Airsoft Action - November 2017

P L AY E R S ’

C H O I C E

B E S T

A I R S O F T

M A G A Z I N E

AIRSOFT ACTION

ARMOURY

CYMA TACTICAL AK UMAREX MP40 GBB TOKYO MARUI SGR 12 KING ARMS IRON SHRIKE

EVENTS

PROPPER TACTICAL GEAR

NOV 2017

AIRSOFT TECH

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INSIDE AIRSOFT

SITE RE-VISIT DRAGONS LAIR

COMBAT-UK

WARRIORS

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REAL STEEL

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GIVE IT TO A GEEK

9 772047 348032

LOADED OR UNLOADED

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PROUDLY SUPPORTING PILGRIM BANDITS

NOV 2017 - £4.50

>

PAINTFEST 2017 SNIPERLAND 2017 INVICTA BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL DARKWATER SPARTAN WARRIOR

EZ Distribution is now working in an exclusive partnership with Umarex to distribute Airsoft products to businesses within the UK. Umarex manufacture the highest quality officially licensed Airsoft products available anywhere in the world.

EZ Distribution – Creating a business account with us is quick & easy.

Receive 10% off your first order, and free UK delivery on all orders over £500.

Visit ezdistribution.co.uk for further details.

– +44 0 131 654 2452 info@ezdistribution.co.uk

– 44/1 Hardengreen Business Park Dalkeith EH22 3NX United Kingdom

P L AY E R S ’

C H O I C E

B E S T

A I R S O F T

16

M A G A Z I N E

AIRSOFT ACTION

ARMOURY

CYMA TACTICAL AK UMAREX MP40 GBB TOKYO MARUI SGR 12 KING ARMS IRON SHRIKE

EVENTS

NOV 2017

AIRSOFT TECH

|

INSIDE AIRSOFT

SITE RE-VISIT DRAGONS LAIR

COMBAT-UK

WARRIORS

|

REAL STEEL

|

GIVE IT TO A GEEK

9 772047 348032

PROPPER TACTICAL GEAR

11

PROUDLY SUPPORTING PILGRIM BANDITS LOADED OR UNLOADED

NOV 2017 - £4.50

>

PAINTFEST 2017 SNIPERLAND 2017 INVICTA BATTLEFIELD NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL DARKWATER SPARTAN WARRIOR

ARMOURY: TM SGR 12

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ARMOURY: KING ARMS IRON SHRIKE

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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: Courtesy of Helikon-Tex

EVENT: NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL

UK 13-issue subscription rate: £46.50 UK 6-issue subscription rate: £24.00 For overseas prices email: subs@airsoft-action.co.uk

Wyche Innovation Centre, Walwyn Road, Upper Colwall, Malvern, Worcestershire, WR13 6PL Tel: 01684 878 003 Web: www.airsoft-action.online ©Calibre Publishing Limited 2017 Distribution: Distributed to the newstrade by Comag Magazine Marketing, West Drayton, Middlesex, UB7 7QE T: 01895 433 800 Copyright © Calibre Publishing Limited 2017. All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the express permission of the publisher in writing. The opinion of the writers do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. The editor reserves the right to edit submissions prior to print.

FIND US ON… facebook.com/AirsoftAction

EVENT: FRANCE SNIPERLAND 2017

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54 SITE: DRAGON’S LAIR

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80

GITAG: 19TH CENTURY AIRSOFT

IT’S A CLASSIC: M1 HELMET

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Contents NOVEMBER 2017

CONTENTS NOVEMBER 2017 6

NEWS

10 ROGUE’S GALLERY Cool photos of Airsoft Action readers.

12 ARMOURY: TM SGR 12 You’ll need muscles and a fair bit of will power if you want to tote this beast round an airsoft site for a day, as Scott Allan found out.

16 ARMOURY: KING ARMS IRON SHRIKE Pistol-nut, Lez Lee, gets his hands on this oddly-named 1911 from an unexpected source.

20 ARMOURY: UMAREX MP40 GBB Scott Allan gets behind an iconic weapon that is instantly recognisable to anyone with even just a passing interest in WW2 airsoft, or re-enactment based on that period.

24 EVENT: NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL Airsoft Action contributors Kelly and George report from the biggest annual Airsoft weekender in the UK! 30 EVENT: SPARTAN WARRIOR CHARITY GAME Bill Thomas recently attended a Darkwater Airsoft event that was all about supporting those who support our troops.

34 EVENT: FRANCE SNIPERLAND 2017 Diane Montagnier reports from an event in France that challenged even the most experienced of airsoft snipers.

38 INSIDE AIRSOFT: COMBAT-UK During a recent event at R.I.F.T. Airsoft, Lez Lee met the guys at Combat-UK and decided to find out more about them.

42 EVENT: PAINTFEST 2017 Going above and beyond the call of duty, Kelly “Femme Fatale” Hardwick heads off to a paintball event where airsoft would also be played for the first time.

46 AIRSOFT SKILLS: USE OF COVER Effective use of cover can be the difference between success and defeat on the skirmish field but cover is also one of the most ill-used and misunderstood aspects of the game, as Gadge explains…

66 ARMOURY: CYMA TACTICAL AK we like to cater for players whatever their budget may be and Jerry Noone takes a look at a model that although competitively priced, has some “WOW!” to it; the CYMA Tactical AK.

50 LUL: PROPPER TACTICAL Tactical clothing and gear brands appear to go in and out of vogue but there’s one brand that’s been with us for 50 years: Propper from the USA. Jerry Noone takes a look at the brand.

70 WARRIORS: AIRBORNE RECON Continuing his look at warriors of the past, Gareth “Gadge” Harvey turns to a war that saw the Red Army defeated and the Russians turning to elite units to prevent a military disaster.

54 SITE: DRAGON’S LAIR Georaga flies over to Dragon’s Lair Airsoft and burns through the competition. It’s a Game... but does he and he his team take the Throne? Or is it about more than that? Find out in this month’s site review!

58 EVENT: INVICTA BATTLEFIELD Airsoft has changed massively over the years; Sundays were for skirmishing, with the odd weekend put aside for MilSim. However, the last few years has seen the rise of a third type of event... Airsoft Socials!

Airsoft Nation’s Graham Hoffman reports…

60 REVIEW: DR. MARTENS SKELTON BOOTS Jerry Noone gets his feet into a pair of boots from a manufacturer with a long history that, over the years, has made a huge impact on the market.

62 AIRSOFT TECH: TOOLING UP If you are thinking of becoming an airsoft technician, or even just working on your own guns, a decent set of tools is a must, as Frenchie explains…

74 GITAG: 19TH CENTURY AIRSOFT As we have reported before, airsoft isn’t always about the recent past and sometimes going even further back can bring some surprising results, as Jerry Noone found out.

78 SURVIVAL: STAYING DRY Airsoft Action’s resident survival expert, Paul Yelland, gives us a host of useful tips on how to defeat that most persistent of airsoft enemies… rain!

80 IT’S A CLASSIC: M1 HELMET From WWII to the Beaches of Scarriff, the helmet choice of the Free World has been the ubiquitous M1. Gadge takes up the story…

82 REAL STEEL: P90 Love it or loathe it, the P90 for a long time was a common site on the airsoft field - particularly among players of a smaller stature or those wanting a “back up” a little bigger than a pistol.

84 AIRSOFT ACTION STOCKISTS Where to buy your copy of The Players’ Choice Best Airsoft Magazine before it goes on sale in newsagents.

86 SITE DIRECTORY & PRACTICAL PISTOL CLUBS Looking for a skirmish site, or your local Airsoft Practical Pistol Club?

Then we may have the answer, with pages of sites and clubs throughout the UK.

s w e N t f o s Air

ACTIONSPORTGAMES SIGNS TWO NEW PARTNERSHIPS ®

In spite of summer – and holiday season, ActionSportGames® (ASG) has been working hard and signed two new exclusive licences.

ONE OF THE NEW LICENCES is with the worldrenowned Bulgarian manufacturer Arsenal JSC. Arsenal JSC is a modern innovative company that designs, manufactures and trades small arms, artillery armaments and ammunition.

Arsenal JSC can date its roots back to 1878, when the company was founded in Bulgaria as the first factory meant to serve the newly created Bulgarian army.

The second licence signed is with US-based Vltor Weapons Systems and Abrams Airborne Manufacturing Inc. Vltor is committed to continually growing their product line in order to provide end-users with the most robust, well performing weapons in the market and take pride in their high quality innovative solutions delivered to the weapons industry.

Over the years, ASG has had a continued focus on expanding relations and building partnerships with international firearms and accessories manufacturers and producers – opening up new possibilities and exposing the company as a

professional partner through close collaboration on projects within their field. ASG is proud of each new licence signed and partner added – proving that the efforts pay off, and that ASG is indeed perceived as the claimed professional business partner.

With these two new licences, ASG strengthens its portfolio of international licence partners, consolidating ActionSportGames® as one of the world’s leading brands within the business of replica firearms and accessories manufacturing – including Airsoft guns, Airguns and C02 guns.

For more information contact: ActionSportGames AIS Bjergvangen 1 DK-3060 Espergaerde Denmark Tel.: +45 89 2818 88 www.actionsportgames.com

AND THE WINNER IS...

YOU KNOW HOW MUCH we just love giving stuff away and nothing makes us happier than when we call someone to let them know they have won one of our fabulous competitions. …and so it was when we phoned Michael Madell to tell him that he had won the superb SECUTOR RUDIS pistol that Angelo DeVito reviewed recently.

In his review, Angelo said: “Would I own one? Yes I would! It’s a real heavyweight

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November 2017

of the pistol market which adds so much to the realism. It’s loud, it’s accurate and has great range but most of all, it looks absolutely terrific. What more could you ask for?”

Michael was delighted at the news he’d won and told us: “Although I have been involved with shooting since I was 11 years old, I’ve only been playing airsoft for eight months, after I was introduced to it by a group of friends.

“I have always read Airsoft Action and can’t wait for each game to come around.

With the thousands of Airsoft Action readers out there, I am surprised and pleased to have won and can’t wait to use the pistol next time I play. I thoroughly enjoy playing and this will make it even better!”

COVER PHOTO CREDIT We like to give credit where it is due and it was certainly due to the photographer who took the image on the cover of the last issue... only we forgot!

So I would like to correct that now and say thank you to none other than Scott Allan, of Landwarrior Airsoft, who proved that he’s as good with a camera as he is with a RIF ...almost!

Thank you Scott and sorry for missing the credit last time out.

Airsoft News

“VINCENT BLACK MI6” VINCENT BLACK MI6 is a fictional crime thriller based in the United Kingdom. This ‘Pulp Fiction Style’ pocket book is broken down into ten explosive chapters, totalling 238 pages.

Each chapter portrays a different event in time, for instance; the reader will see through the eyes of veteran agent Vincent Black, searching for the world’s most wanted terrorist, and then in the next chapter, the reader will pilot a C130 Hercules into battle. Only in the concluding chapter, will this unique jigsaw finally piece itself together.

ISBN: 978-0-244-32705-7 Amazon Paperback Price: £9.99

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Jamie Fineran is a unique and charismatic character that thrives on creativity. Born on the Isle of Wight on Christmas Eve 1977, Jamie went on to do some extraordinary things with his life. At just sixteen years of age, he signed up for military service with the British army and joined the 2nd Battalion, Princess of Wales’s Royal Regiment as a Combat Infantryman. He served a total of six years and ninety-two days as a regular soldier, and by the age of just twenty-one, he had already served two operational tours of duty in Northern Ireland during the Troubles, totalling a massive 890 days in country. For this he was awarded the General Service Medal. He also served with the British army in Botswana, Africa.

He spent a total of seven weeks working alongside the Botswana Defence Force (BDF) teaching them basic weapon drills, including the 81mm Mortar. His Colonel and Chief was the glamorous Princess Diana.

When she passed away, his regiment

provided the burial party at her family home in Althorpe, England. On leaving the British army Jamie found civilian life a little difficult. He moved off the Isle of Wight and up to Redditch in the Midlands, the birthplace of his mother.

It was meant to be a fresh start, but it didn’t turn out the way he hoped for. He struggled to settle, completely lost in his own bubble. He went from job to job, mainly working in small factories packing fish in plastic containers on a production line. Making ends meet was difficult and it didn’t take long before the bills started piling up. In fact, he stored them in a black bag under the stairs. He soon found himself in court, thankfully bailed out by SSAFA – a military support network. Only when he found himself in front of the judge for the second time did life become severely uncomfortable, resulting in bailiffs taking action against him. Jamie would spend hours – each day, hiding behind his torn sofa, fearing for his life, adamant that they were his new enemy. Jamie got to the point where he only had one egg and half a tin of baked beans left to survive on. With no money to buy electric, and too afraid to leave the house in the day, he only felt safe going out at night, He gathered sticks from a nearby wood so that he could make a small fire to cook his food upon, and

Chapter Excerpt (BBC Breaking News) ‘It has just been reported that thousands of British commuters travelling to work this morning have been caught up in a colossal explosion.

Initial reports suggest that the bomb is linked to Islamic State. However, this is still to be confirmed. The department for transport has confirmed that the initial explosion was at the Embankment train station in London.’

‘Good morning Jenny. Can you tell us anymore of what’s happening where you are please?’

As the news feed switched to the scene, the camera pans in on a young reporter in her mid-twenties.

She has blood trickling down her right cheek, and her clothes are torn and scorched. She tries to remain calm amid all the chaos but has an expression of genuine terror painted across her pale face.

She stands with her back to the entrance of the Embankment tube station, which bellows out white smoke from the impending tomb below.

In the background you can hear the sirens of the emergency services, rushing to provide emergency aid to those injured. There are casualties scattered everywhere, some dead, most burnt, and the lucky few, screaming for their loved ones. Those that can walk hobble or crawl, making their way through the choking smoke to the stations entrance above. Their terrified

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to keep warm, all done in his bedroom, on a carpet-less floor. In his own words, ‘It was just a way of surviving, it had to be done.’ He begged his neighbours for petty cash to buy basic food and was unable to function properly in the real world, eventually becoming homeless. However, his luck began to change and he returned home to the Isle of Wight, moving in with his grandfather, Ronald, in 2004. Turning his life around, he went on to hold a full-time job in the Civil Service, where he still is today. In 2007, heading towards Freshwater, on his way home from work, he was first on scene to a fatal car crash, which tragically took the life of sixteenyear-old Pascha Elizabeth Burgoyne. To deal with this tragic event, he put pen to paper, wrote a song called Crash, and formed a rock band.

Jamie was the front man, lyricist, and guitarist for The Kurves. The band went on to gig around the UK, playing various music festivals, and radio. In 2010, the band performed their final gig, which was their fourth appearance at the Isle of Wight’s award-winning Bestival. A month later the band split up due to personal differences.

Six months later, Jamie had written his first self-published novel, Just an Island Boy. And then in 2012, he married his beautiful wife, Debbie. He then bagged himself a major publishing contract with Percy Publishing in Westminster, London. He sold thousands of books, and came third in the Peoples Book Prize, 2014. In between all of this, Jamie found the time to train as a reserve trooper in 21 SAS, but due to an unforeseen illness, Jamie was later medically discharged from the regiment. He then went on to give inspirational/behavioural lectures in schools, and as of late, has written a sci-fi screenplay for a feature film, and is pairing up with Paul ‘Tug’ Hartley with an idea to create a British war film for 2020.

faces masking the horrors they’ve faced far below.

‘Tom, the scene here is one of complete and utter chaos. There are dozens of casualties being recovered from below, and from what I hear there are many more still to come. I don’t know how I’m going to describe all of this. I have never seen such horrific sights in all of my life.’ Jenny’s hands shook with fear as she continues with her report.

As she clutched onto her microphone, ready to answer her next question. There is a second explosion. Jenny falls to the floor, dropping her microphone. The cameraman ‘George’ hollering out unpleasantries is seen running for cover by the viewers at home. The camera is static, without an operator, trying to automatically focus on Jenny’s face as she lays there face down, gasping for air, on the cold concrete floor. There is a long silent pause.

The operator manages to reach for his camera and points it towards Jenny who is seen stumbling to her feet, trying to steady herself.

‘Sorry Tom… Just give me a second.’ Her eyes are frightened and blood shot. She takes a long deep breath, and professionally continues with her report.

‘Tom, as you’ve just seen, or heard, there has been a second explosion here in London.’

The camera pans round showing the nightmare unfolding around her.

‘I am struggling to find the words to describe the scenes I am witnessing here in our nation’s capital.’ There was a silent pause, and then the feed switched back to the studio.

AA GALLERY READERS’ PHOTOS

ROGUE’S GALLERY This page: National Airsoft Festival 2017

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AA GALLERY READERS’ PHOTOS

CARTOON

This page: Invicta Battlefield Weekender

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.

www.airsoft-action.online

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ARMOURY TM SGR 12

YOU’LL NEED MUSCLES AND A FAIR BIT OF WILL POWER IF YOU WANT TO TOTE THIS BEAST ROUND AN AIRSOFT SITE FOR A DAY, AS SCOTT ALLAN FOUND OUT.

HEAVYWEIGHT AIRSOFT TO BE THIS GOOD TAKES AGES …to be this good takes Saiga!

A lot of you probably won’t remember the adverts but trust me, that’s hilarious!

Hot on the heels of the hit AA12 rifle released just over a year ago, Tokyo Marui have reused the system to come up with their SGR 12. The SGR is said to be inspired by the Saiga 12 shotgun, which is essentially an AK-looking shotgun although you may have noticed this looks nothing like an AK (I thought the exact same thing). The actual model is from Biohazard/ Resident Evil and they call it “Thor’s Hammer” - personally I couldn’t

think of a better name for it!

Tokyo Marui are the grandfathers of Airsoft, the original, arguably the best still and probably still the most innovative airsoft manufacturer in the world. Based in Japan, they produce high-end replica products, distributing them all over the world. Often they have stepped on toes with rifles such as their 416, which breached copyright laws in Europe and the US but the performance has never been questioned. The SGR was a pleasant surprise on the line up when we saw it and we were all very excited to see it in the flesh. If I am honest, I half expected it never to appear but sometimes it’s nice to be wrong!

The Marui AA12 was the first in its class, no longer an AEG (Airsoft Electric Gun) but a new classification AES (Airsoft Electric Shotgun); a fully automatic electric shotgun had never been done before. Everyone has spoken about it for many years and everyone hit the same obstacles, with issues such as feeding and applying hop to three barrels. It is just all really difficult and technical, especially when you want to run it fully automatic. TM are master innovators and they nailed the system first time, transferring it to the SGR 12 and releasing the new super cool magazine at the same time ticks the boxes and quenches player's thirst for something a little bit more unique.

THE “REAL” SGR12

The SGR 12, or Thor’s Hammer, is taken from Resident Evil 7, more specifically the downloadable content Not a Hero.

Personally I’ve never been a fan of DLC because it seems 12

November 2017

ARMOURY TM SGR 12

“TM ARE MASTER INNOVATORS AND THEY NAILED THE SYSTEM FIRST TIME, TRANSFERRING IT TO THE SGR 12 AND RELEASING THE NEW SUPER COOL MAGAZINE AT THE SAME TIME TICKS THE BOXES AND QUENCHES PLAYERS THIRSTS FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE BIT MORE UNIQUE.”

to be an excuse to release a half finished product. So many games have promised insane levels of immersion only to end up little more than another first person shooter. Regardless of this “Not a Hero” still hasn’t been released yet so the version from the game could be considered a copy of the Marui SGR 12 … at a push.

BACK TO THE MARUI

The AA12 for me was a little lacking in the “looks department”; it wasn’t bad it just looked a little bit like a cheap product. As I said when I reviewed it, that may have been exactly how the real one looked. The SGR 12, on the other hand, blows the AA12 out of the water in just about every department. It looks better, it feels better, it’s more compact and it now has a rail system. While the AA12 was released with the drum magazine and the cool “Sledge Hammer” magazine, the SGR has an amazing realistic clear mag showing dummy shotgun shells and it holds a semi decent 93 rounds. The overall length has been cut down by about 100mm (which is a noticeable amount) but the weight is still high, at 4.4 kilos.

Actually it’s nearly 10% heavier than the AA12. The increased weight is in part due to the MLOK rail added to the front of the

shotgun but this makes it so much more user-friendly. Pumping out a lower than average 250 fps isn’t going to do crazy damage to anyone thankfully but the rate at which it can empty rounds is quite impressive, there is also a hint of recoil without there being a recoil system installed.

While the power may seem low compared to a standard AEG, for a system like this it works well.

Bear in mind that everything you hit is probably getting shot three times, especially if it is in close. We used a 7.4v lipo and that produced a very respectable 600 cycles per minute (each cycle being 3 shots) and that gives you 9 seconds of ammunition, so best pick your targets carefully. Both the sledge hammer and the dummy round magazines are the same size and both are big and chunky, holding just over 90 rounds.

You are going to need some form of 7.62 magazine pouch to take them, as M4 singles are just too small by a long way.

Reloads I found to be quite quick and easy, not quite M4

www.airsoft-action.online

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ARMOURY TM SGR 12

fast but not super fiddly. It is worth noting that the magazine locating spine (similar to a Thompson) is much smaller on the SGR compared to the AA12. The battery (small Tamiya connector) goes in the stock and the space was a little smaller than I had hoped for but at 250fps it won’t draw a lot of power, so 1300mah batteries should last for quite some time.

The spring that drives the single piston is strong, as in “sniper rifle strong”. I’m unsure how the dynamics all work and if it would ever be able to produce a higher FPS as the whole gearbox is a bespoke design.

The new bespoke AES gearbox is quite a challenge to take apart, with a gearbox case that splits into four parts, the gearbox being upside down and the piston having more teeth than Jaws (both the Bond baddy and the shark). The loading system is still genius as we found out from the AA12, I doubt anyone other than Tokyo Marui could have managed it. The single inverted piston feeds onto three piston heads that fill three cylinders separately. The powerful single spring sits on a nylon spring guide that has two very chunky nylon washers.

The magazine feeds into a single tube hop chamber that has just enough space to fit the three BBs before they are ejected down the 270mm AEG barrel toward their intended (I hope) targets. It is worth noting that the barrels in the SGR are 30mm shorter than the AA12 too but this shouldn’t translate into any real world difference.

I didn’t expect this to perform any different than the AA12 and without any shock it is just as good in every way, except shorter and heavier. Setting the hop up is quite a chore due to the “uh which BB was that dipping before the other two” scenario that developed. From experience of the AA12 the hop adjusting was quicker but for new guys, do give yourself 5-10 minutes to do this rather than mid-game. For the standard Sledge Hammer and Dummy Round magazines storage, I found they fitted in the Haley Strategic H Chest Rig neatly and it kept a nice profile, just remember they are pretty long so the rig needs to sit quite low. The fire selector sits in a similar position to the M4, as does the magazine release catch so the controls will feel very familiar.

“THE NEW BESPOKE AES GEARBOX IS QUITE A CHALLENGE TO TAKE APART, WITH A GEARBOX CASE THAT SPLITS INTO FOUR PARTS, THE GEARBOX BEING UPSIDE DOWN AND THE PISTON HAVING MORE TEETH THAN JAWS (BOTH THE BOND BADDY AND THE SHARK).”

features Single & Full Automatic Fire Adjustable hop up for each barrel Weight 4.3kg Magazine 93 round SGR 12 / AA12 Magazine Length 732mm Power 250fps/0.6J with Blaster 0.20g BB Bespoke Gearbox MLOK Front Rail system with three rails RRP £600

ON THE GAME FIELD

The killer with the AA12 was the length, weight and lack of any rails. It was a true replica and that is perfectly fine, but the SGR 12 is a little more refined. It’s shorter, although sadly lacks an adjustable stock, it’s heavier than the AA12 but most importantly for me, it has rail space. A vertical grip would save you a lot of effort with something this heavy, I swore by one on my HK 417 for the same reason. The magazines are also pretty darned chunky, if you opt for a drum then you should be good for ages as they hold 3000 rounds instead of 93.

CONCLUSION

Like the AA12, the innovation and performance is extremely attractive, not to mention it’s a very pretty looking shotgun fully functional and a top performer to boot. The sticking points are the price, £600 is around £150 more than the AA12. Okay, a full metal rail can add around £100 to the price but still it’s a lot. This is apparently a limited edition too but to how many or how long we don’t know exactly.

The next sticking point is the weight; 4.4 kilos is a sizeable and chunky beast although I like the SGR’s compact size over the AA12’s “girth”. It’s not impossible to play all day with it but I think you’re going to be like McGregor in round 10 against Mayweather after a long day of gaming. All those things taken into consideration it is really, really nice. The finish is better than the AA12, it looks much better too, even though it isn’t based on anything real. The floundering pound is undoubtedly a key factor in the price point and that is a bummer but, sadly, these are the times we live in – until North Korea starts flinging missiles everywhere that is.

It’s a thumbs up from me provided you’ve got £600 to burn on weightlifting equipment to play Airsoft with.

If you are still not sure about my opening sentence, just search Google Images for “to be this good takes sega” – and be prepared to say “Surely they never got away with that!!”

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ARMOURY KING ARMS IRON SHRIKE

PREDATOR TACTICAL IRON SHRIKE 1911 PISTOL-NUT, LEZ LEE, GETS HIS HANDS ON THIS ODDLY-NAMED 1911 FROM AN UNEXPECTED SOURCE. WELL HERE’S A FIRST! Just when you thought that you have seen every 1911 produced by every company, out of the blue comes yet another of these iconic firearms from a company that (when it comes to guns) until now, have only produced high quality airsoft rifles.

King Arms was founded in 2004 with one goal - to ensure optimum customer satisfaction by providing the end user with precision products and outstanding service. In 2015, King Arms moved their H.Q. to Taiwan, the home of modern day airsoft where they have continued to produce perpetual high quality pieces of craftsmanship supported with superb levels of service.

K.A. claims that by working closely with some of the world’s leading firearms manufacturers, they are able to produce an unsurpassed level of innovation and authenticity which cannot be found anywhere else in airsoft. They have been churning out first class RIFs for over a decade and have (unsurprisingly) become very good at it. I believe that the general consensus

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is that if you have bought a King Arms product, then you are going to have trouble-free firepower straight out of the box… but will this new addition to the King Arms stable carry that same mantra with their first GBB pistol?

Let’s find out!

COLT 1911 HISTORY

It just wouldn’t be cricket if I dived head first into the nuts and bolts of this handgun review without offering a brief insight into the history of the Colt 1911M. In 1893 John Browning created this unique semi-automatic firearm and its popularity became almost an obsession due to its (then) modern, slimline aesthetic design and ease of use. In 1906 the U.S. Military decided that it was time to move away from its ageing standard issue revolver style, to a self-loading handgun but with one particular criteria; that the replacement must be chambered in the new .45 ACP (automatic colt pistol) cartridge. Six different brands were put to the test and with sweeping results, the John Browning’s 1911M literally shot the competition to pieces (pun intended) and was thereby commissioned in (yes you guessed it) 1911.

Three of the competitors were eliminated in the early rounds of tests which left the Colt, Savage and DMW to battle it out but the grand finale put the Colt in a league of its own, surpassing all others. The deciding factor in favour of the Colt was a test at the end of 1910 attended by Mr Browning to witness himself, a test where six thousand rounds were fired from a single pistol over the course of two days.

When the guns began to grow hot, the Colt was simply immersed in water to cool it. The Colt was the only gun that sustained performance and passed the test with no reported malfunctions. As the years went by, the Colt 1911M went from strength to strength and became the most popular of pistols for just about every rationale, from its highly regarded addition in the U.S. military’s arsenal (where it was favoured because of its .45 ACP stopping power), to the many modern day variations

ARMOURY KING ARMS IRON SHRIKE

of all shapes, sizes, style and uses, including competition custom models, to the unobtrusive compact size for concealed carry. The choice is seemingly endless and thus the success of this shooter continues to thrive over a century later.

PREDATOR TACTICAL

Predator Tactical, founded in March 2010 by Matt Burkett, is a well-established American company based in Scottsdale, Arizona that brings you innovative solutions and specialises in custom-made, competition-grade, high quality pistols. Due to the increase in popularity of three gun competitions in Asia, Predator Tactical felt that it would be of mutual benefit to insert themselves into the world of airsoft and (to cut a long story short) did this with an affiliation with one of the leading airsoft companies, namely King Arms. Matt’s interest was based on his personal interest after producing the BURKETT3GNS, the first fully 3-Gun ready shotgun on the market.

THE GBB PISTOL

The fully licensed KING ARMS HARD SHRIKE PREDATOR TACTICAL 1911 GBB pistol is a superb looker on first impressions, however, many 1911 do indeed look superb whilst nestling in their boxes.

Now I am the first to admit that “unboxing videos” get on my tats! When a YouTuber spends 80% of a review on the box, the quality of the cardboard, the instructions, the packaging, the blah… blah… blah… and then “Oh and I nearly forgot, this is the gun and it’s really nice and goes pew pew. Goodbye!” but here is a first from me…

King Arms have got it spot on with first contact from the box onwards, as not only is this a decent quality box that does

its job adequately, every piece of text is in crystal clear English and the instruction booklet is unremarkably simple because it tells you all you need to know in simple terminology and diagrams, plus an exploded view of parts carefully numbered.

Handling this piece is “something else” and I feel the need to say “expect the unexpected”! This pistol just seems to keep on impressing as its 814 grams (unloaded) of CNC and steel feel divine in the hand. Starting at the front, the polished chrome outer barrel (which incidentally houses a tightbore 6.02 x 113mm inner barrel) looks rather striking and complements the matching trigger, hammer and .45 ACP printed ejector port cover. The top slide has front and rear serrations for ease of racking and a beautiful engraving of “PREDATOR TACTICAL” plus logo is festooned in bold lettering for all to see on the left, with more trademarks and a serial number on the right.

On top of the slide are basic windage-adjustable, high profile competition iron sights, nothing special but I feel that the subtle and unobtrusive finish of this piece is what gives it some class, besides, the sights work very well and that’s all that counts, right! The thumb safeties are ambidextrous but the mag release is for righties only, however, this is nothing unusual with a 1911. The grip is a standard diamond pattern but it does hold an extended beavertail safety. The lower frame is basic and without a tactical rail and the rest is again, standard. What is a nice addition (in my opinion), is the quality matching bevelled magwell. I take a medium-sized glove and the grip fits my hand perfectly, so if you have hands the size of the jolly green giant then this may not be to your liking but, of course, this additional piece can be removed.

Wielding the Iron Shrike is pure bliss (for me) as the balance is spot on and it “belongs” in my size hand, unlike some larger

“I RELEASED THE AMBIDEXTROUS THUMB SAFETY AND SLIPPED MY FINGER DOWN ONTO THE TRIGGER AND STARTED MY SQUEEZE… WHICH WAS VERY SHORT LIVED AS AFTER JUST A FEW MILLIMETRES THIS PUPPY FIRED AND TO MY ENTHRALLING SURPRISE, I FOUND THAT I WAS SHOOTING A GREEN GAS GUN WITH CO2 RECOIL!”

www.airsoft-action.online

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ARMOURY KING ARMS IRON SHRIKE

“IT IS SOLID AS A ROCK WITH A WEIGHT TO MATCH, IT HAS RECOIL THAT WILL NOT DISAPPOINT ANYONE AND AT THE END OF THE DAY, IT’S A 1911, ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR HANDGUNS IN THE WORLD.” framed sidearms which don’t float my boat and feel clumsy but again, the important point when buying a pistol is making sure that it is a perfect fit in YOUR grip because that is where it will spend its field time, so it needs to feel like it is an extension of your hand.

PERFORMANCE

Adjusting the hop is always easy on any 1911 and both disassembly and reassembly are a cinch. I was liking things so far and magazine loading was super-simple with a low-load access point for the BBs which eliminates the need for a speed loader adaptor or indeed, a speed loader full stop! A minor criticism would be that with a mega-simple modification, the spring retention clip could have had a locking notch to one side to retain the compressed spring, otherwise there is a fair chance that you might break a nail whilst holding the spring down during loading.

And ya simply can’t return to the safe zone with a broken nail! What would people think!

Inserting the magazine was blissful thanks to the generously (love ‘em or hate ‘em) flared magwell and a solid click confirmed that the magazine was locked in place and everything was ready to go.

At ten metres from the target I was locked ‘n’ loaded and after target acquisition with the basic iron sites, I released the ambidextrous thumb safety and slipped my finger down onto the trigger and started my squeeze… which was very short lived as after just a few millimetres this puppy fired and to my enthralling surprise, I found that I was shooting a green gas gun with Co2 recoil! This was an appealing and unexpected moment because I was not anticipating this level of performance. I’m an avid fan of Co2 and if any pistol of mine has an optional Co2 magazine then I’m quickly online ordering them, simply because after my real steel history, I always seek as much realism as I can and Co2 powered pistols get me nearer to my original passions.

Anyhow, back on point, the accuracy was very good and certainly good enough for what we want a pistol for. A three inch grouping was fair I believe and at longer distances, say 30 metres, was reasonable and a person sized target is easily killed.

Rapid repeat firing is also very fast thanks to the short trigger pull, however, I was disappointed to find that a complete fill of quality green gas wasn’t enough to sustain the shooting of a full 25 round magazine and the power started to drop at around the 18-20 rounds area. In fairness though, I shouldn’t be surprised as this is a 1911 and the magazines are slim generally, consequently limiting the gas reservoir.

Of course, aftermarket parts will be a doddle to find and if you are in an airsoft shop and they don’t have a holster for a 1911, then you are probably in Tescos! It is my understanding that the Iron Shrike is based on the Tokyo Marui 1911 so 18

November 2017

replacement and/or upgrade parts shouldn’t be difficult to obtain (with some thanks going towards the included instruction booklet).

CONCLUSION

Perhaps I shouldn’t have been so sceptical when I deliberated over the fact that this was a “first” for King Arms. When any company in any industry produces a first, there are very often some issues.... sometimes mechanical, sometimes visual and sometimes performance related but after putting a couple of hundred rounds through this pistol in any and every way possible, I found that it really is one very well put together handgun. It is solid as a rock with a weight to match, it has recoil that will not disappoint anyone and at the end of the day, it’s a 1911, one of the most popular handguns in the world.

The Iron Shrike is a superb first from King Arms and if this is their first, we could be in for some very nice surprises from Taiwan.

Lez OUT!

SPECIFICATIONS Green Gas Overall Length: 225mm Inner Barrel Length: 113mm Inner Barrel Diameter: 6.02mm Overall Height: 145mm Weight without Magazine: 814g Main Materials: Aluminium Die-Casting Alloy ; Zinc Alloy & Chrome one piece outer barrel, hammer and trigger.

Colour: Gunmetal (also available in black and silver) Capacity: 25 Rounds Calibre: 6mm Markings: Predator Tactical Iron Shrike, Logo ~ .45 ACP Blowback Action: Gas Blowback Muzzle Velocity: 285~310FPS Price: IRO £150.00

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06-09-2017 14:10:16

ARMOURY UMAREX MP40 GBB

LEGENDS MP40 GBB SCOTT ALLAN GETS BEHIND AN ICONIC WEAPON THAT IS INSTANTLY RECOGNISABLE TO ANYONE WITH EVEN JUST A PASSING INTEREST IN WW2 AIRSOFT, OR RE-ENACTMENT BASED ON THAT PERIOD.

ACHTUNG WW2 AIRSOFTERS! Umarex has just unveiled an exceptional gas blow back MP40 and it’s looking like it’ll be a Reich good one!

For me, gas blow backs are often too fickle for average skirmish gaming and tend to be more of a MilSim/re-enactor item in my eyes. Will the Legends MP40 by Umarex break the mould?

WHO ARE UMAREX?

Umarex are one of the largest distributors of Airsoft goods in the world, based in Germany and working directly with the likes of H&K for licensing and largely with KWC and VFC who manufacture for them.

Some players seem to get the hump about OEM manufacturing in Airsoft but given it’s such a common thing across the world in so many industries, I don’t get why. For example, Sony’s OLED TV screens are made by LG and do you scoff at your friend TV when watching the latest blockbuster?

Of course not, well only if you are exceptionally boring. It’s not a bad thing to know the OEM manufacturer for quality assurance but knowing the OEM and kicking off about it by saying things like “they don’t actually manufacture their own goods” are two different things. Even Browning shotguns aren’t all made by Browning, many are made in that world famous firearms nation (yep, you guessed it)… Japan! So enjoy what Umarex do because they do it very well and their licenses are some of the best names available today.

WHAT IS THE LEGENDS MP40?

This isn’t just any old gas blowback MP40, this is a two bulb CO2 MP40! I don’t think I have ever seen a dual bulb system before in my life, nor have I seen such a beautiful MP40 replica in Airsoft before. The weathering really is exceptional all across the metal work and is nicely complimented by the faux Bakelite plastics, giving it a genuine feel across the replica.

Who is the OEM? To be honest I’m not 100% sure but I very much suspect it’s KWC, given its also available in 4.5mm steel as an air weapon. Gas Blow Back (GBB) MP40s aren’t really around at all, Marushin made one which would’ve been expensive and not very good, KWA said they were going to make one a few years ago at Shot Show but never did, so you don’t really have a lot of choice.

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ARMOURY UMAREX MP40 GBB

“THIS ISN’T JUST ANY OLD GAS BLOWBACK MP40, THIS IS A TWO BULB CO2 MP40! I DON’T THINK I HAVE EVER SEEN A DUAL BULB SYSTEM BEFORE IN MY LIFE, NOR HAVE I SEEN SUCH A BEAUTIFUL MP40 REPLICA IN AIRSOFT BEFORE.”

THE REAL STEEL

The MP40, or Maschinenpistole 40, is an iconic weapon chambered for the Luger 9 x 19mm Parabellum round. Entering service in 1940 (hence the 40 part) its design was partly taken/ inspired by the MP38 and over one million were made and used during WW2. They were also known (incorrectly) as the Schmeisser, who didn’t actually manufacture the sub machine gun but given the state of things in Germany at that point, certainly was around the SMG scene in a big way.

The SMG as a weapon really did shift the way wars were fought, in particular city fighting and CQB engagements. The Russians certainly loved the PPSH and gave them to entire units. The alternative for the Germans was the Kar 98, it is a brilliant rifle if you only wanted to shoot at things far away whilst laying down. Up close and personal you want a lot of rounds available on demand and the birth of the SMG and then the Assault Rifle happened in quick succession. A whole host of these SMGs became famous during WW2; the Thompson, Sten, MP40 and PPSH are all huge players with similar figures. Each was fairly unique and iconic in its own way.

THE AIRSOFT VERSION

When the Legends MP40 first arrived I didn’t really expect much at all. Maybe a low end poor product like the electric AGM but no, what I got was this lovely weathered piece that I saw when I slid open the box. It’s not particularly heavy-feeling when you lift it, yet at 3.5 kilos it is certainly hefty and not far off the weight of the real version - and it feels very well balanced front to back.

The fold-out stock is metal and, like every other MP40 (including the real versions), it has a little bit of play in it too.

Extending the stock takes it from a very compact 62cm up to a more rifle-like 83cm.

The real version spits at a reasonably slow 450 rounds per minute, whereas this version seems to nearly double that! This means your full-auto is really going to chew through the ammo quickly - thankfully this version also has a (less than realistic) single shot, meaning it is a little more close-range friendly.

As I said earlier, I have never seen any GBB use two CO2 bulbs and initially I thought they stacked on top of each other, nose to tail, rather like batteries would be, giving you a sort of spare.

What you actually do is insert them “bottom to bottom” so the bulbs are pierced from the base at the base and the top of the magazine. Very unusual but giving you twice as much gas and at 1 joule of muzzle energy, the gas will last for a good few magazines. Also it doesn’t seem to vent gas everywhere on fully automatic like almost all the other systems I’ve seen. Watching the cocking handle rattle back and forward is definitely satisfying, so much so that you’ll often have to remember to aim.

While everything looks great on the features list one thing stuck out… The lack of hop up! This may be due to this being an www.airsoft-action.online

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ARMOURY UMAREX MP40 GBB

“WATCHING THE COCKING HANDLE RATTLE BACK AND FORWARD IS DEFINITELY SATISFYING, SO MUCH SO THAT YOU’LL OFTEN HAVE TO REMEMBER TO AIM.”

adapted 4.5mm (.177) air weapon and speaking to a couple of techs, they were confident that a fixed hop modification would be fairly easy given the design. It really has fallen at a simple hurdle there for me! The hop up aside it is hard to find any other faults with the system or the performance at all.

Gas blow backs are always going to be a niche. WW2 guns are a niche too and are often seen as much a collectable as a skirmish weapon and that’s why I believe the MP40 isn’t a total write-off. From a re-enactor point of view it is bloody brilliant-looking and good value. From a serious Airsoft skirmisher it’s got a flaw which can be worked around for a bit of extra money but I don’t believe really you should have to pay it. This is the frustrating thing with Airsoft companies: “Hey look! We’ve made this bitching rifle! Oh but it’s got this little niggle that it squirts lemon juice in your eye when you pull the trigger.” Okay that is a dumb analogy but you get the general idea, there really should be a standard tick list of things that just get done on the drawing board. With this considerable niggle I feel like I got Playstation for my birthday with no controllers or games – it can be remedied but it’s not quite what you were expecting.

by AGM, which is a Chinese clone brand. While the SMG itself wasn’t terrible, the magazines could be a little problematic with feeding, best of all they weren’t very expensive and they looked the part. The stick magazine is a 9mm mag so pouches shouldn’t be too difficult to find and you can always get the replica German WW2 versions easily enough, which will suit them perfectly.

CONCLUSION

I wanted to love this rifle so much more than I do. I still love it at heart for its looks and for the great CO2 system. The blowback is sharp and crisp, more so that many GBB. I fear that too many GBBs sacrifice performance for a realistic-looking bolt and heavy recoil systems that in the practical application generally vents too much gas and performance drops. The Legends MP40 really is a great system and very efficient, CO2 works better at low temperatures compared to any of the other standard Airsoft gasses.

If you’re in the market for this type of replica it really is a cracker, maybe just consider having a tech set a fixed hop up for you and you’ll be goose-stepping your way to the front in no time.

ON THE SKIRMISH FIELD

I’ve seen quite a few MP40s used in skirmishes, none of them are high-end products as the mass produced version was

features Construction: Weathered steel & Faux Bakelite Power: 300-330fps/~1J on 0.20g Blaster BB Magazine: 40 Rounds Double 12g CO2 Bulb MP40 Length: 620–830mm Weight: 3.5 kilos Gas Blow Back Great Cold Weather Performance No hop up RRP £250

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November 2017

Event NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL 2017

NATIONAL AIRSOFT FE S KELLY: THE NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL is, without doubt, the biggest airsoft weekender in the UK. Over the Bank Holiday weekend in August, 2,500 airsofters descend on Ground Zero – Zero One’s skirmish site located in a small market town in Hampshire, to enjoy a huge festival dedicated to everything airsoft. I arrived at about 1pm on the Friday afternoon (thanks to the good ol’ Bank Holiday traffic) and the festival was already in full swing! As I drove down the long road laden with banners for the NAF into the quiet camping zone to meet up with my team mates, I was already feeling the festival buzz and so were they! They were already in full festival mode with pitched tents, beers and (of course) a BBQ on the go! After we’d set up the rest of our camp for the weekend it was time to take a walk into the festival village to sign in.

Let me tell you about the festival village…

It is a huge space amongst the trees of the Ground Zero forest that is conveniently situated between the gaming zone and camping zones and holds the Zero One shop tent and bar tent, the retailers/manufacturers stands, the food vendors, the range, the G&G CQB course and player sign in. It is the hub of activity over the weekend!

The gates to Ground Zero open at 7am on the Friday for festival goers and I recommend getting there as early as you can – this way you can get your pick of where you camp and get through the sign in and chrono queues pretty sharpish.

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2017 is the first year Ground Zero have chrono’d player’s weapons at the event and getting that many players checked and tagged takes a fair while! Every player/camper is required to sign in at the registration desk before your fun can really start. At sign in you receive your player packs which are customized to your team – either “Bravo”, “Delta” or “Others” - and they contain your player bands, NAF patches, product catalogues, freebies and the game plans for your respective side. Tickets for the NAF are £90 if you wish to play or £30 for the weekend if you simply want to camp and enjoy the festivities and shop your heart away.

One of the highlights of the festival for me is the shopping; seeing the different stands within the festival area and checking out all the new kit they have! Zero One bring a 48,000 sq ft shop marquee with them every year and it is filled to the absolute brim with everything you could need, from BDUs, RIFs, scopes, sights, gun cases, beebs, batteries and any other accessories you could want. The showroom tent is also connected to the Zero One bar tent (for anyone who needs a stiff drink after spending all their money on new kit!) and is a huge tent kitted out with hay bale tables and benches, a bar that serves drinks at very reasonable prices and a stage area for the live entertainment in the evenings. Outside the tent there is an ample amount of picnic tables for players to have a drink, check out their new purchases and eat some grub!

For anything that the Zero One tent doesn’t have, they invite a whole host of retailers and manufacturers including big names such as Viper Tactical, ASG, Enola Gaye, Bear Valley Co, LOWA along with a whole host of smaller retailers that sold everything from customized dog tags to boots and kit. The festival village this year also had an increase in food vendors, from ice creams and sundaes to burgers and cheesy chips to Greek cuisine and a pizza stall, there really was something for everyone! Perfect for whether you decide to eat out all weekend or if you just fancy a snack on your way back to your tent!

The facilities at Ground Zero for as long as I have been attending in my opinion have always been very good. The camping is separated into 3 sections; loud (for those who want to go hard all night), normal (for those who want the best

Event NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL 2017

E STIVAL 2017

EVERY YEAR, ZERO ONE AIRSOFT HOST THE NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL – A DEDICATED AIRSOFT FESTIVAL WHERE AIRSOFTERS DESCEND ON RINGWOOD IN HAMPSHIRE TO SLING SOME PLASTIC, ENJOY CAMPING WITH THEIR TEAMMATES AND SHOPPING AND BEERS IN THE ZERO ONE VILLAGE. OUR CONTRIBUTORS KELLY AND GEORGE WERE THERE TO COVER THE BIGGEST ANNUAL AIRSOFT WEEKENDER IN THE UK! Photos by Iggy and Georaga

of both) and quiet camping (for those that love their sleep).

The camping areas are huge and even welcome caravans and motor homes, so you don’t have to tent it if that’s not your thing! Each campsite is equipped with an adequate amount of portaloos for festival goers but teams do have the option to book their own portaloo for the weekend at a price of £125 per loo. The private portaloo is delivered to your camping area so there’s no worry of having to stumble in the dark across the site to find the loos if you pitch up your tent a way away from them. My only gripe with the facilities this year were men using the ladies portaloos, which is no fault of the organisers. Ground Zero are always really considerate of the significantly higher male to female ratio on site and provide each campsite with a number of “ladies only” loos, something that I and the other slaydies in attendance really appreciate. To make it clear, I have absolutely no issue with dudes using the ladies if ALL of the other loos are engaged but if the others are free… As Zero One say “Be considerate lads, flop it out somewhere else!”

The NAF also serves another awesome purpose besides being a get together for likeminded airsofters – it is the UK qualifiers for the G&G World Cup CQB Shooting competition.

Earlier this year some of you will have seen that I flew out to Taipei, Taiwan to cover the bi-annual G&G World Cup, where contestants from all over the world compete against each other to claim the title of world champion and the $10,000 prize fund! Over the NAF weekender players can have a crack at the G&G M.E.T target system and CQB course in the hopes of qualifying as the UK champion. Players compete in teams of 2 in a two stage CQB arena; the first stage is the G&G M.E.T target system, which involves both players eliminating 25 targets each as quickly as possible using a stock G&G CM16 SRL and once this stage is complete they move into the CQB arena, where they must eliminate all of the targets as fast as they can. This may sound easy but some of the targets are hidden, some are behind you www.airsoft-action.online

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Event NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL 2017

and all of this has to be completed in only 4 midcaps-worth of ammo (each player gets 2 midcaps before starting the G&G M.E.T). The team with the fastest score over the weekend qualifies for the World Cup in Taiwan – with flights and their hotel covered by G&G (and free tickets to the NAF 2018 to defend their title thanks to Zero One Airsoft). 5 days in Taiwan to compete for a world title AND $10,000? Yes please!

As many of you will know, I rarely play woodland and I play every single weekend so for me, the NAF is a bit of a “bus driver’s holiday”, so for me it’s all about one thing – the social.

The social side of the festival is my jam, I love attending and meeting so many of the community and generally just chilling out with friends/colleagues. This year I didn’t play but the weekend is definitely what YOU make of it - I had an awesome time at the National Airsoft Festival 2017 and I cannot wait for the 2018 weekender. Zero One manage to make the weekender better and better every single year so I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us next year! I really recommend this event, even if you come purely for the festival side of things.

George: Since Kelly has covered the social side of NAF, as a Bravo veteran of the event having been 6 times, I’ve a fair idea of how the event runs from a player perspective (Let’s put it this way... I was there the last time Bravo won!).

Now even though I didn’t get a chance run the Krytac Vector like I’d hoped this year (I was on the Airsoft Action stall for a lot of it), instead I took the opportunity to talk to you guys that came over throughout the weekend, admittedly to look at the aforementioned Krytac Vector, about how you were finding the gameplay.

I spoke to some teams that, like me, have been going for years; I spoke to some first-timers and I spoke to those folks that have only been once before but were dead set on getting their guns out and bracing the storm once more. What’s nice is that we all seem to have the same perspective when it comes to NAF and it varies very little from team to team. The event isn’t a MilSim: it’s not even close but it does take from certain elements. It’s not even a skirmish because of the sheer magnitude and organization of the gameplay. I feel like the best way to describe the National Airsoft Festival is to call it an extreme skirmish!

Getting 2,400+ players onto any site is going to be a challenge, let alone chrono’ing that many players like they did this year (think about it, on average each person has 2 guns).

Even when a decent percentage of players will likely never hit the AO it can feel like cramming that last BB into an already full high-cap before closing that fill door and winding the spring.

The game area at Ground Zero is 150 acres, which is massive

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November 2017

but even so, 3 teams each consisting of 800+ players means that 150 acres gets filled up pretty quickly!

What that does is create an environment in my mind where 3 different types of play can exist.

You can either: 1) Head out with the largest proportion of your team in order to push hard on a large objective. This method will often land you in a grand firefight between many factions, forcing you to both attack and defend positions with plastic being pelted around from every angle. It is an intense arena of confusion that requires some serious brute force and cunning to overcome any stalemates. This is the closest version to a regular skirmish game... but on a much bigger scale.

2) Head out with your smaller squad and aim to complete smaller objectives. This often means you’ll be actively avoiding firefights unless they’re completely necessary and opting for stealth, slowly making your way through the dense woodland in order to reach an objective across site. This will likely end up in a smaller but equally intense firefight to obtain that objective and is more akin to a MilSim-style game day. You’re not tied to a larger group and can act independently from the wider team, choosing the objectives and routes you want to take however once you’re separated from your squad, it’s often really difficult to make it back.

3) You go all “lone wolf”. Tackling this method is, in some ways, the easiest way to play but equally the hardest. On the one hand, you have zero responsibility to keep your teammembers alive and no need to find them again should you get separated. On the other hand, you have to be extremely stealthy and choose when to engage an enemy because you will be outgunned 90% of the time. This method is almost

Event NATIONAL AIRSOFT FESTIVAL 2017

completely stealth and you go much deeper into the forestry than most and often don’t care for the objectives at all. You’re there to hone your skills and choose your moments but be warned... you’re not the only lone wolf out there. You may just happen upon someone else being equally stealthy and at that point... you’ll have to choose to either risk letting them pass, or hope that you have the better positioning and go one on one.

Which kind of player are you? Or do you fall into a different category? Over the years I’ve tried all three methods at this event, sometimes in the same day! This year my teammate Joeski told me about his favourite engagement of the weekend... I won’t lie, every time I hear about situations like this, I wish I was out and laying down some plastic alongside them.

Apparently, they travelled to the village to find out that there were Others attacking from one side but, as is the way with Ground Zero, the dense woodland made it difficult to see exactly where the multitude of flying spherical balls of bad news were coming from.

“We’d fire back at where we thought they were but it really felt like they were just everywhere, it was a proper little clusterf**k really... and you can change the wording on that one (NOPE!).

“We had Steve doing his Rambo thing, standing pretty much out in the open with his recoil (a TM G36K Recoil Shock... a VERY satisfying piece of kit to shoot) so all you could hear was this recoil going off, sounding like some sort of real machine gun and occasionally you just hear this “Hit… Others!” and you’re like oh, well that’s another kill to Steve.

“Suddenly he gets hit from... no idea where, which seemed to be the case for everyone in our area. You just saw a BB come out of nowhere, or well 10 and then you were out.

The Others were definitely there but they were being very, very good. They weren’t exposing themselves and it was just constant; you were always under pressure and all you could do was just fire back in their general direction and the thing is, they were doing exactly the same thing. They had no idea where we were either because if they did I think they’d have probably been a lot more accurate.”

This kind of situation is one that all of us that play woodland sites have probably been in once or twice. That utter confusion mixed with a determination that you know exactly where the opponent is positioned... “No, they ARE behind that leaf I’ve hit 7 times... they ARE!” The problem is, they’re probably not and what happens when you focus everything on that one position? Well you lose situational awareness and things change fast!

“So Steve got hit and I’m stuck in a couple of bushes without very much cover about 20 metres away from the Village and then suddenly... the Village was under attack from the other side. There were a ton of people getting hit, you had Bravo getting hit, you had Others and then as soon as you heard that first...”

At this point I like to think that it went down like an action movie, our hero is pinned down yelling orders at his squadron, “Fire at the Others! Fire at the Others! They’re to our North! OTHERS TO THE NORTH!” “DELTA HIT!” … the camera dramatically pulls in close and swoops around... “… S**T!!”

“So there were now 3 teams in this firefight and we had Delta on one side, the Others coming up from

behind and Bravo stuck in the center with no cover because no matter where you were in the village, BBs were flying in! That’s where it all went to hell. I’ll be honest, I didn’t last long after that.

“The weight of fire coming in was incredible and obviously they weren’t talking to each other but had somehow managed to work out this perfect crossfire that meant we just had nowhere to go.

“If we tried to retreat we’d have been shot, if we tried to push forward we’d get hit, if we tried to hold it.. well GG. It was a really good firefight and for me it was the tensest 45 minutes of the weekend.”

That’s what I love about the NAF weekender (nothing “NAF” about it in my opinion), you have complete choice to take part in whichever element you want to and control how you play the game. It’s always a hard site to play, with so many players it can sometimes be overwhelming but at the end of the day you make the weekend whatever you want from it. To play or not. You could be out in the bushes for the whole weekend and not take a single shot, or you could take part in the most intense 45 minutes you’ve played. If the daytime play isn’t for you, you can take part in the night game against much smaller teams but with much greater difficulty... I saw a few NVGs and vision assisted scopes out there this year... or like Kelly said, you can play the CQB arena over and over again and compete against your own times.

All in all, you could just go for the camping but after the usual trash talking coming from a certain team (I’M LOOKING AT YOU DELTA!), there’s always a score to reflect on at the end.

The scores: Bravo – 2024 Delta – 1884 Others – 1721 So Kelly, how do you feel about the final score? BRAVO! BRAVO! BRAVO! Kelly: We’ll get you next year.

www.airsoft-action.online

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Event DARKWATER AIRSOFT SPARTAN WARRIOR CHARITY GAME

ALTHOUGH AIRSOFT ACTION PROUDLY SUPPORTS THE WORK OF PILGRIM BANDITS WE ARE MORE THAN AWARE THAT THERE ARE OTHER GROUPS WORKING ON A VERY LOCAL BASIS THAT PROVIDE MUCH NEEDED SUPPORT TO OUR VETERANS AND THEIR FAMILIES. BILL THOMAS RECENTLY ATTENDED A LOCAL GAME THAT WAS ALL ABOUT SUPPORTING THOSE WHO SUPPORT OUR TROOPS.

SPARTAN WARRIOR C MANY OF YOU WILL KNOW THAT I’m pretty good mates with Jon, Allyssa and the team at Darkwater Airsoft down in my local neck of the woods in Kent, so when he approached me with an invite to a game he would be running in support of our local PTSD and Veterans Support Charity, “Spartan Warrior”, I

was more than happy to confirm that I’d be along on the day.

Spartan Warrior was developed out of a desire to help those less fortunate. Since its inception, Snowy and the team have worked hard to provide support where it’s most needed. The team relies exclusively on volunteer help and they’re always happy to welcome new volunteers who would like to dedicate some of their time to helping. They actively support ALL P.T.S.D. sufferers and their family members within our area of Kent, meeting up with sufferers on a one-to-one basis, or at a group session including either family members, or other sufferers.

Their prime aim is to assist in getting the sufferer back into a more balanced environment and regaining some self-worth.

One of the things I have really come to like about Spartan Warrior is their approach to what they do. If you look on their website you’ll find their constitutional remit which states; • We do not have a committee where a few people make all the important decisions.

• We do not have appointed trustees.

• The way in which the organisation is run is that we look upon all our volunteers as trustees and our committee giving them all an equal say and vote on all aspects of what we do.

• We also support and work alongside our local Cadet Groups and groups and organisations that work to the same remit as ours of no salaried staff.

This is a group that do what they do because they truly care

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November 2017

Event DARKWATER AIRSOFT SPARTAN WARRIOR CHARITY GAME

and whilst nobody takes a salary, of course they still need to raise funds to keep things rolling. Jon has been involved with Spartan Warrior for some time now and this is the just the latest event that he and Darkwater have staged to raise funds and personally I say all power to this!

BIG SCENARIO, EVEN BIGGER SITE!

With Reaper Crew, Team Spartan, Major League Airsoft and a host of players from all over the country signed up in addition to the locals, things were shaping up superbly. Well in advance of the game on Sunday 13th August 2017, Darkwater had circulated the scenario for the day.

“Situation – Bitter civil war between the Nistaninans and Sistanians has ravaged the lands of Kentistan. Resources were taken to fuel the war further to the North West in Ashfordia and as such, the Pitonia Peninsula is rated as one of the lowest economical areas in the Region.

“A thriving drugs trade has gone unnoticed by Kentistan Authorities and two main players have taken the top spots both in production and ferocity. Street executions, kidnapping and assassinations are commonplace. They are known as Mavi (Blue Team) and Crvena (Red Team).The most intriguing element of both production “gangs” is that there is absolutely no intel on the leaders of both factions.

“Both “gangs’” product has spilled out of Kentistan and is now widely used in Londinia. Due to the purity of the product, a number of fatal overdoses have occurred in Londinia and this has not gone unnoticed by Authorities. Londinia have sent a small team of their Spartan Elite Drug Enforcement Unit (Yellow Team) to observe, gather intel and assist locals when required.

“War again looms on the horizon.”

With the scene set and the three teams in place it was time to roll and the 13th in Kent dawned bright and relatively clear and although there were a few stray clouds about, it was obvious when I arrived on site that it was going to be a HOT day and given the sheer size and nature of the AO, this was

going to be challenging for all concerned.

Darkwater have access to a number of both indoor CQB and outdoor sites in Kent and run a pretty full program throughout the year. Some days are just regular “walk-on” skirmish days, but other games they run are more along the “BattleSim” line with some great storylines and rulesets and the charity game was in this format. The Tilmanstone site was chosen for the game and, at over 150 acres, there is an awful lot of ground to cover!

R CHARITY GAME

“ONE OF THE HIGH POINTS FOR ME WAS SEEING THE TEAMS DEPLOY THEIR “EOD” ASSETS TO CLEAR THE PATH FORWARD; WHEN YOU SEE A PLAYER INCHING FORWARD ON THEIR TUMMY GINGERLY PROBING FOR “MINES” YOU KNOW THAT A SCENARIO IS REALLY WORKING!” www.airsoft-action.online

31

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Event DARKWATER AIRSOFT SPARTAN WARRIOR CHARITY GAME

The site itself is where Tlimanstone Colliery once stood and although there is now pretty much nothing of the old colliery left standing, it’s still a unique one to play as it consists of some big, wide open spaces that are incredibly hard to operate in.

What makes it interesting is that it dips and rolls, meaning that you need to be a bit of a master of “dead ground” to really make progress. The Safe Zone is rudimentary but perfectly adequate and on the day, in addition to Snowy and Elaine from Spartan Warrior, Ben and Tom from Hereford Kit Company had agreed to attend and support. AJ’s Snack Shack was onsite to provide some excellent fodder and site sales were ably dealt with by Chris and his team from South East Airsoft Supplies.

After a thoroughly entertaining site and safety briefing from Jon and head marshal Boomer, all 85 players attending made their way out onto the site and battle commenced, with some super, fast-flowing and aggressive gameplay by all. As the temperature rose the battle lines ebbed and flowed. The teams had specific “gates” to hold, moving forward one to the next as missions were achieved. The teams also had access to “mines” and “IEDs” and could deploy those as they saw fit and I have to say that one of the high points for me was seeing the teams deploy their “EOD” assets to clear the path forward; when you see a player inching forward on their tummy gingerly probing for “mines” you know that a scenario is REALLY working!

SCOFF AND SHENANIGANS!

Although the game was going superbly well, by the time lunch break arrived everyone was ready to ditch their plate carriers and chill a little in the safe zone. AJ’s had taken pre-orders for lunch so “line time” was minimal and with Black Rifle coffee

in hand courtesy of Hereford Kit Company, everyone was soon chatting and getting ready for the drawing of the raffle, with some great prizes to be had.

South East Airsoft Supplies headlined with a Recoil SCAR, Hereford Kit Company provided a Plat-A-Tac chest rig, there were badges from 1 Legion Milsim and Superfly in the USA and last but by no means least a years’ digital subscription to Airsoft Action.

Once this had taken place there was still “The Main Event” to take place though; one of the younger Darkwater regulars had offered to have his head shaved if enough money went in the bucket. Callum, honest true mate that took some real “cojones” as the group that lined up to scalp you were obviously intent on mischief!

With gameplay continuing through the afternoon it was a really superb day and a successful one too. When I spoke to Jon the next morning about the final outcome he told me; “Yes. The Reds smashed it with 5 gates held, 8 mines planted, 3 detonated, the IED planted and detonated and ALL of their drugs recovered. They had only 65 deaths/spawns too.

“From a Darkwater Airsoft perspective the day was a great success. The game went as smoothly as we could have hoped for. The sun literally shone down on us. I think Zeus and Ares were pleased that we were supporting Spartan Warrior.

Everyone played fairly and to the rules.

“Most importantly, between us (Darkwater Airsoft, South East Airsoft Supplies, Hereford Kit Company who all contributed and Callum Grey with his head shave) we raised a staggering £1,700 for the charity and that’s what it’s all about.

That’s £1700 that’ll go towards helping OUR warriors, whether they’ve seen the battlefield, or whether they’ve been affected by incidents on home soil.

“A massive thanks to everyone who attended and took part in our special day. You’re all true Spartan Warriors” You can’t ask for more than that out of gameday, now can you?

For more information on Spartan warrior and the great work they do please visit www.spartan-warrior.com and to see what Darkwater Airsoft have up their sleeves next check out Facebook.com/DarkwaterDarksite or email them direct at darkwaterairsofthythe@gmail.com

www.airsoft-action.online

33

International Event FRANCE

AIRSOFT ACTION’S FRENCH CONTRIBUTOR, DIANE MONTAGNIER, REPORTS FROM AN EVENT THAT CHALLENGED EVEN THE MOST EXPERIENCED OF AIRSOFT SNIPERS.

SNIPERLAND CHALLENGE NAGES IS A SMALL VILLAGE in the middle of the Natural Parc of Haut Languedoc. Last June, on the 24th and 25th, in the south of France, took place a very important meeting for French snipers: the “Sniperland Challenge”.

Sniperland is one of the most famous airsoft sniper website and forums. It’s a great community of passionate snipers and exclusively for sniper users (spring, HPA and gas replicas). This year Sniperland organized its first meeting, the Sniperland Challenge, for “gentlemen snipers”! Sniperland grouped together French airsofters but also Swiss and Belgians and French-speaking people. There is a lot of discussion about sniping, shooting theory, mechanics, bbs, upgrades, etc. and Sniperland is also an association under the law of 1901.

THE GAME

On Saturday morning, 32 participants arrived on the meeting site. The field was a large forest place, in the middle of hills. It was lent by the airsoft association Montpellier 2 Airsoft and the Challenge began with chrony control, in order to separate all the participants, depending on the sniper’s power. Four groups were defined with about 10 snipers. Each group had its own organizer or referent. Then, the four groups went on different sites on the field.

The goal and the rules were quite simple and the same for all the groups: The first sniper had to install an aluminium target (human chest size) in the spot he wanted. He had to choose the distance and the difficulty (between 2 trees, wind force, target in height, etc.). Then he had to make his own shot that will set the ratio of point.

For example, if he succeeds his shot in 1 shot, the ratio is 0 for the rest of the group. If the other participant make his shot in one shot too, he has 0 point. If a participant shots in 3 shots, he is penalized of +3 points (3+0). On the other hand, if the first sniper does his shot in 3 rounds, the participant who makes his shot in 1 shot wins -2 points (3-1).

The goal is to have the lowest score or even negative score at the end of the competition.

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November 2017

All participants in a group have to shoot on the same imposed target. Once it’s done, it’s the second sniper’s turn to place the target at the spot he wants and the whole group will shoot, until everybody have placed the target once. Thus, variations in distances and difficulties will not penalize all participants.

The aluminium targets, made exclusively for this Challenge, made it possible to hear very clearly the sound of the bbs impact. A big advantage to shoot at very long distances!

The first tournament was the quarter finals, which took place all Saturday morning. In each group, the half that made the best score goes into the semi-final.

It took place on Saturday afternoon, under the same conditions of playing and rules.

On Saturday evening, there was a general meeting of the Sniperland’s members. Those who camped had a good night’s sleep in the cool but many rented a lodge for this occasion, near the nearby lake.

Sunday morning, the finalist announcement was made.

Direction Mount Concord (the final “d” is not pronounced) to enjoy the view on top of the mountain.

The conditions of

International Event FRANCE

shooting were very trying. Indeed, the wind was very variable and the relief did not help. The final was very intense between the 3 last finalists. It was played as a death match and it was so close! Bowy, a Swiss player, known for his famous 120 meters shoot, won the Challenge with his SRS Silverback, followed by Leblond with his Well MB4411, followed by Stalker with his beautiful VSR10 wooden stock.

The finalist received a trophy and a target dedicated by all the participants!

INTERVIEWS

Alumyx and Renan were organizers, this is what they have to say about the event: AA: Why did you organize this Challenge?

Renan: “After the Concord Challenge in 2014, Alumyx and I were on the field and Alumyx asked himself a question about a long-distance shooting. He said this field could be perfect because of the many different landscapes it offers. We joked about it, I thought about a contest, he thought about points accounting… And then the Challenge was born for all these gentlemen snipers!”

Alumyx: “It was important to bring together all our forum members.”

“I HAD ONLY A 20CM X 20CM WINDOW TO SHOT THE TARGET. THE POSITION WAS UNCOMFORTABLE FOR A RIGHT-HANDED. I TRIED A LEFT-HANDED SHOT… AND I HIT THE BULL’S EYE!” Alumyx: “I hope so! We are glad to see that 4 Swiss guys were here, a Hong Kong expat an a Chinese girl too!”

They come from all over France and even from Switzerland!

This is what these special snipers thought about this Challenge.

AA: What do you think about this Challenge?

Luke: “Wonderful! It’s a good experience to mix sniping and challenge.”

Leblond: “It was amazing! The global concept and all the good mood were great! I liked the fair play and the respect during each shots. The landscape was incredible! I would like to do it again! We all share the same passion.”

Fever: “I met a lot of interesting people and learnt a lot of things! The pleasant ambiance was different compare to a Sunday game. We were on the same wavelength.”

Bowy: “A very good experience, close to what we can found

AA: How long did you set this Challenge?

Renan: “During 2 years, it was just an idea. It needed one year to be set and the last 6 months were just pressure! Our partners, Silverback Airsoft and Airsoft Games helped us a lot.”

Alumyx: “Silverback Airsoft offered patches and banner, Sniperland offered all the aluminium targets and Montpellier 2 Airsoft lent us its field, the care-assurance, referees and chrony.

Airsoft Games organized a tombola.”

AA: Do we need to be a Sniperland member to participate?

Renan: “Yes and no. Each participant has to register to Sniperland, after the whole forum decision. But he doesn’t have to pay the annual subscription in order to be an active member.

But you can be invited by an active member, even if you don’t belong to the forum. Each participant have to be friendly and have the desire to meet people.”

AA: Could we see another Challenge next year?

Renan: “Certainly! Everyone ask for it! It was a great success.

In my opinion, it will be interesting to only change the field and the limitation power. Indeed, you don’t need to have a powerful 3 Joules replica. It’s better to have a very accuracy 1.5 Joule sniper than a 3 Joule blunderbuss!”

www.airsoft-action.online

35

International Event FRANCE

in Swiss. A lot of very good snipers, an exemplary fair play and a high level of shots.”

Panchoa: “I was afraid that my sniper wasn’t good enough compared to the others. But not! It was interesting to see how people are analysing the situation and the way they shoot. The distances were between 40 meters and 80 meters, with a lot of difficulties, like trees, wind or grass.”

Sako: “A great moment of sharing, mutual help and encounter.”

Baini (she was the only girl): “This event has greatly increased my interest of sniping! Compare to Hong Kong, it was the perfect field!”

AA : What is your replica and your upgrade?

Leblond: “I have a Well MB4411. It’s a 450 fps power with an AirsoftPro upgrade (cylinder, piston, triggger, etc.), NineBall rubber, PDI inner barrel, homemade bucking and barrel spacer.”

Luke: “A SRS A1 full origine!”

Samo: “M24 Classic Army full PDI!” Baini: “It’s a full upgraded Well MB06. It weights under than 3kg! I spent more than £263 to have the lightest snipe!”

Bowy: “The final on top of the Mount Concord! An amazing 360° view!”

Panchoa: “The whole weekend with friends and new friends. I beat my distance record. I remember also the remarkable behaviour and respect of everybody!”

This kind of event allowed me to see and especially to appreciate, magnificent and extraordinary shots! The suspense was an integral part of these two days! It was possible to see exceptional airsoft snipers, such as many upgraded SRS Silverbacks but also more modest replicas with similar performance. For mechanics lovers, it was possible to see highquality upgrades and talk with passionate people, in search of the perfect shot.

It was also a great moment of conviviality between airsofters. Everybody was talking about sniping, gear, mechanics, memorable game memories, and of course this Challenge! Great success!

Vinot: “My replica is a ACW Oris T-5000 with a PDI inner barrel and a complete custom mechanic.”

Sako: “A FN SPR A5M. Only the stock, the trigger guard and the rail are originals!”

Panchoa: “I have a APS2 OR Maruzen full upgraded. Laylax, PDI, Silverback, etc. I may have spent more than £1,300! My power is my usual power.”

Fever: “I participated with my VSR10 Pro Snipe with a HPA Wolverine system. I have also a Maple Leaf inner barrel and rubber. I kept my usual upgrade in order to see what my replica worth.”

Skavenger360: “Well MB06 full upgraded with PDI, PPS SHS pieces. Some pieces are also homemade.”

AA: What is your best memory?

Leblond: “The luckiest shot ever at 80 meters during the final!

I also remember a shot at 50 meters. I had only a 20cm x 20cm window to shot the target. The position was uncomfortable for a right-handed. I tried a left-handed shot… And I hit the bull’s eye!”

Vinot: “The intense final! Everyone was silent during the shot, then applauded! It highlights the great respect toward the shooter inside the community.”

MadMax: “The fair play and the camaraderie.”

www.airsoft-action.online

37

Inside Airsoft COMBAT-UK

AT A RECENT EVENT AT R.I.F.T. AIRSOFT, LEZ LEE MET THE GUYS AT COMBAT-UK AND DECIDED TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THEM.

INSIDE COMBAT-UK It’s rare that I stray outside the South East but after meeting these guys at a recent R.I.F.T. Airsoft site where they had a heavily stocked trade stand, instinct told me that CombatUK were good, very good at what they do and I knew that I needed to investigate further.

So the magic question was asked “Would you like to feature in our “Inside Airsoft” pages which are specifically devoted to airsoft retailers”?

Edward “Ed” Leo, owner of Combat-UK was as keen as I was to visit and review their retail shop, in the town centre of Stevenage in Hertfordshire, where I found once again my instinct had not failed me.

The double-fronted shop wasn’t difficult to find at all, you

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November 2017

would be hard pressed to miss it even if you were on your way to Specsavers! As well as the obvious signage, one of the window displays features a full, original, armoured Storm Trooper, guaranteed to grab your attention. From the moment that you walk in, I dare you not to say “WOW”! The shop is packed with everything airsoft. Wall to wall... floor to ceiling with RIFs of every type you can imagine and not forgetting the additional Gridwall mesh panels throughout centre floor stacked with... Yes, you guessed it, GUNS!!!

There is also a huge glass display unit housing an arsenal of handguns and a massive range of other pieces of airsoft gear that is also part of the game. Vast quantities of gun bags and cases, tactical accessories, tac-vests, battle belts and pouches to meet your every requirement. Holsters, sights, scopes, grips, slings, eye pro, face masks, BBs, gas, pyros.... you name it and I’m pretty sure they have it! There is also a generous selection of upgrade parts, including HPA kits if that’s your thing. Combat gear of many brands and camo types... are you getting the picture? Not quite eh? Well how about if I tell you that there is a sizeable room devoted to every possible NUPROL product ever produced (I think) by this ever expanding company.

By now, after my lengthy tour of this airsoft superstore, I figured it was time to get to work, so I put my tongue, which was by now dragging along the floor, back in my mouth and fired up my trusty DSLR to capture the photos wrapped around this feature and finally engage with some of the team behind this intoxicating airsoft nirvana.

When I asked Ed to tell me some of the history behind Combat-UK, he described a “from little acorns....” clichéd beginning about how Combat-UK started in August 2012 as an army surplus stall in Stevenage indoor market, selling used

Inside Airsoft COMBAT-UK

clothing and surplus military items to cadets and personnel of the Army Reserves. Ed, together with his wife Ida was happy that the stall was growing steadily in popularity and custom was increasing as the word quickly spread around the area. Ed began to notice that not all their customers were military but often their stock was going towards making up the ingredients of a rapidly growing activity called “airsoft”. One day, Terry Curran brought Tony Whitmarsh, the creator of R.I.F.T. Airsoft to the stall, who explained how this rapidly growing sport/ hobby was developing at a very fast pace. Ed was more than interested so when Tony invited him to set up his stall at their flagship site “Com’s Site 3”, Ed accepted and from what turned out to be quite a steep learning curve over the first few months, things began to shape-up - and shape-up well for Ed and Ida. Touchingly, Ed explained how the early days developed: “At this time, airsoft was still something not many people in Hertfordshire had heard about, but the people we had met and the friendliness encouraged us to become more involved.

“Business was tough during our infancy and we had to move out of our home to save money to help build the business but, thankfully, over the next three years our reputation grew along with the business and it became clear that larger premises were needed. In December 2016 we moved to our current location just 30 metres from where it all started. Along the way we have met so many fantastic players and even today it surprises us how friendly the sport is considering they have spent the day shooting each other”.

Combat-UK has a terrific compliment of staff that together makes for a formidable team. Current staff comprise of owner Edward “Ed” Leo who is in charge of the day to day running of the store and admin, closely supported by his wife Ida Leo who (I’m assured) is always there to guide him in the right direction.

Phil Woods is a man of many hats who not only manages the store but also runs the Tech department as well as controlling the business when Edward is away.

In support of both Phil and Ed, Reece Holmes (complete with his cheery face and booming laugh) is always heard when you come into the store, when he is not advising customers on which weapon will best suit their needs, he is working with Phil in the Tech Department.

In charge of marketing and off-site sales is Jason Hennah.

Jason loves to bring their customers information first via their Facebook page and Twitter account, if it’s a new product that has come into stock or an event we are running, Jason will ensure you all know about it. Assisting at events is Jason Parker, who is a regular customer at Combat-UK and super-enthusiastic player.

Ed added, “Last but by far the least, I cannot convey how grateful I am to my wonderful Father. Without his help, support and advice Combat-UK would not exist today. His love for his family and determination to see us succeed is the biggest and best investment any one person has given. This contribution has not only been a life saver but a life giver, both financially and standing beside me through thick and thin, always there for me and my family... from deep in my heart, thank you Dad!” So now that you know the team and who-does-what at Combat-UK, I asked Ed about the brands that he stocks and why, to which he replied: “At Combat-UK we love to give our customers as much choice as possible and stock a huge range of brands for all budgets, so if it is made for airsoft you can be sure we will have it or can get it for you.

In-store you will find all the main brands such as ASG, G&G, ICS, CYMA, DBOY, WE, TOKYO MARUI, ARES and NUPROL to name just a few.

“I FIGURED IT WAS TIME TO GET TO WORK, SO I PUT MY TONGUE, WHICH WAS BY NOW DRAGGING ALONG THE FLOOR, BACK IN MY MOUTH AND FIRED UP MY TRUSTY DSLR TO CAPTURE THE PHOTOS WRAPPED AROUND THIS FEATURE AND FINALLY ENGAGE WITH SOME OF THE TEAM BEHIND THIS INTOXICATING AIRSOFT NIRVANA.” www.airsoft-action.online

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Inside Airsoft COMBAT-UK

“As well as clothing and tactical wear by Viper-and some, currently we have over 220 different rifles in stock and 150 different pistols (Author’s note: I told you this store was packed!!) and an indoor shooting gallery to try before you buy.”

Ed also assured me that as well as the massive range of guns and gear available, they are a well-known and comprehensive “one-stop-shop” for just about everything you might need (or don’t need but simply want, as is often the case). Whether you are looking for a 120m weapon or a starter pack you can be sure that these guys can accommodate you.

One unique feature that absolutely needs to be a part of this review, is the legendary “Airsoft Monkey”, Phil Woods. This well-known and very well-respected gun guru has over 10 years experience working on airsoft guns. Phil started the sport on a budget (like most new players) with a second hand gun that very quickly broke and not having enough money to have it repaired, he delicately took it apart himself.

In 2015, Phil met Edward at Combat-UK and offered his technical services for warranty work. Edward quickly realised the skills that the Monkey had and before long was giving him more work than he could handle while still working full time.

With the move to the new shop Edward offered Phil a part in the business, running the tech department.

Both Phil and Edward visited the ASG factory in Denmark and completed the three day ASG tech course. This intensive course allows Phil and Combat-UK to warranty repair all ASG products on-site, saving the customer having to return their RIF back to Denmark. To fully complete the package, Phil has specialised skills in upgrades, so if you want your shooting sticks to fire faster, further and on the money every shot then there is no better person to speak to than the Monkey.

By now you should be getting some idea about what a visit to Combat-UK will have waiting for you. Ed confirmed what I already figured for myself, that apart from the massive stock that they hold, they are renowned for their service, after sales service, variety of products and last but by no means least, their warm welcome and fun and friendly service.

When I research retail outlets for our “Inside Airsoft” pages, I always like to ask what is currently “in fashion” and this is what Ed had to say: “Trends are always changing in airsoft. At Combat-UK we get to see most of it and I think this is mostly down to our face-to-face business model, however, over the last 12 months I would say the biggest trend is the explosion of ASG into the UK market, which has been strongly supported by Paul Wignall.

His attention to detail and commitment to the brand goes

above and beyond anything I have ever seen. The launch of the ASG EVO Scorpion has out-sold most weapons over the last 6 months – but new trends come and go all the time, so we just keep our ear to the ground and make sure that we understand our customers and bring them what they want. As a result, a new breed of customers are coming to the arena and these people want what they should have always had, namely great products, friendly clubs and excellent customer service and quality after-sales. This is something that is strongly instilled at Combat-UK and very important to our company.”

Returning to the “R.I.F.T.” connection, Combat-UK works very closely with Tony and his family-run airsoft business by running 4 shops out of their 6 sites. This close network allows Ed to keep in touch with present day needs but typically, most of their customers play at these sites which makes for great friendships and networking which benefits all. They also run a loyalty scheme for R.I.F.T. Airsoft and members of Tech Brigade.

Combat-UK also supports “blue light” and Armed forces with a 10% discount scheme. From time to time (normally about twice a year) Combat-UK will run charity events to raise money for much needed causes with their last one made over £1,000.00 for the Fireman’s Charity. Over the last 24 months they have raised over £5000.00 for good causes.

So there we are, the past, present and future of one of the UK’s finest airsoft retailers.

Combat-UK and OnlyAirsoft are one and the same so don’t get confused as this was created to eliminate just that. The hyphen in the name caused administrative problems hence the introduction of a second name but ultimately, if you look at their very impressive website you will see that both names are interlinked so you will end up where you wanted to go.

COMBAT-UK As for me, this was one journey 13-15 Market Place that I am happy that I made outside Stevenage my area because although everything Herts was indicative of a quality shop and SG1 1DH service, I had no idea just how superb 01438 362922 and indeed, “inspirational” Combat-UK www.onlyairsoft.com was until I saw it with my own eyes.

You can also be assured that I will sales@onlyairsoft.com be writing a review in the not-sowww.combat-uk.com distant future about Airsoft Monkey sales@combat-uk.com himself for reasons that will be exposed… All will be revealed in Airsoft Open Monday to Saturday 10.00 -17.30 hours Action!

Lez OUT!

Contact Details:

www.airsoft-action.online

41

event PAINTFEST 2017

PAINTFEST 2017 GOING ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY, KELLY “FEMME FATALE” HARDWICK HEADS OFF TO A PAINTBALL EVENT WHERE AIRSOFT WOULD ALSO BE PLAYED FOR THE FIRST TIME. In-game photos by Pedro Batiatus “The Airsoft Project”.

AS AN AIRSOFTER, WHEN YOU get a call saying “Would you like to attend Paintfest 2017?” I think we all can agree that you’d be a little bit hesitant but when I was told that this was the first year they would also be running a series of airsoft games, I decided to keep an open mind and accept the invite.

Admittedly, I’ve never played paintball and being a fair weather airsofter, I didn’t fancy the thought of washing out paint from my kit *shudders* but as they have teamed up with Fireball Squadron to bridge the gap between the airsoft and paintball communities, I definitely thought this would be an event worth going to! Although not many like to admit it, our sports are not worlds apart (as we sometimes like to believe), especially twhen it comes to the “mag-fed” aspect to paintball.

“Paintfest” is held annually at NPF Bassetts Pole, in the West Midlands, one of the most well-known paintball sites in the UK and is a huge festival where teams and players from around the world attend to sling some paint, compete in competition tournaments, enjoy a huge player’s party and get the chance to check out all the new paintball kit from some of the biggest names in the paintball industry.

The event is centred around a huge festival arena area that holds

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November 2017

the trade stands, food vendors, the bar area and the player party arena with the Fireball Squadron and NPF paintball fields (both tournament and magfed) in the surrounding areas that are a short walk away.

On site there was an abundance of retailers that appealed to both airsofters and paintballers alike including Enola Gaye, ActionSportGames, JD Airsoft, magfedpb.co.uk, Pro Shar, Dye, Warped Gear, Valken and many others where players could purchase new kit. Onsite this year there was also a large selection of food vendors including Indian cuisine, Caribbean cuisine, Italian cuisine, burgers and even a coffee shop, so attendees are well looked after during the event – a perfect option if you don’t want the hassle of bringing food and cooking it yourself over the weekend, or you just want a snack on the way back to your tent!

The ticket price of £90 includes camping for the duration (Friday to Sunday) and the facilities are actually very good.

The camping area for players is a huge field adjacent to the festival area where attendees can set up tents, caravans and motorhomes and have their cars parked next to their camp if they wish (something I really like because it means you can keep all your expensive kit safe in the car!). If you choose so, there is the option to purchase bands that enable you to use the shower block on site and they have plenty of “portaloos” dotted around the camping and main arena areas. My only pet peeve regarding the facilities, were men using the women’s portaloos (when their own portaloos were vacant), which is no fault of the organisers but I do believe players should be more considerate regarding the portaloos, given the significantly higher male to female ratio on site.

Although the site is only around 40 minutes from my home in Derbyshire, I arrived on the Friday evening around 6.30pm thanks to good ol’ Friday traffic and, unfortunately, multiple accidents on the M42. After meeting with the organisers we

event PAINTFEST 2017

set about setting up our tent for the weekend and taking a walk around the festival area (with a few beers thrown in) to see what would be going on over the weekend. There is SO much to see and do over the weekend, from the vendors to all the food to try and even an assault course brought to the festival by the Army (which I had a crack at, and yes, completed but was absolutely shattered afterwards)!

On Saturday morning the game brief for Fireball Squadron was bright and early at 9.30am with a game on time of 10am – the game brief was comprehensive and explained the rules of the site clearly so players knew what to expect at game on.

The games run over the weekend were more MilSim orientated than skirmish, with two teams and objectives to carry out over the weekend. Each team was given a set of envelopes that contained missions, for every mission completed in the time allowed points were gained and kept track of by the site’s marshals, then players would move on to their next objective. I was placed with the USDE team with a squad of great players – everyone was really welcoming, friendly and played hard during the weekend.

My favourite missions included retrieving intel from the other team’s spawn undetected and taking photographic evidence of it – with extra points to be had if we could do so undetected. The regular players on our squad led us through the maze of undergrowth slowly, making steady progress to their spawn and once we arrived I whipped my phone out to capture pictures of their maps. As we had done this undetected we felt awesome – up until we took a wrong turn and met some enemy players! It was a mad dash in a flurry of BBs to get the intel safely back to our own spawn (of course we didn’t get the extra points for being super sneaky!).

We also had a mission to defend the towers, where our team had to make their way from our respawn to the towers located on the other side of the site. Again, we crawled through the undergrowth to make our way through the trenches to avoid being seen by the other team. We made our way to the towers undetected, set up a defensive perimeter around them and waited for the clock to count down the allocated time, however, about 7 minutes in we were bombarded with enemy players and it was an intense firefight.

One thing about the site is that the forest is so dense that you can’t see much, meaning fire can come from any direction and

you can have no idea where it’s coming from - which is both unnerving and exhilarating. There was smoke and pyro going off in all directions which only added to the overall atmosphere.

The Fireball Squadron site took me pleasantly by surprise, many of you will know that my usual poison of choice is intense, hard hitting CQB and, as a result of that, I don’t play a lot of outdoors sites unless it is an urban game, or a MilSim. However, the Fireball Squadron site is a dense, thick woodland that is so close in areas that you can have a member of the opposite team standing next to you in the brush and not notice! It is a maze of shrubbery with some large open spaces filled with wooden buildings, jeeps and other structures that make excellent cover and as we were pretty lucky with the weather during the day, the site was really pleasant to play.

Coupled with the cool missions we embarked on this made for some really awesome gameplay. The marshals ran the games really well and to my knowledge there was no issues over the weekend. The team ran a really tight ship!

After we had finished playing for the day we went out into the festival area to check out the retailers, enjoy a bevvie and socialise with the other players. On Saturday evening is the absolute highlight of the weekend - the Paintfest Players Party! A huge celebration with live entertainment. From 8pm

www.airsoft-action.online

43

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event PAINTFEST 2017

“ONE THING ABOUT THE SITE IS THAT THE FOREST IS SO DENSE THAT YOU CAN’T SEE MUCH, MEANING FIRE CAN COME FROM ANY DIRECTION AND YOU CAN HAVE NO IDEA WHERE IT’S COMING FROM - WHICH IS BOTH UNNERVING AND EXHILARATING.” on Saturday evening players enjoy free drinks including beer, wine, cider and spirits (players ticket fees and sponsorships from companies such as Enola Gaye enable Paintfest to provide complimentary drinks) and live entertainment including DJs and the annual “Miss and Mr Paintfest competition”, which sees attendees compete for the title.

It is honestly a night full of laughter and utter hilarity. Although it rained pretty hard during the party, the NPF staff were handing out ponchos and their energy on stage kept everyone going. The atmosphere was absolutely insane and really enjoyable to be around.

On Sunday, despite a few fuzzy heads, the carnage continued on both sides of the field. Sunday is the last day of the festival for both the paintball and airsoft players to score points for their sides and the last day of the tournament paintball games. All the points gained by the teams over the weekend go towards the final score for the weekender and these, in turn, are added to each side’s ongoing yearly battle to beat the other side!

Overall I had an amazing time at Paintfest 2017 and I urge airsofters to give it a go if they are able to! The bigger the demand for airsoft at the festival means more airsoft at Paintfest and how cool would it be to have not 1 but 2 awesome festivals for airsoft every year?!

The festival side of the event was my favourite part and is a great experience - it has an almost electric atmosphere. The

gameplay from an airsoft perspective is really top notch, the team at Fireball Squadron did a fantastic job organising the games and I will be sure to visit the site in future! I am glad that I had the chance to experience this event and also get to speak to so many airsofters and paintballers alike.

Who knows, maybe next year I’ll give paintball a go and see how different it really is!

www.airsoft-action.online

45

skills

Plan your moves as Tactical Bounds

USE OF COVER

I’VE GOT THIS COVERED! MAKING THE MOST OF THE SKIRMISH FIELD EFFECTIVE USE OF COVER CAN BE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUCCESS AND DEFEAT ON THE SKIRMISH FIELD BUT COVER IS ALSO ONE OF THE MOST ILL-USED AND MISUNDERSTOOD ASPECTS OF THE GAME, AS GADGE EXPLAINS… Pictures by Jo Flood FIRSTLY IT’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE an accurate definition of what “cover” actually is.

In many a skirmish I’ve heard people referring to cover as something they are hiding behind, or even the supporting fire they require from their team but for the purpose of this article we’ll look at cover purely as “stuff that stops you being shot”.

And it is an important distinction. While many players will consider dense undergrowth or a smoke screen to be “cover”, it isn’t actually “cover”. In both those examples we are looking at “Concealment” protecting you from visual detection by the other team. Just remember protection from sight (smoke, undergrowth, darkness) is “concealment”, while protection from fire is “cover”. In airsoft, however, the lines can become blurred and these two are often the same thing as BBs have particularly low cover penetration. In real life nearly all of the common objects we use as “cover” in airsoft (let’s say pallets, wood buildings, tarpaulins etc.) would provide only concealment and it will probably surprise most readers to know that almost everything we take cover behind in airsoft would be easily shredded by a few bursts of 7.62mm NATO ammunition!

Yep, that includes brick walls as the author has personally seen an L86LSW dismantle a cavity wall with sustained fire from the relatively light 5.56mm round it fires! Real world cover needs to be something really solid like a tyre, a car’s engine block (a rifle round will go right through the body of a car), concrete walls or around 30cm of earth. This is airsoft though, so we don’t need to worry too much about a 6mm BB’s penetration capability –suffice it to say a particularly thick bit of undergrowth might well give you actual “cover” in your skirmish.

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Concelament is not cover. These bushes make Tom harder to see but offer almost no protection from fire

skills USE OF COVER

TACTICAL BOUNDS

What is important, however, is how we use our cover once we have decided that it will actually provide protection from fire and not just sight. Learning to move from one item of cover to another is almost as important as locating decent cover in the first place. It’s no good getting into a really safe spot and finding yourself unable to move and so the key skill here is learning to think ahead.

Like a good chess player, a good airsofter is evaluating where they will be in the game “a few moves ahead” before they even go into harm’s way. In the military this is referred to as “tactical bounds”. To undertake a “tactical bound” you must evaluate the cover ahead of you before moving (and if possible move with your teammates watching you move and ready to fire and supress the enemy should you be caught “mid move”), look ahead and work out where the next solid bit of cover is that you can get to within a few seconds of sprinting or, if necessary, crawling. It should not be so far away that by the time you get there you’ll have been exposed to the other team’s fire for too long and exhausted. Neither should it be so close that you’ve unnecessarily put yourself in the open merely to move forward two metres!

A good “bound” will use “dead ground” and the undulation of the terrain to obscure your movement and should be rapid (unless you’re being observed and trying to slowly sneak away or stalk an opponent). “Dead Ground” is any depression in the terrain that the enemy cannot see into, like small gullies, dry stream beds, trenches or perhaps the hollow ground between two hills or rises. It may sound obvious but you should always try and get into cover as quickly as possible. Even if you are sprinting, try and keep as low as you can, hug the terrain so if you are unexpectedly shot at less of you is visible. In urban gaming even a street kerb can be effective cover if you are low down enough. One important thing to mention here is the compromise between “speed as your security” and “stealth”. While you need to spend as little time in the open as possible the enemy’s eye will be drawn to movement so assess each bound individually for the best approach.

It’s also important when choosing the right move to make sure your camo fits the cover. Again this is more about “concealment” than cover but the two will often blur together.

You can’t always do this but if you can, you should. So, if

Plan your next move well in advance...

you’re in black, stick to the shadows; wearing tigerstripe stay in dense foliage etc. as the enemy’s eye will be drawn to any oddities in their vision, such as a large black “shadow” in a bush or, conversely, a ghillie suit “bushlike” profile in an urban area. Other important questions to ask include: “Is it really obvious cover?” “Can you fit behind it?” “Is there cover for your teammates to move up?” Isolated cover will be the first place the enemy will look to if they are fired upon, likewise that tree stump might not be the best bit of cover if you’re 16 stone and 7ft tall and expect your mates to get behind it with you. If the cover is so isolated you’re almost out of the game area and Wrong! Looking over cover exposes too much of Tom none of your mates can move up to support you, it’s not much use to you either. Looking through cover is a vital skill and learning to see through it, letting the eye focus past the intervening elements and pick up movement beyond is a skill that will pay dividends. If you have to look around your cover, make sure you do look around it and not over it.

COVER AND CONCEALMENT

Hiding behind a tree is seldom effective cover!

Right! Looking AROUND cover exposes litle of the body

Once you’re in decent cover it’s important to get the best out of it. During the battles in Somalia made famous in the film Black Hawk Down, US Special Forces found that sticking too close to walls and cover caused casualties as the bullets were channelled along the walls and cover. BBs can actually work in a similar way, so avoid hugging walls and other cover by not “crowding” the cover. “Crowding” cover is getting too close to it, not only does this make you easier to see but it also hampers your own vision and means you’ve got to completely reposition to look around the other side of the obstacle, or to shoot from the off side. Try and avoid this to prevent the “channelling” mentioned above and also to make yourself less obvious to enemy observation…

www.airsoft-action.online

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skills USE OF COVER

Right! Tom is a metre or so back from the cover and able to move to view or respond to threats

Right! Shooting ‘off hand’ reveals a minimum of the body to the enemy

Wrong! Crowding cover prevents you responding to threats from the left

Wrong! Firing from the right shoulder forces Tom to fully reveal his position

a good sniper fires from a few metres inside a building, rather than hanging out of the window. You gain concealment AND cover in this way.

In much the same way, you should try and avoid leaning over cover to fire at the enemy. Fire around cover and try to expose as little of your body as a target as possible and learn to fire your AEG or rifle effectively with both your dominant and your off hand so that when you are forced to use “off side” cover you can make the most out of it. It may even help if you know you will be in that position for any length of time to remove a pyro grenade and your pistol from your kit and put them in front of you, to be able to immediately repel an attack

if your primary goes down.

Even in the best fire position the enemy will soon start putting effective fire onto you. Make their job as difficult as possible by ensuring that once you’ve ducked back to “take cover” or reload, that you don’t pop up again in the same position - you can guarantee the bad guys have their sights on that point just hoping you will raise your head! Instead, drop down, shuffle to the other side of the obstacle and fire from there or, better still, disengage entirely and relocate. This last point is critically important but often ignored by many players.

Take a tip from the SAS and “shoot and scoot”. Get into a good firing position, unleash a devastating attack and relocate.

Remember that cover is always a temporary measure and 99 per cent of the time in airsoft the mission goals will be fluid and you will need to keep moving. If you develop a “siege mentality” and hunker down in one fixed position you WILL be outflanked and neutralised eventually. Even in defence, a fluid defence that allows your team to relocate defenders to counter the enemy’s main point of thrust, will be more effective than having several guys in “bulletproof bunkers” for all of game who never get to fire a shot and actually be useful as the battle rages on the other side of the site.

So there you have it, it might not be the sexiest subject in airsoft but learning how to use the terrain around you makes the difference between a good player and a great player.

So next time you’re on site and need to keep yourself protected and effective remember these tips and you’ve got it covered! www.airsoft-action.online

49

Loaded or Unloaded PROPPER

GETTING THE

ALTHOUGH NOT “FASHION DRIVEN” PER SE, TACTICAL CLOTHING AND GEAR BRANDS APPEAR TO GO IN AND OUT OF VOGUE BUT THERE’S ONE BRAND THAT’S BEEN WITH US FOR 50 YEARS: PROPPER FROM THE USA. JERRY NOONE TAKES A LOOK AT THE BRAND AND WHAT THEY HAVE TO OFFER.

PROPPER

OVER THE YEARS I’VE OWNED clothing and gear from just about every major tactical manufacturer out there; some of it has been absolutely first rate whilst other items have been relegated to the “not fit for purpose” bin and I’m afraid to say, that once I’ve found a brand wanting it takes an awful lot to rekindle my faith in them.

Back in the early 2000’s everyone seemed to be going through a real “US Special Forces moment”, mostly driven by images coming out of Afghanistan and that meant that “M81 Woodland” was very much in demand, as those pictures

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November 2017

GEAR

showed a lot of the “special dudes” still using a real “mash up” of US Desert Tri-Colour and M81.

Until its replacement around 2006, Woodland camo was the default camouflage pattern of U.S. military, originally issued as the well-known Battle Dress Uniform (BDU). The term itself commonly applies to the U.S. M81 “woodland” camo, which in turn was derived from the M1948 ERDL pattern, with the same set of colours as the 2nd generation ERDL design but with a 60% magnification of the original drawings. Introduced in 1981, the Woodland camo was a 4-colour, high-contrast, disruptive pattern with asymmetrical markings in sand, brown,

Loaded or Unloaded PROPPER

green and black and proved to work well in most of wooded, jungle and tropical environments. Since its debut it has been one of the most duplicated and modified camouflage patterns ever designed, even still used by various military forces around the world.

I actually really liked and still do like M81, as it works perfectly in UK woodland environments just like classic DPM and is often available at shows and boot fairs at really reasonable prices. My personal loadout for the period was from the US brand Propper, a woodland two piece uniform in the ACU cut that was properly “up to the minute” at the time and married up with a woodland boonie and a woodland Guarder RAV. I thought I was the “bee’s knees”!

Believe it or not, even after many years and many washes the uniform is actually still going, although in fairness it does look a bit beaten up and faded these days; that however is after nearly 16 years of use, so I’m not going to quibble in any way that this uniform is not fully “fit for purpose”!

PROPPER GOOD!

Founded by William S. Propper in 1967, Propper International is a manufacturer of the American Army Combat Uniform, Propper Battle Dress Uniform and iconic white Navy “Dixie Cup” hats. Their line of products includes high-quality tactical apparel and uniforms, military footwear and combat accessories for Military and law enforcement, service personnel, firefighting professionals, public safety and outdoor enthusiasts. This year, they proudly celebrate 50 years of providing outstanding military, law enforcement and tactical apparel and gear to folks like us who understand what it takes to get the job done right.

A 4,000-square-foot Propper “think tank” is dedicated to the research, development and design of new products. It’s where Propper transform gear concept sketches to finished prototypes that feel as authentic and durable as the real thing.

From there, their product development and global sourcing departments work hand-in-hand to bring their biggest and best ideas to life.

Propper cut and sew their clothing and gear in their very own 9001-2008 ISO-Certified production facilities in Haiti and Dominican Republic. Propper’s Berry-Compliant production facility in Puerto Rico handles additional cutting and sewing, in addition to pattern-grading, permanent press, permethrin treatments, stone washing, enzyme and garment dying and certified GORE-TEX seam sealing. Their 200,000-square-foot distribution centre in Dickson, Tennessee is EDI capable, RFID

capable and government bill and hold capable, helping them deliver everything users need on time and on spec. Propper’s website tells me that their core values are: • Authentic – From design to delivery, we’re driven by good people making really good gear. If it’s anything else, it isn’t ours.

• Deliberate – We’re calculated when it comes to what we make, how we make it and who we make it for – a difference you can feel in every stitch, every seam and every pocket.

• Responsive – Like our gear, our flexible service, fast shipping and product customization are designed to bring you more than you’d ever expect.

• Proven – We’re the leading gear and apparel supplier for the U.S. Department of Defense, having met their evolving needs for 50 years.

To put this last point in perspective for you… In that 50 years Propper has a hugely impressive track record and the numbers, whilst staggering, speak plainly for themselves; • 120,000,000 GARMENTS produced for the US military.

• 30,000,000 MILITARY PERSONNEL have worn Propper garments.

• 8,100,000 TOPS to the US Military.

• 11,800,000 TROUSERS to the US Military.

And these already impressive numbers don’t even take into account things like gloves, sleeping systems, webbing, nylon gear and even GORE-TEX rain suits (they’ve supplied over a million GORE-TEX suits to the US military and coastguard since 2004!) so you might say that this is a company that know more than a little about making good, solid, durable and above all, reliable clothing and gear!

www.airsoft-action.online

51

Loaded or Unloaded PROPPER

UP TO THE MINUTE

You might think with all of this going on that Propper would be pretty comfortable to rest on the laurels and just keep cracking on with those military contracts but that’s far from the truth of the matter. Like any company worth their salt they’re always looking at new fabrics, new technologies and new methods of garment construction so that they can offer the user the very best they can!

Whilst they do still manufacture both the classic BDU and the more modern ACU in a massive array of camouflage patterns (and yes, you can still buy M81!), it’s in some of their latest directions that they’ve completely re-kindled my interest.

To go back to an earlier comment, my Woodland ACU is years old now but still performing, so Propper are definitely a brand that I personally trust.

To illustrate what I mean about new directions though, I’m going to take a look at a few of their very latest developments, starting with the FULL ZIP TECH SWEATER. At £90.00 it combines the comfort of a stylish sweater with the functionality of a tactical jacket. Featuring a full zip-up front and stand-up collar, the Propper Tech Sweater is crafted from high strength anti-pilling fleece fabric, which makes the exterior durable but keeps the interior warm and comfortable. Reinforced fabric around the elbows and shoulders offer additional resilience and durability, while elastic binding at the sleeves make sure the sweater fits you perfectly during any activity. Two dual zippered hand pockets and side zippers allow quick access to bottom layer or your belt, while the vertical zippered chest pocket

provides safe storage for documents. The Full Zip Tech Sweater from Propper offers excellent freedom of movement with superb protection against the weather and is perfect for casual wear as well as tactical use.

Priced at £56.00 the PROPPER V2 HOODIE is a classic bit of design updated with some new twists. Crafted from highly stretchable and lightweight smooth-faced jersey fleece material, the Propper V2 Hoodie comes with 3/4 front zip closure, contoured hood for added weather resistance and two zipped pockets for storing smaller tactical essentials. Warm and comfortable, the new V2 Hoodie is perfectly suited for both covert field duty and casual wear and is ideal for a variety of outdoor activities. I love a good hoodie so one of these will most definitely be on my “wish list” for the winter!

The PROPPER MEN’S LIGHTWEIGHT TACTICAL PANTS come in at a wallet-friendly £44.00; made of durable and breathable Polycotton Ripstop fabric, these fully functional Men’s Lightweight Tactical Pants feature relaxed fit construction with action-stretch waistband, reinforced seat and knees for added durability and durable YKK zip fly with multiple easily accessible pockets for all storage needs. They’re perfect for tactical or for everyday use, so this is a case of money well spent!

With a slightly higher price-tag of £62.00, the PROPPER MEN’S STRETCH TACTICAL PANTS are made of highly stretchable Nylon and Spandex fabric mix. These fully functional Men’s Stretch Tactical Pants feature relaxed fit construction with an action-stretch waistband, reinforced seat and knees for added durability and durable YKK zip fly with multiple easily accessible pockets for all storage needs. These are a bit more dynamic than the standard tactical pants and it’s certainly easy to see where your money is going here too.

I’m really only just touching the tip of the iceberg with these four garments. Speaking to the team at Military 1st they are aiming to offer their customers a massive selection of Propper’s high-quality products, including a comprehensive range of tactical pants, combat shirts and field uniforms, waterproof jackets, hoodies, vests and soft shells, as well as low-profile backpacks, duffles, gun cases, utility pouches and accessories such as belts, hats, socks and patches.

It’s most definitely a case of “watch this space” and new Propper products are constantly being added at www. military1st.co.uk, so take my advice and go and check out what Propper can offer you at your earliest convenience!

www.airsoft-action.online

53

Site DRAGON’S LAIR AIRSOFT

GEORAGA FLIES OVER TO DRAGON’S LAIR AIRSOFT AND BURNS THROUGH THE COMPETITION. IT’S A GAME...

BUT DOES HE AND HE HIS TEAM TAKE THE THRONE? OR IS IT ABOUT MORE THAN THAT? FIND OUT IN THIS MONTH’S SITE REVIEW!

DRAGON’S LAIR DRAGON’S LAIR: A HISTORY

FULL DISCLOSURE FOR THOSE OF you that don’t know me well…

I’ve been playing at Dragon’s Lair on and off for a good 3 or so years now; I’ve even made some cracking videos of the site over on the Georaga YouTube channel (I say cracking... I’m probably biased about my own content, right?), so when I was told they hadn’t been reviewed in several years I thought good, I haven’t been in way too long, here’s an excuse to go back and play.

I didn’t want to interrupt the flow of the day so I gave Ray and Jean a call afterwards and asked them about the

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history of the site; I always enjoy finding out more about the staff of a site or a retailer, you often get some little gems you don’t expect and this was no different! What started out as a paintball site back in 1986, Dragon’s Lair made the leap into the airsoft business 10 years ago following a spontaneous trip to Ground Zero down in Ringwood with none other than the infamous editor of this here magazine, Nigel Streeter! Now I knew that Nige and Ray had known each other for a long time... but never that Nige had impacted the Lair so much... even if he didn’t mean to.

Ray could tell I was surprised to hear about this so he recounted the story for me, ”He phoned me up and said ‘Look I’ve got to go to a place called “Ground Zero” to sort out what’s it’s [airsoft] all about’, because I didn’t know anything about it and he said ‘do you want to come with me, we’ll take a few photographs and check it out?’ I said yeah that’d be brilliant.”

It turns out that Ray was a pretty decent professional photographer back in the day. He could take a mean snap to rival even the snazziest of today’s Insta-filtered photo fanatics and it’d turn out that this one trip would change the Lair forevermore… ”So off we went down to Ground Zero, we spent the day there and on the way home I said ‘That’s it, I’m coming out of paintball and going into airsoft’ and I mean that literally!”

He told me that from that day, because they were getting older, what they wanted to do was introduce airsoft into their paintballing rota every 2nd and 4th Sunday of the month and hopefully within a couple of years they’d be able to pack paintball up and only open twice a month. What he didn’t expect was for that transition to only take 13 months!

Site DRAGON’S LAIR AIRSOFT

R AIRSOFT I asked him why he thinks that is and he said something that I think really sums it up nicely: ”Customers are the most important people in the world George, without them we don’t have a business so you’ve got to give customers what they want, you’ve got to treat them with respect and it’s lovely. It makes a really nice atmosphere on site and we don’t get any problems whatsoever, very rarely do we get anyone spitting their dummy out of the pram or anything else because everybody respects everybody else; they’re all friendly and they all look after each other; it’s like a little family... well it’s not a little family it’s a big family […] and they feel wanted, you know; they feel like they’ve come somewhere and they’re going to get looked after, they’re going to get respect and they can enjoy themselves without any fear”.

THE ARRIVAL

Things certainly feel that way when I turned up on Sunday morning, gun bag in hand packed with my ASG Scorpion Evo and my King Arms R93 Blaser sniper rifle. It’s 9am and the place is already bustling with players offloading, unloading, and reloading in the sheltered safe-zone, while orders for breakfast and lunch are being taken by Hannah who does the hot food catering. As I walked passed I notice some of the site regulars with a space next to them so I settled my stuff down and do the rounds of awkwardly repetitive but equally nice “Hey, hello, hi, how’s it going? Long-time no see. Hey there! Hi!” before making my way to the back of the line for sign-in.

As I stood there next to AirsoftZone’s on-site shop, watching the rabble of last minute BB buyers handing over their plastic for plastic, I also see every single person in front of me welcomed with a handshake and a smile from Ray. On my

“I AIM DOWN THE CROSSHAIRS AND.....

PPFFTHUD! SOMETHING’S NOT RIGHT. IT DIDN’T SOUND RIGHT AND I’M NOT ENTIRELY SURE I SAW A BB SOAR OFF INTO THE DISTANCE. WHAT I AM SURE OF IS THAT THE RED TEAM ARE GETTING CLOSER AND CLOSER!”

other side, Nathan the head Marshall is handing out hire guns to some newcomers... a group of fairly big guys (compared to me at my staggering 5’8”) who are all wearing matching camo t-shirts and getting excited to get their hands on something other than the paintball guns they’re used to using on their work outings (… I asked them... it’s not weird I know that).

I got to the front of the line and get my own handshake from Ray and a warm welcome from Jean and I’m marked down as player number... well would you look at that... the coveted 69! (Aaand I’ve lost you... have I lost you?.. Yeah I’ve lost you... I’ll give you a few seconds to bring your mind back to airsoft... Okay, ready? Good…!)

”FALL BACK”

Down we go to the AO, which consists of four different areas all within the large woodland site and Nathan gives us all a briefing.

Game 1 is a fall-back game.

Great! This game is a good way for newer players to get to grips with the site because it utilises each area one after the other in an elimination format.

The idea is that it’s a timed game and the attacking team have unlimited lives. After being hit, they respawn on their last man on the field... so if you’re the player at the very back that is trying not to get hit; don’t be that player! www.airsoft-action.online

55

TACTICAL

get the tactical advantage PATROL GLOVE

RECON GLOVE

VENOM GLOVE

n Polyester/spandex n Micro fibre palm n Webbing finger pull

n Polyester/spandex n Padded micro fibre palm n One piece rubber knuckle guard n Rubber/Velcro wrist fastening n Thumb/finger grip

n Polyester/spandex n Micro fibre palm with reinforcing n Rubber finger impact protection n Hardshell knuckle protection n Rubber/Velcro wrist fastening n Glove puller

Colours: V-Cam, Titanium, Coyote, Black, Green Sizes: S-XXL SRP

Colours: V-Cam, Titanium, Coyote, Black, Green Sizes: S-XXL

£12.95 SRP

£22.50

Colours: V-Cam, Coyote, Black, Green Sizes: S-XXL SRP

£29.95

WEBBING FINGER PULL

UPDATES / STOCKISTS / CATALOGUE

www.vipertactical.co.uk

Site DRAGON’S LAIR AIRSOFT

However, whilst they can literally spend the game running back and forward as many times as they want, the defending team have one life in each area; so, once you’re hit, FALL BACK (get it? It’s in the name!) to the next area and wait for the marshalls to give the signal to engage.

I’m on the Blue team and we’re defending first. I set up a little off to the back and along the side with my R93 Blaser and pop off a few shots at nearby trees to make sure my scope is zeroed in. The whistle blows and off in the distance we see the Red team, in what looks like a horde of Orcs descend upon the muddy midway point of the river, scrambling to get across... some run and leap like elegant gazelles with guns, others... not so much... opting to take the bridges to avoid the mud. A good choke point for the Blues.

I hear the Blues open fire; that oh so familiar sound of pistons cycling in rapid succession, of BBs ricocheting off of the wooden barricades and the yelps of “HIT” coming from across the way as the Reds battle on trying to break our ranks.

They’re just coming into range of my Blaser R93 sniper. The shots fly straight and I manage to take out 3 opposing players coming up the left flank through the trees. I load the next BB, cocking back the straight pull bolt to feel that spring lock, before pushing it back into place; I aim down the crosshairs and..... PPFFTHUD! Something’s not right. It didn’t sound right and I’m not entirely sure I saw a BB soar off into the distance.

What I am sure of is that the Red team are getting closer and closer!

I try again, and as the pressure from my index finger pulls on the trigger... PPFFTHWACK! Nope something’s definitely not right. I eject my magazine and lift the muzzle to the sky, cocking the bolt over and over to try and dislodge any BBs in the chamber but nothing happens. Ollie (a veteran Lair player) shouts over at me, laughing at how ridiculous I look as the enemy draws closer still and then all of a sudden, DING! I’m hit.

The game lasted 1 hour and 6 minutes. We Blues fought hard to maintain our positions but next... it was our turn to attack.

After a quick reload and respite back at the S-Z, we switch the game around. As soon as the whistle is blown me, my EVO and the rest of the Blues sprint across the woodland laying down as much fire as possible and quickly moving up the field, clearing Reds from behind their barricades by firing across rather than straight ahead. We move so fast that we clear the first two stages, the wood and the fort, in around 10 minutes forcing the game to need to stop momentarily so that the Red team can regroup across the bridges; they clearly need time to settle in and prepare for the impending attack to come.

My advice at this point for anyone playing a game like this where you have unlimited lives and are being timed; as many other experienced players will agree; sacrifice the strategic

impulse to check and clear rooms and push hard through the areas over and over, even if that means taking hit after hit.

Leave room clearing to the players nearer the back and focus on getting your team further up the field.

That is definitely the thinking as the whistle blows again and we clear as much of the area beyond the bridges as possible before I dart across.

What I like about this game is that by the time you get to the Village, if you’ve been playing well, you’re likely running low on ammo and need to switch to your sidearm... and this is the perfect area to move low and fast with your pistol drawn, popping around corners and catching the remaining enemies off guard, feeling that satisfying sense of pride that comes with a pistol kill all the way up to the point where THUD! You and that other guy take each other out.

We end the game, calling ”CLEAR” at 24 minutes which is an amazing time... however... one of the rules states that when “clear” is called and the game is ended, any Dragon’s Lair Airsoft run by remaining enemies in hiding still alive, adds Ray and Jean Cain: an extra 5 minutes to the time. Thanks to the

Who? Where?

one little guy who on his first day, managed to hide in the middle of the village from every single one of our players, the time increased to 29 minutes.

Well played!

Located on the site of the Secret Nuclear Bunker in Kelvedon Hatch, near Brentwood, Essex, CM15 0LA

CONCLUSION

I had a blast and always enjoy seeing a site where the community side of airsoft is cherished, I’ll no doubt be back soon. If you enjoy woodland sites where it’s as much about the players as it is the game... this site is worth trying out. www.airsoft-action.online

57

Event INVICTA BATTLEFIELD WEEKENDER

AIRSOFT HAS CHANGED MASSIVELY OVER THE YEARS; SUNDAYS WERE FOR SKIRMISHING, WITH THE ODD WEEKEND PUT ASIDE FOR MILSIM. HOWEVER, THE LAST FEW YEARS HAS SEEN THE RISE OF A THIRD TYPE OF EVENT... AIRSOFT SOCIALS! AIRSOFT NATION’S GRAHAM HOFFMAN REPORTS… Pictures by Jon Reed

SOCIAL AIRSOFT RECENTLY I WAS INVITED to attend Invicta Battlefield’s first weekender, a social event which involves airsoft during the day along with retailers, entertainment and camping of an evening.

With a limited number of day passes available to include everyone.

You may have heard of Invicta Battlefield before, Airsoft Action first covered them around Christmas 2016 and have since featured them several times for other events. Situated just outside Maidstone in Kent, Invicta is a 40 acre woodland site with a wide range of structures, terrain and game modes.

For a site that has been around less than a year, there seems to be a continuous amount of work and development on features and events. Since our last review the site has in-game vehicles, a 100FT dedicated range and a safe zone that puts most indoor sites to shame.

Turning up early on the Saturday I was greeted by a marshal at the entrance - handed a wristband and directed to the camping space. After setting my camp, I took a quick tour

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of the site - I haven’t been here in 6 months and a lot has changed.

As I head over to the safe zone I see the retailers and vendors are already chatting with players. It’s awesome to see industry supporting these type of events on a weekend and I immediately go browsing. Valken Sports, Viper, ICS, ASG and Platoon Stores were all in attendance and had large stands showing the latest kit, clothing and RIFs. Not only did Platoon Stores bring a lot of kit and supplies for the weekend (I picked up the Cyclone Impact), they also had their gun technician Carl on-site for minor repairs, upgrades and kit hires.

On top of the vendors, Invicta had AJ’s Snack Shack, already serving hot and cold foods with a hog roast being prepared for the evening.

Scooting past the retailers with my wallet in hand (and a new grenade), I walk into the safe zone and spot my team loading up their kit. Invicta’s safe zone is completely covered from the elements; built with solid roofing and covered along

Event INVICTA BATTLEFIELD WEEKENDER

the sides. On top of that, each desk now has access to power sockets for all players and lighting for the later games.

This is the first time I’ve heard of a woodland site providing power to all players and now means players have the opportunity to charge batteries, mobiles or any other devices throughout the day. I’m impressed how much effort goes into this area as some woodland sites can really overlook their site’s facilities outside the game zone.

The chronograph area which used to be positioned next to the game zone entrance has been relocated and converted into a hard covered, dedicated 100FT shooting range. A big thumbs up from me. Andy had been asking for feedback prior to the event and this was one facility that was asked for.

I ended up spending several hours on the Sunday testing the new Longbow BBs, along with another half a dozen players who were setting up or configuring their hop-ups and fps.

Not many sites consider a range for this and Andy continues to develop this range so that player’s with sniper rifles some further range targets to aim for.

Finally I kit up, get chronoed and am ready to roll into our first game of the weekend - a light warmup of Infected. This game starts with a few infected players, and upon being shot by them the team get converted until there’s only 1 survivor.

Afterwards we switch to an attack and defend game, using an ammo crate as the objective to play for. The day continued with these style games, making use of the Land Rover during a hostage game, where one team had to escort and protect 2 VIPs. By 6pm we start to wind down the first day with a last CQB game. Nicknamed Tinnitus; players go into a CQB arena made from metal sheeting to play a fast rotating, rally game. This was an interesting game mode which I hadn’t seen done before.

The marshal starts by rolling 2 dice. The first number is the amount of players your team send in, and the second roll is your opponents. On the blow of the whistle, each team dash into the arena and chaos ensues. I’m telling you now, I would not want to charge into the arena with a 1v6 or 2v5 - however it’s thoroughly enjoyable to watch from the sidelines!

With the game coming to a close around 7pm the evening entertainment began. Starting with the raffle, every ticket was entered into it with prizes up for grabs from Valken, Viper, ICS, Platoon, Invicta and from ASG a brand new Evo carbine B.E.T. AJ’s catering then bought out the amazing, all you can eat hog roast. In addition to that, a pop-up bar and DJ made for a really enjoyable night. Around 12:30am I headed back to the camp area, the party still going into the early hours.

Day 2 started early, I awake to still see the odd player sitting around their tent, having enjoyed the night with friends and teammates. This is where you can clearly see the community and social aspects taking precedent during the weekend.

Impressively, AJ’s shack were serving coffee by 6:30am and a full cooked breakfast shortly after. Games started just after 9am starting with an Invicta Base Attack game, where each team took it in turn on a timed attack.

By lunch time Andy had offered Simon from Major League airsoft the opportunity to run his first match under the MLA banner. This was a concept game to test and demonstrate the different style of game play he wants to bring from the usual skirmish. For the readers who aren’t aware, Major League Airsoft aims to bring fair, fun and varied competitive leagues and tournaments to Airsoft. The emphasis is on team and squad game play and they plan on hosting individual site leagues as well as national leagues in the future.

Today ran a game called “Squad Wars”, where each team were split into squads and had multiple objectives to complete, ending in an armed escort mission. It’s fast paced and was intense, with the attacking team winning by only 5 seconds - a very close firefight to conclude the battle. This was followed by another raffle, with similarly fantastic prizes, this time for charity.

By 3pm the weekend had started to wind down, as players began to head home having a weekend of banter, laughs and memories to take away with them.

Andy and the rest of the team went way beyond my expectation and not only delivered a great weekend of airsoft but also provided the facilities outside the game zone, like showers, power, and numerous toilets to keep us entertained.

Of course, a social event couldn’t be a success without the support from the players and it’s clear to me that Invicta Battlefield works hard to ensure all their player’s enjoy their time. I know for sure that I’ll be going back to Invicta more often for a Sunday Skirmish and there’s no doubt that I’ll be grabbing a ticket for next year’s Weekender event.

www.airsoft-action.online

59

Kit DR. MARTENS SKELTON BOOT

BOOTS WITH SOLE JERRY NOONE GETS HIS FEET INTO A PAIR OF BOOTS FROM A MANUFACTURER WITH A LONG HISTORY THAT, OVER THE YEARS, HAS MADE A HUGE IMPACT ON THE MARKET.

“IT’S NOT CLASS OR IDEOLOGY, colour creed or roots, the only thing that unites us is Doctor Martens boots!” sang Alexei Sayle in an episode of the iconic comedy show “The Young Ones” and it’s absolutely true that if you’re of a certain age, or a keen follower of fashion, then I’m absolutely certain that at some point you’ve undoubtedly owned a pair of “Doc Martens”.

Since the first Dr. Martens boots in the United Kingdom came out on 1 April 1960, quite literally millions of pairs have been sold worldwide but the whole story began much earlier than that and has a distinctly military heritage.

Klaus Maertens was a doctor in the German Army

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November 2017

during World War II. Whilst on leave in 1945, he injured his ankle while skiing and after that he found that his standardissue army boots were too uncomfortable on his injured foot. While recuperating, he designed improvements to the boots, with soft leather and air-padded soles made of tyres.

Using a salvaged cobbler’s last and a needle, Maertens made a prototype shoe and showed it to an old university friend and mechanical engineer, Dr. Herbert Funk. The two went into partnership by using disused military supplies to begin producing their unique shoes.

In the late 1950’s, British shoe manufacturer R. Griggs Group Ltd. bought patent rights to manufacture the shoes in the United Kingdom. Griggs anglicised the name and trademarked the soles as “AirWair” and the rest, as they say, is history!

Dr. Martens have produced “industrial” models of their boots for years but their “Service Collection” marks the dawn of a new era in design and materials. Dr. Martens have been collaborating extensively with police and security officers to fully understand their needs. This comprehensive research has culminated in the “Skelton”, which offers a unique sole with a high grip tread that provides comfort, durability and outstanding slip resistance.

The 8 inch boot is non-metallic throughout, with

Kit DR. MARTENS SKELTON BOOT

sturdy moulded eyelets and benefits from a tough leather and nylon upper with a very nicely padded bellows tongue and a padded collar. Inside you get a durable EVA (ethyl vinyl acetate) midsole; the midsole is that part of the boot that effectively provides cushioning and stability for the foot and you’ll find EVA in virtually all high quality performance footwear, so this is absolutely spot on. The Skelton’s also benefit from a “Softwair” insole and a moisture wicking lining to help keep your feet comfortable for extended periods of time.

I was lucky enough to be sent a pre-release sample of the Skelton’s by the nice folk at Patrol Store a couple of months ago, so I’ve been able to give them a really good try before writing this review and I have to say that other than a prominent “Dr Martens AirWair” logo on the heel cup you’d be hard-pressed to recognise these as “DMs”, as the design is right on trend with the style of the very latest tactical and professional boots out there.

Weighing in at just 735g per boot (size 10) The Skeltons feel light on the foot and that special outsole really does give you some bounce in your step! The toe and lower foot area of the boot is of one piece leather construction, with no seams to rub across your toes and is a comfortable broad fit. The heel cup however is relatively narrow and combined with a solid lacing system, which keeps the foot positioned well and helps to avoid unnecessary movement which could lead to blisters.

With the great British “summer” living up to its usual mix of weather, I’ve had chance to wear the Skeltons in most conditions (other than snow) and I have to confirm that the moisture wicking lining does keep the foot dry in the heat, again helping to avoid blisters or “hot spots”. Whilst the boots are not quoted as being waterproof, thus far I’ve not experienced wet feet and regular maintenance of the leather and nylon elements will no doubt give continued long term performance.

I’ve put a fair few miles under the soles of the Skeltons already and so far they’ve proved to be a comfortable and protective pair of boots from word go. With a retail price iro £73.00 these are a cracking pair of boots that will undoubtedly bring even further success to the Dr. Marten brand and bring great performance to a whole new group of users!

My sincere thanks go to the team at www.patrolstore.com for providing the test sample and you can expect to see the Skeltons loading up onto their comprehensively stocked web store in the very near future.

www.airsoft-action.online

61

Technical AIRSOFT TOOL KIT

TOOLING U IF YOU ARE THINKING OF BECOMING AN AIRSOFT TECHNICIAN, OR EVEN JUST WORKING ON YOUR OWN GUNS, A DECENT SET OF TOOLS IS A MUST, AS FRENCHIE EXPLAINS… THIS MONTH I’M GOING TO take a look at what is actually in a gun tech’s toolkit. There are many tools that are useful when working on airsoft guns and a few that are absolutely essential but you don’t need as many as you might think for basic care, maintenance and upgrade work. Due to the fact that I travel to work at Landwarrior Airsoft, my tools have to live in a reasonably-sized toolbox and have to do all that I need from them without having the luxury of living spread out (or neatly racked) on my work bench. If you are interested in working on your own guns, or are even thinking of becoming more involved in the tech side of airsoft - what do you need to make the job easier and to make sure that your tools do the job without damaging the guns you’re working on?

THE BASICS.

A general observation that you have probably heard before - it is worth buying the best tools you can afford as they will serve you well, take the punishment and do the job better than their cheaper counterparts.

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November 2017

Screwdrivers: Nearly every job you perform on an airsoft gun will start and end with a screwdriver of some kind. Mine fall into three categories and all three will be on my workbench at all times - precision screwdrivers, standard screwdrivers and an interchangeable bit ratchet driver. In addition I regularly use a 250mm long Phillips head driver for removing stock tubes and an equally long flat-head for various tasks. I have a set of Wera interchangeable screwdrivers which are simply brilliant the phillips head bits fit screws really precisely and dramatically reduce the danger of stripping out screw heads - most used is the No. 2 Phillips which is great for pistol grip screws, stock screws etc.

The long driver is a godsend and if you are serious about gun work, invest in one early on.

The precision drivers get constant use on the smaller screws that the Wera can’t cope with - inside gearboxes, magazines etc. My set includes a number of Torx drivers in small sizes which are in constant use, sometimes for persuading out damaged allen screws where the torx splines get slightly more purchase. The ratchet driver is used when I have a lot of screws

Technical AIRSOFT TOOL KIT

G UP to remove - gearboxes for instance - and generally sits with a 2mm allen bit in it. I seldom use it for phillips or flat head screws as I don’t find the bits precise enough.

Punches: Get yourself a set of parallel pin punches. I cannot emphasise how valuable these are for removing body pins, frame pins, gas-blocks and the like. Unlike nail punches or centre punches these don’t increase in diameter from their point and therefore don’t jam in or damage the hole. They aren’t expensive and are worth every penny. If you get punches you will need a hammer - I use a small claw hammer mostly and this wasn’t expensive. It provides adequate force while remaining easy to wield.

Allen Keys: Again I use a set of Wera wrenches as they get a good grip on the screw heads without damaging them. You may safely assume that the screws and fixings used in airsoft guns are not of the finest steel and will round at the first opportunity. The better fitting the tool, the less chance of that happening and I haven’t found anything better that the Wera allen keys for getting a solid grip on allen screws. My set goes down to 1.5mm but you will on occasion require something

smaller. Seek out a 1mm allen key, or maybe two - they are so easy to damage.

Pliers: A bit of a mixed bag in my toolkit. I use a couple of needle nosed pliers all the time and I always have a decent Vise Grip (mole wrench) in the kit for when force is required. I also carry an adjustable spanner although it sees little regular use and a plumber’s wrench, which is handy when you really need to get serious with larger components such as barrel nuts.

Don’t expect to resort to this without making a mark on the components no matter how careful you are! My other standby is whichever multi-tool that’s strapped to my belt at the time.

Although not for serious or regular gun work, multi-tools are a godsend on occasions and I use the pliers on mine quite a bit.

Soldering Iron: A vital bit of kit, I use several, mainly because I kill them regularly! An iron around the 40-60 watt range is perfect for most tasks, you might want something that’s adjustable if you find yourself doing a reasonable amount of soldering on printed circuit boards (PCB). If you don’t know how to solder and you want to fix guns - learn. It’s not difficult and given the preponderance of wiring in AEGs it’s a vital skill.

www.airsoft-action.online

63

Technical AIRSOFT TOOL KIT

“THESE DAYS THERE IS SO MUCH INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON LINE ABOUT HOW TO USE TOOLS PROPERLY AND HOW TO GET THE BEST OUT OF THEM THAT YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO FILL IN ANY GAPS IN YOUR KNOWLEDGE.”

Hammers: You’re going to have to hit things and you’ll hurt your fist without one! As well as the small hammer mentioned above I also use a rubber mallet where more force but less potential damage is necessary. The rubber mallet isn’t critical but is nice to have in your kit.

Hacksaw and files: My preference is a pad saw equipped with a 12” blade. It’s ideal for getting into restricted spaces where cutting is required. Files are invaluable - I have one large metal working file for coarse work and a set of hobby files in different profiles for fine shaping and polishing.

Miscellaneous: Tweezers are damned handy and I’d get a few with different profiles. A good set of wire snips are a must for neat wiring work along with a decent wire stripper. A solder sucker can be very useful for cleaning up over-enthusiastic solder work. I find dental picks great for all sorts of lifting, scraping and holding jobs - you’ll get them on eBay and they don’t need to be expensive, you won’t be moonlighting as a dentist (hopefully!). I’ll also include the ubiquitous Stanley knife here, along with plenty of replacement blades. I use this all the time and so will you.

Specialist tools: These are tools you need if you’re going to get serious about working on guns. An armourer’s wrench is a must if you do a lot of work on AR 15/M4-style guns and if you are gun teching, you will. Likewise a castle nut wrench used for removing and tightening the stock nut on M4s. A gas valve wrench is the only way to remove and install gas valves without trashing them, they are cheap so there is no excuse.

Motor Pinion gear remover. This gets used more often than you might imagine and is the only way I have found to remove and reinstall pinions without potentially demolishing the motor.

There are a variety of specialist tools which are used for fitting and removing some of the many rail systems out there - these are nice to have but you may find that you can live without

them.

Taps and Dies: You will have to repair damaged screw threads at some point and a tap will make that much, much easier. I mostly use the M3 and have worn out quite a few but a small selection will stand you in good stead.

Access to a vice is most desirable. Stanley make an excellent multi-position vice that can be clamped onto most solid surfaces and I regard mine as a very worthwhile investment.

Finally, the Dremel. The Dremel is a blessing and a curse and should be approached in that way. It can do so much but if you’re careless (and sometimes even if you’re careful) it can do more damage than good. I’m including it because I would be lost without mine but, like the soldering iron, if you don’t have much experience with one go and practice on scrap metal for a bit - before you attack guns with it.

Hopefully you can pick and choose from that list. I’m sure I have missed some stuff and my toolkit has grown and evolved over many, many years. Some of my tools were cheap and barely adequate but they served until I could afford to replace or upgrade them. I haven’t included things like bench drills because they aren’t exactly portable, or even a decent cordless drill and sharp HSS (high speed steel) bits although you will want to if you get serious about gun work. I have no problem with electric screwdrivers other than they can deliver too much torque a strip screws and threads too easily. I also never felt that they saved that much time although you may feel differently.

These days there is so much information available on line about how to use tools properly and how to get the best out of them that you should be able to fill in any gaps in your knowledge. Patience and experience are the other vital additions to your toolkit, unfortunately you will have to add those yourself!

www.airsoft-action.online

65

Armoury CYMA TACTICAL AK

BUDGET WOW FACTOR MANY OF THE AIRSOFT ACTION team have been involved in airsoft for some considerable time and it’s far too easy for us sometimes, with years of investment in our kit behind us, to look at more budget oriented RIFs with a little disdain. In actual fact, there are some absolute crackers out there if your budget is not as great as perhaps you’d like it to be.

One of the indicators for a good AEG to me is when you see something that’s commonly used as a “Hire Gun” on site; these have to be well-priced as a site operator needs to keep a good number in stock for new players, they have to be reliable and easy to work on as they take a right battering and they have to be darn tough! One model that I’ve seen over the years as the “AK Option” has been the AK47 from CYMA.

AT AIRSOFT ACTION WE LIKE TO CATER FOR PLAYERS WHATEVER THEIR BUDGET MAY BE AND JERRY NOONE TAKES A LOOK AT A MODEL THAT ALTHOUGH COMPETITIVELY PRICED, HAS SOME “WOW!” TO IT; THE CYMA TACTICAL AK.

Although they’re pretty quiet CYMA, are one of the biggest manufacturers of RIFs and airsoft products in the world. Based in China, there are actually two separate CYMA factories, with one making “budget” guns and the other making more expensive and advanced models. You really don’t hear a lot direct from CYMA themselves about new models and new advances, instead they leave their products to speak for themselves and their AKs most certainly do this.

Whilst not the most accurate of AEGs straight from the box, they are easy to work on and little tweaks of the hop and bucking can make a world of difference to them. They are, however, built like tanks and stand up to massive amounts of abuse; just like a real AK you can drag a CYMA through the mud and it’ll happily continue to spit BBs as long as your battery lasts!

I’ve been mulling a lot about what lays in store for me in terms of gameplay for 2018. I like to plan ahead so I’ve got more than enough time to make sensible kit purchases and, for me, next year is looking to be a “Russian” one. After speaking at length with Gadge and Ian “Taz” Stokes I’ve decided on some suitable clothing and equipment (cheers lads!) and although I own a number of different AKs I fancied something short and sweet in terms of a RIF. I looked at the CYMA brand as their AKs were all within the budget I’ve set for myself and a couple of “Tactical SU” models really took my eye. Not having used a CYMA for some considerable time though, I needed a little convincing and luckily for me one of my mates had just treated himself to a “tactical” model from the latest line that he said I might try.

ALL GOING ON

Now you might refer to me as a bit of an AK purist, as in my personal armoury I have classic models from WE, LCT and E&L and there’s just something about that woodwork that

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Armoury CYMA TACTICAL AK

“IN MY PERSONAL ARMOURY I HAVE CLASSIC MODELS FROM WE, LCT AND E&L AND THERE’S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT THAT WOODWORK THAT MAKES ME GO “OOOOH!” ALTHOUGH THESE WOULD “WORK” FOR MY FLEDGLING MODERN RUSSIAN LOADOUT, I REALLY WANTED SOMETHING THAT WAS FULLY UPDATED AND WHAT I RECEIVED FROM BY MATE TO TEST WAS AS MODERN AS THEY COME!”

makes me go “Ooooh!” Although these would “work” for my fledgling modern Russian loadout, I really wanted something that was fully updated and what I received from by mate to test was as modern as they come!

Not so long ago one manufacturer of firearm accessories REALLY ruled the roost and that was Magpul Industries.

To recap for newer players (according to online sources): “Magpul Industries Corporation is an American designer and manufacturer of polymer and composite high-tech firearms accessories. The corporate headquarters is in Austin, Texas in the United States. Magpul Industries takes its name from its first product, an accessory for US and NATO armed forces STANAG magazines that aided users in pulling the magazine

out of its pouch, hence “Magpul”. The company manufactures a variety of products from firearms accessories and slings to electronics cases based largely on in-house design as well as providing design consultation and firearms training services.”

Best associated with the AR/M4 platforms Magpul also make some absolutely cracking after-market add-ons for the AK; they have dedicated “MOE” stocks with optional cheek-risers, folding “ZUKHOV” stocks buttpads, several different “MOE” pistol grips and both “MOE” and “Zukhov” handguards to fit different AK variants. A quick visit to their website will tell you all you need to know about these.

What I received in the form of the CYMA was nothing less than a fully tricked out “Magpul” AK74! Usually I am the first one to bang on about licencing agreements being in place but Magpul themselves have been pretty cagey about their relations with the airsoft world of late, so I’m not

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Armoury CYMA TACTICAL AK

surprised that someone has just gone ahead and “done it for them” - and I have to say that for not much wonga (I’ve seen this model available under the £200 mark!) you’re going to get yourself a cracking bit of kit.

This super new CYMA AK has all the usual benefits of other CYMA models, including steel and aluminium construction and internals that are renowned for their reliability but this is truly in a different league when it comes to the furniture! With an “MOE” stock and “Zhukov” style handguards it also has an “MOE” style pistol grip and comes with a 500BB polymer magazine that closely resembles a PMAG. Add to this a fully railed and hinged top cover and a “DRAKON” style flash hider and what you end up with is a superb, modern looking AEG for not much more than a decent GBB pistol!

Inside is none too shabby either, as this latest model has really been “beefed” up. What you get is a reinforced gearbox shell with 7mm steel bearings, reinforced spring guide, reinforced steel gears, a reinforced nylon piston and cylinder head, increased motor torque and a reinforced tappet plate. All this leads to a solid bit of kit mechanically and one that’s still very easy to work on should you wish to.

BANG FOR YOUR BUCK

In terms of performance I wasn’t expecting great shakes straight from the box but I was actually pleasantly surprised when I got onto the range. Word has it that the new CYMA

AK models are being shipped from China at 400fps+ on a .20g which of course for the UK in terms of site use and legality is way too much. Luckily the model I received had been downgraded to 1.04 Joule/335fps and I was pleased that this remained pretty constant through the chrono. As I’m a midcap player I decided to ditch the “PMAG” (although this fed perfectly well) and to try the CYMA on both E&L and LCT mags and I’m also pleased to tell you that all the mags I tried fed flawlessly.

In terms of groupings at 25m prone, things were perfectly fine but beyond this things started to go a little awry; I’m certain this will improve once the AK has had time to bed in properly but when my own CYMA arrives I think the hop and the bucking will be the very first things to get some attention.

If you’re going to use this as a “Hi Cap Skirmisher” then you should really have no issues but as a more finely tuned rifle you’re probably going to want to give it a tweak.

At the end of the day though this is a rifle that costs iro £200 so I really can’t be unkind about it. What you’re getting is a great bit of kit that looks utterly superb, feels so solid that you could use it to hammer nails and is perfectly adequate in terms of performance. If, like me, you’re in need of a “modern AK” then the new CYMA models are most definitely worth a look and are freely available from most good airsoft stockists.

Now to order that “SU”!

Tech Specs Colour: Black Main Material: Steel, Aluminium and Polymer Max. Length:

990mm

Inner Barrel Length: 455mm Weight: 3.40 kg Gearbox: 7mm Steel Bearing Gearbox Battery: 11.1V LiPo stick battery (not supplied) Power (.20g BB): 1.04 Joule/335fps

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Warriors AIRBORNE RECONNAISSANCE TROOPS

CONTINUING HIS LOOK AT WARRIORS OF THE PAST, GARETH “GADGE” HARVEY TURNS TO A WAR THAT SAW THE RED ARMY DEFEATED AND THE RUSSIANS TURNING TO ELITE UNITS TO PREVENT A MILITARY DISASTER.

AIRBORNE RECONNAISSANCE RUSSIAN TROOPS FEDERATION –

CHECHNYA 1995

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Warriors AIRBORNE RECONNAISSANCE TROOPS

FACED WITH A DETERMINED OPPONENT fighting in his own “backyard” the once mighty Russian Army found that there were few regular formations it could rely on in the war in Chechnya - one of the dependable units, however, was the VDV. Reeling from the collapse of communism, the Soviet Union began to break up in the early 1990s. As some republics strove for independence, Russian president Boris Yeltsin told the breakaway regions to “take as much sovereignty as you can chew”. One republic, Chechnya, took him on his word and a bloody insurgent battle for the Chechen capital Grozny began.

The first Chechen War began in a series of bloody defeats for the former Red Army as unpaid, badly trained and underequipped conscript armoured formations were destroyed in calculated ambushes by the predominantly Muslim Chechen irregulars (many who had served in elite airborne and army spetsnaz detachments in Afghanistan) and who were fighting for independence, their homeland and their God. As the regular army crumbled, interior army formations from the MVD were rushed in to fill the gap and hold the line. One regular formation that performed admirably from the start, however, was the elite air landing forces known as the Vozdushno-desantnye voyska Rossii or VDV. The VDV had managed to survive the worst attrition and damage to unit morale caused by post-Soviet era defence cuts. The airborne forces managed this as, traditionally, they had received a higher standard of conscript recruits, better equipment and training and most importantly, had a strong “esprit de corps” and unit identity which made them more resilient in battle and less likely to desert their comrades.

PIONEERS OF PARACHUTE WARFARE

The VDV had the honour of being the originators of parachute warfare in the 1930s but gained some of their most famous battle honours fighting as elite line infantry. Unlike western “paratrooper” forces, the VDV have always been an “air landing army” and see any airborne approach to battle, be it parachute, helicopter or transport plane as equally valid. While the VDV fought well as light infantry in WWII and trained for airborne assault “en masse” during the Cold War, it would be their combat experience as elite reconnaissance troops and helicopter assault units in Afghanistan on the 1980s that would pay dividends in Chechnya.

Many VDV officers were able to share their experience of fighting the Mujahidin in the mountains of Afghanistan and provide their soldiers with realistic training and briefings, before encountering a new form of islamist insurgent in the wilds of Chechnya. While all VDV soldiers are considered elite

by Russian standards their reconnaissance units are particularly skilled and selected only the best recruits to join their ranks.

Given that the VDV take precedent when selecting conscripts over the other branches of service (bar the strategic rocket services), this resulted in a very high standard of “human material” overall.

Our warrior represents a “razvedchik” (loosely translated as “scout”) of a VDV battalion, operating ahead of the main forces and, in typical Russian fashion, is lightly equipped as he scouts out enemy positions for artillery strikes and air assaults.

By 1995 much of the “Russian Army” was still equipped with the uniforms and equipment of the late “Soviet Army”, as the fledgling democracy had an economy in crisis and very little money was available for the Ministry of Defence. Many units were unable to even pay their conscript troops, let alone buy new equipment and so it was common to see quite old stocks of equipment used side by side with any newly developed items the Russian Federation had been able to procure.

His basic field uniform is the summer weight version of the VSR93 uniform, which had been newly adopted by the federation. The VSR 93 (VSR standing for “Vooruzhennyye Sily Rossii” or Russian Armed Forces pattern model of 1993) was the final culmination of late Soviet and early Russian Federation attempts to provide a standard camouflage pattern across all of its branches of services. Although commonly called “VSR

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CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, BLACK

PATROL LINE #Airsoft Action, SEP 2017

WWW.HELIKON-TEX.COM

Warriors AIRBORNE RECONNAISSANCE TROOPS

93” or “dubok” (Russian: “little oak”), usually to differentiate it from VSR 98 “flora”, the pattern was first seen with Russian airborne units as early as 1991, making it actually a very late Soviet pattern (VSR93 is also called “Schofield pattern” as its first sighting in print in the west is on the dust cover of Carey Schofield’s “Inside the Soviet Army” in 1991).

The VSR 93 Summer uniform is essentially a camouflaged version of the 1980s“afghanka” M88 uniform issued to Soviet troops in Afghanistan from 1984 onwards. Made of strong but lightweight cotton, the Jacket (concealed by our paratroops mountain smock) features six pockets (four on the jacket front and one on each arm) and a button front. The trousers have a stitched in central crease on each leg, two cargo pockets, two hand warmer pockets and two rear pockets and have a button fly with cloth stirrups and blousing drawstrings at the ankle to facilitate wearing the trousers with jackboots or ankle boots.

On top of the VSR battle dress our scout wears the jacket from a Soviet era “Gorka 1” mountain suit, to protect himself from the elements while working in this enemy held mountainous region. While the Gorka 1 came as a two piece mountain warfare suit, our soldier has eschewed the bibfronted over-trousers to aid mobility and prevent overheating.

Combat footwear is the rugged, if heavy, Soviet-era airborne lace-up combat boots used by the Russians since the 1970s and perfectly suited to the war in Chechnya, while of similar vintage are the mountain troops goggles atop his head in case of driving rain. A soviet airborne Telnyashka blue and white striped vest (highly prized by the elite VDV as much as any UK para’s maroon beret) and a cloth bandanna made from an olive green triangular bandage complete his basic uniform.

LONG RANGE PATROLS

Fighting equipment is a combination of a variety of shoulder bags and an airborne RD54 webbing system. The Soviet pattern RD54 was beginning to show its age by 1995, being unsuited to long range modern warfare due to its tiny carrying capacity.

Many VDV soldiers adopted “field fixes” in Afghanistan to remedy this, usually by sewing two main RD54 compartments together to make a larger rucksack, removing the pouches from the system and either using a custom made “chicom” style chest rig, or stitching the mag pouches together to make a similar setup. Here, our paratrooper is using the RD54 as issued but has supplemented the carrying capacity of the RD54 by attaching a Soviet ammo AK ammo pouch to the belt, along with a Soviet pattern water bottle of the late model preferred by the VDV. While his entrenching tool - a common close combat weapon among the Russians - has been left behind on this recce mission, he is equipped for hand to hand combat

with his 6h4 AK74 bayonet (which , when combined with the scabbard, can also form a set of wire cutters!).

The Russians have never shied away from using Chemical weapons, allegedly deploying them against civilian settlements in Afghanistan and so our man carries a Russian army SchM41M respirator in a canvas shoulder bag. Even if chemical weapons are not likely to be used, many soldiers can find a respirator useful if the battlefield is covered in dense smoke, whether it be from chemically deployed smoke screens or “natural” smoke from a burning battleground. With a traditional Russian expectation of having to fight a future war in a chemical, nuclear or biological environment, the Soviet and later Russian Federation army placed a massive emphasis on training to fight in respirators and would undertake assault courses and long route marches with their masks on.

As a recce unit, communication between the section and their battalion HQ is vital and to this end our man carries a R147-P model squad radio. While in the west we take section communications almost for granted, the Russians have traditionally been slow to issue radios to small sub units. Many Soviet line infantry soldiers would receive rudimentary, if any, training on radio procedure but the VDV and particularly their ravzedchiki, were considered elites and trained and equipped to a higher standard than regular infantry.

Personal weaponry consists of a folding stock AK74. The AKs74 being standard issue to Soviet paratroopers and recce troops and retained during the early years of the federation before being phased out in favour of a modernised version with polymer furniture. Our warrior has customised his rifle by placing a first field dressing in the hollow frame stock and wrapping a Russian army rubber tourniquet around the stock. Not only does this provide a relatively immediate, if less than sterile, trauma kit but additionally the rubber tourniquet wrapped around the stock provides some degree of insulation should the stock get excessively hot or cold. While as a member of a recce unit, our razvedchik is trained to avoid firefights and gather intelligence but should a contact with the Chechen irregulars occur he has taped together two mags for his 5.45mm Ak74 to aid in rapid reloads.

As with most of our Russian and Soviet themed “warriors”, nearly all of the kit is relatively easy to source and, usually, available at sensible prices. Despite being a load out from over 20 years ago, the VDV razvedchik impression provides a relatively modern image that would fit in well at most Sunday skirmishes. For once and surprisingly for largely Soviet era kit, this ensemble is also surprisingly practical for gaming in, being both hard wearing and solid and when combined with the Gorka suit reasonably weatherproof! www.airsoft-action.online

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GITAG 19TH CENTURY AIRSOFT

AS WE HAVE REPORTED IN THE PAST, AIRSOFT ISN’T ALWAYS ABOUT THE RECENT PAST AND SOMETIMES GOING EVEN FURTHER BACK CAN BRING SOME SURPRISING RESULTS, AS JERRY NOONE FOUND OUT.

BACK TO THE FUTURE MANY, MANY MOONS AGO when I was still running big games myself, I had the great pleasure to meet a chap who has become a firm friend and continues to innovate in terms of airsoft scenarios, bringing new, fresh and sometimes downright bonkers themes to our beloved airsoft. This month I got my head together with Kim from C3 Airsoft to find out about his latest idea, “19th Century Airsoft”!

For those of you who follow my regular journey into the world of wonderful airsoft “geekiness” you’ll know that I always look for stories that have a particular “uniqueness and character” and when I talk about my old mate Kim those two words really sum him up for me, as he is genuinely one of a kind!

We first met some years ago when I was running a big woodland game. With both a “tan” and a “green” team, plus other “characters” player numbers were well into triple figures and as you can imagine, running a game like this can be challenging unless you have the right people to rely on.

The “green team” CO turned out to be not quite what he’d built himself up as and on the Sunday morning of the game the “greens” suddenly found themselves without either a commander or, indeed, direction.

This is where Kim stepped up, took control and pushed his failing team back towards success …and the rest, as they say, is a little bit of personal airsoft history! It’s been my great pleasure since then to work alongside Kim and his able team from C3 Airsoft on many occasions and one topic of conversation just kept recurring. Kim and I are both keen military historians and right back from “Day Zero” we talked about running some really unique, historically themed airsoft games.

I really thought that this would remain “just talk” between two old warhorses until Kim and his team just went ahead and made it happen! This to me is certainly worth reporting so I asked Kim a few questions, the answers to which I’ll gladly share with you here.

AA: Kim, before we get into things proper in your own words please tell me a little about the history of C3 and your current site?

Kim: “We moved to the site at Cwmcarvan in Monmouthshire, South East Wales 3 years ago and it was a superb choice, 80 acres of prime airsoft terrain, open fields, dense, wooded hedgerows, streams, multiple woods (each bigger than an average airsoft site), gullies, ditches and an old ruin, this site has everything you could want. C3 Tactical is 6 or 7 years old now and we have always done things a little differently but Patrick and I started C3 because we wanted to create in depth games and fight big battles.”

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GITAG 19TH CENTURY AIRSOFT

AA: I know that you’re quietly a dedicated military historian; why did you decide on the 19th Century for your games?

Kim: “Because Airsoft fits, really, really well! The ranges, the ballistics, the tech (TAG rounds for artillery… need I say more?), everything about it is spot on perfect. We took our guns to a re-enactment not long ago, to show the American Civil War guys, needless to say, they were a little skeptical… and then they got to shoot each other and they were sold, 110%!”

AA: I know we talked about “historical airsoft” years ago; what was the catalyst for your to actually start running the games for real?

Kim: “Because I wanted to play them! I could see how much fun they were from the odd game we would play at the site and how much my players enjoyed them; they would always come in from one of these games, laughing, telling stories about the insane or exciting thing that had just happened, they just couldn’t see it, lol. So I started the British 19th Century Airsoft Association group on Facebook and shared the hell out of it and we now have 200+ enthusiastic members.”

AA: Obviously this type of airsoft requires a different mindset and a unique rule set; could you tell me more?

Kim: “Apart from the reload rules, everything else is just a normal airsoft game. The reloads are all muzzle loads, using a ramrod or clearing rod to gently push the BB into the hop, simple as that and it means it takes about 20-30 seconds to load a round; we’ve all seen “Sharpe”… 2-3 rounds a minute makes a good soldier! [Laughs.]”

AA: Do players need special gear and uniforms for this?

Kim: “Not really, if you are a Confederate then wear grey, if you are Union then wear blue. We ask you to get the right hat (a kepi or a forage cap) but these cost about £15, so that’s not going to break the bank. The guys who get into it go the whole hog and buy all the period gear but it’s incredibly cheap and there’s no heavy belt order or chest rig to carry round all day, so it is also less tiring.”

AA: Of course everyone will want to know about the RIFs you use; give me some idea of what we’re talking about here.

Kim: “At the moment we are using wooden stock bolt action rifles, up to 450fps for Infantry and 500fps for Sharpshooters.

Cavalry get to carry revolvers and Winchester lever actions but they are restricted to 350fps max; they also get to carry a sabre and we allow re-enactment swords but you have to pass an assessment to use them.

“And then there’s the cannon! It fires TAG rounds, all of them, Shot, Shell, Case and Canister are all easily reproducible and for some reason, a cannon going THUMP in the distance is 10 times more scary than someone firing a 40mm grenade at you!

“We are currently working towards making a Co2 musket, as historically accurate as we can get it that fires 209 shotgun primers as well.”

AA: Who do you see as your target customer for your historical games?

Kim: “Anyone that is interested in history or wants to try something new with airsoft. Above all, the games are fun and exciting, so it’s focused at everyone and anyone. We have had one guy join in because one of my other players brow beat him into it and he is now one of the best ambassadors for our games.”

AA: I know that you have your own site but do you foresee running the games elsewhere?

Kim: “The idea behind the group is to get a number of sites round the country to run them, to form their own units and, once or twice a year, hold some really big games at appropriate sites. Site owners are welcome to come down and try it out, the more the merrier, we’ll only charge them for lunch.”

AA: Do you offer specialised RIFs and equipment as a hire option for those who want to give it a go?

Kim: “Yes we do, 450fps bolt actions. We charge normal hire prices for them, only £15, with ramrod, they are horribly accurate and my marshals keep stealing them for regular skirmishes!”

AA: You mentioned earlier that you recently attended a Living History Event and spoke to a number of re-enactors about the potential of historical airsoft; could you tell me more about that?

“THEY FORMED TWO LINES AND FROM THE VERY FIRST VOLLEY, AS ROUNDS WHIPPED PAST OR SLAPPED INTO THE TREES BEHIND THEM THEY WERE HOOKED! LOTS OF LAUGHING, LOTS OF SCREAMS AND PLAYING DEAD.”

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GITAG 19TH CENTURY AIRSOFT

Kim: “They loved it! We went there on the Saturday of the event and talked to them about it and they were skeptical to start with, saying how their guns shoot bigger BBs but we hung around until after their battle in the arena. They came back in after and a lot of them complained that the guy they were shooting at didn’t fall over… at this point we knew we had them.

“We came back the next day with 6 guns and introduced them to airsoft. We found a quiet part of the arena and took them through a safety brief and operation of the guns. Then they formed two lines and from the very first volley, as rounds whipped past or slapped into the trees behind them they were hooked! Lots of laughing, lots of screams and playing dead, lots of guys who have joined our group and are helping us improve the events we already run.”

AA: Where do you see Historical Airsoft evolving in the future?

Kim: “Big games… BIG games!!! We have already doubled the player numbers between our first game and our second game, we have more guys joining the group all the time and our events are getting more interest all the time. We already have the cannon, the next goal is to get a full battery of cannon per

side (5 more guns, whoop!), get some big regiments of troops on the field and play some airsoft games that will have people talking for years to come.”

AA: If someone reading this article likes the sound of what you’re doing, what should be their next step?

Kim: “Join the Facebook group at British 19th Century Airsoft Association, have a look at the events we have already posted up and get involved with the other guys by chatting with them, we make a point of helping guys find the cheap kit to get them started and let them wade in at their own pace.”

AA: Thanks so for speaking to me mate and thanks to Luna and Tom for the pictures! It was very interesting to get an insight into what kit you use and how you use it.

When it comes to specialist areas, as always I say don’t go for second fiddle, “Give it to a Geek” and end up with a unique airsoft experience that is the very best it can be!

Kim: “Haha! Thanks, always a pleasure to talk to you guys!”

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Survival STAYING DRY

STAYING

DRY

AIRSOFT ACTION’S RESIDENT SURVIVAL EXPERT, PAUL YELLAND, GIVES US A HOST OF USEFUL TIPS ON HOW TO DEFEAT THAT MOST PERSISTENT OF AIRSOFT ENEMIES… RAIN! THE ONE THING THAT WE have no control over is the weather.

Rain does not usually stop play when it comes to skirmishing outdoors and like many other airsoft enthusiasts, I have been soaked to the skin during an event. Most people would not give being soaking wet a second thought and carry on regardless which is all well and good, but what damage will the rain cause to the equipment that you are carrying? Also, if you are out on the skirmish field for a long mil-sim themed event, crawling inside a wringing wet sleeping bag at the end of the day will not seem very appealing. Hopefully, by the end of this article, you should have enough tips under your belt to keep you and your equipment dry.

YOU

British Army issue waterproof jacket

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November 2017

As the most important piece of equipment, you, the airsofter need to remain in good working order and staying dry will play a significant part in achieving this. However, there is a time and a place for wearing waterproof clothing and during an intense skirmish probably is not it.

Waterproof jackets and trousers can be noisy during movement and feel very restricting. The items are also an additional layer of clothing that you could do without when running around and feeling the heat. But, there are occasions when waterproofs could be worn – during down time after changing into dry clothes or when things are less intensive. It is important that the material which the waterproof clothing is made from has breathable properties as you don’t want to sweat whilst wearing it. The older, non-breathable waterproof material from years ago used to make you just as wet through sweating as you would have been had you not bothered to wear the item and just got wet from the rain. There is no need to spend lots of money on expensive Gore-Tex though as there are lots of cheaper breathable alternatives. I find that the British army set of waterproofs perform well. The current issue set is manufactured in MTP and does a good job in keeping the water out.

It is important to take good care of your waterproof clothing. The material will need to be cleaned and rewaterproofed occasionally. A good indicator that it is time to

re-treat the item is when the rain droplets stop beading and rolling off from the surface of the material.

You should check the garments label to consult the manufacturer’s advice for cleaning. One thing that I didn’t realise until a few years ago was washing breathable waterproof material in normal washing machine detergents actually degraded the waterproof properties of the fabric.

If suitable, I find that the Nikwax range of products give good results when cleaning and re-waterproofing jackets and trousers.

WEBBING AND ASSAULT VESTS

Waterproof material

with good repellency Very few pouches on personal load carrying systems are completely waterproof. Prolonged exposure to wet conditions will mean that water will eventually seep inside the pouch and potentially damage the contents. I have had radios rendered useless and medical kits destroyed because they have not been adequately protected from water. Losing comms or other vital pieces of equipment such as spare AEG batteries because of water damage during a skirmish can be expensive and have a direct impact on the outcome of a game. To help protect the items in your pouches, consider keeping kit in small dry bags or plastic bags.

Obviously, magazines and grenades should be kept free allowing for speedy access but small first aid kits and utility pouches that carry spare batteries and other items like rations would benefit from being kept in a Breathable waterproof material should waterproof bag inside be washed using special products, and the webbing pouch. then re-treated

Survival STAYING DRY

BERGEN

It is important to use a waterproof liner or dry bag inside your bergen. With items such as a sleeping bag and warm dry clothing possibly being carried within the pack, it is worth taking a few extra measures to keep these things dry. For years I just used two thick heavy duty black dustbin bags – one inside the other to line the main compartment. When I packed items such as a sleeping bag inside the bergen, this was also wrapped inside a plastic bin bag for extra protection. Spare clothing can also be packed into another plastic bag to help keep everything separated and organised. By twisting the opening of the plastic bag tightly closed and tucking in the end, I found that even after being out on the hills in persistent heavy driving rain, everything inside the bergen remained dry.

Instead of using plastic bin bags to line a bergen, another option is to use manufactured ‘dry bags’. The advantage with Use a bergen liner to keep the contents dry

A webbing utility pouch lined with a small dry bag

To seal a dry bag, squeeze the air out and then fold the opening over three or four times to create a seal. Then fasten the buckle

dry bags over normal plastic bags is durability.

Plastic bags tend to get snagged and tear on pieces of sharp equipment and require changing occasionally. The commercial dry bags that are available are much stronger and when the opening is folded over and sealed, the dry bag becomes water tight. Exped and Ortleib are two good quality makes of a dry bag that perform well.

MAPS AND DOCUMENTS

Self seal plastic bags are great for small items Heavy duty bin liners are a cheap way to keep items dry

Getting a map wet can cause the paper to tear or destroy the print. Using a quality map case can prevent this from happening. Ortlieb and Silva make decent map cases and although not the cheapest, buying a good quality map case really is worth the money. Ordinance survey also make laminated maps which are useful when out in wet conditions. You might not need a full map sheet – just a print out for the area in use. Again, a decent map case will protect this and any other documents that you need to carry.

Writing in wet conditions can seem impossible sometimes. Normal pens just don’t like damp paper and normal paper doesn’t like the damp.

One brand of note pad that withstands moisture is manufactured by Rite in the Rain. This special paper remains strong when wet and unlike normal paper, can still be written on – even when held under water. Normal ball point pens will struggle to write on the wet paper, but standard pencils and china graph pencils will work fine. All weather pens are also available to buy.

So, by taking a few precautions to protect equipment from water, either rain or river, you will ensure that your kit stays dry and serviceable.

A quality case is essential for protecting maps

Waterproof note paper and a pencil will allow you to write in wet conditions www.airsoft-action.online

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It”s a Classic THE M1 HELMET

THE ONE SIZE FITS ALL

STEEL POT FROM WWII TO THE BEACHES OF SCARRIFF, THE HELMET CHOICE OF THE FREE WORLD HAS BEEN THE UBIQUITOUS M1.

GADGE TAKES UP THE STORY… AS WE DISCOVERED IN OUR earlier instalment on the PASGT, combat helmets have evolved in a big way in the last 30 years or so but one design survived for longer than anyone could have expected – The M1 NATO helmet.

It’s got a classic silhouette and it has been worn by heroes since the 1940s. Tom Hanks rocked one in Saving Private Ryan, Kubrick used one for the cover of Full Metal Jacket, Hicks and Hudson fought off the Aliens wearing them and rebel commandoes stormed the beaches in Rogue One with modified M1s. So it is fair to say that not only is the M1 a classic piece of military personal protection but a cultural icon as well.

For years the US had used either copies of the British “Brodie” and French “Adrian” helmets, used in the trenches of WWI but were looking for a domestically produced steel lid that would provide better protection for their troops. In 1941, as the US was entering WWII, the US army adopted the M1 to replace the ageing M1917 A1 “Kelly” helmet. Most helmets of the time supported the steel shell with a “liner” which was simple a leather, or leather and metal, cradle either screwed or bolted directly to the shell. The M1 moved away from this design by having the outer steel shell house an inner liner helmet, made initially of paper coated in phenolic resin and later out of moulded plastic. The helmet’s adjustable cradle is fixed to the inner liner while the chin strap is secured to metal bales on the outer shell. As the liner can be worn as a “hard hat” for some tasks (such as engineers and military police in peacetime) it also has its own lighter weight chin strap that can also be detached.

While the profile and construction of the M1 was adjusted

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slightly after WWII, the basic helmet would remain in service with the US army units until 1985 and was adopted by many other Nations as well. Post-WWII the M1 became known as the “NATO” helmet, as nearly early single NATO nation bar the UK adopted it as its standard combat helmet… Providing a distinctive “friend” identifier when several allied armies worked together and easing any logistic chain in any future clash with the Warsaw Pact (who had almost all adopted the Soviet M40 helmet).

The US had experimented with helmet nets and scrim to break up the outline of the M1 during WWII but had put more faith in cloth covers, rather than adopt the British and German practice of using local foliage on a net. Troops in the pacific were issued a camouflage cover that was a predominantly brown “beach” scheme on one side and a green “jungle” pattern on the other. By the Vietnam War, the army was issuing a jungle camo cover in a pattern known as “Mitchell pattern”.

A variant of the Mitchell pattern was used on US M1s in Europe for some while, before being superseded by a cover made in the newly adopted M81 woodland pattern (oddly a chocolate chip pattern cover was never made to accompany the six colour desert combat uniform and instead a plain sandbag cover was sometimes used). Though not often used, these helmet covers all had small slits on the cover to allow local foliage and grass to be inserted and a khaki elasticated band to add more substantial foliage was also included.

The M1 is not a common choice with airsofters on a Sunday skirmish but can still be seen every weekend at WWII Vietnam and Cold war ends across the country – ensuring its place as a real world and airsoft classic.

Real Steel P90

LOVE IT OR LOATHE IT, THE P90 FOR A LONG TIME WAS A COMMON SITE ON THE AIRSOFT FIELD – PARTICULARLY AMONG PLAYERS OF A SMALLER STATURE OR THOSE WANTING A “BACK UP” A LITTLE BIGGER THAN A PISTOL.

THE P90 PERSONAL DEFENCE WEAPON OFF PITCH THE P90 SOON became the staple “sci-fi gun” of a dozen far future dramas, including cult TV show Stargate and found favour in the computer games industry as a portable, hard hitting SMG. Featured in numerous action and first person shooter computer games, from Metal Gear Solid, through Call of Duty to Splinter Cell, the P90 became a firm favourite with FPS gamers.

But despite its image as a frontline Special Forces weapon on the skirmish field, its actual origins are far more humble and stem from a need to give rear echelon troops and drivers a more dependable firearm.

By the late 80s NATO decided that the venerable 9mm parabellum round had, after over 80 years, had its day and looked towards a replacement round. Among one of NATO’s worries was that a proliferation of body armour among its potential enemies had made the 9mm round obsolete and a requirement in the “desired specifications” for a successor round was the ability to penetrate modern kevlar vests.

In 1989, NATO published document D/296, outlining a number of preliminary specifications for their new Personal Defence Weapon (it is worth noting that these specification also include requirements for a complimentary sidearm to replace NATO’s existing hand guns): • The new cartridge was to have greater range, accuracy, and terminal performance than the 9×19mm cartridge.

Additionally, it was to be capable of penetrating body armor.

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• The shoulder-fired personal defence weapon was to weigh less than 3 kg (6.6lb), with a magazine capacity of at least 20 rounds.

• The handheld personal defence weapon (pistol) was to weigh less than 1 kg (2.2lb), although a weight of 700 g (1.5lb) was deemed desirable; it was to have a magazine capacity of at least 20 rounds.

• Both weapons were to be sufficiently compact to be carried hands-free on the user’s person at all times, whether in the

Real Steel P90

“FOR MANY YEARS IT HAD THE UNFAIR REPUTATION OF BEING THE “GIRLFRIENDS GUN”, WHEN IT CAME OUT IN 1997 AS, AT THE TIME, THERE WERE VERY FEW QUALITY AEGS OF A LIGHT WEIGHT AND SMALL SIZE.” cab of a vehicle or the cockpit of an aircraft and were to perform effectively in all environments and weather conditions.

To meet these new requirements, the P90 was developed as a lightweight small sub machine gun with a large magazine capacity and low recoil. Capable of easily penetrating almost all conventional body armour of the time. The P90 has an unconventional appearance with its top loaded magazine, polymer construction, integral sights and an unusual stock.

The weapon uses a simple blowback mechanism and the entire barrel and bolt assembly of the weapon can be lifted out in seconds. Attached directly to the bolt and barrel assembly is the sight which, on the base model is a non-enlarging scope with a low light reticle. The P90 also features emergency battle sights on either side of the scope and the P90 is a fully ambidextrous weapon.

Produced by FN Herstal in Belgium, the FN P90 SMG is a “clean sheet” design, breaking away from traditional SMG ergonomics and with a number of unusual features.

As previously mentioned, its basic operating system is a gas blowback mechanism firing from a closed bolt, its ease of field stripping with its bullpup configuration make it incredibly portable with an overall length of around 500mm. Unlike many bullpups that simply move the magazine behind the trigger mechanism to save overall length, the P90 uses some striking ergonomic concepts. The weapon is grasped my means of a circular thumb hole in the polymer frame which serves as a kind of pistol grip while the oversized trigger guard provides a secure foregrip position for the shooter’s “off hand”.

Capable of both full auto and semi-automatic fire, the P90 Personal Defence Weapon is chambered for a custom made 5.7x28 mm low-impulse and high-velocity ammunition, with sharp nose bullets. This round has enhanced penetration, compared with standard 9x19 mm Parabellum round and is effective against body armour at ranges of 100 m and beyond - although visually it looks little different from a scaled-down standard NATO 5.56x45 mm round. To give an idea of the P90’s impressive armour-piercing capabilities; the 5.7x28 round will

penetrate a standard US Army helmet at a range of 150m.

Fouling of the weapon in battle conditions is minimal due to the P90s ejection port being located on the underside of the weapon. As the cartridges are ejected downwards an optional casing catcher can be attached to the underside of the PDW. For many airsofters though, the P90 is still something of a “marmite gun”; you either love it or hate it! For many years it had the unfair reputation of being the “girlfriends gun”, when it came out in 1997 as, at the time, there were very few quality AEGs of a light weight and small size. Today, however, there are so many compact, decent AEGs to choose from that you’re no longer lumped with the choice of P90 or an MP5k if you’re off a slimmer or shorter build. Suffice it to say, with over 40 worldwide service users, the P90 is here to stay!

Specifications Manufacturer: FN Herstal Calibre: 5.7x28mm Length: 500mm Weight: 2.54kg Cyclic Rate of Fire: 900rpm Practical Rate of Fire: 200 RPM Operation: Blowback Magazine Capacity:50 rounds\ Fire Modes: Semi & Ful Auto Maximum Range: 400m Effective Range: 200m

www.airsoft-action.online

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Support your local airsoft company!

Airsoft Zone Unit 2, Detection House Brooklands Approach Romford, Essex.

01708 733275 www.airsoftzone.co.uk

Land Warrior Airsoft 44/1 Hardengreen Bus. Prk Hardengreen Lane Dalkeith, EH22 3NX 0131 654 2452 www.landwarriorairsoft.com

Airsoft Sniper Parts UK Unit 2, Old Station Drive Sheffield S7 2PY www.airsofsniperparts.com

Xsite Airsoft Fryers Farm Lane High Wycombe Bucks, HP14 3NP 01494 881430 www.xsiteairsoft.co.uk

Bomb Up Airsoft 22-23 Arkwright Court Arkwright Road Runcorn, WA7 1NX 0800 131 3012 www.bombupairsoft.co.uk

DTW Airsoft B23 Moorside Business Prk Colchester Essex, CO1 2ZF 01206 790046 www.dtwairsoft.co.uk

Surplus Store Unit 2, Access House Stephenson Way Three Bridges, RH10 1TN 01293 525880 www.surplusstore.co.uk

The Gaol Events Oakham Enterprise Park Ashwell Road, Oakham Leics, LE15 7TU 07976 457602 www.thegaolevents.co.uk

JD Airsoft Unit 5, Virage Park Green Lane, Cannock WS11 0NH 0845 600 5144 www.jdairsoft.net

Invicta Battlefield Airsoft Pook Hill Wood Farm Wilden Park Road, Staplehurst, TN12 0HP 07876 263290 www.invictabattlefield.co.uk

Johnsons of Leeds 2, Vulcan Foundry Haigh Park Road Leeds, LS10 1RT 0113 277 5237 www.johnsonsofleeds.co.uk

TacTree Unit 3, Stag Business Park Donnington Wood Telford, TF2 7NA 01952 565670 www.tactree.co.uk

Sell Airsoft Action in your shop or on your site and get a FREE ADVERT on these pages!

Contact Nige on 01684 878003 or by email: nige@airsoft-action.co.uk for details.

Buy Airsoft Action from any of these shops or sites - and get your copy before it goes on sale on the High Street!

Combat-UK 13-15 Market Place Stevenage Herts, SG1 1DH 01438 362922 www.onlyairsoft.com

Phoenix Airsoft Gleadthorpe Breck Plnt.

Budby Road Cuckney, NG20 9JX 07956 587213 www.phoenix-airsoft.co.uk

Stormforce Airsoft Longbarn Farm Bardy Lane Rugeley, WS15 4LD 07515 937633

Leicestershire Airsoft Unit 3 Melton Road Industrial Est. Queniborough, LE7 3FP 07526 372108

308 Sniper 66 High Street Chatham Kent, ME4 4DS 01634 921278 www.308sniper.co.uk

Socom Tactical 70 Reading Road South Fleet Hampshire, GU52 7SD 01252 616 868 www.socomtactical.net

Gunman Airsoft Tuddenham, IP28 6DF Eversley, RG27 0PX 07711 774461 07711 774401 www.gunmanairsoft.co.uk

Airsoft Plantation Goatsmoor Lane Stock, Billericay Essex, CM4 9RS 07771 556395 www.airsoftplantation.co.uk

Badlands Airsoft Woodberry Lane Rowlands Castle Hants, PO9 6DP 07534 465589 www.badlandsairsoft.co.uk

Sell Airsoft Action in your shop or on your site and this space could be yours ...completely FREE! For more info, email nige@airsoft-action.co.uk

www.stormforceairsoft.co.uk

www.leicestershireairsoft.co.uk

Looking for somewhere to buy Airsoft Action?

Your local Newsagent sold out?

Then why not visit any of the fine airsoft companies listed here?

They all keep Airsoft Action in stock and while you are there, don’t forget to have a good browse round to see what else they can tempt you with...

SITE DIRECTORY FIND SOMEWHERE TO BE THIS WEEKEND…

SYMBOL KEY

IS IT WOODLAND OR URBAN? CHECK THE KEY! UKARA MEMBER

SHOP ONSITE

WOODLAND

PYROS ALLOWED

URBAN

BATTERY CHARGING

DESERT

REPAIR SERVICE

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.airsoftplantation.co.uk apairsoftplantation@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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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

SITE DIRECTORY FIND SOMEWHERE TO BE THIS WEEKEND…

BLUESTREAK AIRSOFT

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

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 – THE SANDPIT (DESERT)

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

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

CONTACT! FIGHT SCHOOL

DRAGON’S LAIR

COOL UNDER FIRE

DRAGON VALLEY AIRSOFT

Kelvedon Hatch, Essex, CM14 5 Tel: 01438 368177 www.thefightschool.demon.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

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

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

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

DOG TAG AIRSOFT

FIRST & ONLY: BUNKER WOOD

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

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

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

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

www.airsoft-action.online

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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

GASS AIRSOFT – PENN

HUMBER AIRSOFT

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

MIDWALES AIRSOFT

Penn Bottom, Bucks, HP10 Tel: 07907 788970 www.gassairsoft.co.uk

GASS AIRSOFT – PIDDINGTON

INVICTA BATTLEFIELD

MILITARY OUTDOOR ADVENTURES

Piddington, Oxfordshire, OX25 1 Tel: 07907 788970 www.gassairsoft.co.uk

GRANGE FARM AIRSOFT FIRST & ONLY: THE HIVE

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

Leicester, LE9 9FP www.gingerliberationfront.com

GRANGE LIVE GAMING FIRST & ONLY: THE ARMOURY Wrexham, Denbighshire, LL13 9RG Tel: 0161 727 8863

FIRST & ONLY: THE ACADEMY

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

Bravo One Birmingham, 93–99 Holloway Head, B1 1QP Tel: 0121 643 2477 info@grangelivegaming.com www.grangelivegaming.com

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

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

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

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

GUN HO AIRSOFT

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

GUNMAN AIRSOFT – TUDDENHAM

Cavenham Road, Tuddenham, IP28 6DF Tel: 07711 774 461/ 0771 774 401 www.gunmanairsoft.co.uk

MILSIM UK

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

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

LAND WARRIOR AIRSOFT

NCIS AIRSOFT

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

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

LAC SITE 1

NOMAD AIRSOFT

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

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

The Grange, Frogmore Grange, Balsall Common, Coventry CV7 7FP Tel: 01676 532 384 info@suspensionofdisbelief.co.uk www.giairsoft.co.uk/Skirmish-days

FREE FIRE ZONE

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

FRV AIRSOFT

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

FULL METAL AIRSOFT

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

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November 2017

LAC SITE 2

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

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

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

LINDSEY AIRSOFT

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

GUNMAN AIRSOFT– EVERSLEY The Welsh Drive, Fleet Road, RG27 0PY Tel: 07711 774 461/ 0771 774 401 www.gunmanairsoft.co.uk

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

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

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

NSC AIRSOFT

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

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

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

LAC SITE 3

LAC SITE 5 GUNMAN AIRSOFT – MIDLANDS

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

ISLAND RECON AIRSOFT COMBAT

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

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

MAW

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

MIA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

SKIRMISH EXETER

TECH BRIGADE

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

Newgate Street, Hertfordshire.

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

STIRLING AIRSOFT

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

STORMFORCE AIRSOFT

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

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

RIFT AIRSOFT COM’S SITE 3

SUSSEX AIRSOFT

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.

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

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

THE BUNKER

UCAP GREEN OPS

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

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

UCAP SANDPIT

THE DEPOT

ULTIMATE WARGAMES – FAWKHAM

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

THE DESERTERS AIRSOFT

RED1AIRSOFT CQB

Chipping Warden, OX17 1LZ Tel: 07751 586781 www.riftairsoft.com

S.W.A.T. AIRSOFT

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

THE EX SITE

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

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

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

Fawkham, Kent, DA3 8NY Tel: 01268 796130 www.ultimatewargames.co.uk

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

www.airsoft-action.online

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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

XSITE AIRSOFT – LANE END High Wycombe, HP14 3NP Tel: 01494 881430

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November 2017

DOUBLE TAP PSC

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.