Getting back into airsoft after a decade

[James932]

The tl;dr quick intro - I'm James from Newbury, an airsofter years ago, just getting back into it.

 

The other day I was poking about in the loft and came across my old airsoft gear. I've always known its there, and occasionally I would think about it and think 'I must go airsofting again sometime' and then do exactly nothing about it. So when I saw it the other day, I decided to stop procrastinating and dragged it all down. Its been 10 years or so since I last went to a game, so I hit the local army surplus for some cheap camo gear, goggle, charged the batteries and went down to the absolute airsoft Maidenhead site to see what happened.

 

First thing I discovered is my old M4A1 doesn't work, which is odd, because it worked fine the evening before when I tested it. But I wasn't going to argue with it on the day, so it went back into the boot and the P90 came out and joy of joys, after 10 years of no use, it worked straight off the bat. For about 50 rounds, then the ancient mini battery died. Having rather expected this, I had 3 others, so got a few games in being ultra conservative with my shots, before they were all dead and I called it a day. The guys did kindly offer to charge them, but it wasn't worth it for 50 odd shots a piece.

 

Now, when I last played, everyone had TM, except for the posh guys with their fancy metal classic army guns, UKARA and the VCRA was brand new and anyone in digicamo was cutting edge. So here I am, having been re-bitten by a bug that I had long ago put down, trying to catch up. I have many questions, which I'll save for other threads, but I thought I should introduce myself before I started asking daft questions.

 

I've listed my gear below. Its all ancient, some of it 15 years old. I now remember that idle daydreaming about upgrading airsoft guns is a common affliction and each already has a place in the ongoing dreamscape. Whether its too old to be realistically useful, I guess I'll find out.

• G3 SG1, which in my foolish youth I disassembled the gearbox of, without knowing what I was doing, to fix an issue I can't now recall. It never worked again. If I ever get her going again, I suspect it'll need a new gearbox, so perhaps a DMR set up.
• An M4A1, bought second hand. which the top rail later turned out to have been broken and super glued back on, which had since failed again. This'll likely see basic repairs and service as a loaner.
• P90, including the big box mag that will take m16/m4 mags. She'll be the jack of all trades spare/cqb/extra loaner
• Another M4A1, the one I intended to use last weekend. I really loved that M4 back in the day and I'm hopeful with a more patient approach then my teenage self could muster I can resolve its problems and restore it to its former glory, and maybe even upgrade it to modern standards. In my daydreams, this one gets the works, the upgraded gearbox, the extended barrel through a suppressor, a paintjob and who knows what else. But for now, I'll focus on the basics.

So yeah, thats me. Hi.

[Deek]

Hi, and welcome to the forums.

 

I was in your position last year, returning to airsoft after a break of 10 years.

 

I still use my TM MC51, which is about 17 years old - just had the hop rubber replaced as (surprise surprise) it had perished.

 

It took me a little while to get back up to speed with all the things that have changed since my absence, but you will get there

[SeniorSpaz87]

Welcome. Glad your old spirit was rekindled.

[Adam3088]

Welcome to the forum! There's now a huge amount of Airsoft tutorial content on YouTube, might be worth a look to help you get the g3 back together.

[Baz JJ]

Welcome back. I would imagine that Airsoft has grown a lot in that time and there is a much wider choice of guns, games and kit available now which makes it even more interesting.

[Colonel Kurtz]

Welcome back! TM is still popular/best, the posh guys now have the recoil TM's, people are starting to get into HPA rigs and every M4 in the land now has Magpul furniture. Other than that it's probably very much the same as when you left, just more on the market.

 

Oh and Absolute Airsoft is now widely snubbed, mostly due to the guy running the shop (Special Airsoft Supplies) being a total fake-stock-listing scammer, and them letting the regulars use whatever the fuck fps they like

[skarra333]

 

Now, when I last played, everyone had TM, except for the posh guys with their fancy metal classic army guns, UKARA and the VCRA was brand new and anyone in digicamo was cutting edge.

 

Memories.