PureSilver
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Posts posted by PureSilver
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I've got a complete New Generation frame (for the G17) and they're the best on the market, barring possibly the GHK G17 which is receiving a lot of stick online for its apocalyptically bad trigger.
On 06/11/2021 at 11:50, Pinto bean said:Whats the quality of the polymer used in these kits? They says they use nylon fiber. [...] It says they have stainless steel parts as well.
It is indeed glass-filled nylon. The only stainless part I can think of in the complete frame is the front chassis block.
On 06/11/2021 at 11:50, Pinto bean said:How about the guarder stainless steel glock slides?
Are they really stainless steel or actually just some pot metal stuff?
Guarder stainless steel is actually stainless steel, which is why those slides are expensive.
On 06/11/2021 at 11:50, Pinto bean said:Any body have any experience with guarder?
How does it compare to viper tech as far as quality of the build material is concerned?
Everyone has experience with Guarder, they make just about everything. Their build quality is dependent on the product but the high-end stuff is comparable to VT.
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On 04/10/2021 at 07:47, 00kingi said:
No chrono. [...] Eye Pro got shot off and broken (reputable brands so probably hot guns).
I find it insane that any insurer is crazy enough to offer cover to airsoft events that don't use a mandatory chronograph. Broken eyepro levels of hot gun is just crazy.
On 04/10/2021 at 07:47, 00kingi said:We had fights, fires
Tell me more about these fights and fires, sounds thrilling.
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On 30/09/2021 at 17:03, Hrimfaxi said:
Appreciate the effort to type that, nice review.
On 01/10/2021 at 12:13, Cr0-Magnon said:Thanks for the detailed review.
You are both more than welcome, it is always a pleasure to be able to give a genuinely favourable review, especially since people generally only leave ones if they’ve had a truly terrible experience.On 01/10/2021 at 12:13, Cr0-Magnon said:Last I heard having a drum mag with a pistol was a contentious issue. They've now confirmed they allow them?
There was at least one player the second time we played with an HPA-tapped drum in a pistol. I didn’t examine it closely, but I think it was a TAPP-modified WE drum, probably on a Hi-Capa or Glock. I personally have a violent dislike of such things but he seemed to be using it responsibly.ETA: Their site does go into more detail, in fact their Rules page is usefully comprehensive. The weapon magazines section reads "Box and drum mags are not allowed (unless on an HPA pistol)."
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- Popular Post
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Format shamelessly stolen from @Asomodai.
EXTREMELY LENGTHY REVIEW.
THIS SITE IS NOW PERMANENTLY CLOSED.
Site Name: Echelon Airsoft
Contact Details: [email protected]
Website Address: https://echelonairsoft.co.uk/
Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/echelonairsoftuk
Site Address: 19-20 Thamesgate Shopping Centre, DA11 0AU
Hello all! Having now been to Echelon Airsoft's site twice, I figured it was time for this relatively new site (only open since 05/08/21) to have a review on AFUK. I'd heard mixed to negative things about the site in advance, mostly complaints about a lack of player enthusiasm in pushing up. @blobface and I played the Wednesday evening games on 18/08/21 and 29/09/21.
The Site:
Echelon is a medium-sized indoor CQB site, based in a defunct Debenhams in the presumably also defunct Thamesgate Shopping Centre, literally 30 feet from Gravesend train station. This is exceptionally convenient for London-based players and likely for others too; the station is 20 minutes from St. Pancras approximately twice an hour with off-peak day returns £19.30. There are a number of car parks (Gravesend station, Thamesgate Multistorey and Parrock Street) available for those travelling by car. Providing a size comparison to other CQB sites isn't that easy, but I roughly estimate it at about a third of the size of The Mall.
Echelon currently offer multiple games a week;
- Wednesday evening games, from 18:55-22:00 (safe zone opens at 18:00). These are lights on, but the lights can be turned off if all the players agree.
- Thursday evening games, also from 18:55-22:00 (safe zone opens at 18:00). These are night games with the lights turned off - expect to encounter some players (though not the majority) with NV.
- Saturday day games, from 11:00-17:00 (safe zone opens at 10:00).
- Sunday day games, from 09:30-15:00 (safe zone opens at 08:30).
- Private games. You'll have to ask about booking those.
- Pistol and shotgun games. These run less frequently.
The site is semi-auto only, with an energy limit of 350FPS (1.14J). It's not specified if that's actually in Joules if you're not using 0.20g BBs, but you should assume that it is; the maximum BB weight is 0.32g. No sniper rifles, DMRs, or box or drum magazines are permitted, except for drum magazines on pistols. Pyro use is limited to BFGs and Mk. Vs, and banned altogether on the ground floor because it trips the alarms of an adjacent bank. The site's in pretty good condition - clean, no rubbish or trip or hanging hazards - barring a few holes knocked in interior walls to improve gameplay. You'll probably want to bring a torch and maybe a tracer unit - there's no natural light and a few dark spaces even in the day games.
Good:
Location: You're not going to find a more convenient site for London players, or really anyone that can readily access a train. The site's front door is quite literally 30' from Gravesend station's exit.
Game Options: The option to play an evening game after work is a much under-appreciated option for players who don't want to sacrifice half their precious weekend. Bluntly, given how much more strenuous CQB is than woodsball you may well find four hours to be just right - my friends and I were definitely tired out by the end of the evening. Night games are rarer than you'd think; regular night games indoors are almost unheard of - these are an excellent opportunity to flex your £2,000 NV, or ruin NV players' investment with a 500,000lm torch you got off AliExpress for £20.
Site Layout: At present three floors of the site are largely open - the ground shop floor and warehouse second floor, which are more open with obstacles and cover breaking up the spaces, and the office third floor, which is a tight maze of small rooms and corridors. The floors were played concurrently the first time I played (half the players downstairs, half upstairs) and consecutively the second time; I imagine this depends on the number of players on the day. I don't know if Echelon plan to utilise the first floor in the future, but I wouldn't be surprised if they do, as in the six weeks between our two games smaller areas of the ground floor had already been opened up. Engagement distances are typical of CQB, ranging from bad-breath range on the third floor to up to 10-15m depending on angles elsewhere. There are obstacles to use as cover, the rooms can be accessed in multiple ways, there are little tunnels for sneaking around and the site has been carefully configured to avoid choke points (or at least I didn't experience any the second day) which means minimal time wasted stacked up on doorways. The respawn points are well placed - you won't spend more than a couple of minutes walking there and back. While the weekend games are apparently rammed the weekday ones are pleasantly lightly attended: I'd estimate maybe 30 players our second day, which was Goldilocks levels of just right. The site could easily accommodate 50-60 players if the two zones are played concurrently.
Safe Zone: Hosted in the old café, it's right inside the front door. Clean, well lit and opens straight into the ground floor - no hike to the safe zone like you had in the The Mall. Reasonably large (comfortable capacity about 50 players, I should think) with plug sockets, lots of chairs and plenty of horizontal surfaces. Actual plumbed toilets, clean (and seemingly repeatedly cleaned during the day) with soap and paper towels.
Safety: Solid without being over the top; the usual rules apply. The safety brief was brief, concise, covered all the salient points and was given in the safe zone where people can actually hear everything. No "humour" barring an off-colour "Allahu Akhbar" suggestion during a later bomb-objective game. All guns are chronographed at the beginning of the day and no loaded guns or dry-firing are permitted in the safe zone. I didn't see marshals doing random spot checks or checking regulators (there are more than the usual number of HPA guns), but I have no doubt if concerns were raised they'd be willing to do so, because...
Marshalling: Impeccable. The marshalls were polite, patrolled the site, and including player marshals were available in abundance. They monitored the team balance and didn't hesitate to rebalance if things were uneven. There is a three-strikes rule but zero tolerance for bullshittery: the marshals told us that by the end of our second day 67 players had been banned over the life of the site, which averages out to about two per game day. I'm sure the bans are weeding out the crap players; I think a considerable number of players were banned on our first day and one on our second. Other players might find this alarming - I find it reassuring. This leads directly to...
Playerbase: On our second day the players were uniformly excellent - perhaps the best I've ever played with. Aggressive in pushing up, called their hits, minimal overshooting and very, very little bitching even when players had copped a couple of bleeding welts. I didn't have a single negative interaction in the entire day. This was an improvement over the first day, where the players were generally good but marred by a couple of Teflon terminators. This is not a milsim site and you're not going to encounter much in the way of multiglam geardos (night game possibly excepted), but you will encounter a few speedsofters, although of the nice kind rather than the knee-slide overshooting SpeedQB kind (of which I think at least five got banned during our first day and won't be missed).
Turnaround Time: You'll get 5-10 minutes in the safe zone between games to reload, no more, and certainly no finding half your team standing around chatting while the rest of you are getting absolutely mullered in-game.
Average:
Value: £25.00 for an evening game (£50.00 including rental equipment) and £35.00 for a day game (£60.00 including rental equipment) will seem steep to players used to paying £25.00 for woodsball and a free lunch. However, it would be deeply unfair not to stress the excellent value this represents compared to other urban or CQB sites, especially given that London players won't need to wake up at the crack of dawn or return in the dead of night to attend. The prices are comparable to the other (now-defunct) London sites, which were much smaller and in much worse condition.
Site Shop: Limited to what you'll need on the day; BBs, propellant, pyro, cold drinks and snacks, and complimentary battery charging. No hot food, no guns that I could see. Card payments are accepted without issue, even for low-value transactions. While they don't seem to have any guns to sell you...
UKARA Membership: Echelon are UKARA-registered and able to provide you with a UKARA-registered defence.
Game Modes: These aren't hugely innovative (almost all find object, bring it to place, keep it there) but frankly they work well. There's not really any need to create complex objectives for players to misunderstand, and not really the room for them anyway. What you get is a simple, coherent team objective which leads to you all getting to shoot a lot of people; what more could you ask for?
Bad:
I really struggled to think of a downside that personally affected me (and was the site's fault, unlike my temperamental AUG) but I am aware of a couple of teething issues that you should probably be aware of.
Cancellation Communication: I saw on Facebook that a few weeks ago some players had turned up to find the site not open for business; the game had been cancelled owing to a lack of bookings. You should definitely book if you intend to play to help the site gauge whether it's worth running the game day, and so they can communicate to you if the game day is not going to happen.
Shop Issue: I also saw on Facebook that either on the first game day, or within the first couple of game days, there had been a major spat between the third party engaged to run the shop and the site management. That lead to the shop packing up halfway through the day and taking its rental equipment home with them. I expect this won't be repeated but it does speak to a certain lack of organisation.
Conclusion:
I think the second day might have been one of the best day's (well, evening's) airsoft I've ever played. As more of the site opens up and any remaining bad eggs are weeded out I expect the site and play to improve even further. I'd wholeheartedly recommend Echelon to anyone that wants to play some close-quarters CQB and I'll certainly be back.
Bullpup Watch: My AUG, I think that was about it sadly. On the first day there was an AEG AUG too.
Other Site Reviews
- Cannonfodder, Hrimfaxi, EDcase and 2 others
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5
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On 28/06/2021 at 10:37, noctu said:
In the last game we played Me Mate Dave took a burst of full auto to the face at very close range and now has a very impressive welt on the inside edge of the bridge of his nose, about half an inch from his eye. He says he'll be buying full goggles rather than shooting glasses style for next time.
Your Mate Dave was allowed to play without full-seal eye protection? You should add that to the "Meh" section, or maybe add a "Seriously Completely Pants-On-Head Retarded" section to put it in. You don't have to attend Absolute Airsoft to lose an eye (although it helps).
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> Run by the same bloke as SAS
> Someone had their eye shot out in the safe zone
> No chronograph
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On 11/06/2021 at 20:30, Rogerborg said:
It's the loner loonies like Thomas Mair that put their agenda into practice. You could even make an argument that Nazi clubs are a way to keep Nazis safely neutralised, with their ranks and rules and pledges of allegiance and what-not.
I dunno about that. Several of the people convicted of planning acts of terrorism have been members of these little clubs, e.g. Jack Renshaw and numerous other members of National Action, and five members of the British branch of Atomwaffen. Letting oxygen thieves gang up seems to be proving a problem globally.
On 11/06/2021 at 20:30, Rogerborg said:I mean, when's the last time you heard a neighbour on the news say "He was ever such a fascist chap, always telling us his plans, we all expected this."
I think my favourite is the reaction of the neighbours of Darren Osborne (perpetrator of the 2017 Finsbury Mosque vehicle attack). A neighbour who wished to remain anonymous opined that "He’s always been a complete cunt but this is really surprising."
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On 09/03/2021 at 15:31, THE CHIEF said:
Any HK machine gun
VFC have just announced an MG4.
On 09/03/2021 at 15:31, THE CHIEF said:British Gpmg or bren
On 09/03/2021 at 15:45, GenuineGerman said:I would love to see a GMPG/FN MAG
There is obviously the gorgeous, albeit very elderly, Inokatsu FN MAG and M240. You can still easily get the significantly less expensive "Echo1" M240.
On 10/03/2021 at 22:35, PopRocket123 said:What I wouldn't give for a Ruger mini 14. And if GHK could make a GBBR FAMAS that'd be great.
I'd kill for a GBB Mini-14. If GHK's quality control and manufacturing departments could get their f***ing act together that'd be great too.
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Without a doubt it has to be Erebor. It was a purpose-built (with what had to have been hundreds of thousands of pounds behind it) FIBUA site. It was in a huge warehouse with adjustable day-night cycles, the (multi-storey!) buildings were all individually lit with light switches and stuff, there was a modicum of furniture, the safe zone was brand-spanking new and the marshalling was top-notch. Not to mention it was reachable by Underground... Closure was an incalculable loss for London airsofters in particular and airsoft in general. 😢
On 10/11/2020 at 16:11, Cannonfodder said:I found Blitz CQB in Whitechapel was always a good laugh. I only played there a handful of times though, had it been my regular site it may have got a little repetitive due to the small size of the place
Man, I loathed this site. I only played it once and that was more than enough to make it repetitive. I found it so confined that we were barely able to get out of our spawns before getting absolutely annihilated, and the 0.5:1 scale meant I smashed my head on just about every lintel in the site.
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On 10/11/2020 at 14:27, Tommikka said:
This is technical solution to an information problem, rather than looking into what the actual problem is.
I don't really agree with this assessment. The biggest problem, as you have correctly identified, is that players' information is not well recorded, very infrequently updated, and not properly accessible. A more advanced system which automated more of these tasks would be a huge boon to the airsoft community. I am envisioning a smartphone app and website. First how it works for UKARA:
- UKARA creates a database which is capable of creating and storing (in a GDPR-compliant fashion, obviously) profiles for retailers, sites and players.
- UKARA creates a web portal, with online forms, through which retailers, sites and players can fill out their information, upload supporting documentation, and view their own profile (and others', but only once the other has consented to the release only of the required information for each individual request).
- UKARA dedicates staff to manage the database and review information supplied by retailers, sites and players on initial application, and a periodic basis thereafter.
Then how it works for sites:
- The site registers with UKARA via an online form, and uploads its contact details and insurance information. This is manually inspected by UKARA staff. A site profile is created by said staff, and the details of the insurance and its expiry date logged against the site's entry in the UKARA backend. When the expiry date nears the site owner is independently notified by UKARA that its continued eligibility is contingent on supply of updated insurance documents. The site is responsible for updating UKARA as to any change in its circumstances, e.g. if it closes or opens a new location, which would be manually reviewed by UKARA staff. Each location has a unique entry in the UKARA backend.
- The site installs an app on a "site" smartphone, tablet etc., and logs in to the site's profile within the app. This app uses NFC, or scans a QR code, or similar to communicate with a player's smartphone. This doesn't need to have live internet connectivity - the app can just upload data to the UKARA database the next time it is connected to the internet. The only time it would need immediate access to the database would be to check a player's eligibility for an in-person purchase of a RIF on-site.
- This could also be of use to the site in other ways, e.g. establishing whether a player has already signed and completed the site's own insurance waivers etc. by logging that as an entry on the players' profile which is only viewable as a yes/no answer and only requestable by that site's app.
- It also removes from the site the current burden of manually entering (and updating, etc.) players' details on UKARA's system.
Then how it works for the player:
- The player registers a profile with UKARA. The usual details - profile picture, name, address, age etc. - are supplied via an online application. The player uploads their proofs of age, address etc., all of which are manually reviewed by UKARA staff. A player profile is created by said staff, and the player's details logged against this entry. The player is responsible for updating their profile as to any change in circumstances, e.g. a change in address, which will be manually reviewed by UKARA staff and require the same proofs as the original application.
- The player installs an app on their smartphone, and logs in to their profile within the app.
- When the player attends a game, the app displays their profile picture to the site staff to confirm the player is using their own profile, and uses NFC, or presents a QR code, or similar, so that the site can scan their profile using the site smartphone. This doesn't need much work to be GDPR compliant - the site app only needs to log the player's attendance, not access their personal details. The app then logs the player's attendance at a game on their profile in the UKARA backend.
- The UKARA backend then adds the player's game to a rolling list of games played, and when a deadline of a year since the last game played approaches, the player is independently notified by UKARA that their continued eligibility is contingent on playing a game soon.
- This has a significant benefit for players, who can now play at any registered site and have that logged as a game played on their profile. No more having to attend one site three times every twelve months, because your continued participation is logged every time you play at any site.
How it works for buying and selling:
- Once a player has a profile, the UKARA backend can supply information on the player's eligibility. A retailer can register a profile on the UKARA backend using the usual online form, supplying the appropriate contact details and insurance information.
- When a buyer wants to purchase a gun, the app can supply a yes/no answer as to their eligibility to purchase a RIF (or an IF, for that matter; they only need their profile to confirm they're over 18 for that and it can of course automatically update to eligible after a suitable number of games within a suitable period) to the seller.
- When a request is made by a seller - whether that's a retailer or another player - to confirm the buyer's eligibility, the buyer is asked whether they consent to the distribution of their details to the seller. For an in-person purchase the app might display the player's name, profile picture and eligibility status so the seller can confirm the buyer's identify and eligibility. For a delivery purchase the app might display the player's name, address and eligibility status, so the seller can confirm the buyer's eligibility, and that they're delivering to an address which matches the buyer's profile.
- If a sale is made, the seller could log a unique ID (e.g. one assigned to the request they used to confirm the buyer's details) against the details of the sale (in their POS software, or in a record book or something) so they could confirm in the future that they checked the buyer's eligibility before they sold to the buyer, which is the literal form of a s.38 defence.
- This includes importation. Border Force can request a player's information (name, address, eligibility status) when they detain an imported gun, to confirm those details match a registered player's profile. This would vastly speed up situations where a player's status is unclear and Border Force detains the gun until they're sure everything is in order.
On 10/11/2020 at 14:27, Tommikka said:That can be provided by ‘technology’ in the sense of a website, email service etc, but ‘technology’ of card readers etc would mean opening up an API to interface with data and create holes to be exploited
I mean... Isn't the whole point of an API to access data? At this point you're more picking holes in the technological implementation than the fundamental idea, which seems to me to be perfectly sound.
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This doesn't seem radically different from UKARA in concept. The "BAC" now have to:
- Partner with as many airsoft sites as possible, which means reaching out to them and getting hold of their public liability insurance certificates, and
- Creating profiles for each site to access remotely, so they can affirm that a player was there at a specified date, and
- Partner with as many airsoft retailers as possible, which means reaching out to them all and,
- Creating profiles for each retailer to access remotely, so they can affirm a player's BAC details (number and address) are valid, and
- Persuading airsofters to use the system.
They haven't exactly fallen at the first hurdle but they've not really got that many sites registered (as of yet), which defeats the point of being able to play at multiple sites. They have a reasonable number of retailers signed up, but that's not of much use if the players can't find a site to play at. Questions that will be asked:
- Who are the "BAC"? UKARA is at least an industry-backed body; the BAC lists a staff of two. (Further, why can't the "web development team" set up a proper e-mail address at their actual domain? What's with all the errors in the copy on the website? Why is the last update in the news section from 2018?)
- Where's the incentive for sites to give up the "guaranteed" business of forcing players to play three games at their site and/or their nifty sideline in selling players guns that they have to use three times at the site before they can keep them?
- Can we use a BAC number to import a RIF?
99% of the time these "UKARA alternatives" have been cooked up by total chancers as a way to sell guns to people who wouldn't have a hope of qualifying under the UKARA scheme. This one doesn't look as bad as they usually do, but this has a lot more "good idea" than "actually ready" written all over it, especially with so few sites signed up.
This isn't a bad idea but a far better solution would be to put pressure on UKARA to update their system, IMO. UKARA is almost universally recognised and accepted, especially by Border Force. There is no compelling reason that UKARA can't create a Practiscore-style system where players can register their attendance at any number of events at any given venue.
- Jedi_Master, Pappa Large and Nick G
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Scorpion EVO. I have actually ridden to a skirmish with a gun in a rucksack before, and no prizes for guessing which gun I chose for a game where I wasn't going to be able to bring a backup.
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3 hours ago, Cannonfodder said:
But neither the OP or his father have a defence. The OP isn't old enough and his father isn't an airsofter
That's partially inaccurate. There is no minimum age limit to have a defence - if an 8-year-old played airsoft three times in two months at a site for which public liability insurance is held, he'd have the same defence as anyone else. The only differences are (a) he'd be too young to register that defence with UKARA, (b) because he's too young to buy any airsoft gun. As @Rogerborg says:
49 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:1. There is no age limit on the defence for modification, so it's always been legal for his dad to get a two-tone, then for him to modify it into a RIF for the purposes of organised airsofting.
There is nothing illegal about OP's father (over 18... I hope) purchasing an IF and gifting it to OP, OP playing (or having already played) his three games in two months to have a defence, and finally OP manufacturing a RIF by stripping the bright paint off his IF.
As to whether or not this "person who doesn't have a defence purchasing a RIF to immediately gift to someone who does" is legitimate... I think there's an argument to be made that it could be. PatrolBase need to be able to show that they made the gun available for the purposes of airsoft, and if they know OP has a defence and but-for being a minor would be able to purchase a RIF himself, I think they could say that they made it available for that purpose. Whether or not they will do that - and I strongly suspect they won't - is up to them.
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5 hours ago, Asomodai said:
Reminds me of the terrible time I had as one of the first people to get the KWA/Umarex Gas Tavor. It just didnt work right out of the box. Venting gas all over the place, FPS was way too high. I cut my losses early on and sold at a fair loss.
Might be worth keeping an eye out for a Hephaestus Project T, I think that was well-regarded.
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On 04/08/2020 at 22:12, RonLancs said:
I think I’m leaning towards the aep just cos if something melts then I’ll have a better idea of what I’m doing with it. Hmmm do I smell a warfet installed for burst fire 🤔 a prommy barrel, pre-cocking, ab 11.1... mmmm
If you put 11.1V through a TM AEP it will explode. AEPs are fragile, aftermarket and factory parts support is very poor, and their tiny air volume means it's challenging even to get 1J out of them, if I recall correctly. There's a reason people are prepared to pay ridiculous amounts of money to convert them to HPA - they just don't work very well as electric guns.
If you want the best electric MP7 on the market - which is not a high bar, the AEPs are really not very good - get a VFC "AEG", make sure you always keep your batteries at a decent level of charge, and pray you never break an internal component. The VFC is externally very nice and has far better features and performance but (like the AEPs) it is a completely proprietary gearbox and aftermarket support is very limited. If it doesn't have to be an MP7, just a small SMG, there are much better guns that require far fewer compromises on the market. An ASG Scorpion EVO, an LCT EBB PP-19-01, some kind of MP5 or MP5K-PDW, even small SBRs - there are tons of options.
The TM GBB is probably the best of the GBBs from a performance perspective, but it's about 0.9:1 scale and obviously fully ABS. The KSC/KWA is also too small and cracks its receivers. The VFC has a poor reputation for performance and reliability. The WE's unlicensed clone thing ("New Wave Small Rice") likewise, but at least it's cheap. Again, if it doesn't have to be MP7-shaped there are better options on the market; an ASG MP9 or GHK G5 would be compelling alternatives in this price range and size category.
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On 08/08/2020 at 13:37, mattaddiction said:
Q. So what brand have you gone for and why for your AEG (main one you use, not the 10's of others under the bed)?
I split between my ruinously expensive TM SOPMOD and my downright affordable EVO3A1.
When it comes to OOTB AEGs I firmly believe the ASG Scorpion EVO3A1 is by a country mile the best gun available - possibly the best OOTB airsoft gun on the market at present, full stop. Yes on the new ones they cheaped out on the gears, but for the money it's basically impossible to get such a compelling combination of handling, sturdiness, performance, reliability and interactivity. These things were sub-£300 from Patrolbase for years, when the VFC MP7 - which while very cool is deeply flawed - debuted at £450 (since dropped to £400ish) and the Krytac Vector, inferior in basically every respect except being Vector shaped, remains £450. I can't sing the EVO's praises loudly enough: it is a spectacularly good gun.
That said, I don't think there's a single other product I want to buy from ASG, because ASG don't even make it, VFC do.
When it comes to not OOTB AEGs I equally firmly believe the TM NGRS SOPMOD or HK416 is the best AEG platform on the market. You get the best overall design, but to get it to the build quality of an LCT you're going to spend many hundreds of pounds on new plastics, a steel outer barrel, a revamp of the gearbox, a Spectre or Titan... The AR-pattern NGRS is the best design on the market in the same way that the TM G17 is (at present) the best G17 design on the market - it's a great design, but you really don't want to buy something built in ABS when you can get it in nylon GFP and aluminium and steel. If cost is no object for an AEG, I would always recommend a and-the-kitchen-sink AR-pattern NGRS.
That said, there isn't a single other AEG I would buy from TM, because...
On 08/08/2020 at 14:09, Adolf Hamster said:mostly what i look for in a gun is external quality, because for the basic tm pattern boxes it might take some work but you can get a pretty even playing field of performance out of them.
This. I'll never buy a gun that's made of zinc alloy where it should be steel ever again. There are too many great options on the market and more on the way - just look at LCT's EBBR HK33s - to mess around with fragile ARs with aluminium outer barrels.
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On 05/08/2020 at 14:16, Adolf Hamster said:
however at the risk of sounding too contrary we are talking about a sample size of 1 catastrophic failure, and ultimately any device regardless of quality can fail.
I agree completely with this. There must be tens if not hundreds of thousands of B6s out there; it is one of the most common hobby battery chargers. The law of averages demands that eventually at least one (even one of the real ones) is going to go up in smoke and take someone’s garage with it.With such a small sample size we don’t know whether the charger or the battery caused the fire; even the victim isn’t entirely sure. If a battery blew up on me I would always assume I had mis-set the charger or let a cell drop into DDS, both factors that are known to cause charging fires, rather than blaming the charger. I’m not saying the charger wasn’t at fault - see above comment on the law of averages - but LiPo charging fires almost always start in the comparatively volatile battery as a result of a mis-set charger, DDS or an internal short.
Bluntly the bloke’s garage burning down would have happened regardless of the cause of the battery igniting; once it was lit, it was going up - no charger could possibly make the situation worse at that point. This is a salutary lesson in exercising extreme caution when charging LiPos in close proximity to other extremely flammable things like model aircraft and associated materials.
While we can all take that valuable reminder to use fire-safe pouches and storage and supervise batteries while charging, I’d hesitate to get alarmist about this. In more than a decade of airsoft I’ve never seen a battery fire nor, to my knowledge, had one happen to any friend or teammate. Plenty of them have used B6AC-type chargers from various manufacturers for longer than I’ve been playing. While I have absolutely no doubt B6s fail, I see no evidence of any inherent flaw, or any reason to assume a different charger type would automatically be any more immune to manufacturing defects and/or neglectful or careless owners and/or damaged batteries than a genuine B6 V2 would be.That doesn’t by any means mean a genuine B6AC V2 is the be-all and end-all of chargers, nor that we shouldn’t find a more modern replacement, but I wouldn’t start yelling through a megaphone in the safe zone about the risk the B6 in particular poses to everyone’s garages.
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On 20/07/2020 at 11:43, Groot said:
How much I would like a really decent MP5 with Sliding stock and Navy style light foregrip.
LCT have an MP5 coming soon-ish (it's in their catalogue as coming soon) which will almost certainly be available with their EBB gearboxes, which are pretty brutal. You don't get the usual TM refinements (stop on empty, bolt lock/release) but you will get a stamped steel receiver and decent plastics, which you absolutely won't with any future NGRS. If you don't want to wait they have HK33s with the same gearbox out more or less right now; if they make a HK53 that would accept the same SureFire fore-end as the MP5.
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@AK47frizzle is spot on. You can get replica EBR chassis for the WE M14 from $450 for the chassis alone up to $1,400 for a fully upgraded gun, but the only AEG conversion kits I'm aware of were the rare, long out of production and eye-wateringly expensive G&P kits for the TM-and-clone M14s. You're going to be better off buying a whole new AEG that comes with the chassis. The good ones are the G&Gs from about $500 on up, the cheap ones are the CYMAs from about $225 on up.
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In descending order of annoyance:
- Unsafe play, especially blind fire, but also overkill. Coming round a blind corner pre-firing, dumping 10rds into someone at close range, is totally unnecessary; I came to play airsoft, not indulge your sadomasochistic fantasies. Included in this is high-RPS builds, especially DSGs and high-power/high-RPS HPA. If you need 40RPS to play, maybe you should take up something more your speed, like knitting.
- Dickhead play, especially not calling hits, but also hit-calling, offensive chat and getting aggressive. If you want to be a big man, fuck off down to Legoland and pick on people your own intellectual capacity.
- Marshals turning their safety brief into an interminable comedy set. Tell us the rules and let us play.
Also...
On 16/07/2020 at 13:22, Crazy_Crystal said:plus Airsoft is a non contact sport for a reason...
This. If I want to pay too much money to get touched up by a sweating mouth-breather, I'll go to a strip club.
On 16/07/2020 at 13:43, Adolf Hamster said:admittedly the safe zone grabbers can be a mite annoying, it's just basic manners to at least ask before messing with other folks stuff
What makes this so unacceptable is if you do ask them, 99% of airsofters would talk your ear off about their kit and positively force you to pick it up and aim down the sights etc. so you can appreciate its majesty. There's no need to go messing around with people's kit, especially when some players are leaving the value of a used car lying around in an unsecured safe zone based on nothing but trust.
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I'd be aiming for 75-80% of UK retail. The M9A1 retails for about £140 in the UK, so I'd be looking for £105-115. The E2 retails for about £125, so I'd be looking for £95-100.
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On 27/05/2020 at 13:50, Skara said:
Few and expensive for sure. [...] By expensive I don't mean the base price of the gun, but the overall cost of the base + upgrades.
I'm not a hoarder and I hate having unused stuff, so I'd rather pimp the fuck out of my current guns than buying loads of new ones.
This is basically it for me. I can't see the point in having 5-10 guns that are all functionally identical (I don't mean "they all shoot 6mm BBs", I mean "they're all bog-standard AEG assault rifles") and also less well-made then they could be, when I could have 2-4 guns that are really incredible. You can only use a handful of guns (it's a ball-ache even to bring more than a handful to a skirmish) when you play, so why would you have a less good gun in your hands in exchange for two more in the car, or more likely at the back of the cupboard at home?
I've sold virtually all my horrifically expensive "collector" pistols and eaten massive losses, and sold all my basic AEGs. What I have now is basically one of each type of gun, each highly upgraded: AEG SMG (EVO3A1), AR (NGRS), LMG and DMR; GBB pistols, SMG and AR; HPA BASR. It's the maximum I can justify - one of each role. I'm also now operating a strict one-in one-out policy to try to avoid the accumulation of yet more very expensive toys.
On 27/05/2020 at 14:12, Shaydee said:Few and expensive for me, though sprinkle some cheaper projects in amongst that (like my clone mk23, a KJW mark 1 I just picked up and maybe a boneyard project).
I've just picked up a cheap project too. It's definitely more fun to mess around with a pistol that cost me £70 than one that cost me £700.
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1 hour ago, Iceni said:
The site should review the use of them as personally if someone chucked that at me and it burnt my gear I'd be pretty fucked off.
Likewise. Overpowered pyro adds nothing to the game but tinnitus and scorch marks, and also obliges every other player to spend money on and endure the discomfort of over-ear ear protection. We came to play airsoft, not competitive cumulative hearing loss.
Years back at a now-closed indoor site some tryhard threw a GR20 (a training/operational stun grenade that doesn't belong in an airsoft game at all) which landed more or less at my feet in a narrow corridor. Since I thought it was a Mk.5 in some kind of replica case, and since it had me dead to rights, I just dropped my gun on its sling and started to put my hands over my ears, but it detonated before they got there. The concussion was so bad it almost knocked me over - I was completely deaf for about 30-60 seconds and couldn't hear properly for hours afterwards. A marshal who was about 15 feet away was visibly disorientated too and in some short words told the player that it was going to stay in a box in the safe zone for the rest of the day and he was lucky not to be joining it.
1 hour ago, Musica said:I pull it out and run with it armed in my left hand and pistol in the other hand to suppress then drop it in/over /around.
I agree with @hitmanNo2. I'd be happy to do that with a timed grenade with the pin pulled but the spoon held, or an impact with .209 or .380 shells, but not with an impact with a 12-gauge firework in it.
TM FNX45 Metal Slide -- Volante
in Gas Guns
Posted
In fairness I think the FNX45 is one of the plasticy-est feeling modern TMs. It'd been a while since I handled a stock TM, and after handling it back-to-back with the VFC the Marui just felt like something out of a Christmas cracker. The performance is probably better but if I was prioritising function over form I'd be using an AEG...
I have no experience with that product but I've bought a bunch of parts from Volante and have been pretty impressed overall.