Issue 58 - February 2016

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ARMOUL9RY JING GONG S ASG SVD-S ICS GALIL AR M246 V M60

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R.I.F.T. DEFILADE T COURTHOUSE BRISTOL AIRSOF FT THE STAN SKIRMISH AIRSO DARKWATER CQB

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ARMOURY:

ARMOURY:

MAGAZINE!

AIRSOFT ACTION

ARMOURY JING GONG SL9 ASG SVD-S ICS GALIL AR M246 V M60

JING GONG SL9

SITES

R.I.F.T. DEFILADE COURTHOUSE BRISTOL AIRSOFT THE STAN SKIRMISH AIRSOFT CQB ER WAT DARK

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Editor: Nigel Streeter Assistant editor: Gareth “Gadge” Harvey Graphic design: Havoc Design Ad design: Havoc Design Publisher: Nigel Streeter Cover Photo: Nige 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 2016 Distribution: Distributed to the newstrade by Comag Magazine Marketing, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QE Tel: 01895 433 800 Copyright © Calibre Publishing Limited 2016.

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.

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CONTENTS FEBRUARY MARCH 2016 2014

CONTENTS

FEBRUARY 2016 6 NEWS What’s happening in the World of Airsoft 10 ROGUE’S GALLERY Cool photos taken by Airsoft Action readers.

11 THE ADVENTURES OF MAG Mag continues his adventures in Airsoft Action’s exclusive cartoon.

12 ARMOURY: JING GONG SL9 One of the most space-age looking rifles blasts onto the skirmish field, as Scott Allan takes a look at this Jing Gong sharp shooter.

16 ARMOURY: ASG SVD-S Some airsofters think AEGs are awesome, while others think that gas is great but only one thing really gets Frenchie’s juices flowing…

64 ARMOURY: M246 v M60 Scott Allan pitches two of the most popular beltfeeders against each other, in a classic “Head to Head”.

68 KIT: NUPROL HELMETS Head protection is a growing trend within airsoft with more and more of us choosing to wear a helmet. Jerry Noone takes a close look at the range available from NUPROL with models to suit virtually any loadout!

70 SITE: DARKWATER CQB As the trend for mid-week ‘softing grows, Les Lee shuns his shades and heads for an evening of airsoft action in Kent.

20 ARMOURY: ICS GALIL AR In an airsoft world dominated by M4 replicas, Jerry Noone takes a look at something just a little different – in the form of the Galil AR from I Chi Shivan.

75 LOADED OR UNLOADED: SNAKE EATER In a continuation of their roll-out of new tactical gear and clothing, VIPER have released some of their most popular designs in plain block colours, ideal for Green Team/Tan Team games. Jerry Noone highlights some of the best and introduces two new items of gear!

24 SITE: R.I.F.T. DEFILADE Les Lee continues his trip around England’s southern airsoft sites, with a visit to one that certainly lives up to its name.

80 BIG BOYZ TOYZ: HUNTING FOR GOLD Ratty makes a welcome return to Airsoft Action with Part One of a real-life gold-hunting story that could be straight off the pages of many a wartime novel.

30 EVENT: ENGLAND v SCOTLAND – THE AULD ENEMY Arguably Airsoft’s most competitive game of the year hits its 8th event in a row, as Scott Allan reports from Stirling’s annual cross-border battle at Catterick.

84 TEAM PROFILE: BRAVO 46 Based in the West Midlands, Bravo 46 are an airsoft team with ambitions to become one of the best teams in the UK!

34 SITE: BRISTOL AIRSOFT COURTHOUSE Not everyone wants to find themselves in a Courthouse but that didn’t stop Iggy Roberts from checking out this 12th Century site.

86 A SQUADRON: PRIMARY WEAPON COURSE Eager for more training with A Squadron’s Bob Podesta, Paul Yelland switches from pistol to rifle for his next course.

38 FEATURE: COMMS - PART THREE Having looked at different types of PMR, Frenchie pits a range of radios against each other to find out if more expensive really is better.

88 SKILLS: METHOD OF ENTRY PART TWO In the second part of this series, Calibre Shooting’s Andy Nightingale continues his advice on how best to enter a room or building – and stay alive!

42 INSIDE AIRSOFT: ASG Nige travels to Denmark and visits a company that holds the licences to some of the best known names in airsoft.

90 TEAM FORMATION: COMBAT MEDIC In our continuing series of key team roles in airsoft, this month Gadge Harvey looks at the role of the Team or Combat Medic.

48 COLD WAR WARRIORS: BUSH WARS Although most of us have heard of The Cold War, few are aware that another, far bloodier war was being waged in Africa, as Gadge explains…

94 WW1: THE SIEGE OF KUT AL AMARA After a short Xmas break, Sniper One, Dan Mills, returns to write about a battle that many will not have heard of.

52 KIT: ALPHA-TEC HEX GRENADE Iggy Roberts gets the New Year off to a bang with a look at Alpha-Tec’s innovative six-shot BFG.

96 BOOK REVIEWS Gareth “Gadge” Harvey settles down with some good books from our friends over at Osprey Publishing and Pen and Sword Books.

54 INTERNATIONAL AIRSOFT: TURNING JAPANESE Following a recent visit to Tokyo, Airsoft Action reader, Ed Crooks, shares his fascination with Japanese Airsoft.

58 SITE: SKIRMISH AIRSOFT – THE STAN Kelly “Femme Fatale” Hardwick travels to real steel country to play at the old Stanley Tools factory.

61 GITAG: GBB PERFORMANCE Jerry Noone turns to a former US Navy SEAL to up the performance of his “UKSF” L119A1.

100 SITE DIRECTORY & PRACTICAL PISTOL CLUBS With the ever-growing popularity of Practical Shooting, we thought it was about time we started listing where you can go and take part – as well as over four pages of awesome airsoft venues!

106 DEALER LISTING: AIRSOFT ACTION’S ADVERTISER INDEX Find who you are looking for in our listing of all the adverts that appear in this issue. www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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AIRSOFT NEWS

READ THIS – IT IS IMPORTANT! AS YOU MAY OR MAY not know, airsoft is (once again) being put under threat, this time by our bureaucratic (some would say, autocratic) “Lords and Masters” in Brussels.

Without going into it too deeply, following the recent attacks in Paris certain members of the EU Parliament are calling for tighter controls on anything that looks vaguely like a firearm, including de-activated and “replica” weapons.

Among their other “brilliant ideas”, they want to see all “replica” weapons serialised, registered and recorded and online sales (effectively) banned – and they want airsoft weapons included as “replicas”. This in itself is a bizarre notion, as some EU Member States don’t even recognise the concept of a “replica firearm”!!

However, the bottom line is this: If we don’t get this stopped, then airsoft in the UK will be irrevocably changed – and not for the good!

The following is a message to ALL Airsofters from Matt Furey-King, President of the European Airsoft Association please read it and if you want to keep the game we all love alive, then do something about this and do it NOW – tomorrow may be too late!!

Hello, I know this story broke a few days ago but I’d be highly appreciative if you could share what the EAA has to say about the current EU situation and keep some momentum on it. If it goes through it would be a massive problem for airsoft in Europe. I’ve included a short video which I hope will grab people’s attention. My contacts in the real firearms lobby tell me that this proposal, whilst being absolute garbage, is racing through the legislative process as the EU wants to look like it is taking action post Paris attacks. Some MEPs involved in its creation are talking about this like the amendment to the regulation is a done deal. So here’s what we have so far; Please watch this video for a short summary of the situation. https://youtu.be/dxrhkFqunBM Here’s the full explanation.

For many years The European Airsoft Association has been concerned that a European directive could damage or even ban airsoft.

Once implemented, all EU member states are obliged to put regulations into local law. At that point it’s too late, you cannot stop it in your own country. Unless we act, this exact scenario could happen very soon.

An anti-firearms group within the EC has published a proposal which primarily aims to get rid of all semi auto live firearms and most deactivated firearms. They are playing on people fears after the horrible terrorist attacks of the last year but this is a cynical excuse for them to pursue a pre-existing agenda. The terrorist attacks have been carried out with illegally held weapons that have mostly come from military armouries via armed conflicts in the Balkans.

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Subcommittee on Security and Defence) http://www.europarl.europa.eu/committees/en/ sede/members.html?action=0 Please stick to these rules: • BE NICE! We want to win them over to our point of view, not make them see us as angry, unpleasant or single minded! Most MEPs won’t even be aware of the change affecting replicas, or the consequences of the change.

• STICK TO THE POINT. Tell them that nonconvertible replicas should not be classified as firearms by being added to Category C of directive 91/477/EEC These events are not connected to civilian firearms or to replica firearms either.

Although they present no argument against the current status of non-convertible replica weapons in the paper they throw in this subtle, yet devastating change to the classification of replicas: (iii) In Category C, the following points are added: “5. Alarm and signal weapons, salute and acoustic weapons as well as replicas This would mean that all replicas in Europe would become ‘firearms subject to declaration’.

This would mean the following changes (subject to local laws): • All replicas would need to be registered • You would need to apply for permission to own a replica and would likely be subject to checks and licencing • All replicas would be allocated a serial number • You would require a European firearms pass to take replicas to a foreign country • Internet sales would be banned (as the proposal also puts forward a ban on remote sales for all firearms).

We believe this change will be impractical, extremely hard (probably impossible) and expensive to implement, take resources and focus away from criminals and terrorism, will ruin a thriving airsoft retail industry and will not make citizens safer at all. As you may be aware, a worrying historic occurrence in some European countries has been forcing the register of firearms as a precursor to a ban and confiscation.

Here’s what you can do to prevent this: 1. Share this news story. Get the word out to your airsoft friends and contacts.

Translate it into your native language. Use the hashtag #airsoftineurope 2. Fill out the feedback form for the proposal. https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/ regdoc/?fuseaction=feedback&docId=3085376 3. Email your MEP. Tell them why they need to vote against this proposal!

4. Email a member of SEDE (EU

• TALK ABOUT YOU. Tell them about how the changes will hurt you and your friends, your industry, your hobby. Talk from a personal perspective.

• FEED BACK THE RESPONSES. Forward all responses you get to me, furey_x@yahoo. co.uk. We need to know how MEPs feel about this paper. I am building a database of the airsoft allies and supporters.

This amendment is being fast tracked (they are even going to skip the normal Economic impact assessment) and could be voted through in a very short space of time, so you need to act as soon as you read this (if you haven’t already).

Airsoft players should also stand with their cousins in the live firearms and deactivated firearms communities, they will also have their hobbies destroyed when none of us have any connection to recent events. Together with them, it is possible to act as a huge grass roots body and put down this ridiculous proposal. The EAA will also be lobbying the EC directly so like our FB page and we will keep you up to date with any new information.

MATT FUREY-KING, President European Airsoft Association Sources: Proposal for a directive of the European parliament and of the council amending Council Directive 91/477/ EEC on control of the acquisition and possession of weapons https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2015/ EN/1-2015-750-EN-F1-1.PDF Council directive (91 /477/EEC) (specifically, annex 1, Category C — Firearms subject to declaration) http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/ PDF/?uri=CELEX:31991L0477&from=EN

AIRSOFT NEWS NEW SHOOTING SHOW ANNOUNCED! THE NORTHERN SHOOTING SHOW will start the first of its annual shows next year, on Saturday 7th and Sunday 8th May 2016.

This all new show will be held in the fantastic backdrop of the Yorkshire Event Centre, home of The Great Yorkshire Show and the Show organisers promise to deliver a show for ALL shooting enthusiasts, with ALL shooting disciplines represented in equal measure!

The UK’s leading manufacturers, distributors and retailers of airgun, airsoft, rifle, shotgun, specialist kit and accessories will all be present, displaying all the latest products and innovations to hit the market.

Specialist focus areas at the show will include a Bushcraft Area with wilderness, survival, foraging and wild game preparation demonstrations, along with clothing and accessories for sale. The Rifle “FMJ” Zone will have all the latest tactical and target rifle manufacturers, distributors and retailers, with a great choice of all the latest specialist kit to hit the market. Clubs, Societies and Associations will be on hand to answer any questions and provide information to anyone looking to get into the sport of shooting.

NUPROL BOCCA Rail System The NUPROL BOCCA Rail System is a wide range of high quality rail systems for airsoft replicas.

Like many product lines in airsoft, the NUPROL team felt that replica rail systems are not good enough and players face many difficulties when trying to fit rails to various AEG and GBB replicas.

Here at NUPROL we wanted to fix that by giving the player the opportunity to have the rail system of their choice, in a colour of their choosing, with all the correct mounting tools and pieces for both AEG and GBB. This is how BOCCA rail systems was born and we have done just that!

• All screws and allen keys required for mounting included • Two STEEL barrel nuts with every series rail. One manufactured for AEG threads and one for GBB threads.

• High quality materials used in manufacturing process • High quality finishes to both Bronze and Black rails • Retail-friendly packaging • High quality protective foam inserts For more information, or to stock the NUPROL BOCCA Rail System, visit http://www.weairsofteurope.com/eu/nuprol/bocca-railseries.html

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February 2016

The Airsoft Area is a massive area dedicated purely to Airsoft. Exhibitors include ASG, The Grange, Stirling Airsoft, UKPSA and JD Airsoft. Many more will be added very shortly…

Outside, the Outdoor activities include an Action Air range, Military Simulation, a “Have a Go” area and range, clayshooting, airgun and pistol ranges, a live .22 semi-automatic rimfire range, plus archery and shotgun simulations.

With “Early bird” adult tickets at only £9, including free priority parking, the show organisers promise visitors will certainly get their money’s worth!

For more information and to take advantage of the early bird offer please go to: www.northernshootingshow.co.uk

AA GALLERY READERS’ PHOTOS

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All pics: Ace Combat’s Xmas Game - from Nathan

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FEBRUary 2016

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.

THE ADVENTURES OF MAG

CARTOON

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11

ONE OF THE MOST SPACE-AGE LOOKING RIFLES BLASTS ONTO THE SKIRMISH FIELD, AS SCOTT ALLAN TAKES A LOOK AT THIS JING GONG SHARP SHOOTER

GOING FOR A JING GONG WHEN YOU NEED A G36 to go sniping with, you don’t need to look any further than the SL9 rifle, which is also known as the SL8. Low profile, sleek and accurate is there anything more you could want?

Jing Gong is one of the largest Chinese “clone” companies today and the SL8 is no different. Originally this was a kit from the company known previously as STAR, that later changed to the more commonly known Ares. The kit cost around £250 and need a donor G36 and, at that time, your only option was the Tokyo Marui G36, at around £180. So this rifle originally would’ve cost you around £430 - and that didn’t include the optic; that was over £100 extra! How do I know all this? Sorry, I forgot to mention didn’t I? I still have one of the original Marui/STAR rifles today. Pumping out a mighty 275fps on 0.20g BBs! Oh how times have changed! So what is the difference between the SL8 and 9? Originally the 8 was the civilian and the 9 was a military version and the version we have here is the

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armoury JING GONG SL9

“AS A COMPARISON TO MY STAR KIT VERSION, IT IS EVERY BIT JUST AS NICELY FINISHED - EXCEPT MY STAR/MARUI HAS TWO DIFFERENT FINISHES BECAUSE THERE ARE TWO DIFFERENT MANUFACTURING PLANTS – AND IF ANYTHING, I WOULD SAY THIS CHEAPER CLONE VERSION ACTUALLY LOOKS BETTER.”

9, as the 8 originally had a different top rail.

I have always loved the SL9, even though I do not like the G36 much. There is nothing wrong with the G series but the SL9 starts to tick my “Star Wars” box due to the design and when you see some of the different colour schemes in white and grey, it becomes even more “Storm Trooper-esque”. The platform that Jing Gong have produced, while a clone, is an affordable breath of fresh air in a stale, M4-dominated market and as much as this makes me a down and out hypocrite (as I own a variety of these vanilla skirmish weapons), I do love to see the variety out there.

The SL8 is a civilian target rifle with a variety of variants to suit all gun laws. Classically chambered in the ever-popular NATO 5.56mm, or civilian .223, the SL8 comes with all the quality of a Heckler & Koch and (of course) the corresponding price tag. While H&K have moved away from the G series (in some respects) in favour of their 416 ranges, the SL8 is still out there and often seen in the grey colour that looks considerably less military and more sci-fi than the black version. It is doubtful this will ever make a reappearance into the military these days

and that is another sign of the M4 design dominance on the modern battlefield.

Back with the Jing Gong version, the polymer bodywork does not look bad with a steady matt finish and there are no dirty great moulding lines or uneven finishing across the body.

While people still ask occasionally for a “full metal” G36 that obviously doesn’t exist, the SL8 we have here does look realistic in its own plastic fantastic way. As a comparison to my STAR kit version, it is every bit just as nicely finished – except my STAR/ Marui has two different finishes because there are two different manufacturing plants - and if anything, I would say this cheaper clone version actually looks better. It includes a series of cheek risers to suit any optic you may want to fit and with no creaks and flexing in the rifle, you can be confident in its ability to serve you well in any game.

With an out-of-the-box 350fps, it has an impressive 75fps more than my Marui hybrid version. People do harp on about Marui quality and while it is good, I would be hard-pressed to believe that this version isn’t better value and better performing across the board. While a little more power doesn’t always make too much difference, nearly 30% more power does make a big difference! With the whole system being standard version 3 gearbox you can upgrade until your heart is content too.

The only thing I am not enjoying about reviewing this rifle so far is a) I already have an expensive SL9 that I don’t use and b) This SL9 is definitely nicer and better than my version! Those small insignificant points aside brings me to the ambidextrous conclusion that the system here is brilliant. Okay, it doesn’t www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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armoury JING GONG SL9

“THE ONLY THING I AM NOT ENJOYING ABOUT REVIEWING THIS RIFLE SO FAR IS A) I ALREADY HAVE AN EXPENSIVE SL9 THAT I DON’T USE AND B) THIS SL9 IS DEFINITELY NICER AND BETTER THAN MY VERSION! THOSE SMALL INSIGNIFICANT POINTS ASIDE BRINGS ME TO THE AMBIDEXTROUS CONCLUSION THAT THE SYSTEM HERE IS BRILLIANT.” have recoil like the new Tokyo Marui, it isn’t licensed by H&K and it comes with a small 20-round sniper magazine. On the flip side recoil isn’t everything, in fact I have occasionally been irritated by some recoil systems. The H&K license is a nice thing but it is just a name and a label that will cost you money, it isn’t something that says anything about the quality of the product.

The small 20-round magazine is not very useful unless you were going to turn this into a DMR platform and you can easily swap this out for any other Marui compatible G36 magazine system.

So with a sleek design, good build quality, future proof internally and fair value is there anything not to like about the SL8/9 we have here? Well there is the age-old issue of storing G36 magazines in pouches. Have you ever tried to put a six foot Christmas tree into your pocket, in a hurry, tip first? That is how it feels sometimes trying to get a magazine out of a pouch. Of course I do exaggerate for the sake of comedy but they can be a bit bothersome compared to the M4 magazine design. But behold! Someone has thought of this and made Magazine Well converters for the G36 platform to allow them take M4 magazines – whining negated I suppose! Changing battery is the only other mild juggle the G36 offers. Sliding off the front hand guard for a quick swap while holding the locking pin safely somewhere isn’t always the easiest. With new LiPo batteries this has become much easier

than the old NiCad days, when you only had 600mah per battery. The optic is a bit small to quickly aim and get an accurate shot off and I’d recommend only using it in a spotting capacity, especially if you are playing at a fast pace.

Being longer than the standard G36 you have a few things to watch out for in tighter areas, overall it is much the same as a M16, which isn’t crazy but a tight CQB arena might not be the best home for this platform. It isn’t impossible but no point in making life hard for yourself. The majority of sites will be absolutely fine with this. The magazine storage is fiddly but you will undoubtedly work out an easy system for it. The ambidextrous fire selector and thumbhole stock means it is comfortable to use for all players and once you get the correct number of cheek spacers in, the rifle should shoulder quickly and effectively for you. I do always prefer a slightly longer rifle as I find them easier and quicker to point at my target.

CONCLUSION

Stepping into the G36 market is always going to be a nice step away from the M4 gaggle, the SL8/9 is an even more exotic step, particularly if you want to go down the DMR route. Looking at the value of this I find it hard to find fault with it. It has everything you would expect, for just £200: Looks, build quality, performance and is easily upgraded as you see fit. It does make me think about grabbing mine out of the box after all these long years. Okay the scope is like looking through a mouse’s earhole but is does look really cool and that, surely, is very important!

features LENGTH: 990mm WEIGHT: 3.5KG FPS: 350FPS (0.20G BBS) MAG CAPACITY: G36 20 ROUNDS RAILS: 3 INCH RAIL LOCATED ON THE TOP OF THE CARRY HANDLE INNER BARREL: 510mm CONSTRUCTION: POLYMER OPTIC: 1.5X ZOOM GEARBOX: VERSION 3 RRP: £200

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february 2016

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SOME AIRSOFTERS THINK AEGS ARE AWESOME, WHILE OTHERS THINK THAT GAS IS GREAT BUT ONLY ONE THING REALLY GETS FRENCHIE’S JUICES FLOWING… IT MAY BE WINTER, but spring is in the air...

I have a passion for spring guns. I was going to write that I have a “secret” passion for spring guns but it has never been a secret. When I started airsofting, finance more than anything dictated that I used springers – it was all I could afford at the time. I would like to say that it made me a better player, learning to bide my time waiting for the telling shot, using cover, conserving my ammo but that would be a lie. I was impetuous then and age permitting, I’m as impetuous now.

What it did give me, out of necessity then and out of preference now, is an abiding love of airsoft guns that rely on nothing more technologically challenging that a simple spring, driving a simple piston, to hurl the BB down the barrel.

In the intervening years I have owned a lot of guns, most of them were electric as it is (admittedly) more practical but I still have a hankering for the simplicity of spring-powered guns. It was therefore almost inevitable that you would find me reviewing one for you.

It’s not new and it’s not perfect but it still has a lot to offer players old and new. For reasons that will become clear, this isn’t a “sniper” rifle – a sniper is a person, not a gun for a start and the original SVD was conceived to bridge the gap in Soviet fire-power which saw the AK only really effective out to 300 metres – and not terribly effective at that. The SVD was capable of reaching out to 800 metres with good ammunition, with the issued Soviet 7.62 x 54mm 600m was more achievable. These days we would call it a “Designated Marksman Rifle” (DMR) and one was issued to each platoon. The inclusion of a bayonet lug on the original SVD tells you more about the intended role of the rifle than pretty much anything I could write!

The original (and by now iconic) SVD (Snaiperskaya Vintovka Dragunova) was adopted by the Red Army in 1963, which

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Armoury ASG SVD-S

makes me and it the same age! Unsurprisingly it is a semiautomatic rifle, gas-operated using a short-stroke mechanism.

Despite its similarities to the AK family it shares almost nothing with that rifle mechanically. The curved magazine holds 10 rounds and the bolt holds to the rear when the magazine is empty, being released by pulling back on the charging handle. It was equipped with conventional iron sights but was issued with the excellent 4 x 24 PSO-1 scope, which attaches to a rail on the left-hand side of the receiver. The Russians had long favoured semi-automatic “sniper” rifles having made extensive use of them during WWII, something Western armies avoided, preferring bolt action rifles for their superior accuracy.

The SVD-S was introduced in the 1990s to provide airborne troops with a more compact version of the rifle. In truth, the shortening of the SVD was probably welcomed across all branches of the military as the original rifle could never be considered “compact”. The obvious changes include shortening the barrel, changing the flash hider for a more effective ported, conical design and the fitting of a side folding tubular stock. This stock incorporates a fixed cheek rest finally doing away with the tooeasily-lost detachable version found on the original. The SVD-S

“THESE DAYS WE WOULD CALL IT A “DESIGNATED MARKSMAN RIFLE” (DMR) AND ONE WAS ISSUED TO EACH PLATOON. THE INCLUSION OF A BAYONET LUG ON THE ORIGINAL SVD TELLS YOU MORE ABOUT THE INTENDED ROLE OF THE RIFLE THAN PRETTY MUCH ANYTHING I COULD WRITE!” uses the same round and its performance is in all respects the same as it’s longer, older, brethren.

Let us turn our attention to this airsoft version. Distributed

by ASG, the gun itself is made by Ares, usually a statement to have me running to the hills but wait, this isn’t half bad! You are probably all familiar with the A&K version of the SVD which was, in turn, based on the A to Z Cargo/King Arms version which preceded it. All of these rifles share a common design theme, especially with regards to the operating mechanism and we’ll come back to this shortly.

The SVD-S is built almost entirely from metal – only the fore grip, pistol grip and cheek rest are plastic. I’ll grant you that the metal isn’t high quality steel, more like adequate quality alloy but it does make the SVD-S a robust bit of kit. Finish is universally black, well applied but not hugely hard wearing.

You can expect these to weather quite well simply through normal use. The plastics are solid and well finished although there are some noticeable mould lines, particularly on the two-piece front end. The rifle is solid although there is a little movement in the stock hinge, not uncommon in airsoft replicas of this particular design. I don’t find it annoying but others might. It would be possible to shim the lock to tighten this up should you feel the need.

Controls are certainly straightforward: there is a simple AK-style safety on the right hand side of the receiver and a trigger. You cannot cock the rifle with the lever in the “safe” position but once cocked, you can “safe” the weapon to allow “cocked and locked” carry. Trigger pull is predictable but long and lacking in feel. Being an ASG licensed product it carries the marking of the Izhmash factory in Russia, something I always feel unnecessary on a military rifle.

The hop unit is a considerable improvement on the one fitted to the standard SVD, being of a rotary design. Although not I think designed to do this, the adjuster wheel will rotate through 360 degrees without stopping so you can go from no-hop to full hop and back to none without difficulty. The unit has a fixed nub and in my opinion it could be bigger, as the hop rubber doesn’t impinge very far into the barrel even at its fullest setting. This limits the amount of lift it imparts and that directly affects range and suitable ammo weights. The hop rubber is the same as that used in the VSR so replacements are widely available should you want to tweak your rifle.

Internally the SVD-S is similar to the SVD versions – an affair of large bits of metal. All the SVD rifles have some of the largest sears you will find in an airsoft gun and as a result they tend not to fail too readily. Fail they can and replacements are out there but the combination of meaty sears and aluminium pistons tends to make for long term reliability. The mainspring www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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Armoury ASG SVD-S

supplied gives around 328 fps with 0.2g ammo, the additional M120 spring supplied in the box pops that up to just north of 400 fps. Changing springs is easy, just two allen-headed bolts and can easily be done on site. The springs are functionally identical to AEG springs, meaning that you can choose your velocity with ease in a way that few spring rifles permit.

However, there is a downside to all of this flexibility and believe me, it’s quite a downside.

The SVD-S has a delicate AK-style cocking handle, although when I say “delicate” I am referring to its size, rather than any weakness. To cock the rifle you pull straight back on this handle until the sears engage and doing that with a M150 spring on board is very quickly going to put a serious hurting on your hand – trust me! There are extensions for the cocking handle available, along with suggestions on-line to increase the size of the handle using things like empty 5.56mm shell cases but the SVD-S can be hard work with big springs. Personally I have tended to avoid this by running the lower-powered spring and

the FPS down means I don’t have to fumble for a backup weapon if the opposition gets close. I have always found Dragunovs easy to handle and the SVD-S is no exception, being slim in profile and not overly heavy at 3.5 kilos.

If I’m upping the velocity I will step up to 0.28g ammo but haven’t had great results with ammo heavier than that. I’m quite willing to accept that with a bit of upgrading, especially where the hop and barrel are concerned, the SVD-S is capable of launching heavy ammo for long distances but here I’m speaking from personal experience.

I might seem to be damning this rifle “IT’S BUILT LIKE A TANK AND IT’S AS RELIABLE AS A T34, THERE with faint praise but that’s not the case. It’s built like a tank and it’s as reliable as a T34, IS VERY LITTLE TO GO WRONG. OUT OF THE BOX PERFORMANCE IS there is very little to go wrong. Out of the MORE THAN ACCEPTABLE AND IF YOU WANT MORE FROM IT THERE box performance is more than acceptable ARE A REASONABLE AMOUNT OF AFTER-MARKET PARTS AVAILABLE.” and if you want more from it there are a reasonable amount of after-market parts available. Using one of these doesn’t half using the rifle in more of a DMR role, rather than pursuing simplify things on the skirmish field, rifle and a pocket full of maximum range. That doesn’t mean I won’t up the velocity ammo is pretty much it. It doesn’t care about weather and has but it is an occasional event as I like the (supposed) precision of no truck with fickle batteries or even worse, gas. It just keeps single shot rifles and the simplicity of equipment which requires on going. nothing more than a rifle and a magazine full of ammo. The Maintenance is simple – keep it clean and a bit of occasional supplied magazine holds approximately 200 rounds and is a lubrication and it will serve you well for years to come but wind-up mag; it’s a low capacity hi-cap if you like. For a single I’ve kept the best ‘til last… You should be able to find one of shot rifle 200 rounds is pretty generous and you shouldn’t need these new for £150 or less! True you can now pick up very nice to carry much more when out in the field.

AEGs for that sort of money but you will need batteries, more Finally we come to performance and I’ll judge this without magazines, something to carry all those mags and batteries the use of an optic. I have run the SVD-S with a scope but in – and that all adds up. With the SVD-S all you really need is given my preference for lower velocity the scope becomes ammo and that should last you a decent time as well. much less of an issue. When using the iron sights it’s easy to If simplicity appeals to you, even as a change rather than flip the cheek rest out of the way to allow you to get down to as a life-choice, you could do much worse than this. Iconic, the sight line. simple and effective it is airsoft at its most appealing.

As you might reasonably expect, the SVD-S is pretty consistent. At 328 fps I tend to run 0.25g ammo and that is as The review rifle came from Landwarrior Airsoft a result of the lack of lift from the hop unit. With everything (www.landwarriorairsoft.com) and the list price was doing its job this set up will shoot accurately out to 60 metres, £149.95. ASG products are available from most good possibly a little further. In fairness that’s not overly impressive airsoft retailers. but it’s more than enough for most woodland sites and keeping

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ONE OF A KIND

IN AN AIRSOFT WORLD DOMINATED BY M4 REPLICAS, JERRY NOONE TAKES A LOOK AT SOMETHING JUST A LITTLE DIFFERENT – IN THE FORM OF THE GALIL AR FROM I CHI SHIVAN I’M ALWAYS SOMEWHAT DISMAYED that with so many unique and interesting airsoft replicas available, most players opt immediately for an M4 variant; pretty much every single airsoft manufacturer will have a lineup dominated by replicas of the American service carbine but then again, as it’s used by so many militaries worldwide it does tick a lot of boxes.

There are also numerous other RIFs that seem to take pride of place on the walls of your local airsoft shop but one to me that is oft overlooked is the Galil replica from Taiwanese manufacturer I Chi Shivan (ICS).

ICS have been in business since 1983 and from 1998 onwards dedicated themselves purely to the creation of high quality airsoft replicas. I’ve owned many ICS models over the years and they’ve always performed very well indeed for me.

Earlier in the year though I noticed that a buddy of mine had moved to an ICS Galil AR and was getting on really well with it; it seemed solid, reliable, and of superb quality.

When I questioned him about its performance he declared

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himself well satisfied, so when Fire Support kindly offered to send me a Galil for review I jumped at the chance!

ONE OF A KIND

In the real world the Galil really is one of a kind, developed by designed by Yisrael Galil and Yaacov Lior in the late 1960s and produced by Israel Military Industries Ltd (now Israel Weapon Industries Ltd). Early in the 1960s a large proportion of the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) were armed with the FN FAL, which in general terms was a superb battle rifle. However, the 1967 Six Day War showed the limitations of the FAL, in that it fared badly in the harsh, dusty desert conditions. It was also long and heavy and, as the IDF were winning their fair share of victories by adopting highly mobile manoeuvre tactics, it was not the ideal rifle to use from vehicles.

The IDF decided that what they really needed was a lighter and handier rifle than the FAL. Numerous AK variants had been captured from the Arab armies and these had functioned far better than the FAL. It was decided that the AK action should be studied further and an ingenious design was offered for testing by Yisrael Galil. His rifle was based around the Finnish m/62 and indeed the first batch to come off the production line used Finnish m/62 bodies delivered from Helsinki! Although the Galil shared many operating similarities with the AK, whilst the AK-47 and m/62 fired the 7.62×39mm Soviet round, Galil’s rifle fired the smaller 5.56×45mm M193 55-grain round. At the time the United States was replacing France as Israel’s main weapons supplier and of course, there was no way that they would be supplying ammunition from the CCCP!

Armoury ICS GALIL ICAR AR

In service, the Galil proved to be a highly effective and reliable platform, especially with vehicle mounted troops. Its side folding stock meant that the overall length of the rifle could be shortened swiftly and easily by those working from armoured personnel carriers for instance. It was also a very versatile firearm, forming the base of a system; the AR (Automatic Rifle) was the standard infantry rifle, with the ARM being the model that was used in the squad support role to replace the heavy-barrelled FN. Later, the SAR (Shortened AR) and finally the MAR (Micro AR) were added to the line, all in 5.56mm. Initially the Galil came with a wooden forestock, although in later models that changed to polymer. Numerous accessories made the Galil a very modular platform and it even had the ability to fire rifle grenades. The Marksman Assault Rifle MK1 was introduced in 1996 with a padded stock and scope as standard and several 7.62mm models were also available, most notably a version optimised for accuracy to be used in a sniper role.

With the USA as a supplier that was downsizing its own military though, Israel was given the opportunity to acquire large numbers of M16s at knockdown prices, the American rifles costing less than it did to manufacture a Galil. This relationship continued with the Israeli adoption of the M4 and many Israeli friends of mine who have served in the IDF have never even laid hands on the Galil; a sad fact as it really is a superb battle rifle with everything going for it.

Galils are still in the hands of some units and have been exported worldwide; the South African Defence Force (SADF) for instance use a modified Galil known as the R4 and topically, Ukrainian forces use the sniper variant which is produced under licence as the FORT 301.

“THE RECEIVER AREA SHOWS UNMISTAKEABLY THE “AK” HERITAGE OF THE GALIL, WITH THE SAME SELECTOR LEVER ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE; THIS HOWEVER BECOMES FULLY AMBIDEXTROUS AS THERE IS A FURTHER SELECTOR ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE OF THE PISTOL GRIP.”

DIFFERENT!

So, if you want to be a bit different then the ICS Galil is certainly a replica worthy of your consideration. ICS produce versions of both the Galil AR and the ARM, so in theory you could equip an entire team with this distinctive rifle, with the wood stocked ARM as your support gun. Essentially both models are the same internally, with the ARM adding a bipod and carry handle.

What arrived from Fire Support though was the AR variant, with polymer forestock. Externally the quality of workmanship is immediately apparent; this replica feels solid with not a squeak or rattle. Everything is firmly in its place; the “polymer” pistol grip and forestock show some very minor mould lines but nothing that would put me off in any way. All the metalwork www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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Armoury ICS GALIL ICAR AR

offering for almost all AK replicas on the market today but it was a surprising departure from ICS’s signature split gearbox design. Those who like to modify their replicas internally will be happy as the internal parts are off-the-shelf, standard V3 components that can be interchanged or upgraded with just about anything on the market today. The gears are all metal too. The only thing I’d like to have seen is a metal spring guide in place of the included plastic one. Bushings are solid 6mm steel. The motor is the Turbo 3000 short type, so no problems there.

All in all the Galil is quite a tight package, with good materials, solid construction, tried and tested internals but ultimately, how does it perform? is a nice matte black, with dark grey highlighting around the gas block/front sight areas and the hinge for the folding metal butt stock.

The receiver area shows unmistakeably the “AK” heritage of the Galil, with the same selector lever on the right hand side; this however becomes fully ambidextrous as there is a further selector on the left hand side of the pistol grip. It’s a very neat arrangement. The charging handle is also in the same place as an AK, but modified in design; pulling this to the rear reveals a sliding hop control. The magazine release is also very

“RATE OF FIRE WAS MORE THAN RESPECTABLE ON FULL AUTO AND ON SEMI THE TRIGGER WAS CRISP AND EFFICIENT. ALL IN ALL THE GALIL AR TURNED OUT TO BE A GREAT SKIRMISH GUN.” AK-like, with magazines being inserted “front lip forward”. The Galil AR comes with a pair of 400 BB High Capacity magazines as standard which is all to the good.

There are couple of external features that really are worthy of note on the ICS Galil. The first of these is that all the marking are in Hebrew, each rifle having its own individual serial number too. The second is the addition, just like the real thing, of flip-up iron night sights; these flip up to work in conjunction with the regular iron sights and are clearly marked with large white dots.

Internally things are just as good. The one-piece Version 3 gearbox is the standard

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A SOLID PERFORMER

As always, the true performance of any airsoft replica only comes out in a game and I was lucky enough that it arrived before a new site opened locally to me. It gave me the ideal opportunity to try it out. Now Fire Support do say on their website “ask us about FPS” which is a way of saying “this replica might be a bit warm or might be underpowered” and when I tested it I got a mean average with the new .20g NUPROL BBs of 287fps. Luckily it’s simple enough to change out the spring but I would indeed ask as most good retailers will be able to sort that out before shipping it to you!

Once I’d got the beast up to a more reasonable 335fps it was time to take it into skirmish territory. Normally I would run on a mixture of real or mid capacity magazines but the 400 rounders from ICS meant I could run light with just a belt kit setup; I’m glad I did as the new site had some serious slopes to contend with! I’ve always found ICS

HiCaps function flawlessly and the Galil versions performed perfectly, winding easily and feeding effectively.

The standard iron sights were easy and simple to acquire and as I’ve owned a number of different AKs over the year, operating the controls was straightforward. With the folding stock extended this is a long rifle, so if you’re of smaller stature you might want to try before you buy; that said, with a sizeable rifle comes benefit. The internal barrel of the Galil is a really nice and long! It’s pretty stock brass affair as standard but with the introduction of a tightbore into the AR I believe you could make this accurate as heck. Not that it’s a slouch in this respect, as out of the box you’ll be hitting targets out to a good 50m+.

I ran the Galil on a 7.4V 800mAH Li-Po battery which fitted easily under the (again) AK-style top cover and ran the gun excellently all day; if you already own an AK and have older style 8.4V stick batteries those will work perfectly too. Rate of fire was more than respectable on full auto and on semi the trigger was crisp and efficient. All in all the Galil AR turned out to be a great skirmish gun.

So, if you’re looking for something a bit different, something that in the real world is a first rate battle rifle and that the same can be said for in airsoft form, then I would say to you to give the ICS Galil AR some serious consideration. It’s one of those replicas that I’ve never owned and having now had a chance to try one in earnest, I’m scratching my head slightly over why not.

For more information on the ICS Galil AR, the Galil ARM, and a full range of accessories please visit www.fire-support. co.uk. My thanks go to them for the loan of the test sample.

DEF-UH-LEYD

“ PROTECTION OR SHIELDING FROM HOSTILE GROUND OBSERVATION AND FLAT PROJECTING FIRE PROVIDED BY AN ARTIFICIAL OR NATURAL OBSTACLE, AS A HILL.” LES LEE CONTINUES HIS TRIP AROUND ENGLAND’S SOUTHERN AIRSOFT SITES, WITH A TRIP TO ONE THAT CERTAINLY LIVES UP TO ITS NAME R.I.F.T. AIRSOFT WAS CREATED by Tony Whitmarsh in 2011, however it didn’t happen overnight.

R.I.F.T. (Realistic Imitation Firearm Tactical – Airsoft) was the end product of a long and exciting journey for Tony since his first game last century, 1994 to be precise. His first gun purchases were actually bought from a toy shop in Enfield, North London such was the rarity and minuscule demand for these “toys” - and I can only imagine what the materials and build quality were like to withstand the typical beasting our guns of today often face.

By now Tony had been bitten (as we all have) and he found himself once a fortnight blasting away at others with the same toys and then, as is regrettably often the case, issues started to affect his enjoyment. Issues such as everyone’s favourite, bad sportsmanship (primarily the game-killing, non-hit taking kind), site politics and complacency by the site owners, to name but a few. So, reluctantly he drifted away from Airsoft and not wishing to lose out on what (on the whole) had been a great day out with like-minded people, he immersed himself in WWII Re-Enactment as an alternative.

Tony didn’t cut all ties with Airsoft though and he found himself rekindling his diluted passion for Airsoft during a conversation with a land owner, as he was confident that he could add the content that was missing from most of the sites he had visited. After a few small invitation-only games on this piece of land, things were starting to take shape and going in the right direction, so to cut to the chase, the following few

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site R.I.F.T. – THE DEFILADE

paragraphs are taken direct from the man himself: “Then it happened!

“My wife was searching “Land For Rent” on the internet and stumbled across an old WWII RAF Communal site in Chipping Warden (near Banbury). The site has buildings, bunkers and 17 brick small arms defence trenches scattered across the site! With no time to spare I made contact with the land owner and requested a site visit. It was perfect! Lots of work was required but it was the site I was waiting for!

“I knew that this was the turning point for all of the previous work and ideas that we had been running for the previous years and I knew I needed a name that would be

“THE LAND ITSELF WAS LITERALLY CREATED BY MOTHER NATURE TO HOST AIRSOFT GAMES AND ULTIMATELY AN OPPORTUNITY NOT TO BE MISSED - EVER!” instantly recognisable. AEG’s were being called “RIFs” more frequently so I adapted that to suit and R.I.F.T. (Realistic Imitation Firearm Tactical) Airsoft was created!

“Six months of hard work with many awesome people helped turn the old WWII land into the site we now call “Com’s Site 3”.

“R.I.F.T. Airsoft has grown from strength to strength and we have presented over 440 Membership Shields. We consider ourselves to run “Community Airsoft Sites” and always put the player’s needs first. We have secured a contract with the M.O.D. and are running regular games in Hampshire (The Bomb Dump) and we also have use of an old clay quarry just outside Luton (special thanks to Combat-UK) “R.I.F.T. Airsoft is VERY proud of its achievements and its players! After all, we wouldn’t be anything without them!”

Now the fundamentals have been explained, it’s time we moved on to the site being featured in this edition of Airsoft Action, namely The Defilade.

R.I.F.T’s most recent site is located on Cinder Hill, North Chailey, in East Sussex. On a personal note, I have never been able to figure out why there are no Airsoft sites or shops in or around such a huge catchment area as Brighton, so The Defilade looks to have filled this void as it is just an easy 15-20 minute drive from Brighton city centre.

Anyway, after sharing my thoughts let’s get back on point…

Tony was chatting to a good, long term friend of his, Andy Wiltshire, an Airsoft veteran of ten plus years’ experience who had acquired intel that a www.airsoft-action.co.uk

25

“I’VE ONLY BEEN PLAYING AIRSOFT FOR 8 WEEKS AND I LOVE IT! THE DEFILADE HAS EVERYTHING THAT I NEED AND I THINK THAT WOULD BE THE SAME FOR ANYONE, ESPECIALLY THOSE THAT ARE NEW TO THE SPORT. THEY (THE MANAGEMENT) MAKE YOU FEEL SO WELCOME AND CANNOT DO ENOUGH FOR YOU. I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL THE NEXT GAME!” rather unique piece of land had become available and it had all the potential of becoming a very rewarding battle theatre, set in acres of woodland with many natural challenging features.

First and foremost, it’s not called “The Defilade” without reason: (Don’t tell anyone but to give you an accurate description as to why it has this name, was only a copy and paste away in Wikipedia…)

“A unit or position is ‘in Defilade’ if it uses natural or artificial obstacles to shield or conceal. For an armoured fighting vehicle (AFV), defilade is synonymous with a hull-down or turret-down position. Defilade is also used to refer to a position on the reverse slope of a hill or within a depression in level or rolling terrain. Defiladed positions on hilltops are advantageous because “dead space” – a space that cannot be engaged with direct fire – will be created in front of the position. Ideally, this dead space should be covered by the interlocking fields of fire of other nearby positions, and/or by pre-planned indirect fire such as mortars or other forms of artillery”.

So you got that, right?

The land itself was literally created by Mother Nature to host Airsoft games and ultimately an opportunity not to be missed - EVER! When I asked Andy how he came across this unique piece of land, he simply replied “Google Earth” and it covers an overall gaming area of a little under twenty acres, this includes the woodland, fields, coppice and one great big lake (for any budding Navy Seals or SBS).

So when Andy spoke, Tony listened because R.I.F.T. is renowned for its high standards, professionalism, attention to detail and of course, it’s fine reputation, plus for any site to secure a place under the R.I.F.T. banner, every part of this potentially new and exclusive site had to conform. As time went on, Andy’s determination and commitment proved to be nothing less than what was a pre-requisite for the final unity.

In August 2015, after many months of hard graft building barriers and structures in keeping with the woodland theme, 26

february 2016

it finally paid off when the first game was played and not surprisingly, it was a huge success.

So what can a ‘softer expect when he or she arrives at this well signposted and easy to find site?

Hard top parking in the safe zone, very friendly welcoming staff, the Marshals take awesome photos of you in battle (400+ on most game days and all the photos are uploaded to the R.I.F.T. Airsoft website gallery and Facebook for you to help yourself), value for money: game fees/food/drink and Airsoft consumables. Plus a valuable player membership scheme which qualifies you for discounted ammo and 10% discount with four popular UK retailers: Pro Airsoft Supplies, Combat-UK, A2 Supplies and Action Hobbies. R.I.F.T. Is extremely playerfocused, they want to give the very best experience possible, free UKARA Registration, battery charging, pyrotechnics (at just 4 for £10!) and a nice selection of quality hire weapons.

A typical game day will start with the gate opening at 08.00 hours and Staff are on duty to meet and greet players as they arrive. You can expect approximately 25-35 players give or take, not too bad for a site in relative infancy but of course, as time goes on this will increase and an effective acreageplayer balance will be achieved. As this goes to Press, Andy is in negotiations with an Airsoft Club at Brighton University so this could lead to inter-collegiate games.

Once everyone is signed and had their weapons chronographed it’s time to head over for the morning briefing, where the brief is somewhat detailed but essential for a good day of Airsoft. Everyone knows what is expected from them and what to expect from everyone else. Hit taking and cheating is NOT a “Taboo” subject and Andy explains the impact that just ONE cheating player can have on the day and reinforces that it is totally unacceptable and cheats will be removed from site.

Membership Shields are presented and then it’s time to head out for the first game of the day!

They usually look to the first game to balance the teams, as there’s nothing worse than being new to a site, being stuck with all the other new players and getting “owned” by the regulars all day, so at R.I.F.T. they always look for nicely

site R.I.F.T. – THE DEFILADE

balanced teams so everyone has an equal chance to win.

R.I.F.T. scenarios are carefully planned and printed on the day’s agenda sheet, which is distributed to all marshals. Andy and his team believe that a structured day gives players the best experience and all marshals know exactly what props to set up and how best to brief their respective teams. Games run for a typical 50 minutes with a break of 20 mins. Lunch is at 13.00 hours and hot dogs are a general favourite!

Scenarios vary from typical “control point capture” to “disarm the bomb”, “protect the V.I.P.” etc. and R.I.F.T. have custom made props too, such as “Bang StiX” - a 12-Gauge blank inserted in a metal tube with a firing pin suspended by a balloon; shoot the balloon and the firing pin drops onto the blank and you get one very loud BOOM!! (These really are fun!)

To date, The Defilade has met with great feedback and

success, however, due to its freshness the location seems to be rather hard to attract players to but from what I saw in the four months that The Defilade has been operating, virtually everything that an Airsoft Warrior could want from a woodland site is here and I am looking forward to picking up my membership shield on my next visit.

Before I left for home, I captured a couple of the players for their perspectives on The Defilade. Steve Cherriman, 52 and team member of The Raptors, has been playing Airsoft for two years, however, for twenty years prior to that he was an avid paintballer but, like many of us, he saw the light and made the jump and has not looked back. When asked, Steve had this to say about The Defilade: “This is one great site and what it may lack in size it more than makes up for in every other area. The Management and Marshals are very eager to listen to the players and open to any suggestions re. game scenarios and they are always looking for feedback to improve the site and give the players what they want. This has been a relatively slow start but the numbers are increasing with every game, however having said that, Andy and his team are keen to keep the numbers manageable and are not in any way here to make money. So long as they cover their costs, any profit is fed back into the site. The Defilade is a very well run site, a very safe site and it has a strong family feel to it and honestly, I cannot fault it in any way. It is our (The Raptors) home/training site and it is everything that we could ask for.”

I also had a chance to speak to a young fella from the other end of the spectrum, a new player on his fourth ever Airsoft game. Michael Riggs, age 14 and from Hailsham, summed it up in a few short but valued words; “I’ve only been playing Airsoft for 8 weeks and I love it! The Defilade has everything that I need and I think that would be the same for anyone, especially those that are new to the sport.

They (The Management) make you feel so welcome and cannot do enough for you. I can’t wait until the next game!”

So do I endorse it after three years reporting for Airsoft Action in the South East? HELL YEAH! I think if you were to pay The Defilade a visit then you would see for yourself just how much fun you can have in a great big hole in the ground.

Les OUT!

Contact: R.I.F.T. Airsoft “The Defilade” Cinder Hill North Chailey LEWES BN8 4HR Andy 07526 616325 www.riftairsoft.com info@riftairsoft.com

www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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LCT AIMS NV AEG LCT AIMS AEG Airsoft Gun. The Romanian version of the AKM and AKMS, identifiable by the vertical foregrip integrated into the handguard and metal folding stock was renamed as the AIMS..

Steel receiver and folding stock, real wood foregrip.

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LCT LCKM-63 AEG LCT LCKM-63 AEG Airsoft Gun. Steel receiver, barrel and foregrip.

Real wood pistol grips and stock.

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LCT RPK NV AEG LCT RPK AEG The Real Steel RPK functions identically to the AK-47. It also uses the same 7.62x39mm ammunition.

It has a similar design layout to the AKM and AK-47 series of rifles, with modifications to increase the RPK’s effective range and accuracy, enhance its sustained fire capability, and strengthen the receiver.

Specifications: Built Material: Steel / ABS / Wood Gear Box: Ver.3 Magazine Capacity: / hi cap 600rds Weight: 3450g Battery: 8.4v Mini (Type 03) 9.6v Mini (Type 04)

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AA JANUARY.indd 3

03/01/2016 00:19

THE AULD ENEMY

ARGUABLY AIRSOFT’S MOST COMPETITIVE GAME OF THE YEAR HITS ITS 8TH EVENT IN A ROW, AS SCOTT ALLAN REPORTS FROM STIRLING’S ANNUAL CROSS-BORDER BATTLE AT CATTERICK All photos from Elliott Gill of Stirling Airsoft STIRLING AIRSOFT HAVE BEEN RUNNING airsoft events in the UK, as well as in Spain for well over ten years now. They are said to be the best in the business, hosting the biggest events, with the best scenarios and with the best staff, on the best game sites available. They are unique in the fact that they have no home site or direct affiliation with anyone, this gives them great flexibility and allows them to produce high quality events time and time again.

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Their game styles vary from event to event and while they are all “MilSim” to some extent, are fully open for anyone who wishes to attend and take part. How much you get out depends on how much you put in and what event you sign up for. The highest level are the “Combat Mission” games that often lean toward the role-playing, so forget the “runningaround-crazy-spraying-everyone-point-blank”, these are all about patrols in the Welsh countryside. The events held in Spain are the best games I have ever played, extremely immersive with role-playing (which isn’t my thing normally) and with more thought involved – including the use of translators!

Games at Catterick, Stanta and Copehill Down are also run and these vary in complexity and level of MilSim but are always very immersive and involving.

The annual England v Scotland event score was currently at 4-3 to Scotland. Scotland had never been ahead before as England has successfully broken the tie each time, so the pressure was on to maintain a lead, or crush the lead, depending on which side of the border you fought for. To date no side has ever won three games in a row, so the outlook was fairly bleak for Scotland even though they had consistently performed well.

The battlefield of choice is Catterick Garrison training village that Stirling have used for many years. They hold around five events there every year including the now famous Auld Enemy game. The training village is an old housing estate converted for police and military training. It offers a great range of terrain in a compact format, from rubble ridden assault courses, burnt out armoured vehicles, houses, tunnel networks and a purpose

event ENGLAND V SCOTLAND 2015

The event came around eight years ago from out of the Stirling Christmas game. It was always an invite-only game and more and more people from Scotland began attending, due to Catterick only being a few hour’s drive from Glasgow and Edinburgh. Matt Belgrove, the owner and organiser approached me to ask about running it as a competition. I’ve always been up for a spot of friendly rivalry and loved the idea of competitive airsoft as something unusual and new for the sport in the UK. The first year saw a foot of snow across the site and Scotland were embarrassingly crushed beneath a mighty English heavy boot of BB death. It really felt like history repeating itself - except Scotland hadn’t sold each other out continuously! We were outmatched and outplayed at every single turn and knew we had to do better in the future, so started planning.

The main teams on the Scottish side spent more and more time looking at what we did wrong and worked at it over the years, getting better and better. The win in 2013 was the most convincing to date for Scotland and although 2014 was a far tighter game, England didn’t manage to close the gap Scotland created early in the game. Given that I was the Scottish commander in 2013 and 2014 there was some expectation (if only a personal one) that we should achieve a good result

“ANY MISTAKES MADE BY EITHER SIDE ARE QUICKLY EXPLOITED AND PUSHED ON, PUTTING YOUR TEAM ON THE BACK FOOT. THE TRICK IS NOT BEING ON THE BACK FOOT AT ANY TIME DURING THE EVENT - BUT THAT IS EASIER SAID THAN DONE.” built multi-storey tower block (very “Judge Dredd”). The perimeter of the area is light woodland with plenty of cover that allows great creativity with the tactics teams deploy during a game. You can have your snipers hold the woods, supported by support weapon platforms and as you enter the buildings, you can go all door kicking and grenade slinging! This makes the job for the team captains extremely tough, as you have players from all over the country, who play at a huge array of different game sites and with different skill sets.

again… shouldn’t we? This year I had the huge benefit of ex-British Army Sergeant and two time Scottish Commander, Stuart Anderson, working with me while Ben Watt again commanded the English side.

Naturally with airsoft (and like real warfare) the game is never entirely evenly-footed all the way through. To prevent either team being given a perceived advantage, coins are tossed for which camouflage is worn (greens or deserts) and which side of the site each team starts on. To the eastern side lies

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“Regen 1”, the main safe area and accommodation.

To the west lies “Regen 2”, which has a slight advantage of being on higher ground and gives you better access across the site. The site is nearly the classic “keyhole shape”, with Regen 1 being at the base and Regen 2 being at the top. The Regen points can be used by either team and when it is open for a team at one side, the opposite side is open for the other team. Then both shut for 5 minutes and switch around. This keeps the flow of battle moving and prevents a solid front line being formed. To say the battle lines often resemble a plate of spaghetti is an understatement!

Blue on blue or friendly fire are commonplace despite the camouflage differences.

The scene is set, players sign up the most amusing part of the weekend begins – the Friday Night Social.

It’s no secret that the English commanders used to, in part anyway, count on a large Scottish knees-up

“MOST OF THE AFTERNOON, AS ALWAYS, WAS TOE TO TOE FIGHTING FOR BOTH TEAMS, A REAL SLUGGING MATCH AND A BATTLE OF WILLS. THE FIREFIGHTS WERE THICK AND ALWAYS FAST, TEAMS THOUGHT AND FOUGHT ON THE FLY.”

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happening. Sleep-deprived and feeling rough is definitely the enemy of choice if you can choose them. The social evening is an important part as airsoft is a social game and it gives both sides a chance to catch up, as friends North and South have a few beers and a laugh.

With 90 players signed to the English side (wearing desert gear) and 80 to the Scottish side in green gear, the game kicks off at 11am on the Saturday. This gives time for breakfast, a general safety brief which covers site specifics such as no full auto indoors and then there is a team specific brief, just before game on. The way each team is managed is a personal choice of the Commander. Ben Watt, the English commander and a good friend, has probably commanded more Catterick events than I have played, so I know he will not give us any leeway. Any mistakes made by either side are quickly exploited and pushed on, putting your team on the back foot. The trick is not being on the back foot at any time during the event - but that is easier said than done.

The point split was much more difficult than previous years, purely because there were no points scored for the first couple of hours in the game. This allowed the game to progress into a natural flow and players to get into the swing of things. Points are generally scored on the hour after 1 o’clock on the Saturday and at any time there were two target buildings being fought over. What made it even more difficult was the buildings were often at opposite ends of the site so there was little chance of supporting the other half of your team.

Most of the afternoon, as always, was toe to toe fighting for both teams, a real slugging match and a battle of wills. The firefights were thick and always fast, teams thought and fought on the fly. This is where your side can unravel and it was at this point in the last couple of years that Scotland would slowly pull away from England on the scoreboard. This year was a totally different animal with points being added on both sides slowly over the afternoon with Scotland maintaining a tiny lead.

Being a December game you are always against the light for the night is dark and full of terrors. Having so few windows uncovered, even the buildings are dark early and you quickly need to rely on a torch of some sort for checking darkened rooms and corners. Many players sport night vision of various types and that can begin to get frustrating for some players who

event ENGLAND V SCOTLAND 2015

do not have them. That said, it is all about adapting what you The end of the evening sees a chance to get some much do at night: Move in areas you know are secure and if you needed food and to take on plenty fluids and have a quick chat suspect there is enemy in an area treat it as hostile. Often I with the marshal team to see if there are any serious issues have seen players from both teams wander aimlessly up to a that need to be resolved. The first day has run very smoothly hedge full of the enemy only for them to be cut to ribbons in play-wise, there are a few frustrated calls from each side but seconds under a hail of torch light, grenades and weapon fire. nothing major and the play seems to be solid for each country.

Night fighting happens closer and identifying friend from foe Its 1am and we rise at 6.30 to head out for 7am. becomes a bigger issue. The “shoot first ask questions later” There is something sobering about getting up in the cold scenario begins to prevail. and damp, to get dressed into cold damp clothes and to get Scotland began the evening campaign with a small lead, ready to fight - and it’s still very dark. As always, both teams a lead that could quickly crumble and be lost if the team lost soldier on and are ready to rock almost immediately. Game on coherency. Night fighting at this event is fought on “THERE IS SOMETHING SOBERING ABOUT GETTING UP IN THE COLD AND multiple levels, coldness, fatigue, frustration and even DAMP, TO GET DRESSED INTO COLD DAMP CLOTHES AND TO GET READY a healthy dose of fear are all FIGHT – AND IT’S STILL VERY DARK.” things you have to deal with before you have even found an enemy player and the fighting always gravitates around a was at 7.30am and the first signs of light were barely creeping few key buildings on the site. The most crazy fighting regularly across the site but both teams still had grit in their eye and fire can be found around the multi-storey tower block, or a large in their bellies and no one wanted to go away empty handed. free standing building; Number 29. With a huge stairwell in The Sunday is almost an entirely different feeling game; it the tower, rooms, top and basement to fight and clear it is a is a chance to fully reset the team and have them fight on. challenge even during the daytime, while Building 29 offers Historically England have always fared better on the Sunday multiple entries and many rooms to cover and clear. In the than Scotland, perhaps we are more restful creatures on a evening it is practically a minefield in both buildings and both Sunday? teams lost scores of players taking and retaking the ground Sunday was blow for blow all the way and the gap levels. Scotland generally had Building 29 locked down any narrowed slowly over the remaining 4 hours of play. Scotland time that they needed it and the tower was a total killing field clinging onto the narrow lead gave it everything they had, for both teams sweeping out enemy players. throwing team after team into objectives to take, hold or By late afternoon the scores sat at England 15 – 30 contest. England manoeuvring around the site continually Scotland. Compared to the previous year when Scotland was to probe for weaknesses in the Scottish lines and, quickly exploiting any gaps they could find, were inflicting damage.

Ultimately at 11am, the final whistle was blown. The scores at this point were unknown but the English had smashed into the Scottish teams and hit them with everything they had. Scotland had kept a narrow lead over the Saturday and had fought hard but the Sunday had seen the English gain and put more pressure onto the defensive lines.

Sadly the dream of taking the trophy home was just out of reach for England and Scotland once again, albeit narrowly, prevailed by a mere 15 points. 15 points was pretty much one single objective building and it doesn’t get much closer than that!

The kill count was impressively different this year, England appeared to hurl numbers at every objective and that almost worked for them but Scotland’s resolve and tactics meant that they held fast and did the job to the very end.

The final scores were: England 90 – 105 Scotland much farther ahead in objectives, England were fighting tooth Players KIA and nail over every part of the site.

England 2300 – 1700 Scotland At the end of a confusing evening of much blue on blue in At the final briefing it was congratulations all round and the the cold wind and rain, the Scottish team ended up narrowly shield was awarded to the victors. With cheers and handshakes, ahead with the Scores at 65 – 90. The English team slept but the guns are put down and everyone is good friends again. they hadn’t given up by a long way. Every year the frustration The trophy shall live for 2016 in pride of place at Land Warrior of night play often gets some players down but everyone is in Airsoft as the English are sent homeward… To think again. the same boat, regardless of equipment used or experience. I would often start out from the Regen area to a target building perhaps 150 metres away and loose half the guys on the way.

For more information about upcoming Stirling Where they went I never know, they just simply vanish into thin Airsoft events, visit their web page: www. air. I have often wondered how many get lost, disorientated or stirlingairsoft.com, or find them on Facebook: www. just decide to try something different. facebook.com/stirlingairsoft

TO

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NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO FIND THEMSELVES IN A COURTHOUSE BUT THAT DIDN’T STOP IGGY ROBERTS FROM CHECKING OUT THIS 12th CENTURY SITE

“ALL RISE!” EVER THOUGHT ABOUT SHOOTING your way out of a dungeon, further more a medieval dungeon? Or clearing out Courtrooms with your team in a site that can boast a real CQB experience that is fit for any adrenaline junkie?

Well, Bristol Airsoft Courthouse may just be the place to satisfy your hunger to be on the edge... all the time!

BUT FIRST, A LITTLE HISTORY…

The prison cells you fight through are dated as far back as the 12th-13th Century; back then the site was called Bridewell Prison and was renowned as the most notorious prison of its time in England. Stories abound of cats having to be brought in to stop the problem of rats chewing the feet and toes of the prisoners in leg irons. This, among other political reasons, got all too much for the Bristolians and in 1832 during the Great Reformat riots, the prison was burnt down. These riots are said to be the only time the Cavalry has been sent into an English City to put down the mob but by then, most of the Government buildings in Bristol had been burnt down including Bridewell Prison.

Once order had been restored and time had passed, a

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Courthouse was built on top of the old prison during the 1870s and the cells were re-used as holding cells for the accused, before they were sent to mainstream prisons. The Courthouse and cells remained in use until the 1990s when it was finally closed. It was then left to decay until Ian Sayers took lease of the building in 2008 and turned it into an airsoft site and since then Ian and his team have transformed and continually evolved the site into what it is today.

Originally they had six games a month but now they have six games a week open to all airsofters, along with other monthly events, such as Speed QB the first Monday of every month. Other events include Zombie hunt and Zombie airsoft and each week consists of walk-on games along with a “Free to Ladies” event every Tuesday and a Junior-led event every Friday night.

This covers for all levels of airsofter, from the young guns just starting out to the more experienced warrior, there is a night for every type of player. However if you’re like us and just want to airsoft as much as possible, you can attend any open event during the week; Bristol Airsoft only ask that you be a little less aggressive on the Friday Junior-led event.

Prices vary depending on the event but during midweek

site BRISTOL AIRSOFT COURTHOUSE

evenings there is a discounted price of £9.99 (one of the only sites I know to be under £10). All Sunday games include a lunch of your choice from a wide range of options, although this is the only day that food is included in the game price because it’s a full game day. You choose your food order when you pay upon arrival to the site, then at lunchtime your order will be ready and waiting for you.

SO WHAT’S THE SITE LIKE?

Initially it can be a little confusing to find but if you use the postcode and street name in Google maps or a SatNav, then you will be taken right to the front door. Just make sure you follow the signs to the airsoft site because next door tends to be an artist exhibition centre, not the kind of place you want to rock up in your loadout! Parking is the biggest issue with no onsite parking. That said, parking on the street is £2.50 after 18:01 (6:01pm) and the NCP carpark just around the corner is £3, again from 18:01. On Sundays parking on the street is free and the NCP car park offers many Sunday deals, which you can check out on the NCP website beforehand if you want. The site is also on every bus route in Bristol, is just a stone’s throw from

Bristol Bus Station and five minute walk from Bristol Temple Meads railway Station.

When you arrive you will be shown into the Safe Zone; literally a room where you put your kit as the site is designed for a maximum game zone area to allow more value to the players. There is a shop situated just off the main entrance corridor where you can buy all you need, from ammunition, gas, batteries, drinks and snacks to a fully stocked selection of airsoft guns aimed at regular players of all budgets. Full toilet facilities and battery charging stations are also available in the Safe Zone.

Once you have geared up and been given the extensive introduction and safety brief that is loaded full of valuable information relevant to this unique type of site, it’s game time!

Usually most games involve both the upper level Courtrooms and the cells underground. This means straight from the off you can venture deep into the site, however, you will not be alone for long. The nature of the site means that the games are fast paced and up close and personal. If you need a rest, sit a game out in the safe zone.

The upper level Courtrooms all connect to one another,

“THERE ARE FOUR COURTROOMS TO BATTLE THROUGH AND THEN YOU HAVE FOUR SETS OF STAIRS TO CHOOSE FROM TO DESCEND DOWN TO THE CELLS BELOW. JUST AS YOU WOULD IMAGINE IT IS A DARK LABYRINTH, FULL OF SMALL SPACES, ACCESS CORRIDORS AND HOLDING CELLS.”

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each filled with different layouts of cover, keeping you on your toes as you go from room to room. There are four Courtrooms to battle through and then you have four sets of stairs to choose from to descend down to the cells below. Just as you would imagine it is a dark labyrinth, full of small spaces, access corridors and holding cells. The darkness is broken up by a variety of coloured and white light, some of which is strobe lighting and just when you thought that was enough of an atmosphere, they have installed a smoke machine which pumps out just enough smoke to build up the eeriness of the old dungeon as you seek out the enemies that you know are down there with you... Somewhere!!

Nearly all the games are instant re-spawn and this matches the rate of game play and due to the CQB nature of the site almost any loadout will work, form springer shotgun to AEG. The site runs a 328 FPS limit with a tolerance of up to 340 FPS, however, the closer to 328 FPS the better due to the engagement ranges. Due to the close engagement distances the entire site is semi-auto only but this by no means reduces the intensity of the skirmishing. There is no “Bang Rule” but an optional surrender offer is encouraged, however, be prepared to shoot first if the enemy attempts to shoot you immediately after your offer to surrender!

A wide range of Pyros, BFG’s and Tornados are accepted although they encourage you to use the products sold in the site shop. All grenades are to be used downstairs only and it is always worth showing any grenade you have brought in to a marshal before using it in game. No smoke grenades or TAG grenades are allowed on this site at all.

The barricades throughout the site are moved every two months as this keeps the regulars from knowing the site too well, giving everyone a fresh experience and there are plans for a Kill House to be implemented into the courtrooms, adding to the CQB element while a complete surround sound system is going to be fitted to every part of the building, to add to the overall experience.

It is evident that the team of marshals are passionate about their site and airsoft overall, they welcome any airsofter and go out of their way to ensure the site is family friendly. The focus is more on player experience rather than a profit making business, which is pleasant to see. I initially heard of this site through some fellow airsofters saying how much they thought of the site, so I visited it with the opinion that they had some pretty big shoes to fill.

I was pleased to discover that Bristol Airsoft Courthouse was worth my drive from Hampshire.

Information Bristol Airsoft Courthouse Old Crown Court Bridewell Street Broadmead Bristol BS1 2QD Bristol Airsoft has a few related Facebook pages for players and second-hand sales.

The site offers UKARA membership, is a registered UKARA retailer and the site shop can be contacted on admin@bristolairsoft.co.uk For more information or if you wish to book the site for a private event such as corporate groups to Stag parties, contact the site via email: info@bristolairsoft.co.uk or phone 07776288826.

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PMR ON TEST

HAVING LOOKED AT DIFFERENT TYPES OF PMR, FRENCHIE PITS A RANGE OF RADIOS AGAINST EACH OTHER TO FIND OUT IF MORE EXPENSIVE REALLY IS BETTER AS PROMISED LAST MONTH I will devote the bulk of this month to a side-by-side test of some typical PMR radios. I chose the units on test for a number of reasons; they cover the price range well, they demonstrate the features available and they also demonstrate that despite differences in price, not all PMR446 radios are created equal, despite standards and legislation!

The Kenwood 3501, at over £100 per unit is the most expensive option on test, while the Binatones (£37.95 for two) are the least expensive. The question to be answered is: Is your extra money well spent in terms of build, operation and usability?

To find out, I first established a set of Test Criteria where we will look at the following aspects of each radio: Build quality - sleek or shoddy?

Ease of operation - do you need a Degree to understand and use all the features?

Effective range - both transmitting and receiving,

which can be very different!

Value for money - the most nebulous quality of all, are they worth the asking price?

MOTOROLA TLKR T80 EXTREME

Typical price £69.95 for dualpack – Amazon UK Until recently these units would cost you around £100 for two but the price has recently plummeted and I managed to

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obtain a pair for just over £60 through Amazon.

They arrived as a very attractive package in a hard plastic case that contains two handsets, a charging pod, two ear-pieces, two lanyards, the power supply for the charging pod and an instruction manual. Everything is held securely in its own moulded slot.

Initial impressions are very good indeed - the plastic used for the majority of the construction is of a uniformly high quality and the two bars designed for the lanyard attachment are made of metal – we would guess aluminium. Size is pretty much perfect, fitting the hand well without being either too small or too large. The controls are very easy to get to grips with and we only referred to the manual to clarify a couple of points. The units are bright yellow with contrasting black rubber.

The front panel below the large LCD display is rubber, all part of the IPX4 weatherproofing and this means that the units can withstand being splashed with water from any direction for at least five minutes, although complete immersion should be avoided. The battery unit is secured with a chromed turn screw which prevents the battery going west if you drop the unit and also ensures the proper seal around the battery pack.

The combined power/volume control is smooth and solid in operation, with a positive click and the supplied belt clip fits firmly to the unit although like most belt clips, it may be the first part of the package to suffer from repeated use.

Operation is frankly a doddle!

It’s easy to select the required channel and sub-channel.

Likewise, should you require to scan for a signal it is accessed with only two button presses, always a plus. The antenna is unobtrusive and shouldn’t be prone to snagging.

There is a useful LED light mounted on

Feature COMMS: PART THREE

the top of the unit activated by a simple press switch placed above the PTT. It is momentary in operation so you need to hold the button down to keep the light on.

The T80 avails itself of the full range of sub-channels, both CTCSS and DCS, giving a total of 121 options per channel. All the expected niceties are present; Vox operation, silent (vibrate) options and Dual Channel Watch, which can be exceptionally useful if you want to separate functions. The LCD panel is large, clean and (most importantly) uncluttered.

Battery life was good at around the stated 15 hours using the supplied rechargeable pack. You can also use alkaline AAA cells but expect a reduced operating time.

The whole package feels “professional”, for want of a better description and although range testing is a lottery with PMR, as mentioned previously, the T80 was able to transmit clearly over half a mile in a heavily built up area. That is quite an achievement for PMR sets.

BINATONE ACTION 1100

Typical price £34.95 – Amazon UK The Action 1100 PMR radios are the latest in the Action series from Binatone. Although often regarded as a manufacturer of lower quality equipment, Binatone’s PMR radios generally perform very well and they are certainly priced competitively; the review sample was obtained from Amazon UK for less than £40.00 for a dual pack.

Although well-made, they lack the immediate sense of quality conveyed by the Motorola devices and are a good deal lighter. They are also smaller in the hand, although whether this is a good or bad thing is really a matter of personal preference.

On the top panel you will find the antenna and the on/ off/volume knob, which works smoothly with a positive click.

The small LCD front panel is chock full of information in operation: Channel, frequency, CTCSS/DCS setting and a battery indicator. The inclusion of the frequency information is arguably unnecessary since PMR frequencies are determined by the standard and regulation, however, it has been a feature of Binatone PMR devices for many years.

The radios are supplied with belt clips, rechargeable battery packs and a charging pod and power supply.

There are ports for the individual charging of each radio and to enable the use of a headset. Headsets are not supplied and although the connector is 2.5mm in diameter, it is less common than the similar sized Motorola “Talkabout” connector. This means there are fewer options available should you require a headset - but they are out there.

Unlike the T80s you have to cycle through each option in order to set up the radios. This can be a bit confusing for those not used to it and you may want to have the manual to hand if you are new to PMR radios. It would be nice to see a simpler menu-driven system but Binatone have been doing things this way for years.

Unlike the Motorola radios (which require a different charger to recharge the radios away from the pod), the Binatones can be charged either sat in the desktop pod or using the supplied charger. This is a useful touch although most users will use the pod as it is simply more convenient.

Performance has always been the strong point of this series and the 1100s are no exception. Audio is clear and the radios are loud enough for use in most environments. They cope well with forested or built up areas (within reason) and like all PMR

“THE NATURE OF PMR RADIO IS SUCH THAT ANY BUSINESS USING THESE WILL BE SUBJECT TO EXACTLY THE SAME VAGARIES AND POSSIBLE EAVESDROPPING AS ANY OTHER PMR USER. THERE IS NOTHING ILLEGAL IN THAT, AS EXPLAINED IN THE FIRST PART OF THIS SERIES, PRIVATE MOBILE RADIO IS ANYTHING BUT PRIVATE!” units are far more useful in open areas.

Like the T80s the Action 1100s support Vox function, allowing hands-free operation, both CTCSS and DCS encoding and Dual Call Monitoring allowing you to keep tabs on two channels simultaneously.

Binatone make no claims to weatherproofing, however, experience suggests that a bit of rain probably won’t do too much harm. As with previous incarnations of the “Action” range, Binatone have combined good functionality with a very pocket-friendly price.

KENWOOD PROTALK TK-3501

Typical Price £132.95 – Amazon UK The Kenwood 3501 is the latest manifestation of the highly successful range of hand held radios from the Japanese giant.

This particular model is aimed firmly at users who want serious construction at the cost of easy usability.

Kenwood rightly have a reputation for building unbreakable handhelds and while nothing is truly unbreakable, the 3501 is designed to last as long as possible when faced with daily use, being built around an alloy chassis. Compared to the other sets on test this month the Kenwood stands out for its utter simplicity. A volume/ power knob, a channel select knob with 16 channels, PTT button and a single programmable function key.

There is the standard twin-

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frequencies will give the impression of privacy but anyone scanning on the PMR frequencies will overhear conversations without difficulty. That’s the fault of PMR, not Kenwood and the 3501 is a very solid performer. Range and audio quality are right up there with the best, as we had expected. There is a wide range of accessories available, including headsets, ear pieces, fist mikes, belt clips, larger battery packs and holsters.

The 3501 is a worthy of it’s ProTalk heritage and we like them a lot but the price and the lack of easy configuration will mean they are not for everyone.

It goes without saying that there are many manufacturers of PMR-compliant radios out there and to be quite honest, there was no way I could contrast and compare all of them for you.

Whatever you go for you can rest assured that your radio will communicate with any other unit that complies with PMR446 – the more you spend generally the better the build and the more bells and whistles you get for your money.

pin accessory socket on the other side of the unit but there is no screen, no display whatsoever. The battery pack is FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE the back of the unit and as such cannot FUTURE OF PMR be replaced with alkaline cells, it’s the I received a message from Tim Jacobs, who I quoted in Part Kenwood battery or nothing. That said, One… Kenwood claim a maximum standby time “You mentioned the requirement for a fixed antenna on on this unit of up to 26 hours, depending PMR446 radios. That appears to have been dropped in the on battery pack used and the powerlatest info sheets for some reason, though it is still in the old saving settings.

Radiocommunications Agency information that is still hosted The 3501 comes with a series of preby OFCOM. set channel combinations, a peculiar mix “There’s a paragraph about converted radio equipment in of CTCSS and DCS along with some basic the 2009 Analogue/Digital PMR446 info sheet that implies that channels with no coding. Presumably the a fixed antenna is no longer a requirement: ”PMR446 users thinking is that the majority of users of are reminded that their radios are only licence-exempt if they this unit are likely to be businesses and are built and operated within the conditions of the exemption they will be happy to select a channel regulations. If modifications are made to the equipment, such on which there is no obvious traffic and as adding an antenna connector, the overall maximum ERP simply use that. Others may find this or other technical parameters must not exceed the permitted somewhat limiting and it is possible levels set out in the Interface Requirement. to re-programme the 3501 manually, You should also be aware, especially when buying in the in a manner similar to the 3301 series second-hand market, that equipment that has been approved with which we are familiar. It’s a clunky for licensed use in the past does not necessarily mean that it is system, fine once you get to grips with suitable for conversion for PMR446 licence exempt use. it but still nowhere as straightforward as Examples include: - the channel width could be too wide, that found on the T80s for instance.

You can also obtain a cable from Kenwood that permits reprogramming IF MARKET FORCES OPERATE IN THE WAY THEY TEND TO, via a PC. AS DPMR USAGE INCREASES WE WILL HOPEFULLY SEE In build and approach Kenwood appear to be going firmly after the INCREASING NUMBERS OF AFFORDABLE HANDSETS…” business users who don’t want to pay the £75 necessary for a five-year Simple Light Licence in the UK. The e.g. 25 kHz instead of 12.5 / 6.25 kHz; - some channels are not 3501 feels like a professional unit because it is, however, the in the spectrum that can be used by licence-exempt equipment; nature of PMR radio is such that any business using these - the output power is too high, e.g. resulting in an ERP greater will be subject to exactly the same vagaries and possible than 0.5 watts.” “ eavesdropping as any other PMR user. There is nothing illegal in Tim’s message was a timely reminder that things do change that, as explained in the first part of this series, Private Mobile and that standards can alter over time. One thing I hope to see Radio is anything but private! The Kenwood’s mix of pre-set making inroads in the future is Digital PMR. At present dPMR is probably beyond the pocket of all but a few well-heeled airsofters but the specifications promise far more channels and less interference. What is significant is that dPMR achieves all this in a 6.25 kHz channel doubling the number of available channels to 16.

“Because the emission mask is so tight, two 6.25 kHz dPMR signals can be used next to each other within a 12.5 kHz channel without causing interference to each other or adjacent channels. Compliance with EN301 166 at 6.25 kHz for current equipment is one measure of guarantee that interference issues are no different from at 12.5 kHz or 25 kHz.” (source – wikipedia.com) If market forces operate in the way they tend to, as dPMR usage increases we will hopefully see increasing numbers of affordable handsets which make use of this technology, however, due to a minor technical fault with my crystal ball, don’t ask me to forecast when that might happen! www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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ASG NIGE TRAVELS TO DENMARK AND VISITS A COMPANY THAT HOLDS THE LICENCES TO SOME OF THE BEST KNOWN NAMES IN AIRSOFT. THEY SAY THAT THE BRITISH are reserved and, unlike some of our more “exuberant” cousins across The Pond, are not comfortable with “self-promotion”. Well if that is true, based on my recent visit the Danes probably consider that we are among their “exuberant cousins”.

I had not been to Denmark before so when I took a call from Paul Wignell, ASG’s UK Sales Manager, who asked: “Nige, how do you fancy coming over to Head Office to meet everyone, check out some new products and do some testfiring?”, I almost had my bag packed before the phone was back in its cradle (if you can remember what one of those is)!

In a recent survey Denmark was ranked third in the top five happiest countries, only beaten by Switzerland and Iceland and

having met the guys over the last couple of years at IWA, in Nuremberg, I was looking forwards to a very interesting trip – and I wasn’t disappointed.

A LITTLE BIT OF HISTORY

Founded by the Vikings in the 10th Century (circa 935), the kingdom of Denmark is the oldest European Monarchy and the current monarch, Queen Margrethe II, is Denmark’s second female monarch. Incidentally, one of the two original founding Kings shares the same name as a modern-day technology – his name was Harald Bluetooth! The other was Gorm the Old, which is more reminiscent of a character from Lord of the Rings but I guess that’s just the way history works (and calling a new technology “Gorm” didn’t sound quite so cool)!

After nearly 2,000 years of stability it should come as no surprise that Denmark and its people are happy, content and one of the most likeable I have ever met but scratch the surface and you will find the Viking Spirit lurking just beneath.

The Vikings were not afraid to push back the boundaries of exploration and their influence spread across huge areas of the world, including north-western Europe, European Russia, the Middle East, Central Asia, the Mediterranean and even North America. Today that entrepreneurial spirit has not diminished and companies like ActionSportGames are evidence that the boldness shown by their ancestors is as relevant today as it was all those years ago.

So, just who (or what) is ActionSportGames?

ACTIONSPORTGAMES

ActionSportGames, or “ASG” as they are probably better known as, was founded in 2003 after the successful merger of the two largest Danish airsoft distributors, Pedersen & Grobelnik A/S and Vestergaard ApS. Henrik Grobelnik and Johnny Pedersen had worked together on many projects before, since the incorporation of Pedersen & Grobelnik A/S 42

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Feature ACTIONSPORTGAMES

the manufacturing plant for inspection. Those BBs that make the grade are then fed into a hand-operated bottling machine, where they are packed, labelled and stacked in boxes. I have to say that this must be a real labour of love as the repetition would drive me crazy!

Before we left the Helsinge warehouse, I noticed a group of people who appeared to be opening gun boxes, changing something out and closing them up again, which turned out to be the awesome new Dan Wesson 715 revolver (watch out for the upcoming review in Airsoft Action). Someone had spotted a small error with the Speed Loader supplied with the gun and to ensure it didn’t become a problem later, ASG had the entire unit re-manufactured and every single one replaced. This was not a part of the actual gun and is given away free with it but ASG went ahead and replaced just the same, such is the standard to which they work.

A stone’s throw from this warehouse is a vital part of production, a specialist injection-moulding company where components for the EVO are created. Watching granules of plastic being turned into small, intricate parts a massive highpressure machine is fascinating, especially when you consider both the size and cost of each and every mould. Strapped very securely to some racking was the magazine mould, which

in 1992 and are now General Director and CEO of ASG, respectively.

As every airsofter will know, one of the biggest attractions of the game is that we emulate real-world activities by the use of imitation firearms and, the better the imitation, the closer we feel to “doing it for real”. In other words, “realism” plays a huge part in the satisfaction we get from playing and one of the key things that adds to that realism is the accuracy “TODAY THE LIST READS LIKE A “WHO’S WHO” OF FAMOUS ARMAMENT of the reproduction of the weapons we use.

BRANDS, INCLUDING: ACCURACY INTERNATIONAL, ARMALITE, ASHBURY, CZ, Henrik and Johnny were DAN WESSON, LMT, STEYR, STI AND US ORDNANCE TO NAME JUST A FEW.” also well aware of this and it did not take them long to seek out licencing arrangements with some of the World’s most well-known arms manufacturers, so that they might build the airsoft version of their products. Today the list reads like a “Who’s Who” of famous armament brands, including: Accuracy International, Armalite, Ashbury, CZ, Dan Wesson, LMT, Steyr, STi and US Ordnance to name just a few. One of those licences led to the creation of (possibly) the most eagerly-anticipated AEG release; the CZ EVO Scorpion, the first-ever airsoft rifle to be produced en-masse in Europe – but ASG is not just about guns, their whole business is centred on some fundamental core values: Dedication, Entrepreneurship, Service, skills and speed and Knowledge and these permeate throughout the company at all levels, as I found out for myself.

Following a (thankfully) short flight with RyanAir to Copenhagen, I was met by Christian Kaae Olsen, ASG’s Sales and Marketing Manager, who gave me a lift to the (very nice) Hotel Marienlyst and explained the agenda for the visit, which would kick off at 8:30 the next day (which meant I would get a lie-in, which was also very nice). Paul Wignell would also be flying in a little later and so with dinner arrangements made, it gave me a couple of hours to chill out - aka getting some work done on my iPad before a few glasses of “Christmas Ale” and a good night’s kip.

ASG

We started the day with a visit to ASG’s warehouse in Helsinge, where a very slick operation ensures that everything is documented, logged and recorded as it happens, overseen by Warehouse Manager, Bjørn Schiødt Olsen. As I looked at the rows of stacked racking I commented on how large and full the warehouse was, which is why a short while later I found myself a few miles up the road looking at the aircraft-hanger like space that was slowly being transformed into their new warehouse – but more about that later.

One aspect that I was aware of (from Scott Allan’s visit and subsequent report a couple of years ago) but didn’t fully appreciate, was the process by which ASG ensures the consistency and quality of their Blaster BBs, every single one of which is graded in-house and bottled by hand. Standing in the corner of the warehouse a custom-built BB grader works 24-7, as a waterfall of BBs cascades over a grading surface and all under, or over-sized BBs are filtered out to be returned to

www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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Feature ACTIONSPORTGAMES

Let me ask you a rhetorical question…

Have you ever picked up an airsoft gun and it has just felt “right” and when you get to fire it, your brain confirms exactly what your heart is telling you… YOU WANT ONE!!

I’d seen the pictures, read the info sheets, watched videos on YouTube but had never held the airsoft gun I had in my hands before now… The CZ SP-01 Shadow.

The real steel version had been created by CZ based on feedback and suggestions received from Law Enforcement and Police users around the world and enhanced by input from world-class shooters, such as Angus Hobdell and Adam Tyc (Google them). ASG have recreated the SP-01 with the closet possible attention to detail and it shows in the resulting gun which, for me, just “works” on all levels – and is also how I found myself grinning from ear to ear as I blasted round after round down ASG’s test tunnel. I am not going to say much more here as we will be doing a proper review in the near future but, suffice it to say, when they become available early next year there will most definitely be (at least) one winging its way to “Chez Streeter” shortly afterwards!

However, the SP-01 wasn’t the only thing on the menu and up next was the mighty EVO. I have seen quite a few of these on-site during my travels and they always seem to inspire interest in the Safe Zone and respect in-game. Everything about this gun wreaks of quality and the combination of single-shot, 3-shot burst and full auto once again brought out face-splitting grins, especially from real-steal shooter Paul Wignell, who proceeded to cut a target in half. ASG are in the closing stages of developing a Hi-Cap for the EVO and you can expect to see these starting to appear in the not too distant future.

Before I mention the third gun we looked at, I’m going to say something straight up… Revolvers are not my “thing”, neither are Porsche 911s but that doesn’t stop me appreciating what they are, however, when I picked up the Dan Wesson 715, I did not expect to appreciate it quite as much as I did.

Again, I am not going to say too much here as (as I type this) weighed in at goodness-knows how many kilos – and that is just one of many such moulds. Something else also caught my eye; blue EVO bodies. Yep, ASG are going to produce a factory-made two-tone version specifically for the UK market, something which I understand was suggested to them by Simon and the guys from Patrol Base when they made a recent visit. This shows just how willing ASG are to listen to feedback and ideas and, if they think it is feasible, act upon them.

To say ASG’s new facility at Espergaerde is “impressive” is like saying the Burj Khalifa is “tall”, both are a bit of an understatement! Clearly they are outgrowing their existing unit at Helsinge and the building at Espergaerde provides not only all office, technical, logistic and warehouse space they need but is also the face of a very successful international company and it was there that I found myself standing in the centre of the aforementioned cavernous hanger. There is still a lot of work to be done until all the racking is fitted out and the warehouse is complete but in true “ASG style”, they are prepared for that and still have use of their old building for “THE SIZE, HEFT, GRIP another two years. Now that’s what I ACTION AND, ABOVE ALL, call forward-thinking!

THE SOUND OF THIS BEAST As we moved around the building I was introduced to just about REALLY IS “GOOSE-BUMPeveryone who works there and two MAKINGLY” GOOD – AND IT things struck me: Without exception, everyone was smiling and secondly, LOOKS THE MUTZ TOO!” they knew my name and why I was there. Being greeted by someone you have not met before and yet who uses your name, shows they have taken the time and trouble to find out (and remember it).

The morning flew by in a round of meetings and was followed by lunch at a traditional Danish restaurant, which was thoroughly enjoyable (although I declined any more Christmas Ale) before heading back for the afternoon, where the first stop was in Technical Services… and playtime!

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• • • •

Easy accessible adjustable Hop-up Exact replica with realistic weight Fully adjustable rear sight Rubber grip with integrated tool

LEGEND R EBOR N IN A IR SOF T

Find more information on actionsportgames.com.

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

Join us on Facebook – “Team ASG” http://www.facebook.com/actionsportgames

0101-1015_October2015

0101-1015_AirsoftAction.indd 1

07-10-2015 10:20:45

Feature ACTIONSPORTGAMES

For more information about ASG and their products, visit your local airsoft retailer or ASG’s website: www.actionsportgames.com If you are an UK retailer and considering whether to stock ASG products, Paul Wignell can be contacted by phone (07495 221495), or via email: pw@actionsportgames.com one is on its way over for review. What I will say though is this; get down to a local airsoft retailer that has a range and try one.

I can’t promise you that you will buy one but I can promise that you will be astonished. The size, heft, grip, action and, above all, the sound of this beast really is “goose-bump-makingly” good – and it looks the mutz too!

Time was moving on so I reluctantly relinquished my grip on the Shadow and sat down with Christian and Paul as Henrik Grobelnik gave a very enlightening presentation of ASG’s background, history and aspirations for the future (and not for the first time today, I found myself thinking how no effort had been spared to make my visit as productive and informative as possible). This was followed by a meeting with Sourcing and Product Manager, Kiwin Kroejgaard, who gave us an overview of new and forthcoming products and nonchalantly flipped open a box to reveal something quite unexpected (and which turned my “I want an SP-01” into “I NEED an SP-01”)! All he had done was fitted steel blue ally grips but what a difference they made to how the gun looks – a bit like Leonardo painting a smile on the Mona Lisa; a small change that makes a world of difference. …and then it was time for me to grab my bag and Christian to give me a ride back to Copenhagen Airport.

SUMMARY

It is almost impossible to summarise my visit to ASG, there is so much more I could have written about but the overriding feeling I came away with, was that this is a company that knows what it wants, knows where it is going and, above all, knows how it is going to get there.

Like all Danes they don’t shout from the rooftops, or wave huge banners saying “We are great!”, they just get on with what they are doing – and they do THAT extremely well indeed!

I would like to close by thanking everyone at ASG for making my visit so welcoming, interesting and informative and, in particular, Paul and Christian for setting it all up – cheers guys, it was very, very much appreciated.

Postscript I have just returned from Urban Airsoft Mega Store in Normanton, where the UK’s first public showing of the SP-01 Shadow, Dan Wesson 715 and Steyr Commando took place.

Visitors to the store were invited to test shoot all three guns and, judging by the reaction, comments and preorders, ASG have got three more winners on their hands!

www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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BUSH WAR WARRIORS

ALTHOUGH MOST OF US HAVE HEARD OF THE COLD WAR, FEW ARE AWARE THAT ANOTHER, FAR BLOODIER WAR WAS BEING WAGED IN AFRICA, AS GADGE EXPLAINS…

IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING WWII, the sands and swamps of Africa ran red with blood; spilt by the superpowers that waged “proxy wars” across the continent to spread their ideology and field test their kit.

Over the next few months we’ll be moving the focus of “Cold War Warriors” from our familiar “what if” European front to the very real wars fought across the African continent in the late 20th Century.

African bush wars are also perhaps perfect for the cold war airsoft scenario, as they frequently featured small skirmish actions as government and rebel bands clashed with platoons of lightly equipped and armed warriors. There were, of course, full scale tank battles and artillery and air support at times but the classic “bush war firefight” would often be a brutal ambush deep inside enemy territory or a clash between patrols, each attempting to dominate the countryside and assert their will on the local civilian population.

BLOODY WARS OF INDEPENDENCE

Prior to WWII Africa was a heavily colonised continent. Vast swathes of the land were under the auspices of the Belgians, French, British, Portuguese and Spanish and before the 19391945 conflict even more had been governed and owned by the Italians, Swedish and Germans. Having fought a war to liberate Europe from occupation and oppression, it would have been hypocritical of the allies not to allow nations to govern themselves and in the years following WWII countless nations began to strike out for independence, often with bloody results.

Throughout the 50s, 60s and 70s places such as Biafra/ Nigeria, Angola, Rhodesia and the Congo were weekly names on the nightly news, as fledgling independent states and warring revolutionary groups all struck out to claim their chunk of Africa as their own.

The Soviet Union was quick to capitalise on the decolonisation of Africa and helped embryonic Marxist groups and movements to “overthrow the shackles of imperialism”… usually with a liberal helping of cut price obsolete Russian military hardware and teams of “advisors” to make sure their new comrades were towing the party line. In the west the response was somewhat similar. For years the British had argued to the Americans that the presence of the British Empire was a strong western “bloc” with which to counter Soviet influence but the US were keen to dismantle as much of the dying British Empire (an empire crippled by wartime “lend lease” debts to the States) as it could. The US alternative was to offer economic and military aid to new independent states to illustrate that a free economy was preferable to communism; and to provide the hardware to back it up if push came to shove.

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Cold USHWar Warriors B INTRODUCTION

However, to many in Africa, communism was an attractive idea. In poorer nations, nations that had been under the yoke of rich white Europeans, a doctrine that shared the wealth and ownership among the people and gave back to the “have nots” was incredibly appealing. Marxist and left wing military groups and political parties sprang up across the nation. Many demanding that the newly independent states owned by white elite gave up the lands to their hereditary tribal owners.

In Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Ian Smith’s mainly white government fought a brutal counter insurgency war before being defeated by Robert Mugabe’s ZANU (Zimbabwe African National Union) in the 1970s. In Angola, Portuguese colonists fought Soviet-backed guerrillas for decades and in Nigeria the breakaway Biafran state fought a bitter war against the Britishbacked and equipped Nigerian government.

On the South African border the South African Defence Force fought clandestine border skirmishes with East Germanbacked insurgents (and many SADF veterans testify to fighting against white East Germans too!) and to the North, around the Suez canal, Egypt renationalised the asset and used Soviet armour and equipment to hold off the French and British until the US could intervene. In the jungles of the Belgian Congo, the Belgian SAS waged war with Simbu rebels while the UK, US and the USSR helped with financing the conflict.

In popular culture during the 70s and 80s, the African bush wars captured the imagination of thriller fiction writers and film makers alike but in the current day, the “no compromise” battles of the 60s and 70s have been largely forgotten. Many older players will remember places like Rhodesia being a

common name in the news but even the youngest of players may have come across exciting action films such as The Dogs of War and The Wild Geese. The Wild Geese in particular is a fantastic movie just begging to be made into an airsoft weekender!

A SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF

These are just a few of the bloody bush wars that raged across Africa in the post WWII years and each one provides a wealth of exciting skirmish opportunities and unique loadouts. One thing we can’t get away from though, is that most of the nationalist forces were black men and women but this should be no real obstacle to a good skirmish. We already suspend

“THE SOVIET UNION WAS QUICK TO CAPITALISE ON THE DECOLONISATION OF AFRICA AND HELPED EMBRYONIC MARXIST GROUPS AND MOVEMENTS TO “OVERTHROW THE SHACKLES OF IMPERIALISM”… USUALLY WITH A LIBERAL HELPING OF CUT PRICE OBSOLETE RUSSIAN MILITARY HARDWARE.” www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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Cold War Warriors INTRODUCTION

our disbelief in Vietnam games as 6ft tall Caucasians play “Viet Cong” and so the Marxist tribal rebel group being a mixed group of airsofting nationalities should be no problem. Add to this that (as aforementioned) in some conflicts, such as the Biafran war, mercenary groups of all nationalities fought on each side and the stage is clearly set for some cold war “airsoft action”.

Perhaps what is most interesting about doing a Bush Wars loadout is the diversity of kit. Fighters in the myriad conflicts wore everything from full British army combat kit (in the case of the Nigerians) to just shorts, a chest rig and a pair of trainers if you’re rocking the elite “Selous Scout” look. You’ll also find much more opportunity to “mix and match” equipment.

Want to wear US jungle greens with a G3 and Brit 58 pattern webbing? Well you can bet some group somewhere was wearing a pretty similar combination!

“YOU’LL ALSO FIND MUCH MORE OPPORTUNITY TO “MIX AND MATCH” EQUIPMENT. WANT TO WEAR US JUNGLE GREENS WITH A G3 AND BRIT 58 PATTERN WEBBING? WELL YOU CAN BET SOME GROUP SOMEWHERE WAS WEARING A PRETTY SIMILAR COMBINATION!” Many mercenary groups used whatever they could acquire after receiving a kit and weapon issue from their patron and some even travelled to the war zones with their own kit (although this was risky as few wanted to be held at customs as a “gun for hire”) . Many states changed their superpower patron too and it was not uncommon for some factions to have a mix of Soviet and US equipment in their inventory (although many high-tech items like jet fighters and helicopters would become useless in weeks without proper technical support).

What this all adds up to is tremendous scope for a diverse, individual and exciting “cold war” loadout. Perhaps you’re portraying an ex-SAS British mercenary, who has travelled to Africa with his old beret and belt in his kit, been uniformed with the African state’s East German supplied uniform and uses a captured M16. As with all convincing impressions, research is the key and it’s always best to base your impression off an actual photograph of the period – but the possibilities are almost endless.

The small wars of Africa are also more forgiving on the airsofter wanting to do “MilSim” but not so mad keen they want to cut their hair or have a shave, as photos of mercenary fighters of the era frequently

show them with unkempt hair and straggly beards (and equally, as many show squared away, moustachioed ex-professional soldiers who would make Windsor Davies a happy RSM!).

As we’ve mentioned before, the US and the Soviet Union (and other minor cold war powers) lavished materiel on these new nations and upstart guerrilla groups, sending artillery, main battle tanks and even jet fighters to African “flashpoints” but it was soon found that the heavy and cumbersome main battle tank was a poor tool for revolutionary war in the dense forests, humid jungles, burning sands and sucking swamps of the continent.

The most useful military aids were aircraft and skilled advisors – which is great news for airsofters as it’s fairly easy to simulate airstrikes and helo insertions in a game but mocking up a soviet scale tank assault is a challenge for even the most developed sites!

Over the next few months we’ll be looking at a number of these Bush War flashpoints in Cold War Warriors and focussing on a key unit involved in each one. In the next issue we’ll be looking at the elite Rhodesian Light Infantry and their struggle against Mugabe’s ZANUPF movement, their use of cutting edge “fireforce” tactics, helicopter assaults, preemptive strikes and even their own unique battlefield language! www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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“FRAG OUT!”

IGGY ROBERTS GETS THE NEW YEAR OFF TO A BANG WITH A LOOK AT ALPHA-TEC’S INNOVATIVE SIX-SHOT BFG

TWIST AND REPEAT

ALPHA-TEC HAVE BEEN HARD AT WORK over the past few months, working on the next step in the technical evolution of the blank firing grenade (BFG). Their design is a revolving BFG that holds six 9mm blanks or shotgun primers.

Straight from the off this is a great idea, by alleviating the hassle of taking apart a BFG after each time you deploy it.

Instead, you can simply rotate the barrel and deploy again for a total of six chances to diminish the ranks of the enemy, throw after throw (underarm, of course).

So who is Alpha-Tec? Alpha One is an airsoft company that have been running airsoft sites for over two years, along with many popular games. They saw the potential of BFGs early on and set to work on a design to radically improve the ease of use and effectiveness of reusable grenades and formed Alpha-Tec to do so. The story could have stopped there but a chance encounter

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with Airsoft Machine Shop gave them the answers to their problems and they had found the ideal manufacturer for the Alpha-Tec design.

The structure of the Hex includes aircraft grade aluminium.

The reason aircraft grade aluminium is incorporated in the design is for two things; weight reduction and the awesome range of anodised colours. This gives customers the chance to really personalise their grenade, including a custom laser engraving service which Alpha-Tec offer free of charge. This, combined with the stainless steel components results in a grenade that is strong and with sublime looks.

The Hex grenade fits well in your hand and is solidly built, so throwing it underarm will provide enough momentum to reach your intended target. It is an “impact grenade” and operates best on hard surfaces, although that having been said, it can be used on softer terrain. This is due to the design allowing the firing pin to be activated by the weighted head when it impacts your target spot... Boom!!

Personally, I am not someone that likes to leave things to chance; if I deploy a grenade I want it to go off and take out my foes. That does not mean the Hex is not suited to forest sites. In fact, I beg to differ, I used it at a woodland site for bunker clearing and aimed it either at the walls or hardened floors with successful results but “The Hex” is in its element in an urban environment. The fact it can be used as soon as it’s retrieved after clearing one room, means the team can keep up the momentum and clear the next room and so on (not that its ever that straight forward to take a building). There is, however, a possible issue here and that is the enemy can pick it up and use it against you, although this would normally be a site rule issue. You would not expect (or I guess appreciate) the enemy picking up the primary weapon you left on the floor behind you as you advance forward with your pistol, only to be shot by said

Kit ALPHA-TEC HEX GRENADE

enemy with your own airsoft gun. So this should not become a real issue.

Speaking to other users of the Hex, the few issues that came up were the blanks, which load easily are not so easily removed once fired. A tool is recommended to push out the used blanks, a multi-tool was used in this case. The base of the Hex can either be loosened or over-tightened when you rotate the revolving section of the grenade to “STARTING FROM THE change the selected barrel. This may SAFETY POSITION, IT either cause a jam or require tightening again. Once an operator is used to the REALLY IS TWIST… CLICK… function of it though, this wouldn’t be BOOM… REPEAT!” a problem. Finally, the firing pin can rattle and cause a little bit of a noise and the overall size of the grenade means it does not fit in a 40mm grenade pouch.

All the issues I found are very minor in comparison to the advantage and time saved in game. Rather than carrying three or more BFGs, I was able to do the same with just one Hex grenade.

Should there be any major dramas with a Hex grenade, Alpha-Tec have a repair service; just contact info@ alphaoneairsoft.com with any queries and they will endeavour to sort out any problems. To date they have only had two returned since their launch in the early autumn.

The Hex has one chamber that is permanently blocked and this chamber is marked with an “X”, the other chambers are represented by a number, from 1 to 6. When you line the X up with the firing pin chevrons, the hex is set to safe. Starting from the safety position, it really is twist… click… boom… repeat! No need to re-prime or unscrew parts. There is a nice, positive click of the chamber when you twist to a new round too, meaning you can even use it blindfolded (although we wouldn’t recommend this!).

At the time of writing, it’s the cheapest multi-shot grenade on the market, at £85 (including customisation), plus the fact it’s multi-calibre as standard, it all adds to real value for money. The best thing about the Hex Grenade is its speed and simplicity, there really is no messing around here! Simply load the reversible chamber with your choice of 9mm or shotgun primer, screw down the base plate and you are good to go.

You can purchase the Hex grenade on the Alpha-one website at www.alphaoneairsoft.com, which includes the option for the free laser engraving service, as shown on the illustrated grenade. Models have also been supplied to retailers such as Leeds Airsoft and BBs Direct and Alpha-one would be happy to field enquiries from other interested retailers. They have even taken orders from sites to have their own logos placed on the head of the grenade nationally and from as far afield as the U.S.A. and Canada.

Twist… click…. Boom!!

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TURNING JAPANESE! FOLLOWING A RECENT VISIT TO TOKYO, AIRSOFT ACTION READER, ED CROOKS, SHARES HIS FASCINATION WITH JAPANESE AIRSOFT WELCOME TO AKIBA! My name is Ed Crooks and I have a keen interest in Japanese Airsoft culture. I am sharing the story of my journey to Tokyo in search, once again, for Airsoft equipment and more. This is my second time in Japan in just over a year and this place truly fascinates me in every way. I wanted to write an article about the shops and ranges and also take a look into Airsoft culture here, via an interview with Hyperdouraku’s owner, YAS. I also wanted to quash some common myths about the difficulty of finding stuff in Tokyo.

We arrived at Tokyo Narita airport at around 9pm, after 15 hours of travel from London to Istanbul with 2 hours lay over and then onto Tokyo. It’s a familiar airport and place for me as I’ve been here before and I kind of breath a sigh of relief as I sit on the “Skyliner” superfast train to Nippori station…

45 minutes later and you’re in the mix; bright lights and signs everywhere.

Sometimes it can appear a little odd that the Japanese seem to be so obsessed with Airsoft and weapons in general, as they are quite a peaceful bunch and it is also extremely difficult to obtain licences and own real guns in Japan.

One thing you will find in the Japanese Airsoft scene is that cheating is all but non-existent. If you ask any Japanese Airsoft player about ignoring hit-taking, they pretty much can’t even

fathom an answer or give you any examples of it - to them it’s just utterly absurd.

DAY TWO

I get straight into being out and about properly shop wise and I’m now going to quash this common tale that all the specialist shops are hard to find. I really don’t think anything is if you have done research on where you want to go, or need to go beforehand, which is pretty much par for the course for any normal person with a hobby or interest. The first shop I went to was Phantom in Shibuya.

This place is in a basement and is packed to the rafters with gear. They don’t sell guns here in store, (well I didn’t see any) but they seem to online? However, they have an amazing selection of brands (mostly American) with 5.11, Condor, Mechanix and Kryptek being most present. They also had a few brands I had never heard of but you can really rummage around in here, the bins are full of pouches at a normal price with quite a bit in the sale. Also there’s loads and loads of great outdoor and camping stuff, brands like Arcteryx and Subdued, as well as some knives kicking around too. http://www.phantom-web.com

DAY THREE

I head into the mecca of Japanese Airsoft; Akihabara.

There’s lots of shops here, all pretty much in the same area, with the biggest shop, Echigoya, first on my list.

It’s on the second floor of the building and is pretty much 10 minutes walk, if that, from the Electric Town exit at Akiba station… you can see the shop sign as you turn the corner. I love this place, it has everything you need, within reason. Tons of parts and loads of guns from Tokyo Marui, G&G and G&P, lots and lots of Tokyo Marui stuff… obviously.

The staff here are great; a couple of them speak perfect English. I was actually shown around everything by a dude I’d seen on a YouTube video. Also some female staff, which was nice to see as there is a lot more of a female presence in Japanese Airsoft than there is in the UK – from what I’ve seen and been told. I did, however, notice by this point that the 54

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building. You go up to the store in a lift, it’s small and the dude who was working did not speak much English, not much new here but they do have an amazing selection of Japanese Airsoft magazines that I have never seen.

Unfortunately they are not for sale, which I found very odd, as they are piled up in a cabinet next to the till so that you can just pick them up? http://akiba.gunsmithbaton.com Next stop right next to Gunsmith is Tam Tam, which is a few floors selling different stuff, like model trains, and all sorts of other bits as well as Airsoft stuff. Loads of Marui here and again great for parts but nothing special. It was also very brightly lit in here, which was a bit full-on for me. https://twitter.com/TamTam_akiba/ status/ 654882531460804608 On to Ueno to find a shop I really shops all sell different brands with regards to gear. Echigoya liked last time I was here, which has an sells lots of Tasmanian Tiger, HSGI and Pantac, as well as Flyye upstairs shooting range. On my way Industries. I got myself a basket here and started filling it, up there, near Okachimachi, I found another new shop called picking up bits and bobs I needed and some lovely gear from Maitri – a really cool place, no English here at all but I could the aforementioned manufacturers (http://echigoya-guns.com). find stuff easily. It had a really great selection of patches and I did end up finding a new shop whist nipping to Family loads of tactical watches, brands like TMC and a few brands I’d Mart to get a soft drink but it was an odd set-up, with random not heard of; Japanese mostly. No guns here, but there was a toys and stuff, mixed with a cabinet full of sights and loads of good selection of BBs on offer though. bags of BBs. The dude here did not speak a word of English http://akiba-maitri.jimdo.com though and it was strictly no photos, so I was in and out.

Next stop was the shooting range, Target 1, which is just around the corner from Echigoya. I will admit “ONE THING YOU WILL FIND IN THE JAPANESE AIRSOFT SCENE IS THAT CHEATING here you could do with your WIFI roaming if you IS ALL BUT NON-EXISTENT. IF YOU ASK ANY JAPANESE AIRSOFT PLAYER ABOUT haven’t been before, as IGNORING HIT-TAKING, THEY PRETTY MUCH CAN’T EVEN FATHOM AN ANSWER OR it’s a bit of strange one and is in a basement with GIVE YOU ANY EXAMPLES OF IT – TO THEM IT’S JUST UTTERLY ABSURD.” a sign that is pretty much out of sight.

I got here about 8pm, it was really busy with what seemed to be a team building type thing going on, with men and woman in suits and office get-up shooting rifles and going wild! I could only shoot hand guns for some reason, he just said “Rifle finish”, so I went for 30 mins and 2,000 rounds with a Sig Sauer P226 GBB Blowback.

This thing was killer, it had a really great feel to it, so different from the Marui Glock 18c I use at the moment. It’s made me want to invest it was that good. I must admit it’s a bit pricey to shoot rifles here, around £20 for 30 mins after hire and ammunition and pistols are cheaper than rifles. http://www.target-1.com/ Next day, back into Akiba in the evening and I hit Gunsmith, which is 2 minutes from Echigoya, on the 5th floor of the

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I carried on up to Ueno and looked around for about 45 mins trying to find the shop I found last time I was here in August 2014 but it must have shut down… I could not find it and the dudes in the local shops had no clue.

I’m very interested in the site Hyperdouraku and YAS (who owns and runs it) is extremely helpful in letting foreigners know how to find stuff and giving addresses as well as maps. He helped me out with the address for the Tokyo Marui HQ but I was told there was pretty much no point going there as they won’t let you past reception.

Here’s an interview I did with him about his site and interest in Airsoft.

10.3” barrel. Attached photo this email.

Ed: Hi YAS.So when did you first get interested in Airsoft?

YAS: I don’t have any gun licence in Japan. I have been to Guam and Las Vegas every year for fan shooting. In Japan, We can use real gun bolt action rifle for hunting, W-barrel Shot Gun for clay shooting. There are a lot of limit for model, ammo.

YAS: When I was 10, my father give me a magazine of gun.

Those days Japanese toy gun market don’t have Airsoft.

A lot of model gun (cap gun) were sold in hobby market.

Ed: Give us a bit of history on Hyperdouraku.

YAS: It’s established Feb. 1999 as my own hobby web site.

Ed: What would you say the most popular game formats are in Japanese Airsoft? The games seem very short from what I’ve seen.

YAS: Airsoft game, we called “Survival game”. Most popular game style is flag battle. Time is 15 mins. When push the horn on enemy flag we win.

Ed: What’s is the max FPS allowance in Japan?

YAS: 99m/s(0.98J) max as 0.2g 6mmBB under Japanese guns law.

Ed: What would you say are top pistol and rifle models right now in Japan?

YAS: Most popular rifle is AR. also M4 carbine, HK416D and their civilian custom,variant of them. Most popular pistol is...

Everyone use their favorite pistol. I love Glock 17!!in Japan, a lot of player use Tokyo Marui AEG. Ed: What does your arsenal look like?

YAS: Now my primary rifle is M4 CQB PTW by Systema.

Ed: Also what are some of the more popular Load Outs, Navy Seals..etc? And what’s your personal favourite?

YAS: Yeah, Navy Seals style is also popular in Japan. DEVGRU, Team 6, Red team is cool. But a lot of player use their favorite equipment like a town fashion. Popular camo is Multicam, Kryptek and A-TACS. I’m using Japan Self-Defense Forces camo coz camo effects is best on Japan fields.

Ed: You also have a lot of real gun videos on your YouTube channel, do you have a licence for fire arms? I know it’s very difficult to obtain licences for guns in Japan. Could you tell me a bit about the gun laws?

Ed: What kind of certification do you need to buy and use AEG & Gas powered guns in Japan? Like what’s your version of UKRA? YAS: I think the best we don’t need certification for buying Airsoft. I always hope in the future. We called “Swords and Firearms Control Law” in Japan guns law. I don’t know UKRA exactly.

Ed: What are some of the top indoor and outdoor sites in Tokyo?

YAS: To be exact, Tokyo only have some fields. There are many game fields in Chiba prefecture.

Outdoor 1. HEAD SHOT [Chiba] http://head-shot.jp/ 2. TOKYO SABAGE PARK [Chiba] www.tokyosabagepark.jp/ 3. SEALS [Chiba] https://seals.jp/ Indoor 1. BATTLE SPOT [Chiba] www.battle-spot.com/ 2. KOWLOON [Kanagawa] http://kowlooncity0801.com/ 3. CTC [Yamanashi] www.wandervogel.co.jp/ 4. AGITO [Yamanashi] http://blog.livedoor.jp/agito_ktec/ BATTLE SPOT was planning and designed by Hyperdouraku.

Ed: Thanks YAS. And that was my trip to Japan. If you ever get the chance, I would highly recommend a trip here. The place is an incredible mix of traditional and modern, the people are great and (mostly) very friendly and helpful – but make sure you do your research properly first.

Me? I can’t wait to come back here again!

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Unit C1, Northway Trading Estate, Northway Lane, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, Unit C1, Northway Trading Estate, Northway Lane, GL20 8JH. United Kingdom.

Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 8JH. United Kingdom.

Tel +44 (0)1684 273070 Fax +44 (0)1684 273052 Tel +44 (0)1684 273070 Email rwuk.retail@redwolfairsoft.com Fax +44 (0)1684 273052 Email rwuk.retail@redwolfairsoft.com

u k . r e d w o l f a i r s o f t . c o m uwww.facebook.com/redwolfuk.retail k . r e d w o l f a www.youtube.com/user/redwolfairsoft i r s o f t . c o m www.facebook.com/redwolfuk.retail

www.youtube.com/user/redwolfairsoft

THE STAN THE FAMOUS FORMER STANLEY TOOLS Factory “The Stan”, in the heart of Sheffield, West Midlands has been on the Airsoft scene for a while but has recently been revamped by the team behind the fantastic Wentworth CQB site in Rotherham, Skirmish Airsoft. I took a trip to play The Stan and to see the other side of Skirmish Airsoft!

The former Stanley Tools factory started out as the Industrial works of toolmaker and metal plane maker, James Arscott Chapmen, in the 1860s and was acquired by American millionaire and founder of Stanley Tools, Federick Trent Stanley in 1937. The factory closed its gates for the last time to its staff in 2008 and has been on the Airsoft scene since then. It has passed through a few companies until being recently taken over by Skirmish Airsoft.

The Stan is located on Rutland Road in the very heart of Sheffield and is around 60 miles from my home in South Derbyshire. Being easy to access from the M1, the drive took me around an hour and 20 minutes and the site itself is really easy to spot from the roadside because of the iconic “Stanley” logo that still adorns the factory walls. As you turn into the road you are directed by a site marshal onto the gravel car park, which has ample space for the day’s participants but it is advisable to get there in good time to get a decent space! Once parked up, the safe zone is only a short walk away through the revolving doors that lead into the factory.

The safe zone is a large room on the ground floor of the

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KELLY “FEMME FATALE” HARDWICK TRAVELS TO REAL STEEL COUNTRY TO PLAY AT THE OLD STANLEY TOOLS FACTORY Photography by Wallace

reception building, full of an eclectic mix of chairs, sofas and tables ready to set up for the day. It is very much a no-frills affair, with a generator to power the lights and a portaloo but is in a way very charming and has all the essentials you’d need. They have a small shop that sells bits and bobs for a day’s skirmish such as beebs, gas, potnoodles, snacks and drinks to get you through the day! The site doesn’t cater food but is close by to many food joints.

Booking onto the site is super easy and done via Eventbrite. com or their app, which can be downloaded on from the App Store and Google play. A deposit of £10 is payable to secure your place with the remaining walk-on balance of £20 to be paid on the day. The app also lists all of Skirmish Airsoft’s upcoming events so you can stay up to date with game days at both their sites! Skirmish Airsoft don’t currently offer rental packages so it is walk-on only and the player limit at the Stan is currently 50. It does book up really fast so if you’re thinking about attending an event, put your name down early to avoid disappointment!

The site itself is impressive and comprises of a four storey factory building with a variety of wide open spaces in the main parts of the factory, close rooms, stair wells in the factory offices and even a loading dock to fight through. It also has a two storey office/reception building that houses the Director’s offices, which is a challenge to clear. When driving up to the site you get a feel for the size of it. The top floor of the factory

site SKIRMISH AIRSOFT

isn’t currently in play but keep an eye out, as Skirmish have something awesome planned for it! There is also an outdoor part of the site which is in play during good weather due to the site’s central location.

A lot of what I love about the site are the details which tell its story. A lot of equipment and general items were left on site when it closed, such as potted plants, old laptops and even mugs which almost gives you a glimpse into life at the Stanley Tools factory before it became what we know it as today.

Something about The Stan that really caught my eye was the graffiti that covers the factory walls – whether it is intentional by the staff or the work of outside graffiti artists, it is a striking feature and adds character to the site. My favourite piece is the diamond/dollar sign room in the loading bay! The site’s rules are generally in line with other sites around the country, sticking to semi-automatic only, however, their FPS limit is a little higher than the usual 350 FPS, at 368 FPS. Support weapons and based games when everyone is ready for carnage! My favourite Sniper Rifles are unsuitable for the site as most of the action is game at the Stan is the “Drop Back” game, where one team indoors, so it’s best to leave them at home! defends the factory and the other attacks! The attacking team I have played the Stan twice (and their sister site at has to push the defending team back through the factory, Wentworth CQB) and each time the staff at Skirmish Airsoft have made me feel extremely welcome and have always been happy to engage in conversation with their customers – this is a “A LOT OF EQUIPMENT AND GENERAL ITEMS WERE LEFT ON SITE very important aspect of the day for me. Their WHEN IT CLOSED, SUCH AS POTTED PLANTS, OLD LAPTOPS AND marshalling staff are engaging and all chip in, EVEN MUGS WHICH ALMOST GIVES YOU A GLIMPSE INTO LIFE AT you can tell from how they interact with each other that they’re a close knit team and I think THE STANLEY TOOLS FACTORY.” this definitely translates positively into how they run their site. The safety brief at the start of the through the offices and into the final stage in the Director’s day is clear and concise. It gives you all the information needed offices located on the first floor of the reception building. The for the day’s activities and is always delivered enthusiastically two sets of double doors that lead into the Director’s offices, by one of their marshals. Both sites have onsite photographers, which are located on the first floor at the rear of the reception which for the keen Instagrammers amongst us (like myself) is building, is the most difficult part of the site to take control of always a plus!

– the double doors, gallery room and the lack of cover always The Stan keeps their game days fresh by running a variety leads to a fierce firefight from both sides. The key to the game of game types, from your standard death matches, objective is grenades… and plenty of them! and hostage games to video game inspired infected games. The The game is turned around later in the day and the team day will usually start with a quick death match to get everyone that clears the site in the least amount of time wins. This in the mood for a day’s pew and then progress into objective-

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“THE DAY WILL USUALLY START WITH A QUICK DEATH MATCH TO GET EVERYONE IN THE MOOD FOR A DAY’S PEW AND THEN PROGRESS INTO OBJECTIVE-BASED GAMES WHEN EVERYONE IS READY FOR CARNAGE!”

particular game mode is always fast-paced and intense and on the day I played our side set a new site record for completing the push back in just under 17 minutes, which is absolutely insane! The day usually ends with an “infected” game to “cool down” and I always find these games are the perfect laugh to end the day and also where you can really use those zombie apocalypse survival skills we’ve acquired (ha ha)! The game starts with an infected player and as soon as the source of the virus gets a kill, their victim becomes infected until there are no survivors. At The Stan it is tricky as there’s lots of little nooks and crannies to hide in and there’s usually a sneaky player or two waiting with a knife.

The games are well run by the site’s marshal team and always progress well. The Stan allows the use of smokes and lasers on site which is always awesome and looks like something out of a movie and the mixture of light and dark rooms creates another challenge to work through!

Another important aspect of the site for me is the other players. Although this cannot be totally dictated by the site's management team, it still has an influence on how you feel at the end of the day and I have always found the other players at The Stan to be pleasant and honest. There were no issues

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with hit-taking on both occasions I have visited and everyone was keen to engage in conversations and have a laugh so the atmosphere was brilliant!

Overall, I would rate the Stan as one of the best CQB sites I have played so far! I really enjoy the atmosphere and intensity of the day, the games are always fun and the staff run a tight ship, so the day runs smoothly which is always a winning combination for me.

If you’re looking for some intense CQB action, I’d definitely give the Stan a try and If you haven’t already, I’d also strongly recommend their other site, Wentworth CQB as well!

GITAG WE AIRSOFT EUROPE “L119A1”

PERFORMANCE COUNTS! JERRY NOONE TURNS TO A FORMER US NAVY SEAL TO UP THE PERFORMANCE OF HIS “UKSF” L119A1

1 HAVING GOT “THE LOOK” DEAD RIGHT, the first issue that I needed to deal with before anything else was managing the power of my “119” as, when I ran it through my Xcortech chrono, I was getting a very consistent but rather site-unfriendly 380fps using .20g BBs. After speaking to a few “Geek” friends who’d worked quite extensively with gas rifles and carbines, I decided that the easiest course of action would be to fit an RATECH NPAS (Negative Pressure Air System) kit, which enables you to manage the power of your rifle to site limits and also lets you take into account changes in environmental conditions.

These kits cost just £14.99 (mine came from J-Tac Custom) and although it does mean disassembling the working parts of your rifle or carbine to fit it, the kit makes it usable all year round. You can find an excellent video online of how to fit the NPAS kit which will explain things step by step, just search out “YouTuber” MaximusMJG. With the NPAS kit in place the “119” was safely brought down to a consistent 328fps and all was good to go. During the course of discussing the power issue, another interesting bit of geekiness cropped up though which I decided to investigate further. My good mate Jase C, who is always in search of that elusive “perfect performance” in both his AEGs and gassers, told me about a simple treatment for the internal working parts of my carbine that would have it cycling better and generally performing more smoothly. This involved the use of a product some of you may already know, “Froglube”.

For those of you who haven’t yet come across it though, Froglube is a “green” firearm cleaning, lubricating and rustpreventing product. It’s described as “Biodegradable, NonHazardous, Non-Toxic, and Non-flammable” and made in the U.S.A. comprising of a proprietary formula of “food-grade” ingredients, specifically twenty-two different plant materials; unlike chemical lubricants it even smells okay, just like “Deep Heat”. According to the creator, Captain Larry Lasky, US Navy SEAL (Ret), Froglube received bio-certification from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Larry claims it’s so bio-safe, you can even use it as a skin cream or lip balm substitute!

Froglube was founded by Larry who spent 32 years with the United States Special Operations Command and Naval Special Warfare Group, so you could say he knows something about firearms! When I met him at IWA in Germany last year he told me Froglube was a premium gun lube born from the battlefield experience of the most elite special operators, the US Navy SEALs, hence the “Frog” connection. It was developed to ensure firearms treated with it would group more tightly, cycle

2 more smoothly, load much quicker and range farther than the opposition.

So how does it work? When a real gun is fired, carbon, lead, copper, brass and other fouling particles are produced.

Froglube is a heavy, specific-gravity substance that creeps deep into the “pores” of the metal and acts as if to “season” the surface of the bore, any friction points and all areas treated with the lube. Once treated, fouling particles can no longer bond with metal surfaces but instead they will be suspended in a detached state and easily wiped or brushed away. This also applies to other loose fouling particles such as dirt, dust and sand.

Features of Froglube are: • It does not harm non-metal surfaces such as plastic, rubber, nylon or wood and it states it will actually enhance the condition, moisten and preserve these materials.

• It removes petroleum products, oils and grease, and dissolves carbon and petro-chemicals on contact.

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13 • It does not harm after-market finishes, bluing or other permanent coatings such as night sights. In fact, it will serve as a cleaner and will provide lasting protection against oily film build-up.

• It may be left in place indefinitely, unlike some bore cleaners which have a time limit for application.

Now that’s all well and good for real firearms but how does this help with our airsoft rifles and carbines? Once again it was time to “Give it to a Geek” so my “119” was swiftly despatched to Jase so he could work his magic on it.

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SMOOTHLY EFFICIENT!

Jase (as always) took his usual methodical approach to the treatment, checking the instruction manual for any idiosyncrasies in the take down of the carbine before starting the process (Pics 1-2). First then was simply to cock the carbine as this keeps the hammer down and out of the way and get the Froglube ready at room temperature (Pics 3-6). Next was to take the Body Pins out and detach the upper from the lower (Pics 7-13). Putting the Body Pins back into position is a good idea so they’re safely retained.

Next, the inside of the upper receiver, the bolt and the charging handle are sprayed with a good degreaser. Leave everything to soak for a few minutes then, with a lint-free rag or tissue, clean up the parts – getting into all the nooks and crannies until they are spotless (Pics 14-17).

Using a pair of pliers, hold the bolt (Pics 19-20) and then heat it with a hair dryer for about five minutes (Pic 21). You should add some tape to the teeth of the pliers to stop marking the bolt. You could take the nozzle assembly out of the bolt before heating but Jase found in the past this didn’t cause any issues. The metal is heated to encourage the metal particles to swell slightly and the “pores” to open up; this helps with the next stage.

Once heated up, the Froglube paste is applied to the bolt and Jase uses a small paint brush as it gets into all the hard to reach places. Once the bolt is fully coated, leave to rest for one hour until fully dry and the paste absorbed. As the metal's “pores” have been allowed to open up the lube can be freely absorbed into the metal, trapping it as everything slowly cools.

Repeat the heating process and apply the Froglube to the charging handle and the inside of the upper receiver (Pics 2225). Once an hour has passed, with some nice lint-free cotton cloth buff off all the Froglube that has been left behind and you 22

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should be left with a nice silky finish (Pics 26-31).

You can now reassemble the upper taking care to pull out the Body Pins again before adding the upper to the lower (Pics 32-33). Jase did find the changing handle on the WEAE carbine had to be lifted slightly into a recess before it would slide forward; once this is done then offer the bolt to the handle and slide both back in (Pic 34).

To complete things, Jase then ran two mags-worth of NUPROL .30g BBs through the “119” to check there were no issues. He then split the upper again and double-checked the bolt to make sure all was well and everything worked flawlessly 32

together.

With the job now complete I asked him why exactly he used this treatment and he told me: “I use Froglube on GBB stuff to optimise consistency and that in turn leads to better overall performance. Froglube tends to help shed dust and dirt and just requires a blast of air and a soft wipe down to return the working parts to super-clean condition again. With everything as clean as possible and functioning smoothly together you’re also getting a much more efficient use of gas as well.

“By treating your GBB like a real firearm, polishing a few bits and pieces will help overall consistency but anything gaspowered can be finicky so it’s more about keeping them very clean and dry-lubed; Froglube just makes this easier.”

So, overall the “119” is now cycling perfectly and efficiently and is set at a UK site-friendly power level. The next stage in its evolution will be to get it out and used in-game to see how it performs on a longer-term basis. For now the project is a wrap and I’d like to thank all of you out there who let me “Give It To A Geek” and end up with an airsoft L119A1 that really is one of a kind!

For more information on Froglube products please do pay their website a visit, http://froglube.com For more information on the RA-TECH NPAS Kit and loads of other fabulous airsoft goodness please got to http://en.ratech.com.tw …and if you’d like to know what a certain Mr. Chris Costa thinks of Froglube, take a look at this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOro7f7m9Co

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BELT UP!

WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH...

THE TOUGH GET BELT FED!

SCOTT ALLAN PITCHES TWO OF THE MOST POPULAR BELT-FEEDERS AGAINST EACH OTHER, IN A CLASSIC “HEAD TO HEAD”

WE HAVE AN AWESOME head to head with two fantastic belt-fed, white death-spraying machine guns, the 7.62mm A&K M60E4, versus the G&P M249 Special Forces (SF). Each have pros and cons but which will win out and be the Airsoft Action Machine Gun of Choice?

The manufacturers of these excellent machines couldn’t be more polar opposites. A&K are a Chinese clone manufacturer and G&P make some of the finest replicas available today. Does this mean the A&K should be written off entirely straight away?

Most certainly not. Remember, all the reviews Airsoft Action do are about “balance”, this isn’t Top Gear, where we only care about the latest million pound car you’ll never see and how the stereo power switch costs more than your average hatchback!

Here at Airsoft Action we are players writing for players and if something is brilliant but costs three grand, we’re going to be fair and say it probably isn’t worth the money overall.

The M60E4 (or Mk43) is the modern M60 we saw and loved in all the Vietnam films all those years ago. The A&K version is a little shorter, lighter and sports a very handy front grip which makes it much more comfortable when using. The G&P M249 SF is the newer DX steel version, it’s a weighty beast but then steel versions of rifles generally are because the steel weight over cast metal is considerably higher.

The M60E4 is the modern 7.62mm Light Machine Gun (LMG) used by forces all around the world but mainly the US armed forces. Manufactured by US Ordnance, it is an internally updated version of the classic ’60 which has graced the battlefields around the world for over 50 years. The best thing about the M60 is the single user ability, the whole weapon can be fired quite easily from the shoulder by a trained handler. I 64

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Armoury HEAD TO HEAD

“THERE ARE TWO THINGS YOU SHOULD BE CLEAR ON IF YOU ARE A SUPPORT GUNNER IN AIRSOFT, YOU WILL CHEW THROUGH BBS THAT WILL ONLY BE RIVALLED BY THE NUMBER OF MILLIAMPS THE RIFLE WILL CONSUME.” say “handler” and not “soldier” because I have fired the E4 and I am far from a soldier of any type. I was surprised firstly at the weight (it isn’t light at 10 kilos) but then the lack of recoil, or at least the amount of recoil that was absorbed by the weapon is mighty impressive.

The M249 is the more modern “little brother”, dishing out the 5.56mm round instead of the 7.62mm. Part of the reason is the M249 can fill the SAW (Squad Automatic Weapon) role very well and it is around 25% lighter than the M60. Additionally the ammunition is lighter so you can carry more and again, the recoil is very manageable from the standing position which is handy when you are on the move.

In fairness, in the real world you wouldn’t compare both of these as it is a little like comparing an MP5 to an M4, they are both good within their own lane but the Airsoft versions aren’t a different calibre so the rules can be bent a little.

BACK TO THE AIRSOFT VERSIONS

Externally both are very nice but the G&P does boast a whole host of steel parts including body, barrel, bipod, carry handle and the rear sight that will add weight and strength to the whole thing. That said the M60 I feel does look slightly better with the grey finish, this is purely aesthetics and not a reflection on any quality. The M60 carry handle is generally noted that it shouldn’t be used as it isn’t strong enough to take the weight under gaming conditions, unlike the G&P. Both weigh nearly the same loaded and are not far off the same length but once again the G&P is slightly shorter and has an adjustable stock, which will make it more suitable for different sized players and different gaming situations. While the M60 has a front grip the M249 sports rails which would allow you to attach a grip, arguably making it more flexible. The box magazines both hold around 3000 rounds – that is a hell of a lot of shooting. I don’t really like electrical box magazines at all as they generally are not quite as well-built as the rest of the rifle. The M249 is largely mounted dead centre under the body, feeds through a butt join and is made of plastic. The M60 has a side-mounted cardboard with nylon cover box that feeds through the more classic spring tube system. Out of the two, the M249 has the better positioning and better material for a box magazine. Soggy cardboard and BBs don’t mix amazingly well but you could easily replace the cardboard with some plastic card eliminating this problem.

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HELIKON-TEX_Level 7, AIRSOFT ACTION, February 2016, right page

CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, BLACK

The LEVEL 7 is lightweight winter jacket

which provides insulation and protection against frost, wind and light showers.

Climashield® Apex™ provides thermal insulation and ultimate warmth. Two chest pockets are lined with fleece to provide protection against frostbite.

The hood can be easily adjusted without removing hands from the chest pockets via two drawstrings located there.

Climashield® Apex™ insulation (grammage: 100g body; 67g hood).

Armoury HEAD TO HEAD

consume. Yes, spare ammunition and batteries will need to be carried on you at all times. One event I remember a few years ago using a M240 Bravo, I used a bottle of 3,000 BBs and a battery per 30-minute game! Admittedly we did do quite well throughout the day, until I ran out of batteries and had to switch to a spring L96! Using a LMG like these will take its toll on your legs, arms and back if you aren’t used to the extra weight; it’s not a bad thing but just don’t expect it to be an MP5.

The relentless hail of fire you can dump out into enemy positions is satisfying I won’t deny it, often you don’t even have to fire at an actual individual for these to have a great and demoralising effect on enemy players. The path of least resistance is rarely toward a LMG on full spray.

“THE RELENTLESS HAIL OF FIRE YOU CAN DUMP OUT INTO ENEMY POSITIONS IS SATISFYING I WON’T DENY IT, OFTEN YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE TO FIRE AT AN ACTUAL INDIVIDUAL FOR THESE TO HAVE A GREAT AND DEMORALISING EFFECT ON ENEMY PLAYERS. THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE IS RARELY TOWARD A LMG ON FULL SPRAY.” Internally both are solid. The G&P sports their own Version 2 gearbox that has a fairly fast set up. The M60 has a more bespoke gearbox case design but it will take all the standard internal gears for upgrading at a later point if you so wished.

The G&P has the M120 high speed motor which is very affordable way to get a high rate of fire from your rifle whereas the M60 has a much slower adjustable rate of fire.

The M249 has a much higher rate of fire but arguably the M60 has a more realistic rate of fire. The M60 also has a variable rate of fire by twisting the gas block, essentially it’s an adjustable variable resistor. Truth be told, I can’t think of a reason to really adjust this unless you could vary it from 800rpm to 1500rpm which would be quite a noticeable increase. This can all be adjusted roughly by using a different voltage battery too, regardless.

It really does look like you are splitting hairs across the board with these two big sluggers. Each is nearly neck in neck in every way but there are some tell-tale differences that change the important thing – price.

So if you have to weigh up both platforms I’d say the M249 takes it on steel construction and rate of fire but the M60 still wins on looks for me. The box magazine winner is the M249 too as it takes the larger battery and the cardboard side mounted box is a bit of a dampener for the M60.

There are two things you should be clear on if you are a support gunner in Airsoft, you will chew through BBs that will only be rivalled by the number of milliamps the rifle will

CONCLUSION

If I had to pick a clear winner I couldn’t. If I had to weigh up the pros and cons it is equally tough, the reason it isn’t the M249 that is the better all-round LMG (in my opinion), is purely down to price. £500 is quite steep but the M249 isn’t bad value, it is just an expensive set of materials to build a rifle out of.

If you are looking for wallet-friendly, then the M60 takes it hands down. At £125 difference in price it is a good chunk cheaper and it really does look fantastic.

So really it boils down to what is the biggest sticking point for you, price or performance? If your wallet can stretch all the way to the M249 price, then the performance is there for the taking but if you were looking for something more on looks that will still serve you well, then I’d take the M60 because I really do think it looks brilliant!

features M249 ITEM WEIGHT: 6.9KG LENGTH: 808mm / 840mm (EXTENDED) INNER BARREL LENGTH: 363mm SHOOTING MODE: FULLY AUTOMATIC GEARBOX TYPE: VERSION 2 AEG MOTOR: G&P M120 HIGH SPEED MOTOR FIT BATTERY PACK: LARGE TYPE SPACE AVAILABLE MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 3000 ROUNDS POWER (MUZZLE VELOCITY): 345 FPS AUTO FIRING RATE: 950 RPM ON 11.1V LIPO RRP £500

M60 ITEM WEIGHT: 6.8KG LENGTH: 936mm INNER BARREL LENGTH: 475mm SHOOTING MODE: FULLY-AUTOMATIC AEG MOTOR: STANDARD SHORT TYPE FIT BATTERY PACK: MINI TYPE MAGAZINE CAPACITY: 3500 POWER (MUZZLE VELOCITY): 350 FPS AUTO FIRING RATE: 400~750 ROUNDS PER MINUTE (ADJUSTABLE BY THE VOLTAGE CHIP) ON 11.1V LIPO RRP £375

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NUPROL HEADPRO HEAD PROTECTION IS A GROWING TREND WITHIN AIRSOFT WITH MORE AND MORE OF US CHOOSING TO WEAR A HELMET. JERRY NOONE TAKES A CLOSE LOOK AT THE RANGE AVAILABLE FROM NUPROL WITH MODELS TO SUIT VIRTUALLY ANY LOADOUT! IN THE NOT TOO DISTANT PAST it was quite unusual to see helmets being worn by airsofters as the models available were usually military surplus which were heavy and uncomfortable to wear and many players really didn’t see the point of using one.

As the authenticity of loadouts got better and better though and games started to be played on real military urban training areas, many of us started to see the sense in head protection. I remember not so long ago buying an olive green Protec skate helmet which I tarted up with some OD Velcro, which served me very well.

The “skate helmet” was a good, cheap way of getting some head protection and had some provenance as they really had been used by certain special operations units, such as the US Navy SEALs. Gradually though, a trend started with reproduction “military” helmets being manufactured in the Far East which suddenly gave all of us players access to models such as the MICH and the IBH, which were perfect if you wanted to field some form of US-themed loadout.

The “helmet revolution” really got rolling with the introduction of the “Ops-Core” helmet range though; the helmet quickly became popular with special operations forces, seeing use with units like the 75th Ranger Regiment, the Naval Special Warfare Group, Marine Special Operations Command, and the Air Force Special Operations community in the USA, and pictures subsequently emerged of the Future Assault Shell Technology, or FAST, helmet being used by the SF units of many nations, the UK included.

Nowadays it’s actually becoming the norm for players to pop on a helmet, especially when playing in urban CQB environments. Whilst I hope we never need the ballistic protection offered by the real deal (obviously the plastic replicas provide none), just as we protect our eyes with goggles or tactical glasses and, in some cases, our hearing by using ear

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defenders or comms headsets, so now we protect our heads in areas where taking a bump or tumble becomes a possibility, or where overhead hazards are particularly likely.

Until recently getting hold of a replica of any of the models mentioned involved ordering from overseas with all the perils that entails; although Far Eastern suppliers have become more reliable, it was always a bit of a gamble as to what exactly would arrive in the post and whether you would be charged the dreaded import duty to add to what was already a pretty expensive purchase! Luckily for all of us, the “on trend” team at NUPROL have eased our woes by bringing replicas of the IBH, MICH, and the FAST into the UK; not only are they bringing in the three models but all of them are available in Green, Tan, Black, and Multi Terrain. If you want to channel your inner “airsoft unicorn” they even have a PINK FAST helmet for you!

THINGS THAT GO BUMP!

By choosing to bring in the three models they have, the NUPROL team have actually been pretty canny about things, as they cover a timeline from the late 1990s right through to the current day.

The “Integrated Ballistic Helmet” (IBH) was produced by ILC Dover as part of a USSOCOM contract in 1995 and 1996.

A total of less than 750 helmets were produced and issued to SOCOM operators and FBI Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) personnel. The helmet was developed to provide the user with a solution in relation to the requirement for lightweight ballistic protection, communications and night vision systems integration and interface to a multitude of gas masks and other protective equipment. The original helmet had a quick-detach night vision bracket that allowed the mounting of NV systems, such as the AN/AVS-6 and AN/PVS-7. However, some units are

KIT NUPROL REPLICA HELMET RANGE

“ARC”-style rails and velcro patches. The MICH is still very light and comfortable to wear and fitting is very similar to the IBH in that “one size fits most”.

Lastly and bringing things bang up to date, is the NUPROL “Future Assault Shell Technology” (FAST) replica. The real Ops-Core FAST Ballistic High Cut helmet offers a raised profile over the ear for integration with communications headsets and is available in two hybrid composite ballistic versions. The helmet comes fully loaded with an Ops-Core “Skeleton” shroud, Ops-Core “FAST ARC” rails, bungees, exterior velcro and a fit-band liner with integrated chinstrap.

It has a lightweight, multi-impact, ventilated liner with repositionable EPP impact pads and LDV closed-cell comfort foam which is unaffected by temperature, altitude, or moisture. The “Worm-Dial” adjustable fit-band with replaceable front, nape, and side pads quickly detaches to allow convenient fitting of comms headsets with headbands and the integrated “Head-Loc” retention system gives the helmet four times the stability of the standard issue ACH helmet suspension and retention products. The NUPROL version is absolutely spot-on the money as it fully replicates all the features of the real deal and concise fitting instructions show you how to easily set up the helmet for use with or without headsets using the different internal pads provided. It’s very lightweight and incredibly comfortable to wear all day long!

known to have removed this system in favour of the Wilcox PVS15/18 mount. The NUPROL replica comes with this style of metal mount fitted, along with modular “ARC”-style rails and velcro patches for your team name badge/callsign. These high quality helmets are designed to be a light to medium weight and provide excellent all-round head protection, with upper ear protection too. They are completely adjustable with webbing straps, rear neck support and removable internal padding so they can be customised to fit anyone of any head shape and size.

In the early 2000s, special operations forces began to use a helmet called the “Modular Integrated Communications “LUCKILY FOR ALL OF US, THE “ON TREND” TEAM AT NUPROL HAVE Helmet”, commonly referred to as “the EASED OUR WOES BY BRINGING REPLICAS OF THE IBH, MICH, AND MICH”. The MICH’s design allowed overear communications headsets to be worn THE FAST INTO THE UK.” more comfortably under the helmet; it also offered reduced weight, improved fit, and more effective protection. The MICH more readily To my mind NUPROL really have nailed yet another area of accommodated the mounting of NV systems, which were kit that we really need as airsofters, and with all models priced becoming an increasingly common sight and sent out a clear at £54.99 and available from all good airsoft retailers, there’s message that helmets were becoming a modular platform in really no reason not to add this additional level of protection to themselves. The MICH and its sibling the “Advanced Combat your loadout. The fact that the IBH, the MICH, and the FAST all Helmet”, or ACH, were manufactured in far greater numbers add to the “cool factor” as well is just an added bonus! than the IBH and were much more commonly seen being worn For more information on the helmets and other great gear

by American troops. The MICH was also used by UKSF when available in the NUPROL range please visit working with the US Forces. As with the IBH, the NUPROL www.weairsofteurope.com.

MICH replica features an “Ops-Core VAS”-style NV shroud,

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AS THE TREND FOR MID-WEEK ‘SOFTING GROWS, LES LEE SHUNS HIS SHADES AND HEADS FOR AN EVENING OF AIRSOFT ACTION IN KENT

DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE DARK! AND NOW FOR SOMETHING completely different…

“After Dark C.Q.B is Darkwater Airsoft’s Close Quarter Battle site.

Situated in a purpose-built arena in Ashford (Kent), After Dark C.Q.B offers an intense, action packed, adrenalin fuelled Airsoft experience.

Set over two floors, with distracting sound, lighting & smoke, small rooms, nooks and crannies that are perfect for getting the jump on your opponents, you’ll be sure to leave with a smile on your face!”

It is indeed rare that I “steal” someone else’s quote but I’ve made an exception in this case because I couldn’t have surmised it better myself.

On the outskirts of Ashford is a large commercial unit which is very easy to find, with masses of car parking and housed within this “warehouse” is a sizeable indoor “Laser Quest”type arena called “Battle Zone Laser-Tag”.

By now you might be asking yourself what this has got to do with Airsoft? Well the answer is simple really…

I would hazard a guess that the majority of ‘softers love a good old up-close-and-personal CQB fire fight to ignite the adrenal gland and how many of us have found ourselves facing the washing up and Eastenders during another groundhog evening mid-week, where the nearest thing we can do to get an Airsoft fix is to meddle with our molle and relocate some pouches on our tac vests? At best, set up a few tin can targets in the garden, only to have family and neighbours moaning about the noise.

So wouldn’t it be nice if you could get that fix 70

february 2016

without having to load up bags of kit, all weather combats, a selection of rifles, pistols, shotties and everything else (kitchen sink included) and just simply grab a few basics and leave with a subtle cry of “Just going out for a little while darling, don’t wait up!”?

After Dark Airsoft CQB, a rather quirky annex of Darkwater Airsoft, can give you that opportunity – as I found out on a long overdue visit to this venue where, with the minimum of disruption and equipment, you can spend a few hours shooting and getting shot in this purpose-built unit complete with special effects, smoke, atmospheric lighting, battle sounds of sirens and gunfire and a whole host of features to make you feel like you are in a limitless theatre of fire fights!

Yes, this is a very novel Airsoft venue, unaffected by the elements in any way. Of course, this doesn’t do snipers any favours, or the men and women that enjoy using pyrotechnics but what it may lack in some areas, it more than makes up for in the pulse-pumping intensity of being in a world of hurt if you have bare flesh on display but hey, such is the nature of close quarter fighting! Let’s face it, if we didn’t like the thought of shooting and getting shot back, then perhaps it’s time to go home to those tin cans in the garden where the worse that can happen would be a subdued ricochet (or a well-aimed tea towel because it’s your

Site DARKWATER/AFTER DARK CQB

turn to dry up)!

Jon Mills created Darkwater Airsoft around a year and a half ago and, as with all site owners, his passion overwhelmed his life and thus Darkwater was developed.

When I caught up with Jon (one of Airsoft’s genuinely nice guys) and his equally Airsoftpassionate and endearing Fiancée, Allyssa, I was able to tear him away from his event hosting I had the chance to run a few questions by him.

Les: “Thank you for inviting Airsoft Action along to an evening of C.Q.B. games.

These fantastically fast and furious gunfights are becoming increasingly popular due to the intensity, speed and ultimate pain that many ‘softers crave these days. Clearly you have embraced this phenomenon and found an ingenious and very practical way of facilitating this for our brothers and sisters in arms. So tell me Jon, how did it all begin?”

in mental health but I have a sales and marketing background which is a massive bonus. As I mentioned earlier I have my fiancée Allyssa who helps me with ideas and the fine details.

She’s the creative one and I’m the logical one. Jim is no longer with Darkwater Airsoft due to personal reasons. I am lucky enough to have a solid team of marshals headed up by Joe, aka “Boomer” (Author’s note: Apparently he acquired the nickname due to his love of blowing things up and if you know the Kent Airsoft scene then you’ll know Boomer, one of Airsoft’s larger than life characters and all around nice guy.) behind me and a really great site shop, South East Airsoft Supplies. Life is easier with these guys supporting me because they’re always keen to build and develop ideas that come up.

“My mum too... No one gives their mum credit but without her solid grounding I genuinely think Darkwater Airsoft would

Jon: “Darkwater Airsoft began in August 2014 with a view to finding some land for “WE’VE HAD SIX GUYS IN A MEXICAN STANDOFF, WEAPONS TRAINED mates to run around on and have a giggle.

ON ONE ANOTHER AND NOT A SINGLE SHOT FIRED – UNTIL ONE GUY There were 3 of us behind it, myself, my fiancée Allyssa and a friend, Jim. FREAKED OUT AND PLASTIC HELL BROKE LOOSE!” “Allyssa found a site in Hythe that had potential so we approached the owner (well, we were lead to believe that he was the owner) and he agreed have stalled out, so thanks for being such a battle axe mum!” that we could build on and use the land and after a few private Les: “What has happened so far with Darkwater?” games we decided to open it up and launched the site.

“Long story short, he wasn’t the owner, we didn’t get a written agreement on the land and after the first game and the real positive response we got in terms of numbers, the guy got greedy and demanded more money a month and it wouldn’t be a financially viable option. We had no choice but to walk away from the site. That left us in a bit of a pickle, no site and a potential player base of around 500 people. A year later, After Dark C.Q.B. kinda fell in my lap.”

Les: “Can you give our readers an insight about you and the team behind you.”

Jon: “I’m fairly new to the sport – and yes, I do see it as a sport – having only been playing for 3 years. I work full time

Jon: “Well... adversity in the face of defeat, I’d say.

“We got a site and had it whipped away from under us.

That taught me personally a hell of a lot to be honest. It was a real “back to earth with a bump” situation.

“We’ve got After Dark C.Q.B and now Darkwater which will be opened in Jan/Feb 2016. The way I see it is that you’re never gonna climb back up if you don’t fall down.”

Les: “How did you find this C.Q.B. site and how has it progressed?”

Jon: “After Dark C.Q.B kinda fell into my lap if truth be told.

It was operated by Jungle Warfare for a short time but they had some major setbacks and it never took off. It’s a shame really but a blessing at the same time because I now have the opportunity to nurture and develop it.

“It’s been a real challenge and I love meeting the demands of the players. It’s gone from real low numbers (10-12 players) to maxing out (20-25 players). We ran a themed night on the 18th of November and it was fully booked in a week which was awesome!

“The biggest challenge has been the no pyro rule. The site itself is a laser tag venue and due to the makeup of structures, smokes and bangs are a no go. As an alternative we came up with the “squeaky chicken” rule.”

Les: “Does Darkwater have any other sites or Airsoft related interests?”

Jon: “I, along with the Darkwater Airsoft team, am in the process of building an apocalyptic-themed woodland site in Ashford, which will be our home site and carries the name Darkwater over from our first site.

“I wanted to step away from the usual “Vietnam”-style woodland sites and offer something different. Variety is the spice of life! So we’ll be offering skirmish/Battlesim style games there with various twists. For example there will be collectable items that can be traded in with the site shop for consumables, such as pyrotechnics or BBs. “We also work alongside a new online and Darkwater

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Site DARKWATER/AFTER DARK CQB

Airsoft only site shop, South East Airsoft supplies. I can’t big these guys up enough! They offer some of the best prices I’ve seen on site or online in the U.K. Seriously, check them out either through the Darkwater Airsoft Facebook pages or directly.”

Les: “How did the name “Darkwater” come about?”

Jon: “The name Darkwater came from the river that ran through the original site. When it rained, the silt ran off the hills and turned the water dark. To quote a famous Meerkat...

“SIMPLEZ!” Les: “What can an Airsofter expect when they turn up at After Dark CQB?” Jon: “Banter… lots of banter… lots and lots of banter!

"We're a friendly bunch of people, I hate the whole family cliché but we really are but once that’s out of the way, we provide fast-paced games with a variety of objectives and, as far as I know, we’re the only site to run “Trouble in Terrorist Town” games.

“They’re great fun. We’ve had six guys in a Mexican standoff, weapons trained on one another and not a single shot fired – until one guy freaked out and plastic hell broke loose!”

Les: “What facilities are available, i.e. shop, refreshments, etc.?”

Jon: “On site we have drinks, sweets, chocolate, tea and coffee and, most importantly, ice poles!

It gets hot in the game zone, really hot so the ice poles are a godsend. As I mentioned we have a fully stocked shop with the best on site prices I’ve ever seen – and I do get about a bit.”

Les: “Any interesting stories to date or tales to tell?”

Jon: “Just the usual Airsoft shenanigans but my favourite thing is seeing a fully grown man, in hundreds of pounds worth of gear, walking to regen muttering (usually with fowl language – pun intended) about being blown up by a rubber chicken!”

Les: “Just to round things off Jon, what plans do you have for the future?”

Jon: “The future...? Onwards and upwards!

“Destitutus ventis remos adhibe!”

“That’s my motto and that’s where I stand on the future.”

So, to summarise After Dark C.Q.B., this is

one very unique indoor Airsoft site! It will never replace woodland sites or even urban events but then again that isn’t the idea and Jon has found a void in the ever-increasing needs of Airsofters.

If you want some midweek evening Airsofting then it’s here, especially if you want that allimportant adrenaline rush, which is fast and ferocious and something that will give you visible evidence for your suspicious partner when you go out for an evening. You will have plenty of little red bruises to show them, as although the limit is topped out at 350 FPS max, bear in mind that you couldn’t engage the 30 metre M.E.D. if you wanted to, so you will get shot... and it will be very close! But hey, we’re Airsofters and immune from pain, right? Well, here is somewhere that you can find out just how good you are at close quarter fighting.

I love finding unique Airsoft venues, it makes bringing the news to you so much more rewarding. Jon and his team are an inspiration to Airsoft, by listening to what people want and making it happen and such is his passion I can only imagine that he even enjoys sweeping up the kilos of BBs at the end of the evening whilst searching for any lost rubber chickens.

Oh yes, the rubber chickens… You need to go-see just what these secret weapons are packing, as I’m sure you might just think again about what you are eating on your next visit to KFC! Les OUT!

Contact: Jon Mills After Dark C.q.b.

Battlezone Building Millbank Road Kingsnorth Ashford Kent TN23 3NA Facebook.com/afterdarkcqb www.darkwaterairsoft.co.uk darkwaterairsofthythe@gmail.com 07947 558433 (Please call between 09.00 & 19.00 only)

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SNAKE EATER IN A CONTINUATION OF THEIR ROLL-OUT OF NEW TACTICAL GEAR AND CLOTHING, VIPER HAVE RELEASED SOME OF THEIR MOST POPULAR DESIGNS IN PLAIN BLOCK COLOURS, IDEAL FOR GREEN TEAM/TAN TEAM GAMES. JERRY NOONE HIGHLIGHTS SOME OF THE BEST AND INTRODUCES TWO NEW ITEMS OF GEAR! WHAT A YEAR the guys at VIPER have had! Early 2015 saw them showcasing a whole new range of clothing, gear and rucksacks all based around their own “V-Cam” camo pattern and I have to admit that I was gobsmacked when I visited their Bedfordshire showrooms and saw the range in its entirety!

They’ve always offered a pretty solid line of well-priced tactical kit but this was an entire head to toe range with new designs, updates to old ones and additions where there had been gaps.

I reported on this at the time and I’ve been very pleased to hear that many of you out there have been using VIPER gear during the course of this year.

One of the comments I made to them at the time was that I hoped they would bring out some of the designs in plain colours; personally I try to avoid camouflage gear when I’m range testing for RIF reviews or going to Three Gun shoots, so well-designed, well-priced plain colours are always welcome.

As I write I’m also looking forward to another great year of airsoft during 2016 and I just heard from my good friend Bibby that Swindon Airsoft will have another, this time outdoor site, to add to their successful “Strikeforce” indoor venture and I’m really looking forward to playing there.

I’ve also spoken to Smudge at Combat Airsoft Games about attending one of their MilSim events and for this it looks as if I’ll be playing OPFOR, so it’s time to ditch the Multicam, MTP and V-Cam and kit up in more “civvy” attire. I hope, like me, that many of you will be turning your thoughts towards your airsoft for 2016 and booking up for skirmishes, weekend games, and MilSims. It looks like it’s going to be a cracking year with more games than ever before and I for one want to make sure I have my personal kit nailed down tight!

I’ve said this many times before but all site operators and event organisers go to great lengths to make sure we get interesting and involving scenarios to work through. I mention the two above as only as I’ve worked with them closely during

“IF YOU ARE SETTING UP FOR A WHOLE NEW YEAR OF AIRSOFT AND NEED TO REPLACE SOME GEAR, OR ADD ANOTHER LOADOUT TO YOUR “GEAR LOCKER” THEN IN MY MIND YOU COULD DO FAR WORSE THAN CHECK OUT THE NEW MODELS IN THE VIPER RANGE.” 2015 and will continue to do so this year. Wherever you play and whatever style of airsoft you enjoy, the site operators and their teams will be working hard to ensure you get your money’s worth, so isn’t it down to us as players to try and make their lives just that little bit easier by adhering to uniform requirements?

It’s regularly the case that a game scenario will include a request that we turn up in the correct gear; I for one hate the

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75

whole “armband” thing, especially if I’ve spent many hours putting together a really “kick-ass” loadout. It’s not uncommon, especially if I’m attending a MilSim to get a request from those running the game along the lines of “Jerry, could you bring a couple of sets of kit with you in case we need to bolster up one side or the other?”

Now many of these guys I’ve known for years and they know that I have collected kit for some considerable time, so I’ll happily take along a full set of Multicam and one of my trusted L119s but equally as happily, I’ll pack some “contractor gear” and an AK - just in case I need to help them out. I’m not suggesting for one moment

“WHEN THE WEATHER TURNS FOR THE WORSE THEN YOU’LL NEED SOMETHING TO WEAR OVER THE WARRIOR SHIRT AND IN THIS INSTANCE THE TACTICAL ELITE JACKET WAS THE OBVIOUS CHOICE. I’VE BEEN WEARING THE V-CAM VERSION THROUGHOUT 2015 AND THIS CORKING SOFT SHELL JACKET IS A GREAT PIECE OF KIT!” that everyone can do this, especially those on a tight budget but I would say it’s definitely worth setting up a loadout for “Tan Team” or “Green Team” to make a day’s gameplay go smoothly.

Yes, it is an investment but if you plan things wisely, much of the clothing and footwear can be used on a daily basis and not just for airsoft. A plain coloured fleece or softshell is equally at home heading to work on a cold morning, as it is in the middle of Senny or Eastmere. Thanks to VIPER this has also become much more affordable and this month I’m going to look at two possible loadouts using their gear.

COYOTE UGLY!

For some reason when I think of a generic “contractor” loadout, I’ll always be drawn to tan shades; in the summer months I’ll throw on a polo or combat shirt and in the winter change this out for a softshell jacket. I like to keep this type of loadout nice and lightweight, almost “nonmilitary” and run with as little tactical gear as possible.

If you’re playing on a CQB site then this means you can be fast and mobile, with very little to catch or snag on any obstructions.

My first choice for this was a Warrior Shirt priced at £39.95. This is VIPER’s take on the classic combat shirt and is made from Ripstop PolyCotton in the sleeves, yoke and collar with elasticated V-Flex in the torso area. This is quite generously cut and very comfortable to wear all day long and the sleeve lengths are nigh on perfect. It has reinforced elbow pads (removable) and two angled sleeve utility pockets with Velcro ID panels for your team or morale patches.

To go along with the shirt I opted for a simple pair of BDU Trousers at £24.95.

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Again, these are classic BDU-style tactical trousers, with total of six pockets including two regular hand pockets, two buttoned back pockets and two expandable, deep cargo pockets, button fly, side waist adjusters and drawstring legs. They’re made from a durable and breathable Rip-Stop PolyCotton material (60% Polyester Ripstop/40% Cotton) and have a reinforced seat and knee patches. Both garments are well priced and do the job they were intended for very well indeed.

When the weather turns for the worse then you’ll need something to wear over the Warrior Shirt and in this instance the Tactical ELITE Jacket was the obvious choice. I’ve been wearing the V-Cam version throughout 2015 and this corking soft shell jacket is a great piece of kit! Even though its very light, the micro shell fabric used is water and wind resistant so it will offer sufficient protection from the elements and it’s well priced at just £59.95. To round out the clothing side of things, I added an ELITE baseball cap in tan, along with a Covert Balaclava (these two items add less than twenty quid) to the loadout and the balaclava in particular provides just a little protection from BB strikes to the neck and face.

Kit-wise I decided to keep things “ultra-lo-drag”. On a Special Ops Belt (£16.95) I attached an Adjustable Holster for my sidearm. These cost £26.95 but will accommodate even the largest-frame pistol and can be worn either as a drop-leg, or a belt-mounted holster. If you want one holster that will take numerous models of pistol then this is the one. Chest rigs are minimalist and lightweight, don’t overly restrict movement and allow you to carry a good load of magazines. VIPER know all about chest rigs but I have to say

Loaded or Unloaded VIPER TACTICAL

Cordura, the Special Ops Chest Rig weighs in at just 670g, and with an SRP in the region of just thirty quid this is an absolute steal!

GREEN WITH ENVY!

that the new Special Ops version is one of the very best designs they’ve ever come up with!

With built-in quad-mag capacity and numerous utility/pistol mag pouches, the Special Ops Chest Rig is capable of bearing a substantial load in a minimal design. This low profile setup allows the rig to be worn beneath outer layers of clothing, like tactical jackets or smocks and also allows great manoeuvrability in confined environments. Once again it’s a case of “One Size Fits Most” as the rig is fully adjustable. The fitted pouch configuration features a four capacity mag sleeve, a GPS or small radio pouch, two pistol mag pouches (which can also be used to carry a multitool) and a Velcro ID Panel. All the straps are unpadded but wide enough to be comfortable even when under load and durable quick release buckles mean it’s easy to get on and off. Although it’s made of super-durable 600D

If you follow any of the tactical news pages online, then undoubtedly you will have seen some of the images of special police units recently, images which show them dripping with the very latest, hi-tech “operator gear”, in many cases in plain green. In my opinion these guys deserve the very best kit that money can buy as they are out there laying it on the line to protect or freedoms but I can see that it’s a “look” that many airsofters are going to want to replicate.

If you were to go down the “real deal” path then you’d certainly be looking into the high three figures, if not four, so realistically that is out of reach for most. I’d also say that as many of the manufacturers of the “real” work with relatively small production runs then we should not even try to buy it, even if our pockets are deep enough, as the guys whose lives depend on it need it far more than we do!

Luckily though, VIPER have this area sorted too and should you wish to emulate our fine police officers then you can.

Once again the Warrior Shirt and ELITE Softshell Jacket would be my choice for tops but in this case, I’d opt for the ELITE Trousers.

These too are made from 60% Polyester Ripstop/ 40% Cotton but the design is far more modern and technical.

The trousers have two front hand pockets with internal knee pad adjusters, two back pockets, two slanted expandable thigh pockets and two ankle utility pockets. They benefit from Neoprene lined ABS removable knee hard-pads with a Velcro knee retention strap and Velcro ankle fastener to keep things snugged in. These are far more “tacticool” than the BDU trousers but even with all the additions they still have a retail price of just £42.95. Headgear for this loadout is simply an OD Green FAST helmet replica (£79.95) and an OD Green Tactical Snood which you can pick up for around a fiver.

In terms of loadbearing gear for this loadout, I decided to go down the body armour path and the recently introduced Special Ops Plate Carrier at £75.00 was the obvious choice.

This is a great looking bit of kit featuring VIPERs Lazer

www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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Loaded or Unloaded VIPER TACTICAL

MOLLE webbing panels and some distinctive shock band shoulder strapping, which nicely mimics some of the “Gucci” big-name brands out there at the moment.

The carrier has three magazine compartments, a front chest admin compartment, and three robust webbing side panels.

There are front and rear armour compartments that will accept smaller replica plates.

It has Velcro sizing adjustment on the front, a bungee retention size adjuster on the rear and fully adjustable padded shoulder straps which makes it a “one size fits most” affair. Internally comfort is achieved with the use of padded Ventex and external durability comes courtesy of the 600D Cordura which is used throughout. To the plate carrier I secured three of the new Quick Release Magazine Cases which retail for £11.95 each and a pair of Medium Lazer Utility Pouches which come in at £13.95 each; this setup allows me to carry easily accessed magazines with some storage space as well. The final addition again here was the Special Ops Belt/Adjustable Holster combination, this time in OD green.

The only remaining choices to make were in relation to boots and gloves. I already had a pair of the excellent ELITE V Tactical Boots in hand, so chose just to use these for both loadouts. Again, I’ve been wearing these on and off for nigh on a year now and they just keep getting more and more comfortable, so my £95.00 spend on these has been a great investment.

To date VIPER have always offered some “okay” gloves in their range but with the new ELITE Glove models they’ve once gain upped the ante, with a design that is right on the money with all the detail you’d expect to see on a thoroughly modern tactical glove. At £24.95 these not only look great but fit superbly.

If you are setting up for a whole new year of airsoft and need to replace some gear, or add another loadout to your “gear locker” then in my mind you could do far worse than check out the new models in the VIPER range. These guys are going from strength to strength right now but keeping it 100% real in relation to value for money. With another “show season” about to kick off imminently I for one am excited to see what they do next and rest assured, you’ll read about it here in Airsoft Action when I do!

In the meantime to keep up to date with the new VIPER tactical products as they become available please visit www.viperkit.co.uk. You’ll also be able to find full stockist details there too. You can also follow VIPER TACTICAL via their Facebook and Instagram pages which are regularly updated.

Loadouts “Contractor” Loadout Warrior Combat Shirt Tan Tactical BDU Trouser Tan Tactical Elite Jacket Black Elite V Boots Tan Covert Balaclava Tan Elite Baseball Cap Tan Elite Gloves Coyote Special Ops Chest Rig Tan Special Ops Belt Black Adjustable Holster Tan “Responder” Loadout Warrior Combat Shirt OD Green Tactical Elite Jacket OD Green Tactical Elite Trouser OD Green Elite V Boots Tan Tactical Snood OD Green Elite Gloves OD Green FAST Helmet OD Green Special Ops Plate Carrier OD Green Quick Release Magazine Cases OD Green Medium Lazer Utility Pouches OD Green Special Ops Belt OD Green Adjustable Holster OD Green Please note that all clothing and equipment is available in Tan, OD Green, Black, and V-Cam.

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Unit C1, Northway Trading Estate, Northway Lane, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, Unit C1, Northway Trading Estate, Northway Lane, GL20 8JH. United Kingdom.

Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, GL20 8JH. United Kingdom.

Tel +44 (0)1684 273070 Fax +44 (0)1684 273052 Tel +44 (0)1684 273070 Email rwuk.retail@redwolfairsoft.com Fax +44 (0)1684 273052 Email rwuk.retail@redwolfairsoft.com

u k . r e d w o l f a i r s o f t . c o m uwww.facebook.com/redwolfuk.retail k . r e d w o l f a www.youtube.com/user/redwolfairsoft i r s o f t . c o m www.facebook.com/redwolfuk.retail

www.youtube.com/user/redwolfairsoft

THERE’S GOLD IN THEM THERE HILLS!!

RATTY MAKES A WELCOME RETURN TO AIRSOFT ACTION WITH PART ONE OF A REAL-LIFE GOLD-HUNTING STORY, THAT COULD BE STRAIGHT OFF THE PAGES OF MANY A WARTIME NOVEL IF YOU ARE OF A CERTAIN AGE, enjoy military history and grew up on the likes of the Indiana Jones films, Bond and classic war movies, then perhaps, maybe, recently you too will have been gripped by a story that started late August 2015 and is still running today with twists and turns that even Hollywood would struggle to make believable…

On around the 20th August, news broke that two gentlemen, Piotr Koper (a Polish builder) and Andreas Richter (a German genealogist) announced that they had found (what they believe to be) a missing German armoured train, packed with gold and buried in secret tunnels near the town Walbrzych.

Even whilst writing this article this story is changing daily… Is it all a big Hoax or have these two guys really discovered a train packed full of treasure, shrouded in myth, that has been missing for some 70 years?

This got me thinking. We all know the Nazis plundered their way across Europe, helping themselves to treasuries, fine art, The gold train tunnel entrance religious artefacts and so on. Since the end of World War II, treasure hunters have Thanks Oddball!) been looking for it, hoping to make their name (and fortune) In the Bond classic “Goldfinger” our national hero entices discovering some of the long lost loot.

Auric Goldfinger on the golf course with a bar of Nazi gold, There have been films and many books, either about or allegedly recovered from Lake Toplitz. As it was explained to which feature stolen Nazi loot.

Bond “you will need to sign for it of course, it’s worth £5,000” One of my personal favourites, “Kelly’s Heroes”, although which, funnily enough, was about the same price his new totally fictitious, is about a rag-tag, motley crew of G.I.s who Aston Martin DB5 would have cost back then! go after a hoard of Nazi gold being held in a Bank behind Two of the Indiana Jones’ films are based around Hitler’s German lines (it was also the film that made me want to join fixation with the Occult and the acquisition of Religious the army and become a tankie, but that’s another story… artefacts from around German-occupied territories. “Raiders of the Lost Ark” was them trying to recover the “Ark of the Covenant” and use its mythical powers, whilst “The Last Crusade” featured the Nazi’s hunting for the “Cup of Christ” and drinking from the fountain of youth to give them eternal life.

More recently, “The Monuments Men” is the story of how the Allies set up of team of art experts and museum curators to search for, uncover and repatriate stolen works of art.

Even more up to date, Helen Mirren in the film “Woman in Gold” plays the part of Maria Altman, a Jewish refugee who takes the Austrian Government to court to retrieve artwork that belongs to her family, stolen from them by the Nazis.

So with all these films using stolen Nazi loot as the plot or featuring heavily, how did the Nazis do it? How much did they actually take? What happened to it all? How much has been retrieved and how much is still actually missing?

Whilst researching this article, I have been totally gobsmacked by what I found out. There is so much more I

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Big Boyz Toyz THE GOLD TRAIN

could write on this subject but I have tried to condense it down but still give you an idea of the scale of this story.

HITLER, NAZIS, GOLD, SILVER, ART AND MORE…

Many of you may not be aware that Adolf Hitler was an unsuccessful artist and had been denied admission into the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts. However, he believed that he was a connoisseur of the arts, yet hated all what he deemed “modern” art, calling it degenerate. To Hitler, fine art was classic landscapes, portraits and such. With his plans for the new Germany when he became Chancellor in 1933, he needed to be able to fund machinery and equipment for the manufacture and re-equipping of the armed forces.

He set up military units known as the “Kunstschutz”, who’s primary role was the plundering and acquisition of gold, silver, currency, cultural and religious treasures, as well as art from Austria which Germany had annexed, occupied Czechoslovakia and the Nazi governed Danzig region. It is believed that by doing this, it boosted Germany’s official Gold Reserves by US $71m between 1937 -1939.

This process was then carried out on a much larger scale as Germany swept across Western Europe, Africa and those areas of Eastern Europe where Germany had overrun. It is estimated that Germany expropriated some $550m in gold from foreign governments. This includes $223m from Belgium and $193m from the Netherlands. These figures do NOT include gold and other precious metals looted from private citizens or companies.

Even now, the total value of all the assets plundered by Nazi Germany remains unclear. Let’s face it, it’s far more than a Euro lottery win or by texting PRIZE to Good Morning Britain!!

However, another supply of gold would come from a much darker source. Jews and others deemed “undesirable” by the Reich already had their houses, personal property, art, cash, shares and bonds seized before they were transported to either work or be enslaved in concentration camps. Wedding rings, spectacles, wrist and pocket watches, cigarette cases, jewellery and even gold teeth were taken off the new arrivals as they were processed at these camps. At the camps, the likes of Oskar Groening who was based at Auschwitz (and recently sentenced to 4 years in jail for being an accessory to mass murder of 300,000 Jews) catalogued everything that was confiscated. From there, it was collected and sent to the Reichsbank in Berlin. False accounts under the name of “Max Heliger” were used to book everything in and the gold was then melted down for bullion.

It is well-documented that whilst the Nazis were in power, they plundered cultural and personal property from every territory they occupied. By the end of the war, the Third Reich had amassed hundreds of thousands of cultural objects.

This was carried out in a very Germanic, systematic way, with organisations specifically created to not only plunder but also determine which of the acquired items were most valuable to the Nazi regime. Hitler wanted many of the items for his “Fuhrer Museum”, which never actually got built.

Art collections from high profile Jewish families such as the Rothschilds (whose home at Waddesdon Manor is two minutes away from me), the Rosenbergs, the Wildsteins and the Schloss family were major targets of confiscation, due to their significant value.

An organisation called the “Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenbeg fur die Besetezten Gabiete” (The Reichsleiter Rosenberg Institute for the Occupied Territories), or ERR, was set up in 1940 with the original purpose of collecting Jewish and Freemasonic books and documents for either further “study” back in Germany, or destruction. This soon moved on

to seizing art collections and other artefacts.

Another organisation called the “Sonderauftrag Linz” was set up purely in sorting through and amassing art of all kinds and cultural artefacts just for the aforementioned Fuhrer Museum. The “Sonderkommando Kueusberg” were linked to the Nazi minister of Foreign affairs, Joachim von Ribbentrop and whilst operating in France earned the nickname “Ribbentrop Battalion”. They were responsible for raiding institutional and private libraries to remove any material of “interest” to the Germans.

Herman Goring, amongst other high ranking officers, also considered himself an art connoisseur and he too was acquiring artworks and other items for his own private collection. This eventually led to Hitler decreeing that only he had the authority to designate artwork to others, fearing that some of the best had already been pilfered by his own Chiefs of Staff!!

Many of the artworks were stored in several key locations, including the Musee Jeu de Paume in Paris, as well as the Nazi headquarters in Munich.

However, after D-Day with Allies starting to advance across Europe and bombing raids on German cities, these historic works of art were moved and began to be “stored” in salt mines and caves to protect them from bombing, as well as being recovered. These mines and cave complexes offered the right temperature and humidity conditions ideal for storing art but also were ideal for stashing away copious amounts of gold and cultural artefacts.

With the Allied and Russian advance showing no sign of slowing up, panic-stricken Nazis started to plan not only their own of avoiding capture but also how to get out their personal stashes of loot. Then there were all the items amassed by the party itself. There was so much that it was to become a strategic nightmare for those trying to think of life beyond the now ill-fated Third Reich. This is where German organisation, cataloguing and modern mythology merge. Stories of hidden loot (to be collected at some point after the war had finished), cash and gold deposited in various Bank accounts around the world, U-Boats packed full of gold and precious works of art making a dash to “Nazi friendly” countries, aircraft trying to do much the same thing and yes indeed, trains too! So, what on earth happened to it all??

POST WAR RECOVERY: THE EARLY YEARS.

In the last couple of years of World War II, the Allies set up the “Monument, Fine Arts and Archives (MFAA) Section”, or “Monuments Men” as it was nicknamed. Made up of approximately 345 people who volunteered to work in this newly formed organization, most had expertise as museum directors, curators, art historians, artists, architects, and educators. Together they worked to protect monuments and other cultural treasures from the destruction of the war.

In the last year of the war they tracked, located and (in the years that followed) returned more than 5,000,000 artistic and cultural items stolen by Hitler and the Nazis. However, in the years of 1944-1945, one of their greatest challenges was to stop Allied servicemen from plundering already stolen art works to send home to friends and family. In total, they found artworks stored in over 1,050 repositories in Germany and Austria. The Monuments Men remained in Europe for nearly 6 years following the end of the war to oversee the complicated restitution of stolen works of art. www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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MERKERS MINE

On 4th April 1945, the American 90th Infantry Division, part of the US 3rd Army took Merkers, a town in the Thuringia district of Germany. On the morning of the 6th, two US Military Policemen, were escorting two displaced French women back to the town who, as they passed the entrance to the Kaiseroda Salt mine, started telling the policemen about all the gold that the Nazi’s had stored there. So much gold, it had taken the locals and forced labourers over 72 hours to

Not surprisingly, this convoy had an armed escort, consisting of five rifle platoons, two machine gun platoons, ten multiple mount anti-aircraft vehicles, as well as fighter air cover! Even with all this treasure now on its way to Frankfurt, parts of the mine were still full of 400 tons of books, patient records and other paperwork. Some of the documents recovered at Merkers actually helped to uncover over a dozen other treasure hoards, also on US Occupied territory, as well as hundreds more gold and silver bars, some platinum and over $250,000 in gold dollar coins.

LAKE TOPLITZ

In a dense forest, high up in the Austrian Alps is Lake Toplitz.

This lake has become shrouded in myth and mystery for many a year now.

Due to its location and its depth, fish can only live in the top 18m. Below 20m the water turns salty and contains no oxygen, which is great for preserving objects in its depths. From 19431944, Lake Toplitz was a German Naval testing station, with unload and put into storage. everything from torpedoes and gyro scopes for the V2 rocket This news was passed up the chain of command and by the being tested there. It is a very remote place, surrounded by cliffs next morning, all five entrances to the mine were under strict and forests of the Salzkammergut Lake District, within the Totes guard.

Mountains, with just 1 small road and a footpath for access.

After starting up the mine’s boilers to generate electricity, Lt. It is documented that £100million+ of counterfeit sterling Col Russel and a team of division officers went down the mine. notes were dumped into the lake, possibly along with the Once down in the mine’s depths, near the entrance to the main printing machines, to hide any evidence of “Operation passageway, they found 550 bags, between them containing Bernhard”, which never fully went into operation. Wads of 500,000,000 paper Reichsmarks! counterfeit £5 notes have turned up over the years but what There was a steel vault door at the entrance to the main else lies on its murky bottom? tunnel but Russel knew that were over 30 miles of tunnels and There are many, many stories about Nazis in the final weeks galleries. On the Sunday morning, engineers blew a hole in before war ended, dumping tons and tons of gold into the lake. There are other rumours “IT IS ESTIMATED THAT GERMANY EXPROPRIATED SOME $550M IN GOLD that stuff dumped into the lake FROM FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS. THIS INCLUDES $223M FROM BELGIUM AND included documents about $193M FROM THE NETHERLANDS. THESE FIGURES DO NOT INCLUDE GOLD AND assets seized from Jews and names of families exterminated OTHER PRECIOUS METALS LOOTED FROM PRIVATE CITIZENS OR COMPANIES.” at concentration camps, amongst much more Top Secret paperwork. Stories from locals about German soldiers arriving the vault. What they found on the other side was astonishing! on horse and carts, fully laden with numbered wooden boxes A room 150ft long and 75ft wide. The floor was covered with that were then taken out to the lake and thrown overboard, rows of bags, over 7,000 of them, all individually numbered. all add to authenticating that something “big” went on at the Each bag contained gold bars or gold coins. Down one wall lake. were bales of paper money. At the back were valises, piled There have been many dives in the lake looking to recover high, full of gold and silver tooth fillings, wedding rings, watch the loot. As the lake is surrounded by old forests, diving cases, spectacle frames as well as pearls and precious stones. is hazardous, due to old fallen trees creating a network of The gold weighed in at nearly 250 tons! The paper money obstacles deep down. Many treasure hunting divers have died was a mix of Reichsmarks, as well as all occupied territory’s over the years, to the point that Austrian Authorities, back in denominations; the largest amount was 2.7 billion Reichsmarks, the 60s, would no longer allow private individuals to dive the followed by 98 million French Francs. In other parts of the lake. All this just adds to the mystery of Lake Toplitz… Did they mine 400 tons of artwork were also recovered. This hoard was die from getting themselves caught up on a hazard or running loaded onto thirty, ten tonne trucks and then, in convoy, moved out of air, or did they actually find stuff and dark forces are at to Frankfurt. work? Do the Austrian authorities know exactly what there is down there and where it is? There is an account from a guy who dived the lake back in 1959 that there was a plane down there too!

In 2000, CBS paid (at a cost of £7 million) for a team from Oceaneering Technologies to comb the mile long, 338 foot deep lake from end to end to look for “Nazi Treasures”.

The search, whilst discovering some “significant man-made objects”, ended with as many mysteries as it had started with.

The silt at the bottom would whoosh up like a storm, stopping the camera on the mini submersible from seeing anything.

Fallen trees were stacked up to the height of 60ft in places, or the weather above the surface meant that the dives were hampered. Hailstorms, thunder amongst other foul weather systems slowed down proceedings. Indeed, after a lightning strike, they could no longer be sure that the dive pattern was 100%. Perhaps even Mother Nature doesn’t want the lake to give up its secrets!!

In Part Two I’ll be returning underwater again, as I delve into the dark waters with German U-Boats and gold… pots of gold!

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BRAVO 46 “THE 46” MET THROUGH PLAYING at West Midlands Airsoft and were recruited by Micheal Arnett for showing all of the qualities we think make the best airsofters: Courage; Skill; Fair Play; Honesty and Dedication. The “Wolf” symbol was chosen to portray the skill and dedication of Bravo-46 members and to represent our use of planning, tactics and cunning in the field.

The Latin “Ab Umbris (From the shadows)” was adopted.

Our team members come from all walks of life: Teachers, Soldiers (ex and currently serving), logistics experts, store managers, engineers, special constables... all bought together by the goal to create a fun and friendly team that can promote the best elements of a sport we all love.

Bravo-46 aim to represent all that is good about airsoft.

We pride ourselves on being ambassadors for the sport, often acting as marshals and player marshals and helping out new players.

In light of this, we are proud to be sponsored by Pilgrim Tactical Equipment, military equipment designed by currently serving UK forces personnel. We are also very proud to support the Pilgrim Bandits, a charity established by a small group of Special Forces veterans in 2007 with the sole aim of using their unique training and experience to help and inspire wounded soldiers to live life to the full.

As of November 2015 we are also very pleased to announce that Bravo 46 will be officially sponsored by Cloud 9 Combat and we’ll be using their products exclusively at all games and will be more than happy talk pyro’s with anyone who is interested!

It’s not all matches and games though, our members are scattered across a wide area, so getting together can be pretty difficult sometimes. We have worn our keyboards out on group chats! Currently, we’re in the process of arranging a Christmas/ End-of-Year event for team memebrs only, with a few little prizes for some of the stand-out players!

TEAM KIT

We are currently in the process of standardising our team kit but, at the moment, we have two kits.

Woodland/Semi Urban Kit: MTP top and trousers with plate carriers in MTP, Olive or Tan. Talkabout radios with Sordin/Bowman style headsets. Cloud9

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BASED IN THE WEST MIDLANDS, BRAVO 46 ARE AN AIRSOFT TEAM WITH AMBITIONS TO BECOME ONE OF THE BEST TEAMS IN THE UK!

Smokes, flashbang and BB grenades are issued to each member before games start.

CQB/Urban Kit: A combination of solid black, MTP black and black dyed DPM is currently being trialled by members. Black, green or tan assault vests and the same radio setup. Cloud9 flashbang and BB grenades issued when site legal.

All team members are expected to have 1 primary and 1 secondary weapon, although Designated Marksmen may choose to carry an extra weapon for close engagement.

TEAM MEMBERS

All team members come from the West Midlands area, predominantly Birmingham and Coventry postcodes and are: Callsign: BR-01 Name: Michael “Arnie” Arnett Primary: VFC M4 Carbine Secondary: WE Glock-19 The man with the plan, Arnie is the elected team leader and has recruited all of the other players to the team. A marshal at West Midlands Airsoft, Arnie hand-picks the best players and invites them to join the ranks. On the field he can often be seen leading from the front – just don’t give him a map to read!

Callsign: BR-02 Name: Jack “The Ripper” Taggart Primary: Custom Magpul M4 Secondary: WE Nighthawk 1911 Jack the Ripper is the team’s resident gear junkie! The first man Arnie spoke to about forming the team, Jack has been influential in setting up the team from its earliest days. A bit of an “Expendable”, Ripper never shies away from a firefight and always has the right gun for the job… or guns!

Callsign: BR-03 Name: Ryan “Wraith” Goodswen Primary: Krytac M4 Secondary: WE Glock-17 Ryan was a fresh-faced n00b to the sport when he was

Team Profile BRAVO 46

approached to join by Arnie, having spotted the potential for a cracking airsofter. He can often be found fulfilling the scout role, getting up close and personal and reporting back to Bravo Command.

Callsign: BR-04 Name: Ben “Banksy” Banks Primary: Marui P90 Secondary: ASG Glock-19 Banksy is the team’s Quartermaster, priding himself on a “2 of everything” rule. Spare laces? Banksy. Need a mag? Banksy.

Hydration tablet? Banksy. Good time… Yeah, well best leave that…

One of the high-cycle heroes with Viking, Ben also teams up with Vixen as events co-ordinator, keeping registers and calendar info and keeping an eye out for events we can join.

Callsign: BR-05 Name: Jason “Hannibal” Smith Primary: G&G Toptech MP5 SD5 Secondary: WE Gforce G19 custom Taking his nickname from the A-Team’s strategist, Hannibal keeps an eye on the battle and helps with the strategic side of play. Don’t let that fool you into thinking he’s an armchair general though! Close quarters and speed skirmishes are where his combat skills show!

Jason also handles PR for the team and writes web content.

Callsign: BR-06 Name: Tony “Grandad” Murdock Primary: Magpul M4 Secondary: Stark Arms Glock17 The oldest, but not necessarily the wisest 46 member, Tony is one of 46’s ex-servicemen. As such, he lends a hand with training and drills and is always on hand for some advice and help when we need it to get our game on point.

Tony has one of the most versatile skillsets and armouries of the team and can be found often in a support role, either from a distance with his snipers, or laying down covering fire and surveying the field. He’s no wallflower though. Granddad has been deep in some of the most impressive firefights the team has seen.

Callsign: BR-07 Name: Luke “Recker” Jones Primary: G&G CM R8L Secondary: WE 1911 Studying for a qualification in fitness and coaching, Recker, along with Jumper is one of the team’s resident althletes. An avid gamer (and one time top 1% of the worlds “Battlefield” players), Recker brings his shoot-em-up knowledge to the team, making snap decisions and coming up with creative solutions to some of the most challenging moments.

Callsign: BR-08 Name: Tom “Tank” Smith Primary: G&G GR4 G26 Secondary: WE Toucan Little Bird.

Another of the team’s techs, especially with the electrics, Tank is aptly named! He might be the quietest member off the field, but you’ll know it when he has you down his scope!

Callsign: BR-09 Name: Tori “Vixen” Trafford Primary: Ares Honey Badger Secondary: KJW Works 5 Perhaps one of the most aggressive and impressive players on the team, you never have to look hard for Vixen, just look for all of the opposing team with their hands in the air! She and “The Badger” are a formidable partnership!

When she’s not proving that “playing like a girl” should be

a compliment, she’s working with Banksy on the calendar and schedule for the team.

Callsign: BR-10 Name: Grant “Viking” Ashby Primary: AUG high cycle Secondary: WE Dragon 7 We’re not saying he’s OCD, but Viking has to have the cleanest guns in the West Midlands! Another of the more technically minded members, Viking makes up the second of Bravo 46’s High Cycle Heroes. Honestly, you don’t want to be on the receiving end of his AUG on full auto!

Coming to the sport from air-rifle shooting and hunting, he’s pretty good at stalking his prey. Haven’t seen him miss yet either...

Callsign: BR-11 Name: Matt “Jumper” Woolley Primary: Tippmann M4 Secondary: WE 1911 Engineer Matt is the final techie on the team, the Woolley Jumper is also the second of the team’s fitness and training experts, being a competitive gymnast coach!

Like Wraith, Woolley can often be found blazing a trial at the front of the field. He’s always on hand to help the guys out with fixing the guns, or themselves, don’t expect him to share his Chinese take-out though!

A media graduate, Woolley handles pictures and video for the team, helping with promotional material and maintaining the upcoming YouTube channel.

Callsign: BR-12 Name: George “Smudge” Smith Primary: G&G CM16 Secondary: Glock 18 Currently serving with the Grenadier Guards, George brings the reality check for the rest of the team! Since filling out our ranks as the latest member, Smudge has revolutionised our training, tactics and organisation by forming our new fire teams and really helping to raise our game. Airsofting with the 46 in between tours and training, Smudge’s presence always gives the team a lift!

FAVOURITE SITES:

We currently play at (the soon to be expanding) West Midlands Airsoft, but are spreading our operations to a variety of sites across the UK. West Mid’s has proven to be the perfect ground for introducing us to the sport, with a real mixture of scenarios and environments.

The team also help out as marshals and provide advice and help to new players at the site. After some success in 2015, we’re hoping to attend some more weekend MilSim events.

We’re looking to expand our games and are happy to try and accommodate any invitations from other teams and, if they’re reading this, local team “The Reapers” owe us a match...

Further links: You can find all of our info, write-ups of previous games and our calendar at www.bravo46.com. There is also a contact form here for game invitations or enquiries and links to our local sites and sponsors.

Like and follow us at www.facebook.com/bravo46uk Check out or videos at: www.youtube.com/channel/ UChDO2wNPwyTm5yc4PUaMWXg

www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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EAGER FOR MORE TRAINING WITH A SQUADRON’S BOB PODESTA, PAUL YELLAND SWITCHES FROM PISTOL TO RIFLE FOR HIS NEXT COURSE

A SQUADRON PRIMARY WEAPON COURSE AFTER COMPLETING THE CTT1 Pistol course, I couldn’t wait to attend the next A Squadron event - the CTT2 Primary Weapon course, as this is the next phase in A Squadron’s Counterterrorist Team Training program.

Now, if anyone reading this article is thinking that the training is nothing like the real thing then you would be wrong.

These courses are the closest thing that any civilian is going to get to participating in the real life training. The drills are the same and the training sessions are identical to what is taught to the real Counter-terrorist Teams. The only difference is that the weapons used on the A Squadron courses are Airsoft.

Regardless of this, the same respect and safety considerations are given just as if the guns were the real thing.

I was now becoming familiar with the setup of an A Squadron course so when I arrived at the training venue in Hereford on a very wet Saturday morning in October, I knew the site lay out and admin procedure. I made my way towards the sound of voices which were all coming from one

“AS WE PROGRESSED FURTHER INTO THE LIVE FIRING, THE CHAP ON THE TARGET TO MY LEFT WAS SO ACCURATE THAT HE WAS SLOWLY DEMOLISHING THE CENTRE OF THE FIGURE 11 TARGET AND THE PLYWOOD THAT IT WAS MOUNTED ON.” of the buildings and as I walked inside, I was greeted with some familiar faces of people which I had met on previous A Squadron courses. We all made our way to the building which was going to house the training and once inside, settled down to listen to the course introduction, which was presented by Bob and Faith. It was explained about the role of the CounterTerrorist team and progressive training which A Squadron aims to provide on the subject. Most of the group who were attending the CTT2 course had already completed the CTT1 86

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– Pistol course so we had a good founding knowledge on the subject, which I personally found very useful.

Bob introduced the group to the two most common makes of primary weapons which are in use by many of the world’s Counter-terrorist teams, including the UK’s Special Air Service.

These are the Heckler and Koch MP5 and the C8 (British Army L119). Time was taken to learn how these weapon systems functioned and the maintenance required – including how to strip them.

It was part of the course requirement for each individual to have a pistol and holster. This is because the pistol is the first weapon to be taught during the Regiment’s Counter-terrorist Team training and the pistol acts as a back up to the primary weapon should you have a stoppage during an operation.

The first practical session was a re-familiarisation on the pistol drills which had been taught to us previously. I was surprised with the amount which I could actually remember from the CTT1 pistol course and immediately put it down to Bob’s great training. In fact, it wasn’t only me, I noticed that the other guys were pretty slick with their pistol drills as well!

With the pistol now well practiced, it was time for some dry training with our primary weapons. Most people had brought their own weapons on this course, however, there are hire guns available from A Squadron if required. There was a mixture of M4/M16 type weapons and MP5s being used amongst the group and all primary weapons had to be used with a rifle sling. Safety drills are taught as the upmost priority on A Squadron courses, so we were all taught the stoppage drills required to be carried out as if the weapons were real. The drills were repeated over and over again, with Bob keeping us all on our toes by calling out different orders and asking us random questions on parts of the course covered so far. Bob then took the primary weapon stoppage drills one step further and introduced the action of drawing the pistol when your main weapon suddenly stops firing. The reason why the primary weapons need to have a sling attached is partly for this reason – so that you can swing a malfunctioning main weapon to your

A Squadron COUNTER-TERRORIST TEAM TRAINING

side and have your hands free to draw the pistol. I did struggle with this stoppage drill as my weapon was secured to a bungee cord which over-stretched when I swung my MP5 around to my side, causing it to slip off from my shoulder. The other problem that I encountered with the slung MP5 was that it got in the way of my pistol being drawn from the hip holster as part of the stoppage drills. In hindsight, I would have probably been better off by wearing a leg holster.

The training session was becoming fast paced and as soon as we got the hang of the basic stoppage drills we were then introduced to the art of footwork. Now, at first this required quite a lot of co-ordination. Bob would shout out directional orders and target locations which required an immediate response from the students. The intensity of the dry training at this stage of the course was having a positive outcome as the group were starting to react well to the commands and after some more coaching on techniques, we were all ready for the next phase.

There is no point learning all of these techniques if you can’t shoot and hit what you are aiming at. This was the part of the course where Bob introduced us all to the method of instinctive shooting which is taught within the Regiment.

After we had all loaded up our weapons, each of the students were allocated a Figure 11 target and took up positions along the firing line of the training range. To start off with, my round placements were slightly off centre as I found myself struggling to grasp the instinctive shooting method.

As I checked my target, I was having a peep over at the other guy’s targets to see how well they had all been shooting and I have to say that there were some good shots amongst us. In fact, as we progressed further into the live firing, the chap on the target to my left was so accurate that he was slowly demolishing the centre of the Figure 11 target and the plywood that it was mounted on. As the live firing progressed, Bob started to introduce more of the techniques which we had all been practicing during the dry training session. Confidence and ability in operating the primary weapons were improving within the group, so after lunch it was time for Bob to notch the training up another gear…

So far on this training course I had learned that fluid and confident movement without hesitation is the key to staying alive and this was reinforced by a very impressive demonstration given by Bob, who performed some great explosive movements. We were all given the chance to practice these different moves which would allow us to get used to rapidly changing into different firing positions. During this phase, I learned that failure to listen to Bob’s instructions and getting the drills wrong can lead to injury, as I nursed a wound to my forehead! This injury was a painful reminder that what was being taught to the group were Special Forces skills which are used in real violent situations.

As the course drew to a close, I noticed that everybody was hosting huge smiles of satisfaction. All of the course students appeared to be more confident and I know for a fact that the knowledge and training experiences which we had all received from Bob and Faith were going to be carried by each and every one of us for a very long time.

The course costs £110.00 and if you have attended a previous A Squadron course you will qualify for a £10.00 discount. To recertify on any of their courses will cost just £50.00.

A Squadron can be contacted via their website: http:// www.a-sqn.com, by email: trainingwing@a-sqn.com, or by mobile phone: 07762 507 146.

www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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METHOD OF ENTRY PART TWO

IN THE SECOND PART OF THIS SERIES, CALIBRE SHOOTING’S ANDY NIGHTINGALE CONTINUES HIS ADVICE ON HOW BEST TO ENTER A ROOM OR BUILDING – AND STAY ALIVE!

THERE ARE MANY DIFFERENT WAYS to enter a building or room but to do it successful takes time, practice and discipline on everyone’s part.

Room entry, or as it is better known, High Risk Entry is an art in its self. It’s not something that you can do with minimum of risk. You may get lucky some of the time but your luck will soon run out and you and your team could find yourselves heading off for a brew quicker than you anticipated. To be successful at High Risk Entries you and your team must practice several different methods.

In last month’s issue we looked at the “Wall Flood” and “Penetration Flood” methods used in CQB environments.

In this article we will look at the “On Line Flood”, “Areas of Responsibility” and working with Shields.

door opens: If the door opens inwards plan to move away from the hinges and if the door opens outwards, plan to move towards the hinge side. Upon entering, the size of the room, enemy situation and furniture and any other obstacles that can hider or channel movement become factors that influence the first operator into the room’s direction of movement. The point of this technique is to get the first operator into the room as fast as possible to allow them to clear the “fatal funnel” quickly and to allow the rest of the team to make a smoother entry, rather than keep them stacked up in the doorway in the fatal funnel.

AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY

An important aspect of room clearing is the use of Areas of Responsibility, or AORs. By dividing a room into pie-like sections, the room can be cleared faster than when all the operators try to cover all areas at the same time. Some teams use the technique of predesignating which way each operator will move after entering the room. For example, the first person takes a left, the second takes a right, or vice versa and so on.

When using the doorway as the point of entry, the path of least resistance is determined initially based on the way the

“AS THE TEAM MOVES FORWARDS EACH OPERATOR MUST CHECK FOR ANY THREATS BY SEARCHING TO THE FRONT AT EYE LEVEL FIRST, THEN GROUND LEVEL THEN ABOVE HEAD LEVEL, SWEEPING THE MUZZLE IN A FIGURE OF 8 MOTION.” 88

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skills METHOD OF ENTRY

Another method is to allow the first operator to pick their direction of travel based on an immediate threat. The second in the room then takes the opposite side of the room but this method can only be done once the assault has been initiated.

The only time a team member will shoot into another operator’s area of responsibility is when that operator has cleared their side of the AOR and is needed to support another operator. An operator may also cross-shoot in another AOR when a team member’s primary weapon has malfunctioned in the face of imminent danger.

ONLINE FLOOD

This method of entry is used in large areas such as halls, disused factories, aircraft hangers and atriums where there are no barricades and obstacles in the middle of the area.

The method of approach remains the same as it does for other methods of entry, with the team stacking up at the entry point. The amount of operators used depends on the size of the area to be covered and the amount of operators available.

The team enters the room in sequence. Numbers 1 and 2 enter and take the hard corners of the area and the rest of the team follow alternately, weapons trained into the centre of the area.

When the entire team is in a “wall flood” position the team leader will call “ON LINE” as a command to advance forwards to clear the area.

As the team moves forwards each operator must keep in line with the rest of the team so as not to wander in front of the guns and arcs of fire. This calls for a high standard of selfdiscipline on the individual operator’s part. As the team moves forwards each operator must check for any threats by searching to the front at eye level first, then ground level then above head level, sweeping the muzzle in a figure of 8 motion.

Pros Areas of responsibility are clearly defined.

The team has good communications.

The team cannot be outflanked.

The best way to use a shield in rooms is to use a 3-Operator formation. The first operator into the room will be carrying the shield with a handgun to protect the second and third operator into the room. The shield will go straight into the room just far enough to allow the second and third into the room from behind, then clear everything to the front. The second and third will then take the hard corners and move into the room.

Pros Defined areas of responsibility.

The direction into the room is determined before entry.

Defined fields of fire.

The first operator into the room has better protection.

Cons This is not as quick as some other methods.

The shield operator has to use a handgun one-handed.

As with all the techniques I write about, the best way to become good at them is to practice, practice, practice – and then practice some more. Believe me, that is what happens in the real world and out there it is not just a matter of putting your hand in the air and wandering back to the Safe Zone.

Get together with your team mates and/or friends and start by walking through the drills slowly, until you are confident that you understand them fully and have worked out exactly who does what. Don’t forget your safety drills though and always treat your airsoft weapons as though they were the real thing.

Be aware of muzzle-sweeps and do your initial practices with weapons clear and mags out, that way you can stop and go over what you have just done without the worry of a negligent discharge ruining someone’s day!

CALIBRE Shooting runs tactical training programs for The Airsoft Community. If you would like to train with CALIBRE Shooting or would like more information on their training programs contact them on Calibreshooting@gmail.com or phone 07788 501184.

Cons This is a very slow technique to execute.

There is no overlapping fire into the corners.

SHIELDS

The use of the ballistic shield means that the threat level is much higher than usual and warrants the use of extra ballistic protection, other than that used by the individual operator in the form of personal body armour.

Some teams equip the first operator (point man) with a ballistic shield to gain this additional protection against a surprise shot when carrying out the initial entry into a building, room or up stairways. It takes a lot of practice to use the small viewing port effectively and even more practice to shoot effectively with the shield. A point to note here is that it is impossible to fire a rifle whilst carrying the shield. www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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MEDDIICC!!

IN OUR CONTINUING SERIES OF KEY TEAM ROLES IN AIRSOFT, THIS MONTH GADGE HARVEY LOOKS AT THE ROLE OF THE TEAM OR COMBAT MEDIC

THE ARCHETYPE OF THE COMBAT MEDIC is a particularly strong one in popular culture and this iconic role also fits well into the skirmish game and, in particular, the MilSim arena.

Countless classic war movies and books feature a medic as one of the easily identifiable main characters, it might just be the obvious “Red Cross” markings that single them out as an individual but it’s more likely their vial role in keeping the team together.

In airsoft, all but the most simple open day games tend to feature some form of “Medic Rule”. At its most basic any player can lay a hand on a “hit” player and “heal” them by counting to five or ten (or whatever time limit the site sets), while making sure neither of them are shot during the process but for themed games, weekenders and MilSims something more complex is often required.

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Many games allow each player to carry a “bandage” (usually just a strip of white bed sheet that can be tied around a comrades hit location to “heal” them) but many more only allow a designated “Medic” character to apply them. Variations of the above exist in events such as WWII and ‘Nam skirmishes where any character can apply a “bandage” but only a Medic can remove them and restore a player to full health.

As I said, the role of combat medic is iconic and a feature of modern warfare that perhaps first came into prominence in the trenches of WWI, with the assignment of “stretcher bearers” to combat units, to carry wounded soldiers to Field Aid Post where a Doctor or Surgeon could treat them. Previous to this a regiment’s marching band would normally be utilised to recover the wounded from the field. While WWI stretcher bearers were brave and compassionate men, few had any medical training

Team Formation THE COMBAT MEDIC

and many men would die en-route to the regimental aid post, needless casualties that could have been saved with some basic first aid training and simple triage equipment.

By WWII trained stretcher bearers, medics and corpsmen began to feature in military units and the survival rate of soldiers shot up, as these men were able to carry out basic stabilising procedures to casualties, treat shock and administer morphine to deaden pain and sulphamide powder to reduce lethal infections from a dirty battlefield. Fast forward to the modern age and todays’ combat medic is capable of tremendous feats of medical prowess and possesses the equipment, medicine and know-how to treat all but the most serious of wounds, greatly increasing a casualty’s chance of survival. It’s fair to say that the experiences of each generation’s battlefield medics pioneer many techniques used in civilian life for decades to follow; plastic surgery, artificial limbs and even flesh-binding superglues all have their roots in battlefield casualty care.

While in the real world, medical personnel are forbidden from bearing arms under the Geneva Convention (a pistol can be carried for self-defence) and forfeit their right to the protection from fire of their Red Cross symbol if they do carry a weapon, in airsoft this is rarely the case. Few airsoft site rules forbid medics from shooting, or prevent players from targeting medics so the airsoft team medic must be an all-rounder.

If you are playing at an event that has dedicated medic rules, it’s worth carefully considering who your team medic should be. Often the role of medic is “given out” to reluctant recipients at big events, if no one is previously assigned and it’s a thankless and incredibly demanding role. A player medic must be constantly where the firefight is strongest to keep your team in the game and will frequently be required to run around like the proverbial “blue-assed fly”. For this reason alone it’s a good idea to select a player who is physically fit and happy to be darting from building to building and diving into trenches to aid a comrade. While, as said, most games won’t prohibit you as a medic from taking part in the firefight, if you’re doing your job properly (or more accurately if the enemy are doing their job properly and hitting your side with accuracy), you probably won’t get much time to shoulder your weapon. You may actually find a “long” rifle-type weapon is more of a hindrance than a help if you’re for example playing at an urban site and entering building through windows or if you have to crawl under low cover a lot. If this is the case, equipping yourself with a “self-defence” pistol or SMG is probably a wiser option.

From personal experience I’ve always found that if I’ve ever needed to get somewhere fast on the field (grab a flag, scout out an area, leg it to a bunker to post a grenade in etc.), I’ve

always got there quick and usually survived to get back, when I’ve left my weapon with a comrade, or at my start position anyway. Carrying an aeg slows you down and also provides the temptation to return fire and get involved in a shootout – leave it behind and have speed as your security.

The nature of the event you’re playing at will largely dictate your kit as “combat medic” but unless you’re restricted to

“A PLAYER MEDIC MUST BE CONSTANTLY WHERE THE FIREFIGHT IS STRONGEST TO KEEP YOUR TEAM IN THE GAME AND WILL FREQUENTLY BE REQUIRED TO RUN AROUND LIKE THE PROVERBIAL ‘BLUE-ASSED FLY’.” wearing WWII or ‘Nam fatigues and the appropriate webbing, it’s a good idea to equip yourself as a riflemen would - but leave behind and heavy or bulky kit that might hinder your battlefield mobility. Good boots with decent grip and a sturdy set of BDU that isn’t going to shred as you crawl to a casualty

www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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Team Formation THE COMBAT MEDIC

is a must and don’t forget to have an easy to access pouch for your supply of game “bandages”!

So far it’s easy to see that most players could double up as “team medic” from their normal role if needed (although its unwise to put your team leader or scout sniper in this role as it will tie them down from getting their own job done) but in general, the role seems to attract a type of player who “CARRYING AN AEG relishes being the “Doc” in the squad.

SLOWS YOU DOWN AND To this end its worth considering being a ALSO PROVIDES THE REAL team medic for your team.

Airsoft is a relatively safe sport TEMPTATION TO RETURN but accidents do happen. I’ve seen FIRE AND GET INVOLVED IN players cut themselves on knives while making camps or cutting foliage, trips A SHOOTOUT – LEAVE IT and stumbles, sprained ankles… I’ve BEHIND AND HAVE SPEED even seen a player knock himself out AS YOUR SECURITY.” running into a tree, so it’s actually worth having someone in your squad who can actually administer first aid.

Any decent site will have at least one first aider on hand for minor injuries and anything more than a cut or bruise should really have a check over in a hospital. However, there is the possibility, especially in the 24 hour MilSim environment, that one of your players could be taken out of action by accident or circumstance. It might be a broken ankle, or it could be dehydration, or hypothermia but if you’re stuck in a forest in

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Wales with an air ambulance some time and distance away, you’ll be glad that someone on your team has the skills and kit to make your very real casualty comfortable.

Societies like the Red Cross and St John Ambulance run courses in basic first aid (both workplace and public) for little more than the cost of a skirmish day (usually around £35 ) and this will qualify you to give basic care to an injured person for the next three years, at which point you’ll need a refresher course. Many airsofters may be ex-forces and first aid qualified but again be sure your “ticket” is in order and remember that the priorities of battlefield first aid differ a little to those in civilian life. While I’m sure a badly injured mate won’t actually care if your certificate expired 6 months ago if you’re stopping them from passing out or bleeding to death, be aware that you could be on legal thin ice should you “treat” somebody while not qualified and any complications happen.

If you do become a qualified first aider, then it’s worth making sure that your skirmish kit keeps an up to date, clean and well labelled first aid kit with it. A good first aider can improvise with common items but will find their job infinitely easier with the proper kit.

So as you can see, the combat medic is an interesting team role, its iconic and has its game uses but can also potentially be a lifesaving asset to your team if proper training is undertaken.

Whichever way you decide to take it, you know that the cry of ‘MEDDIICC!!’ will have you diving over the parapet dashing towards that wounded soldier!

AFTER A SHORT XMAS BREAK, SNIPER ONE, DAN MILLS, RETURNS TO WRITE ABOUT A BATTLE THAT MANY WILL NOT HAVE HEARD OF, OR FORGOTTEN ABOUT

THE SIEGE OF KUT AL AMARA FOR THIS ISSUE I AM WRITING about an often ignored part of the Great War; the fighting in Kut Al Amara because it is somewhere I myself served and fought as a soldier. The Siege of Kut Al Amara ran from the 7th of December 1915 through until April the 29th 1916.

Kut was a small town approximately one hundred miles South East of Baghdad, the war was not going well for the British - Indian troops, constantly ambushed and harassed by pursuing Ottoman forces led by the German General, Baron Von der Goltz, with a force of 11,000 men.

Goltz had pushed the 6th (Poona) Division of the Indian Army under command of Major General Charles Townshend, part of Great Britain’s vast Imperial Army, back from Ctesiphon.

Townshend, after some significant losses now also led a force of some 11,000 Ranks and retreated to Kut, where due to its strong defensive qualities being sited in a river bend, he decided to stop and picked it as a place to Garrison until further forces were sent to assist.

Its defense lay in the position of the town on the banks of the swirling River Tigris, protected by the water. The approaches were limited, as was resupply, something I also experienced when in the same area over eighty years later!

Townshend decided to shore up the defenses and wait it out. He had fallen back enough and halted the retreat down river towards Basra, though he released his cavalry to escape which made up some 3,000 in number, as an urban environ was no good for cavalry and the horses would surely starve and be wasted.

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Ctesiphon, Iraq

This led a depleted, exhausted force of some 8,000 soldiers to fend off the ever-growing army of Goltz. From its arrival on December 3rd 1915, the garrison hastily prepared to defend the town with a population of under 7,000 suddenly finding themselves thrown into the war, against a numerically stronger army whom started arriving around the 7th.

The Ottoman forces attacked Kut three times in December, coming up short against the defenses, so Goltz decided to lay siege to the town and starve them out (again, this is getting all too familiar)! Goltz ordered siege fortifications to be erected facing the British in Kut and towards the expected direction of any forces sent to break the siege from Basra. These defenses included positions to interdict an enemy force approaching on the river.

Siege conditions were hot and uncomfortable and after only one month Townshend questioned his decision to stay put and wanted to breakout heading south, though it was unsafe to do so without river boat transport, as the local tribes were hostile.

Orders to stay put though came from his Superiors, as they had decided that the siege was useful because it was holding the Ottoman Army in the area.

As normal there was some confusion about the situation, relief transports had been ordered out to lift the beleaguered force but none had actually been given the order to go. A false account of food stocks held within Kut was sent by Townshend and gave the impression that relief was needed earlier than it really required it; one month’s supply of food was listed when in fact, with careful rationing, there was enough food for at least four months.

world war 1 FORGOTTEN BATTLES

Indian Army soldier after siege of Kut

prisoners captured plus two cannon.

After stalemate on the 8th fighting resumed on the 9th leading to a second Ottoman retirement, the British chased down the enemy for two days until local weather conditions made the roads unusable.

The Ottoman Army retreated for ten miles then turned to face the enemy, taking up battle position in a tributary of the River Tigris, a Wadi. Again the enemy were lined up on both sides of the vast river.

“The Battle of Wadi”, the second of the three battles, occurred on the left bank on the 13th, when the full force of the British hit the Ottoman position and after putting on a brave fight they were forced to retreat again. The Ottoman force pulled back a distance of about five miles and once more turned and prepared for battle.

It seems that the Ottomans were playing a delaying game, for the commander of the whole district soon arrived bringing with him another army numbering approximately 30,000 men.

“The Battle of Hanna” took place on a narrow stretch of dry ground in between the river and some marshlands, the Hannah Defile. There they caused considerable losses to the British force, casualties went up into the several thousands, spelling disaster for the expedition and for those waiting relief in Kut. After changing commanders and some reinforcement, battle again was commenced on the 8th of March with an attack on the Duiaila Redoubt, this was repulsed at a cost of another 4,000 men, the situation was getting desperate.

The British force was rested and rebuilt and what became known as “The First Battle of Kut” started on April the 5th.

Fighting took place at various locations in the province with some success but taking heavy losses, until the 22nd at Sannaiyat where the British could not break through. The first air supply in modern history happened during this period when 30 Squadron RFC flew supplies out and dropped them over the defenses at Kut.

General Townshend

Thinking the situation critical, a hastily gathered rescue force was dispatched, with confusing orders and counter orders, causing yet more problems and adding to an already disorganised “ON THE LEFT BANK WHERE THE ENEMY HAD GOOD SUPPORT LINES War Office (who just happened to be reorganising levels of command at LITTLE PROGRESS WAS MADE BUT ON THE RIGHT BANK THE ENEMY the same time).

WERE PUSHED BACK, THE TRENCHES WERE CLEARED OUT AND ARTILLERY Attempts to relieve the stricken troops first started in January 1916, LINES OVER RUN, WITH PRISONERS CAPTURED PLUS TWO CANNON.” when a force of 19,000 soldiers under command of Major General Younghusband marched towards the enemy along both During all this fighting in April Goltz died of Typhoid, many sides of the River Tigris but having little (if any) effect on the allied soldiers had been killed, all efforts of relief had failed, Ottomans, who had expected it and were prepared for battle. the situation was desperate and in secret a delegation had Argument and too long discussing in government what size of been dispatched, which included T.E force should be sent gave the Ottomans valuable time.

Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia) to Contact was made with the enemy by the forward troops negotiate terms of a deal with the of the relief force on January 6th, in the area of Sheikh Sa’ad Ottomans, which was rejected by (Battle of Sheikh Sa’ad) but each effort to beat back the Pasha.

Ottomans proved fruitless. By the following morning, the 7th, By the 26th of April 1916 it was the main British force struck on both sides of the river at the all over. same time and heavy fighting lasted the whole day. On the left General Townshend asked for a bank where the enemy had good support lines little progress ceasefire and tried to negotiate his was made but on the right bank the enemy were pushed back, way out but after this failed, he simply the trenches were cleared out and artillery lines over run, with surrendered his whole army! Little did he know that an earlier request for Russian assistance had led to an advance on Baghdad by a sizable Russian force which then withdrew after hearing of Townshend’s capitulation.

British graves in Kut Much was made of this decision when General Townshend himself was whisked off to relative comfort in captivity, whilst the British and Indian men he led were condemned to harsh conditions from which many would not survive.

Having surrendered their arms the soldiers were then marched off to prison in a place called Aleppo, again a place in the news today – for all the wrong reasons.

Costs: Allied casualties 23,000 killed/wounded. Ottoman casualties 10,000. www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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BOOK REVIEWS

GARETH “GADGE” HARVEY SETTLES DOWN WITH A SOME GOOD BOOKS FROM OUR GOOD FRIENDS OVER AT OSPREY PUBLISHING AND PEN AND SWORD BOOKS VICTORY 1945: WESTERN ALLIED TROOPS IN NORTHWEST EUROPE Gorden L Rottman Osprey Publishing Price: £11.99 ISBN:978-1-4728-0947-6 OVER THE YEARS AS A re-enactor, airsofter and a writer I’ve found Osprey’s “Men at Arms” and “Elite” series (and many other ranges by them) to be a fantastic first port of call when researching a new loadout or article and this book about allied soldiers in the later days of WWII is no exception.

Rottman once again provides an incredibly informative guide to the equipment, clothing and even training and mindset of allied troops on the post D-Day battlefield. What is most interesting is that Rottman also includes a substantial section on the oft-overlooked Canadian soldier and even more so, a small section on the almost forgotten warriors of the Free French.

Given so much scope to cover (the entire western allied contribution to NWE!) it’s understandable that (in some areas) detail is a little light and often Rottman’s text concentrates on the organisation and equipment allocated to key formation types (A US armoured unit for example) and allows the accompanying archive photography and excellent illustrations by Peter Dennis to focus on the details of uniform and small arms. But that said, a successful attempt is made at explaining the allied build-up of forces, its key strategic goals and its core tactics in various situations on the battlefield.

For those looking to get into WWII Airsoft (or even modelling or wargaming WWII) on the allied side, you could do much worse than pick up a copy of “Victory 1945” to get to grips with the basics behind each of the allied armies before splashing out on your own collection. My only criticism would be that Rottman’s normally clear and objective writing style seems to have been coloured here by many “WWII myths” of American excellence and British failure. To a UK reader this can feel somewhat infuriating, as the achievements and professionalism of the WWII British army are often underplayed while the, in reality quite poor, US army of the time is built up to be far better than, in my opinion, it actually was!

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MODERN WARFARE: SOVIET COLD WAR WEAPONRY – TANKS AND ARMOURED VEHICLES Anthony Tucker Jones Pen and Sword Books Price £14.99 ISBN1783032960 TO FANS OF OUR COLD War Warriors column this book is a must! In CWW we can rarely feature the diverse range of impressive armoured vehicles the Warsaw Pact could put into battle and this great book is the perfect accompaniment to our features on kit and small arms.

As previously mentioned in CWW, the Russian-led Soviet Union could field almost 100,000 armoured vehicles as part of its main armed forces and the key types of AFV, from the pioneering armour of the 1950s to the last designs of the dying Soviet Union of the late 80s are explored here in a fantastic selection of black and white and colour photographs.

Short essays on Soviet tactics, deployment and “lend lease policy” neatly sit alongside the main sections on the book that look at Main Battle Tanks, Attack Helicopters and Airborne Assault Vehicles, to name but a few. The myriad variations of

Book Reviews OSPREY AND PEN AND SWORD BOOKS

soviet armour, its export variants, upgrades and “evolutionary dead ends” are explained in a style that’s while easy to read, yet doesn’t scrimp on detail.

As a “cold war fanatic” who has read more than my fair share of books on the Soviet behemoth “war machine”, I was more than surprised to find many accompanying pictures that I had never seen before and presently surprised to see a good proportion of the photography in colour. For the AFV modeller or wargamer this book could be a worthy addition to their shelves.

Cold War Wargamers will also be pleased to find that as well as the technical specifications of the Soviet kit detailed in this book, that Tucker-Jones has also listed (where possible) the numbers and types of Russian war machines exported to the 20th century’s cold war “hot spots”,and often goes into detail about the machines successes and failings in these battle zones. A definite help in building up accurate forces for a table top game or even an “intel briefing” to be captured in an airsoft skirmish.

On the whole this book is a great read for “Soviophiles” but may be a little too detailed and narrow in scope for a casual reader – but for the cold war fanatic it’s a perfect purchase!

RHODESIAN LIGHT INFANTRYMAN 1960-80 Neil Grant Osprey Publishing Price; £11.99 ISBN: 978-1-4728-0962-9 FOR MANY OF TODAY’S AIRSOFTERS “Rhodesia” (now Zimbabwe) isn’t a place they will ever have heard of but the struggles of many African states are still in the memories of the older generation.

And it’s a shame that the bush wars of Africa are relatively unknown, as they make fantastic settings for airsoft skirmishes as lightly equipped bands of guerrillas fought security forces largely with small arms and with a minimum of air and armoured support (see this issue’s “Bush War Warriors” article).

Here, Neil Grant chronicles the history of

the Rhodesian Light Infantry, or RLI, one of Rhodesia’s finest elite infantry units, in their long struggle for independence in the face of terrorist attacks, political pressure and economic sanctions.

Throughout the 70s, however, the RLI was almost a household name and frequently in the news. The Rhodesians, surrounded on all sides by enemies fought a war on many fronts with scant resources but amazing skill and courage.

Grant’s study of the RLI charts it’s progress from an allvolunteer, largely white unit, through to its latter days as a more racially and socially diverse formation. The history of the RLI is accompanied by interesting chapters on the unit’s training and its service condition. One of the most interesting elements is the formation of “Taal”, the unit’s own unique language that is bewildering to most people and a mix of English, tribal African and military jargon. Nearly all military forces have their own unique phrases but few invent an entire language!

As unique as “taal” was, the RLI’s revolutionary “fireforce” tactics allowed them to fight much larger enemy formations, interdict terrorist patrols and destroy training camps with minimal losses to themselves.

Grant’s book expertly explains RLI combat tactics with the aid of full colour illustrations

by Peter Dennis and a treasure trove of archive pics of the RLI in action.

As a guy who vaguely remembers the “bush wars” being very real “news” as a young child, this title has sparked off my interest in the “small wars” of the late 20th century – so don’t be surprised if you see some “RLI” loadouts in Airsoft Action soon!

www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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Airsoft Action is available on PocketMags, Readly and Magzter and is supported by apps for all major devices.

HALO MILL

Taking you beyond 350fps!

Tel: 01484 840554

Sponsors of the AIRSOFT ACTION Site Directory

SYMBOL KEY

IS IT WOODLAND OR URBAN? CHECK THE KEY!

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

ABER AIRSOFT – THE BUNKER Allt-lywd Wood Farm, outside Llanrhystud, nr. Aberystwyth, Wales.

Tel: 07511554740 www.aberairsoft.co.uk

ACE COMBAT

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

AIRBORNE 101 AIRSOFT CLUB Downpatrick, Co. Down, BT30 Tel: 07718 032541 robinsonm24@btinternet.com

AIRSOFT ASYLUM

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

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

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

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

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

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february 2016

UKARA MEMBER

SHOP ONSITE

WOODLAND

PYROS ALLOWED

URBAN

BATTERY CHARGING

DESERT

REPAIR SERVICE

AIRSOFT SKIRMISH

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

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

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

AMBUSH ADVENTURES SOUTHAMPTON

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

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

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

ALPHA 55

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

ARENA AIRSOFT

ALPHA ELITE GAMING

AWA HERTS

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

AIRSOFT KGB

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

AIRSOFT PLANTATION

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

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

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

BADLANDS AIRSOFT

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

SITE DIRECTORY

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

FIND SOMEWHERE TO BE THIS WEEKEND…

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

C3 TACTICAL

COMBAT AIRSOFT

CERBERUS AIRSOFT – THE COMPLEX

COMBAT SOUTH URBAN

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

Horsforth, Leeds LS18 4RP Tel: 07891 469492 www.cerberusairsoft.co.uk

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

BLACKDAGGER AIRSOFT

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

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

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

Sheffield, S2 5TR Tel: 07795 631331 www.brittacairsoft.com

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

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

CERBERUS AIRSOFT – THE SANDPIT (DESERT)

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

COMBAT SOUTH WOODLAND

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

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

COOL UNDER FIRE 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

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 CERBERUS AIRSOFT – THE WORKS (URBAN)

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

CHESTERFIELD IMPERIAL AIRSOFT

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

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

DRAGON VALLEY AIRSOFT

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

DOG TAG AIRSOFT

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

CUMBRIA AIRSOFT BRIT-TAC AIRSOFT

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

DOGS OF WAR

BETTER BATTLES

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

DELTA TEAM 3

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

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

ELITE ACTION GAMES – WORTHING Worthing, BN13 Tel: 01784 433023 www.eliteactiongames.com

ELITE BATTLEZONE

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

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

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

DANGER CLOSE AIRSOFT BUNKER 51

CLOSE ACTION AIRSOFT

BUSH VALLEY AIRSOFT

COMBAT ACTION GAMES

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

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

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

Maryland, Norfolk, NR10 4 Tel: 07748 023832 www.facebook.com/combatactiongames

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

FIFE WARGAMES

DARKWATER AIRSOFT

FINMERE AIRSOFT

Hythe, Kent CT21 5SL Tel: 07947 558433 www.darkwaterairsoft.co.uk

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

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

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SITE DIRECTORY FIND SOMEWHERE TO BE THIS WEEKEND…

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

FIRST & ONLY: ANZIO CAMP Leek, ST13 8 Tel: 0161 727 8863 www.firstandonlyairsoft.com

FIRST & ONLY: BUNKER WOOD Kidderminster, Worcs, DY11 5SA Tel: 0161 727 8863 www.firstandonlyairsoft.com

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

FIRST & ONLY: KHE SANH WOODS

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

FIRST & ONLY: MANCHESTER WOODLAND Bolton, BL7 9TS Tel: 0161 727 8863 www.firstandonlyairsoft.com

FIRST & ONLY: THE ARMOURY

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

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

Leicester, LE9 9FP www.gingerliberationfront.com

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

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

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

FIRST & ONLY: SLEEPY HOLLOW

Bridgnorth, Shropshire, WV16 5LS Tel: 0161 727 8863

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

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

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

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

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

GRANGE FARM AIRSOFT

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

FIRST & ONLY: THE ACADEMY

Norwich, Norfolk, NR10 Tel: 07854 277264 www.gunmanairsoft.co.uk

LINDSEY AIRSOFT

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

MATLOCK COMBAT GAMES

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

MAW

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

MIA

FIRST & ONLY: THE HIVE

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

GUNMAN AIRSOFT – NORWICH

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

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

LAC SITE 1

GUN HO AIRSOFT

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

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

GUNMAN AIRSOFT – CAMBRIDGE Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP28 Tel: 07854 277264 www.gunmanairsoft.co.uk

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

LAC SITE 2 Gainsborough, North Lincs, DN21 4JH Tel: 07775 877057 www.lincolnshireairsoftclub.co.uk

LAC SITE 3 Saxillby, LN1 2JW Tel: 07775 877057 www.lincolnshireairsoftclub.co.uk

LAC SITE 5 Kirton Rd, North Lincs, DN16 www.lincolnshireairsoftclub.co.uk

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

MIDWALES AIRSOFT

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

MILITARY OUTDOOR ADVENTURES

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

MILSIM UK

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

NCIS AIRSOFT

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

NOMAD AIRSOFT

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

NORTHERN ALLIANCE AIRSOFT

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

NORTHFLEET CQB

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

www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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NSC AIRSOFT

RAVEN’S NEST

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

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

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

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

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

RED1AIRSOFT Chislehurst, Bromley BR7 6SD Tel: 07956 522691/01727846069 www.red1airsoft.co.uk

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

OVER THE TOP AIRSOFT CLUB Anglesey, LL71 www.ottairsoft.co.uk Tel: 07731 744471

PATHFINDER GROUP AIRSOFT MILITARY SIMULATION 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

RED1AIRSOFT CQB Red1 CQB. Kings Langley, WD4 8RN Tel: 07956 522691/01727846069 www.red1airsoft.co.uk

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

RIFT AIRSOFT (COTTENHAM) Cambridge, CB24 8RL Tel: 07751 586781 www.riftairsoft.com

SECTION 8 AIRSOFT Shotts, North Lanarkshire, ML7 5AB Tel: 07974 026517 www.s8airsoft.com

SG1 COMBAT GAMES 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

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

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

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

SOUTHDOWN AIRSOFT

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

TECH BRIGADE Newgate Street, Hertfordshire.

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

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

SPEC OPS AIRSOFT – BLOXWORTH

THE BUNKER

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

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

SPEC OPS AIRSOFT– THE ROCK

THE DEPOT

Portland, Dorset, DT5 2EG Tel: 07984 656947 www.specopsairsoft.co.uk

STIRLING AIRSOFT

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

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

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

STORMFORCE AIRSOFT

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

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

SUSSEX AIRSOFT

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

S.W.A.T. AIRSOFT

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

TA EVENTS

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

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

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

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

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

TROJAN AIRSOFT – OLYMPUS CQB TACTICAL WARFARE AIRSOFT Warlingham, Surrey, CR6 9PL Tel: 020 8665 1299 www.tacticalwarfare.co.uk

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

SITE DIRECTORY FIND SOMEWHERE TO BE THIS WEEKEND…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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. UKPSAqualified coaches. UKPSA-qualified Range Officers.

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

WATFORD PRACTICAL PISTOL CLUB Watford WatfordPPC@gmail.com

XSITE PRACTICAL SHOOTING

Fryers Farm Lane, High Wycombe, Bucks HP14 3NP Tel: 01494 881430

www.airsoft-action.co.uk

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DEALER LISTINGS

ADVERTISERS INDEX

Land Warrior Airsoft Land Warrior Airsoft Land Warrior Airsoft RedWolf Airsoft RedWolf Airsoft RedWolf Airsoft

Inside FrontCover Cover Inside Front 2

3 52 79 3 ++ 57+++48 79 3+ 19 Airsoft Zone 7 + 37 Airsoft Zone Inside Back Airsoft Zone 77++Inside BackCover Cover JD Airsoft 9 + 33 + 75 JD Airsoft Airsoft 9 ++ 23 JD 9 23++102 102 WE Airsoft Europe 15 WE Airsoft Europe 15 WE AirsoftWorld Europe 15 Airsoft 23 A2 Supplies 19 FireSupport 28 + 29 A2 Supplies 19 BadgerTac FireSupport 28 + 41 29 FireSupport 28 + 29 Silvermans 44 BadgerTac 36 VIPER Tactical 36 + 74 Crawley Surplus Supplies 44 ActionSportGames 40 VIPER Tactical 46 + 47 BadgerTac 40 VIPER Tactical 45 + 57 Pro Airsoft Supplies 52 ActionSportGames 45 Helikon-Tex 49 Helikon-Tex 57 Urban Airsoft Mega Store 46 eHobby Asia 60 Pro Airsoft Supplies 64 Gunman Airsoft 50 ActionSportGames 66 Gunman Airsoft 70 Airsoft Surgeon Euro Championship 79 Helikon-Tex 66 NoVAT 83 Gunman Airsoft 87 Pro Airsoft Supplies 72 Dragon Valley 83 Airsoft Action Subscriptions 90 NoVAT 83 Military Outdoor 83 Sly Photography 91 BombUpAirsoft 91 Dragon ValleyShop 83 Tactical Airsoft 83 NoVAT 91 Military Outdoor 83 Airsoft Action Subscriptions 86 Dragon Valley 91 Tactical Airsoft Shop 83 Silvermans 93 Military Outdoor 91 Crawley 93 Silvermans 93 ActionSurplus Air UKSupplies 95 Airsoft Action Digital Subscriptions 98 Airsoft Action Digital Subscriptions 98 Crawley Surplus Supplies 93 Percy Publishing 100 Hueys Action Digital Subscriptions 99 Airsoft 98 Advertisers Index 106 Elite Shooting Centre 105 Elite Shooting 105 Military 1st Centre 107 Military 1st Outside Back Cover Airsoft1st World 108 Military Outside Back Cover

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OD8J 2014