Colin Allen

Some sellers seem to not want to actually sell anything.

Is the receiver plastic or metal?

I suspect that people are recommending that you change to a lower voltage battery because they think that you have what is called overspin. This is when the battery voltage is too high and causes the rifle to cycle more than once in semi. As guns are usually run with much higher power levels in the USA, they can run on an 11.1v battery without this happening; however, with the weaker springs used in the UK, overspin is possible with 11.1v batteries. However, this would not only happen immediately after changing from full auto to semi auto; it would happen at other times as well. If it is only happening immediately after you change from full auto to semi auto, it is probably not overspin; it is more likely that your gun is sticking in semi for a moment, either because the selector is not returning to semi auto properly or because the cutoff is not resetting properly. As to why the gun will sometimes not fire after connecting the battery, but does so when you reconnect it, that may be down to the connectors. Are you using Tamiya connectors? If so, it could be that one of them is a bit loose and not always connecting properly. I note that the gun has a micro switch trigger; these are not designed for the currents that pass through them in an airsoft gun and really should be protected by a decent mosfet.

Not at the moment, Skylar; I resolved a feeding issue last night. Oh, by the way, I burned your patch.

There shouldn't be anything there that would cause a problem; it is all pretty standard. However, the aluminium cylinder head and piston head combination is not a great idea as it transmits a lot of impact to the gearbox, potentially leading to cracking. Have the front corners of the gearbox, where the cylinder sits, been radiused to reduce the risk of cracking? What is the purpose of the carbon wrapping on the gearbox? I am not a huge fan of full steel toothed pistons; polymer toothed ones act as a "mechanical fuse", protecting the rest of the geartrain if something does go horribly wrong.

Exactly this. For a day or a weekend playing airsoft, you don't need ultra technical kit; having warm dry clothing available for downtimes is enough. Many people overload themselves with gear that they really do not need.

Utter bollocks. Getting shot at is part of the game; getting hosed at 5m by some Monstered up twat with his 40 RPS wankergun is not. It has fuck all to do with softness or hardness and everything to do with respecting other players.

I use them a lot. The biggest difference is that, in use, they very rapidly drop from from their full charge voltage (3.60V per cell) to around 3.3V per cell and sit there for ages before dropping off a cliff. It is a significantly different discharge curve from LiPo batteries.

I believe they are a slightly different design; I don't think the Macaron has the internal ring. My Lancer has steel bushings.

Hmm, I have a Macaron in a Lancer G2; it slid in like the proverbial and works fine with a standard M4 length nozzle. I bought a second hand Lancer very cheaply to see if they were as bad as most people said; apart from it being incredibly picky with mags, I have found it to be ok. Admittedly, I have never fitted one in any of the other units you list, but I have them in a wide range of hop units.

In the UK, AK2M4 sells the Macaron and nub for £9.50; the ZCI hop unit is the same price. I am not sure why one would need to buy a ZCI hop unit to run ML rubbers; they seem to work in a range of hop units. A decent decision.

I completely agree; many milsims in the UK seem to take it far too seriously, to the point where all the fun is sucked out of it, in the deluded belief that they are genuinely simulating military operations.

They are reasonably easily available, are a decent price and decent quality; what is not to like? Having tried both, I agree that the MR Hop gives slightly longer range; however the Macaron gives significantly better consistency at a slightly shorter range. Of the two, I will take consistency over a good range over inconsistency over a slightly greater range any day. Why bother when Maple Leaf rubbers and nubs are easily available? There are other ways of getting excellent trigger response than building a stupidly fast gun. While there are a few players in the UK who seem to delight in hurting other players (Wanking Cumstain for one), many more seem to respect other players and regard very high speed builds as being somewhat unsporting and ungentlemanly. I cannot remember when I last used full auto in a game; I also play at a couple of sites that have a 30m minimum engagement distance for full auto, Luke is a windup merchant who loves trolling and has stated that there is one inaccuracy in each of his videos; however, he is also a very good tech who builds some impressive guns and has creative approaches to solving problems. I don't agree with him on everything and his comments on the Ares L1A1 are odd; yes, it has significant issues and is a pain in the arse, but some of the things that he mentions are just not accurate in my experience. One difference that I have noticed between UK and US airsoft in general, and I have to point out that this is based solely on YouTube videos, is that some of your countrymen seem to suffer from a toxic combination of taking it far too seriously and possessing the maturity of a two year old. I would also point out that, by virtue of this being a forum, the denizens are probably not a representative cross section of the UK airsoft community. The cool kids generally do not use forums and lurk on various new fangled social media platforms. I suspect that the average age here is higher than that of UK players overall, the level of experience is greater and there is a more considered, informed and reflective approach.

I did cut up a very old and very knackered sniper rifle though.

That does not exclude it being available at the end of the year, although it is unlikely.

He did also say that it was covered.

If you don't currently have a permanent airsoft repair bench, set one up before you get the Ares version. However, I do have to say that Negative Luke is overly critical of it and, in some areas, wrong.

I bought it here: https://www.brairsoft.co.uk/product/double-bell-pdw-polymer-body-black-808/ £94.95 and free postage.

Plastic; it is much more solid than the old DBoys one.

Nothing very exciting; a Double Bell KAC PDW. A quick reshim, new pistol grip, high torque motor, ZCI 6.02mm barrel, Maple Leaf 60 degree Macaron and Gearparts 70 degree nub, new spring, new nozzle and a CHiLUN ETU.

Nice! That was a decent little boot fair. I do miss the ones at the school.

Yes, we were on a rolling retreat in the last game; one life in the woods, another anywhere between the border and the mortar pits and the final one in either the mortar pits or the field.

Yesterday, 260 of us turned up at Airsoft Plantation for a day's play. The large safe zone managed to hold everyone but it was fortunate that the weather was good as a fair number of players had to set up in the open. As AP is a large site, it was able to absorb such a large number of players without feeling crowded; games were vaguely coronation themed to the extent that they involved kings and crowns, the titles on which included such well known British monarchs as Burger King and Porn King. Both sides played hard and well and hit taking appeared to be good. As usual, the marshalling was on point, being relatively low key but always where and when it was required. At lunchtime, the food van served 240 people in an hour, which is pretty impressive; apparently, the food is very good, although I cannot vouch for that as I always take my own. For me, one of the highlights of AP is the rapport among the players; the site seems to attract the "right type" of player, whatever that is. This morning, I went to an airsoft boot fair in Kent; despite being somewhat on the small side, there was a good selection of items for sale, including something that I had been seeking for a while. I bumped into a couple of folk who still play at sites where I used to marshal; one of the sites appears to have improved massively due to investment from the current owners so a trip down there is being scheduled. Weapons used: APS UAR LCT PP-19-01 No weapons were melted or burned after yesterday's play.

https://www.tacticalairsoftshop.co.uk/ElectroRiver7-4v-Lipo-battery550mAh-for-AEP-with-Mosfet It has a micro Deans connector. Ignore the "with Mosfet" element.

If true, that should exclude them from ever running any event again. Yes, they are only BBs, but threatening to shoot at people’s cars is unacceptable and could result in a charge of criminal damage. As for refusing to allow people to leave, that is potentially false imprisonment, which is ironic, given the site.