Baz JJ

Not aware of any general milsim forums. Most organisers and teams have their own, many on Facebook. There is Airsoft Milsim Central on Facebook but its a bit niche

Are Airsoft World actually delivering these ? We have looked into using them in our milsims but there are legal issues about how they are classified so its on hold at the moment

Ive got an AK103 coming, but the wife who has bought it for me as a Christmas present will not let me have it yet (understandably I suppose) so here is the box which is the closest I can get. Its intended for a Spetsnaz loadout idea for our Okto Eight Milsims which use a lot of Eastern Bloc/Russian weapons in the game - the rebels team like to play with AKs, SVD and VSS. As my other personal weapon is a Chinese Type 56 with wooden furniture and not technically an AK, I believe this will be my first true Russian AK, so have gone for the more modern look. Ive also treated myself to a PSD-1 suppressor for it. Looked at Russian copy optics but binned that idea as too difficult and expensive as I think I need the G&G side mount bracket first and they aren't cheap or that easy to fit I believe.

Its a few miles from Kings Langley station - taxi, if you cant rope some mates in to drive.

I see you are also in the London area. I got the G&G AK103 from Airsoft Zone in Romford. Highly recommended for local support.

Have just got an AK103 from G&G. Not had a chance to use it yet as its a Christmas present, but looks and feels solid. Stock is handy for Lipo and ironsights easy to adjust. Not so easy to put optics on though if that is what you plan. It comes with a hi-cap but I plan to use it with the G&G midcaps.

Player Review on their blog http://thesecretairsofter.com/2014/10/19/milsim-and-me/comment-page-1/#comment-228

https://www.facebook.com/OktoEightMilsim

The plot for Operation Tailspin is evolving and there are already public news reports on the Facebook page and privileged force intel complying with OPSEC on the secret team groups.

Enjoy !

Few Airsoft people buy real optics. Don't confuse a few geardo's who spend all their disposable income on airsoft with the masses. For most, radios come low down on the spending budget priorities. My advice for what its worth is get commissions and deposits before you spend time building any custom radios.

I've worked with radios in my job for about 30 years and have quite a collection of new and old stuff, plus weird and wonderful antennae. I'm not sure whether you are advocating some sort of business to supply airsofters with radios or whether you just want to experiment. If its the former, you run the risk of making what interests you rather than what people want to buy. Its the old problem of hobbies vs work. How much do you think the average airsofter will pay for a radio ? In my experience, most expect to pay less than £40 each. How many airsofters will pay £100+ for a radio - from what I've seen, if you go the TRI route or converted PRR route, you are looking at in excess of this. PRC-343's are changing hands at much more than this when they are complete working sets. The TRI units from the far east are not perfect but are probably the best available in the operational replica market - not cheap either. Basically Baofeng radios in a new skin. To be honest, I don't really care what my radio looks like. Its hidden in a pouch and on a locked simplex frequency for a game. At most, I reach in and give the volume knob a twiddle. In terms of marketing and if I wanted to go into business doing this sort of thing, I would take a Z-tactical headset unit apart, sort out the imperfections, add a volume control to a PTT so you don't need to touch the radio in battle and provide uprated headsets to work with the existing common radios. The US style dual earcup type with audio level protection (talkthough) is gaining in popularity in Airsoft. http://www.airsoft-forums.co.uk/index.php/topic/23646-sordins-with-boom-mike/ Everything is historical that you see anyway as the military world is moving into cognitive radio and all the radios we are talking about now will be replaced with CR at some point I suspect, which means a whole range of new radio products to lust after in Airsoft.

Some people want that style and some want the dual earpiece Sordin type. We are not talking £10. Z Tactical ones are a lot more than that. They don't need to be mil standard for Airsoft, but spending £60-80 on a Chinese Sordin copy that only lasts a few games in some cases is not good commercial sense.

Forget radios mate. Just offer us a decent headset and boom mic with a mil plug for the PTT that looks like a Sordin or Peltor but doesnt break like the budget crap we have from the far east and doesn't cost hundreds of pounds like the real thing. Most Players will keep buying cheap radios like Baofeng or PMR446 and a small minority of hardcore milsimmers will buy the real units or the Triumph replica units. There is no one answer fits all.

Not a Kitesight but similar http://www.sofmilitary.co.uk/dummy-night-vision-optic-with-mounts-black-product,14840

We run a milsim every 6 months and the next is in April. There is quite a big south coast contingent who came to the first milsim in the series, held last month and have already paid their deposit for the April one. They like to play the rebels though !

Not so easy and then it wouldn't have any form of optic, so it would just be for show.

Yes its a replica Im looking for. Don't want the real thing otherwise Id get it from my friend who works there.

Booking opened for Operation Tailspin and first deposits received. Game on..

Thats a shame because they are still being made and used by the British Army. Would have thought an important part of a British Army loadout.

There is one nationwide group on Facebook that I can think of, that has more active members than the forum and has a higher activity level. However, quality counts. The nature of Facebook means that these groups tend to get a lot of trolls and people arguing about UKARA and so on. This group, although quieter, tends to be more respectful and with a similar wide knowledge base.

I think you will find that those already on the forum quite like, well the forum - thats why they are here and not on Facebook. Those on Facebook wont hear you, because, well they are looking at Facebook :-p

Thanks but the fun of Airsoft is more than just the combat. Many people like customising their own Airsoft guns and getting their own gear together. Im sure your idea will go great guns with stag parties and birthdays etc. Ive played the site and its a great layout. Good luck with doing something new.

A friend of mine in the business works for this maker. The Kite is well known in the military but I cant find if anybody makes anything resembling it, shape-wise ? I can only find the usual Aimpoints, EoTechs etc

I cant answer for this forum. Ive been involved in non-Airsoft forums which have branched out into FB and have found it increased the membership but polarised the members, Some people don't like Facebook so prefer a web based forum, Existing FB users on the other hand prefer FB access. Interestingly, we started a milsim community group and decided not to open a website, just relying on Facebook. It works for us and the medium is ideal for what we need.