Rogerborg

Yes, I recall both laughing and being horrified about it then too.

Haunted by the spirit of the original magic dust?

I like that it lists the price of the original TM Hi-Capa, then every single part that's been replaced, which appears to be... every single part. Trigger's Hi-Capa? 🤷‍♂️

Airsoft, in general.

Raven is a sub-brand of re-brander Nuprol. You're at least two re-sellers away from anyone who cares about their reputation. WE is the better choice out of those two. If you want a pistol as a primary, I'd push the budget to a Toyko Marui. If you want something as a casual use secondary (although I've used mine a fair bit in CQB), the Army Armament R17 can be had for less than the Raven, and works well enough.

The i4 is fairly minimalist for a full face mask. But the i5 doesn't appear to be substantially larger, and I'm not at all clear on what justifies the huge price increase over (for example) a Dye SE or Valken MI-7, both of which have good coverage and dual pane lenses.

There are legitimate concerns with not being able to hear or convey safety-critical information. These can be overcome, but it's hardly patronising to consider and enumerate what adjustment need to be made, and the reasonableness of them (and I think they are reasonable, and it is doable). Perhaps it might be an idea to ask the chap what information he needs, and how he'd prefer to receive it. As you say, he's been dealing with this all his life.

And people outside the Church of HPA will decry it as heresy. (Because it is).

CQB would be a mare but woodland might be do-able. Kid-wrangling rules would apply: you'd need to be with him all the time, and if he's out, you're out (although not necessarily the other way around). If they don't have a written safety brief, this would be an opportunity for them to remedy that. Heck, you could write down what they've been telling you and give it to them. Overshooting might be an issue, he'd need to be made very aware of the need to look out for bands, hands and postures. Cease-fire / man-down shouts would be my big concern. You'd want to agree some unambiguous signs for the safety critical stuff. Individual game briefs, get a small whiteboard and write down a precis. Heck, it'll be useful to remind the marshals what's going on. A little preparation can go a long way.

Ahoy and welcome. Just to check, do you want an M4 / AR-15 platform? Nothing wrong with that, most of us have one (or two (or three)), but there are few really bad choices in the current market. AK, G36, MP5, P90, M14, pistol-calibre-carbines, they all work. Airsoft is a heart-over-head hobby, the only real regret is being too sensible.

Surely that should be V.A.T.S. included?

Yarp, £250 for a £190 gun (plus some stuff you probably already own) is beyond wildly optimistic. However, I think the most egregious sin is that half the beige two-tone has been blue two-toned. 🤢

M4/STANAG mags are all over the place. I've measured up to 1.5mm difference in front-to-back dimensions across my collection, and, vitally, in the location of the feed. It's a wonder that any of them feed at all. Having to add shims, or even file or sand down the mags, isn't unusual.

Yes, I agree, over 50s only. It's a tricky one, because it's quite a broad hobby and we're all there to have fun in different ways. It's only when my fun interferes with yours that it becomes an issue - and Bush Wookies are a problem in that respect, especially when given plenty of time to take root. If you limit numbers, then who gets to wear their £700 PE kit, and who has to play in their underwear? Limiting them to snipers and DMRs, OK, but there's already a surfeit of those. I often eschew or stop sniping on days when there too much of it going on, and only wear a sniper veil and DPM 95 (the best DPM) but that's a personal choice, not something that I'd like to see enforced on anyone. My usual solution applies: ban everyone and everything from this hobby, problem solved.

Long since solved. Steyr Scout is a good shout though, owners seem very happy with them.

Why would that be? Starting with the same energy at the muzzle, and assuming that the hop can impart enough spin[*], a heavier BBs will always retain more energy than a lighter one and go further. It'll take longer to reach a closer target, but that's hardly an issue for a sniper with a 30m MED - which is about the point where it will overtake a lighter BB. [*] If your gun can't fully hop it that's a different issue, but it's an issue with the hop unit or bucking and nub, not the BB.

Just that you'll probably regret it a bit at the point where you do a dodgy paintjob, or try to sell it on and find that there's a limited market for them. There's nothing inherently wrong with buying a two-tone if you really don't want to wait. I did it, and many other people have. It's a fixable situation. And a scope protector. Glass acts like a magnet for plastic BBs. And batteries. Typically 7.4V lipo unless you've got a specific reason to get something else, and I like to run a pair of them in the 1200-1400 mAh range (at least) and change over at lunch. Cheap chargers are a false economy. They are, no joke, fire hazards. Something like a SkyRC S65 is the typical recommendation.

It never fails to amaze me that sites will put in hundreds of man-hours of work to build and update the site, but not one minute towards making a map of it.

Great to hear that it went well. Are you minded to push the power up towards 2.3J? Once you start doing that, you may find yourself chasing the White Rabbit of robustness and performance mods, which can get expensive, fast. The other option is to cut a coil off the spring[*] and drop it below 1.14J, so your son can use it without a MED. This is a viable play-style if you enjoy it. [*] With it being that close, I reckon I'd just heat and flatten a coil instead, then chrono it.

Ditto, my autistic son showed some mild interest in airsoft sniping, but we determined that the reality of the shouting, bangs and ouchies wouldn't work out well for him. This is genuinely great to hear, and I fully commend them for doing it. However, I'm unsurprised that it's gone wrong for them. People often threaten to "sue" without the first idea of what that means, or what their cause of action would be. In this case, it sounds like the site has more than demonstrated their Equality Act Section 20 duty to make reasonable adjustments for disability. Tolerating dangerous behaviour can't be "reasonable" though, as they also have a duty of care to everybody else there. Sad, but reality doesn't always allow for a win-win.

Don't, at least not until you've played at least once and the adrenaline and aches have worn off. Long guns, we'd generally recommend an electric carbine under £200. There are loads of viable choices in just about every platform, so it's really a case of narrowing it down to whatever platform you like the look and feel of and then thinking about brands and models. For pistols, green gas blowbacks are the default choice for maximising fun. Unless you're playing CQB or at quirky sites, you'll rarely use a pistol, so on the few times you do draw it you'll want something that delivers the most smiles per cycles. Toyko Marui are the default choice for good reasons, they're Japanese made and do a great job in most platforms. Again though, decide whether you want Glock, Hi-Capa or something else first, then we can (and oh, we will) discuss brands and models. The classifieds are usually full of "regret purchase packages" with something like a Bulldog M4 and a Raven Hi-Capa, which indicates the sort of thing to avoid. It can be an expensive mistake to go all-in off the first adrenaline rush. Buying your own eye protection is a good shout since rental facepro can be random. You might get given something decent like a paintball-rated Valken, or you might get a horrible cheap mesh mask, so having your own will be handy. I like the Pyramex i-Force (rebrandings are available) as they're dual pane and less prone to fogging up than some single panes, but again there's a huuuuge choice and sometimes you can only find out what doesn't work for you the hard way.

Ahoy and welcome. No need to over-think it. Find a site near to you, and book a rental package. If you enjoy it and reckon that you'll stick with it, then you think about purchasing options. Renting isn't as expensive as it looks though. A rental package is typically £20 more than a walk on, but you'll get through £10 or so worth of BBs anyway, so it's really only £10 a day to rent a gun and support for it without investing anything yourself. Waiting the 8 weeks / 3 games before getting a site membership / UKARA number will give you time to cadge a go on some guns and figure out what you want to buy. There's no need to go as a team or with anyone else. There will be a brief for rentals covering the basics, and airsofters tend to be a friendly bunch. You'll easily enough get talking to folk on site. Just ask someone about their guns and gear and see if you can get them to shut up.

Very easy in the case of the TAC-41. The tools you need to do it are stored on the gun.

Yarp, there's a lot of satisfaction to be had from getting a hit while playing in Hard Mode, using energy that you've put in yourself. It feels more personal.

Surely that's Collumflage.