Rogerborg

Yes. Same offence, same defence. One subtlety is that a defence (against prosecution) isn't the same as a license (to actually permit it). Border Force have historically treated a defence as a licence (that's the language from one of their own internal documents that came to light a few years back), but at any point, they could change their minds say "OK, we're not sending the rozzers round, but neither are we going to allow imports. At all." Enjoy whatever we can, while we can, is how I see it.

Mmm, I rather fear that G&G's new WTF prices are going to become the norm rather than the exception.

Congratulations, you are now an airsoft tech.

I'm sorry to hear it, but not surprised. We know that Border Force got a bunch of recruitment and training prior to the changes at the start of 2022, and the imposition of duty on all EU and global imports, regardless of declared value. I FOI'd Border Force a few years back to ask how many UKARA checks they made, and they claimed not to hold that information as each agent keeps their own records. Could be thousands, could be none at all. And the thing is, UKARA is a scheme paid for by UK retailers, and I've never understood why it's used to assist imports. I'm in two minds about whether having a UKARA number on the packaging is actually a net negative now - it might just make it easier for Border Force to spot the firearm-shaped-toys.

Hopefully you get something more constructive than this.

Pitching, or catching?

Maaaaaybe. However, the receiver, magwell, gearbox and hop are fixed points of truth, and the magazine has to sack up and fit them. It really comes down to whether you want to make X mags fit 1 feed tube, or 1 feed tube fit X magazines.

Do you think you should have one? Do you think I should have one? Where would you draw the line?

Which is the absolute worst thing you can do from a liability perspective. It's effectively putting up a sign saying "This was predictable and avoidable, but we didn't avoid it. Please collect your winnings."

Recommended for the number of times that he congratulates people on shooting him. Be the change you want to see - I've inculcated myself to shout "OW! You fuuu...antastic shot, well done!"

I reckon I'm probably closer to representative of the Modal UK Male than @Tactical Pith Helmet but still a little more pro-boomstick than most. It's hard to judge mass prevailing attitudes as any survey is likely to be highly biased towards producing a pro/anti-gun result, depending on who's commissioning it, and which demographic they canvas. It'll be a very sharp divide between country and town, and region by region - as @EvilMonkeenotes. I'm suburbanite, had airguns and easy access to countryside to shoot them in as a teen, have tried clay pigeon shooting and had a go with black powder musketry, which is when I looked into shotgun certificates and found that they were shall-issue and a very low bar. That would be in the 1990s, I have a vague recollection that the security requirements then weren't even a gun cabinet, just a plan for securing them, e.g. chaining to something solid. I'd speculate (and this is just speculation) that most UK men would vaguely like to own some kind of firearm. But 98% of us find reasons not to. And - this is sheer projection at this point - I'd venture to guess that the main reason more men don't have any boomsticks is that most women are very much against them. Of all licensees, only 6% are women. Mrs Borg doesn't even like the sight of my toy guns. I have to do my teching when she's out or asleep, and keep a pornhub tab open so that I don't get caught browsing airsoft sites. It's also remarkable that 2/3rd of licensees are over 50. Some of that will be due to a tailing off of younger people getting into shooting, but do I wonder how many are divorcees or widowers taking advantage of a new found freedom to indulge themselves.

Hmm, that is a reasonable question, especially in the context of kids using it. I'm sure if a civil servant with a clipboard turned up saying "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" then they could find cause to shut down just about anything. Some of the the Work at Height Regulations might apply. From a player's point of view, if it goes badly wrong, you'd be suing the site or the owner, and their indemnity insurance should cover them unless they've lied so egregiously that the insurer could void it. Even at that, if it reaches court, I'd expect the insurer to be told to pay up, then take it up with the site owner. That's what happened in some motoring cases that I looked into a few years back (apologies, I don't have the citations to hand).

As far as I can see, it's the same licence, Simple UK Light, and as @Tommikka noted above, you'll ideally have applied as an "Incorporated Association [...] a group of people who share a common interest". It's commendable that you're concerned about following the letter of the law. However, if you have any sort of licence, you'll already be ahead of many-to-most airsofters using non-PMR sets. And if you stick to the UK light frequencies (or PMR), and use it a typically remove airsoft site, the likelihood of anyone ever noticing, or caring, or requiring you to show that licence is vanishingly small.

Yes, and you're doing the right thing, even if pragmatically speaking, there are no consequences for (ab)using the PMR channels at higher power. You should have a Simple UK Light licence, which allows use of any of these frequencies. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0036/79965/Business_Radio_Simple_UK_licence_template.pdf

I'd hazard a guess that over 90% of Brits, particularly urbanites and women, wouldn't own a gun even if we could buy one over the counter in the corner shop, no questions asked. There's no real passion for increasing gun rights, it's more of a rearguard action to preserve the few that are left. The UK still has some amount of hunting, but it's a niche activity, split between seasonal bird shoots by the land-owning upper classes, managed culling of deer and some wild sheep, pest control (a lot done with airguns rather than bang-guns) and a bit of poaching. There are a few target shooting clubs, and recreational clay pigeon shooting centres. That said, shotgun licensing remains "shall issue" in the UK. You have to apply and pay for a licence, provide references, and have secure gun storage, but otherwise it's up to the local police force to find a reason to refuse. Once you have a shotgun certificate you can buy as many smoothbores as you like, up to a 2" cannon, or (I believe) a 3-shell pump action. This means that in practice, anyone who wants a shotgun for pest control, recreational shooting, or any other reason (just don't say home or self defence) can get one, yet only about 1% of adults do. I'm actually surprised it's that high. If you were to use a firearm for self or home defence in the UK, you should expect to find yourself facing murder or manslaughter charges, irrespective of the circumstances. Conversely, I'm not aware of any UK police constable who has been convicted over shooting someone while on duty, even when they give their evidence in the form of song titles. Licensing figures: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/statistics-on-firearm-and-shotgun-certificates-england-and-wales-april-2020-to-march-2021/statistics-on-firearm-and-shotgun-certificates-england-and-wales-april-2020-to-march-2021 As at 31 March 2021, there were: 156,033 firearm certificates on issue, a 2% decrease 548,521 shotgun certificates on issue, a 3% decrease 565,929 people held a firearm and/or a shotgun certificate, a 3% decrease of 20,422 since last year In the year ending 31 March 2021, there were: 4,988 new applications for firearm certificates, of which 98% were granted and 2% were refused 10,901 new applications for shotgun certificates, of which 97% were granted and 3% were refused 2,566 new coterminous applications, of which 97% were granted and 3% were refused 306 firearms certificates were revoked – a decrease of 18% (-65) compared with the previous year and 0.2% of the total firearm certificates on issue 982 shotgun certificates were revoked – a decrease of 14% (-159) compared with the previous year and 0.2% of the total shotgun certificates on issue Experimental statistics: 365 firearms and shotguns were reported as lost or stolen; of which, 126 were lost and 239 were stolen

They've had a few grass and foliage fires in dry spells, and have fire extinguishers, water, and first aid points located around the site. The buildwork is all very sturdy. I'm not sure who's doing the design and builds, but it's all decent stuff, and they're constantly improving it and keeping the greenery in check.

If you can find an airsoft site in the UK where the staff / marshals aren't using UV-5Rs or equivalently powered sets on PMR frequencies and channels, I'll be astonished. One thing I keep coming back to is that if you're not sure what you're doing with regard to frequencies, then sticking to the PMR bands means that you won't interfere with anything important in the real world, even if you're running "with your boots on" as we used to say a thousand years ago in the CB era.

Urge to sniper-nest intensifies.

Presumably the owls have moved out. Ah, I wondered why the roof was off in that video.

Why would they, when it's packed to capacity every year? I'm very much of the opinion that everyone should know (or be able to find out) what to expect, and if that's not what they're after, just find something else to do that weekend and let those who enjoy it enjoy it. There would have to be some sort of monumental life-altering cock-up to surprise me now.

I have come to be immensely relaxed about it. Team-kill has kill right in the name. That reminds me, I need to look into LED armbands for CQB over the winter.

Yup, that's my current local, I think it's just about bang on in terms of facilities, size, buildwork, variety, and the number of players. If I had to ding it, it's on the marshalling being a bit too friendly and tolerant, but that's hardly unique.

Eh. If it's mint, and you really wanted one, with that stock, and extra mags, and don't want to do a 5 minutes per mag operation, it's maybe a bit cheaper than buying new. It's not like airsoft warranties are more than a coin-flip anyway. TM, innit, u git wut u pay4.

"It's not a bug, it's a feature." Yup, that's what I used too, until I ended up with an Amazon voucher to spend and went mad on the M-PACTs. Loving them, armour right down to the fingertips, except on the index finger. Which is a good thing, as I'd just tried and sent back another pair with armour on all the fingers, that were just too bulky for triggering.

They're fine. Not magical, and sadly it looks like they've dropped the adjustable spring tensioner which is very handy for fine tuning power. Robust, a bit prone to semi-auto locks ups with the stock motor - the V3 trigger doesn't help here. Really, any G36 should be fine, it's more a question of what's in stock at the moment.