Rogerborg

UK police training weapons, circa 2009. I've seen (but can't now find) them using blue G36s now.

D'oh, yes, I missed that. One hail-Mary to try is drilling a very slight detent into the top of the hop chamber, directly above the feed tube. A few gentle-pressure turns with a 6mm drill bit put up the feed tube, just enough to create a little inverted dimple that BBs can seat into. This fixed, or seemed to fix, a similar issue on my MP5K, although as with anything airsoft it might just have been sorted by another round of disassembly-reassembly. (Detouring...) No worries, and you're right to ask because it's not obvious. What your gun is telling you is that the motor can draw enough current to over-spin, and will do so if the battery can supply it. By using a lower-C battery to fix that, you're now in a situation where the motor is trying to draw more current than the battery can provide. It's probably marginal, and many players are likely in the same situation without even realising it. However, you might find is that the battery heats up with use. It's not likely to become seriously toasty, but it'll be shortening its life to some extent. I mean, it's really not a huge deal in the grand scheme of airsoft lifetimes or costs, but I'd keep an eye on it for any signs of puffing up or alarming overheating. The tl;dr version is that ideally you want a battery that can comfortably supply more current than the motor can draw, and that you fix the double-shots another way, e.g. checking for a worn cut off lever, using an active-brake mosfet (although this then increases strain on the motor), or even by a mechanical bodge like limiting the trigger travel so that the trolley can disengage faster (I've used a blob of hot-melt glue between the trigger contacts to achieve this).

Urgh, tell me about it, by the time I pulled the trigger on buying an XR-5, I could only find it in DayGlo Blue, and the paint and varnish keeps wearing through on the rub points. I'll likely just start taping over it. Thomas, the legal position is that it's a strict liability offence to modify a non-realistic imitation firearm into a realistic imitation firearm, even temporarily, in private: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38/section/36 However, it's a defence to do so for the purposes of playing airsoft at a site with 3rd party liability insurance: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38/section/37 as amended by https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-violent-crime-reduction-act-2006-commencement-no-3-order-2007-firearms-measures There's no age limit on the defence, or particular criteria to claim it. The UKARA-style 3-games-over-8-weeks scheme providing the level of evidence that retailers considered necessary. You can make your own decision on it. Practically speaking, it's only going to come to the attention of the state if you do something silly with the gun out in public. At that point, Firearms Act 1968 Section 19 applies, and it doesn't matter if it's a realistic imitation or not. Since you already have the gun, and haven't gone on a rampage with it, I think you can be trusted not to do so if it happens to get blacked out. However, I'd agree that the lowest risk option, particularly while you're under 18, is to use sniper tape, which comes in solid colours or camos. If you tape up on site then remove it at the end of the day, then you're satisfying the letter and the spirit of the law.

Hmm. It's cheap because it has a plastic gearbox, and is running at under half the power of a typical metal gearbox AEG, which likely means a light spring and a cheap motor. However, as you only need it to get the dimensions right then it should do the job. It even sounds like it has a modern rotary hop unit rather than the older dial style - both types of unit are interchangeable, and taking TM mags is a good sign. One consideration is that even the cheapest CYMAs come with a basic NiMh battery and charger, which will let you test the shooting performance. The Double Bell does not, so you'd have to spend extra on a battery and charger, which will push the price up by a surprising amount. It's a pity you're not in the UK or I'd have sent you a M4 from the spares box. That 42K LARP looks amazing, I'll look into that - thanks!

Except that you're trying to draw more current than the battery can provide, which will, best case, heat it up and shorten its life, or worst case spark it up.

And bear in mind that the incoming fire that you're trying to emulate could be coming from a hot gun, or a DMR being trigger-spammed.

Sadly corrected, "interruption" gets you the jail.

Yes, utter spacktads, but the arrest is nonsense. Highways Act 1980, Section 131 https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1980/66/section/131 "If a person, without lawful authority or excuse discharges any firearm within 50 feet from the centre of a highway which consists of or comprises a carriageway, and in consequence thereof the highway is damaged, he is guilty of an offence." Whether an airsoft gun is a firearm for the purposes of the Highways Act is neither here not there. Still, the process is the punishment, and I'd expect the charge will be changed to Firearms Act 1968 S19, or something else that they can make stick.

The shooting parts of airsoft M4s are mostly compatible and interchangeable, being based on reverse engineering Tokyo Marui guns. All[*] M4s use the "V2" gearbox, which is as close to a standard as anything in airsoft, and the lower receiver, pistol grip, motor and hop units and barrels are also largely interchangeable. That's why it doesn't particularly matter what you use as a base for development. If the printed parts fit on any M4 lower, then they should fit on every[*] M4 lower. I suggested CYMA as they're cheap, tough, globally available, and a de facto standard. It's easy to get lost in airsoft makes and models, and get decision paralysis. However, as adjustable power is a (sensible) goal, as an end user I'd be more likely to choose something with a quick change spring system as a base. Since half the base gun is going to be discarded anyway, a Specna Arms SA-F03 FLEX (for example) would do fine. It's really down to local prices and availability where you are - I mention Specna Arms as those are cheap and readily available in the UK, but it really won't matter what you get as long as it's TM / CYMA compatible. This really is relevant to my interests, by the way, I play in Astra Militarum gear and have long been on the lookout for exactly what you're proposing to replace my current half-arsed solutions. [*] There are exceptions at the higher end, like Systema, but the bulk of M4s are TM / CYMA compatible.

Oh, hello. This is very relevant to my interests. I'd agree that an M4 makes sense as the base. All you really need to retain is the lower receiver and gearbox, plus the hop unit and inner barrel, ideally as a complete unit. Those are the shooty bits. It shouldn't matter which M4, but with it being airsoft, it might, due to slight differences in dimensions. CYMA would be the default choice to use for development as they're an actual OEM and should (there's that word again) be consistent across the range, from their cheapest plastic CM.5xx guns, up to the metal receivers with trick gearboxes and electronics. However, there are many (many, many) other affordable options: Specna Arms, Lancer Tactical, Double Eagle, all of which have quick change springs (which the cheapest CYMAs don't) and any of which ought to be workable with perhaps some slight modification to the dimensions, either before printing or with some filing or filling afterwards. What you'd want to print is the upper receiver. What matters is that it mates up with the lower - specifically keying into it at the rear, and at the front pin - and that the interior matches the original just above and in front of the magwell, where the hop unit seats. That part is crucial to get right, as any misalignment of the hop unit, or inability to slide forwards and and backwards slightly, will result in misfeeds and/or magazines not seating. You'll also need some sort of flip-or-slide-to-open window to access the hop unit dial, although it needn't be as big as the ejection port on the original receiver. I'd suggest binning off the outer barrel and just run the inner barrel directly inside the printed receiver. The outer dimensions of airsoft inner barrels are fairly consistent, but I'd make the void a fraction bigger than your development gun's inner barrel, as the barrel can be (and commonly is) shimmed up with tape to fit snugly, on a case by case basis. It's fine to have an inner barrel that's shorter than the outer, as long as it's not excessively so, and the BBs's don't impact the outer on the way out (which is another reason to make the void slightly oversized). After that, you can go hog wild with the externals. For example, the CSI XM-5 is an M4 / V2 gearbox and hop unit inside a particularly funky plastic shell that... some people... already use as a space plasmalaser gun. For the avoidance of doubt, I mention this as an example of what can be done with a full external factory do-over. I would not use this as the base gun for a kit! It's not readily available now, and while the internals are V2 they're very sub-par. In theory it takes STANAG / M4 mags as well as its stock magazine, but the receiver halves and buffer tube are nothing like M4 compatible. For all that it's just a hollow shell, it's a weighty boy too, and nobody wishes their gun was heavier come the end of the day, and it an absolute nightmare to take apart and work on. It's a swing and a miss, you can do better by sticking with a stock lower and a simple one-pin takedown. Oh, buffer tube. Some M4 have bolt-on buffer tubes, but the cheapest CYMAs don't, they're moulded to the back of the lower receiver. However, the dimensions of the buffer tube itself should be... similar... and so you should be able to come up with a printed stock that secures onto most tubes. Airsoft gearboxes can be front or rear wired. With front wired, the wiring goes out past the hop unit (this can sometimes be a bit of a squeeze) to a battery somewhere in the upper receiver. Rear wired, the wiring runs inside the buffer tube to a battery in the stock. Rear wired is most common in generic M4s, and I'd suggest sticking with rear wiring, and keeping the battery inside the stock, with as much empty space as possible. On magazines, I wouldn't sweat that just yet. There are a plethora of various short / low profile mags available, but magazine fitting and feeding is one of the common issues that airsofters encounter. If you do get feeding issues, the most common cause is front to rear misalignment of the hop unit, or the nozzle protruding too far into the hop rubber, all of which is dependent on the magwell, magazine, hop unit, nozzle and hop rubber - it's a problem to solve on a case-by-case basis. I'm looking forward to seeing what you come up with. For development purposes, you don't even need a working gun, any boneyard basket-case should do, as long as it has all the external parts so that you can get the dimensions right.

Yarp, you'll want to create an ad here, there's no obvious best subsection as you're flogging a job lot. If you don't name a price, expect to get offers / "offers" from chancers or fantasists wanting to get most of it as "free gifts". You'll also want to consider and specify postage or collection, and how you'll want to be paid (and who's paying the fees for that). Best of luck.

It's an observation, not an argument. The practice is that if a monopoly provider can bill you the "cost" for a service, they can - and will - name any "cost" that they want. For example, the £70 fee to switch a vehicle registration mark, which is a take-it-or-leave-it fee for a few keystrokes.

Yes. At the risk of banging a broken drum, UKARA is just a central register of site memberships. You can be a member of many sites at once, with multiple such memberships registered with UKARA. Don't sweat it, just start playing and see if you enjoy it.

Then what incentive is there for them to limit costs? "My department is over-staffed and much of what we do is pointless busywork," said no bureaucrat, ever.

Ahoy and welcome to the Dad Corner of airsoft. God know where the kids are, probably doing too-loud TokTiks on the InstaBooks. And all airsoft toys are a waste of money, but that doesn't mean they can't be fun.

Yes, mine (classic) is just as consistent as out of the box. I may have dialled the hop up a click, but it's still lifting 0.43g just fine.

The part of his soul that he's poured into it, apparently. Noob error, he bet on green.

Fine as long as it's on properly private land, with the owner's express permission, and nothing goes wrong. Even if it does, if Alice shoots out Bob's eye though negligence, then there's a direct claim between those parties, and it's Alice's problem if she has no liability cover in place. However, random members of the public can wander on, and someone who's lost the ability to earn money is going to go after the deepest pockets they can find, whether it's Alice's, whoever formed the contract with the landowner, or the landowner themselves. Note that whether you're getting paid or not isn't relevant. Vowles vs Evans and the Welsh Rugby Union established that even an unpaid volunteer referee can be liable if they fail in their duty of care.

Airsoft is patient zero for "You get what you pay for". I mean, you can't buy one of those cheap Ravens if you want a good brand, you have to splash out on a Vorsk for the extra manufacturing quality.

Yo bro private message him, this is supes awks for the rest of us.

I mean, unless you've got a Deans-to-Mini-Tamiya connector in the mix. I'd pull the motor out of the grip, plug it in and see if it spins freely out in the open. You've still got the G&G motor, right? So you could try that as well. A cheap multimeter will take much of the guesswork out of the process, they're pretty much indispensable for any electrical work.

Ahoy and welcome back. Area-66 is my regular site, and POW is decent as well. The old Depo was ace, I still haven't tried the new site yet as even recent reports suggest it's still too dark and full of bottlenecks. Have you played there? Biohazard in Stevenston / Ardeer is a good shout too if you're out west, they make really good use of the available space with some clever build-work and well run games.

Surprisingly, I didn't get any jams, and it's a proper titeboi that BBs will only just barely roll down without assistance. Seems that even "Vorsk" Nuprol can source round BBs.

That is one thing I've noticed about my classic TAC-41, it's at about 9.6 hopping 0.43g at 2.2J. It's common to drop another £5 or so on a "chub nub", but you'd get the same effect by removing those shims, or shimming on top of the nub. Not a huge deal to address either way as the hop is sitting right on top of the gun.