Tommikka

Importing is such fun Cost wise take into account the full purchase cost plus postage, and allow for variable currency exchange rates depending on whether or not they charge an international £ price or your bank/card issuer converts - and the timing that they use to charge the conversion Those are the easy bits If you are very lucky the overseas retailer will be registered for UK VAT to cover UK sales over £135 and they annotate declarations appropriately - therefore customs treat it as if you bought in the UK But this costs them money and probably isn’t worth the effort. So add on 20%, but not necessarily to the declared sale + postage total converted at ‘todays’ rates on arrival. Packages may get reassessed to a UK equivalent price and VAT charged on that You shouldn’t get actual customs charges - but check the gov.uk website for the latest on item categories As the border handling carrier will be dealing with the assessment they will add their carrier handling fee. This could be a fixed price across a range of amounts depending on carrier, or it could be a percentage charge against the assessed value Add all those together, plus time and worry whilst watching tracking status and you will most likely be in the ballpark of a UK retail price (or more) ……… If what you want is not listed in the UK then start by calling some retailers and they may import on your behalf via their suppliers, commercial importing also comes at a cost but handled at a greater scale and they would be paying trade prices. A special import on your behalf may cost more than an equivalent UK retail item, but it comes with more peace of mind plus their risk. This also supports UK retail and gives you a point of contact for any issues ……. If you’re looking to save on UK retail then you often don’t really save anything or a much smaller amount saved than expected …….. Sometimes though it’s a matter of getting that special thing that isn’t available in the UK, or to be first to get it - but sometimes trying to be first ends up being last when it’s sat in a depot awaiting document clearance (Last year I spent $295 plus almost £60 in charges(£45.73 import VAT, £12 handling) with 3 weeks in transit / handling …. And picked it up at the depot on the way to the event I wanted to use it at, only just beating it being released for delivery.) * I used it twice last year and will be using it twice this year - £300 plus some worry so that I could ‘be that guy’ with the unique niche product There is also another elephant in the room - will it arrive to UK spec, and will it get identified as over powered at customs ? * little correction that I just remembered. I didn’t ‘beat’ the release for delivery, I was watching the tracking status wondering if it would clear in time for onward delivery - which it didn’t, and was in fairly regular contact with the help desk including clarifying if it would stay in situ once the final charge was calculated or get forwarded to my local sorting office. It was cleared on the evening before / morning of the day that I was leaving and a minor diversion on my route so I managed to pay and collect in person at Basingstoke on my way from Salisbury to London

What he said. Zero in your sights at the range that you expect to shoot. Then practice shooting targets that are nearer and further away so that you know how to adjust aim Alternatively practice shooting at a few ranges. See what appears to be a ‘long’ distance at which you can consistently hit within a fair but wide grouping (eg half the size of a human beings chest) and consider that to be the furthest that you would use your sights. Next pick out a closer distance at which you would look into the sights (not so close that you can just point and shoot) Pick a middling distance (not exactly the centre of both of those ranges - you are going to attempt to set your zero at the mid point of the sight between your short and long distances. To pick what that middle distance is shoot at your long distance and your short distance. Read the sight markings to check how many dots/dashes there are between them. Adjust the sights so that they are either the most apart on your sight, or preferably not quite the most apart (which allows you some more visual adjustment when in game) Then aim for the centre marking of the sight and position yourself / your target going a little closer / further away until you get your optimum grouping on that centre mark. That is then your zeroing distance and you have worked out how you expect that you should adjust aim for different distances

Fenton! AKA, potential Boston Dynamics robo dog spotted in Ukraine … and the original source … https://x.com/astraiaintel/status/1819985311855763600

“All in” means postage and fees are included Its laziness on the sellers side to ask buyers to work out what to pay, plus it can mean that the seller receives less than expected when a buyer adds on the PayPal percentage without realising that the rate has to be reverse engineered from the total including fees If a buyer pays the asking price of £210 you would receive £203.61 If you want to receive £210 then ask for £216.58 Alternatively round the asking price up or down https://www.clothnappytree.com/ppcalculator/

….: and some of mine In the order of dead, nearly dead and their baby Dead had a final of 2019/09 Nearly dead has a final of 2025/01 but is out of test so I’ve sacrificed it as not worth testing for the number of games planned Their new baby awaits a new regulator (I was half considering a regulator transplantation but have opted for brand new giving me the benefit of fresh lightweight, customisable output, and peace of mind that burst disks won’t be giving up the goat)

That does look similar-ish to a 5/8” DIN fitting, but DIN fill rigs don’t have that nipple. A word with your supplier is the best option

This sort of thing is used as a fill rig for scuba to paintball / airsoft cylinders https://www.bzpaintball.co.uk/hk-army-a-clamp-yolk-fill-station-blue It does of course depend on what type of fitting you have on your nitrogen cylinders. If you come from a regulated output then your maximum fill will be the maximum you can get. That may be fine for testing provided you can draw off more than your airsoft output pressure requirement , but to get the most from your cylinder you need 3000psi / 232bar As you have a 300bar cylinder that’s 4500psi, which means you should regulate your fill rig to 3000psi, but provided you slow fill and watch the gauges it’s viable to fill into 3000psi from a 4500psi source (it is of course best practice to regulate at the appropriate level) This uses a site type fill station but the principles are the same. If filling from low or empty then fill a little, stop and pause, fill a little more and repeat. That ensures it’s nice and slow and reduces heat generation If you fast fill from empty then not only are you increasing the risk of overfilling but gas expands when hot - when it cools the pressure will drop which means a fast hot fill ends up with less of a fill

That’s good for HPA and / or nitrogen Yep. The optimum is to fill on site with a ‘proper’ high pressure, filtered & maintained compressor which runs into the thousands of £ Cheaper compressors are available now (not workshop ones) can do the job these days without killing you, there are also Your plan to use existing nitrogen facilities is a fair one Viable alternatives for those who need their own fill system are typically a scuba cylinder rig or a ‘shoebox compressor’ which takes input from a workshop type compressor then boosts up to 3000psi etc - but that is slow & noisy A compromise is a high pressure stirrup pump - relatively cheap (ensure a filter is added) but takes time and effort Your existing nitrogen is a good call, clean & convenient

Just to be sure as you mentioned CO2…… You are using an actual HPA cylinder aren’t you as opposed to a CO2 cylinder ? HPA cylinders are topped off with a regulator assembly incorporating burst discs, pressure gauge, fill nipple and output valve. Whereas CO2 cylinders have a combined input/output valve with potentially an on/off. Assuming it is HPA then nitrogen will be fine, it’s cleaner than air (of which nitrogen makes up the majority) Back in the day as paintball (mostly) migrated from CO2 to compressed air nitrogen was often used instead from bulk cylinders until sites invested in HPA compressors.

Another tip with public transport is to think twice about your choice of bags. A gun bag is designed well for the purpose, but looks like a gun bag Consider other options, eg a sports bag or hold-all rather than a dedicated gun bag, or alternatively an outer bag - I have a snowboard bag that I used to use with gun bags inside it, that was more for the convenience of storing and carrying two or three gun bags at once from the back of the car onto the site but it also anonymises the contents (It would have been useful on the day that my car was parked on one side of motorway services and we had traveled on as a group getting dropped off on the other side. My team mate passenger was not so good at luggage and had also bought another gun with no bag or case - We had to make multiple trips due to the amount of gear, wrapped his in dirty playing clothes, met coach loads of pedestrians on the bridge in the opposite direction and as I had parked in a distant quiet part of the car park the motorway police had decided to meet up for their coffee and donuts next to my car - a big anonymous bag with lots of spare space would have been useful ———— Regarding spare clothes consider them for multiple purposes: You can avoid looking like a gun nut on public transport A clean set of clothes feels so good after a days play Depending on venue, weather and your style of play - if you have extra carrying capacity some spare playing clothes can let you be dry, clean and comfortable especially if the site breaks for lunch - it’s then that you cool down and feel grotty after crawling through mud earlier on. Fresh playing clothes reinvigorates you

Yes you can The VCRA covers the sale, import and manufacture Possession is fine, but transport it appropriately

It was really a self depreciating dig at myself as resident paintballer for 10 years Never played a game of airsoft myself, ran a few, and owned the precursor soft air gun kits back in the 80s (I did recently bite the bullet and bin my original M4 kit in a sad pile of parts that I pulled out of a cupboard)

At least ‘survival’ shows specially select applicants for such skills as sleeping in the sun and making some entertainment Meet David Lakota, ex US special forces* and the joy of his Doomsday preppers appearance. As he lives in Hawaii he has a plan to get to safety in the event of a tsunami, he has skills, he won’t just take the obvious route heading to the high ground ….. * Some people think that the film ‘the men who stare at goats’ was a fictional comedy film. David is from a later generation of the real unit - and due to our team name invited us to join his “New earth army” - we politely declined I did end up eventually blocking him, but I miss our conversations https://ejmas.com/jnc/jncart_channon_0200.htm

Duration of membership doesn’t mean anything …….. some may have been on this forum for about a decade without playing a single game of Airsoft

Yes I do most things on mobile, the computer in my pocket blows away most of those that I learned my old man skills on, and I’ve got finger skills for an old man What you’ve described as a building block is rolling back to a much more dated structure, if you have resources and ability then starting from scratch works and could make you the next social media giant, but using tools to build works much better (you’ve already pointed out that you’ve started off with a web builder, so you could just as well start from a social builder such as a forum environment - these are available as commercial off the shelf and open/community source environments The look and feel isn’t set in stone, and the functions can be made as visible or as deeply hidden as system owners desire - and if it doesn’t work as desired there’s a programmer out there somewhere that will code it in

A people based focus of forums…… click on a name to get the individuals forum home, track their content, privately or publicly interact with them: https://airsoft-forums.uk/profile/12141-tommikka/ Click my name and you can post on my personal page or message me privately, or jump in at the forum home and the member list https://airsoft-forums.uk/profile/12141-tommikka/ Hit @ and get a drop down to tag me in a response on thread without needing to quote @Bo B Why not a world map? Why not teams / clubs as well as sites? https://airsoft-forums.uk/clubs/ Not enabled on this forum currently (as far as I know) but calendars & events are a function of Invisioncommunity in which this forum has been built https://invisioncommunity.com/features/calendar/

In theory yes They would document a history of, and imply an intention to “skirmish at an insured site” But that’s up to Border Force, and especially the individuals of Border Force/ the carrier that handle passing through customs - whether that’s in luggage or by container. The relevant import documents would declare contents and relevant justifications eg - declaring a RIF as UK legal, with a VCRA defence (skirmishing), but due to circumstances without UKARA - which is not a legal requirement but the most recognised defence Possession is perfectly fine with an expired UKARA (or even without ever having UKARA) Your ‘problem’ is the confidence of documenting/justifying the import part of VCRA which has the same defence on intent to skirmish at an insured site (Something none of us has commented on, is if you have any accessories that may have arms export/import restrictions - these can flag on the most obscure point)

For my activities I use: forums public Facebook pages/groups restricted membership Facebook pages/groups My personal facebook My team/group public facing Facebook pages/groups Private pre set & event specific Facebook/pages/groups/chats YouTube and/or public facing Facebook galleries OneDrive and/or google hosting Accommodation apps Navigation / geo visual apps Calendar scheduling Personal / business / team banking Payment processing Event ticket host services I have gone into overkill there, especially with accommodation, travel etc and niche areas on co-ordinating a team or event ……. But the honest question(s) is/are: what are these key features? why aren’t they available from existing social media ? (by potentially turning on optional social media features that have existed for over 60 years), why do they need to be in one point of failure? (last weeks CrowdStrike update final outage)

A two parter: With Toms rough history of forums & social media, then my key questions Fairly abridged history of social media/forums: Newsgroups / bulletin boards, chat rooms, conferencing systems Accessed by exlusive dial up or network/internet These evolved into internet forums Social media is sometimes considered a 'modern' thing with Facebook, X/Twitter etc - there have been many along the way GeoCities, MySpace etc which came and went sometimes generational (of the user) and sometimes corporate/technolgy change - mostly generational and corporate But the functionality of social media was around long before BBSs and the internet, in (or before) the 60s within university & governemnt local(-ish) networks - which became connected giving birth ARPANET and subsequently to the internet In their heyday forums were the place for 'enthusiasts' of a subject. In the paintball context there were a handful of 'international' and 'national' forums (primarily US ones could have an international section), and the'enthusiasts' would tend to be a member of an 'overarching paintball' forum plus a 'specific' flavour of forum such as WalkOnZone, UKScenario, P8ntballer (mostly tournament themed) Sites/event organisers probably had a website, which may or may not get updated. Facebook pages, became more useful than push based websites, and with the ability for the site to run rather than rely on a web geek (often free 'volunteer' from the marshalling team) to update their pages. The forums would have regional/team/event sections / thrreads. Facebook 'group' and 'page' functions allowed for the more specific interested parties to focus on a topic. e.g. a sites walkon group, or an events faction groups etc. Then rather than have a forum opener & overview leading to specific conversations / date scheduling some would move fully away from the forum. Cliques occured, e.g. Fred didn't like the Bert forum discussion/classifieds rules, so Fred took all his friends to the new Bert Facebook group. Dodgy Dave got caught on all the forums for all his scam sales, so created his own Facebook sales groups, scamming the new blood & blocking those warning about Daves scams before that group died and created a new one The handful of forum flavours with sub-categories also moved into nieche Facebook groups, fragmenting away and also into cliques (I can instantly name two MagFed paintball cliques and then cliques within cliques) The 'groups' fractured, and the 'current' nature of Facebook etc loses information into history, with constant repetition and opinion easily disguised as fact. Facebook groups tried to set rules, and if enforced would result in further splintering, then Facebook set rules which resulted in secret languages which have the potential of suddenly killing off an entire Facebook group when the wrong word flags up. Somme users returned to forums - but for about a week whilst spamming threads with one line comments to gain calssifieds privileges to be followed by disappearing when they make their sale/purchase or a moderator resets their spam posts. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ This then brings us to your problem statements: (1) The community is fractured and (2) social media is applying its rules. The answer to number 2 is easy, return to the forums. What are the elements that forums don't work for? Why is there a need for a new 'social media website' , which would just fracture the community even more, and how would anyone find it? (And how will hosting be provided for all the functionally / be paid for *) (a forum is a social media website - an online discussion site with extra functionality - as above, social meadia features have been around for longer than the internet) * the last UK paintball forum closed three weeks ago, I was a moderator and am still a moderator on the related Facebook page (which was a front end in for messaging in case of failure) That forum has always been owned by a particular ‘character/face’ of paintball with a funding stream from retailer advertising - I know nothing more about the closure, it just went down and parked on a holding page. The domain is now (potentially) available to buy, with the domain registrar accepting bids

On the basis of ‘skirmishing at an insured site’ - technically yes Between the lines on the intent of ‘realistic look for immersive skirmishing’ then one booking doesn’t prove anything - you could be going on a stag do where bright orange site supplied IFs do the job (hence the VCRbill consultation proposed time window and UKARA time window) With the ‘actual’ defence being intent to skirmish it really comes down to ‘can you convince the person you’re trying to convince’? —- and that will vary On a semi related note, when crossing a border anyone may have to convince immigration on intent, eg as a tourist by having accommodation booked, a return ticket and enough funds to last that period of time - and anyone could be sent back on the next flight out if they aren’t convinced

What would make me a good bets tester? Attention to detail

Your reason for importing would be for the purpose of Airsoft skirmishing, therefore under VCRA terms you would be within the law But without UKARA - and obviously without the ability to play until you get here - you won’t have the common documentation method that they would use to validate ….. now is the time for one of the previous travellers to post up their experiences - these are fairly common questions about bringing RIFs across borders but the final experience rarely gets fed back

When was this ? An official Army campaign or something knocked together with a stock photo beside it? Just to be sure though - was it a Marine commando flash or a commando flash? There are Army qualified commandos who wear the Army commando flash (Note that Army commandos precede the Royal Marine commandos) You’re not thinking of the time that the Marines bought the adverising slot in the middle of an Army fly on the wall documentary?

…… and an uncropped version Shame that most of you won’t be able to see the full RUSI content (which the article references), some extracts will get uploaded on YouTube, the more interesting points happen with live mics during breaks ….. https://youtube.com/@rusiorg?si=hB2hJOuxpT3SC8jl ….. If any of you do have access to yesterdays full 7 hour stream then replay between 3:59:20 and 4:00:10 stream