Colin Allen

Range and accuracy: XT 6.00 or 6.02mm inner barrel Maple Leaf Macaron or Mr Hop 60 degree hop rubber and nub (or any other good quality hop rubber/nub combination). I have had mixed results with the 4uantum ones (awful in a G36, superb in an ICS Masada). Consistency: Air seals: piston head, cylinder head, nozzle. A Perun V3 Hybrid is strongly recommended; it gets rid of most of the giggedy bits in the gearbox and can give you much better trigger response. I am sure that others will have other recommendations.

It is the partly hidden part in this photo.

Safe is usually engaged via a plate on the right hand side of the gearbox, that is moved by the change lever and blocks the trigger from moving. The cutoff lever does not prevent the trigger moving.

What are you looking to improve? Range? Accuracy? Consistency? Power? Rate of fire? Trigger response?

I haven't been since they did the most recent work and, based on photos, am slightly concerned that it seems to be turning into an outdoor CQB site; is that the case? The choke points are a bit of a pain, but unavoidable given the slightly unusual shape of the site. I do miss the old Dragon's Lair.

That cutoff lever looks ok unless the lug for the spring is missing; I doubt that you will be able to get a replacement for it. You might be well advised to replace the gearbox; if you do, I would make the standard recommendation of fitting a Perun Hybrid. Regarding the overheating, If you do not replace the gearbox, I would advise replacing the wiring, as well as checking the shimming. Any two lug QD spring guide should fit, albeit possibly with a little filing of the lugs.

I wear this for airsoft. It is old and a bit crap, but it does the job, rather like its owner.

Iturri Cold Wet Weather boots; go a size up from what you normally wear and get the Wide fitting. They are the best boots that I have worn in 40+ years of wearing boots.

I wear a cheap digital watch that I bought about 20 years ago. I am not sure why I wear one; it is probably just habit.

That is exactly what it is.

Rather predictably, this morning saw me at Airsoft Plantation, where I met up with around 180 other players for a day of slinging plastic at each other. After setting up and chronoing my recently overhauled and upgraded QBZ 97, which was shooting slightly hot, comparing guns, discussing the pros and cons of gas and gearboxes, and listening to the safety brief and the first game brief, our team set off for the mortar pits, while the red team went to the village. We had two lives, while the attackers had 10 medics, upon whom they had infinite regens. Their objective was to get three smoke grenades, which were carried in an ammo box, to their respective targets in the mortar pits. They could not open the box to find out where the objectives were until they were in the mortar pits and, if the player carrying the box was hit, they had to hand it to the medic who saved their life, who would give it to the next player who regened on them. I initially took up a position behind a berm towards the left side of the mortar pits. The enemy took a while to appear but, when they did, the recently upgraded SR47 showed that the work that I had done on it had been worthwhile; it was popping BBs out to a great distance and had a much improved trigger response. I got lots of good hits before being hit, whereupon I fell back to the bunker, from where the SR47 carried on as it had started until I was hit again, this time by an enemy player who had sneaked around the boundary berm on the left. I joined my other deceased team mates along the back of the site to watch the fun, which included a brilliant piece of work from a rental, who took out several of the enemy before being hit. Eventually, of course, the attackers achieved their objectives and, after a short visit to the safe zone to reload, the game was reversed. In this iteration, I was one of the medics; our attack was pretty direct and we pushed into the mortar pits, taking a lot of hits along the way, which kept us medics busy when we were not shooting the enemy. Our smoke grenades were set off at their targets in a time that was four minutes faster than that of our enemies. Hip hooray and tally ho, as Blackadder's Lt George would probably have said. The next game was a fallback using most of the site. The red team had to transport a casualty on a stretcher, which was a four person lift, from the far end of the woods to the border bridge, then to the town hall and finally to the plane in the DEA base; at each location, they had to set off a smoke bomb that was located there. They had infinite regens on a marshal who was 30m behind their rearmost player, while we had one life in the woods, another in the border/village, and a final one on the far side of the firebreak. We set up a two layer defence in the woods and I found myself being part of the second layer. The enemy's attack was quite slow, taking a long time to break down our front line, who were well supported by those of us in the second line. Eventually they did so and, after a bitter fight, we were overwhelmed and I made my way back across the border bridge. I decided to make use of the boundary ditch, which is largely sheltered by bushes and small trees, as a good location from where I could easily move back and forth and pot enemy players as they advanced past me. As some of you may remember, I have previously written about the different types of mud at AP and this location offered me a completely new variety to admire; it was reddish brown, clearly indicating that a different soil stratum exists along the far boundary, very smelly and extremely glutinous; I was as happy as the hippopotamus in the song by Flanders and Swann. This plan worked rather well as I was able to shoot passing players from the ditch and then scuttle along it to another position without being seen. Eventually, I heard a shout of "Game Over"; the enemy had timed out without reaching the town hall. Lunch followed and the somewhat filthy appearance of my boots and trousers was in contrast to everyone else in the safe zone. After lunch, the game was reversed, with our objectives now being limited to getting the stretcher and its casualty to the border bridge and the town hall, setting off their smoke bombs. The group that I was with formed the right flank of our attack in the woods, moving along the boundary and getting into lots of engagements with the defenders; although we took casualties, we worked well as a team and overran them reasonably handily. We then got somewhat bogged down at the border ditch and bridge due to a stalwart defence by the red team, which we we eventually overcame, but not before I twice had to go in search of the regen marshal. As the enemy had taken heavy casualties fighting at the border, we were able to push into the village reasonably rapidly, getting the casualty to the town hall and setting off the smoke bomb there. At this point, I had to leave as I needed to get home, sort out my kit, have a shower, and then get to Desertfest in Camden in time for Slift and the truly awesome, overwhelming and weirdly uplifting Earth. It was a typical AP day of airsoft, with well designed games, great play and lots of fun; it was played in a good spirit. I am not sure if I will be playing next Sunday; I am going to see Soft White Underbelly (aka Blue Oyster Cult) at the Islington Assembly Hall on Saturday evening and the thought of getting up early the next morning is not particularly attractive. Weapons used: Hurricane Kit SR47 MP5A2 (most of the externals are SRC, except for a CA SEF trigger group, and it has a mix of internal parts) ASG XP18 Commander (CO2) Drinks consumed: Water Tea

Grenades were used in Song Dynasty China (960-1279), being known as Thunder Crash Bombs (震天雷).

If that is the hardest decision of his life, he has led a very sheltered life.

I run CYMA midcaps in my Golden Eagle AMD65; Golden Eagle and JG are the same company.

No, this is a Double Bell.