Impulse

I wish I had a chance to look through them both, but the only place near me that sells optics is a real gun shop and their optics are a bit too pricey for what I'm looking for. I've heard good things about both Visionking and Vector Optics stuff, which is part of the reason I've looked at them. Honestly, the main reason I don't want to go Vortex is the price; the LPVOs that Vortex offer with a reticle that I like are £500 £330 at the cheapest with the new Venom series, which I think is still just about too much for me to spend on this one, and the larger scopes with the same requirements are outside my price range as well. Reticle type is very important for me, as I enjoy long distance airsoft archery, and a good reticle can really help if you set your gun up and know exactly where on the reticle you need to aim to hit those longer shots. Unfortunately, those ones listed don't quite meet the requirements I need. The Nikko 1-4x24 is close, but I don't like the reticle Hard requirements for me are: - Reticle I can use for longer shot archery - 1x minimum variable optic, as I will be taking this to CQB (because I'm crazy) as well as using it for woodland - Illuminated reticle as I will be taking it to night games as well (ties into why I also want 1x minimum) - LPVO aesthetic. I don't want a mid or long range looking optic as it would look a bit weird on this build - Low scope rings Maximum magnification isn't too much of an issue. I'd be okay with 4x, but ideally 6x or 8x as a maximum as I like to use my optics to spot targets and radio movements to my team. Doubt I'd be actually shooting with more than 4x or 5x. It's funny to me to think that my hard list of requirements is so strict on a gun that I won't actually be using all that much, but I think that's actually why. It's a backup gun that I will be using for times when my main guns are either not viable options or something has gone wrong. It's also why I don't want to spend too much and honestly I think that reason alone is why the Visionking one has been the front runner for me for so long. It's not that expensive and does everything I need it to.

Hey everyone, with an outdoor sale on Aliexpress coming up it's put me in a bit of a bind. I was pretty sure which LPVO I wanted, but at these sale prices it has thrown another into contention and now I can't decide, so I figured I'd ask others which one they would go for. The two I am stuck between are: Visionking 1-8x26 Vector Optics 1-6x24 It's going to be mounted on my m14 socom and I want to put it on some low scope rings as m14s are already quite high up when it comes to the sight vs the stock. The m14 socom is generally my backup gun and is my best performing AEG, but also my larger event gun, as GBBRs can be a bit of a pain at things like AI500 due to abundance of targets; I end up having to reload GBBRs a lot and it takes a lot of time out of my day of pews when there are hundreds of targets to shoot! I've weighed up the pros and cons of each and for me it basically comes down to this: Visionking 1-8x26 +Larger objective lens +Prefer the reticle a little bit +Cheaper +More zoom -No warranty -Less options for scope rings because 35mm is a pain in the arse Vector Optics 1-6x24 +Lifetime warranty +Easier to find good quality 30mm rings -More expensive The number of pros for the Visionking are more, but that lifetime warranty and more availability for good quality scope rings is pretty big. I can make do with 6x zoom over 8x zoom, so that's not a massive issue, but I do prefer the reticle and the slightly larger objective lens, so weighing it up I just can't quite make a decision. Interested to hear your thoughts on the two of them. Alternatively, if there are any others that you recommend, I'm all ears, but it has to be 1x min zoom, be illuminated and have a good reticle that I can use for longer range / windy shooting.

Ah, the classic HPA vs AEG debate... Personally, especially for a first gun, I'd just go with an AEG. HPA setups are really expensive as you're either paying £800 for an MTW, or you're paying £400+ for a HPA engine to stick into an AEG, so it's probably going to end up about £600 there with no guarantee it will work amazingly well. Then you need a tank, line and regulator so that's another £100+ to add in. I'd much rather pick up an AEG plus a ML hop rubber and nub for a fraction of the price. When people say that they have a 1fps variance on their HPA setups, firstly it's more than possible to do that with AEGs (probably for cheaper), and secondly that level of consistency is entirely unnecessary; not saying people are wrong for chasing it, but you absolutely don't need it to be competitive and hit consistent, accurate shots. At the end of the day, we're shooting plastic balls at each other that weigh less than half a gram and all the consistency in the world won't stop Mother Nature from deciding that your shots shouldn't hit at times. Trust me, as a long time bolt action rifle user I've seen more than a few shots veer off target because of a rogue twig or gust of wind £500 for a first gun is a lot, so you should be able to get something really nice. If you're interested in AR-15 SPR style rifles, I'd advise looking at the Cyma Platinum range. My friend has a cm097, which is an AR-15 SPR style rifle, and it's really good out of the box. Makes a fantastic platform to work on, but doesn't actually need that much to make it shoot really well. A Maple Leaf macaron hop rubber and an omega nub is all it really needs, but a nice 6.02 ZCI barrel can help with voluming and would easily fit into your budget. I'd spend the rest on load bearing gear, a nice sling, an optic, mags, an Odin speedloader, batteries, BBs etc. There's plenty of other things that you could get to make your life easier beyond just the gun, and this is all assuming you already have spent out on good eye protection and a good set of boots. If you do eventually go down the GBBR route (a great route to go down, but definitely not for everyone), it'll still be great to have a solid AEG as a backup rifle, just in case of issues or cold winter temperatures making gas far less efficient.

I was very happy to see it. I was already going to move towards primarily using guns with MEDs even with the old DMR limit of 1.64J, so I'll be happy to keep my m14 and MWS tuned up to 1.88J instead.

With the 2024 'Namsoft season coming up, I'm going to spend a few skirmish games using my 'Nam kit to see what I can get away with and get comfortable with the kit, as health problems prevented me from playing at any games last year so it's been a while... This means no ghillie, but doesn't mean no concealment tactics whatsoever, so £4 slightly coloured Aliexpress scrim net is great for covering up the m700. Will also have another scrim net in my kit to drape over myself and will attach some elastic bands for natural vegetation to further blend in. Might also swap this scrim net for a different coloured one as the other one I have to drape over myself is better colour shades for summer time. Along with my M56 belt kit set up for .308 mags, and TM 1911 or classical Ruger .22 converted AAP, we'll see what I can get away with against all those modern kits, ghillie suits and high cap magazines at skirmish days; if it works then, it'll work at the 'Nam games! I would run the mac11 as a sidearm (looks close enough to a mac10 with the chonk suppressor), but the filmsim rules means no full-auto for anything outside an LMG, so the 1911 or AAP work better as secondaries as they're easier to carry and the mac11's main strength is that brrrrrrrrrrrt fun switch. And no, I'm not a stitch counter and will never be one; I'm all about the BB wars itself. If it's mostly fine and passes the 10m "does it look period accurate" sight test, then it's fine for me. Not that people usually see me in game anyway, since my entire game plan is to remain hidden; last Vietnam game I played at I hit about half a dozen GIs with a 1911 from a bush and they still couldn't find me, despite the GBB action

Wearing a shemagh or scrim net can help guard the neck/jawline area if you wear it as a scarf. Or you can wear it like a headscarf and it'll protect pretty much everything, but at the risk of getting hotter and sweating more.

Spends the mag in under 2 seconds, but it makes everyone nearby jump out of their skin 😂

That's another hotly debated topic as some people consider it cheating. Personally, if I see someone walking nonchalantly and their hand isn't in the air, they're getting a shot to the plate carrier. One of my friends is really good at doing this, walking nonchalantly with his rifle in hand past the enemy team and then shooting them in the back, and it's something we do at Vietnam filmsims as well, but with a hidden pistol tucked into the trousers and no rifle in hand. "No VC, civilian, civilian!" *blam blam blam*

Double post, because the sixG nub arrived. I managed to dig out a standard TM hop rubber that I think came from my other MWS, so I followed the advice on the sixG website and stuck the TM rubber in with the sixG nub. They say it can lift heavy weight BBs at DMR power with the stock TM hop rubber, so I will see if that's correct. Unfortunately, I can't test it until the Sunday after next, so now I have to play the waiting game. Will pack my 50 degree MR hop rubber as well just in case. At least the Modelworks mk12 front end is easier to remove than the standard front, so it's not too painful to get to the hop unit!

Now that I got a front strap from Japan and a metal suppressor from a chap on here, the mac11 is complete! Such a nasty little sniper secondary.

Just arrived from Japan, but I finally got around to getting a front strap for the mac11. Now I just need to get a replacement front sight as my one snapped off at some point (and they're not expensive to replace...)

Same as me, except I also use it when DMRing, though I play that the same as my bolt action and is why I would ideally still like to be able to ghillie with a DMR. I actually prefer the head, shoulders and cape over the full 360 suit including trousers, because a full 360 suit gets caught on absolutely everything and drags half the forest floor with me when I crawl around. As you say, head, shoulders and cape with a rifle wrap covers basically everything that needs covering. Cobra hood (which is still uncrafted...) and rifle wrap is for anything else, and I've pulled off some stupid sneaky spots in that setup, even in a plain black t-shirt and plain OD trousers...

First of all, that's a name I haven't seen since Arnies, but I know (I think?) I've picked your brain over Facebook over KJW m700 builds. You and your lot are the ones who got me into ghillie sniping back in 2007 - 2008ish Secondly, I wouldn't hate this either. The way my local site is going they're only allowing ghillies on bolt actions and DMRs, but regular AEG users can use a cobra hood, which is often more than enough and tends to be what I run during the summer anyway, paired with a crafted boonie. I don't tend to run trousers myself (gets caught too much for me, especially with how many brambles are at Worthing), so it wouldn't affect me so I'm likely a bit biased here too.

I get the feeling you're the kind of person who would argue that "well, you don't really need an airsoft gun to play airsoft" because at the end of the day you can run around with a rubber knife trying to sneak up on and knife kill everyone. Nobody is saying "you need a ghillie to hide", we're saying it makes it easier and at least in my... 17(ish) years of playing as a ghillie in airsoft, I have a lot of first-hand experience of that being the case.

Why is filmsim or milsim any different? I do Vietnam filmsim games every year at Gunman and I'm not seeing why a ghillie at a skirmish is any different to my time-appropriate scrim-net-covered-in-ferns-and-stuff approach at Vietnam games. At the end of the day, it all comes down to slinging plastic balls at each other with toy guns and trying to remain undetected. I'd argue that milsim has more concerns with concealment than ghillie suits alone because people own thermal imaging equipment and tend to bring them to milsims. Nobody would be foolish enough to do so at a skirmish though, because imagine if your multi-thousand pound piece of equipment gets shot out by a rental spraying full auto at you 😂

Could've fooled me...

Forgive me if it's been asked, because it undoubtedly has been asked somewhere in these 272 pages, but does anyone have ideas for a hop setup for heavy BBs? My retro CQBR is wonderful hopping .32s, but my mk12 is really struggling to lift .4s at 1.64J and just about manages it at 1.88J DMR limits, but I want to run .43s at 1.64J because Warhead do good BBs at good prices so I want to swap to using them, but they only do .32s or .43s, no .4s. For what I was thinking, I was considering a sixG nub (because I have actually yet to try one...) and something like a relatively soft Unicorn or ML MR bucking, maybe a 60 degree. At the moment I have tried the Jaeger Precision titan nub, which was really inconsistent, and a number of omega nubs (regular, 50 degree and 80 degree), all with a variety of ML MR buckings.

Continuing on from the How Did Your Airsoft Day Go? thread, there is definitely a debate going around about ghillies and leaf suits. With how easy they are now to get and the prevalence of certain big Youtubers, we definitely see a lot more of them now than we did in the past. Also, it used to be just snipers that used them, but now I think I've seen every "type" of airsoft gun in the hands of a ghillie (even LMGs!). While airsoft is a great game because everyone can play however they want, there has been discussion around ghillies and their use in airsoft. From what I can see, the issues that come from it are: Gameplay I'm not going to sugarcoat it, but a large number of ghillies ruins the game for other people. People get disheartened very quickly in airsoft when they leave spawn, head towards the objective and get picked off by some invisible foe. Then they respawn, go elsewhere and the same happens, then the same happens again, and again, and again. Not all ghillies are created equally in this regard and the gameplay can be fine, but it can also get really bad. I've seen a far greater tendency for ghillies to spawn camp, maybe because they can get away with it easier, or maybe because of certain airsoft content creators who get these people into ghillie sniping who do it a lot and present it as legitimate gameplay strategy. Hit taking It can be difficult to feel BB impacts, especially at range, through a heavily crafted ghillie suit. Speaking from experience it's usually pretty obvious when you've been hit unless you're running (though that happens without the ghillie as well), but some people use this excuse to try and get away with just not calling their hits and blatantly cheating. Availability You can buy a Sprinter Custom Ghillie setup and not have to put in any effort yourself. About £725 and you get a full ghillie including trousers and a rifle wrap that is hard-wearing and works wonders, even under IR light (it doesn't glow under nightvision. One of my friends has one and he has never crafted onto it and it works really well. With a little effort, you can cut the costs down a lot, getting something like a Webtex Concealment Vest and cable-tying pre-dyed materials like the KMCS crafting materials or the Novritsch stuff onto it. It's not hard, all it takes is a bit of time. This ease of acquisition increases the number of ghillies out there, as people no longer have to put in the effort they used to, shredding hessian sacks, dyeing the material in a bucket and then sewing it into BDUs or onto a concealment vest. Setups A ghillie suit, especially a well-crafted one, is typically a net positive. They're far lighter than they used to be, they're a lot more breathable and they're far easier to get a hold of. Yes, someone with crap fieldcraft will still be easily spotted and I do so enjoy hunting crappy ghillie players; standing in the open atop a hill with nothing behind you, or simply moving a lot will still get you spotted; it's not an invisibility cloak! However, you'd be seen in regular BDUs as well doing the same, but the difference is if you sit against a tree or a bush in BDUs you are more likely to be seen than someone doing the same in a ghillie. Back in the day, a ghillie tended to mean a bolt action rifle (when I say back in the day, my frame of reference is about 14 - 16 years ago), but nowadays that ghillie might have a totally silent MTW with 7 high caps, a wankergun trigger setup and some ungodly ROF full auto so you can no longer just overwhelm with numbers like you used to as they will just hose everyone down and still possibly go completely undetected I've probably missed a beat, but this is from my perspective as a long time ghillie sniper. I've been doing it since about 2007, so I would like to think I have a lot of experience being the bush (or the grass). There may be things I've missed from the other side of it. As I said earlier, there has to be some concessions now as the combination of these four things above can lead to really crappy gameplay that is just not fun for the majority of players. Furthermore, being a victim of this style of play will make some people quit, but is more likely to make more players start to bleed into this style of gameplay, further increasing the issues. Not everyone wants to wear a ghillie though, and will continue to be a victim of this gameplay because airsoft isn't purely about skirmish. Some players enjoy impression kit, putting together a loadout that perfectly mirrors a real-world unit or time period. Some players enjoy the general dress-up aspect of the hobby and will wear camo that may not work well, but it looks great with their kit. Some players enjoy playing speedy and don't want a ghillie suit snagging on stuff and dragging half the forest floor with them. Some people just... don't like ghillies. All of these are valid playstyles and shouldn't feel oppressed because someone has spent £725 on a full SCG suit and wrap, then also spent £1000 on some swanky MTW setup. It's not quite to the same level, but it's getting closer to the "NVG/thermal vs no NVG/thermal during night games" debate (though I definitely still think that NVGs/thermals are more pay-to-win than ghillies) Anyway, I've rambled enough about problems, because we Brits love to complain about stuff; it's like a national past-time. So, what about solutions? I've got these ones off the top of my head, but there are definitely more possible solutions out there Restrict ghillies to BASRs or DMRs This is the solution that I think works best. If you know that a ghillie is going to have a 30m MED and be very limited on rate of fire, you know that you can overwhelm them with numbers. Also, a lot of people don't like playing with BASRs, and some sites have really, really unfavourable DMR rules (Gunman for example has a 1.48J DMR limit with a 30m MED), so this will also lower the number of players who will go with a ghillie. Yes, there are some intricacies that could be exploited with this. For example, someone can carry a lightweight VSR on a sling and then some sort of HPA mp5k, so it might be a case of also ruling that it has to be a pistol secondary. A full auto GBB like an AAP-01 is very audible and the consistency is crap unless you HPA it (still audible though), a full auto AEP is just as audible as an AEG and a NBB mk23 is quiet, but absolutely sucks for fast shooting, so there are plenty of trade-offs with pistol options. Some sites limit it to just BASRs (like Imperium in Kent), but I think letting DMRs have ghillies as well is fair as you still have that MED to deal with and plenty of real-world snipers use semi-auto platforms, so immersion airsofters like me will still like to have the option to run something like an SR-25 at DMR power and play just like a sniper. I think there's a balancing act here with ruling against fringe cases, but also not over-complicating things as plenty of airsofters either don't like to think, or just aren't very good at it 😂 Limit ghillies You could have limited spaces available to book on a game day for ghillies. Sold separately and no walk-ons. I think this would be really difficult to implement and enforce, but it would put a hard limit on the amount of ghillies in a game. Most milsims will have this because they limit ghillies to only snipers and their paired spotter and have a hard cap on the number of snipers at an event, but I think for skirmish games this would be a mess. Ban all ghillies I mean... it'd solve the problem, right? I personally don't think this is the way forward though as there are plenty of players who legitimately love playing the ghillie sniper role and do so without issue.

Playing Vietnam airsoft really forces you to have good fieldcraft. Ambushing GIs in all black, which doesn't blend in well in a woodland at all, requires good fieldcraft for sure. Saying that, I'm putting a bit more olive into my VC kit... EDIT: I've made another thread to continue the ghillie discussion, so we don't take over this thread

Obligatory "oMg nOvrITsCH gNUs ARe sHiT!" Anyway, now that's over, the SSG10 is basically a cost-effective VSR that will perform decently well out of the box. Sure, there are a bunch of upgrades you can do, but they aren't too necessary if you don't want to. TDC is a good shout, as I don't know what the hop unit in the SSG10 is like, but the standard VSR one is crap and the Action Army one is a pain in thearse to adjust. TDC is a good shout and isn't too pricey, maybe a hop rubber to go with it as that's also not too pricey. Also, yes, they're super lightweight. It's probably the best thing about the VSR platform (besides the copious amount of aftermarket parts available)

Yeah, one of the owners pulled three of us regular ghillies aside and asked our opinion on it and cited Imperium as an example of a site that does bolt action only. Nobody really runs DMRs at Worthing because the rules aren't that great and the site doesn't lend itself well to them with how many twiggy bits are everywhere; only a handful of us are stupid enough to DMR

Today was more of a testing day, but it turned out to be fantastic. Was at Worthing Airsoft for the first game of the year where I... actually felt like the weather was nice. Sun was out and it was about 15 celcius for most of the day, which was absolute bliss. Camo paint on my face again to avoid wearing too much and sweating and fogging up my glasses and it worked well as I didn't get all sweaty at all. The only downside was that it was pretty damn breezy with average wind speeds in the late 20s of mph, so every shot I took was curving pretty nastily. Ah well, it's all good practice. I took a small armoury to the site today with both of my MWSs, my HPA VSR and my KJW m700 as a "if nothing works, I have this" option. The plan was to use my AAP-01 (which hasn't been shot in about a year) and the HPA VSR, as I felt like sniping and I needed to make sure it was shooting well now that it has a 303mm inner barrel with the rest of the 510mm bull barrel filled with foam like a massive 200mm internal suppressor. Used some Silverback foam that fitted perfectly and came in two different internal diameters, so it was large, small, large, small etc. to get the best effect. Oh boy did it work well. I played for the morning, which was one massive game with a LOT of objectives all over the site and that went on until lunch. Took a conservative position under a holly bush overlooking the path, the exact same one I took last game day, and the results were similar. I hit a lot of people and singlehandedly held back about 7 or 8 very determined players who kept coming back to the checkpoint to try and get me. Apparently they were getting rather irate at me and were saying "oh I'm hitting him and he's not taking it" as one of my friends was also there (on the other team) and laughing because he knew where I was and knew they wouldn't be hitting from where they were. Shooting into a holly bush is a pain in the arse, but shooting out of a holly bush is a lot easier. Anyway, I eventually got taken out as I was completely surrounded, couldn't relocate and eventually got shot from behind, so I went back to respawn and rejigged my mags. Empties in the belt kit pouch, full ones in the stock pouch for easy access (I'd gone through 2 of my 6 mags in that spot). I returned and everyone was huddling around our base as they suspected the other team were going to attack, so I decided to crawl into a very sneaky spot under a fallen tree as I wasn't about to push out with my bolt action while all the AEGs were playing passive. It worked out super well as I got a whole load of people from that spot too, including one of my friends who walked right past me and I shot him in the ankle with my pistol. It was amusing as I was taking people out while the enemy team were pretty much on top of me, but nobody could hear the VSR. I was pleasantly surprised that nobody heard the two GBB shots I took with the pistol either. The only frustrating part was that the enemy team did eventually take our base and stole our objectives, then didn't take the hits when I shot them in the back as they were running out with them. It's frustrating, but I'm not going to start going on a tirade about cheating because honestly they probably didn't feel it. Running in the same direction as my shots were coming in and a few of them were backpack hits, so while I don't blame them for it, it's still frustrating. Oh well. My friend eventually came up again and shot me in the back (flanked all the way around the site to get me ), so I headed back to respawn again. I'd gone through about 4 of my mags in total, but the game was basically over. Patrolled around a bit more but didn't shoot anyone else. Was a very fun game, but the spawns were a bit too close together as my only criticism. After lunch I set up the two MWSs, the mk12 as a DMR and the retro build CQBR as a regular rifle. The mk12 needs a bit of work as it wasn't too happy, so I'm going to try a unicorn rubber and sixG nub next, but the retro CQBR build was absolutely phenomenal. Very happy with that and not touching it now. Also I finally zeroed the red dot on my AAP; it's going to take some getting used to as I've always shot with iron sights on pistols, but it's ridiculously easy to shoot accurately with a zeroed red dot on a pistol. I finally get what all those guntubers were talking about when it comes to red dots on pistols... Also, I heard that there were some issues with hit taking through the day. There were some ghillies on the other team with HPA m4s who were laughable in their hit taking, one of them got lit up by an LMG in front of a marshall and didn't call it. We've had similar issues in the past, so what this has caused now is that at Worthing Airsoft they're going to change the rules for ghillies; now if you want to use a ghillie, you have to have a bolt action or DMR. Personally, I really like this rule and could talk for days on why I do, but that's for another time. I remember I had a chat with @Hatchet last game day at Worthing about this exact topic, so... there we go. Problem solved Really looking forward to the next few months of airsoft. The weather is getting better, it's lighter for longer, the sun is higher in the sky and the weight is still coming off. 11kg down from the start of the year and I'm really feeling it. Could've easily played all day today as I wasn't at all tired despite still being pretty overweight (about 35kg more to lose), but I had to set up my MWSs, partially because the short retro MWS build is coming with me to the 'Namsoft games coming up in a few months. Roll on next game day already!

I'm a massive advocate for bipods, but on something lightweight like a VSR it isn't worth it. As @Hatchet said, it almost doubles the weight, or at least it feels like it because it massively shifts the weight of the rifle because it's lightweight by itself, so a large lump of metal near the front makes it front heavy and nasty to handle. For heavier stuff like M14s it's worth it because they're heavier, so harder to hold up for long periods of time anyway, and also because they're heavier the bipod doesn't have such a massive impact on the balance of the rifle, but I wouldn't put one on a VSR unless you get the heavier Maple Leaf stock; the regular stock and receiver setup's strength is that it's so light. The sand sock has been used in the military for a long time. It's basically just a sock that is filled with sand and then tied off so it's a good rifle rest. I liked @concretesnail's idea of getting a tear-off pouch and filling it with soft stuff and then using that as a rest, as that's likely going to be fairly lightweight and can be worn on a belt kit or chest rig so you won't feel the weight much anyway, but will give you a steady place to rest your rifle when in a hide position. Glad to hear the lad enjoyed running around with a bolt action, even one that was under-powered and still saddled with an MED; it's a very satisfying way of playing for sure! I would actually focus on the rifle before going for a ghillie though, as he'll learn better camo and concealment fieldcraft if he doesn't get reliant on a ghillie suit. It's amazing what you can do with good camo and concealment skills while wearing regular DPM, or even just flat olive drab! I see a lot of ghillie snipers who have awful fieldcraft and they're incredibly easy to counter-snipe. Having a rifle that performs well is always useful though and I'm sure he'll appreciate it when he's able to reach out to 75m with decent accuracy.

If you're unsure at your local site, I'd just speak with the marshalls and clarify. I can't imagine they'd saddle you with an MED if you're shooting at 1.14J or lower, but they may decide to because they're lazy they don't want to have people running around with 2.3J sniper rifles point-blanking people and then claiming "no, I'm at 1J". Typically "AEG", "DMR" and "Sniper Rifle" are more classifications than actual RIF types. I've never been told at any site or event I've been to (outside of AI500) that I can't use a bolt action rifle at 1.14J or lower and then shoot up close like everyone else. For example, when I play Vietnam filmsim events at Gunman, they have a sniper ban during the summer where DMRs and sniper rifles are banned because the ferns grow high and it's harder to find angles without creeping into your MED. However, they still allow me to use my m700, very much a bolt action rifle with a scope on it, as long as I set it to 1.14J or under, because at that point it's just the same as anyone's AEG, just a lot quieter, typically more accurate and more satisfying to hunt GIs with I've never been to a site or event that has told me I still have to have an MED if I have a bolt action rifle (or a gun that looks and acts like a DMR) at 1.14J or under. At some sites a 1.14J bolt action is far more useful, like Gunman Eversley during the summer due to their sniper ban, and also my local Worthing Airsoft as while they don't have a ban, the site becomes even more woodland CQB during the summer because of how much it bushes up. The only difference was AI500. They didn't let me bring one of my 1.14J bolt actions to the shopping centre one for no other reason apart from they said "no sniper rifles", even though it was under the power limits and actively would've made my life more difficult (CQB with a bolt action is a challenge, but a thrill!). They also had a moan at me at the Citadel one when I brought my m21 because it looks like a sniper rifle, but I said "it's an m14 with a scope. It's just a battle rifle and the power is under 1.14J" and so they didn't stop me from using it. So that's the only example I have of a site/event classing guns based on how the action works / what they look like. Also, it can go the other way (somewhat). I've seen people running arp9s with drum mags as "DMRs" because they're locked to semi-auto and the power is higher, though most events and some regular sites will specify that a DMR has to be a RIF based on a real-world DMR, like an m14, SR-25, mk12 etc. DMR rules are the thing that varies the most from site to site, as they could be 1.48J, 1.64J or 1.88J depending on the site, some sites mandate a stock, some sites require specific RIFs like I said earlier.

I've never had any real issues with Evike and I sometimes use them for weird, niche parts for my weird, niche guns (looking at you, KJW m700...). That is not to say I don't have any issues, but the issues I do have don't tend to be too bad. The UPS experience does sound similar to what I've had. Have to fill in lots of paperwork for things that by law don't require any paperwork and then get extorted for money in admin fees, VAT and import duty. What helps to cut down the cost if you're patient enough is to order from Evike Europe, and if they don't have the part on their website you can request an item from the US website to go onto the Europe website, though that generally takes a few months. Will still take the same length of time to arrive, as they ship a lot of stuff from their US warehouse anyway, but the shipping is cheaper and if you order over €150 the shipping is free (still get stung on taxes and fees when it comes into the UK though). I'm at least part of the reason there's a bunch of m700 parts on their Europe website because I requested them in advance of me needing them