Baz JJ

Welcome to the UK and the forum and potentially airsofting. Thanks for doing your research before asking questions,

I was a great fan of G&P until a friend of mine had his crack for no apparent (stress) reason. The retailer repaired it for him, but I do wonder about the quality of the finish/metal.

Read thoroughly - there is a lot of useful information on here. Feel free to ask sensible questions and people will only be too willing to help.

Dont run before you can walk. Go to a few skirmishes, get your UKARA if youre over 18 and then decide where you want to go from there. Bear in mind that milsims generally speaking, dont allow two tone airsoft guns.

Its funny but although Ive heard about these kind of characters, Ive never ever seen one on an airsoft field. Hopefully, they're a minority. Dont let it put you off. Best thing is to just go and play. If you dont like a site or the way its organised, go somewhere else. Theres plenty of choice out there if you drive.

Another vote for the G&G; did get my spring upgraded to 400fps though.

Welcome to the forum.

Ive always used Plano SE cases. Not cheap but nor are broken guns.

Out of interest, what is the value of tracer rounds in airsoft ? How do you use the benefit of tracers ? Are we talking night games or low light CQB indoors ?

Airsoft was my way of getting fit, so its kind of self policing.

Some guns have different sizes and CW or CCW threads. Generally you can get an adapter but there are a few odd makes where its not possible. For example I struggled with a G&G rifle which had an odd size compatible with little.

You've narrowed it down to four TM AEGs. Surely its down to external cosmetics now, so your personal choice ? What sort of feedback are you looking for ?

I have an ASG franchi tri-shot which is a springer. Cheap, simple and fun. We have our first milsim in the Zoro series in March and its a counter terrorism game with lots of vehicle and cqb work so pistols, shotguns and SMGs come into their own.

This game happened last weekend and was probably one of the best games in the series so far. A few photos are up on the Facebook page and a wider selection is in the Okto closed community group. There was a guy from Airsoft Action in attendance so there will no doubt be a write up in the magazine at some point. The next op is in April and booking for that is due to open just before Christmas.

Sorry but you listed those two pistols in your op. This thread just shows that buying airsoft guns is a very personal and subjective experience. If youve got small hands, some of the guns in your second wish list are probably too big too. Suggest you visit a shop and look at some physical models to see what suits you best. I usually go in a shop with one intention and come away with something totally different.

I have those makes and would go TM or WE. The TM is plastic as has been stated before. Due to the light slide, they are very gas efficient and the trade markings are good, but it doesnt feel authentic in my hands and the blowback is not as noticeable. Good shooter though. However, my 'go to' pistols are both WE; a SIG 226 and an M92. I found it very easy to get holsters for those popular models although I believe the widths of tne TM and WE pistols can be different so exercise caution. I mainly use a WE M92 because it looks and feels pretty real in terms of weight (no trades though), its relatively inexpensive if it gets broken/dropped in action and it strips like real steel. I can also use CO2 mags through it in winter.

Sorry had to delve back in my records but got mine here http://www.jtac-custom.co.uk/replica-sapi-plates-16-c.asp

If you want to buy readymade ones, there is a UK supplier where I got mine from. Does different sizes, swimmer cut etc and as there is still 2 weeks to Christmas delivery should be possible (I presume this is some kind of present?)

The problem you will probably have is travelling, as unlike skirmishes they tend to be more spaced. Gunman run regular one day soft milsims at Norwich and their minimum age is 13. Also have a look at the Grange.

Yes there are but they are usually day ones rather than the long weekender types. What part of the country ?

Yes we saw the opportunity for weaponfest orgies with the weapons box at the start. However, in the way Okto uses the tool, its more about replicating what we intend to do at a physical milsim rather than "winning the exercise" by any means possible. So, typically we would only carry weapons types and the number of mags we do at a milsim. As we only play a fireteam at a time, the players are all over 16 and usually keep each other in line if people get silly. A lot of weight also slows you down significantly. On a different note, we also find these video guides very useful although we have to filter the advice about shooting through walls accordingly. https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=em-subs_digest-g&v=iKkpSCB_7DM

The only downside with Arma is the civilians arent very friendly. They stand and stare and dont talk to you. Not like the village policeman at our real milsim over the weekend. He was bribable and only gets bullets for his gun on Sundays which he then uses to shoot Moldistani squirrels. lol In Arma3, we were messing with different weapons earlier, playing with some big hitters and I destroyed a quad bike my team mate was riding round, with a .50 cal sniper rifle which looked very much like a Barrett. The tyres exploded and he ended up losing control and driving into a parked car.

Four of us played this evening and we made an attack on an airfield. We had to discuss the objective over Teamspeak, work out what weapons we each needed (no point in unnecessary duplication), worked out fireteam roles, etc. The interface to the game is relatively easy and we have a virtual armoury which is available at the beginning so we can select our camo, loadout, weaponry etc and so choose what you want or need. We were able to work together to fight our way past the gate guards, deal with the patrols and then destroy three aircraft with an RPG and charges. The game senses your load in terms of weapons and ammo and controls your stamina. As you say Zak, if nothing else it gives you the chance to keep in touch with airsoft pals between games and allows you to polish your comms.

The thing Ive found is that a growing portion of our population, particularly younger people read less and less. We live in an era where its getting harder to even read the news; a lot of it is videos. People absorb a lot more by seeing and doing rather than reading or looking at diagrams. Arma3 has some pretty good tutorials and virtual training stuff created by the makers. Ive never played CoD or but I have Battlefield and there is no comparison. The strange thing is that we at Okto are not elitist milsimmers or geardo's. Dont make the mistake of tarring all milsimmers as being the same. Nor are we computer freaks and we are trying to make it as simple as possible so people from our community with a PC, a copy of A3, a headset and a broadband connection can join in without having to do any more than mouse click their way in. We have tried a few test sessions with Arma3 and it is proving fun and useful. It also enables players who sign up for a future milsim to get to know the players they are going to be fighting alongside, before they turn up on the day. Just sorting out roles and weaponry over Teamspeak when running through a test scenario can be valuable.

All valid and balanced points I feel. We have just finished Operation Claw Hammer (a physical milsim not an online game) and we always get a fair few new milsim players who have only played skirmish. Nothing wrong with that at all and they are most welcome. However, we use military radio comms which many have never experienced in skirmishes (some are even new to radios full stop), so the "enemy is over there" experience is often present. Practising on Arma and using a closed Teamspeak channel helps with this as we use the same comms protocols. As you quite rightly say, there are a lot of things we can't practise. We did a breaching on the weekend and the room ended up being booby-trapped on a 30 second timer with a pressure pad, so the whole breaching crew went up, but Arma wouldn't have helped prevent that. We feel it is useful to help people experience shoot and scooting and ambush skills and situation awareness, spacing in a fire team, as well as the comms etc. We don't try to teach people - not our place, but if four or five people play from one of the force teams, normally the more experienced flow down that experience to the others in the virtual world. Arma also allows us to use NVGs, assault boats and other kit that we don't use in game.