TheFull9

Given how many mags I have (I tend to use my PTS TMAGs), the fact I often use TM recoil guns or my GBBRs and the rarity of actually getting to games, I'll be honest it could take literally 2-3 years before I even manage to use them enough times to give much of an opinion. In the event I do decide I fancy using them in an AEG at a game in the near future then I'll certainly post up about them on my FB/Insta to comment on how they do. Right now I can say they feel well built and solid, one has already passed a drop test on to rough stone. Fitment in the one gun I've tried was rather loose and I could actually pull the mag out without pressing the release button, but that was an Avalon receiver and nobody else runs those. I'll try them in a G&G and G&P at some point. IMHO, for reliability and durability the EPMs are the right choice, PTS mags are almost excessively well built. The Hexmags are not your cheap chinese midcaps by any means, they're surprisingly heavy, nice matte finish and well moulded overall. I think they look cooler than the EPM too, but for skirmishing I'd predict the PTS option will hold up longer. I wouldn't feel as confident doing the same torture test on a Hex as I conducted on an EPM (smashed the hell out of it, ran it over and I still use it every game). Be interested to hear more about your experience of moving over there mate, especially getting in to the tactical industry. Once I get out of the mob one of my potential plans is to try and work in either the weapons or gear industry state side. One a side note out of curiosity, did you not get any of your airsoft stuff surface shipped over there?

Really fancied some Hexmags, so grabbed some other little bits while I was ordering from WGC. Lots of small pistol parts, I've had quite a few handguns 'in the shop' as it were and needing attention for ages, always tricky to get the little springs and screws etc I wanted to finish the builds. 4 x Dytac Hexmag midcaps Hexmag base plate/followers pack PTS Comp Ready Fighter Kimber 1911 mag bases Guarder steel 1911 grip screws, black and chrome First Factory extended PTS ACR handguard pin Modify VSR/Pistol bucking 3 x Stark G17 trigger springs Mechanix Originals and 0.5mm Originals AR-15 'TekMat' MSM patch

Pedant about zeroing, just not about image orientation. I don't recognise the RIF, looks like one of those fictional type Co2 pistols? Either way, it can't shoot accurately enough for super-picky zeroing to be necessary, because no smootbore airsoft gun can; not saying you shouldn't do what you do as this is airsoft and you can do what the heck you like. It shouldn't need zeroing every time you want to play though, unless the sights are adjustable and the adjustment system is really loose and the recoil is incredibly strong; causing them to move significantly such that point of impact is shifted significantly within the short engagement distances of airsoft. At the range I'm generally using my pistol I'm shooting instinctively 95% of the time anyway, apart from the odd occasion somebody's not aware of my presence/actually shooting back at me and I have the time to line up the sights in an ideal world bullseye-shooting fashion. If I intend to leave a red-dot on a rifle for some time I'll give it a quick zero as far as airsoft accuracy permits, but that's as far as I go.

Any other link/info on this? Their site currently says the following: http://www.royalmail.com/personal/help-and-support/Tell-me-about-Prohibited-Goods "Weapons: Including Section 5 firearms (e.g. handguns, machine guns), CS gas and pepper sprays, flick knives,and other knives that are banned knives under UK laws, tasers and stun guns. Items that appear to be prohibited weapons may be subject to additional checks and delays. Guns for sporting use, including Section 1 (e.g. hunting rifles), Section 2 (e.g. shotguns) firearms and low-powered air weapons may be sent in compliance with UK law and subject to domestic controls on the possession of firearms. Please see www.royalmail.com/restrictedgoods" "Guns for sporting use: Guns intended for sporting purposes - including Section 1 (e.g. hunting rifles) and Section 2 (e.g. shotguns) firearms, low-powered air weapons and their component parts - may be sent in compliance with UK law and subject to domestic controls on the possession of firearms. Antiques, deactivated and imitation firearms are also permitted. When sending deactivated firearms include proof of deactivation. Items that appear to be prohibited weapons may be subject to additional checks and delays. Please see www.royalmail.com/prohibitedgoods Use 1st Class as the minimum service. The senders name and address must be clearly visible on the outer packaging."

I was about to say the same, I have a set of black, metric spec keys sat right here. Maybe that used to be a thing somewhere but I've never heard of it myself. Generally in airsoft any allen headed screw or bolt will be metric because that's the way they're made in Japan, HK, China and Taiwan (from everything I've seen). You often get imperial spec on RS parts and accessories made in the states, but not usually on airsoft. Worth having plenty of different spec/size/style keys and drivers though given the lack of tolerance fidelity that many airsoft manufacturers exhibit with their components.

What sort of handguard was it mounting on the rifle before? You generally need that info to know which sort of barrel nut spanner you'll require. It won't be a CCW thread on the upper receiver, nobody builds ARs that way that I've ever heard of (airsoft or RS).

I can't see any reason someone would be dubious of a level 2 holster like the IMIs or SERPAs, there's a mechanical lever that locks the gun in, there's never going to be any chance of the weapon going anywhere. All my holsters now are moulded kydex that rely on friction, tension and the shape of the plastic around the trigger guard to just grip the gun, so technically it's not actually 'locked' in there and I could understand how someone unfamiliar with a lot of modern tac gear might feel dubious of something like that initially. But even with that sort of design there's still no reason for concern, as long as the holster's built by someone who knows what they're doing. Maybe if I was dangling out of helos or parachuting I'd add a bungee cord, but that's about it.

Holsters are best mounted right on your belt, or very close below if for some reason a belt mount isn't physically feasible (such as thick body armour preventing the draw). The IMIs are pretty decent quality, you sure get a lot with them considering that surprisingly low price.

Wow, that's surprising. A couple of years back they had one of the worst reputations in the industry. Glad they did the right thing for you.

If you cannot find a patch to slap on your kit that you enjoy/find funny/associate with personally.. you've not looked hard enough. I absolutely f*cking guarantee that whatever you're in to, whatever your style is, there's a patch somewhere you will like. There are a few designs out there which I class as 'douchebag/childish moron indicators' as anybody who wears them in a serious manner is 90% probably a d-bag. They come in quite handy for figuring out who to avoid though. The key is to read the slogan or whatever, then imagine how it reads in a totally deadpan voice to a total stranger who doesn't have any idea who you are or what you're like as a person. I think most gay people, females etc (i.e. the tiny majority of airsofters) will have some sense of humour, but patches saying 'cock fag' and 'all bitches need to suck my dick' etc fit in to the d-bag indicator category.

You need to realise just how ignorant of guns people are in the UK, there's no real way to put it in to words. You would without a doubt have the armed response bearing down in you in minutes regardless of contacting the police in advance or anything like that. Honestly, from the experiences I've had working around even cadets and reservists (who actually do have a little bit of training and experience, unlike joe civvie who has none), you might well encounter problems if you turned up with a bright yellow super soaker while also wearing airsoft kit. Many people are literally that fckn retarded when it comes to these things, I'm really not exaggerating.

The 3 games don't have to be in a block, it's not your first 3 games ever, then only numbers 4-6, 7-9 etc. If there's been a long time gap between game 1 and 2 then you may just have to discount that original one and carry on from game 2. So you'd have attended 4 in total by the time you qualify, but that's fine. As long as you play 3 within a year, you'll have your site membership.

Not much gun stuff, trying to make some actual 'sets' of camo up in the collection as right now I have a random mix of tops and trousers in different camos that largely don't match up, as well as a lot of things that didn't fit me on account of buying medium shirts for years when I've actually always needed small. Slowly filling the gaps to make up the sets and replacing the stuff that's incorrectly sized. Beyond Clothing A9-A Mission Pants, 'open knee version' - Woodland US Army FR Combat Pants - MC Patagonia Combats - AOR2 Drifire Crye cut combat shirts - MC and Temperate MARPAT Beyond A9 Mission shirt - Woodland Velocity Systems long sleeve Boss Rugby shirt - Wolf Tac Distributors shooters' T-Shirt - Coyote Blue Force Gear padded Vickers sling Magpul padded MS1 sling REfactor Tactical cap Magpul M-LOK sling point, S5 bump case and QD->Paraclip adapters x 2 Arisaka Defense SureFire M300 light body Emdom T-Ring adapters x 2 Griffon Industries ear pro sack SKD/PIG Urban pack Triangular handguard caps x 2 Patches

The charger I linked is 'smart' I can assure you. It cuts out once the pack is fully charged. Been using it fine for at least 3-4 years, absolute piece of cake. An 800mah LiPo lasts way longer than a NiMh of the same amount would. A couple of small LiPos will do you just fine if you swap at lunch. Buy 3 if you're really not sure and plan on going through 2-3k BBs per day, personally I only shoot about 1000 tops in a day, sometimes half that, so often a single 800mah get's me through no worries.

No problem. Better them than zero-one.

The amp number is just a measure of capacity, more = more shots. The numbers that matter are your voltage and C (discharge) rating. Basically stick to 7.4 for most guns, you can't go wrong. A C rating around 20 is fine for pretty much everything, but small changes in the discharge rate don't make any big difference really. Long as you don't go too high, you'll be alright. Get this charger: http://www.componentshop.co.uk/quickshop/index/view/path/800ma-charger-for-2s-or-3s-7-4-11-1v-battery-packs-complete-with-mains-power-supply.html And a couple of these: http://www.componentshop.co.uk/7-4v-800mah-20c-continuous-discharge-airsoft-lipo-battery.html The batteries will fit in the buffer (stock) tube. That's the other good thing about LiPos, you don't need the extra storage space of a crane stock if you want to use a thinner stock. Going by the recommended battrey for the RIF on the zero-scum page it's a mini tamiya connector in the rifle, which would make sense as most AEGs use that connector. I don't recommend shopping there in future though, there's much better stores out there run by higher quality people who don't sell knock-off shit as the real deal/provide some of the worst customer service in the industry. They don't deserve your money.

Follow through the link I posted, they do a good LiPo charger with appropriate mains adapter that I've been using for years and charges batteries quickly for about £13. If budget is a concern, NiMh is an even worse option. Airsoft stores charge f*****g stupid money for obsolete batteries, whereas you can pick up a 7.4v LiPo that'll easily last a day if you're not a hi-cap spammer for £6-8.

Folks ordering VHS tapes along with these NiMh batteries? Get on here http://www.componentshop.co.uk/ Get 7.4v LiPo or 9.9 LiFe (similar results generally), better in every way. Do not waste your money on heavy, bulky, over-priced obsolete batteries, totally pointless.

http://www.ur-tactical.com/ is the store front for the actual manufacturers of OPS stuff, I always go there if I want anything from their line-up. Depending on how much you actually order it can work out cheaper than Hueys after shipping and customs, but probably not if you just buy like 1 shirt or whatever. Obviously their stock and selection is pretty substantial.

Decent kit mate. Need to get yourself an account on imgur of flickr though, dem piccies be tiny yo.

No quite, I couldn't agree any more, I was saying the same thing. Apart from the fact I don't much fancy paying for the privilege of doing something I get forced to do in work's time (very occasionally, luckily), that aspect of 48hr milsim games puts me right off.

There's no functional/compatibility difference between M4 and M16 magazines in the real world. They're just 30 round 556 mags, of the many that are out on the RS market, barely any are weapon specific. They come in dozens of different capacities, mid and lo cap work just the same way (purely different capacity for BBs inside), only when you get in to hi-caps do you start needing to wind wheels. I'd advise that 10 mags is excessive personally, your gear will be so much less heavy and bulky if you just drop those 6 real-cap mags and carry maybe 1 more mid-cap. That's the way the majority of players run their gear for a reason. A 'good' mag is robust and feeds consistently, that's all that matters with a magazine (unless you personally want a certain look and that's up to you). I rate the PTS EPMs as the best on the market right now: http://www.landwarriorairsoft.com/airsoft-magazines-c3/mid-standard-capacity-c52/pts-pts-150-rounds-epm-magazine-black-p3702 You can drive your car over them and they'll be fine (I know, I did it). I'm not sure what's good as far as availability in the UK for cheaper mid-caps these days. G&G get some mixed reports but I'm not seeing a lot else as far as 4-5 packs of midcaps in stock anywhere. I always used to recommend these: http://www8.wgcshop.com/wgc2008/main/product_detail1.php?search_From=category&item=MAG-AMAG-013&search=special&rs=Magazines%20-%20AEG&catid=17&cat=564&view_choice=b Very much worth it if you order some other stuff at the same time (given the enormous selection that WGC has compared to british shops).

I spend a lot of my disposable income on 'Real Steel' kit, but I'm well aware it's a seriously frivolous waste and I definitely consider people who buy more sensible stuff to be more intelligent than I am in that regard. I spend easily a dozen hours per week on gear reviews, videos, web stores, contacting custom manufactures and other web stores along with my contacts in the US etc, all in order to find the best possible stuff to fit my personal needs/wants/criteria (again, serious waste of time when I could be down the gym or socialising or doing some open uni or something). However I emulate nobody as the gear that the SEALs or whoever wear is good for real combat... average at best for airsoft, IMHO. Plus I have my own rank/beret badge/unit patch etc and while it is not even 1% as cool as the SAS or whoever I would not put on sgt tabs and a para beret or commando dagger in a million years, and to my mind personally dressing like anyone else in the military is no different. But that is just me personally, what other people do is up to them.

n1ck - As I say I'm just speaking to the lurkers reading the thread here. There's just a lot of good, mid-range gear out there which people rarely seem to buy because they don't know about it (a lot of the time) and it pisses me off personally because I've told a good few people who've been starting out over the years "do not buy that super cheap looking crap, spend the same/less on a good, basic chest rig and all will be well". They go ahead and totally ignore said advice, the massive multi-scam armour carrier that came with 27 different pouches and cost £100 totally falls to bits and just plain hurts them when playing and they end up buying the good stuff from the brands I suggested, but not before pissing that other money right down the drain despite consistently talking about how tight their budget is. Plenty of Condor and Pantac (and all the similar brands) is more than adequate for airsoft and this is where people so often just go straight for the jugular and call me a gear snob (not saying you are, again just past examples here). Fact is a genuine Crye JPC will not last as long as some BULLE gear (for example) because Crye build things in different ways with different end users in mind and that's ok, but the point is I'd never say more money/higher price = better stuff for airsoft as it just doesn't. Conversely really cheap stuff and some stuff in the middle can be crap as well, people just get so fixated on nothing but the price tag it's crazy. And as I say, buying a £40 rig once is a lot cheaper than a £35 rig twice. Price doesn't equal value. Baz - Personally I have to say, for that money I'd tell people to buy Warrior, but it's a personal preference thing, if you want the specific 6094 look then obviously a DCS isn't gonna be for you and that's fine. Either way the forums dedicated to milsim are where the few remaining true d-bag gear snobs hang out. Not everyone on them is bad any stretch, but the real twats will gravitate towards such places (generally the sorts who've never served so much as a day in cadets). Reading through many threads on DevTsix as I have been recently (just because I've been through every other loadout thread on every other forum) there are a lot of sh*t personalities on there, just as an example. I wouldn't ever bother being active on a board like that.

Welcome to airsoft. I'd say you've done just what 90%+ of everyone else that's ever gotten in to the game has done. Not that it's a bad thing, you can't know what kit you'll like until you buy and try a whole load of things, there's no way around that realistically. I do wish some people (speaking generally here) would avoid some of the really low end market-stall level tat gear though, because some stuff out there (we're talking full plate carrier + pouch sets in the $40 sort of region) is so atrocious you may as well roll up that cash and f*****g smoke it. I get why people buy the more basic stuff to start with, who wouldn't unless they're a millionaire? It makes sense to look before you leap as you might just find you don't like the game after a little while. But you'll seriously not like it if your rig rips, tears, sheds pouches, pokes you with bits of plastic and wires and falls apart after 2 games. Even worse are the retailers who peddle the really low end vest for like £80+, I've seen Viper cross-draws for nearly £100. There is worse than Viper out there, but the prices on kit that some airsoft specific stores charge is insaaaaane. Not only is it generally BS overall, but you're just straight up tricking the customer in to thinking they're buying something fairly high end, when it simply isn't. You can buy Warrior PCs for less than a lot of the airsoft-quality rigs sold by RIF retailers and I would use WAS stuff for real any day. Flyye is great for airsoft, but I would not trust my life to it. Gear is like everything, I see people throw away money on such rubbish when it comes to eye pro, chest rigs and holsters etc. If you want, you can actually go out and spend a lot of money on gear made out of sh*tty materials that's been sewn using sub-standard thread by a person who's got no idea how to sew gear together. Or you can most likely spend less money and start off with a solid, simple, effective rig like this: http://www.flecktarn.co.uk/sdtmb6nx.html Or this: http://www.uktactical.com/p-7530-warrior-light-assault-rig-coyote-tan.aspx Which will abso-bloody-lutely guaranteed last longer than you want to keep it for before you sell it and move on to the next flashy/shiny new toy. I do blame a lot of the airsoft retailers in many cases. We're not a nation with a military or firearms culture in general, 99.9% of the population are not going to realise it's a good idea to look further than the little 'vest' link underneath the 'SMGs' link at their preferred airsoft retail site. If those stores wanted to do right by their customers they'd learn about how good gear is made and stock stuff that is genuinely high quality and cost effective, not stuff that looks good on a website but is of utterly obsolete design (which is most often the case) and often of comparatively shoddy construction in general on many occasions. But anyway I could rant about that for a long time. FAO the lurkers reading this - Buy decent stuff. Something isn't 'cheap' if it breaks on you right away and you have to buy another one. Something's 'cheap' if it lasts you years and years of hard usage and performs well throughout that time.