TheFull9

I'm not a fan of Foliage Green either to be honest, as you say it looks too grey and washed out. Sometimes if you fully deck out a gun with the FG stuff it looks good if the intention is more to create something urban styled or just for use on the range, but it's not very good camo for softing. Personally I went for it because I'm really not a fan of the grip-pods. For longer range RS shooting then I'm sure it's really useful, but in airsoft there's not really much of a need for a bi-pod on an assault rifle in my experience, and I find the big square portion at the top makes it awfully uncomfortable for a thumb-break grip technique. Not so bad if you go with the old style broom handle and grip it completely vertically, but that's not something I'm a fan of. The RVG is really light, strong, compact, comfortable to use in various configurations, very much un-complicated and cheap considering the quality, so it makes sense to me.

7.4 li-po and an RVG, can't go wrong there mate.

Well yes, when you're issued a new clothing system it tends to be for free, heh. I'm afraid I do kinda need it though, sorry.

Package arrived today with FROG pattern temperate MARPAT set (combat shirt and trousers) which is nice. Not so much a purchase, but also went down to stores where they kindly gave me a nice little stack of MTP stuff for nowt.

Very nice Gerber for my Birthday (comes in dead handy for all sorts of stuff in work). And some airsoft stuff for myself. Nothing to do with it being my birthday, actually ordered all of this when I was down in the Falklands. Ops-Core stuff first to go on my TMC AirFrame, kept the packaging in so it's all labelled up without writing a list: Followed by G-Code. SOC Rig for P226 Extra SOC lower cowling for P226 + TLR-1 2 x H-MAR MOLLE RTI adapters RTI MOLLE belt mount One plain RTI wheel without any mounting solution 2 x Aluminium RTI Hangers for SERPAs Most importantly, lots of sweet free merch'

You're right, not sure how it's worked out like that. It is a Marui A1 trigger though that I can assure you. Pretty much an MEU and a Night Warrior put in to a blender. Without going in to massive specifics: - Left Side is the NW frame with MEU slide, NW outer barrel and RS 'ERGO' OD polymer grips - Right side is the MEU frame with the NW slide, MEU outer barrel and RS Colt rubber grips That's how the RS works. It's not exactly complex; all you do is load and make ready, engage your safety, then holster. When you want to shoot, you draw, safety off, fire. The browning hi-power works in an extremely similar fashion and the system makes for a safe and reliable firearm. Guys in afghan/iraq have shot themselves with 226s before now due to their complete lack of a safety catch. You physically cannot make the Sig safe while carrying a round in the chamber, and if you don't carry a round in the chamber you've just set yourself up to fail and die in a close quarters combat situation. Not to be over dramatic, that's just the reality of it. TM don't make any type of 1911 with 'Dragon' in the name. So I don't know what you were shooting, but a TM grip safety that's functioning correctly does not require any conscious effort on the shooters' part to depress, you just make sure you've got a correct and proper grip on the weapon and it takes care of itself. Sounds like you had a WE. If you want to decock it's a 2 second process in involving dropped the magazine out slightly, firing off the action and then reinserting. That's the entire point of the manual safety though, there's no need to decock a 1911 on the skirmish field. If you're going in to the safe zone you drop the mag and you're then totally safe either way, same as any GBB. Treating the action of decoking as a way of making a weapon completely safe is a sure step down the path towards a negligent discharge. You know all these Hi-Capas different companies make right? They're not fictional airsoft-only guns, they're based on something called a 2011. One defining factor of the 1911 is the fact they use a single-stack magazine and hence have a very narrow profile grip area to the frame. 2011s work just like a 1911 but with a wider frame to facilitate wider, higher capacity, double-stack magazines. Buy an after market spring guide/recoil guide rod plug then. Can be had cheaply and it's an incredibly easy part to swap. Please don't interpret this as me 'having a go', but I think there were a few misunderstandings going on there which I wanted to try and address.

I had been waiting on a couple of bits turning up from lands afar, but those arrived so now the rest of my sidearm purchases during my little stint in the south atlantic are about ready for public display. My second custom build from ESC, but this time around I wanted something that would be about as skirmish practical as physically possible (while still looking a bit pretty) so it's almost entirely made of TM parts. Upper setup is just for the lulz and photo ops, lower for actual usage in the field. Night Warrior 3-Dot Sights M.E.U. Slide M.E.U. Outer barrel/Barrel bushing etc to compensate for the base gun being a 4.3 Desert Warrior Nineball Purple hop rubber Nineball 6.03 Tightbore Desert Warrior frame 1911A1 Trigger VZ Grips G10 Operators II in 'Military Brown' Strike Warrior magwell Since my good old A1 is entombed with a carbine kit I wanted something in the classic style, just as a display piece if anything; so there's my Series 70. Replaced the stock grips with some real rosewood ones, and like that it shall stay. KJW A1, just a cheap trainer gun to go along with my target-range-only G&P WOC-X. The combination of compatibility with my existing magazines & holsters, the low price and low number of shots it'll fire per gas fill make it suit that role perfectly I feel. Got those nasty grip weights out of there and put on some proper wood repros of the WWII diamond style grips. Took some dremel work since the frame on this has the CO2 bulb protrusions, but I much prefer the balance of the resultant weapon vs. the original. Had a few comments regards my selection of grips on my HurricanE Kimber Covert II when I first posted it elsewhere a while back, so I've swapped out the cheaper RS Colt rubber grips that were on there for some VZ Grips 'VZ Recons' made of G10 in their Desert Sand. Quick family shot of the collection so far to finish off:

Took a trip down to the royal mail depot today (which is unusual because normally parcel farce snaffle anything that comes from the U.S.). Picked up two sets of VZ Grips for 1911s in G10 (Operators II and VZ Recons), a Hardpoint Equipment low-pro belt and a Bitter End stamped steel lower face mask (very impressive bit of safety gear).

Green fabric tape for that pressure switch = more ally'ness. If you want a sling that's actually comfortable, can be had in this country and doesn't block half the controls, then get the issue one for the Minimi. Seen reg gunners do that and it's a pretty clever solution to the problem that is the cheap-ass standard issue sling design.

Perfectly reasonable plan of action. In fairness, if I was allowed (which I'm not unfortunately) then I'd probably give it a go, but I don't think I could hack it for very long. No the Propper stuff is fine, it's built very tough, just a bit too tough I think. They use a heavy weight of poly/cotton mix material which is great for the cooler months and resilient to general wear & tear, but compared to issued DPM/MTP and most other high-end gear it's really hot in the summer. I'd hoped they'd use a thinner fabric for their combat shirt (which is called the 'TAC-U' http://www.uktactical.com/acatalog/A-TACS-...t_Shirt_FG.html ) which is why I bought one, but that's not the case. My own fault because I could've just actually read the product description but you live and learn.

I was thinking the same; standing or prone you're alright, but crouching, sitting or squatting would be rather awkward. At those sorts of CQB sites must people just stand all the time anyway though so I can see why you made the choice you did. If you're considering the Propper TAC-U... well I don't recommend it myself I'll say that. I'll be using mine in the winter and I reckon it'll work very nicely, but the design is not comfortable in the summer one bit. I'll look in to picking up an OPS/UR-Tac shirt to compare since they do both types of ATACS at similar prices. In the 1980s. I'm not fussed either way in all honesty, fashion choices are the same as airsoft choices; do what you like, it's your life. I just knew an awful lot of guys when I was around that age who grew their hair and every single one has since decided it was a bad idea (including my own brother); the trend just makes me chuckle slightly on occasion is all.

I was going to say "whoa dude, airsoft girl" looking at that second photo, but experience has taught me it's never a girl. It's always a 17/18 year old lad who's in that stage of life where he thinks long hair is dead cool wearing a hat and full face pro. Anyway, it's a nice loadout nick, well put together. I couldn't run a shotgun sling like that myself but if you find it comfortable enough to use then more power to you, at a site like the outpost I've no doubt at all it'd come in very very useful indeed. Next thing on the shopping list has gotta be a UBACS?

They're not the cheapest item just for something to hold your patches it has to be said, plus they're a bit on the large side considering they'll easily hold about 300 or more. There are however a few companies now selling big velcro mats with metal eyelets so you can hang them up on your wall//doors/inside a cupboard etc which would do just as good a job for less money.

Forgot to add in my desert night parka in my previous post in the gear thread: Quite literally as old as me, made in 1988 and never issued so it's still in top nick. Also got orders in from Mil-Spec Monkey and BritKitUSA within hours of each other on thursday, so it was Morale patches all round. Even without the patches I have that aren't picture there I've got a long way to go before I ever fill up the MSM Mega patch book.

Unfortunately I've sort of lost touch with the UK retail scene over the last few years, F-S and LWA don't have it and they're about the only ones I know of who stock some TM GBB pistols; mine came from WGC (as with most of my purchases that aren't tac gear these days). Mags are a similar story. Performance.. well it's a TM, no more need be said really. I'm actually waiting on my holster to show at the moment, G-Code had a massive back log when I was in the Falklands and my uncle over in the US only just got the order there, so it's still gotta be shipped over the pond. This is what I'll be using though: http://www.tacticalholsters.com/product/SOC/SOC_Holster.html Safariland make models that would fit, no idea about IMI or Frontline. BH only do SERPAs that fit their own weird looking weapon light. Not a massive amount of differences in the E2. More grey than the P226Rs' all-black externals, much more matte finish on the E2 where the R was a bit shiny. The grip area of the frame is much nicer and lower profile (good for tiny girl hands like mine) and the plastic is a fair bit higher quality; TM have had a long time to refine their methods since the original came out. The E2 mags are updated and more robustly built, but they are interchangeable with the old type (and vice versa).

Cheers. Here's the next one: TM P226E2 with Streamlight TLR-1.

TM SCAR-L CQB RS RVG + XTMS Inforce WML G&P T-1 on Dytac mount

The comment just seemed relevant to the chocolate really, not intended to move in to anything political/philosophical. Simply; I like my country, that's why I don't mind being in job where any time day or night they can say to me "pack a bag, you're off to some unpleasant land full of unfriendly locals for an indeterminate amount of time" and I'd be contractually obliged to do as I was told.

Mmm, delicious patriotism.

Cheers. If you're interested in the 6/12 stuff I'd recommend checking out the FS website to see their new low-pro chest rig and watching out for it at retailers. Not sure if it'll ever make it across to the UK, but it's about $70 which is an awful lot more reasonable to most than the Strandhogg at $400, heh. Yeah fair one, that picture does make it look like an awful lot when you lay it out flat like that. I've actually got more kit that's not MC at this point though, it's just older and far less gucci.

It's called PODL wherever you go, at least that's the acronym we always use regardless of theatre. If you thought I was implying I'd just got back from afghan then I can only apologise for the mis-understanding, I just used the terminology I'm accustomed to. Your butlins must've been pretty physical though, because doing 18 mile bergan tabs with the army and munitions disposal at a holiday park in Skegness sounds quite extreme?

Right then, been away from the gear for a while, so here's the actual gear segregated from the great big stack pictured in the 'Just bought' thread. Stripped out all the guns, mags, optics and knives and here's what's left. Couple of accessories in there, but hopefully you guys can let those slide just this once. Arc'Teryx Talos Half Shell/Combat shirt Crye Gen 3 Combat trousers Propper ATACS-FG TAC-U/Combat shirt Tac Research Khyber Combat boots FirstSpear SAPI Cut Strandhögg Plate Carrier Blue Force Gear Vickers Combat Applications Sling (padded version w/ polymer hardware) Salomon EXIT 2 AEROs Source 2L WXP Hydro RS Rail Vertical Grip 2 x Under Armour Heatgear T-Shirts Patrol Incident Gear 2L Hydro pouch BFG Helium Whisper Medium Vertical Utility Arc'Teryx B.A.C. ATS Warbelt Insert Tac Tailor Fight Light Battle Belt Tac Tailor FL 4-Point Battle Belt Harness Pantac 15m Paracord bundle RS XTM Panels 2 x Under Armour Heatgear Blackout gloves Magpul MS3 2 x HSGI Pistol Mag pouches 2 x BFG HW Smoke Grenade pouches Tac Tailor FL Roll-Up Dump pouch BFG HW Double Pistol Mag pouch SKD Tac version HSGI Universal Drop Holster Platform Pantac cordura wallet Camelbak Vent gloves Inforce WML Streamlight TLR-1 BFG HW Triple M4 Pouch Bridgedale Coolmax + Bamboo viscose Crew socks Not pictured - 5.11 Neoprene knee pads and FirstSpear/American Apparel T-Shirt. Any questions/queries/'wtf are you doing you mentalist' comments anybody has please do fire away. Getting military discount with FirstSpear and finding the Crye G3s brand new for less than half the retail price helped quite a bit.

Heh, yeah my room here at home is pretty much a building site right now because the wardrobes I used to have were completely over-flowing. Had to rip them out, then remove the chimney breast to get a couple of extra square feet of floor space and my entire collection is currently sitting in massive cardboard boxes, waiting on a bespoke 3 x floor-to-ceiling double door cupboard installation going in with plenty of gun racks, hanging rails for rigs and shelving for all those little bits like mags, gloves, helmets etc. There will eventually come a point where I'm actually going to have to sell a gun or a rig every time I want to buy something new just to create a space. Unfortunately there isn't actually a massive amount to do to the SCAR, purely because of the construction of them. You can't change the stocks or receivers and you're stuck with the supplied pistol grip on the TM version. You can thread on a barrel extension, but then you've probably just chosen the length you wanted when you decided which to buy between the standard and the CQB. The RS extension rail systems aren't compatible and there isn't an awful lot of rail space at the sides or underneath for mounting. So yeah, little bit limited but the main thing end of the day is just that it's a really high quality EBB rifle, definitely more of a kick than the SOPMOD family rifles as well which is really nice.

Todays' arrivals: Because: Continuing to use my mothers' compact was getting a bit ridiculous with the amount of pictures I take The KJW takes all my TM mags and I don't care how worn out/scratched up it gets because it was cheap, ideal for practising drills without worrying about causing wear to my more expensive 1911s A leather wallet just isn't nearly tacticool enough for an airsofter You can never, ever have enough paracord in your life

No, none at all, that was the worst part!