Greg147

One more for the collection! Bought this British-style Thompson off a nice chap on the WW2 Airsoft forums. Shame it's too big to actually fit in the crate I made

Cheers guys. That would be an SR-3M Vikhr, the AK's ugly (er) cousin

New paintjob all finished! Nothing fancy but I've got a can of OD to use up, so....

I just had a look at the collection and realised that I've inadvertently set myself up for 'Nam

Well, my S&T Stirling has survived it's first paint-job! Very basic but I much prefer green to the original black. Just wish it was a little darker, but oh well. I'm sure I'll have to redo it after a few months anyway

Nothing to stop them once they're registered for UKARA...but before that, it's classed as manufacturing a RIF, and is rather illegal EDIT: I forget the exact wording, but the non-black color needs to be particularly bright, otherwise it's not classed as two toned.

No two tone guns = Having to rent and go to the same site three times before you can buy your gun, spending a total of around £75 on a gun that isn't yours. I've got first hand experience of previously very eager people who have looked at that and thought 'nah, sod it, it's probably not worth it after all'. Two Tone guns = Having the option to buy a nice starter gun and get cracking straight away. Comes with a sense of ownership, and the good feeling that comes from knowing you own your own kit, and you've started your own armory. Techies get to start exploring with tinkering on their kit, gun-nuts get to start looking at accessories to stick on it. Additionally, the purchase will make someone more likely to continue the sport if they have a bad couple of first game days, as they've already made the investment. Make sense?

Two tone guns make it easier for people to get into the sport, so I don't think there's anything wrong with them. I don't look down on someone for turning up and using one, and I don't always assume they're a new guy*. That said, I never went and got one myself on the grounds that they're far too colorful for me. I got UKARA registered to buy a black one as soon as possible, but for people who don't skirmish often, or don't use the same site enough times to get a membership, two tone guns seem like an easy way for them to have their own kit. *with the possible exception of orange L96s...

While I'm not a long term owner, I'll offer my input anyway. I myself have recently picked up LCT's SR-3M, and while it's not exactly the same as the AS VAL, I gather that apart from the integrated silencer, the internal workings and outer build quality are pretty much identical. Is the SR-3M what you're referring to with NPO? I'd say battery space is the only downside to these guns (both AS VAL and SR-3M). The AS VAL needs a two part li-po I believe, which slots with side of the silencer, so that isn't too bad, but the SR-3M has practically no space and I've resorted to cable-tying one where the forward grip should go. Get past that, and they're solid. Everything is steel apart from the grips, and those are high quality ABS. They feel solid, with no creaking, and I don't think anything's going to come loose any time soon. My SR-3M shoots like a laser too, so I can only imagine that the longer barreled AS VAL would be the same if not better. Fire-Support has plenty of magazines in stock at the moment, 50 round mid caps and 250 round high caps, available in both black and brown

Thought I should weigh in my opinion on the Sten. It's a nice little gun, but I definitely wouldn't recommend someone having it as their only AEG, let alone their first one. Your pros are generally spot on, it has got a nice range considering the size, and it's lightweight and easy to maneuver with. However, the mags would be an issue, because with only low and mid caps available, and no semi-auto mode, you'd need quite a few. I burnt through 6 110rnd magazines in about 20 minutes last time I used one, simply by having to fire two shots where I would normally fire one. The King Arms boxes of magazines are by far the best to buy if you're looking to last a whole skirmish, but I think they're pretty hard to find in stock anywhere now. The battery isn't too hard to get to, a twist of an allen wrench gets the stock off, and that's all there is to it. It's surprisingly comfortable to hold as well, and I found that dump pouches or thigh-pockets worked well for carrying magazines. Be warned though, it's not a particularly sturdy gun. Screws come loose easily, bits fall off, and the stock eventually develops a wobble that no amount of tightening will fix. To conclude, it's a fun gun to use, but I wouldn't recommend it for a first gun. I think you'd benefit from getting something with more available upgrade parts, highly available accessories, and a selector switch (otherwise you risk marshals saying something like 'this next game is single shot only!', and then you're stuffed). Also, it hasn't got a safety. Out of the three you've listed, I'd recommend the CM16. Like you, however, I don't like M4 style guns, so maybe not. My first AEG was the Jing Jong T3K3, and that served me well for over a year before my next one. Light weight, cheap, impressive range, and simple to upgrade. Plus it looked unique and fancy

CM is short for CYMA on their site, the CM.126 is their AEP M9 model. The CM.123 is the M1911

Nope, no import taxes as they're in the EU. Just the cost stated on the website. I've used them loads before, never really had any issues.

Sounds like a good way for going about it. I think I've accidentally become a sniper by getting my last rifle; picked up the upgraded version of a G&G M14, didn't realise it was upgraded because it was a DMR setup, and was firing 450 FPS out of the box. Now I'm playing with a MED, but the thing shoots like a laser, and not having to work a bolt every shot means I can still get stuck in with the AEG guys, just focusing on the long range targets while they take on the guys up close. Which I suppose is the whole point of a DMR. Anyway, that's my idea of a slow transition, if I ever was to pick up a bolt action. I can't imagine I will though. DMRs are far too much fun!

My loadout for the weekend. Finally feel like I've stuck enough stuff on the M21. No I couldn't find a way to attach the bipod properly. Yes it is held on with cable ties. Yes I do consider that a success. I find that one of the great things about airsoft guns is that they're limited only by your imagination and quantity of cable ties (incidentally, the foregrip of the AK is also held on by cable ties).

There are some occasions where I've ended up getting shot at without lower face on (mostly long distance stuff, where I think I'm out of range). If in one of those instances I got ended up losing a tooth, I don't think there'd be a single moment where I considered it anyone's fault but my own. As people have said, not wearing lower face protection is a risk, and those of us who go without have to deal with the consequences should they ever occur.

Yup, that's pretty much what I wear, except I use a biker 'snood' instead of a balaclava, and no ear protection (snood thing covers the ears).

I've got an order incoming from TaiwanGun at the moment. I've used them three or four times before, never had any issues (except the barrel of one of my AKs was a little wonky. Couldn't be bothered with returning it, so just fixed it with cable-ties). As far as I'm aware, they do handle returns quite well if you did have an issue. They've also got free postage on orders above 60 euros at the moment until the 15th of Feb.

Haha, that's not even the worst one! In one of my first skirmishes, I took aim at someone through some trees, squeezed the trigger, only to have a teammate pop up and take a shot at the game guy. Right in front of me. Caught him square in the back of the head from about two metres. Fortunately I'd been talking to him in the safe-zone before the game, and he took it in good humor. I expect it probably stung just a tad though...

I generally don't aim for the head, and if there's someone with only their head showing, I'd probably wait until they came up to shoot before I fired (although that might be because I'd rather have a bigger target). However, there have been instances where someone's come out of nowhere, and I've instinctively pulled the trigger. I once had a game where I was alone in a pillbox type structure, defending against what felt like at least a dozen players in the last minute of the game (the pillbox being the last objective), and a guy ran past with just his head showing above the wall around me. I instinctively fired, and caught him with about three rounds in the side of the face. I immediately felt bad, lost focus for just a second as I apologized to him, and promptly got shot by his mates as they rushed me. Not sure that story has a moral really. Was a fun last stand though.

I've got a helmet cam video of a guy next to me getting his tooth shot out. Still makes me cringe when I watch it back. Personally I'm not a fan of having a mesh lower face mask, as I find them really uncomfortable, but I wear a motorcyclists neck-warmer style thing that I slide up over my mouth whenever I'm heading into an area where the other team are. Means I can pull it down for briefings and jogs back to the safe-zone. Just a personal preference, but it works for me. About the goggles thing, I'd say just go for sealed ones. I don't think I'd feel fully protected with gaps around the edges of my glasses, lower mask or not.

Ah. Clearly I need to do a bit more exploring them. Closest I've seen is a light aircraft chassis at MadDog, and the tank at Urban Assault. I should probably branch out of Hertfordshire occasionally...

Seems almost every video I see from the US has something like this happening. Although that's mostly the indoor sites, the outdoor ones generally look quite good. Plus, I recognized at least three of the clips in that video, so I'm probably just watching the same two kids fighting over and over. Liking that helicopter prop though, shame there's not more like that available over here.

Ones like the link below are side mounted, but don't need external parts. You just screw it into two existing holes in front of the mag-well. They allow you to mount the sight just above the rear iron-site, if that's not too far forward for you. http://www.patrolbase.co.uk/airsoft/cyber-gun-kalashnikov-ak47-series-scope-mount.htm#.Vms51vmLSUk

Myself and a group of three others decided we would be a little sneaky at the Barton-le-Clay RIFT site. Very hilly, and very thick woodland. The first fifteen minutes of the game were spent scrambling up and down almost sheer drops, navigating bushes and brambles, and generally taking the most unusable route to try and flank around the enemy, all while being as silent as possible. We emerged only to find the rest of our team had simply pushed the other team back without us. We came out at literally the same location that our guys were holding. At least it was immersive, I suppose.

Fair enough on those points, I see that there's different ways of looking at it. For me personally though, it would be a little unsuitable (even if you forget what the uniform actually represents). While I do take pride in my gear (weapons etc), I find clothes are a little more disposable. Army surplus stuff is cheap, and I don't worry too much is a tear opens up somewhere, but if I owned a piece of ceremonial gear I wouldn't want it getting damaged. Although I do see your point on how you could easily spend just as much on combat gear such as plate carriers (that said, I'd still expect them to be more hard-wearing than something designed to be worn at parades) The uniform itself isn't something that would offend me (although I wouldn't approve), and I wouldn't say anything if someone turned up to a skirmish in one, but as I said, there wouldn't be a particularly warm welcome from the players in general, and I'm not sure why someone would choose to invoke that reaction. My original point wasn't that he shouldn't or couldn't wear it, I was simply questioning whether the drawbacks were worth it.