Mack

While I agree 100% with everyone elses advice and guidance, I am going to offer a different perspective. Being that you do not currently possess any gear, you are in an advantageous position. When you go out and play, ask the rental office if you can swap guns out. This way, you can utilize several different rifles. Try an M4, a G36, or any other rifle you want. This way you can experience its weight, its feel. Once you commit to a battle rifle, its not like you can just pass it right off and get something different. It may be a while before you can upgrade. Speaking of upgrades, research that as well. You will need to review the weapons sustainability as well as its ability to accommodate any mods you may want. Look at the internals of the rifle, what version gearbox, what type of gear box, will the gear box need to be replaced quickly, what is the gear box made of, look at types of batteries. The last thing you want is to get the rifle then need to spend a chunk getting it up to spec.
 
As to gear, well again, thats personal preference. I do not know if its the same here in the UK as it is in the US, but most US players gradually evolve into a role they portray. You may want to run the same loadout as the SAS, or British Marine, GSG9, US Army Ranger/SEAL/ODA, Russian Spetsnaz. Heck you may want to portray Johnny Jihad and run around with a man dress on and head scarf yelling "DURKA DURKA JIHAD" while firing your weapon blindly over you head sideways. Personally I don't recommend that, but I will not discourage you if thats what you want. As you research your chosen airsoft persona, look at all the gear needed. Some units run light and fast, while others are heavier. I personally run a heavier kit, but I have everything thing I need for any situation. Its big, its bulky, it can at times make me a bullet magnet, but its the same loadout I used in Iraq. You need to find your style. RESEARCH RESEARCH RESEARCH
 
Above all else, do what will make you happy. Play the way you want. This is your hobby, and most importantly, your money. Go with what makes you happy.
 
~~~GARRY OWEN~~~

Just bear in mind, friends, the political ramifications of our spending power are a legitimate topic of conversation when considering where and what to buy, but no matter how passionate anyone may feel about any cause involved, we only want to see polite discourse - no name calling, deliberately obtuse styles, baiting people, basically no being a dick.
 
ICS Galil FTW.

Now now Lads, here's not the place for politics and bickering. Let's keep the forum for airsoft and this thread for helping the OP with his questions. I'd suggest taking it over to PM if you wish to continue it any further.
 
I have strong politics myself, not on this matter but I understand that everyone has a different opinion, and arguing about politics is pointless as no one wins.

I'd want Hamas, having Israel fight on your side means every arab state would side with ISIS. That said, it's not the Israeli soldier on the ground who makes policy and it's him you are portraying. I would however try and do it without buying from Israel.

Mack,
Its nice to see homage paid to my old unit. I served with 1/7 and 2/7 Cav. My best times in the Army were spent at Fort Hood wearing 1st Cav

TYR Tactical small cutaway IFAK pouch
TYR Tactical utility pouch
 
both multicam

Greetings
I am new here to your fine country, coming from across the pond. As an avid airsoft player from the States, I soon hope to start playing here. Wow, these UKARA rules are pretty strict. I had to do a lot of research when I started looking to play here. Its getting harder and harder to play nowadays. But with that aside, a little about me. I am a retired member of the US Army who faithfully served 20 years. I was part of the Cavalry and worked with M1A1/A2/SEP tanks, as well as the Bradley IFV/CFV and Strykers. We worked both mounted and dismounted, so I didnt always have tons of steel to protect me. After retiring, a couple of friends introduced me to airsoft, and I rather enjoyed it. I actually just came back from a visit to the States and had a chance to play a 24 hour game. Talk about a blast! So, that brings me to this group, looking for players/sites near me.
 
I currently live in the Midlands over by the Northampton area. I googled a few places to play so I can get out there and get UKARA certified, or whatever it is so I can use my own RIF's as you call them. I think thats how it works. Any assistance on this would be helpful as I am trying to be a law abiding citizen here.
 
Laslty, I am looking to find good sites in the Midland areas, and players as well. Nothing worse than getting ready to play and 5 people show up. Kind of a let down.
 
Looking forward to contributing how ever I can, and hopefully playing with you all.

Hola Sabre 6-1,
 
Welcome aboard bro, good to see another Cav vet on here! And welcome to our fair Isle! Some good explanations of the VCRA and UKARA on here as well as great forums and great advice, it's a great site!
I did 23 years in the Army, 9 years infantry recce and 14 years Cav, it would be great to swap stories over a brew or a beer!
currently working in Venezuela, so my airsofting is rather limited at the mo!!
Have a good one,
 
If you ain't Cav, you ain't sh1t!!

You know...cos they blockade / restrict food into the Gaza strip, bomb / shell civilian buildings and UN hospitals etc etc
 
Israeli "Defence" Force my arse
 
I don't agree with what they're doing in Palestine

Angry thread. How the f*ck does a 13 year old have the money to throw at a polarstar

Can someone post my UKARA licence meme, I'm on holidays and pictures use up to much data

Angry thread. How the f*ck does a 13 year old have the money to throw at a polarstar

Well apart from
 
The cut of the PC
The size difference
The harness
The plate bags
The internal cummerbund
The integrated mbitr pouches
The kangaroo pouch
The shoulder pads
The quick release system
The internal stkss system
The internal pads
The ability to zip on panels
 
They are pretty much the same

Well apart from
 
The cut of the PC
The size difference
The harness
The plate bags
The internal cummerbund
The integrated mbitr pouches
The kangaroo pouch
The shoulder pads
The quick release system
The internal stkss system
The internal pads
The ability to zip on panels
 
They are pretty much the same

Solidfox CPC arrived today along with FMA Maritime. I think with a bit more adjustment the CPC should sit better, otherwise I need to bulk up
 

I apologise in advance, there is going to be some rambling ahead! Effective use of radios can change your game in a big way, lots of people have them but very few use them effectively to communicate with one another. The ability to coordinate your team across distance and to pass information around quickly is invaluable, but to do it effectively you need to know what you're doing... 99% of airsofters don't know what they're doing with a radio and so 99% of the time an airsofter's radio is just another useless bit of junk they hang off their rig. Don't be that guy! First rule, the one you should never, EVER break is the following:
LISTEN before you TRANSMIT, if two radios are transmitting on the same frequency at the same time no one gets either message! The key to effective radio communication is brevity; BREVITY noun 1. shortness of time or duration; briefness : the brevity of human life. 2. the quality of expressing much in few words; terseness: Brevity is the soul of wit. The second definition there is really what we're after, your transmissions should be short but meaningful. If you have a piece of information that you feel is important to pass on to other members of your team then do so, but before you do, stop and think for a second; Is this information actually useful? Will transmitting 'tango down' like a badass mofo rainbow six operator benefit the team's awareness of the current situation or your intentions? If the answer is no, then kindly STFU.
How do we achieve brevity while still effectively communicating all of the information required? Simple, you use a standard message format and only transmit what you absolutely must to get the message across. I'll include a glossary of terms at the end, but for now I'll work through examples. The standard NATO voice procedure for passing a message (as laid down in APP1E, for those with access to it that wish to error check me) is as follows: YOU this is ME, this is my concise message, OVER. Breaking that down it's a very simple construct, but all of it is there for a reason;
YOU - who you are addressing the message to, we lead with this to get their attention - everyone listens for their own name/callsign. ME - who are you? the identity of the person passing the message is not always useful information however it always helps provide context for the recipient. OVER - I have finished transmitting, and require acknowledgement/a response. Key with this is to put all of the information needed into one concise message, e.g: AARON this is JAMES, four blues moving to the south of the fort, heading towards fuel dump, OVER From that message, AARON knows that JAMES is calling him, and that he has seen four blue players, he's stated their location and their direction of travel. AARON from that message has gained insight into the situation in game and could potentially be in a position to act upon it.
 
As the message ends with OVER, AARON should acknowledge receipt of it, the standard format for that is:
JAMES this is AARON, roger, OUT OUT - at the end of the message this indicates that you have finished transmitting and do not require a response If you need to transmit a message everyone, the format remains largely the same, you just skip off the recipient's callsign. Since you're not addressing anyone specific there's no requirement for acknowledgement, so you should end the transmission with OUT. this is JAMES, four blues moving to the south of the fort, heading towards fuel dump, OUT The standard, pointless, airsoft way of passing that message is generally as follows;
Spotted four blues in my 12 o clock, anyone else see them? I hear that crap week in week out, and that's me being generous, normally the message goes on way longer than that with way less useful information! The sender hasn't identified them self or stated any kind of location, so the message is robbed of all context, where is this person? where is his 12 o clock? Where are those blue players going? No one gains anything from that message, it uses up time on the radio that could be used to pass useful information for the benefit of everyone!
One I actually heard a few months back (at Black Ops Cribbs in Bristol) was a cracker, and summed up to me why some people shouldn't ever be given a radio. The game being played was a bomb-delivery game, where the other team needed to deliver a bomb to a gate at the end of a road that runs through the site; the bomb was not allowed to leave the road under any circumstances. As a defender I had called over the team channel requesting someone update me on the location of the bomb, so I could get myself into an effective position to help stop it so I said the following: this is James, I am in the barracks, does anyone know the location of the bomb, OVER I passed my location, so others on the site knew where I was and what I could see and I requested a bit of information from anyone who had it, finishing with OVER to indicate that I'd like a response. The response I got went something like this, it was probably longer:
Yeah I saw it a minute ago but I died and had to go back to respawn cos I'd already been mediced once, it's on the road. That was the point where I switched my radio off for the day.
 

Radio do's and don'ts: DO listen before you transmit. DO ensure that the information you're passing is USEFUL and RELEVANT. DO format and address your transmissions in a standard way, it helps everyone. DO think about what you're going to say before you push the button, umm and err are not useful information! DO conduct radio checks with your team before you start, ensure everyone can both receive and transmit DON'T 'step on' other people's transmissions by transmitting at the same time as them! DON'T 'radio check' people in-game, if they're not responding it's because they either can't hear you or can't speak because they're dead. DON'T transmit unless you've got something USEFUL to say - Some examples of things that aren't useful, but get sent ALL THE BLOODY TIME follow; reloading! - no one cares. contact! - without context this is useless, format it correctly and tell people who you are, where you are, where the enemy are, how many of them there are, which way they're headed, etc. tango down! / enemy hit! / etc - no one cares how super elite you are, at all. We're OSCAR MIKE - just f*ck off, seriously now. No one says this, not even Americans. Radio words that are useful; OVER - I have finished transmitting and would like a response OUT - I have finished transmitting and do not require a response SAY AGAIN - I didn't hear your last transmission, please send it again ROGER - I received your last message and understood it NEGATIVE - no AFFIRMATIVE (sometimes shortened to AFFIRM) - yes This is just a brief (lol, not really) rambling introduction into comms use and more importantly, comms discipline. It's a really deep subject which I can rant about for hours if required, but no one wants to read that! If anyone has any specific questions about voice procedures, not radio equipment, then I'm happy to answer them in this thread. Likewise, if anyone has anything specific they'd like to add or correct please chuck it below.

Teammate of Jcheese's over on Z-in. £90 all in
 

Mayflower assault back panel
 

Step by step you say?
 
1. Wear it airsofting
2. Do airsofting, not 'standing around in the woods with brand new tac. gear on not getting it mucky'
3. You see that muddy puddle? You bet your arse you're jumping in it.
4. Boy do those holly bushes look prickly. You'd better have a jog through those.
5. Repeat. DO NOT RINSE.

Just... Use it and get it messy... It'll sort itself out.

Teammate of Jcheese's over on Z-in. £90 all in
 

And also if you wanna be a proper professional air softer you have to smoke crack and eat a whole bag of biodegradable bb's they make your shooting skills better.

What you wanna do is head on to the pro website we all use called just bb guns and buy a pro gun. make sure it fires over 400 fps and plastic gearboxes are the way to go they are well known for being the best, and make sure you only use .12 gram bbs with a Chinese battery and slow charger to get the most range. Then you wanna get a 20 mw green laser stick it on the front so your pro and more tactical. But make sure you have a fancy laptop with you so you can call in airstrikes.

It never wears off because it's not just a novelty. Plastic guns are a let down every time you pick them up.