Old School Airsofters.

[magaz]

I remember a group of us buying about 8 guns and a tonne of parts from RSOV and it arrived in two boxes that where the size of coffins. Best day ever! 

 

[Lozart]

I remember a group of us buying about 8 guns and a tonne of parts from RSOV and it arrived in two boxes that where the size of coffins. Best day ever! 

Ahhhh rsov. Those were the days!

 

[rj1986]

who used to buy their gun from RSOV

 

[mirinjawbro]

TM desert eagle .44 springer in silver first ever gun. stick mag. no hop-up. 

also desperately wanting the  KWC two tone .50 version. 

having a TM spas 12 on the train on the way home from wolf armouries feeling like the man.

trying to upgrade a TM mp5k after firing maybe 500 rounds and failing. sold it cheap and 500 rounds probably cost me £300

 

[Archer]

Buying an TM M4A1 from Rebel Troop, thought it was the best thibg ever ?

 

[MAX DICKER]

Bought my first 'proper' RIF from a site called Ebaybanned around 2007/2008, seemed a bit shady but damn I wanted that Kart M14 EBR so bad. Also bought a JG G36 around the same time. So, with 2 RIF's, me and various Buddies would run around various patches of woodland in South Wales playing 1v1. 2009 I played my first actual game of airsoft at Dragon Valley, proceeded to play every game there for about a year before starting to try other sites.

God damn I miss the DV forums.

 

[Druid799]

Bought my first 'proper' RIF from a site called Ebaybanned around 2007/2008, seemed a bit shady but damn I wanted that Kart M14 EBR so bad. Also bought a JG G36 around the same time. So, with 2 RIF's, me and various Buddies would run around various patches of woodland in South Wales playing 1v1. 2009 I played my first actual game of airsoft at Dragon Valley, proceeded to play every game there for about a year before starting to try other sites.

God damn I miss the DV forums.

I used to buy near all my kit from Ebaybanned !(never bought a RIF from them) back then when the pound was king and the US dollar was nothing you could get near a whole new rig for the price of just a couple of pouches from a Uk seller , and nine times out of ten it got here quicker ! ?

 

[DrAlexanderTobacco]

My first RIF was a KJW P226, it locked up after 2 shots in winter due to cooldown, the finish was this shit glossy black paint. I loved it!

 

[Tommikka]

I used to buy near all my kit from Ebaybanned !(never bought a RIF from them) back then when the pound was king and the US dollar was nothing you could get near a whole new rig for the price of just a couple of pouches from a Uk seller , and nine times out of ten it got here quicker ! ?

Bought my first 'proper' RIF from a site called Ebaybanned around 2007/2008, seemed a bit shady …..

God damn I miss the DV forums.

eBayBanned are/were a good little outlet.  Not shady, but a good bit of marketing based on rule changes on eBay 

They are still around as ebAirsoft.com

Asian outlets get a good amount of stick, and the same goes for AliBaba.com and AliExpress.com

There are good sellers and bad sellers, plus things can just go wrong with anything and the support on that will vary.

I will aim to buy locally where possible, and also pick a favourite retailer asking them if they are willing to import on my behalf (which if they have the existing supply chain can work well)

But I will also decide on a case by case basis on the item and my needs.  If I want it quickly and after sales support then I’m going to pay for those. 
If I’m not in a hurry, am not going to use support and the saving is worth considerations at customs then I’ll look around imports such  as Asia etc

You do need to be ‘internet wise’ on where you’re buying from

I’ve been having a lot of conversations about a couple of subjects with someone in particular recently which included that ‘Chinas just cheap crap’.  Whereas Chiba does provide ‘cheap crap’, and also ‘cheap quality’. It depends on the quality control and the corporate customer who is getting the items made in China - it’s relatively very cheap to run businesses  in many parts of China, which could be low labour costs of that market (or additional exploitation of labour on top of that)

 He’s not internet wise, and has had dodgy payments taken a few times.  He stopped using eBay and random sellers to go to Amazon - ‘Because that’s secure’ finding himself paying more for cheap crap losing out by using dodgy Amazon sellers rather than Amazon itself

ebAirsoft / eBayBanned always worked out well for me, and very often much quicker than expected

AliBaba.com is aimed for use as a wholesaler and AliExpress.com as a marketplace like eBay and Amazon sellers.

 My experience with these Asian sellers is that they often get send via free government subsidised postage for ‘commercial zones’ which is why the postage doesn’t shoot up in price unless you are after fast international postage, and that if it disappears, is broken or wrong I have had easy refunds and/or replacements.  It’s costly for them to take returns, and as long as they are a bulk seller rather than bedroom trader then the customer service of a loss on an individual sale is worth it

 

[Speedbird_666]

I used to buy near all my kit from Ebaybanned !(never bought a RIF from them) back then when the pound was king and the US dollar was nothing you could get near a whole new rig for the price of just a couple of pouches from a Uk seller , and nine times out of ten it got here quicker ! ?

Bought loads of stuff from EbayBanned when the exchange rate was $2USD to the £ back in '07 to '08ish.

Good times. 

 

[tinkle60]

I'm 21 years in on and off. Started when I was at uni and remember spending every other wednesday afternoon traipsing to RM and Parcelforce depots to collect parcels with import charges.

Spent all my free time ogling custom guns on Redwolf and Airsoft Club.

Shopping on WGC and waiting for emails to actually make payment

UPS were the only courier to actually security check airsoft stuff, a friend got a phone call saying he needed velocity declaration for a protec helmet. He said 'depends how hard you throw it'.

Playing with/against the Airsoft Dynamics staff at Ambush.

Getting up at stupid o'clock to drive for hours because there wasn't any decent sites near London.

 

[Druid799]

Bought loads of stuff from EbayBanned when the exchange rate was $2USD to the £ back in '07 to '08ish.

Good times. 

Yup definitely were , god I think sometimes I was buying stuff just for the sake of it ! I’d want a particular pouch/magazine/bolt on , see other things and think “F*** it ! I’m already ordering my stuff why not ?” ?‍ ???

 

[THE CHIEF]

You want shady, remember special airsoft supplies? He had quite the reputation for parcels at one point. 

 

[Jacob Wright]

You want shady, remember special airsoft supplies? He had quite the reputation for parcels at one point. 

I don’t think it was that long ago that he was still operating, with very much the same reputation!

 

[John_W]

You want shady, remember special airsoft supplies? He had quite the reputation for parcels at one point. 

Amazingly, still running. Has a Facebook group dedicated to him.

 

[mirinjawbro]

what did he do?

i remember a pistol review site that i constantly checked over. the WA guns were always out of my price range back then

justpistols.co.uk or something.

 

[Cannonfodder]

what did he do?

i remember a pistol review site that i constantly checked over. the WA guns were always out of my price range back then

justpistols.co.uk or something.

He's a thieving little cunt who takes people's money and doesn't deliver. How he's still in business I don't know. 

I remember that site, some great reviews on there 

 

[Dentonboy]

Bought my first airsoft pistols around 1993 - a TM NBB Desert Eagle from Battle Orders (which was a short drive away and their catalogue may stir some memories!) and some TM springer pistols and a springer TM MP5 A3 from Sussex Model Centre in Worthing.

Used to buy a lot of springers from Beltring's War and Peace Show after that, almost always TM. Started having garden skirmishes afterwards - we pinched eyepro from the science lab at school. This would have been circa 1995. AEGs were around but way out of my price range but I'd say that my aspirations to buy one started around then.

Finally did and got into skirmishing in Dec 05/Jan 06.

The CA M249 was probably the peak AEG at the time - although Inokatsu's M60 was for me the most elite. My old man grabbed the CA M249 and it was phenomenal. 

STAR released a plastic model which started to appear at our site and I don't think I ever saw one work well.

Pre-UKARA regulations coming in, myself and my family went on a huge shopping spread at the best Asian airsoft shop for my money - Guns N Guys. 

Happy Times.

 

[Scythian]

Reckon I bought my first TM springer around 1993 too, pretty sure it was a Glock 17L. That Glock turned out to be a ‘gateway’ gun as shortly afterward I was on aeg’s and gas guns?

Although being more of a collector I did manage a number of skirmishes at work which was a bit of a giggle. At the time I was working on a ship and we were able to black out and skirmish in areas of the vessel which weren’t in use. At the time we were all in our 20’s and didn’t take the job too seriously, face protection and eye protection wasn't really a consideration, right up until I got shot just below the eye. That was an oh shit moment as it could have resulted in a helicopter ride to hospital and being sacked too. Started wearing eye protection after that.

 

[heroshark]

Did someone say springers ? 

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