TheFull9

Supposed to. Apparently hexi gives off some cyanide gas when you burn it. Nice to know eh?

Not 'bought' exactly, but newest arrivals for reviewing and T&E. -FirstSpear Vertical Envelopment Pack -FirstSpear Modular Fight Strap -Blue Force Gear 'Uber Loops' x 2 (the other one's on a sling right now) -BCB FireDragon fuel and field cooker Apparently this stuff from BCB is replacing the current issued cooker and hexi blocks in service, so I'm hoping it works well when I try it out.

And may this be a lesson to anyone unaware about Osprey. Good for saving your organs from grenades - Not so good for nice, safe airsoft. As for what to use, honestly any chest rig or anything that is a dedicated plate carrier rather than an armour carrier (like the Osprey or the US OTV that have lots of extra bulk for soft armour coverage), they'll all work better. This is the best deal you're gonna find on a top quality PC in the UK right now (short of some amazing ebay deal): http://www.tactical-kit.co.uk/tactical-tailor-plate-carrier-modular-22001-7050-p.asp You can add PALS panels on the sides later. I recommend them fairly often because the price to quality ratio you're getting there is immense, but the "gear" viper and their ilk clone looks more tacticool so nobody every buys one. Otherwise, any Warrior rig will be far better built than an airsoft-only brand, if you can budget for it and are the sort of person that's not gentle on your kit. Definitely get on ebay and all the forum classifieds, there's always people selling solid stuff because they want a different camo this season or whatever. I got one of my FirstSpear PCs for £100, so the deals are out there.

G&P with some stuff.

In that price range, the brand names may vary but they all just come out of similar (or often the same) factories in china. Whether it says Nuprol or G&G or whatever, all just rebranding. All the cheap EoTech copies I've tried have been really bad, same with all the cheap T-1 copies. Only decent red dot I've had under £50 was one of these I bought about 9 years ago: http://www.landwarriorairsoft.com/aiming-devices-mounts-and-bipods-c7/red-green-dot-scopes-c75/g-p-military-type-30mm-red-dot-sight-gp121-replica-p1616 Haven't used it much for a while, but last I checked it still worked. Only clone red dot I've ever had that had genuinely clear glass in it, no blue or brownish tint what-so-ever. Pretty durable with a well built tube as well all things considered.

Well, you can always.. er.. rest the mag against a wall, or shoot the Minimi sideways, heh.

I like the look of the EPM bases personally, but then I often like things that are widely regarded as ugly if they have good design and utility built in to them. They're much better to actually use as a monopod in the prone than a flat plate, doubly so vs a metal mag and I always shoot the L85 with the mag rested when I'm on the range so it's something I've tested out a fair bit over the years.

I sure wish they'd implement the automatic system for not quoting pictures here... Personally, I find the EPMs infinitely better than the Hexmags in terms of fitment and quite a lot better in the construction department, but as with any magazine it really depends on the rifles you're going to use them in (as far as fitting goes).

I'm not sure where some companies get this VN thing from, they're just 20 round magazines, that's all. Practically, it depends what you're doing. Lying prone a lot you're limited on how high you can elevant the weapon using 30rnd type magazines, so sticking to the 20s will be beneficial. But if you're unlikely to ever need to shoot at a point above you (or lob shots at a point that's level with you) then go with the 30s for the increased capacity.

That right there is very much a case of send-it-back to the 'tech' along with a firmly worded communique. Unless it somehow got battered in transport the person who's done the work FUBAR'd. You don't work on a gun's piston, gears and spring then just not chrono it before sending it off.

Brand spanker UKSF AC combat shirt to replace my normal AC combat shirt in the same pattern that was waaay too small (apparently a Crye small is different to everybody elses).

100% pure iron with the new 'Tactical Pirate' sea-water based coating.

Well yeah.. at least half the players at your average skirmish are 13 years old. Of course they'd be easily distracted. Wouldn't happen to me though, I've taken off like a thousand of those lady chest holsters brazzers things. Total expert.

Peltor make a lot of different ear defenders, in my post I was referring to their ComTacs (I have the 'XP' set) which are a specific product aimed at military and police usage primarily; they're fairly pricey if bought new since they electronically amplify ambient sounds but cut out instantly when a loud bang occurs in the wearer's vicinity. I've got my own set for airsoft and used them a fair few times in work since they've become popular on military ranges in recent years. Very high level of construction quality. I was also issued a set of their non-electronic basic defenders for work around aircraft which are a far more basic construction, but also massively cheaper. The genuine Peltor products (as with anything, there are cheap chinese clones floating around) are certainly not flimsy though, I've seen guys on fast jet squadrons use the same set every day for years. I think I lost my own pair in the end when moving between camps on one occasion, but I got a fair amount of use out of them with no signs of them giving up on me.

Goggles, lower face plastic half mask attached to them, baseball cap and Peltors for the ears, that's my standard head gear.

Giena Tactics order came in, combat shirt and trousers. Still at home right now, gotta wait a few days to get my hands on them and see if they're any good.

Yeah you only see that option for covering trademarks at retailers because of yankistan. In the land of litigation and guns, corporation's gun trademark laws/copyright holdings are actually very strictly enforced by their customs. British border force wouldn't have the slightest of scoobies about that the trades on an M4 or Glock or whatever would even look like; long as you comply with the VCRA you're good.

It's barely changed from stock comparatively speaking. I'd say that would class as 'less' given the stuff you can change on an AR (i.e. literally everything).

The central torso fabric on most combat shirts will be something thin and designed to be cool, comfortable and fast at wicking moisture. It varies a lot by brand though, cheaper ones that would be terrible to wear in real combat will have a non flame-resistant synthetic fabric that's actually better in a lot of ways for airsoft usage because it transports sweat more quickly.

Company called WarZone. They only go to 36hr AFAIK, but that was a good length to my mind. There's very little roleplay, no 'one side in all multicam, the other in talib/daesh garb' trying to make it play out vaguely like afghan or iraq; which is obviously popular with a lot of folks and that's fine, but I've no interest in recreating that style of thing personally. Just 2 pretty much equal teams, one in desert cam and tan, the other in woodlands and green, fighting it out for control of the area. Well.. that's Z1 for you. Personally after the reviews I've read, I wouldn't dream of going anywhere near the NAE. Way too much unsafe behaviour and thievery going down.

Ah, I read it as "this, then this over the top"; that makes more sense. I'm the same, when I see people with 2 or more layers under a PC in the height of the July heat I really find it strange. I've seen smocks, hoodies, beanie hats, you name it and I'm there sweating buckets in just a thin combat shirt. I get that some people just want the look or their bodies just run colder, but when you see loads of them at a game it's hard to imagine that absolutely all of them are the same in that respect.

The yanks issue something called PCU to their SF, it's a lot better than PCS overall, though since the transition from CS95 we have improved slightly; google up the poster explaining it and read some good reviews on different PCU level items and you'll learn a ton about the optimal apparel for inclement conditions. I find it particularly useful to pay attention to the specific fabrics used in the different garments, then you can read the product descriptions on other apparel items and see if they'll have the properties you're looking for. The primary thing people don't realise however is that a good cold weather clothing system does not include conventional camo clothes at all. Poly/cotton or nylon/cotton are what's used in almost all the uniforms we mostly wear, but "cotton is rotten" (phrase I think of a lot lately) and is to be avoided as far as operating in cold, rain, wind and show. It's very cold to the touch when wet, whereas certain wools and 100% nylon and a few other technical fabrics don't suffer that issue. On top of that, cotton is incredibly slow to dry compared to good softshell, and speed of drying is probably one of the number one characteristics to look for in bad-weather gear. It's extremely hard to stop yourself ever getting wet, be it from rain or snow outside or your sweat from the inside; so drying out when you can is the key. Essentially, what you do in inclement conditions is swap your normal camo for Level 5 (softshell) jacket and trousers (again, nothing fleece lined), maintaining an appropriate base layering underneath it. The key attribute to look for is breathability so that your sweat will wick away through the layers; along with wind and water resistance. But absolutely never believe any manufacturers product description at face value. They'll throw around claims about stuff being 'waterproof' which are total and utter lies resulting from the technical definition of waterproof being incredibly loose and easy to meet. The links jedi posted are really good, combining some reading on mountaineering layering with military stuff will lead to a sound understanding of what constitutes a good piece of apparel within a system that can keep you comfortable in the widest range of conditions possible. Personally, I never wear a T under a combat shirt because, as popular as that's become, it's not the way it's meant to be done for various reasons. T-shirt under a conventional camo shirt makes sense in certain situations when not running a vest or armour, but the whole idea of the lighter fabric on the torso of a combat shirt is to allow wearing it next to skin. Don't get me wrong though I'm just using this example to raise a point, if you find it comfortable then I'd never tell you how to run your own gear, everyone has their own experiences and reasons for doing things.

If you're ever in doubt (heck even if not) you just bring a few layers, then you'll be able to dress up or down for whatever you encounter. PCs keep in tons of heat, any sort of rig that has a lot of coverage and isn't made of mesh will do that. If you can get a light softshell (don't go insulated, that ruins the entire layering concept) that'll block wind (the biggest chill factor usually) and some rain. Then just pack some sort of hoodie/jumper/fleece for insulation and maybe a rain coat if you've got a drab coloured one and intend to carry on playing even if it's raining hard outdoors. Then everything's covered. If you've got some sort of thin thermal layer or any other surplus apparel then obviously that can go in to the mix; issued stuff is pretty good, comes in drab colours and goes cheap on ebay. Great way to pick up some base/mid level insulation items that are suited for the task but won't cost a lot.

If the organiser can't even get back to you with answers on questions this basic... well personally I wouldn't be giving them my money. The milsim I went to, I asked the company putting it on a lot of the exact same things you've asked here and they got back to me very quickly with detailed answers. You're paying out a fair bit of cash to go to an event like this and bringing the right stuff is vital, lest you end up bringing either a load of gear that's physically impossible to carry around, or are woefully under-prepared at the other end of the scale.

That's the model ICS supply with their guns. No RS equivalent AFAIK.