Rogerborg

Blowbacks are indeed great fun, and plenty of folk enjoy collecting airsoft, uh, weapons for target shooting, for the technology, or just as replicas. I say this to distinguish the tools from the experience of skirmishing with them, which not everybody actually enjoys when they're getting slapped in the face by a stranger's balls. I'd encourage you to get along to a site and find out. The actual play experience is much the same whether it's with a ratty rental or a GHK SIG SG 553 GBBR.

Ahoy and welcome. Dive in, it's great fun, although it will eat every penny of your disposable income (plus all you can borrow). It's absolutely fine to book a rental package and rock up solo to any site - it's a really welcoming hobby, and people are generally very happy to show you the ropes. All you need is to dress for the terrain (footwear) and weather (waterproofs/layers if you're outdoors). You don't need any of your own gear, camo, or even eyepro, although your own eye/face protection might be preferable to a rental mesh mask. Do you have a site in mind to try?

Reddit answer: you need to reshim your gearbox or your gun will explode and you'll be left with hooks for hands. Actual answer: INSUFFICIENT DATA FOR MEANINGFUL ANALYSIS. How hot are we talking? Cosy covfefe mug, radiator scald, or gom jabbar test? What battery are you using? How many rounds are we talking about over how long a period of time?

That's a great job. I was thinking more a couple of bare wires loosely wrapped in electrical tape.

Spot 1. Drill bit straight up the feed tube. Left is raw dogging it from the factory, right is the ordered perfection that I imagine I've created. That said, Luke at Negative has just advocated smoothing away spot #2 to help with feed issues, and I can see the point of that as well. I can only speak to what I've tried though, and a gentle penetration straight up the feed tube seems to have helped me with problematic feeding.

You're really playing at a site where they're fine with semi-auto trigger spamming anything up to 1.X Joules (1.1.3 < X < 2.5)? Joking aside, that's not a site I'd be keen to play at. If they can't see the problem with that, I shudder to think what else they turn a blind eye to. Yup, that does sound like a pretty good solution. I'm tempted to bodge up something similar myself.

Erk, no, I mean, if you have another complete V2 gearbox to swap in, I'd try that, not moving parts around. At this point it seems like you'll want to binary-chop the issues down rather than introducing new variables. That said... One piece of voodoo that (maybe) helped me with an inconsistent feed issue was putting a detent into the top of the hop chamber. Take a 6mm drill bit, put it straight up the feed tube, and very carefully create a small relief in the top of the chamber. With a plastic chamber, I did it by hand, with light pressure and a few turns. Just enough to create a shallow dome that the BBs can key into and feel safe and loved rather than finding themselves unsure where to go. I'm unclear on the science (if any) behind it, but after doing that, my feeding problems went away. Although with it being airsoft, its just as likely that they were sorted by sheer fluke by yet another disassemble-reassemble.

Having carefully read everything that you've written and tried, then I'd concur that it's either the chrono, or you should accept that it's time to live the life potato. Honestly, you've ruled out everything that I can think of, short of swapping in another complete gearbox to see on which side of the nozzle the problem lies.

Eh, airsoft, first world problems from third world pot metal. Presumably you've radiused it? As a DMR owner, something that locks my box is other DMR owners whanging rounds downrange like No-full-auto-in-building-bro. If he can't complete a trigger pull, how's he going to stick to one-in-the-air, a 2-second count, or whatever the local rule is? Hmm, now that's an interesting suggestion. Yes, I like that, especially if you're already building your own diodes. As long as he's got the self control to not just mash the button until the magic smoke gets out, if the motor has properly stalled out and can't pull the spring.

Eh. I'm guessing it was bought as a project and they lost interest, and is being sold on as the same. I'm sure someone could rescue it. Given that it's only £350 new, the price is... optimistic. I mean, add a stock, grip, handguard, sling points, sights, and/or carry handle, and you're back up to there again. But you've still got a cracked receiver and no warranty. Spiv, for sure, looks like a (literal) bedroom trader. Lots of duvet shots.

If push does come to shove, it's for the State to prove that you committed an offence by importation, manufacture or modification, not for you to disprove it. Only after they've made their case would you need to provide a defence. I'm very much not inciting you to die on this hill, and I'd be OK with completing a brief declaration to end the matter. Just noting that if you do get a knock on the door, you can be friendly, honest and cooperative - you're an active airsofter and can demonstrate it - but either way the less you say, the better. I wouldn't volunteer any information about where your collection came from. I'd be more concerned about the prospect of being billed for the VAT. If HMRC come after you directly, I'd pay up, as they're a big enough gang to wring it out of you. If UPS come after you saying that you owe it to them, I'd simply ignore them - you have no contract with them (except implicitly by performance), and agreed to no such thing. Either way, thanks for keeping us posted on the latest plot twists and characters in this shit-show.

Mk12 SPR is made of pure copium.

[Cries in DMR] Would confirm, Ex-Workmate Eddy accidentally bought the smaller one, and found that it worked very well. Only Gigachads need the bigguns.

The second clause is "an imitation firearm is not [...] to be regarded as distinguishable from a real firearm [...]". "Real firearm" is still present, and still has the same definition of "a firearm of an actual make or model of modern firearm (whether existing or discontinued)". Again, Parliament could have chosen to use the FA 1968 S57 definition of imitation firearm, "any thing which has the appearance of being a firearm". They didn't, and that's significant. I'm sure the copper at the sharp end won't know that, and quite likely not the CPS or Fiscal either, but any competent defence brief or UKAPU should be able to bring proceedings to a halt. I'm so-so on whether or what forms of cosplay constitutes theatrical, and where the line would be drawn between performer and participant - are the Rocky Horror Show audience part of the performance? What I would note is that if you're choosing to buy cosplay insurance rather than theatrical performer insurance, then you're rather making an argument against yourself.

Yup, I run a riser as well. You can also try a half-fabric mask. This is a One Tigris brand, other (cheaper) versions are now available.

I was adding a comment there linking back here while you were adding a comment here linking over there. [EDIT] Well, I had added a comment, it vanished. I wonder if WuTube takes a dim view of external links now. [EDIT 2] Yup, 2nd comment has gone as well.

Well, either you got very lucky and dodged another £100+ in VAT and fees, or they've started paying that at the source - or marking the shipment as VAT paid, which is the same thing as far as HMRC is concerned. Are there any clues on the invoice or (if you still have it) the shipping label? If they've really started paying UK VAT at source, then that's great news, it's game on again.

Ah, good to hear that. Yes, with any sort of hop unit, you'll want to use the heaviest BBs that it will lift. It may simply be an issue of BB quality and consistency. "6mm" BBs actually tend to be 5.95mm, and in practice vary from 5.92mm to 5.98mm when you measure them. It's more likely that heavier BBs will be made to better tolerances than cheaper, lighter 0.2g. You may find that you can get better consistency from a tight-bore barrel, although finding or modify an existing aftermarket barrel to fit will be somewhat of a gamble.

That's... actually a very good point. Hmm. As a speculative interpretation (we'd need case law) I'd infer that "make or model" implies something that has been offered for trade to that degree of specificity. Armat isn't a real make, and M41A isn't a real model. And yet, there are versions out there that can shoot real bullets (but not 10mm light armour piercing caseless). This is the Culper Precision (make) Block19 (model), a real Glock encased in Lego. Discontinued, never offered for sale, but they did make one, with a model designation. If I built just the Lego shell, would it be a realistic imitation of a real firearm?

Priority racking should be reserved for your wife, or at least your favourite mistress. I'm genuinely interested to hear about whether @BigStew got "racked" for VAT and duty. There's no reason that GunFire (and TaiwanGun) can't start paying it at source instead of Polish VAT, and given their random communication, they might have done it without even bothering to tell anyone.

Which is why it falls foul of the Bus to Clapham Comicon definition of FA Section 19 / 57 (4). IIRC, we had a bloke on here intending to open carry a Snow Wolf M41A on a bus because "not real gnu". 🤦‍♂️ But VCRA S36 is a different and narrow definition. Parliament chose not to use the same broad definition, and they considered historical guns, so they could have considered future ones as well. As careful as I am (now) to sail on the safe side of the law, inventing offences where they don't exist is doing Nanny State's job for her.

The handle, or the mechanism? The handle, eh, they all do that. Easily enough bodged with a bolt or whatever you have lying around. If it's the mechanism, a knock off + replacement Odin internals costs less than an Odin.

Its appearance readily distinguishes it from that real firearm (the Thompson). I can't fathom a situation where you'd actually be convicted under S36 for selling one, even if someone does go full Hudson with it. This is in sharp contrast to S19 public possession, which I agree is a bigger, broader issue both for us and for wizards-and-hobbits types. Having skirted round the edges of that community, there does seem to be a high quotient of people who are desperate to be seen, but can't grasp how they're going to be perceived. They will keep getting caught doing it... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-45994558 ... resulting in some some knee jerk reactions from cons, gating the problem once it's already arrived at their door ... https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/fake-guns-are-confiscated-londons-mcm-comic-con-n451386 Hmm. "While Britain’s 2003 Anti-Social Behaviour Act means most replicas of guns must be concealed when in a public place" I've seen this repeated a few times, but it says no such thing, it only matters if you have it with you. Of course you should conceal any IF or RIF so that it's less likely to be an issue, but if you are caught, you're going to need a reasonable excuse.

Confused because: didn't you get mugged for VAT? Did it just sail straight through?

They've only recently come back into stock after he bought up a bundle of them and then the rest sold out in short order when he recommended them.