GraniteFraggle

This time looking at the Arcturus x C.A.T. - mechanical pre-cocking & polymer body. Yep, polymer not metal. Did I like it? https://fraggle-soft.co.uk/arcturus-x-c-a-t-ar-15-versatile-8-5/

Personally I'd avoid Specna. We've experienced 3 - two Edge 2.0s & a core. The externals are poor - even with maintenance/tightening we experienced parts falling off & shedding pins/screws/bolts. Internally they performed well - I'm not an airsmith but my wife is. I had no problems gearbox/hop wise but her take on the Edge 2.0 is that the gearbox/shimming is not premium at all but rather budget. Lots of barrel wobble unless you want to go down the route of spacers & the 6.03 (I may have misremembered the exact size) inner is thin with poor polish/finishing. The core wouldn't keep hop for any length of time & had major issues with feeding with hi or midcaps (Specna or other marques). Our supplier after refunding on the core and providing a replacement Edge 2.0 (the first when it turned up they told us was unsaleable) later told us that roughly 50% of their first batch of RIFs had severe QA issues. Obviously other people may have had a good one from a good batch but based on our experiences I wouldn't touch one with someone else's bargepole. We've had 2 Arcturus M4/AR15 since - a CAT x Versatile & a Lite ME. Both are rock solid & been brilliant for the money with great internals. They do seem to be sold out everywhere though.

Two new reviews - The PTS EMP Gen 1 M4 mag. The Umarex (Wingun) H8R Gen 2 One's expensive, the other is cheap .... but I really enjoyed both. Its actual words you'll have to read rather than watch a video.

First review of a piece of tactical kit, the Emerson FCS Style Vest is now live. https://fraggle-soft.co.uk/emerson-gear-fcs-style-vest/

Good question ... Currently : SA Edge-15 ICS Sig 552 Commando BO Fabarms STF-12 WA S&W 1911 Tanio-Koba VP-70 Marushin Rehawk 7.5" 8mm Tanaka two tone SAA detachable cylinder cavalry KWA M93R ASG DW 715 6" BO Rhino Chiappa Black 60DS BO Rhino Chiappa Nickle 60DS KWC 1911 Rail Two tone KWC 1911 Rail Silver 13 total. Next on the list - Arcturus M4, possibly an M629. In the past - I dread to think. Various Western Arms SV Infinities, a WA Wilson Combat - upgraded inners/metal slides. ICS M4, ICS MP5 (wish I'd kept her), Classic Army CA33, Tokyo Marui Beta Spetz, Tokyo Marui SR-16, Tokyo Marui M4A1, Tokyo Marui Super 90, KWA M93RII, Maruzen M1000 Gas Defender, Tanaka M66, Tanaka M29, Tanaka/Zeke full metal M629. I think that's the list of shame. Recently added - review & guide on KWC 1911 models. Review of Chiappa Rhino Coming soon : Review - Emerson FSC Type Vest Classic look at - Marushin Redhawk & a potted history of 8mm

Hello lovely people, When I previously 'softed I wrote a series of (at the time) well received reviews and guides as part of Team KGB. Since moving up north I started 'softing again and decided to start these 9nce more My hope is to provide honest, useful scribblings about kit, loadouts etc. I don't pretend to be an expert so if you find something wrong please let me know. I personally prefer to read stuff rather than videos. Lots of content planned so please keep checking back https://fraggle-soft.co.uk/

This is a blast from the past - I remember Spirit of the West mainly because the site I used to play/marshal/write games at KGB was there for a decade. It was a brilliant site - large, mixed woodland with a 'Nam firebase, treebase (think mini Ewok village) & island. We'd vary it between shorter hour ish long assault/defend type games with mini day long light roleplay/milsim and in summer overnighters. You could seriously get lost in there which was part of the fun for me! So many great memories and of course muppets. I still remember having to "rescue" a "leet" sniper from getting stuck in brambles in ghillie suit and of course the resulting fallout on various forums. Apparently our site assualted him & he never forgave us (or it). And then there was the day we had armed police turn up (they were lovely) after the owner of the now defunct MIA (he is or was involved in UKARA) called them to try and shut us down after he told them we were shooting people with air rifles. Happy days! Spirit was run by these seven foot beast of a guy called "JB" & was a strange place. They'd run the midday shootout with blank firing guns even when the park was empty and the staff were full time old west re-enactors who lived there full time in return for peopling the park. He used to keep a couple of alsations chained up outside - poor pups - so I used to make sure I had a pocket full of dog treats for them when we dropped off his take from the green fees. It got shut down after I quit and is now this place : https://www.retallackcornwall.com/ - so Spirit will now be well and truely bulldozed into history. Found some photos - the crosses on the island were from when we had a team over for a summer overnighter (First & Only IIRC). We put the names of the players on the crosses which completely freaked them out when they reached that objective.

My old Sig's just had a bit of an overhaul - it may be an antique but do love playing with her. I've found a few old ICS mags in stock but they're getting very thin on the ground. Do the JG Sig mags fit/feed ok does anyone know?

Hello all, spring is just about here so we're finally reaching the time in the UK where we can pull out our GBB toys and have some serious fun with them (in between sessions fixing mag leaks of course). Red gas is around £15 and green £12 at my local site. Coleman's propane when you get it (for use with adapter) is around the £19/£20 mark. Looking at size really doesn't help here as everything is under different pressure (and physics is my weak point) so what's the consensus? Propane with some silicon or just stick to bottle airsoft gas? Propane used to be cheaper (hence my adapter) but I haven't seen anyone using it since I returned. Any thoughts/recommendations guys?

Don't know - feel free to ask them! That's what my local fasteners had in on the shelf - I'm guessing they're the same specifications? Fits perfectly.

Thanks- good call @Speedbird_666- just in case anyone has a similar problem they're Tippman screws.

Doing an external clean on my Specna Arms SA-E15 I noticed I've shed a hex screw from where the two halves of the RIS are joined together at the point next to where it joins to the receiver. Annoyingly, SA don't include a parts list/diagram like TM do in the manual & I can't find anything either via Google or their website. Can any of you wonderful people enlighten me? (See attached photo).

I'm particularly after two models that arent copied or rebadged. I have a cheap CYMA already (yuck - awful build quality) and a BO Fabarms shorty. The Fabarms is nice - very nice actually - pretty comparable to a TM M3. I've played with shotguns for years so I know what's about Yeh I had a good chuckle at that too. One of those sites that I see and immediately add to the "wouldn’t touch with someone else's bargepole" list 😀

Hello, I wondered if anyone out there can help? Trying to find a Secutor tri-shot springer in the UK - Everywhere seems out of stock. I have found a couple "in European warehouse" however when in enquired I got a non committal reply along the lines of "place an order then if we have them for definite then we'll let you know" which just sets off alarms customer service wise. Looking at their Web sire it looks like a newer version has been released with an improved adjustable hop although in a throwback to the airsoft world of my dim distance past there's no concrete information. A Web dealer with an awful reputation has one on "pre-order " but I trust that about as much as untrustworthy pie with shifty gravy. So first off - is there anyone I may have missed in my search? Second, how's importing a rif now? That's my other choice. I used to pre VCRA import happily so is this a safe option now? I'm PASS registered? Thanks.

Having picked up the ASG SW 6 Inch - well it's not a Marushin Redhawk(!) but then nothing is. For the money it's fine and once I got the hop adjusted its fairly consistent - fine for using it as "fun" piece out past the 20m min engagement distance. Not good enough for a pocket sniper - but great for getting some stylish kills. Some would also suggest it would also be great on teflon timmies closer than that but I couldn't possibly comment. With the Co2 though it does mean I can holster it and not worry about recharges but we'll see. Suspect it'll be more of winter long range bit of kit when the temp is too cold for the old 'hawk and I'm out of range with the shotgun but the shot is too tempting. My favourite style of play is still sneaky, get in close with odd long range shot along the way. The AEG is for when I'm too knackered to do that Back to the revolvers tho' - the drop in FPS isn't an issue with the Tanaka's - are they finally consistent and usable? I love a bit of CQB and it would be fun to pull one out that isn't going to hurt people. I don't know - it's always been something I enjoy when everything else is out. A last stand weapon - preferably with a BFG to take everyone out (including you!) if you're the last person in a room. WRT to the other kit I am finding it streets ahead of what I'm used to. The consistency & accuracy of a modern AEG in particular makes me feel a bit like I'm in cheat mode. Now if only I could find a short Secutor tri shot spring shotgun in stock somewhere I'd be in kit heaven.

Woah first proper day with kit that isn't 20 years old falling apart! Lessons learnt - a 1000maH LiPo isn't enough (or I'm charging it wrong) for 600 rounds on a single shot DMR running an M120. Second I need a better holstering solution for a 6 inch DW 715. Tried a miltech shoulder holster - again maybe I set it up wrong but wasn't secure enough and I couldn't access the shells as they were tucked in too deep. So I either belt holster and swap holsters between that and the Redhawk ... or continue as now to take either one out and get a better holster for the 715. Any other decent shoulder options? Third the TTI JW 4 is easily as good as any fully upgraded WA 1911/2011. Easily. Fourth I mounted a red dot, set it to circle with cross and spent a happy few hours absolutely loving using a spring tri barrel shotgun. Was absolutely brilliant. So currently I'm toying with the idea of abandoning my much loved OMON vest for some kind of bare bones MOLLE which I can mount the 2011 on (chest height), revolver on belt and whatever pouches for mags/shells/grenades. TLDR - Loving being back. Spring shotguns rule. Rig confusion 😕

If you feel that they're a gimmick then they're not the gun for you. I use mine when I know I have one shot - or I need to make that one shot count*. Its certainly not a close up or speedball weapon. I find its more suited to woodland - if I need to dump the AEG for maneuverability speed - such as getting into a trench or building - then its the 1911/2011 (and a BFG). Also makes a great last ditch backup. I think it also matters that where you're playing is good on "hot" guns. The rules on my Redhawk are the same as for any other gun - we chrono (currently piss poor) then I know - but even now I only ever use it at more than minimum engagement distance. I don't go out to hurt FFS. There's not really anything to be gained in using one which gets around the shell reloads - they're all more accurate single action - and its a slower more thoughtful rate of play. I guess what I'm trying to say is they're more like pocket snipers but slower? WRT to Tanaka's they have all the disadvantages of a revolver but none of the advantages of the shell loaders. (Please correct me - it has been - 15 years - since I tried a non SAA one!) I've owned and skirmished with 2 6 shots (a 6 inch M29 and a modded M629 full metal Zeke body) as well as handled and shot a lot of them. All of them (Pegasus 2) were horribly inaccurate at anything more than 10m - sometimes 5m - on green. The FPS varied wildly from <pointless to >400 with a .20 BB on propane (green) and were OK at springer range on duster gas. Its worth mentioning that I used it at sites which didn't have an issue with potentially this powerful being used at its effective range .... it couldn't hit a barn door. I say it - BB's would go vertical, horizontal, fucknowswotal .... and occasionally straight. The exception to this are their (or were) SAA's. I've owned two - one I still own. The first was the "fast draw special" which put out around 340 on green but the fixed hop worked great with 0.25's. The second is the removable cyclinder artilery (basically a six inch barrel) but I've buggered up the cylinder - long story but I'll see if anyone can help me fix it. This was around 320 with 0.2's - which the hop worked with. The SAA's were really consistent. I've now ordered a 6 Inch DW 715 (yeh well, what's the worst ....) so I'll let you know. Only because I know at some point I'll break my Redhawk - and I love having something for when you can definitely get a kill - or need it with style

Gone are the days of spending far too much from WGC Shop etc, hours filing the metal slide so it would fit etc. Its also so much easier to find parts these days. Thanks for the link @Impulse - 8mm BB's GET (also so spare o-rings - so thankyou!) Obviously the Redhawk isn't an option - they don't make them anymore sadly! But ... I'm toying with the idea of a "site safe"/"low power" Dan Wesson 715 - possibly the 6 inch. I'd rather use the real steel speedloaders/pouches and it appears you can if you file the base of the shell. But we'll see - I'll have a look at the one which comes with it. Don't really like the idea of CO2 - but given that a single mini-caplets are good for 70 shots that should easily do me. I'll let you know how I get on if I do go down that route! When you say "safely reloadable" in game what exactly do you mean? I rather enjoy dumping the shells (into a zip pocket) & then using a speedloader under fire. Apparently I giggle when doing so - just like I do chucking a BFG at someone.

Yep - theyre really hot on weights/fps etc & whats nice is just because you can run say a DMR youve got to prove you can play responsibly first. Thankfully there's a few old timers around who remember them - this time of year she's doing 210 with .4s so fine everywhere. Summer is 320 - so essentially hand sniper piece with the usual min 20m engagement rule. I've switch to pistol or shotty and bfg well before then. Once we get above about 10 degrees she's is superb for targets which are at aeg range. Very accurate and surprisingly quiet. I'd love a 310 ish revolver with 0.25s & a speedloader just because .... its so cool to do It's been way too long. Really nice just hanging out with other weirdos, getting plastered in mud and watching gun porn on a Saturday packing for the next days lunacy.

So after lets just call it at least a decade away I finally feel that I'm back, so I thought it'd be interesting to share my journey as attempt to get my head around the changes in tech & re-develop my loadout to match my play style which hasn't changed in the meantime. First off, I'd forgotten just how much I'd missed this both mentally and physically. I've been laid up in and out of hospital the last few years - to the extent that I've gone from superfit to completely broken. I finally found something which I could actually do without landing me back in A&E last October & thanks to a push from my wife - I tried out a game at my local airsoft site. I sold up pretty much everything (it was around the time of the in-fighting over setting up UKARA - alongside some horrible personal issues that was the final straw). So I had my old ICS552, my custom WA S&W 1911, my 8mm Redhawk & a battered CYMA M3 rip off. Despite the WA utterly failing in the cold weather, the SIG shedding parts & developing the fire selection switch developing the attitude of a teenager I had a whale of a time. Finally picked up my PASS & the intervening time let me try out the modern "toys" and get my head around what I enjoyed. I've never been a kit nerd when it comes to fiddling/upgrading or to achieving a particular loadout "style". Instead I've always ended up picking out what for me is the "best of breed" in terms of what does what I need it to, hence you could politely describe my look as that of a scruffy mercenary - as opposed to that of someone as likely to sell you a big issue as shoot you. I did get an ego boost from being described as a "Ukrainian nutter" though So in terms of clothing/webbing I just go with what is comfy. At the moment its a pair of yard boots (closest thing to trainers in terms of comfort), an old pair of combats, norge, appropriate layers & a russian OMON style vest. Its light, room for 3 spare M4 style mags, shotgun shells, 2 blank firing grenades & some high energy shack items. I then go with a belt running two bianchi holsters & spare revolver shells/pistol mags. Its nice to be able to dump the belt at the safe zone or go down to one sidearm without having to reconfigure everything. So my general "normal" loadout now is as follows ... SA-15 Edge - Batteries have moved on! Being able to fit a single battery in the stock which is enough capacity for a full day's play is a revelation. Battery capacity was always a factor in the past - so its great to be able to pick something I love the feel of without worrying about having to change/carry a spare. Aside from the tight inner barrel I didn't think there was much point in going for anything gucci. My AEG has always been a tool first. Hops have come on - I remember the old TM hop with its tendancy to unwind randomly (I ran both an M4 & SR16 for a while) but this is easy to set how I want it - and it stays that way. I also hated M4 mags - partially a look & feel, partially having to spend so much time keeping them working & feeding. Very much a fan of the new S-Mag style, plus no feed issues with either hi or mid caps. 3 spare mags in the OMON vest. Shotgun - a reliable backup and sometimes main for CQB/thicker woodland. I love tri-barrel shotguns. I sold my modded M3 when I quit - so I picked up a BO Fabarms one to replace the battered CMYA one. Its similar size & weight but definitely has more poke & consistency just like my old TM but at way less than half the price. Will run as a spare as looking to get hold of a Secutor one as its even smaller & looks sexier (sorry). I figure it'll be even easier to carry slung on my back but for the moment, for the money I'm liking this a lot. Spare shells in the sling which goes over my vest so she sits on my back. If I'm ditching the AEG then even more shells in the vest on the shell loops - saves having to take time out reloading in the safe zone TTI JW 4 - GBB's are so much improved. And I say that as someone who loved them. This has now replaced my beloved WA 1911 and I can't believe I've gone back to a double stack 2011. I tried lots but when I picked her up something clicked. The hop/takedown are quick, mags suffer less cooldown and in terms of range once I got the hop set - well she's perfect for pulling out and "going light" with a BFG or two. Very much feels like one of the old WA Inifinities - after I'd spent a fortune on metal gubbins, internals etc. but better - out of the box FFS! Pair of spare mags in an old mil-tec twin mag pouch on the belt (will be replacing soon as its knackered), gun sits in a Bianchi M84 on the belt. Lovely - you can keep your new fangled plastic holster things Marushin 8MM Redhawk - yes she's an antique but with a thorough clean and lube she's fine. Fill valve needs a strip and bit of plumber's tape every few months but in winter - on red - she's up to her old tricks. There is something so pure about considered shots with a 6 shot shell loader ... it honestly feels amazing. Pair of .44 magnum speedloaders on belt, she sits in a Bianchi Cyclone holster. When she gives up the ghost .... who knows. Might have to look at a den wesson if only to be able to keep my love of using nothing but a revolver & speedloaders in game occasionally Oh, and if anyone knows a source of 8mm BB's that's be great, although I'm down to my last 700 they should last a few years as I tend to only get through a dozen every skirmish. So that's where I'm at. It kinda feels comfy - like a modern upgrade of the kit "style" I know and love. When the weather warms up a bit I'll start venturing further afield - heard great things about the "x" site in Mold. Much prefer sneaky, muddy bog snorkelling/woodland play rather than speedball - although in building CQB does lead to me making disturbing sounds as I play. Airsoft is definitely more popular. the kit better, the choice in the UK so much wider (anyone else remember the says of WGC shop/Den trinity importing *everything*). People messing around with Western Arms kit - endlessly upgrading/fixing seems to have been replaced by a different bunch of people endlessly upgrading/fixing HPA guns - but I'm really enjoying getting back into this

That was quite the weekend. Enduring memories of cable tieing someone to a loo for some reason. Happy days! Aye. Blondie was me on there.

Thanks both - I'll go with eiher CYMA or Nuprol - whichever is cheaper - in the 30 round capacity. Are the 15 round ones reduced in size for any reason does anyone know?

Probably the best place to ask .... Whatever happened to Marushin and the 8mm BB's? They had some really good HW revolvers - lovely shells & speed loaders. I've got one - usable in winter - you just need to use the appropriate gas when it warms up weather wise to keep it site legal. Is it as simple as they didn't sell so they stopped trading? Glad I bought a couple of bags of 8mm all those years ago!

Feeling a bit overwhelmed by choice here - as things have gone from red TM being the only option through (so far) to the following options : TM red, TM green, TM white (30) (White are marked XXX power - are these specific to their gas guns are across everything?) CYMA Red (30) CYMA Black (30) Nuprol Red (30) Nupro Red,Green,Orange,Black,White (15) Modify Black (30) ASG Red (30) When did 15 round mags become a thing? At the moment I'm leaning towards to TM shells (couple of packs of green & white) - at least they are a known quantity. Prices seem all over the place - are the alternative dodgy Chinese clones - has anyone any experience with any of the non TM brands? I'm looking for ones which will not be prone to feed issues - my current (red) TM ones are battered to hell but (mostly) still functional. Given their age I really need to replace them. Thanks!