Chock

Welcome aboard. Have a look in the new players section of the forum, there are a number of useful guides to be found in there. Generally speaking, what you'll be wanting to do, is book into a skirmish site near you and hire some gear from them, do that a couple of times and then you'll be better informed on what kind of thing you like, what stuff most people have who go there regularly etc. It's tempting to rush out and buy a crapload of shiny stuff from websites, but you'll save a lot of trouble and expensive mistakes if you read the guides in that new arrivals section of the forums and just rent some gear for a few skirmishes before you decide to spend a lot of money on gear.

Depends what you mean by 'weathered'. Kind of tricky with a G36, since they tend to be used a lot by police and such, so they're not in the field for long and will look fairly pristine because of that. Having said that, the ones which do take a real battering, are the Kampfschwimmer ones (German Navy special forces divers). Those guys are trained to approach targets underwater, and come out of the sea firing their G36s and P8s, so their weapons certainly get exposed to a bit of wear and tear. The polymer furniture on them will of course not show much signs of wear, but what does show signs of wear is the three-tone camo which many of their G36s sport, so you could paint three tone camo and then buff it off the edges with a dremel or some such, however, there's something you could do which might be more fun that that. Take a look at this picture: http://i.imgur.com/NreBfD4.jpg You can see on that pic that the paint/bluing on the edges of the metal parts is very worn and showing the bare metal, i.e. the cocking handle, the RIS mount (particularly at the front), the flash hider, the fire selector, the body pins etc. Now, the problem you have, is that a lot of that stuff on an airsoft G36, is not metal, but ABS plastic, but you can still make it look like worn metal by using dry-brushing. If you've never done that, here's what that technique looks like: That is my plastic UHC AKS74U, which I have dry-brushed so it looks like worn metal. So, how do we do that? Right, what you want is some of this, which any decent craft or hobby shop will sell: http://modelshop.co.uk/Shop/Item/Humbrol-metalcote-polished-aluminium/ITM3289 So, then what you do is, get a very soft artist's paintbrush (don't use a sh*t cheap one), shake the paint tin and then stir it with a match or cocktail stick so that the metal flakes are suspended in the paint, then dip the brush in the paint, then take a piece of kitchen roll and clean off the paint from the bristles until there is barely any left coming off the brush onto the paper towel. When it is like that, you are ready to use it - Lightly flick the brush over the edges and raised parts of your gun where you want it to look like paint or bluing has worn off. The almost dry brush should only deposit small amounts of paint on raised edges, and it will look like worn metal if you do it right. Don't overdo it, subtlety is the key here, and remember that much of the real G36 is not metal, so you might need to put masking tape on the bits you don't want the paint to go on (crappy 'pound shops' will sell masking tape). If you need to mask around intricate parts, Blu-Tack is good for that, because you can mold it around things. Now, leave it to dry for a couple of hours, then you need some aerosol matt varnish (you can get that from most 'pound shops' too). Spray that very lightly (and I mean VERY lightly) over your bry-brushed bits, and it will prevent it from rubbing off. Be careful though, the wet varnish will tend to wet the metal paint and spread it out, which is not what you want, so if you don't work slowly with the varnish, it will ruin the effect, so, the idea is to do ONE very light quick pass with the varnish, then let that dry, then do another light quick pass, and so on. You need to work slow with the varnish, and let each pass dry before you go again, or it will ruin the effect. Patience is the key word here.

Yeah, it's a hangar queen in this weather for sure, but in warm weather it does okay if not brilliantly. That said I use my little Glock most of the time (love that thing), but it's kind of fun to have a 1911 in a side holster on your belt, even if it isn't the most practical choice, if only because it looks cool. But, when at somewhere like Trojan's CQB mill site on the stairwells, having two pistols is handy, because you can either dual wield, or arm someone else with it if they haven't got a pistol, since you can only use pistols on the stairs, and one or two shots usually decide those kind of outcomes.

A&K one is not bad. Overall it feels solidly built and is all metal with nicely finished internals (but boy do you know it is full metal when you pick it up, however, the weight of it is pretty close to the real SVD, i.e. it's very heavy). I found that it was a pain in the ass to get my replica PSO-1 onto its rail, but it did eventually go on there after a bit of persuasion with a rubber headed mallet and a softwood drift. The foregrip furniture is a bit cheap in feel, you know the type, i.e. it does some nasty creaking when you squeeze it, but it can be replaced of course, although not all replacement furniture is compatible with the A&K Dragunov, so choose carefully if you do decide to change it, I've actually kept the stock foregrip on mine, but may replace it at some point. The rear stock is good however, but the leather cheekpad which attaches to it is a bit cheap looking. It does function okay, but you might want to get a genuine replacement for that at some point. The cocking handle on new ones is unbelievably hard to pull back, but you sort of get used to how to cock it after a while, which helps, although if you are serious about using it regularly, then the extended cocking handle would be worth having, especially in cold weather. The A&K SVD can actually be upgraded with a kit to make it a semi-automatic gas blowback, which it should be, since the real SVD is semi-automatic, because it was designed as a squad level DMR to be deployed in large numbers rather than a dedicated sniper rifle. That semi-auto upgrade and many other upgrades for the thing mean it is a popular modding rifle and there are many forums dedicated to that. Nevertheless, for about 140 quid, it's actually a pretty usable rifle straight out of the box, being that it does about 480fps, and you can get by with it not being semi-auto, although of course it has only iron sights as it comes, but these are accurate, being properly marked with the range ticks that an SVD has, rather than A&K simply having thrown a bog standard AK47 rear sight on there (which has different calibration to the SVD's rear sight). But of course, no SVD is complete without a PSO-1 telescopic sight, with its iconic curved line rangefinding reticule. You can find copies of that, specifically for airsoft versions on amazon and ebay, which make them usable at the sort of range you'd be sniping from. They are invariably from China, but surprisingly well made and authentic looking, which is not bad considering they can be had for about 60 quid (think I might have paid about 55 quid for mine if I recall correctly), and it does work well, even having a switchable illuminated (red) reticule which works off a little watch type battery in the thing. So with that in mind, you might find that even if you kept the thing fairly standard, you'd still be looking at about 200 quid if you bought the rifle and the PSO-1 scope, which you pretty much have to do with an SVD, since the PSO-1 sight was actually designed for the SVD and it rarely looks nice with any other sort of scope on it. You should bear in mind that if you do have one, then you'd be well advised to get something like a AKS74U or an MP5K for back up, because there is no way you could fight at close range with the SVD on your own, you'd get absolutely raped, it's just too long a weapon to fight close in with, and even with practice, your rate of fire would still be painfully slow, although with how much it weighs, you certainly could beat someone to death with it

My short slide GBB Kimber 1911:

Actually, If I was really serious about DMR sniping, wanted a rifle and a well matched sidearm and was into having it all gas powered, I'd get this lot: http://www.patrolbase.co.uk/airsoft/asg-mk1-tactical-sniper.htm#.VLFGeXtJVhM and this: http://www.patrolbase.co.uk/airsoft-pistols/asg-mk1-airsoft-nbb-pistol.htm#.VLFG0XtJVhM The rifle does 480fps out of the box, pistol does about 280fps, and they share the same 16 round mags, which are only 20 quid each. So for a total cost of 125 quid, you could have a rifle, pistol and a spare mag. All you'd need is a scope for the rifle and you'd be sorted, and it would be an incredibly light and portable set up, tough too, since both the pistol and the rifle are alloy/polymer, which I would imagine is ideal for a DM role. It's all very 'day of the jackal' in appearance too

If you want a fairly decent inexpensive GBB back up sidearm, the K-Warrior (Kimber) 1911 is not bad. Comes in a decent foam lined ABS case (you'd probably pay a tenner for one of those), has an engraved Kimber trademark logo on the slide, has a built in rail on the bottom of the frame so you can put a tac light or laser on it, comes with a twenty five round double stack mag, and being that it has a largish mag, it does actually let you get all of those BBs off, even does pretty well in cold weather. Mags are pretty cheap too at 20 quid a pop, so I have two spare mags for mine. You can find em for less than sixty quid, for example here: http://www.onlybbguns.co.uk/k010-k-warrior-1911-gas-blowback.html?filter_name=K-Warrior#.VLE-nXtJVhM And yeah, I know that is a BB gun site (oh my god!!!), but I've bought craploads of stuff from there, and found that the service is actually good. I've got two of those K-Warriors (a long slide version and a shorter one, both of which I bought from that site), and they are not bad, which is frankly amazing considering it is a full metal 1911. Note that, if buying from that site, it doesn't matter that it is a two tone, because the slide can come right off when you field strip it, and being that it is full metal, you can take that blue paint off easily with some nitromors, which is exactly what I did with mine, then you can either polish it and coat it with clear varnish, blue it, or spray it black. If you do get one however, give the longer slide versions a miss, they don't fit in the average holster too well and the bigger the slide, the more work the gas has to do to cycle the action. I still prefer my cheap ass springer pistol in this cold weather to be honest, since it never fails, but if you fancy delving into GBBs for not much money, the K-Warrior 1911 Kimber is a good choice. There are a crapload of after market parts for them too incidentally if you like souping things up, and being that it is an accurately dimensioned authorised copy of a Kimber 1911, a lot of real 1911 parts will fit it too, so if you wanted pearl grips or some other tacky 'Murican' crap , it can be done

Cheap grenade launchers here, including a full metal/wood stock M79 for less than a ton: http://aegcartasia.com/education-toys/grenade-launchers.html?dir=asc&order=price S Thunder for 35 quid here: http://www.airsoftworld.net/s-thunder-composite-grenade-launcher-short-back-in-stock.html

MED (minimum engagement distance) is how I got a bunch of kills with my springer pistol last time I was at a woodland fight lol. There was a guy with an M249 on the other side of a bunker wall, and the marshall was telling him to go on semi because I had managed to make it right up to the other side of the wall, so while he was struggling to get set on semi auto, I was able to get my springer pistol out of the holster and zap him, then I got the guy who came to medic him, then I got a guy who came to medic that guy, and finally I got a guy who came out of the defences to try and engage me, but he hid behind a tree and didn't check his left view, where I was, so I got him too. I did finally get shot then, but four kills from a springer pistol in the space of about a minute is a bit legendary.

Draw a little sketch of the layout of the place, based on that aerial view picture which you posted, making sure you write in the names of the locations on your drawing. You can take the sketch with you in your pocket to assist you, but that's not the main reason I'm suggesting that you draw the layout (if it was, you might just as easily print it off), no, the reason for sketching it, is that the act of actually drawing it out and writing the names on your sketch will fix the layout in your head. Doing that is a common recon technique among special forces, incidentally. But as far as you are concerned, it is worth doing because there is nothing worse than being at a skirmish with everyone who is a regular player at that site saying stuff like: 'okay, we'll head up through xxx, and cut round the back of yyy, because they're bound to be covering the Eastern approach to zzz', when you have no idea what those places are, nor where they are in relation to one another because you are not familiar with the layout. 120 rounds is a bit on the lean side for a skirmish, so be sure to stay on semi auto (semi-auto is best anyway most of the time). Take a speed loader, a small gas can and a small bag of ammo with you in addition to your main reload stuff. If that stuff is small enough to carry on person, you can reload a mag when in cover, however, if that stuff is too big to carry, you can cache it in your spawn point, so take some kind of bag that'll make it obvious it is yours and that is waterproof, and leave the necessary stuff in it, so that you can fall back and rearm if necessary, or simply re-arm if you get hit and have to go to your respawn point. You will get covered in sh*t, especially if you hit the deck and crawl or roll to cover (don't be shy to crawl about and stuff by the way, it's all part of the fun, you'll be surprised how many people do not hit the deck incidentally, but they're the ones who get hit). If you are driving there, take either a change of pants or a plastic bag to put on your car seat for when you drive home, otherwise your car seat will get covered in sh*t too. Your knees will get especially wet from kneeling down, so if you have kneepads, take those (even one will do), otherwise, you can 'waterproof' the knees of your combat pants temporarily, by cutting out squares of a plastic bag and taping those to the inside knee area of your combat pants (might wanna do the ass area too). If you are gonna be there all day, you might also consider wearing either long johns or cycling leggings under your combat pants, because you will be out in the cold for hours, and it will probably help, after all, you can always take 'em off if you are too warm, but you can't put em on if you didn't bring 'em. Don't worry about keeping dry from rain though, in the woods it won't be hitting you much even if it is raining pretty hard, but the forest floor will almost certainly be muddy and wet, so you still need to ensure you don't end up piss wet through all day. If you are wearing leather combat boots, polish the living sh*t out of them, so that they are waterproofed, this will also mean that mud washes off them easier at the end of the day. Two pairs of socks is not a bad idea too, since they will keep your feet warmer when they are out in the cold wet mud all day. If you have gloves, take those too. Wear lower face protection and neck protection, because you'll be getting sniper fire at 500 fps, and that fecking hurts, especially in the cold, and if it hits you in the mouth, it will smash your teeth in. At a push, a shemagh or other decent scarf will cover your face and neck if you have nothing else, but be aware that a typical black and white shemagh stands out a lot in woodland terrain, so if necessary, dirty it up with mud, or you will be a bullet magnet, similarly, you can stick twigs and leaves etc in your helmet (if you wear one) to break up your profile a bit. If you don't wear a helmet, then wear a cap, it will cover your forehead, and you will be glad of that if a sniper round hits you there. Camo it with mud if it is brightly coloured. Make sure everything is secure on your gear, you are far more likely to be diving about and crawling in woodland terrain than you are in cqb, and if anything is loose, you will lose it, so tape sh*t up, put stuff in secure pouches. Tighten all the screws and bolts on your weapons, because unlike with indoor CQB, if something drops off your weapon in a forest, you ain't gonna find it, it's gone for good. Leave car keys and phones and stuff like that back in the safe zone (I've seen more than one person get their fancy 500 quid smartphone shot to sh*t by a sniper BB when it was in the leg pocket of their combat pants lol), and looking for a set of car keys in an entire forest by torchlight when you are tired and cold and wet at the end of a day's skirmishing is not something you wanna be doing. Take some basic repair sh*t with you, gaffer tape, electrical tape, a screwdriver, an unjamming rod, pliers, some silicone lubricant, etc. You can fix almost anything with gaffer tape. Be a sneaky bastard, crawl through the sh*t that nobody else will crawl through, hide in the bush that everyone else thinks is too tight to hide in. And if you have a pistol, take it, you might think you won't use a pistol at the kind of ranges a woodland fight takes place at, but you'd be wrong, you'll be sneaking up to fortifications and will end up on literally the other side of a bit of plywood or a bush, from your enemies, I can guarantee it will happen, and in those circumstances, a pistol is worth its weight in gold. If you have a rifle sling, be sure to take that too, carrying even a light weapon all day gets tiring.

Welcome aboard

Obviously anyone with even the remotest sense of decency would wish to extend their sympathies to the families of those concerned. Having worked as a cartoonist and a writer for several news publications myself, I most sincerely do, in fact, I actually left the newspaper business over an issue I had with not being allowed to publish the truth about something, so I feel an affinity with those who unashamedly and bravely do so. But my sorrow is not only for the attack at the CH Office the other day, but also the attack this morning in which a French policewoman was killed. I think all that goes without saying really. I do also think however, that we risk such a thread as this going rapidly downhill, and I'll tell you why: The incident in question was ultimately about censorship and freedom of expression. There can be little doubt that our feelings will run strong on this matter, yet on such a thread as this, ironically enough we are somewhat forced to suppress and indeed self-censor the expression of any feelings of anger or outrage we might have about the matter. I do know that if i really expressed how I felt about the matter, not only would it probably take up several pages, but it would also no doubt get the thread locked.

You are correcting me for something which I was not referring to there. Note that the whole paragraph which you quoted from my post is referring to painting IFs and RIFs, not merely their ownership, which is covered under Section 36 of the VCR Act. The Act makes specific references to painting IFs and RIFs (in Section 36, Subsection 1, 'Manufacture, import and sale of realistic imitation firearms'), where it states that 'A person is guilty of an offence if he manufactures a realistic imitation forearm or modifies an imitation firearm so that it becomes a realistic imitation firearm'. Now it's worth noting here that we might imagine painting an RIF to make it an IF (i.e. reversal of that procedure) would not be covered by that, but it is, because the Act also states that something absolutely is a RIF if it would take examination by a firearms expert to determine that it wasn't (i.e. a totally 100 percent accurate model of an AK47, merely painted orange, does not instantly become an IF in terms of the law, since you'd still need someone familiar with firearms to determine if it was or was not a real AK, and they could only do that by giving it a close inspection to see if it could chamber and fire a round). Thus the Government really cover their asses in terms of how easy it is to prosecute someone, even referring to an offence being for an IF rather than a RIF in the section below. So, when can you paint something? Well... Section 37 of the VCR Act then lists specific defences (i.e. exceptions to the manufacture of a RIF) for anyone who indulges in that kind of activity. The exact wording is: 'It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under Section 36, in respect of any conduct, to show that the conduct was for the purpose of making the imitation firearm in question available for one or more of the purposes specified in subsection (2)'. Now the important thing to note in that preceding quote from the VCR Act, is 'purposes specified', i.e. specifically mentioned examples which are deemed an acceptable defence for having got your aerosols out and started painting up an IF or RIF. It then lists what these specifically acceptable defences are, so I will list them here: a, museum or gallery b, theatrical performance or rehearsal c, production of films d, production of TV e, organising and holding of historical re-enactments held by persons specified by the Secretary of State (that's the airsoft skirmishing bit), f, in the service of Her Majesty. Note that there is no ''Because I want them'' defence listed there, therefore according to the VCR Act's contents, that is not an acceptable defence, you need a specific reason, which of course being an airsofter does provide, so we've no need to worry about it. Now, I grant you that 'Because I want them' has never actually been tried as a legal precedent, and I'm willing to bet that it might even work as a defence if you had a decent brief, but as it stands, merely 'wanting them' is not listed as an acceptable defence. This is why I made a point in the rest of my post, in suggesting that people should read the text of the VCR Act and determine for themselves if they are within the law, rather than relying on reading what other people think it says on some forum such as this, or heresay, or, 'my mate told me that...', or anything else other than what it actually says in the text of the VCR Act itself. So, on a lighter note, what I'm wondering, is if all that goes out of the window if you get your girlfriend to make a RIF for you, because throughout the VCR Act, it only says that anything will be an offence if 'he' does something, and it at no point specifies that 'he' refers to a defendant of either gender' Muhahahahaaaa!

Welcome on board

Yeah, I do mean the foregrip, but it's kind of hard to be sure that is what we can see. However, it looks to me like we are looking at the top edge of an AR-15 leaning on the packs behind the guys, it appears to have the six vent holes on it facing us, visible in between the front and rear of the foregrip, which appear to have had bands of green tape wrapped around. In other words, I think we can see this part of an AR-15 (and this one in my photo definitely is a Vietnam War era military issued AR15, since it has a 'Property of US Govt M16A1' stamp on its receiver, but above that it also has 'Colt AR-15' in big letters to the right of the prancing horse Colt logo):

Not surprised. Norton has got to be one of the biggest scam companies ever. When they're not writing bogus virus alert 'updates' into their software to keep you in panic mode so you renew your subscription to them, they're busy thinking of new ways of tying up your computer's system RAM with that appallingly badly optimised piece of bloated glorified malware.

Not really saying it's definitely an AR15 to be honest, that's really just what I tend to call Armalites which have the more later non-tapered grip we typically see on more recent various, since that grip started showing up around the same time that Colt started selling the M16 as a semi-automatic only civilian rifle, which they marketed as the AR15. So it's more a case of 'what i call them' rather than being a correct designation! You're right too, that is woodland he's got on. As far as where I found it, it was just a search on the internet, although I'm pretty sure that it is reproduced in one of the many books I've got on the Vietnam War, because I've definitely seen that pic before.

http://aegcartasia.com/magazines/gas-pistol-magazine/m1911-series.html?p=1

One for 35 quid, and you get a lot of molle pouches with it too (probably be just under forty quid with postage, stuff typically takes about a week or so to get to the UK when ordering from that site): http://www.tacticalgeartrade.co.uk/molle-combat-strike-plate-carrier-ciras-vest-od.html other choices at the same website: http://www.tacticalgeartrade.co.uk/productsearch/plate-carrier

Actually, I think that M4 looks pretty cool in two tone. Most US troops during the Vietnam War probably would have given anything to have been issued an M16 with that colour scheme, because quite a lot of them got hold of green pvc/duct tape and made their M16s look exactly like yours. Although to be fair, a lot of that tape on their M16s was to stop the thing rattling and falling apart, since the first M16s weren't exactly built like tanks, but, you can find a lot of pics of M16s, AR15s, M4 etc looking a lot like yours, so if anyone doesn't like it or think it looks odd or incorrect, then they don't know as much as they think they know! It will certainly work better in a woodland skirmish in that colour scheme than an all black one would. Here's a pic of an M16 with green electrical tape on it during the Vietnam War. Keep in mind that colours are very faded on that old 1960s Kodachrome picture, that tape would actually have been a pretty bright green, not dissimilar to the colour on your M4, because the soldier who stuck that tape on his rifle would have wanted the colour to look like foliage with bright sunlight on it. Also notice that in the same picture, lying on a pack, there appears to be another M16 variant (probably an AR15) in the background which has had a similar treatment with green tape: http://s161.photobucket.com/user/toddmart68/media/walk3.jpg.html A few things about that picture indicate that those guys know what they are doing incidentally. One of the weapons has a suppressor on it, the other appears to be an AR15, both of which were not typically issued to your average 'grunt' in Vietnam, but more often to units such as LRRP or special forces A teams. Note too that the weapon does not have a sling, which was done to avoid having stuff which could rattle or get hung up on branches. Both soldiers are wearing tiger stripe camouflage, as opposed to the standard M65 olive drab army gear you tend to see being worn in that war, also an indication that they are a more 'pro' unit than your average GI. They are in what appears to be a fire support base up in mountainous terrain, evidently high up enough to be in the cloud base, so they are probably near the Central Highlands. In 1968, if that date on the picture is correct, the location and the equipment seen would mean that they are probably involved in covert operations along the Western border of Vietnam.

I sent mine off and I'm pretty sure I got an email with the details I needed, literally the next day.

They are a little bit more expensive than AEGs because the cost of gassing up a lot of mags, which typically only hold thirty-odd rounds each (for an assault weapon that is), when compared to the cost of a charging your AEG's battery, which might enable you to cheerfully fire off high cap mags all day long, is not equal. Then of course there is certainly a little more time to be spent lubricating and cleaning the working parts of a GBB if one hopes to keep it working smoothly, as opposed to an AEG, which could literally go for weeks without so much as a wipe with a damp cloth. But that is not necessarily a bad thing, or even a chore, if you happen to like guns and looking after them as much as you like using them. The main cost is probably acquiring a GBB, and sufficient magazines for it. The magazines for a GBB are typically 25-50 quid each, and you need five or six of them to emulate a typical soldier's patrol loadout, so for a typical assault rifle, you might be spending another 200-300 quid just for magazines if it is a GBB. Conversely, AEG mags are more typically about 10 quid and you can get away with just one high cap one actually, and as you know, most AEGs come with one of those anyway. Even if you go with carrying six low cap AEG mags for a bit more reloading realism, you can invariably find boxes of five or six AEG mags can be had for about thirty quid or so. Offsetting all of that additional GBB cost is the enhanced realism of a GBB of course. Unlike with an AEG, the firepower of a GBB is held in the magazines, as it is in a real firearm, so changing mags is a more realistic experience; the weapon is inert without a mag, unlike an AEG, so the emulation of a real firearm is vastly closer when using a GBB, even to the extent of field stripping the bolt and gas return mechanisms, which are often an almost identical procedure to the real weapon when field stripping a GBB version of it. The clatter of the action is more visceral than the whirring of an AEG and more akin to the sound you hear when firing the real weapon, the gas tends to give off a bit of visible vapour too, which looks more like a real firearm as well. Given that all these things add to the experience we are trying to emulate with airsoft, both when using and maintaining the weapon, you could argue that all of that offsets the additional cost, by adding to the value of the experience of owning and using a GBB. Trouble is of course, that they are notoriously crappy in these present low ambient temperatures lol. But come summer, they are certainly the thing to have if you want something which will add to the fun of things, and i would say that their ability to add fun to the proceedings makes the cost worth the price of entry. Thus at the moment, my GBBs - MP5K, AKS74U, Colt 1911, Walther PPK - are all hibernating, but come summer, they'll certainly be getting an outing, and I'll be too busy having fun with them to worry about each shot maybe costing one pence more.

Yes it would be an IF and no longer a RIF if you painted it that way, but you should be aware that - assuming you are going to use it for airsofting, or historical re-enactments, or in a movie or a play you are producing, etc - then it absolutely is not illegal to own a RIF, even if it looks like the most unbelievably realistic gun ever, providing you can demonstrably prove you have an entirely peaceful reason for wanting to possess such a thing. It only becomes illegal if you to do something stupid and antisocial with one, such as holding up a bank with it, or scaring people in the streets with it, etc. That is the reason why the legislation about the things is called the Violent Crimes Reduction Act and not the Stop You Making Movies or Plays, Going Airsofting & suchlike Act. But of course it is also illegal to hold up a bank whilst holding a wooden spoon in your coat pocket and claiming it is a gun; it merely becomes easier to hold up a bank with a RIF at your disposal, which is why so much of the sections in the VCR Act are concerned with the supply of RIFs as opposed to the possession of them, because supplying a RIF to someone who is going to do something stupid and illegal with it, is effectively going to make you complicit in the crime. So in essence it's fairly simple: if you have either an IF, or a RIF, then just don't be a dick with it, don't flash it about in public and don't scare anyone with it, use it only for a legitimate purpose and don't lend it to, or sell it to anyone who does not have a legitimate reason to own it (and who can prove that to you satisfactorily). Adhere to that behaviour and you will not have any problems. Above all, always bear in mind that as much as we like the things, not everyone is into guns, nor able to easily identify a real one, so you can entirely understand someone being scared if they think someone is wandering about with one because they see you putting your realistic-looking but plastic AK74 into the boot of your car, so just don't ever create that possibility and the law will not ever be your concern. You have a legal responsibility to ensure that is the case, which is what all that VCR Act stuff is really about.

Hi and welcome to the forums