LMKipper

I puzzled on this quite a lot on the drive home. The only thought I had was that they favour slower ‘filmsim’ games, rather than all out skirmish action. And that maybe, there’s just less interest in it? They also don’t have many structures built, like huts or trenches. Also with games only once a month it will be tough to build up regulars. But Imperium (not that far up the road) is the same on all three counts and they seem to pull in 100+.

A large pink carnation pinned to our collars?

Yep it's still Val running it. I'm free the 7th too, so I'll stick it in the diary and see you all then.

Went to Gunman Battle Lakes on Saturday with @Asomodai. We'd both been once before (myself about a month ago, Asomodai about four years ago) and it was a bit of a mixed bag. The elephant in the room was that there was only 12 people playing, which included two player marshals. They did cut the site down and the owner apologised in the briefing for the low numbers but it did make it tough at times. I enjoyed the morning, with some sneaky action, but there were long portions without seeing anyone from the other team. The afternoon was more difficult. The other team had three or four people in ghillies, which with just six a side made progress all but impossible. The site owner joined our team but with about an hour to go on the main objective, and two of our team out with broken rifles it was a slog. I had a bit of a chat to the owner and he said the site has been struggling for about six months with player numbers slowly dwindling. It's a shame as it's otherwise a really excellent site, the owner is a nice guy who runs the site well and I've never even heard whispers of cheat calling. Their next game is early December, so if you're reading this and local I think we should all make an effort to get there before they're forced to throw in the towel.

It's interesting the things that people justify to themselves - myself included. I was a PTW owner my first time around and I am again now for when it's too cold for my GBBRs. Dry firing is a big mood killer for me, can't quite explain why. I've always seen the value in RS optics (or the posh repro ones now available) as cheapo airsoft ones seem to lose zero instantly and it does my head in. Same for holsters (they're cheap compared to replacing pistols), ear defenders (cheap compared to ears) and eye pro (cheap compared to eyes). But lots on plate carriers/helmets etc has always gone over my head. Ps. If you think you might trim down @Impulse let me know if a gas sniper rifle is on the cards. I've wanted a nice one since I played alongside Doc and his Tanaka at LFU.

Having watched a few videos, this is 100% going on the wish list...

Not that I've seen in the UK. Action have sold out already charging £399 (not inc import fees, shipping etc.) compared to the £679 I've seen they're asking in the UK. There's no NPAS as standard as far as I can make out, unlike VFC ARs, and they've been chronoed around 380 on green gas, so will need restricting for here.

I am also in. Faces to names etc.

I've seen a few places allowing home made mortar tubes and honestly it gives me the chills.

Of the few times I have been 'overkilled' it has been a bloke with an AAP-01 on HPA, who has run around a corner trigger spamming in the hope some would hit me. It's tough isn't it because ultimately people do 'speedsoft' because it's a very effective tactic when attacking. If you just run in and trade, that's a defender down. Rinse repeat. I guess the only thing I would add is that perhaps long respawn times are a way of preventing this. If it's a long walk to respawn or there are timers, then it's not in your interest to get knocked out instantly. Come to think of it one CQB place I played it did their attack/defend on how many respawns were taken to knock out the defenders, rather than how long it took. Encourages slightly more conservative gameplay - if that's what your site and your customers want.

A nice feature that Invicta has at the black site is small holes cut in the base of walls/barriers. They explicitly state you can't shoot through these (A4 paper rule) but you can post a grenade through it. The result is that most rooms that are a nightmare to get into because of a small doorway are quickly neutralised when you roll a grenade through the small gap.

Fair enough @Colin Allen the only question I wouldn't mind knowing, as I did fancy popping along, is whether this is a safety issue and as such I should avoid it. Happy for this to be via PM rather than on an open forum if you would prefer.

Same! Spill the tea 😅

Funnily enough @Colin Allen I was there too, although I only played the morning as I had to dash off. The only thing I wanted to add was that I was almost bowled over by the amount of young players there today. All super enthusiastic and excited to be there, as well as a whole family of rentals (mum, dad and three kids) on the blue team. Clearly AP do an amazing job of attracting new people to airsoft, which I think other sites struggle with. A really lovely thing to see.

Nice day at Gunman Battle Lakes today - it was one of their 'filmsim' games, so slightly restricted ammo limits and semi only unless it's a support weapon. Lots of players were using GBBRs, so the whole day was low on the trigger spam/overshooting. We played two domination games - raise the flags to your teams colour. Team with the most flags raised at endex wins the game. Gameplay both morning and afternoon was great. About half the site was in play, which was perfect for the numbers on the day (about 30). There was enough room to roam around/do sneaky stuff if you wanted to without wandering around for hours without seeing anyone. I had a few nice assaults and defends over the course of the day, and I'm pretty sure it was one of the few days where I ended up hitting more people than times I was hit. Two minor negatives - they didn't have enough bands for everyone to have one of a different colour, so it ended up being bands vs non-bands. This makes target ID really difficult if you're on the team with bands and I know a few times I saw half a player, waited and got hit before I could work out if they were on my team or not. It was also unfortunate that there were three ghillies, and all on the non-banded team, which resulted in some whinging later in the day. I also don't think their medic rule quite works; if you're hit you have to wait 30 seconds after which you can slowly shuffle to another play to get mediced. This caused a lot of confusion, some over shooting and a bit of cheat accusation. If the rule was standstill when shot unless a team member gets to you, it would make things a little simpler. I'm nitpicking here though. Game quality was excellent and I'd definitely return.

Assuming it's a VFC, I'd start at £650 and see how it goes!

I was really surprised by this when I returned to airsoft after a long break. When I first started everyone ran .2 or .25 if they were posh. The best sniper ammo was Maruzen SGMs at 0.29. Now plenty of people seem to run 0.3g+ in regular rifles. I think a large part of this is that hops have just got loads better, so they can comfortably lift heavy BBs without a huge drop in power.

Oh wow - the WA ones (as you probably know) are super rare. I'd suggest jumping into the Heavy Recoil Club Discord and posting in the WA channel. There's lots of us in there who have been keeping these old WAs running. Link here: https://discord.gg/cewwyk5E

Can you still get the same consistency with CO2 bulbs? I've considered converting my GHK to liquid CO2 and although that offers better mild weather performance than propane, the repeat shot consistency doesn't seem much better than propane as you're still relying on the expansion of a liquid propellant. The idea of a contained HPA DMR sounds great - it's the flappy line that's always put me off the HPA route. Shame the J rating is so low for DMR, I think you're right about just tuning to 1.1.

That 308 Unleashed looks incredible - bet that will make a brilliant DMR platform.

This is good to hear. I'd like to get back into milsims having restarted airsoft, but no longer have a regular group to go with. Thought rocking up to a Stirling/Defiant/An Other solo might be a bit crap but sounds alright.

Made my way over to UCAP Green Ops yesterday. It's a bit out of my way and further than I would normally travel, but I had to drop my girlfriend at Gatwick for 7:30, so thought I'd treat myself... Anyway, what a really great site. There wasn't a huge amount of people, only 40 or so at the start of the day but the games were fun. Started with your typical fall back defence game, followed by a timer game then drugs/bombs in the helicopter. Nothing revolutionary but what makes the site so great is what they've done with the playing area. They've built/dug loads of bunkers, buildings, trenches etc, so there's loads of variety in quite a small site. It's not all long distance stuff either, so they've created a sort of woodland CQB in some ways. The other thing, which is a pet peeve at some sites, is that they've kept on top of maintenance. Lots of the rhodendrons/bushes/weeds are kept in check with paths kept clear. That means you can move around the site easily and everyone isn't funneled into one small area because the rest is impassible. Bit too far for me to be a regular site but if I find myself that way again I'll head over.

When I worked in a bicycle shop, folks would come in to try shoes/clothing on and I'd see them scrolling online for prices while they supped our free coffee. I know everyone wants everything as cheap as they can get it (I'm the same) but I think people forget that every hour a shop is open, it's costing money. I had one experience with ZeroOne, nearly 20 years ago. I bought an ICS MP5SD that was DOA. I sent it back and they accused me of having opened the motor housing because the wiring was bust! They repaired it (as a gesture of goodwill...) and I haven't shopped there since.