Gunboat Diplomat

Without knowing your specific gun it's impossible to make any recommendations. Your choice is going to come down to what will physically fit. Vapextech are a decent supplier, though I think they may have put their prices up since I last ordered from them.

Half day for me and the boy on Saturday. He met up with a friend from cadets who had a great time and is planning his next visit, so looks like we've added another to the rank and file of Spec Ops roster. Second day out with my Double Eagle and his Cyma G36. Again, both performed flawlessly and just took the abuse and shrugged it off. I did a lot more shooting this game as I found myself in some great positions affording me sweeping arcs of fire as the opfor team tried to push objectives or flank. I think I went through 12 midcaps in the morning session which is a lot for me. Think I need to invest in an Odin or clone as my speedloader/thumb can't keep up at that rate of use. Only brought one battery each as we were on a half-day and was starting to wonder if I'd regret that decision with the amount of firing, but surprisingly when I got back the LiPo from my DE was only down to around 25% so needed just a brief charge back to storage voltage. The boy's LiIon pack was down to 10%, about 3.6v per cell so was pretty done. Was a busy day with a lot of rentals but it all went remarkably smoothly and I had one of my most enjoyable days yet. The games this weekend were staged from some of the more peripheral areas of the Spec Ops map and it seemed to create some new and fun corridors of action that were better suited to funnelling people and objectives through. Good to finally meet @Dan Robinson, hope the knee mends up soon and thanks to @RostokMcSpoons for letting the boy have a play with the GBBR... I can hear a birthday list being furiously scribbled out at this very minute. Highlights of the day for me... Saying 'This is the longest I've ever lasted in a game of Zombies...' before immediately being shot in the forehead. Finding a perfect tree that afforded good cover and a great spot to rack up kills from. Not being able to find said tree after returning from respawn. How does a man lose a tree in a forest...

@guyus10 - that exact battery came with my son's Cyma G36. I don't know if you've tried it out yet, in our case the battery doesn't last very long at all (think 30 mins or so). It may just be a duff, we've never actually used it on the field, only for test firing at home. Both been using LiPos from day one. If yours is okay, then aside from the decent suggestions above my vote is for the HTRC C240 Duo. Around £50 and can charge 2 batteries simultaneously. If you want to upgrade to LiPos instead of your NiMh then https://www.vapextech.co.uk have proven to be cheap and reliable. No affiliation but I've used them and have no complaints.

I think my site has the same rule, to stop people spamming the entrances to buildings with fire to just get ricochet kills, but I just play it safe now and unless it's patently obvious I'll take the hit. In general, I must say coming into airsoft I wasn't prepared for how half your hits would be barely perceptible and easily confused with a falling leaf, drop of rain or a squirrel farting at 25 yards. My first games were just utter confusion, wanting to play by the rules but not wanting to rob myself of precious game time or look like an idiot for calling a hit that was never there. Adopting the 'if in doubt, take the hit' mantra has ironically made the game easier and more enjoyable as I'm no longer wasting precious cognitive capacity worrying about if something was a hit or not. I'm sure I can still do better on this front and no doubt still miss things. Oddly some of my most satisfying moments have been taking a hit I wasn't sure on and then hearing a nearby marshal who had seen it say 'good call'.

Think of re-enacting a role from a Carry On film, that's your typical Airsoft skirmish in my experience.

That was a great write up, sounds like an incredible event. Definitely something I'd like to do once a bit more experienced. How did it work for those who were cast as civilians or the ineffective national army roles? If the former, are you expected to act as a bit of an NPC and not do much/any fighting? Do the national army players just take bribes to lay down their arms or run away at the first sign of trouble? Seems like an awesome way to create a real feeling world, if you get cast in a more passive role but were hoping for front-line action is that just part and parcel of participating or was there some flexibility that meant all the factions got a decent amount of trigger time over the weekend?

Yeah I suspect it’s just not the game for him, I think he just learnt that during an unusually tough session. Possibly a blessing in disguise, rather than getting invested and then deciding its not for you several £££ down the line. Like you say, might just have been heavy BBs. For the benefit of balance, it was notable but not something that spoilt our day or gave me any concerns about safety. Even the heaviest impacts were negligible compared to stubbing your toe. Under yours and @RostokMcSpoons revised parameters I’ve elevated my performance to ‘genius’. In any case I’m having a whale of a time in the thick of it so no intention of changing my strategy. Yeah sorry, for the avoidance of doubt, I’m quite happy being shot and consider it an essential part of the game. Me and the boy are regularly in the thick of it and as far as we’re concerned its all good stories to tell on the way home. My gist in this example was that we had a particularly heavy morning (by airsoft standards) which I think, at least in part, put off the first timers we brought along. Nothing inherently bad about it, just one of those luck of the draw scenarios.

Yesterday was our first game with our own gnus instead of rentals, so there was much excitement in the lead-up to the day. First thing I realised was how much extra prep there is now. Make sure then gnu's are fit to fight, get LiPos charged ready to go, check mags are feeding, don't forget your speed-loader, bring a USB LiPo charger in case you need an emergency top-up at lunchtime... On the plus side, both my Double Eagle and the boys Cyma G36 performed flawless all day long, bar some intermittent feeding issues on full auto for the G36. Reading around it seems the HiCap G36 mag may be to blame, I have a spare for him to try next time. First time going through a chrono check, his clocked in at 313 on .20s and mine at 290 on .25s. Was surprised to just be asked what weight I was using, I had assumed I'd be asked to load a few of the sites own BBs so that people can't under report to get through chrono. Game highlights for me were managing to push up a central line unnoticed whilst the enemy were trying to flank on the left. As they encountered resistance in their push they started to bunch up, effectively stacking themselves up for me to pick off. Also managed to get a few CQBish kills in some clearance action walking into enemy held positions. Got the drop on a couple of guys, then I heard voices in a tower, so rounded the corner and loosed off a couple of shots. A trio of rental kiddies started yelping and looked like rabbits in the headlights, so I stopped at that point as it was pretty close range. The two survivors repaid my mercy by lighting me up, no good deed goes unpunished. We had a couple of friends (Dad and son) with us for their first go at airsoft who did the morning session. Sadly I don't think they'll be back, the young lad didn't enjoy being shot and I think was a bit overwhelmed by the whole affair, the morning session was pretty heavy in terms of incoming fire, which allows me a segue into... I'm still too new to the game to really have enough insight, but I've played a few games now, been hit many times (I'm crap) and at close range and never had much of a mark to show for it. Yesterday felt much heavier in terms of incoming fire. I had a few hits that stumbled me, you had a huge welt on your neck, some other guy had one even bigger than that. The boy has some decent impact marks on his chest even through a couple of layers of MTP. As you say, not sure if that was a someone shooting hot or just something that can consistently get a lot of rounds down range right up to the FPS limit. We've come into the game as newbies expecting some variation both in terms of sportsmanship and game-days, so we just include this alongside poor hit-taking or team-balancing issues in the bottom line figure of what makes a good day vs bad day in the world of airsoft.

I use one of these: https://www.bat-safe.com It’s pricier than an old ammo tin, but I considered it pretty cheap as an insurance policy as I have a fair few packs. LiPos are typically safe if treated sensibly and at storage voltage they are as close to inert (from spontaneous ignition sense) as makes no difference. During charging or afterwards when stored on a full charge, say the night before a game day, they do have a chance of catching fire. How likely that is depends on too many variables to consider. Anecdotally I think cases like this are mostly from the RC world where LiPos are subjected to much more abuse, both in physical damage and discharge load alongside much higher energy density per pack, resulting in a bigger boom when they let go. Airsoft by comparison is pretty low stress, so barring misuse or a manufacturing defects the LiPos used in AEGs should be about as safe as it gets. Still worth a few quid spent on caution though.

Ordered a couple of LiPos from them on Monday, delivered today so I'm happy. If you log in to your account they have an Order Status tab so you can track your order.

Cheers for the tip. Flash hider undid fine as I toon it off to fit my suppressor. Not tried the motor screw yet though. What kind of sadist puts red locktite on a service item.

And to round out this thread, it has arrived. Good service from BBG4L, shipped same day via Parcelforce 24, but crossed the weekend so only received today as for some reason they didn't come on Saturday (Parcelforce normally always deliver at 9am on a Sat morning and get me out of bed, but not this time it seems). Checked out the boy's G36 first, way more solid than I was expecting for its budget price and all plastic build. Added bonus is a load of my existing 2S car LiPos will fit in the front stock so he's set for batteries for life. Hooked up a 1-point sling so he doesn't drop it on the first day, but to be honest it looks like it could take a tumble and shrug it off. He is smitten which is the main thing. Double Eagle next. First point of note is it seems they are supplying midcaps now instead of the advertised hicap mag (or at least they did in mine). Not sure if I consider that a pro or a con yet. Measured the buffer tube and ordered a couple of batteries from Vapextech, but managed to get a few test shots with one of my spare (but too big) batteries hanging out the back. Feels much more responsive than the rental guns I've used so far, whatever trigger lag there is is pretty imperceptible to me. No idea on accuracy or power til I get to a decent length range and my chrono arrives from China. Fit and finish is about right for the price, well screwed together aside from a couple of rattly catches and a bit of wobble in the stock, metal is pretty thin but then I'm not planning to hammer nails in with it and I have to lug it around all day. Ergonomics are really good, all very subjective but fits me better than any of the renters have so far. Not sure I'll be getting another game in until the end of the month now, so field testing will have to wait.

I did think last week that maybe it needed a cap or cooldown on revives before the downed player is forced back to respawn. That said, and perhaps this speaks volumes about me, I found it hugely amusing harrying the medics as they dashed back and forwards having to revive the guys I’d just rekilled immediately after they saved him.

Going to assume you are asking about AEGs. I faced a similar dilemma, weighing up a £190 Double Eagle M906C against more expensive options as I had extra money ‘spare’. In the end I went with the Double Eagle as the more expensive options didn’t seem to offer a great deal over it. From my digging, if you wanted to spend the full £300 then the Specna Edge 2.0 series offers the most comprehensive set of features in a range of styles to suit your tastes. They had terrible QC in the early days but anecdotal evidence suggests this is now largely resolved bar some minor fit and finish quibbles. Negative Airsoft on YouTube doesn’t do reviews as such, but he does in depth tear downs and dislikes almost everything to some extent. I found his videos useful to get an unvarnished insight on potential purchases.

Looking forward to... Parcelforce delivering my BBGuns4Less order! Trying out my new Bolle Trackers to see how much they steam up. My local site opening their new CQB venue.

I don't need noisy mags to accomplish that feat. Running in the wrong direction with the flag in CTF, getting lost in the woods trying to find respawn, walking into the enemy respawn, dumping half a mag into a bush thinking its a ghillie suit... I think I'm well past the point of saving my credibility. Whilst the boy is set on hicaps, I'm considering some midcaps not so much for the silence but just for the fun/pseudo-realism of mid game reloads. Landwarrior have a set of 5 midcap M4 mags for £20 which seems like a good deal if they work.

Hmm… interesting, cheers. Will certainly be hicaps as he says ‘who wants to reload!?’ I’m yet to see a situation where a Spec Ops game is quiet enough to need the stealth of silent mags, but I can see it being relevant if the indoor CQB site opens. He doesn’t have a rig yet so I expect he’ll just put a spare mag in his leg pocket if the stacked weight is too heavy on the gun. And indeed I did a few posts earlier, hopefully being delivered today/tomorrow. Your rationale did play a part in my decision though, the DE won’t hold me back and I’m invariably going to be tempted by even more exotic toys in future so may as well save the extra outlay for now.

Fair point, maybe I'll stick with 2S to begin with, if I feel the need for higher RoF later down the line I can always test with one of the 3S packs from my FPV quad and see how toasty the motor gets. That said the brushed 550 motor in my 1/14 scale RC car regularly reaches temperatures that cause localised climate change, yet it keeps coming back for more. I notice a lot of airsoft AEG tech is starting to borrow from the RC world. MosFet/ETUs etc are nothing more than the ESCs we've been running in RC gear for what feels like a decade now and brushless motors still seem to be a rarity in AEGs despite being ubiquitous in most mid-range RC. Cheers, good tips, I'll have a search for an M4 adaptor for the G36, though the boy quite likes the idea of the G36 mags native ability to stack together. I think DE's head of global marketing has a RostockMcSpoons portrait that takes pride of place in his office.

Yes it was all the Double Eagle shilling positive feedback that put me on to them in the first place and despite the price differential it seems like they don't really fall short of more expensive offerings. I was looking at this 3S pack as I think it will fit in the M906C: https://www.vapextech.co.uk/airsoft-11-1v-1300mah-30c-lipo-battery-with-case-lp303-vapextech I'm hoping the Falcon will be happy with it as long as I keep full auto to short bursts.

Well after much fannying about, I've ordered the Double Eagle. Thanks all for the advice and feedback, after copious consumption of YouTube opinions and reddit posts I've concluded the difference in price is better spent on more days out for me and the boy. What size LiPo do I need for the M906C? Am I best of with a crane or stick size pack? I'll likely be ordering from Vapextech as they seem to be the cheapest option. I've got plenty of 2S LiPos from my RC cars, but I doubt they will fit in the stock. Are they fussy with mags or will any M4 style fit? On another note I've also ordered a Cyma G36 the boy has been lusting after. Fortunately that comes with a battery, but I'll be needing to find some more AR36 mags for him.

Thanks all for the tips. Shopping around brings the price of a couple of Edge 2.0 variants to within a £100 of the Double Eagle. From Negative Airsoft's follow up video and some general forum/reddit posts it sounds like Specna dealt with their QC issues, so current examples should be no worse than any other mass produced Chinese toy. Still very much on the fence at this point, will see if I get a discount incentive from BBGuns4Less, that might sway me.

Alas no, they were both used from eBay. Lesson learnt there!

I'm in the happy position to have a decent budget for my first primary AEG, but equally I'm a miser so don't see the point in spending money needlessly. For arguments sake lets assume I've got £350 for an AEG, but it's not really a hard and fast figure. I've currently got a DE M906C in my BBGuns4Less basket, hoping they'll prompt me with a discount code to complete the purchase. Whilst I wait, I've gone through my huge list of alternatives and the ones that stand out are the Specna Edge 2.0 series. I realise they had some QC issues in the early days with the Orion gearbox and the Asters, but I'd hope that they've resolved that now. But at around £300ish for most models in the range, what am I getting over the DE? Do they shoot any further or straighter? More reliable? Better fit and finish? This isn't a subtle shit-post on Specna, I'm genuinely willing to spend the extra if it will get me something better, but not sure what is in it for me other than the Gate Aster having a few more features over the Falcon and there being a few more options in the Specna range (I quite like the 416s). Anecdotally I've seen that the DE seem to suffer from weak springs and the hop-up lever won't take an aftermarket nub so will likely need changing at some point in the future, plus they drain batteries if left connected, but that doesn't really bother me since I never leave a LiPo connected in my RC cars, they all go straight back in the BatSafe overnight. None of these seem like fundamental issues to me. Thanks all

Thanks, unfortunately both pairs didn't make it through half a day before the rubber fell apart so they are pretty much bin fodder at this point.

Sorry @Dan Robinson, I didn't realise who you were, but now I've seen the photos I do recall unleashing a sustained stream of fire at you during your daring, if optimistic dash to the exfil-point-tent during the Church choke-point game. Next time I'll try a more standard form of introduction and come and say hello. This is me and the boy (an image that doesn't really give much in the way of distinguishing features I grant you):