Rogerborg

Selling past the close, as they say. On balance, I'm minded to believe the retailer and @Spartan09. It's just... a remarkable coincident that three new chums all decided to show up and sing their praises at the same time.

Airsofter buys another £500 toy to hang on the wall with the rest of them: "Cool, mate, lovely purchase." Airsofter spends a few extra £££ a day on BBs: "Durr, nobody needs to shoot 0.4g from an AEG, you plonker."

Although three new accounts registering just to nosh off the business is equally as suspicious. 🙄

Never, ever let her find the receipts.

Surprisingly, yes. I've tried many lotions and potions over the years for biking and then airsoft, and they're the least useless I've come across. They should be, given the price. It's worth keeping an eye open for bulk buys that will last you years rather than buying them at the extortionate sums being asked for a couple of them.

No problem, we often get folk signing up just to air a grievance, and it almost always turns out that there's another, and very different, side to the story. (I mean, except when it concerns Stephen Glennie)

It would help if you were specific about who you're talking about. https://onlyairsoft.com/ ? https://combatairsoft.co.uk/ ? Someone else?

Ahoy and welcome. I mostly play a walking game now: run and you'll just die tired. Great to hear that you're starting with the safety gear. The M4s is indeed a decent default platform, and you'll have magazine compatibility if you both go that way. There are some perfectly reasonable brands out there with decent features at sub-£200 prices: finding them in stock is more of the problem at the moment. When you do get your own, I'd suggest lithium-polymer (lipo) or lithium-ion (li-ion) batteries. The former are cheaper, the latter are higher capacity. 7.4V (2 cell) is fine for most guns. Deans connectors are better than mini-Tamiya, but both work. The SkyRC S65 is the default recommendation for a decent charger - avoid anything Nuprol branded like the plague. Airsofters can get a dose of Magical Thinking about our own particular toys, but with a clean barrel and hop rubber shooting 1J - 1.1J, most AEGs are going to perform much the same. More price doesn't really get a huge amount of extra performance, it's more about metal bodies, trademarks, and nice-to-have features like recoil or mosfets that can do things like 3-shot bursts or pre-cocking to improve trigger response. You don't need any of that though and even a no-feature gun like a G&G Combat Machine is going to sling BBs downrange just fine. In terms of brands, G&G and CYMA are very low risk. G&G Combat Machines used to be the default starter choice, but they're pricing themselves out of the market now. The cheapest CYMAs have robust internals but very toyish plastic bodies. Specna Arms and Lancer Tactical have had quality control issues but seem to be OK at the moment, although the new Specna Arms FLEX range are too new to be a known quantity. Jing Gong are a decent brand, and the Double Eagle M9XX M4s are getting lots of love. Renting will give you the opportunity to blag a go with other people's RIFs to see (or feel) for yourself the difference between plastic and pot-metal bodies, and to hear a straining motor and badly shimmed gearbox versus something tuned to a T. I'd recommend checking and adjusting the hop on any rental gun as it can be neglected. You should be able to find a helpful player happy to assist if you hang around the chrono / test range. At the end of the day though, if you have some that shoots a BB more or less in the direction that you're pointing it, you can have fun with it. Obligatory:

What sort of numbers are we talking about? Some redundancy there. But that's not a realistic imitation firearm. It's not even an unrealistic imitation firearm. Sounds more like a bunch of loganberries.

That's fine, it's a 3-cell 11.1V lipo. Perfectly reasonable for airsoft use.

I'd hope not. Lithium cells are (nominally) 3.7V each. 2 cell = 7.4V, 3 cell = 11.1V. A 4 cell lipo or li-ion battery would be 14.8V. If you're looking at the number of terminals and wires on the balance port, that'll be cells+1, e.g.:

Oh, that's fair enough, this is a CQB site with a 0.25g limit. You're not going to get much creep from 0.2 to 0.25g, and I'd prefer them chronoing with known 0.2g rather than taking folks' word on what they're using. Of course, that's still pointless if Harry HPA nudges his nob and/or slings 0.4g in there. They should be testing with site BBs during the day as well. That said, credit for even doing an in-game chrono at all.

Yes, that, I use cut-up pieces of heat-shrink. I find it a bit confusing to see even "God tier" techs like Luke at Negative say that a given gun just won't lift 0.3 or 0.32g. I'm pretty sure it will with a little shimming. Sure, it's a bodge, but it's a very simple one, and it's not like physics works differently inside a hop unit than in the real world.

Heavier is denser is harder is less elastic is more impulse is hurtier feels. 1J of dry sponge, or 1J of tungsten? Same energy. There's also the issue of chronoing, and abuse or even the genuine miscomprehension we've seen here occasionally about what "350fps" means. I got a cracker of a bruised fingertip at about 30 feet from an HPA pistol months ago that's still not fully cleared up. I ran and told a grown up, the guy got chronoed, and came in under 350. They use site 0.2g at the morning chrono-theatre, but I suspect just trusted him on the weight when chronoed in-game.

Any idea why they even allow that weight of BB there? There's no reason to use anything heavier than 0.25g in indoor CQB sites, and even that's flexing. Maybe be the change you want to see? I call hits in very-CQB when people even point at gun at me, even if they're shooting dry. They're never going to believe they missed, because their gnu is a laser and they're a Delta Beret Ninja. Arguing the toss just leaves two people grumpy and aggrieved, and they'll be convinced that you didn't call their hit, so they'll be less likely to call yours, right?

Any sound or sign of it pre-engaging and chewing the rack or sector gear? Have you fitted a delayer chip? I know that's for feeding issues, I'm just trying to visualise how more spin can equal less spring.

You'll get the same or better at most sites. Really, folk will be delighted to chat or help you out. Just ask someone about their toy gun and you'll have trouble getting us to shut up.

What, like a marshal?

I'd encourage you to just go yourself. It's super easy to get talking to people, we all have a shared interest.

I can see why they'd think that, given that there's clearly no interest from the State in clamping down on the rogues. The problem with that is that eventually some muckraker with an audience will do a "think of the children!" hit piece on our assault-toys.

Your stereo's only as good as your stylus.

Not really, he's got very good at it. Sorry to hear that he's still at it. How much did he take you for?

Not high profile, no, it's buried in the firearms figures. There have been a few cases of rascals with RIFs either deliberately trying to get themselves shot, or begging for it, but in most cases our Dakka Dibble show admirable restraint and just beanbag them in the balls. It is fairly irksome that the only sellers who really seem to give a stuff about the VCRA are airsoft retailers. I mean, if you wanted a realistic imitation of a real firearm with no wait, you could buy an air gun over the counter, or just pop down to your local market stalls.

It's amazing how many guides and techs don't mention this. The c-clip on the hop unit only holds the barrel in approximately the correct orientation and I've become mildly obsessed with making tiny rotations to get the mound centred. Hop off, rotate the barrel a smidge, hop to full, eyeball, and repeat until your OCD is satiated.

They're too new to be a known quantity. The spec sheet looks great for the price, but God knows what OEM they're using. I think we were speculating that they might be rebrand-buddies with the Lancer Tacticals which have similar specs and prices. I don't think you can beat either of those for features-for-money, and unless they crack their gearboxes or habitually shred components, they're probably as good a gamble as any other airsoft gun. Most parts are consumables eventually, and not that expensive to replace.