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Okay, we have an update, which won't surprise regular followers of this thread. So in the tortoise versus tortoise race between Gunfire and Taiwangun to import a RIF into the UK, team Taiwangun seem to have fallen at the first hurdle, and to quote an email they sent me last night, "...for the moment we are still not able to sent the package. We are working with DHL but is not so simple" [sic]. So in short we haven't even got to a place where getting TG to import into the UK is a realistic prospect. Team Gunfire, however, did manage to send their parcel that I ordered on the 19th December on the 21st December, after which we enter the wonderful world of UPS again. To be fair to UPS things have improved slightly, insofar as they managed to get the parcel to the UK on the 23rd December, but unfortunately there was no Christmas miracle. On the 28th December I received an email telling me that UPS were delivering the parcel (with apparently no RIF declaration required), but the cynic in me said that this was unlikely to happen, and it didn't. An import scan took place on the 4th January, and on the 5th January UPS rang me to tell me that unless I filled in a RIF form by 1400 that day they'd be sending the package back to Poland. I pointed out that this was the first time they'd spoken to me and I'd received no emails or phone calls to ask me to fill in a form. The agent then emailed me a form to fill in, which amused me somewhat as it contained a packing list that included cake, cheese, cookies, soup, fudge, a handwarmer and some waffles, rather than a RIF and some kit. Anyway I sent UPS an old form I had which I amended with the new order, they billed me the import charges which worked out at about £60 for a £300 order (20%-ish?), plus a £10 processing fee. The parcel is currently sat awaiting Customs clearance, but is getting scanned every other day. Knowing UPS they'll update the tracking after the parcel is on my doorstep, so it's anyone's guess when it'll be released and delivered; I'll reserve judgement on how well they've done after the parcel turns up. Lessons learned? TG is still a no-go. Clearly using DHL is not working out as they thought. Gunfire is a possibility so long as you don't need anything too quickly and you meet their minimum order threshold. UPS are a lottery as usual, but at least their UK brokerage team called me (eventually), and they themselves said they think things are better now, compared to 12-months ago. I'll update again when the Gunfire parcel arrives, so you can judge the delivery times yourself and whether it's worth the inevitable hassle.

Ive finally finished my WE apache k CQB build and its come out better than i dared to hope.

Should be fine from an reputable shop, if it's done by an experienced tech rather than some trainee, and if they've done loads of the same upgrades before, and if the wholesaler hasn't changed the spec on the base toy, and if the OEM hasn't changed their quality control, and if they're able to get the usual parts, and if the spec on those parts hasn't changed, and if those parts don't have defects, and if everything goes together smoothly, and if they actually test if, and if they take it apart to remedy any issues after they test it, and if they have the parts and ability to do so, and if they repeat that process until everything works as intended, I don't see what the problem could be.

I agree that the value of someones time to upgrade their own gun is irrelevant once the time comes to sell it on. However, assuming that a DCS Tier 3 upgrade is great because it changes everything in the gun is folly. There is a reason why every time someone comes on this forum and says "I've just bought this what upgrades does it need" the response is almost always "use it first and see what it needs". Changing everything just for the sake of saying it's an upgrade is NOT the same as blueprinting an engine, regardless of what the person trying to charge £1000 to upgrade a £200 gun might tell you. As fr the TL:DR, I present option 3 - buy the gun off the shelf and do the upgrades yourself.

A fair few years back, a bunch of regular players and myself at a local site kinda coalesced into a proto-team. Though we by no means took ourselves seriously, we'd play at various sites and had matching gear. Some of the others then started to take it a lot more seriously and ended up with some other guys and formed Cobalt. Never appealed to me trying that hard at something I do to let off steam every fortnight or so.

I remember a team on Arnies who had a public team forum. They acted like they were Special Forces and had "Selection Weekends" and all sorts. And then there was Team SNAFU. Average age 17...

Well, buying an airsoft gun is very much like making love to a beautiful woman...

Harley were fined bigly for flogging so many not-road-legal tuning kits for their potato bikes that it was clear that they were effectively viewed as necessary equipment by owners. There's a reasonable analogy there to the number of airsoft owners who ask "wut upgrayedds need b4 play?" while their new toy is still in transit to them. I've upgrayedded my toys for the personal pleasure of the process, not because I believe that it substantially increases my winr8. I realise that other opinions are available and that this explains why Tier 3 toys are offered for, and sometimes bought at, a significant premium over the stock examples. It does continue to baffle me though. I suspect this is a big factor. The thrill is more about the buy and unboxing than the ownership or play experience. The bigger the number, the bigger the buzz. #NotAllBigSpenders, obviously.

My baby

There is a Harley dealership near me. Stage 1 Tune: new airfilter and jet that lets it run rich. Stage 2: Filter, jet and cheap loud pipes. Jets are fitted one size does all. Lottery on 100% correct mixture. Stage 3: Jets, filter and pipes fitted by an actual mechanic rather than the apprentice/tea boy/work experience lad, who then gets bike Dyno-ed and gas tested. Hurrah! A mate makes a decent living tuning them as they have been paid to be tuned. Those that know their tuners know him. A wise buyer tests all bikes supplied by them with fresh plugs and chops them... (Since they are now all EFI this comment only applied pre-2016-ish. Damn this Alzheimer's...) Anyhow, how much you pay usually relates to how much you both beforehand, and at testing (if possible) and are willing to gamble on the honesty and abilities of the buyer. Then again spending large amount tends to be more impulsive not less. It's complex stuff.

Oh, to clarify, what I really meant is that we tend to buy a private seller's claim about what they're selling. Even if they provide a real, legitimate receipt for work that was done, and parts that were fitted to something, unless you strip the toy down, how would you be sure that what you've been sent is actually the thing that's described in that receipt? Honesty among BB-bros? Well, the BT33 postcode is a thing. And some sellers might be flogging on a pig in a poke that was mis-sold to them, or genuinely forgotten what's in there, or got one of their dozen or so spare toys mixed up. I mean, we see some sellers list what they think they're probably selling, which I find refreshingly honest. If you're happy with what you receive, great, that's the whole point of airsoft. I just wonder how much stuff gets sold as "Tier 3" when it never was, or isn't still.

Samoon will need your UKARA, they are pretty good at shipping stuff quickly and I have ordered loads of GHK parts and mags from them previously. But you have a small problem, as currently I don't believe they are shipping RIFs to the UK due to COVID reasons or some such bollocks. Unless that has changed in the last 24hrs since I last visited their site. If that is still the case I can firmly recommend WGCShop, they order via Samoon anyway and are currently shipping to the UK. Everything Rogerborg mentions is true by the way. You need a UKARA to stand a chance of getting your RIF through customs. I wouldn't risk them destroying your package (giggity) for the lack of one. @RogerborgSamoon are basically the web outlet for GHK, and currently pretty much the only place you can get one.

in fairness, certain upgrades for certain platforms can be relatively predictable. for example it can be relatively predictable that the hop rubber on a WE won't like the heavies, so changing to a ml bucking would be sensible. although yes changing every single component generally isn't a requirement and i'd certainly question generic lists where the same parts are listed for a range of different guns from different manufacturers.

I go away for a week and Swiss Tony has taken over Macks

Think I'm done with this. Hfc m10 modded into a kind of concept old west double action.

Yeah, well having just bought a car that is at 70k miles, and that's not had the work done - but was a great price, then I understand you entirely. I would've have paid a bit extra if the next car on the showroom floor had been attended to. So we'll agree to differ on that ! Oh my word that would be a great discussion to have! Absolutely true, but yet you know what human psychology is like, remembering the times you got out-ranged by a gun in a straight one on one shoot out tends to get the credit card info action later... 🥴 Yeah there is an assumption on my part that Dave's custom shop knows what they're doing and aren't out to fool anyone. I'm trusting shops I've heard of already. Maybe I shouldn't 😋. But you wouldn't walk into say Singers custom cars and demand they prove they fitted the parts they say have into their restomod Porsches. At some point a company gets a reputation sufficient that you can trust them. It's a question of where you draw the line

Faketail mount surefake m300 and a spitfire tracer from ali express. And not bought but donated by a friend a ratech steel bolt carrier for WA which had gone in the golden eagle.

We're playing pretend soldiers with toy guns. It's something that little children do, plus a budget. I've never understood the urge to take this hobby remotely seriously.

Hi guys, I'm new to the hobby, and was looking to get something by GHK; I ended up settling on a bundle of an AKM and Glock that is currently being sold on Samoon. I do not have a UKARA license yet, but I thought I'd go through the process of checking out my cart in childish excitement for when I finally have it, and I noticed that the site doesn't ask for a UKARA number. With UK law prohibiting the purchase of a replica firearm without a UKARA license - or otherwise having a reason to own one I suppose, but that's besides the point - how is this legal? Is it genuinely possible to order from Samoon without a UKARA license and receive an airsoft gun? If anyone has experience with how Samoon work in regards to ordering to the UK, I'd be interested to hear it. EDIT: I've since learned that they'll need my UKARA details for it to make it past customs or something of the like, so there is that. Regardless, if you have any experience with Samoon - delivery times, reliability, customer service and the condition your RIF came in, I'm still interested.

@Wolfie My son's first rifle was a Firehawk, and it's now his backup, so hopefully my comments will be useful. It's a great rifle / platform, which as stock has a huge volume of air that with a barrel change can easily be a DMR / hit over 400 FPS on 0.20g BBs, however the trigger massively lets it down (it's not the motor). It's a terrible mechanical trigger that just seems to take an eternity for the contacts to touch each other and finally pass current to the motor, and comparing it directly to the three Double Eagle rifles we now have at home with the Falcon Fire Control system in them (a knock-off of the optical GATE Titan) we could probably shoot two to three rounds on semi before the Firehawk got off one. Also I don't know if you also get this but an incomplete pull of the trigger on semi can at times cause only a partial cycle of the gearbox, so you have to flip to auto and fire to get a cycle, then flip back to semi. Of course you can buy a new rifle, with either a micro-switch trigger or an optical trigger (and hopefully "cycle detection" as well), or either work on the Firehawk yourself or get a good tech to do it. For example you could just swap in this... https://www.defconairsoft.co.uk/product/gg-airsoft-etu-electronic-trigger-unit-mosfet-v-2-series-lipo-power-control/ ... and see a good change, however a cheap optical controller and trigger would totally transform it and I expect a tech could do this for around £150? (after playing this Sunday my son and I aren't playing again until the end of Feb, so I'm going to bite the bullet and buy a GATE Titan v2 and fit it myself).

I'll go in slow and lubed. New as in "rented, played, loved it", or new as in "saw it on YouTube, found my new hobby for life"? I ask because if you're looking at dropping $900 plus magazines, shipping, VAT, duty and courier fees on something that will come essentially without warranty, you'll want to be sure that both airsoft and gas blowbacks are right for you. We generally recommend buying a cheaper AEG as a first gun, until you're sure that you really enjoy the hobby once the buzz has worn off. It's always good to have a robust backup or loaner around, you're unlikely to stop at one gun (or two, or three, or...) And you never will. It's a defence - one of many - not a licence, and it's a UK retailer scheme which only incidentally benefits players. In practice, this works out much the same, but it's a significant difference during import where it may or may not suffice depending on the courier and the mood of HMRC on the day. We've seen some folk recently having to fill out import declarations rather than just having it come through on a UKARA number, and some even having visits from the police afterwards to ask them what they're doing importing RIFs. The tl;dr version is: you need to be sure that importation is worth the risk, even with a defence. Nope. Purchase or attempt to purchase is fine if you're 18+. The offences are sale, manufacture, modification (of a non-realistic firearm into a realistic firearm) or importation, including causing it to be imported. So, yes, it does apply to this situation, but you're fine to try and persuade someone to sell you a RIF within the UK, without any legal problems - they're the one committing any offence, and some UK retailers sellers (and many private ones) either don't care or will accept other (or spurious) defences. Ownership is fine, no offence is being committed. Public possession needs a reasonable excuse every time - there is no licence or general defence to that, it's case by case. Yup, I'm surprised they're not more up-front about it. You'd have to be very, very lucky to get anything past customs now without it being caught. First I've heard of them. I know it's tempting because of UK stock levels at the moment. But you'll get hit with 20% VAT, plus some duty, plus a courier fee for paying it, and people are seeing lonnnng delays on deliveries from the EU let alone Taiwan. I've given up on importation for the moment (other than low value non-RIF stuff from AliExpress that's coming in with VAT pre-paid), it's just too big a gamble for the meagre cost benefits. It's up to you, and the more that gets imported into the UK the better for all of us, but I wouldn't bet my money on it.

Most overseas sites do not ask for a UKARA number because it is the buyers responsibility to make sure that what they import is within UK law and they meet the requirements for importing a restricted product. IE, if there is no UKARA field, I just put it as part of the address. So if you order from any old site and you do not put your UKARA in the address field or on a custom field provided, then it is not their fault that you don't receive it. The same as any restricted item.

A nice shinny pair of German para boots, tgey were listed as supergrade but they look new and unused. Now I just need to break them in

Good point, didn't notice that 👍

He fired 10 shots from the magazine to give an average reading. Not that he only managed 10 shots from a fill of gas!

Alternatively, if your happy with aeg variants, consider the much cheaper but still good A&k k5 mod1 Vector "knock off". https://www.bespokeairsoft.co.uk/a-k-mod1-aeg-tan @rocketdogbert, wot, why the laughing face, I've got one & I can't find any issues with it, & at that price (£199😲) it does what it's supposed to ?

Cash or bank transfer only. Not with a bargepole.

690 is a long barrel, think the longest i've seen be relatively available is 650. there wouldn't be any harm in dropping 40mm from the end, there are those that'd argue beyond 500ish is too long for an aeg anyway. sadly hard to comment, only aeg i've used with a barrel that long was the '42, and needless to say accuracy wasn't exactly a priority with a gun like that.

Lots of tinkering later and I got red dot on my 1911

I've been playing around with the Sonic Mini 8K this week. Providing the model sculpters themselves can keep up - as they have been able to do already - these machines will probably exceed the quality of the GW cast resin minis (but be shy of the injection moulded classics) whilst being about 80-90% as durable. You're not going to see this from many quarters yet though as most are only just moving to 4K from the old 2K machines. Resin is also silly expensive for many.

I’m still using the Modify X blue bucking, and getting good results with DN (Daves Nub), Laylax 370/6.03, black NPAS, black gas, standard TM mags. 10 shots per mag? That’s terrible, I’m getting about 100.

Nail on head as always @Rogerborg.

It's the blue threadlock. The red is permanent! I used the blue on the buffer tube of my GBB M4A1. Not has a problem since. Edit: just looked on the Henkel website, and they recommend the purple loctite for low strength metals like aluminium and brass (and presumably pot metal too).

Great use of the thorntail on that K, seen that used on a SD, looks good!

can't say, but given the zci 6.02's are well known, well regarded and pretty affordable sounds like the easier option to go with the known quantity?

I'd consider myself one, but wouldn't pay extra for it, for the simple reason that with the mileage that I do, it's not worth my money to pay for it on a low value car that's already done enough miles to warrant it. I'd rather just save the money and take the risk. Likewise with airsoft guns. Consider how little use a typical airsoft gun gets, and how much difference expensive work makes, using an honest self audit. You can upgrade it to Tier Eleventy, and that might buy you an an extra few dozen hits out of the thousands of rounds that you'll put through it in a year. Meanwhile Hicap Harry is having just as much fun hosing BBs downrange making very close to the same hits per shot, game or hour. I might pay more for one that shoots empirically better when I try it. Based on a claimed parts list, not so much. This is why we test drive cars, especially used and Barried examples to see if they live up to the claims of Real Ultimate Power. What's amazing to me is that so many airsofters are prepared to pay a premium to be sent a gun shaped shell, that could, de facto, have pretty much anything or nothing inside it.

Glock 21 (which is in 45acp) mag pouch will take hi-capa mags

Finally got a piston that will fit my Cyma SVD 😁

I was near a Halfords last night so I called in to see what they had in stock... ended up buying what they had - a can of Khaki and a can of Black. So that leaves me picking another 6 from this short-list from the matte Mtn94 range... I'll probably pick the light and dark green, the two browns, the claret and the off-white. Should be able to produce some interesting patterns with all that lot!

Cyma Tactical grip and handguard for my aged TM AK47-S £25 https://www.actionhobbies.co.uk/products/cyma-ak-tactical-grip-front-end/ It fitted ok, needed some not-so-gentle persuasion but I think that added to the solidity of the fitment - it's a gazillion times better than the original TM creaky faux wood. I've got a stubby grip on order for it to complete the look. I tried my Kobra on the RIS rail - it still has too high an eye-line. Even my cheapo small red dot sits a little higher than I'd ideally like. So I'll stick with the iron sights.

The Omega nub is designed to work with the Maple Leaf range of rubbers. Personally I usually go for the tan coloured Macaron rubber.

Another great day at Combat Airsoft in Thetford. No real issues with hit taking all day and most of our team were willing to get stuck in and play the games! Had some initial worry when the range of my rifle was nowhere near what I’d normally expect, but after moving to a section of the site with less wind and more trees I saw an almost dramatic increase back to the superb range that I’m used to. Me and the guys put some excellent flanking attacks on, only downside was I didn’t get to use my remote pyro as no good moments to. Seized up trying to get out the car, need to get started on my fitness again to reduce injuries 😂

That's great thanks. I think fold point is going to be next on my list, now I've gettingbthere with the new 308 build.

I've been after a super blackhawk for a while and finally got one at a none ridiculous price.

Sadly I agree with you , I see a player in a speed S’ofter get up , I hear a ripsaw noise from a gun or see the infamous hose from gun to somewhere else I automatically think “better watch them , just in case” . Just the nature of the beast I suppose ?

Airsoft is particularly prone to exploitation, and even more so to the suspicion that people are in it to "win" it (what's the prize?) rather than to call hits. To be honest, when I see Team Walt at a site, I do assume "Teflon" until proven otherwise. It's not fair, but as per the CO2 ban thread (and dog breeds), after you've seen enough of it, you do start to assume the worst. I'm always delighted to find to the contrary, of course. #NotAllPitbulls

Personally, I wouldn't get another AR-15 style rifle as I like variety (yes, yes, I know I'm a rampant hypocrite with 2x VSRs and an m700, 2x M14s and 2x mk23s). I'd get a Cyma AKM instead, as it'll allow you to expand into a wider variety of loadouts, whether it's RUSFOR or a typical "bad guy" loadout; plus, if you decide to go to milsim or filmsim events they may have weapon requirements, so having a variety of rifles gives you options for what type of games you want to try out and go for. You can get a metal/real wood Cyma AK for £200 and it'll shoot pretty nicely out of the box. https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/cyma-cm-048m-ak47-airsoft-real-wood-aeg Once I have that as a backup, I'd upgrade whichever I liked more and keep the other one as a backup (well, I'd upgrade both of them because I like to live dangerously and have been teching my own guns for about a decade). As has been said earlier in the thread, you can get a ZCI barrel for about £20 and then a maple leaf macaron and omega nub for another £15. £35 will have your gun firing really nicely and barrel/hop up modifications are super easy to do; it's only when you open up the gearbox do things get more complex, but most guns these days come at about 1J out of the box in the UK, which is all you need. Yes, there are more modifications you can do to an AEG, but a simple barrel/hop up change will see the most gains for the cheapest investment and easiest installation. Take my words with a pinch of salt though, as I like my GBBRs and HPA/spring snipers. Not a massive fan of AEGs.

Now you just have to 'wear' it 😉

So these arrived today Holy Shit these are BEAUTIFULLY made!!! Taking apart the mags was a bit of a dick dance as they have never been apart before, but fitted now and look exquisite Thanks @Pablo Vila Ferrero