FORCE RECON
RANGER GREEN
NEW LOW PROFILE PLATE CARRIER ATI O
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ARCTURUS AT-NY03-CB AR15 ON TEST
TAKE THE ADVANTAGE! PAGE 87
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CONTENTS 9 ON THE COVER
You asked for it, so we delivered... The kit detail featured on the front cover is fully listed out, so you can find out what has caught your eye.
13-15 HIGH SPEED > LOW DRAG Ranger Green leads the way!
AIRSOFT INTERNATIONAL
VOLUME 15 ISSUE 4
81
16-19 SPOTLIGHT
Gallery over spill from the recent Ai500 weekender.
22-23 TOOLS OF THE TRADE
Warrior Assault Systems’ Ares Kydex holster on our radar.
26 USED AND ABUSED
How has the Helikon Tex Mini Training Rig faired after a few months.
30 EAR PROTECTION Jack Pyke Ear defenders on test.
32-33 22 SMOKIN ACES
Victoria looks at some tactical fashion items for on and off the field.
36-37 TRIED AND TESTED Haley Strategic D3CR-X under our spotlight.
22
FEATURED!
40-47 FORCE RECON
Gear up with us as we try and replicate old Skool USMC Force Recon!
32 MORE
ALL NEW!
LEGIT KIT ON OUR RADAR 006
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50-51 THE ELECTRIC EYE
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Victoria looks at the Olfi action camera!
53-56 ARCTURUS
So what’s the deal with Arcturus’ new AR15?
54-56 TEAM AMERICA!
We bring out the big guns with LTC’s stunning M60VN
60-62 PISTOL
Get upgraded with the Salient Arms G19.
64-65 AK ALL DAY!
The LCT AK is here to stay - and for good reason!
68-71 SNIPER REVIEW
Jason Green gets to grips with CYMA’s CM.707 Sniper rifle.
72-73 BOOTY CALL
AKU’s Selvatica Tactical GTX Mids break new ground!
75-79 THE GOOD GIG GUIDE
Your difinitive guide on where to play in the United Kingdom.
81 BURRITO ANYONE?
This new IFAK offering from Coyote Tactical is here to impress!
82-83 KING ARMS
King Arms’ new range of rifles hit the street!
85 PLUG ‘N’ PLAY
This could be a full on game changer! The T-Plug.
87 HARDWARE
When it comes to battery storage, the PTS Enhanced Stock is king.
60 IT’S EASY!! SUBSCRIBE!
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STAFF ON THE BLOCK COVER! paul@ebcon.co.uk
The man that started it all. He calls the shots behind the scenes.
BEN DICKIE ART DIRECTOR
designteam@ai-mag.com
The Rambo of shapes 'n' colours.
VICTORIA TRAFFORD STAFF WRITER
editorial@ai-mag.com
Introducing our latest member of the Ai team, Victoria ain’t to be messed with!
RICHIE MITCHELL STAFF WRITER
editorial@ai-mag.com
This larger than life Airsofter joins the team with specific challenges to conquer.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE DETAILS WITH YOU GUYS SO INSTEAD OF US WAITING FOR YOUR MESSAGES ASKING US ABOUT GEAR SPECIFICS THAT WE’VE USED FOR OUR FRONT COVERS, WE THOUGHT WE’D JUMP THE GUN AND MAKE SURE WHAT YOU WANT TO KNOW IS IN FRONT OF YOU! THE WORLD’S BEST SELLING AIRSOFT MAGAZINE
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Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of articles in this magazine, but the publisher accepts no responsibility for any errors contained in material from independent sources or authors. Reproduction in whole or part of any text, photography or illustration in any form without permission from the publisher/editor is strictly prohibited. We welcome articles, photographs or artwork. Airsoft International cannot be held responsible for any loss or damage to unsolicited material. Please enclose a SAE if you wish your material to be returned. Competitions will be judged on the dates specified. No correspondence will be entered into and the judge's decision is final. In the event of the published prize not being available due to circumstances beyond the control of the magazine, a suitable alternative of similar value will be provided. DISCLAIMER
The publishers of Airsoft International (Ai) magazine do not condone the possession of firearms, airsoft models or replica weaponry for illegal purposes. The hobby sport of airsoft skirmishing is conducted at specialist skirmish sites or clubs throughout the world, in controlled conditions where strict safety policies are implemented. Airsoft International magazine does not publish articles on real firearms or blank firing weapons. Airsoft replicas should not be confused with real firearms, air rifles or BB Guns. In accordance with the guidelines laid down by the Home Office in the UK (overseas readers may be subject to different laws), airsoft replicas are not to be used or brandished by any individual in a threatening manner in public or in any way to cause a person to fear personal injury. Airsoft replicas are recommended for use at professionally run skirmish sites. Individuals ignoring this advice will be breaking the law and can expect severe penalties imposed upon them from their local constabularies.
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Hailing from darkest depths of Yorkshire, Jason loves getting under the skin of an AEG.
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NEW LOW PROFILE PLATE CARRIER
ENES
STAFF WRITER
RANGER GREEN
•G
JASON GREEN
FORCE RECON
V O L :15 I S S : 4
Dave has aspirations of World domination, but he’ll settle for a stack of guns to review!
BACK TO THE OLD SKOOL
editorial@ai-mag.com
S
STAFF WRITER
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MBAV PACKAGE - PRICE £150 ✔ M4 MAGAZINE POUCHES ✔ PISTOL MAGAZINE POUCHES ✔ RESPIRATOR POUCH ✔ ADMIN POUCH ✔ DROP LEG PLATFORMS ✔ HYDRATION POUCH ✔ UTILITY POUCHES ✔ REPLICA HELMET NIGHT VISION MOUNT: FROM £24.00 ✔ ESS TACTICAL GOGGLES: £63.00 ✔ REPLICA MICH TC-2000: £20.00 ✔ FLIGHT SUIT: FROM £15.00 ✔ KNEE PADS: FROM £24.00 ✔ RIGGERS BELT: FROM £10.00 ✔ NOMEX GLOVES: FROM £9.00 ✔ TACTICAL THIGH HOLSTER: £14.00
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5 0
S H A D E S
O F
R A N G E R
G R E E N
HIGHSPEED LOW DRAG!
OVER THE COMING MONTHS (WITH THE HELP OF A FEW WELL KNOWN AIRSOFT BRANDS) WE'LL SHOW YOU THE DISTINCT ADVANTAGES OF HIGH-SPEED LOW-DRAG GEAR. WITH JUST A FEW TWEAKS HERE AND THERE WE'LL WALK YOU THROUGH THEIR KIT AND SUGGEST SOME GREAT ADDITIONS YOU CAN ADD TO YOUR GEAR LOCKER.
Featuring Vict oria.
You could argue that just by picking up an assault rifle you've already adopted that role, you might be right... But there is a distinct difference in the gear you will need to keep you in the fight and become an asset to your teammates.
RANGER GREEN ASSAULTER
Military history is littered with the term "Shock or Assault Troops". Basically the guys that lead an attack, well trained and highly motivated they are expected to take heavy casualties even in successful operations. So for you to adopt this role on a skirmish field, you can expect to be in the thick of things, continually respawning, rearming and getting back to the front line as quickly as possible. Typically on a skirmish field, your team or the side you're on should be using small unit tactics, which is easier said than done especially if you are folded into a generic side, but much more comfortable to achieve if you’re already part of a constructed team. Essentially without going too deep into small unit tactics, it's all about mobility and fire and movement, so it makes sense to strip that gear down and only carry the essentials. All too often we've seen players turning up for a skirmish overloaded with gear and not too sure what they want to be or what to do, other than play Airsoft. If that's what you want out of the game, then that's great, but you've brought that kit for a reason. There is no fun in our opinion going "bulls out in the morning session, then dumping all of your kit in the afternoon, but ditching what you don't need automatically makes you more mobile and before you know it you're adopting the role of an "Assaulter".
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R ANGER GREEN £43.00
O U R
L O W - D R A
FMA
FAST HELMET
FMA produces several styles of helmets, which come in several different thickness and weights. This is the Maritime version and is their most expensive option at £43.00 and a weight of 585g. There are only very slight differences across the range though, for instance, the Fast PJ version is slightly lighter, but almost £10 cheaper, but there are few if any changes to either look wise. The most important feature of any helmet is not how it looks or what accessories it comes with but the comfort and protection it offers you. There are two different sized helmets and internal pads across the range. These attach to the inside of the helmet in a predetermined position, that does allow you to somewhat customise the fit. They can be tightened or loosened with the OCC dial and chin strap and really is a delicate balancing act to get this helmet to feel comfortable, we found ourselves removing some of the internal pads for the best fit results, but that also diminished the helmets ability to do its job. It's not the perfect situation, but this does depend on the size and shape of your head. The one thing to remember with all replica helmets is that they have no certification for any form of impact protection, but having some kind of head protection is better than having none, even if its only for protection from BB strikes. FMA helmets are both lightweight and affordable, the comfort levels vary, between the helmets, which is also very dependent on the size and shape of your head, removing the internal pads isn't a good idea, but as we sometimes found a necessity to get a comfortable fit.
£103.00
H I G H - S P E E D
Early versions of FMA helmets have received a fair amount of criticism from the community in the past with substandard external and internal Velcro, but we can report that this failing has been rectified. FMA is not the only manufacturer to produce this "FAST" style of helmet by any stretch of the imagination, but they are one of the better examples we have in our gear locker. The construction is solid, the OCC dial actually works, the comfort levels are moderate to fair with the supplied pads added. A helmet that's well worth the asking price in our opinion.
✔ AVAILABLE FROM TAIWANGUN.COM
INVADER GEAR
COMBAT SHIRT AND PANTS
Founded in 2004 this German based companies ethos has always been focused on quality and affordability, which has been very welcome throughout Europe and is starting to make its mark on the cost conscious UK community. We have already seen their kit in full effect in the previous issue and can testify to the quality of their gear both in the studio and more importantly out on the skirmish field. Having been sent many Camouflage patterns and solid colours we soon realised the benefit to having many sets of clothing for the skirmish field, which is very achievable for everyone at the affordable price points of Invader Gear. Produced in a cotton polyester mix and featuring ripstop material Invader Gear's Combat pants and for that matter, the shirt is fashioned in that ever popular Gen 3 style of clothing that inhabits so many Safe Zones across the country. There are a few things that this Gen III clothing manufacturer has up their "sleeve" that separates them from the ever growing crowd. The first and most noticeable is the price point. The second is their sizing, being European really helps, the third and arguably the most important is the quality, not only in build but also in fabrics. As you would expect from any Gen 3 clothing the pants have multiple adjustment points, but because Invader gear has nailed the sizing, there are minimal adjustments you have to make. You would think that sizing is a major area in any form of clothing, but you'll be surprised how many Asian clothing companies get this so wrong. Should it be needed, there is a fine adjustment in all of the usual places including waist, calf and ankle, plus spandex flex areas to the back of the waist and around the knees. There are also plenty of pockets allowing you to stow those skirmish field essentials. Invader Gear Combat Shirt is designed to be very light and comfortable and follow the same principle of numerous Gen 3 garments already on the market. The torso area is made of very durable, breathable and a comfortable to wear blend of 20% polyester and 80% cotton. The sleeves and collar are made of the proven polycotton ripstop blend fabric (35% polyester, 65% cotton). The sleeve pockets provide ample space for various items of equipment, the sleeves are equipped with pockets for elbow pads and cuffs can be adjusted using Velcro or just rolled up. Interestingly Invader Gear's camo selection is about the largest we have come across within one brand. Believe it or not, you have a choice of 20 different camos and 5 sizing options to choose from. Our pick for this issue is American Marpat - a desert camouflage that was explicitly designed for the US Marine Corps. The pattern is formed from small rectangular pixels and in theory, it is a far more effective camouflage than standard uniform patterns because it mimics the dappled textures and rough boundaries found in natural settings.
✔ AVAILABLE FROM AIRSOFTZONE.COM
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R A G
L O A D
£219.95
O U T
I N
5 0
S H A D E S
O F
G R E E N
WARRIOR ASSAULT SYSTEMS
LOW PROFILE PLATE CARRIER
Warrior informs us that their Patent Pending LPC or Low Profile Plate Carrier is a new generation of armour carriers, which has been designed with direct input from serving members of the UKSF community and incorporates many new features that combine to make it one of the best carriers on the market today. A bold statement if you consider the company that the LPC keeps, but in all honesty, a fair statement from a UK manufacturer that has been very clever in its approach. By listening to its target audience, they have provided a solid, well thought out platform, which has become an instant success in the real world. The LPC features a new air vent thermo pad, which allows heat to evaporate from the body and increase the airflow to assist in cooling. The Thermo Pad also helps to decrease the back plate signature associated with ballistic trauma. The LPC incorporates a speed clip system, which allows very rapid removal of the carrier on a day to day basis. We found the system to be a bit tricky at first to fasten, but take your time to understand how it works and operates and it won't be long before you start to appreciate this new and quite frankly well overdue way of fastening your plate carrier. The LPC utilises state of the art materials to reduce the overall signature and weight. It comes as standard with a removable MOLLE front flap held in place by 2 vertical QASM clips and hook and loop which allows the panel to be removed and replaced with a wide variety of preconfigured panels that are both weapon and mission specific. The LPC is adjustable for both Height and Girth, the Hyperlon shoulders offer an extremely robust, comfortable and flexible shoulder anchor point. Just in case you're wondering, Hyperlon is a trademark for chlorosulfonated polyethene (CSPE) or synthetic rubber (CSM) noted for its resistance to chemicals, temperature extremes, and ultraviolet light. Along with PVC, CSM is one of the most common materials used to make inflatable boats, folding kayaks and also used as a single-ply roofing membrane.
✔ AVAILABLE FROM UKTACTICAL.CO.UK ional internat t f o s ir a
£79.00
r ec o m m
WARRIOR ASSAULT SYSTEMS
LOW PROFILE MOLLE BELT
A two-stage low profile platform capable of carrying a wide variety of mission specific pouches and holsters. Part one is a reinforced slimline belt that is covered in loop Velcro and is designed to be threaded through your belt loops and acts in the same way as a traditional belt would. The second part of the system is made up of a low profile MOLLE belt, covered in 2 rows of Mil-Spec webbing, this belt has a row of hook Velcro on the inside which marries up to the first belt, which is then secured by way of a removable belt and composite GT Cobra buckle. This belt can be removed at any time and substituted for a Riggers style belt if required.
en d s!
✪✪✪✪
✪
✔ AVAILABLE FROM UKTACTICAL.CO.UK
SIZING UP?
The one thing that became apparent when using Victoria as the model in this issue was that there are no manufactures that make gear specifically for the female form. It's simply off the peg gear in smaller sizes. As an ex Police officer Victoria pointed out there are no exceptions in the real world to the clothing that's issued, its simply smaller sizes and if it doesn't fit there's always a tailor on the high street to make any alterations you might need.
OF COURSE, THERE ARE OBVIOUS DIFFERENCES TO THE FEMALE FORM, BUT AS A FEMALE PLAYER, ALL KINDS OF KIT ARE AVAILABLE TO YOU AT DIFFERENT PRICE POINTS. DECIDE WHAT YOU LIKE AND GO FOR IT - BEARING IN MIND THAT EASTERN MANUFACTURED GEAR SIZING CAN BE ALL OVER THE PLACE, WHILE EUROPEAN MANUFACTURERS, MORE OFTEN THAN NOT, ARE CONSISTANT AND USUALLY NAIL THEIR SIZING CHARTS. IN REALITY, THIS MAKES IT EASIER TO MAKE INFORMED PURCHASES, FEELING CONFIDENT ABOUT THE SIZING, COMFORT AND ULTIMATELY THE OVERALL FIT. W W W.AI-MAG.COM
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U R
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P R I N T !
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Y O U R
S H O T S
I N
P R I N T !
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK!
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YOUR SHOTS!
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T OOL S OF THE TR ADE
A R E S
H O L S T E R
airs
r e cooft internat ✪ ✪ m m e n dionsal! ✪
✪✪
ARES KYDEX HOLSTERS BELIEVE IT OR NOT, KYDEX WAS FIRST MANUFACTURED WAY BACK IN 1965 BY PHILADELPHIA-BASED ‘ROHM AND HAAS’ AND WAS ORIGINALLY INTENDED FOR USE IN AIRCRAFT INTERIORS. IN 1987 KYDEX, LLC WAS FORMED AND CARRIED ON THE MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF THE MATERIAL KNOWN THEN AS ‘SEKISUI SPI’. Kydex, as the material is now better known as is an acrylic-polyvinyl composite material produced for thermoforming fabrication purposes with applications in a vast range of different industries and products. The material combines the best characteristics of acrylic, which gives the material its rigidity and formability, where as the polyvinyl element gives the material its durability and toughness. Today there are over 40 unique types of thermoplastic sheets available all with different grades of Kydex. Some so called Kydex materials have more recycled material in than other grades making these low Kydex content material options cheaper, but at the same time less durable and prone to warping as opposed to higher Kydex content material that can be found in premier holsters. In recent years the term “KYDEX” has become a buzz word for the holster industry with some manufactures producing plastic holsters, that more often than not are referred to incorrectly as “Kydex”
022
WARRIOR’S ARES KYDEX HOLSTER
As mentioned there are different grades of Kydex material, but basically there are two industry standards in the holster World. ■ KYDEX T: Known for its uniformity and widely recognised as the best material for holsters producing thin holsters that are extremely resistant to the elements. ■ KYDEX 100: Known for its toughness, durability and resistance to damage; producing a rigid shell.
Warrior’s new ARES Kydex Belt holster comes in three options (no light or light capable) and is engineered and developed using high grade Kydex to be a tough low profile holster not only for the real world but also for the skirmish field. Strength, rigidity, durability and affordability are the buzz words here, its small and compact with a great pistol grip, this simple yet effective holster is ready to use straight out of the packaging and built for both the Glock 17 and 19 models. The Ares has two 45mm
belt loops attached to the back of the holster and a handy adjustable tension, designed to accommodate your own preference on retention, draw strength and pistol fit. Kydex holsters also have the added benefit of an audible re-holstering noise so you know when your pistol is secured so you won’t lose it in the heat of a skirmish field battle. If you are looking for a secure and affordable holster that can take a beating on the skirmish field then the Ares is one not to be ignored.
FEATURES
■ Waterproof ■ Scratch resistant ■ Holds its shape ■ 2x belt loops ■ Lower friction draw ■ Colour options: Black and Tan
OPTIONS
■ Basic Holster ■ Holster TLR1or 2 light ■ Holster x300/400 light
£39.99 £44.95 £44.95
Available from UK Tactical www.uktactical.com Tel: 016426 12524 Email info@uktactical.com
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KIT THAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR GE AR LOCKER!
ONE RIG TO
RULE
THEM ALL? WE THINK SO
HELIKON-TEX TRAINING MINI RIG
FOR A FEW MONTHS NOW I'VE HAD THE PLEASURE OF FIELDING HELIKON'S 'TRAINING MINI-RIG', OR TMR FOR SHORT. I HAVE TO BE CAREFUL THAT THIS REVIEW DOESN'T SOUND LIKE A SALES PITCH, BECAUSE IN ALL HONESTY, I REALLY DON'T HAVE A BAD WORD TO SAY ABOUT IT.
To put some context to how I've been using it, I typically run as an assaulter-style role, yet occasionally I pick up a bolt action or DMR and play the long game instead. What I've found with the TMR is the versatility to use the rig across several different roles. Ordinarily, I run I plate carrier, but when I first began using the TMR, I was astounded by the level of comfort and manoeuvrability I had over my usual setup. The H-harness is extremely comfortable, which was surprising as the straps first appeared to be quite thin. Being an H-style harness though, the straps didn't dig in or pinch towards the middle of my back, and the weight was very well distributed. What I really like about the placement and distribution of pouches is everything is upfront and central, and nothing wraps around your sides or waist. Arguably, this improves the speed of grabbing your gear when you need it, rather than having to reach around your body a little bit when every second counts.
LESS IS DEFINITELY MORE
■ Universal, removable, adjustable H-harness. ■ Three velcro panels: on the main pouch, detachable pouch for accessories and at the back of the harness. ■ Double rifle magazine insert for two AR/AK magazines included. ■ Main pouch with internal organiser and zippered mesh pocket. ■ Four fixed, small pouches with detachable flaps for pistol magazines, multitool, flashlight. ■ Adjustable pouch flaps with markers. ■ Two fixed AK/AR rifle magazine pouches. ■ Spacious central Cargo pocket. ■ MOLLE/PALS mounted pouch for medical insert or additional accessories. ■ MOLLE/PALS panel at the bottom for additional pouches/accessories/ tourniquet. ■ Adjustable hip belt. ■ YKK® zippers.
£77.00 AVAIL ABLE FROM HELIKON
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Over the years, I've become accustomed to carrying more than I need on my plate carrier, so transitioning to a chest rig, the TMR blew my mind when it comes down to storage. Using my DMR loadout as an example, I could fit three 5.56 mags, my radio, three pistol mags, QD mock suppressor, a selection of smokes and bangs, dead-rag, a few first aid essentials, my sidewinder speed loader, and a bag of ammo to boot. Even with all that, the TMR still felt light and manoeuvrable, in fact, I found myself sprinting ahead and putting myself into positions I would ordinarily think twice about. In terms of customisation, the TMR is obviously less changeable than the basic blank panel chest rig whereby you add your own pouches, but there are still a few things you can alter to suit your style of play. For example, when I'm running the bolt action, I remove the two middle 5.56 pouches held in via hook-and-loop, and I use the middle utility pouch to hold my magazines. The 'dangler' pouch is also removable, so for my lightweight sniper's role, I strip this off to shed as much unnecessary weight as possible. Lastly, the pistol pouch retention can be adjusted to suit different sized magazines, although you could go one step further as I have, and replace all the bungee and fabric retention with Kydex, just to make things that little bit faster. The TMR is constructed from Cordura, and it’s really durable and hard wearing. Coupled with the excellent stitching, the solid quick-clips, and the YKK zippers, I’m pretty confident I’m still going to be fielding this rig in years to come. All in all, I’m impressed with the TMR, not only for its size, and comfort, but its durability and functionality too. It’s breathed a new lease of life into my game, and the TMR has now taken residence as my go-to piece of kit.
HELIKO N -T E X .CO M
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KIT THAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR GE AR LOCKER!
EAR PRO AT FACE VALUE, MOST EAR DEFENDERS LOOK THE SAME OR AT LEAST LOOK LIKE THEY ARE BUILT WITH THE SAME MATERIALS AND TO THE SAME QUALITY, BUT THESE ARE ACTUALLY VERY ROBUST AND HARD-WEARING. THE OUTER CASING IS SOLID AND STURDY, AND THE HEAD STRAP MOUNT FIXINGS ARE VERY SECURE.
JACK PYKE EAR DEFENDERS
EAR DEFENDERS ARE RARELY TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION FOR AIRSOFT, OUTSIDE OF A COMMS SOLUTION USING THE EARMUFF AND BOOM MIC SETUP. COMING FROM A REAL STEEL SHOOTING BACKGROUND, AND WORKING AROUND THE INDUSTRY OF INDUSTRIAL DEAFNESS, I HAVE AN ACUTE APPRECIATION FOR THE NEED OF HEARING PROTECTION, ESPECIALLY GIVEN THE MUTUAL ENTHUSIASM FOR PYROTECHNICS WITHIN AIRSOFT. THE JACK PYKE ELECTRONIC EAR DEFENDERS FOUND THEIR WAY INTO MY KIT BAG AS AN OPTIONAL SPARE PIECE OF KIT, MAINLY FOR IF MY CURRENT SETUP FAILED FOR ANY REASON, BUT HAVING USED THEM MORE AND MORE RECENTLY, I THOUGHT I’D WRITE UP A QUICK REVIEW FOR YOU ALL. Although you can attach an audio input, these are primarily used for protection, where the amplified sound you hear will cut out any noise above 82dB. Anyone who's been in a CQB environment and had anything larger than an Mk5 dropped at their feet can appreciate why these ear defenders would be a blessing in that scenario. During normal movement, any ambient noises around you are amplified through the microphones on each ear cup, and you can pick noises up that you would ordinarily miss; the opposition sneaking up on you from behind, for example, effectively giving you bionic ears. The amplified noise is very clear of these particular defenders, whereas others I have owned have sounded quite 'tinny'. With regards to protection, it's a given that flashbangs and grenades are thwarted by the electronic cut-off on the ear defenders, but depending on your surroundings, even the noise of AEG's can trigger them into cutting out. I suppose this could be slightly annoying when in the midst of a firefight and your trying to communicate to your team, but on the other hand, It’s probably a good thing, as we all take for granted the amount of noise we can be exposed to without realising it.
I wouldn’t say that these ear defenders are particularly low profile, but when shouldering my rifle they don’t interfere with the stock as much as I first thought they would, and they are definitely less noticeable than my regular defenders. In terms of quality and comfort, I'm actually very impressed with them. I've found that wearing them for extended periods causes absolutely no discomfort whatsoever, and perhaps the only slight bit of irritation is where the earcups press against my eye protection, but this is extremely minimal.
S U MM A R Y
I've been using these for a while now, and I tend to wear them when my team and I don't need to use comms, or when I want to run a very lightweight rig with only the bare essentials. During their use, they have performed flawlessly at each game, and have yet to let me down. Taking into account the function, durability, comfort, and price, I would give these a solid 8.5 out of 10.
Adjustable headband Foldable Reduces harmful noise above 82dB NRR 25dB Takes two 5v AAA batteries (batteries not included)
£56.95 FROM SPORTING RE TAILERS
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LEGITIMATE TARGET 22 SMOKIN ACES ARE STARTING TO MAKE SOME REAL TRACTION IN THE APPAREL INDUSTRY, NOT ONLY DO THEY BRING THE USUAL ASSORTMENT OF APPAREL, BUT THEY ARE NOW BEGINNING TO VENTURE INTO MORE HARD WEARING KIT SUCH AS THE ELITE JACKETS AND GYM WEAR. BY VICTORIA TRAFFORD
The company has been in the industry for a few years, the guys behind the team are badass, hard hitting, tough as nails ex-serving UKSF personnel with many years of experience between them. Included in this partnership is a highly experienced business team, so they have a long term business plan in place with plenty on the horizon for expansion. Each brings a unique input into the kit designs and structure, relying on real world applications and ideas to make them stand out from the crowd. The name is a little hint of the background to what these have done in the past, particularly noticeable about the blade used in the logo or the use of operator throughout the brand and with this clever design you have this background heavily featured throughout. Their social media platforms are bursting full of inspirational material, with big tools to get you out and about, ideas for what you can do down the gym or challenge yourself, always a little further, all they expect is for you to put the elbow grease in. Wherever you are on your fitness or general health journey these will give you a little boost in the right direction with their mantra, you are savage not average. You can see they put a lot of heart and soul into the brand, ensuring they bring you high quality items at great prices, always adapting and challenging the next step for their future. They also have a close knit team of over 75 ex and serving military and emergency services members on our T1LT (stands for Tier1 Athlete) team. These men and women are there to provide inspiration to others to get fit and be awesome, search on Instagram T1LT you will find a lot of content. Ollie Ollerton former SBS operative and star on Channels 4’s 'Who Dares Wins' came to them as professionals and said working together would be a good fit. They have helped him with their professionalism, skills and drills in his events. Recently they teamed up with them, at the Body Expo at the NEC arena putting on a display of skills and fitness regimes from a rope descent to pull-ups and shooting ranges. Watching the feed on their social media platforms you can see the skill these teams had and have harnessed over their many years in the forces, plus it was a nice collaboration of two British companies working together, which is likely to be continued in future events.
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Browsing their website they have a huge catalogue of apparel wear to suit everyone’s interest, including a women’s section with some great attention to detail, gym wear and a small selection of children’s clothing, so not only can you look like a BAMF but your little ones can follow suit. Their new jackets look incredible with a lot of attention put into the detail, from the layered interior for extra warmth that is effective down to -20C (which can be detached), to the sleek design of the exterior with articulated elbows for extra movement and waterproof to level 3 (10,000mm). 22SmokinAceS understands the power to support and affiliate with other companies, especially ones that compliment their own ethos and one of those heavily mentioned is Blueberry Nutrition. This company is all about providing you with a tailored dietary plan, from housewives to office workers or elite athletes. These guys put the work in to help you reach your ultimate goals, fuelling you the right way and ending a myth to fad diets giving you solid nutrition as a foundation that you can build on. Regardless where you are on your fitness journey, this team will work out all the details for you, even taking into consideration what you don’t like and giving you a much needed boost taking out the hassle of meal planning. To check these out go to www.blueberrynutrition.co.uk Another company 22SmokinAceS has a lot of input with, is one that is well known in the airsoft community the milsim training and events group known as Stirling Airsoft. For those who aren't sure who this group is or what they do, I'll go into some detail behind them. The name Stirling pays homage to the original founder of the SAS Sir David Stirling, he constructed the idea of creating a specialised team of highly trained soldiers with the advantage of surprise that they could attack several targets from the desert while deep behind enemy lines. During WWII his night raids in North Africa earned him the name "The Phantom Major" during his time before capture they had destroyed 250 aircraft, dozens of supply dumps, wrecked railways and telecommunications, and had put hundreds of enemy vehicles out of action. Field Marshal Montgomery described Stirling as "mad, quite mad" but believed men like Stirling were needed in times of war; thus the SAS was born. John Thomas “Mac” McAleese the renown SAS soldier born in Stirling Scotland, who took part in the late 20th century conflicts, most famously known for the storming of the Iranian Embassy in London during a hostage taking siege in May 1980. In 2002 he helped to form a group called Stirling Services, a professional training company for all things war zones, the airsoft games were run at the same time. It wasn’t until 2006 when the company split and came to be known now as Stirling Airsoft. These milsim days are considered the creme de la creme of events to attend and one of the best the British have to offer, an ideal place to fully submerge yourself into a well orchestrated military simulation. Not only do they run events and games throughout the year at some very well known military training locations but also run three events a year in Spain. One of the team in 22SmokinAceS since 2013 has been helping with these events adding his expertise and knowledge and is now their Chief Instructor. To find out more about these head to www.stirlingairsoft.com 22SmokinAces are going to some serious places, creating a storm in the apparel market with a vast itinerary of products that would appeal to everyone regardless of their walks of life, to their more Elite Range with top quality kit for the more extreme users. They have also forged strong alliances with other great companies, springboarding off each other to help promote a uniformed idea to not only attribute to you looking and feeling savage but with other experts out there that can help along the way. I assure you, you won't be disappointed checking out these awesome guys and what they have created, hard work and utter determination are going to make them the forefront of British companies to be reckoned with and ones to watch for a very long time.
Vic t oria.
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G E A R
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D3CR-X
DISRUP TIVE ENVIRONMENT S CHES T RIG THIS MONTH WE’RE TAKING A LOOK AT A VERY ROBUST AND RELIABLE OFFERING FROM HALEY STRATEGIC PARTNERS. IN THE PAST WE HAVE FIELD-TESTED AND BEEN IMPRESSED WITH THE HALEY STRATEGIC D3CR AND TODAY WE ARE TAKING THE UPDATED “X” VARIANT OUT FOR A SPIN. WE’RE INTERESTED TO SEE HOW THIS RIG PERFORMS AND IF THERE ARE ANY NOTICABLE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TWO. Ever since Haley Strategic previewed the “X” iteration of their well known D3CR Disruptive Environments Chest Rig, fans have been asking themselves: “Do I really need to upgrade to the X version?” Or, “Should I buy the X instead of the standard D3CR?” The truth is, both rigs are excellent. The user’s decision will largely depend on an assessment of the X’s features; benchmarked against those of the standard D3CR. This review will present a comparison, to help readers make an informed choice.
OVERVIEW
As we’ve just mentioned, the D3CR-X is a variant of Haley’s D3CR micro chest rig. Like its forebear it’s discrete, light and largely composed of 500D nylon. It features an X-pattern style harness and boasts a dual-layer pouch array: LEFT TO RIGHT, FRONT ROW: ■ 1x General Purpose pouch: Hook and loop closure and additional loop field external to flap. ■ 4x Multi-Mission Pouch System (MMPS). pouches: Elasticated and containing rare-earth magnets; fits pistol mags and other slim items. ■ 1x General Purpose pouch: Hook and loop closure and additional loop field external to flap. BACK ROW (CLOSEST TO USER): ■ 4x 5.56 mag pouches; not overly fitted, so that some AK mags can be used. The MMPS and 5.56 pouches come topped with shock cord pulls, featuring chunky, textured hypalon tabs. These are high quality items and not an afterthought, unlike some OEM bungees.
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I’ve removed them from the X, however, because I will be using Haley MP2 mag inserts for retention in the 5.56 mag pouches. These work in the same way as Kydex inserts, for those familiar with that system. The MMPS pouches provide enough retention for my uses as they come. On the rig’s reverse is a hook Velcro field, which is covered during normal use with a corresponding 500D-backed loop Velcro cover. Along with Fastex buckles, removable harness and waist strap, this hook field enables the X to be paired with any compatible plate carrier.
‘X’ AND ‘D3CR’ COMPARISON
The rigs are essentially the same size and shape. Where features are common, the same materials are used - like 500D. However, in its pouch array up front, the X exhibits a significant change over the standard D3CR in that it does not feature a stuffit pouch. For me, this is an improvement. While the stuffit has been useful in keeping a 500ml water bottle to hand, it makes the front of the rig a bit busy. I’ve not experienced a hang up with the stuffit’s shock cord, but in using a VTAC two point sling it is a concern when I have my RIF cinched close to my chest. The stuffit is replaced on the X by 2x additional MPPS pouches (4x MMPS pouches to the standard D3CR’s two). An excellent substitution. Additionally, the X’s MMPS pouches are colour matched to the rig’s Multicam, instead of the coyote used on the D3CR. A nice touch. This is an area where the X scores highly for me, because with the change in pouches it feels
even more high speed low drag than the D3CR. That’s not something I ever thought I’d say, because the standard D3CR is pretty slick. At the rear, the hook and loop field is considerably bigger on the X. This delivers a greater surface for adhesion when using the X with a plate carrier, but also provides a larger area for expansion items to be attached. Haley makes a whole ecosystem of these items. The Mag Wedge, for example, which expands the 5.56 provision from four to six mags. There’s also a superficial difference in the hook and loop colour tone throughout. The X is less vibrant than the standard D3CR: The second significant difference between the X and the standard D3CR is the harness pattern. The standard D3CR features a common H-pattern harness, whereas the X features an X-pattern as mentioned. Notably, the X-pattern harness features a webbing loop which guides and helps self-centre the shoulder straps when worn. One strap passes through the loop and is held captive. It’s strange to think of a chest rig which is potentially more limpet-like than the D3CR. But that’s what an X-harness promises and is presumably why Haley implemented this configuration. However, there is an opportunity cost... It’s often easier to don and doff a rig with an H-pattern harness. Some may need to take this into consideration. Equally, some people will get on with one harness over the other down to physiological reasons; which is why the choice between H-pattern and X-pattern is a personal decision.
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FORCE RECON
G E A R
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FORCE RECON S W I F T ,
S I L E N T ,
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FORCE RECON DETACHMENTS PERFORMED BOTH DEEP RECONNAISSANCE AND DIRECT ACTION (DA) OPERATIONS. SOME MISSIONS ARE NOW SHARED BY MARSOC, WHOSE MEMBERS WERE RECRUITED FROM FORCE RECON PLATOONS. AS THEIR ROLES HAVE BEEN SPLIT FORCE RECON CAN NOW FOCUS ON WHAT THEY DO BEST - INTELLIGENCE GATHERING AS WELL AS THE VBSS. OPERATING INDEPENDENTLY BEHIND ENEMY LINES, FORCE RECON PERFORMS UNCONVENTIONAL SPECIAL OPERATIONS, IN SUPPORT OF CONVENTIONAL WARFARE. Their methods of deployment are not that dissimilar to the Navy SEAL's Army Special Forces and Air Force Combat Controllers; however, Force Recon's missions and tasks do differ slightly as they are there to support Marine expeditionary and amphibious operations.
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As with all units that were born out of conflict, Force Recon can trace their history back to WWII when Amphibious Reconnaissance Battalions performed many missions leading up to the D Day landings and the campaigns in the Pacific. However, today's Force Recon owes a lot to their participation in the Vietnam War, where two very different mission types emerged and are still very much in use today. Key Hole and Sting Ray "deep reconnaissance", or green operations; and “Direct Action" which are also known as black missions. Key Hole patrols were designed purely around reconnaissance and surveillance; usually lightly equipped and armed with defensive weapons, whereas Sting Ray operations were the exact opposite with the emphasis placed on aggression, with heavily armed personnel and the ability to call in air strikes, just like your average skirmish. The CIA's highly secretive Special Activities Division (SAD), and more specifically its elite Special Operations Group (SOG) recruited directly from Marine Force Recon. Their history goes right back to the Vietnam War were Force Recon, and CIA operations were part of the MACV-SOG group.
GREEN OPER ATIONS
The principal mission of Force Recon is reconnaissance, so you'll be collecting intelligence on the skirmish field and pushing deep behind the opposing team's line.
BL ACK OPER ATIONS
Require direct action (DA) basically "looking for trouble". FORECON operators usually have artillery and naval gun support, which if you come to think about it can easily be simulated on any TACTICAL GOGGLES skirmish field. Real world examples also include the seizures and occupation of gas/oil platforms MILITARY1ST.CO.UK (GOPLAT) and the Visit, Board, Search, and Seizure (VBSS) of ships during Maritime Interdiction Operations (MIO), as well as calling in close air support, a vital skill exercised in DA missions; learned from the Vietnam War. After the creation of Marine Special Operations Command (MARSOC) in 2006, you would think that this would have been the beginning of the end of Marine Force Recon. The creation of this new element of the US Marines certainly did take its toll on the rank and file of Force Recon because at the same time of MARSOC's creation the 2nd Force Recon deactivated, which saw the most experienced men folded into the newly established Marine Special Operations Battalions' A month later in January, 1st Force Recon also closed. The remaining Marines in both Force Recon companies folded into new "D" companies within the Division Recon Battalions, forming the Deep Reconnaissance Platoons. In total, 3 Force Recon companies were deactivated. However, 5 Recon Battalions remain very active and are now part of 5 Marine Divisions.
ESS
ÂŁ63.00
THE PRESENT DAY ISN'T WHERE WE WANT TO BE WITH THIS "GEAR UP" SO WE'RE JUMPING IN THE AI TIME MACHINE AND JUMPING BACK TO 2001 WHERE M81 WOODLAND RULED THE ROUST AND NOMEX FLIGHT SUITS WERE THE ONLY FIRE RETARDANT CLOTHING IN OPERATION. Hang on a sec, didn't we use a flight suit in the last "Gear up", yes we did, but that's the beauty of an ever-expanding gear locker as you can go from a Navy SEAL VBSS operator to a Force Recon Marine with a few subtle gear changes. In fact, the majority of gear we used in this feature has been seen in previous editions.
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REPLICA MICH TC-2000
F O R C E
£20.00
CHECK OUT EBAY
R E C O N
REPLICA FLIGHT SUIT
£15.00
CHECK OUT EBAY
REPLICA THIGH HOLSTER
£9.00
CHECK OUT EBAY
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There's no getting away from the distinctive outline of a MIC helmet, you can spot one at a 1000 yards. As we have pinpointed the date of this project, you only really have one choice of MICH at your disposal, and that, of course, is the MICH TC-2000, which is the baseline version. Yes, your right there was a later 2001 version, but the "high cut” version is not the right choice for this project. If you want to go super authentic, you'll want to add either a PSV-14 NVG mount, and a pair of ESS tactical goggles. Sadly there is no getting away from the cost of these additions, at £63.00 for the goggles alone they are not cheap; however, one way to justify the price is to adopt them as your primary eye pro. They certainly have the correct ballistic rating (STANAG 2920) (NATO Standardisation Agreement) should you wish to know.
ON THE READY LINE!
We have already mentioned, and you have already seen the flight suit in the Navy SEAL VBSS Gear up, and also the reasons why they were adopted, if you have never used one on a skirmish field, we recommend that you do. The current flight suit that is used by most air forces and navies is made of Nomex, a fabric made from spun aramid that is lightweight and fire-resistant. But colour, style, and cut vary from country to country. The current model flight suit for the US military is the CWU 27/P, which is virtually identical to the flight suits used by Force Recon back in 2001. Belt order wise we are throwing on a "Riggers Belt" Green or Black or Tan it's your choice. The "go to belt" back then would have been produced by Eagle Industries and was known as a "Mission or Operators Gun Belt", however today there are a whole heap of different choices available at various price points, which is great especially if you're on a budget. One of the problems with a riggers belt is its inability
to carry loads and will require the help of a set of tactical suspenders, which will take all of the weight off your hips and make what is essentially your "tool belt" more comfortable. The kit you should think about adding is a holster and a dump pouch at the very least. A drop leg panel comes in very handy to add IFARK and or ammo pouches. Again the drop leg panel provider would have been Eagle Industries back in the day and to be super accurate there is only one choice, but that's entirely up to you. Pouch wise for both belt order, drop leg and MBAV is Eagle all of the way, the range is pretty extensive and easily purchased from eBay stores. If you're following our lead, we bought six M4 pouches, a selection of utility pouches, an admin pouch and a hydration pouch. If you shop wisely, you will be surprised at how cheaply you can pick these up. Although these examples were brand new, a good quality second-hand example starts from as little as £9.00 a pouch. We're not going to lie, yes you have seen this plate carrier used in Ai before, we featured the
whole package in a recent "Tools " article, but it was too good of an opportunity to turn down and actually inspired us to create this feature. This platform is essentially an Eagle Industries MBAV plate carrier and quite frankly one of the best if not now dated plate carriers we have in our gear locker if not the best replica on the market. As always, we have tried to nail the look and feel of this chosen gear up project while keeping one eye firmly on the cost. Thankfully the gear we sourced for this feature wasn't that hard to find, meaning the price was pretty reasonable, which can only be a good thing. Eagle has two versions of the Plate Carrier with Cummerbund—the SOCOM model and the standard model. The main difference is the name and colour choices, with more colours available with the Military Option, but that's no big deal as we are not after scoring the Civilian model. The military MBAV from a deployment package is easy to score from a number of eBay merchants and private sellers at amazing prices.
ISSUED
NOMEX FLIGHT GLOVES
£9.00
CHECK OUT EBAY
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AS ALL KIT EVOLVES AND REPLACES ITS FORERUNNER, THE OLDER KIT BECOMES AVAILABLE ON THE SECOND HAND OR EVEN UNISSUED MARKET PLACE. FSBE OR FULL SPECTRUM BATTLE EQUIPMENT IS AN EXCEPTION TO THAT RULE AS DESPITE THE PACKAGE GOING THROUGH ONE EVOLUTION IN ITS LIFETIME THE FSBEII IS STILL VERY MUCH ACTIVE AND AN ISSUED ITEM FROM MANY BRANDS THAT INCLUDE EAGLE INDUSTRIES.
R E C O N
Due to the Military drawdown, there is an abundance of Eagle gear available that potential buyers can wade through and pick and chose the best bits from many sources to build a complete MBAV that will easily fit all of your skirmish field needs.
POUCHES MAKE A VEST!
FSBE II has a massive assortment of pouches neatly packaged up in a deployment package, everything an "Operator" will need and then some, maybe more than you will ever need on a skirmish field, but it's good to have options, which you can tailor to your specific needs and budget. The most popular are... ■ M4 Magazine pouches ■ Pistol Magazine pouches ■ Respirator pouch ■ Admin pouch ■ Drop Leg platforms ■ Hydration/Breaching tool pouches ■ Utility pouches
However, some items enter the crazy world of the so-called "Collectors Market" which artificially pushes the prices up, making them out of reach for most airsofters. All of the MOLLE is double stitched to handle the weight of real-world pouch attachments and their contents. The shoulder straps are box stitched for security. THE MBAV is adjustable at both the shoulders and waist via the cummerbund, which can be removed entirely to streamline the carrier, but leaves you with a minimal platform and limited pouch hanging space. The cummerbund uses a lace retention system, which gives you ample girth adjustment to a certain point as the vest is not suitable for XXXL sized players. A "kangaroo pouch" sits behind the security flap, which secures the cummerbund at the front of the vest. Intended initially to holster a pistol, which can be achieved by adding a holster insert and was an operational requirement for vehicle-mounted members of the US Marine Corps, if you don't fancy housing your pistol there this pouch works well as a very secure utility pouch. The back platform is big enough to secure a hydration pouch but unless you're part of a well-oiled team you won't want much else on your back.
REPLICA RIGGERS BELT
£10.00
CHECK OUT EBAY
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THE MBAV PACKAGE
■ M4 Magazine pouches ■ Pistol Magazine pouches ■ Respirator pouch ■ Admin pouch ■ Drop Leg platforms ■ Hydration/Breaching tool pouches ■ Utility pouches
PRICE: £150.00 Available from many eBay or private kit selling pages
SHOPPING LIST
■ Authentic MICH cover: from £22.00 ■ Replica MICH cover (Optional): from £11.00 ■ Replica Helmet Night Vision Mount: from £24.00 ■ ESS Tactical Goggles: £63.00 (from Military 1st) ■ Replica MICH TC-2000: from £20.00 ■ Flight Suit: from £15.00 ■ Tan Knee Pads: from £24.00 ■ Riggers Belt: from £10.00 ■ Nomex Gloves: from £9.00 ■ Eagle Drop Leg Panel: from £14.00 ■ Tactical Thigh Holster (Optional): from £14.00
THE VAST MAJORITY OF THE KIT FOR THIS PROJECT WAS PURCHASED FROM AMERICAN EBAY STORES SO PLEASE BE AWARE THAT SHIPPING AND TAXES MAY NEED TO BE ADDED TO THE ABOVE PRICES.
REPLICA
NIGHT VISION MOUNT
£24.00
CHECK OUT EBAY
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ANZIO CAMP BLACKSHAW MOORE, NR LEEK, STAFFORDSHIRE. ST13 8TL
WELCOME TO THE NEXT INSTALMENT OF THE EVER SUCCESSFUL AI500 – OPERATION GENESIS PLAYING AT ANZIO CAMP JUST OUTSIDE LEEK IN STAFFORDSHIRE. ANZIO CAMP IS A HUGE, DISUSED M.O.D BARRACKS AND TRAINING FACILITY ENCOMPASSING A MASSIVE NUMBER OF BUILDINGS. THIS SITE HAS BEEN USED SEVERAL TIMES BY US AT THE AI500 AND IS PERFECT FOR THE BACKSTORY AND MISSIONS WE HAVE PLANNED. THERE IS PARKING/CAMPING AVAILABLE ON SITE BUT THERE IS ALSO A CAMPING SITE OPPOSITE WHICH HAS ALL THE FACILITIES OF AN ESTABLISHED CAMPING SITE, INCLUDING PROPER TOILETS AND SHOWER FACILITIES!
Anzio is a proper back to basics site with none of the after hours facilities of some of our previous weekends but don’t let this put you off, you will still experience the fun and excitement of an AI500 weekender with all the after game banter with your chosen team, including our Saturday night MEGA raffle. ■ DATE: 13/14/15 SEPTEMBER 2019 ■ LOCATION: ANZIO, BLACKSHAW MOORE, NR LEEK, STAFFORDSHIRE, ST13 8TL ■ CAMPING AREA ONLY ■ BRING YOUR OWN FOOD, UNLESS OTHERWISE INFORMED ON THE OFFICIAL AI500 FACEBOOK PAGES ■ AIRSOFT RETAILERS ■ 2 DAYS OF SKIRMISH ACTION OVER A UNIQUE AND FASCINATING AIRSOFT SITE ■ MINIMUM AGE: 14. ANYONE UNDER THE AGE OF 17 MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A FULL PAYING ADULT ■ PLEASE NOTE THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO POWER ON THIS SITE WHATSOEVER; PLEASE BRING YOUR OWN MOBILE BATTERY CHARGING SYSTEMS AND TORCHES, LANTERNS ETC FOR NIGHT TIME USE
BOOKING: Bookings can only be made via our website and spaces cannot be booked via any other means. Advance booking are only available via Paypal and a £45 NON-REFUNDABLE DEPOSIT will be required. You will receive a payment confirmation from Paypal, which will be your receipt of payment. Please make sure that the email address tied into your Paypal account is your correct email address as this will be used to confirm your space and provide all further information building up to the event.
GROUP BOOKINGS: Group bookings can be made via Paypal by simply adding the required amount of spaces (a maximum of ten spaces per booking) into your basket on our website checkout. A £45 deposit will be required for each named individual you wish to reserve a space for. Each individual’s name should be entered into the “Additional Info” box upon checkout. If you have made the booking we will then respond to the email address with any further information you require, which you may need to pass on to the individuals you have booked in.
PAYMENT IN FULL: When you arrive at the event ALL Players will be required to sign in and pay in FULL (CASH ONLY). You will also be required to sign a disclaimer form. (A number of documents will be available at the sign in desk on the day, but to speed things along please bring your own copy if at all possible which will be emailed to you with your confirmation email.) Once you have booked in and handed in the necessary paperwork you will be issued with a game patch - this item must be visible at all times (ESPECIALLY WHEN GAINING ACCESS TO THE SITE AND SLEEPING AREA) if you do not have this item then you will not be allowed into the site so please keep safe.
› TICKET PRICE: £90.00 › TICKET PRICE FOR RETURNING PLAYERS FROM OUR LAST AI500 GAME AT ANCASTER AIRSOFT: £80.00
BOOK NOW AT WWW.AI-MAG.COM/AI500 W W W. A I - M AG . CO M /A I 5 0 0
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OLFI ARE A BRITISH ACTION CAMERA COMPANY BASED IN THE HEART OF WALES, THOUGH THEY ARE A LITTLE COMPANY THEY ARE MAKING HUGE WAVES IN A MARKET THAT’S HEAVILY DOMINATED BY BIGGER BRANDS. OLFI BELIEVE IN LISTENING TO ‘THE PEOPLE’ INTEGRATING WHAT THEY WANT FROM AN ACTION CAMERA AND WITH A PLETHORA OF KNOWLEDGE BEHIND THEM, THEY CONTINUOUSLY ADAPT, IMPROVE THE TECHNOLOGY INVOLVED AND FIRMWARE THAT’S ALL DEVELOPED IN HOUSE.
Filming our Airsoft adventures is great, YouTube and other platforms give us in-depth content on guns, gear, sites and news. However just recently it has been heavily discussed about ‘click bait’ videos where the title has caused upset or claims to have outed an Airsoft cheater, we’ve all seen them and are guilty of fuelling the fire. Whereas watching the content it’s a very minor or even questionable action, there have been some extremes regarding fights or blatant overkill on players and with CCTV and action cameras everywhere we are catching more and more. So yes, film your adventures and reminisce in your memories, build a YouTube platform or review site, but let’s all move away from this culture of trying to one up another person. If the latter is the case you want to come across as professional, not immature, we can all work together to bring the sport into a more positive light.
Olfi believe in living life to its fullest potential, whether it be to travel, sleep, eat good food, enjoy great friends, broaden horizons or have an appetite for the spirit of adventure. So with that big statement in mind, how good are they in the market? Well not only have they started to be heavily featured in some serious tech and camera publications but they are holding their own by gaining awards in the big leagues. So let’s compare them to one of the leading companies in the market...
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V E
B L A C K
£149.99
U N D E R
OLFI
ONE.FIVE (BLACK)
■ 4K Ultra HD: 24fps ■ 16MP photos: (4609x3456 pixels) ■ High dynamic range: To help in low light ■ External Mic can be attached ■ Battery life: 1hr 20 min approx ■ Wifi enabled ■ Can be used with remote ■ Digital stabilisation ■ Weight: 60g ■ Weight with case: 115g ■ Dimensions: 54 x 40 x 24mm ■ Waterproof up to 30m ■ Video lapse: 3,5,10 minute sections ■ Time lapse: 0.5,1,3,5,10,30,60 seconds ■ Switches on when car activated ■ Underwater mode ■ Video: MP4 or MOV ■ Photos: JPG ■ Smartphone App (Andriod and iOS) ■ Removable battery
£329.99
O U R
S P O T L I G H T
GOPRO
HERO 7 (BLACK)
■ 4K Ultra HD: 30fps ■ 12MP photos ■ Weight: 116g ■ Dimensions: 62.3 x 44.9 x 33 mm ■ Time Lapse: 0.5, 1, 2, 5, 10, 30, 60 (s) ■ Video: MP4 ■ Night photos enabled ■ Video stabilisation ■ Looping available ■ Time lapse ■ Mic adaptor available ■ Wifi enabled and Bluetooth ■ Waterproof to 10m ■ Smartphone App (iOS and Android) ■ Upload to cloud (extra charge with subscription) ■ 2 Inch touch screen with zoom ■ Removable battery ■ Voice control and commands ■ Live streaming to social media
CHECK IT OUT!
OLFI ARE OFFERING ALL AI READERS A
10% DISCOUNT AT THE CHECKOUT! USE PROMO CODE
OLFIAI10 AND GET SAVING! Looking at the specifications side by side, there isn’t a massive difference in these two models – the GoPro details I’ve had straight from their website. The GoPro seems to have a few extra functions the Hero7 is the newest model on the market, from voice activation much like Siri you can use vocal commands. Plus you can upload live to your social media platforms for on the go coverage and for a subscription fee save straight to your Cloud drive. These are useful features, however, for myself I wouldn’t want to upload straight to social media unless it was for a live feature of events and it would cost you more in an extra subscription, on top of the hefty price for the camera already, just to upload straight to your Cloud drive. However, it would be a piece of mind to have, knowing you would save potentially losing any footage you have recorded. The Olfi camera is a little slower in fps (frames per second) however, you have a higher picture quality hence the slightly slower fps, so you’re not missing out on much there, it’s also a little smaller and lighter than its GoPro counterpart. If you’re not convinced, you can check their YouTube account for lots of footage from their customers and reviews from other companies. The biggest difference is the price, for just under half the amount you are getting nearly
the same specification of action camera and what’s best this is a British Company, with a smaller team you get a more personalised experience. They are on hand to help you out with any queries, problems or will listen to any feedback you have. They also offer you this with every newly purchased one, a 12 month accidental damage warranty, they understand action cameras are there to be used, knocked and will be dropped. This will include water damage too, it’s very simple – register your new camera within the first 60 days of purchasing for this extended warranty, it will cost you £35 admin fee – but this is all you have to pay, no hidden costs, no hidden agendas. These action cameras have a lot going for them, not only are they going to be great in the Airsoft community you can use them for other sports and functions. Going on holiday, car dash cam and many many other areas. On their website, they have tonnes of accessories for the camera at small prices from the infamous selfie stick to chest harnesses, lots of different mounts for all surfaces. There are lots of support from online tutorials too, YouTube videos on how to get the very best from your action camera set-up to meet your expectations and specifications. Olfi have very kindly created a bundle specifically for airsoft in mind and you can get these great deals...
OPTION ONE
■ Olfi one.five black camera ■ 1x 32Gb memory card ■ 1x Anti fog inserts ■ 1x Spanner ■ 1x Charging bundle – two extra batteries ■ Total: £179.00
OPTION TWO
■ All as above in option 1 ■ 1x Head strap ■ 1x Spare adhesive mounts ■ 1x Tether ■ Total: £208.00
In each camera bundle the one.five comes in its own smart zip up case, with a few mounts, instructions for your new action cam, a £5 voucher to use online, stickers and battery. If that wasn’t enough, the team are also offering all our AI readers a discount of 10% at the checkout use OLFIAI10 to get more savings. What you’re also buying into is the company ethos and what is it that makes them stand out? They love life, they love their job, they love dealing with their customers and they hold customer satisfaction at the forefront. They will strive for better, for you, day in day out because they aren’t corporate, they are truly dedicated to putting the consumer first.
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AR15 AT-NY03-CB AS MUCH AS I LOVE MY JOB HERE AT AIRSOFT INTERNATIONAL, CASTING A CRITICAL EYE OVER YET ANOTHER AR15 PLATFORM BECOMES MORE CHALLENGING ON EACH OCCASION, AND THE TASK COULD GROW RITUALISTIC VERY EASILY, AS OPPOSED TO OBJECTIVELY SHEDDING LIGHT ON THE NUANCES THAT SET EACH EXAMPLE APART. EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE, HOWEVER, SOMEONE BRINGS SOMETHING A LITTLE NEW TO THE TABLE. By Dave porteR IN A SSOCIATION WITH
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In September last year, I had the pleasure of reviewing the AT-AK01 from Arcturus, and that rifle said more about them as a company than any marketing or promotional video ever could. It was incredibly well built, over engineered in fact, and both the attention to detail and production values spoke volumes. Within the realms of affordability and exceptional quality, Arcturus made their mark, and the AK variants that followed were cast from the same mould. Needless to say, I was actually quite excited to hear that they were launching another AR15 variant, praying that they would give it the same due care and attention as their rebellious 7.62 cousins. Admittedly, however, my confidence wavered slightly when I opened the box, only to find a plastic bodied rifle…
RIGHT FROM THE GET GO
My immediate impression was this AR15 is the limp-wristed sport-line version of 'what could have been', but after just moments of digging, it soon became apparent that Arcturus has once again applied their particular brand of magic to this replica. For example, it's common that on a receiver constructed from nylon, the typical method of attaching the buffer tube is somewhat inadequate, and with a small amount of pressure, you can often flex the buffer tube and stock out of alignment with the receiver. Arcturus has actually used a metal threaded
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insert, whereby the buffer tube screws into place, closely resembling the mil-spec style attachment method used in the likes of PTW’s. Not only does this grant extra strength to the rear portion of the rifle, but it affords more space in the buffer tube to be used as battery capacity. Similarly, upfront you will find another threaded metal insert to secure the outer barrel in place too, so with my initial fears over the weakness and flexibility you often see with a nylon receiver put to one side, I could start to appreciate this particular AR15’s aesthetics and external components for what they are. Let’s start with the obvious stuff…
The first thing to notice is the rather hansom M-LOK handguard, which is made from aluminium and has plenty of mounting space for ancillaries. It also has three QD sling mounts, and a unique serial number printed down one side too. This lightweight aluminium handguard helps to keep the rifle balanced given the trim and light nylon receiver set, and it’s also keyed, so it won’t rotate or wobble out of position. Behind the handguard is a fake low-profile gas tube, the sort normally seen with AR15’s using a free float rail system, and this adds a sprinkle of realism to the ensemble, and right up front is the metal birdcage style flash hider, which I'm personally quite a fan of. Moving backwards, there's admittedly nothing to shout about with regards to the receiver in terms of aesthetics. There's a few angles and ridges to make it interesting, but there’s nothing here to really make it distinct or unique. I do however like the ridges at the front of the magwell to improve grip, and I’m also a fan of the Magpul styled trigger guard, that affords a little more room for when using the rifle while wearing gloves. I must say though, the pistol grip, in particular, is a nice touch, and you'll find that Arcturus has given us a modular grip, and supplied with the rifle are replacement front a rear grip faces so that it can be tailored to your preference. These include a rear face with a beavertail section, which is my preference for comfort. While we’re talking about extras out of the box, the Arcturus AR15 also comes
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supplied with some really nice front and rear flip-up sights. Made from nylon, the sights are fully adjustable for both windage and elevation, and the mechanism for releasing them is very rigid, so, all in all, they're a great little addition. The stock is again quite a stylish addition, but as per the receiver, there’s nothing ground-breaking or overly unique about it. It does, however, sit very snuggly onto the buffer tube and there's minimal movement or wobble which is always great to see. The stock has two traditional sling locations, along with another QD attachment between them, so you're well covered for the two, and three-point sling setups. If that isn't enough for you, there's a solid sling mount at the base of the buffer tube, and this will cover both left and right-handed shooters equally. When it comes to controls, Arcturus once again show us how thoughtful they have been, and the three main controls, the fire selector, magazine release, and bolt catch, are all completely ambidextrous. Obviously, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I think they’ve done a cracking job here, and personally, I think they look stunning; especially the fire selector, which definitely looks unique and interesting. The bolt catch is actually functional, which on a nylon bodied AR15 is actually quite a rarity, and the fire selector has a very definite and tactile click at each position, which just adds to that level of quality you sense from the rifle.
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INTERNALLY SPEAKING
When it comes down to internals, the Arcturus AR15 displays one of the best 'out of the box' setups in this price category, specifically the gearbox components. To start with, the gears, although standard, are well manufactured, well lubricated, but above all, expertly shimmed to near perfection with practically zero axial play. This has a huge bearing on how efficiently the gearbox cycles from shot to shot. Just as I found in the AT-AK01, the bevel gear is mounted on bearings, while both the sector and spur gears are mounted on slide bushes. This compensates for the uneven amount of axial torque across those particular gears while leaving the bevel gear to spin effortlessly with the pinion gears rotation. It's the intelligent use of pre-existing methods that set Arcturus apart from their nearest rivals. The air sealing components consist of a type 2 cylinder which is ported for an M4 sized inner barrel, a ported piston head, a poly-carb cylinder head with an O-ring, and a plastic nozzle which also has an O-ring. Again, the ensemble of fairly standard parts has been put together in such a way to create a rock-solid air seal. Bearings can be found inside the piston and on the spring guide too, which helps to keep the spring functioning efficiently and consistently. The piston has a full set of steel teeth, with the second to last tooth removed which evens out the force applied to
the first tooth of the sector gear. Some other nice features of the gearbox are low resistance wiring, a pre-installed sector delay chip, a micro-switch trigger, radiused corners on the cylinder port, and extra material behind the cylinder port for added strength. There's also a little port to access the anti-reversal latch so you can release the tension on the spring before opening the gearbox. Even the selector plate is made from metal! Overall, the gearbox uses the same aftermarket parts that many of us buy to dress-up the internals of our gear, but they've been specified and installed to an extremely high standard, and the result is an efficient and reliable gearbox, that really shouldn't need further upgrades. If you do however choose to 'tinker', Arcturus has ensured that ease of access is a prominent feature, with the anti-reversal latch window, and the QD spring change being two examples.
OUTER LIMITS
Outside of the gearbox, we can see a similar level of forethought. The inner barrel is a steel 6.01 tight bore, and you'll find the same QPQ finish on this barrel as the other rifles within their armoury. For those of you who aren't familiar, QPQ is an acronym for Quench-Polish-Quench, a manufacturing process where the components are soaked in a salt bath to produce a layer of iron nitride.
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They are then mechanically polished, before being re-immersed into the salt quench bath. This process gives the components great corrosion resistance and makes them much more hard wearing. The hopup is pretty decent, made from metal, and operates via a rotary dial. The dial has numerical location markers on it, and there's tactile feedback when you move it, so if you have to move it for any reason, you should be able to find the original position fairly easily. As standard, Arcturus appeared to have used an M nub, or at least some variant of it, which equates to a more stable and consistent hop when firing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
So is there anything I’m not particularly keen on… perhaps. The motor is completely stock and average, it's wired to a Tamiya connector as standard, and the dust cover opens way to easily. Not a huge list, is it?? With regards to the externals; If each component is viewed in isolation, then I can merit them highly, as everything is well made and superbly well put together, however, and I appreciate this comes down to personal taste, but even being an 'AR15 guy', there's just something about this rifle that doesn't call to me. Nylon receivers keep the weight down, but they also keep the cost
down too, and that’s the cost to manufacture the rifle, but also the cost to the final customer. Personally, I would prefer to pay just a little bit more to have an aluminium receiver, and I believe that would just about tip the scale in the 'looks department', but that boils down to nothing more than aesthetical preference. With regards to function, this thing really is top notch, and I don't believe it's by accident that this model is priced very similarly to G&G's top contender in this price bracket. Perhaps Arcturus have their sights zeroed in on the top spot in this weight class, and to be honest, if I were a betting man, I think I would back them.
FEATURES ■ Weight: 2500 g ■ Length: 800/890 mm ■ Material: Aluminium, Steel, Nylon ■ Fire mode: Auto, Single ■ Length of internal barrel: 380 mm ■ Diameter of Internal barrel: 6.01 mm ■ Magazine capacity: 300 BBs ■ Magazine material: Polymer ■ Muzzle velocity: 400 fps ■ Muzzle energy: 1.49 J ■ Gearbox version: v.2 ■ Warranty period: 12 months
FROM £134.00 AVAILABLE TAIWANGUN.COM
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ACE1 ARMS
S A L I E N T
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SALIENT ARMS TIER1 GLOCK 19 - BY ACE1 ARMS
ONCE UPON A TIME, UPGRADING YOUR PISTOL WITH A “METAL KIT” WAS THE ULTIMATE UPGRADE. DOING AWAY WITH THE STANDARD FACTORY PLASTIC OR MAYBE OPTING FOR A SPECIALIST SLIDE WITH FANCY ENGRAVINGS WAS THE TOP OF THE PILE. HANDGUN UPGRADES HAVE RECENTLY COME INTO VOGUE IN THE REAL STEEL WORLD, SO IT’S ONLY FAIR THAT AIRSOFT SHOULD FOLLOW SUIT! Salient Arms are a firearms “tuning” business. They don’t make guns from scratch, instead they take guns off the shelf and they tinker with them to enhance their performance. If you have a Glock, an M&P, a Benelli M3 or a Remington 870 Salient arms can do “a job” on it and enhance performance. These include weight savings, handling improvements and cosmetic tweaks but of course, these are only performed on real weapons… You can’t send your ASG Glock to Salient Arms and ask them to give it a going over; at least we don’t think you can.
ACE1 ARMS
ACE1 ARMS picked up on how cool a job Salient were doing when enhancing these weapons and decided they were going to try and transfer a lot of the best bits over to airsoft. Although many of the tweaks have a different effect on an airsoft gun, they still give you an improvement and not just in looks. We’ve taken a basic WE G19 Gen. 4, a Glock 19 replica, and given it the Salient Arms treatment thanks to the all inclusive ACE1 ARMS upgrade kit.
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WE G19 GEN. 4
We won’t spend too long focussing on the WE G19 since there’s plenty of information about GBB Glocks out there. The WE G19 is a bit special though since a decent Glock 19 replica is hard to come by, still! You can kit out a Tokyo Marui Glock 26 with a Guarder conversion kit, which is notoriously tough to get running smoothly, or you can go with a KSC gun and struggle to get hold of magazines (Okay, we're over simplifying, other Glock 19 models are out there but these
are traditionally the ones you'll find in UK stores). The WE G19 is not only the cheapest model available but also a Gen. 4 style replica. It’s based on the WE G17, which is in turn based on the TM Glock 17 which is about as basic and “no frills” as a GBB pistol comes. As with all WE pistols in the G series, you get a metal slide and a polymer, fibre reinforced lower. The usual quirks exist in that the slide is perhaps not finished in the most durable coating out there and the internals might not be the most robust, but they work and the G19 is readily available through many retailers. So what’s with the Glock 19 anyway? Basically, the 19 is a compact version of the 17. It’s shorter and uses a lower capacity magazine (although it is compatible with longer mags) and it’s ideal for general concealed carry use. In the real world, the Glock 19 is used by many law enforcement and military groups including CAG and it has reportedly been recently picked up by US NSW as an alternative to the venerable Sig P226. Basically it's a smaller Glock 17 in a, more compact package.
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THE ACE1 ARMS TIER 1 GLOCK KIT CONTAINS EVERYTHING YOU’LL NEED TO CONVERT AND OVERHAUL YOUR EXISTING GLOCK REPLICA INCLUDING INTERNALS, SIGHTS AND A RED DOT
ACE1 ARMS GLOCK 19 SLIDE
The primary component of the ACE1 ARMS kit is the slide. It’s CNC machined from high quality aluminium material and anodise finished with crisp engravings. That alone puts it a cut above even the best examples of factory supplied airsoft pistol slides but that’s not all. As per Salient Arms’ creed, ACE1 have replicated their work in airsoft format. The slide has ported windows at the front and on top creating visibility of the outer barrel and lightening the overall package. This in itself makes the slide cycle faster since there’s less mass to move. Further lightening is also achieved via skimmed sections, thinning out the slide walls around the breach opening. In addition to this, extra grip serrations are added to the slide to aid cocking. One of the most characteristic additions though is the milled section behind the breach allowing the direct fitment of a Trijicon RMR
red dot sight, something that’s tough to do neatly even with purpose built adaptors. Airsoft specific features include a separate extractor claw piece and a separate rear panel enhancing the detail and realism of the slide.
OUTER BARREL
Another characteristic part of the ACE1 kit is the outer barrel, annodised in a gold colour which sets the gun off well since it’s far more visible through the windows in the slide. The barrel is made from lightweight aluminium and features realistic engravings around the breach and also SAI etchings also the top, visible through the top slide window. The barrel isn’t threaded and doesn’t include some of Salient’s later box fluting details, but it still looks the part. As far as airsoft specific enhancements go, the inner barrel is stabilised inside this outer
via the use of an o-ring which prevents rattles and also should enhance accuracy.
TRIJICON RAISED IRON SIGHTS
One of the biggest compromises with mounting a red dot sight onto a pistol slide is the obscured iron sights. Most users get around this by fitting raised iron sights originally designed for use with fat suppressors that obscured the sight picture with lower models. ACE1 have supplied a set of Trijicon etched, steel iron sights that raise up just above the body of the red dot sight when fitted to give you a useable sight picture. These really finish off the look of the kit and being made from steel, they are more durable than the standard parts. Unfortunately they don’t feature any kind of glow or illumination, but this could be fixed with a few careful dabs of paint.
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INTERNAL PARTS
The ACE1 Salient Arms Glock 19 kit comes with an enhanced recoil spring and guide rod that features an allen key strip down bolt to make maintenance easier. In addition to this there are also a few extra parts required. Because of the milling on the top of the slide, the Salient set requires a different blowback unit and housing compared to the Glock 19 standard design. It’s actually closer to the Glock 18 design with a flattened top to provide space for all the parts inside. The Salient kit comes with a high quality blowback housing made from aluminium and a equally good polycarbonate nozzle. All the necessary springs are provided along with a few extra parts we didn’t initially recognise. To ensure widespread compatibility, the ACE1 kit is a modular Glock 17/Glock 18 design and depending which base replica you are fitting it to, can work with both. Simply select the parts for the Glock 17 if you have a semi-auto gun and the parts for the Glock 18 if you have a full auto gun. All the required parts are supplied in the package which is a stroke of genius!
TRIJICON RMR REPLICA
The Salient kit wouldn’t be complete without a red dot site on top of the slide and supplied with the kit is a fully trademarked RMR replica.
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It simply bolts into place with the two supplied allen screws and can be adjusted using the onboard buttons and zero’d using the screws. In terms of a functional replica the RMR is great, compete with full etched trademarks. In use we’ve found that it can be difficult to adjust to (using a red dot sight on a pistol) and acquiring the dot takes a bit of practice. On top of this holstering can prove tricky with certain holsters. It definitely looks the part though!
OVERALL
The quality of the ACE1 ARMS kit is top notch and we love that it’s complete with everything you need for both styles of replica. It’s well finished and full of neat details. Despite coming with everything you need though, the package is far from plug and play and as with most moving part upgrades some adjustments might be required to make everything fit and operate smoothly. We had a few issues when assembling the slide and blowback unit whilst keeping the extractor claw in place and also getting the blowback unit to run smoothly over the magazine without jamming the slide. If you’re well versed in pistol upgrades, this shouldn’t be a problem but if you’ve never touched one before, we’d advise employing a savvy technician to give you a hand!
PISTOL £89.99 WEGEN.G194 STYLE REPLICA ARMS SAI £239.00 ACE1 G19 TIER 1 RMR SET
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THE ULTIMATE WOODLAND AIRSOFT EXPERIENCE! 75 ACRE D WOODLAN ITE AIRSOFT S E RN NEAR BOU H T U IN SO S C LIN
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE! AT 75 ACRES FREE FIRE ZONE IS A SOUTH LINCOLNSHIRE WOODLAND SITE THAT IS LARGE ENOUGH TO GET LOST IN YET IT’S CRAMMED FULL OF AWESOME FEATURES TO GIVE YOU NUMEROUS GAMING ENVIRONMENTS. Free Fire Zone is an award winning airsoft site, situated near Bourne in Lincolnshire and is an established and ancient area filled with mature trees, undulating terrain and meandering streams. Once you’re a few yards into the deep and varied undergrowth, you could be 1000 miles from anywhere, so it’s easy to let your imagination quite literally run wild! Add to that a village, bridge, border crossing, 5x bunkers, a mortar pit system and the ammo dump at ‘Camp Dutch’ - Free Fire Zone also features a massive Firebase! On its own it boasts 4x fortified bunkers, a radio hut, battery HQ tower, ditch defences and 2x working 105mm guns! In the summer months we run 3 hour afternoon games for those more strategic players that want more objective based gaming with less spray and pray. ■ SOUTH LINCS LOCATION
Hire bookings must be mad e in advance by telephone
01733 247171 Emailing to book walk-on places is essential
SALES@FIRE-SUPPORT.CO.UK WWW.FIRE-SUPPORT.CO.UK
OOK!
B Y F ULL DAN HIRE GUES PACK AG
(PE10).
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FROM
■ 75 ACRES OF ANCIENT WOODLAND.
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LCT AK
L C K M
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LCKMECONOMY NV ECONOMY ISN’T REALLY AN ENTICING WORD IS IT? IT’S CERTAINLY NOT THE SORT OF PHRASE YOU’D EXPECT TO HEAR WHEN TALKING ABOUT A NICE AEG REPLICA OF AN AKM BUT THERE YOU HAVE IT, LCT HAVE AN “ECONOMY” MODEL IN THEIR RANGE BUT UNLIKE TESCO’S FLAVOURLESS BLUE AND WHITE STRIPED RANGE, THERE AREN’T THAT MANY CUT CORNERS AT ALL… As we have already established over several reviews in the past, LCT really know what they are doing when it comes to producing a solid AK-type replica… In fact, their AR-type replicas aren’t that bad either, but that’s a story for another time. LCT perhaps aren’t the greatest when it comes to naming their products though and slapping “economy” on the box of this particular gun might put off more buyers than it entices. Then again, it might have the inverse effect with those looking to save a few quid jumping on board. Whatever the influence of such naming, let’s take a look at the LCKM Economy NV.
AN AKM
The LCKM is LCT’s title for their AKM replicas. The AKM itself being perhaps one of the most numerous and proliferate of all the AK variants out there. It’s the stereotypical
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version, chambered in 7.62 and with the classic silhouette we all know and love. The AKM differs from the AK47 original production design most notably from the use of a stamped receiver instead of the milled design used in the 47. There are finer detail updates but this is the most visually striking and also the most pertinent change when looking at replicas especially from LCT. The LCKM Economy model is suffixed with the initials “NV” which may refer to the fact the gun is a “New Version” from LCT, distinguishing it from an older range, but it may also indicate etc gun has a Night Sight mount on the left hand side of the receiver. Technically the AKM should really be called the AKMN because of this. We can let it slide though, since otherwise the accuracy of replication is fantastic… All aside from the slightly longer receiver than the real thing, a common issue with 99% of AEG replicas.
IN THE DETAILS
With the AKM design copied, replicated and reproduced in numerous countries for numerous users, there are details and quirks that can be explained away in most instances. LCT are generally very hot on ensuring they don’t erroneously add or omit any details though. The foundations of the LCKM are very solid with the receiver and barrel assembly all being made form LCT’s now familiar steel. It’s all coated in a black annodised finish that wears pleasingly and doesn’t flake off compared to some other coatings. As new it all probably looks a little too fresh for an AKM, but over time it will wear in and take on a more realistic patina. You could of course accelerate this with some mild abrasives but whether you would want to or not is down to you, artificial weathering is a very contentious subject. The receiver is a stamped sheet metal just like the real thing and the barrel is a machined tube with most of the ancillary parts being cast. The finish between all the parts is very consistent and uniform so the gun looks very presentable and also very robust. You don’t get any real appreciable flex or wobble between all the parts of the gun to the point you might believe it’s all simply one massive piece of metal. This, teamed with the AK design’s natural propensity
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R E V I E W
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GET YOURS FROM
FEATURING UNMISTAKEAB LINES AND CLA LE AK FEATURES HAV SSIC, FAMILIAR LCKM, SO MUC E GONE INTO THE H WILL FIND THEM SO, EVEN PURISTS IT’S HARD TO B SELVES SATISFIED. ELIE QUALITY PACK VE SUCH A HIGH AGE AT UNDER £25 COMES IN 0, WHAT THE CATCH? ’S
SPECS
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SPECS ✔ Solid Build
■ Weight: 3.5kg
✔ Authentic Details
■ Length: 900mm
✔ Reasonably Priced
■ Hop up: Adjustable
✗ Pretty Basic AEG Tech ✗ No RIS Rails ✗ Slightly 'off-spec' Receiver
■ Mag capacity: 600rnds Hi-Cap
towards having very little in the way of flappy, fragile ancillary parts means you get a simply solid shooter that should stay complete and whole for many years to come, no matter how aggressive your skirmishing tendencies are.
to presumably make the cost saving aren’t some horrible creaky junk but are in fact fibre-reinforced, robust and all-round rather pleasant to hold stuff. Money well saved!
ECONOMY FACTOR
All this showy external work is all for nought if the internals of the gun are junk. The AEG marketplace is a competitive situation these days and you don’t have to compromise between fancy externals or decent performance, you CAN have both. Fortunately LCT are shipping their guns complete with excellently well assembled internals, using a fine selection of parts which ensure smooth running over a long period of time. What you don’t get though, is anything too showy or flash. You do just get a basic although highly serviceable Version 3 gearbox inside your AK. It’s not very exciting but much like the real thing that it is meant to replicate, it will keep on running and will fire in pretty much all conditions thanks to the simplicity! In summary the gearbox is a high quality, all-metal shell containing high quality steel gears inside that run on ball bearings. The piston and other polymer parts are of equally high quality and the resultant gearbox makes for a solid performer in itself or as an ideal
INTERNALS
A K
FROM £239.00 AVAILABLE FIRE-SUPPORT.CO.UK
■ Price: £239.00
■ Velocity: Up to 330fps (1.2-1.3 Joules)
All of these details are very much par for the course for the LCT AK range, so it’s time to consider where the “economy factor” comes in. It is of course in the omission of the wooden furniture that you’d expect to find on the AKM. Instead of carved and stained woodwork, this gun comes with a polymer furniture kit encompassing the pistol grip, the front hand guards and the stock. As a departure from what we have come to expect from LCT, these parts are not entirely “accurate” and are instead a closer match to what you’d expect to find on the AK74, the updated AK for military issue. The plastics are chosen because they are undoubtedly cheaper and easier to produce than the wooden equivalents but of course it’s feasible that a service or civilian owned AKM might be upgraded with the polymer parts to keep it in service if it had been damaged or the user simply wanted to reduce weight. In either eventuality, the plastics used here
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starting point for a host of upgrades. The design sticks to etc standard Version 3 AK design, therefore compatibility is broad allowing for the fitment of the vast majority of parts. We are happy to see that LCT are sticking with a polymer hop unit mated to a decent quality brass barrel instead of going for a cast metal unit and an aluminium barrel. LCT’s choices make for a more reliable, less fault-prone end result, even if the components themselves don’t look all that flash.
PERFORMANCE
The LCKM is not in any means a record-breaker when it comes to BB-spitting prowess. You get a solid, skirmish able gun straight out of the box and if you are just starting out, you will most definitely be satisfied with what you get. It’s more than competitive and you won’t feel like you are being out-shot by everyone on the field. For the more advanced AEG user, you may find that a few upgrades are necessary to gain the trigger response and cycle speed you might be looking for but with that said, there are very few AEGs that come out of the box that you won’t want to have a tweak with. The LCKM is putting .20g BBs out at approximately 330fps at a rate of about 650 per minute on a 7.4v LiPo battery and there’s plenty of space to store a large pack under the receiver top cover. The real appeal of the LCKM is the price. At £239.00 it is relatively cheap. A few years ago getting something of this quality with wood or plastic furniture would have been pretty much unheard of. Sure, you could always buy a CYMA AK for a little less but the quality difference between those and this LCT AKM are night and day. Literally every aspect of the LCT is improved. Whether you want a solid gun to use, week in week out, or you want a foundation to build your next project around, there’s not a great deal more appealing than the LCKM Economy NV!
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IN ASSOCIATION WITH
CYMA
CM.707 S N I P E R
By jason green
R I F L E
WITH THE SUMMER SEASON IN FULL SWING, GAME SITES EVERYWHERE ARE BECOMING A SNIPERS HAVEN, SO I SEE THIS AS THE PERFECT TIME TO INTRODUCE A BRAND NEW SNIPER RIFLE TO THE AI HQ ARMOURY. Taiwan gun has been quite impressive lately by bringing to market some genuinely awesome products, so naturally when we heard they were sending us a new sniper rifle to look at the whole AI team were eager to see what they had. With an emphasis on a streamlined body and a user-friendly platform, the expectations were high, especially when you take into account the recent releases we have been graced with have been excellent.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Breifly, CYMA have produced a good sniper rifle here, there is no doubt in that, but I’m sorry to say that when opening the box I was a little let down for the first time in a long while. There was just no wow factor, and let’s face it, to be persuaded or enticed to buy a new shooter, the first “wow” when you open the box is what you look for when you are face to face with a wall of opportunities. In it’s defense, the CM.707 does do what it says on the tin, it’s streamlined and easy to use but holding it in my hands I soon realised I had held this type of sniper before, in fact, I own one, all be it named the Well MB4411. It is unclear if it was CYMA’s intention to closely follow what the MB4411 offers, but at a glace it does look like a copy of what is essentially an already established product. They have made some changes though, like removing the rails on the upper side of the handguard, but at what cost? I’m hoping to find more changes internally, which would make this rifle an update to an original platform because quite frankly, if a few cosmetic changes is all we’re getting, well... that doesn’t bode well or make this a product that you’ll want to go out and buy. I know there are only a handful of things
you can do to a sniper rifle to make it unique and I think CYMA may have missed a few great opportunities here to build on what is already an impressive product. The bonus I have is the ability to directly compare the two versions side by side and strip them down to their undies, part by part. Starting with the visuals, there’s not much to rave about although I am pretty impressed with the flash hider, CYMA have given it a menacing look and I think it makes it look pretty aggressive. The fluted barrel is slowly becoming a more common aspect of the sniper rifle and I suppose it’s a way of adding a visual enhancement to grab your attention, but honestly, that’s all it is. The polymer body is as CYMA state, very “streamlined” and suits this particular rifle, the body has been moulded in a good way and it doesn’t look all that bad; I suppose, but I’m not entirely won over by it. An additional convenience is the possibility of full adjustment of the stock (but more about that later) and the ergonomic pistol grip with non-slip texture provided me with excellent control during those damper days and definitely aided in more precise shooting, but that’s not really a game-changer is it...
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SNIPER RIFL E
LENGTH ISN’T EVERYTHING
Maybe this is one of those rifles that’s too long for effective concealment and movement that a snipers role entails. Perhaps it’s just me? I like a longer sniper rifle where I can plot up and do my job, but for the more mobile snipers out there, you’re probably going to want something a little more compact to ply your trade. This became apparent when I took it for a spin around my local site, yes it wasn’t that easy to move around, but getting comfortable was a whole new task. I found that when you eventually get into a nice position, the hop adjuster is just far enough away that you have to really reach for it to make any adjustments. Trying to keep an eye down the sight whilst doing this was a little awkward to say the least, especially if you find yourself in a tight spot or heavy cover. The movement required to make any adjustments in this manner is more than likely going to give your position away.
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There’s just enough rail space for optics, but I think a slightly longer rail would have been more agreeable. Some scopes may struggle to find a home here, depending on the way you mount your scope, but CYMA has provided extra rails on either side of the handguard to compensate for this. I can’t fully understand why this decision was made, as the distance between them and the top rail is vast and makes them somewhat redundant for me. I can only assume that these were planned in to accomodate a mounted camera or something similar. The CM.707 is longer by 60mm coming in at 1190mm, and with the stock in place makes it a very long rifle to be lumbering around and I think this may put a few players off. Having said that, CYMA have compensated for this by making it lighter. Weighing 3400g, I couldn’t feel any noticeable difference when holding the two, so I guess that’s a small benefit.
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S N I P E R
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STOCK TAKE
One thing I do like is the skeleton effect that the rear folding stock enjoys. Its lightweight, simple and boasts two sling fixing points. The addition of the adjustable shoulder pad and cheek rest was a great decision and is probably the best choice for this particular version. If this style is not your thing, then fear not, when its folded away there’s a convenient hex screw hidden away that enables you to change it to one that is more your own style.
INTERNALS
When looking at the important parts like the cylinder and spring it becomes evident that these parts are VSR compatible making upgrades and replacement parts easy enough to source. Although, one thing to watch out for is the polymer BB loading ramp. Unfortunately this is the one part that is probably going to fail at some point. My suggestion would be to invest in a metal one as soon as you can. One bonus to this particular sniper is the mid-cap 100 BB capacity mag, the construction is good and it’s made of strong polymer so it can take a solid knock if you accidentally drop it or snag it on debris while crawling around in the mud or through the bushes. The power output from the CM.707, like all snipers, will go up to 500 fps but be sure to change the trigger sears as any spring upgrade will soon destroy the standard factory ones that i found had been installed.
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I F L E
U N D E R
O U R
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£142.00
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
The Taiwan Gun website boasts an impressive 2.31j or close to 500 fps, but remember this will not be the UK standard so expect it to arrive closer to 380fps mark, in fact, this one chrono’d at 367fps through 8 shot’s on .30g bb’s, but the accuracy was outstanding. Now I don’t have perfect eyesight, but the BB’s soon disappeared out of my range, so it’s got some potential! The suggested best weight for this is said to be between .30g and .40g BB’s so a good range to play with there, and I dare say that with a few minor changes like the hop rubber and a good quality BB the effectiveness will be outstanding.
DO I WANT ONE?
I guess the most crucial part of this review is what do I really think of the CM.707 and have they come up with a great new rifle, or have they just simply produced what is essentially a copy of an existing product?
AVAILABLE FROM TAIWANGUN.COM
IF YOU’RE CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR A NEW BASE TO BUILD YOUR NEXT SNIPER PROJECT ON, WE THINK THIS SHOULD DEFINITELY BE ON YOUR RADAR. WITH AN ATTRACTIVE PRICE POINT THAT IS CHEAPER THAN MOST OF ITS COMPETITORS, THIS OFFERING FROM CYMA AIN’T TO BE SNIFFED AT! I don’t like saying this with my commercial head on, especially when Taiwan Gun are good friends of ours, but I’m here to let our readers know what I think of a product and give my recommendations. The CM.707 falls just below my “must have” Radar, and it’s not because I already own the Well MB4411, but it falls into the massively overcrowded and suffocating ‘budget sniper rifle’ market.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Okay, my final thoughts on this is that it’s not all bad, not by a long shot (excuse the pun), yes its a budget option that could be vastly improved upon if some upgrades and accessories were thrown at it, and if you care to take the time and money to do so, it could be an absolute monster! So if you’re currently looking for a new base to build your next sniper project on, we think this should definitely be on your radar and with an
attractive price point cheaper than most of its competitors, it ain’t to be sniffed at! With so much more choice in today’s sniper market, cost is usually King and at £142 from Taiwan Gun, we think it’s certainly worth a punt. I just can’t help but think that this is one of those cases where the price and performance are great, but at the end of the day it’s still the ugly sister that gets left at home on Prom night. As my Grandma used to say; “Beauty is only skin deep, after all, I married your Grand Father!”
FEATURES ■ Weight: 3400 g ■ Colour: Black ■ Length: 915/1190 mm ■ Material: Polymer/Metal ■ Fire mode: Single ■ Length of internal barrel: 500 mm ■ Diameter of Internal barrel: 6.03 mm ■ Magazine model: Mid-cap ■ Magazine capacity: 100 BBs ■ Magazine material: Polymer ■ Muzzle velocity: 500 fps ■ Muzzle energy: 2.31 J ■ Warranty period: 6 months ■ Hop up: Adjustable ■ Magazines in box: 1 pcs. ■ Ammo: .36g, .40g, .30g ■ Serial number: Yes
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NE W MODEL!
A K U
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G T X
SELVATICA TACTICAL GTX MID CHOOSING THE RIGHT PAIR OF BOOTS FOR YOU CAN BE A DAUNTING TASK. THEY CAN BE EXPENSIVE, UNCOMFORTABLE, AND AT TIMES NOT FIT FOR PURPOSE. HOWEVER, THEY ARE A NECESSITY IN THE REALMS OF AIRSOFT, AND SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH. WITH THAT IN MIND THOUGH, WHAT DO WE BELIEVE TO BE SOME OF THE STRONGEST EXAMPLES OF BOOTS ON THE MARKET? Boots are important, period. I’ll spare you the lecture as to why, but I’m sure you can understand why a pair of protective boots are important when playing a sport in often dangerous terrain. If you’re looking for a reason to get away with not wearing boots, head over to our website and pick up the last issue of AI and have a read of our 1-page LOWA boot review... you’ll soon get why you want to invest sooner rather than later. Now that we’ve got that out of the way, choosing a pair of boots can be a difficult choice. Some of you will already have it in your heads, maybe due to a specific load out choice, others of you will likely have no idea whatsoever. So what exactly are you looking for in a pair of boots? Your first deciding factor should revolve around the terrain you traverse most often. If you’re someone who plays a lot of urban games, you’ve essentially got an open playing field on what to use. Obviously certain boots will fare better on tarmac, but overall your pretty safe. If, on the other hand, you’re someone who plays at what
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is essentially a swamp, you’re going to want to invest in some GORE-TEX high boots to help aid in keeping your feet dry. Secondly, you have to be able to wear them. Don’t make a decision based on brands or the likes, try to get to your local shop to try them on and make sure the fit suits your foot. For example, certain boots are much better suited to those with thin feet. Lastly, you’ve got to like them. As much as we all hate to admit it, airsoft has somewhat of a vanity factor to it, in the fact that we all like to look good on the field. If you don’t like the look of them, likelihood is you’re going to treat them badly and they’ll end up ruined. Outside of that, a lot of it will come down to personal preference. That said, there are certain companies out there that make brilliant boots for not so brilliant situations, usually for those who operate in the real world. It is at times a good idea to browse their wares. One such company that we suggest taking a closer look at is AKU, a company famed for their work with U.S. Navy SEALs.
ABOUT AKU
Italian-based AKU burst onto the tactical gear market following the success of their Navy Seal boot, and have since gone on to produce a range of multi-terrain footwear that have seen use by a number of Special Operations units, utilised in a wide range of different environments. Like many manufacturers of footwear, AKU started as a small company, operating out of a workshop in Italy. Over the years, that operation has grown, quickly out-scaling their original workshop, and now own two state-of-the-art facilities in Treviso, Italy, and Cluj Napoca, Romania. With a range of products available in various sectors from mountaineering boots through to active free time footwear, AKU combine a genuine passion for manufacturing with the prestigious tradition of Italian workmanship; a tradition that is firmly rooted within the craftsmanship of high quality products. AKU’s range of footwear is designed for those who live, work and thrive in the outdoors, with their range of tactical-style boots designed to traverse some of the harshest environments on planet Earth. Ongoing investment in materials research, design and manufacturing have catapulted AKU to the forefront of the tactical gear market, and having already been a market leader in the outdoors trade, they are slowly becoming a firm favourite with Tier-1 assets around the world.
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SELVATICA TACTICAL MID GTX
In today’s market, the need to constantly evolve is a must. With such a wide range of products on the market, the ability to adapt and overcome competitor brands is often the difference between success and failure. AKU are a company that realise this, and have since flourished due to the importance the company places on innovation. The Selvatica Tactical Mid GTX is the epitome of this way of thinking, combining cutting edge materials
T A C T I C A L
and technologies with unrivalled design and manufacturing; making the Selvatica one of the most advanced example of footwear on the market. Working with market leaders such as Vibram and Gore-Tex, AKU have successfully combined a range of technological advancements, bringing them together in a lightweight boot that excels in nearly any environment. Through their work with Vibram, the Selvatica Tactical Mid GTX incorporates an exclusive
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sole that offers optimised surface-to-ground contact, enabling better all-round traction, incorporating AKU’s Elica Natural Stride System to optimise biodynamic efficiency. The use of bearing ribs eliminates the need for stitching, making the boot a self-contained unit which not only helps eliminate unwanted weight, but also increasing durability. The Selvatica also makes use of OrthoLite insoles as well, designed for optimum shock absorption.
AKU
SELVATICA TACTICAL GTX MID
£159.90 WWW.AKU.IT/EN
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■ Address: Druggam Woodlands, Banchory, AB31 5HN ■ Phone: 07772485325 ■ Email: info@battle-scotland.co.uk ■ Website: en-gb.facebook.com/pages/BUNKER31-Airsoft-Aberdeen/137084359708214
C3 TACTICAL
■ Address: Cwmcarvan, Monmouthshire ■ Phone: ■ Email: info@c3tactical.co.uk ■ Website: www.c3tactical.co.uk
CERBERUS AIRSOFT SANDPIT
■ Address: Bolton Wood Quarry, Bolton Hall Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire, BD2 1BQ ■ Phone: 07891 469492 ■ Email: staff@cerberusairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: cerberusairsoft.co.uk/sandpit.html
CLOSE ACTION AIRSOFT
■ Address: Near Fineshade, NN17 3BB ■ Phone: 07740 165787 ■ Email: cjfs8362@yahoo.com ■ Website: www.close-action.co.uk
W W W.V I P E R K I T. CO . U K
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GOOD GIG GUIDE
Y OUR A IRSOF T SK IRMIS
COMBAT SOUTH
■ Address: Unit 4, Fairways Business Centre , Portsmouth, PO3 5NU ■ Phone: 023 9265 5636 ■ Email: sales@combatsouth.co.uk ■ Website: www.airsoftgames.com
COMMANDO ELITE PAINTBALL AND AIRSOFT
■ Address: Monks wood, Abbots Ripton, Huntingdon, PE28 2LR ■ Phone: 0771 435 1824 ■ Email: www.facebook.com/ monkswoodpaintballpark/ ■ Website: commando-elite.wix.com/ commandoelite
CONTACT FRONT LTD
■ Address: Wattons Lane, Matchams, BH24 2DG ■ Phone: 0845 116 2830 ■ Email: info@contactfront.co.uk ■ Website: www.contactfront.co.uk
CONTACT! (FIGHT SCHOOL)
GUNS REPAIRS GUN UPGRADES GUN SERVICING FREE TWO TONING
■ Address: Kelvedon Hall Lane, Kelvedon Hatch, CM14 5 ■ Phone: 01438 368177 ■ Email: dean@thefightschool.demon.co.uk ■ Website: www.thefightschool.demon.co.uk
IN-STORE TECH GIRL WITH GREAT PRICES AND QUICK TURN AROUND FREE TWO-TONE SERVICE AVAILABLE
MELTON ROAD QUENIBOROUGH INDUSTRIAL ESTATE UNIT 2 LEICESTERSHIRE - LE7 3FP UNITED KINGDOM WE OPEN: THURSDAY 10-5 FRIDAY 10-5 SATURDAY 10-5 SUNDAY 11-4
LEICESTERSPORTS@GMAIL.COM
07526372108 LONGSHOTSPORTS-STORE.CO.UK
032 076
EAST MIDLANDS AIRSOFT CLUB
■ Address: Wood Lodge Ancaster, Grantham Lincs, NG32 3PY ■ Phone: 01400230306 ■ Email: info@ancasterleisure.co.uk ■ Website: www.ancasterleisure.co.uk
ELITE ACTION GAMES - DORKING
■ Address: Reffolds Copse, RH5 5AB ■ Phone: 07502206421 ■ Email: John@eliteactiongames.com ■ Website: www.eliteactiongames.com/dorking/
ELSHAM AIRSOFT
■ Address: Elsham Activity centre, Elsham, DN ■ Phone: 01482935515 ■ Email: admin@elshamairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.elshamairsoft.co.uk
FCS - THE ESSEX ACADEMY
COOL UNDER FIRE
■ Address: The Essex Academy, Chelmsford, CM3 4AT ■ Phone: +447973 240 177 ■ Email: andy@firefight.co.uk ■ Website: www.firefight.co.uk
COTSWOLD AIRSOFT
■ Address: Crail Airfield, Crail, KY10 3XL ■ Phone: ■ Email: info@fifewargames.com ■ Website: www.fifewargames.com
CUMBRIA AIRSOFT ANNAN
■ Address: Stamullen Village, Co Meath, Ireland ■ Phone: 0862675070 ■ Email: info@fingalairsoft.com ■ Website: fingalairsoft.com/
■ Address: Moonfield Farm, Doddington, Kent, ME9 0JS ■ Phone: 07960532613 ■ Email: legion@coolunderfire.co.uk ■ Website: www.coolunderfire.co.uk
■ Address: Bourton Woods, GL56 9AJ ■ Phone: ■ Email: cotswoldairsoft'outlook.com ■ Website: www.cotswoldairsoft.co.uk/
WE HAVE THE LARGEST SELECTION OF AIRSOFT GUNS IN THE LEICESTER AREA WITH GREAT PRICES AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
EAG BADLANDS
■ Address: Woodberry Lane, Rowlands Castle, PO9 6DP ■ Phone: 07732130802 ■ Email: soulairsoft@hotmail.co.uk ■ Website: soulairsoft.wix.com/eagbadlands
■ Address: Broom Farm Estate, Newbie, Nr Annan, Dumfries ■ Phone: ■ Email: info@cumbria-airsoft.com ■ Website: www.cumbria-airsoft.com/
DEFCON AIRSOFT
■ Address: 2A Stanton Road, Stoke-on-Trent, ST3 6DD ■ Phone: 01782 479121 ■ Email: admin@defconairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.defconairsoft.co.uk
FIFE WARGAMES
FINGAL AIRSOFT
FIREBALL SQUADRON
■ Address: Bassets Pole Island off the A38, Between Minworth and Lichfield, B75 5SA ■ Phone: 07582684533 ■ Email: martin@fireballsquadron.com ■ Website: www.fireballsquadron.com/
FIRST AND ONLY - ANZIO CAMP
DIRTY DOG AIRSOFT
■ Address: Anzio Camp, North of Leek, ST13 8TL ■ Phone: 0161 727 8863 ■ Email: info@firstandonlyevents.co.uk ■ Website: www.firstandonlyevents.co.uk
DRAGON VALLEY
■ Address: Gatcombe Wood, Blakeney, Gloucestershire, GL15 4AY ■ Phone: 01594 516 067 ■ Email: fodpaintballandairsoft@outlook.com ■ Website: fodpaintballandairsoft.co.uk/
■ Address: 44 Sunnydale, Shildon, County Durham, DL4 2ER ■ Phone: 07712 588 700 ■ Email: dirtydogairsoft@outlook.com ■ Website: dirtydogairsoft.co.uk/
■ Address: Caerwent Training Facility, Caerwent, South Wa ■ Phone: 07921 336360 ■ Email: info@dragonvalley.co.uk ■ Website: www.dragonvalley.co.uk/
DRAGONS LAIR AIRSOFT
■ Address: On the site of the Secret Nuclear Bunker, Kelvedon Hatch, Essex, CM15 0LA ■ Phone: 01708 765036 ■ Email: info@dragonslairairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.dragonslairairsoft.co.uk
FOREST OF DEAN PAINTBALL & AIRSOFT
FOXTROT 58 AIRSOFT
■ Address: Islandmagee ■ Phone: 07951858650 ■ Email: foxtrot58@hotmail.co.uk ■ Website: foxtrot58airsoft.synthasite.com/
FREE FIRE ZONE BULBY HALL WOOD
■ Address: Bulby Hall Wood, PE10 0SD ■ Phone: 07925 959398 ■ Email: sales@fire-support.co.uk ■ Website: freefirezone.co.uk/
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MISH SI T E DIREC T OR Y - WHERE T O PL AY IN T HE UK FRONTIER AIRSOFT
■ Address: A449, South of Stafford, Junc 13 of the M6 at Dunston and Penkridge, ST19 5R ■ Phone: 07590255914 ■ Email: info@frontierairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.frontierairsoft.co.uk
FRV AIRSOFT
■ Address: 132 Loughinisland Road, Annacloy, Downpatrick, BT30 8JJ ■ Phone: 07730586926 ■ Email: info@frvairsoft.com ■ Website: www.frvairsoft.com
FULL METAL AIRSOFT
■ Address: Cilyrychen Quarry, Llandybie, Ammanford, SA18 3JG ■ Phone: 01269 850404 ■ Email: info@fullmetalairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: fullmetalairsoft.co.uk/contact.html
GROUND ZERO AIRSOFT - WOODLAND
■ Address: Somerley Estate, Ringwood, Hampshire, C/O Zero One Airsoft ■ Phone: 01329 849818 ■ Email: itstheh@groundzeroairsoft.com ■ Website: www.groundzerowoodland.com
GUNMAN AIRSOFT - 'THE VALLEY'
■ Address: Fleet Road, Off the A327, RG27 0PY ■ Phone: 07854 277264 ■ Email: enquiries@gunmanairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.gunmanairsoft.co.uk/
HALO MILL
■ Address: The Penthouse, Colne Valley Business Park Manchester Road, HD7 5QG ■ Phone: 01484 840554 ■ Email: info@halomill.com ■ Website: www.halomill.com/
HARD TARGET AIRSOFT
■ Address: Merthyr Mawr Road, Bridgend, CF32 0LR ■ Phone: 07950580217 ■ Email: contact@htairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.hardtargetairsoft.com
HAVOC AIRSOFT
■ Address: Havoc Airsoft, Leatherbelly Woods, Knottlingley, West Yorkshire, WF11 9LZ ■ Phone: 01977 679041 ■ Email: havochq@outlook.com ■ Website: www.havocairsoft.co.uk
HOCKLEY AIRSOFT ARENA
■ Address: Unit 7, Eldon Way Industrial Estate, Eldon Way, Hockley, Essex, SS5 4AD ■ Phone: 01702 202318 ■ Email: enquiries@hockley-airsoft-arena.com ■ Website: www.mpa-airsoft.com
HOLMBUSH EVENTS DOGTAG AIRSOFT
ISLAND RECON AIRSOFT COMBAT
■ Address: Sandy Way, Near Shorwell, Isle of Wight, B3399 ■ Phone: 07964751047 ■ Email: Bookings@islandrecon.co.uk ■ Website: www.islandrecon.co.uk
KILL HOUSE AIRSOFT
■ Address: Sayner Lane, Leeds, LS10 1LS ■ Phone: 0113 2443374 ■ Email: ■ Website: www.killhouse.co.uk/
LAND WARFARE
■ Address: Wotton, OX13 6BX ■ Phone: 07387 941782 ■ Email: Honey Bottom Lane Abingdon ■ Website: www.facebook.com/landwarfare/
MADDOG AIRSOFT
■ Address: High Harthay Farm, Great North Road, PE28 4NQ ■ Phone: 07943265477 ■ Email: info@maddogairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: facebook.com/maddogairsoftground
MANXAIRSOFTCLUB
■ Address: ■ Phone: ■ Email: admin@manxairsoftclub.co.uk ■ Website: www.Manxairsoftclub.co.uk
MATLOCK COMBAT GAMES
■ Address: Lant lane, A632 between Matlock and Chesterfield, DE4 5FW ■ Phone: 07974507166 ■ Email: justin@matlockcombatgames.com ■ Website: www.matlockcombatgames.com
NETLEY HALL AIRSOFT
■ Address: Netley Hall, Dorrington, SY5 7JZ ■ Phone: 01743718339 ■ Email: Netleypaintball@gmail.com ■ Website: netley-hall-paintball.co.uk/airsoft/
NOMAD AIRSOFT
■ Address: Moss Wood, Fenwick, KA6 3AY ■ Phone: ■ Email: johno@nomadscotland.co.uk ■ Website: www.nomadairsoft.co.uk
NORTHEAST TACTICAL AIRSOFT CLUB
■ Address: Sunnydale, Shildon, DL4 2ER ■ Phone: 01642281220 ■ Email: ntacoy@live.co.uk ■ Website: www.ntac.co.uk
NORTHERN ALLIANCE AIRSOFT
■ Address: Boroughbridge Road, YO7 3LQ ■ Phone: ■ Email: admin@northernallianceairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.northernallianceairsoft.co.uk/
NPF BASSETTS POLE
■ Address: Crawley Road, Faygate, Horsham, RH12 4SE ■ Phone: 01293 852314 ■ Email: bookings@holmbushpaintball.co.uk ■ Website: holmbushevents.co.uk/ combat-zones/airsoft/
■ Address: NPF, Trickley Coppice, London Road, Bassetts Pole, Sutton Coldfield, B75 5SA ■ Phone: 01213231000 ■ Email: info@npfbassettspole.com ■ Website: www.npfairsoft.com
HUMBER AIRSOFT
NSC AIRSOFT
■ Address: Leggotts Quarry, South Ferriby, ■ Phone: 07792680297 ■ Email: humberairsoft@outlook.com ■ Website: www.humberairsoft.co.uk
■ Address: Bygate Plantation, Black Heddon, Belsay, NE20 0JR ■ Phone: 07983333521 ■ Email: info@nscairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.nscairsoft.co.uk
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK!
@AMMODROP
01949 728 628
s a l e s @ a m m o d r o p.c o. u k
A M M O D R O P.C O.U K W W W . V I P E R T A C T I C A L S H O P. C O . U K
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Y OUR A IRSOF T SK IRMIS
OP TACTICAL UK - THE KINGDOM
■ Address: Huntley Wood, Coneygreaves, Cheadle, Staffordshire, ST10 2NS ■ Phone: 07510127056 ■ Email: rob@op-tac.co.uk ■ Website: op-tac.co.uk
PATHFINDER AIRSOFT
■ Address: ■ Phone: ■ Email: admin@pathfinder-airsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.pathfinder-airsoft.com/
PHOENIX AIRSOFT
■ Address: Gleadthorpe Breck Plantation, Budby Road, Cuckney, NG20 9JX ■ Phone: 07956587213 ■ Email: info@phoenixairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.phoenix-airsoft.co.uk
PREDATOR COMBAT GAMES
■ Address: 49 Newcastle road, Ballynahinch, BT24 8NF ■ Phone: 0782516931 ■ Email: info@predatorcombat.com ■ Website: www.predatorcombat.com
R.I.F.T. AIRSOFT LTD "THE VILLAGE"
■ Address: ■ Phone: 0775 158 6781 ■ Email: tony@riftairsoft.com ■ Website: www.riftairsoft.com
RED 1 AIRSOFT CQB
■ Address: Langleybury, Hunton Bridge, Kings Langley, WD4 8RW ■ Phone: 01727846069 ■ Email: www.red1airsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.red1airsoft.co.uk
RED BARN AIRSOFT
■ Address: Swords, Co. Dublin, Ireland ■ Phone: ■ Email: bbs@redbarnairsoft.com ■ Website: redbarnairsoft.com/
REDHILLS AIRSOFT
■ Address: Redhills, Co. Kildare, Ireland ■ Phone: 0872481246 ■ Email: redhillsairsoft@gmail.com ■ Website: redhillsairsoft.com/
REFORGER SKIRMISH
■ Address: Quartermaster Store, Watford road Hunton bridge, Wd48qg ■ Phone: 01923270158 ■ Email: andy@thequartermaster.co.uk ■ Website: www.reforgerairsoft.com
SECTION 8 AIRSOFT GAMES
■ Address: Dura Road, Look for Ruined Church / Red Metal Gate, ML7 5AB ■ Phone: 07974 026518 ■ Email: info@s8airsoft.com ■ Website: www.s8airsoft.com
SHOCK AND AWE AIRSOFT
■ Address: Kinmel Woods, St George/Abergele, LL22 9BU ■ Phone: 07981 443152 ■ Email: shockandaweairsoft@gmail.com ■ Website: www.shockandaweairsoft.co.uk
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SHOOT & SCOOT - THE HILL
■ Address: Emmock Road, Dundee, DD3 0 ■ Phone: 01796 482582 ■ Email: info@shootandscoot.co.uk ■ Website: www.shootandscoot.co.uk/the-hill/
SHROPSHIRE AIRSOFT WAR GAMES
■ Address: ■ Phone: 07445511642 ■ Email: sawgskirmish@hotmail.com ■ Website: www.sawg.co.uk
SIM-TAC AIRSOFT
■ Address: Gibstown, Co. Meath, Ireland ■ Phone: 0864118610 ■ Email: simulationtacticalairsoft@gmail.com ■ Website: www.sim-tac.com/
SKIRMISH AIRSOFT
■ Address: Kitchener Plantation, B6034, Budby, Nottinghamshire, NG22 9FG ■ Phone: 0844 9970 378 ■ Email: sales@skirmishairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.airsoft-mansfield.co.uk/
SKIRMISH AIRSOFT BILLERICAY
■ Address: Skirmish Wood Outwood Farm Rd, Billericay, CM11 2TX ■ Phone: 01277 657777 ■ Email: info@skirmish.co.uk ■ Website: www.airsoft-billericay.co.uk
SKIRMISH CENTRAL AIRSOFT
■ Address: Granary Farm Woods, Dungee Rd. Nr Odell. Beds, MK43 7AE ■ Phone: 01933 314805 ■ Email: enquiries@skirmishcentral.com ■ Website: www.skirmishcentral.com/airsoft
SKIRMISH EXETER
■ Address: Pennsylvania Road, North of Exeter, EX4 5 ■ Phone: 01548 580025 ■ Email: enquiries@airsoftexeter.com ■ Website: www.airsoftexeter.co.uk
SKIRMISH LEICESTER & COVENTRY
■ Address: Sharwell Woods, Swinford Road, Lutterworth, Le17 4HP ■ Phone: 0844 870 9785 ■ Email: bookings@skirmishleicester.co.uk ■ Website: www.airsoftleicester.co.uk
SOUTH COAST CQB
■ Address: Browndown Road, Lee on the solent, PO13 9UG ■ Phone: ■ Email: 'southcoastcqb@gmail.com' ■ Website: www.southcoast-cqb.co.uk/
SPARTAN AIRSOFT
■ Address: Spartan Airsoft, Brockley Combe , BS48 3DF ■ Phone: 07791176046 ■ Email: spartanairsoftuk@gmail.com ■ Website: www.spartanairsoft.co.uk/
SPEC OPS - BLOXWORTH
■ Address: Bloxworth, Off the A35, BH20 7EU ■ Phone: 07984 656947 ■ Email: mike@specops.co.uk ■ Website: www.specops.co.uk/
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MISH SI T E DIREC T OR Y - WHERE T O PL AY IN T HE UK SSVAIRSOFT
■ Address: 2 Queen Street, DN85AA ■ Phone: 07939976835 ■ Email: petrarrazvan@gmail.com ■ Website: www.ssvairsoft.com
STIRLING AIRSOFT
■ Address: ■ Phone: 07831429407 ■ Email: bookings@stirlingairsoft.com ■ Website: www.stirlingairsoft.com
STORMFORCE AIRSOFT
■ Address: Bardy Lane, Upper Longdon, Nr Rugeley, Stafford ■ Phone: 07515 937633 ■ Email: mark@stormforce.plus.com ■ Website: www.stormforceairsoft.co.uk
SUSSEX AIR SOFT
■ Address: Roman Woods Off Furnace Lakes fisheries, Guildford Road, Slinfold ■ Phone: 020 8150 9284 ■ Email: info@sussexairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.sussexairsoft.co.uk
SWAT URBAN AIRSOFT FORTRESS
■ Address: Hygeia Street, off Boundary Lane, Liverpool, L6 9BY ■ Phone: 0151 644 1611 ■ Email: info@swatuk.com ■ Website: www.swaturban.com
TAC HOUSE SPARTAN
■ Address: Goytside Road, Chesterfield, Derbyshire, S40 2BL ■ Phone: 07540 955997 ■ Email: tachouse_spartan@aol.com ■ Website: www.tachousespartan.co.uk/
TACTICAL WARFARE AIRSOFT
■ Address: Featherbed Woods, CR6 9PL ■ Phone: 020 3490 8008 ■ Email: enquiries@tacticalwarfare.co.uk ■ Website: www.tacticalwarfare.co.uk
THE GAOL EVENTS
■ Address: Oakham Enterprise Park, LE157TU ■ Phone: 07976457602 ■ Email: enquiries@thegaolevents.com ■ Website: www.thegaolevents.com
THE OUTPOST
■ Address: York Road, Flaxby, HG5 0XJ ■ Phone: 07825950245 ■ Email: staff@cerberusairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.cerberusairsoft.co.uk
URBAN ASSAULT
■ Address: RAF Upwood, Ramsey Road, PE26 ■ Phone: 07925 959398 ■ Email: games@urbanassault.org.uk ■ Website: www.urbanassault.org.uk
WEST MIDLANDS AIRSOFT
■ Address: Boulters Lane, Woodend, CV9 2QD ■ Phone: 07861 427553 ■ Email: paul@wmairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.wmairsoft.co.uk
GOOD GIG GUIDE
TO HAVE YOUR SITE IN THE 'GOOD GIG GUIDE' OR TO BOOK CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING IN THE SITE DIRECTORY PLEASE CALL OUR SALES TEAM ON 01529 488100
XSITE THE OUTPOST
■ Address: Tring Road, LU62EE ■ Phone: 01494 881430 ■ Email: tim@xsiteairsoft.co.uk ■ Website: www.xsiteairsoft.co.uk
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KIT THAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR GE AR LOCKER!
FIRST COYOTE TACTICAL AID BURRITO IFAK FOR THE MODERN FIGHTER
HAVING AN INDIVIDUAL FIRST AID KIT THAT YOU CAN RELY ON HAS BECOME A NECESSITY WITHIN THE MILITARY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT WORLDS. WHEN FACING POTENTIAL HAZARDS ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS, THERE IS A CERTAIN PEACE OF MIND AFFORDED TO THE END USER WHEN THEY HAVE A FULLY STOCKED UP INVENTORY OF MEDICAL ITEMS TO HAND, ESPECIALLY WHEN OPERATING IN SMALL CONTINGENTS WHERE A TRAINED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL MAY NOT BE TO HAND. ON TOP OF THAT, OPERATORS HAVE TO CONSTANTLY THINK OF THE LIMITATIONS THAT ARE PLACED ON THEM, WITH MOLLE 'REAL ESTATE' OFTEN BEING ONE OF THE BIGGEST ISSUES THEY HAVE TO OVERCOME. However, this is Airsoft, and just how important is having an IFAK? Well... in reality, their ability to carry anything airsoft specific is rather limited. One of the better applications we've seen outside of its intended use is as a toolkit. It's also always fairly handy to have a bunch of plasters and the likes on hand. However, keeping it full of medical equipment is rather pointless unless you're first aid trained, as the majority of it will be useless. Our suggestion? If you really want one to complete a look, knock yourself out and try to find some form of use for it! Based in South Florida, Coyote Tactical Solutions was formed with a single motive driving the company - the want to create high quality gear that is solely made within the United States of America. With all of their work done in house, from the products inception through to the manufacture of the finished piece, Coyote Tactical have been able to ensure that their products are simplistic in design to allow for use under the harsh reality of combat operations and the stresses it entails.
WHERE SPACE IS LIMITED, THE BURRITO EXCELS. COYOTE TACTICAL TOOK THE CONCEPT THAT 'LESS IS MORE' AND APPLIED IT TO THE INDIVIDUAL FIRST AID KIT, WHICH LED TO THE CREATION OF A IFAK THAT MEASURES IN AT THE SAME HEIGHT OF A STANDARD AR15 MAGAZINE, WITH ONLY 3/4 OF ITS LENGTH.
C O Y O T E T A C T I C A L B UR R I T O
One of the biggest issues faced by the modern warfighter is the sheer amount of equipment they are tasked to carry, and in turn finding ways to carry it in efficient ways. After necessary equipment has found its way onto a load-baring system, the need to house mission specific equipment arises, and past that the amount of space left to house equipment can be fairly small. Coyote Tactical took this idea into account, looking towards the sheer lack of space the modern warfighter has to make use of any personal purchases such as the all-important IFAK. This ethos led to the birth of the BURRITO - a mini belt mounted IFAK. The BURRITO was designed to be the most ergonomic, ultralight, and versatile mini medical pouch on the market. The BURRITO features laser cut slots on the rear which allow the end user to mount their pouch either vertically, or horizontally to your Riggers, Duty Belt, or EDC belt. Unlike other mini medical kits on the market, the Coyote Tactical BURRITO does not make use of elastic to retain medical items, which was prompted following feedback from members of military and law enforcement units.
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ON OUR R ADAR
K I N G
A R M S
WHEN THE DISCUSSION OF 'WHAT IS BESTEST GUN' COMES UP THE MAJORITY OF THE AI STAFF GROAN. NOT ONLY IS THE QUESTION MASSIVELY DEPENDANT ON THE INDIVIDUAL, IT ALSO COMES DOWN TO A NUMBER OF OTHER FACTORS SUCH AS 'PLAY STYLE' AND RELIABILITY. ONE THING WE CAN DO THOUGH IS POINT YOU TOWARDS WHAT WE CONSIDER TO BE GOOD MANUFACTURERS. FROM THERE WE HOPE THAT YOU CAN TAKE A LOOK AT THESE COMPANIES AND MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION DEPENDANT ON YOUR INDIVIDUAL TASTE. One company I personally have had a soft spot for for a long time is King Arms - primarily due to their brilliant range of Vietnam-era weaponry. Rewind about 10 years and the AI team had a real bug for Vietnam airsoft. With that bug came the need for era-correct weapons, and very few companies offered them. King Arms however offered a range of them, with the M4A1, M16, CAR-15 and M89 Grenade
Launcher all finding themselves housed in the AI office for long periods of time. Of all the airsoft rifles I've had, the King Arms M4A1 was probably one of the most reliable. I have somewhat of a knack for breaking stuff, best exemplified by my ability to break 2 Systemas in the space of about 45 minutes, or snapping a Tokyo Marui receiver clean in two... As you can imagine, I am now no long trusted with such things.
A N N O U N C E
N E W
TRUS T IN ME
In short, King Arms are a company I would personally put my trust in, having owned a handful of different rifles from them, and having no issues with them at all - which is somewhat of an anomaly if you could see the graveyard of guns I've produced over time. But why exactly am I reminiscing with you over guns broken in the past? Well we recently had a discussion in the AI office over what our favourite shooters have been over the course of our time playing airsoft, and King Arms came up in this brand debate on numerous occasions. With that came a curiosity as to what the company had been getting up to recently, as a lot of us had jumped on the Tokyo Marui Recoil train when it pulled into the station and most of us are still enjoying the ride. After some digging we noticed that King Arms were releasing a new range, and we were soon very, very interested.
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E W
R A N G E
O F
R I F L E S
A N D
W E ' R E
E X C I T E D !
M4 S TRIK ER R ANGE
The M4 Striker from King Arms is a new range of M4 models which incorporate a number of different rail systems in a number of different colours. Constructed from a mix of high quality nylon fibre and nylon polymer, the Striker range incorporates rail systems such as the Keymod system and M-LOK. To cater for a wide range of people, King Arms offers packages in both standard and CQB. Each example comes complete with a chopped-off dust cover, together with an eye catching fire-mode-selector and bolt release button, as well as making use of an after-market stock and flash hider. On top of this the package comes complete with a rugged forward grip which incorporates space for a torch pressure switch, foldable rear and front sights and a TWS mid-cap magazine which stores up to 140 6mm bbs. In regards to technical data, I'll leave that up to the gun techs within the AI office, because I'm sure they'll all be quick to tell you that I'm about as technically gifted as a cucumber when it comes to airsoft related stuff. However you can rest assured that the latest offerings from King Arms should grace the pages of AI in the near future. What I can say though is the M4 Striker range looks like another solid offering from King Arms, and we have no doubt in our mind that they'll be another popular product to add to a long list of products from King Arms. Keep an eye on this space for a full feature review in the near future!
K IN G A R M S C Q B ML O K
ABOUT K ING ARMS
King Arms was founded in 2004 with a mission statement to ensure optimum customer satisfaction by providing them precision products and outstanding services. In 2015 the company moved to their headquarters in Taiwan where they have continued to provide excellent products with the highest quality. While working with the leading real-world firearms manufacturers, King Arms provide a level of innovation and authenticity that has often been seen as one of the company's major selling points, with it being a hard task to find another range of products like it.
K IN G A R M S ML O K
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KIT THAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR GE AR LOCKER!
TITAN THE T-PLUG ON TARGET INITIATIVE! TO PHASE OUT THE TAMIYA PLUG
US AIRSOFTERS ARE A FUNNY BUNCH. QUITE OFTEN YOU'LL FIND SOMEONE WHO'S SPENT AN ABSOLUTE FORTUNE ON THEIR SHOOTER, GLAMMING IT UP WITH ALL SORTS OF 'REAL STEEL' RIS RAILS, TIGHT-BORE BARRELS AND NEW GEARS AND MOTORS THAT WOULD LOOK MORE AT HOME IN A BESPOKE GEAR FACTORY, BUT WHEN YOU ASK THEM WHAT BATTERY THEY'RE RUNNING... WELL THEY ARE USUALLY CLUELESS. HOWEVER, WHEN YOU LOOK TOWARDS OTHER HOBBIES THAT MAKE USE OF A VARIETY OF COMPONENTS TO CREATE AN END PRODUCT OF WHICH YOUR HOBBY IS CENTRED AROUND, PEOPLE TEND TO HAVE A MUCH BETTER BASE OF KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THEIR PURCHASES. The age old analogy of 'you wouldn't fill a high end sports car with bad fuel comes to mind, so why would you plug a dated battery into your airsoft rifle? Well a lot of it comes down to understanding. Now I won't pretend to be a scientist so my understanding isn't anywhere near at the level it should be, however, following the 2019 industry panel at the IWA show in Nuremberg, a number of industry professionals met up to discuss some of the issues surrounding battery usage within airsoft rifles, with the outcome resulting in the plan to remove the Tamiya connector from airsoft rifles by 2021, switching to the far more modern T-Plug connector. Why, you ask? Well if truth be told the majority of the AI team have rocked T-Plug connectors since the birth of the Li-PO, however we've always had the benefit of handing rifles to the Fire-Support team and asking them to do stuff to them. Turns out one of the most important changes they made though was the introduction of the T-Plug to each and every one of our rifles. That said though, a lot of people do not have that luxury, and the industry norm as things stands is the inclusion of Tamiya connectors - an almost 50 year old connection.
W W W. A IR S O F T T P L U G . C O M
IF YOU WANT TO SUPPORT THE CAUSE, SIMPLY HEAD OVER TO AIRSOFTTPLUG. COM, LOCATE THE 'YOU CAN HELP' SECTION OF THE WEBSITE AND FILL IN THE PETITION. WITH EVERYONE BANDING TOGETHER THE CHANGE SHOULD BE DOABLE, AND AIRSOFT REPLICAS CAN MOVE INTO THE 21ST CENTURY!
Airsofttplug.com is a joint initiative from a highly respected airsoft news website and battery manufacturer Titan. Their mission statement is a fairly simple one - to enhance every airsoft players game worldwide, by the introduction of the airsoft T-Plug connector, making them available by default for every player. Following discussions at this years' IWA Show, the initiative was put into action, and the plan is to initiate a phasing out of the Tamiya connector by 2021. One of the biggest comparisons to airsoft is the world of remote controlled objects; namely cars, planes and tanks. They made the change to T-Plugs years ago, so why haven't we? What exactly are the benefits of T-Plugs? And where exactly do you go to cast your vote? In regards to the why, a number of factors could be pointed towards, however the biggest is price. You can argue that T-Plugs are more expensive than Tamiya connectors, which they are, but thankfully Titan have addressed this and now have a solid purchasing option on T-Plugs. In regards to the benefits, well they're endless. Compared to Tamiya connectors, T-Plugs are a much more modern answer to connectors, they feature less resistance which leads to increased performance, they provide better conductivity, they last longer compared to other connectors, they can handle higher battery outputs and they are a whole heap smaller than Tamiya connectors which is great when it comes to storage space. All in all, the T-Plug is just a more solid, more reliable connector, and one we agree should be rolled out into the airsoft market for everyone to use.
W W W.AIRSOFTPLUG.COM
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KIT THAT SHOULD BE IN YOUR GE AR LOCKER!
THE PTS ENHANCED POLYMER STOCK (EPS) IS A FULLY FUNCTIONAL COLLAPSIBLE POLYMER STOCK THAT OFFERS THE USER LOTS OF FLEXIBILITY IN HOW TO UTILISE IT. LIKE ALL THE OTHER PTS POLYMER PRODUCTS, IT’S MANUFACTURED WITH AUTHENTIC DUPONT™ ZYTEL® POLYMER FOR SUPERIOR WEAR AND DAMAGE RESISTANCE AS WELL AS DURABILITY. THE PTS EPS FEATURES A RUBBERISED REMOVABLE BUTTPAD FOR COMFORT AND A SLIP-RESISTANT GRIP.
EPS STOCK
E NH A N C E D P O L Y ME R S T O C K
WHAT WE THINK…
“We say it nearly every month now but it seems like PTS are really prospering from the limitations of simply copying Magpul gear. The line of Enhanced Polymer parts is growing into a selection of weapons components that puts many real-steel products to shame. As airsofters we are getting well built, purpose designed and great looking products that break the moulds of convention. Sure if you are into building replicas of military weapons or similar, you might not be catered for (PTS have a solid line of highly realistic licensed good to cover you off here) but if you want practicality, usability and better products for your needs, look no further. The EPS is a coalescence of a number of features that we look for in an AEG stock, including simple, easily accessible battery storage but it can still be used as a highly practical, streamlined and snag-free stock on any airsoft weapon.”
PRICE: FROM £44.99
Fixed side storage compartments offer enhanced comfort and a consistent cheek weld. The side storage compartments measure up to 139 x 31 mm of spacing so you can fit 2-cell butterfly style NiMH batteries or Lipo batteries to power your electric airsoft gun or you can use the compartments for AA, AAA, CR123A battery or miscellaneous parts storage. Additionally, the rear portion of the stock can fit a 9.6V NiMH minibattery or a LiPo battery of similar size as well as be used for miscellaneous storage. There are multiple sling mounting options featured on the stock including QD swivel sockets on both sides with a pass-through channel for loop-type sling attachments and a sling slot on the front side of the butt part of the stock. The EPS Stock is compatible with almost all AEG and GBBR buffer tubes. FEATURES: ■ Ample spacing for your tools and batteries. ■ Unique cheek welds. ■ Two ambidextrous types of sling mounts. SPECIFICATION: ■ Weight: 332g. ■ Material: Dupont™ Zytel® High Performance Reinforced Polymer. ■ Size: 205x135x63 mm. ■ Compatibility: 1.148” Airsoft buffer tube.
W W W.AI-MAG.COM
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PAPER SUBSCRIPTIONS OF AIRSOFT INTERNATIONAL ARE AVAILABLE TO ORDER DIRECTLY FROM US AT:
WWW.AI-MAG.COM 01529 488 100 OR YOU CAN ORDER OVER THE PHONE:
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Our goal in partnering with PocketMags.com was to make Airsoft International easier to find and more compatible than before. Now it’s simple to find, sample and buy your digital magazines… Simply search the Newsstand or App Store for “Airsoft International” and follow the prompts. You’ll be able to download the application and find the latest issues on your device as soon as they are available. Once you have created your account from any device, you’ll always be able to sign in and read them via the App or even via www.pocketmags.com on your desktop PC or Mac, using your username and password. You can buy subscription bundles from as little as £14.99 but when your subscription runs out, you’ll always be able to access your magazines, just like owning a physical copy except they don’t end up tatty, torn and dog-eared!
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SO HOW DOES IT WORK?
GET THE LATEST ISSUE OF AIRSOFT INTERNATIONAL AT YOUR FINGERTIPS NO MATTER WHERE YOU ARE!
UNIDAD ON PATROL PHOTO BY J. CAPUANO
WHY GO DIGITAL?
As publishers, we are passionate about printed products. There’s nothing better than the feeling of opening up a fresh magazine and seeing our hard work in print and to be able to add another volume to the shelves is a satisfying experience but we realise that for many people, reams and reams of paper magazines just isn’t feasible. If you live your life on the go, have limited space or just don’t fancy cluttering up your house with piles of magazines there’s now another option. We realise the way that many people read magazines is changing. Sometimes it’s just not practical to carry a paper copy around with you on busses, trains or on holiday and with amazing devices like the iPhone, the iPad and the Kindle, reading in a digital format is now easier and more comfortable than ever, no matter where you are. We also realise that because of the proliferation of the Internet and near instant transference of huge amounts of data, people expect to be able to get their hands on things, fast and rightly so. Why should readers the world over have to wait in this day and age? With Airsoft International’s new digital version everyone can get their copy at the same time. If you are particularly environmentally conscious, our Digital versions are also much greener. Even though our paper magazines are produced responsibly and from sustainable sources an application needs no freight carriage and has no wastage so it will always have a lower carbon footprint!
£4.99 SINGLE ISSUE
£4.50
Our digital subscriptions thanks to Pocketmags.com are compatible with iOS devices, Android, Mac and desktop PC systems so you can quite literally get your magazine no matter where you may be in the world. Using just one log-in to PocketMags.com you can sign in and access your digital library wherever you are and with the freely available apps, you can read them via a whole host of compatible devices so you’ll never be more than a few clicks away from your digital library.
AIRSOFT INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL PRICE OPTIONS
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HERE AT AI WE ARE COMMITTED TO BRINGING YOU THE BEST AIRSOFT MAGAZINE WE CAN AND TO MAKE IT EASIER TO GET YOUR MONTHLY FIX. THANKS TO SOME HUGE IMPROVEMENTS IN HOW WE DELIVER OUR DIGITAL VERSIONS WE ARE NOW PROUD TO SAY AI IS AVAILABLE IN MORE FORMATS THAN EVER!
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