New Guy in town

[Saber6-1]

Greetings

I am new here to your fine country, coming from across the pond. As an avid airsoft player from the States, I soon hope to start playing here. Wow, these UKARA rules are pretty strict. I had to do a lot of research when I started looking to play here. Its getting harder and harder to play nowadays. But with that aside, a little about me. I am a retired member of the US Army who faithfully served 20 years. I was part of the Cavalry and worked with M1A1/A2/SEP tanks, as well as the Bradley IFV/CFV and Strykers. We worked both mounted and dismounted, so I didnt always have tons of steel to protect me. After retiring, a couple of friends introduced me to airsoft, and I rather enjoyed it. I actually just came back from a visit to the States and had a chance to play a 24 hour game. Talk about a blast! So, that brings me to this group, looking for players/sites near me.

I currently live in the Midlands over by the Northampton area. I googled a few places to play so I can get out there and get UKARA certified, or whatever it is so I can use my own RIF's as you call them. I think thats how it works. Any assistance on this would be helpful as I am trying to be a law abiding citizen here.

Laslty, I am looking to find good sites in the Midland areas, and players as well. Nothing worse than getting ready to play and 5 people show up. Kind of a let down.

Looking forward to contributing how ever I can, and hopefully playing with you all.

 

[Airsoft_Mr B]

Welcome to the forums! The UKARA thing can be quite intimidating but it's easy to understand once it's explained properly

I think there are quite a few people from the Midlands too.

Airsoft International magazine had an article on buying an airsoft gun in the UK in this months issue which might help?

 

[Baz JJ]

Remember its not necessary to have a UKARA to own RIFs. If you already have the airsoft weapons, you don't strictly need it.

However, if you want to buy more, the seller will need you to have UKARA or similar to give them a defence to supply you, so it might be worthwhile if you play a few games.

Welcome to the UK and this group.

 

[Saber6-1]

Thanks for the warm welcome all. I do currently own my own RIF's (AEG as we call them in the States), I have an M4, M92FS, and just for the hell of it I bought an M249. The last one is just funny. I was looking to get a GBB down the road, but everything I have read says that temp is an issue here. Is that true? Does anyone here use GBB? I know under 60 degrees can begin to degrade performance, but would love to here first hand testimony here.

I am looking forward to playing here, and actually getting UKARA certified in case I do get the GBB. Plus, just looking forward to playing here in England.

Anyone have any recommendations for places to play in the Cambs, Northants, or Beds area?

 

[Baz JJ]

Yeah we call them AEGs too.

RIF is just a legal thing to differentiate from two tones.

GBB is gaining in popularity it seems. A lot of UK players use GBB sidearms all year round but rifles are gaining now.

I have a GBB SMG and its fine but I don't take it in mid winter when we get sub zero temps. The climate is very mild here compared to the states.

There are lots of sites in those counties. Might be worth scoping our the nearest to you using the Airbana website and then checking out the reviews in the appropriate section here.

Im sure you will feel at home here, The younger set already use bro, dude and bud ! lol

 

[Chock]

Welcome aboard. And welcome to the UK too.

As you've realised, there are some fairly fierce rules about weaponry in Blighty, most of which were as a result of a few notorious incidents where some disturbed individuals shot and killed multiple people with either a bunch of handguns or automatic weapons (google Hungerford and Dunblane if you want to know more about those incidents). But more pertinent to airsoft, is the Violent Crimes Reduction Act of 2006 - as in Act of Parliament - or VCR as it is more commonly known to airsofters, which is a law that encompasses a lot of things.

You can read the VCR Act here, and the bit you might be interested in is from Section 36 onwards: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/38

But it's a boring read and somewhat confusing too, so here's the general idea of it...

The VCR Act was established to put controls on several undesirable things, most notably drunken behaviour and the increase in weaponry in general in crimes, thus it pertains to things such as knives, baseball bats, swords etc, so there are some restrictions on carrying those (i.e. if you have a bag full of carving knives and you aren't a butcher on his way to work, you might find yourself in trouble, and if you have a three foot long rapier in your holdall, then you'd better be on your way to a fencing club, that kind of thing). But the bit in the VCR Act which relates to airsoft, is pertaining to RIFs (realistic imitation firearms) i.e. not only referring to airsoft guns, but also to working-action replica weapons, static rubber movie props, etc, basically anything which a bystander with no expertise in weaponry might think is a real gun, even if the only way you could injure someone with it would be to hit them over the head with it. As a result of this, you need a specific relevant defence (i.e. a good excuse) for owning or making a RIF. Suitable defences include: using such RIFs as props for movie and theatre productions, or for display in museums, or for historical re-enactments and organised displays (these last two are basically what covers airsoft sites). Any realistically shaped replica weapon not intended for use in any of these scenarios has therefore to be easily identifiable as 'not a real weapon' by means of its colour, so this requires 50 percent of the weapon to be a silly colour (typically bright orange, bright blue, bright red, bright pink, bright green), this can either be spray painted on, or be a material which is that colour (these are commonly known in the UK as two-tones, which is sort of similar to the US rule where airsoft guns have to be sold with a red flash hider). Yeah, we know, what's to stop someone spray painting a real AK-47 bright orange in the UK, or painting their flash hider red in the US, but when were laws ever really properly thought through eh?

So, as a result of the VCR Act, it was looking for a while as though it would be tricky for UK retailers to sell anything other than 'two tone' airsoft guns, and in fact quite a few airsoft online stores did close as a result of this. So, several airsoft retailers got together and founded UKARA (United Kingdom Airsoft Retailers Association) in order to ensure that they could be sure that a customer wishing to buy a RIF (i.e. fully black/metal coloured) airsoft weapon had a legitimate reason for wanting to do so. Thus the system they came up with, was to have airsoft sites become UKARA members, and have them log players making at least three visits to airsoft games over a period of two months, whereupon the player could apply for a UKARA registration number. Thus when ordering a RIF, the player is able to quote their unique UKARA number, establishing them as a bona fide airsoft player. However, it is important to note that UKARA was created as a result of the VCR Act and is not part of that law, or indeed any UK law, so there is no legal requirement to be UKARA registered to own a RIF airsoft weapon, you merely have to be able to say that you have a legitimate reason for owning one, and that could just as easily be because you have your own little 'museum' on your living room wall at home. Of course in practice, it is easier to simply have a UKARA registration, since most airsoft retailers have a bit on their order forms where you can enter your UKARA number, but theoretically at least, if you can prove to a retailer (to their satisfaction) that you have a legit reason for wanting a RIF, then they will sell you one, since their real concern is to not be open to prosecution for having provided a RIF which subsequently might get used to stick up a bank or 7-11.

And you thought the Land of the Free had some crap laws eh?

Re GBBS: GBBs get used quite a lot in the UK (I've got a few of them as well as some AEGs). Yes they can drop in performance in the dead of winter, but indoor CQB sites mean they can be used all year round, and of course GBB pistols are kept warmer in a holster next to your leg, which does help with outdoor performance a little, although there is no denying they work better in warmer temperatures, since it isn't just temperature which affects them, but also the atmospheric pressure at those temperatures, so you'll probably see them less in December. The more realistic nature of GBBs in terms of mag capacity, the fact of the weapon being inert without the mag and the bolt/slide actually moving, means they are popular with players who want as realistic a weapon as possible, so you do see lots of them at MILSIM events in the UK.

 

[cavninja]

Hola Sabre 6-1,

Welcome aboard bro, good to see another Cav vet on here! And welcome to our fair Isle! Some good explanations of the VCRA and UKARA on here as well as great forums and great advice, it's a great site!

I did 23 years in the Army, 9 years infantry recce and 14 years Cav, it would be great to swap stories over a brew or a beer!

currently working in Venezuela, so my airsofting is rather limited at the mo!!

Have a good one,

If you ain't Cav, you ain't sh1t!!

 

[Mack]

Welcome to the forum mate.

 

[Samurai]

You'll need defense (like UKARA) for importing RIFs too. Meaning if you have your airsoft guns in the US, you can't ship them here until you have your defense. I had to get my ukara for that reason. :/

Also, you will have too look hard for a proper airsoft game here in the UK. It's mostly skirmishing here which is similar to paintball. Short fights in a small area, then long breaks, and no real teamwork.

 

[Saber6-1]

Welcome to the forum mate.

Mack, did you do time with 1CD? I saw you have the patch as well as 1-7 in it?

You'll need defense (like UKARA) for importing RIFs too. Meaning if you have your airsoft guns in the US, you can't ship them here until you have your defense. I had to get my ukara for that reason. :/

Also, you will have too look hard for a proper airsoft game here in the UK. It's mostly skirmishing here which is similar to paintball. Short fights in a small area, then long breaks, and no real teamwork.

Thats kind of sad. Teamwork can make for excellent games, especially when you have two good fire teams going head to head.

 

[Mack]

Mack, did you do time with 1CD? I saw you have the patch as well as 1-7 in it?

Thats kind of sad. Teamwork can make for excellent games, especially when you have two good fire teams going head to head.

I didnt buddy, I play in a Tac realism clan for Arma 3 and thats just my sig from our forum. If your an arma fan do check us out. Im pretty sure there is a few ex Cav vets around.

http://www.7thcavalry.us/

 

[Saber6-1]

Mack,

Its nice to see homage paid to my old unit. I served with 1/7 and 2/7 Cav. My best times in the Army were spent at Fort Hood wearing 1st Cav

 

[Baz JJ]

Lack of any military cohesion or teamwork is what put me off skirmishing.

I have discovered what was missing, in Airsoft milsim.

A lot of people who skirmish seem to form their own teams so they effectively ignore what the others are doing on their own side in a skirmish and focus on a game between their team and the opposing force in the skirmish.

Also, you will have too look hard for a proper airsoft game here in the UK. It's mostly skirmishing here which is similar to paintball. Short fights in a small area, then long breaks, and no real teamwork.

 

[Potential Threat]

Hi Sabre, welcome to the uk and the forum. I'm skirmish regular and from the midlands also. I'm at the outpost next week. They are a registered site so can get your ukara for you after a few games. The game days they run fill up pretty quick so pre booking is essential but they do have a few diverse sites compared to the ordinary woodland venues. Let me know if you want any details

 

[team flex]

Welcome mate to the forums