Rogerborg

Well, that's sent me off down a rabbit hole of yeahbuts. I think the pragmatic answer is no, of course not, because nobody will ever know or care. Legally, I have absolutely no idea how it would be interpreted. I mean, the IF hasn't just lost the paint itself, just sitting there. One one hand, it's been lost through the actions of the owner, so they modified it. But on the other hand, there was - probably - no intent, or mens rea. On the gripping hand, anyone who had deliberately removed paint could say "Yeah, it just wore off, legit." Like so much airsoft legislation, I doubt we'll ever know, unless you can somehow persuade the police and CPS to prosecute you. Fun story, I asked a copper chum to report me to the Fiscal for wearing a flip-front motorcycle helmet flipped up, to settle a spat over the statute and interpretation, but she didn't want to do the paperwork. Spoilsport. That's a £100 FPN tariff and no licence endorsement through, I'd hate to be a test case for anything toy-firearms related.

You can put in an articulated belly plate hanging off of the torso to allow bending over. I still reckon you'll have issued with it rising up when raising your arms: generally you'd keep it to a narrow strip over the shoulders, and then articulate shoulder pauldrons off of it. However, you won't know until you try and you can always modify it later.

That's what I use, or a rebranded equivalent. Works for me, and had a decent variety of tips. That's a decent price for that whole package, everything you need to get going, although a set of helping hands... helps.

Hmm, on the second time of trying, it appears that I've had a solid M4 stock not even make it out of China again. From what I can make out from the AliExpress tracking, it's been rattling round inside China, was returned (twice, apparently) and has been sent out again. I know some folk have had gear come through OK, but I'm having patchy luck. No idea why, or what's triggering it (badum tsssh).

I solder Deans with the connectors paired together, and with the far terminal clamped in a pair of surgical forceps to help with heat distribution and dissipation.

At this point it's starting to feel like every second buyer or seller is going to bust out a tale about how they're a Nigerian Prince working on the North Sea oil rig, but their very most trusted courier will collect or delivery much securely with no worry risks once you have by Western Union payment done.

Yup, I like .28s as a decent combination of range vs cost. Well, good news, you've got money in the budget for barrel and hop rubber. You shouldn't really need them, although I do like Maple Leaf rubbers.

Yes, although I'll have a little screech about even mentioning "fps" since the legislation talks only in terms of kinetic energy and "a missile (of any kind)". If push comes to legal shove, the State isn't going to drop 0.2g in there, but 0.46g or even steel BBs. The intention is to limit what non-firearm airsoft guns could do in the wrong hands. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/27/section/57A

Wow, good on them. I am delighted to hear that, it's a great advert for them, even with the mix-up.

You clearly haven't watched the Mark Wahlberg documentary "Shooter" where he takes all those into account, and also temperature, humidity, air pressure, and the Coriolis effect, does the sums in his brain, and then goes "Click-click BOOM". 100% FACT.

Everyone does one wrong before doing them right, it's very much a case of fitting and adjusting. The good news is that EVA is easy to correct. The first one that I got wrong was leather torso armour, that I ended up having to cut and shape after wax hardening it. Oops.

Nice start, chap! Some constructive observations: I'm not sure if your blade is dull (and EVA foam will dull it up a treat), or if you're not using a cutting mat, but you should be able to make neater cuts than that. However, a blast with a heat gun will tidy it up a treat, and you want to give it a once over anyway to close the foam up before prime and paint. If you're going to try and shape any edges after cutting, a dremel sanding drum is ideal. The shoulders look bold, but they will limit your upwards arm mobility. And the chest is heroic, but if you want to be able to actually put your hands in front of you, I reckon you'll want to remove quite a lot of material from around the armpits. You see this a fair bit in cosplay armour: folk can do heroic arms-out poses, but they can't clap. Even the classic stormtrooper armour, with its shaped in torso plate, limits what you can do with your arms. (Hidden gem video)

That does appear to be a decent deal, and better yet, likely indicates that the market for speedy-boi guns is already tapped out in the UK. I'm not blown away by the rest of the "sale", looks like they're trying to shift Raven trash, and a bunch of meh-brand M4s. Still, worth a look. https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/airsoft-black-friday-2021

Mmm, there's a strong scent of flipper there. I mean, it's all the same overpriced junk at the end of the day, I just like a bit of honesty when I'm being dry-humped.

All seems to be sold implicitly as working, a lot of it with "just done stuff" descriptions. But very few details, and mostly asking near-new prices. Good luck to the bloke, but I'd caveat to the maximus before emptoring any of it.

Why not do both? Try and get it sent back, and go and play some airsoft. Why have single-pass when you could have...

Indeed, although if Dibble ever did come knocking asking why you'd tried to import a RIF (we've had people say it's happened to them), then being able to show that you've been playing at all and have further sessions booked might provide a defence or at least mitigation. And if your intent is to play airsoft, then why not go and play airsoft? It's ace, rental packages or cheap two-tones are available, and of course it's never been an offence to purchase or possess a RIF inside the UK, if you can find someone willing to sell. Other defences are available. Rocking up to a WW2 reenactment society and saying "Gosh, I'm super interested, can I become a member? Like, right now." might be one way to get a defence, although it's a cad's trick (unless you actually are interested, and there are plenty of folk who do run impression kits), and I'd expect they'd be wise to it.

Column A, column B. None of them should be doing it. Export is irrelevant. Two offences are being committed: one at the point of manufacture, and another by possession with the intent to sell (to anyone, anywhere). But it's the publicising of it that's the real problem, and their "lol whatevs" attitude. The chances of it being an issue are tiny, but it's blithering idiocy to even risk it, since the State does get an occasional hard-on for anything firearms related, and Eagle6 are openly flaunting their contempt for the law. I just hope that they don't have any disgruntled customers who see it and figure out that it might be a way to stitch them up see justice done. Why it's an issue for everybody else is that the airsoft defence for selling a RIF could be removed on Ministerial whim: airsoft isn't even listed in the legislation, it's only mentioned in an explanatory note which is little more than an opinion piece, and a different opinion could be given tomorrow. Retailers are being trusted to self-police and uphold the letter and spirit of the laws around airsoft guns, and if too many of them get caught showing thumbing their noses, it could have consequences. It almost certainly won't, and the world will keep turning either way.

Ahoy and welcome. We have quite a few "veterans" here, in either human or airsoft years, and it's a more constructive environment for discussion that "lol jk m8" Facebook groups tend to be.

Sorry to hear this. Not to kick you while you are down, but the DBoys KAR98k isn't even really suitable for airsoft skirmishing anyway, it's more of a WW2 reenactor prop or target plinker. I'd agree with trying to get it returned regardless of the legal situation. Best of luck, I hope it works out for you.

Oh, I missed that because of the text issue. As @EDcasesays, M14s are select fire, full auto, or fully semi-automatic. CYMAs come in a bit spicy from the factory, but any one that you buy in the UK should be down-sprung to be usable - PatrolBase at least claim that. But are, of course, out of stock.

A very cromulent analogy. You certainly can't produce it here, then say "Yeahbut, for export, innit." I doubt there will be any consequences for them, although I wouldn't shed a single tear if there were.

They are a bit wibbly, a washer / o-ring / springy-thing can be used to firm them up. Not that they should need it, mind. Much more betterer, I believe.

Ahoy and welcome, and that all sounds perfectly sensible (and therefore no fun for us ) You're rather spoiled for choice at the moment, in that budget. If you want something that'll feel significantly different from a rental AEG (but don't want to go GBBR or HPA) then you're looking at trick triggers. A Specna Arms Edge 2.0 with a GATE Aster, or an ARP-556 with its 3 round burst option can both be had in budget, and have plenty happy owners. The ARP is a shortie though, and something a little offbeat that fits the longer-barrelled brief would be an M14, e.g. the CYMA CM.032 which can be had for well under budget. You could (but wouldn't necessarily have to) spend that on an aftermarket barrel and hop rubber, plus loads of mags. Comes with a basic fire control system, but owners report that they perform well, and it would make a nice change from M4s and AKs. However the reality is that at the moment you can only buy what's in stock, and I'd caution that applies to magazines too - it's surprisingly hard to find even stuff like shortie M4 mags, so I'd get a package of in-stock gear in your basket or baskets before committing. Aside, your text is appearing as black for me, I don't know if you set that deliberately. I'd suggest not, as this site has a dark mode, and should be left to decide text colour unless you're making some point.

Nuprol though. Batteries can be shipped with random amounts of charge, and it could have spent weeks or months in a crate or languishing on a shelf. I recently discovered that my B6 charger likes 3.8V per cell as a storage charge, which is above their nominal 3.7V per cell rating but actually only represents 40% of capacity. Then it'll self discharge down from there. So I'd always charge a battery before first use, and if you also have a Nuprol charger as well, that's at your own risk. I binned my cheap lipo charger off long since and would recommend a SkyRC S65 or better these days. I'd be friendly and constructive about it, mistakes happen and they'll want to sort you out. Perfectly understandable, just don't tell PatrolBase that. It's not a huge deal, they generally test-fire and chrono guns themselves anyway (or at least used to), so it's not like it came to you completely unfired. Aw, that's understandably frustrating. Best of luck with a speedy resolution.