straffham

Hi Pete, thanks for that, not busting for any one RIF in particular, although I'd like an Ares L1A1 (having missed them twice now for the reasons stated) and/or an S&T Sterling but both are in short supply it seems. In specific defence terms I wouldn't want to be seen as taking the pee though, it's not like my UKARA has just run out. Mind you if buying aftermarket upgrade parts helped with my defence (mainly several gear sets off you over the past couple of months) I'd be sorted! Cheers.

Hey folks. Not posted in an age as airsoft has been sadly on the backburner for me for the past 2 or 3 years, but I've been looking in and this thread caught my eye as I was wondering how lockdowns had affected UKARA registrations etc. I hope to get to a game or 2 again soon. I have been upgrading a couple of my RIFs during lockdown and it seems to have reignited the spark (being the wrong side of 50 doesn't help!). Due mainly to working most weekends my UKARA lapsed a few years ago. My local site membership is fairly expensive, though pays for itself after several games (due to discount), plus you get 2 free Social events a year which is fair enough, if you can go several times a year. As my local sites don't hold midweek or evening games outside of the odd special event I couldn't go often enough to maintain my site membership, and hence UKARA, and these aspects annoy me more than any other - ie only registered if you pay the membership fee, the annual requirement to "renew it or lose it", and that you need enough free weekends to qualify in the first place. But I digress, it is what it is, just my opinions. The retailers created the UKARA defences so it is primarily in their interest to make it as straightforward as possible for existing registered players to be able to renew their details, sites being non operational during lockdown being the weak link currently (and understandably) it seems. I am another who is in the position of having cash to buy new toys, but I can't due to the rules. I was interested to read about the "other defences" mentioned (Cosplay etc) too.

As has been said it could have had the stock tube extension photoshopped out or it COULD be a copy of the Star/Ares design which use a more realistic design where the whole stock tube screws into the receiver and is secured by a locking ring.

Just re-barrelled my XM-177 due to damage. 2 piece Cyma barrel gives me 2 guns for the price of 1, the XM177 or a USAF GUU-5P (real world former XM / M16 carbine with M4 barrel upgrade) by using the Cyma M4 barrel extension. Needs a little touch up of paint in one or 2 places. Gearbox was rebuilt while it was in pieces too. Few details still to deal with if I can find parts, namely the slip ring and pistol grip, but I'm pretty happy with it. :-)

Not strictly an airsoft purchase but will be used for airsoft jobs, Tap and Die set £14.99 from Aldi, useful for threading holes that have stripped, custom bolts etc, but mainly for making screw in (ie adjustable) velocity reducers for GBBRs, in this case for my AKS74U. So far so good, down to just sub 350 on propane at room temp. :-)

I have an elderly KSC/KWA Glock 23F (has both labels on the box) about 10-12 years old with plastic slide. Always been reliable even on green gas with an epic rate of fire and spares are available from Firesupport among others, had a new hop rubber in mine but thats about it. Can't compare to a WE Glock (or any other metal slide Glock for that matter) as never tried one. But yeah if the current KSC models are on a par with the older ones it should last well. Edit don't expect metal slide versions to have as high rate of fire or be as reliable in the cold.

3 mags for my KWC co2 Mini Uzi, ordered from Gunfire, found somewhere stocking them outside HK at LONG LONG last, BIG thanks to Mr. Spoon for the heads up!

Thing with co2 mags is not to overtighten them. there is a built in plasticky sealing ring (usually white) around the 'pin' which is supposed to stop leaks but they can be damaged by overtightening. Basically when you screw it in and the seal punctures you only need tighten it until it stops hissing, don't necessarily tighten it as tight as you possibly can. Other than that have you lubed the gun at all, is it still cycling freely?

Worth mentioning that Cyma M4's usually chrono around 360fps out of the box unless you bought from somewhere which pre downgrades them, which is too hot for most sites (350 is usually the maximum acceptable, can be 328 at some sites so worth checking). A Marui hop rubber (£5 from Firesupport) is about the only upgrade worth doing until something goes wrong (often with Cyma's the trigger switch contacts can become burnt from arcing and need replacing but again they are cheapish to replace. With the stock 8.4v battery they should last a good while but as said above a bigger battery will kill them quicker). Cyma gearbox innards are compatible with standard V2 parts. The gears are quite good in them as standard. As said youtube is a good source of strip down guides, just remember there are a lot of parts in a gearbox, some under spring pressure which will attempt to go into orbit when you open it up, so the first time make sure you open it inside a plastic bag. I can recommend Fire Support for parts online as well as Pete ("ak2m4") on this forum. Again I'm not from your part of the world so can't recommend any sites sorry.

Never mind, beaten to it lol!

Merry Christmas to you K@rl and all on the forum. :-)

Boots every time for me for the ankle protection. Mud or even bb's on a concrete floor can really mess your week up if you get a bad sprain or worse, a broken ankle.

A Sterling SMG, L1A1 and TM P226 or Browning DA would be nice please?

I have a Tango Down stubby vert grip on my PDW and love it. Full size vert grips on small AEG's look odd to me, just my 5p worth of course. . . Also use a AFG on my AKS74U which is ok but tbh thinking of swapping it out for another TD at some point.

strange that the gun cycles and fires gas yet the BBs are jammed in the feed lips. Sounds like for whatever reason the mag feed lip is slightly low relative to the feed nozzle, otherwise the air nozzle should either feed a BB or stop against a jammed BB in the mag (or the mag follower)?

Does the mag wobble in the mag well? And does the gun fire but just not pick up a BB? If the answer to both is yes it sounds like the mag is not seating correctly and may need shimming slightly so its more snug in the magwell. If the mag is firm it sounds like an issue with the air nozzle not pushing the BB into the chamber.

It is indeed bonkers, and probably the keyword here is "interpretation" on the wording of what is and isn't acceptable to post, and this seems a grey area, the main one concerning gas guns of any description is the presence of a vessel that is "capable" of being pressurised, so yes mags would come under that category, or the gas tank in a NBB. In theory CO2 guns using standard capsules would be fine to send without any capsules as there is nothing that is or can be pressurized without the capsule present. Likewise a GBB without magazine. The biggest grey area is if the Courier seizes the gun for this reason, and says you have sent it in contravention of their terms of carriage, saying the filler valve is removed probably won't cut much ice, leaving you to forfeit your goods or employ a solicitor to argue your case against a huge company. . . . . . What really bugs me is retailers use Royal Mail, Parcelforce, UPS etc for sending gas guns, gas itself, batteries etc all the time without issue so it smacks of double standards.

Unfortunately as far as GBBs are concerned basically you're running a gauntlet. I don't know of any parcel company that will accept them. AEG's are fairly straightforward as Parcelforce will take them (BUT NOT batteries unless new unopened in original packaging), basically gas guns fall foul by virtue of being prohibited for sending as they are CAPABLE of containing pressurised gas (ie magazines or internal gas cylinders, whether or not they have gas in) and there have been a couple of cases of them being seized/destroyed without compensation, even with the gas filler valves removed (on Zeroin forum iirc). HOWEVER people still send them day in day out and the vast majority evidently get through ok (though I would think twice if its likely to involve border checks or airmail). If you have to post it I would suggest honesty is the best policy, make sure the mags are empty of gas tell the Post Office its airsoft sporting goods and contains no batteries or gas and even mark the package with words to that effect, as well as the addressees UKARA number if applicable, but bare in mind as said TECHNICALLY its breaching their conditions of postage and if you were unlucky enough for it to be checked you may find it gets seized. Best of luck!

Welcome aboard!

Have you tried the WW2 airsoft site www.ww2airsoft.org.uk ? May be someone with some for sale on there.

Just seen this, to confirm a real steel AK grip will not work on an AEG. they are a LOT narrower than an AEG one. Was fortunate enough to handle some deactivated AKs at weekend at my local site (to see if real steel grips would fit my GBBR AKS74U - not without some modification,even though the GBBR ones are basically the right size).

Welcome!

L1A1 SLR (Star/Ares unless another company bring out one that looks right) L2A3 Sterling (at least thats do-able now) Late model Browning Hi-Power (not the WW2 GP35 version thats currently available).

Does turning the hop all the way off make any difference? I had some slightly different issues with mine, though occasional gas venting was one of them, turned out the hop rubber was past it. Replaced it and now works as good as new.

Not if you're expecting a big difference in sound, as others said it mainly changes the sound rather than a big volume boost. It is more noticable in indoor CQB than outdoors. But they look good on short barrel guns too! :-)