The_Lord_Poncho

No, that was on there, but wasn't the tightest of fits to be fair! I spent some time yesterday playing around with the ZCI hop unit, and just couldn't get it centralised on the barrel - but I didn't go as far as the epoxy route suggested above. What I did notice is that the hop arm was very 'sloppy' in the unit, and could sit at a sideways angle - giving the effect of pressing the nub on one side of the buckings' patch (not something that I've come across on other ZCI hop units, so a little strange that it happening on this one!). I spent some time looking at ways of shimming the arm, but before trying any of it, remembered a Maxx ME Pro hop unit that someone extremely kind off this forum had given to me some months back (thank you @lukeB you legend). I fitted the Maxx, and the Delrin C clip provided a much more secure fit to the inner barrel, and with no hop arm sideways play at all. I'd heard mixed reviews of Maxx hop units and their incompatibility with lots of rifles, but I have to say that it works fabulously in mine (a SR15 built up using various E&C parts).

....but, it must also be said that hammocks can be extremely cold, more so in some situations than sleeping in direct contact with the ground. The air circulates underneath you, and your sleeping bag is fully compressed below you in exactly the same areas as the air circulates providing extremely limited insulation as a result. One solution is a sleeping mat inside the hammock (ideally a self inflating mat partially inflated), but these slip around and can be uncomfortable. The gold standard for insulation in a hammock is some form of underblanket e.g. https://www.outdoorgb.com/p/Snugpak_Hammock_Underblanket/ . The days of sleeping under a basha are well behind me, and I always go for hammocks these days - much more flexibility to set up over whatever ground conditions, comfortable (when rigged ideally - otherwise a nightmare), and fun!

I offer up the cleaning rod to the hop unit on the outside of the gun, mark off the rod with a sharpie where it meets the muzzle, and then use that as a guide to make sure that I don't push the patch through the hop unit - so I don't tend to remove the barrel and hop to clean. Instead its such a quick and easy process that I tend to clean before and after each game. I have occasionally gently cleaned the hop rubber too with it in situ in the gun, turning the hop fully off, and using a patch cut slightly smaller, but don't tend to find this is something that really needs doing much.

Leather Trousers - Models' Own

Looking phenomenal!

Thanks both - some great ideas there! Out with the epoxy and PTFE tape tonight then I think!

You may need to break in the middle caps if they are new- I needed to with a load of KWA mid caps before they would feed reliably. Basically load the mag to 75% then unload and do it again and again, working slowly up to 100% capacity. After,say 20 fills and unloads you will be getting there. I have in the past put a single small drop of silicone oil on the follower of the mag too before starting the above process which helps. But best keep the bbs that you've used for this separate after as they will be contaminated with the silicone and therefore hop unreliably. And be aware that a little silicone could still get into your hop rubber the first time you use each of the mags. It could also just be that the mags don't sit right in your gun of course- sometimes shimming the front or back of the inside of your magwell with self adhesive (loop side) velcro can sort that. But before you bin off the mags, you may as well try all the above first.

I have a particular (M4) inner barrel which seems to rather freely rotate within its ZCI hop unit. The C-Clip is correctly seated, but the rotation of the inner barrel either direction by a few mm is pretty easy without any real resistance at all. Obviously makes centralising the patch for the bucking/nub ect rather challenging - the process of inserting the inner barrel and hop into the outer barrel is enough to move it off centre. Does anyone have any particular tips? Are there better after market C clips that can be had that work interchangeably with M4 style hope units - perhaps those that are made of a stronger plastic and grip the inner barrel better? A google shows there to be some that Retro Arms produce, but no idea if they would help the issue I am having? Are there other solutions - shimming, taping etc?

Back in the day I used to shoot the real Hi Power - which has increased my love/desperation for a decent airsoft version rather than quelled it!

Well, you have mad 3d printing skills - could you design up a hpa mag adapter similar to some of the airtac ones-using the we mag feed lips, valve etc, but taking eg. the stubby m16 vn mags?

Perhaps a very small air bottle hidden sideways on inside the box mag (with possibly some extra room created by using a short VN style tapped GBB mag) ? Or some way to rig an 88g co2 to the HPA tap on the mag?

Same applies to you then as my post above! With the additional advice of thinking carefully if you are tempted by 'Tactical Warfare' - the Croydon airsoft site. Very much suffers from mixed reviews - have a search on the forum to see why....

I think there are a couple of thoughts here - firstly, as you mention, inner barrel length is generally regarded as not being overly critical - up to a point. I believe that people have established that circa 300mm or so is about optimal in order to stabilise the bounce of the BB as it moves along the top of the inner barrel post hop unit. But the other consideration is the volume of your inner barrel - I'm not sure if that is usually an issue with HPA, nor indeed GBB (but it very much is for AEGs). However you mention that you have ordered an HPA 'kit' - some of the mechanical only HPA engines - such as the Mancraft PDIK require a minimum PSI in order to operate effectively - you might find that with a very long inner barrel, that minimum PSI would end up pushing you over your sites Joules limit for DMRs. I believe they have a table on their website indicating the power vs different barrel lengths - might be worth a read. Generally, with outer barrels, as long as it is sufficient to cover your inner barrel, you can choose whatever length you like the look of.

This seems an option, thanks! I'd not come across them before. Still a touch on the pricy side, but might be a go'er. I am rather wedded to the 'proper' external knee pad sections, as my knees are made of cheese these days. I had a look on eBay for the genuine crye stuff, but sadly it's multicam or nothing (I should have mentioned that I generally go for anything but). Yes, years ago I actually went to the trouble of unpicking the knee pad sections of some arktis trousers and restitching them lower onto the leg. The joys of life before kids when I had such time to burn!

Oh this could be very interesting! If nothing else, to benchmark the real world accuracy of the average airsoft rif. I, and I suspect many others, are possibly guilty for the Internet, you tube, and airsoft mate driven nonsense of "this gun here, and indeed all my guns, shoot like absolute lasers" nonsense. With the result of coming from such interactions feeling a little inadequate in terms of teching skills or our armouries capabilities.

All in the title really! I've struggled for years to find a source of adequate quality Crye style trousers that have a sufficiently long length inner seam - for around £65 or less. Most clones seem to only come with regular, and occasionally short length legs. Specifically I'm after a 36 inch waist, 34 inch inner leg. I'm a little fed up with ordering chinese XXXXL, and then having to get out the sewing machine to bring in the waist/seat, and lengthen the lower leg hem! I did find that Bulldog used to do them when UKMC Pro was open, but with the demise of that shop, my source has dried up, and my current bulldog combats are on their last legs.... Anyone have any pointers?

I appreciate that - I suppose that I have never thought the buckings would be contaminated from new.

It depends upon the sites that you play at. At the sites I frequent, there is no rule that states that a DMR must have a real world equivalent rifle that is employed in that type of role. But some sites do make this demand - e.g. that (with a couple of exceptions such as the Mk12 SPR), the rifle model is based upon a calbre larger than 5.56. Other than that - the standard rule is that full auto capability is deactivated.

Well, I've never done this - does it make a difference? Just to get any factory residue - silicone etc off it?

When i played (probably circa two months ago now - i lose track of time) at Dogtag, it was the same - probably went down to 10-15 per team after lunch. But to be honest, I preferred that. I tend to feel the same at Driver Wood too, my other local site - the lower number sessions seem to me at least to open up additional latitude for low cunning, or bold aggression - without such attempts being thwarted 99% of the time by a complete saturation of the playing area with enemy players.

Catch the train from Clapham Junction to Three Bridges, and there are a few good woodland sites within a very short taxi ride. As a rental player, my instinct says that, of those, you would have a better time at Driver Wood- where the terrain is a bit more of a leveller when you have the rental kit than at Dogtag.

Might as well, yes

In comparison to the above, just a rather modest real steel XM177/Car 15 slim handguard from Brownells as I'm fed up with the airsoft version that I previously slapped on the Cyma being really flexy and creaky. For something that you are in contact with all the time, it really detracted from the feel of the rif, and for £25 posted, I thought I couldn't go wrong. Might need to remove the internal heat shield to fit in the batteries though!

They don't have to be bad - I grew up on single shot spring BB guns! Back in the day through, you could only really buy Tokyo Marui versions, and you had to build them up from a kit. As you have only had it two days, perhaps return it and try and get your money back. If you can't be bothered/don't wish to do that, then from your description, all that can really be concluded is that the top of the magazine is too high or otherwise somehow catching upon/impeding the mechanism within the slide as its pulled back. Perhaps try racking the pistol without the magazine fully inserted - maybe not inserted fully home by only a mm or so. If they seems to work, then you can look at somehow filing down the inside of the magazine catch, or the slot on the mag that it locks onto so that the mag permanently sits a ;little lower.

I'm thinking that is only possible if the bearing is physically reversed? It's a while since I changed any bearings in a gearbox, but from memory they are 'lipped' so can't push through the holes in the gearbox casing like that, unless you've inserted it from the wrong side of the shell (or the holes in the gearbox case are massively enlarged/rounded off from a previous seized bearing).