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Looking for a milsim team? Look no further. Omega is recruiting for new members. Currently made up of a mix of ex-military and ex-special forces members, we are looking to add to our ranks. Through the use of real world tactics and training we aim to offer an authentic special forces experience to our team. We are based in Worcestershire and have members from across Worcestershire and Warwickshire. Those that are interested in finding out more should email [email protected]

I expect all twenty of the blokes on the Iranian embassy balcony will be in it.

Here they are VFC MK11 MOD0 SR-25 & VFC MK20 SSR, both GBB & both absolutely stunning! Dream to finally have the MK11 I have a thing for chunky straight mags

It's taken me a while to decide whether to reply to this, and if so, what I should say. As Shamal has rightly stated, I am the East of England UKAPU representative. I initially joined as a member, but decided that I would like to further support the community as a regional representative. During my interview for the position I too expressed reservations with regard to what the union provide - as others have pointed out, the social media pages are not frequently updated and there is little 'evidence'. All representatives are volunteers, and in any case, I believe that the Press Officer position is vacant. There is often assistance offered to player-members which unfortunately goes unreported due to this. This has involved helping with customs and import of RIFs, where players experienced issues - and similarly assisted players in Northern Ireland where I believe there have been further issues with customs. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Union were approached by a number of game organisers/site owners to gauge the legality of running games during the lift of restriction levels. The Union provided this guidance, but it was highlighted that if Airsoft was registered as a sport (like paintball is), then we potentially could have returned sooner. However, in order to register as a sport we would require a national governing body. The membership was 'sold' to me as more of an insurance scheme; in case I should ever need assistance, but also to support the ongoing efforts of the Union to provide some kind of national governing body - which was well supported by representatives, members, non-members and site owners when discussed with them. Whilst it was before my time, I believe the references to 'proposed bans' etc relate to the VCRA 2007 bill. @Cannonfodder if you would like I will try to find more information relating to this. Unfortunately, our Chairman has suffered from issues with his personal circumstances lately, and this has led to our AGM not happening as early in the year as perhaps would be expected. Rest assured, I am actively pursuing this and hope it will be able to go ahead soon. With this in mind, I cannot comment on the plans going forward for the annual members skirmish or attendance at NAE. In the past I have attempted to arrange a members only game, but then struggled to find a site to host it at. It is on my list of things to arrange, and as soon as I have news I will share it. I do recognise that perhaps the communications from the Union have not been as good as would be expected, and for that please accept my apology. @Rogerborg - are you referring to the Operation Stigma II post on Facebook from May 2022 as this is all I can find? @RebelScum if you would like, please send me a message and I will do my best to chase up your patch - as it is of course not right that you have yet to receive it. Finally, I would like to address suggestions that members of the Union are in it to 'make a name' for themselves, or as an 'ego boost'. I appreciate this is personal opinion, but when engaging with other representatives I have not experienced this. I see the other representatives as individuals with only the interests of the players and the sport at heart. My inbox is always open, and I am always more than happy to engage with any player, whether they are a member or not. I've done my best to address what people have said, and am happy to discuss anything. - Jacob

And they’re both okay to show to people, but not before anyone asks. 😏

I think omega3squadron sounds healthier.

I was in the 'SAS' in the 90's, do I get biscuit too? Ok, 'SAS' = Saturdays and Sundays But it was the Army catering Corps, we've killed more soldiers than anyone else... I'm assuming our own squaddies count.

Would something like this be acceptable for the room clearance drills?

Cringe 😕

And there was me thinking that "ex-special forces members" were "ex-military".

So, Suella Braverman for PM then?

Absolute rule by the living corpse of a soul-consuming God-Emperor sat upon a golden throne. No debate needed, or indeed permitted.

According to the FAQ section of the website UKAPU was founded in either 2009 or 2010, depending on which answer you're reading. As for that news report, I could eat a bowl of alphabet spaghetti and shit out a better article than that

Obligatory meme response:

🤭

I have a desert Bergen, but it's not a dpm. Bought it years ago, damn thing still had sand in it...😂

The thing is by doing that you're giving them the attention they want. Thinking about it I'd rather not see any political patches, whether they're to the left or the right, as I'm on site to shoot plastic at people not debate which form of government is best. Treat your political views like you treat your dick. They're both ok to have, they're ok to be proud of but what's not ok is forcing it down someone's throat. As for finding something offensive, at the end of the day we all have a different place where we draw the line (I know I've got a dark sense of humour but there's certain things which piss me off). If you're going to start screaming at someone over something you don't like and demanding they remove it then IMO you look just as silly as them

You see there are levels of ignorance which I think you have to make some allowance for. I am one of the ignorant. I have never heard of a Keffiyeh. I had no idea whatsoever that the patterns had any symbolism behind them, I just thought they were purely decorative (or in the case of more militaristic ones, sort-of camo) I've been educated today (thank you), but if someone sees a shemagh / Keffiyeh for sale and buys it because they like the pattern... well I certainly couldn't hold them to account for it, because it's something (to borrow a much-mocked phrase) that's "an unknown unknown" to both them and me. Back to the main topic, I've got some personal experience in the Z patch thing. I'm not sure how to, or even whether I should share, but as I'm typing I feel I might as well keep going, see what you guys think... There's a young chap who goes regularly to Spec Ops who has worn a Z patch on several occasions. The first time I saw it my blood boiled. I naturally assumed he was just being a twat, or utterly ignorant. My initial desire was to run up to him, rip it off his arm, verbally abuse him for , and generally put either, or both, of us at risk of getting thrown off the site. Instead I decided to mentally count to 10, and approach it with an opening gambit of "that's a bold thing to wear that today, I can't say I like it". He explained he's Russian, his family back in Russia support the war (presumably brainwashed by Putin etc), and his uncle is actually fighting. He made a comment about the BBC as 'Main Stream Media', fake news about the Russians etc, from which I reached the conclusion that he's in a Pro-Putin environment where they're all soaking up the propaganda. And as he's got at least one family member in the army, it'd be pretty difficult for him to go against that without alienating himself from his close relatives. I kind of put him on my "RL ignore list", but as it turned out he's a nice guy, plays airsoft the right way, didn't push the Z agenda at anyone (though I think he'd defend it when questioned, as he did to me). He became too friendly to ignore, and I've turned a blind eye to his patch, and not talked politics since. He greets me by name, gave me a slice of birthday cake (which some others had turned down - not sure if they were ostracizing him for the patch, worried the cake would have Novichok in it, or just concerned their waist-line would end up like mine... but turning down cake is not something I can do easily). I really don't know if I've dropped my moral compass by not forcefully pointing out that the error of his ways, or being the good person who sees past flaws and make allowance for circumstances. The only thing I can say for sure is I was mightily pleased when he turned up to the last skirmish without the patch, indeed he was wearing British gear I think. Maybe Carlos had had a word with him. So yeah. Slava Ukraini

If you didn't earn it, don't wear it.

Does the email go straight to someone at the WMHCHQ?

YAY, I WON! oh....

You get to play soggy biscuit as well!

I've just realised that I was looking at the side of a Nuprol mag that doesn't have the calibre on. As @Cannonfodder said, probably Nuprol.

Those don't have the rising sides.

Thanks everybody for all the replies. One of the reasons I decided to look into the likes of UKAPA was my algorithm feeds me stuff like this... https://www.kentonline.co.uk/sittingbourne/news/i-can-sell-these-air-rifles-so-i-will-288287/ It's a shockingly bad piece of journalism with terminology like 'airshot guns' and 'plastic bullets' scattered throughout, and the shop owner's attitude is almost beyond belief. It's these sort of stories that make me think that perhaps sensible representation for the hobby might be a good thing.

It took a friend approximately 3 hours to explain these concepts to me, through a series of humorous and incredibly random WH 40K parody videos…

@Rogerborg I completely agree that more needs to be done to highlight what we are doing, I know the Facebook algorithm doesn't help, but perhaps if we posted more and had more interaction that would help with it. @Colin Allen you do raise an interesting point, if I can get hold of some solid figures then I'll share them with all. I would imagine the percentage to be small, not dissimilar to many Unions. Whilst I agree this forum is an absolute goldmine of information, I can't comment on the Forum vs Union quality of advice.

Dunno, I've long since stopped following UKAPU because it was more frustrating than useful. This is down to the foibles of the Facebook algorithm deciding that I only really want to see posts from low traffic, low engagement pages days or even weeks after they've been made, even though I had UKAPU set to "top of my feed". But that is an inherent issue with using Facebook as the primary means of communication - if you're an admin or active contributor, you'll be seeing a different feed from what I was getting. As far as I can see, there's been no public posts to the Facebook page for 6 months, the Twitter account last posted in 2019, and Instagram and the ukapu.org.uk website's latest news is from 2021. If it wasn't for your posts here, I'd assume that UKAPU was effectively defunct. None of this is meant as a criticism of you or the other volunteers. I appreciate anything that you're doing, I just have no way of knowing that you are doing anything at all.

I just wish I'd asked for it be posted to my home, but given my current 'between contracts' status (i.e trying to save cash), and the big fuss I'd made when clearing out the shoe cupboard ("why do you need so many" "what a waste of money, you don't even wear them" etc), then I thought it'd be better for me to go collect them when t'wife is at work

Nerd stuff, related to my pretend-space-soldier costume. It's from a far future sci-fi setting predicated on absolute ideological zealotry, where the slightest digression from the approved narrative in deed or word or even suspected thought results in accusations of heresy and non-humanity. So, nothing at all like the kind, gentle, nuanced and balanced political debate of CURRENT_YEAR.

I had that issue once with a eBay seller who sent with handwritten labels but didn’t put in the long reference number on the label (because it was ‘fine’ with just the name and address) But for a collection point they cannot accept with just name & address, the reference number is needed for them to process in the system There was an additional issue that the garage being used was on a corner and didn’t exist at the postcode - the usual delivery driver knew where to go but stand-ins ‘couldn’t find it’ I therefore had tracking that said ‘location not found’ on the first attempt and ‘recipient refused’ on the second The reference for delivery point acceptance may be the case for you, alternatively if they operate a cabinet delivery point if too many are received on that day then the cabinet may be full or only small cabinets remained

It is BIG😂 Later in the evening after I placed the order I started looking at the smaller SOMS, then I got the “Dispatched” email shortly after. TBH, considering the sale price , it was a no brainier for me as I’ve wanted one for ages 👍

Once I get everything, in about two weeks! It'll be my first magnifier so I really don't know what to expect and, to be fair, I'll probably use it once or twice then throw everything in a drawer.

We had a similar kind of organisation in the domestic heating world. In fact several. Was never more than an ego trip for the various founders and "committee members". Fuck all in the industry was changed for the better. In fact, the biggest steps in system design and efficiency came down to a few of us nerds figuring things out and proving to a few people with influence that it was worth pursuing.

If they do a slightly older variant I'll be all over one of those. Like a 733 or similar.

Think this has rather gone off topic.

I read that taking your bike to work is good for the environment. So I thought, why not? I'm not using that roof rack for anything else....

If we take that view, any war has its oppos and anyone can take offence at anything. Where do we stop. Germans getting offended at British D-Day kit... Yanks offended at VC loadouts... Jedi offended by Stormtroopers... Covenant airsofters disgusted by Spartan loadouts... Next we'd be banning shemaghs as the wrong colour will offend someone (a genuine cultural fopah in the Gulf but we airsofters tend to ignore it, mainly out of ignorance). Personally, there's good taste to be accounted for, however it's still just a bit of dress-up. My great-grandfather fought in the Somme. Another family relative was a Jew who escaped to Scotland with his bro from Poland in 1939 when they were all getting rounded up and sent to camps. His remaining family were wiped out in the horrors that followed. Whilst I'm fully aware and appreciative of history, I'm afraid I am not offended in the slightest if someone turns up to my local field in SS kit with toy guns. Thats just me, again there's the question of what is good taste, and others may be for good reason more sensitive which regardless of my more Liberal views I do respect.

Yeah well I gotta invisdible sheeld an, an, anyway my fingers were crossed so it don't count😋

Play to play. The "sport" is full of assholes, weekend warriors and wannabes, I just ignore them and wear my "I'M A SPACEMAN" patches, because we're playing cowboys and Indians in the woods (hey, I said bang and you didn't fall down!). Play for the fun and don't let dickheads stop your enjoyment of something.

This because I like details and I’m a super nerd

Alright y’all. I’m a born and raised American, so here’s my perspective. Other Americans would probably disagree with me here, but I’m a decent representative of the airsoft-playing demographic. In recent times, there have NOT been a lot of police deaths related to airsoft replicas. The danger is when misguided and deluded people (often teenagers), brandish airsoft guns as weapons. When a teenager has what appears to be a fully loaded AR-15 and starts coming towards the cops brandishing the weapon, they have no choice but to shoot. If they don’t, the individual could be a prospective neighborhood/school shooter. I.E. People are literally being shot for pretending airsoft replicas are real guns, and refusing to put them down when asked by the cops—there’s plenty of footage. In one recent example, a teen called 911 and asked for police help at his home because of domestic violence. The teen then answered the door with an airsoft M4 with the mag in and walked out at the cops with the gun pointed at them. There was no evidence of domestic violence. Everyone will have a different perspective on gun laws, but in America, guns laws primarily serve to remove the rights or privileges of law abiding citizens. Why on earth would the criminal obey gun laws? There are more guns in America than people—any criminal can get his hands on a gun through a private sale. In America, and in Texas in particular, concealed carry firearms (and open carry) is legal. A criminal or shooter’s WORST fear is not the cops catching him. It’s that the old lady in the diner or the kid’s baseball coach will pull out a concealed 9mm and shoot them from ten feet. This has happened repeatedly. School shootings are popular in part because staff are not allowed to carry weapons, as opposed to public places where shooters can be taken down by anyone. All that to say, the attempted restrictions/bans on airsoft weapons are likely attempts to remove freedoms rather than based in actual fact. Real weapons can be purchased in private or under the table sales by both legal and illegal owners extremely easily. Weapons are bought and sold at garage sales and over forums. Restricting sale and ownership of replicas and real weapons only harms and hinders legal buyers and owners because those with malicious intent will simply buy illegally.

lovely ! I think of all my GBBR it’s my favourite

The irony of making replicas harder to buy and use than the real thing.

I'm so happy 😭

About £100 worth of L119A1 parts: - Flash hider - Stock pad - Barrel extension Oh and an LA-5 style battery box! Looking forward to them arriving as the build continues to take shape

Been there, done that. Modifying the TM delta ring is the wrong route, you have to swap it out for a proper style one with the star ring in the middle (as discussed). If you file the lugs off to make the TM outer barrel fit you'll be fine, the rest of it is "standard". It's exactly what I did with mine.