Impulse

I tend to just use Nuprol 2.0 when it's cold, or ASG ultrair if it's really cold and my TM pistols seem to work decently enough in the winter. Will never go higher than that in my blowbacks on the fear that they will explode, even when it's cold.

Especially with the new Hadron TDC outer barrel. Mine is just by far my favourite GBB pistol now and performs extremely well!

1. Heavier BBs tend to give better range AND accuracy. However, AEGs have a thing called cylinder to barrel ratio which I honestly don't understand all the intricacies on (the airsoft teching hole goes deep...), but what it basically means is that most AEGs have a sweet spot for BB weight at certain powers and it's different for every set up; helpful, I know. At 1.1J, running a .48 probably won't give a huge boost in performance and that's assuming the hop up can even lift it, but it will provide a huge boost in running costs as a bag of 1000x .48g BBs is between £25 - 30, where a bag of 3000x .32g BBs is between £18 - 20; triple the ammo, about 33% cheaper. Joules, at the end of the day are a measure of kinetic energy. I'm going to dive into poorly explained science here because the last time I studied physics or mechanics was when I was 18 and doing my A-levels. When a BB is fired, it has a certain amount of kinetic energy going in the direction of (hopefully) enemy players and is being slowed down by air resistance, pulled downwards by gravity and also affected by things like wind direction, rain, pesky leaves getting in the way etc. The heavier the projectile, the slower it will leave the barrel (assuming the same kinetic energy), however it will also take longer to decelerate as the mass of the projectile requires more resistance to lower its momentum. A good example is imagine throwing a cricket ball with a certain amount of kinetic energy and think how far it will go compared to a balloon thrown with the same amount of kinetic energy. As I said, I haven't studied it in years and I'm awful at explaining it (I was more into statistics than mechanics). There are plenty of sources online that will explain kinetic energy, momentum, deceleration and all that lovely physics stuff better than I can. 2. Joules are far better than FPS for testing power. I run gas guns and I could probably get my m700 firing at 350fps on a .2 (so, no MED), but then being around 2.3J on a .48 thanks to a wonder called joule creep that is prevalent in gas platforms which would be unsafe to fire up close. (it's not a wonder, I hate it and am constantly wrestling with it ?) 2.1. You could, though if you're looking to go the DMR route it will cost more than £250 to build a decent one and require you to open up the gearbox, which I do NOT advise for a new player; hell, I've been doing this for years and I still don't do gearboxes. I just don't get them, no matter how many times I try. To build a DMR, you'll likely need a metal-toothed piston, high torque motor and a stronger spring at the very least, but you'll likely want more things like a full cylinder (most stock ones are ported which means you get lower air volumes which is not what you want for a DMR), MOSFET and better gears. Also, you start wrestling with MEDs as soon as you go over 1.14J, which means you can't shoot at anyone who is within a certain distance of you, whether it's 20 or 30m (the most common MEDs. 30m is the most common though) which means you would really need some sort of pistol or secondary to go alongside it. Some sites enforce that you must have a pistol or secondary if you want to run anything with an MED; my local site very much does. However, as an added piece of advice, if you're running at 1.88J, you want to be using far heavier than a .28g BB. For me, I'd be looking to run .4s at least in a 1.88J build, preferably heavier if the hop up would lift it without dropping the power too much. 3. Stock FPS is more than sufficient. 340fps on a .2 means it will be pretty close to 1.1J and is exactly where mine is shooting at the moment (it's about 1.07J). Power does impact range and accuracy, but hop up and barrel setup impacts it far more. Also, not all sites have the same DMR rules, so if you set it up for 1.88J, you wouldn't be able to use it at other sites; my local site for example has DMRs at 1.64J and some sites go as far as 1.48J as a limit for DMRs. Therefore, if you want to do a DMR build, my advice would be do it with something with a quick change spring system so that you can adjust the power fairly easily without having to open the whole gearbox, which you don't want to be doing with an m14 at least because they're fiddly to get apart. I can go on at length about the pros and cons of building a DMR, but the TL:DR is that I generally don't think it's worth it because bolt actions are better at it. Aaaaaand, it appears I've built another wall, though it is big and beautiful... ?

The barrel probably isn't. M14s have a weird hop unit so only certain barrels will fit because of the way barrels are cut. ZCI have both m14 and standard AEG cuts, but otherwise you probably would need something that specifically states it's an m14 barrel. Barrel isn't the end of the world, the important parts for consistency, range and accuracy are the hop rubber and nub; can just run it with the standard barrel for now. Also, AK2M4 does ZCI barrels and is where I got mine, but he's not taking orders at the moment because of the royal mail strikes. Also, for a scope you need a scope mount. Just in case you didn't already incorporate it: https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/cyma-m14-m1a-scope-mount Out of stock, but can probably find one elsewhere. The Tokyo Marui one will also fit as Cyma are Tokyo Marui clones

That's the one; I have it in faux wood for Namsoft! In terms of similarities on range, I can't say for certain because I've never owned a G&G CM16 before. Nope, no limits on BB weight though we are a woodland site; I've had weight limits at CQB events and sites, but I've never seen BB weight limits in woodland. In theory you could run .48s through a support gun if you want to make questionable financial decisions ? Generally most players at my local site go with .25s or .28s anyway, I just build all of my 1.1J guns, pistols included, to use .32s so I don't have to faff with BB weights too much (mp7 is the only one that takes lighter ammo because it's an AEP). I don't run my mp5k often as I prefer my mp9, which I tend to fire on semi anyway because gas gun cooldown on full auto is real and by the end of the mag the BBs are trickling out of the barrel!

Long range airsoft! My favourite topic! Apologies in advance for wall o'text... I will start by saying that getting a bolt action as a first gun is generally a bad idea. It can work out and it did for me way back when I started with my Warrior L96 (now known as Well), but it's a very different style of playing. That said, if you have already played once and liked going off by yourself and taking long shots, I wouldn't immediately rule it out or at least not entirely. £250 is a pretty tight budget, but not impossible to work with, no matter how many people say "sniping is expensive". If it were me, I would go one of two routes: Cyma m14: They're £150 and don't need any gearbox modifications out of the box. Spend £30 on a ZCI 499mm stainless steel barrel, £10 on a Maple Leaf macaron hop rubber (60 or 70 degree is my preference) and £5 on a Maple Leaf omega nub and that's just shy of £200; spend the other £50 on more mags, or just run the high cap it comes with and use the £50 elsewhere, like on a scope and scope mount. I ran mine like this on .32g BBs for a long, long time and people with poorly tuned bolt action rifles (lots of players...) were having a tough time as I could effectively counter-snipe them despite only being 1J. I used it on semi-auto most of the time, but retained the use of full auto if I needed it and had no MED so I could also engage other players up close. In my opinion, if you're looking at getting into sniping, this is what I'd do first until you've learned the game a bit more and are better at judging distance, how environmental factors will affect BB trajectory etc. Also, it'll make a fantastic backup rifle for if you do get into sniping later down the line and you're having issues with your bolt action. Cyma cm701B / JG BAR-10: They're £120ish and I would run it at stock power until it eventually breaks (or you save up the considerable amount needed to upgrade the power). Spend about £50 on a Laylax 430mm stainless steel tightbore or a Maple Leaf Crazy Jet barrel, £50 on the Action Army hop up unit, £10 on a Maple Leaf autobot rubber (70+ degree) and £5 on a Maple Leaf omega nub. That's about £235, so not much room for much else and you will probably want an extra mag or two (they're £10 each) and you almost certainly want a scope. As a bolt action at 420fps (about 1.6J), you'll have an MED to contend with and it won't perform as well as it can as an extra 0.7J to bring it up to 2.3J will make a difference, but it'll be a bit quieter than the m14, though the m14 is very quiet for an AEG so it's not as big a deal as you may think. Upgrading the power you'll be looking at a LOT more investment to get it up to that 2.3J mark, but this build will not perform poorly (or at least, it shouldn't!). Another downside is that here you will want to be running as heavy as you can (so ideally .45g or .48g BBs) which is also pretty damn expensive, and because you'll have an MED you'll really want a reliable pistol so you'd be shelling out £150 for a TM, or £90 for an AAP-01 that will eventually explode and require a decent investment to fit the stronger aftermarket parts. Honestly, I'd go with the m14 as a first gun if you're looking to get into the long range game and then save up for a bolt action of your choice when you're more experienced, already have a pistol and have saved up a decent amount to do a good build; I'd probably want at least £500 to do a proper bolt action rifle build. You can play as a "sniper" with any gun, to be honest, and most people these days like to run ghillie suits and some variant of HPA m4 instead of a bolt action because they're a lot more versatile with having no MED and retaining full auto while still being mouse fart levels of silence. In terms of other good regular AEG assault rifles, I'll also wholly endorse the Cyma AKs and mp5s. I have a Cyma mp5k where all I've changed is the hop rubber and nub and it's now slinging .32s to a silly range and makes a nice little full-auto secondary for when I'm running one of my bolt actions. Outside of that, I don't have much experience with AEGs so I will defer to someone else on that as I am more of a gas gun aficionado. Only AEGs I own are a Cyma m14, SR-25 and mp5k, as well as a TM MP7 (but that's an AEP really...). I like Cyma AEGs

GBBs are generally usable all year round outside of the absolute pit of winter. If it's over 5 celcius, a TM GBB pistol on green gas will still cycle through most of the magazine, same with their GBBRs (at least I can attest to the MWS and AKM as those are the two I have). Under 5 celcius and even TM magic will struggle and I don't want to risk running red or black gas through them as they could explode. If you're after realism, you need to go gas instead of AEG, but AEGs are easier to use and far more reliable. You can always go NGRS for the middle-road between realism (pseudo bolt stop, 30rd magazines and a little recoil) and ease of use (don't have to worry about weather or gas mags weighing a lot) For AEGs, I don't think TM is worth it unless you want an NGRS. Clone brands are pretty damn good these days and you spend a fraction of the price, meaning you then have spare funds to tune the internals with aftermarket parts.

Normally I would chime in here and say "not all HPA users are bad" but I'm having a falling out with my own HPA systems at the moment because they're both being annoying to the point where I may sell them both and no longer be part of the club as I doubt I will go back to it because my gas systems are better and my AEGs are more reliable, sooooo... Sucks to hear that your last game of the year was a bad one. Mine was as well. The idiots specifically targeting hands and groins are worse than the Kicking Mustangs who go for headshots; headshots sting, but hand shots and groin shots sting even worse, as as you said, the hand is fairly easy to fracture if they hit you in the right place with enough force. I only go for hand or groin shots if the person I'm shooting at hasn't taken their body shots and then also hasn't taken their headshots afterwards.

Hop rubber, nub and barrel are more important than anything you'll change in your gearbox, that's my two cents. Far easier to do as well

If you want fun, go with the GBB version. If you want practicality, go with the AEP version. If you're HPAing it, the AEP version becomes an absolute CQB monster as it's silent, can run high cap magazines of 190 BBs and can be tuned really nicely. However, the GBB one will be far more fun to fire, though you're limited to lower capacity magazines and you need to disconnect and reconnect on each reload.

Gunman Namsoft is my favourite airsoft to do and the guy I get a lift with is no longer staff at Worthing, so no more of this only playing on the Saturday because we have to get back for Sunday skirmish! Looking forward to the 2023 season of it (I do wish I didn't have to wear the black PJs because it's awful camo, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make!) Yeah, I've done this long enough to know that, but I've had a rough few months of game days so it stung extra as I was hoping to go out on a bang for 2022. First it was injury meaning I could only play half the day, had an inflamed nerve in my head for about a month that meant my head started hurting as soon as I started lightly jogging and then had an injured foot straight afterwards for another month, then after injury it was various gun issues (had a falling out with HPA after the disappointment of last game day's leak) and a large learning curve for the m700 setups, learning what setups work in what temperatures and what internals work best. It's probably the rule I see broken the most outside of general non-hit taking, next to not going all the way back to. Either walking off to get mediced, or medicing someone and using them as a shield so the medicing player doesn't get hit (still cheating, if either player is hit at Worthing while being mediced, both are out)

Today managed to be awful. Absolute unadulterated awful. First game was great and I got a lot done (set up my m700 at 2.25J and it was firing amazingly, probably even better than my HPA VSR setup) and I really enjoyed it, however after the second game I called it a day. Called out exactly what the other team were going to do as I knew they would flank around a certain area and so I went and positioned for it, however by the time they got around everything was so wet from the downpour that had ramped up that my glasses had fogged and my scope had fogged so I couldn't see anything through it and therefore my m700 basically became useless. I was just watching the other team do their flank, another example like last game day of being in an amazing position where I could start picking them all off one by one and other factors just making it useless. Got hit as I was trying to get some of the moisture off my scope (it didn't help...) and so then I came back out with just a pistol. Got in behind their flanking push and got two in the back, who called it and started walking off as dead men as they didn't think anyone was around to medic them. They walked about 10m away and as they rounded the bush, I noticed them walk over to one of their team mates who then started medicing them, which is literally cheating once they have walked off from where they got shot. I shot at him as well and they just didn't call it at all, then I got shot by one of their friends who then decided to have a go at me for not taking my hits while his friends were blatantly cheating right in front of me as I had emptied 2 mk23 magazines full of .32s into them with a fairly straight shot and no foliage in the path; was watching the BBs hit them and nothing happening. I called it anyway and went back to respawn, but no idea if they did in the end. Came back out after respawning, got in behind another one of them, gun jammed and as I was fixing it I got friendly fired in the side of the head. I called it there as I was starting to get more than a bit perturbed and being soaked through wasn't helping the matter (torso was dry, but legs and feet were soaking wet). Won't have another skirmish day until a month's time as my local site cancelled their next one on account of it being on New Year's Day and everyone would be hung over (especially one of the site owners... ?), so I'm really bummed out that this one was so damn frustrating. Only good things, outside of the first game, was non-skirmish related stuff. I got a setup for my shorter m700 that allows me to go with either 1.1J or 2.3J depending on gas used, width of gas router and hammer spring adjustment, so that will be my bolt action of choice at both 1.1J and 2.3J games going forwards. I love the gas m700 platform; it's probably my favourite airsoft gun I've ever used and worked on in all 17 years of playing (and as it's just a regular m700 which was very much around in the 70s, GIs beware the farmer in pyjamas with an m700 and a ruger pistol at Vietnam games in 2023 ). Secondly, I got my two AEGs back from the tech I entrusted them to, as I can't do AEG gearboxes because they are techno-wizardry, and they're amazing and I'm so happy I just decided to pay someone to do the work on the everything-apart-from-hop-and-barrel. The m14 is firing at 1.05J consistently on .32s and slinging them out to where I need them to go, while also being lovely and snappy and pretty damn quiet for an AEG; fairly tight grouping even at 60m, so that's a useful, reliable backup gun (and again, GIs beware as it's also period accurate!). The SR-25 had a bit of an issue where the nozzle wasn't going far enough forward so the air seal was being crap and firing at 0.1J - 0.3J, but the guy fixed it there on the spot by filing away some material from the tappet plate (had already spoken to him as there were parts that I had that I needed to put in on the day before we could properly test it). With an m110 spring in it, it was firing at 0.775J incredibly consistently (lowest shot was 0.771J, highest was 0.775J), so I'm going to try an m120 or m130 to get it as close to 1.1J on .4s with the hop set as possible, so if I get it to slightly over 1.14J, I'll wait and see for next month when I get it set up and hop set on it as it will probably need a bit to lift those .4s at 1.1J. Quick change springs are wonderful things and the only reason I'm content to do that part myself! Anyway, I've waffled on enough, but I'm angy and wanted to scream into the aether.

I bought a TM HK45 about a year ago and it came with all the trades. I think they say they remove the trades for legal reasons, but don't really as I've never seen a TM pistol without trades on it.

Made sure me and my friend got some, but there's 14 left on Fire Support if you guys want to get some mags! I picked up 5, so now I have 6 total and it's usable! Will be my backup rifle for Vietnam games in case my m700s are having issues (or might use it at the same time as my m700 if I can work out the sling configuration I want. Big guy, so 2 rifles isn't too bad of an issue) https://www.fire-support.co.uk/product/tokyo-marui-gbb-akm-magazine-35-rnd?fbclid=IwAR3lEerj1Vb11Q0hMVV4-5M2tAjVvZiV_fDw4C9nUaN8spJVKGqK-v5ZmuU

I've used double m4 mag pouches on chest rigs to great effect, however now I run them in a utility pouch on my belt kit (sneaky sniper crawling around, so no chest rig/plate carrier) Failing that, something like these would work: https://www.military1st.co.uk/fy-ph-m024-mc-flyye-ev-universal-double-magazine-pouch-molle-multicam.html https://www.military1st.co.uk/191040-001-condor-double-m14-kangaroo-mag-pouch-olive-drab.html https://www.airsoftzone.co.uk/double-m14-magazine-pouch-holds-4-mags-od-green-condor.html https://www.uktactical.com/product/warrior-single-quick-mag-olive-drab-9409 I love my 7.62 gats, but hate finding pouches for them

I see Cyma AK, I like Cyma AK. Plus, everyone (even me) has an M4 or M4-adjacent gun. I'd go with the Cyma cm040. Cyma AKs have always been brilliant and it will be an absolute workhorse of a gun with minimal tweaks (literally I'd just swap out the hop rubber and nub and keep the rest stock).

Absolute comedy of errors today. Still managed to have fun, but holy crap was it annoying. I literally forgot my shirt. Not joking, I totally forgot to bring my MARPAT combat shirt so I had to play the whole day (as a ghillie sniper with a ghillie cape) in a black fleece instead. Good thing I practice like this during the summer, so I knew my camo and concealment fundamental skills are good and I knew what I could do and get away with having the entire front of my torso just not camo'd up at all! First game started, I was really hyped to play as injury and gun issues have stifled my last few game days and we were playing a part of the site we never play, which I feel we need to play more because it's great. I spend 20 minutes fighting through thick, overgrown foliage (lots of stamping down on thorns to clear a path) getting into a stupid sneaky position with my HPA VSR, which I decided to run today because it was 5 degrees celcius so not the best weather for gas guns. Got into the position, could see the whole enemy team from a lovely elevated but still well concealed hide on the flank. Lined up my first shot, pulled the trigger aaaaaaaand... click. Solenoid activated and no air came out. Checked my tank and it was empty, so I have a leak somewhere. Tested my hicapa back in the safe zone and one of the mags feed lips decided they didn't want to be there any more and sheared off, snapping and flying off somewhere. The spring and follower thankfully remained in the magazine, but need new feed lips for one of my hicapa mags now. Ugh! Went back to the safe zone and sighted in my m700 that I also brought as a backup. I brought my 2J m700 build since the sight lines are longer at Worthing through the winter and as it was 2J on 144a in 11 degrees celcius, so I figured with more powerful gas it'd be fine at 5 celcius. Went to chrono it with the ASG ultraair I have (which is a little bit stronger than standard green gas, let alone 144a) and it was coming up between 0.9J at the lowest and 1.16J at the highest. Not what I wanted, but at least it was working, conveniently without any MED, and it was sailing the .48s out there so I went out to use that after lunch and had a LOT of fun. On a timed attack and defend game I was the only one who went around on one flank and kept about 10 people occupied by myself (and started picking them all off as they couldn't pinpoint or hit me). Was a lot of impact and I ran out of ammo (3x 28rd mags goes fast fighting 10 people, though I can usually make them last!) Got back to the safe zone afterwards, packing stuff away aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand... the AEP lipo in my mp7 tears the end off when I take it out, totally breaking the battery. I go to tape it up so I can battery bin it tomorrow (my local Lidl has a battery bin) and it starts sparking and burning through the tape. The site tech basically pulls the metal contacts off the wires inside so it no longer does that and I tape it all up for the battery bin tomorrow. I can't think of much more that could've realistically gone wrong, but I still managed to get out there and have a bit of fun. Christmas game next game day, so I'm thinking of wearing some festive reindeer antlers and taking a bolt action rifle; usually reindeer are the hunted, so I'm going to turn that around and have the reindeer become the hunter ?

Also Cyma AK74su is a good chunk cheaper for Cyber Monday on Patrol Base: https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/cyma-cm-045a-aks-74u?pv=2696 We all know Cyma AKs are good and this one is real wood.

TM you'll save money in the long run. You can buy a TM GBB at around £150 and leave it completely stock and it will perform well out of the box for many many years. For most people, this is the best way forward in my opinion as most people barely use their pistols past shooting each other on the way out to games, shooting them on the range and shooting at puddles / metal things while waiting for the game to start. High cap magazines holding between 200 (mp5 mags) and 600 (AK mags) really means that pistols are largely unnecessary from a pure gameplay perspective, however pistols are some of my favourite guns, so I'm not going to start saying that pure gameplay is all that matters (leave that to the speedsofters). I will never recommend WE pistols, purely because I've witnessed so many just give up in the winter, and it amused me watching people try to use their pistols last game day when it was chilly (it's okay, karma got me in the end because my gas sniper had issues too because it's a finicky build) If you do want to upgrade, I know that the AAP-01 is phenomenal for upgrading but they tend to explode out of the box after a bit of use; the hammer and sears tend to give up and need replacing, but that said mine is still going strong but I never use full-auto (Rugers don't full auto and I use mine for Vietnam games!). For pure upgradeability the AAP-01, Glock, Hi-Capa and the mk23 are the most upgradeable pistols in my opinion. It's a bit silly what you can get for those, however that can also take you down quite the rabbit hole of costs. I think all in my AAP-01 build is going to come to almost £500, but that is also including external parts to convert it to a Ruger. That's a lot more than £100, even though the pistol itself is only £90 (or £65 for the tan one on Patrolbase today for Cyber Monday!) However, on the point of upgrading pistols, I only think it's worth it if you find yourself using it a lot or if it isn't performing at all well out of the box / is broken. I've done all of mine because I'm frequently negotiating a 30m MED with my rifle, but probably wouldn't if I wasn't using it as much as I do (sometimes more than my rifle!) Sorry, I tend to ramble when it comes to pistols because I like them

Yeah, can shoot that faster than I fire my 1.1J semi-auto sniper builds and his point about movement of pulling the bolt is false; I use HPA and gas snipers and you can pull the bolt with wrist movement alone so it's really not very pronounced anyway. If you can't pull a gas or HPA bolt without people spotting the movement... get better at doing it.

As much as I like him (especially for a 'Tuber), House Gamers just did a video that demonstrates everything I hate about straight pull: Could shoot that way faster than a DMR

Quite the contrary, I find the WAS universal holster has never even risked dropping mags from any of my HK style pistols. I use it all the time with the HK45 and it works really well, and I also use it for my hi-capa and AAP with no issues either. Outside of that, the amomax universal holster is pretty good too

Take everything I say with a pinch of salt; AEGs aren't really my thing and I prefer gas guns. 1. I've never used a MOSFET in any AEG I've owned, so I wouldn't say they're necessary. They're nice for sure, and I'll be shoving a WARFET into my m14 and considering some sort of MOSFET for the SR-25 as well, but they aren't a necessity. 2. For me it wouldn't be a deal breaker. Can always get one later on if needed. 3. Yes. Good aftermarket part support is needed. You don't need to get something with a V2/V3 gearbox, though they have the most parts availability. It's why I love the TM/Cyma m14s and hate the G&G ones; you can get loads of parts for a TM / Cyma v7 gearbox, but G&G do weird proprietary things. 4. I used to be all about getting expensive that just works well out of the box (TM guns, especially their NGRS stuff), but now I'm very much a Cyma shill instead. You can get a steel/wood Cyma AK for under £200 and it'll work well enough out of the box, maybe just swap out the hop rubber and nub at first. Then you can save up for some sort of nasty internals over time and the stock ones will generally stand up to general use. Upgrades are far better if you (or a reliable tech if you're like me and gearboxes are literal kryptonite) do them yourself; "out of the box" upgrades are usually kinda crap and cost more than you'd pay to get them done yourself. 5. AKs are fairly easy to upgrade. V3 gearboxes are the 2nd most common after V2s

I use HPA and gas bolt actions and one of the reasons is specifically because the bolt pull is effortless, but I agree with your statement here. I like the effortless pull because it allows me to do it incredibly slowly and deliberately, thus staying hidden more effectively, but converting to straight pull and then using it to essentially rapid fire it is just called being a twat.

My friend shoved a Wolverine Hydra Gen2 into his Real Sword SVD because the stock internals shattered and Real Sword never sent him his replacement (they told him they would, but we both reckon they're out of business or something as he has pestered them for over 2 years) The only downsides are that it uses AEG hop rubbers and not VSR rubbers and it requires a bit of tweaking to get it just right (need a shorter inner barrel for a 1.1J build), but it's probably the best semi-auto SVD build I've seen.