MSSNAFU

Thanks for your input folks. I think I'll make at least one more, the Para. version, and maybe another depending on what raw materials I have left.

When the idea first crossed my mind building a shell around an existing AEG was the idea, like the Aliens rifle around a Thompson. But the EM-2's unique shape rearwards of the mag well meant nothing would really fit. Weirdly the closest was the Real Sword type 97! 🙃with a SVU as runner up. (searching... found it!) Doing it again, completely from scratch, is not going to be done by me. Maybe a company that already makes specialised CNC parts? with an Airsoft enthusiast boss? That was my thought too, though not in relation to the EM-2 which I have to admit is a real outlier. On the other hand, how many years did we wait for a Bren LMG? especially after someone had already produced a ZB-26! I've never really understood why manufacturers choose the models they do. Got me thinking about a 'shell' of a Browning Hi-Power that would fit over any type of reliable gbb pistol! I would definitely go for one of those 😄

Thank you. What you're saying is pretty much what I suspected and have been told by a couple of people, and the last comment did make me chuckle 😄 Mind you I really understand now why it takes so long for Marui et al to design and produce any new model, rather than iterations of M4/AK/G36 etc. types that they already have the main designs and tooling for, let alone finding enough actual consumer demand for something that would make business sense to produce. Thank you 🙂 I haven't really worked out the true costs at this point. I couldn't do it accurately anyway unless I finish the 'snagging' on the prototype, and sourcing some items rather than just using what I happened to have from some years back may be a problem. Case in point is the optical sight. I happened to have a little 10mm diameter optic that was apparently part of a test rig for the swingfire missile system from the 1970's. It was just about the right size for the EM-2 and fitted within the conical shroud nicely. However finding any similar size modern version that will fit has eluded me the few times I've searched. Machine time, tool breakages, man hours and so on as you point out are unknowns for a 'production' version, rather than my try, try swear at it, hit it, curse it, bleed on it and try again approach to the prototype 🙂

I would buy a GBB version! Way beyond my very limited engineering skills sadly. Going way back, the original design was for a self contained CO2 system, so the hose is/was to be a temporary testing only thing. It's since been mentioned, pointedly, that high pressure gas systems of any kind might need a bit of testing and regulatory approval if they were to be put on sale! (If you look at the top of the trigger group in the last picture, you can see a section of copper pipe. That is/was part of the CO2 system) So yes the position of the HPA connection would very definitely change. I haven't thought it through but 1st idea would be to make a connection at the rear sling attachment point, very preferably flush with the butt.

TL:DR - This is the working prototype of my Airsoft EM-2 rifle. I designed and made this, mostly by CNC machining solid Aluminium and Walnut. I've only made one. I'm posting it here for the great Airsoft Hive mind to tell me what they think one might be worth if I were to make any for sale. Longer but still briefly 🙂 The story of the Janson 'Automatic Rifle, .280 in, E.M. 2' is a relatively minor but interesting bit of British Firearms history, and the Bullpup design and 0.280 inch / 7mm calibre choices were way ahead of their time. The rifle was actually adopted, briefly, in 1951 as the UK's new standard Service Weapon to replace the aging Lee Enfield's and Stens after WW2. But Politics, and especially American insistance on what would become the NATO standard 7.62mm round, saw it un-adopted only a few months later (by Winston Churchill no less!) and no 'Rifle 7mm, No.9, Mk1' was ever actually produced. I started trying to make myself a reasonable Airsoft version of Stefan Jansons EM-2 around 4 or 5 years ago, before the OTT videogame versions appeared btw 🙂. Teaching myself a bit about hobby scale CNC machining and 3D CAD/CAM as I went along . . . I'll let you imagine what my first attempts looked like! and how much wood and metal I wasted, and how many tool bits I've broken! I began making my Airsoft version based on a copy of one of the original blueprints for the 'Rifle 7mm, No.9, Mk1.', and later on corrected it a lot after I had the rare and utterly invaluble privilege of being able to compare my initial efforts with a real steel example, courtesy of Mr Jonathan Ferguson, Keeper of Firearms & Artillery at the Royal Armouries Museum in Leeds. Jonathan is also the Author of the definitive 'Thorneycroft to SA80. British Bullpup Firearms 1901-2020', which has two chapters on the E.M.2 and its history. Without Jonathan's book and his help answering questions on a most memorable day in Leeds my version wouldn't look anything like the real thing does. The major parts of the prototype are made from CNC'd solid Aluminium and solid Walnut planks with a steel outer barrel and real Walnut veneer. It is fitted with a Wolverine Inferno HPA engine as there just isn't room for a gearbox inside the EM-2's frame and the inner barrel is 600mm long stainless steel. This project has taken a lot longer and cost a lot more than I imagined it would when I started. Obviously the thought of selling them, if only to make some of my money back(!) has crossed my mind, and I've spoken to a couple of people about the idea. But the consensus seemed to be there wouldn't be enough demand to justify having a batch of them professionally manufactured, even if I have already done most of the R&D, and without professional production and their economy of scale savings, the unit price and the time needed for me to make each one makes it almost certainly uneconomic to do so. But just recently while corresponding with a user on the forum I thought hey, I may as well ask what other Airsofters think a realistic price for it would be? and if anyone would want to buy one if they could? So, over to you Hive mind 🙂

Just adding my own 2p's worth, I have a relatively ancient cybergun p90 that works fine after much abuse over the years, though hi-caps of any type are best avoided in my experience.

Parcelforce and Royal Mail are rejoining - "From 11th August 2025, Parcelforce Worldwide and Royal Mail will move to a new single delivery network."

I remember a few very good halloween games, including one where a fully costumed Xenomorph crept up behind me and ripped my head off!, in a LARP kind of way of course! 😆

Not sure if I'll make any more Airsoft EM-2's - the pic. is of the prototype I've made - its cnc Aluminium and Walnut and took a lot of time/effort/money to create, and I don't think there's a lot of demand out there that would make it worthwhile. But I learnt a lot making it, and it did gain me the very real privillege of meeting with Jonathan Ferguson and getting to handle (cuddle?😁) several examples of the real thing. Worth it just for that!

Progenitor😎

Interesting. The Bullfinch site even states their propane can be used in Airsoft 'guns'

( From personal experience here, so any expert advice very welcome!) I'm under the impression that there is a small amount of oil in every bottle of Airsoft specific gas sold - hence shake the can before filling. WE for instance highlight the fact it contains it on the front of the can I happen to have at the moment. Remember being told as a noob many years ago that standard Propane is a very 'drying' gas, so it makes sense to me to add a bit to avoid it drying out O rings and so on. But I believe very little is needed, on the order of one or two drops per litre. Have I got it wrong? (again lol). Also standard/camping gas propane contains a very smelly additive for safety (so that any camping stove type leaks are very obvious). The smell can get very unpleasant / nauseating in an enclosed area, so filling outside is a good idea. I don't know if its related to the additive but I started to notice a bit of a thin brown coating appearing on some valves and seals after a while. Anyone else experienced this? The MAPP / Yellow cylinder stuff just flat out didn't work when I tried it. May just be me of course! Overall I just had so many issues that I went back to just using the comercial stuff. Having bought a VFC LAR and their SA58 I might have to look into it again though! 😄.

How many would you like? I have six ex two tone ex hire all plastic I'm not sure what to do with! 😄

IIRC the Tanaka and KJW mags were interchangeable. Don't know about the G&G ones, sorry, but is it certain the longer arms are for the M700 platform? as I know there was a very similar, just slightly longer mag for the K98. ( I learnt this buy buying one by mistake of course! 🙂)

A medical condition is what keeps me in too - Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis - hence my user name, as SNAFU is a perfect decription of life with MS! 😆 But at least we both keep trying!

Difficult to think of things that won't offend somebody🙃, but eg a player who turns up with new top of the line shiney speedsofter at a normal woodland skirmish. Guys who bring their lady friends with them but forget to tell them not to wear skintight tops and trousers. Player with lots of expensive kit who barely if ever gets out of the safe zone (thats me btw 😄)

If it was ever to reappear in the classified's I wouldn't relist it as it was, the pic is just to show what it is I'm blathering on about 🙂. It would only reappear as fixed/working or as a pile of boneyard bits. Its a bit of an academic question anyway as I have a bad case of fix-it-itis with airsoft bits - If its broken and I think I can fix it then even if I don't want it, I find myself dismantling and at least trying to repair it anyway!😄 The sear is already done. The hop unit had been modified at some point in the past, which is possibly why half a dozen broken bits of plastic fell out of it when I removed it! 😄so I'm working on a fix for that, and as I dismantled it I found there's a problem with the cheek rest involving a broken piece of mazak which may actually turn out be the worst problem. Might have to invoke Dr Frankenstiens assistance!🤪😄

Opinions please. I have a clone Ashbury ASW338LM bolt action 'sniper'. No markings, VSR compatable-ish, plastic picatinny rails over a carbon fibre effect forend, fully adjustable folding stock with a monopod, heavy metal body, looks the business. Its the one that was in the boneyard for a few days. Has problems - slam firing and misfeeding. It's not working irritated me enough that I decided to dismantle and fix it - changing out a worn VSR sear being a not uncommon fix 🙂 and if I've got it dismantled enough that I can get at the trigger group I should be able to see what the feeding issue is too. About 30(!) bolts and screws later I've got the thing apart. Faults obvious - the afore mentioned sear and a hop unit with both a duff rubber and a very broken hop adjustment armature. Now, I have most if not all of the bits necessary to fix it, could even upgrade some parts as I go eg steel sear, stainless steel inner etc. But, if I fix and reassemble it, at the end of the day(s) I'll still have a clone Ashbury ASW338LM springer, with no markings, which I don't want, I'll never use, and isn't worth very much. Am I falling into the 'polishing a t**d' trap? and would do better selling on the parts, rather than a heavy, not as good as a real VSR, compatable-ish Ashbury RIF? TL:DR is it actually worthwhile repairing it?

No A&K Masada I'm afraid.

Ticked the box on the first few I listed. Have stopped doing so now.

Um -ish. I removed one advert after a user with a good feedback rating, told me he has a UKARA number, then blanked me when I asked for it. Might be ill or have a familly emergency of course, but after 4 days my paranoia stepped in 😑. Another was from what I very strongly suspect was a child, via email rather than through the Forum, so I pulled that ad. too. But yeah I can nearly get to the door again now😄