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My Saturday was at Redcon-2 in Dalton Barracks near Abingdon, Oxfordshire for the "Shift Your RIFTs 2024" weekender organised by RIFT Airsoft. Getting registered and booked in was quick. Along with the wristband to distinguish between weekenders or one day only, we got a goodie bag with a site map, a raffle ticket for a RIFT game pass, flyers for some of the retailers at SYR, a little plastic wallet from Empire Airsoft (containing a company sticker and patch along with a 50-degree Flamingo VSR/GBB hop bucking) and a few other little bits. Chrono testing flowed quite quickly as at least 4 marshals were at the testing range ahead of the safety briefing and anything we planned to shoot with (including pistols) was tested and tagged if it within the limits. HPA players were apparently required to be tournament locked. Tony's brief was the stuff of legends and we all survived it! The main gameplay went quite smoothly where hit taking was pretty good though there was the odd squabble and a few tellings off by other players that "hit players don't talk" (other than saying they're hit) but it didn't escalate. We were allowed to call for a medic's help (any player able to put a coiled wristband over the hit player's wrist without being hit) if we were hit by a BB (melee and grenade kills didn't count). The medic was only practical for players in groups and certainly not for lone wolves. The morning session did become somewhat unbalanced as a lot of Red Team returned to the safe zone well ahead of the lunch break so Blue Team did become more dominant, especially as we pinned Red Team to their spawn location. In the interest of sportsmanship, Blue Team voluntarily fell back to allow Red Team to spread out and return something of a fight. In the afternoon gameplay, there was some team rebalancing as some players had taken a break. During the morning and afternoon sessions, convoys of military vehicles, including Sntach Land Rovers, were at our disposal to board and be driven along predetermined routes and dropped off at certain points. There were a few additional activities players could take part in off the main gameplay field including a 4v4 Arena Tournament, a Bunker Bash, a Revolver Duel (lots of laughs) and a Target Maze time trial. Food and drink options were plentiful. Breakfast rolls were available prior to the morning brief, hot savoury pastries, chocolate bars, water and canned drinks were available all day. Lunch on Saturday had hot dogs and chilli dogs (the chilli was homemade). In the evening, the MoD fired up the BBQ and served burgers and RIFT opened up its bar for beer and cider to round off the evening. Queues did get long during the lunch break but they moved quickly thanks to the catering staff being so efficient. RIFT's White Sphere Tactical partner store for RIF and accessory sales ran raffles across the weekend. Saturday had an 11-prize raffle with items including a Nuprol (I can't remember if it was large or XL) hard carry case, a tactical vest kit, several RIFs, a lifetime RIFT Airsoft membership. Sunday had 10 prizes available for the raffle. The weekend raffle was for a Tokyo Marui NGRS Mk 18. In addition to the raffles, there were promotional items for the event including t-shirts and morale patches. White Sphere Tactical also offered a 20% discount on Deadly Customs and Viper Tactical gear and they had the TM MP7 GBB available in limited quantities at £250 - they sold out by lunchtime. Charity donation buckets were around the shop and in RIFT's own shop (selling ammo, gas, merchandise and memberships) raising money for blood donor services. As the name of the event suggests, players could sell their unwanted RIFs, parts, gear, etc so there were a few bargains to be had. In addition to the private sellers, there were retailers selling RIFs, parts and gear, including the likes of BZ Tactical, Only Airsoft/Combat UK, Empire Airsoft (joined by Big Steve's Builds), Two Four Delta Surplus, Second Summit Surplus, Finch Embroidery, Viper Tactical and a few more. In terms of staffing and facilities, the event was well covered. As there were a lot more people attending than normal days/weekends at Redcon-2, everything had to be scaled up. There were 30 or so marshals to cover 500+ people on the gaming area, safe zone and camping area. As the event was open to the public for the boot sales, there was security patrolling the site also. I had no cause to fault any of the staff so if you got any grief from them, I would assume you had behaved like genitals and probably for the second time. There was no drinking water for the campsite - you'd have to either bring along your own or buy it at the site. For showers or bathrooms, none were available so it's up to your imagination for cleaning yourself if you stayed overnight. There were lots of portaloos about the site, some of which were turned around intentionally on Saturday so there would be "fresh" ones for those attending on Sunday. Inside White Sphere's shop leads to plumbed toilets but it was reserved for ladies only for this weekend. I had a brilliant time again at SYR and will certainly go back next year. The atmosphere was really good, helped by either catching up with friends to play alongside or making new acquaintances as we were all there for the same reason.

That's my point, those who are interested have those opportunities and those who aren't will do anything they can to get out of it. Also please tell me I'm not the only one getting Starship Troopers vibes from this

At first I was very surprised to hear this, but then remembered the election is coming lol. Glad to not see any predictably emotional way-OTT rants in this airsoft forum thread. 😂 It's all public knowledge that the MOD has been closing/selling bases and shrinking on pers numbers at a steady rate for decades, though as with anything if you're not serving in the affected branch then the majority of the population naturally won't be aware of everything. Physically we are.. tight on space, i.e. physical barrack blocks on stations (all 3 services), even for the current cohort. Same story for instructors; lots of legal boxes to tick for being allowed to train young people, as mentioned above. I presume back in the 50s there were tons of camps with thousands of Nissen huts left over from the war to shove folks in for their 2 years; the war time military was just sort of stretched/dragged out a big. Definitely a challenge to just go back in to it now, but when you're looking at a very decent possibility of an election loss then I guess the 'big ideas' suddenly all come out. The wording is that the kids in the military would be full time so they'd have to get paid, and as with anything in life that significantly challenges you most folks come out the side overall better for it and it's not like they'd be on the front lines having a really bad time. You'd at least come out with some skills, experience and more interesting stories whereas the weekend volunteers presumably wouldn't be getting paid given the use of the word volunteer. Seems iffy to say the least in a lot of respects, since you're just forcing these kids to work for free, they won't add much value most likely given the minimal training they'd get and the inevitable risk aversion to giving them any responsibility. Plus they'll need to be trained and managed and the overall scheme is actually going to cost tons of money even though the 'volunteers' aren't getting paid. Yeah that'll kill most of the youth vote for the Conservatives big time, so presumably they're banking on the older turn out, probably pretty standard battle lines there.

Went to AWA Herts today. It wasn't a great day and I won't be back (at least not for a fair while!). It just wasn't good and frankly, there didn't seem like the potential it would ever be good. 1. Timings, they were late starting and then finished early for lunch. Lunch was almost 1 hour 45 minutes. Between each game it was a trek back to the safe zone for more time wasting. End of the day, there wasn't enough people with bbs to have another game before the day ran out....so they ended it early. 2. The games were very funnelled and limited ability to do anything other than a full frontal attach, the game zones aren't marked or explained before games, but when you've been hunkered down for ages and you're 3 metres outside the zone you'll get told. 3. Hit taking (for me) wasn't bad (for a member of my group doing his first game, it was terrible), but it wasn't great either. 4. The site has a few set piece areas, they're a trek from the safe zone and frankly either not used well or it's just a dull woodland site. 5. Swamp like mud and water. I get its very hard to manage drainage on a site, but they've been going at least 13 years and everywhere was like a swamp with little to nothing to prevent players having to go through 7-8 inch deep streams/ditches (3-4 feet wide) between the safe zone and game areas (and in game areas). No sign of bridges, anything on the paths to improve drainage etc. The staff were all friendly enough, took feedback etc but I got the impression nothing will change. I just can't see how I could justify going there when much better is available for similar money. It wasn't terrible, such as arsey marshalls. But there just wasn't anything really positive.

God how tired and desperate must they be to try and peddle this old rope? I am always skeptical of people who push national service in the name of building 'community'. If only it were that fucking easy! If we are interested in building community and stopping the disintegration of 'civil society' we must start much earlier and rethink the core values that have been rammed down people's throats. As Thatcher infamously said 'there is no such thing as society'. This disastrous myth, the first commandment of neoliberalism, insists that we are individuals first and only. We must support ourselves, we are on our own. People been fed this shite for a long time now. How can a society hold this toxic credo at its core and then demand national service in the name of solidarity and community, some nebulous greater good that they have little to no real share in? How can those people who are richest, who have benefited most from a prior era of relative stability and prosperity demand anything from the first generations in a long time projected to be far worse off than their parents in almost every metric? It reeks. Youth clubs have been decimated for over a decade. Even third spaces for adults seem to be slowly drying up. Wages are stagnant even while corporate greed continues to squeeze us. Childcare costs are beyond extortionate. AI is apparently coming for everyone's job. Housing is in total shambles. Our rivers and seas are being pumped full of shite... like its an actual fucking shit show! The caliber of leadership has utterly plummeted. They are out of ideas, just throwing shit like this at the wall now to see what might stick. Labour won't do much better but I think seeking a bit of stability and taking stock of the situation without a fucking new leader every 6 months would be a start.

I believe from what I have read it will be much like the reserve model where you do a weekend a month. Question is then would you be remunerated for your time as well? I do agree that this does smell of gaining votes rather than doing anything that might benefit society.

I would go for the Hybrid; it has better functionality, particularly trigger sensitivity, and anything that gets rid of trigger contacts and cutoff levers is to be applauded.

You shouldn't. Anything under £135 should be charged 20% VAT at source by the seller, with no duties to pay. This is now consistently applied by (e.g.) eBay and AliExpress, although whether the sellers are paying that on to HMRC is another question (but not our problem). Over £135, you get into the weeds of import duties, and we have to pay the ransom fee to release our goods from HMRC jail.

Unfortunately the holes are that buggered, that it will not work. I have considered that option but the threads are stripped out and someone else has decided to try what you suggested. It's resulted in large holes that are now so stripped out, I can't get anything to thread onto it. It's a mess! I will have a further look at that video and see if I can make something work. Selector plate and nozzle and easy swap over - tho have to see about the ambi controls. Thank you for that tho 😊

Morning all Got a question in respects the Cybergun SCAR L. It's come to me for repair (I'm the designated tech monkey xD) as the screw holes have been stripped out so the pistol grip doesn't now fix to the rifle. Question is this - is there another gearbox shell that is compatible with this chassis? I'm looking at a G&G box I have in my toolbox but was wondering on compatibility Anything would be helpful Thank you

https://projectairsoft.co.uk/products/utr45-m917g-drum-magazine As far as I know this is the only 'other' UTR magazine I've seen, although apparently it takes G&G PCG45 mags too? Haven't tried anything apart from the stock magazines and while they've been fine for me I'm not exactly running fast RPS or anything. This video from JHQ has a pretty spicy DSG setup that's still running the standard mags and they seem to be keeping up okay?

Those are RIFs. There is no UK law against export of RIFs. (Not sure about any import law on the other side) It is only when you bring them back i.e. importing RIFs it becomes a VCRA offence. Among the available defences, in your case it would be the defence of holding of organisation and holding of historical re-enactments. You just need some evidence for it e.g. photos from the event, and there is no sign of you doing anything not allowed.

I'll be totally unbiased and say "go VC/NVA because it's cheaper and more flexible to get the kit and it's more fun!", totally not because I will be there as VC and I believe Mr. @Tactical Pith Helmet will be as well. At the last one I almost walked across the fields to the Bravo site because I heard airsoft noises in that direction while I was sneaking about. Fortunately I turned back because I also suspected I could've been heading off-site. At least I didn't have any guns on me because I was roleplaying a civvie with a radio so if I did wander off and bump into someone I would't have anything worrying on me But yes, I agree with everything you said about Gunman. Top site and top blokes running it. Also, don't suppose you would know if they had enacted their sniper ban at Eversley yet? I suspect they have done so or will do so soon, as during the summer they tend to have a sniper ban due to lines of sight being restricted (I find it amusing because it's nowhere near as rough as Worthing!). I'll still be bringing my bolt action, but it'd be good to know if I should be setting it for 1.1J or 2.3J.

Have they sent you notification that it has been seized? It may take a while to get you if they have. How long has it been stuck? If they have seized it and the FPS is not written on the box, they may chrono test it (Which they have done in the past) and destroy it if it fails the chrono or if they see that it says 390 FPS anywhere on the packaging or the documents they will destroy it without testing, there is also a slight possibility that you will be fined and/or prosecuted (it's written into the law, but there has been no known precedent that I am aware) They will not send it back if it's a section 5 firearm, they will only destroy it. Why on earth did you order it without getting the retailer to lower the velocity? Why import a section 5 firearm? Do you have a UKARA number? (It won't help so much, but just curious). As with anything, the onus is on the buyer, not the seller to know. The seller cannot possibly know the local laws of every country, but the buyer should definitely know the law of their own country. The buyer would lose the dispute.

Ok, so before I say how my game day went... what the hell? Like, that is one of the worst things I've ever heard at an airsoft event, and I used to play in Spain in the late 2000s when there were no sites, no rules, no health and safety and we never did anything as stupid as throwing a goddamn log over a wall! I will say that of all the sites down near me (Driver Wood, Worthing Airsoft, Southdown and Dogtag), Dogtag is the only one that I've been to that I will never make any effort to go back to as my experience of it, while not as bad as yours, was pretty awful. Anyway, for me today at Worthing Airsoft was simultaneously glorious and horrible conditions for sniping with my lovely gas guns; schroedinger's airsoft? I brought my m700 and mk12 MWS with me today as those were the guns I was planning on bringing to Shift Your RIFTs next weekend and wanted to make sure they were working well. Weirdest thing with my m700 was that the scope was off and all my shots were going to the right. Easily fixed by... rotating the rear scope ring 180 degrees? So now my lovely 3.5-25x56mm overkill scope is nice and straight again, but having one scope ring with the bolt one side and the other with the bolt the other side is doing my head in a little, but I can suffer the asymmetric nature of it since it's shooting lovely and straight now. The mk12 MWS is not coming with me to Shift Your RIFTs because it was not happy hopping .45s, even at 2.32J which seems to be their DMR limit; it was only going to be a backup gun anyway, so I'll just swap it out for my m14 scout instead. I plan on using the m700 anyway, and that was shooting like a dream, so no drama there. In terms of the gameplay, I only played in the morning. Lately my heart has been acting up (the symptoms are very light at least), so I didn't get as much sleep as I would've liked last night as it kept me up until 2am. I went out with the m700 and it was glorious. The weather was amazing! 18 - 20 degrees all day, barely any wind and lots of sun. Perfect airsoft weather! The thing that made the conditions horrible was just how much Worthing Airsoft has bushed up. Using anything with an MED right now is just difficult and a lot of the site is just impractical with a 30m radius of "no shoot". It's even more bushy than last year and it gets more bushy with every year it seems because it's largely uncontrolled. We have a lot more bushes sprouting up everywhere and it's making sight lines impossible, especially when firing from prone as I tend to do when sniping. I still managed to get into a spot where eventually one of the marshalls just told the enemy team where I was and I got hosed, because I was singlehandedly stopping them advancing through one part of the site. I almost ran out of ammo, and with 4 mags with me that never happens at a skirmish day as I'm very disciplined with my shots (still only about 100 total as each mag is about 25rds, but I tend to only shoot if I know I'll hit). Very pleased with the new belt kit setup and extremely pleased with how well my new £97 ghillie cape and boonie setup worked. Taking that next weekend for sure! All in all, very good day. Would've played the whole day, but I was pretty tired and I needed to make sure the m700 was shooting well (only fixed the off-centre scope after lunch) and had to test the MWS, which was lucky I did or I would've taken that to Shift Your RIFTs and it would've been dead weight. I need to pick up some .43s for it at some point, but I just don't want to spend the money yet. Looking forward to Shift Your RIFTs next weekend. This was weekend #1 of 5 consecutive weekends as I have Worthing game days every 2 weeks, and in between I have Shift Your RIFTs and a Vietnam filmsim weekend. Roll on next weekend, and I hope the weather holds out!

Both my boys did airsoft with me, the youngest gave up because of an uncontrolled twat at dogtag. The eldest hasn't even unpacked his pews yet and that's usually the first thing he does, unpacked, cleaned and ready to rock. I get it, you have bad days with anything you do but this was a bit much.

@Leo Greer I might have been the one who said Warhead has a ramping start, based on this video showing the current graph, as well as "Warhead has starting delay of ~10 ms". But I didn't say anything about the shaft snapping tho in relation to this. But separately I have heard (maybe just one guy) the Warhead Ronin titanium shaft snapping, but that is probably due to the material itself, if anything it shouldn't have happened because of Warhead's ramping start...

V V V ... possibly with some persuasion. All of my other M4/STANAG mags were a tight fit, and needed half a mm or so filed off the rear. The feed tube on the stock mag is set 1mm or so further back than any of my other mags. Some of my mags still don't feed and will need modified further. As I said, it's a project gun. It does work out of the box, with the supplied mag, but anything beyond that will need some time and fettling.

Hi, sorry to hear that you can't play anymore. Do your limitations allow to carry on shooting in any way? I'm not after anything in particular but do you have any pics or more details about what you have?