38super

I'd be curious to see what happens with sites that do both paintball and airsoft. In theory approval for one but not the other despite pretty much identical activities in terms of covid management. Could an airsoft site claim it's activity is identical to paintball and use a covid protocol issued by 'a governing body'?

Spartan have said beginning of April on their FB page.

Welcome. I'd like to say I'm on a mid life crisis too but I'd have lie about my age.

I've been looking at this for a while now and these are my conclusions. Feel free to correct me if I've got something wrong. Target shooting is definitely not a valid defence for someone to sell you a RIF. You can do target shooting with a IF. The VCRA is very specific about the 'military or law enforcement scenario' aspect that allows Airsofter's to have a valid defence. IPSC practical shooting could be argued as a defence as it has it's roots in defensive shooting but is now in reality 'racing' style shooting and again there is no reason to be using a RIF when an IF is perfectly fine. I have yet to find a retailer who will accept IPSC/UKPSA membership as a valid defence although I have seen people argue quite strongly that it should be. For the re-enactment defence you would need to be an active member of a registered club which could be checked and confirmed by a retailer. Similarly the film/acting defence needs to be a current provable activity. The Home Office guidance on the VCRA also states that an activity must have appropriate public liability insurance in place as part of the defence. Full membership of the Sportsman's Association covers insurance for re-enactment but I was still asked to prove established relevant activity. I have heard of people using Cosplay membership as a defence but since most Cosplay events ban RIF's completely that seems a bit thin and would probably still need proof of relevant activity. The bottom line is that the VCRA made it illegal for someone to sell you a RIF unless you could prove you had to have a realistic firearm for one of the few purposes set out in the Act as a valid defence. Otherwise you are welcome to have whatever you like as a two tone gun as long as you stay below the muzzle energy criteria for a firearm. The UKARA has become the generally accepted method of proving a valid defence under the VCRA and although many people claim that other defences are available none to my knowledge have been tested in court and you will be hard pressed to find a retailer willing to stake their business on it without some fairly firm evidence.

I found a couple of retailers willing to accept Sportsman's Association membership for the insurance cover but they did ask me to provide photo/video evidence of relevant activity before they agreed.

That pin is out of the tube left side of frame between the safety lever and the slide stop lever. It's the slide catch detent pin. It's shaped like that to stop it coming out of the front of the tube when you remove the catch for strip down.

I think my M4 magazines are the wrong shape for a smersh rig.

Thanks for all the advice on the basis of which I've moved away from the plate carrier idea to more of a belt base. I do like the Bulle MLE rig for it's 5 rows of molle to stabilise the pouches This also looks like a nice compact option but I'm not sure how practical the horizontal pouches are? Or genuine issue (Osprey?) belt and yoke although some of the Opsrey belts I've seen only have 2 rows of molle which I don't think is enough to stabilise the pouches. There's a lot of gear out there to choose from😁

I've tried a belt kit before and hated how the pouches would bounce around. I'm only 5'4" and find that proper chest rigs feel uncomfortably high although having had another look what people call a chest rig is more like a belly rig anyway. I'd prefer something like this. Slightly above waist level but with space for kit at the side and or behind. My favourite for paintball was a lightweight tac vest unfortunately the mice got to it years ago. I like the style of the Viper Special Ops rig but it isn't modular. I don't need a plate carrier so I'll keep looking.

Just wondering what people think of this as my first plate carrier. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lixada-Outdoor-Modular-Hunting-Hydration/dp/B075G8J2F1/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8 The price seems very reasonable but I'd want to change the mag pouches on the front to something without velcro and add a dump pouch. Apart from ammo and a spare battery, what else would I need to carry? I prefer to run as light as possible with limited ammo if that makes a difference.

Finally joined the club. Not quite the MP5 I was looking for for but I couldn't resist. Now shopping for everything else.

I can't find these in the UK. I'm not likely to be getting a big enough order together to get them from Taiwangun. Are there any other recommendations for mid caps for the M904G? Can someone also please point me towards a suitable battery (or 2) since I don't have any to try out?

It was that ad that prompted the question in the first place. It looked like an easy fix to me but I didn't know anything about spares availability for airsoft guns.

OK, thanks. Just a question of trying stuff and hoping then. That'll be exciting.

Are the CA MP5 & ICS essentially the same then? and the JG. They all look so similar you have to look really carefully to see any difference.

Yep. I saw that thread. I don't think it was out of spec. The one the chap was sent is for the clamshell type receiver in two halves ( like my GSG5 ). The type he needed was for the once piece receiver. I doubt very much if there was any difference in overall dimensions but you may need to match the lever and actuator. What I don't know is which of the Cyma MP5's is the clamshell receiver (I suspect the metal one) or maybe the blowback version. There seems to be quite a bit of cross compatibility with the MP5's but I don't have the experience yet. I've noticed that the lower hole in the MP5K front sight is threaded and I'd love to find out if the fake suppressor on my GSG5 will fit. Thank you for looking. Upgrade parts seem very easy to get but not OEM parts. Kind of implies the guns are meant to be disposable if you break them. That does strengthen the argument of buying a more robust gun in the first place.

Cyma CM.041 mag catch assembly.

Thanks for the info. I'd got the impression from what I've read that it was a case of bodge until scrapped but I wasn't sure. Specifically I'd be looking for Cyma frame parts in this case but generally just wondering how much used guns are repairable.

Does anyone have a preferred way to get hold of OEM parts to replace broken ones? Upgrade parts are everywhere but OEM parts seem harder to find. In the real steel world I would ring my local dealer who would contact the importer. Common parts would be in stock or they would order them from the manufacturer which would take a week or three. Does airsoft work the same way? I've seen very few references anywhere to people replacing broken parts. Are there any good sources for OEM spares? Related to this, the most helpful thing for ordering spares is a parts diagram which seems to be included in the manual. Is there a good source for downloading manuals?

This is a very informative thread for a newbie like me. It explains the relatively High price of the CM16's for start. When you're starting out it's difficult to know how much weight to give YouTube reviews like Negative, Bigbird or Pheas. With the best will in the world it's only going to be a review of an individual gun or the reviewers experience. I know I need to do my own research but there is so much contradictory or outdated information around. Is there any way to find out who makes what for ASG?

The £150 mark seems to have a wide range of options for budget guns. The Double Eagle looks like a good choice. I'd be happy with either M4 or MP5. I can't bring myself to like AK's unfortunately.

Does anyone have any knowledge or opinions on the ASG B&T Sportline MP5? Reviews seem to be thin on the ground and mostly foreign language. Any Good as a first AEG?

Cheers. The sales blurb give the impression the 2.0 is an upgraded version of the original.

I'm a bit puzzled as to why G&G Raiders (old version) are around the same retail price as the (presumably newer? and improved?) 2.0 version. Seems odd they are even still producing the old one. Anyone know what the reason is? Am I just reading it wrong and they are different guns?

I have my regular live fire setup with electronic ear muffs and safety glasses with very thin side pieces but even those get uncomfortable after a few hours under the muffs. I've also found that I often knock the muffs out of place from cheek weld. I don't know if that'll be the same with airsoft. Personally I don't believe ordinary safety glasses are good enough as they generally only protect from objects coming from directly in front not from all directions and they're often easily dislodged. Mask or goggles would be my preferred option. My paintball mask has the thermal (double glazed) lenses so fogging isn't bad. The biggest problem I had with them was heat. I had to wear a sweatband under them or I could end up with sweat dripping down the inside. It was quite a bad problem at an all day milsim event in the summer. Should I look for a perfect all round solution or do people generally have different setups for different conditions? My ear defenders have a speaker socket so I'll try plugging my XTM446 in if I've got a cable. I've never thought to see if it works. (PPE doesn't come out of the toys budget.😁 I'll get whatever works best for me.)