Rogerborg

Hmm, Luke at Negative got pretty much 0.7J out of an Arcturus after a rebuild with a new barrel and hop rubber, and I'd assume he took care over the air seal. But the stock spring looked awful, and woefully under-sprung. Depends how much time or money you want to put into it, I guess. Either start with an M100 then buy higher if you need it, or get an M110 or similar, and trim it down if necessary - the spring change doesn't seem too onerous.

Sure, I wouldn't open a gearbox on site, but barrels and buckings and hops (oh my) are absolutely basic stuff. I was just bemused at the number of folk who made a point of coming over not to offer help, but to declare proudly that they never touch their internals. Kind of a weird flex. I say "number", it was maybe six over half an hour. But, you know, fishing and airsoft tales.

Good points, I've learned that it's always a good idea to bring at least one backup AEG and the box-o-bits. I got a full day on Saturday via playing with backup #1, then cannibalising backup #2 to get DMR Prime sorted at lunch. It was surprising (and a little disappointing) the number of folk who made of point of saying "Rather you than me, mate" or "I'd never risk working on my gun, mate", as though ignorance is a virtue. Come on, M4 hop units are one bolt then a circlip, you could train a monkey to work on them. And not a monkey from the top of the tree either, one who's fallen out a few times and hit his head on every branch on the way down.

I've learned that the only way to deal with toxic, pugnacious people is segregation.

True, that, and half the time they're doing it from so far back that they're thrashing the bushes 5 or 10 metres short of where they think they're hitting. However, the other half of the time they're doing it against advancing players who run into a hail of BBs the instant we leave hard cover. It's all part of the game, and I'm certainly not advocating semi auto for woodland. However, I do very much appreciate it when folk keep it to short, controlled bursts. When I was running a stock CYMA shooting 8 rps in a sort of generally downrange direction, I'd cheerfully hold the trigger down. Now that I've got some half decent toys, I'm much lighter on the trigger. Just because you can doesn't mean that you have to.

I've just had to drag my finger off the "buy it now" button. I blame Gun Jesus promoting "additive manufacturing" to create new stripper clips for Forgotten Weapons. My head was still in the "those things cost thousands, right?" space, I was astonished to find that they can be had for under £200 now, with plenty of happy users. Luckily, I don't have anything specific that I'd actually want to - oh my Emperor, I need to print aquila and purity seals! Must... resist... urge...

Eh, it was the end of the day, we were winding down a bit anyway. It's not a job that I'd be willing to do for love, sweetie money or token freebies, so I'm not criticising. My main point is that the ROF, accuracy and magazine capacities out there makes for pretty withering fire and makes pushing objectives a Quixotic task. There's been talk about limiting the site to semi, either when shooting into / out of buildings, or even just a flat prohibition except for actual support guns (not ARPs with box mags).

The plan was reasonable in principle; the defenders could only respawn when they had a group of 5 waiting at the spawn. However, the spawn was too close to the objective (and not properly enforced), and the defenders figured out that they could just call themselves out when they had 3 or 4 waiting, run (half way) to the spawn, and get the whole group back in. Meanwhile, the attackers just bogged down and concentrated on shooting rather than pushing. I dropped the DMR and went in with the MP5K but got hosed down every time. No big deal, not everything works, but it's not the first time they've run this, and the problems with it are fairly obvious. It needs solid marshalling to stop the insta-spawns, but by that time the marshals were more interested in playing with a drone rather than sorting it out. It wouldn't be airsoft without something to complain about.

Indeed, the last game of the day was abandoned because it was run as a choke point game with no flanking, and the attacking team (us) just couldn't push, no way, no how, and simply gave up. That. I mean, that's why we're there, to shoot toy guns. It's just that becomes impossible to complete capture-the-thing when both teams are on infinite respawns.

Pretty decent day yesterday. As statused, it started poorly with an s-hop in my new DMR build that was protruding slightly into the barrel and skying BBs even with no hop applied (and even with the hop arm removed). So it was back to the G36 for the morning, all good. Fortunately I'd brought the box-o-bits and swapped in a Maple Leaf and regular arm and nub over lunch, and got it dialled in nicely. DMR suits the way I like to play, I've never been one for sending clouds of BBs downrange - but can still do so with Mr Full Auto Sidearm if necessary. On that, I'm coming round to the conclusion that airsoft guns have got so good that they're making play less fun. Pushing into solid streams of laser-like BBs gets old pretty quickly. We had fairly low numbers, which made for fewer BBs in the air and a better day for everyone.

I hope you complied with their demands, otherwise they might send a Tactical Reclamation Squad to smash in your back door at 3am, retrieve their goods from your possession, and ship them back to the sender. 😆

Oh, I've already got my refund from eBay, even though the item is still notionally in transit. No messing around, just fire in with the dispute at the earliest opportunity.

I used to, but not any more. In the extant case, it's a late dispatch. In any case, if they've given an indicated delivery date then that's a contractual term. They're perfectly welcome to increase their estimates, and I can make an informed decision on that basis. I'd rather wait two weeks for an honest seller than be bilked by one who promises 3 day delivery than takes over a week to even dispatch.

Incompetent arrogant crooked thieving filth, I'm saddened that you've resolved their mistake at your cost. This, right here, is why I now file a "goods not received" dispute the moment any order from a business seller is later than the indicated date, or if it contains the slightest deviation from what was promised without prior agreement. No waiting, no excuses, no nuance. It's either complete and on time, or the contract was breached, and not by me. I've got an eBay one to file at a minute after midnight tonight, even though the goods are now ostensibly on the way. Nope, no benefit of the doubt, if it's reached the point where I've been able to escalate it, there's no further basis for trust.

I hope no daft Scunt falls for it.

Nice fit. I've never been quite sure what to do with a top fan. My solutions blow inwards from the side and across the lens. On top, I'd probably try it blowing upwards rather than shoving hot sweaty brow-air back down, but I'd be prepared to flip it over if that doesn't work out.

Mmm, airsofters are already delusional enough about the performance of our assault-toys without adding tangerine trees and marmalade skies into the mix.

Heroic, I'd call it quits at 25. I took 4 litres of water today but only got to drink 2 since we got into a literal fire-fight before the end of the day, and our priorities changed rather sharply.

Ah, DPM, a man of taste. Sorry, I can't speak to the I82s, although I do get the impressiont that they're somewhat fo a labour of love. I'm aware of that CYMA review and my impression is that the intention was to see how long it took to burn it out through abuse. It's not something that would concern me in practice - CYMA stuff tends to be pretty robust.

Great to hear, I assume you've got your future purchases planned out.

Just drilled a hole in the side, there's plenty of meat on these goggles between the frames. I've also enlarged those existing vent holes a bit with a pointed soldering iron. Gentle, which is all I need given that these are already dual paned and I'm using Revision wipes. It's just for the times when I'm still after exertion. I have FMA fan goggles with a tiny side fan which also work, but I prefer these goggles as they're slightly neater and lighter.

Good news, my hat is fully charged! I've just thrown that unit together from a 12V fan[1], a small 7.4V lipo with some kydex wrapped round it to make a holder, a switch, and some silicone tubing, all liberally[2] hot-melted together and finished off with Poundand's very best rattlecan black. [1] This is running much quieter off of 7.4V than the visually identical one sealed in to my Space Soldier helmet. I wonder if that might be a 5V unit. [2] Liberally in the sense of sloppily, lazily and without any care or pride in my work.

Before going to collect some left handed hammers and tartan paint? Poh-tay-toes I'd heard of, but onions are a new one. It was pinlock visor inserts that convinced me that dual-paning airsoft goggles is the way to go, and the way to go it is. I'd actually recommend that as the default anti-fog strategy, given how cheap and easy it is to do to any goggles.