Impulse

I took up martial arts to go alongside my stealthy sneaky airsoft because I want to be Big Boss. In all seriousness, I saw airsoft as an active hobby that gets me out of the house and running around nature. I always wanted to do martial arts too, but I just never got around to it, so in 2018 I just decided to jump in and thoroughly enjoyed it. Over the course of a year I got back into airsoft and started doing martial arts twice a week. I've always hated exercise for the sake of exercise, so going to the gym or jogging or anything like that was always a massive mental hurdle, but airsoft is just a fun game that I enjoy playing, and martial arts is learning a skill that hopefully won't be needed, but is good to know just in case. And now I want to be as good at my hobbies as I can be, and to be as good at martial arts and airsoft as I can be, physical fitness is a good way to do it and get a leg up on the stereotypical... mature and "well rounded" airsofter. I'm really feeling the fruits of my labours now, having dropped 50kg so far and being able to move a lot quicker, for a lot longer and handle firefights a lot nimbler is incredibly refreshing and invigorating. Still got 20kg or so to go, so I look forward to seeing how good I can be once I've shifted all this extra weight.

Had a great day today, running a very light VSR loadout and no ghillie. Had some issues with the HPA system leaking, but the tank lasted until just before lunch where I took it apart and fixed the issue, then switched to co2 for the afternoon. The line came loose where it screws into the bolt, so I just had to tighten that up. Got so many people with the VSR just holding areas and when I started playing aggressively with the mk23 I got loads of people with that by flanking as there were less numbers due to people wimping out due to rain (which all cleared up before the games started anyway). Also had a lot of success from a stealth perspective, even without the ghillie. Just observing the seven S's of concealment saw a lot of success, as I had people look directly at me multiple times and not know where I was. Scrim net over the head and shoulders, rifle wrapped and staying nice and still made me basically invisible. Paired with both the VSR and mk23 being stupidly silent and I went undetected for most of the day, just posting up and covering a location, then moving if things got too dicey.

Oooooooooooh, I've been in the market for an AK for a while, but wasn't keen on the NGRS. This will definitely tempt me! Also, thanks Google Translate...

Jeeeez, I'm suddenly glad I resisted the temptation to buy some pistols from HK. This is ludicrous!

I'm going to agree here. If someone isn't making it obvious they're hit, I'll just put one into the plate carrier to be sure. Some players will casually walk down a path, hands still down on their gun, in the hopes that everyone will think they're dead and not shoot, then shoot everyone in the back when they get past, and one shot to the chest really isn't a big deal, especially since most people wear a chest rig or plate carrier that absorbs most of the hit. I've never had anyone moan about it to me, and I'm usually slinging .48s at 2.3J. I think a single shot is different to lighting someone up because you think they might be playing dead. However, if they still have their gun shouldered in the game area then they are in no position to moan. To me I'd see them as still in the game until the hand goes up and they call out "hit"

That's some pretty serious teflon player action. I've yet to see someone take two shots to the face from my VSR and not call it, but they're .48s at 2.3J. I've definitely seen people shrug off multiple body shots though, even at that weight and power. And you just need a smaller 2nd gun. I bought a Cyma mp5k and it's not too difficult carrying both it and the VSR, though I'll agree it gets difficult with a larger secondary rifle. I did it with my 416 and it worked, but it was much harder and I'm 6'5 and heavily built, so two guns isn't as big on me.

Was doing some general maintenance to my pistols and came to realise I have more pistols than long guns... And I want more! I still need a handful of parts to upgrade the STTI mk23 (bottom left) and the Bell 1911 (2nd from right) which I'll get first, but there's at least a TM HK45 Tactical, Bell m9 and Bell MEU on the list of pistols I want to add to the collection.

As someone who uses a boltie, the number of times I hear this... It always amazes me when people are shocked that their stock AEG can't reach the same ranges as my painstakingly tuned boltie

My mp5k or spring shotty always comes with me as a backup gun, regardless of what else I'm bringing. Always a good idea to have a backup! And you're totally right. Outside of gearbox related shenanigans, airsoft guns are really easy to work on. And even then, V2 gearboxes aren't that complicated once you open them up and have a look. I'll give someone a pass though if they don't want to crack open their V7 gearbox, as I've endured that pain myself and wouldn't wish it on anyone (unless it's a tech I'm paying to open it up for me, then I do wish it on them because that's what I'm paying them to do!)

Yep. I'll always advocate for doing basic maintenance, tune-ups and simple upgrades yourself. It allows you to notice when something is wrong with your gun and immediately have ideas on what's wrong and how to fix it.

I think I'll also echo this, but also as a recent HPA convert. I stopped playing about 6 - 7 years ago after I left university, but got back into the hobby 2 years ago. HPA wasn't really a thing back in the early 2010s, but now it's everywhere. However, I have also learned to love it myself. I converted my VSR to HPA and never looked back. The effortless bolt pull, the silence of having no moving parts in the firing mechanism and the silly levels of consistency are all priceless and I just don't find myself using my spring VSR ever. I don't think I'll ever fit the bill of a stereotypical HPA full auto idiot (they exist in the AEG variety too!) though, since it's hard to get silly ROF out of a boltie I'll also add another thing I learned recently: I don't like milsim. Gave it a shot two weeks ago and had fun, but I don't think I'd repeat the experience. It's total pay-to-win at night time, because the guy who spends thousands of £s on NVGs will just win against the guy who can't afford to do the same. Yes, people will say "but you can see the illuminator" and that's how I did hit someone while being otherwise blind, or "pop smoke to screw with it", but seeing a red dot in the darkness is very different to seeing everything plainly and smoke doesn't solve the issue as then nobody can see anyone and firing blindly can be dangerous. Also, I don't really like the whole idea of being told exactly what to do. I'd much rather be given an objective of "we need intel on X, and if you see Y they are a target of opportunity" then be left to my own devices on how to accomplish it, rather than being given strict orders on "we need you to go and do A". Also, I didn't really get an opportunity to use my boltie at all (which made me sad ), as most squad-based tasks were ill-suited to it, so I basically played the whole event with my secondary (stock cyma mp5k) and sidearm (upgraded TM mk23). And the most recent thing: I've learned that carrying a small, lightweight AEG at the same time as the VSR is a game changer. I may go back to just the VSR and mk23 for some games, as I just like pistols and like excuses to use mine, but carrying a small mp5k alongside the VSR has been super easy and super useful; having full auto for tight situations and allowing me to push aggressively when my team is inevitably all hiding behind a barricade, shooting at enemies far out of their range as airsofters are wont to do has been really nice. The mp5k + spare mags are really lightweight and I just unclip it from the sling and put it to one side when I get into a position where I'm lying prone with the VSR. You learn something new every day

I love the hicap heroes who burn through thousands of BBs per game. Their shooting provides a wonderful soundscreen for me to move about. Nobody's going to notice the light rustle of foliage or the gentle crunch of a slow footstep when John Rambo over yonder is spamming his AEG at everything.

I had a decent day, even though I couldn't use the VSR as the battery connectors needed fixing (they're fixed now and reinforced with a bunch of electrical tape!). We played a long game across the whole morning and I got a good number of kills from my hide next to one of the objectives, even after it got completely overrun and I repositioned to start shooting the enemy in the back. However, I think my days using the ghillie are numbered; if it was much warmer, I'd have dropped it as I was pretty damn warm wearing it today! However, I found that I'm really not used to using 1J guns, as I would get into a hide with my m14 and lament at the shots I could've made with the VSR that I just couldn't with the m14. I don't think I had anyone within my usual 30m MED once through the whole day, which made the fact I had no MED (as the m14 is 1J) a moot point. Next skirmish day I'm looking forward to using the VSR again. It's a much lighter-weight loadout than the m14 as the VSR is lighter and I don't need a chest rig as everything fits on the belt.

First milsim event on the books and I'm going to ache tomorrow. Did something stupid like 24k steps through the event (kept my smart watch on under my gloves as I was curious) and only got 3h sleep! Was it enjoyable? You bet. Will I do it again? Probably not, but you never know. I think the happy middleground of filmsim / battle sim is where my preference will lie, as milsim just seems a bit too... uptight? Serious? Pay-to-win? (just keep reading, you'll know why I say this) I get why people are drawn to it, but to me it's just not my cup of tea; I play airsoft to have fun with friends and play BB wars and maybe do a bit of silly RP and follow a story through a longer event, I'm not looking for that strict military feeling. High point? Our squad using site knowledge to sneak behind the entire enemy team using a really out of the way route to start engaging them from behind, though a premature endex hampered our impact as it took a while for the squad to get into position. It's such an out of the way route that one of the others in our squad was a regular on site and he didn't know about it. Runner up was dressing up in civvie gear and shouting insults at a very on-edge Taskforce after they got a journalist blown up by an IED. Low point? No NODs in a sea of lots and lots of NODs (on both teams). Our squad did one firefight in the darkness because we were assigned to defend an objective and got absolutely rolled over by double our number where almost all of them had Gen2+ NODs, while our squad had none. I got one of them with the mp5k before getting hit myself as I just shot at the red light in the darkness, but the fight was over in less than 10 seconds.

I know I said I would never open up that m14 again after setting it to DMR spec... I lied. Give me the strength I need to work on this v7 gearbox...

Anyone here know the RPM on a stock TM m14 motor?

I'd love to be able to do that. I think at the moment I'll just run it on a sling.

Cyma. Only about £140 and a brand that I typically like. Pretty sturdy construction on it, but I won't be too rough with it (no HK slapping!) because I know sometimes Cyma metal can be crap.

Just arrived. Looking for a bit more firepower while moving around with the VSR at a skirmish day. Have 3 long midcaps too, because the stubby ones were out of stock