jcheeseright

British airspace is a lot more cramped than the US too, flying a drone over a certain weight (can't remember exact figures, I'll look it up at work) inside controlled airspace is a pretty sure way to pick up some big fines.

For BB weight I tend to go with whatever will give me 280-320fps actual muzzle velocity, so with a 500fps gun if expect that to be in the .40 ish region. Anything faster than 330ish and wind resistance (which increases logarithmically with projectile velocity) takes effect much more quickly, sapping your BB's energy and reducing your overall range rather than increasing it.

Selfie bedroom wanker pic, I apologise, but you can see largely what's going on with the front of the plate carrier. It's a crye AVS with the harness, medium plate bags, 6x9 side armour, molle extensions and 2-band airlite cummerbund. Pouches I've stuck on there are a blue force gear ten speed M4 triple on the front, small 4"x4" utility pouch on my right kidney, radio pouch front right, 2x small utility pouches front left for grenades and a 1litre hydro pouch on the back. That's pretty much it. To address your specific points; Price tag; expensive, I think the plate carrier before pouches was approx $800 from a US retailer, I expect it'd be more if you could get them in the uk. Overall quality; bombproof, made to hold up to the demands of real soldiers in real gunfights, massive overkill for airsoft but no one makes a decent replica. Customisability; hands down the most versatile rig money can buy. I can strip it down to a lightweight front and back plate with one band cummerbund or scale it up to how it is there in a matter of minutes, the front 'flap' is also changeable in seconds with Velcro and every surface is molle compatible. How well it serves my loadout; carries everything I need in a low-profile and comfortable (it's like being hugged by a cloud) package, almost infinitely customisable I regularly swap the front flaps over for different magazine types (I have one set up for M4 mags and one for MP7). Things I would change; have already changed a couple of bits about, the 2 band cummerbund has been replaced with the larger 3-band one for more versatility with carrying things on my sides; I have some pouches mounted direct to the harness which sit under the cummerbund and then some attached to the cummerbund itself, allowing me to 'double up' on usable space. The back has also been changed, the hydro pouch has been replaced with a zip-on panel which has a built in hydro pocket so if I want to carry a backpack or whatever I can just zip my water off in 2 seconds and stuff the whole thing into the backpack. Also gives me more space on the back to mount other stuff (smoke grenades I expect along with a big ish utility pouch for snacks and a waterproof jacket). Obviously this isn't a 'beginner' kit, but I thought I'd put it up as a counterpoint to the more reasonably priced rigs that are on offer... There's a sliding scale of expensive (it gets way pricier than my setup if you want something in genuine AOR patterns!) and this rig doesn't, for airsoft, do a vast amount more than a £50 Chinese LBT6094 knockoff.

I'm in that one, see if you can spot my beautiful face!

No, bb dimensions are pretty static. 5.95mm or thereabouts, regardless of weight. Your gun will be able to fire anything as long as it's 6mm. Your hop up may not be able to lift really heavy BBs but it'll definitely do .30.

I'm a self confessed #maruifanboy but I couldn't ever in good faith recommend someone buy one of their spring shotguns. The DE/ASG ones are just as good and a third (sometimes less!) of the price. The only part of the spring shotgun package I'd suggest is genuinely better with a marui is the shells, the cheap DE/ASG ones are garbage, half of them won't feed properly without disassembly and filing burrs off the insides. If you can stomach the cost though, the TM M870 tactical gas shotgun is a thing of extraordinary beauty and makes all other airsoft shotguns seem like sacks of turd in comparison.

Reference face and eye protection, check with your game site before you buy anything, i know a few sites local to me insist on proper FULL FACE sealed protection for under 18s.

The bolt release will only function when the bolt is being held back by the catch, it's neither a fault or an oversight it's how pretty much every real gun works, including the MP7. If you dry fire the gun the bolt assembly will lock to the rear and be caught, hitting the bolt release will lower the catch and allow the working parts to return. Dry firing can be done in a couple of ways, easiest is just to hold the bolt release catch up while firing. Another way is to block the follower in the magazine from reaching the top, this will stop the empty magazine from actuating the bolt catch.

You'll want an npas for the MP7 or it'll be too hot to use.

£70 for an emerson knock off?!?!? You must be made of money. http://www.ebairsoft.com/mobile/ballistic-style-helmet-tb460-multicam-p-6146.html $60 with free shipping = £35

Why not just buy one from an Asian retailer? It's the same product just cheaper. If you must pay over the odds for a uk stockist though, helmetworld on ebay have a good selection.

Black ops cribbs out by cribbs causeway is also full auto.

Get a decent tightbore (Prometheus, madbull, etc) an eagle6 M95 spring and the Prometheus spring guide and you'll be looking at 340-350 fps for less than £70.

I'd put oakleys up to that test no problem, if they're genuine the BB won't leave anything more than a smudge.

They're all good, though the AK and G36 ones don't have the bolt stop feature.

It's not the barrel that causes the wobble, it's the nut that secures it, the madbull one doesn't fit 100% correctly so it needs shims to tighten it down.

rail is about £120 ish normally, you'll need to budget another £10 for the barrel nut tool and £8 for a pack of barrel shims too, without the right tool you'll never get the nut tight enough and without the shims your barrel will be really wobbly.

£439.95 for a SOCOM, you trippin' bruh?! http://www.fire-support.co.uk/product/marui-recoil-m4a1-socom-airsoft-gun-ebb-aeg £390, save yourself another £50! Or, if you want to save even more: http://echigoya-guns.com/guns/index.php?route=product/product&path=36_35&product_id=51 $460 (free shipping!) is about £270, expect another £60 or so on top for VAT/duty and you're more than a hundred quid better off. For LiPo batteries inside the front rail, depending what rail you put on you can expect to have to do some work to get it all to fit. I use these batteries: http://www.landwarriorairsoft.com/batteries-bbs-gas-chronographs-c5/batteries-c62/we-7-4v-1450mah-25c-crane-stock-lipo-p3193 They're the thinnest LiPo I've managed to find anywhere and I still had to remove quite a bit of material from inside a Daniel Defence RIS2 to get them to fit. The outer barrel also is a one-piece 14.5" so if you want to put a 9.5" rail on there you're going to need to buy a 10.5" outer barrel too.

yes.

The difference between video games and airsoft? In airsoft you get to choose exactly what you wear... in a video game generally you don't. Among about a thousand other differences.

Spoken like someone who's never worked really, really bloody hard to earn something like a beret.

The HP has a faster graphics card, on paper at least. The processors are comparable and the HP also has more memory, looking at the specifications I'd say the HP is the faster computer and if they were similarly priced it'd be the one I'd want. However, if you're only after running something like the sims then either one will do the job.

a decent hop rubber and nub combo is all I'll ever recommend. All depends on the type of barrel but I've had excellent results with firefly buckings and flat nubs.

in my experience r-hop is very much snake oil, I've yet to be out-ranged by an r-hopped gun.

the law states that the colours must be bright, no subdued colours allowed.