Impulse

Apparently places are expecting stock around the end of July on mags, but I imagine they're going to get snatched up super fast and may sell out immediately with some sites taking pre-orders on them. My friend has 4 mags total, but he's buying another 5 as soon as he can and can carry that many mags in his Russian kit. I will get 7 myself if I can afford it (3 rig, 2 belt, 2 leg rig, 1 in gun), though I'm happy to settle on my MWS as I only really use my AK for Vietnam games or events where I can't use my gucci kit. This is an example of the only two people I know who have the AKM, so I assume that there are a lot of other people in exactly the same situation as us. Those mags are going to disappear so quickly... 😢

It's the same with sniping. I always say that the roles are more about how you play than the gun you use, especially in airsoft where there is such little difference in performance. Yeahhhh. I've set my spring VSR up for 1.14J (pretty much right on the money) and it's a blast. I use a scope rather than iron sights, but it's a very satisfying way of playing. Also, it's amusing when people start moaning about "sToP POiNt bLAnKiNG wiTh A sNIpEr rIfLe yOu hAVe aN MED!" if you shoot them up close with a 1J boltie. Nah, I always used .32s in the m21 and my spring VSR because it was cost-efficient and they flew pretty damn well. Not sure it can hop .48s (the spring VSR probably can...), but that's the only heavy weight I have at the moment. I think the m21 can hop .4s, but I'd love to see if it can do .43s or .45s. Will try a few .48s again this weekend, as I still have some due to using them in the HPA VSR, and the hop rubber I tried them on before in the m21 was awful anyway, but we'll see what works. It's not the end of the world if I buy ammo the m21 can't use, as I know the spring VSR can handle anything so I'll just feed them through that over time

I'm currently considering going up to .36s or even heavier if the m21 will hop them, despite being a 1.1J build (basically, will aim for 1.1J with the heaviest BBs I can lift). I don't spam the trigger and play it like a sniper rifle anyway, but at my local site there just isn't much use for DMRs or sniper rifles as the vegetation gets so thick that a 30m MED becomes a liability and I can rarely take shots over 60m. I've used .32s so far because that's the heaviest before the pricing becomes exponentially more expensive, but we'll see how it goes... I typically an advocate for "use the heaviest it will hop" outside of loading .48s into your CQB gun or your pistol (looking at you, mk23 owners...)

Maybe you're just happy to see the photographer? 😂

It's on a Worthing game day, so I won't be going, because a bunch of my friends are staff at Worthing and can't go I really do want to go though. I'll get there at some point

So I just got my MWS yesterday and I'm already giddy planning the build I'm going to do with it. It looks like it would, but just wanted to confirm that a Magpul CTR stock will fit? It looks like it should from what I've seen. My initial build isn't going to be too adventurous, but I want to throw real-steel shooting stuff at it where possible as it's going to be my go-to carbine for when I'm not sniping and I love my real-steel stuff. Anyone got any suggestions for real-steel pistol grips that feel nice? The stock pistol grip just doesn't feel good to me. I was thinking of a Magpul MOE or a K2, though the Hogue grips look pretty nice too. Happy to be part of the MWS club

Yeah, though that is somewhat the idea. Whenever I play rifleman, I play it for weight loss; those 8 magazines are in addition to the weighted plates in my plate carrier. Won't find me running as a speedyboi as I'm just not built for it, even when I'm slim, though it's one hell of a workout playing slow and sneaky while lugging all that weight around. Plus it's nice and immersive, and I'm a bit of an immersion nerd! I can't believe you found a pic of me at a skirmish with my usual compliment of magazines! Normally they're all high caps, but sniping has taught me some trigger discipline now

*looks at fully immersive weighted plate carrier with all the GBBR mags* Ah, a fellow sadist and/or fitness enthusiast. Airsoft is an excuse for a biceps workout then?

Haha, honestly I need 1 more to complete the loadout. 4 in the carrier, 2 in the belt, 2 in the leg rig, 1 in the gun. 8 was the most I could get (limited them to 4 per customer, plus I got 3 spares with the MWS I bought), and at 35rds per mag I'm not even carrying a single m4 high cap in BBs yet

GBBRs? Don't mind if I do... Though, without any shells, this is a bit more reasonable for now... Still got a bunch of stuff I want to get for it. The build is only just beginning!

Celebrating me getting a new job in style

Uuuuuhhhhhh... TM AKM GBBR magazines?

In general, you can't go wrong with a Cyma AK or mp5. They're TM clones so there are an absolute plethora of parts available, but they also perform incredibly well out of the box for the price tag. If you're looking to do mostly CQB and mid-range, I'd heartily recommend looking at a Cyma mp5 (any of the cm.041 line really, it's your preference on aesthetics). They'll be perfect for CQB due to their compact size and will fire out of the box easily to 35 - 45m engagements, but if you find yourself wanting a bit more range or consistency, all you need to do is throw a Maple Leaf macaron or MR hop rubber into them and they become pretty ridiculous out to 50 - 60m. I have a totally stock Cyma mp5k that I sometimes use as a secondary when I'm sniping and want some "oh crap, they've spotted me" full-auto firepower and it shoots pretty accurately to 45m. I'll let someone more qualified to talk about gearbox or mosfet magic though. I'm mostly a GBBR and sniper user, so I won't touch that stuff with a 10m barge pole

Highly dependant on your style. I'd go midcaps over highcaps any day of the week because I don't shoot that much and I dislike the tactical maracas of highcaps. I mean, I play with GBBRs and snipers, so low ammo count is just my normal. However, for most people I'd say just run a few highcaps. Unless you want the stealth of mid/lowcaps (and even then highcaps can still be quiet if you're not sprinting around the place) or the immersion of having to reload in the field, highcaps are just better.

Uuuuhhhh, I don't have that specific pistol, but I can confirm that my TM HK45 fits in it (suppressor and all), as does my mk23 if I put it to its largest, so I imagine that Umarex USP45 will fit too. Might want to wait for someone to confirm that though, as I can only speculate based on the pistols I've used in mine.

Bittersweet weekend for me. I'll start with the negative, because there's only one thing (but it was pretty major). The VSR managed to tear its hop rubber. I swapped the suppressor and threaded adapter for the original end cap (no other changes and it was shooting perfectly two weeks earlier when I last used it), and it managed to push the barrel in or something which then caused the rubber to tear and fold in on itself from the barrel side and all along the contact patch, meaning it wasn't hopping at all. I originally thought it was clipping the end cap, but I was wrong. I've put the suppressor back on and will just scrim it up next time I go to a Vietnam game so it's not on show, because I'm not using that end cap ever again! However, let's move onto the many many positives. Vietnam airsoft was fun as all hell. I had to do it with my £130 AEG m14 build that I brought as a backup because my VSR died as I said above, but it was a lot of fun bouncing the GIs all through Saturday. From what I gathered from the other guys I went with, VC/PAVN are usually pretty badly outnumbered and usually means they die horribly, but this game was balanced as the guy who organised it refused to sell more US tickets until VC/PAVN numbers went up. As a result, we absolutely hammered them through Saturday (though I don't know how it ended on Sunday as I could only do the one day). Favourite part was a bit of escape and evasion I had to do after the GIs managed to push us out of a fort (well, the team took a prisoner and fell back from the position), leaving me lying completely still in a concealed position as the GIs were all around me. Managed to take a few out on the approach with the m14, then a few up close with the 1911, but I then just had to lie totally silent as they took my friend captive as I couldn't take them all on by myself. Managed to avoid detection, waiting for a gap in their patrols before making my escape back to base. Real heart-pumping, adrenaline fuelled fun and the moments I absolutely love, being a traditional bush wookiee. I did almost get into a fight though, for the first time in my 16 years of airsoft. Some GIs marched into our base and demanded our objectives, completely ignoring the morning briefing where it was explicitly stated that our base couldn't be attacked and therefore we couldn't bring any of our objectives there, instead carrying them with us in the field. When I told him this, he said he didn't care and that I was now his prisoner, so I shot him point blank and said that I wasn't; there were no bang kills and I never accepted any surrender. I then got lit up full auto by his teflon-coated friend, that I shot with the m14 as well, with an m16 at about 5m away (it was also a semi-only game outside of support guns) and we finally managed to get them to leave, though the other guy who was with me was prodding him with a stick, calling him a little boy and telling him to walk away and such because he was acting like a baby. He turned around and looked like he was about to start swinging, but I think one of the other US guys talked him out of it and they finally left. I thought it was all very amusing, personally; being a chonky 6'5 martial artist I wasn't really that scared if he did start swinging. Absolute man-baby hours and fortunately the only episode I experienced in the day 🤣. Most of the US guys I spoke to were great guys! Didn't play much today though. I was exhausted from sneaking all over Gunman Eversley Alpha all Saturday and had very little sleep over the weekend because of timings and discomfort while camping on-site on Friday, plus it was today where I found out my VSR hop rubber was torn and that, combined with the tiredness, just made me say "screw it, I can't be bothered". Ordered two new rubbers (will test between 80 and 85 degree Maple Leaf silicone autobots). Shout out to all the PAVN/VC guys at Eversley over the weekend, you were wonderful to fight alongside and we worked really well as a team (especially whoever had that damned whistle. The charges were glorious!). Shout out to most of the US guys too, especially the Hawaiian guys who finally dug me out of my position while I was harassing one of your bases in the afternoon. You guys were a class act and it was a pleasure to play against you.

Gone a bit old school as I'm heading to a Vietnam game this weekend. Ready to snipe some GIs

Sounds a bit like last year, honestly. Our group weren't there this time to bolster numbers on green team (I think we brought about 30 last year) because it fell on a Worthing game day, but I do remember that a lot of greens left early last year because of the abysmal weather. Having 50 less players is a massive disadvantage that I experienced first hand last year, so it's a shame to hear they made no effort to balance the teams a bit. I'm sure there were small groups of tans who would've been willing to swap over to green team and it would've made the game far better. Getting locked in the spawn also sounds a lot like last year for the same reason. You'd think they would've sorted that; honestly, the site isn't good for 400 players, but they need the money from ticket sales. Just a bit of a mess really... You're totally right here. Voluntary chrono is pointless because you'll get people like me going up to chrono to make sure I'm at the right power and prove that my m21 or VSR is running at 1.1J for no MED (because 1.48J is a joke for DMRs and bolties), but all the people who are intending on running hot guns, will just not chrono. It's common sense; people breaking the rules aren't going to voluntarily rock up and say "hey, by the way I'm cheating and playing dangerously" This had me questioning it last year as well. I fully agreed with the decision to limit bangs to mk4s and below because not everyone had a set of hearing protection (and normal ear plugs are basically "I'm a free stealth kill") or could afford to invest in a set of Earmors or something just before the game, then when I saw the shop selling mk5s I was annoyed. When I heard that they were "mk5s with a mk4 bang" I knew they were lying back then and it's clear they were lying again this year. Also, people weren't following that rule anyway as one of my friends had a thermobaric posted blindly around a corner right into his chest, where it exploded just after impacting. Again, this makes me sigh... I had this happen last year to me when I was using my m21. I got pulled aside by a marshall who told me I wasn't allowed to use it because it was a "sniper rifle", while it's just an m14 with a scope and a rifle wrap (and running at 1.1J). I was also told by another marshall "oh, you can't use that indoors" when it was no more powerful than anyone else's m4. Now, I let that one slide because I didn't really go indoors and instead held angles outside, but I run my m21 at 1.1J for a reason; to use it in any situation I need it in. Had to clear it up with one of the head marshalls who said it was fine after I explained it all to him, but it was a situation that shouldn't have happened in the first place. Thanks for the write up @wicksy101 though it's sad to hear that it was another shitshow. Even though I wasn't there, I was hoping they'd take the lessons from last time and learn from them. Roll on next AI500 at a different venue, because that venue is not good for 400 players. Might get away with 300, but I think 200 (100 per side) would be far better, though it probably wouldn't be financially viable.

Had a weird one at Worthing on Sunday. I only played in the morning and had a huuuuge amount of success in the first two games with the VSR, burning through about 80 BBs and getting around 30+ kills in sheer area denial. However, I stopped playing at lunch due to two reasons. Firstly, the first two games were deceptively successful, because I went to two locations that are always good for sniping all year round; Spring is definitely here and Worthing is really starting to bush up again, which makes a 30m MED a pain to deal with, which I found out in the 3rd game. I didn't fire the VSR once and only got half a dozen kills with the p226 which I haven't used in a long time (but they were some nice shots and I forgot how well my p226 build works!). Large portions of the site are just becoming unusable for snipers and DMRs at Worthing and it's only going to get worse with time, so it may be time to hang up the VSR for 6 months or so. So why not switch to the other gun I brought? Why not use the m21? That's the second reason. I've been toying around with different hop rubbers and I've come to terms with the fact that while the silicone Maple Leaf VSR rubbers are absolutely god-tier amazing, the silicone AEG rubbers are absolutely trash. My m21 was shooting all over the place in the morning and just wasn't usable. Going to stick the old 60 degree macaron back in there as that was working well, but all the silicone rubbers I tried were absolutely craptastic. So yeah, moving forward, HPA VSR is going away for a few months. m21 and spring VSR are coming out in its stead as my "snipers" as they're both 1.1J, but I'll also be looking to use my AKM more often, as long as I can borrow my friend's mags when he's not using his

Yeah, that's what I'd recommend. One of my friends has been marshalling for a while and he's now getting back into the game but he's getting on a bit and can't play like he used to. I've advised him to try running a sniper instead as the slow movements are great for keeping muscle tone and aren't nearly as hard on your body as playing normally is. When I'm playing sniper normally and dress up like a bush (current playstyle not included because I'm a young'n and I'm trying to lose weight), I have some games where I don't move all game. I leave respawn, take up an overwatch position and just remain completely still for the whole game. Sometimes I get loads of action, sometimes I get barely any, it just depends on if people use the area I'm overwatching. It's a fun way to contribute if you feel like your body can't keep up any more.

Don't need to run to be sneaky. In fact, I'd argue you actively don't want to run if you're being sneaky because the eye is drawn to movement. That's where I've seen shotguns have a lot of success even in woodland, sneaking around and shooting at unsuspecting players with 3 barrels of fun.

It's similar with running a bolt action these days, since AEGs and 1J builds can reach out so far now; my 1.1J m21 build is by far my most practical gun and it's rare I come across a situation where I really miss that extra 10 - 15m I get with 2.3J of bolt action. I ran a Cyma shotgun last week at UCAP Bunker and it worked amazingly well (even won a shotgun duel with someone who was running some sort of expensive gas shotgun monster build). Very satisfying and you get team mates looking your direction when you make that very audible pump (it's so hard to word this without it sounding risqué...) I'd advise everyone to have at least a cheap tri-shot in their collection. They're a bit of fun and a good backup gun in case your main one breaks down or your batteries die or whatever. Metal-bodied Cyma tri-shots go for under £100 and they're a great bit of fun for the money.