Saturday 29 October 2011

5.11 Select Carry Pack

Just killing some time before I go out looking for Zombies, I was surfing the net for MP5K carry solutions when I came across this from 5.11. Unfortunately, it costs £105 without the optional pistol pouch, which is way too rich for me for something I would only use very occasionally, but is way cool all the same. More info on the 5.11 website.

Wednesday 26 October 2011

FPSRussia: Dragon M-50

Shit, here they come, they've got a fifty cal, let's hide behind this reinforced concrete. Err, no.

Monday 24 October 2011

Tactical Double-Barrelled Shotgun

Yet another vital tool for the impending Zombie apocalypse, this time, a tactical double-barrelled shotgun. Full length Picatinny rails, high-visibility iron sights, sweet.

Brought to my attention via Tactical Gear Magazine's Facebook page.

Friday 21 October 2011

Battlefield 3 Launch Trailer

Hell. Yeah.

Wasn't sold on this until now.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

EDC: Everyday-Carry.com

Everyday Carry, or EDC, generally refers to small items or gadgets worn, carried, or made available in pockets, holsters, or bags on a daily basis to manage common tasks or for use in unexpected situations or emergencies. In a broader sense, it is a lifestyle, discipline, or philosophy of preparedness.

This is a nice simple little website featuring the contents of people's pockets with regards to preparedness equipment. Usually a ' knife/multitool/torch/keyring/wallet' sort of affair, but interesting nonetheless.

Everyday-Carry.com can be found here.

Tuesday 18 October 2011

Hornady Anti-Zombie Ammunition

Hornady Zombie Max AmmoEven serious ammunition manufacturers are getting in on the zombie apocalypse thing. Hornady, a well respected US ammunition manufacturer has started advertising a range of Zombie Max ammunition, preparing you for the zombie apocalypse.

Be PREPARED -- supply yourself for the Zombie Apocalypse with Zombie Max™ ammunition from Hornady®! Loaded with PROVEN Z-Max™ bullets...yes PROVEN Z-Max™ bullets (have you seen a Zombie?). Make sure your "bug out bag" is ready with nothing but the best!

WARNING: THIS IS LIVE AMMUNITION. THIS IS NOT A TOY.

Disclaimer: Hornady® Zombie Max™ ammunition is NOT a toy (IT IS LIVE AMMUNITION), but is intended only to be used on...ZOMBIES, also known as the living dead, undead, etc. No human being, plant, animal, vegetable or mineral should ever be shot with Hornady® Zombie Max™ ammunition. Again, we repeat, Hornady® Zombie Max™ ammunition is for use on ZOMBIES ONLY, and that's not a nickname, phrase or cute way of referring to anybody, place or thing. When we say Zombies, we mean...ZOMBIES!




The original article can be found at The Firearm Blog and more information on Hornady ammunition and the Zombie Max range can be found at the hornady website. Check out the advert below.



Monday 17 October 2011

Ares Armour RAD Pack

This is fricken' awesome. I've just seen this on the Airsoft international Facebook page. More info can be found on the Ares website.

"The Patents Pending Ares Armor R.A.D. (Rapid Armor Deployment) Pack is the next level of concealed weapon carry. If your enemy brings a gun to the fight, One up him with a full armor system and a weapon of your own."

"You can go from being an average unnoticed citizen and in under 2 seconds deploy a full armor system with a weapon giving you an unexpected advantage in an active shooter situation."




Badass of the Week: Dwight Johnson

Badass of the Week: Dwight JohnsonNothing better than a good war story. There is also little as entertaining as the Badass of the Week website. Here is an article that encompasses both. Ladies and gentlemen, the story of Medal of Honour recipient, Dwight Johnson.

Friday 14 October 2011

Handguns

With the exception of my Western Arms ParaOrdnance 14-45 Compact (which was in the loft at the time of taking these photos), this is my current handgun collection. Not much of a collection, I know, but with this pair, I think less is more. WE Colt 1911 and Army Detonics .45 Combat Master.



Thursday 13 October 2011

New FPS Russia Vid

Wait until the end of this one...

New From Tokyo Marui

Tokyo Marui have been displaying their next batch of releases at the All Japan Model and Hobby Show. There's a bunch of pictures on this site. It's all in Japanese but the pictures explain it all. Out of all of them, I'm really liking the SCAR-H recoil version.

Here is the same site through Google Translate.

Wednesday 12 October 2011

G&P Stoner 63A

Let's get one thing straight. I love this gun. I'd be happy with it if it just sat on a shelf somewhere and did nothing else. I have wanted a Stoner since they were announced by G&P over a year ago. Every time I've had the money for one, they've been out of stock in this country. This time round, I was lucky enough to get a good deal on a second hand one. Unfortunately, I've not been able to use it yet as the FPS quoted by the seller (around 330fps) turned out to be 348-349 fps when chronoed at Urban Assault last weekend, making it 3-4 fps over the site limit. As a result of this, I've not had a chance to use it in anger yet, that will have to wait for the next outing at Fireball. Until then, I'm happy to just take it out of the box every now and then.

This thing is solid. I had heard rumours of fragile stocks and external parts. I have found quite the contrary, it is weighty and feels up to the quality that you expect from G&P products. Thst'a all I'm going to say about it here. I may add some more when I've used it, but if you Google the phrase 'G&P Stoner review' there are thousands of words out there on t'internet extolling the virtues of this gun. All I will add are some slightly below par photos.









If you're into Stoners and the whole Vietnam vibe, I would also like to take this opportunity to recommend the work of Darryl Young and his book The Element of Surprise. It covers the first tour of duty of SEAL Team 1's Juliet Platoon member Darryl Young. Not only is this book endearing and exciting, it is incredibly detailed, going into the equipment and weapons that each man carried on operations. not only that, but this man carried a Stoner, and boy, did he love that gun. Well worth a read. More information on Darryl Young can be found here.

Gearbox Challenge

Last night, for the first time, I opened up a V2 gearbox, had a nose around and then closed it up again. I've never done this before, mostly out of fear, but as I had a spare V2 gearbox (from my Marui XM177), there was very little to lose from having a go. As it turned out, it was pretty straightforward. Undo the screws, keep track of which one goes where as they vary in length, have a dig around inside, reset the gears to where they should be and stick it all back together again.





The only problem I ran into was the 'reset the gears to where they should be' bit. In the course of fumbling around getting it to fit back together again, the pin on the sector gear that moves the tappet plate got stuck underneath the plate rather than being in a position to push it back, this meant that the two halves of the gearbox shell wouldn't fit together properly. After a bit of head scratching, I realised what the problem was and sorted it, gearbox back in one piece.



I've probably posted this before, but it's very useful if you don't know how the inner workings of an AEG gearbox do what they do.

Tuesday 11 October 2011

V2 Gearbox Disassembly Guide

Here more for my own reference, but glad if it helps anyone else out. I will be attempting to take a gearbox apart tonight for the first time.

Warbelts

Over the last 12-18 months I have branched out into the worlds of Vietnam airsoft and M14 ownership, I have also expanded the amount of gear I own in an attempt to support these two new areas as well as updating some existing gear.

Whilst building these belts, I've been faced with some interesting dilemmas:
  1. How do I carry everything I need to carry?
  2. How do I carry everything I need to carry without overloading the belt with unnecessary crap?
  3. How do I make the belt versatile enough to support more than one weapons platform?
All of these belts were required to carry the following:
  • Magazine pouches for at least eight rifle magazines.
  • Magazine pouches for at least two pistol magazines.
  • Space for at least one 1-litre water bottle or canteen.
  • Space for at least 1000 spare rounds (0.2g BBs).
  • A handgun holster.
More or less all of the above criteria has been met in the three belt kits I am presenting here. The Vietnam-era belt kit will carry eight 30-round M4 magazines (four in each pouch), but only four M14 magazines (two in each pouch) which requires me to carry the rest of the magazines in a Claymore bag or pockets or some such. Adding a third magazine pouch will probably require e to move the pistol magazine pouch to the webbing strap or something, but that is a problem for
another day. MOLLE, in the case of the modern M4 belt, allows you to stack pouches, as in the case of the triple pistol magazine pouch on top of the double M4 shingle, which makes better use of belt real-estate and the stacked warrior utility pouches allows space for a canteen, ammo or SAW pouch and batteries and presents much less of a problem when faced with the requirements that I placed on the equipment, in fact the only real change to this belt compared to when I originally posted it here is the larger Warrior utility pouch to allow the belt to carry a 1-litre canteen if required.

This belt doesn't conform to the magazine requirements as it will always be worn with a chest rig (currently either the Tactical Tailor two-piece MAV or the 5.11 mini chest rig).

The belt that I had most trouble with was the M14 rig. As this is designed as a stand alone rig, unlike the M4 belt, and will not be worn with an accompanying chest rig or plate carrier and as a result has to carry four large magazine pouches which take up most of the belt. The belt is currently supported by a USGI load bearing vest, but I'm not keen on this and the additional pouches serve very little use when carrying an M14. Ideally, I would like a MOLLE version of this load bearing vest, but there is no real MOLLE analogue. The FLC comes close but features a built in belt and is not available in OD. If I can find a cheap coyote FLC I may give it a try, until then, this will suffice. Once I have equipped the M56 belt with a more appropriate harness, the LC2 suspenders will find there way back onto this belt. The pistol magazine pouch will also get swapped out at some point for one in OD.

The one thing I'm really not happy with on this belt is the SAW pouch. Can't quite put my finger on it, but it's not quite right. I think a large Tactical Tailor utility pouch may replace it in the near future.

With all that in mind, I bring you the 2011 Autumn warbelt range.

The M1956-based Warbelt

Still a work in progress, this belt consists of mostly M1956 webbing (pistol and rifle ammo pouches, belt & compass pouch) and also features a pair of later M1967 water bottle pouches and a 1963 dated leather 1911 holster.

Unfortunately, this is currently all held up with LC2 suspenders until I can get hold of a pair of long M1956 or '67 suspenders but will do for now. Other stuff I'd like to put on this includes a third rifle magazine pouch and a jungle first aid kit (if I can find the space) and maybe a couple of period carabiners.

This is intended for use with my M14 and also the Stoner, although this renders the magazine pouches redundent as they are too small for a Stoner ammo box. Plans are also brewing for either a G&P CAR-15 or XM-177, not decided yet.






The M14 Warbelt

Another work in progress. This is waiting on another pair of Tactical Tailor M14 pouches to replace the cheap and nasty Pantac quad magazine pouch. I would also like to change the Flyye SAW pouch but this comes in useful for the spare box mag when carrying the Stoner.






The Contemporary M4 Shooter Warbelt

Not much else to say about this fella. It's been used a few times in this configuration and I'm pretty much 100% satisfied with it.



Friday 7 October 2011

Friday Motivation

...and you don't need much more motivation than three miniguns.