Chock

Rather than relying on the answers on this thread, you should take a look at the legislation for yourself, since you need to stay on the right side of the law in order to avoid a potential fine and/or imprisonment. Ignorance of the law has never been considered a suitable defence for any criminal activity, and there is no guarantee that anyone who replies on this thread is giving you the correct information, even though most will at least be trying to do so. Nevertheless, if you are considering getting hold of any sort of weaponry, you should certainly make an effort to be aware of the legalities for yourself, in order to be absolutely sure of your defence. You can read the legislation for yourself at this link, I'd recommend paying particular attention to Sections 36 through to Section 41: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38/part/2/enacted You should also be aware that laws can change and be amended. Provision is generally made within the text of any UK legislation to allow the authorities to make changes and amendments to existing laws with minimal difficulty, providing such changes are not especially radical. This is quite a common occurrence with laws relating to firearms, since there is always new weaponry coming along, which the law then has to take into account, so be aware of the fact that the VCR Act does get added to and amended from time to time. Here is the most recent amendment list for the VCR Act: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38/part/2 Once you are familiar with the laws, you will know exactly what you can and cannot do without breaking the law, which is certainly the most sensible way to go, since a fine and prison sentence is unlikely to be fun. In short, you would be foolish to rely solely on some strangers on a forum telling you their personal interpretation of the law to keep you out of the court room, because it won't. Having looked at the VCR Act, I daresay it will not take you long to spot that there are plenty of loopholes, gaps and stupid bits of the law which are not very well thought out! This is usually because such laws get fired through Parliament in response to a what is a popular subject in the newspapers that year, as some MP or other tries to make a name for themselves on the back of the issue, rather than the law actually being well thought out. So don't rely on the misplaced conception that the law is based on common sense, because it quite often appears to be based on anything but common sense. Historically, knee-jerk reactions from particularly the tabloid press in the UK has on occasion led to changes to firearms laws in the UK which have in fact been counter-productive, some of which have even meant that the number of illegal weapons out there on the streets has increased dramatically. A recent example of this would be when Brocock produced an air pistol revolver which used a self-contained air cartridge system (known as BACS). That particular Brocock pistol could be converted into a weapon capable of discharging .22 centre-fire ammunition, although frankly making that conversion was not as easy as the media actually made out, since it required a lathe, plus some skill in using one, and also required one to be able to get hold of .22 ammunition too. Most people who were not into the sport of shooting air guns had never heard of Brocock's pistol, but it became common knowledge when the tabloids started to make a big furore out of it, and predictably enough, as they do when a record or movie is threatened to be banned, the sales of Brocock pistols went through the roof, with eventually over 80,000 of them being sold in the UK. So, in 2003, the Anti-Social Behaviour Act (which was effectively the prototype for the Violent Crimes Reduction Act) decreed that the Brocock pistol (and indeed all self-contained air cartridge system weapons) had to be either handed in, or put on a firearms certificate. Of course since the Government offered no compensation to those handing in their firearms, hardly anyone bothered to do so, and so what that 2003 law effectively did, was put a crapload of illegal firearms out there which the Government had no way of tracking. It is known that there were around 80,000 Brococks sold in the UK, but only around 6,000 of them were put onto firearms certificates, but there were nowhere near 74,000 of them handed in, which means that unless everyone who bought one dutifully destroyed it and said nothing about having done so, then there must be literally thousands of them out there. I've no doubt that there are people out there who quite legally bought a Brocock prior to 2003, which is now sat unloved in a drawer, and who are blissfully unaware of the change in its legal status. But the law would not care about that, which tells you all you need to know about the law not being based on common sense, but also tells you why you need to make an effort to stay aware of any changes which might be made to it when you have any sort of weaponry in your possession. Since in his day, you could go to the local ironmonger's and buy a .50 Bulldog revolver with no licence whatsoever, Charles Dickens was certainly not referring to firearms laws when he had Mr Bumble say that: 'the law is an ass, a idiot!', but he did nevertheless have the sentiment right enough. But as stupid as the law may be on occasion, you should still make an effort to not only stay on the right side of it, but also to be seen to be staying on the right side of it. And you should make that your responsibility.

That's probably a bit of badge engineering going on there. I'd assume that a Well one is almost certainly the Black Viper one under a different brand name.

Yup. If it's all in good shape, you should be hoping for about a ton and a half, perhaps a bit less. If you are expecting it to be picked up, rather than posting it out, then you might be better seeing if you can stick an ad up on a notice board at your local skirmish site, since if anyone had to drive some distance to get the thing, you could realistically expect to subtract their fuel costs from what they are paying for the gun, because it's a buyer's market, especially at this time of year when everyone is skint after Christmas.

Whilst it is indeed true that there is no mention of any 'percent rule' in the VCR Act text with regard to two toning, the text of the Act actually does infer that 'at least 51 percent' is what is meant by its ruling. Specifically, the legislation states that the means to be taken into account in determining if something is or is not an IF, should include, differences in size, shape and principal colour in comparison to the real thing it is based upon, the text also stating that size, shape and principal colour can also be so unrealistic when compared to a real firearm, as to not require one to be an expert in order to be able to make such a benign identification. Since 'principal' can only mean 'the larger part of', then we must conclude that if a gun is painted with at least 51 percent of its area in an unrealistic colour, it is indeed in compliance with at least the letter of the law, if not entirely with its spirit. Of course it is a silly, ill thought out bit of legislation anyway, which - much like a lot of legislation - was about winning an election rather than making us safer, and a law which, like most laws, only really impacts those who have no intention of breaking any laws in the first place. After all, if spraying just a bit over half of a real Armalite rifle bright orange, is genuinely enough to allow someone to wander about with the thing without triggering any calls to the police, then we're in big trouble.

Probably better off looking on Uttings than AW for the scope bits: http://www.uttings.co.uk/c648-riflescope-accessories/?sort=PriceAsc

Actually bigger isn't always better. We in fact asked the marshals to limit the size of the play area to just two floors last Sunday at Trojan's Weir Mill, because with all six floors in play there was too much tramping up and down the stairs searching for enemies instead of combat, resulting in not enough contact and when there was contact it would be only pistols at short ranges in the stairwells. When they more typically stick a squad on each floor as they did at Purge on week nights, the size of the place works well, but Sunday was an example of the large size of the site actually not helping matters.

Welcome aboard

My SVD has the black polymer furniture too; I think the SVD looks better like that, maybe not as 'classic' as it does with wooden bits, but I do think it looks meaner with everything black, certainly a lot more spec ops-ish. Judging by the paint scrapes on the rails, looks like you had as much trouble as I did trying to get my PSO-1 sight onto my A&K SVD; I ended up having to take a needle file to the start of the rail to get the sight's rail to slide on. It was a bitch of a job to get it to fit. Good job I don't want to take the sight off it; wouldn't wanna do that twice.

Welcome aboard

Will be at Trojan on Sunday (tomorrow). I'll be the one in a black PASGT helmet with a the name tag 'Bradbury' on my tactical vest.

Whilst you are at it, why not attach an electric kettle under there too? equally as practical and useful as having a pistol there.

Welcome aboard

If, as you say, you are going to go to Trojan's Weir Mill site in Stockport, they have a shop in there which has G&G M4s amongst other things, they have decent face protection and stuff like that as well. Prices are pretty good, and of course it means you can have a nosey at them up close. I'm fairly sure that if you went there regularly, they'd sell your parents a RIF without all that UKARA bollocks even though they are part of the UKARA scheme, because a UKARA number is only a means to check if people are skirmishing regularly, which they'd know you were doing if you'd been there a few times. Also, if you attend regularly, you automatically become a member, with a card, so that in itself is effectively a pretty reasonable means of proving your suitable defence for possessing a RIF.

I have one of those 30th Anniversary M4s, it's a nice rifle. And yes, it is metal, i.e. the bits that would be metal on a real one are also metal on that one. But that makes it pretty heavy to carry about, so make sure you get a decent sling for it, because carrying one of those all day long is a pain in the ass.

Ludicrously impractical of course, but I would really like to do a helicopter assault in airsoft, preferably in UH-1Ds (with Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries playing too, obviously)

Although you cannot get a UKARA registration if you are under 18, you can own a Realistic Imitation Firearm if you are under 18 and it does not have to be two toned either, although I'm sure you realise that it is advisable to have a suitable case for any airsoft gun (two toned or otherwise), when traveling to and from skirmishes, and not to have the magazine or gas or battery in the thing when carrying it about either (so it cannot be fired at the time), particularly if you are going to use public transport to get to a skirmish site. These might not be real guns we are using, but they are realistic enough to get you into trouble, so there's a bit of responsibility which comes with owning one. It's worth noting here that the UKARA Scheme is, as you know, more about airsoft shops covering their own asses legally than anything else, so a legitimate defence for owning an airsoft gun would in fact be to have a membership card for an airsoft site, as this would clearly indicate that you are someone who goes airsofting at a legitimate venue regularly. You might (and I stress might) find that an airsoft shop would accept that as suitable enough proof to sell your parent/guardian an airsoft gun to give you as a gift if they accompanied you to a shop (particularly if it is a site shop - such as the one Trojan have at their Mill site - where they know you are not a dickhead and are going to use it for airsofting), although here is no guarantee that this would be the case of course, but it would be perfectly legal for them to sell your parents an airsoft gun under those circumstances so long as the shop was satisfied as to what the gun was going to be used for. To explain that a bit more... Despite the fact that you can own a RIF, you cannot buy one yourself if you are under 18, so any RIF you do own would have to be gifted to you by someone who did have a UKARA or other legitimate defence for having bought it (and if your parent or guardian does not do airsofting, they are unlikely to have a UKARA, which makes it a bit tricky). No money can change hands for such a transaction either, i.e. you cannot give someone who has a UKARA the money for a RIF and have them buy it for you, it has to be a gift where no money changes hands. Although the law is not actually very clear on this matter, one assumes this is to enable parents who are into airsoft and who do have a UKARA or some other credible reason, to be able to buy RIFs for their kids (yeah I know, the law is fairly stupid and it could be got around relatively easily, but that is nevertheless the law). So in short, no, if you have a RIF, it does not have to be two toned, even if you are under 18, although to be honest, the blue/black two toned guns actually don't look too bad, so it's really not a big deal, and there is nothing stopping a parent buying you a two toned airsoft gun. But I guess the really big deal is in persuading a parent or guardian to let you have one in the first place, since not all parents are exactly in love with the idea of their kids having fairly realistic weapons. It's a bit of a shame that more of them don't realise that airsofting is not only very sociable, as well as healthy from an exercise point of view, so actually quite good for kids, who these days are quite likely to be indoors all the time on a Playstation or X-Box (so neither being very sociable, nor getting any exercise), but it is also inclined to teach younger people a bit of responsibility. The way around all that difficulty if you cannot get a RIF or a two toned airsoft gun, is to hire the gun, which is usually only about a fiver or so if you are a member of the airsoft site you go to regularly, although you should be careful to point out to your parent or guardian that this is what you are doing, as it is inclined to make them realise that letting you have your own airsoft gun would in fact save money in the long run. But before you get to all that, just hire stuff and see if you actually like airsofting. It is good fun, but you'll only know if you enjoy it by actually doing it a few times.

If you are intending to go to the Trojan Weir Mill site, then I've got a few recommendations... 1. Take a drink: (Lucozade, tango or some sh*t like that) in a small plastic bottle you can shove in a pocket, cos it gets very hot in there, even in this weather. You will dehydrate otherwise. 2. Take a small torch (you can get em for a quid at cheapo 'pound shops'). Some areas are in total darkness (and I mean literally pitch black). Preferably take two torches, so you can tape one to the end of your hire gun if it does not have a Tac Light on it, so obviously, also take some pvc tape too or you won't be able to do that, although I normally have some on me, so you could always blag some off me. 3. If you have a pistol, take that, you can't use anything other than pistols and knives on the stairwells (and there are lots of fights at the entrance and exit of stairwells at that site), note that you don't actually need a knife, you can use your hand to simulate it. If you are going to there and do not have a pistol, gimme a shout, I can lend you one. 4. If you are using one of your own guns, then don't take any gun that cannot fire on single shot/semi-automatic (i.e. don't take something that only fires full auto, such as an AEG Sten Gun), because most games at the Mill CQB site don't allow the use of full auto fire because the ranges of engagements are normally pretty small. 5. Wear either combat boots or decent trainers with high ankle support as all the floors are hard concrete. If you have kneepads, they're good too because kneeling on that floor is tough on your knees. Wear clothes you don't mind getting covered with sh*t, because you will get covered in brick dust, concrete dust etc. 6. Take a scarf to wrap around your neck, most fights are at short ranges of about 20-40 feet, and a BB hitting your neck at 350 fps will fecking hurt and will draw blood. Likewise wear a long sleeve top, as hits on the arms are common too. Also, I'd recommend a baseball cap, because it will cover your forehead, I've seen plenty of people get a cut on their forehead from a BB at that site, which is why I always wear a PASGT helmet there. 7. If you are renting gear, make sure you get full face protection (it's actually compulsory if you are under 18). I've seen people get teeth shot out at that site on more than one occasion when they were not wearing a lower face mask. Edit to answer your question: I've been airsofting for years, although for a long time I took a break from it, then started back up again about a year ago. Oh and if you are going to Trojan's Woodland site, gimme a shout, because without directions, you never find the bloody place, even with a sat nav.

Yeah I know, they've been a bit lax on updating the website calendar recently, but if you search for them on Facebook, they usually put the latest events up on there and you can let em know via that if you are intending to go there, but to be honest, it's never so full that you can't normally just walk in and go for it, although if you wanna hire gear, I would recommend booking, as there are usually quite a few players there hiring stuff, and so you'd wanna be sure they kept some gear for you. Failing that you can phone Ben Franklin, the main Trojan dude on this number: 0742 802 4874

Yup, been to Weir Mill in Stockport (indoor CQB) and their woodland site out near Macclesfield. I go to the Mill site pretty regularly since I live in Stockport. Trojan are who I've got my UKARA with actually. I will be there on Sunday 4th Jan.

Airsoft World get things to you in about 2-3 days, so they're cheap and offer good service, but if you prefer to actually visit a shop local to you, then these guys in Swinton are worth a look. They also run a number of good indoor and outdoor airsoft sites around the NW, and they invariably have stuff for sale at those skirmish events too: http://www.firstandonlyretail.co.uk/

Welcome aboard from someone also in Mcr area. Try this thing, with battery and charger etc, it will leave you about a ton, so you can get spare mags and other bits and bobs if your budget is 300 notes: http://www.airsoftworld.net/catalogsearch/result/?q=30th+Anniversary&manufacturer=&cat= Make sure you also get a three point sling for it, it's a pain in the arse carrying a metal gun around all day without a sling, I know, because I was carrying that exact same gun all afternoon at F&O's Manchester Woodland site on Saturday because I couldn't be arsed taking the sling off my other M4.

Welcome aboard. To answer your painting question, no, you would not be breaking the law if you painted a two toned weapon black, because to own something which looks like a Realistic Imitation Firearm (RIF), what you need is a legitimate defence for doing so should it ever come to the CPS or the Police questioning you about the matter, and since you want a RIF for airsofting, that is absolutely a legitimate reason. In short, the Act of Parliament which pertains to owning a RIF, is the Violent Crimes Reduction Act of 2006, the clue is in its name, it's intended to prevent violent crimes from occurring, so if you simply put your RIF in the boot of your car when it's in a rifle bag, drive to a skirmish site, play with it there, and then sling it back in your boot and drive home, you are in no way being a dick with the thing, nor committing any sort of violent crime, so nobody will care about it in legal terms, because they won't even know it exists providing you use it responsibly for its intended purpose. Even so, when it comes to buying or owning a RIF, there is certainly confusion over the matter among many; for example, lots of people will tell you: 'oh you need a UKARA licence to own or buy a RIF', which is not only factually incorrect, but also incorrect in terms of understanding what the UKARA Scheme is. There is no such thing as a licence for an airsoft weapon, so by definition, nor is there any such thing as a UKARA Licence. What there is, is the UKARA Scheme, which was devised by a collection of airsoft gun retailers to allow them to check if any potential customer for an airsoft weapon was a legitimate airsoft player, so that they could cover their asses from prosecution if they sold a RIF to someone who then chose to use it for nefarious purposes. The UKARA Scheme came about in 2006 when the Violent Crimes Reduction Act was being passed through Parliament. Contrary to popular belief among many airsofters however, the VCR Act is not specifically about airsoft weapons, it covers a number of potentially antisocial and criminal activities, such as carrying knives, drinking alcohol in the street, etc, with the possession of realistic looking weapons merely being a small section of the Act (Sections 36-37). Thus UKARA is in fact a trade association which came about as a response to the VCR Act, and which maintains a database of players who have regularly attended any airsoft skirmish sites which take part in the UKARA Scheme (almost all of them do), in order to cover them from potential prosecution under the VCR Act for having supplied a RIF to someone who had no intention of owning it for a legitimate reason. If retailers had not come up with that scheme, it would effectively put an end to much of their business, and for a while, the VCR Act did indeed put some websites which sold airsoft weapons out of business. So whilst the Government does not officially approve of the UKARA Scheme as a means to track the ownership of RIFs, it does unofficially give it the nod of approval and does mention it in passing in the official guidelines to understanding the VCR Act which is passed out to magistrates and the like. As a result of all that, most airsofters find it convenient to have a UKARA registration number (which you can get after having attended three airsoft skirmishes over a period of two months), but there certainly is no legal requirement to have a UKARA registration number if you own a RIF, it merely makes it easier to prove that you do go airsofting should the need arise (i.e., if the Rozzers pulled you over and said 'what's that in the bag on your back seat?'). UKARA is of course also useful when ordering a RIF online (since that is its primary reason for being), because it is easy for an airsoft site to check your UKARA registration number when you quote it to them at the time of buying something. It's also useful to ask overseas websites to note your UKARA number on any parcel they send to you which contains a RIF, since HM Revenue and Customs also have access to the UKARA database and can check the legitimacy of any RIF coming into the country via that list and cross referencing it with any UKARA number on a parcel. With all that clarified, what actually would be a better option, and indeed as others have stated, would be to simply use a rental gun for three skirmishes and then go for the RIF instead of having to paint over some two tone paint job. Yes it might be a bummer to miss out on a bargain, but there are sales all the time on airsoft sites, so I wouldn't sweat it too much over missing out on a bargain. I'm willing to bet that you could find that exact gun cheaper from a website in the European Union and have it posted to you with your UKARA number on the parcel anyway, and even if you couldn't, you just watch, in those two lean months after Christmas when everyone is still paying for Christmas past, all those airsoft websites will be falling over themselves to discount stuff in order to drum up some business.

Here's me in typical woodland get up, minus the PASGT helmet I normally wear that has a multicam cover on it and the M4 on a three point sling: And here's me going for the 'Hunt for Red October look' with my Ushanka and submariner's leather jacket:

Rental guns take a lot of abuse, but that said, airsoft sites want rental guns which 'take a lickin and keep on tickin', so buying the same make and model as a rental gun, whilst not a terrible idea, might not be the best thing to do, because rental guns are often not the most visually pleasing versions of a particular weapon, after all, the site cares more about robustness and reliability, because they'll be handing them out to all and sundry, including people who will drop them, smack them into walls, fire them too much on full auto, etc. But, since you are likely to look after your own weapon, you want something that is perhaps more impressive in terms of performance and looks, rather than being of merit for being robust, and that being the case, the G&G you linked to is an excellent choice, you'll do fine with that, and it is easily upgradable too, so it is a weapon which can grow with you. The Ares one would be a bad choice, it might cost more, but it is most definitely not a better weapon than the G&G one; it's less compatible with common parts than the G&G and in fact Ares, whilst quite nice visually, are notorious for having bad internal workings too, not in all cases, but it's a good general rule of thumb to be aware of, whereas G&G guns, and in particular their M4 variants, are notable for reliability and performance at a good price. Less impressive in terms of reliability are G&G's AK47/AK74 Kalashnikov variants, so if you wanted an AK type of weapon, then CYMA would be a good make to go for at the kind of price range you are looking at.