Tactical Pith Helmet

The Osprey books are excellent I think. Edward Manning's Her Privates We is often sited as being the best memoir to emerge from WW1. It was written by a man who served as a private and describes trench life in a lot of detail. Goodbye to All That and Sherston's progress by Graves and Sassoon respectively are excellent too. Both describe the appearance of men actually fighting. Apologies if you are already familiar with them, but I would recommend them all, if you are interested in the period.

Reenactors are an essential source, but don't forget books. Memoires and autobiographies record how people actually wore uniforms. There were, for example, fashions for removing the shaping wire in peaked hats in some branches, and some (almost always officers) tested the limits of khaki. The lighter the shade of shirt the more fashionable.

Rather nice SVD side mount kindly supplied by @#blackadder fitted with Nikko Sterling Diamond 1-4x24. It sits atop of my new CYMA, with its new SVD sling from Ant Supplies. Sight protector ordered tonight. I do like new toys.

You need to choose a year. Uniforms were simplified as the war went on. Things like sleeve insignia were stripped down considerably.

3" rather than 3 1/2"

I had a great day in a game with RC pyro. No one on the squad 'patrolling the mined road' knew who the bod on their team with the controller was. The tech added to a decent plotline. It was fun to be on the team ambushing them too, as we did not know when the best moment to attack would be. It worked as no one playing had to remember anything or operate anything. No confusion, just loud bangs and added immersion. Good use of tech in my book.

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/906766776/russian-army-summer-jacketpants-bdu? @parallel-knightBilly bargain, IF it fits you. Genuine pre-91 makes it good for both Cold War and post Soviet games.

Thanks mate. seriously, what am I on this evening? PB doesn't work on my browser, but I am sure that I looked at Surplus Store at least.

Dave's Custom has the Merf for £51, but luckily TG have them at a more reasonable £40ish. I have the Nano Hard on my DMR works fine in protecting the trigger so far. Not sure what else it does tbh. Rifle does shoot very very well with regards responsiveness.

It seems a lot of effort for an electronic cow bell. I expect that I misunderstand, but there we go.

G&G do a foregrip with a flat pad inlet in it. There are horizontal rails built in. Being recessed the velcro pad doesn't get caught so often and is less likely to loose adhesion over time.

I gratuitously repeat this old Barry Cryer gag: "Do you know what speed you were doing, Sir?" asked the policeman. "I do apologise Officer," I replied. "I've never used this road before, and I honestly thought it was an unrestricted zone." "No you didn't!!" my wife protested. "We only live round the corner, you said you were putting your foot down because there wouldn't be any coppers around this late!" "May I see your insurance?" the cop said grimly. "I've just renewed it," I assured him. "It'll be in the post, I'll drop a copy to the station next week." "Actually," said the wife, "you were short on cash this month and said you'd leave it 'til you had the money. It ran out a fortnight ago." I turned to her and snapped "Will you keep your mouth shut, you stupid bitch...." "Does he always talk to you like that, Madam?" asked the copper. "No," my wife replied. "Only when he's been drinking."

It might be an idea to see what luck other people have had with various tightbores and your rif ceteris paribus. Some people swear by a wide bore in some set ups, others rave over a cheap tightbore of dubious stated bore but undoubted accuracy. Sticking any old tight bore barrel in a rif won't necessarily increase accuracy. I now that from sad experience. Be nice to get such a lovely gun shooting bob on and exploiting your new found abilities!

Being serious for once, I clocked a new S&T SMLE at the weekend. Now... RS SMLEs, when hard used, are starting to get failures with the bolt. A weapon designed as disposable in the real world gives out after years being abused by squaddies, a few more by cadets, and then has to endure scores of years stalking in all weathers and/or repetitive target work before its pressure bearing components fail.* The S&T was damned nice and really did seem solidly built for an airsoft bolty, but I doubt that they will have a century of use life. It wont outlast a Weihrauch costing far less either. It will outlast a £10 spring pistol though. You have to accept the odd hit pushing something beyond its design limits however decent a rep the manufacturer has. *Totally off topic bore wear rant swerved at last second.

Love the Rogue Trooper patch.

A very slow start to the year for one reason or another. Usual game day at Tuddenham run by Gunman. End of the month skirmish rather than filmsim, but I needed to play pretty desperately. The weather was nice and bright although the frost stayed most of the day in a few shady places. Very little wind at all, which can make games a bit one sided at some sites, so pretty perfect for January. The place looked very busy, with a full complement of players. There are never too many with the booking system having a sensible cap even pre-C19. The morning games were in the woods. After a quick death match to warm everyone up, coats and jumpers were discarded, and a game of accompanying the flag to the well took place. The first game was huge fun, the defending team playing very well, and the attackers putting up a really spirited attack. The turnaround was even better. The attacking team really played very well, coordinating themselves tightly as possible with an ad hoc squad, and taking some very reckless attempts to gain the objective. The finale was a huge series of runs at the target through an almost endless wall of plastic. I lost count of the number of attempts, but each one was great fun to see. As I was defending, I enjoyed trying to hit each moving target on single shot, as I had decided to take my new K98. The rifle performed flawlessly, being consistent, accurate and fairly flat shooting for a rif. I got a surprising amount of kills with it and a massive sense of satisfaction from doing so. I did use my M4 for the last five minutes as it seemed a mite selfish to the other team members to handicap myself when they were playing so competitively. It is the most fun rif I’ve used for an introduction to its foibles. I’m really glad that I stepped out of my comfort zone and used a bolt action. Lunch was taken up by chatting to the old friend that I gave a lift to. It was shocking how long we had not seen each other. We both seem to have spent lockdown buying obscure Soviet milsurp gear. The afternoon games were in the village. I went over to the M4, but in hindsight should have used my shotgun. The first game saw a tight defence and pretty tight attacks. I managed to get into a position with a good field of fire and few approaches, but someone did flank me in the end. I had a stack of kills to my account so no shame, and I shouted my congratulations to whoever the marksman was. A couple of us had such good lines of sight through one building from the bushes in which we hid, that a marshal checked that we had not sneaked into the buildings themselves which were out of bounds. Eventually I was spotted and a chap got me with a cracking shot that more than equalled my own efforts. The turnaround was even better with some really aggressive attacks that were held up by even more aggressive defence. TBH some of the playing got too competitive and there was some creeping into forbidden positions and I overshooting, but the play was so fast and furious that it did not spoil things, at least for me. I didn’t hear any angry shouts and heard little moaning so it did not seem to matter much to others either. I did get hit by a MK5 that went off beside my head as it fell, which was bloody painful as my friend had forgotten his radio, and I had left mine in the car along with the ear defenders etc. Bizarrely it didn’t set my tinnitus off (and wont fingers crossed) but I still can’t hear quite right nearly six hours later. Such things happen, and it was impossible to have been done with any malice. I only mention it to remind us that ear pro is a good idea. The game ended with some really excellent toing and froing with positions being taken and retaken, with some good personal duals developing between players. The last game was an unusual affair played in the trenches. Four players entered, and when hit were replaced by another, the order of new players being formed by a simple queue at the edge of the trench on the earthworks. The players who waited their turn on the earthworks shouted directions to the players in the trench system. I had not played this game before and it was an absolute blast. My first two attempts were pretty poor, but my third and fourth were really good. The key was to play as fast as possible and to lay down a fair bit of fire. Trying my usual sneaky style of playing was pretty useless. In all, I thoroughly enjoyed my day. The games were a lot more involved than the last time that I played under this marshal team, who did their usual excellent job. I don’t mind players becoming carried away and actually playing the game harder, it beats sullen hanging back. I really had a blast using a bolty for once, and am looking forward to using it for milsims etc. Shock horror, I nearly used my pistol today thanks to the K98. Running red gas it ran fine in the low temp. I didn’t actually shoot the thing for the first time in my airsoft career but there we go. I ended the day dog tired with several cuts from brambles, a load of welts from BBs and a feeling that I had properly worked out, throwing myself around like a loon. Rushing to and from buildings, I ended up throwing myself out of the window and straight into the ground in order to make use of cover three times in one game. I might ache at school tomorrow… Overall, the same excellent day that I have grown to expect, I shall be back very soon.

@Sniper780 this is a bit of a bargain. You would need a summer weight jacket too obviously , but this is about £20-£40 less than the jacket alone would cost you. Cover your arse by using paypal. https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/568181168/original-russian-army-chechen-war-era?click_key=bd11f2ebd3005a0a2a838bd820fab9dbefee8dc3%3A568181168&click_sum=b53f54dc&ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=russian+camo&ref=sr_gallery-3-38&organic_search_click=1

Not sure on the complete bargain status, but for fellow anoraks who need hard to source kit, having the material to make it/have it made, may be of interest. Ratnik waterproof underkeks are go! https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165176791649?_trkparms=amclksrc%3DITM%26aid%3D1110006%26algo%3DHOMESPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D236842%26meid%3D0790d2c384d8466b9081eac89f44155e%26pid%3D101195%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D8%26sd%3D333168020860%26itm%3D165176791649%26pmt%3D1%26noa%3D0%26pg%3D2047675%26algv%3DSimplAMLv9PairwiseWebMskuAspectsV202110NoVariantSeedNoPriceCap&_trksid=p2047675.c101195.m1851&amdata=cksum%3A1651767916490790d2c384d8466b9081eac89f44155e|enc%3AAQAGAAACILFWNBEitkqDqrp1rJu3TtOGSkuJecakaPoytIZIE6a5LCr8UgrsKFCxlte5Sb1cWiUgSFWCFE5%2Fw%2BycY8JpbB8YhZfx2xCebH1%2Bt3LHuaEKRvgUCXbLFSt3QpbZ7NuGYvLXhVE7pWZl5G3RzxFSZbk6yaqhZyxXt8QPbJqMu1PuhlXuZpBrtdIE6pYgp%2B9eTpFQRc%2BUhxtehz2sI1kpO%2Bu8P0H2dH3wwWdVnBvvht1REUAmFQ7%2BF0AY15pxGSUDHR6M6D3x2A2nJdeepFuWpnQatyzB3EU8hvWSlu5jQifFiORaZG1IBc%2FrKdf%2F4wD4iwTXXWeFCOp3EHGdYtmDqHtKpeZR2nBS5ovaDKMnoHMS058WAxWxbCxdDZ21zmt2ubA3PP5uPpJ102%2BxXnAezrivZpQCir6o2H3RKr51ywSMgTB315WYuwCbkzHO9ys9kylMG71mCeyhqfnqCbm5vfOKXjqon2ylEBrT%2Bkl1on7%2Fvc%2FwpC5Xjj3fCYGKvvSQOxYVkq1GEj5u7snN7EGGzqznq49cBA2csVuDGELTOY%2FyW8RaUx1k9jBIbRQ6diTC5Ula%2FOJaz7p9LrsCuIO6LXmQwX7z67CEVutpKsIIme4icBbOLzlpixUN6v4xCbwAPvHgceZg%2F7tHlhgCfPL2EhWJxRt49%2B0FhmSe0X%2BnQJzU2SL68m90LDylyYgBX1ugwwoL6ZVfPGG%2B9ppyQ%2BzGZAw%3D|ampid%3APL_CLK|clp%3A2047675

Hell's teeth man! You're supposed to buy on impulse, decide it's not quite right and buy another on impulse as an addition. If you've small hands the controls, especially the safety, may be a little awkward to use on the G3.

Using the law is a tricky enterprise. In an instance when someone has taken the piss in so grievous a manner, you may be better off going to kung fu classes, giving up work for a few weeks and getting into explosive physical condition. Side kicking the door in and casually spinning a set of nunchucks as you enter may adjust the bounders attitude considerably.

Interesting stuff on that bizarre trigger set up! Thanks to @Tacklefor the heads up on the MP18. The thing went before I even PM'd the seller. New pew below. Nice smooth bolt on first impression. Purchase of budyonovka is imminent.

I have a lower order of G3 than the lovely LCT. Not a patch on my M14 TBH. 😉