Tommikka

You’re wrong A UK compliant blank firing pistol wouldn’t be a Section 5 firearm and wouldn’t need a firearms certificate. The VCRA is another piece of legislation, anything covered within the VCRA is not automatically excluded from the firearms act. The VCRA does not explicitly refer to blank firers, but the firearms does explicitly reference blank firers and their ammunition as to those that do comply to UK standards & section 5 requirements and whether or not blank ammunition would be subject to controls There is a ‘statutory instrument’ that adds to the VCRA with definitions of ‘blank firing imitation firearms’ Airsoft did fall within firearms legislation as well with airsoft guns within the definition of a ‘low power air weapon’ until an amendment was made under section 57a: 57a Exemption for airsoft guns (1)An “airsoft gun” is not to be regarded as a firearm for the purposes of this Act. (2)An “airsoft gun” is a barrelled weapon of any description which— (a)is designed to discharge only a small plastic missile (whether or not it is also capable of discharging any other kind of missile), and (b)is not capable of discharging a missile (of any kind) with kinetic energy at the muzzle of the weapon that exceeds the permitted level. (3)“Small plastic missile” means a missile that— (a)is made wholly or partly from plastics, (b)is spherical, and (c)does not exceed 8 millimetres in diameter. (4)The permitted kinetic energy level is— (a)in the case of a weapon which is capable of discharging two or more missiles successively without repeated pressure on the trigger, 1.3 joules; (b)in any other case, 2.5 joules.] This exemption is explicitly for airsoft guns that fire plastic BB within 8mm and within the 1.3 or 2.5 joule limits Note that there is an interpretation that air weapons etc are firearms and therefore could not at the same time be RIFs / IFs (this is my interpretation) - but there has been case law that decided otherwise, thus an airgun that was a firearm under the firearms act also at the same time was a Realistic Imitation due to the look of the design The VCRA is legislation governing the sale / manufacture / import - it doesn’t govern the use (Different styles of usage of RIFs within the VCRA define what a retailer can take as a valid use to justify sale rather than dictating the actual use after a sale) Gun shops do sell blank firers such as starter pistols in bright VCRA style colours, and the industry do protect themselves from a VCRA type prosecution requiring theatrical & reenactment defences etc Irrespective of an airsoft gun having being a valid purchase under the VCRA there can still be legal issues with inappropriate use - such as wandering around a town centre AKA don’t be a dick with an airsoft gun The same applies to blank firers

Possession of and the discharging of a firearm in a public place ? I hope that he has his ‘good reason’ lined up. If he’s providing SFX, then I assume the site management has squared away the use of blank firers as SFX and why they have requested it from a customer / have authorised a customer to do so. The sites risk assessment & mitigations have taken this into account and the insurers made aware of course - and other customers have been advised, it’s in the waiver that they’ve signed to be aware of as well.

Permitting players to remove eye protection is a major disaster It should be totally clear what is and is not a safe area. Sites that have remote game areas and may therefore have players out for multiple games can have in field safe zones which means you can permit players to enter a safe area and remove goggles without contradicting basic safety rules

I don’t trust anyone I look both ways on roundabouts, in all directions at mini roundabouts and both ways in one way streets An an event many many years ago (I’ve a feeling maybe 2009 due to venue Im picturing in my mind - Swynnerton) …… The game zone was open for site walking on the pre game day, with some activities such as laser tag So masks were not required - which makes sense, though there was a casualty that year or the next year with a laser tag player who face planted a breeze block wall (extra embarrassing for his ambulance trip as he was/still is a nurse) On game day masks were not required before x time. Allowing players to walk the long distances to the starting rally points. For me this lasted only a couple of minutes when those in front of me strolling along without masks on decided to shoot up a bush. For me that triggered dropping my mask over my face and attempting to explain the inconsistency of a lack of goggles plus random shooting Other than that I have permitted masks off when on sites for pre game works - but with rules. We must have ‘control’ of that area, know what game zones and routes will be in use for rentals etc, be in contact with Marshall’s, have distance / physical objects between us and any areas etc Goggles must be at the ready for instant covering

I’m in

Just a little scary story about dry firing ……. New marshal blinded in one eye with CO2 from an empty paintball gun …… https://www.scotsman.com/news/paintball-gun-shot-leaves-ex-soldier-blind-in-one-eye-2444047 Safe zone has a clue in its name Health and safety has a bad name from the over zealous clip board brigade, but the HSE are the primary source of exposing H&S myths. Prior to Health and safety being put into legislation it was a matter of routine to die in the UKs building sites and factories. That has mostly been stopped The most simple form of safety is to apply common sense - which is extremely uncommon When a site cannot be bothered to enforce dry firing & unloading discipline in the safe zone, that’s when you need to wonder about other basics

Been there done that Also been the giver Has it got puppies and ice cream ?

Barrel sock / condom - I’m not surprised that it was brought up at an airsoft & paintball site. The surprising thing would be that it’s not more common. Basic rental paintball tends to have gun racks on the way out to play, and safety keeps them out of the safe zone When you bring in own gunners then you need to keep the safe zone safe - my first experience of this was that we were required to leave ours in the staff shed (we were playing at a rental site with our own guns, mixed among the rental players) Event & tournament paintball requires barrel blocking as well as degassing etc before leaving the game area - and the standard is battle socks They are also useful for dead players - put it in the rules that the barrel blocker must be fitted when eliminated and the casually wandering sneaky player without their barrel blocked should be more obvious to challenge them Once they are known of its hard to argue against them as a safety product They come for free as standard with a new paintball gun, or around £5 or £6 to buy at retail prices

That is a push fit female to female like this: https://palmerspursuit.com/products/1-4-push-connect-coupler?_pos=1&_sid=c859f49c6&_ss=r (Measure the size and/or look for markings in the hose - in the links below for simplicity I assume that your macro line is 1/4”) To remove it just simply push the end inwards, tension on the hose line is reduced and you pull out the hose line while maintaining inward pressure on the fitting Check that all the lines still have a clean flat cut. If you need to cut any lines then don’t attempt to do so with a knife or razor blade, it will never be clean enough for a reliable push fit. You would need a macro line cutter: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Silverline-760004-3-12-7-Plastic-Rubber/dp/B015HA1NNA/ref=asc_df_B015HA1NNA/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=226152056294&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=6469370261426534244&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007044&hvtargid=pla-350034674810&psc=1&th=1&psc=1 Choose your quick disconnect fittings, eg female with an auto check valve so that it seals the airsource avoiding air loss https://palmerspursuit.com/products/copy-of-quick-disconnect-with-back-check-parker?_pos=3&_sid=93de23bea&_ss=r To fit these you would need 1/8” NPT to push to fit, such as (assuming 1/8” push fit) https://palmerspursuit.com/collections/push-connect-tube-fittings/products/1-8-npt-female-to-1-4-slip-fit-1 Assuming the macro line end cuts are good, then you could get away with swapping the existing female to female push fit with a replacement set of fittings and no more than some PTFE tape (unless the new fittings come pre-primed with PTFE If they need cutting then the required tool is a macro line cutter ……… But depending on the point in your line you end up with a dangly fitting, which isn’t elegant or ideal. Trace back to the gun and find where that fits. Ideally find a ‘solid’ point that you can fix your male quick disconnect. You then need the appropriate tools for any modification there ……. For hose lines you need an appropriately specified line for the relevant air pressures. Macro line is good for hundreds of PSI, but it can be good practice to go back one step along regulators - ensure the line can cope with the next highest stage before it’s current regulator Note that most links I have provided are with Palmers in the US You don’t have to buy from there, but do ensure that you buy components designed for the air pressures involved

The dates shown for Wednesdays do align with Wednesdays in 2023 I’m going to make my standard statement of full face goggles. But a full seal goggle meets my criteria (as opposed to glasses type eye protection) Whether or not balaclavas & mesh etc are good enough is personal preference Lens colour indoors and in the dark should be clear, or potentially amber. Dark lenses filter out too much Amber/yellow and some shades of orange can enhance your ability to pick things out in dull conditions

A spare glow stick and a bush can be a fun combination at a night game

Strictly speaking Hunter is right …… but for the purpose that they are designed for Military/shooting impact eye protection is designed to be the last chance saver from something as simple as dirt, dust, gases and the gravel/splinters etc flying from impact nearby They are not for direct protection from what is being shot at you Poor shooting glasses have been as simple as sunglasses - just for the dust etc (a reason for which I have traditionally directed people to look more than ‘shooting glasses’ but to check that there is an impact standard) The advice in the video is in a shooting situation - once that safety equipment has protected you once then accept that it has done its job and replace it (the same applies to motorcycle helmets - if it’s smashed and ground into the tarmac then you can see it’s had it’s day, but if it has impact but looks ok then the internal structure may have taken it all and should still have the helmet replaced) For airsoft however the intent is to be shot and you can see all the ‘functioning parts’ - the lens If the lens shows impact, has tiny little cracks etc then it needs to be replaced If the lens is to a compliant impact standard then I would not replace just due to a BB impact The next consideration is lens age. I used to religiously replace lenses annually, which continued until I had a vast collection each used occasionally by myself or on loan I now replace based on condition and/or general age If a lens is removable then extra consideration is to be given on how well fitted it may be - if regularly swapped for colour etc then that may affect how well they fit (or how clumsily the user fits them)

I’d recommend editing your thread title to something like: Newcastle - storage required That would help highlight for local players Southampton university society had problems with their new members in similar circumstances that those living in University accommodation were not allowed to hold RIFs. They worked around it a few ways with society storage & members living off site. An option that may be possible would be to speak to a local site and see if you can get some temporary storage - which depends on specifics as to whether they do have safe storage on site and you would want a lockable case etc (many sites may be remote and don’t store valuables on site as they can be easy picking for burglaries) If you haven’t done already then search ‘self storage newcastle’ and look for initial discounts and compact space for students etc

Absolutely hit the target A pistol carried as a sidearm is just another gun in the collection that you carry around for added weight But a pistol in your hand makes you the biggest and baddest on the field - even (especially) if you’re constantly being out gunned - enjoy the disadvantages of a pistol vs everyone else - and seek out the advantages of a light, compact and mobile setup

This is a much discussed topic in paintball over at the last year as well. The origins of ‘walk on’ come from the sense of just turning up to play, and covered those with all their own equipment as opposed to a ‘rental’ player so had ‘few’ needs from the site. Throughout my playing life ‘walk on’ meant a day or session dedicated to players with their own equipment These tended to be run by a keen player and would have a fairly regular crowd. Marshalling as a matter of safety requires a reasonable ratio of player to marshall to keep an eye on unpredictable rental players - but in practice could turn out to be just one marshall per side - sites ought to be planning their staff for any particular day so would have needed pre bookings for rentals to judge the numbers Walkons could be expected to be better behaved and not need constant eyes on them for goggle removal etc so could run a walkon day for any numbers on minimum staff - a few extra players made no difference That was in theory fine if the walkon was guaranteed to have someone playing, and if you were allowing bring your own paint - but a nuisance for a site to know what stock they needed and walkon paintballers don’t want to play with basic rental paint - a site would not want to stock up on a higher grade paint which would go ‘off’ if held over time and in uncontrolled conditions Now there are very few paintball sites catering for walkons, and those that do tend to post up every now and again about attendance levels One site that we have been involved with must pay a fee to the landowner whenever people are on site - this included me turning up alone or a couple of us site walking or event preparing Fine if it was a day with rental bookings, but a prohibitive expense for one or two people to wander or to run a walk on based on the off chance that people might turn up Then add staff costs - the site should be paying out at least minimum wage to someone for the duration of the day plus an hour or so either side for opening up and shutting down - I am aware that airsoft can often be relying on the voluntary side of player marshals (and that is also how the hey day of walkons happened due to ‘keen’ locals willing to put in the work to make them happen To a player today it does mean that you should plan to play, sort your admin out to book and also turn up - if you’ve paid a deposit and don’t turn up because it’s wet then that is something to compensate the cost but demoralising for staff to open up for nobody or a handful ……… Much of the recent conversations in paintball have been to try and rename ‘walkons’ into something more meaningful, but even the sites involved in the conversations still have ‘walkon’ on their websites / social media

My science knowledge is misty as it goes back many decades - and also my barrel / projectile experience is with paintballs, which have the added effect of distortion under pressure whilst inside the barrel All the theories mentioned ring true with my recollection & experience, particularly the bent barrel which seems very wrong at first but effective when right (this was the Tippmann flatline) it does exactly as per the theory - drag in the curve causes backspin Next we had the Apex tip which is pretty much the same thing as an airsoft hop An adjustable rubber element gives backspin, but the tip can also be rotated to change the angle of the backspin (spoiler in the following video but he rated it as ‘it sucks’ - it does give backspin and additional range, but can impact on consistency - I have a team mate who puts in all the practice, he was an apex ninja and as a result could place a ball where he wanted it to go - though this was courtesy of numerous factors with the Apex as just one of them to adjust the spin) https://youtu.be/Vfgi_AwdTR8 Flatlines and Apexes have had their day, some will still use them, but most will go for bore matching a barrel / insert with the ball - and everyone has a different preference that they swear by of bore match, overbore or under bore Still to add are the consistency of the gun itself to reliably send the ball out of the chamber, and the length of the barrel which must be long enough to allow the ball to accelerate but not so long that any drag/bounce along the barrel is so much that it loses the energy that was gained in acceleration Consistency and practice are key - consistency gives you a reliable benchmark and practice let’s you first understand the combined effects and fine tune each in turn

Just a throwaway spin on the name & weave, and perhaps an old joke a few years past it’s best before date (MOLLE needs to be weaved, but weavers not so much)

This is the common mistake of MOLLE users. When the first ‘consumer’ MOLLE pouches came out they would have ‘standard’ 25mm webbing straps and would very obviously flap around, if the user didn’t notice at first when fitting then they would soon realise something was wrong as their gear flapped around Thicker multi layer straps from better quality consumer pouches or surplus pouches make it less obvious (and harder to weave) but still with flappy results On another tack, have you ever managed to bend a weaver rail sight mounting system between weapon and sight?

Some extra general awareness on air cylinder safety: The HPA1 air safety document was originally produced by the UKPSF (UK paintball representative body), and the version below is as distributed in 2010 by the UKSPC (a collective of event organisers), and has some additional comments of my own

Regulator internal maintenance: Regulator removal: Alternative types & elements: Before you fill on site do please let the staff know that you’ve done some maintenance, for a little bit more care and awareness in case of potential issues

What o’ring needed reseating, and where was the leak? If from your description the whole regulator has been unscrewed from the cylinder and replaced it should not require any sealant, PTFE etc Regulator threads are tapered and recessed in a manner that if you manage to unscrew whilst pressurised then the recess allows air to safely escape while the threads still grip. PTFE / sealant / threadlock can interfere with the taper (and seal it) which keeps pressure as the regulator unthreads and can result in a flying regulator if it manages to unscrew enough without easing pressure Provided there is no damage to threads in the regulator or cylinder and the taper is unblocked it would be safe The regulator should be screwed on hand tight then tightened to a manufacturer specified torque, but without that torque is better hand tight then over tight (I’m going to post up a maintenance video but need to just rewatch for content before I commit)

You’re surely not saying that UKSF will want something because someone else has it and it’s Gucci, rather than based on suitability for a requirement ??? If it fits a role, then they would source it Unless the government deems it beneficial the current equipment details for UKSF are not published. General resources such as wiki, bloggers etc will publish what people believe to be held by UKSF, and they may or may not be identified from photos at ‘incidents’. But these may or may not be correctly identified such as CTSFO being misidentified as UKSF - unless of course UKSF blending in among CTFSO etc

No worries Either way you have captured the imagination of the members here Pyro editions have the other safety standards to apply Powered ones also have safety standards - but an explosion isn’t one (unless of course there’s major battery damage etc)

@ParHunter If you feel the hit then take the hit The difference with bounces etc is that if you see it ricochet off the ground/wall/object then you know that it’s an indirect hit which can be disregarded

……… Sparks etc are not necessarily a bad thing - filming any of the disposable pyrotechnics under slow motion would expect to reveal sparks Actually the ‘right’ way to use a striker smoke is to strike it, hold to one side for the sparking until the smoke kicks in, then throw. The different chemical mixes of each colour can give variations in the level of sparking The concern comes from how much sparking and burning etc and how it is harnessed / directed A product used on site in the UK will need to comply with safety regulations Even compliant pyro can have issues Those in the know or with a search around my posts will be able to identify my sponsors. Their scientist contributed to the drafting of EU pyrotechnic standards and they have vigorous quality assurance processes, of which of participated in a few times with the batches as they arrive in the UK - every production batch number has a percentage of cases pulled at random as the container is unloaded. Then every item from those batches is set off (not at the pyro storage, but at a different location). These are tested against a checklist including timing of each stage of burn for each product design - any failure to comply with the Doctors specifications withdraws the full batch run ………. We experienced a failure in game (and on camera) with a different manufacturer. The photo sequence and burnt glove were put on display in the factory They had become complacent on the production line, and contaminated the fuse with the main payload. As soon as he struck the fuse a whole Mk9 exploded in his hand This was a ‘standards compliant’ factory production piece, let alone a custom DIY design