Chock

Maybe a carabina on the stock of the AK attached to a short length of webbing strap, with that in turn attached to the right shoulder adjustment part of your webbing/vest or whatever it is you wear, via a D Ring or another carabina clip. Essentially it'll then just hang from the top right shoulder of your rig. I've occasionally done that kind of thing with my MP5K. Don't need much webbing strap (maybe six inches or so), since you only really need enough to allow you to get the thing into your shoulder.

Six mags is fairly standard for a modern soldier, so eight is definitely over the odds if you are doing a milsim, however, if eight is what you need then fair enough. You might find this linked PDF a useful guide; it's an analysis of effective US combat load outs in Afghanistan, with breakdowns of what everyone in a squad does/should carry to be most effective. There are useful weight charts in there too, which can help with effectively distributing any loads you carry: http://thedonovan.com/archives/modernwarriorload/ModernWarriorsCombatLoadReport.pdf

Heathen that I am, I only ever drink whiskey it with lemonade. But then I'm not really a big spirits drinker, I tend to prefer (preferably Czech) lager, which isn't especially strong, but has a good flavour.

Yeah, I'd give that a whirl. Gotta do something with all those AKs I've got lol

Just take your gun to the skirmish in a rifle bag, a guitar case, big plastic bag or whatever (i.e. don't walk about with it on the street where you might scare people and cause them to call the police). There is no need for you to two-tone it at all. It is not illegal to own a RIF if you don't have a UKARA, all you need in order to own a RIF, is a legitimate reason for doing so, and since you are into airsoft skirmishing, you have that reason. Two toning is so that people can have stuff that is rather obviously not a real gun if they want to play about with it in a back yard or somewhere without terrifying their neighbours, or so websites can sell stuff to people who have no means to confirm they are an airsoft player, so there is no need for a gun to be two toned when you are using it at an airsoft skirmish site, because when you are doing that, you are using it legitimately, so you only really have to be careful when going to and from the airsoft skirmish site, by either keeping it in the boot of your car out of sight, or putting it in a case if you are going on a bus or train or whatever. After three visits to the same airsoft skirmish site over a period of five or so weeks, the people who run the site will help you fill out your UKARA form, which either they, or you, can post off to a shop which is in the UKARA scheme, and the shop will then put you on the UKARA database (you'll get an email from them telling you your UKARA number which will be a number such as ABC0021, and that can then be used by you when buying RIFs off websites). It is also handy to have a UKARA number for another reason, and that is on occasions where you might need to prove to someone that you are an airsoft player, for example, if the police stopped your car and looked in the boot and saw that you had a bunch of realistic looking weapons, you could simply say, I am UKARA registered, you can check that if you like. Although to be fair, I'm willing to bet that if you said that to the average police officer, they'd probably have no idea what UKARA actually was and I bet most airsoft players are more familiar with the law on this matter than most police officers are, so you'd probably have to explain that as well. This means that you should not be under the impression that UKARA is some sort of 'gun license', because it is not, it is only a convenient way to prove that you are into airsofting as a hobby.

Yes, I've bought from them a few times. In fact they are my 'go to' store for AEG and GBB magazines because they are much cheaper than everywhere else usually. Got my GBB Mags for my MP5K from there. No problems with them at all, although delivery usually takes a week. Got five 160 BB capacity M4 mags coming from them at the moment, which hopefully might be here today or tomorrow.

To be honest, I wouldn't spend a lot on a shotgun for airsoft, because you simply don't need to. The mechanism for something like a pump action springer shotgun is pretty goddam basic, and that means that quite frankly, a 30 quid one is going to be good enough to do the job. And as far as things like tri-shots etc are concerned, for one thing it's pretty much a novelty, you've got as much chance of hitting with one BB at the kind of ranges a shotgun is useful for, and for another, even most cheap ass shotguns will allow you to rack them more than once and then fire more than one shot anyway if you so desire. So frankly, things like the CYMA P799 (a fairly close replica of the Benelli M3 'Super 90') or the AGM Mossberg Pistol Grip (replicating a variant of the Mossberg 500 Tactical Shotgun) - both of which can easily be found for less than 30 quid from websites after a minute of Googling - will do you just as well as more expensive affairs. I do have both of these airsoft shotguns; they both have respectable FPS, the P799 does about 325 fps, the AGM does 350 fps. And I have skirmished with both of them, they are accurate, fairly long ranged and look okay too (the AGM one even has Mossberg Trademarks on it). I know the CYMA one is robust, because I've had mine for at least 15 years (probably longer) and it still shoots at 325 fps, and in spite of its age it doesn't have a scratch on it either. I've lent it to other people at skirmishes, and whilst they were initially skeptical, they agreed it was a good gun. One thing to be aware of however, is that for 'proper skirmishing' the AGM is a better choice in terms of practicality for a number of reasons, for one thing it is shorter and so better for CQB, for another it comes with three rails, so you can put a tac light on it (and it actually comes with one included, which admittedly is not great, but better than nothing to start off with), and for another thing, the Mossberg has a removable high capacity magazine - think it holds about 150 BBs - it loads 15 BBs into the spring well when you pull the mag spring down and tilt it, when they run out, you rinse and repeat. Needless to say, a removable mag is useful for when you are in the safe area, the P799 more of a pain in the ass in that respect, since it has an internal hopper magazine - probably a couple of hundred BBs capacity - which is not that easy to unload if you have to go into the safe area, so I've tended to prop it up against a wall in the battle area and retrieve it when I go back in if I've had to nip back to the safe area and only actually unload the thing at the end of the day. And as for all that 'ejecting shells' malarkey which some airsoft shotguns offer, whilst it is useful if you are making movies and want something that is visually accurate so you don't have to CGI the ejection, it's a novelty you can well do without in skirmishing, especially in darkened CQB areas, where the last thing you need to be doing is scrabbling about on the floor looking for your expensive gimmick shell cases.

Only ever seen verbal presentations with everyone gathered around. Usually they'll demo acceptable behaviour for knife kills and throw a grenade to demo kill radius etc, demo unacceptable things such as blind firing, power playing etc. Occasionally I've seen briefings kept to a bare minimum at sites when only a few regulars have turned up and they know everyone is au fait with things.

Have a magnified optic on my SVD, it's a replica of the PSO--1 sight, since that is basically a DMR, so optics make some sense. But I don't use any optics on any of my assault weapons, just the iron sights, and in fact I don't even flip up the front sight on my M4 SIR, I just line the rear sight pipper up with the gap where the front sight is folded down and generally pop three shots on semi in the area that gap shows. I find that is quick and doesn't screw with your peripheral vision, and you get used to seeing where the rounds fall at various ranges with that method. Not saying a red dot is no use, but I like to know what is going on around me, because I tend to use my assault rifles in the true sense of what an assault rifle was developed for, as in fire and move tactics, aka, keeping people's heads down and advancing on them and trying to flank them with my team mates. Nine times out of ten, I've found that if you push up on people who are dug in in one spot and keep the pressure up, it makes for more fun and stops things bogging down into a stalemate. Yes your squad do take some hits sometimes, but you usually end up taking the position you are trying to take. In that kind of fight, an optic would probably be a disadvantage.

Welcome aboard. You are almost certainly correct in identifying the Umarex G36C as the pick of the bunch, although in fact there are several Umarex G36 airsoft rifles, of varying sophistication, ranging from ones which replicate the working blowback action of the real thing quite closely, to cheaper ones which are mainly static in terms of replicating the real thing. Umarex, you may be interested to know, own the Walther company, so they are involved with real firearms manufacture and the Umarex G36 is in fact the only airsoft weapon to be seen in my local (real) firearms shop, so they are pretty good and are taken seriously. The Black Viper one is not terrible, but it is basically a cheapish LPEG (low powered electric gun) featuring a lot of plastic in the internal workings, these are probably not going to last forever. However, having said that, if you like tinkering with stuff, have a look in the 'news' part of the forum for a thread about a new AK12 model becoming available. That new AK12 was made by Black Viper, and on that thread you will see me detailing how I bought one for a bit of fun and upgraded it internally with better workings to turn it into something quite usable.

Just bought a bunch of M4 mag grips. They were pretty cheap, so here's the link if anyone is after some: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/311193817516?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

To be honest, even the information on the UKARA site conflicts itself on this matter. For example it says this: 'you must be a regular player at that game site, having attended 3 games in a period which exceeds 2 months' but then it also says this: 'The time period over which you have to play your 3 games is at the discretion of the participating game site providing the 3 games are not played in a time that is less than 2 months' Although to be fair, their FAQ does include the following: 'This guide has been compiled over a number of months, some of the information may no longer be valid or accurate' Whatever the interpretation, I know that when I contacted them on the matter, I was told that the three games had to over a period which covers two calendar months, i.e. it could literally be over a period of as little as five weeks, since that could not possibly be done in one month, and as far as I'm aware, that is how most sites treat the matter. It is certainly what happened with my UKARA form, although to be honest, by the time it was filled out and submitted, I think I was over two months anyway. In any case, as has been pointed out, it's a moot point since the OP is not over 18 years of age and cannot register with UKARA. That, in my opinion, is a flaw in the UKARA scheme, since that over 18 age limit age limit precludes the ability of a parent who is not UKARA registered from buying a RIF for their kid who is into skirmishing regularly and who could prove the matter. I would not see a problem with altering the scheme to take that circumstance into account, providing the minor could quote their UKARA number when the parent ordered the thing. It would be obvious enough that this was legitimate when checking the UKARA number, since the address that the UKARA number was attributed to and the parent's address where the order was being delivered would be one and the same. None of that would contravene anything in the VCR Act.

Yup, MP40, but it's actually only a springer that I bought as a 'wall hanger' back in the days before the VCR Act was in force, although to be fair, it is a very nice model of one, albeit a bit on the fragile side. That was when websites would cheerfully post anything you liked to you without any questions over UKARAs and all that malarkey. I doubt I've even fired the thing more than about three times.

Theoretically, if you can convince the dealer that you are a legit skirmisher or have some other reasonable defence for having a RIF, then they might (and I do mean might, since it's their ass on the line) sell you one without a UKARA number. UKARA is merely a convenient way for them to check that you are legit, and if there is some other way for you to prove this, then that'd be ok, for example, someone from the dealer might see you a couple of times at a skirmish and be able to confirm you are a keen airsofter. However, in practical terms, you might just as well use rental gear and get the UKARA application in, thus removing all doubt. UKARA is by no means the perfect solution to distance selling RIFs, but it is what we've ended up with, so it's kind of the devil we know. Timing wise it's not bad for you at the moment, since you need three skirmishes over a two calendar month period to qualify for a UKARA application. Since it is the 9th today, you're a third of the way to the second month, so you could do a skirmish this weekend, one next weekend or the weekend after, and by then you'd only need one in January to tick the boxes. Fire off the application, and you'd likely be UKARA'd up before Jan 10, meaning your two month qualifying time would be covered in approximately one month in terms of days.

Someone got me an Amazon voucher for 30 quid, so I found this thing, which means technically I didn't buy it, but since I had to add about 1.50 to cover postage and packaging, I did at least buy it 'a bit': http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0041300WK?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00 Dunno how good it'll be, but since it was basically free, no big deal. Supposedly well suited to a light M4 loadout with a smallish pistol as back up (according to the many positive reviews), I'll see how it compares to my plate carrier rig and my tactical vest, both of which are okay anyway, but it's nice to have other options. Would perhaps be a good starter rig for someone new to airsoft who had a G&G M4 and maybe a Glock, since it is cheap at 30 quid, comes with a pistol holster and has room for spare pistol mags and three M4 mags.

Bit dark in the room, so pic is crap, but was running out of wall space to put guns, so started on the door lol From the top: (very modified) Chicom B31, four short AK variants, MP40, MP5K, G36C

Easiest option is probably this: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/AK-MOUNT-RAIL-REAR-SIGHT-20-mm-AIRSOFT-AEG-ASG-/281433612641?pt=UK_SportingGoods_Hunting_ShootingSports_ET&hash=item4186c02161 Mounts to the rear sight, not the receiver cover, but is still quite low profile and not too expensive.

Nothing wrong with being pro-active in trying to get a team together, so all credit to you for that at least, but really, you should think about aiming a little lower in terms of demands if you hope to recruit people. As it stands, you're asking way too much of people from the off, and appearing to give nothing back. After all, if you want people to join you, you should emphasize what makes you an attractive proposition, rather than making demands of potential new members. Your age requirement of 14-17 means that you won't (by definition) have anyone on your team who can either legally buy a RIF, or have a UKARA registration, yet you are starting out with a list of requirements for membership which would be pushing it from a far more experienced group, i.e: pay a monthly fee, be easily mobile, have to pass some kind of test, have to have your own gear. And with all this, also have to be subordinate to a self-appointed leader who right off the bat states that he does not have that much experience. To be brutally honest, who was it that tested you and deemed you qualified and experienced enough to lead a squad to victories? If there is some kind of league and leader board at your skirmish site, and you are on it and have demonstrated that you do well, then fair enough, but if not, then you should instead emphasize the aspirations of your team and be at pains to point out that people can get 'in on the ground floor' with you and help to build something special, rather than coming across as some kind of mini dictator who is demanding more cannon fodder to join him - and who have to pay for the privilege too - which is how it reads at the moment, and that is hardly an inviting prospect for joining a team. Surely it would be better to let everyone have a stab at leading in combat, and whoever managed it the best would then be practically and demonstrably qualified to lead your group on the field. You could still be the administrative leader of all that kind of thing if you are not willing to relinquish control of your baby. The best practical combat leader may turn out to be you, who knows, but if it isn't, then it would be silly to not play to your strengths as a team if there is someone better at that particular job. Call it a 'battlefield promotion' system if you like. I'm not trying to have a go at you here, the fact that you are pro-active in trying to get something going demonstrates in many ways that you may indeed be the best one for the job of leading your team on the field. I just think you need to be a bit less demanding of potential new members. I'm sure you already have done so, but if not, I would suggest a poster up at your regular skirmish site with something along the lines of 'Are you a younger player who needs a team?' on it, would yield better results. Or make a flyer and hand it out at your next skirmish. See if you can stick a poster up at school too (but be sure to ask permission, and I'd emphasize the social and fun aspects of it, rather than the warlike ones!). Drop the fee too. That's a massive turn off straight away. Good luck with it. I admire your enthusiasm and entrepreneurialism, but you need to tweak your marketing skills a little bit to make what you offer sound tempting. Oh and one more thing, having 'bot' in the title of your forum name also makes it seem like you are a scammer, particularly when your first posts were asking for money. It wasn't a particularly great choice of name and you should perhaps contact the moderators and try to get it altered.

You don't have to spend a lot to be adequately equipped for airsoft. Sure a lot of people are in full combat gear, but it's something you can build up, after all, if you had an M4 and wore a pair of jeans or cargo pants, a body warmer with a shirt, some decent boots or high ankle trainers, a baseball cap and a keffeyah scarf, you'd look like a CIA operative, which might actually be quite a cool look. Just make sure you'll be warm and dry enough if you're going woodland this time of year. A baseball cap will stop BBs just as well as most helmets, as will jeans, in fact, jeans would probably stop BBs better than combat pants. The only thing you really need to worry about getting sooner rather than later, is face protection and possibly some thin gloves that you can work a weapon whilst wearing.

Yup, darkened indoor CQB is a bit of an acquired taste. It can get costly too, since you are far more likely to need flashbangs, grenades, pistols, knives, night vision, tac lights, helmet, radio, etc, etc, and a compact main weapon helps as well. Having said that, you do get to make knife kills and can do fun stuff like using a shotgun as your main weapon, or even dual-wielding pistols, so it has merits. Indoor sites also tend to be a bit better in the Winter cold, as it can be a bit hard on you being out in the rain all day at a woodland site, or fun, depending on your point of view. That and the fact that you tend to get more injuries because of taking hits at closer ranges. I occasionally come back from indoor CQB with a few nice red spots from hits on my arms and legs. And whilst we are on the subject of taking hits, please do make sure that you use good quality full face protection. BBs may not be lethal, but they can easily take an eye out or smash a tooth out (and yes that does happen - seen a few people get teeth shot out). Decent face and neck protection should not be an afterthought, but again, this is something you can check out whilst using rental gear. Glasses and masks can fog up, wire mesh goggles and face masks don't do that, Arab keffiyah scarves do a good job of protecting your neck, but the traditional white ones stick out like a sore thumb in woodlands, so get a green or olive drab one, white ones are okay in dark CQB. Separate eye and lower face protection means you can quickly lower your mouth protection to take a drink and still keep your eyes covered when in the shooting areas (and that's another thing to take to airsoft, something to drink in a small bottle you can carry with you, otherwise you will get dehydrated, even in Winter). Big face masks give good protection, but bulky ones can make it tricky to aim your weapon, as the mask prevents you from getting the weapon into your cheek. In airsoft, you tend to get hit more in the face, neck and right arm, since these are generally the more exposed areas when you pop up or out from cover to take aim, especially if you hold your rifle using a 'chicken wing' stance. Oh and if you are going woodland primarily, then knee pads are a good thing to have, they stop you hurting your knees when you drop to aim, and they keep your knees a bit drier. Because you will be dropping for cover and crawling around a lot.

Welcome aboard. Actually, you don't need a UKARA to buy an L96, you only need a UKARA if you buy a realistically coloured L96 which could be mistaken for the real thing. This is not a big deal because most airsoft snipers emulate real world snipers and end up camouflaging their rifles, by either painting them, applying camouflage tape, or draping scrim nets over them (usually a combination of all three). And since you'll likely be doing that, the original colour hardly matters much. So, for example, you could buy this without a UKARA registration: http://www.geniestuff.co.uk/airsoft-sniper-rifle-l96-mk3-mb01-two-tone-bundle.htm But... That being said, most people who enjoy airsoft (including me) would probably not recommend going straight in sniping when starting out. There are a few reasons for this, but the main one is that if you are just starting out, how do you know you'd like sniping? Yes it is cool in FPS games to snipe, but it is very different in airsoft, for one thing the range is a lot less, so it's not always suited to every airsoft site and even when it is, it requires you to know the terrain and who is on your team, which is difficult when starting out. Bear in mind too, that as Winter befalls us, that camo is going to be more problematic amongst bare trees. There is also the aspect of cost; yes you can buy an L96 and a scope and it will be okay, but most people into sniping have spent a great deal of money on souping up their weapons with custom hop up units, fancy barrels, silencers, expensive scopes, replacement springs, custom cocking levers, drilled out pistons, not to mention ghillie suits, camo cream, polished BBs, decent back up weapons etc, etc, and a good deal of experience as to where people will be moving at the site they shoot at. You might also like to note that many 'snipers' are these days preferring DMRs (designated marksman rifles), because it means that they can snipe, but stay up with the action as it moves forwards, because it's easy to miss the action in a good sniping spot if people don't come your way, and even if they do, you can be sure they will eventually close you down, so a DMR (typically something like a souped up M16A3 set to fire at 400fps and locked to semi auto fire only) is a good thing to have in those circumstances. And even then, you'd probably still need a very good back up pistol or something like an MP5K or Skorpion for when people get real close. So what that tells you, is that starting out as a sniper is not exactly the cheap option, nor even necessarily the most fun option either. In other words, it's smarter to go to a few skirmishes and use rental gear, see what you like, then decide what to go for. This also means that after a few skirmishes, you'd have your UKARA registration anyway if you applied for it, so it solves that problem too. But more importantly, if you attend the same site regularly, you can see what everyone else favours, have a handle of, and maybe try a few shots with people's weapons (I think it is fair to say that most people will let you do this if you are polite and ask nicely, and in fact I've frequently lent people weapons to use in a skirmish whom I've literally never met before and personally never even skirmished with that weapon myself. Did this the other day in fact with my literally brand new customised AK12 - yes, we are generally a pretty sociable bunch). There is no substitute for trying stuff out when starting out, and it avoids the possibility of you spending money on stuff you later regret buying. Yes it is true that most of us are 'gear whores' who spend far too much money on weapons, outfits and accessories, but that's something you can make an informed choice about when having been skirmishing for a while, and is after all part of the fun. For example, lots of people start out buying all kinds of uniforms, webbing, belts, pouches, packs etc, so they end up looking like they are about to do a special forces HALO jump out of a C-130 into war-torn North Korea, only to realise that whilst this gear would indeed be good if you were going behind enemy lines on a four day mission, it is way over the top for a few hours running around in the woods and does nothing other than impact on your ability to move freely about and prevent you from feeling hits, leading to accusations of you being a 'cheater'. Thus experience teaches people the right gear to go for. So it is far more important try before you buy. Yes, you will buy the odd thing you regret, or like less than you thought - we've all been there and done that - but make sure that this isn't your main weapon. I'm not trying to put you off sniping - I've got an SVD dragunov sniper rifle myself - and for all I know you might turn out to be the best airsoft sniper ever, but give regular skirmishing with an assault weapon a go - use some rental gear and it will only be a fiver or so more per skirmish - and talk to a few people at the skirmish site before you decide for sure. You will make friends fast - I guarantee it - because there is nothing us airsoft nerds like more than to bang on about our gear, which is why we are on this forum after all. There is a reason why so many people on this site recommend the G&G M4 as a good starting weapon, and it isn't only because of its reliability and inexpensive price. Anyway, welcome aboard!

Because Bohemia Airsoft was the only place I could find spare mags for my souped up UHC AKS74U, I bought a few spare mags from there, but as an experiment, I also added another UHC AKS74U, in 'RIF' black with a brown front grip to my order, to see if I got any hassle importing a RIF from the Czech Republic. I asked them to put my UKARA on the packaging, which they did, although they accidentally put another 'zero' in the number lol, however, it seems Customs were satisfied anyway, so I can now officially recommend Bohemia Airsoft as an okay place to buy from. So below is a link to their website. Service was excellent incidentally, they emailed me in English with a query about my order, and I replied in what was probably badly translated Czech lol, so their communication was good, and prices are good too (everything you see in the pic below totalled 54.67 quid), although you do need to use a converter to determine the Sterling equivalent of prices even on their English version of their website, as it does not go to the extent of converting those, although it does tell you at the top of their website that '1 EUR = 27.610 CZK', as a rough guide. So props to Bohemia Airsoft's main person - Jan: http://airsoftshop.cz/index.php/language/EN?osCsid=bp9hkp1ero6hseqgp3j40ta9o6 Anyway, here's 'what I just bought' out of the big box it came in: Yeah, I know, I've got too many AKs lol. But it does make my wall look cool.

This is true, but when someone asks for recommendations, we should go off what we know and what we personally would recommend, if it is to be an informed recommendation. There is no doubt that there are more expensive and shinier toys out there than the D-Boys M4, and I'm in no way saying it is the best one can buy, but I'm certainly being honest in saying that I have found it to be a good choice for a metal M4 airsoft rifle which stands up to the rigors of skirmishing and shoots well. For many players, it's a one shot deal when it comes to buying a main skirmishing weapon, for me, I am fortunate enough to have the money to indulge myself with many airsoft weapons; sometimes I like cheap ones (and in fact I have a bit of a soft spot for them), sometimes more expensive ones, and sometimes I tinker with the things and turn a POS into something nice, but one thing I certainly have found, is that money does not always equal quality, even though on many occasions, it absolutely does. But, for example, I have a couple of shotguns which are more than adequate for CQB skirmishing, and of the two, neither of them cost me more than 25 quid, and in fact, one of them was so cheap that I simply tagged it onto an order for some bits and bobs to take the postage over the amount necessary to get free P&P (it is a sawn-off pump action Mossberg 500), and right out of the box it was doing 350 fps and is actually very accurate too. Ultimately, from all the recommendations on this thread, being honest with what you like and are happy with will allow the OP to make an informed choice. After all, it is their money, but there is no harm in recommending things which come in under the target figure if you have found what you are recommending from personal experience to be a good choice, because with the internet, there are certainly plenty of people willing to perpetuate myths, or simply parrot recommendations or 'avoids' which they have heard or read of, without actually having owned and used the things themselves. This is why I'm happy to take things to bits, put up videos and photos etc. It's all about informed choices.

I've no complaints with my D-Boys M4 SIR, which should have been 300 quid, but was discounted to only 180 quid when I bought it (you can get a sportline plastic receiver version for less - I think about 100ish - but mine's the metal version and it's fairly easy to find it discounted to nearer 200 quid in price). Like all airsoft M4s, technically it is not full metal, because there are non-metal bits such as the fore grip, pistol grip and bits of the collapsible stock, but that's true of the real M4 too. Apart from adding a tac light with a pressure switch on the front tactical grip, I've left it completely stock. It's very accurate and has good range. I don't even use optics with it, I just flip the rear sight up and leave the front sight down and line up the front sight gap with the rear sight pipper, which is quick and easy to do with it on a three point sling carrying it in either high or low ready. Three taps on semi auto using that sighting method generally does the job both close in at CQB ranges and in woodlands at longer ranges. Comes with a very reliable 300 round high cap mag as standard, so that's nearly good for all day providing you aren't the spray and pray type, although I do have several 160 round mags for it too. D-Boys weapons appear to be more common in the States on skirmish sites than in the UK from what I can gather - I don't see many people with them - but I think that's more a case or people going with the crowd and choosing more common choices such as CYMA and G&G rather than because of any reliability issues - and since it is a fairly bog standard M4 under those SIR rails, there's no issue with parts compatibility, i.e., it will take standard M4 mags and other standard M4 parts. Since your budget is 400 quid, if you got one like mine, that'd give you 200 quid to go mental on upgrades if you wanted a fancier barrel or some freaky sight or grips or whatever, since the SIR has a large amount of rail space. In terms of reliability, it has been pretty much flawless. I do take spare guns with me to skirmishes, but I've never had reason to switch from using my D-Boys M4. It's tough too; I'm one of those woodland types who is not afraid to crawl through shite and dive in the dirt, or hug walls in CQB where it is easy to ding your flash suppressor into a wall, and the D-Boys is fine with that kind of handling, a quick wipe with a cloth at the end of the day and it looks good as new.

Yup, that size is correct, I just compared it to the wooden grip on my genuine Type 56 and it is pretty much the same size as that.