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I'll send you a PM this evening to prevent this deviating away from the thread topic.

The meaning of the word ‘need’ seems to be so warped these days. Things you need: Good quality eye pro. Things I’d strongly advise: Good quality face pro. Good quality boots and socks. Good quality BBs which are heavier than 0.2g. Things which are entirely personal preference: Everything else, with the caveat that if you have specific criteria for something you want and would like advice it’s available if you need it. If experience has taught me anything, folks that post ‘wat am best gnu’ threads generally have something in mind. So if you decide you’d like to move forward with picking up a pistol go ahead and let the kind folks know the sort of thing you like the look of (Glocks, Hicapas, Revolvers etc) so the following roundabout can be circumvented. ”Xxx is very good.” ”Thanks but I don’t like the way it looks.”

I've actually ended up going back and forth a few times, to the point I'd decided to hold onto a pistol set up for HPA and my 'fanciest' MTW... at least that's as it was as of my last post in this thread. The pistol has since sold (today) and my final MTW is currently up for sale, the tipping point was the implications it had on gear. As much as some folks seemingly mock it, I'm super in to my 'gucci gear'. I probably enjoy the gear side more than I do the RIFs, the RIFs almost exist to justify me having the pile of expensive nylon I own. I do of course thoroughly enjoy playing, but everyone has their own 'favourite part' of the hobby and the kit tends to be mine. I owned a Marui MWS for a brief while during one of the lockdown periods (I'm up North, so that then led to high tier restrictions etc) and wound up selling it on, possibly prematurely, because I simply wasn't confident I could live with the mag capacity available to GBBRs. I definitely want another MWS at some point once everything stabilises a bit, the intent would be to have it as a slow burn project that gets taken out for a spin every now and then but not as my 'primary' RIF. I guess I'm just aware of my comfort zone and I'm not currently willing to leap out it, more gradually step out of it while having my comfort blanket (mid caps) close by. As such I've picked up an NGRS (AR) which is being set up almost identically to my MTW (in terms of externals/attachments, what can I say, I like what I like). I've also ordered a Cyma AK74SU to throw some Zenitco parts on and just generally modernise (I'd started getting parts in for this before and didn't see it through, and I firmly regret not doing so). Short to midlength ARs and AK74SUs (modernised or not) have been my favourite looking RIFs for as long as I can remember, so that's the route I'm running with for the time being. With the plan in future to be set up an MWS that mirrors my NGRS, and a GHK 74SU (which I plan to devil hunter, assuming I can figure out the in's and out's, it's not something I've looked into but I heard a lot about it) that mirrors my Cyma. Ultimately landing me with plenty of choice when it comes to game day as to what I want to run with, and how I want to run it... without any limitation to my kit. If I want to run just a micro chest rig and charge around like a moron, I can, without the burden of a backpack. And that was genuinely the point at which I tapped out (excuse the pun). I'm completely fine with the line, never had a huge issue with it. No more irritating than some slings can be at times, but having my kit choices dictated by having to fit a bottle and regulator on there somewhere, that was the part I landed on not wanting to deal with anymore. HPA is great, and at the time I 'bought in to it' it ticked the boxes I wanted to tick. It's generally more reliable than other systems, and it's easier to maintain (in my opinion). It's simply a case that the boxes I want to tick are different now, and it's taken me a while to properly figure that out. I guess that ended up being the biggest take away, for anyone in a similar position that happens to read this. Just figure out what it is you want and run with it, there's a whole lot of thoughts, opinions and advice on a whole host of things to do with this hobby... but much of it doesn't take into account exactly what you want. Figure that out and you're golden. Apologies for the essay of a reply, and thanks very much for sharing your thoughts .

Haha, it was. I finished a few actually. Then we all got shut in so it all got taken off ready to be re-crafted once I knew what season we were going to be in when we could play again, so I had a better gauge of the base colouration before adding natural vegetation on site. I've since put the vast majority of the suits up for sale, largely because there is only one woodland site local to me (within an hours drive) and that's only open for half the year, so felt a bit over invested into something I couldn't actually use all that much! It was a very fun thing to learn about and try out though, definitely got me through some of the more boring lockdown days.

I think I've actually gone through more unused variations of eye/facepro during the last year than I have RIFs. Not to say there hasn't been a decent list of unused RIFs, a decent portion of which have been sold on as I trudge through figuring out what it is I want, but yeah a whoooooole lot of protective equipment. But I've finally landed on the combinations I like, which is nice. New unused RIFs (that aren't currently up for sale): TM G19 TM G17 w/ Guarder Kit (which @Cr0-Magnonwill be familiar with) For anyone curious on the eye/facepro, though I imagine that'd be no one: Valhalla mask, Clawgear balaclava, Heroshark Speartooths and Peltor Comtac XPI's for in the woods. Clawgear balaclava and Dye i5 for the CQBs. (No I'm not a speedy boy, not that I hold that against anyone. I just like my face, teeth and eyeballs intact without the inconvenience of fogging)

I tend to disagree with this as a generalisation, it was just much easier to be oblivious to. In my case, partially because I was younger and there were things I simply didn't understand back then... and partially because social media was less of a thing. Granted this was back in the age of the ASCUK forums where you still had a host of 'grumble' threads which tended to take very similar patterns to threads you see on here. Thread about cheating: 'I hate cheaters.' 'I wish we could all be honest.' 'Marshalls should be better.' [Someone mentions headshots] 'Just wear full face pro, if you don't it's your own fault.' [Macho man storms in] 'Who cares it doesn't even hurt.' [Someone asks if using 0.25g BBs is considered cheating] 'Someone questions why you'd use 0.25g when 0.2g BBs go further' (Note, as we now know this is not true.) ... So on and so forth... Seriously, read through commonly occuring topics and tell me they don't largely wind up taking a very similar path until they fizzle out. I have no doubt that folks who have been around for a while have that 'here we go again' reaction when certain topics crop up. Hell the only thing that's a huge amount different is now half of the threads include someone asking a question regarding UKARA (which wasn't a thing for a decent portion of my time on ASCUK). TLDR, it's always existed... it was just easier to ignore/not be aware of. P.S. Not intended as a dig at this, or any other forum for that matter, forums have been my prefered way of being involved in hobby communities for a long time. Threads on forums for more general topics around a niche hobby tend to be very cyclic, to a point dejavu can set in as you're reading through threads at times. My preference for forums over anything else is that it's simply much easier to filter what I do and do not wish to read and/or participate in coversation with.

Unfortunately he only had two tone left, or at least that's what he seemed to think when I spoke to him so I ended up giving it a miss. The frame is very much a want rather than a need, and having spent far to much on kit rather than RIFs of late it's probably a sign that he didn't have black ones left!

I very much fall in the camp of 'you do you', ultimately it has literally zero affect on me. If I put an aftermarket part in a RIF to improve the performance then I need to know what an improvement actually looks like... but I'm also more than willing to rip aftermarket parts out if they've made it worse and accept I've made a bad purchasing decision. Same applies to durability, how do I know if an aftermarket part is more durable without having killed the stock part to then compare how long it lasts to? In no way against swapping parts out, I just like to know what I'm comparing things to. If you couldn't careless and like throwing crap into RIFs for the sake of doing so, then all power to you. As long as you're enjoying yourself I fail to see how or why you should care about other folks opinion. (That last sentence potentially comes across as a bit passive aggressive, absolutely not the intent but it's hard to get tone across via a typed out message)

I wouldn't say it's a particularly blurred line at all. For reasons unknown to me the majority are the latter because folks are seemingly so reluctant to use something stock to know what benchmark they're even working with (I suspect this is only spreading wider courtesy of the prevalence of social media and YouTube). Lockdown has definitely exacerbated it, but it's by no means a new thing. 'Upgrade' doesn't mean much if you don't know how it was functioning before throwing various parts in.

I’m not generally into compensators but that looks smart. I definitely want to pick up a black slide at some point for when I don’t want to be ‘flashy’. Though I won’t go ‘full Ali’, literally just a second slide. Can’t decide if I’d swap internals between slides or just build a second slide to chop and change as I please, granted given this is purely a CQB runner for me I imagine I have plenty of time to make my mind up!

I'm aware it's not a particular exciting one, but these are literally £6-£6.50 new.

Based on your preferences listed about you’re likely best off going with some sort of yoke/belt combination. That aside, I absolutely get the allure of a PC. The normal ‘rules’ apply, you get what you pay for. I can’t comment on the quality of the one you’ve linked (truthfully I’ll assume it’s not very well put together) but ohh boy is whatever camo pattern that is supposed to be (I’m assuming it’s a failed attempt at MC/MTP). If you do opt for a PC in some shape or form make sure you get/make your own appropriately sized dummy plates. PTS make foam ones which are about £30 for a pair, or the various forms of training plates though they tend to be more expensive. PCs need something in the plate bag to hold their shape and give them structure, otherwise you’re essentially wearing a vest with the load bearing structure and capacity of a napkin. The best piece of advice I can give when it comes to kit is expect to change things. It’s taken me years (and years, and years) to figure out what I want to have space for when I’m playing, that can vary based on what mood I’m in on the day and is very much personal to me. Follow up advice being that repro kit tends to depreciate in value significantly to the point it’s not even worth selling, add the two together, expect to have a cupboard full of failed kit experiments. It’s simply the nature of the beast and why folks often buy ‘the real deal’ stuff. That doesn’t mean kit exclusively from the ‘gucci’ brands, simply proven kit by proven companies. It holds its value better so selling things you didn’t get on with doesn’t hurt so much... though the cost of the things you do keep can certainly hurt. TLDR - You’ll buy stuff, you’ll try stuff, some will suck, some won’t. Either way, there’s no escaping the likelihood you’ll waste some money down the line, and you’ll have the nylon pile of shame just as most of us do.

Very much ‘just another mayo AR’, but it’s my ‘just another mayo AR’. Finally got around to modifying the dust cover so it holds shut, and threw a PDI 6.05 barrel in there (no idea what effect that’s going to have until I get an opportunity to shoot it further than I currently can). Just waiting on a Mini2 replica to show up from HK (ordered mid December, so lord knows when that’ll show up) and I reckon the dishes are done. Turns out the colour of BCM FDE looks nothing like it does in person in photos 🤷🏻‍♂️.

My slow grow on the Crye chest rig ended up not being particularly slow grow at all. A lot of inspiration taken from the Reptile House blog (read as 'largely stolen entire set up'), as many seem to with this particular rig. I am planning on picking up one of the Crye stretch panels at some point but couldn’t resist the draw of the regular detachable flap. Alongside that there’s a 6x6x3 GP pouch, a full length KYWI, a TacBelts AVS adapter and a bunch of WTFix straps. Looking forward to messing around with this over the weekend to see what setup I land on. Also had a BCM stock turn up which I completely forgot about ordering.

Good to know that hicapa nozzle springs do the job. I’d read in various places that swapping out the nozzle spring for a 140 is a great, easy improvement but ordering the AAP specific one by C&C seemed like more hassle than it was worth. Intrigued to know what your results are with the h-plate, mine never seemed to want to sit right to the point I just took it out (granted I didn’t need it for the weight I was feeding it).

I’m cynical so would tend to suggest the seller was more than aware that it being two-tone at some point in its life would hurt the sale price so the information was intentionally withheld, but ultimately there is no possible way I could ever prove it... simply seems to be the most likely situation. Either way the feeling of having the wool pulled over your eyes is never a nice one, if the buyer isn’t satisfied I hope they’re able to come to an amicable resolution.

Fair. Aye I've been toying with picking up a CAR-15 stock for a while, likely one of the B5 Systems repros from Brownells, and would likely pick up a slim handguard while I'm there because they're not wildly expensive. It's probably another to add to the list of 'I'll never actually do this'... but while we can't play it's nice to ponder on how I'd do it. Likely with a Cyma base, throw a new hop unit and a Kythera in it (as seems to be where most of my potential list of builds land) and call it day! Anyway, I digress, good luck with the next one!

Using one of the Cyma CM009 (E/F) as a base or is it a bits box special? Found myself getting increasingly tempted to do a similar build myself. Is the slim handguard RS or 'airsoft' 'spec'? Paint job isn't my cup of tea, but that subjective comment aside it looks smart... certainly not helping my temptations!

Worth noting that with ear protection such as Peltors protecting your ears from BBs is largely a secondary protection from the main reason they tend to be worn. Some of the pyro's that get used are loud enough to consider wearing something to protect your ears (I'm sure some will poo poo it as 'man up you Jessy', ears are delicate), especially at CQB sites with small rooms that keep that noise in a small space, and largely where headets such as ComTac's and the like do there best work. Having something on to control how loud those bangs are is nice, especially if you have/have had/have a history of hearing issues. If you're considering something along those lines it's also worth putting a decent amount of thought/research into your eye pro. If it's eye pro with arms that sit behind your ears (like most regular glasses) rather than a headstrap (like most goggles use) headsets can get extremely uncomfortable across the course of a day as the headset pushes the arms of glasses into the side of your head. As I'm sure many experience players will echo, there are 2 things I would highly recommend putting as much research as you possibly can into, and allocate a healthy portion of a budget to. Protective equipment (eye pro, face pro etc) and footwear (including some decent socks). Only thing I'll add from there is whether the paintball mask you own has thermal lenses? Fogging is the bane of many an airsofter, paintball masks with thermal lenses tend to prevent it for most... though there are of course various options depending on how much fogging winds up being an issue.

Only thing I have to add here is that proper cleaning and maintaince of a barrel, in my opinion, is much more of a factor than length or 'bore' of a barrel especially when it's consistency you're looking for. I personally think 6.01 in anything longer than a pistol barrel is asking for trouble, and would tend to go for a 6.03 as a minimum once you're past the 150-ish mm mark for length. My personal preference being 6.05, general rule of thumb being the tighter the barrel the more you should be maintaining it. We should all give our barrels a proper clean after every use, so that point should be moot... but not many do clean after every use, so it isn't moot. The reason being, the tighter the barrel the more likely gunk is to impact the flight of your BB. I'll insert the same caveat I do to pretty much anything I post offering advice on these forums, this is largely anecdotal and I'm sure others have equally anecdotal findings which counter it.

Looking good! Are those parts for the long awaited 4.3? How long is it till you do a chrome slide and barrel with carbon fibre-esq grip and detailing to match your Thompson? 🤣 I love how this all started as a ‘modifying an SSP’ and has spiralled so wildly. In short, this thread is airsoft in a nutshell 😂.

My obsession with gucci battle bras continues, was very happy with the Spiritus Micro Fight but couldn’t resist the temptation when the Crye AirLite came back in stock. Suffice to say ‘I have plans’ for that one, but I imagine that’ll be a slow grow project while waiting for the various components I want to be in stock. Frequently refreshing the Ferro Mini Dangler page in the hope they’re back in stock (in MC) before long, for no other reason than being impatient. Very happy with an eBay find a week or so ago with a 10l Source Assault backpack (predominantly for HPA tanks to live in). And a few PDI barrels for various RIFs.