[New gearbox and motor but...]

If the battery and wires were heated up, first of all there is a short or jam that caused it, and secondly your battery might have been overdrained during the heating so it's gone flat

[BB Variation]

How was the weighing done? I mean are they certain the accuracy of the scale is within ± 0.001 g?

 

Also sample size = 30 is often used as rule of thumb for statistics, it's usually good enough to locate your normal distribution i.e. central limit theorem

[People’s view of how the sport of airsoft skirmishing will fair if Labour win the election]

It appears to me that UKARA has a monopoly of lobbying power because they hold the secret sauce data of the airsoft market. However because they are not really an airsoft association they do not have the capacity to take on the role of one. A full fledged airsoft association should really be doing a number of stuff even during "peace time", e.g. PR and promoting safety and improving the hobby etc (see suggestions from GPT above). So that the public perception of our hobby does not depend entirely on external factors such as whichever party is in charge.

In other words, the toy gun illuminati might be too good at being secretive it is unintentionally trapping the hobby in the fringe zone it originated from.

[People’s view of how the sport of airsoft skirmishing will fair if Labour win the election]

@Asomodai While I do not doubt your credibility, is there an "official source" where this info can be checked?

 

BTW I just noticed a fun fact, UKARA charges a £300 annual fee from each of their retailer members, there are 64 retailers on their website so this is a ~£19k fund annually for maintaining the database. So I assume this is all going to Fire Support?

[People’s view of how the sport of airsoft skirmishing will fair if Labour win the election]

Amazingly the story of UKARA is truly becoming lost history because their operation is so obscure.

 

Here is a brief mention of it being an Excel file sitting at a site called Ironfoot Airsoft that used to exist (near the GCHQ site), but the farmhouse is now demolished.

 

So there is really no solid up-to-date information of exactly who and where and how UKARA is maintained.

[People’s view of how the sport of airsoft skirmishing will fair if Labour win the election]

In the spirit of larping we can actually wargame this out:

 

In what circumstances would the VCRA be amended to not allow RIFs being sold to airsofters?

 

(I'm surprised GPT actually came up with some half decent answer, for comprehensiveness I'm editing collating the key points below)

 

Quote

Threats:

 

1. Public safety concerns - If there is evidence of increase in public safety concerns related to misuse of RIFs / Rising incidents of RIFs being used in criminal activities / Evidence of a significant increase in airsoft-related injuries or accidents / Concerns over the potential for RIFs to be mistaken for real firearms in public spaces

2. Public opinion - Pressure from anti-gun advocacy groups / Changes in public opinion towards airsoft and replica firearms / Public outcry or pressure from advocacy groups calling for stricter regulations on airsoft gun ownership / If there is a shift in societal attitudes towards the use of weapons in recreational activities, leading to a greater emphasis on safety and responsible ownership.

3. Pressure from authorities - Pressure from government-led initiatives to reduce access to replica firearms / Recommendations from law enforcement agencies to restrict access to RIFs / If there are improvements in technology that allow for better identification and tracking of RIFs, making it easier to enforce stricter regulations / If there is a need to address loopholes or gaps in current regulations regarding airsoft guns

4. International pressures - Upholding international arms control agreements / International or domestic security threats: In response to specific security threats or incidents, the government may decide to tighten restrictions on the sale of RIFs to airsofters to prevent any potential misuse or exploitation by individuals or groups with malicious intent

 

 

Can you suggest actions airsofter can take to prevent these items

 

Quote

1. Airsofters can work together to promote proper safety measures, such as enforcing age restrictions, ensuring proper storage of RIFs, and promoting responsible use of airsoft guns to prevent accidents and misuse. / To address public safety concerns related to airsoft, airsofters can actively participate in safety training programs and promote responsible use of RIFs within the community. They can also report any misuse of RIFs to authorities and cooperate with law enforcement to prevent incidents. Additionally, airsofters can educate the public about the differences between real firearms and RIFs to reduce the likelihood of mistaken identity in public spaces.

2. Airsofters can engage in community outreach, education, and advocacy to promote a positive image of the airsoft community and show that airsoft is a safe and responsible recreational activity. / In response to changes in public opinion, airsofters can engage in advocacy efforts to promote the positive aspects of airsoft as a recreational activity and demonstrate the importance of regulations that balance safety with the enjoyment of the sport. They can also work to build relationships with community leaders and stakeholders to address concerns and dispel misconceptions about airsoft.

3. Airsofters can collaborate with law enforcement agencies to develop guidelines and best practices for the responsible ownership and use of RIFs, as well as to address any concerns or recommendations from authorities to prevent misuse of airsoft guns. / They can also participate in discussions with government officials and law enforcement agencies to provide input on proposed regulations and suggest alternative solutions to address any identified issues. By proactively working with authorities, airsofters can help shape regulations that are fair and reasonable.

4. Airsofters can stay informed about international arms control agreements and actively participate in discussions and negotiations to ensure that any regulations or restrictions on the sale of RIFs to airsofters are fair, reasonable, and do not unfairly target law-abiding enthusiasts. / They can also engage with international organizations and participate in discussions on security threats to demonstrate the responsible use of airsoft guns and advocate for regulations that prioritize safety and security. By promoting a positive image of the airsoft community on a global scale, airsofters can help mitigate concerns about potential risks associated with the sale of RIFs.

 

This AI is not bad

[People’s view of how the sport of airsoft skirmishing will fair if Labour win the election]

This is going back to the discussion of having an association/federation/facebook group

 

Who should be keeping track of and able to pull out numbers about the airsoft economy

[Suppressor Foam]

Melamine foam (aka magic erasers) might be a good alternate

 

It has rather high NRC and is also in some brands of acoustic panels

 

With PU foam there are many grades and weights and whatnot and not every type is good for absorbing sound (some are), whereas melamine foam seems to outperform even the acoustic grade PU foams especially towards the higher frequencies, which is what we want

 

Magic erasers are rather cheap and easily available, and it is safe to handle and very easy to cut to shape, just get a pack and cut out some round sections and stack them

 

You can even scrub dishes with it

[Suppressor Foam]

The more I think about it the more I feel air diffusion does not really matter, because the air pocket will seek the path of least resistance and this will be around the BB and in front of it. When the BB is just entering the suppressor, the clearance will allow the air to go around and this inrush pressure will hammer on the first few mm of material around the barrel exit, but will quickly diminish as the air go around and in front of the BB, rather than hanging around looking for openings in the foam/mesh/wadding. This will have already finished happening before the BB is even a few mm into the suppressor.

 

Therefore the fill material does not really need to diffuse any air, its only job would be simply to absorb the shockwave, but not necessarily absorb any air volumetrically. Therefore it can be a solid material.

 

Now in order to absorb the shockwave and not echo or transmit or reverberate it, it needs to be somewhat flexible I suppose.

 

If one were to isolate this shockwave in audio it will probably sound like a high pitched crack, because it is essentially a sharp hiss of air that is compressed into a very short time, it will be in the upper frequencies because dimensionally and energetically it should not produce any component in the lower frequencies.

 

What fill material (at 10-12 mm thickness) is best for muffling high pitched noise (say 2 kHz to 20 kHz)?

 

If we go by this chart we may be looking at some sort of "fiberglass board" or "sprayed cellulose fiber" (look for a high Noise Reduction Coefficient at high frequency ranges)

 

Now we don't want to be blowing fibreglass particles around so we can rule that out

 

Cellulose on the other hand seems to be the best material for the job but might be impossible to put into a can and keep it there (not to be confused with spray foam)

 

So the key might be instead finding something that has the next highest NRC, perhaps carpet tiles

 

[Specna Arms motor upgrade?]

oh nonono SHS_hightorque_is_not_hightorque.png

 

SHS high torque is 16 TPA, it is low torque

 

Get a 22 TPA if you can, and when you are ready pop a 13:1 in there, or better yet a Perun Hybrid and turn on precocking

["a white ball-bearing type gun"]

https://www.burymercury.co.uk/news/24345047.second-report-weapon-seen-bury-st-edmunds-town-centre/

 

"air-powered ball-bearing weapons"

 

why do people always come up with new nicknames for airsoft

 

[National Service]

If the 25 days are well paid like a proper summer job then I can see people volunteering, otherwise they'd think it's authoritarian being forced to working for free when the economy is beyond fucked up

[Suppressor Foam]

Let's do some maths

 

Let's say we want to completely contain the pressure wave within the can so by the time the BB exits there is zero difference in air pressure inside and outside the can, meaning the ideal air volume in the can plus the volume of the barrel should roughly equal cylinder volume:

 

V_can + V_barrel = V_cylinder

 

The typical cylinder volume is what, ⌀ 24 mm x 50 mm? or ~22.62 cm³, if this is 3/4 ported it becomes ~17 cm³

 

If my barrel is a 270 mm barrel, ⌀ 6 mm x 270 mm is about 7.63 cm³ (so the ratio is about 2.23 it seems but this is irrelevant)

 

That gives me about say 9.4 cm³ of air that needs to be diffused inside the can

 

Assume we are using a replica of a 556 can with an external size of say ⌀ 38 mm x 157 mm, subtracting the body thickness and a layer of butyl tape lining of say 2 mm and fittings etc we have an internal volume of say ⌀ 32 mm x 110 mm or thereabout or 88.47 cm³ of total space inside

 

Of course we need to leave a clear corridor for the BB to go though and it cannot be so tight, if it is ⌀ 10 mm x 110 mm this is 8.64 cm³ out of the 88.47 cm³ that needs to be kept clear, giving us say 80 cm³ of diffusion zone available

 

But this BB clear corridor should also be included in the V_can so this ⌀ 10 mm x 157 mm or 12.33 cm³ is already bigger than the 9.4 cm³ volume we need to normalise

 

That means, the foam fill material within the 80 cm³ diffusion zone is really just handling impulse pressures

 

And if we sketch out the wavefronts we can see most pressure is probably in the beginning 1/3 portion of the can, accordingly we can use a dense mesh here, and use a more open mesh in the later 2/3

 

[How does this sound after changes?]

Nah if it works, it works, but if it happens to get hot during the game, you know why

[How does this sound after changes?]

PME means pre-mature engagement, that is when your ROF approaches about 30, your sector gear will be too fast and will try to engage the piston while it is still travelling forward i.e. the sector will slam into the middle of the piston rack and chewing up gear teeth

 

Since SHS "high torque" is actually a 16 TPA high speed, I think with 11.1 and 13:1 gears it will probably go over 30 RPS, hence the PME risks

[Suppressor Foam]

Good point about gradual reduce of the pop, so perhaps the whole thing should be filled with some sort of open cell foam that is high enough porosity for maximum diffusion

 

So perhaps there is some merit about the common paint roller insert

 

Butyl I guess is nice as a middle damping layer between materials, or a lining layer, but not sure if it is the best interface for the air borne noise, because maybe the smooth surface isn't as good as an open cell structure for diffusion of the pop

 

Maybe if you roll up some thin gauge wire mesh to simulate an open cell structure it would be very effective at diffusion and absorption?

[How does this sound after changes?]

Oh no not another, SHS high torque is not high torque

 

But yours sounds nice

 

But don't be tempted to go 11.1 with this, you will get PME

[Suppressor Foam]

Just theorycrafting here... just a sketch to note down what we have to deal with...

 

1. Vibration damping: We know the case will resonate and vibrate from any sound from inside (air expansion) and from the barrel (piston impulse) so the case need to be treated to become a composite material so any vibration is deadened rather than resonate, can be achieved with a lining of vibration damping tape or with similar principle

 

2. Air gap: To limit energy transfer from inside to the case, maybe we can leave an air gap so all the air expansion is contained and processed inside, rather than transferred outside to the case

 

3. Absorbent material: We need to convert as much sound into kinetic energy as possible at this layer, maybe a heavy and absorbent material, maybe some sort of rubber or silicone or something along those lines

 

4. Air expansion chamber to match the cylinder volume ~1:1 so the space can be filled with as much absorbent material as possible (for the highest conversion ratio possible), geometry to match the air expansion pattern, and/or optimised for absorption (depending on how the absorbent layer is made). This area probably needs to be towards the back.

 

5. The "exit tunnel" of the BB should be towards the front so any leftover sound from the air expansion zone can be limited, we just want the BB going out but with minimal air pressure i.e. sound.

 

TLDR we need to convert the vibrations into heat as much as possible, and we try to do this inside while limiting any transfer to the outside

[Suppressor Foam]

I wonder if you roll up enough kitchen foil so it becomes a semi-solid aluminium block (with just the middle part hollow where the BB passes through) would it be effective because of the mass

[My Specna RRA SA-E01 is feeding like a PIG now..]

How do you get a specific size thin wall stainless tubing? from a sheet/foil?

 

And how do you keep it in place?

[My Specna RRA SA-E01 is feeding like a PIG now..]

@ParHunter The clearance between inner barrel and outer barrel is probably too small (in mine it was ~0.3 mm diameter difference / 2 = 0.15 mm) for o-rings, plus it is meant to slide horizontally and having o-rings can introduce friction which hinders the magazine insertion, because your barrel would behave like a piston and will require more force to slide it (from the magazine pushing the hop unit as it is being inserted)

 

And if you have o-rings you will need to machine some grooves on both parts to keep them in place, and then you will have a new compatibility issue with aftermarket barrels etc

[Took my specna apart and found no compression.]

You need to narrow down where your leak is

 

For example you just compress the piston with cylinder with your palm, and then add the cylinder head and try again, and then add the nozzle and try again

 

Then you will know which part is leaking more or less

[Newb]

@Cannonfodder Certainly importing is a VCRA s36 offence for "Manufacture, import and sale of realistic imitation firearms", which allows for a few defences including historical re-enactment and airsoft skirmishing

 

It is the exact same offence when someone sells an RIF

 

@JinxDuh Unfortunately disabling it won't be relevant for the purpose of VCRA, because an RIF is purely based on appearance

 

However you can two-tone it, or make it entirely a certain bright colour, it would become an IF and no longer subject to s36

[Importing Rifle to Uk from EU]

Are you sure it was the police who called you, and not the customs?

[Newb]

Those are RIFs. There is no UK law against export of RIFs. (Not sure about any import law on the other side)

 

It is only when you bring them back i.e. importing RIFs it becomes a VCRA offence.

 

Among the available defences, in your case it would be the defence of holding of organisation and holding of historical re-enactments.

 

You just need some evidence for it e.g. photos from the event, and there is no sign of you doing anything not allowed.

 

Quote

(4)For the purposes of this section a person shall be taken to have shown a matter specified in subsection (1) or (3) if—

(a)sufficient evidence of that matter is adduced to raise an issue with respect to it; and

(b)the contrary is not proved beyond a reasonable doubt.