Ian_Gere

CYMA's own aluminium RIS for AKS-74U costs $32US so it may be cheaper to buy the CM.045, as linked to by Josh above, and fit the RIS yourself, depending on the postage costs. However you could also choose a sexier RIS, like this'n for eg., which is the height of current AK fashion, although I personally prefer the AABB one...

Bear in mind that the VCRA makes it illegal to manufacture an RIF unless it is for the intended purpose of one of the activities included in the defence, which obviously means airsoft. So although it is illegal to repaint a 2 Tone for any other purpose, to do so for airsoft is legal. You do not have to bother about covering it up on site then removing it for the journey home, because it is illegal to carry it on view to the public anyway, whatever colour it is. When carrying an airsoft gun with you, the golden rule is just this - "Don't be a dick." So long as you abide by that, nobody is going to give you any trouble, and while it's true that some people love to poke their noses into other people's business, you can feel pretty certain that you are not going to be the test case in which the Crown Prosecution Service attempt to set legal precedence for what constitutes proof of the intention to use the RIF for airsoft when the Association of Chief Police Officers have stated that the law is unenforcible. But the lads above are right - what you have there is a BB gun... and while all airsoft guns are BB guns, not all BB guns are good enough for airsoft.

My experience of ordering from HK/Mainland China is that about 1 in 7 of parcels get hit by Customs. But it'll go in rashes, so I tend to forget that it can even happen and then I end up hating Parcelfarce all the more for the bumrapage they add on Yeah though, ehobbyasia are fine to deal with. For really cheap prices check out airsoft-club.com and ebairsoft.com too, but their customer services are pretty abysmal, so for eg, if they don't have everything you order in stock, they are quite likely to send you what they do have, keep your money, and not bother to tell you what's happening until you email them to find out wtf.

I didn't notice the battery connector at first... gawd, that's 'orrible!

CM.045C - has the RIS fitted as standard, unlike the ICS AKS-74U. There is a particular procedure you have to follow just right to ask them to downgrade the FPS for you, which they will do for the cost of a new spring, so you should email them beforehand to ask. Seriously, do not imagine that you can just email them after the order is placed and say "oops i forgot, can you please..." because it'll be a no can do - possibly something to do with the way instructions are relayed from their English speakers to the Polish tech/s who actually do the job, but whatever, at least one of our members has made the mistake of failing to follow their instructions to the letter and had to get a spring change done by someone else once the gun arrived, which incidentally voids the warranty. I was totally in love with my ICS one, until she started misfeeding for no apparent reason, but tbf i had messed about with her quite a lot before that happened so it is totally my fault, not ICS's. That said, as stock the IKS-74U, to give it its proper stock number, out of the box is pretty much dedicated to CQB in that its FPS is very consistently around 318-20 on 0.2g BB's, which is fine for what you're looking for, but if you want whatever you buy for CQB to also be backup for woodland the range will not equal that of decently set up guns firing at 345-ish. It's not entirely simple to get the FPS up either, since 1) it's a ballache to get the gearbox out (you need a right angle posi screwdriver) and 2) the spring is permanently attached to the piston head+piston in a fixed assembly and, even though there doesn't seem to be any difference between ICS gearbox parts and other manufacturers', nonetheless mine kept jamming until i stumped up for an ICS aluminium piston. I can't say for sure how true that is across the board, but for certain they are not compatible with external parts/body kits made by other manufacturers. And 3) fitting a 6.03mm TBB on such a short gun only bumps the FPS up to about 337-42, which is still below ideal as a woodland backup, but a 6.01mm (which most people would say is too tight for an assault rifle anyway, but if you're using it almost exclusively on semi then you could afford to buy Blaster Devils) will take you well over 350 and unfortunately a 6.02mm does not turn out to be Baby Bear's TBB as it still produces over 350 from the stock spring. The CYMA i linked at the top is the VFC clone type, as opposed to the TM clone, however, so it'll be really nice externally and compared to the quality of the ICS, I expect that the only noticeable difference would be the durability of the paint - and let's have it right, an AK should look battered to fuck...

No... that's the doughnuts!

Oh, if we're owning up to our own stupidity... I'll not bore the long standing members rehashing the tales of my worst pyro mishaps, but one which I don't think I've mentioned before - when I first got my Thunder B CO2 nades I did read the destructions, understood why they should be followed, and also realised that there was no need to load the shell before arming it, which would introduce an extra layer of safety. I had also realised that, although filling them with paint powder could well be frowned on at my local site, I could fill them with finely chopped paper/plastic like confetti for additional lols, which I did. But then for some reason beyond my current ken I went ahead and attempted to arm a loaded shell without bothering to use the pin to lock the spring loaded striker down... for a second or so i sat there with it in my lap not quite comprehending what had happened, before throwing it into the far corner of my bedroom - 2 days of ear ringing and i was finding bits of confetti for a couple of weeks

Get your old one back off Joel, Ed! That launcher does look TDB. Is it available or just a prototype? If so, where?

A game i was at fairly recently involved someone playing the role of a "Forward Controller" who would receive some intel as the game progressed and we would lose out substantially if this VIP were to be captured by the enemy. So up jumps this very confident lad, who was attending the day with a small entourage from whom he seemed to expect and receive a fair degree of deference, and insistently volunteers himself. He then proceeded to lead from the front for almost the whole game... TBF he was good at getting even the often recalcitrant rentals forward to where their firepower was useful and hats off to him for that because it frustrates the arse off me trying to do the same, especially since it really hurts me to move quickly, so if ppl hang back despite my attempts to lead by example it's doubly depressing! But still, that's hardly the point. I did manage to get him under some degree of control towards the end, but even then, after accepting my point that the gains we had made would all be for nowt if our team failed to suppress the opposition when he was hit out front, closer to the enemy than to the bulk of our team as was his MO, he still kept sprinting off from the impromptu security detail I'd sicced on him without even the merest word of explanation as to where he was going or to what purpose. In the end I put forward the idea that if he hadn't been prepared to put the team's needs ahead of his preferred play style then he shouldn't have put himself up for the job, but having done so, since we were stuck with him, he was stuck with us, and the guilt seemed to slow him down a fraction

Where did you get the cover from?

Yeah, definitely see what it's like after the retailer has sorted it out - RS guns have a good reputation for performance as well as looks, unlike many other expensive guns which often look great but perform averagely well or worse. When you get it back, if it has been properly sorted out, you should be able to hit an A4 paper sized target @50m 9/10 shots as long as the air is pretty still.

Who did you buy it from? Please let us know how it is when it comes back to you.

I like it - what are you wearing on your feet and did that cover come with your helmet?

The minute something is sold by a retailer who provides a warranty, nay the second, unless it is very rare, it drops in value to between a 2/3rds and half of its sale price from the cheapest source including shipping, depending on how reliable it is and/or how long the warranty lasts / what it covers, simply because a warranty doesn't follow the item, it is a separate contract between the retailer and original buyer (so a really comprehensive long warranty drives the 2nd hand price way down, as if not you may as well save up the bit more and get a new one). Unless the internal upgrades and tuning are special and depending on how many mags, i'd put the value of that ICS L85A2 at about £320 tops. However airsoft guns seem to have a mystique about them to some people, so they will insist on believing that they can add up the cost of everything they ever spent on them, including postage, knock off a tenner and that's the used price... and the bigger laugh is that some people are willing to pay it. Airsoft is well overdue for some concerted skinflintery IMO...

I really need to get some of this kit :-|

^^Wow! "Get orf moi laaaaahnd!"

^^Isn't that just the nuts? So much more hardcore looking than those Golden Eagle railed top covers from Patrolbase!

No, they're sub - look at the way they're tied up with bungee cord!

The thing is, unless PayPal ask you what the item is, as above (although personally whenever i have disputed a transaction it has been done via forms online and I was not specifically asked to say what the item was, just to state the nature of my dissatisfaction with the transaction), you could just say "the parcel" has not turned up, or "the goods" were not as advertised. That said i haven't disputed an RIF sale, so i can't say for sure how far the process could go without mentioning the nature of the article which did not turn up / was not as advertised. However if a dodgy seller, intending to make sure they keep your money, jumps in with, "it's an RIF so not covered by buyer protection - ner ner ne ner ner!" then that is clear evidence of fraud, which the police may be willing to pursue. Not that that would get you your money back - to do that would require a case in small claims court which costs about £50 to lodge, plus whatever solicitors' fees you incur while getting advice on how to do it/win, but if you win those costs will be added to the judgement against the respondent. Bear in mind though that you will have had to pay them in the short term and the respondent may claim to be hard up and get permission to pay you in crappy little instalments. AFAIK PayPal's policy specifically names replica firearms as being outside their buyer protection policy, not Realistic Imitation Firearms, but then that is because it is international, not specifically targeted at the British marketplace subject to British law. I spose there could be an argument to be made that imitation and replica are two separate things, but I'm not sure it would get anywhere...

That's good to know. Can you explain what happened?

There's been a rash of this kind of thing recently and the common denominator has been payment by gift. The solution is pretty obvious... I often ask people to pay me by gift, but before doing so i link them to my spotless record on eBay and here and also say it's their choice, not a deal breaker. I think my reputation speaks for itself, but without some proof of similar i wouldn't pay anyone by gift.

Depends where you are, if you want someone local to do it? That's probably your best bet as it'll be cheaper than posting it to one of the big retailers for their techs to do it. It's a very simple job so unlikely that someone who knows even just a little bit about guns would fuck it up. Maybe best to ask at your local site, see who repairs their hire guns.

That's good advice. V2 gearboxes are notoriously fiddly to put back together. You may find that an Element M105 spring is better than a standard M100 - you should get about 345FPS with averagely good compression from the 105, compared to 330 from the 100, which translates into something like 4-5m of range at the extreme, maybe a little less depending on how your hop is set and, of course, how well it is working. The CYMA standard hop rubber can be really good for both range and accuracy, since it is pretty sticky and employs a split bump design similar in function to the more expensive PDI W-hold, however their quality control is not that good so they do send out guns with malformed hop rubbers sometimes - you'll know something is wrong if the BB's swerve off one way or the other, or if your range is poor compared to other AEG's.

Ah, they're good people.

Thanks! Mr. B pm'd me to let me know they were back in stock at PB too. The top handguard for these is compatible with the real steel ones, but I'm not sure about the lower ones. But if that is CYMA tactical furniture then you should be able to Dremmel a real steel one into the right shape to fit the SRC receiver. Normally there is a metal fitting which TM compatible/clone furniture fits into, but it looks like the SRC is different. Jip McTavish is your man for RS furniture.