Chock

Nice test. I'd suggest layering thick perspex disks over the lens with some rubber gasketing around their edges to make it a snug fit and give it a bit of shock resistance play. That'd probably make it tough enough to withstand the hit if you wanted to use it for skirmishing.

Incidentally, if anyone wants night vision, but doesn't want to spend a fortune on some ex-military gear and having to rig up a power system because they don't have a convenient T-55 Main Battle Tank to plug their NVGs into, you could do a lot worse than to get hold of some of these things: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Spy-Net-Night-Vision-Binoculars-Goggles-50ft-Range-Childrens-Adults-/400728582224?pt=UK_Photography_Binoculars_Monoculars&hash=item5d4d48e850 Although they are intended as, and indeed marketed as a toy, hence the low price and 'spy' blurb, they do actually work pretty well and are certainly good enough for checking out large rooms in darkened CQB. They have an IR illuminating beam on the front and two built in screens to give stereoscopic vision. Of course for thirty five quid one can hardly expect them to be as robust as an AN/PVS-14, and they are hand held as opposed to a helmet mounted monocular, but they do actually work pretty well for all that. Check out this youtube video of them in action: Those are actually the older model incidentally, the newer ones look a bit less military-esque, but can record to an SD card and have a few fake thermal effects so you can change the visuals to look a bit like the thermal view of the Predator in the Arnie movie of the same name, which would allow you to throw in all those Arnie-ism classics such as 'Ged to de choppaaar!' and 'Chim Hopper, i know deez man, Green Berets oud ov Ford Breg' as you skulk about in the dark. If you want a cheap (i.e. about thirty quid) helmet-mounted monocular solution which uses similar IR technology, they also make this thing, which could easily be adapted to fit the helmet rig on a PASGT or FAST helmet: http://www.amazon.com/Spy-Gear-Ultimate-Night-Vision/dp/B00D6N8V18/ref=sr_1_2?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1375962052&sr=1-2&keywords=spy+gear Anyway, I'm off to cover myself in mud so that nobody can't see me with their NV gear, make a bow and arrow out of some old M203 rounds and a bit of wood, then indulge in more Arnie-like Predator quotations... 'We move... five meeder spread... no sound...'

Since I got paid today, I just bought a D-Boys metal M4 with the A.R.M.S. S.I.R. system on it, plus a K-Warrior 1911 gas blow back pistol and a spare mag for it.

Since you are going to be using night vision, I'm presuming it will be dark, so how about this... Get a cheap torch from a pound shop, and rig it up with this cheap toy: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MAD-LIBS-Word-Game-Keychain-Keyring-ELECTRONIC-Records-Voice-Madlibs-Basic-Fun-/120791193732?pt=Electronic_Battery_Windup_Toys_US&hash=item1c1fb75884 That toy will let you record your voice, or any other sound and then it will randomise what it has recorded and play it back, so you won't get exactly the same decoy noise all the time, which means it won't sound like an obviously repetitive decoy. coupled with a torch going on and off, it will sound and look a lot like a couple of people sneaking about and flicking their light on for a second or so to suss out what they are doing. The controller and servos from a cheap radio controlled toy will allow you to trigger your device remotely, by rigging the servo movement to the on/off switch of your device. I've occasionally done something simpler - but similar - to that at Trojan Airsoft on their pitch black CQB 'Purge Night'. I take along a few cheap small LED torches, I usually have these as back up tac lights which can be quickly taped to a gun if your real one goes U/S, but they also make excellent decoys if you place them behind cover so that a bit of light can be seen. Being that the torches were only 1.50, it hardly matters if you lose one or two of them, and you won't care about throwing them either for some decoy noise, so even if they break on impact and the light goes out, they've still made a decoy sound. Sometimes I've lent them out to others on my team who don't have a suitable tac light on a hire gun or whatever. Never travel without a few cheap torches if you are doing night CQB, they have loads of uses as decoys or for lighting up entry/choke points, or simply to help people out if they haven't got a light on their weapon. Make sure you carry some tape too, so you can secure the things to whatever you have to or to tape them to the end of the weapon. For IR-based NV systems (not sure if yours is that or a LLTV based system), you can of course swap the LED bulbs in torches to IR bulbs with a quick bit of DIY desoldering/soldering, and that will extend the range of your NV if yu place those torches to point at entry points etc. Remember to play the A-Team music whilst you are making your device, and for an added bit of authenticity, you could try 'welding' with a burning torch lol (always used to make me laugh when they showed them doing that on the A-Team, still, it was only a bit of harmless entertainment, not a documentary).

Probably a lot of the reason is less to do with the fps and more to do with the way one can employ such a weapon. By definition, a sniper requires a site which facilitates the role, ie. with a bit of open ground, or at an area at least not full of heavy foliage, although we're coming up on the time of year where that's less of an issue of course. Even so, unless there are obvious choke points a sniper can set up on, with him or her in a location which won't get rushed, which offers good cover/concealment and doesn't leave the sniper sat at the back with nothing to do unless they relocate when the battle moves forward, then it's not going to be much fun. And even if all this is in place, it's still somewhat of a lonely role compared to being an important part of the support element for a squad. Basically, a DMR is going to allow you to play with team members instead of lone wolfing it (unless you can persuade someone to be a spotter with some decent firepower to hold the bad guys off, or to create a sniper team), which may appeal to some, but in reality there's just not likely to be as many opportunities for a shot in that role, as when pushing forward in a squad with a DMR in a support role similar to letting rip with a BAR or M60, but with increased accuracy. After all, the notion of being a key member of your team is certainly an appealing one. As much as we would all doubtless like it to be the case, the fact is, airsoft weapons are limited in range when compared to their real-world counterparts, and there are never going to be the kind of situations a real sniper rifle could tackle with complete impunity, BBs just don't go that far, and even if they do, they are too affected by the wind to offer the kind of long-range accuracy a real sniper rifle brings to the battlefield, so a DMR is a more feasible option.

Glocks, M4s etc? Sounds like you are starting your own Coalition Army Still, at least with Airsoft, you can at least guarantee the ammo will be compatible

Hi. Not a million miles away from you here. I'm in Stockport. Welcome aboard

Telescopic sights are fun on an airsoft sniper rifle, but sniping is more of a novelty in airsoft skirmishing than a truly practical way to engage targets, the reduced range of airsoft means that unless there is a choke point such as a narrow bridge, gateway or something like that, simply weaving left and right through some trees as you advance, would likely defeat most airsoft snipers with ease and have them reaching for their shorty AK in no time at all. Thus the fifty quid knock off copy of a PSO-1 which is on my A&K Dragunov, nice and expensive-looking though it is for such an inexpensive thing, is only really a souped up 4x26 cheap scope in an housing which looks like a PSO-1. And although it does have the iconic sloped stadiametric rangefinder engravings on it, which can also be illuminated, the likelihood of there even being someone far enough away on an airsoft site to make that make any sense at all, let alone the notion of hitting something that far away (1,200 metres), makes it only sensible to regard that scope as a nice novelty rather than a practical piece of gear, and it's true of the iron sights as well, which are also calibrated all the way up to 1,200 metres.

Most manufacturer 'on the box' claims of 350fps are kind of: '350fps when downhill, with the wind behind it, and with an ideally weighted BB...', so I'm sure it will pass the chrono test under 350. I bet it will be more likely to chromo at around 325ish. Difficult to acquire targets quickly with a scope, so not always ideal for a fast-moving skirmish, easiest to aim accurately with open iron sights, but slightly quicker to get 'in the general direction' in order to rapidly return covering fire with a red dot sight. Red dot sights can be a bit off-putting sometimes in bright conditions, so if it has a green dot mode, put it on that. Much of the time in a skirmish, you'll be using something like an M4 as an assault rifle in the truest sense of its name, i.e. someone fires short full auto bursts to keep their heads down whilst someone else tries to move up in order to get in grenade range, or in a position to create a vicious crossfire to allow some of your people to final assault the enemy position whilst they are pinned down and then nail them with CQB weaponry, or your assault rifle on full auto. In those circumstances, pinpoint accuracy isn't actually as important as getting shots to hit in the general area, so it pings off stuff all over the place and makes people duck for cover, and it always does make people duck when a crapload of BBs doing 300+ fps start bouncing around their position. Unless you have some decent quality quick-release mounts for your scope, which ensure it goes on there in an exactly zeroed position you've previously set up, it will be difficult to ensure your scope is zeroed when you put it on on the day, without some time to check it, which you may not have. So if it were me, I'd stick the Red Dot sight on, zero that in, then see how you get on with it at the skirmish, and then if it's not suitable, just take it off and go with the iron sights. anyway, whatever you decide upon, make sure you have fun, which is the main thing.

Yup, there are differences between GHKs and WEs, although they do often make similar replicas of guns, so you could be forgiven for thinking that it might simply be 'badge engineering', which does go on in the airsoft world, but not in the case of GHK and WE who are different manufacturers. Both are well respected and make decent stuff, so it is often down to subtle differences between their various offerings as to which one might prefer. This video comparing a WE and a GHK PDW pretty much epitomises that: What you end up buying depends to a large extent on what floats your boat, and occasionally whether you like 'tinkering with stuff. A quick surf around this and other airsoft sites will quickly confirm that the vast majority of airsofters like gadgets and toys, and like tinkering with them and customising them almost as much (and in some cases more) than they like shooting people with them. So in regard to the biggest bangs for your buck, if you are the sort who likes to mess about with tools and build or customise something yourself, then 'the biggest bang for your buck' might start out with buying something relatively inexpensive as a base platform, and then spending more on it to make it something which is vastly improved and more specialised and personal. The WE M16 A3 is one which people do that a lot with, many people turning it into a Designated Marksman Rifle (DMR). An even cheaper route for doing that, would be to take the inexpensive A&K SVD Dragunov (which when stock, is not not a gas blow back), then modify the living hell out of it to make it a semi-automatic gas blow back (there are kit parts which will enable you to do this, thus making it a self-loader, like the real SVD Dragunov DMR is, and that's not a bad thing either with the A&K, as it is quite hard to cock it by hand). The A&K can be had for as little as 130 quid new, so we are not talking megabucks here, and a plus point for two-toners, is that it actually looks okay in two tone black and green, since apart from the polymer stock - which in fact the present real SVDs also have - it is made completely from decent quality black anodised metal. The popularity of the SVD Dragunov in movies and computer games, and its somewhat macabre reputation as 'the Taliban Widowmaker' in Afghanistan, means it has a big following among airsoft modders, thus there are a lot of aftermarket upgrade parts for airsoft Dragunovs, everything from replacement wooden and polymer stocks, upgraded springs, sears, pistons etc, with even replicas of the Dragunov-specific PSO-1 telescopic sight found on the real thing. There are even online forums dedicated to modifying airsoft SVDs. So having an airsoft rifle which can be modded and tinkered with is a bit of a hobby in itself even when you are not shooting the thing, and a good 'evening hobby for the Winter". I'm not a sniper when I do airsoft skirmishing, but even I couldn't resist getting an A&K Dragunov to mess about with, in fact, i was up far too late last night doing exactly that, modifying how I have its PSO-1 sight fitted to it and messing about with the trigger pull. So if the notion of messing about with guns as well as shooting them appeals, then think carefully about what you might like to buy, although of course you don't have to just buy one weapon.

Private courier firms, some of which make their money by virtue of the fact that they will carry stuff like that. dodgy retailers might simply cross their fingers and hope it goes unnoticed. Sometimes it does mean that things have to travel surface only, for example, I've had some types of specialist paint delivered to me in the past from elsewhere in the UK, and the packaging has carried labelling which expressly points out that the package is not to be loaded on board an aircraft.

Yeah, that site is okay to buy from, although unless you have a valid defence in relation to the VCR Act, they'll charge you a tenner for two-toning your gun. Check out the WE M16 A3 by the way, it's a bargain at the price they are offering it for on many sites (usually around 240 quid if you look about a bit), and is a very good GBB, even when completely stock. It even has some nice recoil, strips down pretty much like a real M16 A3, and is mostly made of metal too, so it feels realistic when you handle it. Being an ArmaLite (or M16/AR15/M4 or whatever you prefer to call that type of weapon) it's a good platform for upgrading at a later date with various bits and pieces, because there are way more upgrade bits out there for M-16/M4 variants than for most other types of rifle, and spare mags are easy to come by too, although I think you get a 30 round mag with that one anyway if I recall correctly.

Not an very valid comparison, not least because it is not a paintball mask. You might as well push a Ford Mondeo it out of the back of a C-130 at ten thousand feet and claim it isn't crashworthy for all the relevance that video has. Here's a more detailed comparison... A 0.43 gram BB at 500fps, which is probably the worst you'd ever risk at a regulated airsoft site, will impart 4.99 joules of energy onto the target. The guy who did that test says he was shooting his paint balls at between 250 and 275 fps, so let's give him the benefit of the doubt and go with the lower figure of 250fps and say it was a fairly typical 3 gram paintball. That paintball will be putting 8.71 joules of energy onto the target. In other words, the absolute worst case scenario of a .43 BB doing 500fps, is still only about half the energy of a typical paintball at half the BB's fps. A more typical airsoft BB hit, would be a 0.20 gram BB at 350 fps, and that would only be putting 1.14 joules of energy onto the target, which is approximately seven and a half times weaker than what that paintball was doing. You will notice that even then, the paintball doesn't smash the lens, it knocks it out of the mask, and I'd already said that I'd recommend securing the lenses a bit more to prevent that from happening, which is what I have done with mine, courtesy of some Araldite, and if you've ever used Araldite, you'll know how secure that stuff glues things down. The only stuff that sticks more securely than that stuff, is the remnants of cornflakes left for a day without washing the cereal bowl

Hi and welcome.

True. And something else worth pointing out about 'Mac', i.e. John McAleese, is that he was a big fan of airsoft, or as he put it: "People read books about this SAS stuff and now they can do something similar.". Which is a quote worth remembering when anyone tells you they think it is uncool to play airsoft.

Nope, that'd be a Tomahawk, aka a Cruise Missile. Or possibly ass bandits at six o'clock

Well, as someone who visited the Soviet Union when it was still the Soviet Union, i.e. in the late Seventies when I went to Moscow, I'm well aware of what it was like there during the Cold War, and whilst it was indeed a bit grim for the people, I'm not about to suggest that they were the 'baddies' and we were the 'goodies', because that's overly-simplistic cobblers, and to suggest that I am saying that, is a straw man. Nor am I saying that only the Soviet Union used asbestos all over the place - every nation did so. Thus it was used all over the place in the UK too, notably in WW2 Gas masks handed out to the populace at large, but more famously in many prefabricated buildings put up as quick-build housing after the devastation of Luftwaffe bombing on UK population centres. Witness the most famous case of someone dying from asbestosis, that being Steve McQueen, who was tasked with removing asbestos pipe lagging from an old WW2 troop ship in the late 1940s when he was serving in the USMC. There were suggestions at the time of his diagnosis that he'd got the disease from fire retardent clothes he wore during his racing days (which it's since been shown were actually nomex, not asbestos), but he thought it more likely it was as a result of him removing the lagging on that old troop ship, which seems more probable as it would have been damaged and disturbed during the process of removing it and put asbestos dust into the air in the confined and poorly ventilated space below decks. Anyone who was at school in the UK in the Seventies, as I was, will probably remember many schools being closed down for a while, whilst asbestos was removed from old buildings put up in the 40s, 50s and 60s, and may recall that this was a very specialised task, with the workers using breathing apparatus and the buildings being shrouded in polythene and having vast vaccum devices sucking up the air to prevent the escape of dust. But even today there are tons of old garages throughout the UK which are made of asbestos cement prefabricated corrugated panels. As you say, Asbestosis was identified a long time ago, but it was waaaay earlier than the 1960s, in fact the first case of it being documented and diagnosed as an industrial injury, was in the 1920s. Moreover, some regulations concerning its use in the UK were promulgated as early as 1931, which is almost decade prior to the manufacture of gas masks for use in WW2. So it has been used on numerous occasions even well after its effects were known and in fact its use in construction in the UK was actually only completely outlawed in 1999, which is almost exactly 100 years after it was first identified as a potential health hazard. The fact is, asbestos was used a lot, all over the world, and it was used in many gas masks. This is not a rumour, it is a fact. So it's not a case of me scaremongering or suggesting things without any basis in fact, or trying to make out that the Soviets were unfeeling gits who cared little for their populace, or attempting to claim that all Soviet era relics are the bogey man which should be avoided at all costs - I've got loads of them myself because they are cool - I'm merely pointing out that there is a strong possibility that old Soviet gas masks could have asbestos in the filters, which almost certainly will be fine if they are on a shelf on display in your collection, ensuriung the filter does not get smashed up and its debris made airborne, in just the same way as your old asbestos garage is not about to kill you unless you start taking a jack hammer to it and not wearing a respirator. But if there is no threat of a gas attack, then it's probably not a great idea to go around wearing an old gas mask, since you don't actually need to do so, because as you say, the Cold War was over a long time ago.

No it isn't, but the story links to Dixon Information, where the test was performed on that mask, and since it is their business to test for asbestos content, I presume they knew what they were doing when they tested it. These guys: http://www.dixoninformation.com/index.html Take it or leave it as far as that story is concerned, I just thought I'd put it out there so people on here were at least aware of a potential risk if they picked up some old cold war era equipment which might end up being a danger to their health.

Nope, it's been proven to be true on a few types of Cold War era Soviet gas masks. It's also a fact that a large number of WW2 gas masks contain blue asbestos in their filters, and it is known that the mortality rate of factory workers who were making the things was indeed higher than normal; unsurprising considering they would have been present when the material was being cut, hence there would be blue asbestos particles in the atmosphere for them to inhale. Independent test of a GP5 Cold War era Gas mask, which supposedly only has a charcoal-based filter: http://www.mesothelioma.com/news/2013/10/popular-military-surplus-gas-mask-used-for-halloween-contains-deadly-asbestos.htm

Yeah, you could modify an S10 pretty easily, they can be had for about 25 quid, stick a PC cooling fan in the filter bit - like that M04 basically has - and swap the lenses for some tough perspex and Bob's Yer Uncle. SAS hooded coverall about 40 quid, rappelling harness, maybe 30 quid, boots 30 quid or so, tactical holster and you've cracked for just over a ton, minus the cost of a pistol and MP5.

First one I ever bought was years and years ago, probably mid in the mid 1980s. I've still got it on the wall. i bought it from an now long-gone model shop in Manchester. It is a kit-built (Japanese I think) springer Vietnam War-era Colt AR-15 with a solid full stock, quite a good model of the real thing actually, it has the correct Colt markings on it, serial number and all that stuff. None of that orange tip nonsense in those days, it looks like the real thing cos I spent a long time on painting metallic wear and tear on it. I've got a few others like it that are also on the wall, Drum Mag Thompsons, AKs etc, but that AR-15 was the first one.

Also. Remember to say things such as... 'Send three and fourpence, we're going to a dance' 'Broadsword Calling Danny Boy' 'Iron Man this is Wild Goose' 'UVB-76 calling Yankee Hotel Foxtrot...' ...every once in a while when everyone is taking it too seriously.

Are you intending to be a proper sniper, or more like a designated marksman in a squad? It seems to me with the ranges involved, going for a DMR would be a bit more practical for airsoft. Although if it is all that Ghillie suit malarkey which appeals to you, then go for it. Technically, the DM role was what the SVD was typically used for in Soviet doctrine, but if you prefer something a bit more 'Western', then lots of people go for variations of the M16 Armalite to emulate the SPR (Special Purpose Rifle) in the DM role. The popular choice for making an SPR seems to be to modify the WE M16 A3 Gas Blowback, by sticking on a few fancy bits and pieces, since the WE M16 is a very good replication of a real M16 A3. If you prefer to go all Blighty however, you might want to try creating a H&K 417 or an L86 A2 LSR, both of which get used in the DM role in British units. ICS make a pretty decent L86, Umarex make a good, officially licensed H&K417. If on the other hand, you are set on using the L96 and dressing up like a tree, then there are a few L96 airsoft rifles be had, most of which are straight up clones of the Tokyo Marui one, but for less money, which is just as well since that's the one that most of the spare upgrade bits are available for, and it would be silly to buy a Marui one, only to start throwing bits away when you could do that using a much cheaper base model. ​Take a look on this forum for all sorts of info on making dedicated airsoft sniper rifles better, including info on all the bits you can/should swap, and all those funky DIY mods such as swiss cheesing the piston (not always a good idea on every spring gun) which you can try: http://www.airsoftsniperforum.com If you can't find someone to be a designated spotter (as a real sniper would have), then you might want to get some stuff such as a spotting scope and an anemometer, so you can acquire targets quick and adjust for windage. You can get hand held anemometers for about 25 quid upwards, try here: http://www.skyview.co.uk/acatalog/Handheld_Wind_Meters.html?gclid=CIegr52a-sACFRMatAodTC0AtQ Decent cheap (and easily portable for when you relocate) spotting scope can be found here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Zennox-High-Powered-Spotting-Scope-Black/dp/B00IHX6QNM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411573604&sr=8-1&keywords=spotting+scope Probably could do with an MP5K or similar small full auto weapon for when and if you get closed down, which you probably will. loads of them to be had for about a ton.

Re the use of November and Golf... The reason some of the words used in the phonetic alphabet seem a little odd and random, is largely to do with the fact that it has evolved into a system which is used internationally, from one which was originally used principally by the Brits and the Yanks, who would prefer common english words. But some of these create confusion to French and Spanish speakers. There are actually some clues to this fact when you look at how it is written out, for example, Juliett is spelled with two Ts on the end of it (which means the old BBC TV series, 'Juliet Bravo' was a typo ironically). Similarly, Alfa is not spelled with a PH as we might expect. These differences are to avoid difficulties in Spanish and French. French speakers would be inclined to regard a single T on the end of 'Juliet' silent, as they do with most words ending in T. Nor could they spell it 'Juliette', because Spanish speakers would pronounce the TE as TUH, thus it is spelled JULIETT. Afla is spelled with an F to avoid Spanish speakers treating the H in PH as a silent letter which would make them say it as ALPA if it was spelled Alpha, so Alfa it is. Which means the oil platform, Piper Alpha which famously exploded in 1988, also had a typo in its name. So why November? When the phonetic alphabet we are all familiar with today was being finalised in 1951 by the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Authority), they tested it on English, French and Spanish speakers, since these are the principal languages it was deemed likely to be used in. It was found that some of the original choices for letters led to confusion too, these were originally the letters C, M, N, U and X, which were represented by: Coco, Metro, Nectar, Union and eXtra. These make sense to English speakers but cause pronunciation difficulties and can result in confusion over their meanings to native French and Spanish speakers. So, C, M, N, U and X were changed to Charlie, Mike, November, Uniform and X-Ray, since these words are all relatively similar in meaning, or at least widely understood in both French and Spanish. November was picked because it is similar in Spanish and French and it was found that Nectar could be confused with Victor if reception was poor, which was far more likely to be the case in 1951 when radios were a lot less reliable than they are today. Nowadays, with the fact that countries in Asia all have airlines, which few of them did back in 1951, the present phonetic alphabet causes a few issues with Asian languages and Dialects. We are all familiar with some of these difficulties these days of course, such as Chinese speakers having difficulty pronouncing Rs, usually turning them into Ls, and not easily being able to form words beginning ST, but back in 1951 of course, the Brits, Yanks, French and Spanish didn't really give a crap about people in Asia, whom they regarded mostly as second class citizens, so they went ahead with their choice of words for the phonetic alphabet. Nevertheless, these difficulties do lead to some localised variations in other parts of the world, for example, Lima and Quebec are probably not the best choices for letters these days, not least because Lima actually means Five in some Indonesian dialects, so ironically, they use the word London for L in quite a lot of Asian countries. So even though some of the words in the phonetic alphabet - or should that be 'alfabet' - seem bizarre, there is sort of a good reason for most of them.

I would add that when it comes to radio communication, you should attempt to moderate any accent you might have, if you a particularly broad one. By that, I don't mean you have to sound like Captain Tarquin Farquhar briefing the passengers on board his Boeing 737, on what the weather is going to be like upon arrival in Rome, but you should endeavour to make sure that any accent or dialect you have doesn't impede the clarity of your message.