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Well, thats another quarantine project done. Introducing the HK 417a2. It started life as two G28s; G28 LE #227 and G28 standard #IDontCareEnoughToCheck. #227 was my original G28 LE that Ive had for awhile, but it just kind of sat around as it was heavy, loud, and comparatively ineffective at range compared to my other DMRs. I wanted to upgrade it, but I wasn't sure what to do. Then comes the standard. I bought the standard off a secondhand airsoft app in November of 2019. It was a bastardization of a 417 and G28 - G28 receivers, grip, and outer barrel, but 417 buffer tube, stock, and rail. I didnt really care as it was dirt cheap and already had some decent upgrades in it. Turns out I should have cared, as not a month later the lower receiver cracked. Real bad. It may be repairable but itll be obvious. So I was left with a semi-upgraded but broken G417 and a stock G28 LE. Now, between these two I built a 417 for a mate. I believe I posted it here, but it involved making a custom fitting to mount a PTS UBR stock to it. I looks good, and works well. It also gave me some experience building 417s that I didn't have before, and it gave me an appreciation for the "Battle Rifle" class of weapon. Essentially, a BR is a carbine-length DMR. This would include short-barreled AR-10s, Scar mk17s, etc. In airsoft you follow rifleman rules. It just looks fancier. Around this time I started toying with the idea of creating my own BR, but in typical Spaz fashion it had to kind of stand out. Knowing how much of a pain VFC mk17s are to upgrade, I shied away from them, but 417s are expensive, with an approx $450 price tag. Add in the $500ish in internals I would have to do to field it and things weren't looking too good on that front either... Plus, there arent many aftermarket externals for the VFC 417s, and my squadmate already runs the one I built him. Then this broken G28 shows up and I had an idea... Until this year, I always preferred my guns having a dedicated setup. My M27 stays as it is, its sights are zeroed, I dont pull attachments from other guns, etc. However, with me recently turning my VFC Jag Arms PHX-15 SBR (see previous page) into a hybrid Krytac LMG with a second upper, I started thinking of doing the same with my G28 LE. I mean, if I built a lower based around trigger response why wouldn't it work in a DMR as well as a BR? So I began working on it. In this period I saw the news from SHOT that HK had revamped their 417 program into a new model - the HK 417a2. Shiny, new, not made in airsoft to date, and best of all - in RAL8000, just like my spare G28 receivers. So to begin I stripped the 417 sniper parts off the standard and sold them. No need for them, so why not. Ill make someone else happy. Bought a 417 short rail off someone selling one. Ordered a short outer barrel and gas impingement system from VFC. Started asking for quotes from various techs I trust on AEG gearboxes. Started looking into HPA as well, cause why not. Decided to go HPA as it'd be about the same cost, and more importantly, much quieter. Ordered a REVO kit from Italy (3D printed kit that allows the G28 to take aftermarket triggers, more HPA engines, standard M4 hops, and more). Ordered one of the new Wolverine Reaper Gen 2 Premium engines. Ordered a speed trigger, the internals needed to make the revo kit work, and an r-hopped barrel from the guy I always get my barrels from. Then it was onto externals. Ordered a fully trademarked Eotech XPS, G33 magnifier, KAC irons (closest I could find to gen 2 HK 417 irons - wasnt going to pay that much for the real thing - the rear sight alone is $300...), a Magpul AFG, a Surefire M600DF, and one of my signature blue-lasered PEQs. Rail arrived, and it sent it off with another project that will be unveiled here soon to be cerakoted in RAL8000. Rail returns, and most attachments come in. Decide I need a case, so pick up a Eylar 53in rifle case. Big, but i figured I'd need it. Case arrives, REVO kit arrives, Reaper arrives, bipod ordered and arrives. Install what I can, but Im still waiting for the order from VFC. Rest of the externals come in. Barrel from VFC finally arrived this morning, so in it went, gun went together, foam was plucked, and the HK 417a2/G28 project was complete. Now I can switch back and forth from G28 or 417a2 on the field depending on the role I want to play. The REVO kit also allows for full auto, so if the game allows it that is available. A fun project, a real head-turner (I hope), and it should have excellent range and accuracy. Im happy. Every part that should be is also trademarked, which really adds to the overall look.

Never thought I would get hold of one, with around only 20 being made, but luck was on my side with this one, a Nato Works SCP-90 the only AR70 variant on the airsoft market at the moment

And a massive suppressor to cover the extended km head tb barrel even though you cylinder volume was too small. Started around 2001 iirc. Closest site to us was the old Phoenix mill site, so we found our own places to hire or borrow more locally. My group still play as a private group to this day . Its how a lot of the long established sites started.

Don’t let age stop you, I started in February this year (just in time for that virus thing) at the not so tender age of 41! And I have a mild arrhythmia of the heart along with being apparently obese according to the Nhs 🧁 🍰 Apart from being being a little slower than the other youths due to my abundance of ballast and bodily defects, the sport is still immense fun and I wasn’t the only slightly older person there either. You’ve picked a great forum to join too, there’s many, many knowledgeable folk here with great advice and perspectives (not me btw I’m a noob) and you’ll be very unlucky not to find the info you need here. I was a soldier many moons past and found the whole experience pleasantly reminiscent of those days, indeed the community in general could not be more friendly and you’ll find that as you progress. As has been discussed elsewhere here it’s good practice to ignore some of the inflammatory YouTube content and go to a site for yourself. Oh and watch out for the accumulation of gear, it can catch you up if you’re not careful! I have everything bar a gun so far without actually intending to buy any of it! Enjoy!

Basically I'm interested in hearing stories and seeing pictures from people who started playing 15-20 years ago or even further back. Nowadays we're swamped with Novritsh, clickbait videos, 60 rounds per second and "Gucci guns"....take us back to a simpler time!

For your mp5: Gate Titan, sorbo pad with plenty of ptfe tape, R-Hop and then send it to Luke.

600mAh for a ‘mini’ or ‘stick’ battery, 1300-1700mAH for a ‘large’ one. I remember coming home on leave in 2001 and blowing £450 on a Classic Army MP5 from Wolf Armouries. Anyone here play at Airsoft Adventures at Greenham Common. Still my favourite Airsoft site to date.

Did it come from Scotland by any chance? Absolutely excellent find. Genuinely chuffed for you that you've managed to get hold of one btw. What's it actually like?

I started playing Airsoft when the first AEG TM Mp5's and FAMAS's started to be available in the UK. So we are talking 1996ish. I remember the date because I had to lie about my age to get a springer glock from Rebel Troop in Reading. Airsoft back then was pretty comical. Everyone ran a springer except for maybe 1 person who could afford a famas. Very little camo on the whole and people wore those B&Q plastic goggles for protection. The first game I played was somewhere in Reading. Might have been Mapledurham, but its so long ago now. I remember the game well. I had 3 mags. Which meant in relative terms, I was the geardo. We all ran around and shot each other fairly close because not all BB guns back then had a hop. ( The good hop ones had gold barrels.. oooo fancy ) There was one guy there who had a SA80 Springer and because it had a scope on it. We all thought he was the pro'est thing on the planet. There as no chrono but everything else was much the same. I did it for a few weeks and honestly, it was kinda lame. Truly no one had AEG's or any real range back then. Everything good was crazy expensive. An Mp5 AEG back then was about £280 and we are talking 1996. I dropped out for a few years and picked it back up again in about 2001/2. Again went to Rebel Troop and bought a TM M4. 1 Spare Mag, a TN barrel and a silencer cover. Back then people really bigged up the properties of tightbores. Ran it for a couple of games. Sent it to Airsoft Armouries for a power upgrade. It came back and had been modded to take a 9.6 3000 battery in a bag on the stock. ( Ghetto ) From there I played with the same gun for a long time. Still back them no one chrono'd and the rules of airsoft where kind of fluffy from site to site. I finally started going to Stirling Airsoft and they were the best days ever. No real worries about safety or FPS, and no one got hurt as it was still quite a small community. About a year after i got my gun back from AA, it was chrono'd at a game and was running 420fps. Ah fun times. They still let me play at FireFight on that day and just politely asked for me to clip the spring. So how is that for old school airsoft?

Started out in 1996 at Rebel Troop / Firefight in Reading. Gun choice was pretty much TM or TM. Don’t ever remember seeing a chrono in those days. FPS limits seemed to be whatever you could get the gearbox to do before it shit itself

At least you used a classic reference and didn't just parrot "OK Boomer"! Hey give it 30 years and people will be saying "During the Corona..."

personally no i've only been to the cqb site so far but i've booked on for their 12 hour survivor game in august may try get a game in there beforehand though

My advise is this: Find what works for you, unfortunately this could take a while and after you have spend a lot of money. Start slowly and only buy things which solve a problem, ie need something to carry mags, get a rig of some kind, found yourself needing extra storage, add pouches etc. Speak to other players about kit and what they use and why. Use the combined knowledge of this forum, we all play different styles, have different budgets and limits and will give you multiple answers based on varying experiences, but at least one of the replies will be the correct one for you. Good luck working out which Airsoft is extremely personal, there are hundreds of choices for everything from boots and gloves to eye protection and guns. plus everyone has an opinion and Airsofters like most niche hobbies have people with strong opinions. Dont put too much sway in what you read or are told as gospel as you will need to make up your own mind. Gear, is a hard subject as all you need to play is eye pro and ideally a gun of some kind (but you could get into a game and on the field with JUST eye pro). Everything else is either useful or to show off. Plenty of people are happy with jeans and a hoodie and others Are happy spending 2k on what they wear to look a certain way. Boots are always a good idea, and you can get surplus army boots or hiking boots from almost anywhere. likewise with guns, a kill from an £80 entry lever gun is just as effective as a 2k upgraded machine of death. Find your limits especially when starting off, go slowly with it. Sites vary greatly too, from woodland, scrubland, urban and cqb and sites which try to have a mixture, be careful as rules can vary from site to site too. Find one you enjoy playing at, with rules your happy with and with/against a typical clientele you don’t mind mixing in. I won’t name and shame but a group of regulars at a site near me has put me off returning.

Hi there, welcome! I'm not local to you, so can't comment on sites. Nothing wrong with being a mature participant. I took it up aged 32/33 and that was three years ago now. As you mentioned, it's a good way of getting some exercise and fresh air. Plus nothing wrong with having your own hobbies! (remember to tell yourself that when you've got £3k of toys sitting in your spare room), Sturdy boots are pretty obvious but also find some eye/face protection that you get along with. Don''t stress about buying gear/guns. While you doing your three games to get UKARA, you can ask people to hold and shoot their guns. In my experience the average airsofter is happy to show you their equipment. What looks cool on a website may feel unbalanced and unergonomic in the hand. *Disclaimer - mine was from a pre-COVID stance*

I can't think of a non- new player friendly site, maybe some events cater for more experienced airsofters sure but for the most part I find airsoft events a friendly atmosphere, its really nothing to worry about. When I skirmish solo I normally end up tagging along with people during the game and some people to shoot the breeze with during lunch break. One issue I can foresee is lots of site aren't doing rental equipment due to the coronavirus but of course YMMV. I'd take a look at local sites on youtube/facebook to get an idea and take it from there. Airsoft is a super weird hobby with an insane amount of potential - there really is something for everyone. I love it so much!!! Enjoy!

Don’t let your age put you off playing,!!! at 46 I am the youngest in our group who play together...... one of our lads has had 2 strokes, kicking close to 60 and still kicks ass when he gets out there As my dad told me, it’s not the dog in the fight, it’s the fight in the dog 😉

You can fill them up. Put the empty can in the freezer (helps it fill properly) and find a piece of tubing to fill nozzle to nozzle. I used a bit of biro tube before but needs stretching

Welcome youngster, I'm 52 & just become a granddad, that makes you feel old. Age is immaterial, personally I'll keep playing for as long as it remains fun, & the old bones will let me lol.

Since lockdown turned off the fun tap, I found I couldn't bear to talk or even think about airsoft without being able to play, thus the absence. It's not you, it's me. But with the latest Scotch.gov announcement today being as clear as mud about when our indoor-outdoor-contact-non-contact-sports-hobby-event will be allowed to restart, I've finally cracked. FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU Phew. What have I been doing? Dreaming about airsoft (really), and getting my tech on. DIYing mosfets, a surprising number of which haven't shorted out yet. Upgrading this, optimising the other, dialling everything in to 340-ish FPS. Tracer hop units. Getting my project CYMA M4 back into working order and discovering that the stock gearbox and motor are actually pretty decent if you get them shimmed, lubed and well fed with electrons. Even shoehorning a 1200mAh lipo and mosfet into an over-sprung AEP and getting some pretty snappy response out of it at 250fps. The one failure so far is the lonnnnng V3 trigger pull on my MP5K, which has defeated better bodgers than me. It's a fine balancing act of quicker contact vs non-cutting cut-off, but it looks like I'll have more time to work on it now. 😢 Well, I'll go and check what you reprobates have been up to. Nothing sensible, I trust.

Boots are all you need if you're renting, but your own eyepro will likely be better than a site rental mask. Oh, and 45 is the best age to start airsofting.

I was actually being serious about the Titan. That and a microswitch of some sort (with a warfet hard wired into) are the only 2 ways (that I know of) to achieve a hair-like trigger response. Maybe a G&G v3 etu + perun upgrade kit (combined are almost as expensive as a titan, but hey, it's another option).

Thanks mate!! It did indeed, and the build is beyond great, not an issue with it and the condition itself is amazing, I am thinking of doing a video review on YouTube as none exist that I know of Not as much as I thought, the seller was one of if not the best I have dealt with, reasonable and I am very thankful to him for contacting me and making a deal with me

Don't forget to completely fill the box with earwax and the barrel with dog hair.

ASG just re brands they don't make anything most likely at that price it's a classic army sports line which is garbage. can't comment on the cyma.

Fed up of waiting for a 2nd hand one!!

gutted my g&g rk-74e....................first time teching fucked off the g&g mosfet and fitted a perun new 16.1 gears (shimmed right on the 5th try) 30k infinity motor everything replaced in the gearbox formerly shooting 260 fps at 17rps now shooting 340fps at 24rps so far so good it hasn't destroyed itself

Dare I ask, how much did that set you back?

Stretch has noticed you've been missing, Borg. I won a Marui USP in a raffle.. highlight of lockdown 😎

you the guy in multicam? with the plate carrier?

Talking of the old days, when the recoils first came out, Eagle6 were the first to stock them. The biggest issue at the time was getting hold of the SOPMOD battery and that at the time was £79.99!!! E6 then created there own version of it by stripping out the TM cells which were low capacity and replacing them with a 7.4v 3200Mah Lipo... That baby cost £119.99!!! I kid you not... I've got the invoice to prove it... What was I thinking in those days lol!! |Come to think of it, I may have had one of the first recoils in the country! Bloody hell....! Oh, site limits used to be 330fps max... I don't know when woodlands went up to 350fps to be honest.. And brand wise, there were only 3 or 4 (TM, ICS, and two others which I can't remember now) oh and Systema!

am i supposed to know you?

Crikey... that shit is for real? 😱 I mean it looks like a Hasbro toy! My nerf gun which is blue and red looks more better than that ICS lol What is it with TAN coloured guns looking so plastic? Ein bier bitte 🤣

Blimey, that's you when you started? You must be a real life Benjamin Button then....or typing from beyond the grave 🤔 RPS and FPS..."My gun only shoots 335 - 340fps, anyone know how I can get it to 349.9?"

I got into this with my dad when he was 46 so it's never too late. Probably my best advice is pay attention on here, learn what you can when it comes up as someone will always mention something you would never have thought of. On your game days don't be scared to get stuck in and play aggressively, especially when you're hiring as I can guarantee you that you'll be getting outranged a lot. Yes it stings getting hit but it's really not that bad and with the adrenaline it barely registers as pain. Maybe get someone to shoot you before the game starts so you know what to expect lol.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate you taking the time to comment, gives me even more enthusiasm to get involved. Seems like a great community over here and hopefully as I learn, I can contribute something back to it. 👍

Finally got around to putting an actual hop unit in the f2000. Modded an old king arms unit with an stub of inner barrel and it seems to actually work. Of course it being the f2000 it'll go from firing every shot with a 1fps deviation at home to feeding 1 shot in ten about 100fps under on the field.

Why not simply replace the leaky O-rings with new ones?

I tried clear silicon and bits came out with the gas when firing. Took ages to clean out, id like to know a solution too lol

TM MWS 🙄 again 🥰😆

You see all ages, shapes and types at Airsoft. No one will blink an eye at you turning up to a game. the best thing you could do is put the doubts out of your mind and get playing, I’m sure you will enjoy it

Having previously been a journalist, I can say that TV and news will always do this. They won't say "they found some toy guns" because it isn't catchy. News is all about sensationalising everything, so if they find airsoft guns it's going to be "they found a large collection of assorted firearms, including handguns and an AR-15" There's a reason I chose a different career path in the end.

I can basically guarantee you that they were either planted or they found them, worked out what they were then shot the "discovery" and then staged the police response

All my tanakas.

As long as you're over 18 you can legally own it. You don't need to do anything else now, just play with it (responsibly) Its up to the retailer/seller to determine if the buyer is legitimate and retailers usually rely on UKARA registry for that.

Your post could be interpreted as “legal under the constitution” but not State & Federal, which is argument of some 2nd amendmenters that they can just disregard state or federal law if they feel fit

Okay, so I can't pretend to understand the tech involved here but I can totally see why the guy in the video (@Skara) is claiming that is full auto. Because that is a fast RoF, arguably too fast really, for that environment.

Agree, for me airsoft is based upon military combat simulation, daft dsg builds have no real world relevance 🙁

I’m surprised you are allowed to use that personally I think its irresponsible to be slinging so much plastic at such a furious rate. Sorry, but that’s just excessive and any site that let you use that against me I wouldn’t play at.

Most likely the Brocock TAC system, they were banned quite a while ago as easily converted to fire live ammo