TheFull9

As you say, the grading system must've changed. 7-8 years back when I was looking at surplus kit before I joined up I recall all the sites listed stuff as New -> Grade 1 -> Grade 2. You learn something new every day though.

As we can see, what you throw out in the t-bar/naafi/mess and is deemed perfectly acceptable comes across just a tad differently in the actual real world.

Yeah 'Grade 1' surplus is definitely not the same as brand new and the price difference is very much to be expected. If you just want some really cheap stuff that's of a decent level of resilience to get wrecked at airsoft then grade 1 should be more than fine to do the job in most instances. But if the individual wants new stuff (each to their own) then that's a different matter.

It depends what you want out of a jacket really, A't will no doubt have something in their line to suit your criteria but I'm not sure how the PCU is put together exactly. Either way I recorded a video overview yesterday so that'll be up some time soon.

An awful lot of moulded holsters are entirely open at the bottom anyway, far from uncommon.

-4 x CR123a's for all these lights I seem to keep acquiring (eBay's great for batteries in case anyone's wondering, much cheaper than the supermarket) -Drac softshell jacket in Crocodile i.e. fancy-pants khaki

The good old Night Warrior with some Magpul grips and a black outer barrel + barrel bushing for dark/indoor CQB and to go (eventually) with a grey loadout.

Pretty sure either philosophy is acceptable in a game of pretend-soldiers...

"Those thingys"? As in, the original Knight's Armament rail panel? As in, the panel first made by the company that invented 20mm rails? Come on now. IMO, on an old-school 7" KAC RIS they look really good.

-Arc'teryx NAGA hoodie in Wolf -KWA LM4c -AngryGun threaded outer barrel w/protector for the VFC M&P9

There is nothing illegal about the possession, the act does not state that and whoever told you that it does is ignorant of the facts. http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38/section/36 "A person is guilty of an offence if— -a he manufactures a realistic imitation firearm; -b he modifies an imitation firearm so that it becomes a realistic imitation firearm; -c he sells a realistic imitation firearm; or -d he brings a realistic imitation firearm into Great Britain or causes one to be brought into Great Britain." The bad behaviour (imho) in this instance comes from the unscrupulous seller, someone clearly just out to make money and to hell with the rest of us. Absolutely nothing to stop the police coming on to these forums end of the day, I think the VCRA is utter BS but as a niché hobby seen as fringe with a tiny player base (comparatively) and far more people in the Uk against gun-shaped-things than for them, I think the only sensible solution is to eat the sh*tty sandwich and do our very best to ignore the taste.

Cheers mate, nice of you to say. Ha, now that's some quality meme right there.

Well... they say that, fact is given what they are and the low value you could export them perfectly legally if you could find a retailer that'd jump through the hoops for you (which is a rare thing).

The pump on a shotgun is just furniture far as I'm aware, same as a stock or pistol grip, no laws against importing it to the UK or having such a part for airsoft if it is just furniture; the only trouble is getting it out of America. US Amazon wouldn't ship anything here at all last I tried, though that was a long time ago. There's a great thread in the Arnies Legal/VCRA section that very clearly provides all the info one might need about the legality of having various types of RS parts on RIFs.

Thanks. Lost me with that middle line though, unless you've been on my photo storage? I deliberately don't link to that tbh.

Not exactly a thing I've purchased in the usual sense, but the latest wallet emptying takes the form of getting the core components of my LM4 cerakote'd with some engraving and lathe work on the barrel.

End of the day, VAT is VAT, 20% is a fixed value, customs can't change that. There is some lee-way in the Import Charge code they use but not very much, few quid either way. If anything they're more likely to be looking for 'guns' inside packages from HK because that's where the vast majority of RIFs will be coming in from, there's not going to be much difference. I've had RIFs from HK stopped and had maximum charges whacked on, same as I'm getting with a RIF from the states right now. Personally I'd say the main reason not to buy airsoft from the US is the general xenophobic attitude to sales that so many stores over there exhibit and the fact the prices are quite often worse.

2 x ARS Split barrel bases for Marui EBB ARs Soon as you take off the darn silly stock TM barrel nut of your SOCOM/SOPMOD the outer barrels ends up way on the piss when you rebuilt the front end, much worse/more noticeable with a freefloat handguard. Expensive for something so small but worth it to make your gun shoot straight, a couple of my SOCOMs have been winging shots off to the right for literally years and obviously I'd assumed it was the hop-up work I'd done.. turned out to be the externals causing the issue of all things.

Cheers. Stock condition, that particular model looked like this; still working on the other gun. Ta, M_P pretty much nailed it. The War Sport bungee does various little things, primarily add more grip to a very smooth/slick handguard, which is important for me personally since I've gone off using foregrips. Also be using the same product in future for guns with remote switches, it's the best option out there for cable management IMO. Also.. becoz airsoft.

Avalon(VFC) Bravo Company gat all nice n' lightweight. I've had guns with far shorter barrels and handguards weigh far more than this thing does now, super fast and easy to point.

QFT. Saying a certain gun had trouble without naming the brand is pretty moot. Saying "my M4 had tons of problems then exploded and killed my hamster" doesn't exactly achieve anything, there's hundreds of models of ARs from dozens of companies out there. If the gun in question was a £1200+ PTW then yeah that's a very big deal, if it's an ACM LPEG (or indeed a brand like JLS) then it's basically to be expected, there's a reason nobody ever advises anyone to buy those super low-end guns after all.

I get what you're saying, but end of the day you can't look at the value of something like that when it comes to shipping, it's the size/weight, and it does cost to send stuff over the atlantic. Do some companies charge too much? Yes, but not all and MSM is one of the better ones I have to say. The MSM store itself doesn't actually carry the magwell slaps or mag wraps as that's all on the USNV site, but if you're after the normal shaped stickers from Monkey there's lots of stock in the UK. Pretty much everywhere that sells a lot of (decent) tac gear and many airsoft stores carry the stuff.

With the new system they have on your user account front page there's no reason not to go on there really. You punch in a few categories/items that you're interested in and it just brings up the best results with the basic info and a thumbnail soon as you click on the site, all in one place, no trawling or repeatedly typing in the same searches every day. Surefire lights for example, would be very hard to get caught out on. Yes there are ACM clones but many of those will be easy to pick out from the pictures and all the lights I bought came in the complete, sealed retail packaging. If you wanna play it on the same side then if the listing doesn't have decent close-up pictures and/or its' now new in the box you just don't buy it. Only takes a few seconds to check and you won't have even had to search using the new system.

No secret, just eBay. But it was American eBay on a couple of them which I sent to a mate there and he shipped, which works out a lot cheaper for various reasons. Between eBaying and lots of time looking on forum classifieds, combined with the patience necessary to wait for what you're after to pop up, you can save yourself a fortune. Still buy most stuff from retailers but when it comes to the really pricey gear like RS lights, optics, high end jackets etc you're much more likely to see the stuff you want come up for sale second hand, very often never/barely used. It's the expensive stuff that people are more likely to put the time and effort in to selling on because they can then free-up the funds in that item when needed and it's more 'worth' their time as it were writing up the ads and sales thread. If you wear a Large or XL in jackets for example you can deck yourself out thoroughly in Arc'teryx for not much more than 5.11 or even Helikon prices, there's tons of that stuff on the bay.