Colin Allen

Damn you! I really hoped that you were going to say that it was a pile of Austrian Hundehaufen, so I would not feel tempted to get an A1. Oh well, time to start sewing FIDF patches on the DPM.

07:00 today saw the lad and I heading off to to Airsoft Plantation in Essex. The safe zone seemed a little emptier than usual, probably because the car park had been designated as an additional safe zone and a fair number of players had decided to remain there. Having fortified the lad with a very strong coffee, the first game was a fallback. The defenders had three lives, one in the woods, one at the border and one in the mortar pits. As the attackers, we had infinite regens on a marshal who was 30m behind our rearmost player. Along with other team members, we set off to attack down the left; the lad disappearing into the long grass, crawling on his belly towards the enemy. After taking out the defenders on that flank, we pushed on towards the border, where the Blue Team put up a very impressive defence, which delayed us considerably. However, we eventually got five players onto the bridge at the border, which required the defenders to fall back to the mortar pits, where we had to put up a flag on the middle bridge. The lad and I had completely lost contact with each other by this time, so I joined a group who were moving through the village to swing around past the boat house and attack the bridge where the flag was from the flank. We ran into a fair number of defenders, who slowed us down. However, after a total of an hour of fierce fighting, the flag was raised by some of our colleagues. After a short break to reload and take on fluids, we set out for the reverse of the previous game. At the start, I took up position behind a fallen tree to the left of our first defence line, while the lad ensconced himself in a large and very dense holly bush to my right. Our group took out a lot of the enemy, but they just regened and came back to the assault. Eventually, I was hit and fell back to defend the border, which eventually fell after a hard fight. Meanwhile, the lad had been conducting a one man fighting withdrawal, falling back in 30-50 metre bounds and reengaging the enemy each time. The border having fallen, we regrouped at the mortar pits, where I took up a nice position covering one of the main approaches to the flag. After a while, I had to abandon it as the enemy were pushing from the left and, at some point, I was hit by a shot from the recently captured castle, which ended my involvement. The enemy raised the flag in a time that was a few seconds quicker than ours. After lunch, we returned to the mortar pits for another game; the enemy had to get an ammo box with two grenades in it to the black Land Rover and then onto the top floor of the bus, setting one off in each location. We could have a maximum of four players in the bus. The attackers had infinite regens while we had two lives. The lad positioned himself under the Bedford, finding the AKM a very useful tool to beat down the rampant stinging nettles. The blue team's attack was heralded by a massive number of flash bangs, smoke grenades and gas grenades, which sent a fair number of our team back to take up their second life. After potting a few of them, I was taken out by a flash bang and fell back to defend from behind one of the old cars, along with a couple of other players. This proved to be a good position, until we were finally taken out as the attackers swamped our position, whereupon we retired to the sidelines to watch the fun. Having earlier blown up the Land Rover, the blue team turned their attention to the bus, over which they took an inordinate amount of time given that there were hardly any defenders left. We joined their snipers in "encouraging" them to get on with it. After another short break, that game was reversed and we went onto the attack, whittling down the defenders and blowing up the Land Rover, with the lad displaying his customary controlled aggression. The bus proved tricky to break into; the lad climbed in through the rear emergency door and was then shot by a team member who had just entered via the front door and looked at him for about three seconds before shooting him. I spent my time pinging BBs into the top floor windows to keep the defenders' heads down. Eventually the second grenade was detonated on the top floor of the bus, unfortunately in a time a few seconds longer than that taken by the blue team. For a final quick game, we moved to the village where the blue team had 15 minutes to get five players into the town hall. We had two lives while they had infinite regens on a marshal. The lad and I took up our favourite position in the fuel dump, him covering the left flank while I covered the front, with our right being covered by teammates in the main structures. This was a fast moving and very intense game, with lots of communication among our team. We were both eventually hit and fell back to the town hall, which was successfully defended, despite a couple of attackers breaking in at different times. As the attackers were close to succeeding after 15 minutes, the game was allowed to run to a conclusion. So ended a very good day of airsoft. Hit taking was excellent and gentlemanly conduct was much in evidence during the very well designed games. As the lad was releasing the precocking on his gun at the end, the site owner came over to him to commend him on his play during the day, which he described as fantastic; training goes a long way. Weapons used: Me: Ares L1A1 Real Sword QBZ97 ASG XP18 Commander (CO2) The lad: LCT AKMS G&G AKM ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

This looks great and I wish you every success. However, unless you are going to run it as a CQB site or for heavily themed games where shooting is only a minor part of the experience, 1.7 acres is really small; it is approximately 83m x 83m.

It is good practice to take the batteries to their storage voltage (around 3.8v per cell), so the advice from Onyx was good. I do it with our batteries; it isn't exactly a hardship. Nuprol batteries are not very good, to put it mildly. Vapextech are better, but I really like the Turnigy ones, except when they refuse to come out of battery compartment that they went into so easily, but that is another story!

Ooer, missus!

I suspect that you are being overgenerous; the statement is very clear.

I think that this is just about Mackable, not for the price but for the claimed range; I assume they are airsoft feet. https://prefired.co.uk/ads/sigg552-commando/

Brave, yes; foolhardy, no.

FPS will remain constant as you change the weight setting because the chrono reads the velocity of the BB, which has not changed. The chrono then uses the velocity and the set weight to calculate the energy in Joules.

310 fps on a 0.23 is 1.02J

Sam is the only tech I know of who will work on them. To be honest though, it is probably better to just buy a new one.

Cycling a V2 gearbox without securing the spring guide being secured can be disastrous; don't ask me how I know! It can also make a not insignificant difference to the power. It is quite easy to make up a collar that you can use to secure it with the screw.

Mine was from UKARA in April 2024.

Likewise.

Today, the lad and I set off for the first day at the new Dragons Lair site in Stifford, Essex. They had been operating out of their old site at Kelvedon Hatch since 1987 and we had been occasion attendees for the last nine years, so we were both intrigued and nervous about what the new site would be like. Another cause for slight nervousness was that I took two guns to use that I had just finished rebuilding and had not had time to test outside the house. The safe zone is excellent; good table space, free tea and coffee all day and a decent little shop provided by Airsoft Zone (Hi Marek!). Food could be ordered via a QR code from the hotel in whose grounds the new site sits. We were the first to sign in, so I was player No 1 at the first day of the new site. The first game was a simple attack and defend game; as the attackers, we had to take three structures along the valley (the site is essentially a long valley with wood and scrub covered slopes along the either side) and then turn 90 degrees left to take the final one atop the ridge by the safezone. This was hard! With the lad enjoying himself sneaking around the woods on the slopes to our left, we took the first and second ones rather rapidly and then ran up against the compound. I joined a group who were pushing along the right hand ridge, clearing the woods of defenders and pushing towards the rear of the compound, while the lad was moving along the compound wall with a group. After a lot of shooting and dithering by our team, the lad led an attack into the rear of the compound, enabling its capture, which was signified by pulling down the Union Flag and raising the glorious flag of...Afghanistan! However, we never got anywhere near the final objective on the ridge. After a short break to load up and take on fluids (it was very warm!), the game was turned around. The lad and I, along with some other players, headed back into the woods where he had been in the first game and had a great time shooting the other team as they tried to advance up the slope; at one point, the lad pushed through to the edge of the woods and took out a load of enemy players in the valley before being hit. Returning from regen, he was shot at close range by one of our own team! Falling back from there, I moved into a position supporting the compound, which was under sporadic attack from the enemy; a group of us were taken out by a player who suddenly appeared behind us, which rather impressed us; we were rather less impressed when we, and he, realised that we were on the same side! The game ended with us still in control of the compound. Lunch then followed; for those who had ordered from the hotel, this was delivered by a waiter in full dress, complete with bow tie, which was a slightly incongruous sight. After lunch, we played a game where we, as the attackers, had to push up the ridge towards the safe zone, in order to reach the structure on that plateau. We had infinite regens on a marshal behind the team, while the defenders had three lives. The lad and I decided to use this as an opportunity to explore the limits of the site, pressing along the right hand ridge to its end and then turning left to follow that boundary. The latter part involved us wading through stinging nettles and bushes, only to find that we had reached the same point as some of our colleagues who had come along a rather nice path. Lesson learned! As a team, we fought our way through the scrubland, eventually taking the objective and raising the Afghan flag after wearing down the other team. After another short break to reload, we then acted as the defenders in the reverse of the game. Taking up a position on the left, I took out a number of the attackers from a position in a large bush before being peppered by a few BBs. Falling back, I cowered in another large bush, again taking out several of the enemy before bring hit by a couple of shots that drew blood; the guy who shot me said that he noticed a small part of the bush turning to look in his direction and then realised that it was a boonie hat. Fair play! My final position was behind a barricade near the objective; watching two support gunners decimate the enemy advance was rather impressive until they both got shot. I was eventually hit on my fingertip, which, at that point, was the only part of me sticking out beyond the barricade; it was either a superb shot or a very lucky one. The lad fought on gallantly for a while, but the attackers eventually raised the Union Flag over the structure. It was a really good and fun day of airsoft, with only very few issues about overshooting. The lad and I agreed that we prefer the new site to the old one as it has much more scope for being sneaky and crawling around. We will definitely be going back. Due to the proximity of the hotel, no bangs of any sort are allowed. As to the two untried guns, both performed perfectly, although the MC51 was a little underpowered; on returning home, an XT M100 spring brought it up to 1.06J. Weapons used: Me: Double Eagle M904G Classic Army MC51 ASG XP18 Commander (CO2) Hector: G&G (originally) Magpul M4 G&G (originally) Keymod M4 ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)

I don't know anything about ICS hops; however, I do know that Unit 13 are pukkah.

Replacing the piston head O ring would be a good idea if the new one does not come with one.

The compression on VFCs out of the box is usually awful, which could be a major part of the problem.

Before the AKs acquired mosfets, I used to do that with a small Allen key poked up the motor hole.

Isn't that what we usually do after a day's play with non-mosfet guns?

Either of the barrels would be an upgrade; the 6.02 is probably the best option. The yellow Macaron or MR Hop with AK2M4's red nub would be good options: https://www.ak2m4.co.uk/internal-parts/hop-up-buckings-nubs

From the flow chart, I cannot see a need to enter full auto to disable pre-cocking. However, it is not as simple as a Perun Hybrid or AB++, being typical of cheap Chinese mosfets. You have to reset the pre-cocking the next time you want to use the gun. I have the same hope, as I want to do a FIDF loadout.

https://www.ak2m4.co.uk/internal-parts/inner-barrels/xt-inner-barrel-aeg-601mm https://www.ak2m4.co.uk/internal-parts/inner-barrels/xt-inner-barrel-aeg-602mm

Sawflys are not pretreated; their anti-fog cloths work well, as do Cat Crap and Absolutely Clear. My eldest uses the latter for diving.

I would ditch the ZCI barrel and go for an XT one from @ak2m4; they are much better quality. I don't know much about the Friction Pro, so I am not sure how it compares with the Maple Leaf range.