Rogerborg

Ahoy and welcome. Sounds like you've dived right in at the deep end, you'll do well here.

If you're in €urope, then Gunfire sells some cheap spring pistols. https://gunfire.com/en/menu/spring-powered-pistols-17225.html

Mmm, Area-66 is also nearly fully transitioned from paintball to airsoft, it does seem to be the way that it's going. One day in the future we may find ourselves ousted in turn for... urgh... gel blasters.

I raise you one Ashley Hlebinsky "If I can tell that someone is going to get really mad that I used the word 'silencer', I always use it." Saucy minx. It is a weird one, it seems that the outer barrel and and silencer thread just isn't supported well enough. To be fair, the real-plastic G36 has been withdrawn because their barrels also start wandering all over the place as soon as the plastic heats up.

It is rather irksome and yet another reason to recommend https://www.ak2m4.co.uk/ who charges low rates. He's probably making a loss on postage + packaging + time.

Careful now: Christmas present = Christmas temperatures.

FWIW, I can't run a suppressor silencer[*] on my G36 because it does skew too much and mashes up the BBs. I don't think you're imagining that. [*]

If you're unable to post an advert in the classifieds here, chat a bit first, there's a spambot filter in place.

Hi Kirsty, sorry to hear that you had a bad experience. CYMA is actually a decent brand and their metal gearboxed guns are noted for being robust (although the outer plastic on their M4s feels pretty nasty): it's a shame that they also make those £40 market-stall specials with plastic internals that really are disposable toys. I'll keep it simple, PatrolBase is a reputable retailer and anything they sell will work. All the sites with "BB" in the name sell a bunch of tat (as well as some decent stuff, but you have to know what you're after). Stock levels are quite low at the moment, so there's not a huge amount of choice. One issue is that most electric rifles don't come with a battery or charger, and even the very cheapest charger plus a nimh battery will run you £25. The cheap CYMAs do tend to come with a battery and a very basic charger with a 2 prong EU style pin, although it's never guaranteed: they're treated as a sort of bonus free gift by retailers. Any of these will do: https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/airsoft-two-tone-assault-rifles?*inst=y Annoyingly, you can't filter by whether they have an included battery, you'll have to check the description under "Included Items", and even then you'll find contradictions. The Lancer Tactical M933 says that it does, but I'm doubtful. If you do need to add a battery and charger, then these will work for £25. https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/asg-intelligent-auto-stop-nicd-nimh-battery-charger https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/vp-racing-9-6v-1600-crane-stock-battery (this will fit any of the M4s, but not the G36s or AKs) I certainly wouldn't recommend them, but you'd be looking at £45+ for the very cheapest smart lipo charger and battery that we would recommend, which puts you over budget. Whatever you get, the small pack of BBs typically included in the box should go straight in the bin. Really, don't shoot them. You'll want BBs from here: https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/airsoft-0-20g-6mm-bbs e.g. https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/evolution-airsoft-0-20g-target-6mm-bb-1kg-bag I know there's a huge range to choose from and this can get very confusing, very fast. Please get back to us if you have more questions, but we won't be able to answer the battery and charger question with absolute certainly, that would be one for the retailer. They used to be, the prices have gone shooting up recently. You may still get lucky finding one in-budget, but again, you'll need to add a battery and charger for a minimum of £25. To keep under a £150 budget, you're really only looking at CYMA, Lancer Tactical, Specna Arms or Jing Gong at the moment.

Plus all the "gnu 4 sale" / "want 2 bi gnu" in status updates. You can report posts, and are encouraged to do so, but there's no way to stop folk from doing it. As with safety briefs, those who are listening don't need told, and those who need told aren't listening.

Their offence, their risk. Although the cons I've looked at recently explicitly prohibit RIFs as past of costumes[1], so I assume - I hope - they've knocked that on the head now. Cosplay is accepted as a reasonable excuse for FA S19, but not (I'd argue) for VCRA S37. [1] And RIFs are now typically prohibited precisely because of absolute melts like this. He walked away from it though. https://cogconnected.com/2017/04/birmingham-airport-cops-stop-cosplayer/

And that's how you create a duty of care and a liability where none previously existed. Bicycle lid? Seems to be quite a few of them in their pictures, also folk not wearing lids, including marshals. "Safe" zone, or ballistic bifocals? It never fails to amaze me that so many airsoft sites seem determined to document that their rules are more what you'd call guidelines.

Mmm, it's really just a £20 surcharge on new players that don't want a 2-tone.

You need any nails for that cross?

Haha, what? The thirst on this bloke. 😆

They're also rather flexible with defences, so you might not even have to wait for membership / UKARA. Worse case, you can say "Cosplay, mate" and bung them an extra £20 for a bogus "defence". Normally I wag a finger at this naughtiness, but it's their problem, not yours, and I doubt you'll do anything nefarious with a RIF.

Steady on there, tiger. We're agreeing that you're right in principle, and in practice we know what airsoft retailers can be like. I have a track record of advising buyers to just fire in with a chargeback ASAP, the moment goods are late or otherwise than as described and they don't get a complete and instant resolution. However, I'm also getting the impression that you've taken this personally, and have turned a minor business transaction into a casus belli for a protracted spat. Is it really worth it over some toy parts?

Honestly, I think it is that. There's no real reason why shotguns and firearm possession are conditional-on-ammunition offence when the same very broad "reasonable excuse" could apply - and I think should apply - whenever you have one in public, shootable or otherwise.

Oh, the cap that holds the spring in place? So they've both sprung into hyperspace?

Sadly, rebuild kits don't seem to be much of a thing in the UK. And I wouldn't throw much money at a Raven: it's Nuprol's budget brand, which is saying something. If we're talking about the main recoil spring, you can get "upgraded" ones (for airsoft definitions of that word) which might work, e.g. https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/cowcow-rs1-recoil-spring-tm-hi-capa-1911-gbb . If that fits but turns out to be too springy, then you could lop off a coil, stretch then flatten it. A handy site to bookmark for springs and things is... well... https://springsandthings.me.uk/ Sorry, no idea about the end cap.

Agreed, I actually regret getting the metal slide AA R17 rather than the plastic version. Decent kick, but as you say, not so clever in our September to May winters.

Oh, we've had plenty of rants here about that. Our firearms-and-firearm-looking-things statute book is a patchwork Frankenstein's monster. The one that really does my head in is S19, which seems absolutely back-to-front in terms of rationality. Carrying firearm in a public place. A person commits an offence if, without lawful authority or reasonable excuse (the proof whereof lies on him) he has with him in a public place (a) a loaded shot gun, (b) an air weapon (whether loaded or not), (c) any other firearm (whether loaded or not) together with ammunition suitable for use in that firearm, or (d) an imitation firearm. Caught with an undersized bright orange toy in public, get the jail vs "It's OK, constable, it's a real firearm, but I left the shellazines at home." 😕

£100 comes in under TM money, so you're going to be compromising. I'm fine with a cheap Army Armament R17 mock-Glock as a woodland hip-hanger and occasionally indoor use. Avoid Raven, it's some random Nuprol rebrand that even Nuprol won't gamble their, er, "reputation" on. The AAP-01 got a lot of love when it came out. Glock mags, gas efficient, full auto. Then they started breaking, quite a bit - trigger or hammer, I think. Maybe not an issue if you're planning to replace parts anyway, and you can't really argue with the price if you buy today: https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/action-army-aap-01-assassin-gbb-pistol?pv=14741

There should be some sort of spring pushing the hop unit back against the gearbox. I mention this because they're easy to lose or forget when reassembling. I only use Maple Leaf rubbers now because they have long feed lips so should get a good seal. If they mis-feed (tested by dropping BBs up the inverted feed tube to rule out magazine issues) you can trim away the bottom lip as necessary.

It's reassuring to know that he's doing the warranty work for them in the UK, and particular that they get sorted under warranty.