Colin Allen

Some people are incapable of learning from their own experiences.

Or someone who does not understand people and emotions.

That is a bit bloody radical! Are there actually people who wear combat gear to airsoft sites?

That does sound like a good day; I should probably give Driver Wood another try.

Thanks for that little rant; it says so much about you, none of it positive. When I write about my airsoft days, I focus on the gameplay. I am not writing a review; there is a separate section on here for that. You have either totally ignored what I wrote about being constructive or have not understood it. I talk to site owners about issues so that they can decide what, if anything, to do about them. i don’t know you so I can neither like nor dislike you.

Regarding Dragon’s Lair, this made me sad today.

A rather easy transition to an MP5SD2, apart from having to butcher the new gearbox to allow the charging handle to work. XT 6.03mm barrel Maple Leaf Macaron and Omega nub CHiLUN ETU as it was already in a spare quick change gearbox SHS High torque motor Trigger shimmed to reduce pull length

Haribos. They are the best way to make friends.

If you regard that review as being very constructive, I think you need to look up the meaning of constructive. You are sitting at the side and throwing stones. Being constructive would involve engaging with them to discuss the issues that you found and probably suggesting ways of resolving them. Doing that was what led to Ray offering me a marshaling gig at the old site. I sent him an email setting out the issues that we had encountered over a few game days and how I thought they could be overcome. His response was positive and thoughtful. Last time I went to the new site, I had a conversation with Ray about the work being done and why I didn’t see it as positive. I and others have also engaged with his team. I have done the same at other sites, not because it feeds my ego or anything like that, but because I want great sites to play at. Maybe you could engage in a similar constructive manner.

I suspect that nothing would ever be good enough for you. Maybe you could offer them your advice and assistance with developing the site rather than sitting at the side throwing stones.

That is not what they are doing; they are building structures to create CQB areas. While I am critical of the way the site has been developed, I am objective enough to recognise that they are trying to do the best they can with it according to their view of what the site should be. However, in their position, I would be very concerned about the dwindling attendance and trying to find out why it is happening.

Excellent! Many thanks, although, as someone who spends a lot of time dealing with people who have been over reliant on AI tools, I am never overly confident about its outputs. That does match something that I have just found.

Does anyone know the length of a CYMA MP5 nozzle, not the K version?

Oh, it isn’t about his pride or ego; it is more about him being one of those really nice little old guys that you suspect could rip you apart with his bare hands and dispose of you so that you would never be found :). He is a lovely bloke but as hard as nails. I am now aware that a discussion about the layout of the site is currently ongoing.

All of this is only my opinion based on playing airsoft at a number of sites for many years and marshalling for a few years. Ray once asked if I would become a marshal at the original site. The site is fundamentally flawed with regard to its size, shape and topography. It is small and consists of two main areas: a narrow, relatively steeply sided valley and a plateau. The first few times I went there, it was relatively undeveloped, with a couple of structures in the valley and barricades of various sorts on the plateau; this allowed the games to flow well. Player numbers were good and the days were enjoyable. Since then, more and more structures have been added, breaking up the flow and changing the nature of the games. This focus on outdoor CQB started in the latter days of the old site, when a rather large CQB maze appeared at the back of the fort. Turning it into a CQB site is not necessarily a bad thing, if it is done in a planned manner with a lot of consideration of how the site will work. It does have a good safe zone, which is very rigorously policed; if you enter it with a mag in a weapon, you are going home. Player numbers have been dropping for a while. I think it would take quite a brave person to point out the site’s issues to Ray. I tried to the last time I went.

Having played at the old site many times and the new site several times, in my view the problem is that the new site is just not very good. It is awkward in terms of size, shape and topography and, in my opinion, has been turned into an overly constricted and badly designed outdoor CQB site with apparently little thought for how the site works. I don’t like writing this; I really like the owner and liked the old site, which was wonderfully varied and interesting to play at, although the games could be somewhat repetitive.

That is a real shame; I really like Ray. However, the current site is nowhere near as good as the old one and the work they have done has not improved it. Where in East London are you based?

As is so often the case, a rather dull Sunday morning saw the omniphagus Volvo conveying me to Airsoft Plantation in the rather curious county of Essex. 180 players were present, with an unusually high percentage being either first time visitors to the site or new to airsoft; nobody that I usually team up with was present. I started the day by checking the setup of the ASG FLCN 5.56 that was an impulse buy when I dropped into JD Airsoft a couple of weeks ago, while in Cannock doing lights for a festival which featured possibly the last appearance of the band that I have worked with for a quarter of a century. All that I had done was to replace the hop rubber and nub and the spring. Over a measured 70m distance with the hop set for perfect flight it was putting out 1.03J; lovely! The first game required the Blue team, who started on the firebreak, to get two players onto the upper floors of the five two storey buildings in the village; they had infinite regens on the firebreak, while we had two lives. I started off in the two storey building by the now dried up pond, which soon became rather lively as the enemy attacked directly from the firebreak and flanked around past the border. After some great fights and several very satisfying hits, a BB found me and I moved back to the woods to help defend the sniper tower and the town hall against blue players who had flanked right around the far end of the site. We had a great time stalking each other in the woods and, in our case, providing flanking fire against attacks against the sniper tower. The game timed out with the Blues having taken two of the required buildings. The game was then turned around and I joined a group who were attacking via the suburbs; we pushed into the village and, after a hard fight, took the two storey buildings at that end of the village, getting the requisite two players onto the upper floors of each. Our colleagues attacking from other directions had similar success and we occupied all of the buildings with 45 seconds left on the clock. 1-0 to the Reds Having reloaded, it was time for the briefing for the next game; before this, the site owner gave a very stiff talk about hit taking. I had not noticed any problems, with everyone that I thought I hit raising their hand and walking off, but it seems that there had been an unusually high number of complaints about it. We were informed that anyone found not taking their hits would be required to leave. Fair enough! The next game required us to transfer three bombs in a box to three locations in the mortar pits and set them off; the box required two people to carry it and the bombs could only be transported in the box. We had infinite regens on a marshal, while the defenders had two lives. Leaving the DEA base, we ran into a fierce resistance that initially brought us to a halt, but we found a way through and delivered our bombs to the bridge, the tunnels and, finally, the Bedford. When this game was turned around, a group of us initially took up a position in the Hill Fort, from where we slowed the enemy's attack. Eventually being hit, I fell back to the cover of a large berm from which I was able to pick off some of the enemy now occupying the Hill Fort. There was then a shout that the enemy were attacking in strength on our far left; a group of us ran over to help the defenders, who were trying to repel an attack along the flanking berm on that side; I hit several of the attackers before eventually being hit just as the game ended. The enemy did not bomb all their targets. 2-0 to the Reds Lunch followed, immediately after which we played a short game; starting at the bus in the mortar pits, we were given a 60 second head start to run and take up positions anywhere on that side of the firebreak. The Blues had to hunt us down and kill as many of us as they could in ten minutes. We had one life, while they had infinite regens. Having run away as fast as we could, a group of us took up a number of positions in the scrubland, potting attackers as we slowly fell back to the far end of the site, where we met up with others, including all of our ghillies, to make a stand. When the game ended, 45 of our team had been killed. In the return of this game, we set out rapidly after the retreating blue team, trying to to hunt them down before they could get organised, which we didn't quite manage to do; nevertheless, we managed to kill 55 of them. 3-0 to the Reds For the final game, starting at the border, the blue team had to transport a very large bag of Bob Marley's favourite recreational substance to the Cock Inn in the village, where they could exchange it for a suitcase full of Colombia's finest, which they then had to get into the Cessna. They had infinite buddy regens, while we had one life in the village and two on the other side of the firebreak. My involvement in the first part of this was somewhat limited as a BB skimmed the brim of my boonie, sending me trudging off to the other side of the firebreak, where I set myself up in the Hill Fort, being joined by a few colleagues. We waited for quite a while for the Blue team to complete their transaction in the village; once they had, it became apparent that they were not heading in our direction, so most of us set off for the area around the Cessna, where a disjointed but fierce set of fights ensued as the attackers tried to get the suitcase into it. Lurking behind the rather overgrown biplane, I took out a fair few attackers before the game ended with them failing to achieve their objective. 4-0 to the Reds From my perspective, it was a thoroughly enjoyable day of airsoft; I did not encounter any hit taking issues, despite the concerns that some players seemed to have. Weapons used: ASG FLCN 5.56 (made by Double Eagle) Double Eagle Honey Badger/PDW ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

Which is always a good thing to do.

Sorry about that, old chap.

Yes, solid guns with a decent hop unit.

I bought this rather nice CYMA MP5 SD6 from @Petford25 through the classifieds here; it will go through all my usual upgrades, including fitting an SEF lower.

I cannot remember where we put the battery after I fitted a DD rail to Ben's one; I think we might have use a dummy PEQ box. I think if I was to get one, I would stick with the polymer handguards.

My eldest had one of the early G&G L85s, which was a festering heap of poo, although strangely the blowback did not cause any problems. He sold it years ago when he gave up airsoft. I am going to AP this Sunday and plan to be at Splatoon on the 26th.