Impulse

I told you all I was waiting for something expensive to arrive... MWS #2 will be a short barreled rifle. Will have a modern and a retro build for it, but will likely just go retro most of the time.

I have a load of Cyma 30 round red ones and they're great. Never had any issues in my spring shotty

Going to look into rain X for my scopes. It's always a pain in the butt when it rains heavy as most of my collection are long guns with scopes!

If it's really wet, I tend to ditch optics altogether, which is part of the reason I like having back up irons on guns where possible. However, to guard against rain moisture I use flip up scope covers and I just obsessively keep them shut until I'm in a position to shoot (and probably with the rifle horizontal). For fogging... you can put anti-fog on scopes the same as you can put it on your eyepro. The microfibre cloth is a good idea, but make sure you keep it away from the elements as if it gets too wet/dirty you'll just be smearing wet dirt over your scope.

Haha, you're not the only one. I'm waiting on my rather expensive new toy to arrive and we're only 1 week into the new year...

They don't make too much difference with GBBs and AEGs, but they make more of a difference than you realise. With GBBs you have the sound of the slide if pistol or the bolt if rifle going back and forth and with AEGs you have the sound of the gearbox, however in both cases a foam-filled suppressor will dull the popping sound as the air or gas escapes the inner barrel. This is more pronounced in gas guns than AEGs, but it happens in both. Also, the gearbox noise and action of the gas blowback are near your head, so you hear them more, however your muzzle will be, or at least it should be, pointed towards the enemy. I did some testing with a friend where I walked down the range to hear what guns sounded like from the other end, and you'd be surprised what a difference muffling that popping sound makes even in AEGs and GBBs. With spring it helps, but you still have the noise of the piston slamming forward. However, gas non-blowbacks and HPA guns will love having a suppressor on them, as that popping sound of the gas or air expanding as it leaves the barrel is most of the noise and it's heavily muffled with a good suppressor. I've had people standing about 10m in front of me and not hearing a single shot with my m40 and m700 because they're suppressed and the only noise is a faint click of the hammer. Same thing with HPA, there's no real noise to speak of outside of the air expanding as it leaves the barrel.

Driver Wood occasionally do car boot sales, but no idea when the next one is.

I'll preface this all by saying that my favourite bolt action platform is the Tanaka m700 system. While Tanaka may be incredibly hard to get now, KJW m700s are easier, but still not easy, to find and they're phenomenal rifles (I literally have 2, plus a Tanaka and they're my go-to bolt actions). However, I wouldn't advise buying one if you're just looking to get into sniping because they're incredibly fussy and require a lot of patience, since every game day you have to tweak them to make sure the power is where you want it, since temperature will affect power due to being powered by green gas. You can HPA them, but in my opinion it's impractical as you have to HPA tap the mags, meaning every time you reload you have to detach and reattach the hose, where a HPA VSR you don't have to do that. With that said... In my opinion, the VSR platform is still king due to just how much stuff is out there for it. Some people love the SRS (I don't!), and apparently the Steyr Scout and the Tac41 are pretty decent, but the VSR10 platform still reigns supreme in my opinion due to the sheer amount of aftermarket parts. I also think it depends how much you're willing to get into the thick of it and how much you value certain things. Generally, buying an expensive TM VSR over a JG BAR10 or Cyma cm.701b isn't worth it as you're basically removing all the internals anyway, so why spend that extra £70 on a TM? Having done multiple VSR builds, I would personally always go for the TM, even if I'm replacing everything inside. Part of it is that I think the G-Spec is the superior option over the regular rifle, and I don't think you can get a clone G-Spec rifle. The other part of it is the tiny fraction of a millimetre tolerances and slight quality of life differences. Firstly, the sling mounts on the JG are awful and I've had to loctite mine in. Secondly, not everything will fit perfectly in a clone rifle. I found that the 50rd Action Army magazines are very fussy with my JG BAR10 and I've found myself just running the regular 35rd TM magazines as the Action Army mags would sometimes have feeding issues, or they wouldn't click into place properly. That said, for 99% of people the clone ones are absolutely fine. I'm just very picky! Also, when it comes to "sniping", @Tackle is completely right in saying that fieldcraft and mindset is more important than your rifle. I've played the sniper role with (a lot of) bolt actions, DMRs and regular rifles, and very little changes in how I play. It's more about the stealth and picking your shots than having a 2.3J bolt action with an MED. Also, if you go the whole way into it, it's honestly more about observation than shooting; one of the best sniper games I've had involved me not firing a single shot all game, but I was concealed and constantly calling out enemy movements over the radio to some other guys on my team, so we always knew what the other team was doing. Even had a patrol of about 8 of them walk right in front of me and one crouched down about 50cm to my right. When it comes to actually shooting, the words of some German guys I used to play airsoft with in Spain will always resonate with me as I feel they encapsulated airsoft sniping so well in one simple sentence: "it's not how many you hit, but how you hit them." You'll never (well, incredibly rarely to the point where it's a statistical anomaly) get as many hits in game using a bolt action rifle as you would with a regular AEG, but every hit you do get will feel so much better!

I've been pondering this very same question for months and the conclusion I came to was just to get the VFC. The TM is good, but it's a very old design and I just feel like it's the worse choice, though the TM mp7 still performs really well because at the end of the day it's a TM GBB

I've ordered direct from Evike before and had no issues? Failing that, contact Evike EU and they may be able to get stuff over for you.

For internal and external parts it doesn't have to be expensive for most GBBRs (at least not the ones I've bought). However, when mags are anywhere between £40 - £60 per magazine, that's where it starts getting really expensive, since you typically need a fair few as they're 35-50ish rounds per mag, depending on the gun. I don't want to think about how much I spent on RIFs alone. This year was a year where I basically almost completed my collection of "all the guns I want, within reason", including a couple of hard to get items. I'll get the rest in 2024 (2 GBBRs and 3 GBB pistols), but I think next year will mostly be me getting scopes, extra magazines, lights and other external bits to 100% "complete" all my guns, plus a helmet setup to go with a CQB kit. I don't think I have any massive regrets from my purchases this year though. Trying to make my 1911 super-efficient and basically making it not work was probably the worst, but that wasn't too expensive all-in as pistol builds are fairly easy to do on a light budget (and I bought another one 2nd hand so I still have a nice 1911 that works flawlessly and I stuck the entire upgraded hop and barrel setup in that one, so that wasn't wasted money). A few really good purchases came out of this year though. KWA mac11 is a disgusting little beast of a gun, and the Modelworks mk12 parts for my MWS and m40 stock kit for my m700 have basically made them mainstays of my collection. All I need to do is resist the temptation to do a silly HPA build with the tank in the stock, like an SR-25 or some sort of MTW built like a mk12 with a wraith X stock. Or buy something like a thermal scope. That stuff's expensive.

I know a lot of people talk about GHK AKs, but the new TM AKs are absolutely phenomenal. I think my AKM performs better than my MWS

In terms of backups, 100% a good idea to bring a backup. I never go to a skirmish day, let alone an event like AI500 or a filmsim weekend, without at least two primaries and two secondaries (because I tend to snipe, secondaries are important). Often at Vietnam filmsim weekends I'll have 3 primaries and 3 secondaries just in case.

Hire guns will use high capacity magazines, which I believe does mean you need to pour the BBs in as you have been. What I tend to do is hold the magazine and use my finger and thumb to make a sort of funnel to make sure the BBs go in rather than spilling everywhere. When you get your own guns, you can get mid caps instead which don't have that same door that high caps have. Those need to be filled directly into the hole they feed into the RIF from as it's basically just a snaking canal through the magazine with a spring and follower, but I think if you do this with a high cap you might break it? I'm sure someone can confirm that, I just don't use them at all so I don't know.

Worst part of it for me is the people who emulate him. There have been a few ghillies at Worthing Airsoft recently who have been spawncamping a LOT. Last game day I heard from my friend that the game after I stopped to get my m249 sorted our team got spawn camped by a bunch of snipers and nobody could go anywhere. It's a shame, because there are people like me who have been running a ghillie probably longer than he's been in the hobby, and certainly longer than he's been a thing on social media, who are disincentivized to play the way we want to because we don't want to be associated with these idiots. I don't think I'll ever stop, because I refuse to concede the ground and I'm incredibly stubborn

How do people like the mesh killflash style protectors on red dot sights? I might pick some of these up for my two RMRs, but would rather get the killflash style ones unless they make it hard to see through it.

Only played half the day today, since my friend's grandson wasn't up for playing and my other friend's GBBR AKM wasn't too happy with just how cold and wet it was. However, it was a very, very fun day and I really really enjoyed myself. First order of business was a switcheroo. My m14 DMR was sorted (not a "DMR" but that's what the stock is called!), so I needed to collect that and give the tech my faux wood m14 as that isn't feeding. I also needed to give him my nasty m14 gearbox for the short m14 that he already has, so that'll be fun when that's sorted! I was planning on running the m14 DMR, however... the scope I brought for it did not have good eye relief for the m14 DMR stock. Plus, the forecast today was cold and incredibly wet, so while it was an opportunity to see how it would work out with the flip up scope caps, using optics in the rain is never great. I didn't really want to zero the scope since I'd just be removing it afterwards and putting it on another gun anyway. However, I also had my new, totally stock A&K m249 that I bought as a black Friday deal. I wasn't expecting anything, since I've heard the hop units are wank, the box mags are unreliable and the gearboxes eventually die, but I wanted to see how it was shooting. Had my friend around and he has one, so he showed me how to adjust the hop, we set it up for .25s and... it was actually really good. Floated them out to about 50m and it was accurate enough; not too fussed about pinpoint accuracy as I just want to put a wall of fire up. The main issues were... it chronoed at 0.5J and the ROF was only about 15rps. However, with how it was shooting I decided to take that out instead of the m14 today and oh boy was it a good idea. First game we had to take a flag from one base to another, with the other team allowed to be anywhere above the ridgeline that runs along the site. We were down the hill a little and had to push through to a base on the other side. We were pinned on the corner, so a lot of people went on a flank, but a handful of us stayed to make a nuisance of ourselves. Give a sniper a support gun and shenanigans ensue, as I slow crawled over the ridgeline without anyone seeing and tucked into a barricade made of branches. This gave me a view on a pair of ghillies to the left of us who were stopping people crossing over the path, so up the m249 went and I sprayed them with full auto. Hit one of them, then saw his friend moving up to medic him and I sprayed him down as well. We were then able to push past the ridgeline, but I went and held the flank. One of my other friends told me that there were some ghillies trying to flank us again, so I went and held over there. One sprayed his load (heh) too early and hit a bush, but gave me an idea where he was so I moved off to a tree when I heard he was distracted by my friend, got on his flank and sprayed him down again. Game ended without us managing to get the flag up, but now sides were flipping and I had an evil idea... So next game we flipped around and I set up in a spot I usually use for sniping. It looks down a long path, so while I definitely did not have the range for long shots, I could stop anyone trying to cross over the path at this end. Furthermore, the only way I could get flanked is if they managed to push through or went around the entire site, which entailed going past both our respawn and the base we had to stop them getting to, so I was confident. I managed to get a LOT of hits from this spot with the m249, spraying full auto at everything that moved while two other friends (one with a VSR, one with his AKM GBBR) had another angle and we had a really nasty crossfire. We held them at this corner for almost the entire game, but with AKM friend running out of ammo they eventually managed to rush those two and take them out. However, they forgot about me and I went to ground and waited. When I heard the call for 60 seconds remaining, I got out of my spot and started following the enemy players. One sniper on the other team waited the entire game to shoot me, but when it came to it he either missed or had run out of ammo as he shot, I heard where it came from and I took him out. He said that he waited the whole game, but ran out of ammo. However, the entire enemy team had their backs to me and I just rinsed everyone with the m249 from behind. With 5 seconds left I did eventually get taken out by a respawning player, but I had just wiped out a massive chunk of their team, hampering their push so they also didn't get the flag in either. The two who had the other angle watched the whole thing and were laughing their asses off watching it all happen. What made it sweeter is I was on the other team to some people who get irate over getting shot and it was very amusing hitting them multiple times I called it there though as the rain was picking up and the battery compartment on my m249 is super exposed. Plus I needed some deans connectors fitted so I didn't have to use my crappy tamiya to deans converter, so I got that sorted too. I learned a lot about it though, so I'll need to tape part of the box mag on because it just clips off way too easily and could let water/dirt into the mag which isn't good, plus I learned that I don't need to remove the barrel to put the battery in as the handguard clips in so I can remove that instead. Also, the barrel is absolutely filthy, so I'll give that a clean and it might actually push the power up. We'll see though, since next game day is the Christmas game, so I'll be santa hat, a tinsel scarf and an m249 also covered in tinsel. 'Tis the season, after all! I also tested a nuprol midcap and a PTS midcap to see if those m4 mags would feed, but they didn't. Might pick up a Classic Army one to try, as I would like some midcaps for absolute last-ditch ammo if my box mag runs out and I'm still in a firefight. Still, incredibly fun, but very wet and very cold and I'm glad we called it at lunch. Oh, my friends also showed me how my SMG shoulder holster worked and I love it. It's a bit cold for the mac11, but the mp5k will go incredibly nicely on it, so I'm going to try that next game day. Santa with an m249 and an mp5k is a lot of firepower... And I got caught on camera for once. Then again, I wasn't exactly being subtle with an LMG!

In my defence, an LMG was all I was really missing from my collection and I've wanted an m249 for a bit

A little bit different to my usual sniper rifles and pistols... (it was a Black Friday purchase. £310 down from £460)

https://www.uktactical.com is pretty good too. I get all my Warrior Assault Systems stuff from them, but they have other brands too.

Patrolbase have a few decent ones. I've gone ahead and bought myself one of these: https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/a-and-k-m249-mk1-skeleton-stock-and-sound-drum-magazine?pv=8502 £310 for the full metal version of the m249 is nice, since the polymer, lightweight version is about that price normally. Other good one on Patrolbase is this if you need a hard case for anything in particular: https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/parra-no-5451-requiem-hard-case

The threads on the mk23 are 16mm, so if you were going to use a normal suppressor I guess you'd need a 16mm to 14mm converter. The suppressor that comes with it isn't that hard to modify though...

I got lucky with my Cyma. It hops .28s out to a decent distance and is more than enough for CQB (45m is fairly easy to hit with it) and cost me a grand total of £50 from Taiwangun pre-Brexit. I'd never even think about upgrading it as I'm more than happy with that, even though I think it is around 0.6-0.7J. If you want a high performance shotgun, you really have to go gas. Golden Eagle ones are apparently really good, but all gas shotguns seem to have leaking issues so they're not perfect. Can also HPA tap a gas shotgun if you want to really control the power.

As much as I love shotguns, and I feel everyone should own at least one, don't go with it for a first gun. It's a better idea than going with a bolt action sniper rifle as a first gun, but that isn't hard to do Both Cyma AKs and mp5s are fantastic guns and will be great. Don't let the short barrel of the mp5 fool you either, as AEGs don't work like real-steel firearms; an mp5 will be just as viable in woodland as an AK. My Cyma mp5k with a simple hop rubber and nub upgrade shoots further than my TM HK416D NGRS with the same hop and nub (because 1J vs 0.7J on .32s) and cost about 25% of the price. And as far as AEPs go, I wouldn't bother. AEPs shoot about as hard as a gentle breeze and it's entirely possible people just won't feel it if you shoot them on semi-auto unless you're up close and they aren't running or doing too much to take away their attention. I like my TM mp7 AEP for when it's really, really cold and gas pistols don't work well, but I usually end up just using my mk23 in that situation anyway as it shoots better and is quieter and still works in the cold thanks to it being NBB.

I have two OD Condor Ronin chest rigs because they're split rigs that I can unclip the front, allowing me to push it aside when crawling so I can crawl with nothing on my front. One is set up for AR-15 and AK mags, one is set up for .308 and has the hydro harness to carry my HPA tank and thread my line through the arm strap where the hydration would go whenever I'm using my HPA m21. I really like them because most of my replicas are sniper rifle style guns and I tend to play with a lightweight ghillie cape or cobra hood and therefore I crawl along the ground a lot. If I'm crawling around on my belly, being able to unclip the front and push it aside is incredibly useful for me, as crawling around with mags on my front is a good way to get them covered in mud, not to mention it's uncomfortable. I also have a Warrior Assault Systems chest rig if I want something a bit heavier with a bit more molle space, but it's an older model that isn't available now (pretty sure it's basically the same as their current one though). It has lasted me now for... 15 years and it's still going strong. Amazing purchase. And for plate carrier I have a Warrior Assault Systems RPC with Trident Gear heavyweight training plates. I use this whenever I play CQB or urban and I have three different front panels so I can very quickly change between .308, assault rifle and SMG setups. It's the only plate carrier I own and probably the only one I will own. It's so good! Then for Vietnam airsoft I have a chicom. They're like... £10 or so, are period accurate and can hold AK mags, m14 mags and m700 mags, which covers all the guns I use for 'Namsoft. That said, I also have a US m16 short magazine bandolier which fits a few m14/m700 mags (but not in all of the pouches) for if I want to go super lightweight VC sniper, but most of the time I just use a belt kit for 'Namsoft. The chicom is mostly for if I'm running my AKM.