Rogerborg

I'd guess that mall site is into five figures for a weekend, with the usual hair-splitting over whether it's in-use and non-derelict for purposes of paying rates or not. I'd be looking at bare minimum £200 per marshal for the weekend, so maybe £2000 for those who showed up. That's where I'd want the money to have gone, and it seems that's exactly where they skimped and saved. Of course, it's entirely possible that their marshal team (such as it was) were doing it at mates-rates or were mugged off into volunteered their time. Anyone know? Liability insurance, phew, no idea. I mean, if they had any. At least they wouldn't need weather cancellation cover. Running events this size is a thankless, grinding task, and I can see why Sharon there got a bit tetchy. There's a Facebook thread about bookings where she says "email me, DO NOT reply to this post", and of course, it's full of replies. But it's not like she's doing this as a charity gig, right? This is money for what are ostensibly professional services, not the kitty for some local club. Imagine you'd paid £100 for weekend entry to some amusement park that was overrun with ferals jumping the queues and spitting in your chips, and that this was a known problem that went on weekend after weekend. Do you think the site could shrug it off by saying "Blame the other customers, nothing to do with us."

Have you met any Scotsmen?

Another way of reading that is "We are unable to provide the service that you paid for, please claim a refund."

I'd be fascinated to know how the financials work out. We're looking at about £50K gross income, but I have no idea what site rental would be like, or liability insurance (if they had any - who exactly would you sue in the event of an avoidable injury?), or whether they were even paying marshals. What I do know is that 1 marshal per 50 players is farcically inadequate, just from a bare safety perspective, let alone gameplay. Cease-fire / man-down shouts, hearing and finding injured players in a complex structure, performing the most cursory sweeps in the event of a fire evacuation, you're not getting that done with 1 in 50. Given that we know, we absolutely know, that hot-shooting and cheating does occur at every event, and given their documented response was "Not our problem", I can see a fair case for claiming breach of contract. You don't have to be injured to claim: loss of enjoyment is actionable. Not that I would, but then I wouldn't go to this scale of event because I know exactly what to expect. What I would say is that the only way it will actually change is when it costs them more to do it wrong than to do it right.

More so than airsoft retailers selling without a real defence? Going by what we've been told, his parents are commendably cautious, know about (but don't approve of) his IF, and it's securely stored between game days. That's what will protect our hobby, not the laws around selling and buying which are more honoured in the breach than the observance. And the harsh reality is that anyone can get a RIF by the application of a little paint, or by buying 2nd hand from someone who doesn't ask for a defence. I wouldn't recommend that OP do either of those, but telling him not to won't actually prevent it. We're not his dad, so to speak. Sniper tape is a decent compromise, and the one I'd advocate.

Confused, this thread started as "What trousers with kneepads, 38" waist / 28-29" inside leg?"

... ish. Plenty of us go for stability. Do you have any particular requirements regarding camo / impression kit? Budget limitations? Also, ahoy and welcome.

Presumably they don't know that you're committing a criminal offence, with no defence or exception. I mention this as (mostly) a technicality, since you've already got one.

Thanks, today I learned something. Only with "any firearm" though. But, there's no definition, and the exemption in FA 1968 only applies to FA 1968. So it might very well apply to us. [flips table, rails about our tangled web of firearms legislation]

Yup. There's no way that a mid-game / weekend rule change is going to be propagated clearly to 400+ players. I'd be astonished if it even made it to all the marshals.

And then they told players to STFU and follow the rules.

Huh, that's a new one on me. What's the offence? Selling. There's no offence (or defence needed) for buying, if you're over 18. OP, you're right to be cautious, but just drop round your neighbours' first and let them all know. Use tabloid-level concepts that they'll understand: "like paintball without the paint", and "toy gun" rather than "RIF". Heck, tell them that you've got a loicence for it.

This event seems like an exemplar that hope is not a strategy. I'd offer up for consideration an alternative way that these large events could go, one which accepts reality without approving of it.

Player: "Hey, a lot of people aren't following the rules." Organiser: "STFU noob read rules." Player: "But.. I did, that's why I'm..." Organiser: "REED RULZE PLZ" Galaxy brain handling right there. Oh, and "cheat calling is mandatory" is the plot twist that nobody saw coming.

^^^ Although legally speaking, as you're under 18 it's an offence for you to buy it, and for him to sell it. There's no defence for that - you need the gifting-from-parent wheeze to get around it. It's really not that hard to buy RIFs, especially 2nd hand: just don't volunteer information unless you're asked. However, I'd sound a note of caution: a realistic gas-blowback pistol is a lot easier and more tempting to mis-use than a two-tone rifle. Being completely honest with yourself, are you sure, are you absolutely certain, that you're not going to be tempted to take a pistol round to your mate's house to show it off, just once? I'd check if your parents are OK with it first.

This thread is now worthless without said memes.

Ouch. Not surprised, but I'm always disappointed by it. It's down to the thieving scum, not the site though - there's just no way for them to stop Bob walking off with Alice's gat.

Some people will enjoy it despite the foul-ups, some will enjoy it because of them, and some men just want to watch the site burn.

Oh, it's always a risk, there was a 15 year old who straight up begged his way to being bought a bunch of RIFs by sweaty nonces strange men on Facebook, without having played a game. Naysayers were told to knock off them negative waves. Of course, instead of skirmishing, he then went on spree of public photography, including posing on his rooftop. 🙄 OP is at least claiming to have played, and practically speaking, there's nothing stopping anyone hitting their dayglo with a rattlecan of best Poundland black. Even asking the question is a decent sign.

Entirely up to the site. UKARA (and equivalent schemes) are just centralised registers of site memberships. It would be a crappy thing to do to any site that's running limited numbers of players, since he'll be taking a place away from an actual player, and not buying any consumables. I mention this because there's a difference between legality and morality. What I will note is that there's no age limit on the defence for modifying an IF into a RIF [edit - see below]. If you are an active airsoft player, you can adduce that defence, and there's no statutory requirement to have a UKARA number (because there's no definition of the defence in the statute, or even in the regulation that added our defence, it's in an accompanying circular, and suggestive). In plain language: if you're an active airsoft skirmisher, you can paint your two tone, same as anybody else. Or practically speaking, private sellers tend not to care as much about defences. Legally speaking, if I were selling to your parent, and they could provide evidence that it would be gifted to and used by an active airsoft skirmisher (of any age) then I'd be fine with it. That would apply even more if you could find someone at your local site(s) who's looking to sell. Those things should go together, but airsoft doesn't work that way. The cheapest CYMAs are cockroach tough, while VFCs can come pre-broken. Unmeddled TMs might qualify. Just don't expect startlingly better performance than your Lancer. Fair point, but the VCRA isn't secret and S36 (offences) and S37 (defences) don't make any mention of age. Age is an issue for Firearms Act 1968 S24A, which applies to the sale and the purchase of imitation firearms. The inconsistency there is off the charts, given that there's no VCRA offence of purchasing a RIF (at any age). Which gets to another piece of lawyer-bait, whether the same item can be an imitation firearm for the purposes of the Firearms Act, and a realistic imitation firearm for the purposes of VCRA. I say yes, of course it can, while other people argue equally passionately that something can't be both a firearm (for FA) and a realistic imitation firearm (for VCRA), i.e. airgun replicas. As you say, test cases, test cases, test cases. But if OP is going to be sensible with his use, it won't be his test case. And if he's not, then the VCRA will be the least of his worries as he'll be looking at Firearms Act offences first and foremost.

I'm on it. That's exactly what literally Hitler would have said.

They might go as low as what OP told his wife they originally cost. That is some lovely stuff though, sorry to hear you're passing them on, but they'll bring joy to someone else.

That's the South-West province of Sweden, right? I'm absolutely fine with a completely stock TAC-41 shooting at 2.3J, the typical UK limit. You're very welcome here, but most of the users are UK based so we won't have data[*] on how it performs at your energy levels. Of course, if you check out the TAC-41 owners group on Facebook you'll be told that it's the best airsoft sniper rifle ever, and the only thing you need to do in order to make it even better than the best airsoft sniper rifle is to replace every single part. 🙄 tl;dr version - rifle is fine. [*] "Data" in the airsoft sense of only remembering the great shots, and blaming the bad ones on leaves, grass, wind, or witches.