Emergencychimps

To be honest, I think a days entertainment for £25-£30 is amazingly cheap. I don't think there are many activities that are more than sitting on your arse in your own home(Netflix and gaming) that has such a low per hour cost. The rest of the costs (guns, ammo, food, pyro, kit) are up to the player and can be done incredibly cheaply or incredibly expensively, so looking for ways to reduce this further is feasible in the UK. If anything I'd encourage going the other way, charge me more but have paid Marshalls. It's hard to get volunteers to run a site as well as people who are getting paid for it. That's why a lot of sites are based around the one or 2 people who make the cash from it. If they aren't there or they're having an off day the whole site goes down hill. A local site to me has peaks and troughs and it's entirely based around the site managers (not the owners). When they change so does the quality of the site, the games run, the way the briefing is given, the attitude to the whole day/weekend etc. When it's bad it's pretty hard to moan cause they're doing their best and they are just volunteering.

I've done a mix of weekend events ( normally around £100 a time with no food included) and skirmishes. Most skirmishes locally tend to be £25 without food. But I have paid up to £35. I personally prefer sites that don't include food but do provide is on site at extra expense, its then my choice to buy or not. If they do good food at reasonable prices people will buy, bad food or too expensive and people will take pack ups. Honestly, to me what is value is very much site depending. I'd find it hard to pay more than £30 for a basic woodland site but I'd be happy to pay £45 for day sessions if the site is special, such as a mall, the fire college, prison, mod site (stirling games at places like catterick are effectively 2, if not 3 standard skirmish days due to hours played, so £100 ish is cheap). What I find more frustrating is inconsistency in organisers. My local site seems to get great reports one week and then I go and it's awful (maybe it's me?!) etc. I find the fact I've wasted one of my few free days far worse than the cost. If I could guarantee an organiser would provide a good to great day then I'd be willing to pay more, possibly double the above mentioned prices, but it seems that doesn't exist.

The rif is £300 new from anywhere that actually has it in stock, high-pressure advertise £250 but that's plus vat....so £300. There are 4 extra mags with it, generally £40 each, so that's an extra £160, plus the extra 2 things, let's call that £20 plus postage, c £10 (if you can find it all in stock from one retailer) = £490. If you can find them in stock. Tm mp7s seem to hold onto their value better than most rifs, so the 70% rule/guidance isn't accurate for them. So if you apply an 80% figure (which I agree is high for second hand, but I've seen it happen for tm mp7s loads) then you're around £400...... I don't know how the supply line is for tm mp7s at the moment. Sometimes everywhere is out and second hand prices go up, sometimes they're available and prices seem more reasonable second hand.

Tm Mp7s and mags seem to retain their value better than most. If it was mine I'd list it (none of the optional extras) for £425 all in and then consider offers around £400 The extras I'd say sell seperately, if you force a bundle you won't get the full value you could from them and it'll take longer to sell. Suppressor c £50 Sling c 25-30 Clone t2 with mount c £40 Surefire min is £150

Are they worth it? It depends but I'd say for most people no. Any new player and I'd encourage you don't. You're not new though! They can and do get sweaty, even if they have vents, they can increase fogging (more moisture = more fogging) and if you don't have the right size then they can cause headaches too. I generally wear a thin headband and replace it periodically with spares that I have in my pocket, as the next one gets wet the old ones dries in my pocket etc. They can also stick out in woodland environments. However if you want the protection and the look etc then this could be a price worth paying. There are loads of different styles and the quality varies massively. It is often you get what you pay for. Most Airsoft ones are clones of opscore. Whether that's the carbon, fast or the maritime. The height of the "cut" can vary for these, if you run sordins or peltors then I'd recommend a high or super high cut (these can be attached to the helmet) You can get clones of the mtek flux, revision caiman and mich 2000 styles as well. Then there are ex army ones....wouldn't recommend the older ones but apparently the virtus is good, not sure if you can legally get them though yet. Some people run protec/skate helmets - very black hawk down delta look What can vary? The thickness of the shell, the size of the shell, whether they have rails and how it attaches and fits to your head, the quality of the pads and the quality of any NV mounts. I'd recommend seeing any your friends have and trying any you see around your local site (at the start of the day #sweatmess) If you've got an average size head, up to around 59 cm then most Airsoft helmets will work, above that look at the pts mtek flux or a l/XL ops core fast bump but here you're talking £100 plus and the opscore will be more. I've had Emerson, FMA, red dragon and the pts mtek flux (about to list, just got an opscore carbon). Realistically if you actually use it, the pads and retention system fail on Airsoft helmets. The pts mtek flux is by far the highest quality and most comfortable Airsoft helmet I have ever had. It also has the best longevity, but it's for people with larger heads 59+ One thing I do really like about the mtek flux is the cut at the back, it's more curved up and makes looking up (or ahead when prone) easier than standard opscore with a dial types. Depending on what else you use it for, you can obviously run night vision off it, go pro cameras, lights and camo covers etc they can look pretty Gucci. Regarding eyepro and face protection, I've never had an issue with it affecting eye pro, face protection I actually find it easier with the helmet, generally (especially helmets with a rail) you can attach the face protection to the helmet, so it's more comfortable, you could look at using a ops core mandible (clones available). I also find rain can be an issue compared with a baseball cap. It does seem like wearing helmets is becoming cool again.....guess we'll see how long that lasts.

It's a no from me. I think people either want an optic (or certain type of optic) that is as cheap as possible so it's then the easiest/cheapest one that fits their requirements. If so custom engraving isn't going to make it cheaper or easier to get. Or They want the best value optic they can get for their money, whether thats an airsoft optic in a certain style up to a £500 aimpoint. I don't think many people pay for the vortex optic price brand to get a airsoft clone with some engraving. My main point here is I think it's a gimmick that only a few people would be interested in and if they want it enough they can get companies that do laser engraving to do it for them (such as land warrior) on their choice of optic.

I don't know how the adverts get updated by when they are completed or not (guess the seller does that after a period of time) but often I have found that sellers list the item on multiple places. When this happens if they sell it, they're often unlikely to update that places they didn't sell it through unless they just happen to go back to that site. If you are contacting sellers about items that haven't recently had activity, then it's probably sold and they don't check here often enough. Or you're contacting sellers about items that have completed and they can't be bothered to reply, whether they have seen your message or not, as they have marked the item as complete. Also, life happens, work etc so this could be why people aren't replying as soon as you'd like. If I were you, I'd make sure you're contacting only about items that have been listed or bumped recently, make sure your messages are polite and you'll see a good response rate. If you contact me about a completed advert, something from a long time ago or with a message along the lines of "I'll give you 50% of the advertised sale price" - I'd just ignore you.

Welcome to the sport! I'm personally delighted that after that sort of day you've logged on and bothered to create this thread and discuss it. As others have mentioned every site varies. 6 games (depending on length) is about average for a skirmish day, I prefer faster turn around times and shorter lunch breaks. But I tend to find all skirmish sites slack and slow for this, a skirmish caters for all players including players with really different motivation and organisational levels. Losing momentum can be a difficult one to recover and especially if the weather is bad it can be hard to be motivated again to get it going after lunch. Most skirmish players are interested in their game, not whether the objectives been achieved, other people flanked etc and most are there to get kills and they play in an according fashion......sounds like a more structured event would be up your street. Regarding the objectives, at a skirmish they rarely mean anything, they are just a plot for that game, the score for football at the end is important, having a good game less so. Having a good game/experience is the point of Airsoft (or generally that's the accepted view) so which team won rarely matters. I find it useful so that Marshall's can re balance the teams if one side is losing lots. It is nice to know when one side "wins" but I'm sure if you persist you'll have great games you lose and terrible ones you win. My honest opinion is that you experienced a pretty meh day of Airsoft, whether that's because of the site, them having an off day, I've had meh days at what I thought were great sites, great days at sites I had previously thought of a not great. At skirmish days I tend to find all of the issues you've raised exist, some times it's real bad, some times a minor annoyance. I rarely found them at more organised events (such as battlesims)or milsims. Stirling run lots of events at catterick, it's worth the 8 hour return trip for me. You can play bad guys without all the Gucci kit and their themed games there arent non stop. I wouldn't normally advise them for a new player, but I'd rather that than you lose the love for the sport altogether.

I'd say you're looking around £500 -£550. £325 ish for the 416 with the original rail - the new rail is likely to put people off as much as it is draw them to it. Also it looks like a longer barrel and rail than standard (assuming same outer barrel, but with the extension and a longer rail). The fact it's had work done, spectre, spring etc puts as many off as it does attract again, so little value is added in my opinion. Would have priced it lower without the work done. £280-300 ish. £180 for the pmags - £45 each seems to be around the going rate for them. £50 for the rahg rail. I'd probably advise selling the rahg rail separately if you want max cash but more posting to do. Selling the original rail separately isn't easy and doesn't get as much as the rahg as its much more common.

I am not a fan of the owner, but there's a few things I consider. He did serve his time, agree with the sentence or not the whole point of our justice system is that people get punished for doing naughty things and then should rehabilitate. There's an awful lot of stolen mod kit about, most is very low level(pairs of glasses etc), he just went to the extremes and got punished for it. I understand that they went after his finances as well via the tax man. With his diagnosis, it doesn't excuse what he did etc. but considering how awful it is, I don't think he needs a rougher time of it so I'll avoid any personal comments. I actually really appreciate their stance on subjects like 2 tones, binary triggers and pistols with high cap m4 mags. They championed the opinion against 2 tones to their financial detriment. They make money off people attending their sites and by implementing that rule they have fewer players, I am sure whatever "extras" they have made from more rentals or kit sold onsite, it isn't offset by the numbers that don't attend. Their principle was that 2 tone wasn't right and they stuck by that principle and were willing to take the hit to the wallet. Whether you agree with their principle or not, I do admire the conviction(boom boom) to stick to their ideals on it. Personally, not a fan of the idea of binary triggers (no idea if I have ever come up against one, normally these things are based on whether the person who has it is a knob or not) and pistols with high cap m4 mags, it's just not for me and if a local site had that rule I would see it as a reason to attend. I don't like speedsoft, if people do that's fine but the fact there is choice in the market is a good thing. If you want to speedsoft etc then great, go to sites that do it or allow that style, if you don't, I'd like there to be somewhere to go that applies suitable rules. More choice and variation of games, styles etc to me is very welcome, even if it means there are events, sites etc that I end up not wanting to attend. BFGs, had 3 for over 6 years and frankly they have saved me over £1000 in pyro, never had one stolen and I regularly leave them to the end of the game. Maybe I have been lucky or the sites I have attended have been ultra honest. even if they did get stolen I'd still be quids in (though annoyed!). However they do get stolen, I would hazard a guess that the rule is there so marshalls can step in and prevent dead players ruining firefights to collect their bfgs, if the area isn't in contact I can't see collecting used bfgs would be an issue. Have a strict rule in writing, then you can be flexible, don't have the rule at all and it can't be enforced when needed. Just my 2 pence worth.

I have used a lot of optics under nv and your decision is likely to be based on what generation of night vision you have but I think it's sensible to be looking into passive more and more. The last weekend event I did I saw one ir laser, the whole time, there was so much nv on site that lasers just give your position away too much (caveat on that later). Ultimately passive aiming through NV is expensive, you're generally looking for real optics. I currently have/use the following: Vortex sparc ar, vortex crossfire red dot, Holosun (can't remember the specific model) and an eotech 512 (real), holy warrior eotech xps. Previously owned Aimpoint comp m2, comp m4 and an evolution gear eotech. I have owned acm clones of eotechs etc but ignoring them are they arent usable for nv. My recommendation would be a holosun red dot (like a aimpoint t2 style) or a vortex crossfire and put it on a riser, such as the unity tactical fast mount. There are clones that work for airsoft, pts ones around £55 and acm around £15. There is another mount called the scalar works which is higher than standard, but not as high as the unity. I haven't recommended the sparc ar as you can't change the mount and would strongly recommend you do, or at least retain the ability to do so in the future. The holy warrior xps has a night vision mode, but it's lowest nv setting is the same as the highest nv setting on a vortex or holosun. It effectively creates a photonic barrier so you can see it, but not past it onto your target......which isn't that helpful. It's just about useable but compared with vortex and holosun isn't ideal. The eotech 512 on a riser is amazing - easily the best. Has a nice big window to look through, the reticle is just amazing but you're lucky to get one under £350 even second hand plus the riser. The aimpoints were good, smaller windows but did the job well. It's just the holosun/vortex ones do the same job (for airsoft purposes anyway) and are around half the price as again, you'll be lucky to get one for less than £350. The vortex and holonsun, you're looking around £150-£170 new plus the new mount, they're great in the day, the night vision modes work well and they can be set nicely, for not ridiculous money. The holosun has a shake awake feature, which is nice but not essential. Can save batteries though. I would recommend keeping the IR laser, in buildings they're handy for the amount of "splash" they can create where there is less ambient light. I'd also recommend an IR torch on a pressure switch for similar, but can be handy, especially outside. BTW, a night vision mode is nice, its better than using the same optic on a non night vision setting. But it's not mandatory, in fact at some events you're better of using the red dot version of it. The nv mode is essential if you're attaching your NV device to the rif, but when head mounted, for a general look through, aiming etc it should be fine for a standard gen 3 device (has been for me!) The reference to having it in red mode rather than nv mode is once a contact is initiated it's amazing how often it switches to lots of white light and having it in red mode for that can be handy, without having to change it, flip your nods up etc mid contact. you'll just have to play with it to decide what you like.

Check out weapon762, based in Spain but they stock some good airsoft versions of the expensive kit. Very hard to tell the exact vest, would agree it looks similar to a jpc and even if it's not, it's great carrier and likely to do you well (it does pretty much everything well).The real ones are more expensive but airsoft clones are generally fine. There is an argument for real versions, but I'd suggest sticking to airsoft ones and the quality of TMC has improved massively and the price is easier. Some sites like shooter cb gear can be worth looking at too.

Thats a good shout, heard good things about his products and service he provides. Not cheap though

Edgar brothers, though they look out of stock for what you're after. If you're after a real steal tactical light land warrior stock streamlight and their new rifle light is meant to be excellent value. https://www.landwarriorairsoft.com/aiming-devices-mounts-and-bipods-c7/flashlights-c79/streamlight-protac-rail-mount-2-625-lumen-p12246 I don't work for land warrior. Just an available real steel alternative.

That is easily the best protection and best looking protection I've seen for that type of optic. Quite impressed! Personally I'm really not a fan of the look of that optic at all, but don't let that put you off it if it's the favourite as I can be a grumpy old man at the best of times! If we all like the same stuff the world would be very dull.

I'd recommend option 1 or option 3 on a riser, I'd generally advise against option 2. Re option 2 there are a couple of reasons I'd advise against, the main one being how exposed the glass is. Over the years I have seen dozens, if not more of them smashed and cracked from bbs strikes with regular comments of "I only put that on there the other day" (or similar). Adding protection against bbs isn't as straight forward as options 1 and 3. Add in the rain issues and I'd recommend staying away. There will be people who have run them for ages, but they seem to have a higher destruction rate than the others. Option 1 is a good solid foundation but not the most operator looking (it's a clone of an older aimpoint), option 3 is a clone of a more modern aimpoint and is generally paired with a mount or riser (such as the cool Unity tactical fast mounts, clones are available) which is not only a cool modern look, but also really helps with body posturing while playing and using the optic while wearing a mask. While the look might not be that important now, you might (might not obviously) get into more milsim, operator larp etc impression stuff and it's more likely to help you avoid having to buy another optic at that point. Both 1 and 3 are pretty easy to add a poly carb lens (Screw fix do some poly carb safety goggle for about £1.50 that provide enough to cover 2-3 optics) and rain is much less of an issue as well. Just my 2 cents worth.

No idea on a suitable price for this but definitely better to sell it somewhere an aliens collector would see it rather than just airsofters. This is pretty unique.

I would advise any ngrs owner to have an AR wrench. The recoil/wobble causes stuff to get loose surprisingly fast. They can generally tighten the barrel nut as well (which on recoils needs doing occasionally). For the castle nut, it's needs tightening but I'd also recommend some threadlock (can't remember if it's blue or red). I'd also recommend checking other screws and pins periodically as well, at least after every game day for the first 3-5 game days you do, mag catch, the ones in the stock tube, the pins in the lower receiver. Just a standard side effect of the recoil.

You can get amped ptts to combat this issue, however they are generally not cheap and often for the dual pin boafeng/kenwood plugs. Disco 32 do a range and would imagine JCI comms does something too. One of the nice things about the baofeng is that it's easier/possible to get a wider variety of accessories.

For my recoils I have changed the spring, to an M95 which isn't a massive increase, but if you do that and change the barrel for a tightbore and one that is slightly longer you should have a decent fps. Mine are around 335-340 pretty consistently. This way you aren't just wacking in a bigger spring, realistically more powerful springs will break tm recoils quicker than other modern brands (as described above, they are built for power so the gears and piston aren't as strong) but they have been running pretty well for over 5 years each and a lot of use on stock gears and pistons without any major malfunctions. The FPS mentioned is at 0.2, it's obviously lower as I run 0.3s through it normally. I don't think TM recoils are great if you want a reasonably high ROF either and I think regularly people use 11.1's (even with mosfets) and then get annoyed when their upgraded recoil can't cope with it. Doesn't really sound like I am endorsing recoils, I am, they're great, but they aren't some super dupe easy to upgrade by slapping in a higher power spring or massive battery, they're more refined and if treated like it will deliver some fantastic results for quite a while.

This might sound silly, but I actually have a name tag, it's just my first name as a velcro patch. While it doesn't help me with other people's names, it helps them with mine and I have noticed more people chat to me when I have it than when I don't. As I've been doing Airsoft for 10 years, I have a lot of kit, know a few people on site, am older etc but I want to be approachable to any player and newer players especially so making it easy for them to chat to me seems a good way of doing this, they are the future of the sport. I've always hated going to sites where the older/regular players almost seemed unapproachable. I also figure that if I'm wearing a name patch, people figure that I want them to know my name and probably chat to me, which again I think helps. I swear this has made people I don't know feel more comfortable chatting to me.