Impulse

I've got no problem with people turning up in Russian kit because at the end of the day I know they aren't pro-Russian wannabe militia; they're a nerd playing BB wars in the woods. Will I be wearing Russian kit? No, though I've never really been interested in Russian stuff. I'm more about independent loadouts, but assuming I was big into my Russian kit, I'd probably look to use something else while this is going on. Would I blame someone for not doing so? Absolutely not, it's my personal choice not to run it and I don't much care about what other people do with their choices. We're a free society at the end of the day. Also, this is very true. Having been a journalist I can very much say that the media would put some horrific spin on it because shock content gets clicks, which is all they're chasing at the end of the day. For that reason alone (we know how journos love to paint our hobby anyway) I think it's probably a better idea to hang up the Russian kit for now, purely to safeguard the hobby from those who would destroy it for their own gain (journos, politicians etc).

I've bought... 6 TM pistols(?) and all of them have had trades on them. Shops say they don't have trades and sometimes blank them out in photos for legal reasons, but nobody goes through the effort of actually doing it and nobody seems to care.

I pretty much only run my TM mk23 and TM hk45 tactical these days, so my votes are for those two. They both perform amazingly and both work in the cold with no real issues. With the same upgrades, they both shoot about as well and accurate to 50m is more than enough. Could probably push more performance out of them if I used .48s instead of .32s, but it's excessive and expensive!

My local site classes both hip firing and dual wielding as blind fire, but side-sighting is fine. It's one of the few rules I very much disagree with, but I've given my feedback and it's still the way it is so I'm not going to push it any further. I agree hip firing is bad and I agree with their ruling of no key-holing (because it's basically just situational blind firing), but dual wielding and hip firing never came across as blind firing to me... To me it feels stupid. Hip firing and dual wielding you can very much see where you're shooting, arguably better than you can when you side-sight, since side-sighting means you can't see the other side of your gun. Yes, dual wielding you can shoot in both directions which would be blind firing as you can't look directly to both the left and right at the same time, but you can also fire a single gun to the right without looking so that's just blind firing and has nothing to do with dual wielding. Hip firing as well, some support guns aren't designed to be shouldered; as has been pointed out, are you going to make me shoulder a minigun? I think part of it is that people get mad about support gunners playing support gun properly. I've got a friend who has had multiple complaints against him because he suppresses an area and then people stick their heads out into the suppression to catch a few BBs to the face. Fires in bursts too, so he's doing nothing wrong, but people get mad; I think him moving up and hip firing is part of why hip firing got banned. Oh yeah, I also got properly blind fired last game day when I decided to not be a sniper for once. Someone on my team said "behind you!" and I turned to see an arm and the barrel of a rifle sticking around the corner. Fortunately the guy must've been shooting blanks or hadn't wound his high cap or something because I didn't feel anything and just pushed around and put two BBs into his leg.

Going to a CQB game at a place with very low light levels in April. Whoever said AEPs can't be run as a primary

Another good one today at Worthing, but in a very unexpected way. Fairly uneventful morning with the VSR, sniping people from hidden positions is always fun. However, nothing to write home about like the past few skirmishes, it was a very normal BB conservative morning. However, I knew it was going to rain in the afternoon, so I packed my TM416D with no attachments as well as rain + scopes = blurry vision and I really didn't want to have to dismantle the VSR and mk23 to clean them since I just did a few days ago. It's been literally years since I played with a normal AEG rifle and... it was so much easier. Still some sneakiness, but mostly just lots of fast paced speedyboi gameplay. Considering it was only firing at 0.7J (stock TM NGRS gearbox) it was shooting much further than I thought it would. I lost count of how many people I hit out with it, but I was making a lot of plays. Didn't think I had it in me as I haven't used a normal rifle since late 2019, but was surprised at just how much work I could get done with the iron sights and a very lightweight chest rig with a few mags and an Odin speedloader in my pocket. The sniper fundamentals definitely helped, plus my old old knowledge of how to use cover and using shoulder transfers to peek unpredictably. I had to leave before the final game because I ran out of battery (I only brought one because I was only using it for the afternoon games. Didn't think I'd need the second!). I look forward to when I can get my hands on an MWS and some AK mags, because I'm still not the biggest fan of AEGs, but I've definitely opened my eyes to the prospect of not dressing up like a bush monster.

I sure would love to use mine, if only I had more mags for it...

Another ridiculously good game day. I'm starting to think I'm just hitting my stride and getting back to how good I was as a teenager. Been burning through ammo and had to swap out to my big tank today as my little one ran out. Target rich environment with so many kills! Had a game where we had to push through a specific gap (it's a real killer. It's a fairly steep hill with the defenders shooting down on you. We call it Omaha!) and I was one of the people who pushed through with my bush suit and mk23 (after taking people out from just below the threshold on the flank). Pushed through and quickly made my way behind their whole team and just started picking everyone off from behind. Ah, I'm loving the ghillie and the VSR and the mk23 right now; it's amazing. We did have a group of rentals who were taking the piss though. Blatant non-hit taking to the point where it wasn't even amusing any more. So many instances of hitting them, hearing the impact from where I was firing from (not close, so everyone's hearing it) and seeing the impact on their baggy DPM jacket, only for them to just... ignore it. Started to give them a few Kicking Mustang specials as the day went on, but even thwacking BBs off the face masks was met with totally ignoring it to the point where I got a marshall to stand next to one of them, dinked one off his mask and he still tried not to take it; marshall wasn't having that. Only got annoyed by it when I shot a group of 4 of them with the mk23 when they took cover near me (didn't see me because ghillie is good and I was very still), none of them took the hit and they all just full-auto'd me from about 5m away. Not impressed! They were also just ignoring respawn rules, walking back about 20m, having a little ponder and then going back into game. I watched one of them do that, shot him twice with the mk23 so he put his hand up, walked 20m down the path and then just went back into the game. You have to laugh, because what else can we do. They were reported to the marshalls by a lot of people it sounded like. One of them also got told off for blind firing, and while he was being told off for blind firing his friend who was next to him started blind firing right in front of the marshall as the marshall was telling the original one not to. Going to ache tomorrow. Me playing like I'm 17 again means that while I am a slow, methodical bush-monster, there are times of explosive movement and fast play. At least it's good for the new year weight loss programme! I'm not old by any stretch of the imagination (especially not in this hobby, I still feel like a bit of a baby), but I'm also not 17 any more! 😅

Why yes, I do enjoy sniping. How could you tell?

Saw the topic, ready to preach the good word of the m14... Then I read the post. I'm leaving now and I'm taking my collection of various beautiful m14s with me 😤

I never use red gas in my pistols, but mine are basically all TMs. They still function on green in winter and if I put red gas in them I'd be scared that they would explode (TMs are designed to use 144a, but green gas in winter works because it's so cold). When it's really cold I just switch to the mp7 AEP or the mk23, as AEPs and non-blowback works all year round. With most pistols, especially the heavier metal-slide pistols, you need red gas during winter because it just doesn't work otherwise. However, as has been said, make sure you switch back to lower power gas when the weather heats up or you'll damage the pistol. I run my AAP on green gas even when it's around 10 degrees celcius and it works no problem, but any colder and it struggles.

I don't think I've had such a good game day in years. Literally just over a decade ago. Last time I had a game day like this I was a teenager living and playing in Spain. Spent the morning before the safety brief doing my walk around the site, looking for new positions to use as hides with good sight lines on objective areas and bases, as well as improving some of my usual spots (moving foliage and stuff). When we played I used one of my new spots for the first game and literally got about 20 kills with a bolt action, though I didn't get fully into the position as my team was swarming around me, pulling lots of attention on the area meaning I couldn't move without being detected. Then we swapped sides, I went to one of my old spots I had improved and racked up another 20 or so (literally lost count both games). One of the marshalls came up after the game and said "you had a pretty nice little angle there. I was just watching them push up and then get shot in the side" after the game as he saw what was going on and had to step out of my line of fire a few times. Missed most of the 3rd game because I had to refill my mags, which I never usually have to do, and got chatting with people in the safe zone. When I got out, we were super losing, but I managed to get into another of my positions and was picking people off at the base we had to attack for a few minutes before the game ended. Ever since last game day where I discovered my VSR is effectively and accurately reaching out to 85m I've just been taking the piss and making the most of the absurd range. It hops a little at 65 - 70m, so I have to aim a little lower for those very specific shots, but the trade off of hitting 75 - 85m directly on is fantastic. Wasn't going to go out after lunch as I was tired (new year resolution to lose weight, so there's calorie restriction going on) and was like "can I top that morning? Probably not." Then I did. Held a base by myself for a long time, occasionally directing a few rental kids who came to reinforce me (which was massively appreciated!). Constantly picking people off, including a pair who took cover about 2m from me and didn't see me leaning against the branch barricade due to my ghillie. Hit one with the mk23, then the other when he came to medic his buddy, and then another guy about 30m off on the flank who also hadn't seen me. Eventually got taken out, ran back to respawn (up a hill. I don't usually run much, much less up a steep hill, but I was feeling it today and wanted to get back in the fight), then came back, lay on my belly about 60m out from the base that they had now taken and started terrorising the defenders just as I had when I was defending the base myself. They had no idea where the shots were coming from and I was just constantly picking them off. I think I probably ended up with 65, maybe 70 kills through the day. No exaggeration, I burned through a lot of my .48s and now I need to restock, I think I went through somewhere between 150 and 200 .48s. They expensive With a bolt action these game days rarely come up, but I'm really getting used to how my VSR shoots and the vegetation is very sparse, allowing me to take those super long distance shots. I'm usually content with like... 15 - 20 through the whole day, but when these days come around it makes you feel like a million dollars. As I said, last time it happened was in the south of Spain when I was 17 years old.

Geoffs, BLS or ASG blaster are my go-to BBs.

Yeah, there were more than a few issues that came from that rain. My radio is giving up, one guy's mosfet in his AK was totally busted and another guy's gun was completely dead after day 1. All of us lot from the Worthing site are always green team, been like that for over a decade now. I don't have any CQB guns though, so I spent the entire event holding angles outside and wishing they allowed bolt actions with how long some of the shots I was taking were with my m21 (which is set to 1.1J, because 1.48J for DMRs wasn't worth it in my opinion).

Cyma mp5s are always great and it's good to see this one is so good especially considering its price tag, but I can't deal with how this one looks. I'm too classical, I like my mp5s to look classical and this looks like a space gun

Just picked these up for a bargain. Two KJW m700s for some project work. Yummy

Me and all my friends use Baofang UV-5Rs. They're about £30, but they're so good for the price. Mine is acting up a little after 6 months, but I've dropped mine a few times in the woods (mostly just damaged the ports where the headset connects to) and used it through AI500 in 2021, which meant absolutely torrential downpours that soaked it through.

Wolverine has always been good to me, so I've had no reason to try anything else. However, it must also be said that all my HPA guns are snipers or DMRs (usually set the "DMR" to 1.1J though as my views on DMR power limits are not exactly singing its praises, and no MED is fun).

Ah, but what about weirdos like me who use "snipers" and "DMRs" that are 1.1J for no MED shenanigans?

It's dumb and I wouldn't book in there either, but with my collection and play style I'm very biased in that. First site I've seen that has banned it and I have no idea really why they would. Are they also banning HPA snipers / DMRs? If so, why just snipers and DMRs? Why not all HPA? Why are gas snipers and DMRs banned, but GBBRs and GBB/NBB pistols are fine? Also, what makes CO2 so bad? So many questions around this weird decision. For gas snipers and DMRs, I think it's probably because they can be easy to cheat with as well. I have, technically, 3 gas snipers or DMRs, being a HPA VSR, HPA m21 and a Tanaka m700 and I know for a fact I could set my regulator on my HPA setups to pass chrono, then go away and jack that gun all the way up. Similarly, I could chrono my m700 on 144a, then go away and chuck higher power gas in it later. However, if they were banning it for that reason they'd surely just ban all HPA, but they clearly haven't. Also, why wouldn't they ban GBBRs or GBB/NBB gas pistols for the same reason? I wouldn't because that's unsafe and incredibly dickish, but that's the theory of what a person could do. Maybe the marshalls there are just salty that us gas snipers are so stealthy and have been mentally scarred from being hit from seemingly nowhere with no sound 🤣

And a tiny bit of compatibility. It's not the end of the world, since most differences are easily fixable, but having worked on both a TM VSR-10 and a JG BAR-10 I can say they're not quite the same. We're talking fractions of millimetres though, for things like the Action Army VSR magazines fitting the TM VSR perfectly, but can sometimes have issues with the JG if the stock is screwed on too tightly, or things like the cylinder heads having different threads, which I only found out when I was reading up on HPAing the JG. Cheap snipers are fine. For me, hindsight is 20:20 and I'd always go for the TM VSR going forward due to the issue I explained above, and they're only £80 or so more expensive than the clones. When I'm thinking about spending around £800 on a rifle, an extra £80 on the base rifle isn't exactly going to be a make or break for me. As has already been pointed out, you're probably stripping everything out of it anyway, so the fact the parts inside are crap doesn't really matter. My first upgrades on anything is the hop up and barrel. They're usually the easiest parts to upgrade in terms of actually installing them and they don't cost very much. A 430mm Laylax 6.03 or a Maple Leaf Crazy Jet will come in at about £50 and a Maple Leaf autobot rubber and omega nub will cost about £15 all in. If we're upgrading a sniper, we're probably going to need either a new hop arm or, preferably, an Action Army hop up chamber for a VSR or a TDC mod. The VSR hop chamber is actually quite bad, and the TM one will struggle to hop anything heavier than .28s stock, and you don't want to be using .28s in a sniper rifle. I think PDI do parts for the TM L96 if you're looking to go pricey. They're great parts, but you do pay a premium for them. I plan on doing a TM L96 build at some point and listed the parts I'd throw into it, but I don't quite know if it would work perfectly, as is the way with project guns. When it came to the power upgrades... I'd go HPA. Mancraft do a kit for the TM L96 and I'm loving my HPA VSR, and as I already have tanks, lines and regulators it would be a no-brainer for me.

I have a TM416D and I've left the power totally stock. The difference in effective range between 0.7J (which is stock TM guns) and 1.1J is miniscule and TMs are generally built super nicely. You generally don't have to touch TMs, they fire brilliantly out of the box. I run mine at the stock 0.7J power and put .28s in it. Shoots wonderfully.

First game day of 2022 and it was pretty damn good. VSR is now shooting well enough where I can upgrade my claims on it from "it has an effective range of 75m" to "it has an effective range of 85m". Took it to the range when no one was there, deployed the bipod and started plinking to zero the scope for the day. Was hitting the 75m target every time (they're metal and make a very audible dink when hit), so I decided to try for the 85m target. Aimed and fired and there was that satisfying dink. Shot again, another dink. Again? Another dink. Literally hitting the target, which is about half man-size, every single shot without me having to tilt the rifle; just put the crosshair on it, pull the trigger and watch the BB sail towards it. Was so happy and then took it out into the game and got so many kills with it. The ghillie continues to work flawlessly and I'm really loving it. Felt bad because someone crept around the outskirts of the site on a massive flank that took a looooong time, then walked right past me and got mk23'd in the back. He then came back along a path I was watching and was victim to about an 80m shot. Good day for sure! However, it started absolutely tipping it down after lunch so now I have to dry my ghillie, rifle wrap, take apart my mk23 so it can dry out. I think the VSR is fine as I stopped playing pretty soon after it started raining, but I'll probably stand it up with the bolt open so it can get some air through it anyway. And no, I didn't stop because "oh no, it's raining!" I stopped because my thumb cuticle got caught in the bipod when I was deploying it and it tore away about a 2cm square of skin from my thumb and started bleeding profusely. I stayed where I was for the time being and got a few kills, taking off my fingerless glove and clenching my thumb into it, but as soon as I had to move from my hide I called it a day because I couldn't properly use my rifle one-handed. It's fine when the bipod is deployed and I'm watching an area, but having to move, maybe take a shot or two, re-deploy... Not doing that one-handed. Oh, I also needed to get a plaster on it Roll on the next game day!