Airsoft/BB Toy Shooting - Advise?

[DDY]

EDIT: 2nd post, inadvertently made a new page, relevant post before: http://forums.hexus.net/sports-fitne...ml#post3417999

I really wanted to chip in on this thread a few months back, big air gunner myself, but I was working away from home.

Partly to illustrate the strangeness of various laws and mostly as a gratuitous chance show off part of my arsenal;

The least dangerous, shoots plastic 6mm BBs propelled by compressed butane/propane, but must be in a silly colour for ordinary people to buy:




These two guns, fire a metal .177 BB with CO2 and are somewhat more dangerous than above, yet can be bought in their normal colours with nothing more than regular ID.






Not a gun per-se, doesn't shoot anything but makes one hell of a bang. Blank-firers like airsoft guns fall under the remit of RIF unless they're in a silly colour, because that stops bank robbers from painting these, which is illegal.




Any my current gun project, in desperate need of restoration and an upgrade

[Gerrard]

Does that basically mean that you have to play a couple of game with rental gear to get your membership and only buy afterwards? And what happens if after a while you have other commitment preventing you to play that often?

That is one way (and is what I did). As DDY has said, the law is a bit of a grey area and so in the UK, the professional airsoft groups try to self regulate to keep on the right side of the law. This is using a UKARA membership. All UK airsoft retailers should ask for your UKARA number before selling you a Realistic Imitation Firearm (RIF). A RIF is as the name sounds, a gun that looks like the real thing but fires 6mm BB's (the normal ammo type). However, as DDY has also said, you don't need a UKARA membership to get a painted gun (like the two-tone shown). Therefore, you can buy one of these and use it until you qualify for UKARA.

There are then site specific rules on the firearms regarding the muzzle velocity/energy. The more energy, the more likely of injury. So they will set a speed limit for a set weight of BB (0.2g is again the norm for where I went). For example, Close Combat limit was 328 feet per second. Outdoor areas would allow for faster speeds (up to 500fps I think), but have minimum engagement distances for those (usually snipers, who may use heavier ammo that will travel slower, but the energy is still the same). If you find your gun exceeds the limits, there are mods that you can do to fine tune it (you can also increase the speed if need be).

[TeePee]

What a confusing and pointless bunch of laws. Here's my latest project. Shoots a .30 Cal 220gr pellet using IMR4227 at about 1000 feet per second. It's a nice heavy pellet which stays subsonic an works well with the suppressor. I've also used faster, lighter pellets for more muzzle energy (up to about 1800J), again for more distance.

[DDY]

Hehe, that's an airgun?

Sweet looking rig TeePee, what is it chambered in?

[Zak33]

Any my current gun project, in desperate need of restoration and an upgrade

go carefully with that HW80... they're so easy to go over the 12ftlb... as they get older, and some lube gets into the cylinder.. they can diesel and bang (literally... with smoke) the odd shot it WAY over the legal limit.

is it the old square stock? or the newer rounder one?

[DDY]

go carefully with that HW80... they're so easy to go over the 12ftlb... as they get older, and some lube gets into the cylinder.. they can diesel and bang (literally... with smoke) the odd shot it WAY over the legal limit.

is it the old square stock? or the newer rounder one?

Ah, must be why there's lube behind the pellets too

It's the old square stock.

[TeePee]

Hehe, that's an airgun?

Sweet looking rig TeePee, what is it chambered in?

.300AAC Blackout. It sounds like an airgun! Loudest sound is the steel downrange.

[Zak33]

Ah, must be why there's lube behind the pellets too

It's the old square stock.

get it chrono's very soon pls.. it's likely 18ft lb +

[TooNice]

Well, with the under 1 joule limit, here in Japan, all airsoft guns are limited to under 290 fps. On the other hand, they do not need to be painted in bright colours and can look like the real thing. I can't help but wonder if such limitations wouldn't defeat the purpose of larger guns / sniper rifle. Keeping that in mind, I ended up getting this: http://www.hyperdouraku.com/airgun/ps90hc/

I don't use the external barrel since it is only decorative and makes the gun unnecessarily long, and the reason I went for it over something else is because I wanted something with an internal barrel that is pretty long (almost as long as the M4 etc.), while being lighter and more compact than full sized rifles so that I can move without being as encumbered. This one is basically right between the MP5 and M4 in that aspect.

I will probably flog it before coming back to the UK because it might be more trouble than it is worth.. Since pretty much anyone can own imitation firearms without any sort of permit over here (other than age restrictions) it might be tough getting myself certified. And as it is, I foresee enough trouble bringing my iaito (training sword) back in the UK (technically it should be fine since I am a practitioner, albeit a beginner in Iaido). Having that, plus an airsoft gun (not painted in funky colours), plus bow and arrows (no legal restrictions as far as I know) might raise some unwanted flags at customs ^^;

[Rob_B]

Ahh I miss my RD P90, loved that thing! I should never have sold my guns and I'd still legally be allowed to keep them

[TooNice]

Do you know of any dot sight that might suit the P90 ergonomics? I am not looking into putting it into a real gun, so I have no need for the original military grade stuff, imitation that is functions with airsoft is all I am interested in. I seem to remember reading that EOTech imitations for instance are a little bulky on it.

[Rob_B]

You can't beat the classic holographic red dot sight on the P90 IMO

[TooNice]

It looks cool, but as I understand there are better options functionality wise. I kinda narrowed down to the Aimpoint T1 and C-More replicas, leaning slightly toward the T1. It is down to tube vs open.
(Also, AFAIK, it is a normal red dot sight. A real holographic sight is made only by very selected few manufacturers there are no cheap options.. all the Eotech replicas are also normal red dot sights. Yeah, I spent a lot of time trying to make sense of things )

[Flibb]

What sort of money are you looking at spending? Red dot sights are popular with .22 shooters, especially with a range of low cost military style training rifles now available, some are made by airport companies. Price seems to be around £100.

[Macman]

Where do you guys tend to buy your guns from? Been looking into Airsoft, just want to browse out of curiosity.