Impulse

I have a friend who has ordered one and a bunch of spare mags, both green gas and co2. He's been waiting for it for the better part of a year and has been really looking forward to it coming out. I've got my fingers crossed for him that it's good, because they're incredibly expensive! Makes my MTW 308 look cheap by comparison ?

I have four DMRs myself, so I'll give my two cents on your options. If you want to go for a DMR there are a few options: AEG - Probably best "bang for your buck" option, but hardest in my opinion to build. Can get a pretty well working AEG DMR for a good price (though a good price is still probably at least £500 all in). I'd advise getting a RIF with a quick change spring system though, as DMR limits vary between 1.48J, 1.64J, 1.88J and very rarely 2.32J across the country. Hardest to build because there's a lot that goes into building a good AEG DMR that you have to manage, like gear ratios, air volume and cylinder to barrel ratios, motors, durable gears and pistons, and gearboxes are annoying to work on. I have a Cyma SR-25 and it's a very nice DMR platform, since it has a v2.5 gearbox which has more air volume than most standard gearboxes, and air volume is important for long-barreled rifles. However, it is in a box under my bed because I never use it and don't have space to have everything out, so while I think AEG DMRs are great, I personally don't like them much. If you're looking for an AEG DMR, I'd suggest the Cyma SR-25, but it depends on what kind of guns you like. In terms of functionality, I'd look for something with plenty of upgrade potential, but also a quick change spring system. Outside of that, the world is your oyster. HPA - Probably the easiest option, is the quietest, they're a piece of cake to tweak, but it's also pretty expensive. In my MTW, all I've got is an upgraded barrel, hop unit, rubber and nub in it, but otherwise it's stock, and all I have to do for the power is adjust the regulator. You can also get an AEG and replace the internals of the gearbox with an HPA engine. This takes a little bit of installation, but it's still easier to do than working on a gearbox, however it is still very expensive. I have a Wolverine MTW 308 and it's one of my favourite guns in my entire collection, but I also have a TM m14 that I converted from AEG to HPA by replacing the gearbox internals with an HPA engine If I was going to recommend an HPA DMR, I'd say the MTW. 308 or regular, it doesn't matter, they're the same internally. GBBR - Probably the most fun option and sometimes doesn't require too many upgrades to make a great DMR, but it's also expensive (magazines are horrendously pricey), requires a good understanding of how gas guns work, it's loud and it's the least consistent. There are some really good platforms for setting up a GBBR DMR, and don't typically need too many internal upgrades if you go for a good quality GBBR like the TM MWS, but the magazines will cost you around £50 or more per magazine and they'll weigh a lot and be very low capacity when it comes to BBs. However, it will make you grin when you fire it because it's a lot of fun! I have a TM MWS that I have built as a mk12 mod1 and run as a DMR and it's a LOT of fun. Even though of all my DMRs it's the least practical, it's probably my 2nd most used one, only the MTW gets more use and part of that is because the UK is cold for half the year and GBBRs don't do as well in the cold. If I was going to recommend a GBBR DMR, I'd say the MWS with some fancy externals or a conversion kit to make it long barreled Pistol carbines - Probably the option I hate, but it's an option. You can get something like a mk23 pistol and put it in a carbine kit to turn it into a DMR. It's pretty easy to get a mk23 shooting at DMR power; all you do is have a longer barrel to allow it to joule creep heavier ammo to the correct power, and the upgrades for it are usually fairly easy to install (hop rubber, h-plate, TDC and barrel really...). I'm not best to talk about this though because I don't have one. I have two mk23s and I will never put either of them in a carbine kit! If I was going to recommend a pistol carbine kit abomination, I'd say the mk23 with... some sort of carbine kit. I don't really know what's out there, but it's a good pistol for it. Wank trigger pull though...

Can't go wrong with a TM 1911, though they will struggle during the winter due to the small mags. They're the most efficient, but there's only so much gas the smaller 1911 mags can hold. That said, I think @Cannonfodder brings up a good point. How much use is it going to get? I'm biased towards spending a good amount on pistols because I tend to use guns with MEDs, so my pistols get a lot of use (sometimes more than the rifle!), but for most people they just sit in a holster all day. I typically only see pistols getting taken out to perform the ritual shooting of puddles while walking out to the gameplay area or back towards the safe zone, or shooting your friends in the back at respawn for fun; you know, the typical uses of airsoft pistols for most people. In that case, I wouldn't spend out on the TM and I'd get something cheaper, but also metal, and just use red or black gas if it gets too cold. On the specifics I couldn't advise you though, as while I own 3 1911s, 2 are TM and 1 is a long out of production wall-hanger that doesn't function that well as an airsoft gun, but looks lovely.

If there weren't weird legs because it's a futon, I probably could! Under there is... a Cyma SR-25, a TM VSR, an Evolution m40a3, a TM NGRS 416D and a Cyma springer breacher shotgun, as well as the empty box for my SRS and a bunch of spare VSR parts. I live in a very small room with way too much airsoft stuff and no space for it all

Not quite finished, but it'll do for now. I need to do a Brownells order to get a magpul angle grip, bipod and QD sling point, all m-lok direct mounts, but for now a few picatinny segments and the accessories from my mk12 MWS will do the job. At a glance it doesn't even look like an HPA gun. Alas, the 3d printed tournament lock on the "buffer tube" and the MTW markings are what gives it away

I'd rather build an AAP for €170, or just get a TM anything. But I'm sure this pistol will be okay and people will buy it because I see a hell of a lot of Novritsch stuff around on skirmish days.

it's a shame hearing this about Battle Lakes (well, that it isn't more popular!) since I was planning on making some trips there once I have my driving license. Can't make it there as it stands, but I've always liked the sound of it, and the other Gunman site I've been to (Eversley Alpha) is really well run and managed. I hope it's still around by the time I finally get a car

I just got back from playing most of today at Worthing Airsoft. It started poorly, as the MTW was splurging BBs all over the place for some reason. Also a slight metallic twang sound coming from the tank every time I pull the trigger, but not on the co2 bulbs so I think I may just stick with those. Was still stupidly inconsistent though, BBs going everywhere and the power was all over the place, so I'm going to take that apart and replace the hop rubber, then see if it's still acting up. It was shooting absolutely fine until I put it to 1J (when it was also shooting fine) but as soon as I put it back to 1.88J and took it to the field it was really inconsistent (literally about 0.2J difference from highest to lowest!) so something needs doing there. Will take a look at that over the next two weeks. So I then moved onto the VSR, which was hot. Clocked in at 2.5J, so I unscrewed the airbrake a bit (Stalker piston has an adjustable airbrake), but then while it went below power it lost all consistency, so that will be kept aside for a rainy day when I can sit on the range and obsessively set that piston up for 2.3J on a .48. What's disappointing about it is that it's incredibly loud though, even with the Stalker piston with the cup head and an airbrake. The only noise it makes is the piston slamming forward and my god is it noisy. Maybe I'm just spoiled with my gas bolt actions and how silent they are, as well as my SRS, but the VSR felt really loud. Got my friend to shoot it while I walked 20m onto the range and while I couldn't hear the report at all as it's internally suppressed, so all I heard was the thwip as the BB passed me, but I could still hear the damned piston slam. So... SRS. That was the third gun I brought with me and fortunately it was working decently. I haven't installed the Stalker parts in that yet as I was buying them from a friend at Worthing and only just managed to link up with him, so I will also do that over the next two weeks, but for now the current setup was working well enough. Used the hi-capa as well, still with the metal slide on as it's still over 10 celcius, but I think soon I will have to swap as at the end of the day when I squeezed through all my mags, it started to struggle towards the end (the temperature had dropped by this point). I also decided to not test the new Novritsch mk23 magazines, as by this point I just wanted to get out and play. Haven't been playing recently and just got back into it and wanted to play as much as possible and I already missed half the morning. Anyway, after all that, I headed out on blue team. It was a multi-objective game, so I headed to my favourite spot that overlooked the checkpoint because there were three flip cans there. I laid there for a while, but there was no activity and I saw our team pushing quite far up, so I moved to a barricade I like. However, I still didn't see anyone from here, so after a brief chat with another friend I pushed up again to another spot I liked that was right next to a puddle and had a great line of sight down a path that would eventually lead to their spawn, but I was pretty damn far off from this (probably about 150m and with trees in the way) so it was fine. I had a great series of play here, as they made a massive push to a bunker that a rental was hiding behind, but me and another ghillie sniper had a crossfire and ended up protecting this poor rental from the dozen or so players who pushed to him. Unfortunately, when the dust settled, the poor rental was a casualty; mission failed, we weren't able to protect him! ? Anyway, after that push it felt like yellow team gave up. I remained in that position for a time, taking out a few more of them, but eventually got bored and pushed up again. At this point, I got into a position further down the path. At this point I said to the marshall who was standing nearby that I wasn't going to push any further up because much more and I'd end up shooting into their spawn. The marshalls were stopping the blues from pushing up much further than me because it felt like blue team were bullying the yellow team and any further up and it would've started to be spawn camping. As time ran out and lunch came around, it was no surprise that blue team won, and the marshalls said they'd swap some people over. So after lunch they swapped me, another experienced ghillie and a group of 4 fast-paced aggressive players onto yellow team, especially since a bunch of the yellows from the morning had gone home. First game after lunch was an attack and defend on the chapel building near the tower base and we definitely started on the favourable side. I had a rental do the rental thing of blatently not taking his hits when I hit him square in the mask as he was walking behind a building, instead he just tucked in. I kept watch and when he poked out again I shot him in the arm and he just tucked in again. I know he felt it because it was only about 35 - 40m away and this is a 2.3J bolt action slinging .45s (still got a few of the free ones I got since my SRS order was so screwed left before I go back to the .48s). The spot I was in was pretty strong and while I didn't get masses of action, I got enough and managed to take out quite a few people while remaining completely undetected along with the other experienced ghillie who got moved over. The blue team even managed to take the chapel at one point, as well as the tower building after one of my friends on the other team cleared a bunch with a grenade and then cleared the building with his pistol, but he then got friendly fired and between that and us two holding off any blues who then tried to push up, the yellows managed to get back to reinforce it and so we won this one. We then switched ends and came at it from the other side. I managed to get into a spot that I really shouldn't have been able to get into. I crawled from a usually hotly contested corner to behind a barricade, then when nobody was looking I managed to crawl even further forward. It was such a great spot and I started taking names, but then... I got friendly fired. This was the only time I got hit all day and it was really annoying since that was such a good spot to get into and wasn't the easiest to get to. I hurried back and once again, crawled back into my spot as our team was doing a decent job holding the blues back, so I managed to get back in there. Again, had a great time from this spot and, despite my initial thoughts that we would actually lose this time, we managed to take home the win. Next game was a three base domination. Went back to the same spot as I went to in the first game after lunch, as one of the bases was the tower base and my spot from watching chapel was also good to defend the tower. Here is where I came across another rental doing rental things, or perhaps even the same one, it's hard when they're all wearing the same face masks and DPM jackets! I hit him in the stomach as he went to move behind a barricade, he looked around and tucked in behind the barricade, started blind firing around the corner and then eventually when he moved out to get a better look I shot him in the nuts. He definitely felt that one as he doubled over, but again just scurried behind the barricade rather than hand up and walking off. Didn't get too many shots off in this game as there was very little activity from the blue team trying to take the tower base, but the few chancers who tried to sneak up for a sneaky base capture met with the business end of the SRS. We did lose this one, as while we held two out of three bases almost all game, one of my friends on blue ran into one of them like a lunatic (the same guy who cleared the chapel in the earlier game) and cleared it out and captured it for blue. We then switched ends and I got a lot more action than I initially thought. I followed a group of rentals on our team up the path towards the tower, the one that I usually cover and love to pick people off along, but with 6 rentals in front of me I was confident one of them would get hit first and I could quickly dart into the heavy foliage to our left. This indeed happened, as one rental got a burst of full auto. I actually kept low and darted along the side, using barricades and trees as concealment to get into a position on the corner. I actually took an angle I don't usually take, as I noticed I could see through the middle of this really thick coppice and draw some really nice lines of fire by playing angles around this narrow gap. Managed to get a lot more shots off than I thought and the silence of the SRS played a huge role in this. Nobody knew where the shots were coming from because it was very hard to see me from the other side as long as I didn't make sudden movements, and the SRS is so quiet that they couldn't hear the shots either. I had a guy who was watching the exact coppice I was behind for pretty much the entire game! Towards the end, the other experienced ghillie pushed up to where I was as well and between us we took out a whole lot of people, but we couldn't thin out enough for others to push in, as everyone else who was pushing up was getting taken out from angles that we couldn't shoot. Eventually a blue player pushed down right at the end and I took him out with my hi-capa, then just happened to raise up and take out the guy who was watching for the whole game just as the other experienced ghillie started to move and the guy started shooting at him. I managed to take the guy out before he could hit the other ghillie, but by this point there were like... 10 seconds left. We also lost this one as blues held two bases, which was what I was expecting. Anyway, all in all it was a good day considering how it started with multiple gun failures, including my very pricey MTW just deciding it didn't want to work properly despite working flawlessly last game day when I had it set up at 1.1J, and flawlessly before that when I had it at 1.88J. The gameplay was good. It wasn't too chilly, but it was a bit breezy. Most importantly, it didn't rain at all! Ghillie cape + boonie worked really well, as did my radio setup, though my friend who I am usually on radio with didn't play because neither of his guns were working (SRS was too hot and mp9 was being finicky in the cold), but I still wore my comms setup because it's good to get used to it, and it's easier than unthreading it from the molle on my kit. I might move to using a chest rig again as I have one set up for .308, but for now I think I'm fine with how my gear is. If I did move to a chest rig, I might be able to use two pistols, a mk23 on my hip and hi-capa as a cross draw. Now I'm very tired, so I won't be doing any work on the MTW or SRS this evening, but yes, good day was had!

Just received 5x SSX23 magazines for my mk23. But why did I buy them if I already have 5 STTI magazines that work just fine? Because I hate pins, and I am moving to propane so I don't want to deal with mk23 magazine maintenance on the regular with those goddamn pins! The new Novritsch mags have screws in the baseplate instead, much like a hi-capa, 1911 or p226 mag (guess which other pistols I tend to use...)

I think I will finally get some once I have my next eye test at the optician. Heard only good things about these, and the prescription lenses they partnered with in America are Z87+ rated, which is more than enough for airsoft use. My prescription doesn't change much, so I'd probably go all out and get some really nice prescription lenses in the rx inserts and hopefully wave goodbye to fogging issues forever. One can hope.

I can't get a photo of mine because I live in a small room in a shared house, so a lot of my collection is actually put away in their boxes and I flat out wouldn't have the space to lay them all out in the small amount of space I have, even laying out the ones I use regularly isn't possible with the tiny space I have. I've got 40 in total including pistols (I have quite a few pistols because I tend to play roles with an MED). I'm glad you posted this because it makes me feel better and that I'm not excessive, as a lot of my friends have less than 10 in total and I often feel like I've got way too many. I'll probably have a wall for them when I have my own house, but in today's economy I feel that gets less likely by the day

I wouldn't say it's too young, but yes, most sites start at 12 years old and that's with a parent present, however one of my local sites in the south also starts at 10+. That being said, I've seen some kids at my local airsoft sites who are definitely under 12 and I assume they lie about their age when they sign up, much like I'm sure a lot of people in this country have lied before about being old enough to get an alcoholic drink! If you don't have any sites near you that he can play at until he's 12, it might be worth highlighting that to him and asking if he still wants one or would rather get one next year, ready to start on his 12th birthday, or even for his 12th birthday. Alternatively, if he does really want one, you could always get one and then shoot targets or run drills with him. I think I started shooting at about 9 years old myself, when my parents bought me an air rifle and taught me all about firearm safety and also how to shoot, and I didn't start airsoft until I was 14. I would just sit in the garden with my father and we'd shoot cans on the weekend sometimes.

Another vote for the Earmor m20. It's a pair of in-ear hearing protection and they charge by USB in a little case much like wireless headphones do, so they're super easy. Only downside I found with them is I can't run comms at the same time.

It's amazing how some people don't understand how sources work. If a source asks for anonymity, you give them anonymity. It's journalism ethics 101 and there are legal protections around it. Also, someone in TAD posted a meme that made me literally laugh out loud. At work. In the office. People looked and thought I was weird, so now I'm sharing it with you

Sorry, those are the ones I tend to use and so aren't on the chopping block. Mostly just thinking of getting rid of... essentially everything else

I'm more prone to spend a lot on guns, so doing a £2k MTW build including all the real-steel external bits isn't a stretch but it is my most expensive build for sure; most of my gun builds tend to be under just under £1000ish, maybe just over if a GBBR because those mags are expensive, and pistols tend to be around £300 - £400 as I tend to obsess over my guns and tweak them as perfectly as I can. But when it comes to other gear I don't have any night vision or thermal stuff, I tend to buy scopes from Aliexpress (expensive ones there for £250ish, but nothing like real-steel optics as I don't think they're needed), my ghillies are all crafted for cheap and while I like to buy decent quality load bearing kit (and have to because cheap stuff just isn't designed for 6'5 people), my Warrior Assault Systems stuff isn't too expensive in the grand scheme of things. I think my plate carrier setup probably totals to just over £300ish, belt kits were probably about £150 each as I have one for standalone and one for with a plate carrier or chest rig. Outside of that, my two split chest rigs were definitely sub £100 each as they're Condor with mostly 8fields pouches. That said, I am considering selling just over half of my gun collection since I don't use a lot of it... I counted up today and it turns out I have 41 guns including pistols, and I think I actually use about 19 of them, 7 of which are pistols because most of my other guns that I use regularly have MEDs

My go-to stuff is: Flamingo 60d bucking Jaeger Precision Titan nub Stalker Morpheus barrel (to length, so 250mm in my CQBR and 510mm in my mk12 and my planned m16) Some sort of NPAS. At the moment I have Ra-Tech ones, but will be trying the Jaeger Precision ones soon(ish) Outside of that, it tends to be a case of if it ain't broken, don't fix it. I just keep the stock parts until they break (they haven't broken yet)

That lasted long ? Give me a few months and I'll hopefully be in the same position, just in time for something new and shiny to come out and me to also go back on it

I think they revealed the engine at the same time as the MTW-308. To me it isn't a shotgun, just a really big burst fire, and it's going to 100% be a massive wankergun

I found it didn't hop heavy enough BBs in my mk12 build, so I've moved over to Jaeger Precision Titan nub and a Flamingo hop rubber. That combination seems to work really well for me and outperforms the sixG + stock bucking setup at least in my MWSs.

First normal game day back after surgery (I played AI500 last weekend, but this is my first regular skirmish day back) and... Mother Nature is having a laugh at my expense. Absolutely tipped it down in the morning during the brief and the initial getting stuff ready time, eased off a little for the gameplay, though it was still raining a decent amount, and then it absolutely tipped it down again after lunch. I'm not a cold and wet weather airsofter. I'll happily play when it's overly warm and 25 celcius or more, but when it gets cold I am no good, and when it gets wet it makes sniping a real pain with how wet scopes get and how hard it is to see through them. I brought the SRS and MTW with me today, with the hi-capa and mk23 as pistols, and decided to go with the SRS + hi-capa combo. I also made the decision last night to not pack my usual sniping ghillie setup with the cape and boonie and opted instead to bring my cobra hood so that I could wear it over my gore-tex CCE waterproof jacket and that was a fantastic decision as I remained largely dry all day! Anyway the first game was a king of the hill game at a base that is... not the best for sniping. My friend decided to head more towards the objective, so I held the flank instead and marveled as my cobra hood did its job rather well. A sneaky yellow-team player managed to get all the way around and started shooting people in the back. Took a bit of time for me to make sure he was actually a yellow player and not just a trigger happy blue as his armband was on his opposite arm so I couldn't see it, but I did eventually manage to see his armband and took him out with the hi-capa. He walked right past me and didn't see where I was! I managed to take a few players out who decided to try the flank but my efforts swiftly dissuaded the yellow team from pushing along there and it got quiet, though I did manage to take out an enemy sniper about 10m in front of me as I saw the foliage moving unnaturally and just waited for him to move into a spot where I could get him with the hi-capa; I could hear his rifle shots and he did take out quite a few blues from his spot, but eventually he moved and I took him out! However this showed me reasons #1 and #2 as to why I'm not a huge fan of this SRS. Reason #1 is the bolt pull; it is horrendous and I had to be really careful about when I pulled the bolt back as the movement would definitely get me spotted unlike my gas m700s where I can pull the bolt back very slowly and deliberately to where people won't see me doing so even if looking directly at me. I would not get away with that with the SRS! And reason #2 was that rain got into the hop rubber. This is an issue on my gas m700s as well to be fair, but the SRS is even worse with how exposed the hop rubber is to the elements. It just stopped hopping well at all and I had to crank the hop up to lift .45s. Lost a bit of consistency as well, with the occasional shot flying wide. Regardless, blue team won that because we had a bunch of people sprint for the objective at the start and then locked it down before the yellow team could get there, so we held it the entire game. I'll never be one of the initial sprinters, but having those players on a team is such an advantage against us walkers. Hey, I have a bolt action and a ghillie, I have an excuse to move slowly! ? Second game was a multi-objective game and I really enjoyed it. Managed to get into a very forward position, but with how blurry my scope was, how dark the woodland was, and how rubbish my now-wet hop rubber was being, I couldn't get many shots from that spot. However, I got a couple trying to use the ridge line on our right as a staging point, but eventually one spotted me and while I took him out with the hi-capa, he very much knew where I was so I knew it was time to move. I managed to sneak my way out of my spot and headed back to re-organise my magazines. I also realised reason #3 as to why I'm not a huge fan of this SRS; two of my magazines aren't feeding properly. Fortunately I'm used to having low round count so I could make do with the 3x SRS mags that worked. Anyway, I repositioned to a spot I had scoped out last month when I was still on blood thinners and using the lunch times to look for spots, so it was my first time using this spot and it worked an absolute charm. I could easily pick people out of a bunker about 50m to my front, cover the path to the left of them, and also I was concealed enough that the few who pushed to the ridge line and tried to use that just... didn't spot me. One player came up on our flank there and absolutely wrecked about 5 or 6 blue players with his pump shotty, but he didn't spot me lying about 10m in front of him, so I remained completely still until he looked away, at which point I picked up the hi-capa and took him out. He had a giggle about it as I wasn't even behind anything, just lying completely still and not silhouetting as there was a pile of logs to my other side. By this point, however, I realised that my hi-capa wasn't hopping now either as I'm sure some rainwater had now got to that hop rubber as well. I burned through most of my ammo from this spot, picking people off with my SRS through my rather blurry scope and remained there until the game was over. During lunch I put the SRS and hi-capa away and swapped over to the MTW and mk23, however after I made sure it was chrono'd fine (it's still 1.1J because I have a Halloween night game next weekend that I want to use it for) and shooting well on the range, I was about to head back out... and then that's when the heavens opened up again. At that point I was like "you know what... I'm not going out in that" and hung around the safe zone chatting to people under some cover. My friend came back after about 30 mins, absolutely soaked, and we decided to pack our stuff away as the rain abated for a little. It picked back up, so it was the right thing to do, but not as heavy as it was when I was about to head out! Anyway, I'm really happy to be back playing airsoft, but this SRS isn't it. My MTW is probably going to be my go-to for the winter and I'll put it back up to 1.88J after the night game next weekend, but I'm also going to revisit a spring VSR build and give that a spruce up as there are a lot nicer upgrades available now since I originally did my spring VSR build in about 2019. I think that'll be a lot less vulnerable to getting water inside the hop rubber due to the fact that it's not poking out and mega exposed like the SRS one.

I have one and I use the Wolverine Wraith X system on my MTW 308. It allows me to use a 13ci air tank with a sleeve over the tank, or a co2 adapter that appears just like a buffer tube, so I have a repro CTR stock on it and it looks just like a regular rifle (though in this picture I haven't screwed the co2 adapter on all the way!) There's also the Wraith Aero stock, which is the older Wolverine air stock and I don't think it's as good, and also the Polarstar UGS. For co2 stocks there's the Mancraft co2 stock and the Polarstar CGS as well. I will, however, echo the previous sentiments. A well-tuned AEG will perform just as good as a well-tuned HPA system, it's just easier to tune an HPA system than an AEG to that level. The main benefits of HPA is the sound signature as while you can get AEGs to be pretty quiet, they can't match HPA on just how silent they can become. Also, the lack of a line and tank is mostly useful if you're like me and tend to crawl through bushes and move through thick foliage a lot, as I found that an external line would get caught on absolutely everything, and also if you're very choosey about your shots. I usually play (gas) bolt action and I tend to use my MTW in exactly the same way, so an air tank only giving me about 700ish shots is absolutely fine for a game day, and with my setup I tend to get 1 magazine out of 1 co2 bulb, so if I'm reloading magazine, I'm reloading co2 bulb at the same time and vice versa (I removed the buttplate from the repro CTR stock so that I could easily access the co2 so changing it over is pretty easy). Also, since I use my MTW 308 as a DMR, it's useful for that because sites have different DMR limits. I'm fortunate that the two sites that are closest to me being Worthing Airsoft and Driver Wood both have the same 1.88J DMR limit, but I just went to AI500 this past weekend and their DMR limit is only 1.48J, same with Gunman sites, so having the ability to quickly tune the power down if I'm visiting another site is very handy. However with quick change springs in AEGs nowadays it's pretty easy to also do that with AEGs.

I can only really advise on inner barrel length as I don't own a TAC-41 myself, but I do own an SRS which has some similarities in how you build them. I'd advise going with a 420mm inner barrel. 330mm is a bit too short to take advantage of the high cylinder volume and can cause inconsistencies in power and accuracy due to overvoluming. And in terms of hop rubbers... there's a whole host of different options and I think everyone has their own preferences. I had a chub nub and a 60d MR hop rubber in my SRS and it shoots really well, but there are a lot of options that apparently work. I'm going to be trying a Stalker setup as it allows me to use unbridged barrels and I've heard that the Stalker stuff is also pretty good but I have no direct experience with it yet. And for the spring, I don't know about newtons, but you can use a Rapax 2J spring as well and they're pretty good. I'm sure someone who actually owns one will be able to give you more information as mine is basically from doing an SRS build which has some similarities, but obviously it's not a TAC-41

Going to be a long one, because... I am finally back from the AI500 weekender this year, which was at Anzio Camp near Leek, and I am absolutely knackered. The weekend was great and I thoroughly enjoyed spending the weekend half way up the country with around 20 friends from Worthing Airsoft. Glad to be back now and showered and fed and I will probably head to bed fairly soon after writing this. It was also my first game in a few months after having (minor) heart surgery just over 7 weeks ago and being on blood thinners until next Friday, so it was definitely tough and there were definitely things with my kit that I didn't quite get along with. The guns performed well and I was really happy with the my 16" SRS performance, though my big bugbear with that was the bolt pull. I use gas powered bolt actions for most of the year, so moving to an SRS which is both a spring powered sniper rifle and also one of the worst bolt pulls because it's a bullpup was a bit of a shock. In terms of shooting it was fantastic and I was relieved as I've been trying to troubleshoot issues for about a month, so the fact that it all shot super nicely for the whole weekend was really good. My sidearms of choice were my Hi-capa on the Saturday, which performed flawlessly and felt great, and the AAP-01 on the Sunday, which while it did what I needed it to do, I was actually underwhelmed with it as I was expecting it to be more efficient with the ultra lightweight blowback unit, but it was actually no better than the hi-capa which has a metal slide (and admittedly a lightweight blowback unit too). I think it may be the Action Army magazines, but further testing over winter will be needed. We got there on Friday and they chronoed every gun. I took all of my guns to chrono to get it out of the way and get tagged up as I didn't want to have to find a marshall mid-game if a gun went down and I still needed to have my backup gun chronoed. Everything passed, with both the SRS and backup gun of a co2 powered VSR at bang on 2.3J, and my three pistols (hi-capa, AAP and mk23) all coming in at just over 1J. Perfect. They've definitely learned from previous mistakes here and it went smoothly from what I could see. Had to get a takeaway that night though because the local Wetherspoons was absolutely rammed and our whole team couldn't fit (which was definitely a better one and not like the city centre one where I live in Brighton which is awful!) So, one burger and chips, a hot shower and a wonderful night's sleep later (I was in a hotel because I like my luxuries!) and we headed up to the site for Saturday. Briefing was short and probably could've been a bit longer to clarify a few things, however everyone was given the rules well ahead of time and seemed to understand what was going on. I've been at AI500s in the past where it's been a horrible mess and nobody knows what's going on, but this wasn't one of those AIs. We had a bit of confusion on our team just because we're all used to playing at Worthing Airsoft with Worthing Airsoft rules, so we were taking gun hits like normal, but at this event gun hits didn't count; that was the sort of things that got confusing, but it was really minor and not due to any particular fault of the organisers, just us operating on muscle memory. One criticism I do have though is... it was cold and wet! We had rain through the morning, a patch of sun around lunch time and then more rain as the game was coming to a close. How dare Mother Nature give us rain on an airsoft day! ? All jokes aside, the one criticism I had at this point was actually around numbers. Green team came out strong and had around 70-80ish players, but tan team only had 30-40ish. The organisers did lock the green team tickets so that only tan tickets were available a few weeks before the event, but it didn't even the numbers enough and so the tan team were outnumbered 2:1. This led to an uneven weekend and I have massive respect for the tans who stuck around, as a bunch went home after the Saturday because they didn't like being outnumbered (and it was cold and wet!), which led to the remaining tan team to being very undermanned. Fortunately a bunch of greens also did the same because they weren't getting the trigger time (and it was cold and wet!) so the numbers remained at roughly the same ratio of tans being outnumbered 2:1 through Sunday. I actually wish it was the other way around, as I quite enjoy being the underdog. At most Vietnam filmsim games I've played at, the NVA side have been outnumbered 1.5:1 or 2:1 and I really enjoy it, but it was also interesting to finally be on the outnumbering team, rather than the outnumbered. I still prefer being on the latter, but you have to try everything at least once! Anyway, on the Saturday I found myself with the Authentic Ghillie Experience(tm) of sitting still in the rain and watching a path that snaked along the edge of the site to make sure none of the tan team could sneak around that flank. I shot not a single shot all morning outside of briefly moving to help snipe a few people out of a building so that our team had an easier time pushing in. I then went back to the fence and continued to sit in the rain while watching the flank. 10/10, would sit in a soggy bush again. The afternoon picked up though and we had more activity on that side of the site, and I swapped out my earmors for an earpiece as my M32s were really annoying me trying to aim through my scope and they were getting in the way. I wasn't going into the buildings anyway and I wasn't being grenaded at all, so I ditched them in favour of a simpler earpiece and it made life a lot easier. Me and my friend set up watching a three way fork in a road that was just down from a base they were spawning at and denied that avenue of exit. We weren't spawncamping, as it was very easy to leave along the top of the hill, but some of the tan players just kept coming down that path and kept getting sniped by the two of us. They eventually worked it out and pushed through the thick foliage next to us which caused us to fall back and call in some help over the radio. We then pushed with more of our team after we heard another ghillie on our team radioing in that he had single-handedly crept into that base they were spawning from and flipped it to green team, so we pushed up to reinforce him. A few of us stayed to defend and the tans eventually counter attacked in force. We held them for a while, but eventually one of their players crept in behind and took out all the green defenders... apart from me. I was hiding right near the fence, holding the route into the base from the hillside so I went quiet. After I heard the player yelling that tans had captured it and the rest of the tans yelling to push up and running in, I leaned out and took out the entire attacking wave with my hi-capa and then popped over the top and shot the player who had crept in as well, retaining it for green team. A classic "this is why I love GBB pistols over mk23s as a sniper" moment, as if I was using my mk23 I doubt I would've been able to take out all of the tan players who were charging in. Spent the rest of the Saturday game keeping an eye on that hillside, but eventually Saturday was done. Headed back to my hotel room and had another hot shower and then went to the Wetherspoons again as this time we had asked if we could reserve one of the little side rooms and they allowed us to, so our entire team crammed onto a few tables and had a very enjoyable team meal. Lots of alcohol was consumed, three of our guys joined up with 7 or 8 others from another team (within green team) and went clubbing, including our 1IC who was then not seen on the Sunday until the afternoon, but most of us headed back and crashed out to sleep. People often seem to wonder why I go back to AI500 every year, but this is a prime example as to why. Worthing Airsoft have been going to AI500 for as long as I can remember, and I started airsoft in 2005, and the social side of it is absolutely fantastic and a lot of the green team regulars are a wonderful bunch to hang out with. Maybe next year if the opportunity arises I will join the clubbing group, but crippling self-consciousness meant it was a no-go this year. I've only just been able to return to exercise, so let me shift this weight and feel good about myself before I go embarrass myself on a dance floor! Sunday came around and it was colder than Saturday, but it was at least dry. The site itself was incredibly muddy and some of the paths were rather boggy, but it wasn't raining at least! I swapped to the AAP as my sidearm due to this, but as I eluded to earlier I probably should've just stuck with the hi-capa. I had a lot more action on Sunday than Saturday though, as I pushed up on that same flank as I played on the Saturday because it was fantastic for sniping, while the other side of the site was quite overgrown and my MED made it harder to play over there. We pushed to the same base that I held on Saturday and took control of it again, so I dug in at the bottom of the hill this time as I found a lovely little spot under some heavy foliage that gave me a clear line of sight over the path and we were told that up the hill was out of bounds for both teams (as pushing along it would've put us right outside their spawn). After waiting for a little, a large element of tans pushed from up the hill and took us all out since nobody was watching up there. I managed to take out 6 out of 8 of them with my AAP as they tried to push past me and only got hit because one of them ran across spraying full auto at the bush and only called the hit after I called one that happened to hit me. I had already hit him about 6 or 7 times before this with the AAP as he was running, but I wasn't going to start an argument. I said they weren't supposed to go up there, but they said that two marshalls told them they could. Then as I was walking away the head marshall told me that was not the case, but maybe 30 mins later the head marshall then said that the top of the hill was back in play as it was easier than keeping it out of bounds. Could've been miscommunication between the marshalls, but we'll never know. Tans needed the help at this point, so I just shrugged it off. We retook the base after this and I helped by sniping a few from the side as they tried pushing along the top, but this was where I was really starting to notice that hit taking was starting to take a tumble. I got hit from a building behind me, took it and headed to the captured base to respawn. When I came back, I set up watching the windows where I got hit from and scored two hits on two separate targets with that satisfying and very audible thwack of BB hitting fabric as there wasn't any other shooting nearby, but neither called it. Oh well... As Sunday was coming to a close we had to find 4 objectives that were supposed to be bomb making equipment that were set up in the buildings with the tans in control (green team got reset and we had to wait in spawn for them to set this up as we controlled most of the site at this point). Once we had them we then had to bring a bag of red smoke grenades to each building and let one off inside to signify that the building was "destroyed". We managed to swarm through the buildings quite effectively, and I teamed up with two of the other ghillies to protect flanks and snipe people out of 1st floor windows and it was good fun and I got some cracking shots, including one on a guy who I could not see at all as looking into darkened rooms from a bright outdoors was incredibly difficult, but I could see the light from inside his tracer unit in the darkness and just shot at the illuminated ring! We eventually got all four items and our team was tasked with destroying the buildings. As we destroyed the first one we saw the tan team trying to flank around that building so we just rushed the remaining buildings and kept the tan team at bay so they couldn't stop it. They just happened to choose the wrong flanking route at the wrong time, as we took out the buildings they could threaten before they could even really threaten them and then we could simply hold them back as we snaked through the rest of the site, "destroying" each of the buildings as we did. One thing I will say is that I have massive respect for the tans who stayed the course. I've been in their shoes before and it can suck, but the few tans that stuck it out played hard and certainly made their presence known. If they had the appropriate numbers and they all played like the ones who stayed, then tans would've probably won. After everyone came in, they gave out a few awards they had for the event, which were best green player, best tan player and best support gunner for the weekend, judged based on attitude, sportsmanship, how effective they were, and were nominated by their team. On green team, Team Beans (our Worthing Airsoft team) was nominated for the best green player award collectively. We're all used to playing against each other, but it all came together this weekend fantastically. Comms were good, and our team was very well rounded, with some real aggressive door-kickers who love CQB and were able to clear building after building, and then also hold them against counterattack, and also basically all of the ghillies at the event who were happy to work outside the buildings, scout out the enemy positions and generally cause havoc. We then had a group photo with the entire green team: And a sneaky little Team Beans photo And then a picture of a shrubbery (by this point, most of my camo paint had come off my face. It looked better in game, I swear!): All in all it was an absolutely amazing weekend and I had a lot of fun. This one was probably the best AI500 I have played at so far, as it was better than the last one at Ebbw Vale in Wales which was the previous best one (and was leagues better than the messy Rochdale shopping mall one!). Looking forward to the next one, but I think the next weekender I'll be at will probably be Shift Your RIFTs in 2025. I was really happy with how my £40 Aliexpress cobra hood build worked, but I do wish I brought my boonie + cape setup instead as I ended up not using my Earmors, and that was the main reason I went with the hood instead as M32s + ghillie boonie don't mix well. Roll on next year! Actually, I'm about to roll onto my bed and collapse for the next 10 hours. See you in the morning! ?