PureSilver
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Posts posted by PureSilver
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The man is a bell-end of the highest order. The only thing I can recommend absolutely is his Twitter, which is a collection of nuclear hot takes and some of the purest, most concentrated cringe ever to splatter across the face of the internet. Some recent highlights include:
Have you considered forging COVID-19 certificates?
Would you rather have dinner with me, or wear my clothes?
Would you rather date a beautiful woman, or be my simp?
"I think Andrew Tate's a pretty cool guy. Eh traffics women and doesnt afraid of anything."
All of these are just from the last three months, truly amazing. Some more absolute bangers:
My unpopularity is symptomatic of societal decline.
I would like to take this opportunity to not attempt to refute any of these accusations.
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15 hours ago, Brokencreation said:
Vorpal Bunny AM.45
Is it even a real abomination if you don't hack it up a bit? ARMY Armament R45 "V6", customised with "V6" barrel porting and slide cuts, custom-milled mount for ACM Shield RMS, and a Nova trigger. Since these photos were taken it got an ARMY magazine release that's closer to the VB one, and I've flattened the grips. Still needs a new hammer, a dust cover rail, and battleship grey paintjob.
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This is spectacular work - do you have any plans you drew it up from, or anything?
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On 05/09/2023 at 20:44, Adenley said:After years of searching I somehow managed to stumble upon this wonderful TM Aug A1 with the steel HBAR kit with the correct bipod and flash hider. Not sure how rare these kits are but I’ve only come across a small hand-full of these.
They are rare. I've only ever seen one for sale; I bought it and had it modified to 14mm CCW to fit my GHK. Incidentally, I still have the original, unmodified 16mm CW barrel stub from mine - if you want that as a spare, or to put on another AUG or something, just drop me a PM.
It was done by cutting a Hephaestus steel outer barrel down - each bit is full steel, including the gas block.
S, M, XXL
Not sure why I insist on waiting until I'm selling something to take decent pictures of it, but all three bits (the pistol, the light, the holster) of this slice of 2000s Navy SEAL life are sadly for sale.
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On 08/07/2023 at 08:26, Scythian said:
That looks electric to me, or at least I'm not seeing a gas fill port. Interesting concept though.
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On 31/01/2023 at 00:20, RostokMcSpoons said:
That AUG looks a beauty by the way 😍
Thanks! It basically bankrupted me but at least all three configurations can keep me company in my cardboard box under a bridge.On 31/01/2023 at 00:20, RostokMcSpoons said:Has anyone told either of you that they can see the flashes and it gave away your position? I've always played woodland so tracer units are a rarity, but I played against one guy who perhaps had the full 'muzzle flame effect', and he drew more attention to himself than Miss Whiplash down at the docks...
Any time a tracer unit goes off it’s going to be noticeable to people that are looking down the barrel, even without using tracer ammunition. In general people aren’t bothered about it because the bright green streaks of ammunition are already giving away their position. It sounds like the guy you were playing against had a muzzle flash or ‘spitfire’ unit - I have one of those too and it’s tons of fun with GBBRs.I’ve never tried to use my X3300W without tracer ammunition, so I’m not sure if there’s a way to do so without the flash… Maybe the V2 can do that?
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Pleasure, glad to help.
4 hours ago, RostokMcSpoons said:I think my AUG would struggle though.
My AUG is cut down to the gas block (I have various screw-on barrel extensions) and I can confirm the "ears" of the faux gas regulator interfere with the X3300W suppressor. I got a Guarder 1" extension (I'm one of those imbeciles that has to have steel everything) and that solved the problem immediately.
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3 hours ago, RostokMcSpoons said:
[W]hat's the opinion these days?
I have what I assume is a V1. I like mine plenty, especially for when I'm running a GBBR or something else with limited capacity and I don't want to run dry at a particularly inopportune moment. Some things to consider:
- I'd prefer for it to be rechargeable rather than AAs and AAAs (maybe the V2 has that) but the batteries have lasted me since I bought it, which is several years and several thousand rounds, so I can't complain too much.
- I'd advise putting some permanent marker on the on/off button on the back, which like most tracers blips bright green every few seconds to let you know it's on, which is annoying when playing in the dark.
- Bear in mind that the back of the suppressor is completely flat (no protruding collar) which means if there's something on your gun that protrudes near the barrel threads you might not be able to screw it all the way on. A 1" barrel extension (Guarder and doubtless numerous others sell them) will solve this issue.
3 hours ago, RostokMcSpoons said:[T]here were complaints the PEQ box was very flimsy but otherwise it seems pretty good [...] Did the V2 bring in a better build quality, or am I going to bust it in the first skirmish?
The "PEQ" doesn't feel fragile; mine has presumably taken BB hits (the rest of the gun has taken plenty) and seems undamaged. I wouldn't want it to take a BB hit to the display, though - it doesn't look like it has a polycarbonate shield or anything. I should probably print one to give it a bit more protection. The display has a sunshade sort of thing with side wings that have evidently protected it so far, but if I got shot from behind it would be vulnerable.
My complaint is actually with the suppressor/tracer unit. I must have smacked the front of it on something at some point (inevitable in CQB), which dented the casing out of round and caused the front cap to pop off and disappear. Mine shipped with a spare cap, but with the dent it won't fit into place. I need to take a hammer or something and bang it back into shape, and maybe get or print one of those faux glass-breakers or something to give it a bit more protection. If you're looking to encase it in a bigger suppressor that would be an excellent way to stop this happening.
3 hours ago, RostokMcSpoons said:Do all the gizmos actually work well?
I haven't tried the FCU but the rest of it works just fine. I don't use the FCU and never would, I don't use any basic AEGs so all my guns stop on empty anyway. I wouldn't particularly recommend it even for basic AEGs, that kind of man-in-the-middle interrupter is never going to be ideal.
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Format shamelessly stolen from @Asomodai.
EXTREMELY LENGTHY REVIEW.
Site Name: CAMO CQB Skirmish Arena
Contact Details: [email protected]
Website Address: https://camoairsoftevents.com/indoor-airsoft-arena/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/CAMOcqb
Site Address: 39 Shannon Way, Canvey Island, SS8 0PD
Hello all! I can't find a review of CAMO's indoor CQB site on AFUK, which is understandable as it's a relatively new site (only open since 03/04/22). @blobface and I played the Sunday game on 27/11/22.
The Site:
The CQB Skirmish Arena is really only a part of the CAMO retail complex, and shares space with the shop showroom, technicians' workshop, electronic shooting range, and a slightly weird booth seating area evidently intended for players and shoppers to eat crisps and chat shit. As usual providing a size comparison to other CQB sites isn't easy, but I roughly estimate it at about a fifth of the size of The Mall. The whole complex is arranged over a single floor in an industrial estate on Canvey Island.
The provisional (not final) layout of the CAMO retail complex. Yes it does look like Daedalus designed a vape.
The site is semi-auto only, with an energy limit of 350FPS (1.14J), and a maximum BB weight of 0.32g (277FPS equivalent). No pyrotechnical devices of any sort - including BFGs - or green lasers are permitted. The site is in perfect condition (as you would expect, being at present less than six months old) and I would expect it to stay that way. I recommend bringing a torch, as the lighting in the play area can be adjusted at random in both brightness and colour.
Good:
Safe Zone: The safe zone is by a country mile the best I've ever used in a decade and a half of airsoft. It's clean, well lit, gargantuan for the maximum number of players (20), and fully kitted out with worktops. There's no seating, but the aforementioned weird booths are only yards away. Given that the entire complex is on one floor and the safe zone is at one end of it you're never more than 60 seconds' walk from it. Adjacent is a nifty shooting range with AttackSense electronic targets, an ideal way to spend your downtime - or at least it would be if the gaps between the games were more than a few minutes at most.
The shooting range.
Facilities: Absolutely first class. The complex itself is barely a year old, and was built entirely from scratch, seemingly almost exclusively out of OSB. The shop and booth seating area are large, spotlessly clean, and have multiple power sockets (including USB), large, clean flushing toilets (both male and female).
Site Layout: The arena is an American-style killhouse, played at extremely close quarters in a maze of very small spaces arranged to make the most of the limited square footage. If you don't like CQB you're going to hate the site, but you're also not going to go in the first place. If you like CQB this is a very professional-feeling place. Despite the limited square footage the arena itself feels quite large, but unfortunately due to some not-very-creative game modes you're not likely to see much of the opposing side's half, as things have a tendency to stalemate around the middle of the arena, with the small teams still managing to each cover most angles of attack. 20 players (the maximum permitted) is a good limit, but I think it would play better with 16-18 and/or some different game modes. Engagement distances are extremely short: shots of 10-15m at the absolute maximum and more like 1-5m on average. There is a lot of peeking doorways to see if someone is squatting low down; remember to check your corners! The respawn points are at opposite ends of the arena, so you'll never be more than 30 seconds from being back in play.
Marshalling: The marshals were friendly and very professional, although with so many obstructed sight lines it was presumably pretty difficult for them to see much. One standout thing is the use of kill counters - little boxes counting up (deaths) or down (respawns remaining to each team) in each spawn point. These were particularly good in an initial TDM mode to help assess the balance of the teams; this is a good idea brilliantly executed and I'd like to see more sites use the same system.
Safety: A very brief brief with no unfunny jokes, and stringent chronographing of all guns noted against a sheet of players. The ban on pyro is not just a fire safety requirement, it's an absolute must - the spaces are too confined and too close together for people to be lobbing grenades at each other. The BB weight limit is more than adequate given the short distances.
Turnaround Time: Very rapid, aided by the fact that the safe zone is readily accessible, but also necessitated by the very short game day (3hrs).
Average:
Value: £20.00 (£40.00 including rental equipment) for three hours' play would feel a bit steep for an abandoned building, but is pretty reasonable for a brand new purpose built arena with such a limited number of players. For reference, short games at Invicta's Black Site - which is comparable in terms of distance from London and must be at least double the size - are £25.00 for five hours. I would happily have paid another £5.00-10.00 for another 1-1.5hrs of play; three hours felt a bit short.
Game Options: The site has evening games (18:00-21:00) on Fridays and day games (10:00-13:00) on Sundays. I'm surprised that CAMO don't run a longer game (or a second one) on Sundays; it seems crazy to only pull in £800 a week from a site that must have cost tens of thousands of pounds to construct.
Location: Canvey Island is right out in the Thames delta. While still very convenient for Londoners (at about 45min on the train from Fenchurch Street, followed by a 5min bus ride) if you're not from somewhere in the South East it's going to be a bit of a trek, just like most other airsoft sites. There's plenty of on-site secure parking.
Game Modes: Limited to just three (TDM, find-and-retrieve objects, and infection with limited respawns) that I can recall, these were a bit underwhelming and definitely the thing easiest and most impactful to improve. Although the modes were simple and easy to play, aside from infection none allowed players to hunt each other through the entire arena, as flanking opportunities are restricted by the narrowness of the building itself. I would like to have roving objectives that enabled the sides to see more of the opponents' half of the arena during a game. Another feature I felt was under-used was the arena's smart lighting system - plunging the whole place into darkness would have been more interesting if it had lasted more than 30-60 seconds of every 10 minutes. There's great potential for gas-and-spring days, or "night" games in total darkness, and with only 20 players it could also be financially viable to just rent the entire site for private games.
Playerbase: The playerbase trends heavily towards young speedsofters, which is to be expected given the generally fast-paced play. Players were generally well-behaved, especially when it came to trying to limit overshooting, but I felt there were a few slightly questionable hits not taken, particularly given the extremely close range where it was hard to dismiss the tracer BBs visibly bouncing off opponents.
Site Shop: This is a tricky one. The fact that CAMO's actual online sales and retail operation are on-site means you have access to a massive range of guns, some accessories, and a professional workshop right next to the play area. The entire complex takes card payments. The arena counter has some of what you'll need on the day: BBs, propellant, snacks and soft drinks. There's no hot food, although with only 3 hours' play you may not work up much of an appetite. What lets the side down somewhat is the relative paucity of things players might need on the day, like PPE, LBE, batteries, or silicone oil. For example, if you're a CQB site operating partially in the dark, it's a bit weird to have only one weight (0.20g, too) of tracer BB to sell.
Bad:
UKARA Registration: CAMO are not presently able to offer a UKARA-registered site membership, although they hope to be able to do so in 2023. This is a bit of an omission for a site that is operated by a fairly major airsoft retailer and it will be good to see it addressed.
Conclusion:
The CQB Arena is a good morning's play, in a style and setting that's relatively novel for this part of the UK at least. The complex itself is simply a cut above any other site I've ever visited. The arena itself is quite interesting and it would take many game days to learn it all, CAMO run it very professionally, and the players seem to make the most of both. I'd wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone interested in some CQB, and we'll certainly be back.
Bullpup Watch: My AUG and a P90.
Other Site Reviews
- JustMark, Emergencychimps, trojan1106 and 2 others
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On 16/07/2022 at 20:45, sp00n said:
In TM’s most recent YouTube video, at the end they apologised and said there was going to be a delay in releasing them 😞
You can see their announcement here. Google translated:
Quote"Saiga-12K" was originally scheduled to be released in the fall of 2021, but due to a delay in development, it was changed to the spring of 2022.
Preparations for the main production were completed as planned, and the main production started in June 2022. It was expected that the release could be announced in June, but in mid-June, the quality control section during inspection discovered a problem related to the launch operation.
This bug can only occur when multiple conditions are met. It seems that the probability of occurrence is low, but since it is a problem related to the operation of launch, we decided that we should take certain measures even if the release is postponed. The condition of the symptom and the identification of the cause were found within a few days, and from June 23, we decided to try multiple possible repair methods at this point. If it can be solved by a simple refurbishment, it seems that it can be released without waiting so much, but if that is not suitable, it may make you wait for a long time.
Since it will take two to three weeks to make a prototype and test to determine which one to use, we announced on Twitter on the same day that we will post a report around mid-July.As a result of the test, it was found that the occurrence of symptoms cannot be surely suppressed by a simple repair, and we are continuing to try various repair plans. However, since it is not clear at this point how long it will take for the refurbishment, we have not been able to provide a specific release date, but we have decided to postpone the release date.
Since it was announced as the next new product, we are very sorry that we have been waiting for a long time due to the repeated postponement of the release date, although we have received many expectations from everyone.
We will do our utmost to repair it, and when the release date is forecast, we will inform you again.We will make a thorough repair so that everyone can enjoy the gas blowback shotgun "Saiga-12K" with peace of mind, so please wait until it is completed.
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I've looked into RIS-attached over-the-bore bipods because one of my rifles literally doesn't have anywhere else to mount one:
Unfortunately as you say over-the-bore bipods aren't that common. The Fortmeier Phoenix looks nice, but it's RS and correspondingly expensive. The Leapers UTG TL-BPOB01-A looks OK but isn't that cheap either. The one I personally want is the Otto Repa Helios, which looks lighter, and which Begadi sold a relatively reasonably priced replica of several years back. Unfortunately they're really difficult to find, but worth investigating.
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A 2015 Infiltration Airsoft game in the Drakelow Tunnel Complex. This sort of captures the experience of playing in a dark, dank WWII industrial complex/1980s nuclear bunker, but the camera doesn't (and couldn't) capture the later atmosphere when players and smoke grenades stirred up so much dust you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. I have no doubt that a couple of games there without a gas mask would give you all the 19th century diseases.
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16 hours ago, Tackle said:
I don't know shite about joule creep, had it explained to me in detail, but [...] since forgotten everything previously explained to me
For the benefit of anyone else that's wondering what's going on, joule creep is a phenomenon where guns are more efficient with heavier ammo; they'll do 350FPS with 0.20g (1.14J), but 335FPS with 0.25g (1.30J), 330FPS with 0.30g (1.52J) etc. Essentially the energy level gets higher and higher with heavier ammo. Some sadistic
oxygen thievesbellendsknobgoblinspeople abuse this by passing chrono with 0.20g and then actually shooting 0.30-0.45g BBs with a correspondingly huge increase in power. Deliberately or not this phenomenon is especially prevalent in over-volumed guns like short-barrel BASRs, GBBRs and specifically tuned remote-line gas guns (HPA, Tippmanns etc.).13 hours ago, Rogerborg said:I approve of sites doing regular spot checks all through the day, using their own BBs, and heavy ones at that. [...] If they're going to do that, they need to be absolutely clear about it so that you can tune for it, and provide them at pre-game chrono as well. [...] If they're really concerned about what over-volumed guns can creep up to by loading heavier BBs, they should be using 0.4g or even heavier.
5 hours ago, concretesnail said:I appreciate that what has happened with the OP and his friend is never going to feel good but it is a policy that is try to prevent what has happened in the past reoccurring. [...] What I have found at anzio is that chrono stations are available as are a range of weights to test and check that rifs are within limits. [...] [It] would be nice to see a clarification on the sites rules as to how they intend to test in the play area for spot checks, that way responsible players can check their setups and tune accordingly, especially if they are genuinely honest and decent hpa users.
Pretty much exactly these. In more than a decade of play I've literally never seen a marshal doing spot chronographing (even though it's been mentioned repeatedly) so it's good to see that at least someone does it. However, it's absolute bullshit than they don't tell you they'll be chronographing with random BB weights, especially after you've previously passed chrono. If they want people to pass chronograph at 0.20g, 0.25g, 0.28g, 0.30g, 0.36g, 0.40g and 0.45g and so on, that needs to be both specified and tested for at the original chrono. Chrono will probably take five times as long if you're going to be testing each gun with seven BB weights rather than one but if that's what they want that's what they'll have to do.
44 minutes ago, Stratton Oakmont said:More the point being that an hpa system correctly set up for a given weight should not joule creep excessively with heavier bbs and unless set very close to the chrono limits (which is never a good idea given fluctuations in regulators and differing chronos) should not fail at any weight bb.
This is very much true; HPA guns with significant joule creep are running inefficiently and should be tuned more carefully. The whole point of electronic FCU control of solenoids is fine-tuning - with some experimentation it should be possible to tune the gun to shoot less than 1.1J (or whatever the limit is) with every BB in the 0.20-0.30g range.
43 minutes ago, Kls77 said:I just wanted to tell people on what happened . I won't loose sleep over it lol .
Very much the sensible approach.
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GBBs are not actually that complicated and this sort of problem is not uncommon. Sorry if this seems patronising (I don't know your experience level) but here are some things I think you should investigate before returning the gun.
- Is it cold where you live? Try shooting the gun indoors, where it's a bit warmer, to see if higher vapour pressure improves performance.
- Does the gas canister you're filling from have any actual liquid left in it? If you swirl it around you should hear and feel the liquid sloshing around inside. If there's no liquid in the canister to transfer to the magazine the gun won't shoot more than a handful of shots before venting.
- Is the magazine filling correctly? If the magazine is completely empty (push the outlet valve with your finger to completely empty it), you should hear the magazine filling with liquid, and then an audible change in tone or cessation of noise when it's full. If you're not sure, try weighing the magazine both empty and full - you should be seeing a difference of at least 5-10g, I should think.
The problems I suspect you actually have:
- Are the gun's seals dried out? I strongly suspect that your problem lies in the rubber seals in the gun's blowback unit, located in the rear of the slide. If the gun has been sitting on the shelf for a long time, it's possible that those seals have dried out and shrunk, allowing gas to blow by. This cripples efficiency; the rather anaemic blowback you're getting could be a sign of that. You can check this by removing the nozzle to access the seals, and solve it by generously oiling them with silicone oil and letting them soak it up for a couple of hours.
- Is the gun clean and correctly lubricated? Often guns come very dry from the factory; the slide rails in particular usually need lubricant for the gun to run smoothly. Excessive friction can cause the slide to hang up, which increases the time before the valve knocker is reset, which ruins efficiency. Ideally you should lubricate the rails with a non-petroleum-based grease - I like Froglube. Check to see how smooth the slide feels if you rack it by hand; if it feels resistant or gritty, clean the rails with a paper towel (preferably also with isopropyl alcohol, or warm soapy water) and lubricate them.
These last two points are regular maintenance items on any GBB and it is very common for out-of-the-box guns to have these issues.
24 minutes ago, BoingusMaximus said:I'm just about to send it back and request either a TM HK45 in its place, or get a refund and buy one of them from somewhere else.
TMs tend to be much more reliable and higher-performance out of the box, especially in cold weather. Bear in mind that the HK45 does not have a metal slide or outer barrel and it will be almost impossible to get them.
24 minutes ago, BoingusMaximus said:Ah, I didn't realise WE did a version too - I will have a look into that, thanks.
WE do a P99, but not a PPQ.
- Dan Robinson, Rogerborg and tinkle60
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9 hours ago, Stratton Oakmont said:
Is it any good?
I don’t have many rounds through it; it’s solely for this pistol, and the pistol isn’t finished. From what limited handling it’s had it seems perfectly OK; for what I paid that’s excellent. -
2 hours ago, Stratton Oakmont said:
Is that honestly a genuine shield???
Fake as fake can be!
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Inspired by the Springfield V12s, I present the Detonics... V6? This is eventually going to be mocked up (with further inspiration from Marui’s Vorpal Bunny) with smoothed grips, a front rail, and a battleship grey paintjob.
It is an ARMY R45 with an ACM Shield RMS, a Nova trigger, and Shooters Design 150% recoil springs. Not pictured yet are the Army extended magazine release and modified grips, which have been filled with putty in readiness for relief cuts and sanded smooth.
Milling the slide and the adaptor plate allowed me to sink the optic 3.5mm into the slide. This actually lower-third-cowitnesses with the factory sights, somehow.
Custom milled and drilled slide and barrel ports. The ARMY’s outer barrel is stainless steel and broke one of my milling bits. Lesson learned about using them to drill holes...
Total cost so far: ~£120
- timski, Stratton Oakmont, PopRocket123 and 4 others
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34 minutes ago, ak2m4 said:
@PureSilver how many players were on your day?
That's a good question. I was told it was fully booked, and the booking website offers 60 (!) tickets for day games and 40 for night games. I'm not a good judge of numbers, but I think about 50? About 25 per side felt about right, I think, which works out to 25 players per floor except during defensive one-life-for-defenders games where the numbers are whittled down quickly. The safe zone was the only area that felt crowded, really - I spent quite a while guarding an objective and didn't see another player for a solid 5 minutes. I wouldn't have minded the loss of 5 players per side but I think much more than that and it would have started to feel a bit lonely!
34 minutes ago, ak2m4 said:spent most of my time standing in the stairwell sadly. [...] Sounds like they've addressed some of the issues now.
I didn't see anyone standing in stairwells, and only once in the day did we have a stacking problem (of about 10 players being asked to storm a heavily contested room with a lot of barricaded enemies), in the middle of the site at the end of a game. Maybe they've moved stuff around inside to reduce pinch points - it was impossible to pin the spawns and very difficult to pin the staircases (and quite easy to dislodge people trying to do so).
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30 minutes ago, Albiscuit said:
I have been putting off going due to some concerns about how close it is and have heard it’s mostly corridor shooting.
Whilst I love my cqb room clearing and some wider spaces are genuinely appreciated.how does the site stack up to others, you mentioned the Mall, is it like being in the basement corridors the whole time or are there some more open spaces?
The central corridors are actually blocked off halfway to prevent long fields of fire stagnating play, so it's room-to-room or within the larger rooms. There are some more open spaces, especially in the two large rooms in the North corner of Bravo and the three along the Northern face of Charlie. Each is about the size of the smallest shops at The Mall, but broken up by internal barriers. Don't be fooled by the plant rooms - at least one (probably both) are absolutely full of HVAC equipment and ducting and you'd need to be Flat Stanley to get under it. The sheer number of doors, windows and holes knocked in walls means flanking defenders is usually possible, and even the most determined can be dislodged with grenades. If you played Echelon it's similar to the second and third floors of that.
30 minutes ago, Albiscuit said:oh and great review. Don’t feel ashamed about ripping off a template that works.
Thanks!
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If I was going to push power limits on a KTW Winchester I'd be looking at Volante Airsoft's green gas conversion. It should allow a significant boost in power without putting extra stress on the gun.
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Format shamelessly stolen from @Asomodai.
EXTREMELY LENGTHY REVIEW.
Site Name: Invicta Battlefield Black Site
Contact Details: [email protected]
Website Address: https://www.invictabattlefield.co.uk/cqb-site
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Invictabattlefield
Site Address: Hampstead Lane, ME18 6AD
Hello all! I can't find a review of Invicta Battlefield's Black Site on AFUK, which is understandable as it's a relatively new site (only open since 08/12/21). @blobface and I played the Sunday game on 29/05/22.
The Site:
Black Site is a medium-size CQB site spread over three floors of a derelict building formerly occupied by ICI. It's literally 30 feet from Yalding train station. Providing a size comparison to other CQB sites isn't that easy, but I roughly estimate it at about two-fifths of the size of The Mall. The site itself has four floors - Alpha (the safe zone), Bravo, Charlie and Delta (not currently in play).
Side Elevation
The site is semi-auto only, with an energy limit of 350FPS (1.14J), and a maximum BB weight of 0.25g (313FPS equivalent). You may only carry a maximum of 300rds on your person. No sniper rifles, DMRs, grenade launchers, drum magazines, smoke grenades, or green lasers are permitted. Pyro use is limited to BFGs up to 9mm PAK/.380R, EG67s and Mk. Vs. I'd recommend bringing or buying a few grenades; dead players are not permitted to collect thrown grenades until the end of the game. The play area of the site is in fair condition - no rubbish, but there's a lot of dust and occasional dripping patches on ceilings. You must bring a torch; almost all of the building is in near-total darkness, with windows boarded up and interior lighting non-functional outside of stairwells and the safe zone.
Good:
Location: This is a readily accessible site for those travelling by train: the site's front door is quite literally 50' from Yalding station's exit. This is pretty convenient for London-based players, at a bit over an hour on the train from Charing Cross with one change. The site has a very large gravel car park available for those travelling by car.
Site Layout: At present three floors - Alpha, which is the safe zone, and Bravo and Charlie, which are in play - are open. Both Bravo and Charlie are an interesting collection of medium-sized offices, corridors, and industrial spaces. Holes have been cut in some of the interior walls for access; some of these are pretty small so a hat or helmet is recommended. Larger spaces are broken up by barriers and furniture to provide hard cover. The entire play area is in almost complete darkness. I didn't see anyone with NV, and given how everyone's using a torch it may not be that advantageous, but if that's your bag every game here is a night game.
Floor Plans
Engagement distances are typically short - mostly 5-15m, depending on angles and your appetite for storming a room and eating a lot of BBs at bad-breath range. The respawn points are at the base of the stairwells, which is my only major complaint: descending and then ascending two flights of stairs every couple of minutes doesn't feel like much of a reward for pushing up. Since the stairwells themselves thankfully aren't in play I'd be happier with a respawn point on each floor and a minimum respawn group size or time.
Marshalling: Really really good, possibly the best I've ever seen. There were loads of them, they were friendly and helpful, and they intervened frequently, e.g. to tell players that they had actually been killed by a grenade or BB.
Safety: A good comprehensive brief with no unfunny jokes, and stringent chronographing of all guns with the site's BBs and marker zip ties. The chronograph is done with 0.20g BBs; it might be better to see it done with 0.25g, since that's the maximum weight and joule creep only goes one way. The BB weight limit initially felt a bit arbitrary, but having played the site the engagement distances are so short there would be no advantage to heavier rounds anyway. There was no attempt to enforce the (obviously unenforceable, all BBs look the same outside the bottle) weight limit and there was some muttering from particularly bruised players about whether or not everyone was sticking to it.
Game Modes: The game modes were very simple - find the lighting pucks, switch them to your team's colour and defend them, find the lighting pucks in your team's colour and return them to base, etc. They weren't anything massively innovative - except for the light-up pucks, which are absolutely brilliant - but bluntly they didn't need to be; they worked well and players understood and played the objective.
Playerbase: A pretty broad mix of players - a lot of multicam, a lot of more casual set-ups, some younger rentals - but no speedsofters. Players were pretty well-behaved, with nobody (that I saw) losing their cool, cheat calling, or bitching despite several players - including me - copping bleeding welts from the close range. There were a couple of groups of players who were aggressively pushing up and running to and from the safe zone, which always sets a good tone, and even though the day was apparently fully booked there were only a few times people pointlessly stacked up - probably a testament to how close the respawns were. There were a few situations where I felt hits weren't being called, and overkill was repeatedly mentioned by the marshals, but it was pretty minor overall.
Turnaround Time: Fairly rapid, aided by the fact that the safe zone is readily accessible. You won't come back and find half your team chatting in the safe zone, either.
Average:
Value: £25.00 for an evening game (£35.00 including rental equipment) and £35.00 for a day game (£50.00 including rental equipment) is pretty reasonable for a non-woodsball site. It's almost exactly what the late, lamented Echelon Airsoft charged.
Game Options: The site has evening games (17:30-22:30) on Wednesdays and day games (08:00-16:30) on Sundays.
Site Shop: The site shop seemed to have what you'll need on the day: BBs, propellant, pyro, drinks and snacks. There looked to be a very limited selection of RIFs. Hot food can be pre-booked; some pretty alluring burgers were on offer. Unfortunately owing to very spotty mobile data coverage the entire site is cash only.
UKARA Membership: Invicta are UKARA-registered and able to provide you with a UKARA-registered defence.
Safe Zone: It's clean, well lit and right inside the front door. It opens straight into the ground floor; there's no massive hike to the safe zone between rounds. There's plenty of horizontal surfaces, but it was a bit tight inside with the site fully booked. It's really thoughtful to provide the floor plans (above) for people trying to figure out how to navigate the maze-like site; I wish more sites did this. Unfortunately (see below) there's no plug sockets and the bathroom situation is a bit dodgy.
Bad:
The major problems with the site aren't really anything to do with the way the site is run, but to do with how the building has been disconnected from the public utilities.
Facilities: The disconnection from mains electricity means the site has very few or no working plug sockets - none readily available in the safe zone. It may be that the shop can charge batteries for you, but you'll be better off planning on being totally self-reliant. There are actual, plumbed-in toilets (ladies and gents), which seemed reasonably clean, but because the site has been disconnected from the water main - there's no sinks to wash your hands, just hand wipes. The urinals don't flush. If you want to use a toilet, you have to refill the cistern afterwards from big orange buckets of water. The toilets are definitely vastly, vastly better than a portaloo, but it is a bit off-putting that it is a physical impossibility for anyone in the safe zone to have properly washed their hands...
Conclusion:
Black Site is a great day's play. The site is fun with lots of repeat value (I think it would take several game days just to start remembering where the doors lead and which of the windows still have glass in them), Invicta run it very well, and the players make the most of both. When Invicta do such a great job running the site it feels churlish to complain about the facilities - presumably mostly beyond Invicta's control - but they are the only major downside. I'd wholeheartedly recommend Black Site to anyone that wants to play CQB in the dark and we'll certainly be back.
Bullpup Watch: Tragically I think it was just my AUG.
Other Site Reviews
- Tackle, Floperator, blobface and 1 other
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1 hour ago, emilianoksa said:
Apparently people are advised not to disassemble the P226 in case they can't get it back together again.
What? The P226 is not a particularly difficult gun to work on.
1 hour ago, emilianoksa said:People are also advised not to buy a Guarder kit for it.
This falls under the usual die-cast Guarder MBK problem: their fit is usually pretty poor, and the guns require a lot of hand fitting to work, or sometimes even to be assembled at all. In particular sanding of the frame rails so the slide will fit over them is apparently often required. The other thing that pushed the Guarder kits out of favour is that you used to be able to get fully-CNC'd P226 kits from Pro-Win that were only a moderate price premium over the Guarders but obviously vastly higher quality. I have had two of those and still have one; here's an old photo from before a custom 3D-printed mount adapter that reduces the upward cant of the classic SureFire:
I had non-railed frames, with my first gun being built on a P226R and my second on an E2. My first was largely TM and the second has all the Guarder upgrades. From what I can see your biggest problem is that Guarder don't seem to make a new version of the non-railed frame, and have delisted most of the versions they used to make (P226-17, P226-18, P226-25), leaving only the unmarked version, P226-16.
- FireSupport have the tan version (P226-17(TAN)) and outer barrel in one (P226-09(BK)) and two-piece (P226-39(BK)) configurations in stock if that's of interest.
- Rainbow8 have the black non-railed frame (P226-18(BK)) and slide available separately in aluminium (P226-47(BK)) and steel (P226-46(BK) and P226-48(BK)), and P226-09(BK) and P226-39(BK).
1 hour ago, emilianoksa said:Has anyone on here done it? If so what are the pitfalls? I must say I don't like the idea of a steel outer barrel rubbing against the underside of an aluminium slide.
The pitfalls will be in the fitting of the slide to the frame and the outer barrel to the slide, the rest is pretty simple to be quite honest. The fitting is liable to be time-consuming, though, and you will need fine sandpaper, a glass or otherwise very flat surface you can do wet sanding on, maybe even lapping compound and stuff if you want the fit to be really smooth. Fitting the outer barrel may take a long time if it needs a lot of material removed, since steel is much more resilient than cast aluminium. I had this problem fitting a VFC steel outer to an Inokatsu steel slide and it was aggravating.
Note that:
- If you want to put RS grips on it (I have wraparound rubber Hogues with finger grooves and highly recommend them) you'll need a RS spring seat. In theory I suppose you could take a lot of material off the TM one instead, but it would be brittle and the weight is likely a lead alloy, which would be very easy to ingest if you were doing something that created a lot of dust, e.g. grinding or filing it heavily. Guarder make nylon replacement grips (P226-37(BK)) if you only want the classic look.
- If you buy a kit made for the E2 and want to use old-style grips you'll also need bushings to push into the frame for the grip screws to grip. Both the frames linked above are for the P226R and don't need bushings.
- While you're buying Guarder parts I STRONGLY recommend buying their steel takedown lever (P226-29), I have broken at least two of the stock Marui ones.
- The E2 magazines are much better-looking than the P226R ones. Both magazines are cross-compatible.
I wouldn't worry about the outer barrel eroding the slide too much, unless you're planning on shooting the gun with CO2 a lot, in which case you'll want recoil buffers and a stiff spring anyway.
Why are TM always for sale?
in General Discussion
Posted · Edited by PureSilver
There are a lot of reasons.