Madhouse

Asked my girlfriend why she broke up with me. She said there were 14 reasons, plus my obsession with tennis. I said that's 15, love.

Pretty sure I’ll be ruined after 3 or 4 days on the slopes, probably not helped by being a first & last lift kind of guy. But that’s what the apres ski for right? Recovery beers are definitely a thing. Think we’ll fly as there’s not much in it cost wise, four of us would be cheaper to drive but two works out even and flying would be less hassle and I also wouldn’t need to buy snow chains. Did the ski train down to Bourg St Maurice last time I went and while it was easy and cost effective, it was just a regular train that went to snowy places, so half the passengers had board/ski bags as well as a suitcase and nowhere to put them. It was carnage. Hope they’ve got more storage space nowadays. That said it was great to get on a train after work and be in Bourg for breakfast before getting the first lift of the day, maximised piste time that’s for sure.

Thought I'd see if any other AFUKers are heading to the slopes this season? Skiing / snowboarding / toboggans / whatever, let's hear about it. Me? I'm a snowboarder and am planning to get back on a mountain after 15 years of only having snow domes to scratch the itch (kids!!), just me & a mate for a long weekend in Jan. All we need to do now is sort out the where - 90% sure it'll be French Alps as his missus wants to do Italy sometime and as we want to make our trip an annual event we're trying not to piss the wives off too much 😂 Just got a new board too (Capita DOA) and not even swapped my bindings over yet!

I believe the standard forum response to "do I need more pews?" is a resounding "yes, of course you do", you've even made it easy by suggesting you need it as a backup and everyone knows it's only sensible to have a backup and even backups need a backup sometimes. Surely the way out of this is for @son of dan to 'sell' the pews to @Dan Robinson - it's up to you whether you reveal the purchasers identity.

That'll be Eric the dog at Rift. There's a lot of love for him (marshals and players) and heaven forbid anyone that points a pew at him, fire at him and I'd fully expect your body to never be found and everyone to deny you were ever there. Having played there he's a fantastically well behaved cocker and while he may be in the gamezone he's always out of the way, in fact I've never seen him once a game's started. His owner's a great bloke too (typical that I can remember the dog's name but not his!) and he'd certainly not want his dog to come to any harm. Most of us pamper our pets, but it's a gun dog and if it was really working then it'd be in loads more danger. I'm more than fine with Eric the marshal. Rift's a great site too so if you're avoiding it because of Eric then it's your loss because you're missing out on some great game days and you don't get to meet Eric and the rest of the (human) marshals. I wish my cocker was as well behaved.

Not as often as I'd like. But you know, life. With two kids playing for three football teams and two athletics clubs between them a weekend game is a rarity (one so far!) so I play CQB on a Thursday night at Z-mart whenever I can fit it in somewhere between being 'dad's taxi' and my other hobbies - mountain biking being the main thing I do on thursday nights when I can. Will probably play more airsoft as the weather gets more crap.

Really fancying a TM MWS mk18 at the mo … and a SIG P320 XCarry and maybe a hi-capa and an M870 Breacher

I like the way he’s using an advert where you can buy it new for £110 as justification for saying it’s £170 new. No constructive argument against the questions raised so just goes straight to insults - classic move that. Think his ex is better off rid.

Can you do it like you’d do old windscreen rubbers? Run a cord in the channel and then put it in place, pull the cord out via the other side and it pulls the rubber into place. That make any sense?

Hire kit is great for helping to work out what you want and don't want from your own kit. If you don't want the rattle then more mid-caps is what you need but then that presents it's own problem in that you need to carry them and that's where you get in to chest rigs and belts. I just use a belt for the AEG as two mid-cap's and a 'last mag' hi-cap are more than enough, I could probably get away with just three mid-caps. There's no weight in an AEG mag so it's no trouble on a belt, I carry two on the belt but I could easily add a third if I felt I needed it. The GBBR's a different story as I carry 5 mags +1 in the pew and that's a lot of weight on just a belt, so I've a minimalist chest rig and also carry a speed loader for any games longer than an hour. For games with a fixed respawn you could use a spawn bag with your consumables in and just re-load before you head back out.

I think my wife has been pouring glue on my Airsoft kit. She denies it, but I’m sticking to my guns.

Does 'first battery swap' mean that you've has it for a short enough amount of time to query a replacement from the retailer?

Have a shooters belt from them incl. pistol holster and mag holders for pistols and rifles. That includes my TM MP7. I've three on my belt, along with a pistol one and I think if I went higher than that it'd feel a tad heavy without adding shoulder straps. That aside they retain the mags well and I've not had one fall out despite much running, crawling and falling over. Always been good at letting me know what's happening with my order and have replied to queries and issues quickly and efficiently. I wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

What's the fear of giants called? Feefifobia

The seven dwarfs were in a Catholic church. They were sitting near the rear and as the priest was speaking, they whispered and giggled amongst themselves, causing quite a disturbance. All of a sudden, Dopey stands up and says, “Father, are there any midget nuns in the church ?” “No,” said the priest, “There are no midget nuns in the church.” A little time passed and the dwarfs were again whispering and giggling amongst themselves causing quite a disturbance and noticeably angering the priest. Soon, Dopey stands up again and asks, “Father, are there any midget nuns in the city?” “No, my son, there are no midget nuns in the city or in the church.” says the priest. Again the dwarfs resume their annoying giggling to the dismay of the priest. Once again, Dopey stands up and asks “Father, are there any midget nuns in the state?” “No, my son, there are no midget nuns in the state, in the city, and no midget nuns in the church.” exclaimed the priest, obviously upset. The dwarfs continue their interference. Dopey stands up and asks, “Father, are there any midget nuns in the country?” The priest, totally angered, exclaims “No, my son, there are no midget nuns in the church, in the city, in the state, no midget nuns in the country, there are no midget nuns in the whole world!!! Now sit down!!!” Soon afterwards, a chant can be heard from the rear of the church ... “Dopey fucked a penguin. Dopey fucked a penguin. Dopey fucked a penguin.”

Had a rare Sunday where only the eldest had footie so Mrs M did that and I got a pass to meet up with some friends at RIFT: REDCON2 in Abingdon. Due to weekend commitments I usually play indoor CQB midweek, so it was nice to finally play outdoors in the daylight! Arrived to welcoming marshals, easy check in and a well stocked shop where I could grab some .25's. Got my kit together, sorted out my hops at the range and went through chrono just fine. Just enough time for a bacon roll and a coffee before the briefing and by now I could tell it was going to be a hot day. The briefing was ... comprehensive. There's even patches that say 'I survived Tony's briefing' 😂. What it did do was set out everything for the day to help it run smoothly - which it did. Due to the heat it was 50min games all day which was fine by me, they were well run and the marshals were very visible and vocal in terms of always letting you know they're there - eg praising when you took a hit, complementing people on a good shot, providing assistance or just singing country songs! What the marshals also do is drive the Snatch Landrovers, which are in play and they'll take you wherever you want to go which adds a whole new dimension to gameplay and is just great fun barrelling out of the back of one and trying to take the opposition's position. First game was taking down enemy flags, second was ammo tin collection, third and fourth were bomb run's with the final game being taking enemy positions / flags. They were all great fun and well run, I didn't have any issues with hit-taking and I didn't hear of any others, I think someone got pulled up for getting a bit lippy but overall everyone was there for good time, took their hits and enjoyed good gameplay. The guns worked perfectly, I'm even more of a TM MP7 fanboi now after seeing it sling .25's north of 55m (the hedge end of the range) from such a compact package. The 308 does the same but I was kind of expecting it to, although having 100rnd mags meant I could make the most of the full auto I had set to a 5rnd burst - full auto is used sparingly on a GBBR! - needless to say I put a lot more rounds through the AEG! The other pleasant surprise is that while far less accurate at distance, the FNX will go out past 50m too. I took the P226 but forgot to use it or even take it to the range. Used the MP7 in the morning and the 308 in the afternoon as due to the heat there was a fair chance the MP7 could run a tad hot in the 26 degree heat, my mate's M16 was running hot even before lunch but then he thought it may be the case which is why he asked the marshal for a chrono. He swapped to his MP5 and carried on. The FNX took a spill, falling out of my holster as I was running with a bomb. It landed on the light by the look of it and that pulled the outer away from the frame - although I didn't notice until the end of the day. After a bit of fiddling I realised it just needed snapping back into place so that's all sorted. The red dot on the 308's also a bit small, had a few issues quickly acquiring a target that I didn't have with the MP7, so that's something to think about. We were on the red team and we comprehensively lost the day but that's not really important. We all had great fun - that's the important bit. Will definitely be back, although with the way my weekends are looking, your guess is as good as mine regarding when.

So you want a smaller pew and have gbbr aspirations … sounds like you want an MP7 to me 😉

Hello & welcome. Sounds like you're already out & playing which is great to hear. Shame the migraine stopped play but these things happen and as long as everyone's still keen then you just go again next time and I bet you don't forget the meds either I've mainly played CQB to date and really enjoy it even if you look like you've got chicken pox the following day 🤣 (I'd get too hot in a PC so it's the price I pay). Definitely get a weapon light and a tracer, having been a rental without those I'd actually bought them before my UKARA was sorted.

Plus side is he left / sold up due to health issues so therefore must now be better - so yay for that! Hope whatever issue needed admin support gets resolved.

Is that budget for the pew or to include batteries, mags, charger, eyepro etc too? It’s really easy to spend the same again on sundries and accessories and the recommendations will be different if we’re talking about a £200 pew rather than a £400 one.

Just got a tri-band, set it up to only use PMR frequencies. As long as the unit can operate on your frequency then you should be fine.

First off, as a new player get your UKARA sorted out. It’ll save you the heartache of buying a load of kit and then realising it’s not for you. Once UKARA’s sorted you’ll know more about how you play and therefore have more idea of what you want for your first pew. When you get it, run it stock for a while, learn how it works and how to clean it. (Unless you get a G&G where I’d heartily recommend swapping out their mosfet for a Perun AB++). Then think about what you want to try and improve and have a look at what other people with your pew have done and the results they got. There’s always someone else that’s had the same issue or upgrade plans you have. After all that you should be in a position to make an informed decision on your changes. Buying something ‘pre-upgraded’ is something I’d pass on personally, I’d want to know what it was like beforehand. Too easy to stick expensive parts in a pew and for it to perform the same or worse, which is why there’s lots of comments above about Techs you can trust.