Tactical Pith Helmet

A penguin walks into a bar and orders a pint of best bitter. He asks the barman, 'Have you happened to see my brother around? 'Dunno,' says the barman, 'what's he look like?'

Call me somewhat old fashioned, but I think we've all been at their mercy since the 15th century at least. Airsoft would be in far better shape if The Peasants' Revolt had succeeded.

Standard TM style mags fit as well as in any TM compatible M4. Finding mags is not one of this rifs problems. I'll give the thing that...

Same as Jacob. It is sometimes mentioned. TBH, I think that your question needs a little more qualification. Plenty of older airsofters have to use opioids to play with enjoyment. The odd illicit hipflask does the rounds (or did pre-covid) at milsims, at least the winter games. No one bats an eyelid. I wont get too excited over someone smoking a joint at lunchtime any more than someone having a bottle of beer, but an insurance company would. I suppose that I am 17th century enough to believe in the sanctity of self regarding actions. Excessive toking has the potential to be non-self regarding for certain, but then so does excessive pain killer and cough medicine use.

Of course not! They merely allowed you to struggle completing the shipping option until I e-mailed them thinking it may be a tech issue... Now it is 'improved' to telling you at the checkout again.

Yep sorry, '37 Pattern webbing! Try E-Bay to source it. Coincidently, I bought a '37 belt and water bottle cover tonight, well used but sound. £15.75 for the belt and £8 something for the bottle cover. I bought the cross-straps for less than a tenner as an unmatched pair and the ammo pouches for less than a tenner each. About £50 for the whole set up. If you're feeling energetic you can Blanco them until they match colour wise. For battle dress try and find Belgian or Greek 'Ike' pattern. Other jackets are close but the wool Belgian and Greek are closest to WWII UK. As cheap as £15, again on E-Bay. Hungarian Cotton Ike's are even cheaper. Militaria fairs are always expensive. £50 quid is extortionate. Try Evil Bay or your local militaria shop.

My boy has a Sten that he loves. WWII games are great fun. Dont be tempted by cheap Indian repro '37 pattern, it's awful. As for the Webley, you can get power down shells, or modify the existing shells. If I remember right you drill the gas ports out. A mate fields one to good effect.

Got a notification that Taiwan Gun had CM.048Ms in stock. Tried to order but no dice. They are not shipping to the UK again. Bollocks.

There's a tech at Gunman Tuddenham. Give them a bell.

G&Gs do this. If you take the hop out and lube it it may free up. Otherwise take it apart, clean, lube and reassemble. An ML is pretty much the uber hop, but the standard green G&G one is fine for .28s, so your .20 should be fine. You may find on stripping that a bit of plastic at the edge of a mould is not smooth, just trim it with a knife. Even after careful reassembly mine would whip .20s into the ether. A ZCI plastic rotary hop sorted matters for less than a tenner.

So… The night before we were due to leave for Namsoft I suddenly find myself voiceless and shivering, running a temperature. A good night’s sleep and I am just fit enough to drive by nearly midnight the following day. Not the best of starts, but there we go. The van was packed, the tickets bought and the Covid test passed A-OK. Set up camp at about 2:30am as quietly as possible after nearly three hour drive. Decent safety brief; comprehensive despite almost every player being something of an old hand at the game. For the few that were new, nothing was omitted or rushed. Game started with clear objectives and well defined fire teams to carry them out. The basic premise of the game is the film Southern Comfort. This was about a group of national guardsmen on a training exercise in the Louisiana swamps that fall foul of a group of Cajun’s who believe that they have been fired upon. Good film, great theme for a game. The action started with some LARPY shit, role playing as F.B.I., local Sheriffs, Cajuns and Guardsman. Plenty of banter and an increasingly tense atmosphere as everyone anticipates the start of the fighting. Someone slots a sheriff and a several way firefight starts. The various groups pull out and regroup to decide how to achieve their objectives in a newly hostile environment. Playing as a Cajun, I accompany the small four man group to retrieve an ammo crate, having first to find the cash box to have the necessary funds. This goes surprisingly easy, as we find the sheriffs have arrested a fellow Cajun, and due to the presence of the hated ‘Feds, we surround them and demand his release. This achieved, he reveals that he is our contact as we lead him away. A good start. Crates retrieved, we proceed to hunt the US troops. Eversley Alpha is one hell of a site. There is a pile of rhododendrons, dense marsh and thick cover. With only about 35 players, we restricted the action down to easily identified areas and soon had the US in sight. They were oblivious to our presence, which is just how it should be. A short and murderous firefight followed, with excellent sportspersonship. I say sportsperson as that rare beast, the airsoft female was present in some numbers (OK about four, but it’s a start.) The swamp dwelling set victorious we carried on hunting the sheriffs in order to attack the F.B.I. contingent that accompanied them. All great fun. At some point I reverted to true character and lone wolfed for the rest of the weekend. I harassed and harried the opposition at every opportunity, sniping with the M14. The ML hop set up lofts .3s with ease, whilst over hopping .28s madly. I get some great shots at range, bopping GIs through sanger observation slits and picking off squads at long range. At some point I end up stalking at close range, and keep a whole section pinned down by firing from some rhododendrons at fifteen yards range. I feel guilty when one chap walks over, thinking that he has spotted me at range, and I shoot him at about two feet. One skinned knuckle and an apology at endex followed. Not that said chap was aggrieved. Admiration for crafty concealment far outshone the odd flesh wound. I lost the exact set up after this and concentrated on harrying any opposition that I saw. An attack of the enemy base I learned of via my radio; and this was joined with enthusiasm. Following on from my highly successful solo escapades, this was bound to end in disaster and I was captured. The closeness of the enemy’s respawn allowed them to swarm us before we could change position. Not being fools, this was exploited in full by the enemy. The game progressed in similar fashion for hours, neither of the sides having a complete upper hand all day. The site was amazing as ever. The gameplay is excellent. The scenario is brilliant and easily learned. The cherry on the cake as it were, came at the close of the day. Number one son had bought his girlfriend, assuming that the usual round of shopping and cafes would be indulged in as the players played. Unfortunately, no other female company arrived, and so as cash free and in totally unexpected twist, a hostage appeared. By the end of the weekend we had one really excited young lady, hell bent on playing air soft at the earliest opportunity. That to me is a result. Good on the organiser for giving a second (personal) detailed safety brief, and for changing the storyline so that everybody had a good game. Sunday dawned far too early, the night centring on Cuban cigars and single malts. I dragged a reluctant arse out of bed and lone wolfed the US soldiers again. I worked my way into the middle of the enemy position and let fly with the M14, many players moaning at ‘friendly fire.’ Ho, ho, ho. Overall, given the price, plus cost of diesel, this was not cheap. However, you only live once, and the fun factor was off the scale. I still feel ultra shit re: congested chest, lack of energy, lack of strength, BUT the buzz from the game has stayed for hours later. The social and in game play was simply spot on and I will attend next year, yet again. If anyone fancies a spot of redneck carnage and or Vietnam style airsoft action, send me a PM.

If I was spending £500 tomorrow as a newbie, I would get a Cyma M14 and ask a decent tech to fit a simple 'fet, tightbore and Maple Leaf bucking. IIRC a metal toothed piston is a good idea for one too. You will have a great shooting rifle for around £230 - £250. As the man above says, recoil systems etc are a pain in the nuts. A simple mosfet to protect the titchy trigger contacts on a CYMA is a good idea though I think. The rest I'd spend on decent boots, eyepro and a minimal set of webbing etc. The change I'd spend on satisfying post-game burgers, or possibly Curly Wurlys, with a chance of scotch.

I don't know where you are Osh but Battlestations in Snetterton would suit you I reckon. It's a CQB sight that allows snipers. You can literally command almost the full field from the top of the ship on one field or the gantry in kill city. A site regular may know if I have the names of the features wrong, but I have seen limited mobility players snipe there for the reasons you give. (The 'idea' for the pistol ban came from the Cullen Report 1996 (Itself a response to the Primrose Petition) and was accepted for a bill under Major, it was enacted by the incoming Blair. No fan of either but blame where its due.)

Dave walked into the pub last night with a black eye. 'How did that happen?' I asked. Apparently, his wife asked him to make a bird table. She only came in at number seven.

Interesting. The traditional way to tune airguns was to gently sand an overtight o-ring/piston seal until it allowed the piston to slide freely under its own weight only when your finger was removed from blocking the transfer port (think nozzle) the cylinder held upright port upwards, piston fully forward. I was told that this was too tight and that a secret of tuning was to remove just enough that it just moved wen the port was blocked. Doing that gave similar results to those that you found. The looser fitting seal gave better fps. Likewise, low friction seals made from PTFE performed better than 'grippy' rubber ones.

I have used tens and tens of thousands of Blitz BBs by Zeroone, both bio and non-bio. Never had a stoppage in about fifteen or so rifles, some with tight bore barrels. Ordering 25,000 again soon tbh. Doesn't mean that they never had a bad batch mind.

Thanks mate! I was thinking £90 posted. It's hardly been used but boxless. Sent RM singed for that makes it about £75 for the rif I think. Edit: forgot one's manners.

If you have a defence, and the rif is boxed/suitably wrapped you are fine. If you try and recreate Pelham 123 you'll get in bother.

plenty of "working" guns can still have serious issues needing correction, hell even (some would even say often) "fucked" guns can have major unguessed at fuckedupness. How I actually read that sentence...

There have been quite a few cases of rifles being nicked from lorries in the last few years. A load of Webley rifles were nicked in wales a while back to little press notice. Whilst Googling for info I did come across this story that tickled my ribs. https://www.popularairsoft.com/stolen-paraguay-police-fn-fal-rifles-replaced-airsoft-replicas

Waterproof closed face pocket watches start at less than a tenner on EBay. Won't break, catch, or drown.

Get one of these and a pair of baggy cotton shorts. It's good enough to hunt bloody tigers in, it's fine for a game of airsoft.

I'll second those above.