jcheeseright

The IR sensor in a tracer unit is no more powerful than a TV remote control. There's no way at all it can damage your eyes. The flash inside the tracer is less powerful than a cheap camera flash, again, cannot damage your eyes.

There's guidelines, some things are standard like first aid kit location, other things are more don't-do's rather than must-dos. Magazine pouches on the front is a big no-no, someone realised that secondary fragmentation from magazines (and the bullets held within) do bad things to peoples faces when you step on an IED, as a result soldiers aren't supposed to have magazines pouches on the front of their armour anymore. Also means you can get your belly down closer to the ground when prone, which is no bad thing. Looking at recent photos of guys in theatre you'll notice they've all set up their kits largely the same way, magazine pouches generally on the left cummerbund/belt, first aid kit on the right hand side, admin panel somewhere up front and high with zap-patch etc, PRR normally somewhere on the front quote low. Pistols on the chest were a 'thing' a while back (and still are for vehicle crews) but the new radar holster for the Glock 17 is designed to be worn as a drop-leg so that's what you'd see more of for a really current kit, there's still serpas knocking about though.

Chock makes a really good point there, it's all well and good some stores stocking stuff like Real Sword and TM etc... but quite often those guns sit on the shelf for months at a time because people spending that kind of money generally know they can get it cheaper online/abroad.

That's exactly it, gun-teching is no way to make money. People whinge about £15-20 labour for a spring change or r-hop installation, but when you consider that a shop likely has to pay their tech £12k+ a year (add on NI contributions, pension contributions etc) at the low end and suddenly you need that person to be making absolute minimum £40 a day to break even. Custom guns built to order too are another pit, airsofters in general seem to be obsessed with the idea of a 'package' deal, no one's selling you a holiday! a G&P M4 with a load of extra bits added on costs the sum of it's parts and probably a bit of labour for putting it all together, you're not gonna get money off the cost of those parts when the margins are already small! As for what I would like in a retail store with a web-outlet; Consumables: Reasonably priced quality BBs - note, not CHEAP, reasonably priced. These are probably going to be your bread and butter product as anyone can buy a gun and keep it for 10 years... they still have to buy BBs for it though! Always-available reasonably priced pyro - this is where you can offer people 'bulk deals', £3 each for pea grenades or 4 for £10, your margins will be relatively small but you're guaranteed to shift them in big numbers as long as you can keep up with demand! If you've got a CQB site nearby start selling blank firing grenades and blanks to go with them, again your margins will be smallish on the blanks but it's a consumable item people will be back for. Gas - Abbey gases and WE Nuprol seem to be the gases of choice for most airsofters (with good reason), you can make some money on these as the wholesale costs are surprisingly low! LiPo batteries and chargers - people are gonna buy these, might as well buy them from you! PARTS!!! Get a good range of regularly broken bits; springs, tappet plates, hop-rubbers, inner barrels (less so, but everyone wants a tight bore for their new gun... you can even professionally fit it in store for them for a small fee!), motors, deans connectors (again... fitted for a small fee). Big-ticket items: A range of good-quality starter guns (combat machines anyone?) which you can sell as a starter kit with a cheap charger and a NiMh battery. Chuck in a Sansei style mask (they're SO cheap) for nothing and they'll fly out of the door. Optics, torches, grips - airsofters love bolting shit onto their guns! Get a decent range of attachments going on and set them up near the guns, impulse buys are good for business Gear/nylon/etc I can't really comment on, I haven't bought anything retail from the UK for ages so I don't know what the market is like, or what people tend to buy. The NUMBER ONE most important thing though; customer service and a welcoming environment. Best airsoft shop I've ever been in is Pro Airsoft Supplies in London, staff couldn't do enough to help me and I didn't even say I was buying anything, they straight off the bat said "if it's on a wall rack feel free to have a play with it, if you want to shoot anything, let us know and we'll get a battery and some BBs". The customer service bit for them comes in when there's an issue, they honour their warranties (I expect mainly because they don't sell cheapo double eagle/SRC/etc guns and don't get many returns!) and do so without quibble or fuss, same for incorrect orders, they sort it same day. That reputation is well known because people talk about it when they get really good service, but not as quickly as when they get bad service! Wolf armouries on the other hand... I went in, spoke to the guy and said I was visiting London and was in the market for a new AEG (pretty much guaranteed him a sale!), but getting guns out of boxes for me to have a look at seemed like too much hassle and when they did come out of the boxes he was pretty reticent about letting me actually hold them... no sale there and I won't be going back!

Yeah, get some LiPos. The age of your gun could also be having an effect though (but only if you've shot it a LOT), if the trigger contacts are worn or the motor bushings are a bit knackered then the gun will put a bit more of a drain on your batteries. The age of the batteries is also a factor too, NiMh aren't 'forever', they're absolutely a consumable item and they do have a shelf life, if like the gun they've been used a lot then chances are they're getting a bit tired out.

Yeah, osprey pouches are as cheap as dirt now. Even better than grade 1 ones from surplus are grade f*cked ones from eBay, first thing guaranteed to ruin any 'impression' load out is pristine kit, especially osprey pouches, they're not particularly well made and wear really quickly.

Complete myth, any site that enforces such a ridiculous rule is likely run by clowns and doesn't deserve customers. Have never encountered a site that specifically bans bio BBs and I've played at a lot of places!

pouch placement is all over the shop too. It's a good start though, I'd have a look a few photos from Herrick 18 onwards for what would be considered a 'current' kit. though saying that, a current (as in right now) kit would have you wearing ECBA and some webbing (no joke).

the only problem with custom stuff is cost, materials are cheap, time is not, lots of customers (and airsofters especially) don't seem to see this.

Yep, bought the SAI slide for my glock from them last year. Fast shipping and they really know what they're talking about, I get the feeling they're all quite into their GBB stuff as the guy I was emailing was really knowledgable. Excellent english too, much better than 99% of the trogs on Facebook groups who have grown up speaking it and have no excuse!

yeah, wouldn't hold your breath on a PS3 launch... or PSP.

If you want trigger response the single biggest gain you can get is using LiPo batteries. Doesn't matter how beefy your motor is, if your battery cannot discharge enough current to run it up quickly you won't get significant benefits.

propane is used because it's commonly available and has the right boiling point for what we need, I'm sure there's probably a CFC free mix of gases that's non-flammable that could do the job but airsoft is such a small market that there's really no point in any chemical company researching and then manufacturing it. HPA doesn't get used commonly because the tanks are A: Expensive B: Bulky (when compared to a gas-in-mag system) and C: require regular testing.

Tactical gear trade is based in Guangzhou China, the stuff you've bought came from there. It's as close to official USMC kit as a hello kitty onesie, MARSOC have indeed been granted permission to use multicam in theatre, however there's absolutely no evidence to suggest they've actually worn it, 99% of the MARSOC photos kicking about have them wearing M81 woodland in order to blend in with the local forces they're mentoring. As for multicam being an official US Army pattern, couldn't agree more, USMC and US Army are 2 very different beasts though. Not only that, if MARSOC were to wear multicam, they'd be wearing crye gen3 cut stuff, they're a JSOC/SOCOM unit and don't have the same supply lines as the regular USMC.

tacticalgeartrade is a Chinese webstore, you've been had. FYI, USMC don't wear multicam, they wear MARPAT in desert and woodland varieties:

not really, a hundredfold difference in air pressure could kill someone so it's actually dangerous... sending out a gun at 390fps isn't dangerous, it's just shit service.

highly dangerous? really?

give it a whack with something, if you can dent the metal on the rails with anything other than a hammer and a good whack it's a clone.

only way to reduce the power output by 100fps on that gun is to put a new spring in. Getting a new spring by the weekend... challenging.

so much wrong with this I don't know where to begin.

consistently over the limit for 90% of sites though!

as for the camo question for the OP, you'd be fine to do that, it'll still count as an IF so long as the PRINCIPAL colour is bright.

have you even read the VCRA and it's commencement orders? It doesn't say that at all! the definition of an Imitation Firearm is clearly laid out here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-violent-crime-reduction-act-2006-commencement-no-3-order-2007-firearms-measures Just in case you can't be bothered to read to the specific section, I'll quote it below for me, principal colour leans towards that colour being the most prevalent on an item... i.e. more than half.

milspec can probably sort you out for springs. I prefer graphite grease because it's slippier, silicone lube tends to clump up and attract dirt even in small quantities. Gas definitely isn't a factor in the return speed of your slide, the spring on the recoil rod is the one that deals with that, often called the recoil spring. If you want to improve that part there's plenty of aftermarket ones available from asia rated by percentage (100% being the same as stock, 150% being 50% stiffer etc), the stiffer the spring the faster the slide will return to battery but the more gas you'll have to use to cycle it.

If they're getting a little bit 'sloppy' I'd strip everything down, de-grease it and check for obvious wear. If nothing is apparent, re-grease (I use abbey SM50 graphite lube, silicone oil is God for looking after o-rings, not much cop as a lubricant) and try again. If it's still a bit 'meh' chances are your hammer spring is at fault.