Rogerborg

Thank you, that's admirably honest of them. It's great to know that their Mystery Mass is is barium sulphate, although disappointing that they're still using so much styrene as well. On one hand, I hope that landowners don't read that. On the other, BBs are only going to get more biodegradable if landowners, sites and players demand it, and don't just accept that "bio" on the bottle actually means that.

Interesting. My understanding was that traditionally BBs were made of ABS, and only bios use PLA. However, that's apocryphal and historical. It might make sense for manufacturers to use a single base material, i.e. PLA. Of course, adulterated with increasing amounts of Mystery Mass: 6mm of ABS would only be about 0.12g, and 6mm of PLA about 0.2g. Any BB can shatter, and "bio" BBs aren't likely to be worse than ABS for biodegradability (even if the truth is that they take decades or hundreds of years to fully break down in woodland). Since bios work well enough now, and don't cost a huge amount more, I'm OK with following sites' preferences. If they're mandating bios and getting issues with shattering, that's up to them to track and make the call. Aside, I would flag up that the sites that should be mandating bios are indoors CQB sites. Why? Because they can sweep them up and have them industrially composted, which will actually break them down. Better that than dumping tonnes of ABS (or even PLA) into general landfill.

Notionally. In practice, you could skip it, or put on your own tag, or change power or BB weight after chrono, or any one of the kajillion other wheezes that make pre-game chrono nothing more than theatre from a prevention point of view. I see its purpose as to help me not get kicked off site if I'm caught with a hot gun in game. But if Anzio are using different standards for in-game and pre-game, it doesn't even achieve that purpose. So, really, what's the point of it? Most of the time, at most sites, it just feels like a ritual performed by rote, without any critical thinking put in to what it's intended to do, or how it actually achieves that.

So sad, but so true. I'd imagine because they're run and staffed by people who like playing airsoft, and being around airsoft, but aren't actually interested in the process of running a site, or marshalling it. It is baffling though why site owners are prepared to put in hours and hours doing build and maintenance work on their site, but not in putting together a decent chrono station, prepping it at the start of the day, or training their marshal team to run it. Not that I'd be interested in doing it better, I hasten to add. But that said, I've lost count of the times that I've hung around and helped out the Loneliest Marshal even if it's just putting on tags.

I do feel compelled to point this out. HPA users aren't actually an elite breed of operators who acquire a +5 bonus to Knowledge with every purchase.

Opinions vary, as you can see, but they're worth a try. I enjoy everything from comically vague "iron" sights through decent peep-and-post sights, reflex, dots, and a cheap "3x42" optic on AEGs. Although Chinese 3s and 42s must not be as big as Western numbers, it seems more like 1.5 - 2x, which is actually about right. The variety is fun, and you can train yourself up to elite operator ninja level to look past the optic with one eye while nailing headshot after headshot at 70m with the other. I'm a proponent of buying cheap first to see if you enjoy the experience, and then considering investing in something decent. You could even try one of the sub-£10 flip-to-side 3x magnifiers, although they're really for novelty purposes, and won't line up well with your current reflex sight.

And if it even looks like something which might be covered, shippers can err on the side of caution. We had a chap here who got "caught" importing a costume HALO oxygen mask. Heck, UPS in the Colonies have just stopped, seized and destroyed gun related goods being sent from "Ghost Firearms", because of course if you're going to sell illegal unserialised receivers you'll advertise that in your name. 🙄

All the sites I play at have "no firing through a gap you can't get your head through" rules, so it should always be possible to get barrel and optic through the same hole. In practice though, I do keep popping up just enough to just get the optic or sights on target, then shred wood.

Whenever I do that, it's usually followed by a demented howl of "Marshal! Check your fire! Are you blind?" Hi-vis vest + camo cap = <eye-roll.gif> Wandering vaguely back on topic, I like high-rise optics in principle. In practice, especially in CQB sites, I find it tends to result in sticking the barrel into a barricade. I'm rather on the fence about them (and I keep shooting fences too). And aesthetically... 🤢

Ah, Marshals' Mates' Rules?

Team kills have "kill" right in the name.

Which you'll need given their warranty. This does seem credible. I have a desk full of recovered 18650 li-ion cells, some of which have dipped below 1V, and which all recovered after a bit of "never do this!" brute force. I'm seeing prices of £30 for the Valken 3Ah 7.4Vs, which is pretty much a coin flip whether you want to gamble on one li-ion, or two lipos for the same total price and capacity.

Valet.

Is there though? Anyone can lie about BB masses. If you're honest about an 8mm BB's heft, then the diameter really, truly doesn't matter.

The 100% accurate interwebs apocrypha says that they scaled the total length of their MP7 with the flash hider to H&K's specified length of an MP7 without the flash hider.

Li-ion owners love them, and they're likely to be physically more robust. However, I tend to agree with Luke at Negative that you're better off with two (or even three) lipos for the same money, given that if your li-ion craps out, you're stuffed. Sound like Titan essentially told him "tough luck, mate" as well.

I can't see a problem in this case. An 8mm 0.3g BB has the the same energy as a 6mm 0.3g BB at the same speed. It'll lose it quicker, and be less dense and hurty on impact. I'd rather be shot by (properly chronoed) 8mm.

Great to hear that you enjoyed it. You'll get a huge adrenaline hit from the first few games, and even if you're fit you'd likely find yourself stressing muscles by holding unusual positions. I mention this because it's very easy to spunk the lad's inheritance on toys while you're still buzzing. The 56 day membership / UKARA wait seems frustrating, but can save your wallet. If you can't resist the urge to buy things, then secondaries (pistols, cheap spring breacher shotguns) can be a fun complement to rental AEGs.

No problem, and you're right to ask as there's a baffling range of M4s that look largely identical. The G&G CM16 is decent enough and used to be a default suggestion. You'd be unlikely to regret owning one. However, in price for features, it's slipped way down the list now, and it's getting harder to recommend them.

That. Or if you want to spend a bit more, a Specna Arms EDGE 2.0 with the GATE ASTER optical mosfet. The rotary hop unit is decent enough, and both the DE and Specna are wired to Deans and have QC spring systems, which the G&G doesn't. I think my EDGE 1.0 even came with a flat hopped bucking and nub (although I threw then in the Bits Box in favour of Maple Leafs parts). Barrels, rubbers and nubs are very easy to change if you want to dive in yourself, although I'd suggest just cleaning the barrel and playing with an AEG to get a baseline for its performance.

How do you spend an extra £1380 on top of a £380 gun? I'd guess it's someone who imagined paying that much would buy him the YouTube video experience, headshot after headshot at 100 (airsoft) metres. Doesn't even claim that it shootslikealaserlegitmate.

Well, you're not the problem that they're trying to solve. Something to bear in mind is that the folk on this site and others represent a small subsection of airsoft players, and I'd suggest the most engaged and interested - and dare I say, honest. I'm not long after seeing a Failbook post from someone who'd bought an HPA system and then thought to ask "How adjust power tho?" And even at that, at least they asked. Others might not. There won't be many folk turning up shooting hotter than a thousand suns, but it'll only take one to make a site shy of the platform and what it can do.

Bear in mind that the legal definition of an airsoft gun is based on what it's "capable" of with "any missile". So sites could make an argument along those lines, and test with a variety of BB weights, and with the hop dialled to various settings. You could even test what an HPA rig can do with the regulator dialled to 11 - I wonder how many folk are turning up with Section 5 firearms. Their site, their rules. But they need to explain what ze rules actually are. They're demonstrably not clear, or consistent, and actually contradict their own published contract.