Chock

You should have pointed out to him that you don't salute the person, you salute the rank, and you don't generally salute someone when they are in civvies, since they are not wearing a rank, and as noted, you salute the rank. Best story I ever heard on that subject, was regarding the legendary (and hugely decorated) US Marine, Lt. Gen. Lewis Burwell 'Chesty' Puller: Puller came across a pedantic Second Lt who had ordered an enlisted man to salute him 100 times for having missed a salute, whereupon Puller told the Lieutenant: 'You were absolutely correct in making him salute you 100 times Lieutenant. But, you know that an officer must return every salute he receives. Now return them all, and I will keep count.' Incidentally, back on the thread topic, I was in the ATC, it was okay, but there are definitely more opportunities to do stuff in the Army Cadets. I do fly gliders and do have a pilot's licence, but i never did that in the ATC.

That torch comes with a quick release knurled screw to get it on a rail, but it also comes with some old-style scope mounts which would enable you to clamp it to your barrel or any other tubular part of your rifle, so it depends upon what type of rife you have, whether you have some rails or enough of a projecting barrel to attach it to. I have that exact light on the side of my M4 SIR, on the side rail. It's a really good light incidentally, very bright and long ranged, although I would recommend putting some clear acetate or perspex over the lens to protect it from being shot out by incoming fire.

You get extra points if you do this...

Expect them to keep on coming, and to bitch about taking numerous hits and being too hot in all the gear they have to wear to prevent them going home covered in wounds lol. In other words, practice either reloading fast, or get a high capacity mag on something with a rapid rate of fire, oh and a training knife and a decent pistol. If it is indoors, take a torch or two and have a decent tac light on your weapons.

You can theoretically use a sniper rifle out of the box, but you'll likely be outranged and outgrouped by any other sniper at the skirmish who has been at it a while. My A&K SVD is not bad as standard, does nearly 500 fps right out of the box and is pretty accurate too, so I'd probably get some kills with it as it came, but there is a reason why there are a crapload of upgrades available for it and every other airsoft sniper rifle. Either way, you are gonna need a decent scope on whatever you get. You can get a decent PSO-1 airsoft replica sight here for fifty quid if you go with the A&K SVD, although it does require a bit of coaxing to go on the A&K's rail: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/270951265654?_trksid=p2059210.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT The A&K SVD can be had for about 130 quid, so that would still leave you a score under 200 quid for something half decent with a good scope on it. I'd expect to throw another fifty to seventy quid at the thing in upgraded bits and bobs to get it up to snuff for some serious sniping, and probably a bit more if you decide to really do a nice job on the thing. There are plenty of dedicated forums kicking around for upgrading A&K SVDs, a quick search on Google will turn those up for you. If you do go with the A&K, you definitely want the larger cocking lever, as the stock one is a bitch to pull back with cold hands, and a bipod is virtually a necessity for a sniper rifle too, unless you want to do the cliche terrorist 'bungie chord around a tree' trick. At least with an airsoft sniper rifle, you don't have to piss on the ground in front of your firing position to prevent the muzzle blast kicking up dust and giving away your position lol, but you almost certainly will have to Ghillie it up a bit, although that is an easy DIY job. Keep in mind however, that any serious Milsim will probably insist you are on the rebel or Soviet side if you have an SVD, similarly, they'd probably insist you were NATO if you had an L96 or a Barrett, although for a regular skirmish, you could go on either side, but it is something to bear in mind if you have any plans to do Milsims, because to be outfitted for either side would probably end up getting expensive what with you needing an NATO and an OPFOR sniper rifle, and relevant secondary weapons too, not to mention the outfits as well! As it stands, most stock sniper rifles are more like DMRs with a slower rate of fire without the upgrades, especially the A&K SVD, because the real SVD is semi automatic. If you want to go DMR, the WE GBB M16A3 is a good starting platform.

Nice one. Got a PSO-1 on mine, but yours is probably a better sight. As a caveat to my earlier post, those MP5 mags that arrived today (rather unsurprisingly) have dodgy seals on them. One is not bad but I'm gonna fix it anyway, the other two definitely need re-sealing, although to be honest, I'd have been surprised if they had not needed that doing lol

Album is good too.

This is probably This is probably more newsworthy where an airsoft AK12 is concerned. Probably cost you 700 quid to get one, but it will be using bits from the real AK12, so if you like authenticity in your AEGs, it's probably as good as you're gonna get: http://www.popularairsoft.com/aek-971-and-ak-12-npo-aeg-set-release-2015

Three 50 round capacity gas blowback mags for my MP5K (68 quid delivered). So individual price worked out at just under 23 quid for each mag, which is not too bad for these mags, since they are a bit of a pain in the arse to find. www.aegcartasia.com if anyone is looking for similar GBB mag bargains:

CYMA get a lot of unfair stick because of the prices of their weapons, which are not top dollar, but anyone who does airsofting will know that the criticism is largely unwarranted when you see how many people are using CYMA AKs and M4s with no problems week in, week out. And their M14 is no exception, I'd go so far as to say that the CYMA M14 is one of the best inexpensive airsoft rifles you can get, there's barely anything that can touch it for value and reliability. Yes the other ones are a bit better, but remember that the CYMA is a TM clone, and a clone that is made with decent materials, which means you can use TM mags and other bits on it if you like, but frankly, you won't need to upgrade it for basic skirmishing, because it's pretty damn good straight out of the box. It is quite heavy, but that just makes it feel realistic rather than being a pain in the ass. It's perhaps a little on the long side for CQB compared to other choices, but it's not impossible to use it for that, although woodland shooting at distances out to about 35 metres is probably where it is most at home. It also has the virtue of being a little bit different to all the M4s and AKs that you see everyone with. And you can march around doing cadence calls with it whilst you make crunchy boot noises on the gravel: 'I don't need no teenage dream... I just need my M14... Sound off Marines. Oorah!'

Yup, that's about the size of it as far as I can tell.

Nah, the only truly blasphemous heretic of the AK family, is the K-VAR AKU-94 Bullpup conversion kit

It's valid for 12 months, as far as I'm aware that is regardless of whether you buy any RIFs or not. You can check with your site which originally handled the UKARA membership registration details to see if it is still valid, or you can do a 'self check' on the UKARA website, although you have to wait for an email to find that out, and it generally takes more than a day or two to get that email. Renewals are handled by the site you originally played at, but if you are now playing somewhere else, it would probably easier just to go from scratch, although if you know your UKARA number, I daresay it would make life a bit easier to keep the same number, however, you might not be able to do that because as far as I'm aware, the UKARA number is related to the site, for example, mine was done with Trojan Airsoft, and you can tell that is the case from the beginning letters of my UKARA registration number, which are T. and R. Here's what it said on the email when i did a self check from the UKARA site the other day:

There's no guarantee another company will make 'the next one' of course, since it was not taken up by the Russian Army and it's banned from import into the USA at present as well, so that may limit its appeal. Then again, it might even make it more desirable if it is actually difficult to get hold of one, you never can tell. Either way, since one airsoft manufacturer has gone to the trouble of producing molds for an AK12, i should say some other company probably will either licence copy that mold, or just rip it off at some point (this is China after all, where intellectual copyright is relatively meaningless). Whether a rival manufacturer will raise the bar or lower it further still is another matter entirely. I might take a punt on one of them for a laugh on payday, if only to have one for my wall. I suspect it won't be a breeze to modify it, doesn't look to me like the top cover actually moves to hinge upwards like the real thing, although I could be wrong because there is a pin or screw of some type in the location where the hinge is on the real AK12, and I did find a website where it said the hop up was adjustable under the dust cover.

Obviously as airsofters we have to buy bottled water; clearly 'spring water' is the only thing suitable to wash the internal mechanism of your airsoft weapon.

Welcome aboard. Not too far from me then, I'm in Stockport. Take a look at this map for a few airsoft sites not too far away from you: http://www.airsoftintel.co.uk/loc/north-west/ Most of those places will do hire stuff, which if you've been out of the game for a while, I'd recommend using, since there have been a lot of changes and advancements in the past seven years, and if you use some hired gear just while you get back into the swing of things, you'll get a better idea of what everyone else is using. I'd not played for a similar length of time until fairly recently, and was surprised how much had changed when I got back into it; airsoft is far more professional and better organised these days than it was back when I used to do it years ago, and it's big business in terms of equipment and accessories nowadays. Of course if you've been away from it for seven years or so, then you might be unfamiliar with the legislation which came in around 2006, which affects airsoft a little bit, this being the Violent Crimes Reduction Act of 2006 (VCR Act). That Act covers a lot of stuff, but where airsoft is concerned, it is principally about restricting the sale and ownership on Realistic Imitation Firearms (RIFs), in other words, where we are concerned, airsoft guns which look like the real thing. So, unlike back in the day (pre 2006) where you could cheerfully buy an airsoft gun in your local high street with no bother, nowadays you are likely to have to have some kind of legitimate defence for wanting one before a retailer will sell you one (so, if you are a re-enactor, play airsoft, work for a museum, make movie props etc, then you are okay to buy them), because retailers are deemed liable if you subsequently pull off a bank raid with a RIF that they sold to you. If you cannot provide such a legitimate defence, you can buy a brightly coloured airsoft gun so that it is obvious to Joe Public that it aint a real weapon, thus you can't hold up a bank with the thing. These things can be physically the same size as a normal RIF airsoft gun, but they have to be painted a bright colour on at least fifty percent of their surface area, as a result of that, they are generally referred to as 'two tones', typically being black and another colour, such as orange, blue, green or red. Of course we know that all you'd really need to do is nip down to Halfords and buy a tin of black primer spray paint, and your bright orange M16 would look like the real thing in no time, however, geniuses that the Government are, they thought of that, and made it illegal to spray paint your gun if you are intending to use it for criminal purposes, so that's that sorted then, isn't it? because nobody who was planning a bank raid would ever break the law by painting a toy gun up, would they? So, with all that nonsense in place, retailers of airsoft guns realised that it was seriously going to affect their business, so they got together and formed UKARA - the United Kingdom Airsoft Retailers Association - which has a database or regular airsoft players. Thus if you can prove you play airsoft regularly, you can be registered with UKARA, whereupon you get a UKARA registration number, and if you then want to buy a black RIF airsoft gun from a retailer with access to the UKARA database, all you have to do is quote your UKARA number and they will sell you one no problem, or at least they will until one day in the forthcoming future, when some tosser will get a UKARA registration number, then buy a RIF and hold up a bank with it. When that happens, as it inevitably will one day, doubtless the Government will have a knee jerk reaction like they normally do, and ban everything that even remotely looks like a weapon, including nail guns, power drills, hair dryers, walking sticks, bananas. lego put together in a vague pistol shape, staple 'guns', price ticketing 'guns', grease 'guns', glue 'guns' etc. But, until that fateful day, if you want a UKARA registration number so that you can buy a RIF easily, what you will need to do, is play at least three airsoft games over a period of two months at a UKARA-registered airsoft site (and they are all pretty much UKARA registered). When you've done that, you'll get a form with a stamp of approval from that site, which certifies that you are a regular air softer, which you then fill out and send off. Note that you send it off typically to a UKARA retailer and not to UKARA itself. Note that it is not 'illegal' to own a RIF, it's merely possible that you could be potentially prosecuted under the VCR Act if you had absolutely no reason to want to own one, although I'm waiting for someone to go with the defence of 'because I like it', which seems to me as legitimate a reason as any other. So, be aware that UKARA is not 'the law' and a UKARA registration number is not some sort of 'gun license', it is merely a convenient way for airsoft retailers to check that you have a reasonably legitimate reason for wanting something which looks like a real gun, but in practice, it is the way most airsofters accept, so it is kind of an unofficial 'pseudo licence', thus you probably will want to get yourself a UKARA registration number in case the Rozzers pull you over when you have all your airsoft gear in the boot of your car.

Actually, being able to afford anything when I was a student was a bloody miracle, it all went on getting wrecked

May possibly be a loose wire, sometimes they come loose from the battery connector plug. Could be a blown fuse, check to see if the fuse has burned out, the fuse will be near the connector for the battery, most airsoft gun fuses are similar to car fuses, so you can often get replacements from a car spares shop. It could also be a mechanical jam of some kind, make sure there is nothing jammed in the barrel. Could be a duff battery, it's not unknown for a battery to die completely, if you have another battery, try connecting that. If it is none of these things, it could be something mechanical in the gears and may need more investigation (i.e. opening the gun up, looking at the gearbox etc).

It's certainly true that airsoft will make you fitter. Indoor CQB with all that gear slung over you and a helmet and mask on is guaranteed to make your sweat off pounds. The poorer bit is optional, just have to stop buying shiny new things all the time lol

Price? There is no price, it's only a bit of artwork. If you want a PNG of it to print off onto some waterside paper, gimme an email address and I'll send it to you.

Hmm, wonder if he'd make me a Swedish K? I really want an airsoft one of those

Here it is as a transfer would appear on black: Here it is as a transparently-backed PNG file, which you would need to print onto clear waterslide decal paper (note that you could not use this file as it would have a white backdrop, you'd need a PNG from me): If you want some transfer artwork as a PNG, let me know. You can get waterslide paper here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/A4-Inkjet-Waterslide-Decal-Paper-White-and-Clear-VARIOUS-PACK-SIZES-AVAILABLE-/171424176327?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&var=&hash=item27e9ad58c7

Despite the fact that any airsoft or airgun gun would probably explode if you tried to put a real round through it, even if you could somehow manage it (with the possible exception of the old Brocock Pistol, which some scrotes were actually converting to do exactly that), some of them do look incredibly realistic, especially the metal ones, so the RIF definition is fair enough. For example, if someone walked into my local bank when I was in the queue and whipped out an ASG airsoft Sten gun and told us all to hit the deck, I would not be wandering up to them saying, 'bollox, that's an ASG airsoft Sten', because the airsoft one looks exactly like the real thing. I'm no fan of all the UKARA stuff, but I think it's fair enough that it's not made particularly easy for some dickhead to buy something like that ASG Sten gun, because if someone pointed that at me in a bank and told me to hit the deck, I would hit the deck.

Welcome aboard. Watch out for people shouting for a medic, the chances are they are stood somewhere that you'll also get shot when you go to them lol

All you need to do is turn up, I can guarantee that you'll make friends fast at any airsoft site, since you share an interest with those who are there. People are almost universally friendly in my experience, and despite the fact that Joe Public might imagine we're all nutters, generally speaking, everyone I've ever met at an airsoft site could not have been more pleasant if they had tried. Almost everyone will welcome a new player as long as you are interested and play fairly and safely, so pay attention at the safety briefing, and if in doubt, take the hit. Everyone likes showing off their gear, so opening a conversation in the safe area or at the briefing is easy to do: 'Wow, that's a cool gun/mask/pair of boots...' etc. Just go for it, you'll fit right in before you know it. Call up your nearest airsoft site and ask about hire packages, then just make sure you've got some decent boots or tough trainers, and wear clothing which will allow you to feel hits, but not have them hurt too much, i.e. cover your neck up with a scarf, wear a long sleeved top and some thin gloves, and maybe a baseball cap or something similar, the site will provide a mask to protect your face and it will probably only cost you about 20 quid or so for an evening session with one of their hire guns. I would recommend going to a few skirmishes and using their hired weapons rather than buying something straight away, the experience of a few fights and seeing what others are using will allow you to determine what weapon(s) to buy if you want to get more into it, which you almost certainly will, because it is great fun.