Airsoft what is it?

[brambles]

however due to their realism they are legally restricted, the law currently states that even if you have a class 1 firearms licence you cannot legally own an airsoft gun or "replica imitation firearm" as they're known. UK law, nuff said. with the exception of clear plastic or 50% painted bright colours to show it is in fact fake

That's not actually quite correct - the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 allows for various lawful types of possession of what it classes "realistic imitation firearms" ( ie, those which do not have clear or bright coloured parts ) and one of these is specifically for airsoft although you do require to jump through certain hoops of conditions - you have to be a 'registered' airsofter with membership of an insured skirmish site. To be registered, you must attend a properly organised and insured airsoft site and play for at least three days over a period of no less than two months. Even if you attend and play the three days in your first week, the law requires that two months pass from the first day you attended before you can legally be registered.

 

[Melonfish]

That's not actually quite correct - the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006 allows for various lawful types of possession of what it classes "realistic imitation firearms" ( ie, those which do not have clear or bright coloured parts ) and one of these is specifically for airsoft although you do require to jump through certain hoops of conditions - you have to be a 'registered' airsofter with membership of an insured skirmish site. To be registered, you must attend a properly organised and insured airsoft site and play for at least three days over a period of no less than two months. Even if you attend and play the three days in your first week, the law requires that two months pass from the first day you attended before you can legally be registered.

actually that is factually correct. however, i didn't go into the entire UKARA registration scheme as i didn't want to be too long winded and bore people to death

a while back phoenix airsoft had a couple of armed response officers in looking around, they were after buying a pistol for their head who was retiring, they were flat refused, they pointed out they had the real thing strapped to themselves and were still flat refused due to them not being registered airsofters with ukara.

 

[mrcharly]

What happens to the 6mm balls? Are the biodegradable or do they just remain forever, scattered around?

I've taken my kids to an airsoft place and the ground was covered with the things. I can imagine wildlife choking on them and you certainly wouldn't want to turn out grazing animals on that ground anymore.

 

[Goatboy]

I think most are biodegradable and some even contain fertiliser for the plants! (Not so sure on the luminous "tracer" rounds though).

 

[Corso]

What happens to the 6mm balls? Are the biodegradable or do they just remain forever, scattered around?

Some are some arn't depends on the policy of the site, I used to play on an urban site we just used a broom at the end of the day...

 

[nitrambur]

registered airsofters with ukara.

Don't have to be registered with ukara, they're not specifically mentioned in the defence, nor were they part of the team that fought for the defence. I shall get of my high horse now

 

[Corso]

didn't think I'd see that acronym pop up again - one of the reasons I walked away from the hobby...

 

[Melonfish]

Don't have to be registered with ukara, they're not specifically mentioned in the defence, nor were they part of the team that fought for the defence. I shall get of my high horse now

yeah i know its what you can prove is your defence isn't it i've seen that one rage on the airsoft forums for months.

anyhoo, regarding bio-degradable, most outdoor sites now require you use them, originally they weren't bio at all. you probably won't see restrictions on urban sites as its usually brownfield awaiting demolition and rebuild.
i remember you could run through a door and literally not stop as you're rolling along on a surface of spent bb's saved me from a few hits that.
interestingly the grenades and flashbangs are all bio-degradable, cardboard, gunpowder, and dried peas.

 

[boatman]

As an insured reenactor I too can buy a realistic imitation firearm.

 

[WoodsmanJim]

didn't think I'd see that acronym pop up again - one of the reasons I walked away from the hobby...

Yup, me too. I got so naffed off with everyone thinking the UKARA ******** was written in law and quoting it left right and centre. It's not part of the law, it's not part of the VCR Act or the defense, it's just a system started by retailers as a way of ensuring they were selling to bona fide skirmishers. All that 3 games over no less than 2 months at an insured site stuff is made up by UKARA, it's not a legal requirement. Then all the retailers wouldn't accept anything other than UKARA registration to be able to buy guns, despite it meaning nothing from a legal perspective. UKARA did a great job of convincing everyone that they were the law, when in fact they're nothing of the sort. By law you just have to prove you play airsoft, even just once, to be able to buy an airsoft gun. There are a million ways I could prove I was a skirmisher but everyone was so scared of selling the weapons (even on the second hand market) that I never replaced my guns when they broke. I never played at a single site enough times to get registered as I moved around a bit or it was so long between visits I'd lost my proof of play from the last time.

I haven't played for years now, still, gives me more time for othe hobbies!

Rant over! Haha!

Jim

 

[TeeDee]

Quick bump for this older thread.

Question - with ref to the pistols , how consistently accurate are they? and at what range are they capable of pipping a target?

 

[Buckshot]

Lots of variables there
What type of pistol?
what range?
what sort of accuracy are you looking for?

Most pistols are gas but some use CO2, spring or electric
You can tweak them and improve things but, out of the box, most gas guns should be capable of hitting a dinner plate at 25m maybe 7 out of 10 times - as long as you're capable of holding the gun in the right position of course!
Bear in mind the projectile is a ball which is not stable in flight so pin point accuracy is not an option even with 'sniper' rifles. Wind can make quite a difference
I skirmish and shoot practical with mine. they're good fun
HTH

 

[TeeDee]

Lots of variables there
What type of pistol?
what range?
what sort of accuracy are you looking for?

Most pistols are gas but some use CO2, spring or electric
You can tweak them and improve things but, out of the box, most gas guns should be capable of hitting a dinner plate at 25m maybe 7 out of 10 times - as long as you're capable of holding the gun in the right position of course!
Bear in mind the projectile is a ball which is not stable in flight so pin point accuracy is not an option even with 'sniper' rifles. Wind can make quite a difference
I skirmish and shoot practical with mine. they're good fun
HTH

Cheers , I shoot live practical pistol, shotgun and was looking for an additional tool to improve the muscle memory and 'instinctive' element somewhat. A friend of mine utilized airsoft in this fashion to constantly improve his sight capture , I was skeptical at 1st but he has made great improvements and puts a lot of it to constant practice with airsoft.

What price a 'good' airsoft pistol? and what brand name is deemed to be 'good'?

 

[Corso]

along with what buckshot has said its worth mentioning FPS regs, barrel lenght, 'hop-up' and barrel diameter and the nbb/bb effect and weight of the bb these all play a part in range and accuracy

barrel lengh is pretty simple longer it is the more accurate the shot will be, setting the hop-up correctly applies spin on the bb which while slightly lobbing the shot also extends range, barrel diameter (it will be slightly over 6mm as standard but can range from 6.01-6.1mm) will mean you need better quality BB's but the amount of air that escapes around the BB will be less so the FPS and accuracy would be better, nbb/bb (none blowback vs blow back) some of the gas/energy is used to make the slide move 'realistically infac some of the older models even had shells that ejected) the nbb's tend to be more acurate but a bit more soulless, weight of the bb - .2g used to be the gaming standard, they were used to judge fps to make sure the gun is 'legal' but .25 or even .3g were better as they reacted more stably in flight and/or were less effected by wind - didn't shot as far but were more acurate

just a rough overview but you can see theres more to it than a battery/gas a bb and a lump of plastic and metal.

when i played marui we the best all round but western arms made a mean pistol but these days alot of the chinese stuff is pretty good since they reversed engeneered most of the tec- you could spend a fortune upgrading though...

 

[Buckshot]

As a competition gun I use an SVI Infinity and I have a GSK (I think) PX4 as my skirmish back up
Love both
£150 should sort you out with a reasonable out of the box but expect to pay more for the mags

 

[Buckshot]

This is the kind of race guns you can get
http://www.eliteshootingcentre.co.uk/

 

[Grooveski]

I like shooting people with larp arrows. It is the only practice on a moving target an archer can get.

Stand someone on the firing line(big field required) armed with a 7 or 8 iron. Like a clay shoot but all the archers shoot at once(ish) - so much fun it's addictive.
For a real giggle do it on a windy day.
...or try to get a second arrow away - a long shot as the ball's dropping.
....or move the golfer back so the balls are already airbourne when they enter downrange airspace(diff.).
.....or have them launch at an angle across the range(v.diff.).

I'll be honest - I've not hit a ball yet nor seen one hit. Have been close many times though and every close call has you thinking "I can do this!" and yelling "Pull" again.