Impulse

I've never used face protection either, but I have a friend who swears by his Delta Mike snood with mesh panel, so I'd recommend them off of his feedback.

Best mods for a TM 4.3 hi-capa that won't break the bank is... doing absolutely nothing and leaving it stock. (I had to say it because TM pistols out of the box are spicy) Outside of that, ML autobot rubber (I like 60 degrees) and a Hadron H-plate. Crazy Jet barrel if you really want, but not necessary in my opinion.

I think you're right. The fact that you have to change out parts of the gearbox to get it to work are a big annoyance, however I'd be running a HPA line out so it would be no issue for me. If fire-support can't get the G&P kit for me, I'll see if Zero One can get the Cyma in. They're out of stock everywhere!

I'm currently looking to get a G&P m14 DMR stock for my HPA m14 setup but they're unicorn poop levels of rarity it feels like. Once I do get it though, it should be a nice old-school looking unique gun as I've never seen anyone run one, not really even when they were available everywhere back in the 00s and 10s. Also, kinda want to buy a TM spetsnaz just for the nostalgia

I'm of the other opinion. I think the sling should be fairly loose when aiming, as trying to shoulder transition with a tight two-point sling is a good way to choke yourself. That's why I love my Magpul sling, because I can easily loosen it when I'm playing, then tighten it back up if I'm standing around doing nothing.

Can vouch for the WarPoet. Good vid and helped me sort out my rifle slings on all my regular rifles; my AK is so easy to sling and use now. I way prefer two-point slings to one-point, but I do mostly have long guns because I like my snipers and DMRs and single point slings on those are... um... yeah.

This thread is a good example of why I don't buy anything from DCA

Part of the reason when I finally do up my MWS with real-steel parts, I'm going for OD parts. That said, the TM m14 still comes in OD... but that's about all I can think of (at least in my collection). I also have an OD KJW m700, but pretty sure they're out of production.

Yeah, that was my experience too. At the milsim I attended, the OpFor guys were really chill whilst the TF guys were... um... yeah. I find it can bleed over into the filmsim stuff as I think it's a certain elite-tacticool-oper8r mindset that draws people to that side, but it's not nearly as bad. At the Vietnam games I go to, literally all of the PAVN/VC guys are super chill and up for a laugh, whilst on the US/AUS side there are definitely some great guys who are super chill and up for a laugh, but there are also some who have a stick so far up their butt I'm surprised they can crouch in game. At the end of the day it's BB wars with varying levels of LARP. Like... you can't take yourself that seriously ? Pretty much the same as me, but since you started only a year before I did it makes sense that our experiences would line up. Nowadays all I see is multicam/MTP (makes sense, it's dirt cheap) so when I show up in my MARPATs it makes me feel like a special little snowflake. I do need to get my hands on some desert MARPAT at some point, but finding it in my size is a real effort. You're right in terms of the knowledge aspect too. I remember having a look around as a teenager and finding the US Army sniper training field manual as a PDF, then proceeding to learn through experience what worked and what didn't apply for airsoft. It was super fun and honestly I think I'm a better player for it. People are always amazed at my local site when I am basically invisible wearing no camo during the summer months and too many snipers rely on these super gucci leaf suits now to stay hidden when other players are nearby. Helps me stay hidden during Vietnam games too, since black pyjamas aren't the best camo I think the time we start airsoft definitely influences our decisions even today. I still love my classical style rifles (m700s, m14s etc) because I started airsoft around the time of Black Hawk Down and CoD4 (All Ghillied Up!) and those two pieces of media heavily influenced me getting into sniping in airsoft; my first RIF was a Warrior L96. Yes, I did the thing we tell everyone not to do and I bought a bolt action as my first gun and I loved it. My early go-to loadout in airsoft was an m14 at DMR power and m1911 because of Black Hawk Down and... I still use that combination sometimes to this day, though I am looking at sourcing a G&P m14 DMR stock for my HPA TM m14 because I want to be a unicorn (I have literally never seen anyone using one ever).

Worst - Tough one as I've done work to almost all of my guns and they all shoot pretty decently, but if I were to name one it would be... Evolution m40a3. It's not terrible as it takes VSR rubbers out of the box and shoots at a decent 1.02J(ish), but it's not-quite-VSR-compatible on every part, despite being marketed as VSR compatible, and I have no idea about the innards of the cylinder itself. Haven't done any work to it, so it's my worst rifle; also I don't like spring bolt actions, so there's that too. Runner up - Time to make some people mad... but my TM 416D NGRS. It's not a bad gun; it's reliable, it shoots like a laser and it's generally nice. However, the lower receiver on mine has cracked near the stock tube (I've used it... 3 times and I noticed this after the 2nd, despite not being at all rough with it) and it isn't my MWS, which just trumps it for me. It's relegated to "hang on the wall to look nice" status at this point, since if I'm not sniping, I'm using one of my GBBRs (AKM or MWS), not this. If it's too cold for the GBBRs, it's the SR-25 or m14. Best - KJW m700. Is it my best performing gun? Nah, but it's by far my favourite. Effortlessly smooth bolt pull, absolutely silent and no bloody HPA tank and line in sight. It requires a bit of set up at the start of each game day to make sure it's shooting at the power I want (a combination of type of gas, width of gas router used in the bolt and fine tuning by adjusting the hammer spring in the bolt), but once it's set up it's more consistent than you'd think a gas bolt action would be and it shoots wonderfully! Runner up - TM HK45 Tactical. My go to pistol. It's amazing. With the Hadron TDC it eliminates my one gripe about it (the hop unit is a bit crap in mine and doesn't like to engage properly) as it replaces the hop arm entirely. If I'm using a GBB pistol (and it's not a Vietnam game), I'm probably using this as my sidearm, and as a sniper I use my pistols a LOT. Was a challenge to really pick for these. I've always been one for quality over quantity, so whenever I have a gun that doesn't shoot that well I tend to work on it to make it shoot well.

I run the Ruger lower (because I've fully converted mine to a Ruger .22) and I prefer it to the stock lower. Bonus points if you can get some nice wooden grips for it too!

It's a tough one for me, honestly, and so this is going to be a long post. I think I'd say that personally I enjoyed airsoft the most around when I started in 2004 up until about 2010 when I took my first break. The VCRA was a bit of a kick in the nuts, but it wasn't the end of the world, but I remember game days fondly from back then. However, I'll be talking about the reasons why the modern day is still good. Airsoft is a constantly evolving thing and that comes with both positives and negatives. Anyway, I'll list the reasons why 2004 - 2010 was my golden age: Social media wasn't as prevalent. This is THE big one for me as social media breeds a lot of what's wrong with airsoft these days. Whether it's people like Kicking Mustang making yet another "I RUIN NOOBS DAY WITH SAVAGE HEADSHOTS FROM OVERPOWERED PISTOL" video, or the milsim-elitist-geardo crowd showing off their ridiculous loadout with real NVGs and a thermal imaging drone and real-steel everything and telling you, directly or indirectly, that your gear is shit (you know the types). I think social media is the root of a lot of negative things, not just with airsoft but that's a discussion for another time I never had anywhere near the number of issues back then than I did today, with the only glaring example being when a bunch of guys from the year below us at school decided to come to a game day and rampantly didn't take their hits, but they didn't last long and after another game day or two they were completely gone. We were slinging .2s and *maybe* .25s if you were going heavy, but people still were able to take their hits reliably. It was a bit more trustworthy. Nobody chrono'd (and I'm not saying we shouldn't, definitely think it's needed these days), but we didn't really need to as there were never really any issues with people running hot guns or people getting injured (unless they came out of the box hot, which some did, but even then I don't remember seeing any injuries). I know my Dboys m4 was about 390fps out of the box or something, and I had a Warrior L96 sniper rifle without a sidearm, but I never full-auto'd people up close and never took shots within my MED. Similarly, I never had any issues with someone running some stupidly hot gun and injuring people. When I played in Spain between 2008 - 2010 (probably my absolute favourite time playing and my true "golden age") we didn't even have marshalls as "official" airsoft sites didn't exist at that point; we just showed up to abandoned urbanisations, of which there are a LOT on the south coast of Spain, and played BB wars and it was a LOT of fun. We also hired the land next to a hotel (and booked a lot of rooms at the hotel) for a weekend event and it still remains my favourite event I've ever been to; again, we had no marshalls, we had some players who organised what the games would be and the objectives and we just had fun. As you said, it was a mostly even playing field. There were some guns that were just... really good, but even fine tuning guns didn't create such a divide. The best guns I remember from back then were... A sniper on the team I was a part of had a Tanaka m700 or m40a1 or a TM VSR-10 (can't remember exactly, but it was one of those) which he had tweaked a whole lot, two German guys in Spain had KJW m700s that they had tweaked and my Cyma m14 SOCOM were the ones that immediately come to my mind. Less ghillies. I know, me, a bush wookiee, complaining about ghillies, but they're bloody everywhere now. Back then we didn't have anywhere near the number of them and if you wanted one you had to make it. I still remember as a 17 year old going to a fabric shop and buying a bunch of burlap, dyeing it three different colours in a bucket on the outside terrace in the Spanish townhouse we lived in at the time, and then tying it onto a Webtex concealment vest, supplementing it with natural foliage on the day. Nowadays, anyone can just buy a Novritsch rifle and a KMCS and be done with it. I don't think that's a bad thing (development and offering more products is generally good) but I think combined with the social media point it's making a lot of players play timid. Guess I should touch on that as well. People weren't anywhere near as... fragile(?) as they are now. People flung themselves into games and had a laugh when they got lit up, but nowadays it feels like everyone sits out of range of each other just spraying BBs at barricades. Also, if you hit someone with more than a single BB, there's every chance they're going to throw a hissy-fit over "overshooting" because 5 BBs hit them. It's part of the reason I'm ditching my ghillie for the next few game days at least, to see if I can galvanise some activity. However, I would also argue that today is the golden age: There are a LOT more players nowadays. A "very busy" day in my golden age was like... 30 players. Now, you're looking at over 100 at my local site and I know some get even more. New blood in the hobby keeps the hobby alive The sheer range of internal upgrades and how effective they are. Getting a 1.1J build to shoot accurately to 60m is pretty simple these days, where getting a bolt action to shoot 60m back in my golden age would've been considered witchcraft. I think my Cyma m14 SOCOM was a DMR at 420fps (1.6J) and it probably fired to 50m(ish) Accessibility for newer players. As I said when I was moaning about there being too many ghillies, it's incredibly easy for people to get into the hobby and do what they want. This is definitely a good thing and contributes to the hobby having a healthy player count. The guns are way higher quality than they were. Back then, you either paid a LOT for a TM, Tanaka, Systema etc, or you bought a Cyma that would probably break because the externals were made of pot metal, or you bought something where the internals would crap themselves after a small amount of use. Gear is way higher quality than it was. I remember Viper gear was utter shite back when I first played, so like with guns you either paid for some expensive Warrior Assault Systems kit, or you bought a Viper rig that fell apart. Nowadays, I have nothing against the repro brands like Viper or 8fields and have a lot of their kit; it's sturdy and does the job at a fraction of the cost, though I will always love my WAS stuff, since I still have the chest rig I used in Spain and it still works just fine and shows no sign of breaking any time soon. I'll stop waffling any more than I already have. TL:DR, 2008 - 2010 was my golden era when I was living in Spain, though that's also partially down to the sites we played at!

I try not to, because customs sometimes likes to confiscate your package. Otherwise, it's not too bad; my friend bought a TM LCP II with two spare mags which came in at about the same price as buying one here without the spare mags, even after customs charges. Parts on the other hand... I've never paid customs charges on any small bits and pieces I've bought from any HK retailer I've dealt with (WGC, Tiger111, KHMountain) as they were all marked as gifts. Good to have such generous friends in HK

Nah, bad accident. I wasn't around when it happened, but from what I understand a player collided with him and it messed up his knee. Had to be carted off to hospital, but to his credit he was back the next day on crutches to try and make sure the game ran okay.

I won't throw my "but why DMR?" into the ring as I think there are more than a few common misconceptions when it comes to DMRs (I have some strong opinions on DMRs), but I think the holy grail covers most points pretty well and you seem pretty set on it. I recently undertook a SR-25 project to run at 1.1J as a "DMR" because my local site rules suck for DMRs, but I also have a spring for a 1.88J variant which is nice and easy to install thanks to a quick change spring system. My opinion is that quick change spring systems are a necessity for DMRs, either that or a HPA setup (or the patience to take the gearbox apart to change the spring if you go elsewhere), since DMR rules vary across the country. I've seen 1.88J, 1.64J and 1.48J at different sites and events, so if you plan on going to many other sites or events you'll need to consider that.

At the last one, one of the staff went down in a nasty way so I imagine there's something? But you're totally right, something you generally don't know exists until you actually need it.

I've found this as well ever since I started running. My goal is to be able to keep up with the speedybois as I'm still definitely on the younger side for airsofters, but not exactly a monster-fuelled teenager any more.

I think that's it. Only reason it's economically viable is because they get a few hundred players. That said, this one is going to be limited to only 300, down from the 400 of the recent events and the 500 from events years ago. The last two places (Citadel in Dover and the shopping centre in Rochdale) could not take 400 players which was what contributed to the gameplay being centred around meat grinder chokepoints (and the only way people pushed through during the Citadel at least was by charging through them in massed numbers with a few people blatantly not taking their hits). I'm considering it because a lot of the staff from Worthing are thinking of going and are friends with the organisers (as some of them have been going to AI500 for over a decade) and I've enjoyed the previous two AIs I've been to, despite them being a bit of a shitshow, as I play differently to how most people at the events did and was able to make it enjoyable for myself. Still waiting to see the rules in full, but they say they'll be allowing bolt actions this time; I'll wait until the inevitable "only at 1.48J" they slapped on the Citadel event ?

If I remember right I think I got one mine from airsoft world, though it was the last one they had in stock. The second set I got I think I got from Hong Kong, but I couldn't tell you for sure as it was about 7 months ago.

Ok so 2 weeks passed and I had the chance to once again test this build now that I had the power where I needed it and the hop up set, and this will likely be my final post on this journey of building the SR-25 (and boy has it been a journey...). The final parts list is as follows: Cyma Platinum cm.098 SR-25 (with foam baffles installed in the suppressor as it comes empty!) ZCI m120 spring ASG Infinity u-18000 Lonex helical bevel & pinion gears ZCI 18:1 SR-25 gears SHS SR-25 nozzle Maple Leaf 70 degree macaron hop rubber Maple Leaf omega nub Prometheus 6.03 509mm stainless steel tightbore Outdoor and Tactical Harris style bipod KAC-style vertical grip Magpul MS4 sling Strike Systems 3-9x50mm scope (relatively high scope mounts to accommodate rifle wrap and ability to still mount back-up iron sights) Run on an 11.1v lipo battery with deans connectors Wrapped in a Sprinter Custom Ghillie multi-season rifle wrap (not getting a picture of it unwrapped because I already wrapped it yesterday and I can't be bothered to remove it!) This has it outputting a VERY consistent 1.05J, with the occasional shot dropping as low as 1.02J, on a .32; 1.05J means no MED, so I don't have to worry about people getting too close! The range and accuracy is phenomenal, easily hitting a man-sized target at 60m 7/10 times even with the hop rubber not bedded in yet as I haven't put enough rounds through it yet. I'm hoping once the hop rubber is bedded in I'll be able to up that to 9/10 shots, but time will tell on that. However, the big thing is that it is quiet for an AEG. While testing it on the range, I got my friend to fire it as I made my way down the range to see how it sounded. By 30m I could barely hear it, by 40m I couldn't hear it at all. I then asked him to do the same, but on full-auto: by 40m I could barely hear it, and by 50m I couldn't hear it at all. Is it as quiet as a HPA gun? No, but it's amusingly close, so I think I'll be keeping it as an AEG as not having the line and tank is pretty liberating. Honestly, I'm pretty damn pleased with it. The only parts I will get for it in the future are some sort of trigger replacement MOSFET, like a Perun, when the stock Cyma one eventually burns itself out, and at the same time I'll swap out the stock ported cylinder for a full cylinder, as my tendency to use heavy BBs alongside the long barrel could probably benefit from such a modification, if only slightly. I also have a ZCI m140 or m150 (it's unlabelled) lying about for if I go to an event where I wish to run it as a DMR, though this will only come once I've done the MOSFET replacement since as it stands this SR-25 build is still capable of full-auto. The m140/150 pushes the power up to a cosy 1.84J on a .4, which is just where I'd want it for a DMR, though I haven't tested range and accuracy on that as my local site's DMR rules are just not worth it (1.64J with a 30m MED; I've written borderline essays elsewhere on this forum on why I think that's a waste of time). Going to run it for a few game days and play a bit faster than I normally do with a bolt action as my local site needs some players to start taking the initiative a bit more. Cobra hood and workout rig here I come! In short, very pleased, would recommend the Cyma SR-25 as the base for a DMR and it will be one of my only AEGs as I really like the performance; the only other AEG I keep is my Cyma m21 build as a backup gun for Vietnam games, but with a full cylinder that thing shoots pretty much just as well as this SR-25 build. Also, HPA isn't always the answer and now I just find the "oh, just HPA it" argument to be a rather amusing one. I still think HPA is a good option, but I also think it is only good for snipers and DMRs (spicy personal opinion, you won't convince me otherwise).

I like to think I'm fairly impartial when it comes to Novritsch stuff. His stuff is generally fine but it's entirely not for me. Novritsch guns typically shoot okay out of the box, but they're hard to tweak and won't perform as well as a well-tweaked gun. His ghillie leaves are wank though, do not recommend as they fall apart too easily! If you're looking for an AR style gun, I know that Double Eagle have some really nice offerings, but I just don't like the look of them. I'll leave AR suggestions to people more informed than me as the only AR-style rifles I have are an SR-25 (which is a big, long boi) and a TM MWS (which is a gas blowback). Both are fantastic, but not sure it's what you're after, though that said the Cyma Platinum SR-25 is pretty damn good out of the box and fits your budget, but yeah... looooooong

Didn't really play much today as I had another of those days where everything went a bit wrong and we had to leave early anyway because the guy who gives us a lift had a family get-together this evening. MP9 mags need cleaning. I put BBs in one and they were all gunky by the time they got to the bottom. Going to give them a good clean! So that was out of play today because I'm not feeding disgusting dirty BBs through it. New holster for the HK45 is great, but I need to cable tie it to the molle platform as the buttons are utter shite and it kept coming loose and flipflopping around. Left-handed mk23 holster was uncomfortable as the molle drop leg platform buckles were digging into my side. I think I need a shoulder holster if I want to carry it alongside another pistol or SMG Forgot to gas up my m700 magazines so I went out into the first game with like... one and a bit mags. I managed to absolutely shut down and dominate a flank with about 32 - 35 BBs total, so that was nice, just waiting to take shots that I knew I could hit and not wasting a single BB was quite an exhilarating experience since a LOT of people started to push. Gassed all my mags for the 2nd game and spent a long time going on a large flank as I heard people fighting over where I wanted to go. I made it all the way around, came up on where I wanted to be, which had been cleared out by the time I got there, then game ended before I could get into position. However, it was still a successful day. I gave up on playing after the first two games as I wanted to set up my HK45, since I haven't used it since I bought the TDC outer barrel from Hadron, and I wanted to set up the SR-25. That's where I found my success. The HK45 was cycling perfectly even though it was a bit chilly and went through the whole mag with no issues. Slings .32s out to about 60m with the setup I have (Hadron TDC + ML Autobot rubber), but not accurate past 50m. More than enough for a pistol. The SR-25 is firing at 1.05J super consistently on .32s and sailing them out to 60m with no issue, hitting the target with most shots and the hop rubber isn't even properly bedded in yet. However, more importantly I took a walk down the range while my friend fired it. On semi-auto, it's barely audible at 30m and you just flat out can't hear it at 40m and that's on a quiet range with nothing else going on nearby. On full-auto it's barely audible past 40m, but at 50m you also just don't hear it at all. Very happy with it since it's an AEG and it's quieter than some people's spring bolt actions! Going to put the m700 away for a few game days I think. The gameplay at Worthing has been pretty abysmal recently so I feel like I'm going to need to play more aggressively which I just can't do efficiently with the m700. Nobody is taking much initiative and nobody is pushing, let alone pushing effectively; if I can lock down an entire flank with a bolt action rifle with about 35 BBs in total... Yeah. Going to put the full ghillie away and go with the cobra hood and the SR-25 for next game day and going to see just how much I can get away with. 650 BBs and an Odin speedloader with a universal adapter is a lot more than like... 80 shots from a gas-powered bolt action