Lozart

I used to do this kind of stuff for a living (many moons ago) and soldering is definitely a skill you can improve with practice. A temperature controlled iron is well worth it but get a decent one with enough wattage to solder the things you're trying to work with - 30W ish should do the job well. You want something that can heat the joint surfaces quickly enough that you're not going to get a "cold" joint but not so hot that you just melt everything! Lead free solder is fine as long as you use the right soldering tips and work at the right temperature. A solder sucker is worth it's weight in gold for those moments when you've been a bit cack handed and have to start again. Pre-tin the cable and connector before you start and get a decent blob of properly flowed solder on the connector. Hold the two together then apply some more heat with maybe a small bit of extra solder and away you go.

Looks good. I'd go a bit easy on the scratching though - the bit around the large thumbwheel looks a bit excessive to me. Most of these parts are hand tightened so you wouldn't expect tool marks really.

That's...not how batteries work. Chances are that the lower C battery is limiting the motors speed which is what the actual problem is. A battery will only supply either as much as it can or as much as the load requires. Running a battery at 100% isn't really the best route, addressing why the load is drawing too much current is a much better method. Fix the cause, not the symptom.

The Cyma gears are good for over 400FPS as they are! The only "reinforced" gears on the market are the Prometheus set which are a) horribly expensive and b) out of stock EVERYWHERE. SHS do a set, I've just had three sets delivered direct from China or if you can find the Nuprol V7 set they are the SHS ones rebadged. As I say though, the stock gears will be absolutely fine for a good while!

It's a bit more tricky than that, this is a good indication though:

Where is "here"? Can you not buy online and have something shipped?

First off, lay off the massive font. V7 gearboxes are somewhat different than V2/3. The cylinder head, piston head and gearset are all V7 specific. Some aftermarket cylinder heads have a shorter nozzle than the others so the air nozzle doesn't seal properly when the tappet plate is forward. The standard M14 uses a short shaft motor, the EBR uses a long shaft motor with the collar removed. Changing to a tight bore barrel will push the fps a fair bit but make sure you get the right barrel. The slots in the side to lock the hop unit in place are in a different place than on a V2/3 type hop unit so you need either an M14 specific barrel like the Prometheus EG M14 barrel or something with both sets of grooves like a zci.

Trip to specsavers due soon?

M21 rifles were usually converted from National Match rifles which have no fire selector and the cutout in the stock is filled in. The ones like you've shown look like the standard fire selector with the outer "handle" cut off flush and filled in. I'd suggest that could be your best route. Get a replacement selector and cut it off flush. Bit of paint, job done.

Show us your solder joints.

My immediate thoughts - you have a bad solder joint on your connections.

I was just going to suggest British Tactical! Good gear. The warrior placards are in stock at the link I posted. Or, y'know...Google.

My tinnitus is down to industrial noise from years of working in factories, massive car stereos, playing guitar in bands gigging in pubs so small that 100w Marshall rig was literally feet away and going to very loud, very metal gigs for years. It's constant but gets worse when I'm stressed or tired. I don't have to listen for it, I hear it all the time. I had a hearing test recently and there's a massive dip around 4kHz which is pretty typical for industrial noise damage apparently.

If you're happy with the DCS and general Warrior quality then get a couple of the placards they do and put on the pouches of your choice. Otherwise, anything by Ferro, PIG, Spiritus, Haley Stategic, Mayflower etc will be plenty good enough! The main thing will be getting the adaptor/velcro panel to get the placard attached in the first place. You could do a lot worse than the AXL advanced system https://www.tactical-kit.co.uk/axl-adaptive-vest-placard-avp-for-jpc--airlite-spc--molle-carriers-33314-p.asp with https://www.tactical-kit.co.uk/axl-advanced-velcro-loop-adapter-35541-p.asp

Having used the over the ear Earmors for a while, if they're anything like as good then they'll be fine. You should be able to adjust the volume of the ambient sounds to whatever's comfortable for you. I literally feel your pain as I have tinnitus too!

How much do you want to spend? There's literally hundreds of decent placards out there! https://www.uktactical.com/p-12028-warrior-detachable-molle-front-panel-multicam.aspx https://www.google.com/search?q=plate+carrier+placard&rlz=1C1GCEU_enGB820GB820&oq=plate+carrier+placard&aqs=chrome..69i59j69i57j0i20i263i512j0i512l3j0i457i512j0i22i30l3.6127j1j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Or of course, you could get one of the plethora of micro rigs and use that as a placard. That would give you plenty of flexibility by simply swapping out the inserts.

For actually useful tactics as applied to airsoft I cannot recommend this guy enough https://www.youtube.com/user/rwiley1690 He's an active duty SWAT officer in the US the plays airsoft/milsim regularly.

If you're sticking with the DCS, your best bet would be to get a placard adaptor for the MOLLE front flap. Basically it's a molle backed sheet of velcro loop. Then you can put a couple of side release buckles (the female bit) onto the "bib" area and use aftermarket placards to swap loadouts. Something like this https://www.wtfidea.com/placard-adapter-pals-molle-vest-velcro-loop-field/ TMC also do something similar for less money or AXL Advanced do something much the same for more money. Take your pick!

Time is precious and believe it or not some people find that they just don't have the time to do everything themselves. And remember kids - if a job's worth doing, it's worth paying someone else to do it for you.

Result! If you fancy going down the Crazy Horse route, PDI make the gas block plug and front sight.

Funnily enough I always find that running about and getting some exercise actually helps the aches and pains but I think that's more down to the "why's" of my aches and pains!

Fair do's! To be honest I have a pair of ESS Profile Turbofan goggles for my forced convection eyewear needs. The issue with those is that the foam gasket that interfaces with your sweaty bonce has perished and fallen off. Can't get a decent replacement for love nor money. Currently looking at repurposing a paintball goggle gasket (any other suggestions gratefully received).

So - a few things to unwrap here. Firstly - M110 stocks are absolutely adjustable. As for telling you to get an M110 instead of an SR25, that just smacks of someone trying to sell you what they have in stock. The M110 is just a different military name for the same rifle (only with an adjustable buttstock and slightly different rail). If they're out of stock of the G&G rifle, this might be an opportunity to change manufacturers to one of the others suggested to you in your other threads. This would be a good option https://www.patrolbase.co.uk/cyma-cm-098-platinum-edition especially given that you're planning to DMR it and make internal mods anyway.

GPWM. Tempted to say it's his own fault for buying into the hype. You can get MOLLE adaptors for them. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Fobus-Molle-Platform-Chest-Rig-Mounting-Rotating-Holster-MOLLE-/201641120585?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=Cj0KCQiAys2MBhDOARIsAFf1D1cnhwUTZ4NUPfSnl2aRD-lTKUndNz09MGLCcQg47zgBgwtYdoOQB_IaAmmCEALw_wcB @occidioThis would work: https://deadlycustoms.co.uk/product-category/kydex-pistol-holsters/dc5-series-kydex-holsters/