skarra333

Just one example: Fireball Squadron, Birmingham. Some years ago some grand worth of kit wearing dude scoffed at some rental in - 'gaypat' (referring to his marpat of course), to which his mate chortled lightly. Most people are cool with what you wear, but from what I've seen, no doubt - like aliens, Elvis and reliable Alfa's, certainly they are out there somewhere.

Just to echo some of the other comments, try not to let what the site geardo says. They probably don't have a genuine issue with what you wear-but their life probably lacks any other real fulfilment or purpose, that they try and fill that void by being a king shit about other peoples clothes. Unfortunately, airsoft does have more than a few people no different from the 'plastics' in the Lindsay Lohan epic Meangirls. P.s. Lohan looks hot throughout that film, so I refuse to feel guilty for watching it, or referencing it.

I think if people pay £30 to airsoft, they've paid to airsoft as they want... In terms of 'motivating' people... I don't approve of anybody standing around shouting, yelling, or otherwise trying to bully(!) people into being as active as they feel, deem and demand they be. My mother is allowed to shout at me, my girlfriend when Ive genuinely done something wrong, but other than that - fuck off if you think you got some right to yell at me just because you're frustrated at a games progress. Learn to chill. By all means, calmly explain the importance of pushing up, inform players who can't see the necessity in attacking, educate people why a high tempo is crucial for a win and so on, but if they opt not to heed your words - so be it - leave them to it... That's their prerogative. There is a difference between trying to lead others, and just being a loud bossy bastard. New players especially need encouragement, information and support. They are newbies in a sport - not green grunts in anybody's personal LZ. A good site will know all of this. Their marshals will try and keep games moving themselves, will help players to get stuck in, and vitally - will protect them from the site gob who thinks he's General Patton.

Check with your halls/uni. Anything else is just an assumption, but we need to highlight that not all RIFs are owned and stored by dip-shits. It always confuses me how the fencers keep rapiers, archers keep longbows, paintballers keep markers in halls, but we can't keep our toys there.

In terms of worst quote I've heard, the chap at fireball squadron will always get me. I've posted this elsewhere on the forum before but I think it warrants repeat-it helps put things in perspective and can hopefully keep tardation at bay. The guy (a fireball member, with Marshall next to him nodding in agreement all the way) explained that he opened up an one of the enemy team at maybe 10m distance, but that a dense area of bush and undergrowth stopped the BB's. I mean fully stopped, the chap the other side was never close to being hit. However, said the Team Fireball chap '...you know, if real 5.56mm bullets were fired from that close a range, they would have gone through no problem, so, you know, you should play in the spirit and take your hits'... I'll never understand the people who feel the rules of physics are an injustice to their pretend war.

Personally I think it would be good for the sport if there was more photography (and publicity) from the safe zone. Airsoft gets a raw deal compared to things like paintball (even the mag-fed stuff). Think about how the paintball sites (that our airsoft venues often borrow) websites differ from the airsoft part. The paintball site will be front loaded with safe zone happy love-in stuff. The airsoft website will be dominated by pictures of fat chaps dressed like a CoD hero ready to breach a room.

You may be ok, but I advise you check in advance with the site you go to. Some of them require the a sealed 1-piece full face covering, at the behest of their insurance companies.

I agree with the others... The UAR beats the FAMAS the way Lady Gaga's t*ts beat Madonnas.

My TM Famas has faithfully served me for about 9 years now. It's kept going long after many a full-metal this or upgraded that has been left in the safe zone with a fault. It's not a great looking weapon, but in an ocean of M4's clones, it's nice to be a little different.

I think a few different issues should be considered here: 1.) Playing Airsoft in a Second World War bunker. This is fine in my opinion, sometimes. But to me, there is a difference between an old reserve airfield bunker in Lancashire, and the business end of Fortress Europa. It's all about context... A cops vs. robbers Airsoft game at The Mall, Reading - no problem, yeah? But how about a cops vs. robbers Airsoft game at the Westgate Shopping Mall, Nairobi? There's a difference... 2.) People dressing as soldiers to play airsoft. Are people dressing as soldiers, or characters? If it's the former (and of course some do), I think that in itself is often distasteful. If they are dressing as characters in a game however, it's different (to me at least). I guess it all comes down to the various shades of mil-sim vs. skirmish on the sliding scale of acceptability. Mil-sim may entail NATO vs. terrorist - a pretty superficial concept, not much more advanced than a child's goodies vs. baddies approach - its just a vehicle for one group of players to play the game against another group of players perhaps. But when people start dressing up to play 40 Commando vs. Taliban Musa Qala forces or the like, I think it crosses a line... 3.) The combination of these. I can't get my head around the scale of trivualisation that the 're-enactor' core of Airsoft descending on the Normandy bunkers to shoot plastic at one another would be... I don't mean to get preachy- but I'm just trying to say that staying on the palatable side of that sliding scale of acceptability is often down to the context, and recognising where distinctions should be made.

Can I ask what time/day of the week you went up? I've noticed proper business hours and business hours with dossers just hanging around in there giving unwanted opinions on how sh*t your stuff is etc. If you were there for the former, please share.

At the typical non-CQB skirmish, with the ranges we're talking about and other factors, effectiveness of camouflage is dependent on your style of play and how you wear it, as much as the pattern... Assuming we're talking about 'normal' camo and not combat Barbie bright pink BDU's, and assuming we're talking about the predominately Caucasian make-up of Airsoft players in the UK (which is another interesting topic to be discussed elsewhere?)... In my humble opinion, people think that their £400 Crye Multicam setup will make them as invisible as that ugly mutha f**ker Predator, but then walk around with the big pink fleshy blob above their shoulders uncovered, their sleeves rolled up to show off their Tan Oakley gloves, their black or Tan rifle sticking out like John Holmes in a Turkish bath house, their red and white shemagh around their neck with their chrome DEagle strapped across their chest, all around a solid OD green plate carrier with more pouches than a herd of siamese kangaroos. Of course gucci geardos are extreme examples, but how often have some or all of these been seen on players at your local site? Because the principles of camo are undone on maybe 70-80% of people I see. And of course, if you're bolting across woodland, amazing camo or not, if you're going to be seen, your going to be seen. For me and I think most players (as I say, it's dependent on your style of play) - the effectiveness of the camo pattern you choose only works to your advantage a hand full of times overall, if that - the rest of the time it makes minimal difference. So my point is, as others in other threads have said - go with what your wallet likes and what you feel good in.

I'd say you're close there chap. But a gas mask always seems funky to me, and SAAVs saturate Airsoft. Stick to any form of plain webbing over it if you ask me.

I have an old suit that I think could make for a good Harold Shipman loadout.

Sorry you had a bad experience. Proto masks aren't the best in my experience. They are the economy mask of Dye, and it shows. But for £20 you can buy your own fan though. Installed on your facemask, it's a good way of staying fog free, and keeping your teeth.

The way I see it, if there is a lack of skilled UK airsoft design and manufacture, that's an opportunity... It will be a niche area, but as with most anything, skill and quality are valuable commodities that people will pay for. One of the things worth thinking about is the various rings that make up Airsoft. Guns and RIF aren't the whole hog. Design a better lasting battery, not only might airsoft appreciate it, Apple might be buying your patent. And then there is the mask/goggle system... Nobody to date has developed a goggle system with an inbuilt HUD and software allowing proper force command, blue on blue detection etc in Airsoft and Paintball. The military are trying of course, things like the Q-Warrior. And some CoD fans tried to get a smartphone based App allowing you to play airsoft just like a game. But anybody who designs this for airsoft and pb will really have something the monied of the sports might shell out for eh... Not to mention the potential real world buyers (like army and police forces etc). But these are mere brain farts. Get trained in as many skillz that will keep you employed as you can. If you try to make it in airsoft and fail, you still need to make the rent.

In my head, I normally say: "Oh, I was just making polite small talk, I wasn't prepared for a follow up interrogation. And as I don't actually care what you think, and my coffee making is now successfully accomplished, I'm going to where you are not. " In actuality, I respond: "A sport like paintballing, but cheaper."

That extra 4p saving might buy you two penny sweets. #bonus

What if you pierce holes in the tube, and install it along the width of your goggles, like those garden hoses with holes every foot or the like. That way, you'd get the cool air being pumped across the entirety of your lens?

I like to be as self reliant as possible... I think while most sites will have a First Aider by necessity to tick the H&S and Insurance box, (apart from the few sites that have medical professionals on their day off) they will generally be no better qualified than the average office or factory first aider, and that's hit and miss quality wise. And while they can maybe do the whole CPR thing (I've never seen need for this - thankfully), in my humble opinion, while they may love stocking their first aid box with all the gauze, eye wash and burn dressings they can, maybe with a defibrillator (for which, they aren't trained) tucked under the sling and surgical scissors, when it comes to most typical skirmish injuries - bumps, scratches, nettle stings, welts, hi-cap finger, ankle twists, and assorted boo-boos etc, they just don't make things better the way my mother can, so I'd rather try to do it myself. If it's something more serious than a bit of a boo-boo, site First Aiders tend to be unable to really help anyway, and refer you on to A&E, your GP or local GUM clinic as necessary. And I'm always mindful of announcing my injuries too loudly, lest the resident survivalist come up offering his KFC wet wipe, needle and thread all pulled from the handle of a Bowie knife.

Youth... trying to act like because you paintball, you were not a dork, but in fact cooler than the kids who could play Football. Maybe that was just me. The lowest I've seen the Vortex 2 for would be around £15 new (http://www.fatbobspaintball.co.uk/jt-vortex-2-goggle-fan.html#.U_cKO2Mxh8E). You can get alternatives. Proto do a fan, there is something called the Haber Extractor and others I'm sure. You may be better sticking with your own fans though if you already have them(?) The thing with the Vortex fan, and all similar all in one housing designs that I've seen, is that they only have only one fan, and that is off-set on the one side. The pics here show it (http://www.pbportal.de/forum/showthread.php?t=201494). I think this would be a problem, because you're left side might be fine, but the far right side of the goggle will not get as much air, will struggle and will eventually steam up (in my opinion). For CQB it may not matter, the distortion may be minimal. For for long game woodland, I need the dual fan type stuff like the FANZ (http://www.fanzkit.com/FANZ_Quick_Disconnect_DF20/p643134_5522876.aspx) I think.

If that's what you're after, there is a JT Flex full head currently on ebay (It's not mine, so I'm not plugging my own sh*t for sale). (http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Paintball-mask-/121413601600?pt=UK_Protective_Equipment&hash=item1c44d08940). But either way, I believe that particular full head mask does work with JT's own Vortex fan, (http://assaulttactics.proboards.com/thread/156/brandnew-jt-vortex-goggle-fan), so i wager you could get most fans on it. Might be worth a thought. Edit - P.S. I should add that I strongly advise anybody buying a 2nd hand mask/goggles system to buy fresh new lenses themselves (unless they are still in sealed packaging, don't take a sellers word for it that it comes with new lenses). With Paintball masks at least, close range impact can damage them, and especially if there are scratches, cracks or discoloration (which can indicate a problem), they may not protect you, especially in CQB.

That's where the train tracks went...?

Don't forget old George Osborne's slice... But no doubt, for the amount of money they must be making, were I a paying attendee I'd want a Celeb to fire the first shots as it were. You know, a big name like Sara Anybint from The Only Way is Henley-in-Arden or some such.

It's true. CSI (the proper one, Vegas) did it in Season 4, Episode 10. A falling bullet killed some poor Suzy Homemaker in her front garden. Tragic.