Madhouse

So today I found enough time to jump on the MTB and go for a quick lunch ride - advantages of WFH - and Mr Garmin tells me I burned 787 calories, I've a HRM and those boys knows their stuff so I'd say that's pretty reasonable for an hour's ride. That's 'paid' for a chunk of tonight's fish and chips that a friend bought round and the beer I had with it, so I'm still under the 1640cal goal that I've got set on MFP. Today was a good day.

Krytac not recommended then ? Starting to think I should just ask what is! That said, I like the look of the ICS CXP MARS S3, the only thing I'm not sure about is a microswitch trigger.

Hmmm, maybe not then ? His videos have already put me off getting a VFC (well I was looking at Umarex but it seems VFC make them) as he's not exactly complimentary about them either. Happy to get my hands dirty and do a bit of servicing and tinkering but if it's going to need work straight out of the box or be a pig to work on then I'll look elsewhere. Will stick to the brands in the 'what gun to choose' thread, got a Krytac and an ICS on my shortlist so far.

Hi, my local store sells ARES RIFs, they look ok and seem to have lots of features but I don't know them as a brand - are they any good? (not adverse to upgrading stuff but I'd like that to be in 12 months rather than the day I buy it!)

what @alxndrhll said. When it all boils down, weight loss is simple maths - put less fuel in than you burn and you'll lose weight. It can be whatever kind of vegan/keto/fast food diet you like but as long as you're burning more than you put in you'll use those fat reserves that we all want to get rid of. It's the focus on calories and the knowledge that it gives you that'll help loads, when I first started using an app to track them I was amazed at exactly how many calories a large bowl of cereal could have, at how easy it is to have used up a days calories by lunchtime and also how portion control is a really useful thing to keep an eye on too. Biggest thing is willpower though, it'll be tested and tested again both in terms of food (we're all guilty of late-night nibbles!) and also any kind of exercise you do, the hardest part of exercise is always getting out the door / starting - you feel great after but sometimes when you ache or it's raining or there's something good on the tv it's far easier to not do it. Training buddies help a lot so why not arrange something with a mate and have a catch up over a ketlebell or run rather than a pint? or have the pint afterwards, you gotta rehydrate after all ? Get some scales, but don't use them too often and don't get down when they go the wrong way. Weighing every day does no good at all, weigh yourself on the same day each week at the same time. General consensus is first thing in the morning after you've been to the loo, but the same time (whenever that is) helps to reduce the variables. The scales will go the wrong way, don't ignore them after that and don't throw them out the window, it's just a reset - ok, what did I do this week that's caused that? what am I doing differently this week? Losing a load of weight can be daunting, so those weekly targets can be good as stepping stones along the way, losing 20kg is a big number but making that 200g a week, well that sounds more achievable. About 200 calories a pint. Just factor them into a weekly meal plan, or do some extra exercise to balance it out. For me, a pint is about 15mins of cardio.

I’m doing Southampton marathon in September - that count? Normally I’m out on the mountain bike but wanted to tick a marathon off the list. Need to lose a few lockdown pounds though but I think half my problem is a love of beer, I only drink at weekends but it’s a shed load of calories. Very enjoyable calories mind ?

Yep, can certainly see how it gets expensive - I need this one for outdoors, this one for CQB, this one for that loadout ……… ?

my sentiments exactly, just need to stop endlessly looking at RIFs and actually decide what to buy!

Today I learned the retailers don’t seem to be particularly bothered about UKARA, seemed to be that just showing that I’ve been/booked to go Airsofting is fine for them. Caught me a bit off-guard as I hadn’t planned to buy anything so was only going for a look as I had a spare 20 mins. Did have a good chat with the guy running the place though and now have more of an idea regarding what to buy when I’m getting my first rifle.

that’d take one variable out of the equation ?

I believe they chrono'd on what people claimed to be using, I say that as one guy was told he was running hot but he couldn't understand why - turned out he thought he was using .25's but he was actually using .2's. As far as I know they didn't weigh any BBs, that said, as a rental I didn't go to chrono.

There's certainly a reason behind the name!! ? Can see how there'd be some real close hits there & at any CQB. Although it was hot enough for T-shirt and shorts I'm glad I kept all my skin covered!

So I popped my Airsoft cherry last night at Zmart Newbury and what can I say, I'm hooked! First off everyone was welcoming and friendly and happy to chat about whatever, handily I wasn't the only one flying solo which meant the 3 or 4 of us kinda formed our own group which was good. One of them leant me a torch which was very kind and also very useful (didn't see the replies to my status post till this morning!) and another had a very handy scoop for loading the mag too. The marshals were great all the way through, keeping things fun while also ensuring everyone followed the rules. There was a couple of issues I noticed, one where a couple of guys were arguing about taking hits which they seemed to sort fairly quickly and another where they noticed a guy who had a hot gun mid-game - looked like they did in-game chrono and were walking off to the safe zone so he could make adjustments to his gun. The guy with the hot gun was rumoured to be slinging .3's which is pretty heavy for CQB, what I can say for sure is he was the only one running HPA. Now I know with most things that require kit there's an element of faffing before you start but it did seem to go on forever, the marshals did note it at the pre-game briefing and said they'd be stricter on it in future. We got started with a couple of infection games which were a good way of getting to know the site and also in my case the gun, which was an M4 I believe (i really should have taken more notice of manufacturer etc), then a game where three marshals were essentially targets and each side had to revive them with the side with the most primary's at the end won and finished with a game transporting a bomb to the enemies spawn point. Can't remember if there was another or not! The games were pretty much the right length and as you'd expect with CQB there wasn't much waiting around between the start of the game and being in the thick of it. Overall it was a great evening, I'm peppered with marks where I was hit, but getting hit isn't half as bad as I thought it would be, took a couple at really close range (6ft) and they really stung for a bit but actually CQB is probably the worst it's going to be in terms of the sting of a BB hit. I was also really surprised at how few BBs I used actually - less that the thousand included in the rental - but I definitely saw people going through way more than me, there were guys using tracers too which I can certainly see the benefit of although they do give away your position.

holy thread revival batman! Guessing it was the aforementioned bot:

Being new to this I’ve learnt that there’s a minefield of acronyms I need to get my head around before I even think about buying anything - starting to wonder if that’s what the UKARA rules are really for ? I’ve also discovered there’s more midweek games around than I initially thought. Not tried CQB but it’ll make life easier if I do as weekends are fast becoming a logistical nightmare. Oh and I like Beretta’s, specifically the M9 A3. No idea if they’re any good. Still navigating the sea of rifles …….

You know that film they have over cameras at the motor racing where it scrolls so never gets dirty? That, but on the inside of goggles. Seriously though, it’s all about airflow, but there won’t be much of that when you’re hiding out behind a barricade taking fire from all sides. So that leaves us with forced air or heated lenses.

Starting out so need some games under my belt before I even start on RIFs (not that I haven't been looking!), but have just ordered some camo kit and boots. Jeans are way too hot for running around in! Nothing too exciting but it's a start ?

It's how sites (and businesses) recover from the setbacks of the last 18 months that will define their future success, as has been said there's a right way and a wrong way. There's an abundance of people right now that want to catch up on all they missed out on in lockdown so there's a ton of demand and any business owner will want to get as much of that pie as they can, but as has been shown there's a fine line to tread so that you don't alienate those that were coming before and will continue to do so once things calm down a bit. Getting too greedy now may prove to be short-termist and cause more problems in future. Am all for sites doing it the right way, weekday evening shoots would be right up my street as my weekends fill up fast. I for one am also happy to muck in with the maintenance too, we all want our sites to do well after all.