TheFull9

Tbh, I think in the game of airsoft which is literally 100% based on honest hit calling by players on themselves, saying that something in terms of a rule is a fruitless endeavour is a pretty bad logical fallacy. Everything aspect of every action that every player takes on the field is constrained by (first) governmental laws then there's a thick layer of rules set down by the skirmish site layered on top of those. Yes some are harder to enforce than others but there's already loads that are common and accepted yet are hard to enforce. The vast majority of people follow them the vast majority of the time. I've also played a site that had an ammo limit at all times and when it came out in the safety brief I watched a lot of hi-caps go back in bags. Was one of my favourite sites that I re-visited quite often (by my standards). Would people break the rule? For sure, but unless you think a simple rule like any mentioned in this thread will make the gameplay worse then I'd propose there's not a strong case to object to it within the framework of this hobby.

Haven't been made since the 90s apparently.

Disregard females. Search for fill valves and winding wheels.

Ammo limits are the way, imho, on account of the fact you can literally use any type of RIF under the sun with any mechanism for propulsion but if you run out of beebs half way through the game and aren't allowed to re-stock you're going to watch your weight of trigger finger. Is this easily enforceable? Absolutely not, same as any other methods suggested, there's plenty of arguments against it. There's no way you're going to have marshalls checking every pouch and pocket for sneaky hidden mags and bags of bbs. However it's a rule I'd think most people would follow and a lot of the time it wouldn't be too hard to spot offenders. Also it just generally adds to the quality of the gameplay in general in all key respects I find, but I have no delusions that that is subjective and some won't agree with me. Just an idea I've held for a long time and like to put out there now and again.

I'd suggest scrounging up any cheap piece of pic rail you can that, like an unused KeyMod segment or something someone's removed from a G36 handguard or KC-02, anything like that. Use one of the holes, then, given that the other probably won't align, just drill the rail segment then counter-sink and bolt it on. Easy tools to get/find, if you don't have them.

I've done this to my ICS, but can't exactly recall how.. First thing is to establish how it's attached, then figure out how to break that bond without wrecking the body; real ones are spot welded. After that, you can just just any piece of pic rail, drill holes in it and the body then thread the body holes and as long as you only use nice light optics that little bit of thread engagement will be enough.

I don't think I've ever promoted it here for various reasons, but it got to a point some time ago that I'd been a customer of Roman for so long and purchased so much that we worked together on a variant of the G3s he makes done to my design spec. I make something like 2-3 euros in what amounts to store credit if someone orders an item in the 'F9' cut from him. If anyone's interested feel free to DM me I won't clog this thread with self promo. Before that partnership became a thing though, I would get people messaging me on social media fairly often with questions about his stuff, so to answer the FAQs I put together a video. The jist of the video is, essentially, you need to be *mega* specific if you want to order anything from his business. This doesn't just apply to him though, there are people all over the world that make custom gear to order and it's a process I've been through many, many times over the past decade and the very first time doing it I learned just how specific you need to be if you actually want to get what you're picturing in your mind when placing an order. I think to the average person who lives a normal life and hence doesn't have an intimate knowledge of the production of military type uniforms and other tac gear they'd probably find the level of detail needed quite OTT. I make no excuses for his customer service, it's lacking... end of. His stuff is 'less' custom than what is offered by some businesses in that it fellows a template, but it is custom made tactical equipment none-the-less and the same rules apply to his uniforms as to any custom sew business; they can't read your mind and it's basically impossible to exaggerate just how easily things get lost in translation. Not addressing this specific situation now just trying to help people avoid the same fate in future. To illustrate the point, I've collaboratively designed my own piece of kit for commercial sale being made by a company in the US this year and as incredibly simple as this thing is (and looks), it took hours worth of phone calls and dozens of e-mails back and forth adding up to many pages of descriptive text and other media after already drawing up dimensioned schematics, just to get 1 simple little item to be manufactured in the correct way I wanted. So on top of what I mentioned in the linked video, if you want to order from Roman the key is to make zero assumptions and when you think you're making none at all, make a few less. If you want buying kit to just involve checking out through the cart, don't try to get things custom, you'll end up dissatisfied; sorry if that's an unpalatable reality check for anyone reading. Ideally, supply him with the fabric yourself (he has a UK address you can just send it to) for the very best end result in terms of getting exactly what you want and what you've imagined. Or ask him for details and pictures of the materials he has to hand for the camo/s you're interested in. Anyone is welcome to @ me here or DM me on this topic any time. In the event you like the platform I have a facebook group setup that's for discussion of topics just like this and is aimed at spreading info; I generally ask that folks ask me questions in there rather than DMs if at all possible so that the answers are public rather than hidden to the world - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1609908462423146

Now I know what being mansplained to feels like.

https://www.flexonthepoors.com/

The modern versions of 7.62 ARs that are common now weren't really so much of a thing when this sort of chassis was first conceived. The US Army pushed updated M14s in to service early-ish in Afghan for that exact reason as they had no other 762 DMRs to issue out. Obviously this kit was the tail end of the M14/M1A being seen as anything more than a collectors piece/range toy but it wasn't made for no reason.

Bet nobody saw that coming huh? I hadn't looked at the site for years, they just had the SSG and maybe one pistol at the time. Looked again last night, pretty big line now. Also watched a video about their plate carrier since that's my field and that was.. interesting. The staff at the company is apparently 55 people now so those old rumours about customer service being shit because it was just him working from his house definitely don't apply anymore. As with the RIFs, all the kit is just slightly modified versions of cheap chinese stuff available elsewhere; admittedly with some reasonable input visibly based on a lot of playing airsoft. As with anything, if you order enough they'll make alterations to a product from the factories. The way the company was born and has evolved is certainly interesting and pretty unique compared to the classic old model of manufacturers and retailers.

Do rebranders ever really change anything about an actual product vs the packaging? I'd flip that and say OEM is what really matter most.

I've bought some Magpul PMAGs and HK steel AR mags that at the moment I'm just using for props in gear pics, but for a while I've been hunting for someone who knows how to do conversions. I need either TM NGRS or standard AR AEG guts going in. Not something I want to try and hack at doing myself and the exact types of mags I've got don't exist in airsoft form (or when they do they don't look nearly as good). I know of tacbelts on IG who can do this for the PTW platform but that's it at the moment and I've asked him just in case. If anyone's got any links/directions to point me please that'd be great.

Yeah I love my TM SOCOMs as people on airsoft forums are sick of hearing. Be an ideal base for this idea. ak's suggestions above would be smart too though.

You had mud??

This'll be the super unpopular option, but if the ICS is out of stock maybe you can save enough to afford it by the time it's back in. If there's one thing I'll claim to be a world expert on it's judging whether a replica is close to a real L85 and my ICS is definitely very good as airsoft guns go.

Decent plate carriers often won't list sizes of the carrier exactly because you buy PCs based on the size of armour plates that go in them. If you're already a big guy and want to wear a smock/jacket, then I don't know of a JPC style PC that's not going to look really off scale to be fully honest. That and the SRU kit seems to be one size and based on counting the PALS columns visible in the product picture it may be a fitment issue for you, unless you've tried on in person already maybe? Look up the sizes of SAPI plates for starters, that'll give you some info.

I was worried for a sec that the actual goggles were cheap chinese shite. Nicely done. There's one thing I'll happily be called a gear snob about every single day and that's eye pro.

My mate Rich there is modelling ESSTAC pouches which also use KYWIs on the Crye airlite convertible chest rig; another combo that could be configured to do what you're wanting. I don't personally know of any different but more value-oriented gear brands that will achieve all this though, you'd have to go with chinese clones of the crye/ferro/spiritus, which I don't recommend but loads of people do. If you're asking about connecting a rifle sling to a chest rig definitely do not, those setups suck balls just get a simple quality 2 point sling - tried, tested, used by the best. Having any kind of dangler hung even lower than usual below that side-pull pouch is gonna be wank for kneeling/sitting/squatting and I don't know of anything in the world that'll stop that huge slap flap you'll have created from punching you in the nethers.

This or this plus this insert. Or jam a pack of MP2s in to one of the original HSP chest rigs. The rest of the questions I don't really grasp tbh, is the OP missing an image above the hyphenated list? Personally I've used the SS micro with the Spiritus elastic inserts quite a bit and reinserting mags is fine, takes 2% more effort vs MP2s or KYWIs you just have to angle the mags a bit at first and rock them back in.

I bought some of the Smiths a while back purely so I had a set with a battery pack that's easily relocatable, but I've owned a couple of pairs of ESS Turbofans for.. more years than I can remember. I rate kit the most if it basically vanishes while in use and I don't notice it and the ESS fall well in to that category. I've got plastic mask lower halves zip tied on, I put that combo on my face with the fans on the low setting and go about my game with no worries at all. Being the cheapest of the 3 I'd say go with the Revisions unless you want a specific colour or to move the power supply; but all great eye pro that I couldn't do this hobby without personally.

The best thing I ever figured out in terms of buying belts was my waist size in PALS columns (i.e the slots). Obviously if you already have a belt that's good you can just count, but as a very very rough guide PALS spacing is 1.5" horizontally so if you know your legit waist size with a tape measure you can figure things out before any potential belt related purchases if the website sizing guide is iffy or just nonexistent.

There's no way MTP is ever better than DPM, literally dozens of unqualified airsofters who spend their entire lives at one site and irrationally hate anything popular because it's cool to be different have told me so. If you want uniforms just get surplus issue stuff, commercial offerings (BTP, MTC etc etc) barely get within sniffing distance in terms of the quality for the price point. Windproof and waterproof are 2 entirely different proposals, most issue uniform is fairly windproof the smock in particular but it's still extremely breathable. Anything that's actually close to waterproof cooks you alive soon as you do much exertion and do NOT fall for the bullshit descriptions at airsoft retailers that describe any softshell jacket as waterproof; utter shite. Wear a t-shirt and a standard PCS smock, put a fleece or whatever under it if you're not moving much in the cold and have a goretex jacket somewhere to hand if you expect it to really hammer down - that'll cover 95% of UK weather.