Beorn

I want to swap my stock too! Personally quite like a the magpul style CTR and STR stocks but I'm not sure if I'll be able to fit my crane battery into them. At the moment I've a 'stock' VFC QRS stock which is ok looks wise but wobbles like fuck despite my tinkering which is annoying

I started playing late last year and have been going solo. I found it weird at first and was a bit uncomfortable but eventually you'll become comfortable especially after a few times at the same site. Third time playing at a site recently, got talking to a guy and before you know it we were playing as buddies all day which was a ton of fun, so its definitely possible to make friends if you persevere

I had one a few months ago that I used for a few skirmishes and it was decent enough quality. I never put it through too much abuse so hard to say how long it would hold up over many years but it was serviceable from what I experienced. I only sold it on because I wanted to switch to multicam and got a good deal on a Viper one. If you're looking for a plate carrier on a budget I'd recommend checking out Aliexpress too

Yeah it seems so, I'd be willing to stretch to 450 for something special. But maybe I should save for a while longer and run the current gun into the ground then level up and look at an MWS or something. I do have GBBR aspirations at some point haha Good to hear both those options have decent reputations, although after looking at some reviews I see what you mean about inconsistency. Some say the external finish of the specna isn't great which I think would bother me quite a bit since the VFC really is lovely externally and is performing very solidly also. My only complaint with it is its weighty and a bit long (thats what she said) May simply do as others have suggested here for now and break my existing rifle down when traveling to save space. Maybe wait and see if anything interesting comes out over the next few months or something. One day I'll get something like that sorted but in our shoebox apartment I think my landlord would have something to say, let alone the gf!

I think ideally around the 3 to 400 or so mark, 450 as a stretch potentially. I'd like something with good out of the box performance as I'm not confident with any aspect of teching. Decent externals are a plus. Trouble is its hard to gauge value as a relative noob at the moment because the naming scheme for most rifs is quite confusing imo, and if you don't know much about airsoft internals trying to separate the wheat from the chaff is also quite difficult. I do look at reviews and stuff (ollie talks airsoft) etc for info where I can though

Haha I don't have enough room in my flat otherwise I'd be tempted to hoard! I do prefer a MK18 style carbine sort of length I think, I can see the merit of one of those stubby bois but I don't think I even want to go that short really. I do really like the look of the TM 416C, but I don't think I can be arsed as I've heard the battery setup for those can be annoying and I don't really want to fuck around swapping it to deans and all that jazz. EDIT: Good point on the breaking it down thing, I honestly never even thought of the possibility but that could work. Probably still find some way to cock it up though knowing me I am not the most practical lol

Hey folks, looking for some recommendations and opinions if possible! I've just applied for my UKARA finally and hope to get it soon. While I have a perfectly good rif that I got on the classified's here (VFC Avalon Saber Carbine) which has honestly worked flawlessly across 4 or 5 skirmish days so far, I'm thinking of selling it on and getting something new, potentially brand new in box. I got the VFC because I heard they had decent out of the box performance and as a noob that sounded good to me. My one and only grip with it so far is that its on the longer side, coming in at 81cm with the stock fully collapsed and no suppressor. So far I've tended to play at fairly short ranged sites and from what I've read barrel length really has very little effect on range anyway. But most of all I would like a smaller, more compact RIF so that its easier to transport as I primarily use public transport to get to game days. At the moment I manage by putting all my kit, including the rif, into a very large holdall that has wheels (sort of like a hockey kit bag) but tbh its a stinker getting around like that sometimes. I've cast an eye around for some options with comparable performance, but a much more compact size, that I can swap to. Some of the options I've found are: Honey badger - https://extremeairsoft.co.uk/product/ares-am-014-bk-short-honey-badger-with-extended-silencer-black/ Specna Arms Edge 2.0 M4 - https://jdairsoft.net/primary/assault/108/specna-arms-raa-sa-e25-edge-2-0-carbine1 I've looked at SMG's but to be honest I don't think I'm interested unless someone has a very strong recommendation. I already have M4 mags though and don't really wanna go buying a shitload of new mags or anything for a new SMG. Has anyone used either of those rifs linked above? If so how have they performed? Any other good recommendations I've missed would also be welcome! Thanks!

After umming and ahhing last night I decided to head down to Red1 Chislehurst this morning on the bus (a whopping 1hr 40 across 2 buses and a 2hr bus ride home afterward as well!) as planned for my third time, meaning at the end of the day I got my UKARA submitted finally. The forecast said there might be rain by mid afternoon but nothing came of it and it was a glorious day for airsoft. Avalon performed satisfactorily, no hiccups in terms of reliability although I do think the accuracy could be better. I don't have much experience tweaking the gun at all, and haven't really touched the hop, as most of the time the bbs fly true. Occasionally though one will zing off into the abyss apparently at random. May try some slightly heavier bbs soon once I've exhausted the 0.2's. May try some .25s or something. My first visit at this site was relatively fun (beginners luck maybe), and the second time here was much worse as I mentioned in a prior summary a few months ago. Third time really must be the charm, because I had a ton of fun today. I think part of that was due to way lower numbers than before (national airsoft festival?), which I think meant there was more room to maneuver and it was easier to learn who was on your team or not. The atmosphere was also great for the most part. Got talking to a guy who I had quite a lot in common with (aside from airsoft! who was actually on the same bus as me en route) which was cool. There was one instance of arguing that I didn't witness personally, but which people were talking about in the safe zone during a drink break. Apparently someone making a scene during a game, someone confronted someone else about 'stolen valor' due to having a military patch on their airsoft impression kit. During the discussion people generally thought it was out of order to have a go at someone for a patch in essentially a cosplaying capacity which tbh I think I agree with. It wasn't like the guy was out there trying to get a free lunch. By the by, the morning games were pretty fun, I think partly due to having more energy, it being a bit cooler etc. One of the games I quite enjoyed used the decent trenches section of the site. Both teams posted up at either end of the trenches, each team given a flag with the goal to move the flag as far up the trench line as possible. The flag could only be moved within the trench. If flag carrier gets shot, flag gets dropped and someone else must carry it forward. It was fun to play in quite a focused area and use the little cover available to inch forward and try to coordinate those moving up in the trench with cover moving up alongside outside of the trench. It did bring to mind some of the footage I've seen from over in Ukraine, and gave the tiniest hint of how difficult and terrifying trench warfare must be. Sides weren't switched after the game ended, that same game would be replayed with switched sides later in the afternoon (which I quite liked as it added a bit of variation instead of switching sides straight away) Second game I enjoyed was a fallback game which surprised me. I tend to hate fallback games, especially on defence (which we were) because it often devolves into waiting around and confusion as people fall back at different rates. The starting defence was in a very small, limited area with little cover directly around the fracking sites. The fallback area after that was the first cqb village, then the second cqb village and then the final one was the woods behind all of that. Our initial defence of the fracking wells lasted for a really long time due to some stiff resistance, good accurate shots and some very nice coordination and call outs between people covering different arcs. I think it was so fun because I managed to hang in there with a smallish group who doggedly defended for longer than you would expect given the limited cover. Holding a fairly indefensible position like that was really satisfying and fun. Things slowed down once in the villages but still got some nice firefights. We re-ran those games in the afternoon with the sides switched and there were a few other games too, one being played in the main CQB village. 4 players were placed in the tower at the middle of the village and teams had to race to extract them. Unfortunately our team didn't get the memo about the race (slightly lackadaisical marshaling on this point, one of the specific things I've noticed with the marshals here is that the briefings on specific game rules aren't the clearest. Marshals don't describe the boundaries very well so noobs frequently get lost, and important details like it being a race seem to get lost in translation) so the first round was over after about 2 minutes because we thought we were attacking to extract those players with the other team simply defending, instead of both teams being able to extract. A re run of the game yielded similarly unsatisfying gameplay, but that may be because I don't particularly love sprinting through CQB carelessly and prefer a more considered and deliberate approach to gameplay generally (especially since my back issues) Atmosphere was really good all day long (aside from that small argument that I didn't personally witness earlier in the day) lots of joking and good sport between the teams, no issues with hit taking AT ALL which was awesome. Best day I've had so far on that front actually. Overall it was one of the better days of airsoft I've had, and I defo see the appeal of smaller teams/player counts as it just seemed to make everyone more accountable on hit taking as well as friendlier. It seemed to make it easier for marshals to manage things also, and allowed you to actually move around the map a bit without getting zapped immediately from 8 different angles which was fun. Hopefully my UKARA comes through relatively quickly (fingers crossed), I've had some fun down there but with my obligations met I can look further afield now as mentioned in a different thread. Reforger is on the cards, then perhaps tower airsoft/AP and some sites further afield, I've had my eye on going to a weekender down at Imperium but will have to see what happens!

Brace yourselves for yet another generic M4 build. My first RIF, totally stock rifle covered in chinesium bits and bobs but I'm pretty happy with it to be honest! Just need to earn a bit of weathering on it now or maybe take a rattle can to it... if I dare

I feel quite strongly that arm bands or other team identifiers should be clearly visible at all times - only be worn on the arm or on the upper part of the torso at the very least (around the shoulder strap of the carrier/vest etc.) Its only fair. I don't think ghillie's should get special prerogatives beyond what they already have by nature of wearing the ghillie which does give an advantage if used correctly. If someone is able to spot you based on your armband (which is already difficult to spot at the best of times in my experience) then they deserve that kill I reckon. I only have a 1x and I find it hard enough to see blokes in normal gear beyond a certain distance. Trouble is I also don't want to be the guy whining to the staff about it because it just feels petty so 🤷‍♂️

As a relative noob to airsoft I know for sure I wouldn't want to play at any site where chrono isn't taken seriously. Especially HPA, which from the little I've read seems to have the most potential for fuckery. I don't think there's any reason to protect the site or players that are doing this, the rules are supposed to make the game as enjoyable and safe as possible for everyone. I can't lie I love the idea of milsim and defo want to experience that so to me the use of blanks/grenades seems super cool, but if it happened at a normal game day with no warning I'd be very confused and concerned. Having only played a few times so far, even grenades going off nearby shit me up something rotten

I'll definitely take you up on that some time guys, thanks! I think I can get up to Arlesey pretty easily via the Thameslink or the train up to MK aye. I'll put spec ops on the to do list Cool man I'm hoping to make it down there this Sunday so we may cross paths Couldn't have put it better myself haha, that being said its good to have the option to get to a site in the week if the urge strikes. I can definitely see it being more fun with less players, both times I was there it was so busy the chokepoints were just hilariously clogged haha

Yeah I did go to Bunker 51 but I didn't love the site to be honest

You probably know yourself @Colin Allen but there are playing fields very near to Red1 Chislehurst and there will often be kids playing footy on a Sunday morn, both times I've been down there marshals made a point during briefing of telling players not to shoot out into the playing fields on purpose. The fact people need to be told (and will still subsequently ignore it if they think they can get away with it) does indicate the generally pitiful state of the moral and intellectual playing field. As a relatively new player I find the 'safe' zone to feel quite unnerving most of the time and I do find myself worrying about how blasé other people are r.e safety. Making those barrel socks mandatory in the safe area seems like a no brainer. It almost seems like the sort of thing that airsofters and site owners should throw their weight behind en masse. Seems like such a simple and effective solution to make things safer