Tommikka

Being an under 18 rental player on a paintball or Airsoft site would be subject to a parent/guardian/responsible adult counter signing their waiver, and within the ‘loan’ element.

Paintball guns are ‘low powered air weapons’ as far as legislation is concerned (Even when CO2 powered - originally Scotland considered paintball sites to be committing section 5 offences as CO2 was used, whereas the rest of the UK accepted CO2 use as a reasonable interpretation of the intent of the law - that interpretation loophole was subsequently rectified) Airsoft was under the umbrella of low power air weapons, but that changed with the 57a amendment as noted by @Cannonfodder- for compliant Airsoft guns Paintball falls into many grey spots in the legislation, with interpretations from the Home Office backing up paintball - but interpretations are always subject to change at any time

See here for images of the UKPSF HPA1

Note that carbon fibre wrapped cylinders are lighter on a ‘like for like’ basis The fallacy when I began in paintball was that new players were told to buy carbon fibre because it was lighter - but were told that in comparison of a standard 48ci aluminium cylinder vs a ‘standard’ 68ci carbon fibre cylinder - I weighed them and my £30 48 aluminium weighed the same as my £150 68 fibre A carbon fibre wrapped cylinder is made of aluminium, just thinner aluminium with extra reinforcement There are other designs which allow for ‘ultra light’ cylinders which do have a clear weight difference (typically these have an internal air bladder, very thin aluminium and reinforcing fibre wrap ….. and will cost closer to £200 There are many other benefits to a fibre wrapped cylinder. But you only get extra pressure if fills are provided at 4500psi, whereas most sites will have 3000psi fill systems, so the only extra capacity comes if you have a larger cylinder (I in fact have most recently opted for a smaller 4500psi cylinder at 30ci) In Airsoft you should be able to confidently play with a 3000psi 48ci or even smaller 3000psj 13ci - provided the site provides air fills 3000psi and 4500psi are the holding pressure of the cylinder, it will then have an output regulator in the hundreds of PSI (maybe 650 to 800 psi) an Airsoft RIF operating at a much lower pressure which is managed by a subsequent regulator pressure drop Hydro testing of cylinders has a number of lifespans. A typical aluminium cylinder is marked with a 5 year span (but in the UK typically has a legal life of 10 years). They can then be tested every 5 years forever - but due to their purchase price aren’t really worth the cost Fibre wraps usually have a maximum 15 year life - with 5 year test cycles (There are now approved fibre design types that can have an unlimited lifetime - but most manufacturers are marking them with an expiry date still For general air safety with dos and donts keep an eye out for the UKPSF HPA1. I will have probably put up links in more than one of the HPA threads

Fills on sites are best Scuba cylinders are a compromise for playing with air when air fills are not available

Fact

Only counts if you set it up armed Somewhere I (should) still have a banjo missing its strings, which has been awaiting conversion for nearly 30 years into a Mariachi inspired weapon …… and looking back that far - Salma Hayak is 58. She’s still got it. But she’ll still have to wait in line behind 65 year old Susanna Hoffs …….. This weekend my weaponry will be transported in a locked hard case…..

It depends on what you mean by ‘travel’ When driving in your car domestically it’s best practice to use a case, but you’re fine as long as Airsoft guns are not in sight when loading, driving and unloading If travelling in/through countries then comply with their laws When crossing borders comply with the laws of each country, and the terms & conditions of airlines, ferry companies and the channel tunnel Did you mean ‘gear box’ as in components etc or gear (all your kit etc? If it looks like gun parts then treat it as a gun If it’s just internals then package it safely

Spot on with rules as a framework but not impinging on the ability to have specifics for the site/type of event There isn’t a single paintball rule set. There are some basics, and also of course national legislation. In competitive paintball there isn’t a single rule set - there was an attempt at a “world paintball tournament” ruleset - even that had two different sets of “world” and “USA” rules, let alone US paintball politics meaning that every league had its own rules. The Millenium is the major European tournament and other leagues just happily adopt those rules giving consistency for players When UK scenario paintball scene was in its heyday, and pretty much everyone was on the same UKscenario forum a collective of event organisers / sites formed the UKSPC - UK scenario paintball community or collective ? - (this was a decade ago) The standards set things such as bottle checking, providing free UKPSF air safety sessions and only allowing self filling by UKPSF air safety card holders and the rule element of maximum velocity 280fps, 260fps for CO2 or close up/night games - this aided players by not having a range of velocities between sites and events with players previously adjusting every couple of weeks for the next event (Our first event opened the 2010 scenario season and therefore was the first UKSPC compliant event) The UKSPC didn’t need to cost anything for sites to join up etc, it did align with the UKPSF with their recommended standards and air safety training. But the collective was voluntary - it just needed organisers to see a need and take action (back then the scenario scene was pretty much by players for players, so the host of X was also playing Y and Z) The UKSPC is probably forgotten, but the general standards remain whether intentionally or because an organiser today just uses what is common All our paintball rulesets are based on the UKSPC set, and then I refine to the game format. Our Airsoft rulesets have been similar but then handed to the Airsofters for translation

That’s the advantage / disadvantage We play games with equipment that doesn’t really behave as per real life. In airsoft the rules tend to differ by certain classifications, allowing x type player to have a higher velocity but lesser ROF. A well tuned consistent RIF accompanied by practice will be better than a so called super ninja look that has had all the add ons but not properly set up The disadvantage of being more likely to miss is the ‘advantage’ of the suspense and bragging rights

This is the key - rules I would expect formal tournaments to have rules against or restricting trigger modes etc Back in the 80s/90s the paintball tournament scene was dominated by ‘factory’ teams, and there was a technological war between manufacturers with the open battle being faster trigger modes and the secret battle being genuine hidden cheat modes giving even higher ROFs that a player could enable mid play and disable when a referee approached. Games would be won by the wallet. Restrictions were placed capping trigger mode ROFs etc, and there were attempts to restrict the amount of paintballs to try and reduce winning by wallet. Factory teams can still dominate due to the ability to put the time in for practice. Therefore in an organised tournament players are governed by equipment rules suitable for a competitive tournament (and may have been drawn from standard rule sets) whereas the average site may set (or not set) any rules they choose from. A site might have very open rules to attract more customers and to sell more consumables with minimal restrictions …. and that puts me back to the solution to a problem being a rule Are the pesky speedsofters tournament players who comply with tournament rules then change all their settings at a standard site - or players with a style of play ? Perhaps the pesky speedsofters aren’t playing with illegal modes but just get blamed for having an aggressive style …….. As an aside - in paintball tournaments there’s a cheaty element to the tactic of overshooting: A round between two teams is generally won/lost on the basis of 3 or 5 points “race to x”, eg if a 3 point then the first to 2 wins takes the victory This means players must be ready to get back on field for the next point. If you make the final kills with a long burst/touch of overshooting then those last eliminated players have to get off field, clean up, reload, and get back on field in a limited timeframe. If they’re covered in paint then they have a mess to be cleared off (and risk going back on with remaining residue which results in being spotted by a referee and penalised for playing on with hits) This makes them rush, they may not be fully ready and are stressed. It’s not unknown for a team to start the next point with less players on field followed by the last player who has to run into an active game, tapping in at the start gate before they can shoot

I would disagree - but circumstances apply Overkill/overshooting is continuing to shoot an eliminated target …. But if a player is hit more than once then it is not necessarily overshooting Prefiring (my interpretation of the term being that you begin firing before you pass an obstacle, shooting a continuous steam and ‘lead it’ to your target as you pass the corner etc) Prefiring can (and should) be ‘aimed’ shots with your eyes open This is similar to suppressive fire - shooting and denying an area, but you may end up with an elimination when someone pops out With ‘proper’ prefiring the attacking player advertises that they are on the way and their point of arrival. An observant defender may hear the change in impact as each hit gets closer (and perhaps as they move across the defences) and place themselves ready in a position that they won’t be shot as they come in and are ready to shoot the attacker as they arrive The latter issue of shooting modes, hair triggers as lazy high ROF isn’t always the case. This can be dealt with in rules about the types of trigger system, eg capping full auto/assisted trigger modes but allowing mechanical semi to shoot as fast as their finger and the guns cycling action - even I can outshoot capped shooting mode ROFs on a mechanical trigger …….. Rules need to be set by the site, possibly with varying rules by type of zone/proximity and type of gun A limited magazine capacity can be a fair solution to mad shooters - they can shoot as much as they like, but have to reload Or as has been mentioned - life / spawn limitations / delays Counting respawns is a good one - I was faction leader screaming like the demented idiot that I am, jogging forward in the wide open and throwing smoke. After a series of very rapid respawns I noticed the spawn marshal counting my visits - I lost a lot of points in the first minutes of that game, but I also pushed my players forward to take control of a good amount of territory

Marshalling CQB is particularly difficult In the best CQB environment Marshall’s can’t see what’s happening unless you have hundreds of them My ideal is the killhouse at NPF Bassets Pole. There is an overhead observation platform, and my preferred method to Marshall it was to put Marshall’s up above, with one inside (me) Those up above enabled observation of gameplay and to keep eyes out for safety, rule compliance and the combination of explicit / implicit game manipulation (directing players to each other) Me inside provided action photography and someone on the ground for action being directed by those above Any more hands available then also be on the ground around the outside There was also the dry year when the use of pyro was banned throughout the site - except for me - I’m ‘responsible’ so I was allowed my SFX pyro, and had containers of water throughout the killhouse (It rained Saturday night which then enabled it to be allowed for the main Sunday game)

I’m not so experienced in airsoft, just having run some airsoft games at one particular site, run mini games at a major event which in some years ran both paintball and airsoft in parallel, been involved in publicity for a society and have seen airsofters at a few sites. The bread and butter of a site is its local population, and balances between one off/occasional rentals and a regular crowd. An ‘event’ can be themed and aimed at a particular flavour - but is dependant on a customer base that wants to play that flavour. The regular crowd is likely to consist of those people who are local which means they will want to play their preferred style. On these types of days in both airsoft and paintball I have always seen a mix of the woodland, military cosplay, stitch counters, speeders, casuals etc and a local crowd may happen to tip to one or a couple of these. Among all of the above there are the elitists and those who want some fun. Quite often there are individuals who span a variety and but may have the look of only one on the day Arseholes are arseholes What will make or break a site is how the staff and regulars handle the arseholes (and whether or not they are the arseholes)

What @Cannonfoddersaid The ‘best’ place to buy is at the site you will be using it The most economical way is to bulk buy …. And bulk means bulk Pyro needs to be posted by approved options, with carriers that provide suitable options and in suitably marked packaging. The cost and availability of these keeps rising in £ and reducing in options. (Declaration of interests - I have a sponsorship relationship with Enola Gaye ) They have put up useful information on transporting, storing and general safety guides in articles on their website, eg: https://enolagaye.com/pyrotechnic-regulations-necessary-inconvenience-un-necessary-evil/ I recommend buying from the site you play at for ease of those issues and also it means that the sites get to have their share of profit, so the business doing the service of providing a site to play at get a share It also means that if there is a bad batch of pyro * then you can go straight back to the sites shop. * do read the instructions on how to ignite the specific pyro: Be gentle with friction pyro and if it’s a ring pull then clarify which way to pull

1) Change: A series of rooms/corridors quickly becomes boring once people have planned out known routes and angles It is very dependant on the construction, but ideally you would have elements to open and block off routes - if a ‘real’ building then open/close doorways avoid actually locking them for safety - but have a rule such as a closed door cannot be opened (unless ‘breaching’ is part of the game) eg tape over and the door becomes a wall If a zone is constructed with board and doorways/corridors are fairly consistent in size then extra boards could be slotted in/hung up to close a route 2) have objectives Find a thing, retrieve it or deliver it Find multiple things - parts of a device or a bomb that needs a key or code to disarm Have time trials - complete it in the quickest time Have simulated missions - eg don’t play against each other but have one person set up targets (friendly and unfriendly). Then run time trials to clear unfriendlies with a penalty for eliminating a friendly A similar manner without one person knowing the target layout is multi context targets - (a basic target with shapes and colours) pick a shape / colour combination target then time trial that Layout design - we all think we know what is ‘wrong’ with any zones layout, but usually are not taking into account the game context. You would have thought that a fort would not have great big wide entrances and that towers would not have wide open backs - these are both design features to make a fort attackable in a game When designing make sure that there are defendable points that can be attacked Otherwise one good defender in a fortress turns a game into the worst day for attackers as opposed to one good defender bedded in that can be flanked and eventually defeated Both winners and losers should walk out smiling, and a well balanced site and its games should give a mix of winning / losing. Soeedsoft is a very good point CQB lends itself well to fast aggressive play, whereas tactical slowness tends to be the right thing in reality to stay alive it does not achieve anything in a reasonable time The classic cosplay tactical airsofter will stack up at a corner, and unless a group who have practiced CQB together will bottle neck themselves The speedsofter will run past them, spray a room, then respawn while the next speedsoft behind them clears the next room If that becomes a problem in your game format then the penalties for being eliminated need to be greater (one life games?) and the same goes for taking too long stacked up (time limited games)

In addition to the common physical factor being your rail, have you also considered the effect of parralex error from your head/eye position? A little ‘adjustment’ can be made to your rail - permanently by filing down an edge or less permanently by slipping in some paper or card on one side to shift the sights relative position when mounting. There isn’t too much that can be done about parralex error, but extra layers of rails or an offset rail can move the sight to what may be a ‘better’ position

BZ are well established in paintball, and were (or still are) the official Tippman techs for the UK They have been in airsoft for a number of years They ran a CQB tactical ‘experience’ at a particular event, and when chatting I recall being told that “something new is coming” which was then announced as the Tippman airsoft range Do be aware that their web store has been cloned more than once - make sure that you deal with the real BZ

I’ve played the site at their paintball big games They are a long established & experienced paintball site, with a good reputation in the paintball community I’ve walked through but not played their killhouse (I believe that it is exclusive to airsoft). This looks well laid out Many zones have a mini safe area on field, which can allow you to stay out when eliminated and reload etc if playing shorter games saving the walk back My only dislike is that during the main big game when multiple zones are active is that there are no short cuts out to the safe zone - or I haven’t found them (They have a lot of safety netting up and set pathways - exits might get opened on standard days, but I’ve had to turn back a few times in the big games when trying to take a shortcut to the main safe zone)

How about “Thanks for getting sight of the site back up.”

@RostokMcSpoons Have you tried Dye tech support ? You’ll need the German office for European support, in the past they’ve just posted out the smalls. (It used to be far easier when they also had a UK tech office, but the German office has been just as good for me) https://shop.dyepaintball.com/pages/contact?srsltid=AfmBOorgmlF_FCfuDTMJrD5JtEd60B-lSZMIzfWkSrPvj1P6OqFKR1RF

Some of the Dye tech manuals are here: https://shop.dyepaintball.com/pages/manuals?srsltid=AfmBOop8pO79BHfo67Zb4XbjDwib7wBlKfLSFWeGatzUYtyy92B0TKbz and one of them gives the internal parts which in this case has the external o-ring (‘standard’ bottle o-ring) as a ‘0015 PU80’ and the internal piston o-rings ‘013 PU80’ and ‘008 PU80’ Assuming the right match you are after the ‘013 PU80’ Parts reference numbers on o-rings usually indicate part of the size, which would imply 13mm - but it’s probably 13mm outter diameter, and perhaps then 11mm inner diameter

The ‘standard’ bottle o-ring would sit further down, which in paintball would be the top of the cylinders bonnet, (as per the images below) whereas your problem o-ring is further up and as discovered a little smaller Almost everything is to an industry standard size ….. but there are many standard sizes to choose from! Am I right in thinking that you’re looking at the internal elements at about 4:20 of this video on regulator servicing ?

It’s actually very common to factor in for pricing on the basis of “how much will the market bear” As mentioned when pricing an item there two sets of initial costs (design, tooling and development) and the production costs (materials, energy consumed, production line staff) These mean you have an initial cost per item (the actual cost per item plus initial outlay to recoup apportioned across an estimated amount to be produced There are other overheads to take into account of generally running the business If you put together those costs that need to be recouped, and then a basic percentage on top to make it worth doing then you have a starting price. Would anyone buy it at that price? This is where you can flex up/down based on what someone might spend. £p per shot is an indicator that the prospective buyer could be comparing in the shop They also may be looking at the total cost of a purchase - if all are sold in the same quantity then this still reflects £p per shot. But if you offer other quantities you can influence a little ….. x BB might cost more than y BB per shot, but a bag of 3/4 the quantity can compensate against that - pay more per BB but less per purchase When it comes to what ought to be a more consistent : accurate BB the customer might think differently and work out their £p per elimination, with x BB cheaper per shot but flying in circles with every BB per burst missing the target There is also a bit of psychology to be had as well. Price up three BBs: x BB is low priced y BB costs a bit more z BB is higher and looks excessively priced against x BB Let’s say that they are all the same BB from the same factory with just a different label and price Hardly anyone is going to be a cheapskate with x BB, just those who have to count the pennies or plan to just pray and spray Some will consider themselves special with fine tuned consistent RIFs that deserve the best and pay the premium of z BB Most will stick to the middle option of y BB, they aren’t cheapskates and aren’t so flush to splash out, they will go for the one that’s inbetween (The Goldilocks principle) Just by looking at the price the assumption is that one is cheaper and lesser quality, another is more premium and the middle one must be ‘just right’ This perception is that there is a reason for the price ranges, whereas in the theoretical piece it’s only for the perception If you really do have a difference (weight and / or production quality) then the materials and the equipment can make a difference in the item cost, but it still has to stand on whether people will pay that (the market bears the price) You could have a set quality level and and efficient process resulting in cheap costs - but price purely based on a percentage uplift to that would result in a cheap retail price - and customers could dismiss it as too cheap. If you’re lucky enough to be in that position you can bump up the price and profit, giving you more leeway for items that end up with a tighter margin to keep within a price that buyers will be willing to pay

I’ve made and used many maps for sites, which makes particular sense when I’ve designed and run events on sites but I have printed and even made my own maps of sites that I’ve just played at I’ve been especially fond of overlaying a sites feature/zone sketch map onto aerial maps giving context. I prefer event days/weekends where the entire site is in play rather than a standard day where you play a single zone at a time walking to it as a group. But it’s still handy to have some context I come from the Orkney islands famed for their Viking history and explorers. But my family tree traces back to a shipwrecked sailor, and the only exploring genes I have come from those who have discovered new lands by getting lost. I am also the man who lost his stack of poles, rope and coloured material when constructing objective flag poles. I had placed them on a convenient ridge roughly in the centre of each of the objectives that I was building flag poles. This meant wandering in decreasing circles to find the stash of supplies to build the next objective flag pole it is very useful to have a pocket guide to give me a clue that if I walk through a cowboy town instead of a missile base that I’m walking away from the safe zone instead of towards it