Airsoft Action - April 2017

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KING ARMS SVD HEAD TO HEAD ASG STEYR AUG TOKYO MARUI SKORPION TOKYO MARUI VSR

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AIRSOFT ACTION

ARMOURY: ASG STEYR AUG A1

M A G A Z I N E !

ARMOURY

KING ARMS SVD HEAD TO HEAD ASG STEYR AUG TOKYO MARUI SKORPION TOKYO MARUI VSR

EVENTS

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Editor: Nigel Streeter Assistant Editor: Gareth “Gadge” Harvey Graphic Design: Havoc Design Ad Design: Havoc Design Publisher: Nigel Streeter Cover Image: Spectre UK 13-issue subscription rate: £46.50 UK 6-issue subscription rate: £24.00 For overseas prices email: subs@airsoft-action.co.uk

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REAL STEEL: KIT: KALASHNIKOV AK47 PETZL TACTIKKA +

CONTENTS MARCH APRIL 2017 2014

CONTENTS APRIL 2017 8 NEWS 10 ROGUE’S GALLERY Cool photos of Airsoft Action readers.

11 HOW TO AIRSOFT Airsoft Action’s new exclusive cartoon.

12 ARMOURY: KING ARMS SVD Kings Arms have three different versions of the venerable SVD and Scott Allan couldn’t decide which one to review – so he did all three!

16 ARMOURY: ASG STEYR AUG A1 Jerry Noone takes a look at the latest incarnation of this classic in the form of the Proline model from ASG. 20 WEAPON HANDLING: MANTISX At the SHOT Show in Las Vegas, Scott Allan spotted a device that could, quite literally, change your game by improving how you shoot.

24 WW1 EVENT: RAGING EMPIRES Stuart Howes reports from the Front Line of Gunman Airsoft’s new Great War FilmSim series.

30 KIT: THIS IS THE MODERN WORLD Gadge is very much an “old school” airsofter but when he bought a futuristic AEG he was left wondering what kit to wear with it.

34 GEAR: WILEY X SABER SHOOTING GLASSES In airsoft there is nothing more important to protect than our eyes.

Kelly “Femme Fatale” Hardwick writes about an offering from Wiley X that caught her attention.

36 LEGAL STUFF: POLICING AND CRIME ACT Frenchie takes a look at the new Policing and Crime Act 2017 and what it means for airsoft.

40 EVENT: FORMULA 5 AIRSOFT It has been said that airsoft in an arena won’t work, so at the end of January Nige attended the UK’s first Formula 5 Airsoft event to find out.

44 POCKET ROCKET: TM VZ61 “SKORPION” If you’re an OPFOR sniper that needs a superbly compact backup, a Cold War Vehicle Crewman, or fancy a bit

of “Neo/Matrix” time then the Tokyo Marui “Skorpion” could be just the thing you’re looking for.

48 INTERNATIONAL TECH: ATM M4 QD GEARBOX Diane Montagnier writes about an upgrade available in France that could soon make its way across the Channel.

50 KIT: NEW VIPER RANGE 1ST LOOK Jerry Noone looks at some great new kit from VIPER that’s just perfect for “running and gunning”.

54 ARMOURY: TOKYO MARUI SVR Every so often something comes along that changes what we do. Frenchie feels the Tokyo Marui SVR was such a thing, as he explains…

58 FEATURE: AIRSOFT SPONSORSHIP Kelly “Femme Fatale” Hardwick addresses a topic that has been the subject of many a lively social media “debate”… sponsorship.

74 WARRIORS: OMON “BLACK BERETS” Gareth “Gadge” Harvey takes a look at Russia’s OMON, a controversial “Special Purpose” unit with a fearsome reputation for zerotolerance policing.

78 KIT: PETZL TACTIKKA + Perfect for weekenders or just latenight walks, head-mounted lights leave your hands free and provide light where you need it. Paul Yelland tries out one of the latest from Petzl.

80 KIT: MIL-TEC ONE MAN RECON TENT Military Historian, Will Fowler, has spent many a night in the open and knows what he is talking about when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep.

82 BOOK REVIEW: REICH RAILS Professional World War One Battlefield Tour Guide, Matt Limb OBE, writes about a book, the subject of which will surprise many.

60 FEATURE: UNIVERSAL SOLDIER Ex-Para, Peter Bing MIExpE, certainly does and gives us his thoughts on the ideal combat load.

84 GEAR: HOLSTERS PART 2 Following on from last month’s issue, Andy Nightingale finishes his round up of the different types of holster.

63 IT’S A CLASSIC: M83 SAAV Gadge Harvey kicks of a new series of short articles looking at iconic and classic kit from both the world’s armouries and storerooms as well as tried and tested skirmish kit.

87 BOOK REVIEW: COLD BLOOD

BY ANDY McNAB Nige gets his nose stuck into Andy McNab’s latest “Nick Stone” adventure.

64 GITAG: SUPPRESSOR JACKETS Jerry Noone press-gangs his wife into sewing service in order to create a suppressor jacket on a budget!

68 REAL STEEL: KALASHNIKOV AK47 In this new monthly feature, Gareth “Gadge” Harvey will look at a classic firearm of the last 100 years, its impact on modern warfare and our airsoft counterpart.

72 INTERNATIONAL AIRSOFT: SWEDEN In Issue 71 Bill Thomas reported on the state of airsoft in Denmark and this time he travels to the “other end of the Öresundsbron” to find out how things are in Sweden, courtesy of Bjorn from Klockar Airsoft!

88 FAMOUS RAIDS Billy Basics heads across the North Sea to write about a mission that was not only strategically important but a much-needed boost to Britain’s morale – and also makes a perfect airsoft scenario.

92 SITE DIRECTORY & PRACTICAL PISTOL CLUBS Looking for a skirmish site, or your local Airsoft Practical Pistol Club? Then we may have the answer, with over four pages of sites and clubs through the UK. 98 DEALER LISTING: AIRSOFT ACTION’S ADVERTISER INDEX Find who you are looking for in our listing of all the adverts that appear in this issue.

s w e N t f o s Air

FIRST TACTICAL: NEW GEAR 2017

Building upon its existing product, First Tactical has developed a great range of all-new gear Slash & Flash Hard Knuckle Glove The Slash & Flash Hard Knuckle Gloves are the result of operators and end-­users requesting gloves that could withstand high-­level operations. Featuring a Kevlar® and goatskin Level 2 Cut Resistant palm and a Nomex® flame-­‐ resistant back these gloves are built to be sturdy and reliable without sacrificing durability, protection or comfort.

Available in sizes S-­‐XXL. Rolling Duffle The Rolling Duffle is the do it all luggage essential, featuring a collapsible internal structure for stability and storage, as well as compression straps with dual adjust buckles. The duffle has two external storage pockets and one internal zip-­‐secure pocket, together with three external haul handles. The heavy-­‐ duty oversized wheels

barcode scanning, as well as quick pull access and a name tape area. Made with textured 500D nylon, these products are tough and hardwearing, as well as water resistant, keeping your gear safe and dry.

ensure pulling the duffle is comfortable, whilst the telescoping handle system makes it convertible and user friendly.

Velcro Pouches Brand new for 2017 First Tactical has introduced a range of handy Velcro pouches, which can be interchanged to customise the user’s pack.

Available in a range of sizes, each features a clear mesh face for

Watches For 2017 First Tactical has introduced a line of watches specifically designed for use in the field.

The Canyon Digital Compass Watch stands up to the toughest of jobs offering the best of both worlds; durable yet sophisticated. The watch features a large display with a digital second hand, compass function and an innovative utility strap. Available in green and black. Next, the Ridgeline Carbon Field Watch features a carbon resin housing and the First Tactical second hand, complimented by a webbing/polymer band. It’s also waterproof up to 50 metres. Available in black & green and brushed steel & black. Lastly, the Fathom Dive Watch, specifically designed for use underwater, the watch is waterproof to 200 metres and features carbon resin housing.

And the winner is…

Back in the Xmas issue we ran a “Spot The Difference” competition to win the superb ASG Accuracy International AW .308 Gas Sniper Rifle and the response was one of the biggest we have ever had.

There were masses of correct entries but there could only be one winner and that was Rebecca Chadwick, who was super excited when we called to tell her. Rebecca now has the .308 and promises to let us have some photos of her using it in-game.

We would like to add our congratulations and hope she gets as much pleasure out of using it as we did giving it away to someone who obviously very much appreciated winning!

Thanks also to ASG for providing such a brilliant prize and just in case you were wondering what the differences were…

1. The eyepro lens colour was different.

2. The left-hand roof support was missing from the shelter in the background.

3. The magazine had been extended.

4. The flash hider was missing.

5. The boot colour had been changed.

Watch out for future competitions – you know we just love to give stuff away!

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April 2017

Dual-Purpose use of SPEED HPA triggers The SPEED HPA triggers will take full advantage of the M4 HPA engine in an AEG, by reducing the trigger pull tension and giving it full adjustability externally.

In addition to the M4 HPA engine conversion, the SPEED HPA triggers will also work with any M4 AEG with a MOSFET conversion that has an onboard micro-switch. The SPEED HPA trigger gives the MOSFET conversion the exact tuning ability equal to the HPA system. A MOSFET conversion with the SPEED HPA trigger is essentially equivalent to a HPA conversion on the field, but without an air hose connection.

For more info, visit SPEED Airsoft at www.SpeedAirsoft.com or get your SPEED products from SPEED authorized airsoft dealers worldwide.

AA GALLERY

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READERS’ PHOTOS

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This page: Battle Lakes by Nat

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April 2017

AA GALLERY READERS’ PHOTOS

They calle d at Invicta him Pyro…

Battlefield

Information Fancy seeing yourself in Airsoft Action? Send in your photos via email (nige@airsoft-action.co.uk) or share on our Facebook page (/AirsoftAction), plus a few words describing what’s going on in the image.

From Keith Hibbert

THE ADVENTURES OF MAG

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Armoury KING ARMS SVD

KINGS ARMS HAVE THREE DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE VENERABLE SVD AND SCOTT ALLAN COULDN’T DECIDE WHICH ONE TO REVIEW – SO HE DID ALL THREE!

HEAD TO HEAD: KING ARMS SVD KING ARMS HAVE THREE different Dragunovs; AEG, CO2 and a Spring Cocking system. I was a little torn which one to review so decided that parts of them were so similar, I’d be just as well running a “Head to Head… to Head” comparison to find out which I thought best. I’ll give you a little idea where I stand first off… I like spring sniper rifles best and owned a King Arms Dragunov back in the olden days. I’m hoping it is still my favourite but I am always happy to find out something is better.

KING ARMS

Who are King Arms? They are quite unique in that they started out in Hong Kong in 2004 but apparently due to operating costs and the attack of the clone market, they came out of China and relocated to Taiwan in 2015. As far as I know no manufacturer has ever moved country in such a way and that is pretty interesting about the philosophy of the company I think. They’ve made many rifles over the years like so many manufacturers. They make a brilliant Thompson, a number of AKs and of course M4s too. They also make more modern SIGs in the form of the 556. I had one years ago and sadly had nothing nice to say about it back then. They also make the insanely lovely Black Rain Ordinance rifle under license which I reviewed a little while ago.

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April 2017

The Real Steel SVD There is a common misconception about 7.62mm ammunition.

The AK47, British SLR and the SVD are all 7.62mm rifles but are not compatible due to a different cartridge size. In fact there are many more cartridges that are 7.62mm, including the new popular 300 AAC Blackout (aka 300 BLK). The AK47 uses 7.62x39 (aka short or Soviet), the NATO round is 7.62x51 and the SVD is a mighty 7.62x54 (aka long or Russian). Not the most helpful names but there you go.

The SVD isn’t a “sniper” rifle per se either. Made back in the early 60’s it was developed as a squad support weapon, much like a M249 is these days. In fact we’ve come full circle, as the US Marine were ditching half of their M249s in favour of the H&K M27 marksman rifle. This is where the SVD lives, it is a designated marksman rifle. If soldiers are in an area and they need to take a longer, more precise shot, they use the guy with the SVD. It’s not famous for being hugely accurate but it’ll do the job whilst also being sturdy and reliable. I fired one a few years back and I can’t say it was anything specular, other than the excitement of actually shooting one. The real versions originally came with wooden furniture but in more recent times a polymer kit which is more weather proof and stable in the longer term.

King Arm’s Version Looking at the stats, it seems they all share a few common parts and that is kind of nice as it means you don’t really loose out due to your preference of power. They all look and feel largely identical too, so this is going to fall down to a personal preference and a pros and cons section.

Armoury KING ARMS SVD

CO2

Pros

Cons

Short cocking

Requires gas bulbs to be replaced

Tool-less gas replacement

Lower FPS than the spring version Not very quiet for a gas system More expensive to increase power

Spring

The most powerful version

Cocking isn’t as easy as the gas

No external power required

A little noisy

Cheaper in increase power AEG

AEG

High capacity magazine

Lower FPS

Will take upgrades easily

Less consistent out of the box

Full auto

I’ve only really looked at the differences between them with this list, so let’s have a look in more detail and give you my thoughts:

CO2

There isn’t anything really surprising in there except that the CO2 bulb is much easier to change than I thought it would be. Personally I’ve never rated CO2 systems and it is beyond me why companies make them. I’ll concede they’re not bad performers and the right set up with a silencer is extremely quiet but they’re just a bit too much bother for me personally.

CO2 is always going to be great in warmer climates but in the cooler UK climate and damp weather you will lose power.

Perhaps in Asia were you normally have 30 degree heat to play in this rifle will produce around 450-500fps. Changing the bulb requires disassembling the top slide and the bolt carrier easily slips out, as this is a tool-less job all you need is spare bulbs.

They do last for a couple of magazines easily but I find you end up in that “do I change now or later” conundrum and being a disposable item, the bulbs mean this is probably the most expensive type to run.

I have always had a little bit of an issue with sniper/DMR electric rifles. It’s not that I think they are bad, it’s just I don’t think they are that good at filling the role and you are also relying on someone not spamming the hell out of the trigger or using fully automatic (which if the power is high wouldn’t be legal). It also comes with a 200 round magazine but the magazines are all interchangeable so if you want to play MilSim you can easily purchase the 50 round types.

The AEG is just that, a standard rifle with a different look – it is a little bit of a wasted effort as you aren’t gaining anything extra except having a more cumbersome AEG. On the flip side I personally used to happily slither around with my old trusty TM M14 on single shot effectively using it as a sniper rifle and totally loved it. Being an AEG you can do a whole range of

“IF SOLDIERS ARE IN AN AREA AND THEY NEED TO TAKE A LONGER, MORE PRECISE SHOT, THEY USE THE GUY WITH THE SVD. IT’S NOT FAMOUS FOR BEING HUGELY ACCURATE BUT IT’LL DO THE JOB WHILST ALSO BEING STURDY AND RELIABLE.”

SPRING

The spring system is good and with decent power, although a little bit noisier than I’d like. Undoubtedly you could internally dampen the sound and that would help improve the muzzle report. I also find spring very consistent all year round with very little variation in power and that means you can leave it in the cupboard or car for ages and it’ll work as soon as you want to use it. The cocking handle has also been improved over the version I had about 12 years ago. My old one used to cut chunks out of my hands during rapid firing at multiple bad dudes coming to ruin my day. The piston draw is much further than the CO2 version which makes it a little slower to use and requires more body movement. If you’re trying to lay really still it might be harder with this version.

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Armoury KING ARMS SVD

“THE AEG IS JUST THAT, A STANDARD RIFLE WITH A DIFFERENT LOOK – IT IS A LITTLE BIT OF A WASTED EFFORT AS YOU AREN’T GAINING ANYTHING EXTRA EXCEPT HAVING A MORE CUMBERSOME AEG.” crazy upgrades and if I was going for this version I would set it up with 13:1 gears, a high torque motor, maybe an electronic trigger preferably with an active brake MOSFET. That would give you and instant snappy trigger, without having to cock it each time you’re not giving away your position by moving and if you keep the FPS down lower you’ll have no minimum engagement distance. I’d be sad if anyone used the full auto but it is there if you need it for those dreaded locked up gearboxes.

WHERE DOES THAT LEAVE ME?

The CO2 I just wouldn’t use, at all, ever. There is nothing wrong with it, I just think it is the weakest link of the three types but if gas is your thing then you can’t

go wrong with this and the bulbs are quick to change with minimal fuss which is a huge bonus.

The spring is as good as I remember and although I think spring rifles are dying away a little these days due to hop units and electric rifles getting so bloody good, I would be tempted from a purist single shot sniper point of view. I’d look for a consistent 500fps upgrade package and spending time working on the hop up and BB weight combo for stability checks then probably use it a handful of times a year.

The AEG version is the most versatile without a doubt, albeit a little on the warm side power-wise so be careful of that.

It’s less of a purist choice in some ways, even though it has a semi-auto like the real version. I suppose I partly compare it to the Real Sword SVD which was an amazing electric rifle. It’s not bad, I just think the spring is a little better, personally.

IN CONCLUSION

I’m torn, mainly because the AEG is good but I always loved the spring. Price doesn’t even come into the equation because they’re all the same price pretty much. I think I would have to think on how I would use the rifle in a game. If I was going for a dedicated sniper type roll I’d definitely choose the spring. If I was going for a bit of a faff around not to serious option I’d probably pick the AEG. The only thing I am sure on is I wouldn’t choose the CO2 version.

Bugger it. I’d choose the spring version… again!

features Weight: 2.9kilos Total Length: 1,215mm Magazine Capacity: 200/50 (AEG/Spring & Gas Version) Inner Barrel: 560mm Firing modes: Single Shot/Single & Full Auto (Spring & Gas/AEG) Loading mechanism: Manuel Cocking/Automatic Loading (Spring & Gas/AEG) Removable Cheek Piece CNC One piece barrel Hop unit AEG type Power on 0.20g RZR BB: CO2 400fps (1.48J), Spring 455fps (1.92J), AEG 375fps (1.30J) Price £250 for all types

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April 2017

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Armoury ASG STEYR AUG A1 PROLINE

ONCE HAILED AS THE MOST FUTURISTIC LOOKING FIREARM ON THE MARKET, THE VENERABLE STEYR AUG HAS A SERVICE HISTORY THAT STARTED IN 1977 AND CONTINUES TO THIS DAY. JERRY NOONE TAKES A LOOK AT THE LATEST INCARNATION OF THIS CLASSIC IN THE FORM OF THE PROLINE MODEL FROM ASG.

BULLPUP PERFECTION THERE ARE SOME AIRSOFT REPLICAS out there that all of us refer to as “marmite” models because you either love the design or downright hate it but for me, the Steyr AUG swings back and forth in my affections. Over the years I’ve had a number of AUGs but for some reason I’ve never held on to them. The fragile-looking design tricks me every time, as virtually every model I’ve owned has actually been solid as a rock and performance has been consistently good so I sometimes scratch my head as to why I now don’t have one in the armoury.

It’s certainly a rifle that has a creditable lineage and a long service history and could fit any loadout from Cold War right through to current day. In my historical research I came across some interesting facts on modernfirearms.net which I’ll paraphrase here; the Steyr AUG is an Austrian bullpup 5.56×45mm military rifle that was originally developed and designed in the 1960s by Steyr Mannlicher GmbH & Co KG (formerly Steyr-Daimler-Puch); the major design is attributed to just three men, Horst Wesp, Karl Wagner and Karl Möser, who

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April 2017

developed most of the rifle’s quite unique features. The AUG (“Armee Universal Gewehr” or “Universal Army Rifle”) was adopted by the Austrian Army as the StG 77 (Sturmgewehr 77) in 1977 to replace the 7.62×51mm StG 58 automatic rifle (a licence-built FN FAL) and is still the standard small arm of the Austrian Bundesheer and various national police units.

Designed as a family of rifles that could be quickly adapted to a wide variety of roles with the change of the barrel to a desired length and profile, the AUG is a modular configuration and employs a high level of polymer and advanced alloy components. The primary variant of the rifle, designated the AUG A1, consisted of six main parts; the barrel, receiver with integrated 1.5x telescopic sight made by Swarovski Optik, bolt and carrier, trigger mechanism, fiberglass-reinforced polyamide 66 stock and magazine Many believed the AUG rifle to be revolutionary in many respects when it first appeared but in fact, the AUG is a clever combination of the various existing ideas, assembled into one sound, reliable and aesthetically attractive package. In the 1970s the ”Bullpup” configuration, which puts the magazine behind the pistol grip, was already an acknowledged design.

The Enfield EM-2 and Korobov TKB-408 bullpup assault rifles both precede the AUG by some 25-30 years and the FAMAS bullpup also appeared in the same timeframe as the AUG. The polyamide housing was also not completely new technology either, as another Soviet experimental bullpup design, the Korobov TKB-022, had a plastic housing as early as 1962.

Coming back to the Enfield EM-2 bullpup rifle of late 1940s, as well as the experimental Canadian FN FAL prototypes of early 1950s, these all featured low-magnification telescopic sights for their primary sighting function. The fact that the AUG was a modular platform based on the same receiver and action to create either an automatic rifle, carbine, or light machine gun seems to be a new idea but in actual fact this type of system was originally developed in the 1920s in France

by Rossignol and used in their ENT B1. However, with all of this

Armoury ASG STEYR AUG A1 PROLINE

noted, the clever part of the AUG was that it took a number of features already in existence and placed them all in one very tidy package.

Since its inception the AUG gained great popularity, being adopted by the armed forces of Australia, Austria, New Zealand, Oman, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Ireland and some others. It was also widely purchased by various security and law enforcement agencies worldwide, including the US Coastguard.

The Steyr AUG can be considered probably the most commercially successful bullpup assault rifle to date. In 1997, Steyr-Mannlicher produced an updated version of the AUG, the AUG A2 which featured a redesigned charging handle and a detachable telescopic sight which could be replaced with a MILSTD-1913 rail and in 2005 introduced the most recent version of AUG, the AUG A3.

The multi-configuration M1 variant of the AUG A3 platform is the latest generation of the Austrian bullpup platform.

Utilising an optics attachment platform similar to that of the AUG A2, the AUG A3 M1 is available in a Short-Rail version, a High-Rail version as well as an Integrated-Optic version, with either a 1.5x or 3x scope. The AUG A3 M1 Optics version has a more traditional AUG scope tube with exceptionally bright and clear optical elements, modernised with the addition of three Picatinny rail sections to accommodate accessories like a close-quarters holographic sight. The rail and optics platforms on all three AUG A3 M1 versions are interchangeable via three base screws that thread from the underside of the top of the receiver.

The AUG A3 M1 boasts an overall length of just 28.15 inches (71.5cm), including its 16 inch (41cm) heavy barrel, making it at least 8 inches (20cm) shorter than an M4 carbine with a comparable-length barrel. The AUG A3 M1 has all the classic features and benefits that established the original model at the forefront of modern rifle design, including expedited disassembly as well as simple conversion to left-hand operation, which requires replacement of the standard bolt with the

“THROUGH WORLDWIDE EXCLUSIVE LICENSE AGREEMENTS, ACTIONSPORTGAMES HAS BEEN AUTHORISED BY MANY FAMOUS ORIGINAL FIREARMS AND ACCESSORIES MANUFACTURERS TO REPLICATE THEIR FIREARMS, COMPONENTS AND ACCESSORIES INTO OUTSTANDING REALISTIC 1/1 SCALE REPLICAS OF THE HIGHEST QUALITY AND THE AUG IS NO EXCEPTION.”

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Armoury ASG STEYR AUG A1 PROLINE

“REMEMBER THAT THE REAL AUG HAS A PROGRESSIVE TRIGGER (PULLING THE TRIGGER HALFWAY PRODUCES SEMI-AUTOMATIC FIRE, PULLING THE TRIGGER ALL THE WAY TO THE REAR PRODUCES FULLY AUTOMATIC FIRE) AND THE AIRSOFT VERSIONS REPLICATE THIS PERFECTLY.” optional left-eject bolt and swapping the ejection-port cover. It also features a quick-change barrel with a collapsible forward grip as well as a two-position cross-bolt safety that locks the trigger. In general, the AUG is known for good ergonomics, decent accuracy and a good reliability.

LICENCED TO THRILL!

Photo: 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command from Grafenwoehr, Germany - Austrian forces at Combined Resolve II. CC2.

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April 2017

As I said earlier, the AUG is actually a superbly versatile airsoft replica as it covers such a great span of years and it’s also been a real movie favourite, mostly for equipping the “bad guys” with something thoroughly modern-looking and slightly exotic; it’s also been a movie and TV series “sci-fi” favourite given its futuristic appearance.

When I spoke to Paul at ActionSportGames (ASG) about their latest Proline version of the AUG, he explained to me that the models currently available were all in the 1.4Joule/390+fps power range, although they featured a quick change spring system. With what is going on in relation to the 2017 Policing and Crime Act (PCA) this effectively will put them in “Section 5” territory and it’s probably one of the last times I’ll be able to have a RIF with such a high power level delivered to me for testing, as I seriously don’t want the police knocking on my front door! Paul did advise though, that in the very near future all ASG models will be shipping with a “UK friendly and legal” spring that will be installed at the factory for our market. ASG… spot on the ball as always!

With that aside there are currently three “standard” models of the Proline AUG available; the first two models, which come in either classic OD Green or Tan are an A1, closely followed by the A1 “Short” which mimics the real world carbine, or “Para”.

The third variant is an A2 with the raised optics rail and this can be had in either Black or Tan. All models come as standard with a very accurately reproduced 300 BB Hi-Cap which is translucent, just like the real thing.

What arrived for testing from Denmark were examples of the A1 variants, both long and short-barrelled. Through worldwide exclusive license agreements, ActionSportGames has been authorised by many famous original firearms and accessories manufacturers to replicate their firearms,

components and accessories into outstanding realistic 1/1 scale replicas of the highest quality and the AUG is no exception.

Both models are great looking, feature high-quality parts and given the licence, are fully trademarked.

Internally things are as I would expect them to be in one of the ASG Proline models and the AUGs feature a short-type motor, a version 3 full metal gearbox with 7mm bearings and high quality gears and piston. The gearbox, as stated earlier, has a quick change spring feature that allows for a fast change in muzzle velocity should the circumstances demand it. Externally they feature a rugged nylon-fibre body with a textured surface, along with a full metal receiver and barrel and an integrated 1.5x scope; this last feature is a real bonus as you get a magnified optic straight out of the box!

I have to admit though, to be a bit of a “curious squid” when it comes to one feature of the Proline AUGs, in that they’ve been fitted with five short rail sections positioned around the body of the gun. This seems to be a way of saying “you can have an AUG with rails” just to pander to a certain element of the airsoft community and in my mind it’s a slightly odd decision, given that ASG make a fully-railed A3 variant as well. It’s a personal thing but I’d remove these.

In terms of performance I’m going to say straight out that the AUGs are very, very good indeed and they have a remarkably balanced feel and great weight. The two-stage trigger is one of the best I’ve ever come across in an airsoft AUG, offering snappy, quick semi-auto fire and a very well defined full-auto trigger pull. Remember that the real AUG has a progressive trigger (pulling the trigger halfway produces semi-automatic fire, pulling the trigger all the way to the rear produces fully automatic fire) and the ASG airsoft versions replicate this perfectly.

The safety mechanism is a cross-bolt button type, located immediately above the pistol grip. Unlike the real deal, in its “safe” position the button does not show a white dot but when in this position the trigger is mechanically disabled; pressing the safety button to the left exposes a red dot and indicates the rifle is ready to fire. One little feature that I particularly like is that the oversized cocking handle can be locked to the rear, holding the ejection port open and making adjustment of the rotary hop very straightforward.

All I’ll say in relation to the chrono testing is that both models did indeed come in “hot” but if you have one of these then that’s easily rectified. If you already have an AUG, or indeed any other RIF, that is above 1.3 Joule/370fps on a .20g BB then please ensure you get it downgraded at your earliest opportunity to comply with the PCA! In terms of accuracy, once again as I expected both of the AUGs were bob-on; once you master the balance of that excellent trigger you’re going to be able to deliver tight groups at CQB distances and be able to “reach out and touch someone” at 30m plus. Pulling the trigger back delivers a withering hail of BBs, especially with an 11.1 LiPo tucked away under the rubber buttplate.

I’d have to say in conclusion that once again ASG really have made the most of their licence agreement with SteyrMannlicher to deliver a couple of really first rate AEGs. Whether you like the look of the AUG or not it’s a truly high-performance airsoft replica and will easily hold its own no matter what your style of airsoft and once again, I may just have to consider putting one back in the armoury!

For more information on the ASG Steyr AUG line and stockist details please visit http://actionsportgames.com

ActionSportGamesŽ is a worldwide leader in the business of replica firearms and accessories manufacturing – including Airsoft guns, Airguns, CO2 guns and firearms replicas.

000702176_AirsoftAction_EVO-Carbine.indd 2

The new EVO Carbines feature the same high-end internals as the popular CZ EVO 3 A1 Airsoft AEGS. They have M-LOK attachment points and full-length picatinny rail on the upper receiver. As with the game-proven CZ EVO 3 A1 models, the new carbines are produced and manufactured in Denmark by ActionSportGames. Contact your local dealer for more information about the new CZ Carbines from ASG.

0007-0217_February2017

CZ EVO Carbines X2

> CZ EVO 3 A1 Carbine > CZ EVO 3 A1 B.E.T. Carbine

22-02-2017 11:31:45

Armoury MANTISX

AT THE SHOT SHOW IN LAS VEGAS, SCOTT ALLAN SPOTTED A DEVICE THAT COULD, QUITE LITERALLY, CHANGE YOUR GAME BY IMPROVING HOW YOU SHOOT.

THE MANTISX TRAINING SYSTEM SHOT SHOW IS A GREAT crucible for new products and ideas, as covered in last month’s Airsoft Action but my current loathed term in our beloved industry is “game changer”. Releasing a slightly new style, or design on an existing product, is not a game changer. At best it’s a revision and at worst a poor imitation. Few new Airsoft companies ever produce something good enough to be classed as a good revision – especially on the Tokyo Marui Airsoft design. Systema and KWA/PTS are the only two that immediately stand out for a successful attempt at this. Marui have continually innovated over the decades and really are the only good company at it, yet their basic version 2/3 gearbox is still the most widely used. As soon as someone pulls out a gas blow back pistol or a rebranded AEG and says it’s a game changer, they should be fired. We are too small an industry to have QVC sales tactics, we need real innovation and 20

April 2017

things that improve the game, not just add more of the same.

Too few products ever come to light in Airsoft which alter the paradigm, most of our industry is a clone of a clone of a clone.

“What are you talking about and where are you going with this?” I hear you ask.

The MantisX is one of these products – no, not the poor imitation or a revision but my dreaded game changer word.

It really is innovation in its purest form; the technology isn’t a revelation but they way it has been integrated is not only functional but clever and exciting too.

So what is so special about this little plastic box that mounts onto a pistol or rifle? Yes it does look bland, like a cheap eBay red laser that will never point straight - but it’s so very much more than that on every level. Popping open the mini genuine Pelican case provided you see the MantisX, a paper booklet

Armoury MANTISX

and a charging lead. Hardly Christmas! The MantisX isn’t about fancy labels, it is purely about function and information recording.

I initially had reservations about the system, I’ve seen tons of aiming systems, training systems and target systems and while most are amusing for 5 minutes, few have ever been better than actually shooting. The other drawback is almost every one of them I’ve ever seen is eye wateringly expensive.

If anyone reading this has ever used Strava on your phone, or own a Sunto or Garmin training watch you are starting to get close what the Mantis is. I don’t know exactly which sensors are inside (funnily enough the developers don’t disclose that) but imagine a sensor platform that ties in seamlessly with an iOS or Android app to measure your aim, trigger pull and recoil management and all of this is demonstrated back to you graphically via your phone or tablet device. That is what the Mantis does - and does it better and cheaper than anything else I have ever seen. From the recorded information the software extrapolates a variety of guides to help you improve your aim by offering solutions to the faults it picks up.

The best way to learn about the MantisX is to start using it as quickly as possible. Within a few minutes all of the features and their operation become simple to use and what you used to think was a good technique and giving you good shots becomes staggeringly apparent they aren’t. It starts to feel like magic as everything ties together, you understand you are being tested so you start to think, your wild clock face of

spokes on the app turn into smaller deviations. Then, if you are like me, your deviations all lean to a single direction and that’s when you analyse your faults and improve on them. This all happens within a few magazines and this is when the real training begins.

A “History” feature is built into the MantisX app, it’s about as self-explanatory as you could hope for. It stores each shot as a bar graph in 0 to 100 scale, and contains the individual “Train” mode results. It categorises them up by “live,” “dry” and “all,” as well as presenting some summary statistics. All are sharable via your usual social media outlets as well. Now we can expect lots of Facebook competitions to achieve perfect results!

The more I use the MantisX the more I like it. It’s clever, reliable and affordable. Given that a Garmin training watch easily sells for £200-300 for the good types, at £160 the Mantis seems more of bargain. But make no mistake its genius is not merely in forging some new paradigm but also in refocusing and utilizing on a time tested one. We’ve all been tested on our skills at some point with shooting, we’ve all been trained at some point but think back, how long has it been since anyone actually analysed the way you shoot? It will put the fun back into training and dry fire training when, if we’re honest with ourselves, dry training isn’t normally fun at all. The MantisX actually even allows this to become a mildly competitive pursuit, if one was so inclined.

As I mentioned, your shots are scored 0-100 and what is

“IMAGINE A SENSOR PLATFORM THAT TIES IN SEAMLESSLY WITH AN IOS OR ANDROID APP TO MEASURE YOUR AIM, TRIGGER PULL AND RECOIL MANAGEMENT AND ALL OF THIS IS DEMONSTRATED BACK TO YOU GRAPHICALLY VIA YOUR PHONE OR TABLET DEVICE. THAT IS WHAT THE MANTIS DOES – AND IT DOES IT BETTER AND CHEAPER THAN ANYTHING ELSE I HAVE EVER SEEN.”

www.airsoft-action.online

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Armoury MANTISX

“SO WHO SHOULD BUY THIS? IN MY OPINION SERIOUS SHOOTERS, PEOPLE WHO VALUE PERFORMANCE, GADGET FREAKS AND AN ABSOLUTE MUST FOR ANYONE DO TAKES PART IN IPSC-STYLE SHOOTING TOURNAMENTS.” amazing is every time I’ve given someone a pistol, shown and explained the system and how it works they are skeptical, as they should be because I was at first too. They fire 10 shots, generally they’ll score 60-85 overall. You can look at each shot, see if it is grip, trigger pull or recoil management (as well as other telemetry) that is lowering their score and then try again. Everyone improves on the second go by a considerable margin. Pistols really are about muscle memory, look how long it took you to learn to walk, getting a shot bang on target from a quick draw might look easy but is actually extremely difficult. Part of the accuracy comes from the consistent pistol manipulation and trigger pull, there is no point in a rock firm grip that results in a snatching trigger pull and of course the opposites are true.

The spider web diagram on the app shows which way you are pulling the pistol throughout the operation also accompanies the score. During each shot the center of the diagram has your score, the diagram lights up the direction of pulling and a pop up advises you of potential errors causing your less than perfect score. It really is that simple, simple is easy to understand and that means you will use it more often.

In the history feature you can look back at your error types, 12% of mine are “Jumping the Gun” another 12% are attributed to “Tightening

22

April 2017

Fingers” and 8% to “Slapping Trigger”.

It is amazing how a few tries starts to dial you in further and iron out these issues.

The old saying practice makes perfect is more true than ever here. If you want to get out of your old bad habits and start seeing substantial improvements you need feedback and, other than a private tutor, I cannot think of a single way to achieve this better than with the MantisX. For the person who believes they don’t need any further training (they do exist), know that you are wrong. You should never presume you know everything because such at thing isn’t possible.

To quote Larry Vickers: “This saying or variations of it is very old and attributable to famous gunfighters such as Wyatt Earp. The basic concept is that a shooter can become faster with practice but being accurate takes work and skill - and accurate shots on target are the only thing guaranteed to end the fight in your favor.

Make no mistake, speed is important but not at the expense of a reasonable degree of accuracy. Remember the old adage of “you can’t miss fast enough to win” - my motto is simply another way of saying that.”

The software allows for a variety of training selections, pistol, rifle, right and left handed. You can choose live fire (real steel), blank and CO2. You can mount the MantisX facing forwards or backwards (depending on the RIS type on the pistol) and also top, bottom, left or right for rifle mounting.

The only real draw back I’ve seen is that it struggles with some gas blow back pistols that aren’t CO2. I am unsure if this will be resolved soon but I do know the software is continually being developed and will only get more and more features added. Obviously it won’t really work for a standard AEG rifle.

So should you buy this? Well £160 is £160 all the same and that is the cost of a whole new pistol…. Granted you still might not be able to hit anything! So who should buy this? In my opinion serious shooters, people who value performance, gadget freaks and an absolute must for anyone do takes part in IPSC-style shooting tournaments. It could be worth going halves with a mate as you won’t be using this every day but it is something you can use away from the range or game site.

Anyone who teaches shooting, in particular shooting clubs, should seriously consider it as a teaching aid, as a graphical representation of faults can help students visualise their faults, rather than trying to understand an instructor.

The system does have some drawbacks, the lack of sensitivity for GBB on the unit I tested was a little disappointing given how great it works on CO2. I haven’t had a chance to shoot it on my 0.22lr rifle yet either but I am hoping for a similar experience to the CO2 pistol.

EVENT WWI: RAGING EMPIRES

STUART HOWES REPORTS FROM THE FRONT LINE OF GUNMAN AIRSOFT’S NEW GREAT WAR FILMSIM SERIES, AS WORLD WAR ONE COMES TO EVERSLEY.

RAGING EMPIRES WHEN YOU IMAGINE THE FIRST World War, the things that spring to mind are trenches, mud, gas and shelling – with a liberal sprinkling of futility and doom. However, the start of the war was very different. Mobile battles raged across Belgium and north-east France and it was this opening campaign that unfolded in Eversley on the first weekend of 2017.

Since the release of Battlefield 1 last year there has been a massive surge in people trying to get hold of (and game in) WW1-style kit – especially the dash and élan of German Stormtroopers. Naturally, it was only a matter of time before events were being run that fit the theme.

This event, called “Raging Empires (Part 1)”, was the Gunman Airsoft offering of the Great War in their classic FilmSim style. Building on the FilmSim games already run (WW2, Cold War and Vietnam), it brings a very different game style than a standard airsoft skirmish.

The opening brief on Saturday morning explained not only the game mechanic but what the ultimate aim is for the Raging Empires series. Rather than the usual calls for “medic” when hit, Germans would be calling for the “Sani[täter]” and the British for a “Stretcher Bearer”, along with the usual cries of pain, anguish and calling for one’s mothers that really set FilmSim events apart.

Imagine, if you will, a map of 1914 Europe with each country divided into areas like a Risk board. Each area can be taken and retaken from the enemy depending on how the battles on the ground go. With this being game one we were focusing on the area around Mons, where the British and German armies first clashed in August 1914.

A contingent of the Gordon Highlanders, complete with kilts, glengarry caps and waxed moustaches, the British 24

April 2017

EVENT WWI: RAGING EMPIRES

Expeditionary Force and some French support faced off against elements of the 92nd and 93rd infantry regiments.

All participants looked the part, with a lot of effort going into uniform and equipment, helped by the plethora of kit for free loan from Gunman themselves. Quality and accuracy was high and really helped everyone to get into the mind-set.

Rules and expectations covered, it was time for war…

Scenario 1 tasked British forces to hold a position somewhere near the French border. They were expecting to have to hold out for some time, until relieved. The Kaiser’s army, for which I was our team Santitäter (Medic), was tasked with taking this outpost and pushing forward into France. We deployed in a loose battle line and approached from an angle that we hoped would be unexpected. We were soon spotted by a British patrol and whilst a small unit set out to remove them, the rest of us made for our objective.

Every infantryman was armed with a bolt action rifle, so when our attack ran into the sole machine-gun we had to decide how to counter. Splitting into two main pincers we approached from the left and right flanks, separated by the Vickers’ killing zone. Virtual stalemate was quickly established, with very little forward movement of the Germans and no attempt to do anything but wait-out from the British. Then, all at once, everything happened!

A British officer and a couple of soldiers charged across to our position and attempted to remove our command but were rapidly cut down by well spread out and well-hidden infantry, who were all the while slowly working forward. Shortly after, Herr Komandant got himself shot and despite my best efforts, had to head back to Regen. Determined not to lose impetus, the German forces then surged forward. As the right flank charged towards the British, a very good throw from the left flank cleared the objective entirely of Tommies and secured it for Germany.

The war had begun and the pace and tone of the battles had been set.

Following the German victory, scenario two continued the German advance against another British fortified position, this time dug into a series of shell hole bunkers on a hilltop.

German High Command ordered that whilst the recon elements of the 92nd infantry work to one side of this position, the 93rd

“RATHER THAN THE USUAL CALLS FOR “MEDIC” WHEN HIT, GERMANS WOULD BE CALLING FOR THE “SANI[TÄTER]” AND THE BRITISH FOR A “STRETCHER BEARER”, ALONG WITH THE USUAL CRIES OF PAIN, ANGUISH AND CALLING FOR ONE’S MOTHERS THAT REALLY SET FILMSIM EVENTS APART.”

www.airsoft-action.online

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EVENT WWI: RAGING EMPIRES

“UNDOUBTEDLY, THE VICTOR OF THIS ACTION WAS A FRENCHMAN WHO VERY VOCALLY KILLED ALL BEFORE HIM (REGARDLESS OF NATIONALITY) WITH AN AXE, BEFORE RETIRING UNDER FIRE. THIS BARBARITY REALLY SET THE TONE FOR DAY TWO: QUARTER WASN’T GOING TO BE GIVEN.”

26

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would gallantly charge the bunkers head on. The British dug themselves in and well-sited their Vickers for an excellently executed defence.

The 92nd (of which I was a member) were the first to be engaged on this mission, having skirted around to one side and drew a great deal of Allied interest. Crossing one of the only pieces of open ground, we were then pinned down. Whilst we had been working into position, the 93rd had been manoeuvring and thanks to not wanting to attack uphill through a bog, Germans surrounded the hillock on 3 sides. Most German attacks struggled to get into the series of bunkers atop the hill but the noose slowly tightened as the British were pinned into a smaller and smaller pocket. Notably, some Germans did make the British trenches but were repelled at close quarters with grenades and bayonets. Despite German gallantry, the British held for the allotted time and the scenario finished in a British victory.

FilmSim games work strongly on the knock-on effect of the outcome of each other, so game 3 started with neither side occupying the objective and a dash to take, secure and hold the area. Sneakily, we Germans started moving forward just before the game commenced and we were utterly shocked when the whistles blew and the entire British army came pouring down a hillside screaming like banshees and with kilts flying. Crucially, our two men who had made it to the objective held firm against overwhelming odds. For the first time, it was rifles against rifles, as the British had, thankfully, decided not to bring the heavy weapons on the charge with them. This gave us room to manoeuvre until it was rapidly brought up in wave two and emplaced atop the contested area to try and hold.

As it happened, the crewmen were eventually both killed and an enterprising German soldier turned his captured prize on its former owners. A machine gun is the linchpin of a defence when everyone else has single shot and it was thanks to this we held off waves of counter-attack. Game 3 to the Germans.

From the area we had failed to take earlier in the day, the British had broken out and cut our supply lines at a bridge we had laid. If we wanted to continue our advance this would have to be retaken with maximum ferocity. Again, the British

EVENT WWI: RAGING EMPIRES

were well dug in and were now joined by all two men of the French army, resplendent in their blue uniforms. After a shaky start during which a German patrol was wiped out by a lone British soldier, the attacks slowly gained and then lost momentum. As we found to our cost, the terrain around the bridge was easily defended. We even managed to put men across the bridge but could not get enough of a bridgehead to remove the British. End of game 4 gave the British another victory and cut off the 92nd and 93rd for the next day.

Sunday dawned wet but still some 25 bedraggled soldiers mustered for another day of warfare.

The previous day was mulled over and lessons, we thought, were learned.

Game 5 was to be over a number of smaller actions that started in heavy rain but slowly dried. The cut-off Germans had to be pushed back and destroyed and for the first time the Allies were truly on the offensive. The first portion of the day, played in heavy rain, really was evocative of WW1.

Troops fought back-and-forth over the same pieces of churned-up mud and took heavy, attritional casualties.

A notable scene was the capture of a lone German which quickly turned into a hand-to-hand bloodbath.

As the German raised his hands, his captor was shot, allowing the newly-freed prisoner to kill another with an entrenching tool. This rapidly turned a small sector of the action into an area where bayonet was king and the

pace was very high. Undoubtedly, the victor of this action was a Frenchman who very vocally killed all before him (regardless of nationality) with an axe, before retiring under fire. This barbarity really set the tone for day two: quarter wasn’t going to be given.

Under intense allied pressure, the Germans fell back to a more defendable position but were heavily shelled whilst doing so. The nature of the defence meant we had a strong forward line but, as it turned out, a weak flank. An excellent throw from an aggressive British attack caused considerable German casualties, myself included but the advantage was not fully capitalised upon. Steadily, the British fought into the German position and we fell back with fire and manoeuvre under intense pressure. The body count for both teams had been very high.

In the last throes of the day, we appreciated that we had to recapture lost ground and broke out of our new position to assault the French. A bayonet charge from the entire German army overran the French position and we tried to keep this momentum as we moved towards British lines. Fire and manoeuvre from bolt action weapons with real-steel limits (meaning we only got 5 rounds to a magazine whereas the British got 10) is as enjoyable as it is challenging and we continued our advance under orders to only use the clear tracks. The survivors of the assault then mustered just outside the camp from which we had been expelled earlier – to find a newly built British barricade. This caused some consternation as to whether this was within the rules but our first assault through it was reasonably successful. To win this scenario, all we had to do was get two live soldiers into one of the buildings. The assault into the compound, led by a good throw from a German Stormtrooper, was not quite enough to punch into the area and the opening through which we had come had rapidly filled with wounded Germans lying in the open. The remaining Germans had gone to ground, with insufficient numbers to move forward and follow orders forbidding retreat. A second attack lacked enough zeal to even breach the barricade and all was over. A hard-fought day gave the British their third and final victory.

As we packed up and debriefed we debated the day: Did the game mechanic work? Yes. Was it good fun? Wholeheartedly yes.

Would we like to do more events? Most definitely!

The weekend certainly was great fun but had there been greater speed between missions we probably could have squeezed another into Saturday.

I would still wholeheartedly recommend it. It’s very different to a skirmish and admittedly wouldn’t be everyone’s cup of tea but if it appeals to you to bayonet charge machine gun nests in what most people would now consider formal attire, I strongly recommend you keep your eyes peeled for the next event in the series.

www.airsoft-action.online

27

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23/02/2017 07:09:06

kit THIS IS THE MODERN WORLD

E H T S I S I TH

N R E D O M

D L R O W GOING BACK TO THE “FUTURE” WITH GADGE

GADGE IS VERY MUCH AN “OLD SCHOOL” AIRSOFTER BUT WHEN HE BOUGHT A FUTURISTIC AEG HE WAS LEFT WONDERING WHAT KIT TO WEAR WITH IT. AS MANY OF YOU WILL no doubt know, I’m pretty “old school” in my airsoft tastes. Since getting into WWII airsoft in a big way around 2005, I sold most of my “modern kit” along with all my Gucci rail-mounted accessories, modern comms and the like to fund the purchase of lots of old wool kit.

Even reviewing an open day would see me in a cold war era Gorka suit with an AK74, or Vietnam Tiger Stripes and an M14.

It would be a rare sight indeed to see me in anything made after 2001 but the times, my friends, they are a-changing.

As a starting airsofter in my old team (the LFO) I used to wear German flecktarn along with the rest of the guys. Part of the reason for this is that I’ve never felt comfortable in modern DPM or with being mistaken for a serving soldier. Even in flecktarn, with our German panzer grenadier green berets on, my friend John and I have had some embarrassing and hard to get out of conversations where well-meaning old dears have “thanked us for our service” and told us we’re “terribly brave” and not actually allowed us an opportunity to get a word in edgeways to say “but we’re only playing a game”.

And so, modern clobber generally hasn’t been for me. I’ve tried to wear kit that’s “out of service”, or clearly of a foreign origin for about ten years now and on the whole it’s worked.

Receiving CSI’s STAR XR5 rifle for review around Christmas time, however, put a bit of a spanner in the works. To be succinct, a modern railed rifle isn’t normally my thing but I really liked this AEG and decided to buy it, the problem was that none of my existing kit looked “right” with it… I mean I’ve got a LOT of kit but nothing suited this rifle. So I thought “sod it” and looked into getting a more modern loadout.

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April 2017

kit THIS IS THE MODERN WORLD

AIRSOFT FAIR BARGAINS

The big challenge was not to look like a serving soldier of any nation, or to make the casual observer think that I might be.

That in itself is harder than you’d think. My first decision was what to wear as my basic combat BDU. I considered a lot of options. I’ve got a lot of “flat” green and tan gear that I wear for hillwalking and hiking rather than airsoft, by the likes of Helikon-Tex and 5.11 but by sheer chance I remembered a set of ATACS arid pattern combats I’d bought on a whim at the Midlands Airsoft Fair at “The Gaol”. In all honesty I’d bought these because I liked the ATACS camo pattern and they were dead cheap; £30 second hand from a ‘softer selling off their unwanted old kit. The shirt seems to be a copy of the TAC U cut by Propper but made by a repro firm called “91G09 Wargames Solutions” (no, I’ve never heard of them before either…) but to be honest the main thing is that it was a pattern and cut not in service with any “real” army in any large numbers. The trousers are a bit of a “paintballers” cut to be honest but then I don’t mind that as I quite like paintball (yeah you can all hate me now). It is, however, ideal for my local high speed CQB site with the suit’s integral padding, light weight and similar colour tones to the dusty concrete walls and floors of the venue.

Not being in for a twisted or broken ankle I brought some tried and tested old 5.11 “HRT response boots” out of the hiking wardrobe to go with it. I’ve always called these “Combat Slippers” as they are just so comfy while still being lightweight, breathable and offering great ankle support. Similarly from my “outdoors wardrobe” came some Oakley pilot gloves that I wear for a lot of activities. These gloves are not cheap (“cheap” is relative term in my house, I’ll begrudge paying £45 for a pair of gloves but will think nothing of spending £50 on some tiny bit of cold war or Vietnam tat that nobody else in their right mind would want, to complete one of my loadouts) but have great grip, they don’t make my hands sweat and as an added bonus they seem to weirdly allow me to use my iPhone while wearing them.

CHOICES AND CHARITY

Loadbearing equipment was a real issue. Firstly, nearly everything I own apart from my old DPM OPS vest or DPM chest rig from my TA days is heavy old 80s cotton webbing (or even creakier older stuff). I briefly considered wearing my 1983 SAAV vest (see “It’s A Classic” elsewhere this issue) but in a rare fit of ego, I discounted this as being a bit too “new player” (yeah I know, it’s a rubbish attitude to have). The big problem was getting something that looked in keeping with the combat suit but could also accommodate the XR5’s odd-shaped mags (and to be fair the SAAV would have no trouble with the mags).

The solution came out of the blue. Fed up with me moaning about it, my mate Barry said “Ffs mate, I’ve got a tan chest rig you can have!” Problem solved. I had a look at it and it was perfect for my needs. Three variable size mag pouches on the front, smaller pouches for pistol mags and by sheer chance the utility pouch was big enough to hold my Makarov in a safe and easy to access place. Yeah I know the Makarov is still old school but its staying and that’s that! A final bit of “webbing” was a handy wrist-mounted admin wallet I picked up for a few quid at the airsoft fair. Not only does it let me keep any useful game-related documents to hand but I’ve attached an LED

“TO SAY TOM HELPED ME SEE THE “WISDOM” OF BUYING A BUMP HELMET WAS SOMETHING OF AN UNDERSTATEMENT. IT’S ALMOST LIKE HE HAD A SIXTH SENSE AS WITHIN MINUTES OF WEARING IT TO MY FIRST GAME SOME CHUMP THROW A BFG DOWN A STAIRCASE RIGHT ON TOP OF MY HEAD!”

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TACTICAL SNEAKER BOOT n Ultra-lightweight n Multi-sectioned sole for better maneuverability and grip n Tactical sports fit n Vented instep n Cordura side and tongue n Suede finish UK Sizes: 6-12 Colours: Black / Coyote / Green SRP: £44.50

>GET THE

TACTICAL ADVANTAGE

TACTICAL

STOCKISTS / CATALOGUE

www.vipertactical.co.uk

kit THIS IS THE MODERN WORLD

“cylume” to it so that I can avoid overkill when “dead” by just turning it on and holding my arm up.

Another “angle” of more modern gaming I had to get my head around again was “comms”.

In WWII and cold War gaming it’s pretty simple.

You have one radio per section (or even platoon) and it’s a big bugger carried in a rucksack by one unlucky sod. Obviously that isn’t going to cut it in a fast-paced CQB environment and so I bought myself a radio pouch that could molle loop to the back of the vest and borrowed my teammate Tom’s spare radio and PTT (and not pictured here, an in ear head set/mike piece to be a bit more stealthy). Once again pity and charity from my team mates came into play here as after several outings of “borrowing” the guys spare comms kit they simply said “just have it” – sometimes being a useless old schooler pays off.

Tom is also, I have to add, the one responsible for getting me to see the wisdom in buying a modern helmet. At our first outing to Combat Ready (see last issue), I’d just worn a wool cap but a few painful close range shots to the head made me realise that something a bit more substantial was needed but I didn’t fancy running around with one of my old steel helmets on all day. As luck would have it I was due to visit the family back in Staffordshire

Helmet: Nuprol FAST helmet – JD Airsoft

and rather fortunately they live quite close to the rather excellent JD Airsoft (no I’m not on commission, I just like the store). I went into JD Airsoft to pick up a NUPROL FAST helmet but ended up coming out with new amber shooting glasses (my old mesh ones were not so hot in the low light), a bungee sling and a nifty WE Eotech clone red/green dot holo sight as well! The sight was an impulse buy but I felt it complimented the “sci-fi” looks of the XR5 nicely.

To say Tom helped me see the “wisdom” of buying a bump helmet was something of an understatement. It’s almost like he had a sixth sense as within minutes of wearing it to my first game some chump throw a BFG down a staircase right on top of my head! The marshals were on him and gave him a bit of a talking to but I couldn’t help feel that without a helmet that impact would have really hurt. I’ve decked the helmet out a bit with some morale patches and a repro IR strobe on the back but Tom firmly believes that (and I quote) “it’s all about having a lot of sh*t on your hat!” Tom is a connoisseur of having “sh*t on his hat” and in his eyes I’m still a total helmet virgin (Hmm… that sounds ruder than it was meant to). I am being swayed though and the idea of rail-mounted helmet comms, a helmet dead light and perhaps a camo spray job is becoming a strangely appealing prospect.

So there you have it. After a decade of slogging it out in khaki wool and cotton webbing, I’m just about ready to re-join the mainstream of “modern airsoft”. And you know what? It feels good to be back!

Face & Eye Protection: Nuprol lower face mesh and amber lens –JD Airsoft

Radio Pouch – Anchor Surplus

“AFTER A DECADE OF SLOGGING IT OUT IN KHAKI WOOL AND COTTON WEBBING, I’M JUST ABOUT READY TO RE-JOIN THE MAINSTREAM OF “MODERN AIRSOFT”. AND YOU KNOW WHAT? IT FEELS GOOD TO BE BACK!”

Webbing: Coyote Brown Chest Rig – Full On Tactical USA

Battledress: ATACs combat suit – Midlands Airsoft Fair

Admin wallet: Tasmanian Tiger– Midlands Airsoft Fair

Gloves: Oakley Pilot gloves -EBay (not pictured) Weaponry: Primary: CSI XR5 – Cool Summer INC, Taiwan (now available in the UK) Secondary: WE Makarov – JD Airsoft Optics: WE Eotech Clone – JD Airsoft Sling: Nuprol Bungee Sling – JD Airsoft

Footwear: 5.11 HRT Boots – Military 1st

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33

Kit WILEY X SABER ADVANCED GLASSES

WILEY X SABER ADVANCED SHOOTING GLASSES IN AIRSOFT THERE IS NOTHING MORE IMPORTANT TO PROTECT THAN OUR EYES. KELLY “FEMME FATALE” HARDWICK WRITES ABOUT AN OFFERING FROM WILEY X THAT CAUGHT HER ATTENTION.

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AS OUR SPORT GROWS we are gaining more and more options in terms of gear and protection. So it’s no surprise that Ballistic Shooting Glasses are more popular than ever with Airsofters and with the multitude of shapes, styles and colours out there to suit any load out, sometimes we are spoiled for choice.

I see this in Airsoft forums all the time: “Where can I get a set of good, cheap eye pro?” I’m a firm believer that good eye pro isn’t cheap and cheap eye pro isn’t always good. After all, we only have one set of eyes and it’s our job to look after them. When I first started playing Airsoft I wore a pair of cheap £4 mesh goggles from eBay, simply because I didn’t know any better and just one incident of a BB hitting the mesh and the metallic paint from the goggles going into my eye scared me enough to make me look into alternative eye protection. I later invested in a pair of CE rated mesh goggles but with all mesh there is still a risk of BBs shattering/paint chipping and the debris going into your eyes, so I decided to look further afield.

I had already tried a set of FMA goggles with an integrated fan but looking like a bug on the field didn’t appeal to me (credit where credit is due though, the integrated fan was AMAZING!) and this is what lead me to looking into the world of shooting glasses. I have multiple pairs of shooting glasses from ASG Strike Systems to Revision Sawfly but I chose the Wiley X SABER ADVANCED shooting glasses because of their sleek frame - and the fact they came with a set of pink lenses that would go perfectly with my Femme Fatale load out!

The Wiley X SABER ADVANCED shooting glasses come nicely presented in their own branded Microfibre case that has a couple of belt loops on the back and a clip on the zip, which makes them super easy to keep on you, so first impressions are that they look professional and utilitarian. In the pack that I chose you get three lenses; Smoke Grey, Light Rust and Vermillion (other configurations are available) along with some accessories such as a cleaning cloth. The matt black frame with Wiley X branding is really lightweight, sleek and low profile

Kit WILEY X SABER ADVANCED GLASSES

which is an added bonus.

Let’s talk about the specifications, although they look like just another set of shooting glasses they are packed with high spec features. They meet MIL-PRF-31013 ballistic impact, ANSI Z87.1-2003 high velocity and ANSI Z87.1-2003 high mass standards, offering Airsofters ballistic level eye protection!

Everything about these glasses shows they are dedicated to protection and clear vision. The lenses offer 100% UVA and UVB protection, which means they are perfect for those bright summer game days and they all feature a T-shell anti scratch hard coat for clearer vision and a prolonged lens life. As I’ve said above, the design is really lightweight and low profile and that’s because they are designed to be compatible with Night Vision Goggles and ear defenders - perfect for players who play MilSim. Even though the glasses are super low profile they feature an ultra-foam brow bar that helps prevent debris and sweat entering your field of view.

Now we’ve got the specs, how easy are they to use and how do they fit?

One thing I was pleasantly surprised with is how easy the lenses are to swap out – the frame and nose piece easily detach from the lenses. The first time they are changed they can be a bit stiff but they loosen off in time. The dual injected, nonslip temple tips are adjustable and can be swapped out for a tactical goggle strap. Although the temple tips are adjustable and fit most heads, a tactical goggle strap ensures a really snug fit for when the activities are particularly rough. The Wiley X

AEG firing at an average of 342 FPS with a 0.2g BB at distances varying from point blank to 60cm. The SABER ADVANCED held up at all distances, including point blank, without so much as a scratch, given the anti-scratch coating and the 3.0mm lens, the results are as expected. I would love to test them against a bolt action sniper rifle on a heavier weight BB just for reference. I have “ALTHOUGH THEY LOOK LIKE JUST ANOTHER SET OF had no issues with the glasses being loose or any issues with fit – SHOOTING GLASSES THEY ARE PACKED WITH HIGH SPEC they have held up in all conditions.

FEATURES. THEY MEET MIL-PRF-31013 BALLISTIC IMPACT, And lastly onto price, how ANSI Z87.1-2003 HIGH VELOCITY AND ANSI Z87.1-2003 much do they cost?

The set I reviewed retails at HIGH MASS STANDARDS, OFFERING AIRSOFTERS BALLISTIC £57.95 but the Wiley X SABER LEVEL EYE PROTECTION!” ADVANCED range starts from £35.95 from Land Warrior Airsoft.

Now, going back to my earlier SABER ADVANCED also features an adjustable wire core nose statement “good eye pro isn’t cheap and cheap eye pro isn’t piece for a truly unique fit. always good”, they do cost more than a bog-standard set of “Do they fog?” Is another question that is pretty important shooting glasses but I feel it is definitely worth paying the extra when choosing a new pair of eye pro. I tested these in different for. conditions, from cold and dry to cold and wet and roasting Over all, I really like the Wiley X SABER ADVANCED hot summer days. The only real issue I have with fogging with shooting glasses, they are comfortable, offer a fantastic level these is when I am wearing my fabric and half mesh face of protection and a clear field of vision for the end user. The mask on a really cold day, when condensation is a real issue. design is sleek, low profile and lightweight. They are a little However, I’ve managed to combat this by using a suitable antipricier than some of the lower spec shooting glasses on the fog spray (my anti-fog spray of choice is by Nuprol but there market but the quality and protection offered is definitely are loads of other options on the market). I don’t see this as a worth the extra moolah. They are also really easy to mould to massive problem but I know it is one of the reasons why some the face and to change the lenses. After running these glasses Airsofters prefer mesh over goggles or glasses. I have found I for a fair amount of time I would definitely recommend these have no issues with fogging when I don’t wear a lower face to Airsofters looking to invest in a new set of eye protection. half mesh mask but as I play a lot of CQB, I’d rather have the The Wiley X Sabre shooting glasses are available from Land lower face than not have it.

Warrior Airsoft instore and at www.landwarriorairsoft.com My favourite lenses are of course the Vermillion, I love the starting at £35.95 (with delivery available from £5.99) colour and they go with the other pink bits and bobs for my load out. I use the vermillion lenses for my normal skirmish days and they work well in normal light conditions, however, one thing I did notice after wearing these for a while, is when you take them off the sky is a distinct green colour! Of course, the pack comes with smoke grey lenses which are suited to bright conditions and the light rust are intended for use in low light environments. I think the colour choices in this pack are a pretty good mix and has one for all conditions, I will, however, be getting the clear lens as well so I have more options! Additional lenses can be purchased separately so you can mix and match to get your perfect lens set!

I have tested these goggles in test conditions and skirmish conditions, from fast paced and extremely close CQB games, to woodland games. The glasses held up superbly in all game conditions and they did take some pretty close hits during the CQB games at Strike Force CQB. For the test conditions, I fixed the glasses into a sheet of polystyrene and shot them with an

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35

Legal POLICING AND CRIME ACT 2017

G N I C I L O P E M I R C AND 7 1 0 2 T C A

FRENCHIE TAKES A LOOK AT THE NEW POLICING AND CRIME ACT 2017 AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR AIRSOFT. I HATE ARTICLES OR INDEED speech that starts with “So…” I mean what is that really about? Just start your sentence for goodness sake!

So... On the 31st of January this year the Policing and Crime Bill received “Royal Assent”, becoming an Act of Law. Many of you will be at least aware of the provisions that affect us but as is my wont, I shall bash through it and try and make some sense of it.

First though, the usual caveat… I am not a lawyer and this is all very new law. If in doubt seek professional legal advice, neither I nor Airsoft Action are responsible for your legal well-being!

What is significant about the Policing and

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April 2017

Crime Act (PCA) is that, for the very first time in the UK there exists a legal definition of an airsoft gun, right there on the face of the Act, not tucked away in guidance or behind a Home Office filing cabinet. I will say right off that I think that is a good thing but like all good things it’s not unconditionally good.

The relevant section is this: “57A Exception for airsoft guns (1) An “airsoft gun” is not to be regarded as a firearm for the purposes of this Act. (2) An “airsoft gun” is a barreled weapon of any description which— (a) is designed to discharge only a small plastic missile (whether or not it is also capable of discharging any other kind of missile), and (b) is not capable of discharging a missile (of any kind) with kinetic energy at the muzzle of the weapon that exceeds the permitted level.

(3) “Small plastic missile” means a missile that (a) is made wholly or partly from plastics, (b) is spherical, and (c) does not exceed 8 millimetres in diameter.

(4) The permitted kinetic energy level is -

Legal POLICING AND CRIME ACT 2017

(a) in the case of a weapon which is capable of discharging two or more missiles successively without repeated pressure on the trigger, 1.3 joules; (b) in any other case, 2.5 joules.”

There is another bit of legislation, however, which I’ll put here and return to: An imitation weapon will be treated as a firearm to which section 1 of the Firearms Act 1968 applies if: • it has the appearance of such a weapon; and • it can be readily convertible into a weapon from which a shot, bullet or other missile can be discharged (ss1(1) an 1(2) Firearms Act 1968).

“Readily convertible” means”it can be so converted without any special skill on the part of the person converting it and the work involved in converting it does not require equipment or tools other than such as are in common use by persons carrying out works of construction and maintenance in their own homes.” (Section 1(6) Firearms Act 1982).

Section 57 is the key section here. Allegedly, the Chief Police Officers wanted a definition of lethality and (being nothing if not predictable) the Government reached for that tired old 1 joule limit. There was a load of work done by UKAPU (UK Airsoft Players Union) and UKARA (UK Airsoft Retailers Association) that resulted in the above exception.

One of the principal aims was to ensure that retailers had a bit of wriggle room to ensure that when importing airsoft guns they weren’t accidentally bringing in Section 5 firearms, there

was also a widespread feeling that the limits of 1.3/2.5 joules which had come from forensic testing sponsored by UKARA years ago were both sensible and workable.

A decade ago I was personally involved in dealing with the Home Office with regards to the Violent Crime Reduction Bill (Now the VCRA 2007) as the-then Chair of UKARA and I can speak to how time-consuming and frustrating it can be, so I unreservedly doff my cap to those involved in these negotiations and offer my personal thanks.

In short, as long as your selective fire airsoft gun stays below 1.3 joules of muzzle energy you are safe. If it exceeds that, however, you may well have a Section 5 firearm on your hands and that is a serious offence - it’s the same as getting caught with a real live AK47 for instance. Single shot rifles are easier as they would simply become air guns, which are unlicensed below 12 foot pounds of muzzle energy in the UK with the exception of the People’s Republic of Scotland where they are now licensed for our protection… As a rough guide 1.3 joules is approximately 374 feet per second with a 0.2g BB. And here’s the rub; since this is now a legally enforceable limit it is vital that we are all confident that we are measuring muzzle energy accurately and I have to report that all chronos are not equal, or accurate. An example from home; my personal chrono reads

“WHAT IS SIGNIFICANT ABOUT THE POLICING AND CRIME ACT (PCA) IS THAT, FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME IN THE UK THERE EXISTS A LEGAL DEFINITION OF AN AIRSOFT GUN, RIGHT THERE ON THE FACE OF THE ACT, NOT TUCKED AWAY IN GUIDANCE OR BEHIND A HOME OFFICE FILING CABINET.”

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Legal POLICING AND CRIME ACT 2017

10 fps low, so 340fps is actually 350fps. I know this because I have had the opportunity to do a side by side comparison with a Skan chrono which is much more expensive but is properly certified and does useful things like performing a self-check every time it is turned on. If I could do one thing for the sake of airsofters in the UK once this Act comes into force, it would be to magically convert every chrono out there into a Skan. As it is, I know that there is a massive variation in accuracy from chrono to chrono so inevitably there will be players who think that their guns are safe and legal who would get an unpleasant shock if they were checked on a proper unit.

I’m not saying anything that isn’t a Skan can’t be trusted but I AM saying that this stuff will really matter shortly.

That’s all fine then? Err, no. Hence the second quote I added above. Now that bit looks “interesting” to me but that’s not why it’s there. It’s there because there is an existing concept of “readily convertible” in law, in other words the idea that there are replicas which can be easily altered to make them into firearms using only normal household tools. Or gas.

It is my understanding that this matter is still being discussed but it is very significant, or could be. Another example - my CA M16E1 has a quick change spring, however, that is a “marketing” quick change, I still need to take the gun apart, remove the gearbox and then (and only then) can I quickly change the spring. On the other hand, there are airsoft guns out there that require almost no tools or specialised knowledge to change the spring. In my world that would make them “readily” convertible, whereas I could argue a “normal” AEG isn’t. Remember the Section 5 warning above? That’s why this matters - not just because you could fall foul of that but because possessing a “readily convertible” replica is also an offence.

I will add a couple of caveats here before the wailing and gnashing of teeth becomes overwhelming. Firstly, I personally think you could argue that the spring required to change the power of an AEG is a specialist item, one that won’t be found in the toolkit of your average DIY enthusiast and secondly, key to what actually happens with the enforcement of the PCA will be the guidance to it issued by the Home Office. That guidance is being in large part written by people who we airsofters can trust and I am reasonably confident that it will do all it can to ensure that the minimum inconvenience is caused to as many of us as possible.

This is the double-edged nature of this legislation - by clearly defining what an airsoft gun is and isn’t, it removes much of the previous doubt and speculation about them.

Providing they meet the definition, they are airsoft guns and they are NOT firearms. Beyond those limits they become firearms. I have heard that some retailers, when asked about the PCA, have been denying any knowledge of it and

suggesting that it is somehow unreal and fanciful. Personally, if you encounter that attitude I would go elsewhere! More than the VRCA a decade ago, this Act changes the landscape for airsoft and while I adhere to the view that most police services are really not that interested in airsoft, were they to discover that a retailer was blithely selling G&Ps that were coming out of the box at 420fps, they might change their minds...

If you think that’s bad what about gas guns? If they are selective fire they have to conform to the maximum muzzle energy (this obviously applies to HPA and bottled gas). What happens if you use Green gas and you gun goes over 1.3 joules? What happens if the police were to test your HPA gun and do not use a regulator on the grounds that it isn’t an integral part of the gun? I’m throwing out hypotheses here and we will hopefully get some clarity soon but at present I wonder if gas rifle users are on a potentially sticky wicket. I’m well aware of the various arguments for and against the above projection, we simply do not have enough space to get into them all in any detail. I fervently hope that we get answers, or at least guidance long before someone has to formulate a defence in court.

You might by this point be asking yourselves why on earth I think that overall this is a good thing. The reason is that airsoft and airsoft guns now have a firm footing in law. There is a certain attraction to slipping around silently in the grey areas of legislation but the downside is that there are no guarantees and governments can easily and quickly mess things up for us (“mess” is not my preferred word but this is a family magazine and all that!). This definition is on an Act of Parliament and as such it would require another Act of Parliament to change it. I’m not saying that it couldn’t happen but it would require time and effort that for the foreseeable future politicians will be devoting to Brexit and all that flows from that.

Airsoft has seen many instances of people crying wolf, I suspect I have been accused of exactly that (in my defence I’ll say I err on the side of caution) but this is serious stuff and it is up to everyone to get their head round what it means. I’ll toss you an unknown before I end…

If a site permitted the use of guns exceeding 1.3/2.5 joules would their insurance be invalid and might they be open to criminal proceedings? I honestly don’t know but I suggest that given these are limits we can all work within, we ensure that we get our house in order. It’s the hoary old rights and responsibilities conundrum - this gives us some right but it also imposes some responsibilities. We have to accept both with equanimity and it is up to all of us to show, once again, that airsoft can police itself and act like grown-ups. We have been doing this for years now and I have no reason to believe that airsoft will not continue to grow and thrive.

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39

event FORMULA 5

IT HAS BEEN SAID THAT AIRSOFT IN AN ARENA WON’T WORK, SO AT THE END OF JANUARY NIGE ATTENDED THE UK’S FIRST FORMULA 5 AIRSOFT EVENT TO FIND OUT.

FORMULA 5: SPEEDSOFT! “IT WON’T WORK!” and “Airsofters aren’t interested!” are just two of the things I have been told more than once, along with “It’s too much like paintball!” and “It’s too easy to cheat!”

All of these comments (and more like them) have been made whenever the subject of “Speedball” comes up.

OK, before I go any further, I have to declare a sort of “vested interest” in the subject as I was personally responsible for the creation of the game here in the UK – but just what is “Speedball”?

From the name I guess that you may have realised that it is a form of paintball and right about now some of you will stop reading, which is a shame because if you can just bear with me, maybe it might pique your interest.

Many of you will know that twenty-five plus years ago I was heavily involved in paintball. I started one of the first paintball magazines in the UK and when we parted ways, went to work for a paintball company based out of Maidenhead.

Over the next few years we enjoyed excellent growth, with sites, shops, manufacturing,

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April 2017

distribution and sponsorship all playing a part in the business.

We also ran both 15-man and 5-man woodland tournaments, which were always well-attended and highly competitive but, throughout it all, there was something else we wanted to do and that was to bring the game “out of the forest” and make it “spectatable”. This was not some magnanimous gesture, it was business-based and predicated on the fact that, like airsoft, paintball used to be seen as “blokes running around the woods shooting each other with toy guns” – and believe me, that felt as derogatory then as it does now! We wanted to change that and so we took a long, hard look at the game and decided to combine all the “good” bits and leave the other stuff out.

I know that what I am about to say is a bit of a sweeping statement but is probably true for the vast majority of airsofters… The best bit of any game is when the plastic is flying and adrenaline is flowing. Think about it, how many times have you felt totally pumped because you’ve just been in one hell of a firefight? You know what it’s like; back in the Safe Zone talking with your mates, everyone buzzing and recounting the action. There is simply no feeling quite like it, is there? And that’s the key; we play because of how it makes us feel, pure

event FORMULA 5

and simple. I take on board fully that the “social” aspect of airsoft is very important (and way ahead of anything I ever saw in paintball, I have no idea why it should be that way, it just is) and I also fully accept that, for many, many airsofters it is just as much about playing a “role” as anything else, however, it cannot be denied that the “shooting bit” is where the adrenalin comes from.

So we built an arena, put in trenches, obstacles and barricades, stuck a team at each end with an objective in the middle and at the opposite end and created “The World Speedball Championship” which, at its height, attracted sixtyfour, 7-man teams from around the World.

Back then, among the most well-known teams were “Storm” and “The Predators” and the reason why I have mentioned them is that they are both still going. The man behind “Storm” is none other than John Sosta and while you might not know the name, you will certainly know the company he represents in the UK: “Valken Airsoft”.

John is also the guy behind “Formula 5”, an arena-based game that has grown out of speedball and is very popular with paintballers. On the 29th January, with the support of DTW Airsoft, he ran the first official “Formula 5 Airsoft” event using the same arena and rules. I went along to see how it went and to gauge the reaction from those taking part in the competition. What also fascinated me was that John had entered a team of paintballers into the event, made up from members of both Storm and The Predators. It was going to be interesting to see how they took to airsoft and, from the opposite point of view, how airsofters coped with a very experienced team of paintballers – as one person put it “Youth and exuberance against age and experience!”

FORMULA 5 BASICS

So what’s the format?

Two teams of seven compete in an arena that has symmetrically placed obstacles and barricades. At each end

is a team “Safe Zone” and in the centre is a pole on which is mounted two push-button buzzers that are connected to the scoring system. Four players are allowed on to the field at any one time and when one is shot out they return to their safe zone and another takes their place.

A line across the width of the field marks a limit for the opposing team that they cannot cross. This is to prevent players “camping” on the Safe Zone and shooting players as they come out.

Smoke (which has to be thrown into the open area between barricades) is allowed but no percussive grenades.

There are two objectives: Control the buzzers and shoot out as many of the opposition as you can.

You control the buzzers by pressing the one relevant to your team. This starts a timer and for every 10 seconds that pass while in your control, you score one point. Should the opposition manage to press their buzzer, control switches to them, the timer resets and they then start scoring points. However, every two minutes the timer stops and the button has to be pressed again to restart it. This means that you cannot just press it and leave it, it has to be pressed again to keep scoring points and you can only score a maximum of 12 points each time.

Meanwhile, you also get points for every opposition player shot out and this is monitored by a marshal in each Safe Zone who counts the shot players in (both digitally and manually).

Each game lasts 10 minutes and the running score is displayed on an electronic scoreboard alongside the arena, where both players and spectators can clearly see it. Points are awarded like in football: 3 for a win, 1 for a draw and zero for a loss and the winning team is the one with the most points at the end of the day.

“TWO TEAMS OF SEVEN COMPETE IN AN ARENA THAT HAS SYMMETRICALLY PLACED OBSTACLES AND BARRICADES. AT EACH END IS A TEAM “SAFE ZONE” AND IN THE CENTRE IS A POLE ON WHICH IS MOUNTED TWO PUSH-BUTTON BUZZERS THAT ARE CONNECTED TO THE SCORING SYSTEM. FOUR PLAYERS ARE ALLOWED ON TO THE FIELD AT ANY ONE TIME AND WHEN ONE IS SHOT OUT THEY RETURN TO THEIR SAFE ZONE AND ANOTHER TAKES THEIR PLACE.”

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event FORMULA 5

Full auto is allowed but each player is ammo-limited and when they run out either has to stay on the field until they are shot, or return to their safe zone, thereby giving the opposition additional points.

The game is started and stopped by a buzzer linked to the game timer and there is a five to ten second countdown at the start of every game – then all hell breaks loose as players scramble to get out of their Safe Zone and as far up the field as possible!

GAME ON!

“THE MOMENT THE BUZZER SOUNDED BOTH TEAMS SPRINTED OUT OF THEIR SAFE ZONES BUT IT WAS STORM THAT LAID DOWN THE MOST EFFECTIVE FIRE AND QUICKLY PUSHED REJECTS BACK, AS THEIR PLAYERS HEADED FOR THEIR SAFE ZONE.”

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April 2017

By the time I arrived in the wilds of Essex play was already underway and with eight teams taking part (each playing four games), it needed some serious organisational control to make sure things ran smoothly. This fell to Ray of DTW Airsoft and he was doing a fine job making sure teams were ready to play at their allotted time slot and minimising the down-time between games.

One thing I noticed immediately was the plethora of yellow Hi-Viz jackets on the field. Each game had at least four marshals in control and with only eight players on the field at any one time, this high marshal to player ratio ensured fair play. Plus, of course, the number of spectators watching and shouting “encouragement” also helped ensure hit-taking was at the top of every player’s agenda!

To give players something to do as they waited for their next match, a smaller, pistol-only arena had been set up in an adjacent field and was in use pretty much throughout the day.

I spent some time chatting to players about their thoughts and feelings and, to be fair, I would say it was probably about 50/50 between those that were enjoying it and those that had reservations. One or two felt that, due to the closeness, full auto shouldn’t be allowed, just like at most CQB sites and that hi-cap mags should also not be used. They felt that these made it too easy to lay down “suppressive” fire and kind of defeated the whole point of it being an “all-action” game.

I also noticed that some players were fully-kitted, with Tac Vests, Plate Carriers and mag pouches being the order of the day. On speaking to them and pointing out that, as a limitedammo event, they didn’t need to be wearing so much gear and it might be better if they only wore the minimum to carry what they needed, most said it was what they normally played in and it just felt “right”. However, I also noticed that by the end of the day many had trimmed down quite considerably, with one or two running just belt-kit.

The play itself was great to watch, with heroic charges towards the centre pole being halted in a hail of bbs and players trying to outflank each other in the confined space of the arena. I saw dives, rolls and suicide runs (and even one player trying a sneaky crawl) but above all, I saw eight teams of players enjoying airsoft with a competitive element. As the day wore on the games become more and more intense as players began to understand the concept and worked out how to deal with the obstacles and barriers – and that to win they needed to communicate!

event FORMULA 5

THE FINAL

If you could write a script for the day, I guess you would want to make the ending as interesting as possible, maybe even have it end in a draw between the two top teams so a play-off would be needed and, of course, one of those teams had to be the paintballers. Well, that is exactly what happened!

When the last buzzer sounded, three teams (Foxtrot, Rejects and Storm) had each won all their games and were neck and neck. When this happens each team’s kills and buzzer points are added up, from which is deducted their kills against and buzzer points against and this is used for tiebreak reasons. On this occasion it meant that Storm and Rejects would face off for top honours – as the man said: “Youth and exuberance against age and experience!” It was going to be an interesting battle. …and it was!

The moment the buzzer sounded both teams sprinted out of their safe zones but it was Storm that laid down the most effective fire and quickly pushed Rejects back, as their players headed for their safe zone. This gave Storm chance to reach the buzzer and the points were soon ticking up – but Rejects weren’t just going to roll over, they hit back… hard!

With a couple of Storm down they pushed forwards and almost reached the buzzer before being stopped, as the replacement Storm players joined the fight. For the next few minutes both teams traded fire with no advantage being made until Rejects managed to push up the centre and finally reach the buzzer.

With less than four minutes remaining, Storm once again had control of the buzzer and this time were determined to retain it. Looking at the scoreboard it became obvious that Rejects would need to control the buzzer for at least two minutes to have any chance of winning but it was not to be.

Despite pushing harder than ever, Storm’s defence was solid and player after player was sent back to their Safe Zone.

As the final buzzer sounded, Storm were still in control and had won the day.

Chatting to Storm’s Predator players afterwards, the consensus was that the game had been the hardest they had

ever played. These guys are used to winning and have been doing so for years and, having known them for as long as I have, I can tell you that they don’t BS. So when they said it was a hard game, they meant it!

CONCLUSION

I started this report with a bunch of negative comments but am going to finish it in exactly the opposite manner and say that competitive airsoft can – and does – work.

John has big plans for “Formula 5 Airsoft” and is already in the process of putting a National League together, so you can expect to see a lot more of it in future. Of course there are still one or two “kinks” that need to be worked through but, in my humble opinion (and although not for one second do I think it will ever replace any form of airsoft we currently enjoy), I think it does have the potential to bring something different to the game – and that is worth supporting.

If you would like to know more about Formula 5 Airsoft, check out their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Formula5Airsoft-1401890796777037/

www.airsoft-action.online

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Pocket Rocket TOKYO MARUI VZ61 “SKORPION

TOKYO MARUI VZ61

“SKORPION” IF YOU’RE AN OPFOR SNIPER THAT NEEDS A SUPERBLY COMPACT BACKUP, A COLD WAR VEHICLE CREWMAN, OR FANCY A BIT OF “NEO/MATRIX” TIME THEN THE TOKYO MARUI “SKORPION” COULD BE JUST THE THING YOU’RE LOOKING FOR. JERRY NOONE TELLS US MORE ABOUT HIS LATEST CHOICE OF “POCKET ROCKET”.

YOU MAY ASK WHY I’m re-visiting an AEP model that’s been on the market for nigh on ten years now but the ultra-compact SAMOPAL vz61 “Skorpion” is one of those AEPs that’s always worthy of consideration and in my mind, going back to older designs can help us to understand how the market (and indeed the technology) in airsoft has evolved.

In the real world the “Skorpion” was developed in the late 1950s by Miroslav Rybar as the “Model 59”. The design was finalised in 1961 and named “Samopal vzor 61”or “submachine gun model 1961” and it was produced by the

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Ceská zbrojovka (CZ) arms factory in Uhersky Brod from 1961 to 1979. It was s adopted by the Czechoslovakian Army and although it was developed for use with security forces and general military use, the weapon was also accepted into service with the Army as a personal sidearm for lower-ranking army staff, vehicle drivers, armoured vehicle personnel and Special Forces. Currently the weapon is in use with the armed forces of several countries as a sidearm. The “Skorpion” was also licence-built in Yugoslavia, designated M84.

The “Skorpion” was definitely a compact firearm.

Pocket Rocket TOKYO MARUI VZ61 “SKORPION

Chambered in 7.65×17mm SR Browning Short (.32 ACP), with the stock folded the gun was only a tad longer than most semi-auto handguns and weighed roughly the same, making it something that could realistically be carried in a holster on a soldier’s belt with ease. That’s actually how it was intended to be used, as the guns all came with a leather holster and a 10 round magazine to allow it to fit inside. After exhausting those initial 10 rounds the user could then swap to the standard issue 20 round magazines, which came two to a magazine pouch and were specifically designed to fit together in the pouch to save as much space as possible.

The “Skorpion’s” compact dimensions were achieved by using a telescopic bolt assembly that wrapped around a considerable portion of the barrel. The weapon featured a spring-loaded casing extractor, installed inside the bolt head and a fixed, double ejector, which was a protrusion in the weapon’s frame. As the bolt was relatively light, an inertial rate reducer device housed inside the wooden pistol grip lowered the weapon’s rate of fire from 1,000 rounds/minute to a more manageable 850 rounds/minute.

To make the gun more comfortable to fire, a wire frame folding stock was added. What made the stock particularly interesting is that it was held in place when folded by two tabs on the front sight and locked in place when open by a more traditional cam-like device. This made the stock very quick to deploy and lock in place but it took a couple seconds to get it folded up. All of the controls for the “Skorpion” were on the left side of the gun, including the magazine release; the magazine release is placed perfectly for a left hand grab to remove the magazine itself from the gun in a controlled manner.

Many described the vz61 as the perfect personal defence weapon, although this particular phrase didn’t really get used until far later than the 1960s! Small, easy to use and highly accurate with low felt recoil the “Skorpion” was built to purpose and it did its job very well indeed, as it does to this day!

MARUI MAGIC

Although there had been both spring and gas replicas of the “Skorpion” it wasn’t until 2007 that Tokyo Marui (TM) released their automatic Electric Pistol (AEP) version of this cracking little shooter, along with other models such as the Ingram that I looked at in the February issue of Airsoft Action. Their AEPs run on dedicated 7.2V rechargeable batteries. These pistols and compact submachine guns are often more reliable than gas-powered replicas in cold weather; however, due to their lower voltage supplies and miniature gearboxes, they usually generate lower muzzle speeds of about 0.25 - .5J per BB and slightly slower rates of fire than replicas using a full-sized gearbox system.

When you open the box, which is marked “SCORPION vz61”, what you find is another of TMs “Full Sets” as not only do you get the RIF itself but also a battery and charger, a small bag of BBs, a barrel cleaning rod and a loading tube.

For those who want to accessorise the “Skorpion”, a 20mm rail attachment and a metal 14 mm CCW silencer adapter are included, so if you want to go the “SF” route you’re all set.

In terms of build quality, which TM are renowned for, it really is very nicely finished. The lower receiver, front and rear sights, stock, trigger and trigger guard, magazine and

“AS THE BOLT WAS RELATIVELY LIGHT, AN INERTIAL RATE REDUCER DEVICE HOUSED INSIDE THE WOODEN PISTOL GRIP LOWERED THE WEAPON’S RATE OF FIRE FROM 1,000 ROUNDS/MINUTE TO A MORE MANAGEABLE 850 ROUNDS/MINUTE.” www.airsoft-action.online

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CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, BLACK

Online shop #Airsoft Acion, march 2017

www.HELIKON-TEX.com Check out our new online store.

Stay tuned for more.

Pocket Rocket TOKYO MARUI VZ61 “SKORPION

impressive given the size and it feeds right until the very last one; spare magazines are easily obtainable and should you feel the need, TM produce a 370 BB Hi-Cap drum specifically for the “Skorpion” and you can pick these up for about 40 quid.

Obviously you’re going to want to shoot the “Skorpion” one handed with the wire stock closed; why? Just because you can! In this mode you’re going to get pistol-like accuracy, so you’re good for most CQB-style engagements. With the stock folded out the “Skorpion” is surprisingly comfortable to use and even out to 25m you can achieve some very respectable groupings. It’s also very quiet in operation and I can totally see why it’s the choice of many a sniper for their close-range backup.

Even though the design is indeed nearly ten years old I can also see why the Vz61 is still there in the TM line; it’s a quiet little performer that you can use pretty much anywhere and at £236.00 it’s certainly not going to break the bank. I’ll conclude with one slight word of warning; do be aware that the TM Scorpion comes with a Japanese 110 volt charger, so order an adapter with a small Tamiya connector so that you can charge from a UK charger.

Other than that the Tokyo Marui Scorpion vz61 is a right little “Pocket Rocket” indeed and if you’ve never taken the time to do so and are in need of a small, concealable, easy to carry AEP I’d advise you check it out at your earliest convenience!

My thanks, as ever, go to Fire Support for supplying the review model. To check out more on the “Skorpion” and to see the whole range of TM models please do go to www.fire-support.co.uk

magazine catch and outer barrel are all made of metal. The only plastic part is the upper receiver but this too is nicely achieved and blemish-free. It features a synthetic pistol grip (like that on the real M84) compared to the original version which was wood but these days if you really want wood you can find the grip as an aftermarket part.

Time to get down to business! After inserting the battery and a loaded magazine, the first step is to adjust the rotary hop-up, which is accessed by pulling the ambidextrous charging buttons situated on either side of the upper receiver; the ejection port of the “Skorpion” is on the top of the upper receiver just like that of the real thing. The metal selector switch seems a bit odd at first but you get used to it quite quickly; the safe position is in the middle, turning the switch back sets semi auto and forward is for full auto.

With the hop set to produce a “THE MAGAZINE HOLDS 58 BBS, WHICH IS IMPRESSIVE GIVEN THE SIZE flat trajectory, the chrono gave me a AND IT FEEDS RIGHT UNTIL THE VERY LAST ONE; SPARE MAGAZINES reading of 0.55 Joule/ 244fps which was pretty much what I expected ARE EASILY OBTAINABLE AND SHOULD YOU FEEL THE NEED, TM but the trigger is nice and crisp so PRODUCE A 370 BB HI-CAP DRUM SPECIFICALLY FOR THE “SKORPION” you can get shots away consistently.

The magazine holds 58 BBs, which is AND YOU CAN PICK THESE UP FOR ABOUT 40 QUID.”

www.airsoft-action.online

47

International AIRSOFT TECH - FRANCE

DIANE MONTAGNIER WRITES ABOUT AN UPGRADE AVAILABLE IN FRANCE THAT COULD SOON MAKE ITS WAY ACROSS THE CHANNEL.

ATM M4 QD GEARBOX V2 ATM (AMA TSU MARU) IS a French brand, belonging to Airsoft Entrepot shop. ATM brand makes a lot of mechanical or upgrade parts, mainly for AEG and for GBB but it also makes consumables, like bbs and gas.

Upgrade parts are made of CNC and have steel or polycarbonate in order to have resistant pieces.

Overall, this brand proposes very good pieces, which have a very good value for money. Therefore, they may suit to everybody, for high level upgrades or for novice airsofters.

ATM QD gearbox V2 came out in November 2014.

Nowadays, there are 2 M4 QD gearbox models : M4 QD gearbox front wiring and M4 QD gearbox rear wiring.

Since 2015, ATM brand came out AK QD gearbox V3, front and rear wiring too. AK gearbox have the same performances and similar parts but the gearbox V3 has specific pieces compared to the V2.

All those models cost about 80€ (70£) and can be only found at Airsoft Entrepot shop but a shipment to UK is also possible. According to the shop, those gearbox are less expensive than others brands, because it works directly with manufacturers and are not depending of intermediate.

The gearbox is delivered in a cardboard box, with a brand marks and the detailed content. When you open the box, the gearbox appeared very hold thanks to pre-cut stiff foam.

The Gearbox is flashy orange!

It’s impossible to confuse it with other gearboxes! On the right side, ATM brand mark is lettered. We can notice a silver cylinder

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for a long inner barrel use. Wiring is long enough, it will suit for any M4 lower and its battery connection. Motor connector plugs are fragile, they must be handled with caution. It should be the only negative point. Gearbox battery connector are Tamiya Mini. The front of the gearbox is reinforced (at cylinder head level) in order to prevent it from usual breakages at that point. This gearbox has a QD spring guide, which is a real trump card in order to change the airsoft gun power very easily.

The disassembly is very easy. The spring guide has to be unscrewed with an Allen key. It allows to take out from the gearbox the spring guide and the spring. This is the famous system to change quickly the spring. However, it’s possible to change the spring without opening the gearbox and therefore avoid all the inconveniences that it implies. The spring guide has bearing that reduces spring torsions and stress during a shoot.

The original spring installed inside is an equivalent of the M90, it offers a power close to 310/320 fps. It’s also a linear spring.

So, it’s important to disassembly the spring and the spring guide first, because it will allows you to open the gearbox safely. Then, there are 9 “Phillips” screws on the gearbox to unscrew. Some of them have a lock washer, in order to prevent unscrewing. When the gearbox is open, all the parts inside are ATM’s brand.

Gears are 18:1 ratio, quite standard in France for AEG. They are made of CNC steel and not sintered steel. That gives to these gears a great resistance and a better quality. The anti-reversal latch is a V2 standard. Bushings 8mm are made of steel.

The selector plate is specific, it must be carefully handled. A spare part doesn’t exist at this moment. The pneumatic part is composed of a 14 steel teeth and a polymer piston. It’s a pretty strong part, quite equal to SHS one.

There is also a cylinder for long inner barrel, made of

International AIRSOFT TECH - FRANCE

stainless steel, a bearing piston head and a cylinder head, both made of CNC steel. The piston head has 2 O-rings in order to prevent the loss of air. The cylinder head has 2 O-rings too and a rubber pad. The aluminum nozzle is a M4 AEG standard nozzle, and it has also an internal O-Ring. All those pieces have been made to increase the air tightness. The tappet plate is a M4 AEG standard, made of polymer. It’s a strong piece, very stiff.

The trigger is specific to this gearbox. It’s not possible to replace it by another trigger, a Speed one or a M4 AEG standard for example. The trigger race is very short (5 millimeters) and smooth. Micro switch allows to the trigger always the same race and it prevents from electric arcs. It also brings a better reactivity. Internal mosfets, like ASCU or Titan Gate are not compatible with this kind of gearbox, because of the microswitch. However, external mosfet are compatible.

The wiring is a low transmission resistance, silver-plated, always to gives a better reactivity to this gearbox.

The mechanical parts are well greased, so it does not required an immediate greasing at receipt.

This gearbox have been made for a Lipo 7,4V use. Some videos on YouTube show Lipo 11.1V crash test and this gearbox had succeed. There was only a small usury on piston teeth.

With a Lipo 11.1V, semi is better in order to prevent mechanical from breakages.

It’s also possible to change the spring to a maximal power of 420 fps, without having to change any pieces.

The great advantage of this gearbox is its big compatibility with a lot of M4 lowers; King Arms, G&G, Cyma, G&P, Dboys, APS, etc. For some, there will be minor modifications to do (selector for King Arms and G&G because the lower is narrow or some minor modifications of the lower in order to insert the gearbox).

In conclusion, this gearbox is a pretty good alternative to upgrade someone’s airsoft gun performances without spending too much money. It can suits everybody like the new airsofters (which don’t want to do mechanics) or the airsoft veterans. It’s an atypical gearbox, easily upgradable because of its standards pieces and its facility to change the power of an airsoft gun.

It has converted a French airsofter, why not a UK one?

www.airsoft-action.online

49

Loaded or Unloaded NEW VIPER RANGE

HOME ON THE AS WARMER WEATHER WILL SOON BE WITH US AND THOUGHTS TURN TO SPENDING MORE DAYS OUT ON THE RANGE, JERRY NOONE LOOKS AT SOME GREAT NEW KIT FROM VIPER THAT’S JUST PERFECT FOR “RUNNING AND GUNNING”.

EACH YEAR AS FEBRUARY APPROACHES I get a little tingle of excitement and anticipate the phone call from the team at VIPER to let me know that their new clothing and kit for the coming year is ready to take a look at and it’s always a great privilege to get to see it all before the main launch at IWA in Germany.

As I write, Editor Nige and I have just made the journey to VIPER HQ in Befordshire and caught up on all that’s new and improved and I have to tell you that there are some pretty exciting developments to look forward to in terms of new clothing accessories and tactical gear. Over the past couple of years I’ve seen a distinct improvement in the quality and finish of VIPER gear but unlike many, they’ve made the decision to keep their pricing extremely keen and sensible, which means that putting together either a solid set of skirmish kit or gear for the range isn’t going to empty your wallet!

I’ve been in discussion with my local site to offer some training for their new players; this training will be about safe handling of their RIFs and how to get the very best from them so it’s going to be a Summer with even more Range Days for me to enjoy, as I’ll keep up my own regular training regime in addition to any courses I run. To do this I want kit that is going to look smart but be very, very functional indeed and within the VIPER line of products there’s everything I need.

You might ask what I look for in relation to training/range gear and the easy answer to that is kit that is going to be comfortable all day long, will allow me good freedom of movement but also offer me good levels of protection from the elements; this is the UK after all!

DRESSED FOR SUCCESS

VIPER upped the ante last year with their initial range of TITANIUM products. TITANIUM has really been chosen for urban and industrial areas and it breaks with tradition and introduces a grey colour blend for modern, built-up environments. A new alternative to traditional blue or black, the fallback of the trainer, grey is less traditional and therefore a less recognisable as a “uniform”. What VIPER have done with their new gear is to look very closely at some key clothing pieces initially and keep things ultra-low profile and pared back. Whilst all the features

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that you’d expect are present they’ve been added in a much more subtle way, so as not to immediately scream out “tactical”, which is exactly the “look” I’m after.

The first items are two solid ballcap designs; the ELITE BASEBALL CAP is a classic, no-nonsense design made from a mix of rip-stop tear resistant nylon and cotton. It has a front Velcro ID panel and simple Velcro side adjustment so one size fits most. The new FLEX FIT cap again uses a ripstop fabric and velcro but this time marries it up with breathable mesh on the rear half, which is absolutely perfect for Summer use The VIPER TACTCAL T-SHIRT carries forward into the new range and is a great piece to wear next to the skin. It’s made from super-heavyweight 220gsm cotton with a straightforward round neck and two upper sleeve pockets with Velcro.

This is a great design, fits well and works extremely well in the Summer months. Should I desire something a little “smarter” VIPER have now added a really nice TACTICAL POLO to the mix; this is extremely lightweight and comfortable and is made from a breathable synthetic fabric.

The polo features velcro panels and pen pockets on both arms so is absolutely perfect as range wear.

The CONTRACTOR PANTS are the latest design to be launched in the VIPER trouser range and I have to say that they are a really super, well-thought out design; it’s one that works superbly well with the “covert” theme as the cut is very “civvy” with some very low profile pocketing. Made from rip-stop PolyCotton, the pants feature two deep bellow cargo packets with inner felt lined utility compartments, two hand-warmer

Loaded or Unloaded NEW VIPER RANGE

HE RANGE pockets and two rear seat pockets. The knee panel is fully reinforced with a compartment for a knee pad insert (you’ll need to buy these separately or make some yourself!). They also have a gusseted crotch and an elasticated waist panel on the rear for added comfort, a YKK zip fly with button and drawstring tie bottoms. With a price-tag of £39.99 you get a lot of trouser for your money!

Last but by no means least I’ll look at what is in the line if things get cooler. There are three entirely new fleece models to look at and my choice from them is the TACTICAL HOODY; constructed of a lightweight and durable fleece it’s the perfect mid-layer and although it does sport velcro on both arms it’s very low-key. It’s quite close fitting, which is technically correct to maximise breathability but the hood and “kangaroo” pocket means that you can really warm yourself up easily.

My choice for outer shell is the TACTICAL ELITE JACKET; this is an established VIPER design and I’ve been wearing a black version for some time now and it’s really stood up well to an awful lot of abuse! The Elite jacket is made from water resistant Micro-Shell material, offering maximum comfort on all but the very harshest of wet weather days and there’s even a hood with an adjustable peak stashed away in the collar. There are three external pockets in the main body area of the jacket, two upper arm utility pockets with velcro patches and a small zipped pocket on the lower left arm for ID cards or small map cards. The main closure is a strong two-way YKK zip and there are also underarm zipped vents to you can regulate your core temperature

effectively and elasticated cuffs with velcro.

This really is a cracking jacket which offers super value given the level of performance it provides!

Available in UK sizes 6-12 the TACTICAL SNEAKERS are an ultra-lightweight boot which has a sports-fit. You might want to consider going up a size up from your standard tactical boot sizing; I’m usually a good size 9 and was advised to go for a 10 and the fit for me is perfect with no unnecessary volume and no felt pressure in evidence. The boots have a Cordura side and tongue and an overall suede finish which looks great; the clever choice of Cordura here means that the weight is kept down and the durability up. They

also have a vented instep to help with breathability and a multi-sectioned sole for better manoeuvrability and grip. The ankle cuff is reinforced with the same suede material as the toe area of the boots and this helps both with comfort and support.

The Tactical Sneakers are never going to give you as much ankle support as something like a full tactical boot but there’s certainly enough there for range work!

This is a clothing setup that’s incredibly versatile and should have me

www.airsoft-action.online

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Loaded or Unloaded NEW VIPER RANGE

covered for all eventualities. VIPER will also be extending their range of gloves this year and I’ll come back to that range in another issue but I will say that I have fallen for one of the new models, the PATROL GLOVE. This is a little cracker in terms of minimalist design but then again for range work I don’t need a full-on tactical model, just something that will give my hands protection from bumps and grazes; the PATROL just right for this.

BELT UP!

Once again in relation to gear I want to keep everything light and mobile as possible; normally I would skirmish in a plate carrier and battle belt but as I’ll be shooting at things and (hopefully!) not getting shot at I can dispense with the upper body protection and just concentrate on the belt setup.

As I want to keep everything fairly smart and uniform I’ve decided to replicate my skirmish order, as it works perfectly for me, in plain black rather than camo.

The basis for this will be an ELITE WAIST BELT. This fully modular belt acts as a platform for you to build and customise with MOLLE pouches. It’s made of 600D Cordura and internally uses the padded Ventex system to enhance comfort for user but still has a Full MOLLE exterior.

The belt fits up to 52’’ waist and the interior webbing belt is included; there are also four D-Ring attachment points should you wish to add a harness at any point.

I’m going to need to carry a pistol so the first thing I’ll add to the belt is a MODULAR ADJUSTABLE HOLSTER; this is a great design as it’s a fully adjustable holster which takes virtually all pistols, with a single mag pouch at the front. There are two threads on the rear with press studs, to attach to the VIPER modular system. Of course I’m going to need to “feed the beasts” that are my primary and secondary, so I’ll be needing to carry additional magazines for both pistol and carbine, along with a spare shotgun shell or two. Luckily VIPER have just brought in a new magazine pouch with the new line called the ELITE STACKER and it’s a very, very nice “taco-like” design. Open topped with bungee retention there’s the main pouch which will easily accommodate most rifle or carbine magazines, whilst on the front there is a smaller pouch which carry pistol magazines, shotgun shells and a small knife or multi-tool should you need one. This front pouch can be removed and mounted independently.

I always carry a dump-pouch and the new model in the range is

a HUGE improvement on the old roll-away offering; the ELITE DUMP POUCH is a much neater affair that still offers space to tuck away three or four mags in the main compartment which has a stiffened neck and bungee closure. You also have a main front pocket with velcro closure which is perfect for range cards and/or tools and there’s a neat elasticated mesh pocket on the side. Last but by no means least comes the new MICRO UTILITY POUCH which could be used for just about anything as it’s incredibly neat and versatile; I always like to have a small first aid kit on my belt so that’s what I’ll be using it for.

I have to say that the new range features some of the best designs that I’ve ever seen from VIPER and the grey colour that they’ve achieved is really very, very good indeed; I’d go as far as saying that in my opinion it’s one of the best grey tones on the market right now, although al the kit featured is available in multiple colours. In addition to the extremely affordable clothing, tactical gear and accessories there are also pack models that will be coming in to go with all to go with it all and add further to the existing lineup; I’m testing a couple of the models at the moment and will report back on those in due course. 2017 is already shaping up to be another great year for VIPER; I for one can’t wait to see what they do next!

To keep up to date with the new VIPER tactical products as they become available please visit www.viperkit.co.uk. You can also follow VIPER TACTICAL via their Facebook and Instagram pages which are regularly updated.

www.airsoft-action.online

53

Armoury TOKYO MARUI SVR

EVERY SO OFTEN SOMETHING COMES ALONG THAT CHANGES WHAT WE DO. FRENCHIE FEELS THE TOKYO MARUI SVR WAS SUCH A THING, AS HE EXPLAINS…

TMSVR: AIRSOFT S THERE IS NOTHING MORE NERDY in airsoft than a sniper, although arguably there is nothing more misunderstood in airsoft either. A long time ago, in a universe far, far away, choices for the airsoft sniper were few and far between. They weren’t cheap either and that was before you started spending money to get the bloody things to actually shoot well at range.

Then something happened that would literally change the face of airsoft sniping forever - The Marui VSR. Unlike the stale, oftrepeated hyperbole of airsoft salesmen, the VSR was genuinely a game-changer but to understand the importance of the VSR

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you have to understand what came before it.

When I started playing, the most common bolt-action airsoft rifle was the Maruzen APS2. Like most of Maruzen’s output it was well-made but it was expensive at about £300 or more and frankly, it was rubbish out of the box. Stock muzzle velocity seldom exceeded 300 fps, the components were typically Japanese; beautiful but lacking in the strength necessary to handle power upgrades and such upgrades as were available from Guarder, Prometheus and the like were both expensive and hard to get. I personally knew one player whose APS2 cost him well in excess of £1,000 to get it to the point where it performed as most players would expect a boltie to do so today. Pretty much everything, barring the stock, had been replaced as the internals couldn’t take the pressure from bigger springs, the original hop unit left much to be desired and the inner barrel wasn’t anything to write home about.

About ten or twelve years ago I laid my hands on the first Marui VSRs I had ever seen, three models - the Pro Sniper, the Real Shock and the G-Spec. If my memory serves me correctly they were priced at around £200 back then and it didn’t take a genius to immediately see that the days of the APS2 were numbered.

The VSR did a number of things that were to ensure that the Maruzen would be relegated to fond memory very quickly.

It was cheaper for a start. It had an easily adjustable hop unit that didn’t require you to have screwdrivers or Allen keys in your pocket. Although it came out of the box at a similar stock velocity, between 280-300 fps it was relatively easy to bump that up to 350fps without anything more than a spring change, the stock internals could cope with that (and more) without difficulty. I know that doesn’t sound like any kind of big deal

Armoury TOKYO MARUI SVR

you missed one of the most sublime (in my opinion) airsoft experiences. Out of the box the VSR was one of the smoothest rifles it has ever been my pleasure to use. I bought the first of the Real Shock versions that arrived - it differed from the Pro Sniper in having a faux wood stock and a weight attached to the piston to give the impression of recoil. It wasn’t recoil - it was moving in the wrong direction for a start - but it did something when you pulled the trigger and it was nice in its own way. I removed the weights after a while as they became irritating and without them the rifle became much quieter and smoother. It was easy to cock with a fairly weak spring and the velocity was low. Ultimately mine ran at about 350fps with a Laylax high pressure piston in it and was simply a joy to use.

Not only had Marui introduced an easily adjustable hop unit but the trigger could be adjusted for weight and pull. If you wanted that in an APS2 you had to spend well over £100 on a Zero trigger.

The G-Spec offered a suppressor as standard, although the Pro Sniper was just as quiet without one. Ironically as players set about upgrading their rifles it was often the suppressor that

T SNIPER these days but I am harking back to the days when anyone running a Marui AEG at 328 fps was regarded with awe at how hot their gun was - the past, as they say, is a different country!

Before long, a full range of upgrade parts were available for the VSR and it was possible to buy and run a 500 fps sniper rifle for half the cost of doing the same with an APS2. The number of snipers seen every game increased accordingly.

Unlike the Maruzen rifles, the VSR seemed to lend itself to being cloned elsewhere in the Far East and it wasn’t too long before we started seeing much cheaper copies of the rifle, costing as little as £99. Some of the clones were good, others not so good but along with the Chinese-made Well L96 (itself a copy of another Maruzen design) their low cost ensured that if you wanted a bolt action sniper rifle you no longer had to mortgage your house. The age of the wannabe sniper was well and truly upon us. I will offer some thoughts on that subject a little later in this piece but for the time being I’m going to concentrate on the VSR itself and why I regard it so highly and why I believe it changed airsoft.

The Marui VSR is essentially a replica of the Remington M700 bolt action rifle. The M700 is worthy of a book on its own and it was entirely sensible for Marui to pick it as the basis for their offering.

The VSR was typically Japanese; well-made and welldesigned but the materials were intentionally weak - a hefty spring upgrade alone would cause it to fail sooner rather than later. This tendency was a reflection of domestic Japanese laws regarding airsoft limits and until the aftermarket houses started producing parts for the range, there was a limit to what could be done to the VSR. Those parts became available fairly quickly but if you have never used your VSR in its stock guise

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55

Armoury TOKYO MARUI SVR

suffered as BBs flying at 500 fps started crashing into the inside These players could materially influence a game without of the can. A change of hop unit usually cured that propensity. fuss - once you had heard the thrumm of a near miss and Improved hop rubbers were soon available, as were high you knew they were out there - somewhere - it informed quality barrels. Even Marui offered an improved hop chamber everything. Did you dare put your head out from cover? Could and barrel set for the G-Spec variant, which despite its short you move position without being picked off? Why the hell barrel was every bit as capable as its longer brothers. I set my don’t we have close air support in airsoft?!

Real Shock up with a Laylax high pressure piston and steel sears For these players the VSR was a godsend. It allowed them even though I never ran above 350 fps. At that it was light, to build the right tool for the job at a reasonable price. Snipers easy to carry, easy to use and utterly dependable, everything struggle as improvements in AEG design (noticeably increased that the Maruzen wasn’t. If I could use it reasonably well, range and accuracy) remove their principal advantage, it’s not anyone could, and they did… difficult to get an AEG shooting out to 70 - 80m and they have I spent a reasonable amount of time in those days the advantage of being able to saturate an area with plastic. upgrading VSRs up to 500 fps and I saw a lot of players turning The sniper doesn’t have that choice; for them concealment is up with their tricked-up rifles basking in the glow of being a key and each shot should, ideally, count. The VSR gave those “sniper”. This would have been alright if more than 10% could actually shoot well and the “I KNOW THAT DOESN’T SOUND LIKE ANY KIND OF BIG DEAL same percentage had any kind of real idea of what a sniper did. All of this coincided with THESE DAYS BUT I AM HARKING BACK TO THE DAYS WHEN the massive upsurge in modern computer ANYONE RUNNING A MARUI AEG AT 328 FPS WAS REGARDED and console gaming and far too many players WITH AWE AT HOW HOT THEIR GUN WAS - THE PAST, AS THEY thought that they were straight out of Call of Duty, capable of taking shots at enormous SAY, IS A DIFFERENT COUNTRY!” ranges with pinpoint accuracy. They seemed to miss the fact that even upgraded, what they had was a musket with all the accuracy inherent to that design. that chose to take the role seriously an almost unrivalled tool; it If an airsoft sniper rifle is consistent at 80-100m it’s doing was light, robust, consistent and could be accurate. It was also really well and a hit isn’t guaranteed every time you pulled very quiet in operation - you are unlikely to hear the gun being the trigger. This led to frustration as the players realised that fired, you may hear the BB whizz past your ear though. they couldn’t ever hope to rack up the number of kills that It’s unlikely that Marui ever intended to democratise sniping their AEG-toting comrades did and non-snipers became sick of but they did. Others have climbed onto the bandwagon but snipers in their overly heavy ghillie suits never feeling their hits. their rifles will never be the original VSR. I have a passion for In the midst of this there were players who got it - who spring SVDs and a soft spot for the clunky Well L96 but if I understood camouflage and fieldcraft, who were capable of could only ever have one bolt action rifle, it is the VSR - no properly estimating range and of shooting well, of accepting debate, no hesitation. that kills would be few but all the more rewarding for that and You can probably build something better but then again who were as likely to shoot you from 10 feet away with their you can probably make a rounder wheel - the question is why sidearm as you wandered past utterly unaware. would you bother?

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feature AIRSOFT SPONSORSHIP

AIRSOFT SPONSORSHIP KELLY “FEMME FATALE” HARDWICK ADDRESSES A TOPIC THAT HAS BEEN THE SUBJECT OF MANY A LIVELY SOCIAL MEDIA “DEBATE”… SPONSORSHIP. OVER THE PAST COUPLE OF years we have been seeing the words “sponsored player” and “brand ambassador” popping up more and more frequently on social media but what do they actually mean? How do you define “sponsorship”? And has the word “Sponsored” become a badge of honour that players feel makes them “better” than other players? These are questions that pop up on social media all the time so let’s discuss sponsorship.

Unlike p… p… paintball (yes I said the dirty word but bear with me!), airsoft is still in its infancy. Paintball is renowned for its worldwide tournaments but because Airsoft is a game of honour and doesn’t have a marked hit system like Paintball, an Airsoft

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tournament system would be both difficult to set up and regulate. Because of this and the how young the sport is, the sponsorships in airsoft are wildly different to those of our paintball counterparts. Sponsorship is usually reserved for airsofters with a substantial social media following but we’re seeing more and more airsofters secure the coveted title of “Sponsored player”.

Let’s look at what sponsorship means: Sponsorship in its very definition means “receiving financial support” from a sponsor. This is commonplace in paintball but airsofters typically see a different type of sponsorship – such as free products and consumables etc. in exchange for promoting the companies/ brands/businesses on social media. However, so long as it’s a win-win, what’s the problem?

The main problems I see with sponsorship is airsofters recommending companies and kit simply because it was given to them for free, rather than being objective and recommending products/companies/brands on their merit.

I also see brands taking advantage of airsofters - and their social media accounts - by offering very little in return for the exposure. Sometimes it seems like airsofters would sell their

Feature AIRSOFT SPONSORSHIP

soul for a free bottle of BBs and the chance to say they are sponsored by a brand and they wear their “sponsored player” title as a badge of honour.

Now don’t get me wrong, I see no issue with brands/ companies supporting players in any capacity, be it free products, discounts, reduced site fees etc. as this enables players to play more often and fuels the industry and helps it grow which is only a good thing. I just hope the players remember why they started playing in the first place – to have fun!

I started playing airsoft because it was fun and I started blogging because there was a gap in information available for female airsofters which I wanted to fill and help ladies who were just starting out in airsoft. As a blogger, I receive products to review but I’m always sure to inform my readers that the products were gifted to me and I’m always objective about my reviews – if something can be improved, I’ll tell it like it is and anything that I wouldn’t recommend typically gets sent back or not covered at all. Honesty is essential to my brand’s integrity and I think that players definitely need to adopt a more honest approach.

I think sponsorships and brands matching up with players to promote the sport is a very good thing and will only help the sport grow and become more successful in the future. I do, however, feel that if you are doing what you do (blogging, YouTube, social media etc.) with just the goal of sponsorship instead of the goal of contributing to airsoft, that you are doing it for the wrong reasons.

My advice to players is this… Do what you do because you love it. Do it because you’re passionate about it and want to help the sport grow but don’t expect a reward in return and you’ll usually find your contribution is more valuable, your opinion has more weight, you are noticed by brands and are rewarded for your passion. Don’t email companies asking for sponsorship unless you have something offer them and always be honest about your intentions. Don’t simply say something is good because it was free, be objective!

I asked our followers on Facebook and here’s what you had to say!

Jez Armstrong: “Can’t it just be a hobby like it used to be and not something where people basically beg for free stuff?

“I get sponsored coming from a BMX background if you was in the right place at the right time and rode sh*t hot you’d probably get a sponsor, they’d send you free stuff and you’d rep it and kids would flock out and buy it because you was their favourite rider. If you just emailed a company and asked for sponsorship they’d laugh at you. Is there really a player people look up to and aspire to be and buy all their products? I mean I can think of one that is trying, yeah they put out some good content but there’s nothing you can learn from it to make you a better player.

“You can have all the training in the world and still get shot by a rental with a JG G36.”

Mark Law: “I don’t see anything wrong with it for teams and even sites in some cases. Individuals might as well get a job working for the sponsor. As for the rest of the Airsoft world…

Business as usual.”

Dave Oakfield: “It’s turned American Airsoft into a joke full of people looking like NASCAR cars and it’s starting to do the same over here. Loads of people in the UK are seeing the tons of free shit being flung at high profile players so they decide they want sponsorship too but they don’t want to put the effort in to create decent content. It’s a symptom of a real “something for nothing” culture that’s toxifying the hobby. Just check out all of the idiots all over Instagram looking like the cast of The Only Way Is Essex got dragged through a surplus store, begging for attention. Players wanting to be celebrities is bad news.”

Scott Allan: “Person: Can I have sponsorship? Company: What will you do? Person: Tell everyone your stuff is amazing.

“Just strikes me as largely unnecessary, as very few people have good reach (beyond one or two game sites) and a fair few

internet chums. Companies are kidding themselves if they think giving away free stuff to a YouTube channel or Facebook pages are going to result in a huge increase in sales of products. Until airsoft dies in its truest form and ends up on a five a side pitch with inflatables I can’t see any major sponsorship for teams or any need for it.”

Jay Bell: “There’s only really a handful who have a following for it to apply to anyway – if they want to be covered in patches and have their social media look like advertising channels, whatever floats their boat. If it’s a local site/shop supporting a couple of their local teams with a bit of a discount or something, no hassle. But what seems to be the case with both individuals and review givers is that a specific brand effectively buys content and positive reviews but these people also give genuine reviews. And it’s impossible to differentiate which is which.

It means you stop trusting reviews since there’s no clear declaration of the motives behind them. There’s a couple of very obvious examples that spring to mind.”

Photo of Kelly Hardwick

by James Murray

Ian Austin: “I hate it! It hurts the smaller business. It’s all look at what I’ve got free and look where I’ve played.”

Jethro Holberry: “As long as they’re not shoving advertisements in my face, I can’t see any real issue. I can’t speak for everyone but I’m pretty tired of hearing and seeing

SPONSORSHIP IS USUALLY RESERVED FOR AIRSOFTERS WITH A SUBSTANTIAL SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING BUT WE’RE SEEING MORE AND MORE AIRSOFTERS SECURE THE COVETED TITLE OF “SPONSORED PLAYER”. adverts everywhere I go. Airsoft is an escape from that rubbish, keep it out of the game.”

Darren Pamplin: “The worst thing to happen to airsoft is Facebook! Fact!”

Thom Hall: “As a professional sponsored player, I would like to put my 2 cents here. I love airsoft and it is an addiction for me, I am passionate about airsoft and seeing it grow, sponsorships afford me to travel and get my fix. I don’t do it for free stuff, I do it to try and support my family but it seems that it is very hard thing to do in the industry. The majority of expenses come out of my own pocket. People need to realise the difference between professionals and just some kid given something as a marketing gimmick. A true professional airsoft player will be seen leading on the field, mentoring people and setting an example for others to follow. It’s why so many want to coin the word “sponsored” as giving validation to that person as they are that a professional but as you can see in so many of the previous post, that is not always the case.”

Peter Bigpete: “I believe sponsorship in any sport can be both good and bad for both sponsor and athlete. Just depends on the “deal” and what both parties are trying to achieve. I do think without clear skill levels in airsoft (even though each of us think we are the best player ever) it’s more going to come down to personality. Without sounding like a proper douche, most airsofters are actually boring and are difficult to engage the market with… Out of the entire airsoft community, if I had to sponsor I’d maybe sponsor 3-5 people out of hundreds I know and that’s more based on appearance, attitude and interestingness. 99.998% of airsofters are just plain boring.

Sorry.”

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feature UNIVERSAL SOLDIER

THE UNIVERSAL SOLDIER’S BURDEN MANY OF US KNOW ABOUT (AND SOME HAVE PERSONALLY EXPERIENCED) WHAT IT IS LIKE TO CARRY A FULLY-LADEN BERGEN. EX-PARA, PETER BING MIEXPE, CERTAINLY DOES AND GIVES US HIS THOUGHTS ON THE IDEAL COMBAT LOAD. FRIDAY MORNING, 20TH OF JANUARY 2017, found me driving through the quiet outskirts of Colchester (Essex, England) with my 85 year-old-father when, quite unexpectedly, wheeling around the corner and coming towards us in column of threes came a company of Parachute Regiment soldiers. They were, in Para vernacular, “tabbing” (from TAB - Tactical Advance to Battle) in boots, MTP trousers (boots and denims in my day), sporting maroon sweatshirts and carrying large Bergen rucksacks. All were blowing hard from the effort, with jaws set in a determination that can only be appreciated if you have been a Para (or respectfully, belonged to another elite unit), with each one leaning forward into his burden to maintain balance as they “scampered” (you cannot adopt the stride of a normal runner when carrying that kind of weight) at a blistering pace on their morning company run. Each soldier loaded, I would bet, with a rucksack weighing at least 60lbs, before the addition of weapon and supporting combat load that they were not carrying that morning.

Focused on the task at hand, no one took noticed of our passing vehicle and even if they had, none would have had any idea that the two veteran Paratroopers sitting inside were

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taking in the scene with a mixture of nostalgia and pride.

For my father the Parachute Regiment experience began in 1951 after serving in Korea with the Argyles and for me it started in 1970 from school. What we were looking at was a scene (Aldershot, not Colchester, in our day) we had both experienced many, many, times over, being conducted by young men who could have been either of us from our own Para generations.

That brief scene got me to thinking “nothing much changed there then”. January 2017 and the infantryman’s lot is still to struggle to get himself physically into battle under a mountain of kit and equipment; as he did in the town of Colchester, when infantry on that same road 2,000 years ago were Roman legionnaires, who referred to themselves as “Marius’ Mules” after the general who loaded them down with so much equipment. As an aside, Colchester is my hometown, so I may well be descended from one such individual? Of course, it is necessary for specialist infantry like paratroopers to be fit

Feature UNIVERSAL SOLDIER

“TALIBAN HEARD IN RADIO TRAFFIC REFERRING TO PATROLLING BRITISH TROOPS AS “TORTOISES” OR “CAMELS” AS THEY REGULARLY PATROLLED WITH LOADS IN EXCESS OF 50LBS.” enough and strong enough to bear the burden, because unlike carried and 15,000 of them were “dumped” by mechanized units, once parachuted or helicoptered onto the troops in one WW1 withdrawal: soaking rain area of operations they are dependent on muscle power alone. adding 20lbs to an already very heavy coat.

But what studies, as far as the British Army is concerned, So what is the ideal combat load? I have been undertaken to reduce and redistribute that load, I remember reading Captain Basil Liddell Hart’s thought? Many, as you would rightly expect. memoires about his experiences of the trenches As far back as the 1860s army medical services were and his remarking about how the combat load concerned that too many soldiers were sustaining permanent his soldiers had to endure kept on increasing. debilitating injury from the loads they were expected to He raised the point that a cavalry horse to carry, to the extent that too many dropped by the wayside perform at optimum should not be loaded on an advance to battle, or were too physically exhausted to beyond a quarter of its body weight and that contribute in any meaningful way to the assault. Again in the pack mules were restricted to loads of 1/3 1890s after the experiences of the South African War, with its body weight; whereas the poor old infantry environment challenges, amongst others, military committee regularly staggered through the sucking mud examined the subject of lighter combat loads and better load of no-mans-land loaded with 2/3 body weight. carrying equipment. Changes were made and the soldier of Since then, successive studies into what should WW1 was issued with a “state of the art” set of load carrying be the optimal combat load for an infantryman equipment. The same happened before WW2 after the have arrived at a figure of 1/3 body weight, on experiences of The Great European War, as WW1 was known average 35 to 40lbs, in order to reduce fatigue and again after each successive campaign to date. and maintain a soldier’s battlefield agility, What was the average weight the soldier was expected to endurance and effectiveness. carry that overloaded him and seriously reduced his combat From my chance encounter with a company efficiency? British, European and American of Paratroopers on a country studies from the outset all arrive at a weight of road in Colchester it would References: B H 55 to 60 lbs. At first glance this may not appear seem that in 2017 we have still Liddell Hart Memoire, too great a load, especially when distributed not managed to attain that illusive “magic” Volume 1 and The about the soldier’s body. But it’s the pre-assault combat load figure. As such, our soldiers are Soldiers Load: Historical loading of extra ammunition (for personal and loaded up just as much as their forebears Data, Appendix 1 to support weapons), combat breaching (grenades were 2,000 years ago: Taliban heard in radio Annex A, HB (A)/CM/6/3, and explosives) and defence stores (sandbags, traffic referring to patrolling British troops Dated 5 January 2004 wire and pickets), the introduction of steel as “tortoises” or “Camels” as they regularly helmets and gas masks, plus all the other “little patrolled with loads in excess of 50lbs. Perhaps items”, today as then, that are deemed useful in assault but not though, soldiers of today can take comfort from the fact that regularly carried, that push the load up in excess of 80lbs. Even a soldier on the eve of the battle of the Somme in 1916 was surpassing 120lbs during periods in WW1 and 2 and in my loaded with 80 – 100lbs of equipment, whereas our modern experience regularly since. No wonder, with that load, soldiers Universal Soldier equivalent in 2017 carries an 80 – 100lbs failed to decisively capture an objective and even failed to arrive burden of “lightweight” equipment. on objective at all, due to physical exhaustion. Fortunately after Peter Bing MIExpE the 1890s, the soldier no longer had to carry a spare pair of Specialist Security and Operational Support Adviser trousers and boots into the assault but greatcoats were still www.airsoft-action.online

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SPECIAL OPS CHEST RIG With built in quad mag capacity and numerous utility/pistol mag pouches the Special Ops Chest Rig is capable of bearing a substantial load in a minimal design. The low profile setup allows the rig to be worn beneath outer layers such as jackets/smocks and also allows better manoeuvrability in confined environments.

>GET THE

TACTICAL ADVANTAGE

n 1 x 4 Capacity mag sleeve n 3 x Front utility pouch n 1 x GPS radio pouch n 2 x Pistol mag pouch n Velcro ID panel n Quick release buckles n Impact reduction bungee straps Material: 600D Cordura Sizes: One size, fully adjustable Colours: V-Cam / Black / Coyote Green / Titanium SRP: £37.95

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www.vipertactical.co.uk

It’s a classic M83 SAAV

IT’S A CLASSIC: M83 SAAV GADGE HARVEY KICKS OF A NEW SERIES OF SHORT ARTICLES LOOKING AT ICONIC AND CLASSIC KIT FROM BOTH THE WORLD’S ARMOURIES AND STOREROOMS AS WELL AS TRIED AND TESTED SKIRMISH KIT, STARTING WITH THE M83 SOUTH AFRICAN ASSAULT VEST. FROM CAPE TOWN TO KOSOVO along a Fury Road, the story of the SAAV… For many airsofters the South African Assault Vest (or SAAV) is perhaps the first “proper” bit of load carrying kit they get their hands on. It’s cheap, comes in nearly every camo pattern you can think of and, most importantly, it works.

A big part of its popularity is its sheer usefulness. It’s hard to think of an AEG, pistol or sniper rifle magazine or accessory that the SAAV’s capacious pouches and pockets can’t handle, which makes it a great piece of kit for those trying out various “gun platforms” with mates weapons, hire guns or a combination of both. For certain the SAAV is literally covered with pouches that will accommodate M4/M16, AK47, SLR/FN FAL and even “lugged” G36 mags, while still leaving you with plenty more space for water bottles, snacks, grenades, pistol mags etc. etc.… In fact you can carry almost everything but the kitchen sink - but not to worry, as most SAAV vests have a handy built in daysack that’s perfect for carrying a hydration bladder around (which also makes a good carrier for short

shotguns!) . So it’s perhaps this incredible versatility, combined with a price sometimes as low as £20 for second hand “copy” vest that makes it such a good first buy when airsofters decide to stump up the cash to buy some “webbing”.

And the SAAV has not just been popular with airsofters over the years. As you can imagine, it began its life in South Africa in the early 80s in an attempt to provide the South African Defence Force (SADF) with a lighter and more practical alternative to the heavy cotton “British 58 pattern”-style webbing issued to them. Crossing continents, the SAAV soon found a niche in the British Army where squaddies (those who could source them and were allowed to use them) also found them streets ahead of their issue webbing... the nylon and plastic SAAV didn’t get heavy when wet, actually carried what you needed and spread its wait out more evenly over your body. While the heyday of the SAAV in the British Army was most certainly in the late 80s and through the early 90s before the practical PLCE webbing system was introduced, the SAAV stayed popular with many. In particular, pictures from the NATO deployment to Kosovo show many British Paras attached to KFOR sporting original “nutria brown” SADF SAAVs as late as the early 2,000s.

As previously mentioned, the original SAAV vest came in a dark tan shade known as Nutria Brown but its popularity led to numerous clones and copies in everything from DPM and Flecktarn, to more modern patterns like Marpat and Multicam. To be honest, it’s hard to think of a camo pattern you CAN’T get a SAAV in.

While the advent of modular webbing has reigned in the popularity of the SAAV, it’s fair to say that this bit of kit has earned it place as a classic with the armed force and within the airsoft community - heck even Mad Max wore (a very battered) one in Fury Road!

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GITAG SUPPRESSOR JACKETS

HOT METAL JACKET WHEN IT COMES TO BEING A TRUE AIRSOFT “GEEK” IT’S ALL ABOUT THOSE SO-IMPORTANT FINISHING TOUCHES THAT REALLY MAKE A LOADOUT SING! THIS MONTH JERRY NOONE PRESS-GANGS HIS WIFE INTO SEWING SERVICE IN ORDER TO CREATE A SUPPRESSOR JACKET ON A BUDGET! WHEN YOU’RE PUTTING TOGETHER A specific loadout there are numerous items that are “must haves” to get things really looking spot-on; is your “FAST” helmet going to be complete without a MANTA strobe or a cover in the right camo pattern?

Are the gloves that you use the model that appear in reference pictures of your intended loadout? It can even come down the whether the boots you wear are the right ones and choice of the correct RIF. Let’s not even go there!

One trend that I noticed a good while back now was the use of suppressor covers or sleeves; they started appearing in many images of the “hi-speed, lo-drag” fraternity and certainly added a bit of a “cool guy” edge for finishing off any “tacticool” custom build but when I looked into the real thing they were all hideously expensive. I therefore started looking into what these “sleeves” actually did.

So why use a suppressor cover? The answer is a lot more complex than you might at first think. A good suppressor cover will, according to specialist in the field of suppression, Silencerco; • Mitigate mirage - especially important in precision shooting applications • Protect against burns when removing the suppressor after firing • Avoid melting your clothing when transitioning from slung rifle to pistol • Avoid melting your rifle case when securing your firearm coming off the range • Enable shooting from a greater variety of positions without fear of burns

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• Camouflage your suppressor using a method more durable than paint • Safeguard your suppressor against scratches and impacts that occur with normal use Most of these reasons are pretty straightforward and make total sense but there’s that first one that probably needs a bit more explanation; “mirage” can be classed as “the observed apparent movement and or distortion of a target due only to temperature created air disturbance between the shooter and the target” and in tactical terms where, in real life, you’re laying down a lot of rounds this “mirage” or distortion can be caused purely by the heat coming off the muzzle. As the muzzle heats so a “halo” forms and if you’re using an optic, especially a magnified one, this distortion can easily mean the difference between hitting your intended target or not.

Using a suppressor can actually exacerbate this problem; the hot expanding gases that propel a round out of the muzzle are trapped within the suppressor and cause the temperature of the suppressor to increase. The more intense the firing tempo, the hotter the suppressor (and the barrel) will become. Higher pressure rounds also lead to higher temperatures within the suppressor because of the amount of hot expanding gases that the will be trapped. In the case of a full-on firefight it’s apparent that the “mirage effect” could be a real issue with accuracy, so suddenly, for just one reason amongst many, a heat-mitigating suppressor cover suddenly seems like a REALLY good idea!

Again returning to Silencerco; “Everyone who owns a silencer (or suppressor) should own a cover. Whether you’re a precision shooter looking to avoid

gitag SUPPRESSOR JACKETS

interference from mirage, or a hobbyist who wants to be able to toss his rifle and can back in the case without having to wait for the temperature to cool - a suppressor cover is the answer.”

SAVING A FEW BUCKS!

With all this information in mind I thought on the subject of suppressor covers for some time; although I wanted that “operator” look to finish of a couple of custom builds the thought of saying goodbye to a sizeable amount of cash just for appearances sake was a tough pill to swallow. Even the for the most budget of “real steel” suppressor covers you’re looking at least to part with US$60.00 and that’s before shipping!

Then it struck me; this was airsoft! There was no heat build-up to deal with and certainly no “mirage effect” to offset, so did I really need the real thing? After searching around my boxes of “stuff” I discovered that I had several lengths of fabric in different patterns, along with offcuts of webbing in the same patterns. It was then I needed to be extra-super nice to my wonderful wife and ask her if she might sew me something together as she’s a bit of a dab hand with a sewing machine.

It actually turned out to be pretty straightforward (for her at least!) and this is how you do it!

MATERIALS

Before you do anything ensure that you have everything that you need; in this case PenCott GreenZone fabric and webbing, tape measure, sharp scissors, pins and appropriately coloured thread.

Step 1 Measure the exact length and circumference of the suppressor; take your time over this and ensure you have everything just so before you start cutting!

Step 2 Overall leave 1 cm for seams and edging

Step 4 Use a straight stitch to sew the edges

Step 5 Measure the length of the webbing and cut to size accordingly

Step 3 Pin the top and bottom edges (1cm folded over) of the fabric and remeasure; again take your time

Step 6 Pin the webbing in place where it needs to be stitched; you’re effectively creating a series of loops the purpose of which will become clear later

Step 8 Wrap the fabric around the suppressor inside out and pin in place; try to get things as snug as possible

Step 7 Use a “zig-zag” stitch to attach the webbing in place

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gitag SUPPRESSOR JACKETS

Step 9 Use a straight stitch again to sew the fabric

Step 10 Finish the raw edges with a “zig-zag” stitch

Step 11 Ready to fit Step 13 Using bungee cord and a cord-lok secure the jacket in place; use those webbing loops you created earlier to help get the tension right and secure everything snugly in place.

Step 12 Turn the fabric right-side out and fit

As you’ll see from the final picture I decided to shorten the cover so that it would work with a G&G “Firehawk” tracer unit and I’m pretty chuffed with the final outcome. Since the initial cover we’ve fashioned a few different ones in both GreenZone and Multicam but as long as you have both the fabric and webbing, both usually easily sourced online, you can create a cover in whatever colour you desire!

Okay, I know I’m a geek but I do like getting things right.

I hope that this article will get you all thinking “outside the box” a bit and when it comes to those last finishing loadout touches, imagination can be the key rather than money!

Step 14 And DONE!

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Real Steel KALASHNIKOV AK47

REAL STEEL: AK47 IN THIS NEW MONTHLY FEATURE, GARETH “GADGE” HARVEY WILL LOOK AT A CLASSIC FIREARM OF THE LAST 100 YEARS, ITS IMPACT ON MODERN WARFARE AND OUR AIRSOFT COUNTERPART. WITHOUT A DOUBT ONE OF the most iconic weapons in the world is the Kalashnikov AK47. Whether it’s on the news or on the skirmish field this classic design is perhaps one of the few firearms even the most pacifist of people can recognise.

It’s perhaps best summed up in a wonderful line by Nicholas Cage, portraying a Russian arms dealer Yuri Orlov in the film “Lord of War”: “It’s the world’s most popular assault rifle, a weapon all fighters love. An elegantly simple nine pound amalgamation of forged steel and plywood, it doesn’t break, jam, or overheat. It will shoot whether it’s covered in mud or filled with sand. It’s so easy even a child can use it and they do.”

But if we’re going to have a look at the AK47 let’s first go back to its roots…

During WWII the Russians, like the Germans found that having lots of lead going in the direction of the enemy was the way forwards - and here we mean LOTS of lead. The Russian solution was to equip whole platoons of guys entirely with the PPS and PPSH submachine gun. Both of them perfect weapons for the up close and personal street fights around Stalingrad and Berlin. The PPSH particularly was able to dish out horrendous amounts of firepower from fairly large drum mag but was not all that accurate and required supporting fire from snipers, riflemen and machine guns to accurately engage tricky or important targets. The Germans also had a decent

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submachine gun in the MP40 but realised what they really wanted was something as compact as an SMG but with the accuracy and range of a rifle. Rifle ammunition was too powerful for a compact SMG-type design and so German scientists came up with an “intermediate cartridge”. With a bullet the same size as a rifle round but with less propellant to make it more controllable on automatic fire, this new round known as the 7.92mm “kurz” (short) was ideal.

The rifle designed to fire this round would be known as one of the first assault rifles the “Mp43/44 Sturm Gewehr” which shares some superficial external design elements with the later and better known AK series.

Captured examples of the MP43 impressed the Russians greatly and immediately a soviet intermediate round, the 7.62x39mm, was developed but at that point they had no rifle for it to fire. Several competitions and trials were held to design a Soviet “assault rifle” in the post-war years and before the AK47 was adopted the SKS carbine initially won out as the rifle for the 7.62 round. During trials for a successor to the SKS several designs were submitted by self-taught weapons genius Mikhael Kalashnikov (who at the time had been an engineer and in the tank corps but not trained as a gunsmith) and one model ended up winning the trials after some modification.

This rifle was named the “Kalashnikov Automatic Rifle model 1947”. As the AK47 superficially looked like the earlier german Mp43/44, many thought it was a copy of the Nazi design, however, this is not the case. While it shares features like a detachable “banana box” magazine and famous German weapons designer Hugo Schmeisser helped develop the AK47, its internal operation system is quite different.

Design-wise though, the AK is clearly “Soviet” in every way. To call it “rugged” would be an understatement; run out of ammo and you could club someone to death with it, you can run it over with a tank, bury it in sand, heck even cover it in rust and it will still work. Initial versions came with a full wooden stock or a slightly less durable (but much more portable) steel underfolding stock (again borrowed from the design of the Mp40) version known as the AK47S. Much of this durability is to do with the intentional loose tolerances built into the weapon. In many guns this is a BAD thing and can result in damage to internal parts and a lack of accuracy but with the AK47 it’s part of the package meaning any dirt/sand/ debris/rust/ice (you name it) trapped in the inside is unlikely to stop the bolt moving, the gas tube cycling the pressure back to the return spring or the trigger pulling… And in that there is its other beauty. An absolute minimum of working parts making

Real Steel KALASHNIKOV AK47

“TO CALL IT “RUGGED” WOULD BE AN UNDERSTATEMENT; RUN OUT OF AMMO AND YOU COULD CLUB SOMEONE TO DEATH WITH IT, YOU CAN RUN IT OVER WITH A TANK, BURY IT IN SAND, HECK EVEN COVER IT IN RUST AND IT WILL STILL WORK.”

the AK pretty much “soldier proof”!

Basic operation is equally “Soviet” and fitted the doctrine of the time. The safety catch is the dust cover for the receiver and the first setting you can select is “give it loads” on full auto.

Semi-automatic fire was clearly an afterthought and achieved by pushing the selector all the way down! All this ruggedness does have a drawback though, in a lack of precision and accuracy in the rifle compared to what the 7.92x39mm round COULD provide in a well-tuned firearm. It’s worth noting that while the rear sight of the AK47 goes up to 800 metres this is highly optimistic, with a more credible maximum range being closer to about 300 metres – which is unsurprisingly the distance that post-WWII studies showed that firefights usually started at.

The AK47 has become a cultural icon. In many cultures owning an AK is as much a rite of passage into adulthood as getting your parents to buy you driving lessons, or going for your first (legal) pint down the pub has become in the UK but true AK47s are quite rare these days.

The original AK47 was a weighty beast machined out of a solid block of metal and time consuming and expensive to produce. Kalashnikov later modified the design and produced a stamped and pressed steel model (made in a similar way to the german Mp40) with an improved muzzle designed to counter the weapon's tendency to “climb” on full auto. These modernised rifles are known as the AKM (distinguishable by the smaller groove in the receiver above the magwell, a slightly different handguard/heatshield and the slanted muzzle attachment) and it’s by far the most likely “AK” seen in third world conflicts, alongside the Chinese AK47 variant, the “Type

56” (distinguishable by its under-folding integral bayonet).

That true Ak47s are hard to find these days made it even more surprising that Tokyo Marui, one of the first companies to make an airsoft AK, would choose the classic model as their first “Eastern Bloc” AEG and it’s a testament to them that, despite being made mainly of plastic, many of these are still going strong after a decade of skirmishing and seem almost as resilient as the real thing.

The AK is not for everyone though. For many airsofters it’s seen as a crude weapon and a “terrorist’s gun” (for certain the real thing was the ideal weapon for the guerrilla fighter) but for those of us with a love of playing the “opposing forces” it’s a must have in your airsoft armoury.

Tech Specs Service Date: Accepted 1949, first large scale issue 1951 Weight without magazine: 3.47 kg (7.7 lb) Magazine, empty: 0.33 kg (0.73 lb) (steel), 0.25 kg (0.55 lb) (plastic) Length (Fixed wooden stock): 880 mm (35 in) Barrel length (Overall length): 415 mm (16.3 in) Cartridge: 7.62×39mm Action: Gas-operated, rotating bolt Cyclic rate of fire: 600 rds/min Muzzle velocity: 715 m/s (2,350 ft/s) Effective firing range: 350 m (380 yd) Feed system: 30-round detachable box magazine Sights: 100–800 m adjustable iron sights

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international SWEDEN

IN ISSUE 71 BILL THOMAS REPORTED ON THE STATE OF AIRSOFT IN DENMARK AND THIS TIME HE TRAVELS TO THE “OTHER END OF THE ÖRESUNDSBRON” TO FIND OUT HOW THINGS ARE IN SWEDEN, COURTESY OF BJORN FROM KLOCKAR AIRSOFT!

AIRSOFT SVERIGE-STYLE I’M SURE THAT MANY OF YOU out there are a fan of the Scandinavian crime drama “The Bridge”; the Öresundsbron runs nearly 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island Peberholm in the middle of the strait. The crossing is completed by the 4 km (2.5 mile) Drogden Tunnel from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager. The Øresund Bridge is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe and connects two major metropolitan areas; Copenhagen, the Danish capital city and the Swedish city of Malmö.

Having spoken to my old mate Thomas about the airsoft scene in Denmark I thought it would be an idea to see how airsoft is set at the other end of the bridge in Sweden and luckily enough I had the perfect man to answer my questions.

Having seen Bjorn’s quite stunning airsoft photography I asked him if he would consider an interview and to my great delight he readily agreed and here’s what he had to tell me.

AA: Hi Bjorn! Please can you tell me a little about how airsoft has developed in Sweden?

Bjorn: “Hi! Well, a lot of things have happened since I first played airsoft back in late 90’s. At that time a sidearm was rarely seen and if you had one it probably jammed or had some gas leakage.

And TM was some cheap plastic crap nobody really wanted because they broke 72

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down in half, quite literally. Our team back then ran only Classic Army full metal MP5s. Running around in city camo and maybe a vest, all mags were highcaps and chrono testing was not even on the map. Finding pricey and suitable gear was a “PITA” and most of us ran a mix of gear picked together of this and that.

“Now gear supply is unlimited and RIFs come in so many different styles and colours that it’s even hard to choose sometime. You can order things basically from every corner of the world and it’s only your budget and imagination that sets the rules!"

AA: Do you have many established sites in Sweden; could you tell me a little more about them?

Bjorn: “Since Sweden is a country that is pretty long from south to north, I guess there are fields I have barely even heard about that are pretty big locally. I know people travel over 200km sometimes to come and visit us at Tjärnan (our home field). Tjärnan is the ultimate CQB field, around 4500 square meters divided up on 3 floors, with a pitch black basement and an attic. It’s shaped as a T with four separate stairs; it’s surrounded by grass fields and forest and can easily take up to around 50 airsofters.

“About a 1.5 hour trip by car from my home we gave Stråssa, a field at a mine site. It’s an awesome field with a mix of cqb and outdoor rules. It’s also an excellent sniper place and there’s a “post-apocalyptic” feeling over the whole place. Close to Uppsala we have AC paintball which is a super cool outdoor cqb/forest field that gives you a mix of fast-action cqb and a fear for snipers lurking in the outer edge of the field. Only some selected airsoft gamedays are planned per year and up to around 100 players can attend.

“In Stockholm you have Rosersberg, which is a training

international SWEDEN

facility for the fire department, military and police and this is a really cool place. You have also smaller fields like Klacken and Skeppartorp. There are many, many more great fields spread over the country but those I’ve listed here are easily accessed from the Stockholm region if someone were to travel here. Up in the north and down in the south I’m sure there are some really awesome fields and I really hope I can attend some games there during this summer!”

AA: Do sites and players have any legal restrictions that to contend with?

Bjorn: “As long as you are 18 years old and have a gun chrono checked for that certain gameday you should be fine. Many sites use a chart from VSAF as a base of rules which you can see here: http://www.vsaf.se/?p=13” AA: What’s a normal game day like for you?

Bjorn: “I usually go to Tjärnan about 40min by car where I meet up with the rest of the team members of team MIFFO Airsoft Sweden. Everybody prepares together in some of the rooms at the facility, talking about their latest gear upgrades or just catching up.

"Game start is at about 1030 and ends about 1600-1700; the day is divided into 45-60min long games with a short lunch break somewhere in the middle.

“Games are of typical skirmish style; searching for things to get points, VIP games, clock games where you have to find 3-5 chess clocks hidden and activate them to get time (No camping allowed!) and the winner is the one that has most time on most of the clocks. “ AA: What is a popular style of play in Sweden, regular skirmish, MilSim or both?

Bjorn: “I belive skirmish is the most popular style because it doesnt need any bigger preparation. You can easily go and play for some hours and then go home again only needing to load some BBs, charge a battery and remember to bring your goggles.”

AA: Do airsofters in Sweden train either as individuals or teams?

Bjorn: “I think everyone is working on their own at home to some level. I’m not sure about other teams though; our team had one cqb training session this autum with random targets displayed in rooms/clearing rooms etc. Another training is planned now for January or February. It’s a tough task just to get the whole team gathered for training and also now during wintertime here it’s getting dark really fast.”

AA: Your gear pictures are literally amazing! What’s important to you in relation to loadouts?

Bjorn: “Thank you! It’s all in the details. Ha Ha... Well, it depends on if you are doing an impression or if you put a loadout together for a gameday. My game gear has changed so many times I lost count. But now comfort and weight distribution is one of the main things for me, along with accessibility. The battlebelt is a wondeful thing to help you distribute your weight and changed access to pouches etc. We

all walk around with our gear for hours and maybe for days sometimes at bigger games. Then these points are even more important to consider. We have to think about our backs and knees; they will be needed for many more years!

“For impressions or a character then comfort maybe comes second or even third. Then you should go for the details as much as possible, small things as a coloured lightstick or a small patch or a certain pouch or even a belt buckle. It’s all those small things that really makes it.”

AA: What is the situation with airsoft and tactical stores in Sweden; do you have particular favourites?

Bjorn: “There are not that many tactical stores or airsoft stores here in Sweden. And if you need more specific parts you are forced to look elsewhere. But I do have some favourite shops like tacticalstore.se, Rödastjärnan.com and Faltbutiken.se. I also try to support my local airsofter and friend Jimmy at Jmas Airsoft who just recently opened up his webshop jmas.se.”

AA: Are there particular brands and models of airsoft replica that are important in Sweden?

Bjorn: “I think you see a lot of Cyma and WE products out there. And I guess it’s because of the price level. Some G&Gs are out there and also ASG products are seen pretty often.

Amongst the more rare ones are brands like VFC, BO Dynamics ICS and Krytac but again I believe the price tag is key here.”

AA: Do sites have a rental facility if someone were visiting from overseas?

Bjorn: “I think the best way is to try to get in touch with some Swedish players nearby the area you plan to visit. You can both get better information on the sites and maybe have a chance to borrow some guns depending on size of your gathering. I know Frysenairsoft have rental possibilities. See link for prices.

(Swedish): http://arena.frysenairsoft.se/priser/ “Also some small fields have rentals but only if you contact the right person some time ahead.”

AA: If anyone is visiting Sweden and is interested in visiting a site for a game day, where should they head for information?

Bjorn: “Here you have a link to the biggest community asset we have; Airsoftsverige.com. Here you can find the details of the games planned in both the near future and later. https://airsoftsverige.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=16“ AA: Many thanks for speaking to me Bjorn and for giving us an insight into the game in Sweden. It’s been a real pleasure messaging back and forth with you and I’m certain that our conversations will continue in the future.

For those of you interested in Bjorn’s latest project simply look him up on Facebook, www.facebook.com/klockarairsoft www.airsoft-action.online

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warriors OMON “BLACK BERETS”

“ BLACK

” BERETS RUSSIA’S RAPID RESPONSE RIOT FORCE

GARETH “GADGE” HARVEY TAKES A LOOK AT RUSSIA’S OMON, A CONTROVERSIAL “SPECIAL PURPOSE” UNIT WITH A FEARSOME REPUTATION FOR ZERO-TOLERANCE POLICING. Pictures: Tom Hibberd 74

April 2017

ANY VISITOR TO A MODERN DAY Russian city will be unsurprised to see the more militant side of the Russian police, the OMON, in their distinctive blue tiger tripe combat fatigues.

But the OMON are not only ruthlessly efficient experts in crowd control, they are also an anti-terrorist combat force to be reckoned with.

Set up in the latter days of the Soviet Union, the OMON have their roots in the SWAT style teams set up to provide security for the 1980 Olympics in Russia. Later, around 1987, as Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s “openness” policies allowed Soviet citizens more freedom of expression, the “Special Purpose Militia Unit” brutally repressed protests and demonstrations by opponents of the Kremlin – earning them a reputation as “stormtroopers of repression”. This aggressive image is one that the Otryady Militsii Osobennogo Nazanacheniya (now renamed as special purpose mobile/ mobilnye units) or OMON, have done little to disparage today, preferring instead to cultivate a fearsome reputation for zero tolerance to civil disorder and public dissent. While the main duties of the OMON are Police armed response, anti-hijacking and kidnapping (in a similar manner to US ‘SWAT’ teams) and riot control duties, they also possess a potent counter insurgency and anti-terrorism capability.

OMON recruits go through arduous and stringent militaristic training, with an emphasis on physical strength and athletic ability. All recruits must have completed their compulsory military training and most are army veterans with two years’ military life and often some combat experience under their belts (preference in selection is given to recruits from army special forces, airborne and naval infantry backgrounds), while many apply directly from the regular police force. After psychological screening and medical testing, potential OMON recruits spend a further four months studying crowd control drills, unarmed combat, counter terrorism (with an emphasis on urban combat) and marksmanship.

It is perhaps this level of training (and the fact that all OMON are professional “volunteers” as opposed to the regular federal army’s largely conscript soldiers) which caused them to be rushed into the first war in Chechnya to “stop the gap” when regular army assaults had failed against the determined rebels.

warriors OMON “BLACK BERETS”

AGGRESSIVE AND BRUTAL REPUTATION

While OMON forces participated in some of the brutal street fighting operations of both Chechen wars, they were often employed in the “secured” rear areas to prevent guerrilla forces attacking supply lines or re-establishing bases in “safe” zones. Any of these operations were “search and destroy” type operations (or “sweep and clear”, to use less aggressive terminology) called “zachistka” (clean up), where the OMON conducted house to house searches for weapons, military supplies, explosives or known terrorists.

While the Omonovtsy (as members of the unit are known) would consider themselves to be single minded, determined and “mission-focussed”, many others would describe them as “thuggish” and their tendency for brutality during the clean up operations in Chechnya would increase their already fearsome reputation. During both wars each Russian city would send detachments of OMON for four to five month tours of duty in the conflict. In each war OMON units have been accused of undue violence and looting compared to regular army units. This, however, may simply be because of the amount of operations the OMON conducted in civilian areas, compared to Federal Army forces but, given the OMON’s propensity for violence it is highly likely many of the accusations have a foundation in truth. One Omonovtsy from the Kursk detachment recalls having fought in the first war as an army recruit and willingly fighting with the OMON in the second war (despite not receiving promised “combat pay”) - because he felt there was a score to settle and openly admits to taking bribes and looting during operations.

OMON forces have also found themselves embroiled in other hotspots such as the Beslan school siege (many of the “spetsnaz” units reported by western media in news footage were actually OMON rapid response units who were the closest to the scene and not necessarily “special force” in a western sense), the Moscow theatre siege and the conflicts in Dagestan and South Ossetia.

and the like. It is not uncommon, in fact it’s almost “normal”, to see a mismatch of camo patterns within a unit or even on the same soldier when looking at post-soviet MVD and OMON combat forces. Very little insignia is worn on the uniform other than the word “spetsnaz” worn on the right shoulder of the jacket. As we have mentioned in previous editions of Warriors, in Russian the word “spetsnaz” is a contraction spetsialnogo naznacheniya and simply means “special designation” or “special purpose” and is not to be confused or directly translated as “special forces” in a western sense. Here for example our warrior is in a “special purpose” rapid response police unit. During the wars in Chechnya such shoulder tabs were common including an odd fashion among MVD units fashion for phrases in English such as “special unit” and “team special”.

FEARSOME BRAND IDENTITY

Alongside the field uniform of the riot trooper we can see his striped dark blue and white “telnyashka” undershirt (possibly marking him out as former naval infantry) adopted by many OMON forces, alongside the trademark “black beret” and federal cap badge cockade of their arm of service. While in combat most OMON would wear a wool cap, a balaclava (to protect their identity) or a combat helmet. The unit are widely known as the “black berets” and along with the striped shirt and blue fatigues, the beret provides a strong unit “image” which is heavily cultivated by the force. Somewhat unusually, our Omonovtsy wears standard Russian army Kirza high boots

OUR WARRIOR

Our warrior this month represents an Omonovtsy from a Russian city hurriedly deployed to take part in urban operations around Grozny as part of the Russian push on the Chechen capital in the 1994 to 1999 war.

Like many MVD (Russian ministry of the interior) forces, the OMON have considerable latitude to purchase their own kit or have it provided by them by a sponsor business. To this end our Omonovtsy wears a set of traditional blue tiger stripe fatigues in the OMON pattern but in a “BEKAS” paratrooper cut by the private company Splav. This uniform is similar to the 1980s Soviet Special Forces “mabuta” uniform and consists of a short waist combat jacket and well-designed combat trousers with thigh pockets to the front and a bayonet pouch on the rear of the leg.

While the blue tiger stripe pattern proved very effective in urban combat operations (and near invisible at night) its use was more by accident than design. Many OMON and MVD units were sent to the front so quickly that they were unprepared and unissued with more conventional “green” combat fatigues. The blue “noch” (also known as “ten” or “shadow”) fatigues were originally intended to give the riot police a distinctive “brand” while retaining a “military” look.

Contrasting with the blue fatigues is a green tiger stripe pattern (known as “Kamysh”) assault vest, designed for short term operations by Rex Designs, over a black flak vest. Many troops wore this style of assault vest made by a variety of firms like the aforementioned Rex Designs and ANA. Both among the many commercial Russian companies that sprang up after the fall of communism to provide better quality combat gear to professional soldiers and policemen. The vest is both comfy and capacious, able to carry eight AKM or AK74 magazines, a bayonet and four grenades to the front while the rear has six press stud closure pouches for food, radios, field dressing

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warriors OMON “BLACK BERETS”

ideal for close quarter battle in the ruined streets of Grozny; readers will note the rubber tourniquet wrapped around the AKSU’s stock, this is more to provide a comfortable “cheek weld” on the weapon’s cold metal stock, than to be used as an expedient medical kit!

As with all impressions,Airsoft Action urges readers to employ tact and consider context when portraying them.

Despite the blue fatigues and the practical combat vest being phenomenal for night and urban games (despite their garish looks) you may cause offense (given the unit’s history) to some other players and so, like all ‘political’ impressions, it’s probably best left for themed events.

If you are set on portraying a “black beret”, however, you’ll be pleased to know that the kit is easy and cheap to source from a variety of Russian commercial suppliers (while issue kit can be found on ebay).

AIRSOFT ACTION PORTRAY THIS WITH NO POLITICAL BIAS’

rather than the force’s preferred low lace up boots. We have chosen to represent our “warrior” with these boots to reflect the improvised, privately purchased and “make do” nature of the OMON’s rapid deployment to the Chechen warzone.

Personal weaponry is short ranged, simple and effective.

Our Omonovtsy carries the standard army and police issue 9mm automatic of the time, the Makarov PM, in a leather holster on a Soviet era belt to supplement the firepower of his AKSU. During the late 1980s and early 1990s the Russian police forces found themselves frequently outgunned by criminal elements and began to adopt the 5.45mm AKSU (the shortened carbine version of the standard army folding stock AK74) to boost their firepower. Neither the Makarov or the AKSU are ideal anti-terrorist or police weapons as both are inaccurate (for their given classes) compared to other weapons and in the case of the AKSU, the high velocity 5.45mm round is prone to overpenetration and ricocheting after a missed shot – potentially endangering innocent bystanders or hostages. In this case, however, it is ideal. A rugged and reliable personal weapon,

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kit PETZL TACTIKKA +

PETZL TACTIKKA + HEADLAMP PERFECT FOR WEEKENDERS OR JUST LATE-NIGHT WALKS, HEAD-MOUNTED LIGHTS LEAVE YOUR HANDS FREE AND PROVIDE LIGHT WHERE YOU NEED IT. PAUL YELLAND TRIES OUT ONE OF THE LATEST FROM PETZL. TORCHES HAVE COME A LONG way in the past twenty five years. Back in the early 1990’s when I started to spend most of my spare time in the woods and walking on the hills, a 2 x D cell military right-angled torch was considered a good torch to have. The other option was to purchase a Maglite and these were often looked upon as being one of the best torches on the market. However, over the last two decades lighting technology has advanced considerably with the introduction of LED. This has allowed manufacturers to design torches which are now smaller, lighter and brighter than the torches that were available years ago.

The Petzl company have been around for over forty years and specialise in developing mountaineering equipment. As part of their product range, Petzl also make headlamps and these have become a very popular brand to use amongst outdoor

Tactikka + (above) and the rock solid mini maglite (below) 78

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The LED beam from the Petzl Tactikka + (top) and the beam from the mini maglite fitted with standard bulb (bottom) (LED conversion kits are available for the maglite)

kit PETZL TACTIKKA +

The red light is useful for preserving your natural night vision

enthusiasts. I am going to be looking at the Petzl Tactikka + Headlamp and talking through some of its features.

The main reason why I chose to buy the Tactikka + headlamp was because of the tactical red light function. As most airsoft enthusiasts will probably know, using a red light when operating in the darkness will not ruin your natural night vision – unlike white light which does. At first glance the headlamp body appears solid and compact with the battery compartment and light making up one unit – there are no external wires or rear battery packs to contend with. The elastic head strap is adjustable and is fitted with a quick release buckle to the rear.

The angle of the light housing can be adjusted up or down so that the beam shines where you need it.

The Tactikka + uses three AAA batteries. The battery compartment is located just behind the LEDs and is easily accessible by lifting a catch that is just to the rear of the power button. According to Petzl, a new set of batteries will last for about 50 hours when the torch is used on full power (250 lumens). The unit is not waterproof but is classed as weather resistant.

One button operates both the red and white lights and it can be tricky at first to remember the sequence needed to switch on the required light colour. I initially found that I was getting white light when what I really needed was the red option. This led to the other members of my group being dazzled and having their night vision spoilt. Turning on the wrong coloured light is also not something that you would want to happen by mistake in a more tactical setting. The Tactikka + retains the last light colour used, so will default to that colour when the headlamp is next switched on. To switch the torch on requires a quick press and release of the power button. Remember, you will either get a red or white light depending which one you used last. Now that I am more familiar with operating the headlamp, I always turn the light colour back to red before switching the torch off, so that I know it will be a red light that comes on first the next occasion that I use it.

There are two settings for the red light – still and strobe. The red strobe function is activated by quickly pressing and releasing the power button once more after the red light is initially switched on.

To change the colour of the light, it is simply a case of pressing and holding in the power button for a few seconds until the light turns from red to white (or vice versa).

When using the white light, there are three different brightness settings to choose from. The headlamp automatically switches to the lowest power setting (proximity) when white light is first selected. A quick press and release of the power button soon after this will select medium brightness (movement), and one more quick press will give you maximum power (distance vision). If the headlamp The power button also selects the light has been switched on for at least five seconds, a quick press down on the power colour and beam pattern button is all that is needed to switch the torch off, otherwise you will need to cycle through the different brightness settings to reach the off option.

The performance of the Tactikka + is very impressive indeed.

The white beam is clear with depth and easy on the eyes but at the same time being strong enough to bring out the colour and detail of objects. The headlamp weighs 85 grams and takes up very little space in a pouch or pocket. It is comfortable to wear over long periods and the elastic head band stays in place during physical activity. The power button is easy to use when wearing gloves and the actual lamp is on a hinge which allows for the position of the lamp to be adjusted up or down.

Of course, the main benefit of wearing a headlamp is that your hands remain free for carrying out other tasks and the light beam from the headlamp shines wherever you turn your head to look. The distance reached by the beam when used on full power (with new batteries) is up to 70 metres but you can expect some reduction in detail at this range – but for a small headlamp this is still pretty good.

Price-wise, you can expect to pay anywhere between £30 and £40 for a Petzl Tactikka +. The headlamp is available in three colours; black, desert and camouflage and these are widely available.

Once you get used to the light settings the torch is easy to use. A dedicated power switch for the red light or a flip up red filtered lens (as featured on the early Petzl Tactikka models) would give me more reassurance that I am definitely going to get a red filtered light when switching on the torch in circumstances where I need to preserve my night vision.

Overall, The Tactikka + is a very good quality torch that is reliable and well made by a reputable manufacturer. Over the past several years I have used Petzl headlamps in some of the worst weather conditions and whilst dealing with a variety of challenging situations and I can honestly say that not once has Petzl let me down.

The Tactikka + performs well and has a powerful white beam

The Tactikka + is powered by three AAA size batteries www.airsoft-action.online

79

kit MIL-TEC ONE MAN RECON TENT

MILITARY HISTORIAN, WILL FOWLER, HAS SPENT MANY A NIGHT IN THE OPEN AND KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT WHEN IT COMES TO GETTING A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP.

MIL-TEC ONE MAN RECON TENT ITS LATE AFTERNOON AND YOU know you’ve got to find somewhere to settle down for the night. You’ve got your poncho, complete with pegs and bungees or para cord. You have assessed the direction of the prevailing wind and angled the poncho away from it and at a shallow slope to give you maximum cover. Nine times out of ten its fine (OK, let’s be honest, seven times) and you get a reasonable night’s sleep, have a brew in the morning, stow the kit and you are on your way.

But then there’s the night when it rains, the wind changes or you shuffle about and your sleeping bag “migrates” from

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under cover and gets wet. That damp, cold feeling in the middle of a wet, dark night is just gross and you get no sleep as you wonder how you will sort your kit in the morning…

Modern tent design and materials have produced some very effective solutions to this problem and one of them is the MilTec One Man Recon Tent.

It is a compact, coffin-shaped, low silhouette tent that has a separate 190T 1200mm pu polyester, waterproof outer fly-sheet and a 190T 800mm pu polyester inner with a sewnin ground sheet made from waterproof Oxford PVC-coated material that will support a water column of 1500 mm. Put plainly, it should keep the rain out!

It has three fiberglass tent poles; two 8.5mm, one 7.9mm diameter, 13 pegs and four detachable guy ropes The two longer poles form a curved “X” at the apex of the tent while the third supports the fly sheet and creates a porch at the entrance to the tent. The poles have a length of shock cord running through them which ensures that they stay together, however it can be a bit fiddly inserting the poles into the long slots across the roof of the tent. The fly-sheet porch is a useful place for cooking or for stowing any items of kit you do not need inside the tent like muddy boots or a bergen.

The pitched size is 240cm by 135cm by 80cm and tapers down at the foot which gives it its low silhouette but also plenty of space for a sleeping bag and any clothing or kit at the head or foot. You can sit cross legged and hunched in the entrance which is a good size and allows easy access, however, this is no “glamping” chalet tent; as it says on the bag, it is a

kit MIL-TEC ONE MAN RECON TENT

fabric will break up the low silhouette and you can get a strip of green/brown rip-stop fabric 2.4m wide (100 inches) x 1m tall (40 Inches) for £7.99 from Surplus and Outdoors which will effectively cover the tent.

At this point I should flag up the “buyer beware” sign.

You can spend as little as £55.95 on an olive green version of this tent if you buy it from Cadet Direct, however, there are stores and retailers that seem to think that camouflage comes at a premium and prices can go up from £64.95, through £79.95 and up to a stupid £102!

Aside from the price range are there any drawbacks with this little tent? I would say there is only one… condensation!

We all know that breathable “waterproof” fabrics have a way of becoming “shower-proof” over time and usage but while rain may run off really waterproof PU coated fabric, it

“MY TENT DID NOT COME WITH INSTRUCTIONS, HOWEVER, THERE ARE NUMEROUS EXCELLENT SITES ON THE WEB SHOWING HOW TO ASSEMBLE THE TENT.”

recon tent. It packs down to 56cm x 16cm and weighs 2.7kg so for what it offers I feel that it does not add significantly to the load in your bergen.

My tent did not come with instructions, however, there are numerous excellent sites on the Web showing how to assemble the tent.

The pegs with my tent appeared to be made from steel and I replaced these with lighter, more secure angled aluminium ones. I also replaced the guy lines with regular para cord.

The ground sheet is secured by pegs and to be honest I feel the guy lines are useful only if you are camping where there might be the threat of strong winds. Finally, I substituted a British Army Jungle/Warm Weather sleeping bag compression sack for the stuff sack. It seems to be a feature that the bags for poles, pegs or tents are an afterthought and are never made from good quality materials – even if the tent itself is excellent. The sleeping bag compression sack has four straps, two of which have quick-release buckles and with careful folding, the tent fits in neatly and can then be packed down to be stowed inside a Bergen, rather than strapped on the outside. The sack comes in at £7.99 from Surplus and Outdoors.

The Mil-Tec Recon tents are produced in a variety of colour schemes – olive green, coyote, Flektarn, and woodland although, to be honest, in many situations the camouflaged ones look a bit OTT. If you want to conceal your tent a small strip of lightweight camouflage

can hold in condensation and on cold days the inside fabric may seem as wet as the outside.

The fly sheet on the Recon Tent has three vents with velcro openings and securing tabs and it is essential that you ensure that these are open as the inner layer has three large mesh/ mosquito net windows to allow air to circulate but keep the bugs out. If necessary, it may be worth opening the zippered door; the fly sheet porch will prevent any rain getting in and air will circulate more freely and reduce the problem of condensation as the warmth builds up in the night.

I have lain curled up in my sleeping bag as the rain fell on my Recon tent, secure in the knowledge that it would not penetrate and equally as the rain trickled off the sagging green nylon of a poncho wondered how secure my basha was!

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81

Book review REICH RAILS

REICH RAILS ROYAL PRUSSIA, IMPERIAL GERMANY AND THE FIRST WORLD WAR 1825–1918

BY BLAINE TAYLOR

PROFESSIONAL WORLD WAR ONE BATTLEFIELD TOUR GUIDE, MATT LIMB OBE, WRITES ABOUT A BOOK, THE SUBJECT OF WHICH WILL SURPRISE MANY.

AS I EXPLORE AND GUIDE people across the battlefields of World War One in France and Belgium many are surprised at the extensive use of the railway, by both the allies and Germany; but let’s put rail into context a century ago.

Remembering that the Great War of 1914 – 1918 started with the horse and cart and finished with the motor vehicle and the first use of the tank was during the war, then by the end of the war aircraft were a common sight in the sky. But there at the beginning of the war and used throughout were the railway and the train, this included very small light gauge tracks close to the front line, often with small wooden flat trucks simply pushed along by hand or towed by a horse.

It was the invention of the steam engine some 150 years earlier that gave birth to the train and by 1914 it was the principle transport system to move troops and equipment; during the war the Germans introduced a heavy siege gun

of the nineteenth century, as Blaine Taylor follows a line in history from the Prussians to the Germans, from station to station, following the key events leading up to the First World War. Including a passage on the eldest grandchild of our own Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm, the German Emperor and King of Prussia who led the German nation during World War One to his abdication in November 1918 and it is worth remembering that Germany signed the armistice in a railway dining car owned by French Marshall Foch.

So, is this a book about the German rail network during World War One? Not at all; the first third of the book covers the period starting in 1828 with a detailed look at ‘Railroads in Peace and War’ which includes; ‘… German critics conceding that supplies, guns and ammunition might indeed be transported by rail but not troops, asserting wrongly that they would travel faster by marching and that even the best-organised line could not possibly transport 10,000 “IS IT A BOOK ONLY FOR RAILWAY BUFFS AND TRAINSPOTTERS? infantrymen over 60 miles in 24 hours ….’.

How short-sighted they were in a nation NEVER, IN FACT, I THINK ANYTHING BUT, IT IS A BOOK ABOUT that would soon be the hub of a European THE HISTORY OF ONE NATION AND THE CONDUIT IS ITS RAIL; rail network, which, in the Franco-Prussian FOR WE MUST REMEMBER THAT A NATION THAT HAS RAIL HAS A War of the 1870s, found her armies mobilised TIMETABLE AND WITH THAT COMES STRUCTURE AND COHERENCE.” to occupy French territory as armoured trains were deployed in the siege of Paris, followed into combat by armoured engines carrying weighing in at 47 tonnes, moved by and fired from the railway. mechanics equipped to quickly repair and then withdraw In fact, I would say the Germans led the way with the use from the front line and another rail user in this war was one of rail during the war and this is, I believe, because they had of the first deployments of hospital trains. This first third of perfected its use before the war. the book is in fine detail and establishes a backdrop prior to Much has been written (and by many people) on the run the outbreak of World War One, listing facts and figures as up to The Great War and all acknowledge that the use of rail the growth of rail across Germany and further afield, is well was key; but very few have drilled down and found the finer documented. detail of the Prussian and German rail achievements and its Reading this book, it is much more than a military history railway development prior to the war… until now. Author on rail, it follows the pre-war days of well-known generals and Blaine Taylor, an American, has written extensively, including political figures, Hindenburg, Bulow and von Moltke to name books on the life of Adolf Hitler; he is a former Vietnam War just a few; it examines the Berlin-Baghdad line and the Transsoldier having served there in the mid-1960s but it’s his selfSiberian, another section looks at the role of railways in Africa confessed love affair with trains that has generated his latest during the Great War. As the author states; without rails and book; Reich Rails – Royal Prussia, Imperial Germany and The engines and cars that rode on them, modern wars since 1859 First World War 1825 – 1918. would not have been fought and won or lost, at least not in This is as much a book about the men, rails, lines, engines, the way they were. cars and stations and how they first played a critical episode This may be a book that is written in fine detail full of fact in the unification of the modern German nation in the middle but it as much a reference manual as a history book, full of

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Book review REICH RAILS

photographs, images and maps that bring meaning and clarity to the content. Yet it is cleverly divided by the major conflicts that affect the Prussian and the German nation; the period up to the Franco-Prussian War as the rail network grows, then the period to World War One as it is looked on as a future military transportation system and finally 1914 to 1918.

But is it a book only for railway buffs and trainspotters?

Never, in fact, I think anything but, it is a book about the history of one nation and the conduit is its rail; for we must remember that a nation that has rail has a timetable and with that comes structure and coherence. As I said this book is home to a lot of facts, figures and comparisons; but one that caught my eye was the comparison of Germain rail on the eve of World War One, compared to the Franco-Prussian War; ‘In August 1870, nine double-tracked lines served to deploy 350,000 German troops in 15 days, so that makes 2,580 men rode each line, each day; 44 years later, 13 lines brought up 1,500,000 men … in 10 days making 11,530 men per day, per line … The effectiveness of a corps had risen by 50 percent …’

Anyone with a passing interest in the First World War, especially how it started and the early days before the trenches looked out on no man’s land; or anyone with an interest in the rail networks in Europe two centuries ago will enjoy this book, as will the student of logistics and transport, or its history. Additionally, if you have an interest in the development of the German nation in its early days; this book has many small biographies of the men and women who built and rode on its trains and the years in which their use was perfected by the military. For as the author says; trains are not robots and thus they require human masters to run them and this book is their story.

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83

Holsters HOLSTERS - PART 2

HOLSTERS PART 2 FOLLOWING ON FROM LAST MONTH’S ISSUE, ANDY NIGHTINGALE FINISHES HIS ROUND UP OF THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HOLSTER. INSIDE WAISTBAND (ISW)

The ISW is a truly concealed carry holster. Unlike the traditional holster that sits on the outside of the trouser, the ISW is secured to the trouser belt but sits between the trouser and the body.

When correctly fitted the only part of the holster that can be seen should be the clips that secure it to the belt.

ISW holsters are made of both natural materials, such as leather and shark skin, and modern, man-made fabrics such as Kydex and Nylon.

Although quite comfortable to wear the ISW holster may need to be used with a pair of trousers one size larger than your normal fit. The retention on the handgun whilst in the ISW holster comes from the pressure exerted from the trouser belt.

Once the handgun is in the holster the only part of the gun you should see is the grip, the rest of the handgun is hidden inside the trouser.

OUTSIDE WAISTBAND (OSW)

This is the more “traditional” carry holster. The holster sits, usually, on the strong side and is secured by a quality belt, via, either loops or clips secured to the rear or side of the holster.

This method of carry is most suited to open carry, although it can be used for CCW in some circumstances. All materials can be used for OSW carry and almost all retention systems are suited to this type of holster.

CROSS DRAW HOLSTERS

These are usually OSW holsters that are situated on the weak (opposite to the shooting hand) side. Not many shooters favour this type of draw as the muzzle tends to sweep a large area

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when being taken from the holster to target. Mainly used for back up guns (BUG) it’s an ideal place to carry secondary weapon.

KIDNEY

This type of carry is suited for all OSW and ISW holsters. The holster is carried in the 1 and 2 o’clock, or 10 and 11 o’clock position on the belt. Not ideal for larger framed handguns, however, this method of carry is ideal for a secondary / back up gun.

HIP

This type of carry is the most noticed of all the carry methods.

The holster is situated on the hip bone on the strong side.

The position of the hip bone itself lends a stable platform for the holster. However, this is a preference of choice as it is not everyone’s cup of tea. Suited to the OSW holsters it affords quick access and control to the handgun during times of need.

PANCAKE HOLSTERS

So called because they lay flat along the belt and keep the handgun tight into the body. Usually made of leather, the belt passes through two loops either side of the holster. This allows the holster to become close to the body and creates a good retention through friction. These holsters are very popular with open and concealed carry in civilian use.

4 O’CLOCK

The 4 o’clock carry sits the holster just behind the hip bone and is suited to both the ISW and OSW holsters. This is a

Holsters HOLSTERS - PART 2

very comfortable position for the holster to be situated. Used with an open jacket the handgun can be out of sight to others around you and also, in many cases out of reach, from unwanted attention. This natural fit and feel can be a very quick draw and is one of the most popular positions to carry a handgun for protection and defence.

SMALL OF THE BACK

This is not recommended carry due to the fact that there have been many cases of injury whilst using this method of carry whilst on duty. Suited to OSW carry, operators have sustained back injuries when being taken to the ground during hand to hand fighting. If this method is to be used I would recommend only small frame handguns in this position.

POCKET HOLSTERS

These are holsters that have been specifically designed to be inserted into the trouser or jacket pocket. These holsters need to be secured into the pocket with Velcro or by some other secure means to prevent the holster from coming out of the pocket when you draw the handgun. With this holster you are limited to the size of handgun that you can carry. Sub compact guns of 5.5 - 6 inch is the maximum size recommended. This is a true CCW method and adds the extra security that you can have your hand on the handgun ready to draw at a moment’s notice - without anyone knowing that you are in stage 1 of the draw. The golden rule here is not to put other items into the same pocket as the handgun!

DROP LEG HOLSTER

The drop leg holster was designed to free up space and relieve weight off the belt. Located and tethered on the outer thigh, the main anchor point is on the belt. This is via either 1 or 2 anchor points. The drop leg holster, if positioned correctly, will allow the handgun to be in direct line and position with the shooting hand when at rest. This method affords ease of access and speed to the draw. Used in many tactical situations the drop leg holster can be used for all handguns from the smallest revolver to the largest framed handgun with room to add tactical lights, spare magazines, and even cuffs.

CARGO POCKETS

Very similar to pocket holsters only cargo pockets tend to have various pockets or sleeves sewn into them. Personally I’m not a great fan as they tend to be uncomfortable and the handgun

is not very secure. My duty trousers are fitted with such cargo pockets and I only use them to carry rifle magazines. These are very slow to access due to buttons and Velcro fastenings.

ANKLE HOLSTERS

These are nothing else but CCW holsters that are secured to the inside of your calf. The holster itself is a small, usually leather, holster that rests on the ankle with a supporting band that is wrapped around the upper part of the calf muscle. This upper support aids in stability and security during movement.

This method of carry is suited to BUG and carrying small frame handguns. If used to conceal carry your primary weapon then these little gems are worth their weight in gold when it comes to travelling in vehicles.

The ankle holster is ideal when seated in vehicles affording immediate access to the handgun with little fuss. When used to carry a primary weapon the ankle holster needs a lot of practice to gain access when in the standing position, however it’s not impossible.

This is just a fraction of what is available on the market today. There are so many gadgets and gizmos that come with new and exciting designs that it makes the mind boggle. I have one simple rule in life, one that the military taught me “keep it simple”.

The less components a holster has, the less that can go wrong with it and the easier it will be to maintain and fix in the field.

Like all the things that we depend on, especially our lives and the lives of the ones we protect, we must make sure that the holster is the correct type and fit for the handgun, clean at all times and in a serviceable condition. If the holster fails to perform due to neglect then it’s quite possible that you will fail in your attempt to draw the weapon and neutralise the threat.

Holsters, to me, are not an accessory but rather a part of the handgun itself. When on duty or out with loved ones and carrying a handgun, I don’t want to be carrying it in my hand all the time, that would be impossible. The need for a holster is just as important as the need for a handgun itself. But like making the right choice for the handgun, making the right choice for the holster is just as important.

A good handgun in a poor holster becomes a poor handgun in a poor holster and thus poor skills and drill. If you purchase a handgun for protection and defence then I take it you value life. When you next purchase a holster just stop to think about how much you value life, your next purchase might just answer that question for you.

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Book review COLD BLOOD

COLD BLOOD

BY ANDY McNAB

NIGE GETS HIS NOSE STUCK INTO ANDY MCNAB’S LATEST “NICK STONE” ADVENTURE. A FEW WEEKS AGO I went along to a Pilgrim Bandits charity evening, where Andy McNab was the guest speaker. Not only did we get a fascinating insight into the man himself, everyone who attended also received a copy of his new “Nick Stone” book, entitled “Cold Blood” and the 18th in the Nick Stone series.

Just in case you didn’t know (and there cannot be many who don’t), Andy McNab is the best-selling author of Bravo Two Zero - and if you don’t know what “Bravo Two Zero” is/ was, I suggest you take a quick look on Google.

It may, however, surprise you to learn that he has become a prolific writer with over 33 publications to his name, some fictional, some for younger readers and some non-fictional, such as the aforementioned Bravo Two Zero but all written in an undeniably forthright manner by someone who has, most definitely, “been there… done that”.

I first met Andy a few years ago, when I was invited to interview him for Airsoft Action about the launch of his first AEG, the “AM22”, up at Leeds Airsoft (I actually ended up doing a full on-camera interview with him but that is a different story). While there, he gave me a copy of one of his “Nick Stone” novels and to be honest, at the time, I didn’t expect

“OF COURSE, THERE IS LOADS OF ACTION (ACTUALLY, THE ACTION BARELY PAUSES FOR BREATH, LET ALONE STOPS) AND MORE THAN ONE OR TWO DEAD BODIES LEFT LYING AROUND – LET’S FACE IT, IT WOULDN’T BE A NICK STONE NOVEL WITHOUT THEM – BUT THE PACE IS RELENTLESS AND HAD ME TURNING THE PAGES ALMOST AS QUICKLY.” to enjoy reading it as much as I did. I have read a couple of others since and so was determined to get into “Cold Blood” as soon as I could, which I finally did yesterday evening. I picked the book up at about 8pm and didn’t put it down again until just after 1:30am this morning and that, above anything else, probably tells you as much about it as you need to know – but that would make a very short article, so best I give you a bit more info…

One of the reasons I like Mr. McNab’s books is the way they are interspersed with tidbits that could only come from someone who has experienced some of what his character is going through. For example, in Cold Blood Nick Stone finds himself on a trek to the North Pole with a group of exservicemen who had been badly wounded in Afghanistan and he (Nick Stone) refers back to memories of the arctic courses he went through while “in the SAS”, which clearly draw on Andy McNab’s own, real-life experiences.

“Cold Blood” came out of a trek to the South Pole that Andy took part in, following the last 100 nautical miles

Shackleton and his crew would have covered had they not become stuck in the ice and some of the moments he experienced there are mentioned in the book. Actually – and this is probably not an unintentional coincidence – couched in the narrative is some excellent cold-weather survival advice, such as not eating snow to get a drink of water (it burns energy to melt in your mouth, then cools your core temperature, which makes your body burn more energy to warm up again, which makes you thirsty…) and goes on to describe a method of obtaining, using and keeping a supply of fresh water to hand (as well as how you deal with human waste). There are also references to “stuff” that you could not possibly know unless you had seen for yourself. I will only mention one here that I guarantee very few reading this will have heard of: “Cheburashka” – a Russian cartoon character famous for his huge ears and big eyes (and if you want to know how a small, brown-haired animal makes it into a Nick Stone novel, you’ll just have to read the book)!

Needless to say, Nick Stone once again finds himself in a potentially life-threatening situation not of his making and has to find a way through but this time we see a more introspective character as he not only has to look out for the group of exsoldiers but some of the “damage” he carries with him finds its way to the surface. Of course, there is loads of action (actually, the action barely pauses for breath, let alone stops) and more than one or two dead bodies left lying around – let’s face it, it wouldn’t be a Nick Stone novel without them – but the pace is relentless and had me turning the pages almost as quickly. On the cover there is a quote from FHM: “Like the best action films in book form” and I think that sums up Cold Blood perfectly.

If you like action adventures and haven’t yet picked up a Nick Stone novel, I heartily recommend you give one a try – and be prepared for a late night if, like me, you pick it up in the evening!

Andy McNab’s “Cold Blood” is published by Penguin Books/Bantam Press, ISBN: 978-0-593-07380-3 and is available from all good book shops, Amazon and others. It is also available in e-book and audio formats.

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87

Famous Raids COMMANDO RAID ON VAAGSO

OPERATION ARCHERY BILLY BASICS HEADS ACROSS THE NORTH SEA TO WRITE ABOUT A MISSION THAT WAS NOT ONLY STRATEGICALLY IMPORTANT BUT A MUCH-NEEDED BOOST TO BRITAIN’S MORALE – AND A PERFECT AIRSOFT SCENARIO. AFTER THE OCCUPATION OF FRANCE by the armies of Hitler’s Nazi Germany and the humiliating defeat at Dunkirk, Britain badly needed a victory to lift and maintain that all important wartime morale in the face of German successes. It was in this era of uncertainty that the Commandoes were born. What was badly needed was an opportunity to give the Germans a bloody nose, to switch from defence to offence and to give the newly formed Commandoes a significant win to boost their prestige

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at home and make them a feared foe abroad.

Raiding the German positions somewhere that was not expected also had the desired outcome of diverting much needed seasoned fighting troops away from the spear point and tying them up protecting bases nearer home, thereby easing the burden on our troops fighting them.

It was decided that the energetic Commodore, Lord Louis Mountbatten, was the right man to lead the newly formed Combined Operations Force. At a mere 41 years old he was an excellent leader, thoughtful and imaginative who possessed a real flair for combined operations between different branches and services which, as we’ll see, was one of the reasons (or the deficiency of rather) that the Germans got a pasting on this occasion.

In the early stages of the birth of the Commandos many enthusiastic recces were carried out for suitable targets but it proved to be a frustrating business and the unit (who were training hard) badly needed to be let off the leash and see what it was capable of. Training is all very well but the men get bored after a while and want to get stuck in.

Vaasgo, an isthmus in the inhospitable fjords of Norway, was at the time an important German post in occupied Norway just waiting to be taken on by the Commandoes. It provided vital logistic support to three nearby enemy airfields and although well-armed and defended by the Germans with plenty of anti-aircraft guns, they were not anticipating an attack and certainly not on Christmas Eve. And, of course, we Brits always

Famous Raids COMMANDO RAID ON VAAGSO

time our raids to be the most inconvenient times… I am sure the lads were as unchuffed as the Germans to be embarking on their vessels on Christmas Eve. On a bitterly cold Christmas eve of 1941 the flotilla set sail for the Shetlands and were due to turn Eastwards to cross the North Sea towards their quarry. They sailed straight into a being watched, by one lonely sentry who immediately raised Force 8 gale and soon all the Commandoes were chucking up the alarm and was put through to the duty officer. The everywhere and feeling thoroughly sorry for themselves. It was game was surely up but no, the duty officer was in far too decided to return to base and the Task Force did in fact have Christmassy a mood to bother with some upstart sentry, so he their Christmas lunch on dry land, much to their relief. The sent him packing. Undeterred the sentry tried another number force set sail again on the 26th and this time the weather was and this time was put through to someone on the base but much better. from a different service who would have nothing to do with The task force consisted of a light cruiser HMS Kenya that him because the poor blighter hadn’t followed the correct carried the naval and ground commanders, Rear Admiral protocol. He was once again cut off.

Burrough and Brigadier Haydon respectively, four destroyers, a submarine and two Infantry Assault ships that were “STANDING NEAR A BUILDING THAT THEY THOUGHT WAS EMPTY, THE carried by one of the destroyers. All in COLONEL SURVEYED THE SCENE WHEN A GRENADE CAME SAILING OUT all 53 Officers and 525 men. During the winter months it is bitterly cold in OF A DOORWAY. IT PLONKED ITSELF ALMOST BETWEEN HIS FEET AND Norway and there are only a couple of EXPLODED. MIRACULOUSLY HE WAS ALMOST UNSCATHED, ALTHOUGH I hours of twilight during the day, so most BET HIS TINNITUS WAS A PROBLEM IN LATER LIFE.” of the attack would be carried out in the dark with just the moonlight reflecting off the snowy landscape and powerful illumination shells fired by HMS Kenya.

Not to be brushed off so easily the sentry left his post, ran As the ships sailed into the fjord, it must have appeared down to the shore, jumped into a rowing boat, rowed across quite surreal to those on board waiting for the Germans to the fjord (probably like the clappers, swearing as he went) and respond but there was only one small light shining from a dashed up to the HQ building. The first of the Commandoes house on a headland and all appeared to be peaceful. The had by now made it ashore and not wanting to squander their flotilla had now fully entered the fjord and were within sight of good fortune made for the first sentry post and overwhelmed their targets. The captain of the HMS Kenya ordered the raising it without a shot fired, the enemy captives were being hustled of the battle ensign and the various craft broke away from back to the landing craft, just in time for the fireworks to begin. the protection of the main group and headed toward their The flotilla at that moment fired dozens of illum rounds dropping off points. into the dark morning sky to illuminate the shore, from the air Unbeknownst to those aboard the ships they were indeed

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Famous Raids COMMANDO RAID ON VAAGSO

above them British Hampden bombers dropped smoke canisters and bombs just to add to the confusion. Elsewhere twinengined Blenheim and Beaufighters were keeping the Luftwaffe busy beyond the horizon so they wouldn’t endanger the troops.

It was now 09:00 and still dark, more Commandoes poured onto the isthmus as HMS Kenya switched from illum to HE, sending over 450 6 inch shells into the German positions in just 9 minutes to prepare the enemy for the Commando's assault. A signal was sent by ground commander Col Durnford Slater by means of ten flares to signal for an end to the naval bombardment. An eerie calm settled over the fjord and then wafting out of the smoky darkness came the bagpipes, as Major Jack Churchill rowsed his company to great deeds of valour with traditional tunes of glory.

As Durnford Slater’s men had been disembarking one of the RAF Hampden bombers that had been hit by German antiaricraft fire jettisoned one of its fire bombs, which tragically fell on a landing craft killing many of those inside it. This was to account for the majority of the deaths on the mission.

Once ashore the plan in outline was for the force to work its way north along the main road which ran through the town and to take out any war material that they found to completely disable the establishment. The more carnage they could create, the more resources would have to be diverted to this and other bases in the future. But there was a constraint, they had to be very careful of civilian casualties and of course collateral. The Norwegians hated the German occupation but they wouldn’t take kindly to the British Commandoes marauding through the town.

As it turned out there, mercifully, was only one Norwegian civilian casualty as a result of the raid and in an amazing turn when the Commandoes withdrew to the ships to head home, they were joined by 77 Norwegians who returned with them to Britain to enlist and to fight with the British.

But as the Commandoes made their way through the town they began to meet stiff resistance from the Germans who had their backs to the wall. The enemy had nowhere to go and were going to fight to the end, they had little choice. From house to shop and barrack block to factory, the Commandoes

fought the Germans for every square foot, paying a heavy price. They lost 20 men with 57 injured.

There were great deeds done on both sides.

A young Captain Algy Forester was leading the charge against a well-entrenched German machine gun, the attack had stalled and he leapt up and ran at the house with grenade in hand. Cut down by machine gun fire, he fell on the grenade which killed him instantly. Without a second’s hesitation a young Norwegian officer was up and continuing the charge, only to be shot in the door by the same gunner. It seems almost unimaginable to people of our generation, the idea of going into battle without body armour or a Kevlar battle bowler but those were the days back then. Seeing the heroism of their young leaders the Commandoes flew into the building like a gale and neutralised the position before probably having a crafty fag, telling some jokes and then pushing onto the next building.

A warehouse that a young Captain Peter Young came across had a pair of German snipers in the rafters, upon entering they were engaged from above and quickly withdrew.

Captain Young decided instead to just burn the building down and not expose him men to the deadly sniper fire. But just as he was setting the fuses he saw another Officer, Lt O’Flaherty rushing in on the other side of the warehouse. Unable to warn him in time with the din going on, he heard the shots and cries of the wounded men. He ordered his men back in to engage the snipers. They pumped rounds into the roof while Young made two heroic dashes into the warehouse to drag O’Flaherty and his wounded mate out by their webbing straps, where they were carried back the waiting ships to be casevaced home.

No raid would be complete without a jaw dropping bit of luck.

Col Durnford Slater was keeping a keen eye on the momentum and had to ensure that the Commandoes didn’t overreach and go beyond their objectives in their desire to pursue the enemy down to the last man. A chap I used to know who commanded Ghurkas in the Falklands War mentioned to me that the greatest challenge he had in the conflict was holding them back, not urging them on.

It was in this spirit that Col Durnford Slater strode forward after his radio broke to get amongst the men to ensure they achieved the mission and then hastily withdrew before the Germans could effectively mount a counter attack. Standing near a building that they thought was empty, the Colonel surveyed the scene when a grenade came sailing out of a doorway. It plonked itself almost between his feet and exploded. Miraculously he was almost unscathed, although I bet his tinnitus was a problem in later life.

It was by now noon and the weak light was fading. The Colonel decided that enough was enough, he sounded the retreat and the Commandoes, who must been in high spirits, began to pull back. Almost everything on their target list had been destroyed but sadly the RAF had lost several aircraft keeping the Luftwaffe busy over the airfields and HMS Kenya had received a few bruises from the batteries on shore. While the Commandoes had been larking around on shore, the destroyers had pretty much sunk everything that belonged to the Germans.

There was nothing left but for a load of coal in the engine, a toot on the horn to say “Up yours” to the surviving Germans and, quite literally, home in time for tea and medals as they say.

Stay alert out there y’all.

Billy.

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HALO MILL

SITE DIRECTORY

Taking you beyond 350fps!

Tel: 01484 840554

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Email nige@airsoft-action.co.uk to add or change a site listing

ATROOP AIRSOFT

AIRBORNE 101 AIRSOFT CLUB

ALL ARMS AIRSOFT

ARENA AIRSOFT

ABER AIRSOFT – THE BUNKER

AIRSOFT ASYLUM

ALPHA 55

AWA HERTS

Clocaenog Forest, LL16 4SP Tel: 07967 394976 www.atroop.co.uk

Allt-lywd Wood Farm, outside Llanrhystud, nr. Aberystwyth, Wales.

Tel: 07511554740 www.aberairsoft.co.uk

ABSOLUTE AIRSOFT

Maidenhead, SL6 3SS Tel: 07871 314951 www.absolute-airsoft.co.uk

ACE AIRSOFT WAR GAMES

Holbrook Coppice, Buidwas Bank (A4169), Buildwas, Telford, Shropshire, TF8 Tel: 07786 192832 www.aceairsoft.co.uk

ACE AIRSOFT WAR GAMES

Downpatrick, Co. Down, BT30 Tel: 07718 032541 robinsonm24@btinternet.com

North Lanarksire, ML7 5 www.airsoftasylum.webs.com

AIRSOFT COMMANDOS Sutton, near Ferrybridge Tel: 07723 061386 andyace@ntlworld.com

AIRSOFT KGB

Porkellis Moor near Helston, Cornwall, TR13 0 Chef1322@hotmail.com www.kgbairsoft.com

AIRSOFT PLANTATION

Goatsmoore Lane, Billericay, CM4 9RS Tel: 07534 636289 / 07771 556395 www.theofficialairsoftplantation.co.uk theofficialairsoftplantation@gmail.com

Tong Wood, Newport Road Wolverhampton TF11 8PN Tel: 07786 192832 www.aceairsoft.co.uk

AIRSOFT SKIRMISH

ACE COMBAT

AIRSOFT SKIRMISH CQB

Kent, TN12 7DG Tel: 01303 814803 www.acecombat.co.uk

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APRIL 2017

Stoulton, WR7 4QW Tel: 07764 587410 www.airsoftskirmish.co.uk

Studley, B80 7LY Tel: 07764 587410 www.airsoftskirmish.co.uk

Near Trawden, BB8 8SN Tel: 07909 683464 www.allarmsairsoft.co.uk

Halkyn Wood, North Wales CH8 8DF Tel: 0845 257 6937 www.alpha55.co.uk

ALPHA ELITE GAMING

Le Mont de Rozel, Jersey, JE3 5 Tel: 01534 733697 www.aegairsoft.je

AMAZON EVENTS

Hellingly, East Sussex, BN27 4HL Tel: 0844 2570433 www.amazonoutdoorevents.co.uk

AMBUSH ADVENTURES – CHOBHAM Chobham, Surrey, GU24 8SL Tel: 01252 315225 www.ambushadventures.co.uk

Grimsby, DN31 3JD Tel: 07752 404060 www.arenaairsoft.com

Sawbridgeworth, Herts, CM23 4BJ Tel: 07732 184957 www.awaherts.com

BADLANDS AIRSOFT

Rowlands Castle, Hamps PO9 6DP Tel: 07534 465589 www.badlandsairsoft.co.uk

BARNSLEY AIRSOFT

Shafton, Barnsley, S72 8RE Tel: 07779 236166 www.barnsleypaintball.co.uk

BATTLETEC AIRSOFT

La Couture, Guernsey, GY1 2 Tel: 07781 104068 www.battletec.co.uk

AMBUSH ADVENTURES SOUTHAMPTON

BETTER BATTLES

New Forest National Park, SP5 2DW Tel: 01252 315225 www.ambushadventures.co.uk

Ravenshead, Notts, NG15 9DH Tel: 07967 940043 www.better-battles.com

APOCALYPSE AIRSOFT

BLACKDAGGER AIRSOFT

Sittingbourne, Kent, ME9 7QP Tel: 07872 348 576 www.apocalypseairsoft.com

Grasscroft Wood, Barlow Lees Lane, Dronfield, S18 7UR www.blackdagger-airsoft.co.uk

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BLUESTREAK AIRSOFT

Westcott Venture Park, Westcott, Aylesbury, HP18 0XB Tel: 01296 658600 www.bluestreak-airsoft.co.uk

CERBERUS AIRSOFT – THE SANDPIT (DESERT)

Bolton Wood Quarry, Bolton Hall Road Bradford, West Yorkshire BD2 1BQ Tel: 07891 469492 www.cerberusairsoft.co.uk

CONTACT! FIGHT SCHOOL Kelvedon Hatch, Essex, CM14 5 Tel: 01438 368177 www.thefightschool.demon.co.uk

COOL UNDER FIRE BORDERLINE AIRSOFT

51 Green Road, Ballyclare, Co. Antrim Northern Ireland, BT39 9PH Tel: 028 9303 7030 or 07729219341 www.borderlinecombat.com

BRAVO 2-2 AIRSOFT Leisure Lakes, Mere Brow, Southport. PR46JX Tel: 07790 715059 www.bravo22airsoft.com

BRISTOL AIRSOFT Bristol, BS1 2HQ Tel: 07776 288826 www.bristolairsoft.com

CERBERUS AIRSOFT – RIVOCK EDGE Keighley, BD20 0LS Tel: 07891 469492 www.cerberusairsoft.co.uk

CERBERUS AIRSOFT – SHEFFIELD WOODLAND Sheffield, S6 6JE Tel: 07891 469492 www.cerberusairsoft.co.uk

CERBERUS AIRSOFT – THE WORKS (URBAN)

Off Badger Lane, Hipperholme, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX3 8PL Tel: 07891 469492 www.cerberusairsoft.co.uk

BRIT-TAC AIRSOFT Sheffield, S2 5TR Tel: 07795 631331 www.brittacairsoft.com

CHESTERFIELD IMPERIAL AIRSOFT

Brimington, Chesterfield, S43 1DQ www.cia-airsoft.co.uk

Doddington, Kent, ME9 0JS Tel: 07960 532613 www.coolunderfire.co.uk

CORNWALLS ELITE AIRSOFT

Truro, Cornwall, TR2. Tel: 07863 240153 www.cornwallseliteairsoft.co.uk

COTSWOLD AIRSOFT

CLOSE ACTION AIRSOFT Corby, NN17 3BB Tel: 07740 165787 www.close-action.co.uk

BUSH VALLEY AIRSOFT

Runham Woods, Lenham ME17 1NQ Tel: 07786 448608 Email: bushvalairsoft@gmail.com

COMBAT ACTION GAMES

Combat Street, Felthorpe, Norwich, Norfolk, NR10 4DR. Tel: 07748 023832 www.facebook.com/combatactiongames

C3 TACTICAL

Longhope, Gloucestershire, GL17 0PH Tel: 07597 938011 www.c3tactical.co.uk

CERBERUS AIRSOFT – THE OUTPOST (WOODLAND) HPC, York Road, Flaxby, Harrogate, North Yorkshire HG5 0XJ Tel: 07891 469492 www.cerberusairsoft.co.uk

DOG TAG AIRSOFT

Horsham, West Sussex, RH12 4SE TEL 01293 852 314 www.holmbushpaintball.co.uk/airsoft

ELITE ACTION GAMES – WORTHING

Worthing, BN13 Tel: 01784 433023 www.eliteactiongames.com

ELITE BATTLEZONE

CUMBRIA AIRSOFT

EXPERIENCE AIRSOFT

Dumfries, DG12 cumbria.airsoft@virgin.net www.cumbria-airsoft.com

Swindon, Wiltshire, SN5 0AN Tel: 01380 728982 www.experienceairsoft.co.uk

DANGER CLOSE AIRSOFT

FIREFIGHT COMBAT SIMULATIONS

Ellough Lark Raceway, Benacre Road, Ellough, Norfolk . Tel: 07455 906132

Bexley, Greater London, DA5 1NX Tel: 07968 448475 www.elitebattlezone.co.uk

Lewisham, SE13 5SU Tel: 07973 240177 www.firefight.co.uk

DARKWATER AIRSOFT LTD.

Mobile: 07947 558433 www.darkwaterairsoft.co.uk Email: darwaterairsofthythe@gmail.com DARKWATER AFTER DARK C.Q.B, (Battlezone Building), Britannia Lane, Kingsnorth, Ashford, TN23 3NA facebook.com/afterdarkcqb DARKWATER SITE, Dering Wood, Church Lane, Shadoxhurst, Ashford.

TN26 1LZ facebook.com/darkwaterairsoftdarkwater

FIFE WARGAMES

St Andrews, KY10 3XL info@fifewargames.co.uk www.fifewargames.com

FINMERE AIRSOFT Buckingham, MK18 4JT Tel: 07976 184897 www.finmereairsoft.com

COMBAT AIRSOFT

Just off the A11 outside Thetford Norfolk follow signs for Combat Paintball Tel: 07703 045849 www.combatairsoftgames.co.uk

CERBERUS AIRSOFT – THE COMPLEX Horsforth, Leeds LS18 4RP Tel: 07891 469492 www.cerberusairsoft.co.uk

Caerwent Training Area, South Wales, NP26 5XL Tel: 07921 336360 www.dragonvalley.co.uk

Bourton Woods, On the B4479, Blockley Near Bourton-on-the-hill www.cotswoldairsoft.co.uk Tel: 07724629140

BUNKER 51

Charlton, SE7 8NJ Tel: 0870 7549653 www.wolfarmouries.co.uk

DRAGON VALLEY AIRSOFT

COMBAT SOUTH URBAN Portsmouth, PO6 3LS Tel: 02392 655636 www.combatsouth.co.uk

COMBAT SOUTH WOODLAND

Fareham, PO17 5ND Tel: 02392 655636 www.combatsouth.co.uk

DELTA TEAM 3

Skelmersdale, Lancs WN8 8UT Tel: 07986 053076 www.deltateam3.co.uk

FIREBALL SQUADRON Sutton Coldfield, B75 5SA Tel: 07582 684533 www.fireballsquadron.com

DOGS OF WAR

FIRST & ONLY: ANZIO CAMP

DRAGON’S LAIR

FIRST & ONLY: BUNKER WOOD

Houston, Renfrewshire, PA6 7BP Tel: 07853 195290 www.dow-airsoft.co.uk

Brentwood, Essex, CM15 0LA Tel: 07703 530189 www.dragonslairairsoft.co.uk

Leek, ST13 8 Tel: 0161 727 8863 www.firstandonlyairsoft.com

Kidderminster, Worcs, DY11 5SA Tel: 0161 727 8863 www.firstandonlyairsoft.com

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SITE DIRECTORY FIND SOMEWHERE TO BE THIS WEEKEND…

FIRST & ONLY: KHE SANH

WOODS

Otley, West Yorkshire LS21 2NA Tel: 0161 727 8863 www.firstandonlyairsoft.com

FIRST & ONLY: MANCHESTER

WOODLAND

Bolton, BL7 9TS Tel: 0161 727 8863 www.firstandonlyairsoft.com

FIRST & ONLY: THE HIVE

Middleton, Manchester, M24 1AZ Tel: 0161 727 8863

FIRST & ONLY: THE ARMOURY

GASS AIRSOFT – PENN Penn Bottom, Bucks, HP10 Tel: 07907 788970 www.gassairsoft.co.uk

GASS AIRSOFT – PIDDINGTON Piddington, Oxfordshire, OX25 1 Tel: 07907 788970 www.gassairsoft.co.uk

Leicester, LE9 9FP www.gingerliberationfront.com

GREENZONE COMBAT Co. Armagh, BT60 1NE Tel: 07772 919974 www.greenzonecombat.com

FIRST & ONLY: THE ACADEMY

GUN HO AIRSOFT

FIRST & ONLY: THE ASYLUM Kidderminster, DY10 3PT Tel: 0161 727 8863

FIRST & ONLY: THE OUTPOST Kidderminster, DY11 5SA Tel: 0161 727 8863

FIRST & ONLY: SLEEPY HOLLOW Bridgnorth, Shropshire, WV16 5LS Tel: 0161 727 8863

Guisborough, TS7 0PG Tel: 07525 435696 www.gunhoairsoft.co.uk

GUNMAN AIRSOFT – CAMBRIDGE

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 Tel: 07854 277264 www.gunmanairsoft.co.uk

GUNMAN AIRSOFT – MIDLANDS

RAF Honiley/The Grange Frogmore Grange, Frog Lane, Balsall Common, West Mids CV7 7FP Tel: 01676 532 384 info@suspensionofdisbelief.co.uk www.shop. suspensionofdisbelief.co.uk

GROUND ZERO WOODLAND Ringwood, Hampshire, BH24 2DF www.groundzerowoodland.com

FREE FIRE ZONE

Farcet, Peterborough, PE7 3DH Tel: 01733 247171 www.freefirezone.co.uk

GUNMAN AIRSOFT– NORWICH Norwich, Norfolk, NR10 Tel: 07854 277264 www.gunmanairsoft.co.uk

HILTON PARK AIRSOFT Wolverhampton, WV10 7HU Tel: 08000 354490 www.paintballuk.com

Near Shorwell, Isle of Wight, PO30 Tel: 07964 751047 www.islandrecon.co.uk

LAND WARRIOR AIRSOFT Gorebridge, Midlothian, EH23 4LG Tel: 0131 654 2452 www.airsoftedinburgh.co.uk

LAC SITE 1

Gainsborough, North Lincs, DN21 4JH Tel: 07775 877057 www.lincolnshireairsoftclub.co.uk

LAC SITE 2

Gainsborough, North Lincs, DN21 4JH Tel: 07775 877057 www.lincolnshireairsoftclub.co.uk

LAC SITE 3

Saxillby, LN1 2JW Tel: 07775 877057 www.lincolnshireairsoftclub.co.uk

LAC SITE 5

HOMELAND TACTICAL AIRSOFT Spanby, Lincs, NG34 0AT Tel: 07971 560249 facebook.com/HomelandTacticalAirsoft

North Lincolnshire, DN21 www.humberairsoft.co.uk Tel: 07792 680297

Abbey Cwm-hir, Midwales, LD1 6PG Tel: 07497 480243 www.facebook.com/Midwales-airsoft

MILITARY OUTDOOR ADVENTURES

Wrightington, WN6 9PL Tel: 01942 514724 www.militaryoutdooradventure.co.uk

MILSIM UK

Checkley, Staffordshire, ST10 4NS Tel: 07523 916607 www.milsimuk.co.uk

NCIS AIRSOFT

Edinburgh, EH14 4 nick@ncis-airsoft.co.uk www.ncis-airsoft.co.uk

NOMAD AIRSOFT

Fenwick, Ayrshire, KA3 6AY Tel: 07904 998250 www.nomadairsoft.com

NORTHERN ALLIANCE AIRSOFT

Thirsk, North Yorkshire, YO7 3LQ Tel: 01845 565465 www.northernallianceairsoft.co.uk

NORTHFLEET CQB

Northfleet, Kent, DA11 9AA Tel: 07968 448475 www.elitebattlezone.co.uk

LINDSEY AIRSOFT

NSC AIRSOFT

Manby, Lincolnshire, LN11 8HE Tel: 07955 487983 www.lindsey-airsoft.co.uk

Matlock, Derbyshire, DE4 5FW Tel: 07974 507166 www.matlockcombatgames.com

Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, LE14 Tel: 07793 404346 1midaw@gmail.com

MIA HUMBER AIRSOFT

MIDWALES AIRSOFT

Kirton Rd, North Lincs, DN16 www.lincolnshireairsoftclub.co.uk

MAW

FULL METAL AIRSOFT

Cilyrychen Quarry, Llandybie, Ammanford, Camarthenshire, SA18 3JG Tel: 01269 850404 www.fullmetalairsoft.co.uk

ISLAND RECON AIRSOFT COMBAT

MATLOCK COMBAT GAMES

FRV AIRSOFT

Annacloy, Downpatrick, BT30 8JJ Tel: 07730 586926 www.frvairsoft.com

Wilden Park Road, Staplehurst, Kent TN12 0HP Tel: 01622 831788 / 07876 263290 www.invictabattlefield.co.uk

GRANGE FARM AIRSOFT

Wrexham, Denbighshire, LL13 9RG Tel: 0161 727 8863

Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV32 6QF Tel: 0161 727 8863

INVICTA BATTLEFIELD

Cornwall, EX23 9JL Tel: 01288 331748 www.airsoftsouthwest.co.uk

Hetton, Sunderland, DH5 0 Tel: 07983 333521 www.nscairsoft.co.uk

NTAC

Durham, DL4 2ER Tel: 01642 281220 www.ntac.co.uk

OBAN AIRSOFT – ILL ARGYLL Argyll and Bute, PA37 1 Tel: 07967 710185 www.argyllsurplus.com

OP-TACTICAL UK – TEAN-OPS Tean, Staffordshire, ST10 4JT Tel: 07964 990831 www.op-tac.co.uk

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SITE DIRECTORY FIND SOMEWHERE TO BE THIS WEEKEND…

OVER THE TOP AIRSOFT CLUB

RIFT AIRSOFT (COTTENHAM)

PATHFINDER GROUP AIRSOFT MILITARY SIMULATION

SECTION 8 AIRSOFT

Anglesey, LL71 www.ottairsoft.co.uk Tel: 07731 744471

Former RAF Camp Sopley/Merryfield Park, Hants, BH23 Tel: 02380 899369

PHOENIX AIRSOFT

Welbeck Airsoft, Academy, Budby Road, Notts NG20 9JX Tel: 07956 587213/01623 812483 www.phoenix-airsoft.co.uk

PLATOON 1HQ

Rochester, Kent, ME1 1 HQ Tel: 01634 829063 www.ptt-1hq.co.uk

PLAYERS OF WAR

High Bonnybridge, FK1 3AD Tel: 07767 203979 www.playersofwar.co.uk

PREDATOR COMBAT GAMES Ballynahinch, BT24 8NF Tel: 02897565651 / 07825169631 www.predatorcombat.com

RAVEN’S NEST

Suffolk, IP8 4 Tel: 01473 831563 www.ravensairsoft.co.uk

RAW WAR AIRSOFT CUMBRIA Wigton, Cumbria CA7 3SZ Tel: 01900 85645 www.airsoftcumbria.co.uk

RED1AIRSOFT

Chislehurst, Bromley BR7 6SD Tel: 07956 522691/01727846069 www.red1airsoft.co.uk

RED1AIRSOFT CQB

Red1 CQB. Kings Langley, WD4 8RN Tel: 07956 522691/01727846069 www.red1airsoft.co.uk

RIFT AIRSOFT COM’S SITE 3 Chipping Warden, OX17 1LZ Tel: 07751 586781 www.riftairsoft.com

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APRIL 2017

Cambridge, CB24 8RL Tel: 07751 586781 www.riftairsoft.com

Shotts, North Lanarkshire, ML7 5AB Tel: 07974 026517 www.s8airsoft.com

SG1 COMBAT GAMES Co. Londonderry, BT45 8NA Tel: 07713 273102 www.sg1combatgames.co.uk

SKIRMISH AIRSOFT BILLERICAY

Billericay, Essex, CM11 2TX Tel: 01277 657777 www.airsoft-billericay.co.uk

SKIRMISH EXETER Exeter, Devon, EX4 5 Tel: 01548 580025 www.airsoftexeter.co.uk

SOUTHDOWN AIRSOFT

Petworth, West Sussex, GU28 0LR Tel: 07766 770830 www.southdownairsoft.com

SPEC OPS AIRSOFT – BLOXWORTH

Wareham, Dorset, BH20 7EU Tel: 07984 656947 www.specopsairsoft.co.uk

SPEC OPS AIRSOFT– THE ROCK Portland, Dorset, DT5 2EG Tel: 07984 656947 www.specopsairsoft.co.uk

STIRLING AIRSOFT

S.W.A.T. AIRSOFT

THUNDER PARK AIRSOFT

TA EVENTS

TORRENT WARFARE

TACTICAL WALES AIRSOFT

TROJAN AIRSOFT

TACTICAL WARFARE AIRSOFT

TROJAN AIRSOFT – OLYMPUS CQB

Boathouse lane, South Wirral, Cheshire, CH64 3TB www.swatairsoft.eu Tel: 07703 177756

Hemel Hemstead, Herts, HP2 7QB Tel: 07894 059794 www.ta-events.co.uk

Reynoldston, Swansea SA3 1AS Tel: 01792 473336 www.tacticalwales.co.uk

Warlingham, Surrey, CR6 9PL Tel: 020 8665 1299 www.tacticalwarfare.co.uk

Co Tyrone, BT71 4DY Tel: 07922 377131 Facebook: search ‘Torrent Warfare’

Macclesfield, SK10 4SZ Tel: 07428 024874 www.trojan-airsoft.com

Weir Mill, Viaduct Street, Chestergate, Stockport, Cheshire, SK5 7JP Tel: 07428 024874 www.trojan-airsoft.com

TECH BRIGADE

Newgate Street, Hertfordshire.

SG13 8NH Tel: 07841 713356 www.techbrigade.org

UCAP AIRSOFT

Portsmouth, Hants, PO17 6AR Tel: 07590 818881 www.ucap.co.uk

TASK FORCE SKIRMISH Cowbridge, S Glamorgan, CF71 Tel: 02920 593900 www.taskforcepaintball.co.uk

UCAP GREEN OPS

Linch, West Sussex, GU30 7 Tel: 07590 818881 www.ucap.co.uk

THE BUNKER

Aberystwyth www.aberairsoft.co.uk Tel: 07841 462806

THE DEPOT

Glasgow, G45 9SB Tel: 0161 727 8863 www.thedepotglasgow.com

UCAP SANDPIT

Bean, Kent, DA2 8 Tel: 07590 818881 www.ucap.co.uk

ULTIMATE WARGAMES – FAWKHAM Fawkham, Kent, DA3 8NY Tel: 01268 796130 www.ultimatewargames.co.uk

THE DESERTERS AIRSOFT

Coventry, CV3 6NX Tel: 07831 429407 www.stirlingairsoft.com

Redford, DD11 Tel: 07751 878175 www.thedeserters.co.uk

STORMFORCE AIRSOFT

THE EX SITE

Rugeley, Staffordshire, WS15 4LD Tel: 07515 937633 www.stormforcepaintball.co.uk

Mold, CH7 4 Tel:07840 001975 www.theexsitewales.co.uk

SUSSEX AIRSOFT

THE WARGAMES CENTRE

Slinfold, RH12 Tel: 020 8150 9284 www.sussexairsoft.co.uk

Luxulyan, Bodmin, Cornwall, PL305FA Tel: 07751808055 www.thunderparkpaintball.co.uk Food & drinks available on site.

Lundholm Road, Stevenston, Ayrshire, KA20 3LN www.thewargamescentre.com wargamescentre@gmail.com

ULTIMATE WARGAMES – LIMPSFIELD Oxted, Surrey, RH8 0RH www.ultimatewargames.co.uk

URBAN6AIRSOFT – ZONE 13 Stone, Staffordshire ST15 0QN Tel: 07432 291729 www.urban6airsoft.com

URBAN6AIRSOFT– THE BLOCK Wood Street, Burton-Upon-Trent, Staffordshire, DE14 3AB www.urban6airsoft.com

SITE DIRECTORY

Email nige@airsoft-action.co.uk to add or change a site listing

FIND SOMEWHERE TO BE THIS WEEKEND…

URBAN ASSAULT

Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, PE26 1 Tel: 01733 247171 www.urbanassault.org.uk

VIKING AIRSOFT

Welwyn, Hertfordshire, AL6 0UN www.vikingairsoft.co.uk

WARMINSTER AIRSOFT Warminster, BA12 7RZ www.warminsterairsoft.co.uk

XSITE AIRSOFT OUTPOST Dunstable, LU6 2EE Tel: 01494 881430 www.xsiteairsoft.co.uk

PRACTICAL PISTOL DIRECTORY AIPSC

The Grange, Frog Lane, Balsall Common, West Midlands, CV7 7FP Tel: 01676 532384 www.aipsc.co.uk Facebook: A.I.P.S.C info@suspensionofdisbelief.co.uk.

Every Monday night 7pm– 9pm (except bank holidays). £5 or £10 with pistol and shooting rig hire. UKPSA-qualified coaches. UKPSA-qualified Range Officers.

COBRA ONE ZERO AIRSOFT Unit 9 Imperial Buisness Centre Mortimer Road, Hereford, HR4 9SP www.cobraonezero.co.uk Facebook: cobra one zero Airsoft

WATFORD PRACTICAL PISTOL CLUB WatfordPPC@gmail.com

DOUBLE TAP PSC XSITE AIRSOFT – LANE END High Wycombe, HP14 3NP Tel: 01494 881430

StrikeForce CQB, Morelands Trading Estate, Bristol Road, Gloucester GL1 5RZ Facebook: www.facebook.com/ Double-Tap-Practical-Shooting-Club979585958732937/?ref=hl doubletappsc@gmail.com

EBSC

MOD-approved gun club PP, IDPA, IPAS, IPSC, 3GUN UKPSA Coaches UKPSA-qualified Range Officers Equipment hire available www.ebsc.co.uk ebpracticalpistol@gmail.com 07752 713 970

HALO MILL

The Penthouse, Colne Valley Business Park, Manchester Road, Linthwaite, Huddersfield HD7 5QG Tel: 01484 840554 www.halomill.com

NORTHERN PRACTICAL PISTOL CLUB (NPPC)

Tanner Street, Burnley, Lancashire BB11 1NA Tel: 07816 992417 www.northernpracticalpistol.co.uk 4 indoor ranges

XSITE PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Fryers Farm Lane, High Wycombe, Bucks HP14 3NP Tel: 01494 881430

SOUTH WEST PRACTICAL SHOOTERS (SWPS)

Action Air IPSC Club Based at The Tunnel Target Sports Centre near Charmouth The Tunnel, Axminster Road, Charmouth, Dorset DT6 6BY Contact: SWPSClub@Outlook.com

WETHERSFIELD AIRSOFT TARGET SHOOTING CLUB (WAT SIC)

Wethersfield Village Hall, Braintree Rd (B1053), Wethersfield, Braintree CM7 4EB. https://www.facebook.com/WATSiC/ Open Thursday & Friday evenings.

Set-up from 6:30pm.

Club shooting commences by 7:30pm.

Pack-up starts at 9:30pm if you can stay to help.

Contact via FB or 07939557029.

Indoors.

Club offers Action Air plus 2 & 3 Gun training and events.

www.airsoft-action.online

97

DEALER LISTINGS

ADVERTISERS INDEX Land Warrior Airsoft RedWolf Airsoft Airsoft Zone JD Airsoft

2014

3 7 + Inside Back Cover 9 + 66 + 94

NUPROL

15

ActionSportGames

19

iWholesales

23 + 56

Fire Support

28 + 29

Viper Tactical

32 + 62

ASPUK

38

Helikon-Tex

46

Crawley Surplus Store

49

TacTree

52

BadgerTac

70

Northern Shooting Show

71

Pro Airsoft Supplies

76

Airsoft Action Stockists

86

Airsoft Action Digital Editions

90

Dragon Valley Airsoft

97

Military Outdoor

97

NoVAT Airsoft

97

Military 1st

106

Inside Front Cover

Outside Back Cover