Rogerborg

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.

I like to bear in mind that us, we here, represent a tiny minority of players, the people who who are actually interested in airsoft beyond "Point pew, pew go pew, pew-pew-pew." Within this thread, we probably care more than most site owners do.

I'm starting to get intrigued by these 1.1J builds. What BB weight are you using with that? Do I need an AAC T11 Shorty in my life for CQB sniping?

Yup, possession (in private) isn't an offence and needs no defence. The offences are manufacture, modification, sale or importation, not possession and not even purchase (for 18+). Gifting or loaning is fine. Possession of an imitation firearm (realistic or otherwise) in public, by anyone, is an offence. And a UKARA number (or any other scheme) isn't a defence to that. We all need a "reasonable excuse (the proof whereof lies with [the person in possession])", i.e. we're on our way to or from an insured airsoft skirmish site. Just watch that he doesn't decide to take it out to the wood to impress his mates, or (a real example from a Facebook fail thread) climbs up on the roof to take some pictures with it.

I'm quite serious about ditching pre-game chrono, or making it more of a service for those who want to use it. Catch folk in-game, during the course of the day. Test with what the player is using, then test again with heavy site BBs, and if there's a significant discrepancy, take it further. I'd love to see a marshal (who actually knows what they're doing) at each site doing nothing but test shots and chrono, all day long. Sadly, just finding a site with sufficient marshals who are more interested in marshalling than Facebooking all day long seems to be a rare treat.

And a rape dungeon is pretty damn good for struggle cuddles, but it's not anything to be proud of.

Yes, we should. Or we should stop quite literally wasting everybody's time by doing voluntary pre-game chrono in the morning. I'm actually OK with either solution, I mostly object to pointless half-arsed rituals.

The proliferation of HPA and heavy BBs. If 1.15J is OK, why not 1.2J? If 1.2J is OK, why not 1.3J? If 1.3J is OK, why not... well, that's a section 5 firearm, but why make custodial offences out of molehills?

I C-clamp what you're saying.

Nope, nothing should be strapped on.

Full seal is more of a paintball thing. Some airsoft sites mention it, but you'll generally see plenty of people wearing glasses, sometimes not even wrap-around. You'll likely go through loads of eye protection before you find a set that really works for you. I currently go dual pane goggles + Revision antifog wipes + fan ventilation.

The issue is the BB mass. Either trusting players with regard to what they are using ("Yeah, mate, I'm using twos", when they're spamming 0.3g), or chronoing with site 0.2g when just about everybody will be using heavier BBs and likely[*] to be Joule creeping upwards. I was very surprised to find that my G36C crept from 1.1J on 0.28g to bang on 1.2J on 0.32g, without any other change. [*] But it also chronos at spot-on 1.13J on 0.2g, on a different site's chrono, all figures taken with the hop set for the mass of BB that it's shooting, so it's not even consistent, appearing to drop energy at 0.28g and picking it up at 0.32g, presumably down to air seal with that specific hop pressure. I agree that it's more likely to be an issue for over-volumed guns. You can over-volume an AEG, I get more creep out of my full-cylinder DMR'd M4 when I put a short barrel in it. Anyway, tl;dr response, site owners will do what site owners will do. I'd suggest having a word with them and seeing what their thoughts are, rather than firing in with a written demand. Some take it very seriously, some are just doing it for form's sake and don't really give a stuff. If I was going to nudge towards anything, it would be chroning in-game with site provided 0.4g+ BBs. Anything else is just theatre, and won't result in catching the worst problem players.

Except for Section 19, possession in public, which applies to all imitations, realistic or otherwise, and all air weapons too, in the event that the State can test your toy at over 1.3J / 2.5J. It does my head in every time I read that, as it's always an offence to have any imitation, or any air weapon, in public, but only an offence to have a loaded shotgun, or any other firearm with ammunition. The trouble is that any rationalisation of the utter mess that is firearms legislation would likely not be to our benefit.

Well, sort of. Yes, ownership is fine, no offence, no defence needed. UKARA is a scheme paid for by retailers, for their benefit. But it covers the offence committed by the retailer. That applies to any seller, retail or otherwise. Everything I've come to expect from airsoft retailers. Incorrect. At the point where you modify in imitation firearm so that it becomes a realistic imitation firearm, you are literally Hitler. See VCRA 2006 S36 (1) (b). Modifying. You can own a RIF without any defence at all. If you are over 18, you can obtain it in any way you like, from anyone, without any sort of defence, because you are not committing any offence. The practical answer. Pffft. I doubt you could find a copper who would know or care about the specific offence of modification, or think to ask the questions that would get you to incriminate yourself. Evidence: this thread. The method doesn't matter, just the act of modification itself. MODIFY! Anyway, tl;dr version, just do it. The fact that you've contacted the local coppers demonstrates that you're a very responsible person, and so it will never in practice be an issue. And also that the police have no idea that an offence is even (technically) being committed, and so it will never in practice be an issue.

But the problem is that despite repeated regimes promising to do it, the UK laws on public / private filming and express / implied permission are still vague and fuzzy. "Data controllers" are well regulated, but that's about it. After that, it's pick a (contradictory) law, pick a (contradictory) precedent, and hope for a friendly court who believes your interpretation rather than the other side's. De facto though, for video we're talking about WuTube, and they seem seem happy to smack down videos for a "that's me, it hurt my fee-fees" claim, regardless of any actual laws. See Steven Crowder getting strikes over and over even when he has, and can show, express written permission from the subjects to be filmed. WuTube doesn't care.

But if I had (say) a ZCI rotary hop, why wouldn't I just use the whole ZCI rotary hop?

Which is the one that featured a picture of a player not wearing any eye protection?

Why would I need them? My gnu shoots like a laser.

Only ever used indoors, and stored inside. After some magnified viewing, there are some solder points that are very close together and not the neatest, so it is entirely possible that they're shorting themselves out in the damp. That's why I gave mine an isopropanol brushing, to try and remove any spatter or tracking, and it does seems to have sorted it for now.

The SSG10 does make a fairly decent argument for itself if you want something that should be competitive out of the box, once you've cleaned the barrel and hop rubber and bedded it in a bit. We usually suggest doing at least one rental day before deciding anything though. Some sites (not many, granted) do sniper hire packages, but usually you're looking at an AEG carbine with random performance. Still, it'll let you know if the experience is for you, and airsofters are generally keen to show off their toys if you want to have a look at the sniper rifles there. Just be aware that airsofters are about as honest as anglers when it comes to measurements, so take any claim about ranges with a large pinch of salt.