BrightCandle

Embarassingly I can't work out how to get the trigger back together! Of all the things top trip up on....it has one of the most non standard gearboxes out there and I just can't get this trigger unit back together (its 2 screws, a plate of metal, the trigger, spring and a pin....I mean seriously how hard can it be). I would estimate for anyone used to taking there guns apart they will spend a couple of hours on full strip down and rebuild at least, its quite a lot of work. Now I desperately need to find some pictures of the internals around the trigger so I can put it back together.

I have had the S&T pro apart now and had a good lock at all the guts. This gun is a pain in the backside to strip and rebuild, oh my god! To get to anything everything has to come apart, its not easy to get in there. I can't say if the internals for the trigger, magazine and safety will stand the test of time but the internals of the gearbox is moderately interesting for anyone wanting to potentially get this gun. A few notable things: - Spring guide is plastic, no bearing. A pretty bad part compared to a decent gun, but because its quick release a real pain to replace. - Cylinder pretty basic non ported. Cylinder head is plastic and seals poorly. - Piston is all plastic (nice yellow pretty weak spongy plastic) as is the piston head. The piston head is awful and air seal is terrible because of it. - Nozzle is plastic, no o-ring. - There is 2x 8mm bushing but the rest of the gears are sat on steel bearings. - The gearbox is shimmed but it does not run well out of the box. - The trigger box is definitely unique, very awkward spring on this thing. - Tappet is standard black plastic, spring is quite strong. - Gears are all metal, not great quality but not awful either. - Its greesed reasonably well on the gears and such. Some greese missing however on the EBB connector. - The EBB is connected directly to the piston, so as the piston pulls back so does the fake bolt (which is quite heavy and provides some recoil) and as the piston pushes forward there is a catch that smacks into the fake bolt and pulls it forward along with the air. This is why the EBB is so loud on this gun, its metal on metal hitting under the power of the spring. A G&G M4 in comparison with EBB does it using air to push it back and then recycles the air back resulting in a nice clean movement and a minimal loss of power and lower impact on the way the air is pushed out. - Gearbox shell itself seems pretty strong. Hop unit is all plastic, completely custom design. No idea how well it holds hop settings yet, my guess based on playing with it is probably not well but we shall see when I skirmish it. Having taken it apart, tried the gearbox on its own with power and it not shooting, then getting it stripped, testing the motor on its own (worked) and then the rebuilt gearbox all is working again. Still mid build but looks lie I hadk a gearbox lock that the motor couldn't get past, was a lot of tension in the gearbox when it came apart despite the spring being removed. I'll hopefully get it together, test fire it and skirmish with it tomorrow and then see how it goes. Overall impression is the guns externals =poor, internals = poor to average, air seal and other consistency items= poor. Its no G&G or TM that is for certain, too much rubbish in the gearbox and plastic parts, none of which can be replaced with aftermarket.

If you want knee pads I do recommend you get built in ones. The separate knee pads I have seen people wearing all suffer the same issue, they slip over time and they get out of place. But you can get camo trousers with the pads either built in or spaces for pads to be added and held securely and this really is the best way to get knee pads. Its not a good way to try them to see if you want to use them but is a better solution so long as the trousers and knee pads line up properly for you.

I have looked into all the TAR 21 models and this is my run down: 1) Ares TAR 21 - Good externals. Internals are quite a bit custom including hop attached to the gerarbox and other one offs that you'll only find in this gun. Internally it also has faults, the magazine release button is a mess, the motor isn't exactly great and the gearbox is a bit rubbish. All in all its a nice looking gun but not very reliable. 2) S&T Explorer TAR 21 - Terrible externals, seams showing top and bottom and the plastic is thin and nasty. Internally its following a similar design to the Ares, only the gearbox is plasitc. Yeah its kind of rubbish. 3) S&T Professional TAR 21 - Brand new gun this year. The externals are better than the explorer edition, seams are still showing but the casing is a lot thicker than the explorer and its not so shiny. Internally it now has a metal gearbox, 8mm bushings, quick spring change system etc. Its meant to be a lot better and reviews of it seem to be mostly positive. A couple of weeks ago I bought the S&T professional. I had to get it imported from Hong Kong as its not out in the UK yet. Out of the box it was firing 390 (a tad hot). I used the quick release spring thing and found it has a short spring, which none of the stores I talked to has. I tried an M110 spring and it came out at 390 fps as well because it was too long, but after I clipped the spring which reduced the length, it came out the same as the original spring and produced 345 fps, just perfect for the 350 sites I play at. I fired 2 shots and now I get nothing out of the gun at all afterwards, no response on trigger pull. Stripping it down I have found its got a lot of special little hex keys in there in awkward places, not to mention there is no disassembly guide for this gun anywhere. I think its likely the motor died (its almost certainly electrical), seems the most likely cause although out of the box the wiring looks rubbish ( I have some nicks in the rear wiring showing the internal wiring, it needs repairing) but I am still waiting on some special long allen keys to get to the gearbox. So I wouldn't exactly call it faultless out of the box! Admittedly I changed the spring using the spring change system but it really didn't last more than about 100 shots. So really there aren't any good TAR 21's on the market, the Ares is the only one that looks decent externally, but its kind of rubbish internally. The others are cheaper and either much worse internally or marginally worse. They did fix some of the design faults of the original Ares with the Professional (supposedly) so in theory its the best one to get for faults and such but externally I can't say it looks very good at all and I haven't had any luck with the internals so far!

It really depends how much you sweat and how quickly you fog up. But at the most basic level the only way to stop fogging is to get rid of the trapped hot humid air and replace it with the air on the outside of the glasses so that its equal temperature and humidity. Its that difference in temperature that causes the issues so solutions that target that problem are the ones that work. Goggles with fans in them for example will expel hot air and that can reduce the fogging but cost some noise. Open glasses that aren't fully sealed can allow air to filter through behind and hence reduce the problem, there are also goggles with small holes for allowing air to escape as well. Combined with anti fog solution that can temporarily delay the issue you can get an anti fogging solution that works well enough.

Go with the We SCAR, while I don't know if its any good it can't be as bad as the T4-18 gen 3. My T418 has been nothing but problems (which I have mentioned quite a few times). Its poorly made from bad parts and ultimately should be a avoided in my opinion. The externals don't look all that great and its seriously front heavy due to the massive free float rail system on the front. The scar is a bit better designed than the 416. As to the secondary I would go for a GBB pistol. I would get one I think they are worth it. Many people avoid buying them and rarely switch to them but I have had my primary go down quite a few times now and the secondary has proved essential. I use it in CQB a lot and its a lot easier to stay alive using the pistol instead of the rifle in close quarters. I don't always take the pistol with me, if the game isn't going to end up in CQB I don't take it out because its not worth the weight but I do use it for what its good for. In woodland I use it less but I have switched to it before when my primary got jammed and managed to be useful but I try to avoid taking the weight when its really not going to help me.

I don't like to break the camouflage with a bright coloured gun. I have found multiple times in woodland its really hard to spot people who are using it well. I might not be using it well but I am quite certain a pink gun is going to stand out a little more than a black one. They can look good, I am certainly considering a two tone pistol (tan and black) but my style would be impacted by the bright colour.

An S&T (basically a Elite force) Tavor 21 professional long in black. Change the spring, gearbox jammed in two shots. Does not feed from a MAG magazine but feeds my awful GR16 magazines perfectly! I have had it 48 hours, its come all the way from hong kong and the quick change spring system has screwed me, right FPS but broken gun. So now it needs to come apart and I need to work out why pulling the trigger does nothing (I suspect the wiring or the motor rather than gears but we will see).

I am determined not to be a fair weather softer and the sites I am playing at are mostly woodland, I don't really want to go indoors as my local isn't exactly stellar gameplay. With that in mind the weather is probably going to turn for the worse pretty soon so I am starting to think about what I should be wearing to stay dry (ish) and warm (ish). There is a wide variety of waterproof trousers and jackets. So what do people wear and in what conditions do the games actually run in through the winter?

My experience is that you should wear a holster as high up towards your belt as you can get without interfering with the gear. That means in a lot of cases wearing it directly on the belt will be absolutely fine, not flap around and be a lot easier to use. But don't go any lower than you have to because the closer you get to the knee the more movement there is, the more restriction it will place on your movement and the more tiring it is to carry it.

I am always going to verge on the side of assuming that I didn't hit someone until they call it. I have seen how inaccurate these stupid things can be, how you can have feed issues and no BB comes out etc. So my assumption is if I shoot and I don't see their hand go up and a nice loud hit call that I haven't hit them, so I keep firing until I do see that. You just can't assume that you hit them and the other guy is cheating. They even appear to flinch sometimes like you hit them but then not call it, those I assume are close shots rather than actual hits. You run the risk of overkilling if you keep firing into someone, but that is on them not calling it quickly not on you for firing because you have no indication that they have actually been hit yet.

I really don't like the look of the glocks. Its a weird thing really but I feel a gun should be a bit more rounded/angular than they are. But I can't fault the design choices they ultimately make with them, light triggers in my experience are more accurate, the lack of hammer is quite practical and glocks run really well. I had a lot of fun shooting a 17 in the states earlier this year, the recoil was remarkably controllable compared to the M9 (not an airsoft concern really). The only thing I dislike about the glocks from an airsoft point of view is how to avoid negligent discharges. Because its single action you have two choices for how you carry the gun: 1) You carry it without a BB in the chamber, when you pull the gun you will have to rake the slide before you fire to load the round. 2) You leave the gun racked and trust the trigger safety.

Personally I find it much faster to acquire my target using a red dot. My initial games were in a dark CQB environment and iron sights were definitely not the right sighting system to use. Out in the woodland I doubt it makes much difference and indeed I see quite a few people who use and are happy with iron sights. But in CQB, in the dark the red dot is an essential part of kit IMO. Accuracy wise for airsoft I don't notice much different really, I just find it quicker to line up the dot sight with the target than to have to line up front and rear irons and focus on the front one and not the target. Red dots mean you can focus on the target and still aim accurately and to me that is an important plus point for them.

I have never had any luck emailing queries to them, they simply don't respond at all. While my deliveries from them have gone without a hitch my face to face trip to the store is the last I will take, they are a surly bunch. Their website is just atrocious, really really awful. I look anywhere else but Wolf for an item. It all just goes along with their don't care attitude.

If the amount of times I get shot on a weekend is anything to go by I would be dead in 5 minutes. I accept the fact that to the outside world I am cosplaying solder with toy guns. In my head their is something else going on, but mostly nowdays to the people who know I play I just claim its about getting fit and not mention the gun collection that is steadily growing.

I see some guys turn up to a game, put on their brand new sight and off they go. That way does not lead to success, they must be zeroed. Other than that pretty much any 1x sight is fine for airsoft and they go for about £40 upwards.

There is definitely an accuracy difference between a cheap gun and a more expensive one. Close up it doesn't matter, but those inconsistencies in air seal, hop spin and the barrel at ranges start to add up to make the BBs less accurate at ranges like 30metres. Its not just fluffy nice looks that separate the top guns from the cheap ones its also better internal parts, higher rates of fire and more accuracy. To get the very best in accuracy some people spend many hundreds on upgrades to get the very most out of it.

I don't know precisely if the real world applies to these two makes of airsoft pistol, but I am going to assume that they sort of mimic them. M9 Is a double action pistol, which means if you don't rack it then as you pull the trigger the hammer will return and it will then eventually break and fire. In real life its a pretty heavy trigger, much heavier pull than the glock. Its a pretty big gun for medium to big hands. Those with small hands don't tend to find this a very comfortable gun to shoot. Glock 23 Is a small compact pistol for everyday carry, its more for police force than military use. Its quite light as a result of the polymer construction. In the real world its main advantage is it requires very little grease to function properly, which helps it work well in dirty conditions and wet. Glock trigger pulls are quite light (less than half that of the M9 5.5 v 12 pounds), there is a nice click on reset with feeling and noise for finding the reset point. It is single action, gun must be racked before it can be fired. These are chalk and cheese pistols in real life, one is a heavy pull military issue gun requiring lots of grease on a pretty classical design whereas the glock is a hammerless single action pistol with a light pull, its used by a lot of competition shooters, not least because the sights can be changed. I personally like the decock safety of the Sig Sauer's, that has a lot of advantages in airsoft to arm it and then double action fire the first shot. What I dislike about the We F228 however is I can't hear or feel the reset point, making double taps very hard. A lot of the guys I meet seem pretty happy with their glocks, they have some of the lightest pulls out there, nice solid breaks on the trigger in good glock style and quite short pulls because of the single action nature of the guns. The M9 on the other hand I suspect is quite a long and ultimately heavy trigger pull in comparison. The 1911 you have now is probably quite a heavy trigger pull. Really depends what you like. These pistols are so different (just not competitors at all in the same space) that I would recommend you go and try them in a local shop.

So you have a load of gears that are wobbling about, vibrating on every shot back and forth, transferring all that wobble to the poor plastic piston and you are wondering why it is that the piston got stripped? Is this a joke of some kind I am missing?! Mechanically you are really mistreating those poor gearbox components its no wonder bits are failing. Its time you took this to a tech to get this sorted, I don't think you have the mindset for teching.

I don't personally find BB's are anywhere as accurate as a 5.56 round. At the extent of the range of my gun I find I need at least 5-10 rounds to get the hit. Yet at 30metres or so I would expect to very reliably hit what I was shooting at with 5.56 (and various other calibres I have used). Considering with a 22 I can happily shoot into the 85 score range I am pretty confident I can hit a penny at that range with most shots, let alone a person. Yet with my BB gun I miss quite a bit. Therefore a realistic amount of ammo is 5-10x what a real gun would use, so 150-300 rounds. Therefore depending on the accuracy of your gun your realistic ammo ranges are in the mid cap to high cap range. 30 round magazines just don't seem skirmish able to me.

I saw it coming but the problem I have is the vendor list wasn't very impressive.

I do (did haven't been CQBing in a few months) quite a bit of CQB in Bunker 51 and I found the M4 carbine too long. I only really noticed it when entering into a room and clearing it and occasionally when pieing a doorway while in a narrow space. There have certainly been times where I have seen the guy with the P90 manage to do a pieing that I myself couldn't do. You can do CQB with a sniper rifle (FPS permitting) but that doesn't mean its a good gun to do it with. The specialist CQB guns are better because of how much shorter and lighter they are, it does make a difference. You don't need it obviously, it really depends on how CQB focussed you want to get with a loadout. But if you know its a CQB gun you want then really you ought to focus on the guns that in the real world are good for that. You might also find a bullpup design rifle will work. A Tar 21, L85 or F2000 for example are all short assault rifles that often are no longer from shoulder to end of barrel than an SMG but use M4 magazines and have the accuracy of the longer guns at range but in a short snug package. They are heavier than an SMG usually and they also tend to have less standard parts internally (less upgradable) but they also look pretty cool and it is in many ways a good compromise for getting a gun that can do it all in one package.

If you bought those BBs in the UK from a UK site take it to trading standards. Not only are you due your money back but they need to shut the company down for selling mislabelled goods. A crime has been committed and you will get all your money back and potentially the costs of trying to work around the fault as well. Speak to trading standards about your options as I am certainly not a lawyer.

I have never been to this site and it really differs between the sites. Some of them provide overalls and full face mask, some just the full face mask in my experience so far. I haven't yet come across one that does gloves or boots or neck wrap. What I would recommend - take some trousers that are good for sports, ideal some tough ones (jeans are very bad, durable but bad with sweat), some thin protection gloves if you have some but if not don't worry about it. If you have a reasonable wrap for your neck you may as well take it and see if you get on with it, its again not essential so if you don't have an appropriate bit of cloth then don't worry about it, I personally don't get on with neck wraps at all so I just take the welts. Then you absolutely need water and money, for money you need enough to buy some BBs, drinks and food and maybe cabs and stuff depending on your existing fitness, because airsoft can be really tiring and wipe you completely out if you are currently unfit. If you already have an idea of how much water you get through when exercising then take an appropriate amount for the length of game, otherwise count for about 2 Litres for 3 hours of gameplay. It might be more than you need but you are better off having a bit too much. Take at least some of that water in a small bottle you can take with you into the field in a pocket so you can stay hydrated as its not uncommon for games to last multiple hours without a break. You will go home with marks, bare skin ones from close up might break the skin although its pretty rare and those can take a week to heal. Usually all the marks are gone after a week and through the overalls most wont leave a mark. The site looks like its a mix of CQB and outdoors, so you probably wont get shot as much as people do in really small sites like Bunker 51, and presumably it wont be as hot or as close up. My advice is based on the most grueling games I have had there and what I have found I needed. In the woodland games I take a camelback of water but a small bottle will do the job just as well and other than all this I also take a towel. I use it to dry out my head after a game so that my goggles don't fog up from all the sweat, but you'll get a mesh mask most likely and that wont be an issue for you.

My GR16 magazines will feed 0.28g's but not 0.30g properly. But its also still too strong a spring for the first 20 rounds so you have to underload them.