Emergencychimps

@Jacob Wrightthanks mate, kind of you to say. I'm a massive fan of the site in general, it has provided some of the best and worst Airsoft I've ever done, but on balance it's much more likely to be decent to good. Their Halloween night game was something else! But I've been to sites where it's been awful and never had the prospect or potential to be semi decent (awa Herts, I'm looking at you!). Some sites just aren't for you, I recently did Blackstone cqb and I can't fault the site (in fact, from a business/service they excelled) but it just isn't for me. I suspect some rotten luck and the wrong games types are the cause here.

The wall of text isn't doing the ops point much good. However I think the general consensus is a moan about the site, hit taking, lack of action from the marshalls over issues, not having dedicated marshalls. I am a "regular" there, although in 2024 Im not sure I did more than 5 games. I'm not a marshall, but I have been attending for 12+years. Over the years it has had its ups and down, currently it's mid way through a change of manager, different people will be running the different weekends they run (skirmish, battlefield and filmsim). The brambles have always been an issue and are worse than ever, but keeping on top of all the maintenance is very hard! They have done loads, loads more is needed. I've noticed the dates the op mentioned, some would be skirmish, some battlefield and possible a filmsim. They have very different rules and are meant to be very different experiences. I suspect the lack of consistency comments and it being their personal playground is connected to this. Generally tuddenham is great, though I've had some truly awful days there too. Of all the sites I've done, it's the most consistently good (sometimes amazing), if i rated every event I've ever done, I'm confident tuddenham would have the highest average of all sites attended. However they are not perfect. I've seen (and mentioned on the how was your skirmish thread) how some days have been awful. I did a game in September time and it was truly the worst day of Airsoft I've ever witnessed. It was also the day I've seen the most non regular attendees at tuddenham, I spotted several large groups who were visiting and they effectively hijacked and ruined the weekend. I've personally witnessed the marshall deal with cheaters and seen people told to leave the site. I've seen player marshalls work very well and badly. General advice, pick your event there carefully, want more "realism" , then filmsims are for you, want to squirt loads of bbs for your hpa pistol, do the skirmish. Even then, there is the potential for it to go wrong, they can only provide the venue, rules, rule enforcement and encouragement, a lot is on the players. As mentioned, I've done a lot of sites over the years and it'd be a real shame to write tuddenham off, it's generally far better than most sites I've been to. After 3 bad visits I can understand why you would though.

10 is probably too young, the closer you are the more it hurts. I still have bruises from last sunday. Id say the youngest with supervision would be 13. Some sites do young airsofter games (check out battle stations in Norfolk) at lower power levels for an example, but that'll be hiring the guns and using them on their site. Bio bbs work, they're better than they used to be. As you clearly aren't an airsofter, you'd have to get a two tone anyway. One of the major things about airsoft is that they look for realistic (generally), but two tone allows any over 18 to buy an airsoft gun as over 50% of it is a bright colour (you generally have to pay extra for this). If you do ignore the advice and get one anyway, a full face mask is essential, people regularly their teeth shot out.

@Jez_Armstrong, that's awesome and cool as. Id love a night game where that type of tracer are required, would add a whole new element to it.

Welcome to the sport, I'm 40 and I've been playing for years now (think it's approaching 13.....man I feel old). Anyway, I wanted to make a few points. 1. Hold off buying too much. It's easy at the start to think, it's amazing, I'm going to do this big time and spend a fortune. Most of what new players buy is crap and they realise it's crap after not long. Also, it's as easy to lose the love for the sport as it is to fall in love with it, then most of the money youve spent will be wasted. There's "airsoft" bits that really get some people and make them fall out of love with it. 2. Everyone at airsoft are adults, dressing up to play pretend toy soldiers.....a bit like that trick where public speakers picture everyone is naked, you should try picturing everyone there as a massive nerd into playing toy soldiers.....which is exactly what we are so there's not really much reason to have social anxiety around us.....except for the neck beard body odor stinkers....avoid them. 3. Everyone loves to talk about their gear and guns, sometimes it's hard to get them to shut up, even if you didn't ask. Great for starting conversations but can be extremely dull. 4. Try different sites, some sites are great and some are crap, most are ok. But you could be going to a crap one and not realize it.....or you could be going to a great one and experiencing a crap one will make you appreciate the one you have been to. Anyway, welcome and stuff.

Yes and No. I have had a GHK v2 M4, a TM MP7 and a TM MWS and now I don't own any of them. I still have TM recoils that I bought around 10+ years ago. The GHK, I just had regular misfeed and issues with and it ruined at least 3 day games, games are precious for me, I am a dad to young kids and I don't get to go often, so I couldn't stick with it. I am sure with some fettling it could have been great, but I didn't have the time or the will. The TM MP7 was awesome, I wish I still had this, I had no issues whatsoever and 40 round mags and size meant carrying a few extra was easy. It also convinced me that the GHK problems were that it was a GHK issue, not a GBBR issue. As such I sold that and got a TM MWS, put around £1000 into it (mags, rail, hob nub etc, nothing to change anything significant) and again, had problem after problem with it so I gave up on gas guns. The nozzle arm thing got bent, mis feeds, gas mags venting, mags not taking gas properly due to metal nozzles on gas cans. Again, with some fettling or knowledge, this is probably easy enough to overcome. Having the knowledge and spares available to make adjustments on the day is key too. I was too hot to run on some days, even with the weakest gas. I have just picked up a GBLS DAS (not used yet). The mag capacity was never the issue, I currently run a ngrs with the 82 round mags and will be running 60 rounders next. The tactile nature, feedback, fun when shooting etc of a gbbr is awesome but I just found the inconsistency when actually pulling the trigger, the percentage of times it didn't work was too high for me.

£650 ish. Unfortunately having recoils upgraded, even by well known techs is a massive money loss. I've seen multiple times of people trying to recoup their costs and their rif is for sale for months with gradual reductions until around this mark.

This thread seems to have died, but is there a current or relatively active gbls das resource on another platform? Just purchased one (not got it yet) and looking for what I need to do/get in to ensure it's ready for the first skirmish

I guess you must have gone on Saturday then! I went on Sunday and it was probably the worst I have seen at Tuddenham (or any site) for years. The Marshall team did a lot to try to tackle it, "motivational speeches", threats of overzealous marshalling etc. but unfortunately there seemed to be so many bad apples there it was basically impossible to adjust. Groups cheering when players finally took hits, terrible hit taking, over killing and shooting to yield, players gloating about the fact they'd hurt others through intentional head/face shots etc. As a Tudds regular, it was very very surprising to even have it there as normally it's just not done. If anyone attended tuddenham on Sunday, please don't judge the site based on that day alone. It's not a reflection of the site or regular player base.

Preference is for a ball cap, but my melon sized head makes buying common baseball caps a nightmare. Camo ones that aren't awful in shape or migraine inducingly small seem super money for something that gets so sweaty so I have got a us woodland boonie. Obviously cut it down (very garand thumb operator esque) and have used a 6 inch length of copper from some wiring with the sheath removed to be able to shape the front of it. Works well, especially in the sun so far but I still feel like a fishing nerd wearing it.

Fogging is a git. Options are: 1. Mesh goggles. They don't fog, but there is the chance (and it does happen) that a bb could break etc and shards get through, however I've never experienced it more than just being like flakes of dirt in my eye. They're a bit like wearing sunglasses so low light situations aren't great. Great with or without face pro 2. Glasses/goggles and no face protection. Fogging generally happens when there's a lot of moisture. Face masks catch a lot of the moisture from your breath and then bam. These will still fog just from sweat, but normally an anti fog spray (I use bob hopes visor spay) is enough to tackle it. Glasses (make sure they're well fitted) need a safety rating but Screwfix stock loads of cheap options (bolle siliums are my fav). 3. Goggles/glasses with mesh facemasks. Check out the delta mike snoods and the cheap Chinese mesh masks that almost every Airsoft site/shop stocks. They let more moisture out than a plastic mask but not perfect. Anti fog is still recommended. 4. Some sort of fan system. There's loads of home made options, using pc fans etc. some commercial options. If you must have full seal eye pro, I can imagine this is the only certain way. All things said, I find if i use anti fog on glasses and I allow my head area to breath as much as possible (not wearing a helmet or scarf) then I'm not affected by fogging. Some glasses have an anti fog layer on them, they typically don't last long. Most new players aim by following the path of the bbs. If you get a red dot you could get a riser.

Skirmish day at gunman tuddenham. Awesome day again. Great hit taking, good game modes which worked nicely with the site. Somehow managed to get into some really great spots, really pushed myself physically for it and definitely paid off.

Was it a CO2 mag that you tried or a regular green gas mag?

As others have mentioned, it's a copy of a magpul pmag. I'm not nerdy enough to know which generation. However I am nerdy enough to know that pts used to have a license from magpul and their pmags were the best available. There were aeg and tm recoil versions available. Tm recoil versions generally go for £30-50 a mag depending on condition. Pts now do a non branded, slightly different version of the emag (similar to a pmag but with a window), they do them for aegs and recoils, loom for epm mags. They're pretty similar. There are generally gbbrs version available as well, depending on the platform. The beta project pmags used to be sh*t in comparison, the models they sell of it now might be much better.

You'll only truly know if you own one. They were the formula 1 racing car of the Airsoft world.....when they worked they were amazing compared to everything else on the market at the time. They sounded amazing, could have great range, very fast trigger response, real steal sized receivers and pistol grip etc. true precision engineering. However, they were susceptible to breaking (especially when they got wet), the techs did (and do) charge a fortune for their time, mags were finicky, parts were expensive and they needed regular servicing. They forged the way on a lot of things. The competition has improved massively, the range, rate of fire and trigger response (MOSFETs weren't common, now are) are all much improved on an off the shelf aeg than they were back then, the performance gap is a lot less, but the price difference and now rarity of parts mags etc is still big. That's without considering genuine upgrades. Gbbrs have also improved, so if those real steel, split receiver functions are important to you, they'll probably scratch that itch better and for at lot less cash. There is also now the gbls das, which looks to try to fill that "milsim" gap but with more functionality at a similar price. In the day, people who owned them swore by them.....but I've seen lots transfer over to upgraded tm recoils and gbbrs. There's still a few die hards out there, but my opinion is and has been that it's a dying platform

My guestimate would be about £475-500. of that the rif is about £350ish, its at least 3rd hand (though does look good, so this might be a little harsh) Standard mags (5, 1 comes with the gun) go for around £15-£18 each, so call that £80 Pmags around £20 each, so £40 Eotech, unless its holy warrior (it isn't) is almost a throw in with the rif or £20-£25 separately Peq - depends on the quality of it, I'd guess around £40 (the reference to strobe would actually put me off having it, other might feel differently) Batteries - £10 if that (I wouldn't trust second hand lipos and posting them will add to your costs) Iron sights, included with the rif. Front grip - minimal, again almost a throw in. The upgraded stock and pistol grip are nice, but again factored into the rif price and it tell me it's had someone do something and the quality of that might be fine, or its someone that also opened up the gearbox and put it back together like a monkey would, there's just no assurances/warranty etc. the NGRS market seems very busy at the moment, couple of years back you'd have been asking more as they were just harder to get. Hopefully others will comment as it does look nice.

Not necessarily true. The bifrosts do the flashing, so when a team mate in the same building as me in at tuddenham was shooting it at night, everyone in the room got briefly lit up/back lit. We got cleared out pretty quick because of it. Non flashing tracers in suppressors only light up the bb, so it's friendlier to your team (by not lighting them up) mates and yourself. Also, when I run a tracer I only have 1 in 3/4 bbs as a tracer(as a ratio, I don't hand load them), the rest are standard bbs so they don't glow as they fly and if you can see the flash from down my suppressor....smile! I also run red tracers as they aren't as bright, but still allow me to track the bbs (just). I can then be sure my bbs are where my red dot is and something funky isn't happening such as a messed up hop, suppressor strikes, shooting the window frame and not through it etc. All that being said, it means you get the benefits of seeing where your bbs are going in the dark, without giving away your location too much.

I've commented on hearing protection threads before, so I'm sure it'll be no surprise that I'll say save your money for something good. Don't waste your time and money on sub £100 options. Every time this type of things comes up, people say stuff like, "my earmors are great", then 6 games later the same people are looking for new options cause their earmors failed, they seem to be little better than rebranded z tactical ones. There will then be the people that are like, "well I've had mine for 15 games" and that's great, but they're the exception, not the rule. I'd also suggest that they have been used in 15 good weather games etc. Howard leights are good for shooting and robust, but not good enough with their directional sound for them to not be a massive impediment in an Airsoft game. If you're concerned about your hearing (and if you attend any sites that allow tags you should be) then the cheaper in ear surefire plugs are the way until you have a bigger budget. I went for sordins and even then, after the sweat, discomfort etc they still aren't regular use items for me.

There isn't a single mention of Airsoft on the labour website, nothing for firearm and a reference to tackling knife crime for gun. It's very hard to say, though I don't think there's real demand for banning the sport in the UK and seems widely known about, so if people wanted it banned/cancelled I'm sure there would be people calling for it.

Went to AWA Herts today. It wasn't a great day and I won't be back (at least not for a fair while!). It just wasn't good and frankly, there didn't seem like the potential it would ever be good. 1. Timings, they were late starting and then finished early for lunch. Lunch was almost 1 hour 45 minutes. Between each game it was a trek back to the safe zone for more time wasting. End of the day, there wasn't enough people with bbs to have another game before the day ran out....so they ended it early. 2. The games were very funnelled and limited ability to do anything other than a full frontal attach, the game zones aren't marked or explained before games, but when you've been hunkered down for ages and you're 3 metres outside the zone you'll get told. 3. Hit taking (for me) wasn't bad (for a member of my group doing his first game, it was terrible), but it wasn't great either. 4. The site has a few set piece areas, they're a trek from the safe zone and frankly either not used well or it's just a dull woodland site. 5. Swamp like mud and water. I get its very hard to manage drainage on a site, but they've been going at least 13 years and everywhere was like a swamp with little to nothing to prevent players having to go through 7-8 inch deep streams/ditches (3-4 feet wide) between the safe zone and game areas (and in game areas). No sign of bridges, anything on the paths to improve drainage etc. The staff were all friendly enough, took feedback etc but I got the impression nothing will change. I just can't see how I could justify going there when much better is available for similar money. It wasn't terrible, such as arsey marshalls. But there just wasn't anything really positive.