Impulse

Take what I say with a pinch of salt as I only like LPVOs on 1.1J builds. Anything at DMR or bolt action power I want a bit more zoom and find that 3x zoom is fine for anything over the 30m MED that comes with the higher power. I also don't have any direct experience with the listed optics, so my post is more just general advice. Adjusting for wind in airsoft is... not a precise science. The muzzle energy is too low and the projectiles are too light to really use wind adjustments on a scope, so I tend to just use the mil-dots and some experience-based judgement on my shots where I adjust for wind. My preference is using the crosshair itself so I like a good crosshair with mil dots over anything else, since the majority of shots I will just use those to adjust for distance and wind. Distance is a lot easier to work out and if you spend time dialling in your rifle you can reliably make shots that other people think are impossible. That said, if you can get both I'd say get something with tool-less adjustment nobs (not under caps either, literally just turnable as they are) AND a mil-dot reticle, then spend a long, long time working out where you need to turn the nobs and where to aim on the reticle to hit at a whole variety of long distances. I still probably wouldn't bother with windage adjustments and just go with mil-dots on that, for the reasons I stated, but for distance I could definitely see the merit; just need to get my rifles to a range without wind as the range at my local site catches the wind and this summer the weather has been wank. Illuminated reticles are nice for low-light situations, so if you can also get that I'd go for it but to me it's the least important aspect of the three. FFP scopes are nice too, but for the distances we deal with I'm not entirely convinced with their usefulness when you consider the price, though I may try getting a Visionking FFP scope to experiment with that. I probably wouldn't go with the Novritsch scope, as you can probably get a better Visionking or Vector Optics for a similar price; that said, I have also heard good things about it, but from someone who really likes a lot of Novritsch's stuff. You don't want to cheap out too much on the scope as you'll be using it a lot and a good scope can really help. Heard good things about it, but I also typically want a bit more than 4x at the highest level so I can double up on recce duties, observing enemy positions and movements from a distance and radioing it in to my team; one of the best games I have had in the past few years was one where I didn't fire a single shot, but radioed in every movement the enemy team made along one part of the site.

I don't know what voltage he was using, but I know someone who had the Cyma platinum mp5 and his mosfet burned out. Not the end of the world, he just replaced it with a Perun, as the stock Cyma mosfets aren't the greatest.

Thanks both of you. Will probably get an ablation done, but the hardest part is pushing the NHS to actually do something

Only played half the day today as my atrial fibrillation (at least that's what the doctors think it is) played up on Friday so I decided to keep it light today so I don't wake up tomorrow with palpitations. Hopefully on the road to sorting that, but anyway... Got there a little later than usual, but set up both the m40a5 and the m14, chronoing both immediately. M40 was a crisp 2J and the m14 was 1J. Perfect. Then while my friend was setting up his guns it started absolutely tipping it down, so I hurriedly got everything back into the car. It wasn't meant to rain today and fortunately it only lasted for about 45 mins or so. I got all my kit together and decided to run the m40a5 with the HK45 as my sidearm and my newly acquired and set up TM bodyguard pistol in a shoulder holster. With the Hadron TDC upper and a little suppressor, it was absolutely tiny but it was sending .32s out to 50m relatively accurately (though I don't think I'd be going for many 50m shots with it) and was nice and quiet; not quite as quiet as the mk23 as the suppressor is tiny by comparison, but considering how massive the mk23 is and how small the bodyguard pistol is I was more than happy as it was a lot easier to carry. Super impressed for such a little and honestly pretty damn cheap pistol. First game wasn't one I was too fond of. It was a timed attack and defence on one of the bases, but defenders weren't allowed more than 20m from the base, which severely limited my options as running something with an MED at Worthing at the moment is a bit of a challenge and it didn't really afford me any positions I could take and use my bolt action well. We attacked first and the writing was on the wall; our team was very timid. Nobody was pushing. I wasn't able to really impact the game much either with how the sight lines were around this base, but we eventually cleared it out and took it. Then we swapped sides. I took a position concealed under a holly bush and managed to take out a bunch of the attackers on the way in, but not being able to move too far from the base means I was eventually flanked and taken out when someone almost stepped on me while I was incredibly fogged up thanks to the earlier rainfall making all the bushes super humid. Whoever said you need a ghillie to be invisible anyway Second game came around and... I really enjoyed it. Usually we do a 3-base domination, but this time they did a 5-base domination and I think it worked well. I would've used some other bases, as 4 of the bases were very close together, but having to spread across 5 bases was far better than 3. It was in this game where I feel I did my best work, crawling into a position, setting up my rifle to fire and taking out a fully ghillied enemy sniper team and 2 of their team mates as one of them was directly observing the area I was crawling through. Slow deliberate movements, never silhouetting myself and finally a good bit of marksmanship really helped and it felt so good to achieve, since I play with the short-sleeve handicap during the summer; no ghillie, just an uncrafted cobra hood over a plain black short sleeved t-shirt. I'm not exactly covered in camo! From there I held that position, taking out the sniper as he returned from respawn as well as a whole host of other people on the enemy team who wanted to use that position. It's games like this that remind me why I love sniping. We then switched sides, taking me to the side I was far more familiar with and I immediately went and took a position overlooking a path into the area with the bases. I completely shut down that side of the site with the help of another forum-goer here until he got friendly fired by trigger-happy teammates (who I've forgotten the name of sorry ) and eventually the enemy team just completely abandoned their efforts there, so while the start of the game was eventful, the end saw me barely taking a single shot. I'm glad I refilled my mags before this game as I burned through 2 of my 3 m700 mags in this game, so I would've run out of ammo if I hadn't. Across these two games, I think I took out the enemy team's full ghillie pair about half a dozen times without them even seeing me once. I definitely feel like I was on point for these games. Also, it seems I was finally caught on camera, so you can see what I mean by "I'm not in a ghillie right now" ? At lunch I decided to call it, though I heard it was a complete slaughter in the afternoon with our team getting absolutely pantsed by the enemy team. Exercise is what sets off my heart palpitations, so after the morning I felt I didn't want to push it. Furthermore the game after lunch was in a super dense part of the site that is basically a CQB killhouse, but with thick bushes for walls instead of... walls. Wasn't going in there with a 30m MED (you're lucky to get 15m shots in there), so I stayed back in the safe zone. Tweaked the m40a5 a little as it was overhopping, but I think I may try a new hop rubber. Now that the X-range is bedded in it's hopping .45s a bit too much, so I'm going to pick up one of the new Maple Leaf silicone rubbers (the 2023 ones) and stick a 60 degree in. Fingers crossed it works out, but we'll find out next game day as I don't exactly have a 75m range to try it out on living in Brighton. Also continue to be impressed with the King Arms adjustable m700 bolt. It's super consistent and hasn't let me down once. After the m40a5, I took my new AAP onto the range to get the hop dialled in; I saw one for sale on ammo drop on sale for about £70 and I wanted to do a modern ruger .22 upper to go alongside my old fashioned one. Set that up and was happy with the performance, but I'm not a huge fan on the magazines as I feel they're not that gas efficient but further testing is required there. Anyway, all in all it was a great day. After the brief downpour in the morning it was sunny for most of the day which helped dry the site out a little and reduce the humidity a little so after the first game I wasn't fogging up much at all. Downside is that I'm almost certainly going to have to skip the upcoming Vietnam game at Gunman Eversley (sorry @Tactical Pith Helmet but I won't be there. The others I usually go with should be though! I think one of the others can't make it either so our contingent won't be in attendance) as I'm not going to go camping in the middle of the woods with any risk of atrial fibrillation rearing its ugly head.

Going to be a bit of a wall (such a glorious wall that I'm scared the FBI is going to raid my house and throw me in jail), so I will add a TL:DR at the end with some key points for those who don't want/need to understand the physics and mathematics behind our hobby. Ok, so I've done a LOT of research into BB weight and ballistics due to my interest in long distance shooting in airsoft. Also, please bear in mind that this is, at the end of the day, a layman's explanation of this. I'm operating on A-level mathematics and GCSE physics here, and I haven't done them in about a decade. It's also really hard to explain this without a whiteboard or sheet of paper to draw diagrams and stuff, so bear with me I'll do my best to keep it accessible! So, the maths behind our hobby! Kinetic energy is calculated by 1/2 x mass x (velocity x velocity), using brackets as order of operations means we do the squaring before the multiplication but it's easier to show this way exactly what I'm doing. However we can't just translate that to airsoft measurements of fractions of a gram and feet per second, as joules are calculated using mass in kg so really really small numbers in our context and velocity in metres per second, not feet per second. So a 0.2g BB shot at 328fps, which is 100m/s would calculate as: Energy = 1/2 x 0.0002 x (100 x 100) Energy = 0.0001 x 10000 Energy = 1J Only reason I used 328fps instead of 350fps is to avoid plaguing you with weird numbers and make the example easier to follow. Really, feet per second is annoying and we should be using metres per second since it's easier to work with in terms of energy calculations. It's why springs are m100, m120 etc, as they're designed in m/s rather than ft/s. What we can take away from this is that mass and velocity work in tandem to calculate joules (I know, I'm big smart for drawing such a conclusion). However we need to briefly consider momentum to understand ballistics; my physics teacher always described momentum as "how much something will hurt when it hits you" and is a lot simpler than kinetic energy. Momentum = mass x velocity. Easy. I'm not going to bore you with the calculations I'm doing for this example now, but I'm looking at 1.14J on a .2 and on a .48 as a comparison. That's 350fps on a .2 and 226.1fps (1 decimal place) on a .48. We can already see that momentum is going to be very different, but for argument's sake... momentum = 350 x .2 = 70 gram feet per second momentum = 226.1 x .48 = 108.5 gram feet per second (1 decimal place) So a heavy BB fired with the same kinetic energy as a lighter BB has more momentum (just over 50% more!). This is why when someone point blanks you with a .48 from a 1J pistol and says "stop crying, it's only 1J" is talking bollocks. Do I think we should be operating on momentum-based rules for airsoft? Hell no, that would be cancerous, but it's a consideration that I feel comes under the golden rule of "don't be a dick". However, this also goes a LONG way to explaining why heavy BBs tend to go further than lighter BBs; they simply have more momentum pushing forwards due to how physics works (the old example was if I throw a balloon vs if I throw a cricket ball with the same kinetic energy, which goes further). However, there's one last thing to consider when it comes to range and that's deceleration, as the BB is being affected by a number of things trying to slow it down and drop it to the ground, namely air resistance and gravity respectively. Hop up creates a backspin to give the BB an upwards lift to combat gravity, but combating air resistance isn't happening. I won't go into the mathematics on this as deceleration past GCSE level is really maths intensive (I would probably have to break out calculus and trigonometric functions to explain my point), but essentially an object moving at a higher velocity has more air resistance acting on it, so that BB travelling faster actually has more pushback from Mother Nature than a slower BB. Furthermore, that air resistance is going to have more effect on a lighter weight projectile as lower mass makes it easier to push back, so a combination of higher air resistance and more impactful air resistance means that a lightweight BB fired at the same energy is going to slow down and lose that energy a hell of a lot faster than a heavy projectile. Anyway, I hope you're all still awake after that (I find it fascinating, but I know not everyone does), but now I'll move into airsoft specific phenomena like joule creep and cylinder to barrel ratio. With AEGs, it's rare that power goes up with weight but it is possible. I couldn't explain to you in detail how the maths works out, but essentially there's a sweet spot for ammo weight with most guns and it varies dependant on inner barrel length and cylinder size. What tends to happen is that shorter barreled AEGs are more efficient with heavier ammo, but longer barreled AEGs tend to drop in power with heavier BBs due to voluming issues; the cylinder doesn't have enough air to fill the barrel so the BB starts to decelerate while it's still in the barrel, meaning that a heavier BB that comes out slower originally will start to have forces working against it (friction with the barrel and air resistance) sooner by fractions of a second, but it all affects it. It all depends on if there's enough air in the cylinder to fill the barrel. Look up cylinder to barrel ratio for a better explanation than I can give; I don't use AEGs much and they're the only guns I don't tech myself because I'm useless with gearboxes. Also, as has been said, heavier ammo typically needs more hop pressure to be applied which can also drop your power (as at the end of the day you're adding some resistance to the BB's flight path. Assuming you have enough air volume in an AEG, or if you're using another platform like a GBB, then heavy ammo will typically cause your power to go up due to joule creep as long as you're not having to apply incredible amounts of hop to lift them. The BB will accelerate while it's in the barrel as long as there's something to push it, which for a gas gun is the gas expanding when it leaves the magazine, so a longer barreled gas rifle will have a higher power than a shorter barreled gas rifle as it has more space to accelerate before leaving the barrel; it's the same as real-steel firearms, a long barreled AR-15 will shoot better at longer range than a short barreled AR-15 assuming the same ammo due to acceleration in the barrel. So why am I saying any of this? Well, it's the considerations part of your question. With AEGs you need to consider cylinder to barrel ratio and with gas guns you need to consider barrel length. In both you need to consider the hop setup and how much you need to apply to lift the BB and the barrel diameter also impacts power; wider = less power, tightbore = more, as there's less space for air to escape past the BB in a tightbore so it has to push the BB out to escape the inner barrel, which at the end of the day is what the gun is trying to do with all that air and is why air seal is so important for consistency, as the air will seek to escape from wherever it can. Now in terms of the benefits, a heavier BB will tend to have a more stable trajectory, has a bit more punch to get through foliage and will retain its kinetic energy for longer, though we're talking about fractions here. Will a .32 be all that different to a .28? Not really, but will a .48 perform differently to a .2? It most certainly will but I think often times people over-estimate the difference in BB performance. Wind will still carry a .48 off to Narnia and a leaf will still deflect a .48; trust me, speaking from experience there as a bolt action enjoyer who has watched many shots through my scope go their own way because of wind or leaves in the way. Really, punching through foliage requires volume of fire as opposed to weight of BB and I think "go heavy to punch through foliage" is a false economy. Even my .48s fired at 2.3J have issues punching through foliage and I usually try to post the shots through empty spaces in the bushes rather than going through any leaves; precision over power. Anyway, I feel like I've gone on enough about this. Thank you for coming to my TED talk on BB weight and the physics behind our hobby. In short: Heavier BBs fired at the same kinetic energy as lighter BBs have more momentum, which is why it hurts more getting shot by heavy BBs, even at 1J Faster projectiles have more air resistance acting on them Lighter projectiles are more affected by air resistance Therefore lighter BBs travelling faster both have more air resistance acting on them and are more affected by said air resistance This means that heavy BBs will travel further as they have more momentum, less air resistance acting on them and are less affected by that air resistance (assuming your hop can lift them) Joule creep will cause power to go up in gas guns with longer barrels as the BB has more room to accelerate Cylinder to barrel ratio affects power (and consistency) in AEGs. Heavier BBs can up the power in short barreled AEGs, but tend to drop the power in long barreled ones If you want the absolute maximum performance of your gun you generally want to be as close to the power limit as possible with the heaviest BB that your hop will lift I will still call you a dick if you run .48s in a pistol, especially if you're shooting up close

See, this is why I haven't bought any reusables yet. I hear so many stories of theft ?

Welcome back to the hobby. I would disagree and say that quite a bit has changed since 2006, but the fundamentals of the hobby are still the same; we still run around in dress up with battery-powered pews for the mostpart. The biggest differences I can think of are that guns shoot a lot further thanks to far better hop ups and prevalence of heavier BBs, there's a lot more HPA going around and you'll see a LOT more people at game days now. Also, consider me jealous of that Western Arms pistol! In terms of sites (you'd be surprised what is still around) in the south, Gunman sites are pretty great and Battle Lakes is also in Kent, though I'm not sure if they do regular skirmishes there; I think it's only filmsim, which is a bit more structured and I would definitely advise you give it a try but it's not for everyone. Outside of that there's Tuddenham in Suffolk and Eversley Alpha and Bravo in Hampshire. You also have Worthing Airsoft (formerly Elite Action Games Worthing) in West Sussex, which has been around since before 2006 and is where I first started playing back in 2005, then you also have Dogtag in Faygate and Driver Wood just outside Crawley. That's all the sites in the area that I know, but that's because I'm in Brighton. I'm sure there are some more sites over in the Kent direction that I don't know about since they'd be a bit far for me.

If people are like that, I usually give them another, then the third is going into the back of their head if they don't take that one too. This happens all the time though and has been a thing since I started playing some 17 years ago. Also, people not calling their hits if they can't see where it came from. Number of times I have had people not call a hit because they have no idea where I am... though I do find it amusing as they think nobody can see their cheating until I send another one their way as they are looking for the source.

More brands seem to be going that way. Vortex are obviously the big ones, but if Vector Optics are also going that way and Wulf scopes seem to be protected under a similar warranty...

I definitely think there is an element of the first two. Can't confirm on the third, but everyone looks at GBBRs and thinks they're really cool (they are), but can't deal with the low ammo count and the fact that consistency goes on holiday as soon as you flip on the fun switch. Definitely a niche choice and I am happy to be in that niche.

I don't care much for stitch counters either since they can be insufferable bell-ends (I play Vietnam airsoft and other battlesim/filmsim stuff and fortunately haven't had the stitch counters come for me and my half-way-house loadouts yet...). For me as long as it passes the 10m at-a-glance test, it's fine. That said, I can see why some people like stitch counting and putting together authentic loadouts can be very fun; I tend to run with an idea rather than copying an existing military force, so at the moment I'm working on a civilian SHTF loadout and a more traditional post-apocalypse loadout which is more of a fashion statement than anything. I also like my "some sort of PMC" loadouts and CIA loadouts. Funnily enough, most of my loadouts trend towards more civvie style and I think the only loadout I have that is more military than civilian is my ghillie'd up scout sniper setup which is US military based (since I took a lot of inspiration from the publically available US army scout sniper handbook), so the idea of dressing up as a specific military unit does baffle me. I think part of my interest in more civilian-based loadouts also stems from my interest in real-steel shooting, so it's nice to have similar loadouts across both. However, the part of stitch counters that annoys me is when they try and push it on other people. At the end of the day, what makes airsoft great is that there are so many ways to enjoy it and we can all do our own thing. Every time someone comes up to me when I'm running my KJW m700 and says "nice VSR bro" I think I die a little inside and it happens a lot. No one has come up and asked "is that the Specna Arms one?" while I'm running my KJW/Model Works m40a5 yet, but I'm sure it'll happen eventually ?

This... is really good to hear. Do they do it for RIFs, does anyone know? There's a lot of Japanese RIFs I would love to get my hands on (KSC and Tanaka stuff mostly)

I went to a CQB site with an SR-25 with a 3-9x50mm scope still attached and was still the one clearing corners while others on my team stood back with their SMGs and short carbines too scared to push forwards. All the gucci specialised kit is worth bugger-all if the drills aren't there too. In fairness, it's far from ideal, but it's a core ideal behind recce rifle builds, which is something I've been looking at a lot recently with my m16a4 MWS build. You can clear buildings with long barreled rifles; it's harder and you're definitely better off with a shorter rifle, but it's definitely possible with practice. I think the worst I've taken to a CQB site is a 1J bolt action rifle that I've still managed to clear corners with; at this point it's a point of pride ?

From the various gun guys I follow, it sounds like most of them would run a short-barreled carbine of some sort (m4a1, mk18, hk416 or some sort of AR15 derivative usually) in various tier 1 and tier 2 units (most of the guys I follow were tier 2 though, so US Army Rangers and the like). A short-barreled carbine is a versatile weapon, capable of room-clearing and also taking mid-range engagements, so while something like an mp5 would be better in CQB, it's all well and good until you leave the building and some asshole with an AK starts shooting you at 400m. Obviously you have units like the SAS running the mp5 for the Iranian embassy siege, because that sort of operation you can be confident will be entirely CQB, but for general carry I would say a short barreled carbine is the most realistic. Also, in general, rifle calibres have more ability to penetrate body armour and helmets than pistol calibres. In terms of sidearm, I think it varies and comes down to personal preference. Heard lots of stories of US units swapping out their m9s for 1911s, so in terms of sidearm it's down to personal preference. That said, I think a lot of them like various Glock models, but if you don't like that you can always go with something like a mk23, as that was specifically designed for USSOCOM, or some sort of Sig, as I believe Glocks, Sigs, Berettas, HKs and even 1911s still get used in SF units. However, there's also an element of what your role is. For example, if you're a sniper, you're likely using something like an m110 SASS or m24 SWS, which is definitely not a short-barreled carbine. If operating in a recce role, you may be using a long-barreled carbine instead like a mk12 mod 1 SPR, as you need to be able to engage out to longer distances than a short-barreled carbine is capable of. Also, you could be a support gunner in which case you're probably carrying an m240b or mk46. I think weapon choice is a wide net, since different units use different weapons and different roles also use different weapons, so there's a lot to choose from. In terms of setup, I do believe that SF operators are allowed to set up their guns however they want, though obviously I can't confirm that as I've never been one or asked one that specific question. M-LOK is currently all the rage, so if I was going to set up some sort of SF operator loadout I would probably do a short-barreled AR-15 or hk416 with an M-LOK handguard and stock of your choice, alongside a QD suppressor, something like a Surefire. Then I'd probably mount a PEQ box for laser (both visible and IR) as well as an IR illuminator, then I'd probably also mount a weapon light, since I believe the PEQ only does IR illumination and you do still want a weapon light, and some sort of front grip. In terms of sight, I'd say an Eotech for a red dot sight on a short-barreled carbine. In terms of barrel length, I think most SF units prefer 11" over 14.5" barrels, since it's more useful for room clearing and CQB and doesn't have too many negatives at long range (though obviously a 14.5" will do better at longer ranges). Somewhat depends on the theatre of war though, as if you're fighting a war in the mountains with no CQB at all then you're not going to want to bring an 11" carbine, however I think that's a rarity. Obviously this is all just my speculation on what I've read around and what I hear in the real-steel shooting world. Could be entirely off the mark, could be 100% accurate, I have no idea on its validity ?

It's how I'm currently using my mp9 until I can get an mp7 (retractable stock > folding stock for running it in a SMG holster, plus I do prefer the mp7 as a gun). It's lovely to have something I can take out and shoulder for times when the bolt action isn't practical.

Once I have a driving license I'll have to get out to one of these events at Sierra Bravo as it's a little closer to me than Eversley (looking forward to September!) so it would definitely be doable. In the meantime, I'll try and sell it to the other guys I go to Namsoft at Eversley with and see if we can get down to one of these Sierra Bravo ones in the future. Sounds like you had a blast and sounds like we'd have a blast as well with how these games play out.

Small sneaky pew pew. Will run it in a shoulder holster alongside an SMG in a thigh holster and a bolt action on a sling, for those few moments where I want something quiet and short range.

I have to agree on this. As a GBBR I would always advise getting a TM MWS or a TM AKM, because they're so good and will work all year around, however as a first GBBR I wouldn't go that route because they're so expensive. MWS runs you about £500, then the mags are £50 each and you need a bunch of them as they're only 35rds, so you're looking at a starting investment of at least £700+. Fortunately, they need very little done to them in terms of upgrades (literally just a sixG nub in the MWS and a bavtac nub for the AKM and you'll be set), but the gun and parts will be very expensive for something you might not enjoy. Depending on what you like, KWA do some great little GBBR SMGs which are a lot more affordable. Mags will still run you £50 each, but a KWA mp9 or mac11 will only come to about £200 new and they also perform very well out of the box. The mp7s are good too, with me hearing good things about both the Umarex and the TM ones at a price point of about £300. Reason I talk about the TM MWS, TM AKM, KWA mp9, KWA mac11 and Umarex/TM mp7s is because I own all of them, apart from the mp7s which I plan on buying a TM one soon. All of the GBBRs I own are really great and required minimal "upgrades", so if you do want to get into GBBRs I fully endorse it as it's such a fun and far more rewarding method of playing as every hit you get will feel like 20 hits with a regular AEG. As has been said, it's not the most competitive loadout and you will be outgunned by everyone with their AEGs and their high caps, but it's so much fun and super immersive; you will get good at reloading

Today was a good one at Worthing. It was one of their skirmish+ days where they introduce a few filmsim elements into it and I think it was run very well. We had to arrive early as one of the guys was helping with the car park as we had 90 players in total booked in, which is a LOT for Worthing as it's not the largest site, so my friend was helping with the car park to stop it becoming a nasty mess as it usually does. I brought the KJW m40a5 (as usual) and the MWS as a backup just in case. There was rain forecast from 11am onwards, so I decided to take the m40a5 out, but if the scope was getting soaked I would come back, remove the LPVO from the MWS (it's set up as a recce rifle build) and just run it with the iron sights. I started the day by getting on the range nice and early, before it got packed, so I could comfortably set up both rifles. The m40a5 had a new scope, so that needed zeroing, and the MWS had a new scope setup that needed zeroing and a hop up that needed setting as I had recently installed an NPAS and a 510mm barrel, so I needed to make sure it was shooting down at 1J. Managed to get them both set up, took them through chrono and got tagged; with this many players they were tagging guns (which was good!). Got all set up, safety brief done, headed out to cause some disruption. The morning went well, with me playing a lot more aggressively than I usually do. I pushed up, taking an aggressive position watching the ridgeline at the top of the hill from their spawn, attemtping to cut off any cheeky flanking moves. With how quiet the m40a5 is, I was picking them off with them having no idea where the shots were coming from, which is always nice, and I brought the rangefinder out a few times to measure distances for shots, as some were creeping up to about 85 - 90m, and knowing exactly how far the shots were really helped me work out where I needed to aim the crosshair to adjust for wind and distance. Eventually got spotted because someone ran right up to the holly bush I had crawled under, so I had to take him out with the pistol and then transfer over to his friend who spotted me. Managed to get his head down with a few shots and then quickly crawled out of the position and ran off. The guy had no idea I had moved, so he peeked around again to look for me under the bush, but I had run about 30m off and had a clear shot on him now. Was a good exchange and really showed the importance of moving quickly once detected, as if I stayed and tried to take the fight I definitely would've lost. Moved back to another position as my team had all left the area and I didn't feel good being this far up with a bolt action, so I took a position behind a fallen tree. Continued to plink away, but the position was quickly overrun and I had to lie still next to the tree as the enemy was all around my position. Eventually one started shooting over the fallen tree, no idea I was there but it was only a matter of time so I quickly shot him, gave him a heart attack and then got traded by the half a dozen other players who were all around me. If I was in a full ghillie I probably would've remained still and just let them pass, but since I was in my hood and wearing a black t-shirt I knew it would only be a matter of time before getting spotted if I tried that. It was raining by this point, but I managed to keep my scope dry by obsessively keeping my rifle horizontal as it wasn't raining too hard. However, I had a massive scare as I walked back to respawn as the QD mounting point in the rear of the stock fell out. With the Model Works m40 stock being so rare, there was no way in hell I'd find replacement parts. Fortunately I found the parts that slipped out and will be threadlocking them in place this evening so it never happens again (as it's a screw that goes all the way through and holds them in place). Shortly after this was lunch, so we headed back to the safe zone. After lunch they split me and my friend onto different teams (sniper team too strong) as a bunch of people had called it quits in the (light) rain and headed home. We started with 45vs45, but by lunch it was 24vs40. After lunch the games definitely fizzled out though. With the newly rebalanced teams they didn't stay balanced for long as then a lot of our team headed home, leaving us at about 24vs15. Knowing who was on the other team, I took it upon myself to cover the rear, as I knew that some of them would sneak all the way around and nobody else was bothering to watch for it. I took one of them out as he came in from behind, clipping him with the pistol as he rushed before he could get anyone and then managed to hunt one of the ghillies down who had spent about an hour and a bit painstakingly sneaking around the trail of respawning players from our team. I know how rough it feels when that happens as I've been on the receiving end a few times, but I wasn't about to let him silently take out my team from behind, even if they might've deserved it with how little care they seemed to have for their own flanks Anyway, I continued my patrols on that side, before moving up to help defend as our team was getting pushed at a base we were meant to hold. I took one player out as he came up, seeing his friend had crossed over the path I started to reposition to take him out as well and... friendly fired. I get shot by about 4 of my own team. Thanks guys... Anyway, I head back to respawn and we've now lost that base as the guy who slipped across the path took all of them out (didn't even feel bad about that. It's karma!), so I crept my way back. I managed to take up a hidden position looking into the base, but didn't want to be detected so I waited for my targets to start shooting before I'd thread shots through the bushes to take them out. As I was doing this, another guy on our team had pushed from the other side and retaken half the base, so we now had them in a pincer and it didn't take long for the two of us to clear out the rest of the base. Excellent, we had contol again so I crawled out and started moving up and... shot in the back by the EXACT SAME GROUP WHO FRIENDLY FIRED ME THE FIRST TIME ?. I think I find it so annoying because I make sure to PID my targets before shooting and it's incredibly rare I do any friendly fire, so getting hit by the same people, despite being the only person in my kit setup on the entire site (black t-shirt and an uncrafted cobra hood) was rather irritating. Third time was the charm as I moved up yet again after being shot by my team. I managed to get into a position I like taking to defend that base and held it until the game ended, plinking a few targets along one of the flanking paths. Wasn't too much time left in the game anyway and I was about ready to pack up anyway. Definitely need to clean the m40a5, as the bolt wasn't acting as it should right at the end of the day, so I think some dirt got into it at some point. All in all it was a good day and it was well run with very little cheating observed my me, though I heard there were a few teflon players and some other players who didn't feel like walking all the way back to respawn, but they were dealt with by the marshalls. Managed to go the full day with the m40a5, despite the rain, as I kept the scope dry all day. However, the one take away I have from today is to just buy some flip up scope covers. During wet weather I think they'll be invaluable keeping my sniper rifle in the fight.

Shorter barrels are actually better for heavy BBs for AEGs because most AEGs have trouble with air volume (not enough air volume in the cylinder to fill the barrel). I have a Cyma mp5k that shoots out to plenty long distance (easily hits a target at 50m) and all it has is a new hop rubber and nub; my two long AEGs (SR-25 and M14, both Cyma) have full cylinders to make sure I have enough air volume to push down the 509mm and 500mm barrels respectively. If you haven't played in 3 years, I would assume that your issue is that you need a new hop rubber because your current one is either out dried out or just outdated as hop ups have come a long way in the past few years. I still remember when I came back to the hobby before covid everyone was talking about R-hops being the best thing in airsoft. Also this. I'm no good at AEG teching/maintenance beyond barrel and hop ups (I hate gearboxes...), but I'm a GBBR and gas BASR user anyway. Barrel length is *very* important in my area ?

Yes, spawn camping is bad and you shouldn't do it. However, I've done it myself on a few very limited occasions. I will typically only do it if I'm on a team that is getting rolled super super hard, since I can usually sneak around the bulk of the enemy team, and even then only for a time as people will get annoyed by it. In general, spawn camping is bad though and shouldn't be done. Yes, you should call your hits if your own team hits you. Friendly fire still counts, no matter the situation. Ricochets depend on the site. I generally don't like it, since I think it can promote bad gameplay in my opinion, however I will take ricochets if the site's rules say that ricochets count, like at Gunman Namsoft events. For me, knife kills depend on the event. I think for most games, they should be a stealth kill. A gentle tap on the shoulder and a "knife kill" whisper, with the person not then yelling out "hit", instead just walking off quietly. Because stealth kill. I prefer it this way as it stops over-energetic airsofters from running around the site potentially smacking some poor kiddie in the face yelling "melee kill". However, at some events I think it's fine to have melee kills that aren't stealth kills, as long as it's said beforehand. We've done a few private games with the Worthing lot at the UCAP bunker in Portsmouth where melee kills are allowed and it's a good laugh, but it has to be with a LARP safe weapon. Although, I have never used my jiujitsu for melee kills in airsoft and I think it would be frowned upon if I disarmed and threw an airsofter on the ground ? And about the other question that seems to have popped up about hit takers, I give them three strikes and they're out. Sometimes they just aren't hit and I think a lot of airsofters overestimate their guns. I've had people yelling "take your hits!" at me, while I'm watching their BBs land 10m in front of me, or they're shooting the wrong part of the bush I'm hiding under because they haven't actually seen me yet but think they have. However, if I hit someone, see it hit them (magnified scopes are great for this) and they don't take it, I'll give them another shot to the torso. If they don't take that one, I give them a Kicking Mustang special in the face. It generally doesn't come down to that as most people take the 2nd hit. Sometimes they just aren't sure it's a hit. Sometimes they think nobody can see them when they get hit, but are convinced when they get hit a 2nd time. Also, trades happen. I don't think there should be any "yeah, but I hit you first" argument when we're talking about milliseconds. Obviously if the person hit first was hit way before hand, didn't take the hit and then shot back then sure, that's not a trade, but when two people see each other, shoot each other and get hit within milliseconds of each other, both players should call it and walk back to respawn or call for a medic, depending on site rules.

https://forcesuniformandkit.co.uk/ You need to have a look through the sizes to see what's in stock, but they do have some big and tall sizes around (though a lot is, as you may expect, out of stock)

So I just bought some Austrian olive drabs, originally to try and put together a PAVN kit but they're a bit dark in colour. Finding stuff in the right shade is basically impossible for a bloke of my size and stature (even my US belt kit suspenders are too short). However, now I don't want to use them for airsoft because they're super comfy and lightweight; want to just use them as regular clothes without them having holes and stuff in from playing airsoft and crawling through thorns and stuff. Might buy another set as they weren't expensive ?

I tend to run .32s in my builds. Could do heavier if I really wanted to, but I feel that heavy BBs in pistols is a bit much.

In my setups I get good effective range with them. Can probably get better hop ups for maximum range, but my philosophy is that if you can't hit a man-sized target 9/10 times at a range, that range is useless, so I love the autobot rubbers for the consistency and grouping they give me at 50 - 60m in 1.1J builds and 75 - 80m in 2.3J builds. Also, they work very well in the cold and they don't seem to dry out as much as regular hop rubbers. I took my TM AKM out after not using it for over a year (it has a ML 60 degree silicone MR hop rubber) as I finally got mags for it. Took it to the range and it shot just as well as it had before I put it away, though with regular hop rubbers I usually have to shoot a bunch of BBs through it, or worst case replace the hop rubber if I haven't used it for a long time. Yeah, I have no idea either. In theory, I thought it'd be great but they were just awful. I didn't get any feeding issues in mine, but I did get BBs going all over the place. Couldn't even hit a man-sized target 1/10 times at 45m, where the same build with a regular macaron could hit the 9/10 times on 60m before...