Showing posts with label airsoft. Show all posts
Showing posts with label airsoft. Show all posts
Monday, 23 January 2012
Skirmish Airsoft Mansfield
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
This Week's Project...
I have a (potentially) small project for this week. Last time I visited Urban Assault I took my G&P Stoner. When I got it chrono'd, it fired at 349 feet per second. Four feet per second over the site limit. FOUR FEET PER SECOND OVER!
Having still not used this gun (story of my life) I have bought a Systema M100 spring to replace the stock, and slightly hot G&P one. Now all to do is to figure out how to get the beast apart.
Pics and swearing will follow shortly.
Having still not used this gun (story of my life) I have bought a Systema M100 spring to replace the stock, and slightly hot G&P one. Now all to do is to figure out how to get the beast apart.
Pics and swearing will follow shortly.
Friday, 23 December 2011
Modify One-Piece Hop Unit
Stolen from the Airsoft GI website, this looks pretty impressive for anyone who wants a finely adjustable, high quality hopup unit...
Item details:
Description:
There has been many Hop up units to claim that they are the best hop up unit to date, but Modify’s new hop up unit may actually fit that bill. The Modify Hop-up unit features a one piece, metal unit which is perfectly cast and does not display any seam lines, burrs or any other casting defects. Next we move onto the actual hop up adjustment gears, Modify constructed their gears with metal sleeve inserts which are secured with O-rings to ensure little to no lateral movement. Modify redesigned the hop up arm to be wider then most and features gearing inside to allow for finer tuning and to ensure that the arm does not move and being properly set. The unit comes with two hop up arms as well, the other arm differs by the hop up nub being built into the arm which is advantageous because the nub cannot shift, move, flex or change shape which provides more consistent results. Simply put, the Modify M4/M16 1-Piece Metal Hop Up will provide the user with extremely consistent hop up and might just be the best hop up on the market.
Specifactions:
Manufacteror: Modify
Model: 1-Piece Metal Hop Up
Design: M4/M16
Features:
One piece metal construction
High quality adjustment gears
Redesigned hop up arms
Item details:
Description:
There has been many Hop up units to claim that they are the best hop up unit to date, but Modify’s new hop up unit may actually fit that bill. The Modify Hop-up unit features a one piece, metal unit which is perfectly cast and does not display any seam lines, burrs or any other casting defects. Next we move onto the actual hop up adjustment gears, Modify constructed their gears with metal sleeve inserts which are secured with O-rings to ensure little to no lateral movement. Modify redesigned the hop up arm to be wider then most and features gearing inside to allow for finer tuning and to ensure that the arm does not move and being properly set. The unit comes with two hop up arms as well, the other arm differs by the hop up nub being built into the arm which is advantageous because the nub cannot shift, move, flex or change shape which provides more consistent results. Simply put, the Modify M4/M16 1-Piece Metal Hop Up will provide the user with extremely consistent hop up and might just be the best hop up on the market.
Specifactions:
Manufacteror: Modify
Model: 1-Piece Metal Hop Up
Design: M4/M16
Features:
One piece metal construction
High quality adjustment gears
Redesigned hop up arms
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 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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
Whilst building these belts, I've been faced with some interesting dilemmas:
- How do I carry everything I need to carry?
- How do I carry everything I need to carry without overloading the belt with unnecessary crap?
- How do I make the belt versatile enough to support more than one weapons platform?
- 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.
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.
Wednesday, 21 September 2011
Vietnam Airsoft
A couple of weeks ago, I went airsofting at Fireball Squadron. Nothing really new there to report, slow news day, I hear you cry? Not so. I've recently been investing in some Vietnam gear, the airsoft craze that seems to be sweeping the nation. Everyone is doing it, lots of sites are running Vietnam themed events from Gunman to Combat South. I have a bunch of mates who have been doing the whole Vietnam thing for a while and are pretty serious about it, so I thought I'd join in. I already had an M14, an XM177 and a 1911 so most of the expense of changing themes was covered.
After a visit to Soldier of Fortune, eBay and some private purchases, I was ready to go. Toger stripe fatigues, a combination of 56 and 67 pattern webbing, jungle boots, claymore bag and my favourite guns of the moment, my Marui M14 and WE 1911.
I had been wondering why there was so much interest in VN airsoft recently. There have been a few tasty releases by G&P, notably the XM177, CAR15 and the awesome Stoner LMG (currently riding at the top of my wishlist), but no new Vietnam movies, not like the Ranger/Delta craze that went round following Blackhawk Down or the interest in Seal jungle ops with the advent of Tears of the Sun, oh no. So where has this upsurge come from.
Unfortunately, I have no answer. My theory is that it takes airsoft and the tactics involved therein right back to basics. No fancy optics, no bolt-on grippy bits, no Magpul accessories, just you, some basic web gear, your rifle and it's iron sights. All the trappings of modern day airsoft are stripped away taking you back to a time close to that experienced when you started playing. When you had only an AEG and some basic (probably DPM or Flecktarn) clothing and a couple of pouches. Vietnam era airsoft is a distillation of airsoft, forcing you to only go out with what you need, not what the latest magazine, website or training video tells you you need. It is a thing of real beauty.
When playing airsoft, you very rarely need to carry all of the equipment that you take with you. Obviously, there are exceptions, like weekend milsim events, but even then, I could have supplemented what I used at Fireball with a rucksack and that would have sufficed, even for an entire weekend.
I still love my two Armalite rifles, even if they are a little overburdened with accessories, but the purity of fun I got out of playing lo-fi airsoft was refreshing, to say the least.
After a visit to Soldier of Fortune, eBay and some private purchases, I was ready to go. Toger stripe fatigues, a combination of 56 and 67 pattern webbing, jungle boots, claymore bag and my favourite guns of the moment, my Marui M14 and WE 1911.
I had been wondering why there was so much interest in VN airsoft recently. There have been a few tasty releases by G&P, notably the XM177, CAR15 and the awesome Stoner LMG (currently riding at the top of my wishlist), but no new Vietnam movies, not like the Ranger/Delta craze that went round following Blackhawk Down or the interest in Seal jungle ops with the advent of Tears of the Sun, oh no. So where has this upsurge come from.
Unfortunately, I have no answer. My theory is that it takes airsoft and the tactics involved therein right back to basics. No fancy optics, no bolt-on grippy bits, no Magpul accessories, just you, some basic web gear, your rifle and it's iron sights. All the trappings of modern day airsoft are stripped away taking you back to a time close to that experienced when you started playing. When you had only an AEG and some basic (probably DPM or Flecktarn) clothing and a couple of pouches. Vietnam era airsoft is a distillation of airsoft, forcing you to only go out with what you need, not what the latest magazine, website or training video tells you you need. It is a thing of real beauty.
When playing airsoft, you very rarely need to carry all of the equipment that you take with you. Obviously, there are exceptions, like weekend milsim events, but even then, I could have supplemented what I used at Fireball with a rucksack and that would have sufficed, even for an entire weekend.
I still love my two Armalite rifles, even if they are a little overburdened with accessories, but the purity of fun I got out of playing lo-fi airsoft was refreshing, to say the least.
Wednesday, 10 August 2011
XM177E2 Upgrade
Last night I stripped and rebuilt my old Marui XM177E2 in the space of a couple of hours. It was the first electric airsoft gun I bought, second hand from a friend and served me well for a couple of years before I upgraded to an M4RIS. It's a great little gun and has been sitting in the loft for far too long now. As I have completely rebuilt the M4 now, I had an EG1000 motor and M4 gearbox spare so I decided to take the XM apart, give it a clean and rebuild it with the superior M4 internals.
Being plastic, it was a bit fiddly and delicate and, despite all my best intentions, I managed to snap off one of the receiver lugs (unsurprisingly as they're the Achilles heel of the plastic bodied Armalite) although this didn't affect the feel of it when reassembled. Couldn't believe that it only had an EG650 motor inside. might be a bit closer to competitive on the skirmish field now. old photo, but nothing on the outside has changed. See you at the Fireball Vietnam day in September.
Being plastic, it was a bit fiddly and delicate and, despite all my best intentions, I managed to snap off one of the receiver lugs (unsurprisingly as they're the Achilles heel of the plastic bodied Armalite) although this didn't affect the feel of it when reassembled. Couldn't believe that it only had an EG650 motor inside. might be a bit closer to competitive on the skirmish field now. old photo, but nothing on the outside has changed. See you at the Fireball Vietnam day in September.
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
More Bolt-On Crap You Don't Need
I've just seen this in the Airsoft International Facebook feed. It's a product made by LaRue Tactical which has already been cloned by the Chinese and is up for sale at ebAirsoft. It's called the POD (Prone Optimization Device) and apparently 'Converts your Magpul CTR into a precision-rifle stock'. Really? Surely it's just another piece of bolt on crap that people will buy to make their rifle look cooler. I know that's where it'll hit the airsoft market, definitely. For US$89 for the original and US$15.48 for the Chinese repro version, plus the cost of the Magpul CTR stock you'll have to have to fit it, will it make a significant improvement?
A couple of years ago, someone said to me that I had too much tech bolted on my rifle. I couldn't agree more now. Since then, all but one of my airsoft guns have undergone a pairing back process where I am slowly removing all un-necessary bolted on tat. My M14, even though it only had a scope rail has had that removed. My L119A1 has been rear-wired, removing the necessity for a PEQ box to put the battery in. Only the 10" CQB M4 still has a whole mess of tat attached, hopefully, I can do something about that in the near future too.
I get the whole accessorisation thing. It appeals to the geek in me. More stuff on your gun = cool gun? Not necessarily. There's a fine line between having loads of cool stuff on your gun and having loads of crap bolted onto your gun that you don't need. The POD is a prime example of this. Many moons ago when I rode and lived for BMX, the bike company GT produced a whole range of freestyle accessories and marketed them under the tagline 'bolt-on is better'. I fell for this hook, line and sinker much to the chagrin of my mates who renamed this marketing ploy 'bolt-on is bigger'. The same can definitely be said of much of the airsoft and active/tactical shooter market at the moment.
A couple of years ago, someone said to me that I had too much tech bolted on my rifle. I couldn't agree more now. Since then, all but one of my airsoft guns have undergone a pairing back process where I am slowly removing all un-necessary bolted on tat. My M14, even though it only had a scope rail has had that removed. My L119A1 has been rear-wired, removing the necessity for a PEQ box to put the battery in. Only the 10" CQB M4 still has a whole mess of tat attached, hopefully, I can do something about that in the near future too.
I get the whole accessorisation thing. It appeals to the geek in me. More stuff on your gun = cool gun? Not necessarily. There's a fine line between having loads of cool stuff on your gun and having loads of crap bolted onto your gun that you don't need. The POD is a prime example of this. Many moons ago when I rode and lived for BMX, the bike company GT produced a whole range of freestyle accessories and marketed them under the tagline 'bolt-on is better'. I fell for this hook, line and sinker much to the chagrin of my mates who renamed this marketing ploy 'bolt-on is bigger'. The same can definitely be said of much of the airsoft and active/tactical shooter market at the moment.
Friday, 15 April 2011
Eotech 552 (Chinese Knockoff)
This just arrived from China in 7 days. How does this happen when Royal Mail/Parcel Force often struggle to deliver in that time, anyhoo...
Cheap 552 replica from KHMountain. Looks the part but the buttons don't do what the instructions say they do and the reticle is blurred, good job it's only airsoft. Let's see how I get on with the 552 and I'll maybe think about buying a decent one, can't complain too much for just over £30.
Cheap 552 replica from KHMountain. Looks the part but the buttons don't do what the instructions say they do and the reticle is blurred, good job it's only airsoft. Let's see how I get on with the 552 and I'll maybe think about buying a decent one, can't complain too much for just over £30.
Thursday, 14 April 2011
The L119A1 Project: Yet Another Rebuild
Yeah, you heard. Another rebuild of the albatross of a gun that is my L119A1. All that is left of the original Tokyo Marui M4RIS is the motor base plate, stock tube and stock. The rest has been completely replaaced with custom parts that I have spent hours hunting over the last five years or so. Can't believe I've spent that long and that amount of money on a gun which is yet to prove useful but them's the breaks. Here's the latest set of pictures showing the installation of the MadBull tight barrel, G&P 8mm Bearing Gearbox and G&P M120 motor. As you can see, I got the whole thing together before realising I'd forgot to install the forward assist. Oh how I laughed.
Knowing my luck, it will now be over the limit at every site I play at, that would be sod's law, but I'll have to wait and see.
All that is left now is to fit the stock magazine pouch and dummy magazine a tidily finish off the rear wiring. Wish me luck.
Knowing my luck, it will now be over the limit at every site I play at, that would be sod's law, but I'll have to wait and see.
All that is left now is to fit the stock magazine pouch and dummy magazine a tidily finish off the rear wiring. Wish me luck.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
The L119A1 Project: Final Phase?
What's the point of having a really pretty gun that's had a lot of money spent on it that only fires at about 215fps and sits in a bag under my bed all the time?
The (hopefully) final phase of the L119A1 project has been put into motion with the purchase of a G&P gearbox (from Land Warrior Airsoft, G&P m120 motor (from eHobbyAsia and a MadBull Black Python tight bore barrel and new hop rubber (from Fire Support all to the tune of about £190. Watch this space for more pics, swearing, scuffed knuckles and a blow by blow rebuild monologue.
The (hopefully) final phase of the L119A1 project has been put into motion with the purchase of a G&P gearbox (from Land Warrior Airsoft, G&P m120 motor (from eHobbyAsia and a MadBull Black Python tight bore barrel and new hop rubber (from Fire Support all to the tune of about £190. Watch this space for more pics, swearing, scuffed knuckles and a blow by blow rebuild monologue.
Tuesday, 18 January 2011
Old School M14 Rig
In my search for a load bearing solution fr my M14, I decided to eschew the normal MOLLE route and throw together a few bits I already had lying around. Add a couple of Tactical Tailor 7.62 magazine pouches (okay, almost eschewing MOLLE) and you have the results below. It could do with another one or two magazine pouches (Tactical-Kit.co.uk only had two OD pouches in stock, more due in soon) but apart from that, I'm pretty happy with it. The HSGI holster may stay or go, possibly in favour of a USGI belt mounted model. It's 90% there I reckon.
More info on ALICE gear can be found on Wikipedia here.
More info on ALICE gear can be found on Wikipedia here.
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
New Stuff
Double Eagle Benelli M4 Shotgun
For a while I had a hankering for a shotgun. Now whenever I've seen shotguns in action on the airsoft field, they never seem to be very effective so I didn't want to spend upwards of £150 on something that can only really be described as a whim purchase. Again, the Chinese come to my rescue in the form of the range of shotguns produced by Double Eagle. The one I really wanted was the shorter barrelled version, but in the end, and as result of the complete lack of stock of these guns, I went for the DE M56DL Tactical M4 Full length from Airsoft World.
Rather than re-type what I have already said about this gun, I'll post the review that I did for the Airsoft World website...
I bought this shotgun, the DE M56DL Tactical M4 Full length from Airsoft World. I ordered it on the Thursday morning, paid the extra for Saturday delivery and it duly arrived Saturday morning. When I opened the box I was very surprised with the quality of this fifty quid gun. It's sturdy and feels well made and solid with rubberised grip surfaces. The gun comes with a single cartridge, a pistol-mag style speedloader, a bag of cheap yellow ammo, two point sling and a small allen key (which seems to be for adjusting the nearsight). I took it out of the box and had a go straight away. It's a good sized gun, I'm six two and it feels big for me. The extending stock would help smaller folk, but it would still be bulky and just to reiterate, feels more expensive than the price tag suggests.
The pump action is pretty stiff, and it makes a solid noise when fired with no rattles from the internals. The gun fires three rounds each time and holds a single 30 round cartridge in the compartment just in front of the trigger guard and can keep a spare in the hollow in the pistol grip, but I'm not sure I'd trust it to stay in there. My only complaint, and it was something mentioned in the description text on the website, is that the stock tube does come loose, which it did almost immediately. This requires a really long 4mm allen key (about six inches, which I'm still trying to source) to do it up. A minor gripe, but still a bit of a pain if you don't have the right tool for the job. I'm going to threadlock it too when I find an allen key to tighten it up again. My only other problem is finding somewhere with the spare cartridges in stock, then I'm taking it out for a go at a skirmish. Considering the price paid for this gun, approximately a third of the cost of a comparable Marui item, it's a brilliant bargain. I may even buy the short barrelled version as well sometime.
What I would add to this is that when the stock comes loose (which in my experience is as soon as you take it out of the box) you will need the aforementioned really-fucking-long 4mm allen key. Six inches is the bare minimum length and don't think, like I did, that you have a socket screwdriver or similar because the inner diameter of the stock tube is too small to take socket screwdrivers or the adaptors that are usually found on the ends of them. After a lot of trial and error, I found a suitable allen key made by specialist cycle tool manufacturer Fat Spanner. This allen key has approximately six inches of exposed shaft and is just long enough. A bit pricey at £4.50 for a tool you may only use a couple of times, but always worth having the right tool for the job. I eventually bought one from Bunney's Bikes in Nottingham.
Last night, as you can see from the picture, I set it up in full tactical mode with the Aimpoint from my M4 and a torch and torch mount. The torch I've had for a while, the remote switch is a Spiderfire item and the mount was a cheap one off eBay. Looks pretty good like this.
Blackhawk Crossdraw Vest
I've wanted a Blackhawk vest for a while. Not something I was desperate for, but from watching Stargate and Blackhawk Down, I quite fancied owning a DOAV (Delta Operators Assault Vest) at some point. I'm still on the lookout for a DOAV as they don't seem to come up for sale very often. In the mean time, I'll settle for this crossdraw vest that I bought off the UKAZ forum recently. Not used it yet but I have tried it on and it's pretty comfy. It needs a bit of adjustment, of which there is plenty. Velcro adjusters on the shoulders and drawstring adjusters at the sides of the rear panel and I imagine that this would fit most people.
I'll write some more about this on the future when I've had more of a play with it, until then, enjoy the picture.
Ares M16 85 round magazines
I promised to take a couple of mates airsofting for the first time recently. I had guns to lend but not enough magazines so I bought a box of these Ares plastic 85 round mags. The three problems I ran into are thus:
1. They are a bit fatter than metal mags and asa a result, are a bit of a tight fit in both the Classic Army and Guarder receivers of my two Colt rifles. I dare say they'll wear down with use, but at present, it's a bit of a squeeze getting them to seat properly and then less than graceful trying to get them out again. Low speed, high drag.
2. They don't feed very well, at least the couple of times I used them over the course of a days skirmishing at Urban Assault, I had a couple of feed issues which resulted in me ditching the mag and going to the next available metal one.
3. They re described as black, the label on the box says black. They are mid- to dark grey at best.
Complaints aside, a bit of silicon spray will probably fix the feed issues, grey is nearly black and I'll just have to fight with them whenever I use them, and to be fair, they'll always be the last mags to be used. For £45 including postage from Zero One you can't complain too much if they don't last forever either.
For a while I had a hankering for a shotgun. Now whenever I've seen shotguns in action on the airsoft field, they never seem to be very effective so I didn't want to spend upwards of £150 on something that can only really be described as a whim purchase. Again, the Chinese come to my rescue in the form of the range of shotguns produced by Double Eagle. The one I really wanted was the shorter barrelled version, but in the end, and as result of the complete lack of stock of these guns, I went for the DE M56DL Tactical M4 Full length from Airsoft World.
Rather than re-type what I have already said about this gun, I'll post the review that I did for the Airsoft World website...
I bought this shotgun, the DE M56DL Tactical M4 Full length from Airsoft World. I ordered it on the Thursday morning, paid the extra for Saturday delivery and it duly arrived Saturday morning. When I opened the box I was very surprised with the quality of this fifty quid gun. It's sturdy and feels well made and solid with rubberised grip surfaces. The gun comes with a single cartridge, a pistol-mag style speedloader, a bag of cheap yellow ammo, two point sling and a small allen key (which seems to be for adjusting the nearsight). I took it out of the box and had a go straight away. It's a good sized gun, I'm six two and it feels big for me. The extending stock would help smaller folk, but it would still be bulky and just to reiterate, feels more expensive than the price tag suggests.
The pump action is pretty stiff, and it makes a solid noise when fired with no rattles from the internals. The gun fires three rounds each time and holds a single 30 round cartridge in the compartment just in front of the trigger guard and can keep a spare in the hollow in the pistol grip, but I'm not sure I'd trust it to stay in there. My only complaint, and it was something mentioned in the description text on the website, is that the stock tube does come loose, which it did almost immediately. This requires a really long 4mm allen key (about six inches, which I'm still trying to source) to do it up. A minor gripe, but still a bit of a pain if you don't have the right tool for the job. I'm going to threadlock it too when I find an allen key to tighten it up again. My only other problem is finding somewhere with the spare cartridges in stock, then I'm taking it out for a go at a skirmish. Considering the price paid for this gun, approximately a third of the cost of a comparable Marui item, it's a brilliant bargain. I may even buy the short barrelled version as well sometime.
What I would add to this is that when the stock comes loose (which in my experience is as soon as you take it out of the box) you will need the aforementioned really-fucking-long 4mm allen key. Six inches is the bare minimum length and don't think, like I did, that you have a socket screwdriver or similar because the inner diameter of the stock tube is too small to take socket screwdrivers or the adaptors that are usually found on the ends of them. After a lot of trial and error, I found a suitable allen key made by specialist cycle tool manufacturer Fat Spanner. This allen key has approximately six inches of exposed shaft and is just long enough. A bit pricey at £4.50 for a tool you may only use a couple of times, but always worth having the right tool for the job. I eventually bought one from Bunney's Bikes in Nottingham.
Last night, as you can see from the picture, I set it up in full tactical mode with the Aimpoint from my M4 and a torch and torch mount. The torch I've had for a while, the remote switch is a Spiderfire item and the mount was a cheap one off eBay. Looks pretty good like this.
Blackhawk Crossdraw Vest
I've wanted a Blackhawk vest for a while. Not something I was desperate for, but from watching Stargate and Blackhawk Down, I quite fancied owning a DOAV (Delta Operators Assault Vest) at some point. I'm still on the lookout for a DOAV as they don't seem to come up for sale very often. In the mean time, I'll settle for this crossdraw vest that I bought off the UKAZ forum recently. Not used it yet but I have tried it on and it's pretty comfy. It needs a bit of adjustment, of which there is plenty. Velcro adjusters on the shoulders and drawstring adjusters at the sides of the rear panel and I imagine that this would fit most people.
I'll write some more about this on the future when I've had more of a play with it, until then, enjoy the picture.
Ares M16 85 round magazines
I promised to take a couple of mates airsofting for the first time recently. I had guns to lend but not enough magazines so I bought a box of these Ares plastic 85 round mags. The three problems I ran into are thus:
1. They are a bit fatter than metal mags and asa a result, are a bit of a tight fit in both the Classic Army and Guarder receivers of my two Colt rifles. I dare say they'll wear down with use, but at present, it's a bit of a squeeze getting them to seat properly and then less than graceful trying to get them out again. Low speed, high drag.
2. They don't feed very well, at least the couple of times I used them over the course of a days skirmishing at Urban Assault, I had a couple of feed issues which resulted in me ditching the mag and going to the next available metal one.
3. They re described as black, the label on the box says black. They are mid- to dark grey at best.
Complaints aside, a bit of silicon spray will probably fix the feed issues, grey is nearly black and I'll just have to fight with them whenever I use them, and to be fair, they'll always be the last mags to be used. For £45 including postage from Zero One you can't complain too much if they don't last forever either.
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Airsoft International Magazine
I very rarely criticise Airsoft International magazine. Yes, it is not the most accurate or informative publication in the world, but it supports Airsoft in this country and is only £4 a month so I can put up with a lot from it, hell, I've even learnt stuff from it on occasion, so generally, good job AI.
Unfortunately, in this month's edition there is an artice about British Commandos of world war 2. In this article, the word 'Catalyst' is printed as 'Cartelist'. Typos are expected in magazines, newspapers and websites. The hopeless inability to spell, in a national or in this case international magazine, is pretty unforgiveable.
C-, could try harder.
Unfortunately, in this month's edition there is an artice about British Commandos of world war 2. In this article, the word 'Catalyst' is printed as 'Cartelist'. Typos are expected in magazines, newspapers and websites. The hopeless inability to spell, in a national or in this case international magazine, is pretty unforgiveable.
C-, could try harder.
Tuesday, 17 August 2010
Completed Work - L119s & Warbelt
It's taken a long time but the L119A1 projects are finished. A Readymag is in the post, but apart from that, you see in front of you two finished guns.
The fullsize L119 consists of a Marui M4A1 RIS, although all that really remains is the stock and the internals. The 10" SFW is a piecemeal of Classic Army receiver and internals and Marui RIS.
The battlebelt has gone through a few incarnations but I'm finally happy with it. I'm trialling the weapon retention strap to see if I get on with it, this may stay or go but the rest is pretty much set in stone.
Apologies for the poor quality photos, I'll get some better ones up shortly. Just wanted to show off not one, not two, but three finished projects.
The fullsize L119 consists of a Marui M4A1 RIS, although all that really remains is the stock and the internals. The 10" SFW is a piecemeal of Classic Army receiver and internals and Marui RIS.
The battlebelt has gone through a few incarnations but I'm finally happy with it. I'm trialling the weapon retention strap to see if I get on with it, this may stay or go but the rest is pretty much set in stone.
Apologies for the poor quality photos, I'll get some better ones up shortly. Just wanted to show off not one, not two, but three finished projects.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
