Saber6-1

Don't get me wrong, I happen to love living here, and I am truly thankful to be a guest in this great country. I have had the luxury of living all over the world, and England is close to the top of places. I am of the mindset to take part in my community, hence why my wife and I chose to live off base. We can experience what life is like for the British people, and not just be sequestered and sheltered by the base. Moral turpitude- Thats a persons moral and ethical standing. Its a term used by law enforcement to gauge a persons values, morals, and ethics, and whether or not they would make a good cop. We have some very good friends who we hang out with, and whats funny is one couple is from South Africa. It seems SA and the US use very much the same lingo, and after quite a few libations we begin to discuss the linguistic differences between SA, US, and UK. Its quite amusing.

While I do agree with Flex on some points, others I have to disagree. GBBR's are much more "milsim" because you do have the limited rounds, but that teaches you to conserve rounds. AEGS's on the other hand with hi-caps are total spray and pray weapons. It makes every player a SAW gunner. Now that may be fine for some, but it comes down to what style you want. Do you want to run closer to realism, or just get out and sling rounds? As to GBBR VS AEG internally, they are apples to oranges, night and day. With the AEG you will be looking at after market gear boxes, motors, wiring, MOSFET, springs, a whole plethora of parts. With GBBRS we don't have much. I own both AEG's and GBBRs and I personally find my GBBR to be more easier to maintain, but then again I carried M16's and M4's. So I am used to maintaining those weapons. Ulitmately, it comes down to what YOU want.

I own two King Arms Colt Licensed GBBR M4A1's. Pound for pound, there are the closest repros of the real deal. The even come in within a few ounces of the same weight. But, they retail for about $300. If you are looking for an M4 that is high on the realism scale, as well as something that can sling rounds down range effectively, then check them out. I swear by mine.

Its really easy to take for granted the certain freedoms we have in America. For example, I can attend a gun show, and that day leave with swords/knives and a long gun that day, and 7 days later, pick up a pistol. The VCRA does seem to be a knee jerk reaction. Lets go ahead and label the many for the actions of a few, yet conversely spout tolerance and say not to judge the many for the actions of a few (Muslims). Government....

With the rash of beheadings going on, are all swords/axes/shovel/rakes/hoes/butter knives/potato peelers/sporks/etc going to be painted two tone? Will I have to do three home improvement projects in two months before I can buy a lawn mower? Sorry, sarcasm

Greetings and welcome. I'm not too far from you, I'm over in the Rushden area.

All I can say is...wow. Thanks for the information, I am making sense of this finally.

Thanks for the responses guys. Trying to understand UKARA and the VCRA can be tough. As I said, it was just plain old curiosity. The scheme just seems so alien to me. I honestly think buying a RIF in the UK is harder than buying a real gun back in the States.

So, I know if you want to buy a RIF, you need to follow the UKARA guidelines and what not, or suffer the indignity of a rainbow bright gun. Now my question refers to private party sales. When one player sells to another, how do they verify UKARA? I am not looking to sell or buy, but rather the question just popped in my head. Call it random curiosity.

Welcome back to playing. I know the feeling about guns gathering dust. Look forward to possibly slinging rounds down range with you (or against?).

Thanks for the info, I now have a list to go off of. You all serious rock in my opinion.

Thanks Flex! Fire Support isn't too far from me (West Midlands), in case I need something in a pinch. Sometimes I like brick and mortar stores just because I can browse the isles. But sadly, no physical stores near me, so I need online ones. As I said, its almost a two week turn around when I order from the States.

Seems I am posting a lot lately, probably need to cut down on the caffeine. But, is there a group/forum for those here in the UK that MilSim? Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Its quite the long hassle to try and get parts from the US, so I need to find who in the UK is a reputable retailer. I know Redwolf in London, but not anything else about them. Any recommendations? I am not looking for RIF's, but rather if I need parts/accessories. FYI, I did read the "where to buy" area. Just looking for more personal experiences/preferences

Thanks for the info guys. Looks like propane is my answer.

As an M203 user, I have used foam balls as projectiles before. It was more or less an honor system, which did suck. If the ball hit in the proximity, you were deemed KIA or WIA. We also had some refs on hand, but more often than not they were absent. I was reading on the TAG system and its definitely on my list to get, but as you stated, perhaps not quite legal here. I might have to wait til I get back Stateside to get. I like the fact that it can carry "flashbang" type of rounds as well as smoke. It can make for a very versatile platform in the right fire team.

I sure do know where you can get one, but it would require work on your part to make it Airsoft compliant. Its not a cheesy knock off either. I own one. But you will spend a bit of money on getting one that looks good. A few companies make them, but they serious look crappy. The good ones are either ABS or Fiberglass. Mine is ABS, which means lightweight and flexible. You are looking to be set back a couple hundred bucks. On the flip side the following is a good one to get and modify http://www.ebay.com/itm/Star-Wars-Biker-Scout-Helmet-Don-Post-1997-with-Box-/291271962815?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item43d12970bf The Don Post is heavy vinyl and will hold up well. Hope this helps, and if you need anything else, let me know.

OK, I have scoured threads on various forums and googled the hell out of GBBR's and how they react in colder climates. As a former paintball player, I understand the variances in gas pressure in different temperatures. My question is simple, how do you all, here in England, handle the GBBR's in colder climates. Some articles stated running red gas (if compatible) under 40 in some makes, others stated under 50. While another article stated not to worry unless it was getting close to freezing. For those of you here that uss GBBR's, what do you usually do in colder temps? Do you switch gas, use and AEG, or run around just throwing bb's at people. Thanks all

Wow, I must say, airsoft in the UK is far different than back in the States. But then again, we crazy Americans love our guns. As to distance, well it all depended on where we wanted to play. We had indoor and outdoor fields withing 10-30 minutes, our open range games (areas in excess of several acres) maybe 45-60 minutes out, but sometimes we would drive up to 2 hours or more to play. One place we really like was a 4 hour drive. As to the style I am used to, well I guess thats called milsim here. I worked in 5-10 man fire groups. We were all military, so we knew how to fire, move, communicate.

Ok, help me understand how things run here. You specify that this forum had between 9-10k members, yet many members here state that a lot of games are just skirmish based. Now I understand people just showing up and playing, but why so little cohesion? I know that 9-10k forum members does not equate to 9-10k active players, but I see little organization. Perhaps I am looking in the wrong area, or perhaps I am injecting too much American style of play, I don't know. I am trying to understand how things work here. Prior to moving here, the airsoft community I played with held games once or twice a month with a turn out of 50-75 players, and at best 100. Now I am not expecting that here as geography does not permit as such, but am I possibly missing something?

Ed, I think you hit the nail right on the head, and answered several questions floating around my head. Its geography. Yes, England can fit inside of either Alaska, Texas, or California. I am used to living near more metropolitan areas which larger player bases. I think the airsoft community is just spread out, and I am not anywhere near a highly populated area. Thanks all for the info, as I said, this was just a fact finding mission, learning how things are done here.

Very true about the anti FB position. We had that as well. Not everyone is onboard with social media. Most of the non-FB users still got the info about games/etc from friends and what not. We did maintain a forum as well and it was cross connected for the most part. Our experiences were that a lot of the "younguns" never experienced forum boards since they predated FB. They had no idea that they existed. Was there really communication before Facebook? Sarcasm.....

Greetings Nick, Since I have no idea where Plymouth/Devon is, I guess it not near me (Midlands). But, welcome to the group. I am certain people will begin to pop up in your area.

If this topic has already been addressed, and finalized, then I apologize, if not, does this group have an actual Facebook group? The reason I ask is because back in the States we ran a very similar forum group and finally branched out to FB. At that point in time we somehow managed to connect with more players. The region we covered actually close to a 50% increase in player turn out. We reached more people. The Facebook group also allowed us to coordinate and schedule games, practices, and other events. I know the way we do things back in the States is not how things are done here, but I was curious is all. Almost everyone I know utilizes social media and especially Facebook. It was a great way for everyone to stay connected in regards to airsoft, but also personally. We met knew players. More people mean bigger games (not always better). But it allowed players in geographic areas hook up and begin to start creating teams. We saw a reduced number of Rambo players (the one guy who thinks he can take out a fire team single handed while firing his AK from his hip) and more players working together as a team. Again...curiosity

Greetings from the resident American living in the Midlands.