Gunboat Diplomat

None of my local sites have a decent range for dialling in accuracy (usually you just have to find something noteworthy to aim at between games and guesstimate its distance). I'd like a morning to tinker with my HPA gun and just try it across of spread of PSI settings to see where it becomes most effective (obviously turning it back down to 1j for actual gameplay).

Interesting, some really good arguments for and against which I hadn’t considered myself. (OT - this is why it annoys me when forums die out in favour of content farms like Reddit et al, you don’t get the same level of discourse). I think I must be one of the masochists - about 75% of my time is spent at my local CQB site in shorts and t-shirt (I’m not a speed softer, I just get too hot) and whilst I do tend to finish with a lot of big bruises and welts, higher power wouldn’t put me off (within reason). I suppose to qualify my original question, my practical ideal power limit is that which encourages the most participation, causes the least headaches for site operators and attracts the minimum attention from regulation or bad press - I’ve had enough hobbies die out as it is without another one being killed off. Nonetheless, I’ve never used anything over UK limits, I’d love to back to back test on the same gun to see what different power limits really do to range and accuracy to see if there is Goldilocks style zone for an airsoft gun.

Been thinking about airsoft joule limits in other countries and wondering who has the ‘optimal’ limit to balance effective range against injury. I would personally happily take a higher UK limit, although tempered by the fact I still want my kids to be able to take part and I wouldn’t want an increase in field limits to result in site insurance policies that start mandating additional armour beyond eye protection. Where is your happy middle ground? Or if you are not in the UK, what is your limit and are you happy with it?

Thanks all, this thread has given me more options to consider. I play a mix of outdoor/indoor but was ultimately looking for a single solution for both. I didn’t realise how finicky the impact type’s were around the surface they land on, but on reflection I guess that should be apparent. Frag C looks good for the price compared to the others, limitations above notwithstanding .

Jaeger Precision has his new (TRMR clone) Impact grenade up for pre-order. I’ve been considering a reusable grenade for a while so this comes at a good moment to part me with more cash. Seems to be an updated and approved clone of the TRMR. Any reason not to get one? Price doesn’t bother me much as it’s a one and done so eventually it will pay for itself compared to single use pyros. Quake seems like the obvious competition but I subjectively prefer the looks of the Jaeger, shallow reasoning be that as it is. Not really interested in BB spitting alternatives.

My post was made in jest, I don’t really have any objection to someone who wants to film their game to watch later. I plan to do the same when I can remember to buy a mount that doesn’t immediately fall off. Just had a funny mental image of someone with more camera than gun running round wondering why they can’t aim straight.

Visited Finmere Airsoft for the first time this weekend to take part in one of their Chaos and Control days, a long objective lead day rather than your usual skirmish. Milsim-lite I guess you could call it. First notable point before the day of the event even came around was the great communication with the organisers. I posted a quick question via their ‘Contact Us’ link but got a swift answer and then welcome into their larger WhatsApp group to discuss game day specifics or ask for technical help. Even got sent a PDF with the game objectives and rules, site map and walkthrough video in advance of the day so everyone should know what they are doing. Really well organised and not something I’ve seen before. Arrived at the site an a rainy Sunday morning. The site itself is a fairly typical woodland affair with a long central access road bisecting it into two distinct halves. Safe zone is right in the centre, they have a mix of seating and tables, most undercover from the worst of the elements. Small tuck shop, supplies and a lone portaloo which was remarkably clean. Game area features some nice set pieces like a prop submarine, crashed airplane and some other abstract structures that could really be anything. Gameplay for the day were two 2-hour long domination rounds with five control points spread around the map for capture and control. Capture involved the usual flag raising plus starting your team’s stopwatch at the control point to start accumulating points. Each team’s spawn had an area map that you could mark POIs on and a radio. The radio allowed you to get in contact with the ‘drone operator’ to get intel and/or call in airstrikes or chemical weapons on certain positions. I’m guessing this isn’t anything new but it was the first time I’ve played anything like this and I had a great time playing Battlefield Commander with my rifle propped up in the corner of spawn and picking places on the map to drop imaginary ordinance. Another new one for me was their dead rule. You get 3 lives with the first 2 hits requiring you to be revived, but whilst injured you are allowed (and expected) to call out info to your team. Creates an interesting dynamic where a downed man can sometimes be the pivotal part of a firefight as he calls out enemy movements to the survivors. On your 3rd hit you are fully dead, then it’s the usual silent walk back to spawn. Other notable points of the day were zero moaning or bitching about hit calling, randoms happy to and actively looking to team up to do objectives, everyone generally very laid back and some guy brought a bag full of apples from his garden. All in all a great addition to our roster of local sites so will be going there again soon.

He’s been reviewing hours of footage trying to work out why all of his shots are low. Only seems to happen when he is filming.

Is the build noticeably better/different in the hands compared to your previous GBBRs? My current MWS clone feels sturdy, but I’m pretty sure a couple of mild drops or knocks will show up its pot metal origins. I’m more of a player than collector, but I like the idea of a solidly built gun I can put 000s of rounds through and have it build up a patina of use over its life without having to baby it too much.

Very nice. Thoughts on it? Where did you buy it from? I’m wondering if I should short cut a couple of years of intermediate GBBR purchases and go straight to a VT as an end game gun. Once you’ve been through a few MWS/VFC/GHKs you’re kind of on the way to VT money anyway is my thought.

Interesting. I’ve long ignored propane due to the smell but if you cam get it without I may take another look.

Ta, in my case it uses a crammed QR mount (the cam is the right way round so no mileage in flipping it in this case) After shimming it with about a dozen layers of foil tape, it is now pretty much level.

You didn’t spot him due to his Billy-suit.

Ironically, holding zero is one thing it does do. It’s mounted on my GBBR and the reticle, though blurry, holds position after a day’s shooting. I’ll see if shimming it helps, otherwise it will go into the category of optics-that-don’t-deserve-a-scope-protector and see how long it lasts before a BB shatters it.

My woeful knock off UH-1 does not sit level on the rail of any of the three guns I’ve fitted it too. Mini review: £52 from AliExpress, don’t bother, it’s shit. As you can see, it’s canted over once the QR is clamped shut. Not amount of adjusting the QR or shifting it around on the rail stops it. I’ve ordered some foil tape to try and add some thin strips to the offside to try and level it out, but any other suggestions? Is there some basic of QR rail mounts I’m missing here?

😆 💯 Is this a ‘thing’? My local site makes use of a lot of pallets, but they’ve made a good job of turning a lot of them into proper fully fledged structures or using them as walkways to stop the ground getting churned into sludge when it’s wet. I will say it is infuriating when the pallets are just stacked on top of each other, making anyone taking cover behind them clearly visible, yet the ‘no-shooting-through-pallet-gaps’ rule reduces you to a ridiculous immersion breaking Mexican standoff.

Definitely second the waiver suggestion. I’d be wary if the invite was being extended to friends of friends (which essentially counts as complete unknowns in my book). The last thing you want is to be on the receiving end of a civil case for personal injury when said friend-of-friend wants to launch a case against Mtemprell for loss of an eye etc.

With your guns being either broken or stolen would be my initial answer. What are you thinking? People collect them from your home and then take them to their site of choice? Or you are going to go to a specific site and rent them out of the boot of your car, presumably undercutting the site’s own rental prices? Case A sounds like a recipe for never seeing any of your kit again. Case B sounds like some angry site operators telling you to clear off. Or did you mean leasing to a site operator to use to supplement their own rental stock? If so, I expect no-one will take you on as their insurance is unlikely to cover it.

I’ve only been hit there once. I’d liken the experience to the scene in the war film where the grenade goes off, the sound gets muted and all you hear is a high pitched whine as the stunned infantry men stumble around in the swirling dust. Except in this case that high pitched whine is you, as you slowly double over, keening like a dying cat. I’m not sure where I’m going with this anecdote, other than to say it doesn’t happen often, but when it does you’ll probably think back to this thread and think ‘I wish / am glad I bought some groin protection.’

Trying to single out the cringiest things in airsoft is a bit like pointing out the lemoniest part of a lemon. Still, the brief has been set so I’ll try… The Compensator. Desperately masculine, loud, edge-lord, every morale patch is practically peeling itself off it’s own Velcro to tell you, your mates, anyone near you, that this guy, this guy right here is not someone you want to mess with. Nevermind the fact that he’s playing with a toy gun, just because his boss talks down to him and his wife doesn’t respect him, YOU should know what you’re dealing with. Every sentence starts and ends with swearing and you’re gonna hear it, oh yes mate you will, no matter how far away from him you try to stand. Brought your young kids with for the day? Well this is a man’s game, it’s not his problem they hear grown up talk and he’ll just swear a bit louder to make sure they fuckin well do. Scene of crime officer. You cross his path, both bring guns to bear, your hits land milliseconds apart. It’s a trade, you can both be in and out of spawn in less than two minutes. Or so you think. Mr SOCO wants to stop you in your tracks, he hit you first he claims and before you can utter the first syllables of ‘yeah mate let’s just call it a trade’ he’s already describing to you moment by moment what just happened to prove, at length, that you are wrong. You walk away back to spawn. You think he’s still there, telling someone else who happened to stumble past him and who is now considering a BB to their own head just to get away. Clique-Ops. These guys showed up together, they’ve got squad patches and identical uniforms. You’ve not seen them speak to anyone else all day. You got lumped in with them to balance the numbers. ‘Alright?’ You offer as your opening gambit before the round starts. One of them glances shyly at you, the rest proceed to ‘mic check, mic check’ before continuing their conversation that excludes you. The klaxon goes, they make a beeline in the opposite direction to the objective whilst you resignedly set off to move a jerry can from one oil drum to another by yourself. You finish the round covered in BB welts and cuts. Your team has lost. You scored the only points. You see them back at the safe-zone celebrating how well they played.

I’ve just jettisoned a load of money on a new Double Eagle MK18, a HPA conversion for a boneyard M4 and a shed load of knock off gear from AliExpress, plus my son finally got a day to use his freshly built AAP-01 carbine so thought this one was worth a write up. Went to my local (and by local I mean walking distance) site Army of Airsoft. It bills itself as a CQB site, but in reality it’s a bit more flexible than that. Think urban ops in a small war torn town. Always a good mix of gameplay on offer, they’ve recently added pre-recorded next game instructions in the staging area, meaning less faff when you go out for the next match. This months miracle allowance was clearly used up as all the guns we brought along worked almost flawlessly all day, most miraculously of all the HPA gun which I’d barely finished building the night before with no time for any real testing or setup. I set off knowing nozzle alignment was far from perfect, but the Inferno Gen2 seems forgiving as it was still shooting straight. I expect with some fine tuning it will be even better. Some highlights of the day… Got shot in the nose = open wound. Common occurrence for me these days. Size of nose is the issue I think… Later shot in the face with a shotgun. Nose felt funny again. Prodded it. Some BBs fell out. Size of nose is still an issue I think… HPA gun performed like a champ all day. Son then claimed it for the rest of the day and had a jolly good wheeze cheesing through ammo. The thrill of one-shotting dudes with the MK18 and making the limited ammo count last a match. Surprising brilliance of my son’s custom AAP01. Rifle like range and accuracy out of a featherweight setup. Lunch - brilliant stew served with crusty bread and enough to go round for a second helping. Torrential rain in the afternoon reduced us to a tense 4v4 finish.

I’m a nob. Bad lipo, one of the cells is dead. Didn’t have enough power to cycle the solenoid. Fresh battery - all good.

Must admit I’ve not adjusted dwell yet from factory defaults. Didn’t consider it would make a difference since the engine is under powering even out of the barrel. Good shout though, will give it a try and see if it changes anything.

Any help welcome and appreciated on this one. Just completed (well, assembled) a new HPA build using an Inferno Gen2 on my boneyard Specna M4. I’m getting inconsistent output shot to shot. On semi, each shot is very weak with an audibly weak output (think mouse fart), often failing to fire completely or posting very low sub 100 fps. On quick double taps of semi, the second shot is much stronger. And on full auto, output is audibly more consistent shot to shot. Have tried output pressure between 90-110psi with no observable change in behaviour. Reg pressure gauge cycles as expected with each shot. Splitting the lower shows it’s nothing barrel or hop related. Will post a vid to demonstrate shortly. https://youtube.com/shorts/Rv-CdfinMqk?si=EQp79Y1U4V8hxUiB

Short of submerging it in water you’ll be fine. You’ll have given up with the weather long before your gun does. As said, just make sure you dry it thoroughly when you get home.