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Nothing that I have seen in this thread has caused me to question the review; neither has it, or anything that I have seen on FB, encouraged me to visit 501st Airsoft.

10 seconds on Google shows this is bollocks This Ollie bloke sounds like a bit of a twat to be honest. Does he have anything to do with running the site or is he just a regular player?

Spot on with rules as a framework but not impinging on the ability to have specifics for the site/type of event There isn’t a single paintball rule set. There are some basics, and also of course national legislation. In competitive paintball there isn’t a single rule set - there was an attempt at a “world paintball tournament” ruleset - even that had two different sets of “world” and “USA” rules, let alone US paintball politics meaning that every league had its own rules. The Millenium is the major European tournament and other leagues just happily adopt those rules giving consistency for players When UK scenario paintball scene was in its heyday, and pretty much everyone was on the same UKscenario forum a collective of event organisers / sites formed the UKSPC - UK scenario paintball community or collective ? - (this was a decade ago) The standards set things such as bottle checking, providing free UKPSF air safety sessions and only allowing self filling by UKPSF air safety card holders and the rule element of maximum velocity 280fps, 260fps for CO2 or close up/night games - this aided players by not having a range of velocities between sites and events with players previously adjusting every couple of weeks for the next event (Our first event opened the 2010 scenario season and therefore was the first UKSPC compliant event) The UKSPC didn’t need to cost anything for sites to join up etc, it did align with the UKPSF with their recommended standards and air safety training. But the collective was voluntary - it just needed organisers to see a need and take action (back then the scenario scene was pretty much by players for players, so the host of X was also playing Y and Z) The UKSPC is probably forgotten, but the general standards remain whether intentionally or because an organiser today just uses what is common All our paintball rulesets are based on the UKSPC set, and then I refine to the game format. Our Airsoft rulesets have been similar but then handed to the Airsofters for translation

Welcome Joe, everyone's entitled to an opinion, that's what makes this place great, Colin shared somebody elses review, someone he knows personally so he has no reason to disbelieve what he was told. He & I had discussed this a little a week ago & he was reluctant to disclose too much info until the site had been given the opportunity to respond. I'm guessing they chose not to, or their response was inadequate, hence why this is now in the public domain. I'm gonna make an assumption that the reviewer, & his family, aren't first time players, & that the issues they've highlighted, particularly safety, aren't what they've seen elsewhere, which would explain why they felt the need to share their gameday experience. Thing is, I've played some atrocious sites, issues at every level from safety, to marshaling, to the game scenarios that are set in place, I've come away horrified, I've spoken to marshals & owners, & on a rare occasion shared my thoughts online, but the latter is usually after I've gone back & given them a second, or even third chance. And throughout this, I'll hear players extolling the virtues of the site, either on the gamedays I attended, or just in general, & the only conclusion I can come to in order to explain the disparity between my opinion & theirs, is that they don't know any better, they haven't experienced a top quality well run site, so to them, it's literally the adrenaline fueled dogs bollocks. BUT Any failings are on the site & it's staff, that includes how players behave, anybody can cheat or act like a cnut, but if that behaviour is not nipped in the bud, it speaks volumes about those supposedly in charge. & if word gets around it gets worse, decent players stay away, but the cheats & arsehole arrive in droves, before you know it, it's akin to twa Croydon, & nobody wants that lol🤣 PS. I will be attending the site personally at some point, it's not far from me, & if I experience anything similar, I will be very vocal about it😏

The chap has now posted a review: “Now after Messaging 501st this very review and got nothing back except a thumbs up I have decided to offer this up as an experience of our day there. We went to your site on 29/09/2024 Firstly trying to find the place was a nightmare we drove past what was a carpark twice and just happened to take the chance and stop in there, then found a wet piece of paper that said 501st this way. After walking aimlessly through some undergrowth I stumbled across someone who said where the 'safe zone' was. On getting there I met a friend who was just walking away as someone threw a Mk5 in said safe zone. When he said something he was told to shut up then chants of fight, fight, with a marshal giggling about it. Anyway we set up in the safe zone, if that’s what you could call it as people were walking around with loaded mags in their guns, to this end my wife refused to remove her eye pro at all, my 15 year old son was very dubious to do it so removed his dye but replaced them with some eye pro whilst in the safe zone. Now I had to ask twice to be chronoed, which was lack luster at best. My GBB coming in a bit hot on 0.32s, showing 286FPS said I'd adjust it but was told it was OK! Now the brief was quite good so kudos there. Now the first game, we were blues attacking. The reds just would not take their hits. I told one marshal (wearing a full-face mask), who seemed to care more about being on his phone that actually even responding to me. So, I spoke to another marshal (guy who gave the brief) that at least acknowledged what I had said. But it didn’t change anything. I repeatedly saw players taking easily 20 to 30 shots before they even bothered to call hits. Plus, the field layout was ridiculous. No cover whatsoever at our end trying to assault a cover laden side, no one could advance. We did speak to another marshal about lack of marshals (young guy with a lightsaber) he said it would be better with less players, really there were only about 20 there! I have been a marshal and run game days with 130 players with 5 marshal no problems. Anyway, it got so bad that I just gave up and went back to the safe zone during the first game. My wife went out at least and tried the 2nd game with was basically the first just with a different name, but she came back soon enough, we packed up and decided to go. I have to say it is without a doubt the worst day or game of airsoft I have played. Even at £45 for the 3 of us it wasn’t worth it, 3 hour round trip and tunnel fees without the cost of diesel thrown it, what a waste. Including my wife, son and myself I had arranged for 8 of us to come for the day, and quite frankly I was left embarrassed that I had got some of our airsoft group to try the site out due to what I have mentioned. 2 never even stayed after the grenade incident the others left the same time we did; it was that bad. There needs to be some drastic improvements to both organisation and more importantly safety as there will soon be a bad injury. I as a player and more importantly as a parent will not be coming back and cannot recommend this site at all in its current state. I only gave one star as I couldn't give any lower.”

I respectfully disagree. In my opinion "airsoft" is fundamentally just a technology which facilitates whatever kinda activity someone/some people want to get out of it. If someone invented some kind of personal force field like in Dune that meant you could shoot people with real bullets out of real guns with zero injury that would be awesome and I would never have to set a hop or charge a lipo again. Thing is people do want different things out of "airsoft". And most people only go to skirmishes rather than specific events for a specific vibe/emphasis/audience. And most people only to a handful of skirmish sites. Even if we could "define the hobby", I'm not sure we should. Also, most skirmish sites operate the same rules. At some point someone decided that sniper rifles have a 30MED, that semi auto DMRs should be locked to 425fps or thereabouts and the rest followed suit. I'm not really sure there is an issue there. The "rising tide" starts with the players, not the sites, and not some theoretical trade body. Be the change you want to see. Go to the events which actually suit you. On that note.. To actually answer OP's question...well I won't. I think you are asking the wrong question. The great opportunity you have is not anything to do with how CQB sites are laid out. But that you have a somewhat close knit, "high trust" "airsoft club" to play with. This means you can experiment with different game formats which wouldn't work as well, if at all, at a walk on skirmish. For example one way of mitigating the issue of spawn camping is to have no respawns, so no spawn to camp. Stuff like that. Loads of fun to be had coming up and testing out ideas.

I've settled into a groove now with my DMR and becoming a mobile bush, it also suits the fact I'm in my early 50's and really don't like running around (which I leave to others). I'm happy that my AEG DMR is the best it will ever be, with doubts that HPA would improve anything at all consistency / range wise and I don't fancy the hassle of bottles and lines. A little bit of my brain always wonders what gameplay would be like though with a good bolt action and if I should bite the bullet and invest in one and the many upgrades over time. Currently I shoot 0.40g with my DMR, it's almost spot on for 1.6 joules at this weight, and is accurate up to 80 meters or so in the right weather. For those of you with both a well tuned DMR, and a well tuned bolt action, do you really notice that much of a difference between the two? (range, accuracy, consistency etc.). I quite like the DMR life, in that I can hide and be sneaky but when needed be a little more rapid moving around within my MED. A bit of me worries that the bolt action life in comparison could be a bit more dull, waiting for the perfect shot, and all you need is a player to spot the incoming BB / move a little and all the effort is wasted?

So I've decided to dip my toes into HPA by converting my sawn off. From looking on google I need an adapter for the valve like this https://highpressureairsoft.co.uk/products/jag-arms-scatter-gun-secutor?variant=48820107542852 Obviously I also need a tank, line and regulator so I'm thinking this package from high pressure airsoft. https://highpressureairsoft.co.uk/collections/package-deals/products/26ci-tank-line-and-regulator-package-bundle Is there anything I'm missing, or am I good with these? Thanks, all help is appreciated

I don't know anything about tournament rules but all of these things has to come from somewhere. The main issue with some speedsofters that when they turn up for a normal skirmish and they try to apply competetiveness (overshooting, prefiring, jump shots etc.) and other people are gonna irritated by them very fast. More importantly they break all of the rules because they have to "win" at any cost. It's very similar when a dude is so immersed in main character syndrome that he doesn't care about other people wellbeing anymore and he yeets or tries to chuck half of kilo stainless steel pyro across multiple rooms.

Thank you everybody for your answers! The CQB section will be built outside, as the land is all exterior. Most likely a large sized kill house, not aiming for anything hyper fancy! Definitely like the idea of modular panels so it can all be adjusted to suit needs. I think having numerous door ways would allow for different routes and paths. As for marshalling, that will be my main focus. After all, no matter how good the site is if it's ran like shit, people won't return. People are there for a good time, and if somebody wants to stop that then they'll be removed asap! Definitely going to be a learning curve but looking forwards to the challenge, hopefully the site owner is happy too and it creates him some more money 😂

Without them indoor sites couldn't survive though. Speedsofters are absolutely essential part of the playerbase. Majority of them are sound and the rest is taken care of by the marshalls. In my experience the terminators (lads with 5kg gear on them) fight a lot more and getting into arguments with others simply because they don't feel or hear anything. I don't know how many times I saw people to pack up because marshalls had enough of their bullshit. Indoor is all about speed and aggressive playstyle. If people aren't fit to keep up with teenagers/speedsofters they shoudn't blame others. Buddy, moan less and spend more time in the gym.👍 There is this delusion when airsofters think airsoft has anything with reality and they try to apply some muppet cqb video from yt and it turns out it doesn't work because: a.)people are turn up to have fun and they don't give a fuck how many times they "die" and b.)being aggressive wins gunfights because you control angles and access to certain areas. Answering your question after my rant... It's very difficult to balance out an indoor site to 50-50. I don't even know if it's possible because usually you have asymmetric layouts so one side is always gonna be more easy to push from. I think when you have barricades, tyres, half walls etc. it may slow down the flow just a tiny bit. But if you and your team are dead set on realism then there is no point because none of you gonna yolo and speedrun several rooms like a teenager would after a can of monster.

I'm sure I asked this before but I can't find anything.Where is the best place for bulk pyro?Thanks.

1) Change: A series of rooms/corridors quickly becomes boring once people have planned out known routes and angles It is very dependant on the construction, but ideally you would have elements to open and block off routes - if a ‘real’ building then open/close doorways avoid actually locking them for safety - but have a rule such as a closed door cannot be opened (unless ‘breaching’ is part of the game) eg tape over and the door becomes a wall If a zone is constructed with board and doorways/corridors are fairly consistent in size then extra boards could be slotted in/hung up to close a route 2) have objectives Find a thing, retrieve it or deliver it Find multiple things - parts of a device or a bomb that needs a key or code to disarm Have time trials - complete it in the quickest time Have simulated missions - eg don’t play against each other but have one person set up targets (friendly and unfriendly). Then run time trials to clear unfriendlies with a penalty for eliminating a friendly A similar manner without one person knowing the target layout is multi context targets - (a basic target with shapes and colours) pick a shape / colour combination target then time trial that Layout design - we all think we know what is ‘wrong’ with any zones layout, but usually are not taking into account the game context. You would have thought that a fort would not have great big wide entrances and that towers would not have wide open backs - these are both design features to make a fort attackable in a game When designing make sure that there are defendable points that can be attacked Otherwise one good defender in a fortress turns a game into the worst day for attackers as opposed to one good defender bedded in that can be flanked and eventually defeated Both winners and losers should walk out smiling, and a well balanced site and its games should give a mix of winning / losing. Soeedsoft is a very good point CQB lends itself well to fast aggressive play, whereas tactical slowness tends to be the right thing in reality to stay alive it does not achieve anything in a reasonable time The classic cosplay tactical airsofter will stack up at a corner, and unless a group who have practiced CQB together will bottle neck themselves The speedsofter will run past them, spray a room, then respawn while the next speedsoft behind them clears the next room If that becomes a problem in your game format then the penalties for being eliminated need to be greater (one life games?) and the same goes for taking too long stacked up (time limited games)

Recently I've noticed ads appearing in the classifieds for guns and gear where the seller is a store trying to pass as a private sale. What are others thoughts on this? It may just be me being cynical, but personally I think it's a bit of a dick move as the shop can get away with no giving any kind of warranty or after sales support and puts me off buying anything from them.

Well i managed to separate the barrel which comes out with the hop unit from the body and you're able to see down the barrel and there was no physical blockage in there, but I could have a look at the hop unit and see if that is as bad you suggest it is. Thanks guys Only have the one mag for it unfortunately but I can't tell what kind of mag it is, mid cap or hi cap ? Would anything else potentially cause feeding issues apart from the mag?

I haven't printed anything this big before so we'll see how it comes out. I'm not expecting it to be on par with some of those custom stocks out there but it's only for a fairly cheap Reximex Pretensis so I doubt it's got good enough performance to see much difference. It'd be interesting to experiment to see if I can come up with something solid enough to be good for that

i think its pretty sealed but anything can come apart with heat and shouty words

Buy proper heavyweight bb's. The short barrel means the heavy joule creep. You should also never test the joules on anything less than your in-game weight as well really.