Psilosylum

Touché.. a lot has changed since i stopped playing 😅

Obviously a large dose of common sense is needed.. if your in a garden which isn't over-looked with a sufficient backstop it shouldn't be an issue is kind of what i was getting at.. Though in that case i guess there wouldn't be much chance of a complaint being made in the first place.

I guess i'm still kind of frustrated at the laws which have been introduced to give the public the illusion of safety whilst only actually penalising law abiding hobbyists. Though unfortunatly i guess there are idiots who are the reason these laws have been enacted in the first place 😪
 
 (woops, sorry for reactivating a dead thread too.. haven't used a forum in a while 😂)

With tuddenham, I'd recommend taking a small respawn bag with you and either leaving it near the road or at your respawn. You either gather near the road between games or the road is part of your way back. Leaving it at your respawn can be quite a walk there and back which is annoying after a full session of games. 
 
In it should be enough to see you through the morning/afternoon, so extra bbs, a snack, water, any extra pyro, a spare battery, spare eye pro etc. 

Battlestations is excellent and the site is at its new location and constantly evolving. Had nothing but great experience there and me and the team are now all members. 
move not played combat yet but I visited to get my air tank topped up and it looks the muts nuts. Well worth a visit. Tuddenham is very good too but be prepared when you play there by taking ammo and kit into the game field that you will use throughout the morning or afternoon as you don’t return to the safe zone until midday or end of day. That said it’s a wicked site to play also

I have a challenge to all those saying rifs don't count as firearms under the highways act. 
 
Take your favourite rif, wave it around on a motorway bridge and see what happens

An “airsoft gun” is not to be regarded as a firearm for the purposes of [the Firearms] Act.
 
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1968/27/section/57A
 
Any common sense interpretation would mean that they shouldn't be regarded as firearms for the Highways Act.
 
But if the law operated on common sense, lawyers wouldn't drive Range Rovers.
 

RIFs aren’t toys under a certain power, it’s airsoft guns (RIFs/IFs that are exempted from other firearms legislation under amendments in the Policing and crime act.
 
 
 
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2017/3/part/6/crossheading/firearms/enacted
 
 
(5)After section 57 insert—
“57AException for airsoft guns
(1)An “airsoft gun” is not to be regarded as a firearm for the purposes of this Act.
(2)An “airsoft gun” is a barrelled weapon of any description which—
(a)is designed to discharge only a small plastic missile (whether or not it is also capable of discharging any other kind of missile), and
(b)is not capable of discharging a missile (of any kind) with kinetic energy at the muzzle of the weapon that exceeds the permitted level.
(3)“Small plastic missile” means a missile that—
(a)is made wholly or partly from plastics,
(b)is spherical, and
(c)does not exceed 8 millimetres in diameter.
(4)The permitted kinetic energy level is—
(a)in the case of a weapon which is capable of discharging two or more missiles successively without repeated pressure on the trigger, 1.3 joules;
(b)in any other case, 2.5 joules.”
 
 
 

Pretty sure you're allowed to use toys (RIF's are toys if they're under a certain power?) within 50ft of a road.... the only time i've heard that law apply is when people are shooting shotgun or rifle on private land??

If the police come round to tell you off for plinking in your backgarden, file a complaint against them for wasting police time lol

I am relatively local (currently near Ely, was near Bury St Edmunds). 
 
Locally you have Combat Action Games, which is near Norwich and is a woodland site, has a great reputation and I keep meaning to go there, however I  my local site has recently (about a year ago) changed managers and has come out of a funk. It's getting pretty good again so it's hard to justify the extra commue. 
 
Battle Stations at Snetterton is very CQB (or it was when I went) and videos of the new layout suggest it still is. it's a nice change and players seemed friendly, but it's not a sit I would want to go back to again and again, every 18 months or so as a quirk. I am sure some will disagree but for me it's all very close and it's not my style. 
 
Combat Airsoft Games in Thetford (not to be confused with Combat Action Games) is a paintball site that does airsoft, I think they do more and more airsoft and team green run events there. Team Green do events at Gunman tuddenham as well on occassion (less so now they have access to the thetford site). I didn't enjoy it, lots do but for me it was run like a paintball day, they are similar, but different. Team Green do more LARP type stuff so could be worth checking out. 
 
Gunman Tuddenham, I think they're the best skirmish site I have been to, pretty much ever and I have done a fair few (The mall, sandpit (closed), snetterton, Combat Action Games, Mad dog, The goal, Eversley, Ace Airsoft, (another one down South), splatoon, loads of stirling games, awa herts, ravens nest (closed), urban assault (closed),). Players are generally great, marshalling is effective and low key and the site has a nice mix of buildings and woodland. They have a nice variety to the structure and offerings for their days (filmsim, skirmish, themed etc). 
 
The Goal, probably similar travel time for you and a great site, again not something I'd do on a regular basis (mainly due to the travel) but it was well organised and pretty different, they seem to care about the experience customers get and hold a good set of values (they remind people every week when it's the last day you can cancel etc).
 
As for the cost of hire vs a 2 tone over 3 games you're talking about £25 a pop, so £75 all in. You won't get a semi decent 2 tone for that, you're probably looking £150 plus ancillaries.  personally I'd say rent, ask around on site to see peoples guns (they love chatting about them), have a feel etc and learn about some of the more modern stuff. Then take the plunge and buy a good one that should last you a while once you know you're hooked again, after 1-2 games you can feel hooked, after 4 games you'll know for sure.  
 
 
 

Honestly... Cyma AKs are really good for the price. They do a few metal / wood versions for around the £200 - £250 mark and require minimal modification to be truly amazing; typically just a hop rubber, nub and maybe a barrel change is all that's needed. Cyma have really upped their game in the last 15 years and their AKs, m14s and mp5s are all absolutely solid pieces of kit, and I also have an SR-25 from them that puts out some nasty shots. Plus, it's all very standard, so upgrade parts are very easy to come across.
 
For more premium AKs, you're looking at E&L or LCT, with the former coming out of the same factory as real AKs and are largely compatible with real parts. I have no experience with either though so now idea how good they are. Real Sword were pretty good too, but I'm pretty sure they're out of business as they don't seem to be making any more and my friend was (well, is still) waiting for a replacement gearbox for his SVD from them after over 2 years.
 
And for GBB, the new TM AKM is phenomenal and I can speak about that from personal experience. The only not-so-phenomenal thing about them is that you're not getting any extra mags any time soon, and a single 35rd magazine isn't going to cut it. Not wood, but there is a wood kit around for it that I plan on getting for mine when budget allows.

Pretty sure you're allowed to use toys (RIF's are toys if they're under a certain power?) within 50ft of a road.... the only time i've heard that law apply is when people are shooting shotgun or rifle on private land??

If the police come round to tell you off for plinking in your backgarden, file a complaint against them for wasting police time lol

Welcome back 😁
 
Yeah, the performance of our toys has gone up with the prices going down over the years.  Unfortunately stock in UK is very low at the moment and the European sources are now cut 🙄
 
Have a look HERE for sites near you.
 
Well done for being patient.  It will give you more time to decide what shape BB slinger to get 😉

Hey, I'm just starting but Battle Stations at Snetterton seemed pretty good and was really busy last Saturday, all the regulars said they love it.  It's a CQB site, my own rental wasn't exactly awesome but some of that might be operator error

I spoke with a few people and they had good things to say about Combat Airsoft near Thetford which I'm going to try out on Sunday (i'll post to say how it goes) and one guy said they really liked the woodland site at Swaffham but I don't know much at all about it beyond that.

Pretty sure there are events at Tuddenham (near Mildenhall) too but i got nothing there beyond they exist!
 

Welcome back to the hobby! As someone who also started when I was 14 and am a similar age (31 here, so it was 17 years ago for me), I can tell you that the hobby has changed from what it used to be and that has both good and bad parts. You'll see a lot more players at a skirmish weekend now; back in the day a busy day might have been 25 - 30 players at my local site, but now a busy day is knocking on 90 players (and that's only because they limit spaces as otherwise the site becomes overcrowded and gameplay suffers).
 
You'll also see a major difference in how well the guns shoot. Now, a cheapo Cyma AK out of the box will hit 45m consistently and without any real issue which back in the day would've been unheard of even for upgraded AEGs. Also, two-tone is an okay thing and you can probably get something two-tone that will cost a comparable amount to renting 3x and can serve as a backup for when you finally get your UKARA and something not two-tone. A plastic bodied Cyma AK goes for £100ish and they're actually pretty damn good!
 
Hope you enjoy your return to the hobby as much as I did!

I started airsoft when I was about 14, and played most weekends at Predator Combat Games in N.Ire. I stopped playing airsoft shortly after the VCR act was put in place, this was beause alot of my guns were broken and I moved away to Uni so didn't have as much time or money to participate in the hobby / get my kit in working order.
 
Since then i've done a bit of actual target shooting, however, with all the regulations and costs surrounding firearms licensing i've put this on a back burner until i'm more settled somewhere!
 
In the mean time I do still have a .22 air-rifle and a couple of  .177 pistols which i occasionally take to my local rage, but it's just not the same as Skirmishing!. I'm hoping to find somewhere around Norwich to restart the hobby and get registered with UKARA.
 
I'm not a fan of the whole two-tone situaltion as i feel it takes away from some of the immersiveness of the game, so i'll be patient and get registered before i start buying my own kit i think..

Good to be here, and I look forward to seeing some of you in the field at some point!

If anybody can suggest some decent sites around Norwich / East Anglia which aren't too expensive for rentals please let me know!