Rogerborg

Yup, I want to be super clear that I respectfully disagree with @AirSniper's interpretation of the law, but 100% agree with how we should treat RIFs - or even IFs, remember the 12 year old who got his door put in and cuffed because a passerby saw his two-tone through a window. I was coming home from a game on Sunday and was overtaken by a speeding police van ignoring a temporary speed limit. Normally I'd race them just for shits and giggles ("Where's the fire, constable?"), but thought better of it because I had a boot (almost literally) full of RIFs, BFGs and such.

Or its blowing enough gas past the slug to create eddies in the space time continuum inside the barrel.

I'm minded to believe it, because I threw a 50 degree Maple Leaf into a 1.8J+ DMR and it was just fine (I later found a 60 degree and switched to that, with no noticeable difference, I just wanted to free up the 50 for an 1.1J AEG). I suspect 70+ buckings are more about willy waggling over your real ultimate power in areas where they run snipers at 3J+.

Yup, sorry, but I'm going to have to flag up [citation needed] on that. This isn't intended as personal, just an examination of the law as it's written and demonstrably applied. We'll start with Policing and Crime Act 1968 Section 125 which amends the Firearms Act 1968 by saying that airsoft guns are not firearms for the purposes of that Act. One notable exception is Section 19 which specifically mentions imitation firearms, and 24A (below). We could have a bun-fight over whether the multiple mention of "air weapons" in the Firearms Act still apply to airsoft guns, even if they're not "firearms". That could be problematic, since Section 24 does prohibit gifting "air weapons" to anyone under 18. It says nothing about their ownership of it though. The recipient commits no offence. In any case, we should argue strenuously against "air weapon" covering airsoft guns, since Section 1 (3) (b) defines an "air weapon" as a subset of "firearm", not as a separate category. If we continue with "air weapon" offences, Section 24Z prohibits minors from "having with them" an air weapon. In that case, they just need to be supervised by someone over 21, as per Section 23. Still nothing about ownership though. Supply of imitation firearms (realistic or otherwise) to minors is entirely relevant. That's covered by Firearms Act Section 24A which talks only about sale and purchase, not loans, gifts or ownership. And as we should all be familiar with by now, VCRA 2006 S36 covers manufacture, modification, importation and sale, not purchase, possession or ownership. Purchase is covered by Firearms Act S24A which provides no such defence for purchase by minors. However, again, being gifted or loaned or owning one is not an offence. The VCRA S36 offence has an S37 defence of "the purposes of functions that a person has in his capacity as a person in the service of Her Majesty". But that applies only to the S36 offences of manufacture, modification, importation and sale, not purchase or ownership, and is not a defence to the Firearms Act S24A offence of minors purchasing (but not owning) an imitation firearm (realistic or otherwise). I agree that it's a responsible thing to do, but whether it can shoot or not is immaterial to the Firearms Act 1968 S19 offence (ibid) of possession of an imitation firearm in a public place, realistic or otherwise, functional or otherwise. See this case, of a bright orange springer. The Sheriff's rather curious comment was that children would have a reasonable excuse for being in possession of an IF (but not necessarily a RIF) for the purposes of (I quote) "playing cowboys and Indians". But that's entirely about the appearance, not the functionality. Only if it's classed as an air weapon (and I'd argue that it's not), then Firearms Act S24Z applies. But I can find no such responsibility applying to imitation firearm offences. Despite everything I'm writing here, I do completely agree with this principle. The practical consequences of an ARV turning up are quite distinct from the legal ones. I can find no offences being committed. If they exist, they're likely to be in the Firearms Act 1968, Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, or Policing and Crime Act 2017, although firearm legislation is a right old mess, and I'm always happy to be surprised by other sources. Can we find any relevant offences here? https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/27/contents https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38/contents https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/3/contents

If anyone is penetrating right through their targets with an airsoft BB, I think that might be a bit of an issue. It's an interesting demonstration of how higher pressure gas / more puff doesn't necessarily impart more energy to the projectile, but it applies only to that pressure and that projectile. The energy involved is so far beyond airsoft levels that I'd be surprised if we saw a similar effect. However, airsoft is nothing if not surprising, so if any HPA Ghostbusters fancy try to to replicate that, I'd be very interested to see the results. That's all before the BB leaves the muzzle though. At the point where it emerges, the only ballistic considerations are angular velocity (backspin), and linear velocity (fps / Joules). Sufficient backspin to fully hop that mass of BB + the maximum permitted kinetic energy for that BB = maximum range, and maximum energy delivered to the target at any range. Effective range might be different if you get more consistency with less muzzle energy, but not maximum. Even if you're lobbing a bit rather than trying for "laser accuracy", it's all about the linear velocity, and more is more in airsoft.

That's the thing, I'd be astonished if most airsofters don't know that. I'd be pretty certain that site owners will, and the gun owners certainly will, so why they're allowing it boggles the mind. I imagine it's: "My intention is to aim over their heads, it'll be fine because accidents never happen." Fortunately we don't have a profusion of live firearms here from which to shoot blanks. Even if someone does turn up with a blank firing gun, it should have a blocked barrel and the best they can do is to blow their own nose off through a top vent. But I completely agree, keep that well away from airsoft fields. I don't even like TAG rounds, as on a back of the envelope calculation of the claimed 32m/s and 30g I make that 15.36J, running pretty close to the 16J air gun limit. They are certainly not airsoft guns by any stretch of the imagination (so need an air gun licence in Scotland), and are far beyond what EN166F eye protection is rated for. I await "But, but, I only intend to lob them, and accidents only happen to other people."

I wouldn't pay that for a brand new one given the problems owners have had with them. Still, kudos for his honesty that the early ones were bags of spanners made from turds. Also, I get to swipe this from Negative Airsoft.

Sadly out of stock (in long shaft) and he's taking a break at the moment. That's why I mentioned the Big Dragon M140s. $34.40 / £25.15 taxed and delivered from Ali Express, and they generally arrive within a couple of weeks. Sadly, with the stock situation being what it is I've started going to Ali rather than trawling through even the decent UK/NI sellers like ak2m4 and Bullseye, or buying the same stuff on eBay with a marked up price and lies about where it's shipping from. Curiously, Bullseye have the Big Dragon M120s in stock, but apparently they're the runt of the litter: the M140s and M160s are fine.

I read that as "getaway mask", and thought "But everybody covers their faces in banks now."

I'd trust Nuprol glasses to protect my eyesight every bit as much as I'd trust Nuprol chargers and batteries to not burn my house down.

Agreed, that's fine for CQB or woodland. I'd even go a little shorter if you intend to use it indoors a lot. I'd also agree that I can't see what justifies that price, in a world where (e.g.) Specna Arms Edge 2.0 and CYMA Platinums exist. I'm not knocking the brand, I had a quick play with ex-workmate Eddy's plastic G&G CM16 yesterday and was reminded how nicely it felt and shot. But again, that just illustrates that you don't need to drop twice that money on something that will perform much the same. But it's airsoft, and the heart wants what it wants. If that's the gun for you, then it's the right gun for you.

Huh, that is peculiar from an experience seller. I guess "mounted once never fired or skirmished" means it's... better than new?

I may have just bought... [looks around guiltily]... a Valken M7 full-face. It's only a matter of time until I'm talking about engines and regulators and shopping for long stripy socks.

Finally something we can all agree on. Wait: regular, classic, cherry, diet, or caffeine free?

The family that sprays together stays together. Like much of airsoft, it's an "impression kit", just from the future rather than the past.

Do eeeet. We're all LARPing to some extent, we might as well do it with gusto. EVA foam really is super easy to work with, and cheap too. You can find patterns online: pepakura templates, Facebook groups, or buy them on Etsy if you can't find anything free. I just did my own templates for that using parcel paper and sticky tape, the only shaped joins there are on the shoulder pieces, and that just takes a bit of trial and error to figure out the curved cuts required. The whole thing is painted using about £2 worth of acrylic, you can do it on the super cheap.

Thanks. It's home made, everything green except the helmet is EVA foam. It's great stuff for airsoft use, super light, easy to work with, and takes all the sting out of hits while still letting you (mostly) feel and hear them. I did have one chap "cheat" call me yesterday, very politely, with my thanks, as I'm always super-careful to call hits while wearing it. The helmet is an M88 with a fan box on the back, piped to the goggles - it can get a bit sweaty in the foam. I'm constantly pondering doing a more "authentic" one out of foam, although having BBs whang off the plastic is quite satisfying. The "lasgun" is a G36C stuffed inside an EVA foam shell, running short M16 mags though a magwell adaptor. That big silver barrel is a dummy with a 3W red LED in it wired to the trigger. The real barrel is that small lower tracer unit. The "iron" sights are just hacked out of the foam using a bit of trial and error, and are accurate enough for CQB use - the whole outfit is really very practical. Most cosplayer add "weathering", but I'm constantly painting over damage - I've just spotted that there's a BB embedded in the stock.

Finally a decent picture of my Authentic Battle Damaged 40K Imperial Guard costume. So many deaths for the Emperor yesterday.

Only if it spins the gears faster than the piston can go fully forwards. I'm far too much of a Poor to know if those (I assume) ASG motors are likely to do that with whatever's in your gearbox. I stick to putting cheap Chinese Big Dragon M140s in my cheap Chinese gnus.

Pretty good Hallowe'en event at Biohazard, equipping a friend-of-a-friend with loaner gear. He wasn't expecting to be loaded with with M4 and pistol (both with spitfire tracers), and grenades. He had a blast, got right into it and was pushing like a proper speedy boi - sometimes even still with BBs in the mag. Biohazard have the top floor open now, which really increased the length of a whole-site fallback game, and it's got a fair bit of potential for further development, kudos to them for that. We had the usual barely audible briefs in the echoing safe zone (bad), mostly very fair and good natured play (good), and laissez-faire marshalling (good or bad, depending on what you were there to do). Some rental blind firing and trigger spamming was in evidence, and I Had Words with a Sergeant McShouty after an earful too much following a zinger in the face. All hugs and back slaps before the safe zone though. Much amusement from a wee lad who was about 4 foot high and ran around the whole day with a pistol and backhand knife, coming around corners fast, low and stabbing. The costume competition was obviously a fix, being won by shop bought efforts rather than my hand crafted pretend space soldier rig. Granted it was hilarious being shot by knights, bananas, and a squad of Telly-Tubbies, and I don't grudge the winner in his inflatable T-Rex costume, firstly for even getting into the play area, but then for actually playing pretty well - you wouldn't think an 8 foot dinosaur could be sneaky, but he actually managed some great ambushes. Clearly a natural predator.

Hmm, do we have research on that? I'd assumed that bucking stiffness would be about the amount of puff coming out of the nozzle rather than the velocity imparted to the BB, as the BB is starting from rest as it goes through the hop. As I see it, softer is always better for imparting sufficient spin with the least amount of pressure, and you only go stiffer if you have to stop the whole bucking deforming and leaking air. That's based on thought experiment, not real experiment though, I'd be fascinated to see some side-by-side testing.

@ImTriggerHappymakes a good point that if you're hopped for (e.g.) 0.2g than dropping in 0.4g can produce weird air seal. However, I'd still agree that sites should be using 0.4g because Joule creep is more likely to be a problem if you test light then use heavy, than if you're hopped for heavy then drop in light. Granted, in airsoft physics where a 0.8J TM can outshoot a 1.13J CYMA, anything is possible. And that applies regardless of whether people have honestly tuned their guns for 0.2g (because their site only chronos and talks and thinks in terms of 0.2g) without realising that they're creeping up with heavier ammo, or if they're rogues minded to lie about their BB weight when chronoed. I wouldn't suggest kicking someone out of the game or site if they chrono over with 0.4g when they claim they're using lighter BBs, but it would mean further investigation. If you're going to chrono at all, and if you're going to use one weight, it should be heavier rather than lighter. The extra cost for the site is pennies. It's more a question of whether they really care, or whether they have the attitude that if X Joules is OK, then X + 10% Joules is OK (argument valid for any values of X).

Well, legally, that's not an issue, so long as you're not threatening anyone with it. But practically, it very much is. Multiple cases. Police called on film director for a de-activated firearm. Police called and cuff a 12 year old for a 2-tone. And why they do have to treat these reports are real: 13 year old charged with possession of a live handgun, ammunition and silencer.