the local farmer was kicking up a fuss, meaning the entire car park area was out of play, which was where they were going to put the exfil boxes (objectives had to be exfiled to score) and where I planned on playing with the m700. They reclassified the service yard as outdoors to try and make up for it (as originally it wasn't just to try and prevent full auto fire going into the buildings), but it did narrow the game significantly. First day the weather was absolutely gorgeous. Forecast was overcast for Ebbw Vale, but this was incorrect and the weather was absolutely perfect for me. I think the temperature was the late teens (18 - 19C or so) and the sun was out pretty much all day with very little wind. I spent the entirety of Saturday realising that a good quality scope with a decent reticle and mil-dots is the next step in my kit, as at my local site there aren't many opportunities for long distance shooting but at this event there was ample opportunity and I loved it. I had a few spots that I took with the m700, but my favourite was on top of a small hill with a rusty box of some sort on top of it as it allowed me to see pretty much the entire service yard and road alongside, meaning I could call out enemy movement across the entire outdoor area from my perch and take some very long distance shots. I think I spent the entirety of Saturday on 9x zoom on my scope, so anyone who says that you don't need more than around 4x for airsoft is a liar . I think I went through about 700x .45s since all of my shots were long distance and I often had to adjust for wind and distance. Longest hit I scored was 114.7m according to the my Vortex rangefinger and it was a beauty of an arced shot that accounted for a slight left to right breeze and it felt super satisfying. I could also see the tan team complaining to a marshall about me, but since I wasn't breaking any rules I don't know what they expected to happen. The negative was that while I would say most players were good with their hit taking, it only took a handful of absolutely laughable examples to start having both teams crying about people not taking their hits. I can't comment on greens, as I spent most of my time not that close to my team, but looking through a 9x zoom scope I saw some hilarious examples of non-hit taking, where you see the fabric of the clothes ripple from the impact and the guy suddenly tucks in more. We even had one guy crawling through a relatively thin bush get lit up by 5 guys on full auto and he just kept on going. As I said, most people from what I saw were good on the hit taking, but there were a few who let both sides down . Final score at the end of the first day was 36 - 0 to the tan team, as they managed to get an exfil done (basically, teams gathered objectives and then had to put them in a box that they had to take to a specific location to "exfil" them, obviously without getting shot in the process) and we didn't, though there were grumbles on that as the tans exfil crate was gifted to them at lunch time since the greens had it locked down super hard. One of the guys on my team was part of the group that locked it down through the morning so he knew exactly where it was (it was in our side of the map, like our crate started on the tans side of the map) and said it just disappeared during lunch as it wasn't there when we got back out. Oh well, I'm not too bothered as I don't care too much about objectives as long as the gameplay is fun, and the gameplay was very fun! Sunday came around and the weather was... not so perfect and the weather forecast got it right. Day started with a drizzle, that misty rain that makes everything soaking, and that continued through the day, with the rain picking up in intensity in patches, so I quickly gave up on trying to use my m700 since I couldn't see anything through the scope. However, the start of Sunday was another lapse in communication and this one annoyed me and was probably the worst part of the weekend. The evening before we were told in no uncertain terms that the CPs weren't flipping and that we would be playing from the same sides for the weekend, so a bunch of us greens, including the green team 1IC, got to the site, unpacked cars and started setting up only to have tan players coming over and telling us that CPs had been flipped. We then heard that people were being told at the gate that the CPs had flipped and we eventually got confirmation, had to chuck everything back in the cars and drive down. Rather annoying, but we carried on as the rest of the event had been pretty great, plus looking at the map we knew the other side had a massive advantage on the objective exfil locations and were looking forward to showing the tans who denied that fervently. CPs were also moved to get both teams out of the rain so everyone's kit didn't get absolutely sodden, meaning both teams were moved into the shopping area, moving both greens and tans closer in to the objectives. Where Saturday was a bit closer, with a bit of push on each side, Sunday was incredibly one-sided. Tans started well, pushing down the road hard and almost taking it in its entirety, however it left the service yard undermanned and greens took control of both exfil boxes, exfilling objectives every half an hour as soon as the exfils became available. I don't know how many we got in total, but it was something like 7 exfils through the day (so spoiler alert, greens seem to have won by a pretty big margin). Over the day, we managed to push the tans back to their CP to the point where we were told to push no further to prevent spawn camping, and I made the tan team *very* unhappy by being 6'5" tall; there was a fence that was about 6ft tall (which was annoying in its own way as I had to constantly duck to not get shot in the head) that I was able to shoulder my rifle and fire over if I stood on my tip toes (good thing I don't skip leg day). The tans started throwing accusations of blind firing, so I had a marshall stand next to me while I did it to show the staff clearly that I was shouldering my rifle as I went up to shoot, which was what I wanted anyway as I was using the iron sights to get some good shots down the alley with the MWS. What it did mean though was that between my position and other greens on the doors to the buildings, we had a crossfire setup that meant that the alley was just completely closed off to the tan team. I lost count of how many kills I racked up from that spot and, just like the Saturday, managed to get some rather salty complaints levelled at me despite breaking absolutely zero rules. I'd be lying if I said I didn't take some enjoyment from that, especially as there was a lot of trash talk from the tans leading up to the event over Discord, so a hearty serving of humble pie needed to be served. All in all, I loved the weekend. Yes, there were a few hiccups, mostly around communication, but I think the event was better run than the last two I've been to and it's nice to see that they seem to be taking at least some of the feedback onboard as they move forwards. It wasn't perfect, but it was an incredibly fun weekend and I think most people would agree that they had a blast. The most negative voices will be the loudest in the coming days, but I figured I'd chime in with a positive recount of the weekend before the inevitable salt. The site was larger than it looked and even with 150 players per side it felt like there were a lot less chokepoint battles than both the Citadel and Rochdale. TL:DR - AI500. Not perfect, but a very fun weekend with the boys.

Airsoft Glock perfection, TM Gen4 17, stock, bar GM sight set.

Do you have links to the first hand accounts?

So I bought a thing at AI500... It's a very fun handful of brrrrrrrrrrrt and as soon as I bought it, another guy from our team (who also likes GBB SMGs) went in immediately and bought the other one they had. Bought two spare mags and will look for a shoulder holster for it.

A beautiful sunny Saturday at Special Ops I had egged on one of my friends who was the guy I'd first gone airsofting with to come along, he turned up with his new TM MP7 GBBR, and as it has been a long time since I had seen him I brought along a bunch of my recent gnus to show him. I needed a bloody Chinook to transport it all... Double Eagle M906C (natch) VFC HK416 GBBR Tippmann M4 HPA TM AUG HC CA Scarab TM DOR 5.1 pistol With the forecast fog missing in action, the sun was out so ditched the jacket for just a camo shirt. Today was going to sting a bit more than usual 😬 but it'd also turn out to be warm enough for the gas guns to perform well I gave my friend a demo of a few of the guns and encouragingly found they were all running well, even the Tippmann (though it was slightly too hot on the chrono to skirmish, and I didn't get around to adjusting it) and the VFC, which I'd never managed to dial in for longer range until now A lack of marshals for the ~60 players meant I became a player-marshal for the day, mostly meant keeping an eye on the kids to make sure they kept safe. Nice to know I could shout at people with no come backs, but I didn't need to... much 😋 The usual selection of games, but the site's layout has been changed quite a bit with lot more cover around the entrance to Ping Ping City, really freshened it up. A new escort the VIP game was introduced where the escort just happened to be carrying his electric minigun to defend himself! Good stuff, as I'd been up against that in the previous games but he ended up on my side for that one 😅 A great day made extra special for me as I decided to use my HK416 gas rifle for most of it, I've detailed more about that in the owners thread ... suffice to say it was truly a game changer, I expect to be doing a lot more GBBR play in the future. My friend's MP7 was also great, very impressive... When the CQB site opens up I'll have to find a way to buy one Sounds like I'll be going along to Red Alert next month (14th?), maybe I'll see some of you guys there?

Picked up some parts from a couple sellers here to build out my VFC into a vintage model, super happy with it

Operation Dustoff, Namsoft 22.04.23 This is an event staged by the rather legendary Denn at Gunman’s Alpha site in Eversley. If you’ve not been this is a hilly rhododendron filled woodland site with several chalk streams that cross it. The top of the site is a ‘wild west’ style village made up of cabins that serve as a party area, sleeping quarters and prop buildings for all kinds of airsoft games. Behind the village you’ll find a fire base consisting of trenches and dugouts, covered machine gun posts and large bunkers. This is Fort William, and is the hard regen and home of the 173rd Airborne, plus other US troops. Hard work from the 173rd’s members had resulted in a new building that sleeps two and acts as a storage area for the units gear. This small complex was the site of much fighting over the weekend, changing hands several times. This was our third weekend under canvas, the first that we had a rain free day though. I thought that arriving on site dry and on time for once heralded a smooth running weekend. We then discovered that we had left two tarps, the lad’s sleeping bag, and the kettle behind. Bollocks! Anyhow, Mark the onsite go to man for anything you need a hand with rustled up a large Kelly kettle and a whole bivvy system. After a chat and a catch up we said our thanks and went to mouch around the village where Neil had set up shop with a range of airsoft rifs, militaria bits, and consumables. We bought Mk Vs and a new old stock AK pouch. Snowy helped us sign on and then sold us an M16 bandolier. We went back to the campfire before we spent any more cash. Saturday dawned bright and bloody freezing. We shivered into our black pyjamas, Mrs TPH keeping her leggings and jumper on underneath. Safety brief was short and concise, following the Gunman format. Game brief was detailed and so informative that the only question was from me asking to confirm which channel to call the marshals on in case of accident. We soon deployed to our hard regen at the base of the site, putting down bags of food and spare batteries etc in an old Nissan hut. We had to leave in squads of at least three due to the large number of players in attendance. As this was the first game that the Vietnamese forces had number parity with the US/Aussies, we were pleased to find that Rory and Ian were also looking to form a squad. Both these blokes had also been at STALKERS a couple of weeks previously, and so we formed a recon group of four. Our first task was to drop off a respawn box somewhere useful, without getting spotted. We were soon hiding in a clump of bushes as the whole Aussie squad passed by. Upon hearing firing, we hid the box and joined in what turned out to be an ambush on the squad that had just passed us. A counter push saw us melting away into the woods, only to circle back and harry them again from different angles. Since we were equipped with a decent compliment of radios, callsign Red Star our commander was soon deploying us against the opposition all over site. When not engaged, we searched for the other side and radioed in location reports, sometimes hiding our rifs and approaching as civilians. Points were awarded for working for and spying on the US. This worked well, especially the player who acted as porter for the US only to grab a rifle as soon as they were attacked and managing to shoot most of the squad on the back. By late afternoon we had harassed the US back into Fort William which we stalked up to and took pot shots at the sentries. This was great fun, and my sub 350fps K98 was very satisfying to get kills with. I spent ages trying to shoot the lad and various mates. For only the second time at one of these events, someone got shouty, tempers got a bit hot and we pulled back from the firebase hearing more shouts. I think that a US player had thrown an incendiary pyro that failed to ignite, and thought that VC players were ignoring it. I radioed the marshal team to ask them to calm things down only to find that the organiser was already having a chat with the chap as I called him. Misunderstandings can happen anywhere and will, and people get tired, confused etc. Sorting things out quickly and amicably is the key and an apology and explanation is all that was needed to get the game 100% fun again. The next stage was to build up to a full stage assault on William. This was a bit of a first. William is hard to attack successfully, but for the first time ever we had equal numbers. Given that we usually win these games overall fighting three to one, this turned into a complete grind down for the US team. Huge numbers of pyro and smoke were thrown; it was very atmospheric with the coloured smoke, shouts and constant sound of firing. We so overwhelmed the US that they gave up the base and we took it with relative ease. A quick marshal talk followed, as someone had bought some MKIVs that turned out to be faulty, being extremely loud. The offending grenades were put away and gameplay continued. The US attempts to regain the base were committed and tenacious, but in the end we gave it up at the end of the day. We had raised our flag and beaten off every attack, including a mate who manged to gain entry into the new 173rd bunker via a fire slit. That had been a close call. With the US back in possession, we continued to pick off patrols and ambush US teams trying to carry out tasks. At one point I crawled up to the firebase and slithered in through a window that had been left open. I managed to hit an entire squad who were sitting down for a fag and tea break in what they thought was safety. I then took out two more chaps before being hit myself. For this I used my trusty CYMA AK though. I say trusty as the mag catch has worn to the point that you have to hold the mag firmly into the magwell for it to feed. I’ll get busy with an old credit card and some super glue and build up the mag’s lips at some point. End of day one, both sides had done well, but the huge VC numbers and being well coordinated for once meant that we were possibly ahead. The Aussie team had done very well in the morning, so the game was still very close whatever the winner. Saturday night was a relaxed affair. We were that knackered that we stayed at our own campfire and cooked steaks with spud salad, washed down with Irish coffee and decent scotch. I honestly could not have taken another step and gone and socialised. Sunday morning saw a start at 7:30… well the Aussie team and a few VC did. We got up about an hour later and joined in the fun, contesting the wall section of the site. This was great fun and we had some really good firefights, I had a premonition that this would be an intense affair, and packed the RPK for the day. This performed faultlessly as always, despite its increasingly battered appearance. Mrs TPH’s new CYMA AK 74 SU worked a treat too. She really got into the thick of things, running towards any sound of fighting and getting frustrated if she was not stalking and shooting a US squad. Once again the rain started on and off, and players began to dribble off site. We staged one last attack on William, unlimited respawns for the VC, one life for the US. We had a whale of a time throwing ourselves at the place. At close of play we realised that we were the last VC squad left in the field, against a much depleted US side. We were victorious (I think) but tired and in need of a shower and a bite to eat. Our son was still fucking about in the field so I nicked his pasty. Teach him to forget to take his lunch with him. Handshakes and goodbyes were said. A lot of smiling and looking forward to seeing friends again at the next game took place. We packed the van and pointed it homeward. We’re all seriously done in and airsofted out, but it was a marvellous weekend. Good company, good gameplay and sportsmanship, well thought out storyline and very good social. I love these events and we’ll do one or two a month from March to November. I did order a bloody thick double sleeping bag as soon as I got home though. I’ll also remember to print out my filmsim kit list and tick the essentials off too. I’ll also get a Kelly kettle and cook set kit having borrowed one. The twig burning kettle was far better in cold weather than our iso-butane camping stove. All in all a great weekend, the guns ran very well. The old AK is getting mag fussy, but that’s fixable. The RPK is laser accurate and chugs at a decent rate of fire, i.e. slowly. I can’t believe how well I shoot it from the hip with a loose sling. Mrs TPH was well impressed with her AK SU and the Kar98 is impressively accurate as a standard rif. All of the Russian platforms are CYMA and provide real reliability. It’s great satisfaction to hit someone with a bolt action with no MED too. Next is two Nam games are in June on successive weekends. We’ll do a 90’s Middle-East game before then in May. We’ll shoot at blokes in tri-colour desert and choc-chip camo instead of greens. We drove four hours to get to this game. Some Aussie players came from Scotland. They’re well worth the effort. Du ban GI!

No further explanation necessary. 120 on site for Red Alert yesterday. Great day, fun game modes, my DMR rocked as always. A friend broke her ankle when she took a tumble down a hill, unfortunately, but she's taking it in good spirit. Her biggest concern is that she won't be able to attend the battlesim this month! Also in attendance was Monsignor @Lozart. A fine gentleman to play with, who has a very pretty pew pew.

This is how my day went … yes it was great … that is all 👍🏼

https://www.tacticalairsoftshop.co.uk/ElectroRiver7-4v-Lipo-battery550mAh-for-AEP-with-Mosfet It has a micro Deans connector. Ignore the "with Mosfet" element.

My boots are dried and awaiting cleaning.. trousers went straight in the wash and are clean now!!

They have two left as I have just ordered a couple.

No - local-ish to me through Discord. Ended up buying a tonne of near-new stuff (including the gun) for £220 as a job lot. Already sold the tracer that was in the bundle (so made £65 back)- I will be posting a couple other bits up for sale over the next few days. I will be keeping most of it for myself though as it's decent enough kit (chest rig/backpack/soft and hard gun cases/kit bag/4xLiPos/Red Dot/Rail system/Weapon light) - I did pretty well out of the deal - much of it is in pretty much as-new condition. And of course - I finally get a Double Eagle M9xx series gun to muck around with - my youngest son has claimed it his when he's old enough to play later in the year. We shall see...😉 The gun itself has been very slightly upgraded with a ZCI barrel, Prommy hop rubber and a battery extension. Gearbox has never been opened. I plan to switch the hop unit to a ZCI Plastic, maybe drop an SHS Hi-Torque motor in and call it done.

Great day at Rifts inaugural battlesim at The Ridge yesterday. Started off with my set of webbing, didn’t get on with it when trying to change magazines quickly or access things from the rear pouches. Changed over to the Arktis chest rig, decided not to run my belt as there wasn’t really any requirement for a sidearm or extra magazines.

Today on how to get someone to laugh in your face. It's a 6mm bb not a .50 beowulf

That battery connector looks like the standard one on the original nimh TM (and CYMA clone) AEPs. So you have got an AEP battery, it's just that your AEP is too uPgRaDeD to use it. Short of downgrading the pistol back to an old style connector (and I don't know where you'd get one), if you're feeling brave you could try carefully disassembling the end of that battery and seeing if there's enough wiring there to solder a Deans on to - you can see the black and red wires under the connector there. That could get a bit scorchy, so the alternative is to buy any regular non-AEP lipo that will fit in the space and use that instead. You'd be surprised what you can get in there, I'm running a 1200mAh 7.4v in my "1911", granted with some modification (cutting a hole in the front of the frame under the barrel).

Yeah, because you don't want training areas to resemble where troops are going to be deployed. As for the bellend who took the photo, this kind of thing is the reason the MoD are reluctant to let airsoft companies use training areas

This a million percent. Anyone else remember when one of the shit rag tabloids got hold of pics of a site using shemaghs for team ID?

Awwww feck it, if I'm not much mistaken they have just bumped the prices, and they're out of stock on the black mags with HK markings I wanted. I'm getting a quote of 60Euro for the grey mags, with a total including courier of 142.60 for two mags... £125. I might invest in a speed loader adapter and an internals kit for my Odin knock-off instead... Edit: I was getting awfully confuzzled... looking at stuff on my phone, versus on my PC where I'm logged-in and therefore the site adds the taxes appropriately. So there are black mags available, but inc tax they're 70Euros a pop, so ~£145 delivered, tax paid. I think I'll try Patrolbase at £108 delivered, even if I will probably miss out on using them for a couple of skirmishes :sniff: Edit2: Bought the mags from Patrolbase, then thought I'd just have one last check elsewhere... "Bingo" https://www.landwarriorairsoft.com/airsoft-magazines-c3/gas-rifle-magazines-c55/umarex-vfc-hk-416-gbb-magazine-p7437 £50 a pop, £6 delivery, 4 still left in stock after I've bought a couple! Just to have to cancel that Patrolbase order now

Hey, I said less, not none! 🤣 I just decided that part of the site was mine and no tans were allowed there

Finally get to find out what all the fuss is about - I picked up a very lightly used (read: mint condition) DE M904G yesterday as part of a 'quitting airsoft' bundle for a very good price. I really like it. Shoots very nicely in my quick tests.

Wouldn't be the first time. Mid Century History Enthusiasts are drawn to this hobby, and I've expressed concerns a few times about the "Calm down, it's just dreᛋᛋ up, lol" sorts. If the organisers are OK with what went on, I'd prefer that they say so clearly so that folk know what to expect.

Patrolbase are now selling direct from their Euro warehouse, so the price is still a sensible-ish £50 plus £7 delivery. BUT the expected delivery time is around a month. Powair are charging €58 plus €19 for 5-6 day delivery. What I can't remember is whether they'll charge extra for duty, VAT, customs fees etc. I asked that question before, I'll have to go searching when I'm back on my PC €58 = £51 so if we don't get stung too much on currency fees, plus all those possible extras, Powair looks a good deal to get the mags quickly.

Cheers pall thank you I’ll go look now :-)!

The site, not so much. It was gangster @ the prison rather than a ucap event. See this link for first hand. https://instagram.com/stories/dw_941/3092361399665429716?utm_source=ig_story_item_share&igshid=MDJmNzVkMjY= there are indeed others on a certain people in a well known FB group that sit both sides of the wtaf/it's just fun

Powair6 currently have them in stock if you're still looking?

No, definitely not; this was a one off (probably). I thought Townshend was a smasher rather than a burner; Hendrix burned a couple of guitars.

Not sure about the raven 1911's but their glocks are compatable with WE parts so you may find a WE hammer will fit. Milspec or socom will probably have them.

Skirmished my 416 today properly for the first time, oh myyyyyyy I don't care how skint I'll get I'm not selling 😍 I did some test firing with the gun yesterday just to check it would pass chrono, and it was bang on 350fps with 0.20s, no hop. And in spite of what I've said elsewhere it was actually very consistent. Maybe it had some silicon in the system before when I used Abbey Predator, but switching to Ultrair has cleaned it out? My order of Geoff's 0.40s don't turn up in time (thanks Royal Mail '1st class', delivering after 3 days or more used to be 2nd class, didn't it?) So I had to run it with 0.28s instead, and of course I've still got just the 2 mags and a speed loader. Well that worked out alright (in fact it adds some extra jeopardy and excitement to the proceedings!). The joy of landing a well placed single or double tap along with the recoil and loud banging and clacking of the bolt and general malarkey was just so tangible and rewarding I think the ambient temperature was up around 14 or 15 degrees C which of course helped immensely... the gun never missed a beat. I was topping up the mags like a mofo when in cover, but I stuck to semi only, and regassed between games, and it just kept on trucking. Accuracy seemed good, though not perfect... I'm not going to be hitting half a head peeking a corner at 40m, but it's good enough to make them duck out the way 😋 That might improve once I've got the heavier ammo in there. I did go back to The Stalwart (the Double Eagle m906) for a couple of the games, but while that's better at reaping 'kills' it was just not as fun. And I used a gazillion times more ammo in that relatively short time. Through the day I let some fellow players have a go. They all loved it. I love it. GBBRs for the win!

I have the 9, my friends use 5s. The only real difference I've noticed is the lack of accessories for the 9, as the pin connector system is entirely different. I eventually bought an adapter that allows me to use 5r accessory on the 9. Range etc seems better on the 9, but then I use one of those long flexible antenna, whereas my friend are all using the stock aerials so I suspect its more likely that.

A recent study has revealed the most common sexual position for married couples is doggy style He'll sit up and beg while she'll roll over and play dead

Out of interest, how much shooting are you intending to do? I ask because even when I've run a pistol primary in CQB I've always ended up having green gas cans sort of spontaneously form in my gear bag faster than I can get through them. And even though I'm the meanest of lickpennies, I've never even considered the cost, at least next to all the other junk that we buy then barely use.

I once saw him sprinting across a site with a double ended light saber. Got kills too.

so some of you may know already but Double Eagle have released a more expensive AEG based on the success of the M9XX series but it's been updated with a new ETU and a complete metal build apart from the stock and a few other parts. It's based on the Aeroknox AX-15 platform (more here https://www.aeroknox.com/shop-2) I'll do a quick mini review: very solidly built and the Aeroknox parts make it look very Sci-fi. You are either going to love the look or hate it. In a sea of M4's it definately stands out from the other fish. The only plastic parts are the stock, trigger, pistol grip, rail panels and detachable sights and the stock is the same model used on the M9XX series. It has a slight wobble on the stock pipe but nothing to write home about. The sights are flip up style, similar to the MBUS Pro sights, but have an additional sight built in, similat to pistol sights, which means you can use them when folded down. (if you can read the tiny text on the sights they are called the DBS-1 Battle sight). The bolt locks back and you can adjust the rotary style hop when it's locked back. The charging handle is actually a normal M4 style one unlike the raptor style that comes with the majority of the M9XX series. The bolt release allows the fake bolt plate to shoot forward when pressed. The mag release is extended and works very well. Actually wish I had it on a few other rifles after using it. The fire selector is funky looking and the markings are very much Playstation markings. It works very well and has a solid click into each position. It comes with a 120 BB midcap PMag style magazine. It fits and works fine. I've chucked a few different mags at it and the only one that has issues is the KWA midcaps as they don't lock in. This might be because of the micro switch inside the magwell but I'm not sure. The micro switch is for mag detection and if you enable it the mag will stop firing after 30 BB's and you need to remove the mag and put it back in to allow the AEG to fire again. My only gripe with the whole thing (AEG, Kestral ETU and App) is this feature. I'd find it really useful if the 30 BB cut off could be adjusted for any number. I would work better for me if I could pick 115BB's as the cut off and never worry about running dry when using 120 round midcaps. Talking of the ETU, it connects without any issues and works very well. You can adjust the AEG to run just how you want it and you get loads of stats if that's you thing. The gearbox is the same as the other M9XX gearboxes so it's solid and well put together. The only difference being the Kestral ETU replacing the Falcon ETU. My opinion, for what it's worth, is it's priced to be a mid-range AEG because it is a mid-range AEG. Out the box it works very well but I'm sure there are some who will be thinking about swapping out the Hop rubber and inner barrel (hops well for me currently on 28's). It looks like it was designed by a 15 year old (Aeroknox's fault not DE) but it grows on you. It's very pointable and has decent weight to it but not too heavy. The kestral does what it says on the tin and I can now see how many BB's I wasted trying to hit a guy behind a tree. It's about £70 more than the closest M9XX series AEG so that will put some people off but in saying all this I kinda like it.

Another great write up, as always. Yesterday Red Alert ran their first Battlesim LITE. No kit restrictions. Arm bands in use. No medic rule. Only break was for lunch. Basically one long skirmish day with set teams and shifting objectives throughout the day, and one constant objective. Red won the day convincingly (boo hiss), and overall the day was a great success. It was a good intro for anyone interested in battlesims/milsim/filmsims that don't want to invest in specific kit. Discussion is going on about what worked and what didn't, in order to tweak the rules as this may become a regular event every couple of months or so. I had great fun, with the highlight being escorting two WWII jeeps across the site to an objective point. But by the end of the day my back was giving out to me (I'm an old git), so I switched to war reporter mode and live streamed the last 20 minutes to Facebook, which I've now uploaded to YouTube and included below. I also took off my facepro and subsequently took a round right on the top of my nose (shown on the livestream🤣) Disclaimer: video contains foul mouthed old crusty! Red Alert's next actual Battlesim (not lite) is on the 21st of May. Book at this link: https://redalertpaintball.co.uk/battlesim/

I have decided not to return to AI after the last few, been very poor. You seem to have had a good experience but I have seen reports of police being called for not allowing people out of the gates and marshals saying they will shoot at people's cars if they try to leave? Good that they're listening though i guess. Still sounds like chrono is a mess despite the 8mm BB's that were being used in Dover.

Even worse, rype village at Lydd camp had a badly mocked up "minaret", more of a reference point than an actual religious depiction, didn't stop the shit hitting the fan when an airsofter sneaked a picture out that then got in to a lefty rag.

Despicable. I have seen pictures of the sex doll, hanging by feet with added "blood" around sensitive area. Read a couple of 1st hand accounts of toxic misogyny, there was also (apparently, not seen pictures) some intense anti Semitic imagery. Wanted more first hand accounts on what went on....