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Showing content with the highest reputation on 14/05/21 in all areas

  1. As much as I agree I’ve just come to accept it as a colloquial term for ‘not stock’. As many in airsoft are it’s literally just a throw away term, much like many folks think the moment ‘CNC’ is attached to something that it’s of superior quality to something manufactured in a different way (hard truth for some, not always the case). I pretty strictly use the term ‘aftermarket parts’, but I’m aware I’m cutting my nose off by doing so because just putting ‘upgraded’ would likely attract more attention. You/we have the benefit of being educated as to what will and won’t make something perform better (for the most part), the ‘fuLLy upGrAdeD’ ads (at least I suspect) are more targeting buzz words to catch folks none the wiser. And unfortunately it works, or at least seems to given the rate at which they tend to sell and the lack of rant threads from folks claiming they’ve been ripped off. Does it make me cringe? Yup. Has it been around for forever? Yup. Will it continue? Yup. Am I glad this thread exists for momentary grumble? Abso-fucking-lutely. Edit: I’m in no way denying upgrades exist, but to be an upgrade there needs to have been a measurable improvement by some sort of metric from a baseline. If you’re selling something that’s been upgraded and you can’t tell me what the improvements are as a ‘before and after’ then how do you know it’s actually an upgrade?
    5 points
  2. The term “FULLY UPGRADED” eurgh.. I mean what is fully upgraded? Switching out every conceivable part in my mind. Have you swapped all of the body for real steel receivers and parts, are the body screws replaced with titanium hex head ones? No? Then get the fuck outta here with your fully upgraded. Whats worse are the sales channels with a whole list of upgraded parts, then somewhere it says, slight issue with feeding, maybe a mag lip, either way it’s an easy five min job for buyer.... EXCUSE ME?? If it’s so damn easy fix it yourself before selling ffs
    4 points
  3. Don’t know about you bunch of reprobates but being the cynical as fook old grump that I am when ever I see ‘upgraded’ in any sales pitch I start to loose interest and that rate only increases in speed the more they big up the sooper dooper upgrading that’s been done to the what ever and very soon it’ll have evaporated all together ! To put it bluntly I don’t believe it’s as good as you say it is , unless you’ve got paper work from a REAL tech guy and it’s very recently been done . after years of seeing ‘upgraded by player’ guns implode I’m very slow to believe the sales hype many tack on to there adverts these days .
    3 points
  4. If someone wants to 3D print parts and accessories, knock-up some Kydex holsters, or try their hand at a sewing some chest rigs - great, no problem. If they are shit, people will only whinge about them should they fail in any way. But critical safety equipment? Good god no. https://www.facebook.com/IPSAR-Militia-100196425545948 By the way, IPSAR stands for 'iPhone Sales And Repairs'. I'm guessing that's his day job. Why he would use that name for his airsoft shenanigans is beyond me.
    3 points
  5. Suffice to say great work for catching it, raising awareness and to all that have acted on insisting some proof of safety standard is provided until sales can continue. If you want to peddle 'custom made' wank to anyone daft enough to buy it then I guess more the fool them. But safety equipment is where a pretty firm line needs to be drawn. Grumpy old twats as we may be, excellent work folks.
    3 points
  6. Patrolbase’s latest email. Apparently it’s a 50 quid saving haha i know it’s a typo but thought it was funny
    3 points
  7. the one that gets me is saying "upgraded" without actually saying what parts are in it, or being vague about them (eg "upgraded barrel and hop rubber"), maybe it's just me but i can generally list all the parts in my guns from memory (exceptions being when i've done a build by raiding the parts box).
    3 points
  8. I agree. My brain substitutes the word 'fucked' for upgraded in many adverts... Anyone can fit something badly. Fitting things well, especially shimming, is a real skill.
    3 points
  9. “Shape up at the disco and I think I've got a pullI ask her lots of questions and she hangs on to the wallI kiss her for the first time and then I take her homeI'm invited in for coffee and I give the dog a boneShe likes to go to discos but she's never on her ownI said I'll see you later and give her some old chatBut it's not like that on the TV when it's cool for catsIt's cool for cats (cool for cats)“ ©Squeeze
    2 points
  10. Yup ! 🤣🤣🤣🤣
    2 points
  11. I joined his Facebook group and asked what the safety rating was on the visor AND now I can’t get on it at all , as if it doesn’t exist any more ?
    2 points
  12. To clarify a couple of things, James (snake oil merchant) posted to a group before I posted the same screen shots. The Airsoft Rants And Bants Society is a (sometimes) breather from the normal posts that appear on other groups. His helmet made it to the arabs group and I have added a little there. What James doesn't get, is that should he have provided the info it wouldn't have got to this. I haven't posted anything he already hasn't. All of his posts, as mentioned get comments turned off quickly. Or indeed as he posts them. A little later when I get a keyboard in front of me I shall be responding to his latest message.
    2 points
  13. I see it's made it to the A.R.A.B.S FB group now. Have fun boys, I'll watch and enjoy from a distance.😁
    2 points
  14. Uuuuuh, I mean if you're selling PPE that's kind of the way it works right? It's almost as if there are markings and regulations that help people pick a product suitable for the job 🤷‍♂️
    2 points
  15. James O'Brien makes the helmets and then threw a strop when Jacob called him out on his shit
    2 points
  16. Hi, ALL! 👋 Made a purchase from Patrol base, a few days ago.... now it has turned up today! 🤞😆👍 Can’t wait to do a video on this and use it in the field!!!! 🤪 (No spoilers!) 😂 💷GAMBLE💷
    2 points
  17. These ads are usually accompanied by "only fired in the garden" or "only used once", which is weird, if it's so amazing why are you selling it so soon? Spending £200 on a gun, another £200 on upgrades, then trying to sell it for £399. Get real.
    2 points
  18. Agree, only time I'd even consider a bit of kit that's being touted as "upgraded" is if it's a long time forum member with impeccable credentials & continued forum input, I'd trust that waaay more than a relative unknown quoting work done by xyz at so&so airsoft shop. but I also don't believe in upgrading unless something really needs it, as in its fucked 💩☠️👻
    2 points
  19. I’ve been working on this project for a few weeks, where I’ve started to gather info on airsoft sites from all over the UK. I have built a database of these and created a website where you can browse and find information about these sites, all in one convenient place. PlayAirsoft UK People who want to have a website for their airsoft locations/clubs are not generally well versed in information architecture and they don’t typically have a budget to spend on professional services to make their websites or even basic information well designed and accessible. I'm hoping to take this burden off their shoulders and give them solid tools join in on the action without much fuss. I was annoyed that there was no central place with more info about nearby sites so I could pick one for my next weekend. PlayAirsoft is an answer to this and other issues. The functionality is currently limited because I only just started, but the info is solid; I’ve spent hours scavenging and verifying all the information about the sites you'll see there. There aren’t a lot locations as of right now, but I'm hoping that with your help, we can have a universal place to find more sites. If you have a favourite airsoft location that isn’t listed or know a site owner, use the link below to suggest a new site to be listed. All submissions are reviewed beforehand, as I would like to have the most accurate info on these places as possible. https://airtable.com/shrpMw7Xx1UiVErke Feel free to use this topic as a way to provide feedback, suggestions, and report issues. I’m hoping that PlayAirsoft will provide you with a reliable and accessible way to plan your next airsoft adventure. Enjoy and let me know what you think!
    1 point
  20. Great News folks, we've made a few more changes on site and can now safely increase the player numbers for Airsoft game days 😀!! Booking are now open for 6th + 20th June 2021 Book Now 👉👉 https://aceairsoft.co.uk/next-game.html In the meanwhile sit back and enjoy some pewpew footage from last Sunday's 9th May game. Hope to see you soon.
    1 point
  21. While generally that advice is very good this is from personal experience with the cyma platinum. It really benefits from a replacement hop unit and the ZCI unit is very cost effective. For me the cost of the gun and these mods came to less than £200 and it is now shooting better than most of my other RIFs costing more than twice a much. Get the air seal good and the weakest part on these is the barrel & hop combination. These are far from top of the range parts but combine to give a performance comparable to top of the range RIFs. I can understand avoiding going into the gearbox if you are not mechanically minded but the hop and barrel are easy to replace following the many good YouTube videos out there.
    1 point
  22. Do you have the photos of when armed response turned up afterwards?
    1 point
  23. 1 point
  24. Her names Gina, but apparently her nicknames "Aviary" i think you can guess the punchline 🤣 FFS, DAMN MY EYES, I THOUGHT IT SAID COCKATOO🐥
    1 point
  25. Don't trust your eyes to anything but the top brands that have been around for years in the eye pro game and are thoroughly vetted and proven - literally just do not touch anything else. That's all folks have gotta do, and you can almost always get mil issue eye pro of some kind on ebay for not much money. I've said it before, I'll keep saying it and it disappoints me that I don't see this said more often in various online places that airsofters frequent. It's so mind-bogglingly easy to just not get your eyes shot out by making shit choices.
    1 point
  26. So, I did get the chance to tap out a response from his latest message that was mostly threats. I wont waste too much space, my final comment was 'you can always block me.' Turns out he has! No sleep lost
    1 point
  27. They can be quite brutal. Definitely more edgy than your more 'normal' Airsoft FB group. Mr Negative Airsoft himself is one of the Admin.
    1 point
  28. Damn where ma popcorn!! If I used social media I would be trolling this twat too
    1 point
  29. Well, the cat is out of the bag, It was indeed James O'Brian producing these - I believe that he's around the Bournemouth/Poole Area. The Admin of the FB Group I was referring to (Dorset Airsoft Community) have restricted his posts to Admin pre-approval only. They will be questioning the issue with him if he tries to post again. That little FB meltdown only serves to confirm my suspicions. No company in their right mind would refuse to provide safety standard information for a product such as this. I feel sorry for anyone sucked into buying one of these at £130 a pop.
    1 point
  30. i'm assuming the name from the screenshot is who the conversation is with, so it's James O'Brien asking Jacob Taylor about the safety ratings. but it's entirely probable that i'm also muddling it up
    1 point
  31. I'm confused (not difficult lately lol), is Jacob Taylor the knob "making" the shit helmets, or is it James O'Brien ? I'm not great with social media crap 😱
    1 point
  32. Well, somewhat unsurprisingly, the guy's a cretin who really doesn't like getting called out
    1 point
  33. Bit late to the thread but my primary is a fusion engine'd G&G PDW15. I'll give my two cents on the body itself (PDW15) and the fusion engine, though Hamster's guide gives you all the info you'd need. I've added some more detailed info about alignment because I feel this is an often overlooked aspect of tuning HPA guns. Donor Body: G&G PDW15 AR Compatibility: The fusion engine dropped right in and sits perfectly in the body. I was expecting to have to do some work for have the engine sit and also line up with the hop unit properly but was pleasantly surprised when it was perfectly inline and level with the upper and hop unit. This is something you want to keep in mind with all HPA systems but can be a particular challenge with the fusion engine because unlike other drop in units that fit into the gearbox that comes with the gun (and hopefully lines up correctly with the hop unit) the fusion engine is a complete replacement of the gearbox. I've illustrated the issue below. This can be a oft overlooked part of getting any HPA setup tuned correctly. If you shine a light down the barrel, you want to see your nozzle sat directly in the centre with an even spacing around it to the barrel inner wall. Off centre will give you consistency issues and potential feeding issues. Off angle will give you feeding issues, limit rate of fire and wear your nozzle and barrel where they rub. Both issues can be corrected with correct shimming but it does take some work and effort to get perfect. You can also get clips that clip your hop unit to the front of the engine to ensure they line up, its just a matter of finding what works for you. Features: My body is fully ambidextrous with selector switches on both sides and mag release buttons on both sides. I really like this because it lets me switch hands and shoulders and still retain full functionality. I can reload left handed or right if I go dry, can switch to safe or full auto etc. This depends on your shooting style buts getting comfortable with firing from either shoulder/hand is something I highly recommend learning. Its a huge advantage when you come up against cover that would otherwise force you to expose more of yourself to shoot past. Build quality: My gun is CNC machined, though I'm not sure of the alloy used. However, whatever alloy they have used is solid. My gun has no wobble or flex at all and has taken the heavy use it see's well. Admittedly, I don't go punishing my gun and throwing it around but I'm not afraid to crawl with it; butt it up against cover to get steadier aim etc. The biggest thing for me, however, is there is zero and I mean zero wobble/flex between the upper and lower. Most AEG's because of the design rely on the front pin and the top/cylinder portion of the gearbox sitting inside the upper to keep it snug against the lower, there just no room for tabs at the rear of the upper to interface with the rear locking pin. Most gearboxes are cast and designed to work in a wide product family, so they don't have a snug enough fit in the upper to prevent wobble/flex. G&G got around this issue by creating a extended shelf that sits up against the buffer tube portion of the lower receiver (see image below). This extension ensures that the upper is properly held down against the lower. Again, this helps keep the alignment between the hop unit and nozzle/engine consistent while I run and gun. Fusion Engine My fusion engine is setup with the standard poppet valve and a green nozzle (primarily used for CSB at my local site). I get around 280(+/- 2-3) fps using 0.3g (1.09J). I was using Geoff's 0.3g bb's and it would shoot like lasers. I found 0.3g to be a nice compromise between weight and cost for CQB. Now I'll be the first to admit that 0.3g is a overkill for CQB but having my hop set to 0.3 meant I could go to a outdoor sight and be ready to roll without any fucking about with my hop or where my sights where zero'd at. It also meant that even if the guy I was shooting was wearing a think hoodie/PMC jacket with plater carrier, they'd feel my shots hit them even at the longest ranges I would be engaging at my local site (RIP The Stan). I'll be changing my setup to a red poppet and amped purple nozzle for increased shot efficiency and a higher FPS (aiming for around 310fps with 0.28g, 1.24J ) since I only have outdoor sights available to me now. I'm also switching to Valkyrie BB's on a trail basis since I've heard good things and a few friends who've tried them say they get better consistency with them. I'm going with 0.28g because they don't do 0.3's and their 0.32g are a bit too expensive for me right now. Regulator: Wolverine Storm - 40 - 140 PSI range. Nothing to say other than works perfectly with my fusion engine. If you've got any specific questions, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to answer but from what I've read so far you're on track for a good polarstar setup. The fusion engine was designed around VFC M4 bodies when it was being designed so should be as close to, if not, just drop in and go as you can get for a fusion engine though the Avalon is a newer model but I doubt much has changed in terms of internal dimensions. Finally, thank you for give me an opportunity to talk and gush about my hpa setup! 😁 I don't get to do it often but I really do love to do it when I can (I suspect we all just want someone to listen to us talk about airsoft endless, its why we're all on this forum after all!)
    1 point
  34. KOA upgraded, Eagle 6 upgraded, Camo Raids Upgraded, Alphabear upgraded.... that kinda sums me up 😂 Im sure at some point I’ll add a Negative Airsoft fixes some balls up upgraded job down the road. But hey it’s all good
    1 point
  35. Will not ever consider buying a second hand gun that says it's upgraded recipe for disaster. I still don't get the whole obsession with up grading guns unless it's for aesthetics. Just buy a gun that is good out the box and don't expect miracles. The only gun I have owned that needed up grading was a classic army sports line P90 and why dump more money after bad? got rid of it after one game literally went back to the safe zone put a for sale notice up.
    1 point
  36. The one phrase that’s guaranteed to make me not buy something.
    1 point
  37. Glad it’s not just me. Fully Upgraded ~ totally fucked
    1 point
  38. John_W

    Dream Guns

    I keep hoping Marui will put their gas shotgun system in to a SPAS 12 (with folding stock). And WE to produce a full metal Beretta 1934 and PPK. (And start putting on trademarks)
    1 point
  39. For the future - one good way to work out if an Airsoft shop is worth your time is to look their address up. If it's a residential address like Typhoon, then the chance that they're either really shit at sending out orders, or dropshipping orders straight from China, goes up massively. I'm not saying this is the case for Typhoon, but I have seen similar posts on AFUK about Typhoon in the past. Best to look for a company with an actual showroom or storefront unless you're buying a super hard-to-find item. Good luck with the chargeback/paypal claim!
    1 point
  40. Another game booked in at @Ace Airsoft War Games on the 6th June 👌
    1 point
  41. I promised an update about the site, so here's something that I'm currently working on in my spare time. A highly requested feature: to browse sites using a map. Well, it's coming! Right now it's early days, but as you can see there's already a few sites on here. Both, the map and the list will be in sync, so what you'll see on the map will show on the list.
    1 point
  42. Cromulon1994

    Dream Guns

    It does, Shoei. You'll pay £1200 upwards for one, but they are just about the best made airsoft guns going.
    1 point
  43. A few bits for the MWS.
    1 point
  44. Aimpoint T1 micro 2 MOA. This thing is tiny! It’s an absolutely awesome bit of kit. NV compatibility on the first 4 settings. Not that I have any NODs but hey you never know
    1 point
  45. You all got it wrong.... it will come free with a packet of cornflakes.... but not just any cornflakes these will be Marui cornflakes 😂
    1 point
  46. Davegolf

    THE TM MWS thread

    Just loctite permanent parts, GBBs are basically vibrators 😂
    1 point
  47. Well it’s lockdown and I’m bored, so might as well write a guide/review/thing about the black magic that goes into an HPA. Hpa in general is a dark art to some, so maybe it’s worth writing down some of my experiences to help folk understand hpa and the issues you can face. I’m going to focus primarily on polarstar’s product line because their products are the ones I’m most familiar with, but I’ll make a few mentions of other brands and what they offer with the caveat that my hands-on experience of running them is very much limited to second-hand information. This is probably aimed more at people looking to get into hpa and may find it useful knowing the benefits/limitations of certain systems. First things first lets clear up some misconceptions: Hpa is accurate- yes and no, like any airsoft gun just having an hpa kit doesn’t immediately turn it into a laser beam of death, your hop, barrel, ammo, tuning etc are all still very important factors in accuracy and a badly setup hpa can still fail to hit the broad side of a barn from inside said barn. However, with that said a good hpa kit can, in a good gun, offer superb consistency and accuracy, but you must work for it. Hpa’s run hot- yes and no, there’s a very strong stigma that hpa users always turn up their regulators then run around pinging everyone at 600fps the moment the whistle blows. Well whilst I’ll not deny that there’s a certain type of person who originated such a stereotype not everyone that has an hpa does this. A perfect example is a game about a year ago where literally every single player was running an hpa, and I’m not gonna lie even I saw all those air lines and made the same assumption. But I was wrong and it turned out to be a day filled with the most sportsmanlike conduct I’ve ever experienced playing airsoft, nobody was running hot, nobody ignored hits, nobody overshot (in fact i can’t remember using auto at all the entire day), and everyone had a fantastic time as a result. What I will say is that a cheater is a cheater no matter what he’s using, and it’s not like hpa is the only system that enables quick energy adjustment, hell the quick change spring on an evo or systema is every bit as amenable to that kind of thing. Hpa’s hose everyone with a million bb’s- again yes and no. I’d be a hypocrite if I said I’ve never tried running a high rof, and there are a few limited scenarios where it can be useful (most particularly punching through heavy undergrowth) but it shouldn’t take long to realise that it’s mostly just turning plastic into hatred from your fellow man. On a technical standpoint not all systems are capable of running stupid rates of fire anyway, and normally you’ll end up sacrificing actual accuracy to obtain accuracy by volume and frankly I’d much rather have the former because it’s cheaper. To me at least the true power of an hpa system is having accuracy and good trigger response so that you can make that first round hit and if they need more convincing quickly follow it up with a second (or however many it takes to convince them that the respawn flag is where they want to go) whilst an hpa can sustain 40+rps with minimal effort (certainly compared to extracting the same from an aeg) it doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t run slower. Hpa’s are super loud/quiet- these are both true, in essence an electro-pneumatic hpa system is going to have minimal cycling noise compared to the whirring gears and slamming piston of an aeg, therefore the primary source of noise is from the “pop” of air when the bb leaves the barrel. Depending on the setup (eg a short barrel with high pressure will be louder than a long barrel with low pressure for the same fps) this can be made to sound very loud with an amplifier, or with a nice foam filled suppressor very quiet. Personally I find the ability to suppress these guns and make them effectively silent is a wonderful side benefit especially if you enjoy sneakier types of gameplay. So I’m going to do this in a vague order of pricing, at least in terms of the engines. I’ll cover the functionality and a few of the noteworthy issues, the basic tuning method, and recommendations for use. Polarstar jack/f1 left dissassembled jack showing internals, right F1, note the larger solenoid functionality The jack is polarstar’s cheapest system (at least until Kythera hits the shelves) and it’s wonderfully simple, it only has 1 moving component and has very simple setup. The f1 is more expensive with a bigger solenoid but functionally it’s pretty much identical. These are a “drop-in” system, essentially the engine quite literally drops in your standard aeg gearbox in place of the cylinder, you remove the gears and replace the trigger contacts with the included trigger module (more about the different trigger options later). The air line can then be routed generally out of the grip (as the motor housing has a convenient hole for it to go through) and the wiring for the fcu generally goes wherever you had the original aeg battery going (an fcu+mini battery takes up about as much space as a small 11.1v lipo). f2 installed in a v3 gearbox, note the trigger board replacing the original contacts. The way these work is the nozzle is a 1-piece unit that is held in the rear position constantly by air pressure around the outside of the nozzle. When you fire air is sent to the base of the nozzle pushing it forwards, when the nozzle gets almost all the way forwards (about 2mm from the end of travel) it uncovers a set of ports, these ports allow air from the chamber outside of the nozzle to pass through the nozzle and down the barrel. This makes it an “open bolt” system, as the nozzle always starts from the open position and during firing must travel forward, pick up a round, and fire. Very much in the vein of open bolt RS guns like the sten. limitations The main advantage is the extreme simplicity and accompanying low-cost. However it’s not a perfect system. The primary issue with this open bolt setup is the sensitivity to timing. Unlike even a standard aeg this system has a habit of sending air down the barrel before the nozzle is fully forward meaning in short it makes its own air leak. Now with a good hop rubber and having exactly the right nozzle length for the gun will definitely help improve things but there’s a limit even to that. The practical outcome of this is accuracy, or lack thereof, at best a jack can operate at the level of an good aeg in terms of shot-shot consistency but it’s very easy for incorrect setup to make it very poor indeed. The second issue is that of pressure, it affects pretty much all hpa systems in some way but the jack/f1 being a completely pressure driven system means it’s particularly noteworthy. In essence this limits how low-powered you can make the gun for a given barrel length. For example as standard I found that on a 275mm barrel I would be running ~75psi to get 1j on an 0.3g bb. The problem here is that things like pressure on the bb from the magazine means that it can struggle to feed, and in my particular case this would mean the first 20 or so rounds in a midcap would struggle to feed, yet the last 20 or so rounds would have no such issue. This of course will depend entirely on the particular setup of the gun, having a higher energy limit, shorter barrel or weaker magazine will reduce the impact of this. For example the inner barrel on my 42 is about a foot shorter than the original to allow it to run properly. It is possible to block some of the ports on the nozzle to make a pseudo “low-flow” which can help (by meaning you run a higher pressure for the same muzzle energy), but it won’t solve the inherent problems of accuracy. Tuning So tuning these systems is relatively simple and involves only 2 settings: dp and rf Dp is poppet dwell, in short it’s how long the system activates the solenoid for. In these systems this covers essentially the entire firing cycle. The best way to tune this is to set the dp to maximum, then on the bb weight you use set the pressure until you get your desired energy. then drop the dp value, chrono a few shots, drop dp again, and repeat until you see the energy drop. You want to set the dp value just above where the energy drop occurs. Of course any significant changes to bb weight, barrel length or energy are going to change how “optimal” this is and it may need re-set if you change any of these. Rf is rate of fire, and it does pretty much exactly what you think it does and limits the rate of fire. Now as far as I can tell this setting overrides the dp setting, so if you set the rate of fire faster than it takes for a completed shot then it’ll result in an energy drop (just like if your dp was set too low). Practically this means in full auto your rounds are going to drop given your hop unit and sights are likely set for where the bb is going in semi auto. If you take this to the absolute extreme the system won’t even cycle. now you need to consider why exactly you want a ridiculous rate of fire, I’m not going to say that I haven’t chased speed, or that there aren’t some specific scenarios where a stream of bb’s can be useful. However, think of the poor sod on the end of that stream of plastic. I’m all too aware that it doesn’t always take just 1 bb to get a hit call but that’s no excuse for sending 40 rounds at every person you see. Remember the most important rule of airsoft: don’t be a dick. conclusions The jack/f1 is a very simple setup, and as such pretty much the only thing available for it is different length nozzles for different guns. As I explained earlier it’s important to get one the right length for your gun. If you’re running a weird gun that they don’t do a nozzle for then pretty much your only option is going to be to get one longer than you need and turn it down on a lathe. Tbh I think in terms of usefulness I’d recommend considering leaving open bolt hpa systems for support guns or cqb guns where precision isn’t a massive priority. for the cost of a jack and hpa setup you can easily get an aeg to shoot just as well and pretty much the only things you’d gain with the jack are trigger response (even as an open bolt it’s almost instant) and reliability. Certainly if semi-auto accuracy is your priority I’d direct you to either the f2/fusion, or another manufacturer like wolverine, redline or mancraft. Polarstar f2 internal CAD view of the f2, note the seperate solenoids for controlling the main airflow and the nozzle movement. functionality The f2 is one of polarstar’s newer products and in my opinion offers the most flexible platform in terms of a universal drop-in system that can provide the tuning functionality to extract excellent performance. The f2 is a “closed bolt” system, this means the nozzle rests in the closed position under a spring. Of course this means it’s a fair bit more complicated internally than the jack/f1 and has a separate nozzle/poppet arrangement and a pair of independent solenoids. However the trade off for this is a massive increase in tunability and a system that is inherently easier to tune for accuracy. An f2 in the right gun can provide excellent fps consistency and therefore accuracy, especially for semi-auto. Limitations Unlike the jack the nozzle length isn’t as sensitive for accuracy, however it’s still as important as it would be in an aeg. Of course there are a range of nozzle length options for different guns including options for offset nozzles such as an m14 or f2000. Additionally, the system is slightly chunkier than the jack, and has a protrusion for the air inlet which can cause some fitment issues depending on what else is going on in the gearbox. You may need to get creative with a Dremel in some scenarios. The main issue is that of tuning, this is a blessing and a curse because whilst there are more settings that provide the flexibility to dial in the system precisely to the setup you’re using, it’s also easy to get unexpected behaviour. Like the jack and other hpa systems it is sensitive at low pressures. However unlike the jack there are some good options to solve it. Firstly as the nozzle is spring biased you really only need enough pressure to cycle the nozzle properly, higher pressures will make this easier of course. Whilst I mentioned blocking ports on the jack there’s a much better solution for the f2- a low flow poppet. In essence this does exactly the same thing (higher pressure gives the same energy) and for lower powered setups this is a very good drop-in to improve cycling. Tuning So the f2 has a much more complex tuning to that of the jack/f1, so for starters it’s good to know how the firing cycle works: 1. The poppet solenoid activates opening the poppet, this sends air (and the bb) down the barrel 2. The poppet solenoid closes air stops going down the barrel 3. The nozzle solenoid opens, the nozzle starts moving backwards, at the rear of travel a bb pops up from the mag. 4. The nozzle solenoid closes and the nozzle returns forwards under spring pressure, chambering the bb. The timing of each of these phases can be controlled separately, which is where the flexibility comes in: CB- the first setting to note is “closed bolt” operation, now this is a bit confusing because in reality the system always fires from a closed bolt, all this setting does is change which point in the firing order the system chooses to run. When running “open bolt” in semi-auto the system rests after point 2, with no round in the chamber. Upon firing the system operates 3,4,1,2. In closed bolt the system rests after point 4, so there’s a round sitting in the hop, upon firing the system operates 1,2,3,4 So why choose one or the other? Well in closed bolt mode when the chamber is empty and you fit a magazine the first round fired will be a dud, because there’s no bb in the chamber. Likewise, if you pull the mag it can still fire that 1 round that’s in the chamber. In practice it’s very easy to get into the habit of pulling the trigger once after reloading and firing a few shots after unloading to ensure the action is clear is good safety practice that should be exercised anyway. In theory there should be a slight improvement in trigger response running closed bolt too, although practically the system is so fast that it’s not really an issue. I prefer closed bolt as first round accuracy tends to be a bit better. If you run a hop-up tracer unit you may wish to run open bolt as this means a tracer round won’t be sat in the chamber losing its glow before the shot is fired. Dp- poppet dwell, unlike the jack/f1 this controls only the poppet solenoid and defines how long between steps 1 and 2 (the setting is literally a delay in milliseconds), or how much air the system sends down the barrel. To set this the method is pretty much the same as the jack- set to maximum, use your game ammo to set the pressure to give you the correct energy, then drop dp down to just above where the energy starts to drop. Again as before changes in energy, bb weight or barrel length are going to affect what the optimal setting for this is, for example I literally have the dp settings for 0.3g and 0.48g engraved in the stock of my m4 so I can set it correctly depending on which ammo I’m using. If you want to use an aeg based analogy the dp setting is the equivalent of your cylinder volume and allows you to adjust the equivalent of how far down the piston the vent hole is cut. Too much or too little will affect your accuracy so it’s a great feature to be able to tune this precisely even so far as to changing on the fly for different ammo. It’s also the dp setting that’s responsible for the phenomenon of joule creep, you may note that I make a point of stating to use your game ammo to set the poppet dwell and the reason being is that setting on heavier ammo will make the system over-volumed. Basically what happens is that when firing an 0.2g the lighter ammo accelerates and leaves the barrel quicker, meaning it can only pick up so much energy for a given pressure, heavier ammo will take longer to accelerate and so spends more time picking up energy. it’s a widely misunderstood phenomena and why it’s important to chrono on the ammo you’re using. I make a point of doing this and if the site chooses to chrono on lower weight ammo it doesn’t matter if the fps reading appears to be low on 0.2’s, what matters is that the ammo you’re using is being sent at the right energy because ultimately that’s what the guy on the receiving end is going to feel, and hpa has enough of a stigma of “he’s running hot because it’s an hpa” without people intentionally abusing this mechanic. Dn- nozzle dwell, this is how long between steps 3 and 4, again in milliseconds. The main reason to adjust this is to cure feeding issues. As the spring is fixed the amount of time it takes to pull the nozzle all the way back, and also how long it takes a round to lift up from the magazine will depend on the setup of the gun. But if it’s not long enough the result is it won’t feed. If you notice intermittent feeding then increasing nozzle dwell will help. The manual’s method suggests you should run all of your chosen magazines to ensure that one isn’t slightly weaker and therefore requires slightly higher dn, up to you if you want to actually do this or just do how I do and adjust it up in the field if I encounter misfeeding. That’s why you’d want to adjust it up, but why adjust it down? Well the answer to that is in the Rf section…. Dr- return to battery, this confused me a bit initially but simply this is how long the system waits between 4 and 1, again in milliseconds. in semi-auto this is probably superfluous as it’s unlikely you can pull the trigger fast enough to trip up the system but in full auto the system needs to know how long to wait for the spring to shove a round into the chamber. The manual lists this as taking approximarely 11.5ms consisting of 9ms of the nozzle moving, and 2.5ms of the solenoid de-energising. This is of course on the stock spring and without any bb in the way. Using a stronger nozzle spring will reduce this time (pretty much only applicable if you’re going for a speed build) and using heavier ammo or stiffer mags will increase this time. The symptom for this is accuracy in full auto, if Dr is set too low then just like the open bolt systems the air is going to start going down the barrel before the nozzle has fully closed, causing an air leak which screws up shot-shot consistency. Increasing Dr will alleviate these issues. as with Dn the reason for decreasing it lies in the Rf section. Rf- rate of fire, so this works differently to the F1/jack, as alluded to in previous sections the difference with the rf setting here is that it acts as a limiter but does not override the other settings. In other words if you set Rf to 99 you won’t get 99 rounds per second, but you will get the fastest possible rate of fire factoring in the time taken for the Dp, Dn and Dr settings. Therefore it’s only real function is to drop the rate of fire to something more sensible if it would otherwise be too fast with the other settings optimised (see the section under the jack about not being a dick). I’ve not used it personally, but that’s because my focus on accuracy means I’m usually so conservative on other settings that the rate of fire isn’t too high anyway. Conclusions So as I stated at the start I think the f2 is one of the most flexible systems on the market, you can dial it in and get superb consistency, you can also drop it into a wide variety of gearbox systems and the ability to take it out of an m4, drop it into an ak, or an m14, or a p90 etc is pretty useful. Of course you’ll need the appropriate nozzle/trigger setup but I’ll talk about that later on. Downsides are the programming can be a bit daunting, but the manual provides an excellent overview of the methods for tuning it for a given gun, there are more settings than I’ve discussed in this section but I’ll have a chat about them in a bit. Apart from that the only real issue is the cost, it’s not a cheap system but I’d suggest that there’s a very good reason why they’re a rare sight in the classifieds…… The fusion engine V2 fusion engine. Functionality The fusion engine is the “daddy” of the electro-pneumatic systems and is polarstar’s flagship product. Of course, this comes at a price, literally, and it’s not a system that’s particularly suited to quick and easy setup. However if you want the best performance and have the time, money, and patience to get a well setup fusion build it can deliver excellent performance. Primarily the difference between the fusion and the f2 is one of scale. Unlike the others the fusion isn’t just a cylinder replacement drop-in but an entire gearbox replacement. By doing this everything is at a larger scale and it’s construction is a fair bit more complex. However at it’s heart it fundamentally works the same way, it’s a closed bolt system and has a nozzle and a poppet both being controlled by separate solenoids. Limitations The primary limitation of the fusion engine is that unlike the jack/f1/f2 it’s an entire gearbox replacement, so it’s not going to have anywhere near the same range of guns that you can drop it into. At the time of writing polarstar only offers fusion engines for the V2, V3 and M249, M240 & M60, gearbox patterns, although quite what you need a fusion engine for in a support gun is beyond me. Just like the f2 it’s a closed bolt system and there are nozzle lengths for different guns and even a conversion spacer kit to allow it to work with sr-25 pattern guns that take a “v2.5” gearbox. Although the selection of lengths is a bit more limited. The other limitation is it’s complexity, it has additional pipes and hoses around it, and the construction has some issues with maintaining air seal, for example the round plastic piece on the top of the V2 and V3 versions seems to do nothing more than provide an extra screw hole going into the chamber which if removed will stop the nozzle from retracting properly. Unlike the other engines this one isn’t completely a tool-less disassembly and you’ll need imperial hex keys to take it apart for maintenance. Just like the other engines at lower pressures it can struggle to cycle, however there are a wide range of parts that allow you to build for lower fps using low flow poppets and nozzles, or high fps with higher flow poppets and nozzles. Of course these will depend on the limits you’re building to and tbh the stock setup can cover most of what would be considered legal in the uk, with the exception that going as low as 1j may need a low flow poppet for the same reason the f2 needs one. Tuning The fundamental operating mechanism of the fusion is very similar to that of the f2, and for the operation of everything bar the Dp setting is exactly the same, so given this is already enough of an essay I’m not going to bulk this out further by copy-pasting those again. Dp- this is the only area the fusion differs functionally, due to the scale of the system the poppet allows much higher flow rates and as such the dp settings have much lower impact on the actual volume released with this being accomplished by physically shimming the poppet. The manual has an in-depth setup method based on setting the minimal Dp to get a first round shot after a few minutes inactivity. although I’ve found not much adjustment was really needed out of the box, even on a low flow poppet. Apart from that everything else is the same as the f2. Conclusions Well the fusion engine has it’s upsides and downsides, if you absolutely must have “the best” then a well setup fusion engine can certainly deliver the goods in terms of accuracy, consistency, or rate of fire depending on how you set it up. But it suffers from a lack of flexibility and I’d recommend the f2 as a superior unit if your goal is to get into hpa because it offers 90% of the performance at a lower price and has the flexibility to be swapped into a different gun at a later stage. Tbh the only reason I bought one was because I have an unhealthy obsession with getting the absolute best accuracy possible out of my m4 no matter what and I wanted to swap the f2 it had into my ak. The other settings…. So the settings I’ve covered so far are the primary functional settings, but they aren’t the only ones so I might as well cover what the rest of the fcu has to offer in terms of setup: Ip/Is: these go as a pair and are there to address the issue of “stiction”. Basically they allow the first shot after a period of inactivity to have a slightly longer Dp than normal to account for the valves/solenoids sticking. Ip is the pulse length, and is basically how much extra Dp is increased for that first shot. Is is the timer, and is the time in multiples of 10 seconds (so Is=3 is a 30s delay) that has to go by without a shot fired for it to activate. The manual suggests that this might help for example in cold weather, although tbh I can’t say I’ve noticed the issue, but then often I’ll be double tapping anyway especially at range. S1/S2: these are your selector modes, and let you set what you want to have happen in each position. Basically 0 means full auto and any number is that number of rounds up to a 9 round burst. For example in a DMR where you only want semi-auto then setting S1 and S2 to 1 means you won’t get full auto, although of course the site may mandate you also have some form of mechanical lock because this isn’t too hard to change in the field if you’re wanting to run at dmr energy levels. Otherwise set it to whatever you want, personally I just stick to good ol’ semi and auto. Sr: this is a rate of fire limiter, like Rf but it applies to semi-auto only. It’s a delay in 0.1s increments and if you pull the trigger faster than this it won’t fire. This can be useful for example if a field has a limit on the rate of fire for dmr’s to prevent people just trigger spamming at higher energy levels. Accessories In retrospect this probably should have come first, but now I’ve described the different engines and why you might want a specific one then it might as well be worth discussing the other bits that go into the gun: Fcu So the fcu is the control system, it’s the little circuit board that controls all the different settings discussed here. There’s different revisions and some of the older versions may have different limitations/firmware versions so if a setting I’ve described here isn’t on yours then that’s possibly what’s going on. The most common one is what polarstar call the “universal” fcu, and it does everything, it has a little joystick and a screen to set all of the settings I’ve described and can be used for any of the systems. it takes a small 2-pin jst connector for your lipo of choice, I run a tiny 260mah 7.4v lipo and it’ll easily go 2 full game days without needing to be charged. Of course, the system is always on so you do need to disconnect the battery between times (just like you should be doing with literally all of your airsoft guns anyway). There is a mini fcu available for the single solenoid (jack/f1) engines, which can even fit inside the gearbox if you’re super limited on space, although given the standard fcu and battery will go inside an m4 buffer tube no problem there’s limited need for this, and given it needs to be programmed by a complex set of trigger pulls It’s much easier to find somewhere to put the normal fcu. The fcu connects to the triggerboard with a wire, not much to say here, it’s a wire, they come in different lengths. The only other point of note is the “MCU” port, this is used to connect polarstar’s sound module but can also be used to power things like tracer units or external box magazines. Whilst the internals of the fcu run on 5v, the mcu port acts as a pass-through for direct battery voltage. On my m4 I have it rigged up to activate a hopup tracer unit when the trigger is pulled. Triggerboard This applies to the jack/f1/f2 as the fusion engine comes with its trigger board built in already. There are a few different versions for different gearbox configurations, no point listing them for every variant but most common obviously is the standard v2/v3 pattern. A useful one is the universal plugboard, which allows you to use the existing trigger contacts, particularly good for something like an f2000 with it’s rube golberg trigger mechanism, or an mg42. Otherwise the triggerboard goes in the box the same way an internal mosfet would and does basically the same job. A point to note is that “speed” triggers often have an over-travel screw, which stops you from crushing the trigger switch if you’re a bit heavy handed. The switches are surprisingly tough but it’s not a bad idea to have a more substantial block in place. Aside from that the trigger weight is whatever weight of spring you want to use, although there is such a thing as too light…. The triggerboards have 2 solenoid connection ports, but for the jack/f1 only one of these is used for the single solenoid. The other port connects to the fcu. Other options So far this has been very polarstar centred, because frankly that’s what I’ve got enough experience on that I feel I can talk about them in enough detail. However it’s worth pointing out that they are by no means the only company making hpa systems. so for the sake of fairness I’ll mention the other companies and the potential advantages of the systems they offer. Wolverine So wolverine’s main product line centres around single solenoid systems, however unlike the jack/f1 by polarstar wolverine’s single solenoid engines claim to offer true closed bolt operation. Now my experience is limited however I’d suggest that these are probably better options for the cheaper single solenoid systems than polarstar’s open bolt systems and maybe one day I’ll get my hands on one to figure out exactly what witchcraft they’re pulling to get that to happen. They also offer some cheaper semi-auto only versions that don’t run an fcu, probably a good choice for a budget dmr build. Redline Redline offer very similar products to wolverine, although they do an option for a mechanical trigger mechanism that means absolutely no electronics, pretty handy but tbh I wouldn’t say that alone would be a deal breaker. Mancraft Mancraft do a semi only system for aeg boxes but they’re much better known for their sdik line of bolt action kits. Tippmann Pretty much Tippmann took their paintball gun tech and made an entirely mechanical m4 for airsoft that is well priced and pretty well regarded. I’m not 100% on the operating mechanism so I’ll refrain from comment but I’ve heard nothing but praise from owners. They come with recoil and there were versions that were full auto capable, although I believe they stopped making them select fire due to complaints over potential legal issues. Daytonagun Daytonagun make what are probably best described as conversions that will take an aeg frame and turn it into a GBB, except unlike a GBB the feed is separate from the magazine so you still use aeg mags. I’ve most often heard them described as a “labour of love” but they are intensely cool and doesn’t need the faff of switching the line over to reload as you would have with a conventional tapped magazine GBBR. If you’re thinking of a daytonagun just remember you probably don’t need both kidneys….. There’s possibly others I haven’t heard of but hopefully that’s a bit of a guide. I haven’t covered tanks/regs/lines because there’s a lot of different offerings out there and of course they all promise this that or the other.
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  48. Deva

    Classifieds Rules

    The Law Your sale must be in compliance with Great British law, especially relevant; the VCRA, which has laid down various restrictions on the trade of Imitation Firearms (IF) and Realistic Imitation Firearms (RIF). Remember, the seller is responsible for checking and verifying the legality of a sale. Please see the UK Law section of the forums if you need any guidance on this and open a topic if you're unsure. None of the below is legal advice. In short: As a seller you are liable for who you're selling to. No airsoft gun can be sold to someone under the age of 18 irrespective of whether it's 2-tone or a RIF (i.e. black/realistically coloured) As a seller you must take precautions to satisfy yourself that who you're selling to has a valid defence against prosecution for owning an airsoft gun - for the majority of cases this means the person you're selling to should be an airsoft skirmisher. Some things you can check are: Skirmishing site membership UKARA database membership Photographic proof that a member is a skirmisher (i.e. pictures of them playing) In the interests of protecting the right to play airsoft in the UK, please be diligent when coordinating your sale, ensuring you adhere to the points above. Be responsible and reasonable in your requests for information on another player - do not ask for more information than you require or would be happy to give yourself, but do satisfy yourself that who you're selling to is a legitimate player. Forum Specific Rules (action will be taken against your account for disregarding these) Failure to comply with the rules will result in you receiving a ‘Forum Warning’. Warnings start with the verbal kind and steadily increase in respect of seriousness/repeat offences right through to a ban and deletion of all posts and topics along with your user account. Find out more about ‘Forum Warnings’. All sales / trades must take place between two adults (i.e. over 18 years of age). All sales and swaps must use the sales template. Add additional information to let buyers know your trade preferences or location for collection. This will help sell your gun or gear as listing without pictures rarely sell. All sales must have an asking price. The price must be in UK Sterling £. All sales and swaps topics must have a picture, all pictures must be taken by the seller (adding a piece of paper with your forum name and date helps, but is not a rule). Do not use a retailers pictures - take your own. You must have access to the item that you're selling. You cannot be selling items that you do not own, are not able to post immediately or being sold on the behalf of someone else. You must include a picture of every item that you are selling. It is not acceptable to just show a box or use a stock images. Pictures must be visible in the listing (whilst we do allow links to other forums, simply placing a link instead of a picture is not permitted). Do not list the same item twice simultaneously. I.e. don't 'double list' an item. You cannot have an advert in both Sales and Swaps section for the same item, just select "For sale or swap" for advert type. Once your item(s) is/are definitely sold/you've found the item you're looking for (even if the sale happened elsewhere), please mark the advertisement as 'complete' by visiting the listing and clicking 'Set as Complete'. Second hand airsoft-relevant items only. No selling/swapping of any other items, this includes offering items such as consoles for trade. There are no exceptions to this rule. No sales of knives, real guns, airguns, or any item of any description that readily fires metal munitions, metal munitions themselves, or any other weapon of any type, aside from IFs and RIFs within the legal limits. The following limits are on all sales with no exceptions: <370ft/s for full auto systems with a .20g BB (1.3J is the legal maximum) <520ft/s for semi auto systems .20g BB (2.5J is the legal maximum) <520ft/s for single fire systems .20g BB (2.5J is the legal maximum) You must communicate with your buyer/seller once a transaction is initiated (i.e. ignoring their PMs or topics asking what's going on with a sale/purchase). If you complete a trade/sale of any kind via the forums, please leave feedback for the seller/buyer, this allows us to see who we can trust or who we need to keep an eye on. You may leave feedback by going here. Any suspicions about the item(s) or seller should be sent via PM to a Moderator. Use the "Report this advert" link at the bottom of the listing and include a message (this will flag an issue for Moderators to look at). Transaction Advice (action will not be taken against your account for disregarding these) When buying or trading, we recommend that you take down the following details of the other party: full name, address, telephone number, email, alternate telephone number (work or mobile). It is wise to check the address is legitimate and that the telephone number is answered by the person you are dealing with. We also recommend that you request a photo of the items with a piece of paper next to it with the sellers username and contact details written on. We recommend PayPal for online transactions due to their excellent buyer and seller protection. Bear in mind that methods such as cheque, postal order, bank transfer or other may not be protected and as a result of using them you may not be able to retrieve your losses should anything go wrong. If you are paying for goods via PayPal, please make sure your payment is labelled for goods/services. Sellers may ask you to label your payment as a gift to avoid PayPal fees. However, this will prevent you from being able to access any of the PayPal buyer protection services (i.e. if something goes wrong, your money cannot be refunded). Should sellers ask you to do this, it may be better to offer to pay the fees out of your own pocket instead. Parcelforce 48 will post RIFs if you declare the contents as an airsoft gun. We recommend them as a courier. Disputes Given the nature of trades on these forums, it's impossible for a Moderator to mediate a trade effectively without reading your personal messages (something they cannot do and will never be able to), but if you build up a reputation for being an unscrupulous buyer/seller and are non-communicative you may receive actions against your account. Legal Disclaimer Whilst we do moderate the forums, it is not down to us to verify whether someone is legitimate or not, and whilst we will make every endeavour to ensure all our users are keeping within the law, you use these forums at your own risk and we accept no responsibility for any loss or other damages that should transpire as a direct or indirect result of your continued use of our forums. By participating in our Classifieds section in any way shape or form, you accept that you are doing so at your own risk and hereby indemnify http://www.airsoft-forums.uk (also known as Airsoft Forums UK/AF-UK/AFUK), its moderators, admin and any and all associated parties from any and all responsibility or liability that may transpire due to your continued use of these forums, to the full extent of your right to do so by law. Help If you find any of the above rules unclear or would like to ask us a question please PM a Moderator. We would much rather you contacted us than just went ahead and did something. Thank you. These rules were last updated 11/05/18 Old classifieds rules (for reference - will be deleted end of 2018)
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