Only played half the day today, since my friend's grandson wasn't up for playing and my other friend's GBBR AKM wasn't too happy with just how cold and wet it was. However, it was a very, very fun day and I really really enjoyed myself.
First order of business was a switcheroo. My m14 DMR was sorted (not a "DMR" but that's what the stock is called!), so I needed to collect that and give the tech my faux wood m14 as that isn't feeding. I also needed to give him my nasty m14 gearbox for the short m14 that he already has, so that'll be fun when that's sorted! I was planning on running the m14 DMR, however... the scope I brought for it did not have good eye relief for the m14 DMR stock. Plus, the forecast today was cold and incredibly wet, so while it was an opportunity to see how it would work out with the flip up scope caps, using optics in the rain is never great. I didn't really want to zero the scope since I'd just be removing it afterwards and putting it on another gun anyway. However, I also had my new, totally stock A&K m249 that I bought as a black Friday deal. I wasn't expecting anything, since I've heard the hop units are wank, the box mags are unreliable and the gearboxes eventually die, but I wanted to see how it was shooting. Had my friend around and he has one, so he showed me how to adjust the hop, we set it up for .25s and... it was actually really good. Floated them out to about 50m and it was accurate enough; not too fussed about pinpoint accuracy as I just want to put a wall of fire up. The main issues were... it chronoed at 0.5J and the ROF was only about 15rps. However, with how it was shooting I decided to take that out instead of the m14 today and oh boy was it a good idea.
First game we had to take a flag from one base to another, with the other team allowed to be anywhere above the ridgeline that runs along the site. We were down the hill a little and had to push through to a base on the other side. We were pinned on the corner, so a lot of people went on a flank, but a handful of us stayed to make a nuisance of ourselves. Give a sniper a support gun and shenanigans ensue, as I slow crawled over the ridgeline without anyone seeing and tucked into a barricade made of branches. This gave me a view on a pair of ghillies to the left of us who were stopping people crossing over the path, so up the m249 went and I sprayed them with full auto. Hit one of them, then saw his friend moving up to medic him and I sprayed him down as well. We were then able to push past the ridgeline, but I went and held the flank. One of my other friends told me that there were some ghillies trying to flank us again, so I went and held over there. One sprayed his load (heh) too early and hit a bush, but gave me an idea where he was so I moved off to a tree when I heard he was distracted by my friend, got on his flank and sprayed him down again. Game ended without us managing to get the flag up, but now sides were flipping and I had an evil idea...
So next game we flipped around and I set up in a spot I usually use for sniping. It looks down a long path, so while I definitely did not have the range for long shots, I could stop anyone trying to cross over the path at this end. Furthermore, the only way I could get flanked is if they managed to push through or went around the entire site, which entailed going past both our respawn and the base we had to stop them getting to, so I was confident. I managed to get a LOT of hits from this spot with the m249, spraying full auto at everything that moved while two other friends (one with a VSR, one with his AKM GBBR) had another angle and we had a really nasty crossfire. We held them at this corner for almost the entire game, but with AKM friend running out of ammo they eventually managed to rush those two and take them out. However, they forgot about me and I went to ground and waited. When I heard the call for 60 seconds remaining, I got out of my spot and started following the enemy players. One sniper on the other team waited the entire game to shoot me, but when it came to it he either missed or had run out of ammo as he shot, I heard where it came from and I took him out. He said that he waited the whole game, but ran out of ammo. However, the entire enemy team had their backs to me and I just rinsed everyone with the m249 from behind. With 5 seconds left I did eventually get taken out by a respawning player, but I had just wiped out a massive chunk of their team, hampering their push so they also didn't get the flag in either. The two who had the other angle watched the whole thing and were laughing their asses off watching it all happen. What made it sweeter is I was on the other team to some people who get irate over getting shot and it was very amusing hitting them multiple times
I called it there though as the rain was picking up and the battery compartment on my m249 is super exposed. Plus I needed some deans connectors fitted so I didn't have to use my crappy tamiya to deans converter, so I got that sorted too. I learned a lot about it though, so I'll need to tape part of the box mag on because it just clips off way too easily and could let water/dirt into the mag which isn't good, plus I learned that I don't need to remove the barrel to put the battery in as the handguard clips in so I can remove that instead. Also, the barrel is absolutely filthy, so I'll give that a clean and it might actually push the power up. We'll see though, since next game day is the Christmas game, so I'll be santa hat, a tinsel scarf and an m249 also covered in tinsel. 'Tis the season, after all!
I also tested a nuprol midcap and a PTS midcap to see if those m4 mags would feed, but they didn't. Might pick up a Classic Army one to try, as I would like some midcaps for absolute last-ditch ammo if my box mag runs out and I'm still in a firefight. Still, incredibly fun, but very wet and very cold and I'm glad we called it at lunch.
Oh, my friends also showed me how my SMG shoulder holster worked and I love it. It's a bit cold for the mac11, but the mp5k will go incredibly nicely on it, so I'm going to try that next game day. Santa with an m249 and an mp5k is a lot of firepower...
And I got caught on camera for once. Then again, I wasn't exactly being subtle with an LMG!
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