Defender90

In my experience all the airsofters I've met loved dogs and when I take my labrador into the safe zone everyone wants to stroke him, so I don't think anyone would hurt the dog deliberately. But in my experience many airsofers have little idea of gun safety and anyway in game all bets are off as it's spray and pray in any case, there's a high chance of the dog getting hit accidentally. Even assuming the dog is wearing actual dog eyepro as opposed to ill fitting human ones, there's still the chance of the dog's highly sensitive nose getting hit. It's not cruel per se to do this but it is neglect and frankly the marshall should have more common sense, not to say empathy. As to the horse riders, that is very stupid indeed. The thing is that, as we are a much richer society than ever, while at the same time having a predominantly urban/suburban mentality, there are more clueless people with horses than ever, hence also their not apparently understanding the basic rural concept of rights of way. Anyhoo I'm tempted to say that's likely to get sorted out via a Darwin Award situation as equestrianism is a super risky activity at the best of times, add in the aforementioned loud bangs and... Well Dobbin doesn't like sudden, noisy surprises and doesn't react well.

I'm going to concur with Urban Assault, it was my 2nd ever airsoft after Gunman Tuddenham and the amount of players, the kit they had and the sheer size of the place blew my mind. I wasn't the only weirdo who liked RIFS, there shedloads of us! Moving through endless derelict corridors, rooms and halls was super atmospheric, the scale of the ruin was epic and sometimes surreal. I got lost going back to spawn quite often and in hindsight a compass would have been useful. I think the scale of it was too great for airsoft ranges (or lack thereof) and maybe a more limited game area could have been fenced off which might have benefitted game play. In hindsight maybe the marshalling was a bit lax? I remember when playing against a team of Russians who turned up, being hit very hard by volleys of shots at improbable range the moment I stepped out of spawn on the parade ground, potentially tooth shatteringly hard. The marshalls were right there but didn't seem concerned. I was a noob then (more so!) and assumed that was normal, but in hindsight it smacked of people swapping out for more powerful springs once they were out on the field. That said it does seem to be hard to strike the right balance with marshalling, most sites veer to one extreme or another.

I have heard that. Supposedly much of the assembly is done in Denmark and some of the furniture is via CZ as they and ASG have a relationship.

How mine is set up now, the stock doesn't look as tacticool as the QRS that came on it but the Magpul has room for a looooong day of spray and pray. Rail covers make it much more ergonomic and the sight "riser" thing is because it's difficult to get cheekweld wearing a mask. Pictured with my ASG CZ75 Accu (C02 mag), these two are my go-to set up, with the (not pictured) drum mag on the Avalon it's as good as an LMG and, with dialled in hops on .28s both have a slight range advantage over the average. Because godnose it's not my superior combat skills that's for sure.

Yes that seemed to do the trick, since then it's been good as gold. Even with the 11.1 in. I really think the shop that sold it me should have sorted it, just on general principal. But then again it only cost a few quid and he did it in like 10 minutes while I waited. It helped I'd prepurchased the hop on his recommendation. I've lent it to my teenage nephew a couple of times and I'm pretty sure he abuses it and spams the trigger like hell when I'm not looking but it's still good to go. (Fingers crossed). To be honest I was in exactly your same position. I'd saved £500 and wanted my first new AEG to be a a solid contender. I actually wanted the Umarex genuine licenced HK416A5 (AEG), but they're rare and on on back order, however after wringing google dry I found out that it was actually made by VFC and since this has all the same features (and presumably the same internals?)... so once they said it was a VFC they had my attention.

There's a lot of sense spoken here. Yes we should be careful as any small group can be portrayed as guilty of wrongthink in the febrile clickbait climate nowadays. That said I'm on the verge of old fartdom now, but I was bought up with the general sentiment that you don't wear badges and insignia you're not entitled to. I take it a stage further and to make sure I absolutely can not be mistaken for a walt pretending to be a real soldier I wear a deliberate mismatch of different camo patterns. (Anyway it breaks up my silhouette. Or something). My first thought about Z or Wagner insignia is that while we should aspire to live in a free-er and more tolerant country I would enjoy shooting at that. I have seen someone in Waffen SS get up but as he didn't have badges as I remember I guess it was okay. My half German nephew raised his eyebrows mind you. I mean if you've got an Stg44 you absolutely must accessorise with I suppose I sort of understand. But frankly I find the lack of historical knowledge and nuance of Gen Z pretty frustrating, one game and we had to grab various flags and once we had the German flag the lad with it was all like "I've got the nazi flag!" He was serious, it was the flag of the modern Bundesrepublik Deutschland and I don't think he understood why I was upset. It's not so much that they're edgelords or dickheads I suspect, but rather that a lot of what we're talking about here can be laid at the door of a simplistic education in history and civics (or lack thereof) in recent decades. Warhammer 40K or Star Wars cosplay and you're on much safer ground.

I've found my VFC Avalon Calibur to be a very reliable game day mainstay... But I have to admit it double fed like mad out of the box. Once a tech quickly put a Maple Leaf 60 in it, I now have great range and reliability (and I think it's 11.1 ready even if the manufacturer doesn't. I just keep to short bursts). Admittedly for that money it should have been perfect out the box. 6.03 barrel and the cute looking trigger feels great and connected via a Mosfet. Very nice comfortable enlarged trigger guard with finger rests built in. I use a variety of any old M4 type mags and it feeds well from all of them now. Very ergonomic and all ambidextrous controls, it's basically a blingy 416A5. There's loads of room for accessories galore. Despite the very decent and rather pretty stock I replaced it with a bulbous Magpul one only so as to cram the largest battery I could get into it. The only thing that vaguely annoys me is the fore end doesn't quite match the receiver for some reason, the gnu is in two shades of sort of metallic FDE and seems to be made to look like someone's custom build.

Thanks for the Raresoft tip, there's another timesink rabbit hole for me to go down. 😉 Yes it really is a marmite airsoft isn't it! Despite not knowing about guns at all the rest of the family refuse to touch it when they go to a game. The magazine is in the wrong place apparently and that's the end of the conversation, my sister, my nephew my bro in law are all like "NO! Don't want it." Even my nephew despite thinking it could be made to look like a "Halo gun" if he glued some things to it, is very leery of it.

So, if the serial number is to be believed, I have the first of their second production run, after they had been sent a scary letter by FN's lawyers presumably. Markings on airsofts have always been an iffy subject, funny it took Real Steel companies so long to cash in as they are now beginning to do.

OK, so does this serial number mean anything? I bought it non working at an auction at LAC's The Farm, apparently it belonged to an old guy who collected and had had to give up ether due to ill health or he had passed. I've not seen anything in google image searches, all of them either have later serial numbers or not at all. It's black, in good condition, no "Real Steel" trades, marked Model G2010. Could it really be No1? And what's it worth? It's now been serviced by a good local tech* and he did a great job. It works well with the recommended Maple Leaf 60 degree, reaches out very nicely and now the rubber is worn in it gives me a nice little range advantage over the average AEG. (First time out with it I was picking off a group trying to flank us and as they tried moved out of range the hop was wearing in, I kept adjusting it and hitting them until they were driven to the edge of the field! I swear I was getting over 60 yards.) It's nice, compact and swingable straight shooter with a decent length barrel, takes standard AR type mags. But... Despite that it ticks all my boxes theoretically as the bullpup I've been looking for, I don't find the angle of the pistol grip and front fore end very ergonomic. Why FN made them those strange and uncomfortable angles I can not fathom. Not really sure about the fire selector either. It's good for ambis though, so there's that. *TheButchersShopAirsoft

I scored a Pelicase 1660, for, well £140 basically. Bargain! It doesn't hold my M4s - too long - but everything else, my whole AS collection, goes in there. Looks cool AF all nestled in foam cut outs inside a bloody great tacticool crate. (Useful as I'm moving house). Also bought an ASG CZ75 SP01 Accu, in effect upgraded out of the box, a match pistol basically: very high quality with all steel internals (allegedly), single action adjustable match trigger, bigger rear sight and fiberoptic front and rather luscious CNC aluminium grips. It's all metal, even if not steel. Uses both C02 and gas. I don't really care for the looks - my KWA HK45 is more handsome and nicer in the hand - but it feels really solid with a lovely crisp trigger reset and action. Low bore axis means it's easy to aim. Supposed to be good for an easy 50 yards+ and I've seen that so far but I think the hop is still wearing in as the first few shots are way low then it slowly gets into it and starts reaching out. Happier on C02 even than Guarder Black Power Up gas, being all metal it's a gas hog. Quite good groupings even at more than 40 yards I think but it's windy, I've only fired about 200 shots through it so far and I hope once I've fired closer to a 1000 then the hop will be worn in so as to be more consistent? I hope? TBH this is my first pistol of such high quality so I'm not sure what to expect.

I hear you, quality externals with junk inside seems to be an airsoft bugbear. But Combat UK reckoned it was effectively a pre upgraded gun, as compared to cheaper VFC ARs that I was also perusing. I certainly thought about TM but, from what I've heard, these latest VFC internals seem pretty good quality and H&K (via Umarex) trust them to make the officially licensed model (which I reckon is pretty much what I've just bought only without the "trades" or the very latest externals) and am a bit dubious about recoil on an AEG (and I have a GBBR AR for that). Also... well, I don't want to start a fight or anything, but... is TM really all that? I've had a couple of TMs and, while fairly consistent, they didn't shoot that much better and range was average. Reece at Airsoft Monkey did a number on my G&G Sig552 and it seems to now outrange any TM. No doubt TM's are up there in the airsoft top 5 but I suspect that there are other firms up there too.

I think this is the same internals, I did indeed want the 416A5: officially licensed by H&K, fully ambi with little guard thingies around the controls*, improved magwell. It seems like H&K on top of their game putting 50 years worth of observation on the AR platform to good effect. Then I saw this and realised it was essentially the same thing but a bit cheaper and it's close enough, it's the older 416 externals improved with larger trigger guard and left handed mag release basically. If the internals are the same they seem damn good, almost silent gearbox, mosfet, very consistent shooter (with only 5% flyers of the bio .28s), once the hop is worn in a bit I hope to be doing 60 yards. And it comes in pretty colours and has a trigger shaped like a lightning bolt. So there's that. *Obviously H&K learnt something from their reboot of the L85.

Yesterday I bought me a VFC Avalon Calibur carbine. Basically a blingy HK416A5, but available where the former is not and a bit cheaper as well, has almost fully ambi controls. In a sort of Cerkote-ish mettallic FDE and Olive Drab with black furniture, have to admit it's rather nice, albeit a tad flash. I did mean to stand out from the crowd and get an AEG bullpup that could use Stanag/M4 type mags but none quite fitted the bill. Then I picked up the Avalon, remembered why I like 416s and had a moment of deja vu for my crappy SRC416 - first airsoft gun. The AR format is just so ergonomic damnit and this is just about the highest state of it's evolution so far. Feels quality, seems to be a pretty straight shooter with .28s out to about 50 yards-ish but I've only had the chance to put a couple of mags (Hi-Caps) through it thus far, but it feels good in the hands and is much quieter than my screechy, upgraded G&G Sig 552 and more ergonomic too despite being longer. Controls are very nice, feel good with a nice precision feel, with the exception of the RH fire selector which is a tiny bit loose. The enlarged trigger guard incorporates ambidextrous trigger finger rests, which sounds like a gimmick but is surprisingly useful. I'm used to the AR ergonomics from my KWA/PTS Mega, the Avalon is the same length, so it's just a matter of getting AFG and scope over - I think I'll buy new furniture especially for it, maybe a Magpul stock: Not sure about the QRS that it comes with, loads of battery space but still had to buy a "nunchuck" to go in it is as my lipo didn't fit. Rather loose fitting and a bit rattly, it might yet be okay, it's just I've got a Magpul on the Mega and have just got used to that solid feel and that planted feeling of the rubber butt pad on my shoulder. So, despite the it's twice what I intended to spend and very much not a bullpup I am still very stoked.

Thanks. Yes I was aware of all that but wanted a hefty, realistic Glock right out of the box without all the faffing about making different bits play nicely together. It does indeed feel the business but I'll have to send it back as it's not working. Pity, it strips easily, has a lovely feel and sound too. I mentioned the KSC thing in case it was relevant, I thought maybe different trade names might denote different quality levels. As I say their HK45 is just lovely to shoot and handle, I keep the outer reasonably well greased as the steel v soft alloy thing had occurred to me.

KWA Glock 23F! Looks like the Glock I've been looking for - weighty and able to run some powerful gas, unlike my TM G18C. Went on a bit of a binge recently and bought a KWA HK45, and seriously impressed with with range and the fact it takes .25s out of the box. Initially makes a kind of twangy scrape on the backstroke when cocking but apparently the RS does that too! Anyway it seems less now I've shot and lubed it a few 100 rounds. Just had to get the RA Tech steel outer barrel though as plastic just doesn't do it for me... although everything else is metal where it should be. ? Now it has more heft and racks with a proper clack click. (Sparse choice of holsters - gone for a RS Blackhawk.) Not cheap overall then but it's full of nice design: both in little easy to use touches and really nice styling make it just a lovely black chiselled slab of handgun. It's pointable and comfy even in my little hands - to do with it being derived from a tall and slim single stack .45" design rather than short and wide from a double stack 9mm. All in all a BMW M5 of a pistol. So on that basis I decided to give their Glock a go. ... Well it got here today. Hmmm. Marked KSC, only a label dangling from the trigger guard is marked KWA, manual is entirely in Japanese/Chinese/Korean. Doesn't seem to be pushing the valve hard enough, it doesn't cycle the action the first 30 shots or so. Second hand G&G Sig552, like new. Very practical design and a good game gun for the price (less than half) now I've had the wiring fault fixed and put on a dummy PEQ box instead rather than crushing the LiPo inside that very small handguard and buggering the wires each time. Realistically chunky externals, authentic grade of plastic used, steel body with even minor detail trades present and a hefty "bolt" which locks open for hop adjust. Really wanted a longer barrel but the price was so good. Looked at a new ICS Sig before hand, the externals didn't have the same level of realism and besides, G&G are supposed to be equally reliable. Also bought a cheap Chinese knockoff M88 helmet with visor - hope that'll stop my glasses misting up problem and £21 is a great deal cheaper than those fan assisted goggles I was considering. And an Adjustable Tactical Pistol Lanyard worth a punt at £2.30! Cheaper than a new pistol that's for sure.