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Oops my bad, I was thinking of a different recreational toy gun based hobby ?

To be honest, I think a days entertainment for £25-£30 is amazingly cheap. I don't think there are many activities that are more than sitting on your arse in your own home(Netflix and gaming) that has such a low per hour cost. The rest of the costs (guns, ammo, food, pyro, kit) are up to the player and can be done incredibly cheaply or incredibly expensively, so looking for ways to reduce this further is feasible in the UK. If anything I'd encourage going the other way, charge me more but have paid Marshalls. It's hard to get volunteers to run a site as well as people who are getting paid for it. That's why a lot of sites are based around the one or 2 people who make the cash from it. If they aren't there or they're having an off day the whole site goes down hill. A local site to me has peaks and troughs and it's entirely based around the site managers (not the owners). When they change so does the quality of the site, the games run, the way the briefing is given, the attitude to the whole day/weekend etc. When it's bad it's pretty hard to moan cause they're doing their best and they are just volunteering.

To be fair, guys, you could adopt the model we use over here: We don't have sites you can play at, we instead have clubs with a yearly subscription fee to cover insurance and get some money to buy/build/rent stuff (varies from club to club, in mine it's €70 for example), you get a permit to play on a piece of land and essentially you're done. Of course you won't have the numbers you're used to, you will lose some facilities like toilets and food, but overall it'll be much, much easier to sustain than dishing out a decent dinner every time you want to go out and shoot your mates in the ass from a bush.

I've done a few more modifications to the suit this week, hopefully I can get a few picture on the Weekend.

At my sites... District 23 is £18 for walk on and £28 for walk on plus rental. Rental for a 10er is outstanding when I see people on here quote much higher prices at their local sites. And my other site 101 Scarborough is £25 walk on with or without rental. Cant argue at that either. These are both indoor CQB sites, D23 is a more 'professional' endeavor and 101 is a guy who has rented a derelict care home so the locals have somewhere to play. Much more of a intimate player base of locals and run much less restricted. Like a you don't be a dick and I won't be a dick attitude from the owner. Which is great if everyone plays well and fair. All in all I think they are both great value for the quality of the sites plus how well run they both are and the variety of play.

I've played sites for £20 and had a bad time, and played sites for £35 - £40 and had an outstanding time. The opposite is also true. Every time you pay your fee to play you're rolling the dice. There are so many variables as to what will make your day good value for your money; site size, development, layout, rules, marshaling, weather etc.... But frankly, the thing I feel makes or breaks ANY game day, no matter the site, are the players. All it takes is a few dickheads to flip a day and make me regret handing over my hard earned cash.

Sorry, I couldn't resist

That was mesmerising... Ah that's better. No more red. Although I was a little tempted to leave some of it as weathering

It's an interesting model, but I can't see it working in the UK. We're a cramped, crowded island with few areas of secure, isolated land that aren't in regular use, or subject to having public randos rambling onto them. Sites here sadly tend to get kicked off the land as soon as the landowner finds any other way of making money from it. Even if you could find a bit of land that's unused on a given weekend, landowners might not want to have it covered in plastic, or take on any vicarious liability. Indemnity for players might be do-able, Shooters Rights or similar could cover it. I say "could" because their underwriter will be set up to cover people shooting at things or beasties, rather than at other people who are shooting back. Still, it'll be fine on paper until it's not.

NiMh is a bit old tech. Have a read here. Li-Po (Lithium Polymer) are more common now as they do not have any memory effect and can store more power in a smaller package (Higher power density)

Since I'm no longer dressing up like a bush, I finally got snapped while playing! Weight loss loadout in its full glory because I've put 20 of the 45 kilos I originally lost back on thanks to stress eating over unemployment Even managed to use my GBBR AK instead of my NGRS 416, since my friend didn't want to use his last weekend so I could borrow his mags (I only have 1, he has 4, so 5 in total at 35 BBs each is usable). If I managed to lose 45kg before, surely I can lose 35kg now! I'm even going to the gym and healthy eating (again) and stuff ?

It includes 3 hi cap fills at around 330 each (only given 1 mag at a time, you have to go back to recepton to refill) So close to 1000 BBs and extra refills are available at £3 each. So yeah damn good value.

you could do that over here but has a lot legal requirements to fulfil. you must either have massive numbers or land and insurance is dirt cheap. no site in the UK could function on that little per year most sites relie on hires to to cover costs and probably have less than 60 regulars at £70 that's only £4200 a year that wouldn't even be able to rent enough land to put a portapotty on. even if that was a £70 a month thats still nowhere near enough.

Being somewhat of an M14 fanboy I would say that the TM is great out of the box (but as is typical for TM, low on power). I have three Cyma M14s all of which have been spectacular out of the box in terms of range. They're not always hot FPS wise out of the box but certainly usable. A better barrel and hop rubber will almost certainly see your FPS go up and a new motor won't hurt as the standard Cyma one is a bit rubbish. If you go for the full length one it is REALLY long, if you go for the EBR it's REALLY front heavy. The Socom sits in the Goldilocks zone of having a long enough barrel but without all that tedious apologising for taking people's eyes out when you turn round. I also have an E&C based MK12 which is a LOT easier to work on (QC spring, it's basically an M4 etc) but I do gravitate towards the M14s. Must be the masochist in me.

Video of MWS recoil making my bingo wings wobble I'm definitely going to have to do more dips ?

REEEEEEEEEEE

Manic day at strikeforce Gloucester yesterday, everyone seemed to have had their weetabix and the quality of play was fantastic, my friends and I found the honesty levels to be very high. The MWS always brings a grin to my face (not great when I don't wear face protection lol) and I found I was going through all 6 of my mags most games as well as all 5 of my glock mags. The last game I played was Tug of War which was basically a stalemate for the entire game with the middle of the play zone being an absolute meat grinder. Must have over 100 welts on my body (8 on my face alone). Amazing day.

Also as feedback, you may want to re-evaluate that bulk deal on Nuprol 3.0. You're going to struggle to find someone willing to invest £390 as a lump sum on gas. Especially as it works out £15.60 per a can and the individual price is £12 - £15.

true, been looking more into importing directly myself last couple of weeks, just a small selection of RIF's, but in fairly large numbers. Importation prices seem to change on a weekly basis, that is you can find an agent who will ship Airsoft products.

Latest family reunion Do you ever get the feeling its time for a bigger sofa?

here's my beast

Hey, if it makes your bollocks tingle and you can square it with the missus, then go for it…? A well looked after TM NGRS will hold value fairly well too, should you wish to part company with it at a later date.

Newer "budget" Airsoft guns have come on leaps and bounds supposedly. You can get yourself a good rif thats reliable, good range, few bells and whistles (MOSFETs/electric triggers) etc for around £300. Good enough that the TM magic isn't ready a thing. What very few guns give are the following. Bolt stop Recoil An easy gearbox to work on when it needs it. Unlike most gearboxes they aren't under tension when putting back together so I find them easier. I've had both of my recoils for over 7 years. During that time they have had repairs and spring upgrades, but not the excessiveness some do (stock motors, gears, pistons, cylinder,cylinder head, nozzle, barrel) The gate titans are a great upgrade. Obviously these repairs come at a cost but I'm not doing £300 every 2 years on a new rif like it seems most players with standard aegs do. Looked after they're solid and can last a long time If you like changing your rif fairly often or acquiring an armoury as some do, then go for a standard aeg. If you're set on a 416 and expect to like it for a long time then the recoil is a sound investment. For me the bolt stop, reliability, overall quality etc is enough id buy them again. TM mws gbbrs look very interesting, had a ghk and loved it, but I had a brief falling out of love with the sport and couldnt justify keeping it (kept the recoils though). Have picked up a tm mp7 for that gas action and a lower investment point. You do adapt to the lower round count surprisingly well and few contacts need 1000s of bbs, few need more than 30. Stock recoils are good solid guns, not super amazing but the recoil and bolt stop will make up for that. Eventually a stronger spring (m95 with a tighbore barrel or m100) for that extra FPS, if trigger response is important then the titan is the answer, but they aren't essential or needed at purchase. So I guess my answer is, it depends.

different mentalities. As I said clubs are a legal ball ache over here. You have to the register club as business or charity then you have to have several positions that are elected such as president, Club secretary, treasurer and there has to be regular elections. The owner/operator model works relatively well over here. the site lives or dies on the owners ability to manage. I have seen a couple of sites ruined by Teams that had enough members to make serious dents in income of sites manipulate that fact to get the site to bend to play the way they want ignore game rules/ hit taking and basically ruin it for anyone not on the team. In a club system I could see a team with big enough numbers could take over a club a ruin it.

The S&T SMLE isn't cheap, but 100 budget .303 cartridges are £77 through a real one. A round of clays is 35p per clay and £6 a box of 25 budget cartridges. Shooting is never really cheap. You are literally buying things to fling them all over the countryside. Airsoft is not bad value IMHO. To be candid... I worked out in an idle moment just how much beer I bought when I was seriously into snooker. Two nights practicing and one nights competition was a minimum of 12 pints per week, plus table hire, taxis, nerve soothing fags, post-pub pizzas and the odd victory party to 2am. Life in the UK is rarely cheap, especially leisure. Glad to be able to knacker myself out for so little tbh.

And stuff…

I recognised the price structure ….. but to be fair that is a rental price structure intended for the occasional day out, as opposed to an own gunner who would ideally be paying a slightly higher green fee and buying their balls by the case load. Such as £25 entry and options of BYO or a case of 2000 for £30 of good fresh balls - (approx £55 for a day out) as opposed to basic rentals with free or cheap entry plus a rolling price structure against various quantities of basic quantity balls. (If planned ahead probably £50/£60 for a day out with half as many balls but slower shooting or around £100+ without researching the price structure or going in with fat wallets) Each type of player would expect to be separated to different dates or different areas of the site - and expect staff to be paid rather than volunteers / player Marshall’s In airsoft the situation may vary between sites but it appears that the trend is for regulars to be mixed among rentals unless it’s a large group / exclusive booking, and as noted in the thread isn’t very viable in contrast to the overheads of running a site In paintball the sites exist due to the primary business of public rental paintball and then add walkons with other pricing for encouraging repeat custom from own gunners as they get more serious I equate airsoft to a cross between walkon & scenario paintball, and to be viable sites need a good turnover of players to cover the costs of the site, staff etc

Lol speedbird, why do I get a horrible feeling I've just opened a can of worms on this. The reliability factor is another thing, my old TM M4 had 1000s of rounds through it and I sold it on to someone who from what I mind had years more service out it. As for rate of fire, I'm used to using 8.4V Ni-Mh and Ni-Cd batteries so I'm used to things that go slowly lol I hear what you are saying Nick, but I probably would still burn through gas faster than my credit card could keep up with rofl But maybe some day I'll get a gbb. Out of curiosity is it and a1 or a2 L119?

Well, things haven't really changed - expect sub-300fps out of the box and meh ROF, but you get the recoil and bolt stop. You do get metal bodies (with the exception of guns like the G36) on the NGRS line. The TM fans will be along shortly, but essentially some will tell you that it'll be the best gun ever - once you pay a gun tech a fuck-tonne of cash so they can gut the pretty much the entire gearbox and replace with aftermarket parts. Allegedly these techs have secret stocks of the patented 'TM Fairy Dust' that they pour into the newly 'upgraded' gearboxes to make them even more amazeballs. You'll also be told by others fans that the low stock FPS is not an issue - you just have to be more patient as the BB slowly ambles over to your target. I mean, the person you will be shooting at will be so impressed by the TM shooting at them, they'll stand completely still and wait for you. Perk of TM NGRS ownership apparently. Recoil and bolt stop is cool though.

LOL, I'd be like "OY MATE, IF I SHOOT YOU, YOU GOTTA TAKE IT, I'M NOT DOING DOUBLE TAPS, NOT AT THESE PRICES" ? 'kin ell, that's more than 20 quid to fill a hi cap, madness? EDIT @MAX DICKER yer git, I thought you were serious. Doh

Sorry to be so blunt but the best upgrade for an AA Glock pistol is put it in the bin and buy a WE. You will spend more on the AA and it still won’t be as good as a stock WE. for Glocks in general not much is needed. A bearing for the hammer is a good upgrade for smooth cycling as is a maple leaf hop chamber, rubber and a crazy jet barrel. Nothing else is really needed.

Your first 100 bb's are free, then £6.99 per 100 after that

I can understand going for a profit if you hold stock and its quick delivery but 80% is quite a markup for dropshipping and china delivery times

I'm surprised that airsoft remains so cheap. My two regular sites are £26.50 outdoors and just £25 for a full day of indoors. Neither do "free" food, but I'm fine with not having the price of a tepid hot dog costed in. The Depot 2.0 is now up to £36 a day, which is when I start to question the value for a site still under development. Although I'd be amazed if their income comes close to paying the rates on the building - I'd assume they're doing some sort of "sports charity" wheeze again. As just noted elsewhere, I reckon the real rate of inflation is running at well above the headline 4.9% CPI, given the hundreds of billions of new fiat that we've shaken from the magic money tree. That necessarily reduces the value of what's in our pockets. It's amazing that prices haven't risen further and faster. On that, if you're waiting for RIF and consumable prices to come down before buying, I wouldn't. Money printing and now sharp rises in fuel and energy are only going to drive prices higher. True, not when comparing site vs site. However, when comparing playing versus watching Netlix, it's a real consideration. At 50 to 70 mile round trips to the nearest sites now, I can't ignore the costs of fuel any more. Of course, this is all in the context of a hobby where we think £100 for a toy is bargain-basement. I'm sure many of us could find a season's play just by thinning our collections a bit. I've got RIFs in baskets at two retailers, but in both cases I've hovered over the buy button and thought "Wouldn't you rather spend that money on playing instead?"

Ya that's probably it. I was looking at the price of a RIF in TG a few weeks ago and the price was varying by a few pounds daily.

Those connections aren't specifically for one type of torch but for a pair of units. For example, peq and a white light independently running. Wadsn switch so you should be able to get the appropriate lights and lasers from them too.

Bought a few bits, super friendly service, a guy called me to tell me he serviced the boneyard gun I bought and how it’s firing explaining everything in a long phone call. was very happy with the service and would certainly buy more

I empty their boneyard section whenever there's anything good in there, so just buy cheap stuff, but Paul has always been helpful. I'd happily spend on a full price aeg.

Not been playing today but had 3 guns in bits for cleaning, lubing and mild upgrading does that count? also copious amounts of alcohol and snacks as the wife is away ?

Deact vs airsoft Value for money. I bought it from Ali Express, for my Chinese SKS deact ?

Posted it on the Lee Enfield thread, but what the hell ! S&T 303 now with a genuine front cap and my Father in law's old bayonet

Changed it a bit

Not in the Northern hemisphere in March... In the summer I use two. One khaki as per the avata and one Vietnamese green job. You have to be careful where you wear them though. The local Zulu diaspora are frightened by one, the personel of the local US airbase by the other.

Then grow stronger arms ya pussy ! ?

Outdoor and Tactical. Which is probably AK2M4s closest rival in terms of products and price.

Am I doing it right?

That’s exactly how these gun owners in question responded. Also, I made a mistake, it was the Devon and Cornwall police. Check this out:

border Farce have seized and destroyed and then in formed the plod . Scary thing was he’s from the knife crime unit ! ? To be honest he totally threw me when he introduced him self and then straight away said “you’ve been reported too us , so I’m here so hopefully we can clear it up asap” I let him in as I was quite stunned and had switched in to “fuck what have I done this time ?!?!” Mode ! and didn’t think to ask about warrants or the allegation before he came in .

Just to note here, that Border Force and police are just people ensuring the law gets implemented as per legislation. Some of the time they can be overzealous or overly concerned officers that have little idea of how to implement the shit that the Parliament is responsible for writing into law. There’s been several cases of police officers visiting lawful gun owners in Dorset to try and take those guns away from them on some flimsy basis, or issuing blank certificates to lure them into the trap of “fill it yourself”, definitely ATF-style. I have a problem with this woke government in particular; they basically try to expand a list of everyday items that can be considered as an “offensive weapon.” As we know per the very educational Bourne franchise, even a ballpoint pen can be a deadly weapon in the right hands, does that mean we should ban all ballpoint pens? There’s a great series of video by the BlackBeltBarrister on YT about Knife Law, I recommend this. He also did demonstrate the extent of applicability of the law in practical terms.