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So after lets just call it at least a decade away I finally feel that I'm back, so I thought it'd be interesting to share my journey as attempt to get my head around the changes in tech & re-develop my loadout to match my play style which hasn't changed in the meantime. First off, I'd forgotten just how much I'd missed this both mentally and physically. I've been laid up in and out of hospital the last few years - to the extent that I've gone from superfit to completely broken. I finally found something which I could actually do without landing me back in A&E last October & thanks to a push from my wife - I tried out a game at my local airsoft site. I sold up pretty much everything (it was around the time of the in-fighting over setting up UKARA - alongside some horrible personal issues that was the final straw). So I had my old ICS552, my custom WA S&W 1911, my 8mm Redhawk & a battered CYMA M3 rip off. Despite the WA utterly failing in the cold weather, the SIG shedding parts & developing the fire selection switch developing the attitude of a teenager I had a whale of a time. Finally picked up my PASS & the intervening time let me try out the modern "toys" and get my head around what I enjoyed. I've never been a kit nerd when it comes to fiddling/upgrading or to achieving a particular loadout "style". Instead I've always ended up picking out what for me is the "best of breed" in terms of what does what I need it to, hence you could politely describe my look as that of a scruffy mercenary - as opposed to that of someone as likely to sell you a big issue as shoot you. I did get an ego boost from being described as a "Ukrainian nutter" though So in terms of clothing/webbing I just go with what is comfy. At the moment its a pair of yard boots (closest thing to trainers in terms of comfort), an old pair of combats, norge, appropriate layers & a russian OMON style vest. Its light, room for 3 spare M4 style mags, shotgun shells, 2 blank firing grenades & some high energy shack items. I then go with a belt running two bianchi holsters & spare revolver shells/pistol mags. Its nice to be able to dump the belt at the safe zone or go down to one sidearm without having to reconfigure everything. So my general "normal" loadout now is as follows ... SA-15 Edge - Batteries have moved on! Being able to fit a single battery in the stock which is enough capacity for a full day's play is a revelation. Battery capacity was always a factor in the past - so its great to be able to pick something I love the feel of without worrying about having to change/carry a spare. Aside from the tight inner barrel I didn't think there was much point in going for anything gucci. My AEG has always been a tool first. Hops have come on - I remember the old TM hop with its tendancy to unwind randomly (I ran both an M4 & SR16 for a while) but this is easy to set how I want it - and it stays that way. I also hated M4 mags - partially a look & feel, partially having to spend so much time keeping them working & feeding. Very much a fan of the new S-Mag style, plus no feed issues with either hi or mid caps. 3 spare mags in the OMON vest. Shotgun - a reliable backup and sometimes main for CQB/thicker woodland. I love tri-barrel shotguns. I sold my modded M3 when I quit - so I picked up a BO Fabarms one to replace the battered CMYA one. Its similar size & weight but definitely has more poke & consistency just like my old TM but at way less than half the price. Will run as a spare as looking to get hold of a Secutor one as its even smaller & looks sexier (sorry). I figure it'll be even easier to carry slung on my back but for the moment, for the money I'm liking this a lot. Spare shells in the sling which goes over my vest so she sits on my back. If I'm ditching the AEG then even more shells in the vest on the shell loops - saves having to take time out reloading in the safe zone TTI JW 4 - GBB's are so much improved. And I say that as someone who loved them. This has now replaced my beloved WA 1911 and I can't believe I've gone back to a double stack 2011. I tried lots but when I picked her up something clicked. The hop/takedown are quick, mags suffer less cooldown and in terms of range once I got the hop set - well she's perfect for pulling out and "going light" with a BFG or two. Very much feels like one of the old WA Inifinities - after I'd spent a fortune on metal gubbins, internals etc. but better - out of the box FFS! Pair of spare mags in an old mil-tec twin mag pouch on the belt (will be replacing soon as its knackered), gun sits in a Bianchi M84 on the belt. Lovely - you can keep your new fangled plastic holster things Marushin 8MM Redhawk - yes she's an antique but with a thorough clean and lube she's fine. Fill valve needs a strip and bit of plumber's tape every few months but in winter - on red - she's up to her old tricks. There is something so pure about considered shots with a 6 shot shell loader ... it honestly feels amazing. Pair of .44 magnum speedloaders on belt, she sits in a Bianchi Cyclone holster. When she gives up the ghost .... who knows. Might have to look at a den wesson if only to be able to keep my love of using nothing but a revolver & speedloaders in game occasionally Oh, and if anyone knows a source of 8mm BB's that's be great, although I'm down to my last 700 they should last a few years as I tend to only get through a dozen every skirmish. So that's where I'm at. It kinda feels comfy - like a modern upgrade of the kit "style" I know and love. When the weather warms up a bit I'll start venturing further afield - heard great things about the "x" site in Mold. Much prefer sneaky, muddy bog snorkelling/woodland play rather than speedball - although in building CQB does lead to me making disturbing sounds as I play. Airsoft is definitely more popular. the kit better, the choice in the UK so much wider (anyone else remember the says of WGC shop/Den trinity importing *everything*). People messing around with Western Arms kit - endlessly upgrading/fixing seems to have been replaced by a different bunch of people endlessly upgrading/fixing HPA guns - but I'm really enjoying getting back into this

When you've sat on it for a while & realised your never gonna use it cos you're made of sugar & scared of the dark 😜, baggsy first dibs at buying it off you😁👍

Enough to kurb my spending for 6 months 😂

A nice warm cuppa Just picked this up for giggles Might be good , might be poop But apparently 100m working range, could be useful for night games (if I played them) really just bought it for the giggles

He probably is. The problem is that GBBR magazines are heavy and only carry 35 BBs each, so you can load up with them and still need more ammo. I carry 9 MWS mags for my setup, but that's still only 315 BBs total (and weighs a tonne!). I just use a small speedloader, a bag of BBs and a 3d printed adapter that clips on top of the mag. Got one for my MWS mags and one for my AKM mags and they work really well.

Me and my son getting back into GBBRS 😁 I got myself the fire support mws + 4 mags deal and a new red dot sight. My son got a new GHK G5 for £250 in the sales 😁

... uh huh. Not what he's asking for chum

Just arrived (by proxy) Im intermediary for my mate 😂 King Arms Fal, minty

Old school ish build ( WE GBB base ) shoots well too which is a bonus 😂

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/flir-mk1-i3-not-charging/msg1161890/#msg1161890

I have one of those too. I use it to show people how their heat pumps are working and how (usually badly) their underfloor heating has been installed and set up. https://youtu.be/eEbCcYVQeAI?si=B0cBUChrg1PeLGHM My FLiR gun is useful for the minions to use on occasion, plus possibly when pewing. It's annoying that something so daft has potentially killed it. I got as far as reply number 4. It's shame this photo isn't 180 degrees rotated... one of those little components must be the chappy.

You still need the IR sensor, phones remove most of the IR to keep the visible colours correct. There are sensors that plug into a phone and an app to mix that image with the phone camera. Pixel count for thermal is very low. 10k for a 200gbp unit

If you get a battery, a tagged 18650 could be your cheapest avenue. Nubattery.co.uk. They have many of the aforementioned

Here, https://www.eevblog.com/forum/thermal-imaging/flir-i5-mk1-teardown-(same-as-i3-i5-i7)-by-fraser/

Alright, took it apart after today's game and: The internals are proprietary except for the motor, inner barrels and hop rubbers. The springs are vsr-like, but half the length and of odd diametre (11.3mm OD, 8.90 ID). Piston heads (consequently "cylinders" and cylinder heads) are smaller than AEG spec at 20mm OD. Nozzles are proprietary and don't have o-rings. Barrels are supposed to be 226x6.03 but I will check this later. Performance wise it's a hungry beast. Just setting the hops will chew through half a kilogram of 0.25s, it's far from efficient as well, drawing 30odd amps to start and keeping 24A during function, but that is due to the motor being a meh ferrite one. The upgrade plan is: • sort the air seal with new o-rings; • replace the motor with a less thirsty one, even if the overall ROF goes down; • replace hop rubbers to get the maximum possible range on 0.25s; • [optional] replace the inner barrels to bring the power up closer to 0.99J without putting unnecessary stress on the mechanical components. Alternatively make some spacers to go between piston heads and springs to compress them a little more. Pro tip for long term storage: Unscrew the barrel assembly, due to the way it works 4 out of 5 springs are always under tension. Edit: a full sized, picture filled breakdown and "review" will come once I have upgraded it.

EDIT: This was typed before you replied so info is a bit out of sync Most circuits have polarity protection so the board should be fine. As Roger said, if the battery charge drops below a certain point an intelligent charger won't recognise it. I have recovered a couple of very low bats by setting the charger (B6AC) to NiMh mode and charging for 2 mins. This pumps in enough charge for the intelligent charger to recognise it. Probably a good idea to change the battery anyway. Even if it shows a charge it probably won't last long under load when actually being used.

If a lithium battery or cell has dropped below the voltage where a smart charger will touch it, I've recovered some using a few seconds of parallel connection to a dumb source of the appropriate voltage (i.e. about 4.2V per cell). I don't mean leave it like this, just do it for long enough to nudge its voltage up, even very temporarily, to where the charger will kick in. If it's gubbed anyway you've got nothing to lose* by trying it. I've recovered 18650s that had dropped below 1V this way. You won't get the full capacity back, but any re-use is better than re-cycling. * If done in an Explosion Containment Pie Dish.

If there's reverse polarity it would likely be a series diode, it's a small load and it shouldn't fail even if the polarity was reversed. Does it show it's charging? The battery comes out on those doesn't it?

Yeah, I run a ghk m4 or the Sig I have 6 mags for the m4 - 35ish rounds each, the Sig I only have 4 mags for , they are 30 rounds each and super expensive to import from HK or Taiwan, so filling up as I go along is really the way The Odin with the adapter is good but it’s just too bulky for my dangler pouch at the front, so a smaller one is the way forward, it’s just getting feedback as the one I showed in the image above has a design flaw and jams almost every time They are total poop for gbbr mags as more force is needed to push in at a squonky angle

Thanks bud Its made by Torrey Pines I’ve never heard of them before, it’s long been discontinued But I feel I got it for a fair price, Doubt I’ll try it in the wet winter as I don’t know how IP rated it is. But makes sense that it’d be most effective on cold days

Here we have a 'Not a trader - honest!' advert for a JG G36c that's £20-30 more than retail:

Welcome back to the hobby and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when I returned from a similar bygone era as yourself. Mildly jealous of the WA 1911, as I was too young to afford such a piece when I started (same with Tanaka rifles, but I've since managed to get myself one of those without breaking the bank). The hobby is way more accessible and mainstream now, though it is still a niche hobby there are a lot more people playing. Main issues now are social media and their algorithms promoting drama content which produces some real asshole airsofters who create such content and also their fans who emulate it. Chrono is a lot more prevalent and any site will ask you to chrono your guns at the start of the day, unlike back in the day where we all just turned up and most of us shot each other with hot guns as they tended to come out of the box when imported from Asia anywhere between 380 - 420fps. Hop ups are a lot better now as well, and people typically use heavier ammo with most running .25s - 28s in their AEGs, some even heavier than that, and .43s or heavier in sniper rifles. It's amazing what kind of range you can get with a well-tuned build these days, especially when you consider that 40m was a real achievement back in the day! TM gas pistols are now king. They're the best gas pistols on the market and thanks to the plastic slide they tend to work all year round outside of the recent polar temperatures we've had the past few weeks, although I know people who have risked putting red gas through theirs and they've cycled fine for those game days. In theory they should be fine as the psi of red gas at 5 celcius is (probably) low enough to not explode them, but you won't find me risking it and I wouldn't advise risking it. The newer models have better blowback units and are even more gas efficient; as soon as the temperature is over 5 celcius, my HK45 tends to just... work. Reliably. On green gas. Going with what's comfy is definitely best. If you can carry what you need and be comfortable doing so, then it works. Impression kits are great and I'm definitely guilty of enjoying a bit of dress up, but for regular airsoft skirmish you can turn up in trackies and walking boots if you want to. Also, when charging LiPo batteries, get a good balance charger like an imax b6 or something like that. There are cheap chargers that will charge through the balance lead, but... well, LiPo horror stories are easy to find and chemical fires are no joke. I remember LiPo batteries being a thing back in the day, but they tended to be reserved for high rps builds and tended to shatter gearboxes, but these days most guns will be fine running 7.4v LiPo batteries, with some handling 11.1v out of the box. Just make sure you take good care of them and don't use them if they go all puffy. https://www.outdoorandtactical.co.uk/product/ot-8mm-bbs-0-48g-1000-white-8mm No idea how good they are, but they exist.

It's very rare to hear from anyone that even remembers WA 2011s these days so welcome back. There aren't many of us left

Thanks dude I was helping my buddy out, it’s his and got delivered to me 🤫 Hes got an Ares also, but for some reason wanted a KA version. I couldn’t tell you the differences between the two of them. Hes got Ares mags , so fingers crossed for him Struggling to find KA mags for this in stock anywhere

ok my bad, didn't read I heard this type with the bigger push button is better

Ownership won't change hands until 2025 so there's another year left at the site.

Yep - theyre really hot on weights/fps etc & whats nice is just because you can run say a DMR youve got to prove you can play responsibly first. Thankfully there's a few old timers around who remember them - this time of year she's doing 210 with .4s so fine everywhere. Summer is 320 - so essentially hand sniper piece with the usual min 20m engagement rule. I've switch to pistol or shotty and bfg well before then. Once we get above about 10 degrees she's is superb for targets which are at aeg range. Very accurate and surprisingly quiet. I'd love a 310 ish revolver with 0.25s & a speedloader just because .... its so cool to do It's been way too long. Really nice just hanging out with other weirdos, getting plastered in mud and watching gun porn on a Saturday packing for the next days lunacy.

Yeah me to. Although I don't call it a charger but heyho whatever. 😉

Would strongly recommend the TM m4 style speedloader. The smaller pistol style would seem relatively forgiving, had the cheaper ones work no problem. No so much with the larger type. Also tragically some of the more eccentric designs have been discontinued. Such as the "eagle" loader, which came complete with veins.

I've had a couple for about as long as I've been playing, no sign of them giving up. And yeah plenty of other people out there who'll say/have said the same.

Stupidly sold my WE Glock 17 a while back with the intentions of getting the Umarex licensed one but I wasn’t a huge fan of the “licensed by” (I want my pews to look as accurate as possible to the real thing) Figured I’d just get another WE and be satisfied, so off to KY I went only to find this absolute beauty. https://www.kyairsoft.com/we-g17-gen-4-gbb-pistol-black-cnc-custom-marking.html Now to sit by the door watching for the postie 👀

If this is the same person I think it might be I'd like to follow this up even though it is a few months ago. Sadly, we/I had to ask this person to leave site after the 2nd game due to them not being able to follow certain safety rules. The rule in question being eye protection being worn at all times outside of the safezone. Our google reply was as follows: "Hi Danu, I’m really, genuinely sorry that we had to end your day and send you home early, but we are very clear that safety is our primary concern at AWA, and we have to send repeat offenders home. You should never, ever, take your eye pro off in the gaming area. You were warned twice personally, and a party to two group warnings as well as the warning in the morning safety briefing. We realise that this opens us up to revenge reviews, but despite our differences, I’d rather send you home early with two working eyes and suffer the bad reviews than the alternative. It’s the number one rule in airsoft, please, if you continue to play in future, at any site, you must take it seriously, you only get one set of eyes Danu, and we want you to keep them."

I sailed under a lucky star when the shop opposite me chucked out a load of slatwall. I ran over, asked if they wanted it, then tried to shift if. It's a tad heavy when attached to 18mm MDF! 😱😂 Got it home, all of 50m, put it up and then bought a load of hangers. I need to do a reshuffle at some point as I'm running out of room...have a big ol' basket now for mags as only two of my prws share mags. 😂😂😂