Airsoft Action - Issue 133 - January 2022

PROUD TO SUPPORT PILGRIM BANDITS CHARITY 

ISSUE 133 -JANUARY 2022 

ISSN 2634-9515

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CONTENTS 

8 ARMOURY: VFC HK PSG-1 GBBR 

With his growing personal collection of entirely gas blowback guns 

in Taiwan, Stewbacca is making up for lost time in the UK where 

he could only ever afford and make use of pistols as such! It can 

be increasingly difficult to get excited about new guns in such a 

saturated and diverse market, but the new VFC/HK collaboration 

has certainly got him going! 

PROUD TO SUPPORT PILGRIM BANDITS CHARITY 

ISSUE 133 -JANUARY 2022 

ISSN 2634-9515 

Editorial Director: Bill Thomas 

Graphic Design: Calibre Publishing 

Ad Design: Deadshot Design 

Publisher: Calibre Publishing 

16 ARMOURY: DOUBLE BELL 812S 

Sometimes a new AEG just seems to come out of nowhere and 

wows you with its externals and overall look, and this month 

Jimmy takes a look at a recent addition to his personal armoury 

that looks suspiciously like a 416, but is actually categorised as an 

“812S”… Jimmy tells all! 

Wyche Innovation Centre, 

Walwyn Road, 

Upper Colwall, 

Malvern, 

Worcestershire, 

WR13 6PL, UK. 

Tel: +44 (0) 1684 878 003 

Web: www.airsoftaction.net 

©Calibre Publishing Limited 2021 

All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be 

reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted 

in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, 

photocopying, recording or otherwise without the 

express permission of the publisher in writing. The 

opinion of the writers do not necessarily reflect those 

of the publisher. The editor reserves the right to edit 

submissions prior to publication. 

FIND US ON… 

22 ARMOURY: SECUTOR GLADIUS MAGNA PCC KIT 

We’ve spent a lot of time looking at the raft of Pistol Calibre 

Carbines (PCCs) that have come onto the market, and there is still 

a question unanswered in our minds; where is the primary that 

actually uses the exact same magazines as our secondary? Bill takes 

a look at both a Secutor pistol and the licenced Carbine Kit to go 

with it, and moves things forward again! 

LETTER, IDEA OR 

QUESTION? 

Got something to say? A question for our 

experts? An article or article idea? 

Drop us a line and let us know. Either email the 

Editorial Director: bill@airsoft-action.co.uk, write to 

us at the Calibre Publishing address above, or talk to 

us on Twitter or Facebook. 

70 RELOADED: CYMA CM.098A 

CYMA have been involved with airsoft for almost as long as 

anyone, and have rightfully moved up from their position as the 

“most likely to be a rental gun” to creating AEGs that anyone 

should be pleased to have in their armoury! After over a year of 

ownership Bill reflects on his “big boy” DMR, the CM.098A, and 

how it’s stood up to some HARD use during lockdown!

Contents 

JANUARY 2022 

30 TECH: SPITFIRE TRACER UNIT 

Will a longer tracer unit work with an 

extended inner barrel where others 

have failed? Steve T makes a custom 

build functional after dark. 

34 GEAR: HELIKON LADIES GEAR 

This month we’re joined by Red Cell 

member and fabulous player, Allyssa 

Mills. In the past has bemoaned 

the scarcity of decent ladies tactical 

clothing, so we set her up with 

Helikon-Tex to see where things 

would lead! 

38 TOD: GET SOME SCRAN! 

Jon has previously talked about being 

prepared, from game day booking to 

in depth clothing and layering info. 

One thing we all love but completely 

overlook on a game day, especially 

those of us who enter a 24 hour plus 

event is food and drink, or what we 

Brits fondly refer to as “scran”! 

42 THE CAGE: 2021 WISHLIST 

The Christmas lights are going up 

at AA HQ, and we’ll be hanging our 

stockings hoping for some airsoft 

goodness to arrive from “Tactical 

Santa”! This month in THE CAGE we 

thought we’d have a little fun... 

46 RED CELL: XMAS SPECIAL 

Continuing our December fun it’s 

time for Red Cell to look at the “Guns 

of Die Hard” and give their thoughts 

on why IT MOST DEFINITELY IS a 

Christmas movie! 

58 GEAR: HELIKON LONG TERM 

Bill has been long-term testing a 

couple of items from their “Outback” 

and “Bushcraft” collections and 

brings you his findings. 

60 KIT: RED DOT SIGHTS 

More and more of us are routinely 

carrying pistols fitted with red 

dot sights these days. Bill thought 

it would be a solid topic to dive 

into so that we all can get a true 

understanding of how they work, and 

how they may just give you that allimportant 

edge in-game! 

64 KIT & GEAR: JAVELIN BIPOD 

Bipods were designed to give you 

complete support and stability in a 

rugged, lightweight package. Bill’s 

been working with a new model 

from Spartan Precision Equipment 

over the past few months so now 

takes an in-depth look at bipods as 

a whole! 

74 ACTION AIR: TAIWAN LEVEL 1 

Despite Taiwan being possibly the 

least affected little island nation 

among all of this mess, Stewbacca 

and his fellow shooters nonetheless 

were eventually hit by semi-strict 

lockdowns due to local spread of the 

blight. But eventually there was light, 

and performances to be inspired by! 

80 EVENT: TSS 2021 

Some restrictions having been lifted 

in the UK, we are finally able to get 

out and about to shows again, and 

last month on 20-21 November 

Boycie headed out to the UK Target 

Shooting Show at Stoneleigh to meet 

up with old friends and check out 

what was new and improved! 

84 KIT&GEAR: SLINGS 

“This month’s missive is brought 

to you by bagels, cheese and 

marmalade!” Actually it’s brought to 

you by Frenchie who told us that he 

is powered by the delicacies above, 

focussing his mind on the many years 

he’s been around airsoft! 

86 SHOP ‘TIL YOU DROP 

After our look last month at bad 

weather gear, we’re back to usual 

with a quick round-up of the new 

loveliness that has caught our 

attention and as Christmas is almost 

with us we decided to throw in a few 

potential “last minute” gift ideas for 

your favourite airsoft friends too! 

90 LAST POST 

When you start a piece by researching 

supply chain logistics, Value 

Added Tax and the effect of Covid 

worldwide, you just know you’re in 

for an absolute rollercoaster of a ride 

AS FRENCHIE DISCOVERED...

AVAILABLE NOW 

6 

THE GENERATION OF NEW 

CARBINE 

ICS-309 / ICS-309S3 

KOMODO JUNIOR 

ICS-309 / ICS-309S3 

DMR 

ICS-310 / ICS-310S3 

Facebook (Global): 

ICSBBAirsoft 

Twitter (Global): 

icsbbairsoft 

Youtube: 

ICS AIRSOFT 

Instagram: 

icsbbairsoft

ARMOURY 

VFC HK PSG-1 GBBR 

PINNACLE 

OF PERFECTION 

8 

JANUARY 2022

ARMOURY 


WITH SUCH AN EVER INCREASING ARRAY OF CONTINUALLY IMPROVING REPLICA GUNS AND 

TECHNOLOGIES SUPPORTING THEM, AND WITH HIS GROWING PERSONAL COLLECTION OF ENTIRELY 

GAS BLOWBACK GUNS IN TAIWAN, STEWBACCA IS MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME IN THE UK WHERE 

HE COULD ONLY EVER AFFORD AND MAKE USE OF PISTOLS AS SUCH! IT CAN BE INCREASINGLY 

DIFFICULT TO GET EXCITED ABOUT NEW GUNS IN SUCH A SATURATED AND DIVERSE MARKET, BUT 

THE NEW VFC/HK COLLABORATION HAS CERTAINLY GOT HIM GOING! 

VegaForceCompany (VFC) have really been 

upping their game over the past year or two 

having already made deep inroads into Glock 

and SIG AIR market domination. Their strengthening 

collaborations with real steel manufacturers such as 

the impressive BCM AIR Clarence Lai Project Design 

tuned custom MCMR GBBR I got hands on with for 

our previous issue, and their much awaited FN FAL/ 

LAR GBBR (that I and no doubt many other Airsoft 

Action / Red Cell and UK players in general are 

lusting after!) have shown this fully! 

VFC have already released a plethora of other 

Umarex licensed Heckler & Koch products, as well 

as their impressive Walther PPQ NPA Taiwan police 

issue sidearm I was using for the shoot when 

I grabbed all the field notes and action 

shots for this review! However, 

this article is one I have been 

looking forward to the 

opportunity to write 

like few others; very 

few firearms, be 

they real steel or 

replica evoke 

such an 

emotional or 

nostalgic response 

beside the Lee Enfield or L1A1 

SLR/FAL, in comparison to my latest 

personal acquisition which really rounds off 

my Heckler & Koch GBB collection very nicely 

and leaves me struggling to find anything to add to 

my Xmas list! 

I first laid eyes, and shortly thereafter, hands on 

the Umarex VFC HK PSG-1 GBBR almost exactly a 

year prior to writing this first look review, and having 

handled it on the MOA2020 show floor and taken 

some obligatory photos of it and me handling it 

(many of which were soon floating around other 

social media channels further afield due to the lack 

of other foreign media presence because of obvious 

reasons) I later had the pleasure of introducing it 

alongside Ray Chang of VFC and our own “Wild 

Bill” during our Airsoft Action livestream among 

the myriad other outstanding releases announced; 

the PSG-1 was probably the dark horse and most 

surprising of the bunch! 

I was immediately impressed on first look and 

handling of the PSG-1 back then at the show, and 

along with the LAR/FAL GBBR I was somewhat 

reluctant to hand it back to Ray after we were done 

showing it off to the wider world. Now I get to keep 

hold of one of my own, after quite the long wait, 

and it’s almost become an emotional journey for me 

as such. 

So prevalent in video games, pop culture, and 

other media stemming from my childhood, not long 

after VFC’s announced release I found myself taking 

a trip down memory lane when I happened upon the 

‘Silent Scope’ arcade game in a Taichung shopping 

center during a holiday trip… and once again I was 

a teenager yearning for a PSG-1, and I just had to 

have one to fill the top slot and heaviest calibre in my 

collection. 

I managed to miss the initial release of the PSG-1 

GBBR due to lockdown-related financial restrictions 

thanks to me having been hit in the wallet with 

reduced working hours this year; thankfully I 

managed to track one down (once again through the 

fine gents at KIC Airsoft which is my typical first 

port of call for all things airsoft gun related in 

Taipei) after it seems someone reserved 

it but never paid up the final sum to 

secure it, so once they realised 

I’d finally managed to set 

aside the somewhat 

significant stack 

of blue 

notes they 

contacted me 

to let me 

know as soon as it 

had been 

released back into stock. I 

gleefully 

raced there after work the next night to 

collect it from them, along with a second long 

magazine, a custom 5 round short magazine just for 

the purist looks, and a very nice Vortex riflescope. 

www.airsoftaction.net 9

ARMOURY 


VISUAL AND TACTILE IMPACT 

The PSG-1 doesn’t really require an unboxing like 

many other RIFs as such, as it is supplied complete 

with a very sturdy and awesome looking carrying 

case, foam lined and quadruple clasp locked, which 

hides the rifle nicely, aside from the label on the lid 

which you might want to cover like I have to avoid 

all the normal people on public transport having 

their obvious suspicions about the contents of such a 

huge and heavy container being confirmed. 

Once inside the case you are immediately 

impressed by the aesthetic impact of the undeniably 

epic rifle, the contrast of the dark grey-black receiver 

and plastic furniture with the pleasant wooden 

effect pistol grip which you can replace with genuine 

wooden custom aftermarket grips from the likes 

of RATech/Airsoft Taiwan if you have deep pockets 

and are an absolute purist and wish to round off the 

visual and tactile perfection of the PSG-1 experience. 

The VFC offering follows on from its real steel 

predecessor; having first released their GBBR G3A3 

battle rifle, the operating system and general 

appearance were then modified to create the 

accurised shooting rifle derivative that is the PSG-1 

– or Präzisions(Scharf)SchützenGewehr in its native 

German parlance, with the Scharf (Sharp) being 

included or omitted sometimes depending on your 

source and translating as the Precision (Sharp) 

Shooting Rifle. With development and production 

being expedited following the infamous events of 

the Munich 1972 Olympic terror incident (where 

Palestinian extremists kidnapped Israeli athletes). 

Unfortunately due to post World War II restrictions 

on German military development and the continued 

separation of East and West Germany at the time, 

which limited the financial and legal support for 

military deployments in country or paramilitary 

police capabilities, this meant that the civilian police 

response was woefully unprepared to deal with 

the long range marksmanship requirements of the 

engagements that could have resolved the situation 

in a less catastrophic fashion, the aftermath leading 

to the immediate creation of GrenzSchutzGruppe 9 

– GSG 9 – Germany’s answer to domestic situations 

that require paramilitary level responses, as well as 

of course their adoption of the PSG-1 among other 

platforms to ensure their capabilities and that the 

authorities were never left wanting for a pertinent 

response again. 

Having only had my own personal model a 

matter of weeks at this point and only having 

chronographed it at home and fielded it for the 

first time this morning to test different ammunition 

weights and dial in the hop for a flat shooting 

“VERY FEW FIREARMS, BE THEY REAL STEEL OR REPLICA EVOKE SUCH AN EMOTIONAL 

OR NOSTALGIC RESPONSE BESIDE THE LEE ENFIELD OR L1A1 SLR/FAL, IN COMPARISON 

TO MY LATEST PERSONAL ACQUISITION WHICH REALLY ROUNDS OFF MY HECKLER 

& KOCH GBB COLLECTION VERY NICELY AND LEAVES ME STRUGGLING TO FIND 

ANYTHING TO ADD TO MY XMAS LIST!” 

10 


ARMOURY 


trajectory which I then zeroed the Vortex 2-7 x 

32mm riflescope onto nicely, I don’t have the 

operational time behind the gun to share my usual 

full thoughts. Again, like last issue’s loaned CLPD 

VFC BCM MCMR GBBR Armoury feature, this will be 

a first look, first shots review and no doubt followed 

by a later ‘Reloaded’ feature once I’ve thoroughly 

fielded it and found out any of the bugs it may (but 

hopefully does not!) possess. For now though, it’s 

looking and feeling like a very good start! 

Upon initial handling of the VFC PSG-1 GBBR its 

general heft and build quality become immediately 

obvious, with little or no movement in anything 

besides the parts which should move. The surface 

finish of the realistic stamped and welded steel 

receiver, the barrel, and the plastic foregrip and 

adjustable stock are flawless and pleasing both 

aesthetically and in their textures and handling; 

I especially like the adjustable palm support ring 

around the base of the pistol grip along with its 

nicely contoured finger grooves on the front as well 

as the comfortable palm swell on its rear. In fact, 

despite weighing in at 6.5kg with the scope and the 

short 5 round magazine fitted, the PSG-1 is actually 

somewhat easier to wield than my recently sold 

LCT LK33 AEG that weighs about a quarter less but 

doesn’t have the rear weight distribution of the PSG- 

1. I can in fact, almost comfortably single handedly 

support it when shouldered or if I am carrying it in 

a high port position, especially with the large stock 

being nicely tucked underarm. 

The operating mechanism is extremely solid in 

its movements, with the folding charging handle 

eliciting a very visceral racking sound on retraction 

and locking upward into its retention slot. In terms 

of loading, as with MP5 platforms, it is usually wise 

to lock open the action before fitting a fully loaded 

magazine, as the pressure of the top round and the 

magazine spring tend to prevent it being inserted 

fully on a closed bolt. The typical “HK slap” sends 

the heavy bolt careening forward and results in a 

very strong auditory and tactile response, likewise 

upon firing the bolt’s long travel, due to the real 

steel rifle’s 7.62 x 51mm chambering, coupled 

with the large internal cylinder volume give one 

of the strongest recoil impulses you are likely to 

encounter…so much so I managed to see around 

a thee mildot jump through the scope during my 

dry firing assessment and live fire chrono-graphing 

efforts at home! 

Performance wise, the stock gun out of the box 

clocked around the 125m/s (1.48 Joule/400fps) using 

0.2g BLS BBs, having clocked around 100 rounds and 

averaging out the performance, which was actually 

fairly consistent for such a large gas operated 

mechanism. This is again a testament to VFC’s ever 

improving design and manufacturing output and its 

quality, they really seem to be churning out a hell 

of a lot of top tier products in conjunction with the 

leading real steel names! 

HANDLING THE BEAST 

Of course being VFC it also includes their now fairly 

signature and standard integral NPAS (Null Pressure 

Air System) adjustable floating nozzle valve (which 

can be tweaked with an Allen key through the front 

of the firing nozzle when the bolt is removed from 

the receiver) which allows the spring loaded vane 


ARMOURY 


of the valve and its relative openings front and back 

(barrel and cylinder feeds respectively) to be opened 

and closed to tweak the amount of gas allowed to 

enter the chamber and 650mm inner barrel before 

the BB exits the muzzle and the back pressure drops. 

This then allows the floating valve to shuttle 

forward, blocking off the barrel and diverting the 

gas flow from the magazine to the main chamber 

and piston that operate the action and give you 

the somewhat impressive recoil force. As yet I 

haven’t even touched this or had the rifle apart at 

all and given the propensity for joule creep in GBBR 

platforms, I imagine the 0.4g BBs I found it ran 

effectively on at range will push the muzzle energy 

up a bit compared to the 0.2g – with the 0.2g and 

0.3g BBs of my initial tests; I saw around 7-10 m/s 

variance and related Joule readings climbing towards 

2J muzzle energy, very much worth bearing in mind 

with regards to local laws and power restrictions. 

Remember that Taiwan is somewhat the Wild West, 

out East, compared to my UK experiences, although 

again, people tend to be largely responsible and 

more MilSim and precision oriented with lower 

volumes of fire and longer engagement ranges 

outside of truly CQB environments, where such a 

large and obviously dedicated DMR/Sniper rifle has 

questionable utility in all honesty. Many of the GBB 

setups in Taiwan are allowed to run into the 150m/s 

range with local rules to allow a range advantage to 

offset the limited ammunition capacity, and of course 

with minimum engagement ranges to be followed. 

The trigger features the adjustable ‘shoe’ that can 

be loosened by means of a rear grub screw to allow 

it to be moved up or down along the trigger body’s 

length to provide the most comfortable position and 

travel for the individual shooter and their hand size 

in conjunction with the aforementioned adjustable 

height and angle palm support ring. The trigger itself 

has a very pleasant pull weight and feel to it, with 

very little slack or slop as such, just a progressive 

pull to a short wall where it breaks quite nicely and 

cleanly and resets with a similar feel. The fire selector 

is quite long and has a wide thumb rest surface 

to allow comfortable actuation by a right-handed 

shooter, with around a 30-degree downward throw 

from the white ‘0’ safe to the red ‘1’ fire marking – 

of course, if you were somehow unaware, this is a 

semi-auto only platform. Not that you really need all 

that much ammunition when we consider the output 

results and range testing and tuning, I’ve already 

undertaken and just how well it sends heavier 

weight BBs down range. 

The polymer butt stock features a much larger 

profile than that of the standard G3, with a club 

foot lower end that allows you to wrap your support 

arm around and put pressure on its front face for 

a cradling freehand or sitting stance holding the 

heft of the PSG-1 steady. The cheek piece and rear 

rubberised buttpad can be adjusted by way of the 

included thumbscrew unlocking tool, the cheek piece 

then being free to rise atop its spring loading force 

and you to settle on it and get a comfortable sight 

picture, while the buttpad itself can be rotated on its 

axis and winds out on a coarse ACME thread style. 

At present I have just left this closed and the length 

of pull is fairly comfortable even with my Kermit 

arms! Below the cheek piece is the fairly typical sling 

loop insert that also features the retention holes for 

the two takedown pins to be stored in during field 

stripping to avoid them wandering off as tends to 

occur with non-captives. 

Heading back towards the business end of things, 

the magazines seat nicely into the well just ahead 

of the trigger guard, with a rock and lock action 

which is surprisingly stable and repeatable, much 

easier to achieve consistently when compared to my 

experience of AK platforms, the only minor caveat 

being with the short 5 BB magazine, as you have less 

bulk and therefore leverage you have to gingerly pull 

the front edge down into the shelf and rotate the 

rear face back up and into position against the overinsertion 

stops on the magazine outer wall. This took 

a little getting used to for me at first, and is definitely 

less of a problem with the longer 20 BB magazines, 

but, I had to have a 5 rounder for the perfect look! 

The magazine release is only by way of the side 

button on the right face of the magazine well, 

perfectly accessible by way of my long index finger, 

but for many others it’s likely to be a man-handling 

task to release and remove the magazines during 

reloading or unloading. There is no much beloved 

convenient ambidextrous paddle release of the MP5 

or G36 platforms, I am afraid, but one would hope 

that aside from range work you aren’t having to 

master rapid reloads under fire all that often given 

the ridiculous range and power advantage the PSG-1 

affords you. 

Personally I need to acquire some 7.62 sized 

magazine pouches like my 5.56mm TMC Scorpion 

FASTMag equivalents for more convenient belt or 

12 


ARMOURY 


plate carrier mounting; at least for my first shoot the 

two long magazines fit nicely in my 5.11 flex tactical 

trousers, but that’s hardly the most convenient 

or practical solution. In terms of operation, the 

magazines have a sideways swinging valve pin in 

the rear face of the magazine which is acted upon 

by the valve striker in the fire control group; once 

the magazine feeds the last BB into the chamber 

and it is fired, the follower will lift up far enough 

during the reloading cycle to actuate the internal 

mechanism this sweeps this arm off to the right, out 

of engagement with the striker, so that on the next 

trigger pull on a now empty chamber, you get a dead 

click. And thus, a cue to reload. This feature can be 

over-ridden by holding the swinging bar centrally 

and depressing the sliding tab on the right edge of 

the rear face of the magazine, and then pulling the 

knurled slider tab on the top face - to the side of the 

gas outlet port - backward to lock it in the central 

position and allow dry firing with gas entering the 

action to cycle it without BBs feeding and firing, for 

maintenance, training and testing purposes. 

It’s also important, as with WE MP5 magazines 

that I have and operate, it’s important to check 

the position of these valve arms before loading the 

magazines into the IF; during testing I had a few 

hilarious ‘there’s nothing louder than a click that 

should have been a bang’ moments as the arms will 

rest in the disabled mode to the right even when BBs 

are freshly loaded; you have to manually reposition 

them to the central enabled position prior to loading. 

Further forwards the free floated handguard can 

easily be removed by using a flathead screwdriver 

to rotate the retaining drum at the top of the front 

face above the barrel, this releases the retainer and 

allows you to slide the handguard off to the front 

along and off the outer barrel. This then reveals 

the wide hop adjustment drum at the root of the 

barrel where it meets the receiver; working it from a 

shouldered perspective and firing while adjusting, a 

counterclockwise movement will increase the hop-up 

effect. 

Having seen the likes of Redwolf TV’s review video 

as well as watching Badabing’s review and talking 

to him direct about his own PSG-1 back in the UK I 

was aware that the gun really only works on heavy 

ammunition, I chronographed on 0.2g and 0.3g 

BLS BBs for the familiarity and science reasons, but 

knew these would be massively over-hopped thanks 

to the other guys reviews, so range testing began at 

0.36g BBs and moved up to 0.4g which then seemed 

to settle quite nicely once the hop unit was dialed 

in.Thereafter I zeroed the scope in once the trajectory 

was reasonably flat and consistent, as usual the hop 

rubber will need to bed for a few hundred rounds or 

so before I’m totally happy, and I’ll re-chrono using 

the ammunition I’ll be fielding to work out what the 

muzzle energy is and how appropriate it is to use for 

gameplay. Thus far it’s been very consistent on metal, 

paper and plastic at least, and it’s been many years 

since I used a telescopic scope so I’m getting back 

into the swing of actually following my rounds out 

instead of relying on a consistent close range red-dot 

zero. 

The only downside I suppose is the restricted 

availability or even the capability if you can find 

them, of the original telescopic sights the real rifles 

were supplied with. VFC supply a picatinny rail for 

mounting whatever scope you can find that’s closest 

to the look of the original, or whatever works best 

for you and your needs; as it is mine rides quite 

high in the scope rings on top of the rail atop the 

original mounts, I may try and get something lower 

profile, machined rings that mount straight to the 

welded plinths the rail is bolted onto, but for now 

I’ll focus on tuning and fielding the gun itself and 

get comfortable handling and using it. A screen 

protector might be a further thing I have to add, and 

I’m contemplating 3D printing one that functions as 

a protector and something that ups the size of the 

lens to make it look closer to the original scope. 

Finally there is a screw retained bipod mount 

under the front of the handguard which allows you 

to mount a variety of support options which can 

then be adjusted front or rearward, for now I will 

probably free-hand it for at least a few games to 

work out how best to field the PSG-1, then look 

into a bipod for use in more urban style sights or for 

more static use in woodland environments. 

Despite only touching on the capabilities briefly, 

thus far I’m already very impressed with the 

operation, appearance and performance of the 

VFC HK PSG-1 GBBR and look forward to fielding it 

more in the future.Despite it being a bit of a mare 

to carry around to and from sites and on the field, 

the advantages it gives you really make up for the 

shortcomings to my mind, and the fact it’s such a 

cultural icon make it a real head turner and people 

were literally queuing up to let off a few rounds 

during my testing day due to the fact there are 

reportedly less than 3-500 in existence worldwide to 

the best of my knowledge. AA 


ARMOURY 

DOUBLE BELL 812S 

16 


ARMOURY 


SOMETIMES A NEW AEG JUST SEEMS TO COME OUT OF NOWHERE AND WOWS 

YOU WITH ITS EXTERNALS AND OVERALL LOOK, AND THIS MONTH JIMMY TAKES 

A LOOK AT A RECENT ADDITION TO HIS PERSONAL ARMOURY THAT LOOKS 

SUSPICIOUSLY LIKE A 416, BUT IS ACTUALLY CATEGORISED AS AN “812S”… 

JIMMY TELLS ALL! 

I 

know you’ve looked at the picture and said to 

yourself “Oh no! Not another 416”! Yes you 

would be right, it is another 416 but a 416 from 

an unexpected manufacturer - and it has nothing on 

it externally to suggest its origins! 

Go on have a guess! Okay, I’ll not keep you in 

suspense, this lovely little number is from a company 

I initially would not have even dreamed could make 

something this pretty, a company that has never 

really cropped up in conversation, and a name that 

quite frankly sits quite low on the list. 

That name is Double Bell! 

Gasp all you want, but please don’t tune out as I’d 

love for you to hear my thoughts. The fact is Double 

Bell is the new name for Dboys who have been 

around for a few years now, so I’d say they know a 

few things. 

But first let’s have a little history on the 416 shall 

we? Heckler & Koch’s 416 has been the holy cow 

of the special ops community for some considerable 

time, an improved version of the M4 carbine with 

many changes, most notably a short-stroke gas 

piston system originally dreamed up for G36 (in truth 

it dated back to the AR-18 rifle designed in 1963, 

but hey, who’s counting amongst friends and major 

arms manufacturers!). It’s said that Operational 

Detachment–Delta collaborated directly with H&K 

to develop the new carbine, and allegedly Delta 

Force replaced its M4s with the HK416 in 2004 

after tests revealed that the piston operating system 

significantly reduced malfunctions while increasing 

the life of parts. The project was originally called 

the HK M4, but this was changed in response to a 

trademark infringement suit from Colt Defense! 


ARMOURY 


The HK416 has subsequently been picked up by 

numerous law enforcement agencies and special 

operations units, and perhaps equally importantly 

was adopted as the standard service rifle of the 

Norwegian Armed Forces and, more recently, the 

French Armed Forces, replacing the aging 

FAMAS in 2016, so it’s no high-falutin’ onetrick 

pony! However, there’s one place that 

in my mind the 416 shines brighter than 

ever, and that’s in the hands of the USN 

SEALs. 

Bill tells me that I could mention 

“Geronimo” here, but that’s an old 

(yet historically important, much like 

Bill!) story now, but 

the fact is that the 

HK416 has become 

interwoven in SEAL 

lore due to that 

piece of history; that 

416 was reported 

to be “a 10-inch barrel 

with a typical Special Operations 

loadout for this rifle including an AAC 

Suppressor, a Geissele trigger, Remington 

RAHG handguard, a Surefire Scout weapon light 

attached with an S&S Precision light mount, an 

EOTech optic with an EOTech 2x magnifier, and an 

Advanced Target Pointer Illuminator Aiming Laser 

(ATPIAL)”, but as with many things SEAL we’ll 

probably never know for sure. 

The fact is though that the HK416 is seen in SEAL 

hands pretty regularly, and of course has become 

“de riguer” for fans of “SIX” and “SEAL Team”; 

therefore, for players with an “NSW bent” the 416 is 

a pretty obvious choice in airsoft form! 

PRICED TO ENTICE! 

So now we have the history out of the way let’s have 

a look and focus on the rifle itself. I know there’s 

going to be plenty of you out there reading this that 

will turn their noses up because it’s a Double Bell 

and not Marui, nor is it a VFC but the fact remains 

Double Bell have actually created something which is 

aesthetically pleasing and the quality externals have 

been finished to a nice standard. Remember, Double 

Bell aren’t out there producing high-end RIFs, they 

are a manufacturer of the more budget end, which is 

why I was pleasantly surprised to see that it doesn’t 

actually look budget. 

I’ve got a fair bit of testing with this and I haven’t 

been kind to it. From the point of receiving it up 

to date, oh I have shot around three and a half 

thousand BBs through it, and over half of that 

was just pure Full-Auto mag- dumping! 

I wanted to see if I could 

make this thing fail and so 

far so good, no adverse operation, it didn’t miss a 

beat it didn’t drop a shot it works incredibly well! 

Okay we’re not talking the most responsive of 

trigger pulls, and we’re not talking a devastating 

rate of fire as it’s a standard, budget out of the box 

platform with a price tag which is at the maximum 

range of around UK£250. 

Out of the no-frills brown cardboard box you 

get one hi cap magazine and a small z-shaped 

key which at first I couldn’t fathom it’s intended 

use. It took me a while but then the penny 

dropped, the hi cap mag had no way of 

winding externally and the key is needed to 

wind it; not being a massive fan of this I just 

threw it in the bin, I have plenty of other 

mags and the rifle isn’t too fussy with what 

mags are used. 

Getting to the aesthetics of it I’m pleased to say 

it looks rather nice! Double Bell have made a great 

job of ensuring it looks the part and the fact all the 

“THE FACT IS THOUGH THAT THE HK416 IS SEEN IN SEAL HANDS PRETTY REGULARLY, 

AND OF COURSE HAS BECOME “DE RIGUER” FOR FANS OF “SIX” AND “SEAL TEAM”; 

THEREFORE, FOR PLAYERS WITH AN “NSW BENT” THE 416 IS A PRETTY OBVIOUS 

CHOICE IN AIRSOFT FORM!” 

18 


ARMOURY 


new 416 platforms are crafted in full metal gets the 

thumbs up from me and a few of the other guys 

and the only plastic parts being the grip, stock and 

(correctly) the ejection port cover. I opted for the 12” 

version in a lovely bronze and tan colour scheme 

which is becoming increasingly popular. 

Starting at 

the front it comes 

with a standard 

birdcage-style flash 

hider which 

protrudes slightly 

from the 

you 

handguard allowing 

to fit all manner of 

suppressors on to 

the 14mm 

CCW 

threaded outer 

barrel. The 

outer barrel 

is actually a 

two piece 

barrel, so 

should 

you want 

to fit a 

suppressor 

and wish 

to bring it 

in closer 

you can easily fit 

a 32mm or even a 35mm suppressor inside 

the handguard, bringing down the length and 

covering up the inner barrel. 

The handguard for me is my favourite part, being 

a Geiselle SMR repro! Sadly it doesn’t sport any 

markings but the finish of the bronze is great and it 

offers a whole 12” of real estate for the adornment 

of accessories along with a full-length monolithic 

top rail. Another nice touch is the fact you get three 

separate metal rail sections included which are 

removable so you can place them wherever your 

heart desires, and once fitted they are a very solid fit. 

The receivers are nicely finished and have no wobble 

between the upper and the lower which for me is 

something I look for in receivers; if they wobble or 

move I get put off very easily. The one flaw in the 

receivers is the lack of markings, and I would have 

liked to see some H&K trademarks but I can live with 

that as it’s not a licenced product after all. 

There are the correct ambi selectors, bolt release 

and mag release which all seem to work flawlessly, 

and when the charging handle is pulled this locks 

open the mock bolt giving access to the hop unit 

for easy adjustments. I like what has been done 

with the mag release button, a 3mm hex key is 

needed to undo it rather than the anaemic 1mm 

hex head which 9/10 times strips the first time you 

attempt to undo it. The grip is a standard AR style 

grip and it’s quite shiny; it 

would have been nicer 

with a grip similar to 

that on the VFC 416 

but it’s functional and 

the glossy finish may 

dull with use. Moving 

onto the stock it has a 

tan CRANE-style model 

which I’m not a fan of; 

while it is functional it 

has a little wobble to it 

but nothing that a bit of 

adhesive/velcro can’t solve. 

Personally I believe it would 

look great with a 416A5 

slim stock on it. 

SURPRISING INSIDE! 

Moving on to the internals and I must say there 

are a lot of parts I was surprised to see inside; 

some thought put in to this and it definitely hasn’t 

just been thrown together. Certain parts are just 

unremarkable bog standard parts which you will 

find in a lot of airsoft platforms, even on items 

with a much higher price bracket like the barrel 

and hop rubber. The 385mm inner barrel is made 

from brass and DB claim it to be 6.03mm but sadly 

I can’t confirm this so we’ll just agree that it is. They 

have used a standard black hop rubber which isn’t 

all that exciting but it does the job (upgrades are 

easily fitted). The hop unit itself while it is a plastic 

rotary style the adjustment isn’t all that great and 

you do need to adjust it quite a bit before anything 

happens which caused it to struggle lifting a 0.28g. 

My diagnosis is that the nub is way too soft for the 

degree of hardness on the hop rubber. 

Moving on to the gearbox it is a standard cast V2 

box which has been stamped with the word BELL 


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ARMOURY 


and sports a quick change spring guide with a thrust 

bearing (two thumbs up from me!) and 7mm caged 

bearings. The first thing that caught my attention 

was the fact it has an anodized red nozzle clearly 

marked 21mm and seems to be pretty good quality. 

Once inside the gearbox I discovered it does in fact 

have an o-ring in place helping with the airseal. 

It would have been nice tosee some radius to the 

gearbox but due to the fact this came out of the box 

at around 295fps I don’t really see a problem with 

stress. 

Going further into the belly of the beast and this 

is where I have to say I am impressed with certain 

components. Upon opening the box I found it to 

be greased but not heavily, and the grease used 

wasn’t the typical thick honey-like grease; it was 

a nice clean, and what appeared to be silicone 

grease. The gears are the typical cast/pressed affairs 

which meshed flawlessly. When spinning the gears 

freely they were silent and were actually shimmed 

incredibly well using very few shims which is either 

by coincidence or they manufactured the shell with 

precision. 

A standard contact and shuttle system had 

been fitted while it served its purpose for me this 

technology needs to be binned; I’m not a fan of 

a mechanical trigger and cutoff. The compression 

parts impressed me, as these are parts I usually swap 

out but this time round I don’t feel these would 

need to be changed. The piston is a 14t lightweight 

piston housing a full metal rack; the piston head is 

a nice anodized red 8 vent double o-ring type with 

lazer etching stating (high performance piston) and 

marked BELL. There is also a thrust bearing, steel ¾ 

cylinder, and double o-ring polymer cylinder head. 

All these parts combined give an amazing airseal 

so I was confused as to why the velocity was low, but 

it turns out DB have fitted a short soft spring. That 

said over the chrono it was superbly consistent firing 

between 0.8 Joule/295-297fps. After reassembling 

the complete rifle I decided to fit a stronger spring, 

using a Gearparts M100 and I predicted it would 

be hitting around the 330fps mark; to my utter 

amazement it went way past that and hit 398fps 

going to prove the air seal on this thing is VERY 

good. I opted for an M95 spring which saw the 

velocity drop to 1.23 Joule/365fps so I shall need to 

adjust that spring a coil or two further. 

On the range it worked but it is lacking some 

response; I can operate faster than the mechanics 

and the ROF is relatively low. I tested it with an 

11.1v li-ion but it didn’t like it on semi-auto as it was 

seriously overspinning and giving a two BB burst; it 

did see an increase on full-auto but nothing to write 

home about. Ranging at approximately 45m you’re 

going to need to get fairly close to your target, but 

if you are wanting to reach out and create a bit of 

distance it’s nothing some choice upgrades won’t fix. 

My conclusion is that Double Bell have produced 

something rather good which doesn’t cost an awful 

lot; it’s available as a longer model (the one I have) 

or a shorter CQB-length variant; both look great 

and you certainly will stand out if you’re carrying 

one, and it’s perfect for a beginner, especially the 

price! This would also be a great base to throw some 

money at and make it something special both inside 

and out, and as this is my own personal rifle now 

there will be a plethora of upgrades being installed 

internally soon! 

My thanks go to the Marcus at All Ages Airsoft 

and the guys at iWholesales; do check in with them 

to see the latest models from Double Bell and much, 

much more! AA 

“THIS WOULD ALSO BE A GREAT BASE TO THROW SOME MONEY AT AND MAKE IT 

SOMETHING SPECIAL BOTH INSIDE AND OUT, AND AS THIS IS MY OWN PERSONAL 

RIFLE NOW THERE WILL BE A PLETHORA OF UPGRADES BEING INSTALLED INTERNALLY 

SOON!” 


ARMOURY 

SECUTOR GLADIUS MAGNA PCC KIT 

TRIARIUS 

APPROVED! 

22 


ARMOURY 


OVER THE PAST YEAR WE’VE SPENT A LOT OF TIME LOOKING AT THE RAFT OF PISTOL CALIBRE 

CARBINES (PCCS) THAT HAVE COME ONTO THE MARKET, AND ALTHOUGH WE LOVE MOST OF THEM 

THERE IS STILL A QUESTION UNANSWERED IN OUR MINDS; WHERE IS THE PRIMARY THAT ACTUALLY 

USES THE EXACT SAME MAGAZINES AS OUR SECONDARY? BILL TAKES A LOOK AT BOTH A SECUTOR 

PISTOL AND THE LICENCED CARBINE KIT TO GO WITH IT, AND MOVES THINGS FORWARD AGAIN! 

As I predicted round about this time last year, 

2021 has indeed been the “Year of the PCC” 

and this shows no sign of letting up any time 

soon! I’ve had my hands on some wonderful little 

carbines during the course of the last year, and all of 

them are skirmish-worthy, but there’s still a MAJOR 

niggle scratching and itching at the back of my 

mind, and it’s the fact that virtually all of them use 

proprietary magazines. 

You may ask why this bothers me SO much, and 

it’s as simple as this; I own a number of 1911, Hi 

Capa, and G-Series pistols, and have a grab-bag of 

magazines for all of them, so a PCC that used those 

exact same magazines would be 100% my ideal 

tool… no need to buy a whole other set of mags, 

I could just use the same ones for both pistol and 

carbine! I also think that given complementary mags, 

any airsofter considering moving to “full gas” in their 

loadout that already owned a GBB handgun would 

find this a cheaper option too. Although the superb 

new lowers for the PCCs are indeed “airsoft art”, the 

fact is that proprietary magazines are still needed is, 

I feel strongly, a real loss for both existing gas players 

and potential “gas carbine” skirmishers. 

I do hope that that some of the manufacturers 

will go back to their design teams with the gas PCC 

variants and make them completely compatible 

with pistol magazines, as a short PCC really is quite 

an excellent and useful addition to anyone’s CQB 

armoury. Would I own one right now? Yes I would, 

but it’s not what you might think! 


ARMOURY 


IMAGE SOURCE: PUBLIC DOMAIN - ALL RIGHTS RESPECTED 

A couple of months back I had the pleasure of 

visiting our friends up at iWholesales who deal, 

amongst many brands, with Secutor Arms. Although 

I know and love Secutor for their VELITES shotguns 

and RAPAX AR models I will admit that I’ve had 

limited experience with their pistols. A number of 

local players, and indeed a couple of members of 

Red Cell own the Secutor LUDUS 1911-style GBBs 

and they perform very nicely, no problem with any 

of them. I’ve also tried the original Secutor GLADIUS 

(their take on the “G-Series”) and liked it, but as 

I already own quite a few excellent “G-Series” 

handguns it didn’t wow me enough to make we 

want one. However, when you add the Gladius to 

the RECOVER TACTICAL Carbine Kit, then all bets 

are off! 

Now pistol carbine “kits” are nothing new, and 

I simply need to point you at the CAA RONI family 

and the KPOS to illustrate this; in direct airsoft terms 

I can also point you towards one of my favourite 

G&G setups in the form of the SMC-9 that in terms 

of operation is based largely on their super little 

“Piranha” pistol and is fully compatible with the gas 

magazines for that. 

However, both of these models are pretty much 

SMG-length RIFs, and if you’re looking for something 

to act as a backup for a DMR or bolt-action rifle then 

it means you’re going to be lugging around an SMG 

as a “secondary secondary”, and especially for the 

snipers out there, the last thing you want is 

more weight and more bulk to lug around and 

get caught in the undergrowth! 

This is where a minimalist carbine kit like the 

RECOVER 20/20 (known under licence to Secutor 

as the CORVUS) married up to a reliable GBB pistol 

comes into its own. 

A NAME TO RESPECT 

First up though, let’s have a closer look at the 

pistol that Secutor recommend as a partner to the 

RECOVER 20/20 kit, and that’s the Gladius Magna, 

and in fact you can now buy the pistol and the 

carbine kit as one item! 

Why Gladius? As some of you may know, and 

some may not, “gladius” literally translated means 

“sword”, but given Secutor’s love for all things 

Romanesque in their naming protocols I believe 

we can safely say that in this case it refers to the 

“Gladius Hispaniensis” as this was the standard short 

sword of Roman legionaries. It was much respected 

due to its relatively short and double-edged blade 

which made it ideal for cutting and thrusting in the 

confined space of hand to hand combat. Legionaries 

were trained both to cut and stab, and in fact were 

very specifically trained to stab while protecting 

themselves with their shield rather than expose 

their torso and arm, and of course we all know how 

historically important this was! 

As Eddie Izzard once said ““I’ve done a bit of 

Latin in my time… but I can control it”; his sketch 

on the efficacy of what he called “the Roman Pokey 

Pokey Sword” still ranks up there for me as one of 

the funniest sketches out there that actually teaches 

you something about military history, but I digress… 

what he intimated in the sketch is that while wild 

barbarians had huge blades that they would flail 

about with, the Romans, highly trained and effective, 

would simply engage from behind their shields, and 

from that protective stance… then, “pokey pokey”, 

I’m sure you get the picture! 

Magna? Again, literally translated from Latin, 

magna means simply “great”, so what you have 

then is a “great little sword”… doesn’t sound quite 

so flash as “Gladius Magna”, now does it? But 

from what I 

can see, in the 

Gladius Magna 

series Secutor have created a 

family of “G-Series” pistols that 

fulfil the role of a short effective 

fighting tool for the trained user. 

As a standalone I had the Gladius 

Magna VI TIER 2 to have a close look 

at, and I have to admit I really liked it! 

“‘GLADIUS’ LITERALLY TRANSLATED MEANS “SWORD”, BUT GIVEN SECUTOR’S LOVE 

FOR ALL THINGS ROMANESQUE IN THEIR NAMING PROTOCOLS I BELIEVE WE CAN 

SAFELY SAY THAT IN THIS CASE IT REFERS TO THE ‘GLADIUS HISPANIENSIS.’” 

24 


ARMOURY 


The 

polymer lower 

frame is 

undoubtedly 

“G”, and it 

uses “G-Series” 

mags, but 

that’s pretty much 

where 

“standard” stops! 

The alloy 

slide, a rather nice 

FDE on the 

test model, is fully 

on-trend 

with the current crop 

of cutaway 

and lightened styles 

out there, and 

I actually love the fact 

it has a deeply etched “SPQR” symbol on the 

top, giving it a distinct character. I also love that 

behind this symbol are the fixings for attaching a red 

dot sight should you wish to, but unlike some this 

is neatly done without losing the aesthetic “line” of 

the slide. 

As it is, the pistol comes with some distinctly “G” 

open sights, which of course means you can fit Hi Vis 

fibres if you wish. At the sharp end is a really chunky, 

easily removable compensator that adds to the 

overall visual appeal of the pistol as a whole, as does 

the extended bumper on the 23BB C02 magazine 

and the aggressive stippling on the pistol grip. It’s a 

very striking design without doubt, and everything is 

very tidily finished! 

On the range the Magna is a real blast as given 

the CO2 mag, it has a hard-kick, fast-cycling action, 

and knowing that you’re not going to run out of gas 

during your first mag means that you can really put 

some BBs downrange at a rate of knots! Power is 

sensible, with a mean reading through the chrono 

of 0.93 Joule/317fps using a .20g BB. Accuracy at 

10m is very good indeed, with nice tight groupings 

possible if you put your mind to it. The trigger guard 

is standard “G” which means that the Magna is still 

fine if you’re using gloves with reinforced/protected 

fingers, and for me the extended-bumper magazine 

made the pistol very comfortable indeed to shoot. 

Although the Magna is by no means a “replica” I 

can tell you that it is largely compatible with existing 

“G” holsters. 

STABILTY IS KING 

As I may have mentioned in my article on bipods in 

this issue, when it comes to 

longer-range accuracy then 

stability is king! How does this 

transfer to a pistol then, and 

the answer is via the RECOVER 

TACTICAL (RT) 20/20 carbine kit! 

If you’ve not come across them before, 

RT products are designed by the world-renowned 

Israeli weapons engineer and industrial designer 

Tamir Porat. Tamir has a long history of designing 

innovative weapons systems including the Tavor rifle 

used by the Israeli Defense Forces as well as other 

militaries and the growing civilian markets around 

the world. Tamir has many years of experience in the 

defence industry, specializing within a wide range of 

areas such as small arms, vehicles, and riot control. 

The values that guide his work are reliability and 

functionality, and RT “are committed to the highest 

standards of performance”. 

What sings to me about the 20/20 kit is its 

absolute simplicity! Although it does offer a folding 

stock so that you can use your pistol from the 

shoulder effectively and more accurately, when this 

minimalist stock is locked to the right hand side the 

entire frame only extends 105mm behind the pistol, 

and you can still access the trigger easily when the 

stock is folded. I did however find the slide release 

difficult to activate when wearing gloves, but as with 

all things this got better with practice and repetition. 

Obviously the 20/20 is aimed, in the real world, 

at Glock pistol users, and although it follows the 

Roni and KPOS kits’ distinctly Israeli tradition, it is a 

far neater and less bulky design. The 20/20 wraps 

around the pistol in a clamshell fashion, and locks 

itself to the front rail; fitting requires a single allen 

bolt (provided) and it’s super-quick and easy, as it 

simply requires you to align the 20/20 with the rail, 

and the kit has a recess to secure the rear of the 

pistol firmly in place, locking it down and adding to 

the overall stability. The kit comes with a choice of 

two oversized “charging handles” to provide ease 

of cocking, a straightforward two piece affair, and 

a large “ghost ring” style; these charging handles 

allow you to more easily manipulate the slide when 

the pistol is mounted in the 20/20, but I found 

that the “ghost ring” version was hard to fit to the 

Magna given the “swell” in the slide where the red 

dot mounting point is. 

The RT 20/20 is completely and utterly modular, 

and if you pay a visit to their website you’ll find a 

host of different attachments and upgrades available 

which include an optic mount, additional rails, and 


ARMOURY 


IMAGE SOURCE: PUBLIC DOMAIN - ALL RIGHTS RESPECTED 

a magazine holder for the front rail. There’s even a 

bespoke holster option; the paddle-style holster fits 

around the body of the kit and covers the trigger for 

safe carry. Just FYI, if you buy the “Magna/RT” kit as 

one item you’ll be getting the Magna III rather than 

the TIER 2, but the only major difference is that the III 

has a knurled outer barrel protector rather than the 

compensator. 

As much as the Magna /RT setup is a brilliant 

lightweight design that transforms your pistol into a 

proper shoulder-aimed platform, if anything it shoots 

even better than it looks! The Magna/RT combo 

for me steps into that 10 to 30m ground where I 

have to lay down my DMR and draw my pistol, and 

as I’d hoped given that it’s C02 -driven, at those 

distances it absolutely rocks! Once you’ve set up 

to your chosen weight of BBs (0.25g worked well 

for me), at 10m it’s deadly accurate which makes it 

an absolutely ideal CQB tool, but where my pistol 

would start to fade a little beyond 15-20m (down to 

the user, not the platform!), the combo is still bang 

on the button. On the 30m range prone and using 

the standard iron sights I was still happily hitting 

sandbags at the furthest extent, and this is with a 

standard G-series-length inner barrel; my thoughts 

are that with a bit of fettling the power is certainly 

there to reach further, and the added stability given 

by the 20/20 means that you’ll actually be hitting 

what you aim at! 

So does the Magna/RT setup begin to answer my 

question as to a proper “PCC System”? Oh yes, it 

does! Although I would personally class this setup 

as a “carbine” when it’s all mated together, it is so 

much more than that. The RT 20/20 is a platform 

that turns a pistol (and it does fit most G-Series” 

models out there) into a more effective and more 

stable shoulder-fireable “carbine”, and I CAN use 

my existing pistol magazine in it, including extended 

models! 

Okay, whilst the 20/20 is a “carbine” or “brace” 

kit that works with the Magna and not what I would 

call a TRUE PCC, in my mind the door is still very 

much wide open for someone to step through and 

fill this void. I STILL believe that the first company 

to come to market with a viable gas carbine in AR 

configuration that is completely compatible with 

gas pistol magazines will be onto a real winner, but 

until someone develops a PCC that uses the same 

magazines as my chosen secondary I’d say that the 

RT 20/20 and the Gladius have a distinct edge! 

My thanks go to www.iwholesales.co.uk for 

providing me with the test model of the Gladius 

Magna, along with the Gladius/RT combo; they have 

most of the Secutor line available so for this and 

other models do check them out! AA 


TOKYO MARUI 

L119A2 CUSTOM BUILD 

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KIT & GEAR 

SPITFIRE TRACER UNITS TRACER UNIT 

A TALE 

OF TWO 

TRACERS 

WILL A LONGER TRACER UNIT WORK WITH AN EXTENDED INNER BARREL 

WHERE OTHERS HAVE FAILED? STEVE T MAKES A CUSTOM BUILD 

FUNCTIONAL AFTER DARK. 

I’ve been very happy using Acetech’s BT Lighter S 

minimalist tracer unit in a range of applications for 

a while now, but it turns out that one of the things 

I love about it may also be its undoing. The Lighter 

S is small enough that the additional weight doesn’t 

stress pistol barrels and also doesn’t dominate 

longer builds, but its compact nature comes with an 

unexpected problem. 

My modified ‘Tactical Tuna’ F2000 by G&G - as 

covered in a previous issue - now has a slightly 

longer inner barrel; not by much, but just enough to 

ensure that it extends past the Lighter S’ activation 

lights, blocking them from charging tracer BBs on 

the way out. As a result, that tracer no bueno in this 

particular build. 

What I needed was a full-sized unit with those 

all-important lights further away from the end of 

the barrel to make the futuristic F2K shoot suitably 

appropriate lasers. 

SHOOT HERE! 

If we’re upgrading and adding a new tracer anyway, 

then why not try out something that also adds some 

drama with added muzzle flare? I’ve seen a couple 

of different tracer units lately that claim to add a 

lifelike flash at the end of the barrel with every round 

and I think it looks fun. Milsimmers everywhere will 

recoil in horror - as will anyone that plays airsoft as 

a competitive sport - simply because that artificial 

muzzle flare will give away your position quicker 

than a big pointy finger over your head saying ‘Shoot 

here!’ But if you play to have fun - or your usual 

arena is indoors CQB - then this might just be for 

you. 

“MILSIMMERS EVERYWHERE WILL RECOIL IN HORROR - AS WILL ANYONE THAT PLAYS 

AIRSOFT AS A COMPETITIVE SPORT - SIMPLY BECAUSE THAT ARTIFICIAL MUZZLE FLARE 

WILL GIVE AWAY YOUR POSITION QUICKER THAN A BIG POINTY FINGER OVER YOUR HEAD 

SAYING ‘SHOOT HERE!’ ” 

30 

JANUARY 2022 

IMAGE FROM PUBLIC DOMAIN ALL RIGHTS RESPECTED

KIT & GEAR 

SPITFIRE TRACER UNITS 

This isn’t intended as a head-to-head comparison, 

but I purchased two options to fix my problem 

and I thought our readers might be interested in 

a combined review of both. We’re looking at the 

Blaster from established brand Acetech, as well as 

something from a less well-known name, the Ghost 

Spitfire. 

UNCHAINED, NOT OFF THE HOOK 

Let’s start with the UK£52.99 Ghost Spitfire, for no 

other reason than it arrived first in the post. Just look 

at the outside of this thing. It has the word ‘TRACER’ 

written in big, white capital letters. I wonder what 

it might do? Subtlety might not be a strong point 

- and a camo paint job beckons - but it works like 

an absolute champ, shooting strong, bright green 

beams, even on full auto. 

With its simplistic cylindrical design, the Spitfire 

won’t win any cool awards, but it’s innocuous 

enough and won’t overpower any build in terms 

of looks. The metal outer casing unscrews to reveal 

innards that seem just a little less factory than you 

might hope, but at least everything seems well 

grouped. That’s where you can plug in the charging 

cable, with an LED that flashes red until it turns 

green to show fully charged, taking a couple of 

hours from empty to full. 

And when you do? Yeah, it’s a cliche to say it, 

but the Spitfire paints tracer BBs like laser beams. 

Obviously, there’s no effect on accuracy or range, but 

they carve super crisp and sharp lines across night 

fights - or in darkened rooms - easily the match of 

any tracer unit I’ve ever used. 

IMPRESSIVE BUILD 

The Acetech Blaster costs around £20 more, but it’s 

not a case of just paying for a brand name - the build 

quality is more impressive and it’s a winner in the 

looks department, too. Not only does the machining 

seem better finished, but it also features more 

stylised crenellations for added intimidation. The 

markings are also less toylike. 

Where the Spitfire’s guts are on display when you 

need to charge - complete with a film wrap that a 

heavy-handed operator could easily put a thumb 

through - the Blaster is a more tightly constructed 

unit that exposes less of its innards to potential 

damage. The Blaster takes it on construction then, 

but there’s very little between the two when it comes 

to actual performance after dark. They both make 

every skirmish a Star Wars fan’s dream. If you have 

yet to experience laying down a neon hail of fire, 

then rest assured that you won’t be disappointed 

with either option. 


COMING 

IN EARLY 

2022!

KIT & GEAR 

SPITFIRE TRACER UNITS 

FLASH IN THE PAN 

That supposed muzzle flash though? Well, erm, not 

so convincing on either front, as it happens. I guess 

I’d hoped for a bit more drama, but both units are 

more of an orange glow than spitting fire. They 

both kinda work - and I shouldn’t be surprised - but 

I’ll admit to being slightly disappointed. At least 

with an AEG... Both units look far more impressive 

when used with a Gas BlowBack Rifle (GBBR), where 

the vented gas from the muzzle gives the light 

output a more dramatic backdrop to work with. 

In that scenario, the lightshow gains some depth 

and perceived heft that elevates performance to 

something that’s actually kinda cool. But gas runners 

are a minority breed and my preference with a GBBR 

is still for a sound amplifier that scares the bejesus 

out of the opposition. 

Either way, if you want a tracer anyway and think 

you might enjoy the added bonus of some kind of 

flare, then both units are up to the task. 

Back to the reason for purchase in my specific use 

case - looking for a tracer that would work with an 

extended inner barrel - and only one of these units 

matches my requirements. And that is the Ghost 

Spitfire. 

I prefer Acetech’s unit overall, but only the Spitfire 

does what I need in this application. So it’s a keeper, 

right? Maybe not. While it’s perfectly effective and 

there’s absolutely nothing wrong with it, I just don’t 

feel it’s worthy of a fully sorted custom rifle like my 

beloved Tuna. So while I’m more than pleased that 

I now have a working solution for shooting after 

hours, I’m going to keep looking for something 

that ticks all my boxes and I’ll bring you my findings 

soon... AA 

“... MY PREFERENCE WITH A GBBR IS STILL FOR A SOUND AMPLIFIER THAT SCARES THE 

BEJESUS OUT OF THE OPPOSITION. EITHER WAY, IF YOU WANT A TRACER ANYWAY AND 

THINK YOU MIGHT ENJOY THE ADDED BONUS OF SOME KIND OF FLARE, THEN BOTH UNITS 

ARE UP TO THE TASK.” 

IMAGE FROM PUBLIC DOMAIN ALL RIGHTS RESPECTED 


KIT & GEAR 

HELIKON-TEX LADIES CL0THING CLOTHING 

HELIKON 

AND ON 

AND ON! 

THIS MONTH WE’RE VERY PLEASED TO BE JOINED BY ONE 

OF THE QUIETER MEMBERS (UNLESS YOU KNOW HER WELL!) 

OF RED CELL - AND THAT’S ALLYSSA MILLS. “LYSS” IS A 

FABULOUS PLAYER, AND ONE THAT WE WOULD HAVE ON 

OUR SIX EACH AND EVERY TIME! HOWEVER, IN THE PAST SHE 

HAS BEMOANED THE SCARCITY OF DECENT LADIES TACTICAL 

CLOTHING, SO WE SET HER UP WITH HELIKON-TEX TO SEE 

WHERE THINGS WOULD LEAD! 

34 


KIT & GEAR 

HELIKON-TEX LADIES CLOTHING 

Weyhey! I’ve finally done it. The impossible! 

Wait... No, the improbable!! Thanks to 

Helikon-Tex, I’ve finally got a BDU that fits 

the female form and I cannot emphasize enough 

how excited I am about this! 

I, like many of my female counterparts, have 

struggled endlessly with finding something that is 

nearly a female cut. Sure, I’ve got and had full BDU 

systems but none of them fit well around the lower 

half of my body. The problem for us ladies is we have 

curves. Fabulous, glorious curves. Curves that should 

be celebrated and men’s gear, or more accurately, 

unisex gear doesn’t fit that profile. While many might 

be rolling their eyes at that comment, hear me out. 

Guys tend to be of a boxier, rectangular shape, 

especially from the waist down. You need freedom 

of movement, given the extras you have down there, 

and that’s fine. You also move in a different way to 

us, it’s just evolutionary biomechanics. The problem 

with that is, we end up with excess material that 

snags on the environment around us and tends 

to move about or makes us look like wannabe 

gangsters with a crotch line by our knees. Some of 

you guys and girls rock that look but for me it’s just 

plain frustrating. 

I understand why the industry caters 

predominantly for males, they make up the bulk 

of the military and the tailoring is suited to their 

needs. It makes sense but with more women moving 

into roles within the armed forces and the frankly 

awesome uptake of airsoft by my female comrades, 

manufacturers are going to be forced into catering 

for us more. I’m what you would call petite, I’m 5’4” 

and a size 6 (that’s 26-28” waist for the fellas) so 

finding something in my size is hard. 

After months of hunting around (and I do mean 

months), Jon noticed something that resembled a 

female cut range of clothing when skipping through 

websites for gear to review for the magazine. As he’s 

the magazine’s apprentice gear guru (under tuition 

from The Oracle) I trusted his advice and then Bill 

contacted our friends at Helikon-Tex... 

CPU OR UTP? 

Today was the day, the postie arrived with a pair of 

“I, LIKE MANY OF MY FEMALE COUNTERPARTS, HAVE STRUGGLED ENDLESSLY WITH FINDING 

SOMETHING THAT IS NEARLY A FEMALE CUT. SURE, I’VE GOT AND HAD FULL BDU SYSTEMS 

BUT NONE OF THEM FIT WELL AROUND THE LOWER HALF OF MY BODY. ” 


KIT & GEAR 

HELIKON-TEX LADIES CL0THING 

Helikon-Tex CPU (Combat Patrol Uniform) and UTP 

(Urban Tactical Pants) pants amongst some other 

Heli goodies. As you would expect from Helikon-Tex, 

they’re built very well. The stitching is uniform, neat 

and tidy and the finishing is great. I couldn’t find a 

loose end anywhere. Even Jon was impressed (and 

that’s saying something).The waist band is not only 

adjustable with the two pull toggles on the rear of 

the pants but also angles down at the navel which 

gives a comfortable fit. 

The belt loops are 2.25” on the CPU and 2” on 

the UTP which means you will comfortably get a 

rigger belt or hook and loop insert in there. I run a 

shooters belt so for me, it’s ideal. The loops also have 

little loops at the bottom for Karabiner or D-Rings 

which is handy too, it’s somewhere to clip my Type 

R keys safely. The seat and crotch are reinforced so 

they won’t wear through. The rear, as you’d expect 

has two ample size pockets that are double button 

closures and can comfortably fit a STANAG mag or 

two in each. Down the front there are two open 

mouth, angle entry deep pockets, you’d fit a mag 

and change in each. The fly is a button front, which 

I find difficult to operate and would have preferred a 

zipper but it’s a minor point of note. 

There are also two EDC pockets that would fit a 

knife in on the upper thigh, just in front of the main 

pocket. This has a re-enforced lip to slow the wear 

through of a clip. The mid-thigh pocket is large, 

with the flap angling from the rear to the front. 

This is fixed with both hook and loop panels and 

a button and loop. These are big enough for two 

midcap mags. Another nice feature of the pocket 

is the adjustment toggle and elasticated cord that 

closes the pocket. The knees also have inverted 

pockets with hook and loop closures for protective 

inserts. Down on the calf of both legs is a pocket big 

enough to fit my Huawei P30 Pro Mobile Phone and 

this has a flap which is closed with a hook and loop 

strip. The pockets are made of the same sturdy and 

durable material as the rest of the pants, which is 

a 60/40 Cotton/Polyester Rip Stop material. They 

finish up at the cuff with traditional draw string 

closure for securing around the boots. 

These, unsurprisingly, are solid, well-built 

trousers that will stand the test of time. As I 

mentioned earlier, Jon looked over these and 

he was impressed too. I’m so happy that I’ve 

got a pair of pants that are comfortable and fit 

a woman well. I’ve worn these as daily drivers 

for well over a month now and I’ve got to say, I’m 

super happy with them. 

FIT FOR PURPOSE! 

Helikon were also kind enough to send me over 

some other items. Another favourite item is the 

Wolfhound Hoodie Jacket in Taiga Green. The last 

few weeks has seen the temperature drop on the 

South Coast and this jacket has been an absolute 

Godsend. The Womens Wolfhound Jacket is a reengineered 

version of the Men’s Wolfhound Jacket, 

and it features the same DWR water resistance 

technology (it will hold up fine in light rain) and the 

excellent Climashield Apex insulation that has kept 

me toasty warm for the previously mentioned cold 

spell. The jacket itself is (as you’d expect) is another 

extremely well-constructed item, no loose ends, 

snags or frays anywhere on it. 

Starting at the top with the hood; it’s tailored with 

a draw string and toggle to tighten down in stormy 

conditions and features a small, reinforced peak. A 

microfibre piping chases the hood front to reduce 

any rubbing that 

may occur when 

the hood is 

deployed. There 

is a large 

single action 

YKK zipper 

down the 

front which 

zips all the 

way up 

to my chin 

completely 

protecting 

my 

neck 

36 


KIT & GEAR 

HELIKON-TEX LADIES CLOTHING 

from the elements and has an internal gusset behind 

it to stop any cool air entering the jacket. On the 

front left breast is a 6” YKK zippered, fleece lined 

pocket which fits my Bolle glasses in comfortably. 

The two main pockets are both 6” YKK zipper 

pockets that are big enough to fit my Huawei P30 

Pro mobile phone and my keys in. Internally there is 

a 6” pocket on the right that fit’s my phone or purse 

and keys in. The armpits have a single skin, tight 

weave polyester mesh to allow for ventilation and 

temperature control. The right sleeve features a 3”x 

4” loop panel for deploying morale patches, like the 

Helikon-Tex one featured in the pictures. The waist 

and wrist cuff are finished with the same microfiber 

piping to keep things comfy and warm. 

The really impressive bit in my eyes, is the design 

and fit. It’s a perfectly cut jacket that suits my shape 

well, it cinches nicely at the waist and flared at 

the hip and bust allowing me to move freely and 

proactively. There is no “dead air” either due to 

the cut of the jacket, so it provides full coverage 

warmth. It works well under my Warrior Assault 

Systems Recon Carrier and works well over my Viper 

Buckle Up chest rig. The major upshot for me is that 

I can wear it at a game day and to pop to the shops 

without worrying about wearing a camo pattern. It 

also packs down into a provided waterproof stuff 

sack that results in it measures in at a compact 9”x 

5” so it won’t take up too much room in your kit 

bag. Multi-Purpose gear FTW! 

There is a larger 7”x 10” compartment with two 

internal pockets. You’d easily fit a bag of BBs and 

a speed loader in here or if you’re using it as an 

EDC item, it is ideal for power banks, leads, wallets/ 

purses/keys etc. Behind that is an even larger pocket 

which is designed with the Helikon-Tex VIS (Versatile 

Insert System) in mind. You can comfortably conceal 

carry a full-size pistol or revolver (obviously where 

this is legal) but I did think it’d be super useful at a 

MilSim where you could wander around and have a 

platform on your person but out of sight. I tested it 

with Jon’s Army Armament R17 and my ASG MK23 

(without suppressor) and it fit perfectly. There is a 

detachable, adjustable waist strap and it has a single 

quick release (by buckle) padded shoulder strap. 

I love it so much that it’s completely replaced my 

“traditional” handbag and will see many years of 

use. 

I also received a Helikon-Tex womens T-shirt that 

is super comfy and to compliment it, I added my 

Helikon-Tex Truckers cap as it closely resembles the 

one my character wears in Fallout 76. I must say 

kudos to Helikon for stepping up to the plate with 

the redesign of their female cut range of clothing. It’s 

comfy, it fits better than I expected, and I just hope 

they continue to evolve their female cut range. 

Thank you Helikon-Tex. AA 

EVERYDAY CARRY 

Finally, I received the EDC Sidebag in Adaptive Green. 

This is a cool, compact little shoulder bag that is 

packed with features and will be super durable as 

its constructed with 500D Cordura. On the face are 

some laser cut molle/pals compatible cut outs for 

additional pouches. There is a small YKK zippered 

pocket out front, that will hold a “mans” wallet, 

small bottle of BBs, power bank, etc. 

Behind that is a larger pocket that is 6”x 7”, has 

internal organisation and 50% top mouth opening, 

fastened with another 2 YKK zippers. Above that 

sits a 6”x 3” loop panel for morale or ID patches. 

On the left side of the bag is a large water bottle/ 

jacket holder which is really useful as you don’t have 

to use the internal storage for such a bulky item. 

My water bottle is approximately 800ml/25oz and it 

sits securely in place thanks to the elasticated draw 

strings and toggles. On the right is a small pouch 

that is closed with 2 YKK zippers and you could fit a 

basic first aid kit with a dressing and some gauze in. 


OUTDOOR 

TOD - TACTICAL OUTDOOR DEVELOPMENT 

GET SOME 

SCRAN! 

IN PREVIOUS INSTALMENTS JON HAS TALKED ABOUT BEING PREPARED, FROM GAME DAY BOOKING TO IN 

DEPTH CLOTHING AND LAYERING INFO. ONE THING WE ALL LOVE BUT COMPLETELY OVERLOOK ON A GAME 

DAY, ESPECIALLY THOSE OF US WHO ENTER A 24 HOUR PLUS EVENT, IS FOOD AND DRINK - OR WHAT WE 

BRITS FONDLY REFER TO AS “SCRAN”! 

IMAGE FROM PUBLIC DOMAIN SOURCE 

It’s important here that I state I am not a Nutritionist 

and the content of this article is not to be taken as 

medical advice, nor should you deviate from any 

advice a professional has given you, but IT IS based on 

good old common sense and a bit of research! 

Most of us are aware that your average active 

adult male requires approximately 2500 calories and 

a female requires 2000 calories per day to maintain 

their current body weight. Studies have shown, active 

military personnel that are on patrol or the front line 

often require double that to maintain their body 

weight. That’s 5000 calories or 4000 calories per day. 

It stands to reason doesn’t it? If you are constantly 

moving, firing, carrying heavy kit, under serious 

pressure and stressors and so on, you will burn more 

than normal to fuel your body. 

Next onto hydration; studies show us that the 

average person should be taking on a minimum of 

2 litres of water a day. That includes the liquid in our 

foods. The US Military recommends 4 US Gallons 

of water a day for consumption, that’s 15.2 litres 

of water a day, SEVEN times more than a civilian! 

Granted that is for personnel operating in hot 

climates, but it’s quite an eye opener, especially when 

you compare it to what a “normal” civilian requires. 

I’ve played in 30 degree Celsius (86 degree Fahrenheit) 

temps and drank nothing like that. I should have 

though, I felt bloody awful for the latter part of the 

event and well into the next day. 

The problem with not eating or (more importantly) 

drinking enough is that there is a huge impact on the 

body and its ability to function and concentrate on the 

task at hand. Studies have shown that just 2% loss 

of your body’s water can have a significant impact on 

your cognitive functions. This happens after as little as 

two hours. TWO HOURS! 

One of the tests that I found interesting was 

subjects had to repeatedly press a button when 

instructed by a visual cue to do so for varying periods 

of time. This is where dehydrated individuals fared the 

worst. 

Sound familiar? See something, press a button (or 

at least, pull a trigger). 

Armed with that information what options are 

available to us to ensure that we stay hydrated and 

well fed? Food is a complex one, personal tastes and 

preferences really dictate what we choose. There’s 

another concern here and that’s storage. Food can 

“STUDIES SHOW US THAT THE AVERAGE PERSON SHOULD BE TAKING ON A MINIMUM OF 

2 LITRES OF WATER A DAY. THAT INCLUDES THE LIQUID IN OUR FOODS. THE US MILITARY 

RECOMMENDS 4 US GALLONS OF WATER A DAY FOR CONSUMPTION, THAT’S 15.2 LITRES OF 

WATER A DAY, SEVEN TIMES MORE THAN A CIVILIAN!” 

38 


OUTDOOR 


take up a lot of room in the gear bag that may be put 

to better use with other kit. You could always take a 

pack up but if you’re in the field for 24+ hours, are a 

few sarnies and some crisps and chocolate gonna do 

you? Wouldn’t a hot meal just before or during the 

night really warm the cockles? What about a brew, 

I’m British after all…? 

“RATS” FOR A REASON 

We all know that the military provides ration packs 

and that they come in a variety of menus. These 

ration packs are often found in a complete 24 hour 

solution which is ideal for an individual in this setting. 

They are ideal as they provide a caloric intake of 4000 

calories per pack, plus they come with electrolyte 

based drinks that will provide you with the essential 

salts that your body secretes throughout the day via 

urination and perspiration. The packs come with three 

meals (Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner with a desert 

of some kind), high energy snacks (often bars and 

biscuits), paper towels, reusable cutlery in the shape 

of a spork, salt, pepper, (sometimes Tabasco), teabags, 

coffee, creamer, sugar, hot chocolate and my personal 

favourite, a few boiled sweets (yup, British again!). 

The menus and pack 

contents differ depending 

on the country of origin. 

Below are a few examples 

of British Army Menus. 

• Menu 1: Muesli with 

milk, Bean and pasta 

salad, Chickpea curry, 

long grain rice, ginger 

pudding & ginger 

sauce, hot pepper 

sauce, apple/peach 

puree, oatmeal block, 

cookie & cream bar, 

smooth peanut butter, 

roasted and salted 

peanuts, 

cheese spread, 5 x drink powders. 

• Menu 2: All day breakfast, chicken and 

mushroom pasta, tomato & pasta salad, sticky 

toffee pudding, hot pepper sauce, mango 

fruit/apple/banana puree, cheese out biscuits, 

sesame seed bar, just nuts mix, 5 x drink 

powders. 

• Menu 3: All day breakfast, steak veg & 

dumplings, thai style chicken soup, sticky 

toffee pudding, Hot pepper sauce, tropical 

fruit and nut mix, biscuit browns, sesame seed 

bar spread, smooth peanut butter, 5 x drink 

powder. 

• Menu 4: Vegetarian all day breakfast, tomato 

pasta salad, Indonesian style spicy rice with 

pork, ginger pudding with ginger sauce, hot 

pepper sauce, cherry flavoured boiled sweets, 

just nuts, strawberry jam, oat digestive biscuits, 

cranberry cereal bar, smooth peanut butter, 5 x 

drink powder. 

• Menu 5: Maple syrup bun, meat sticks & rice, 

thai style chicken soup, ginger pudding & 

ginger sauce, hot pepper sauce, just nuts, fruit 

puree, smooth peanut butter, biscuits brown, 

cookie and cream cereal bar, 

5 x drink powder. 

There are also Vegetarian 

and Vegan options available. 

The meals are all pre-cooked 

so they can simply be opened 

and eaten. Another advantage 

of the “Rat Pack” is the really 

long shelf life. The dates are 

usually marked for 3 years but in 

reality, they’re good for up to 10 

years if stored correctly. A lot of 

people don’t like the army rations 

because they aren’t the most 

tasty of options (although I have 

no issue with them) so what is an 

alternative? 


OUTDOOR 


Wayfarer offers pre-made, long lasting meals for 

the more discerning palette and comes in a variety 

of options. The only downside is that you are buying 

individual meals and not a predetermined set. That’s 

okay, but be aware of the cost implications. An 

Army “Rat Pack” will usually set you back about 

UK£20 for a complete set, a single Wayfarer meal is 

around UK£5 each (you also don’t get the drinks and 

accompaniments that you get with a “Rat Pack”. 

It’s always worth keeping a bag of morale makers 

(Haribo) and a bag of trail mix on your person at all 

times for something to nibble at. 

The next area is water. There are a myriad of 

solutions available to us such as, canteens and water 

bladders for personal carrying and bottles that can be 

left at a FOB (if available). You’ll want to consider the 

amount of water that you’ll need too. MRE’s are prehydrated 

so there’s no concern there but if you want 

them warm you’re going to need a couple hundred 

milliliters per meal, the upside of this is you can use 

this water for a brew. You may also want a helmet 

wash and to clean your teeth so you’ll need more. In 

reality, in the UK you’ll be wanting approximately 5 

litres for 24 hours, 3 litres for drinking and 2 litres for 

general use. 

If you are going out for longer periods and the 

game site doesn’t supply 

a water source, you may 

want to consider a water 

purification bottle or straw. 

These filter out any nasty 

impurities as you fill or drink 

from a source respectively. 

A bottle can be had from as 

little as UK£30 and straws can 

be found for around UK£15. 

COOKING UP A 

STORM! 

That brings us to the cooking 

apparatus. What could or 

should you use to heat your 

scran? 

The cheapest and easiest option is a Hexi Block 

Stove, fuel blocks and mess tin. All in all that should 

be around £10-15. These are lightweight, take up 

minimal room in your pack and are easy to use, just 

remember to bring matches or a lighter. The downside 

to these systems is that they are 

slow to heat water, require 

time to cool when you’ve 

finished using and the 

open flame can be easily 

seen at night, not ideal 

if you’re trying to stay 

hidden. 

If you ask Bill he 

swears by an MSR “Pocket 

Rocket” which takes up 

minimal space and only weighs 

73g, but then of course I need 

to factor in fuel as well… and 

mess tins… it’s a great little 

cooker for sure, but an “allrounder” 

is my solution. A more 

expensive but better performing 

all-rounder is something like 

the JetBoil System. These 

are a gas burning system 

that includes a self-contained 

cup and burner so you don’t have 

to worry about other tins. You simply 

“IF YOU ARE GOING OUT FOR LONGER PERIODS AND THE GAME SITE DOESN’T SUPPLY A 

WATER SOURCE, YOU MAY WANT TO CONSIDER A WATER PURIFICATION BOTTLE OR STRAW. 

THESE FILTER OUT ANY NASTY IMPURITIES AS YOU FILL OR DRINK FROM A SOURCE 

RESPECTIVELY. ” 

40 


OUTDOOR 


screw a small tank of fuel on the bottom and press a 

button, hey presto, you’re heating water. Jetboil claim 

that their system will bring water to a rolling boil in 

under two minutes and operate effectively down past 

-6 degrees Celcius (20 degrees Fahrenheit). A Jetboil 

Micromo will cost you around £130 but it’s a versatile 

system that can be used in other pursuits. 

So that’s it, ample food and drink will help keep 

you more alert, happier and in the game so that you 

don’t just survive… YOU THRIVE! AA 


THE CAGE 

2021 WISHLIST 

THE CAGE: 

2021 

WISHLIST 

AS WE HEAD ON TOWARDS THE SEASON OF FESTIVE CHEER THE CHRISTMAS LIGHTS ARE 

GOING UP AT AA HQ, AND WE’LL BE HANGING OUR STOCKINGS HOPING FOR SOME 

AIRSOFT GOODNESS TO ARRIVE FROM “TACTICAL SANTA”! THIS MONTH IN 

THE CAGE WE THOUGHT WE’D HAVE A LITTLE FUN, SO BILL GOT TOGETHER 

WITH THE LEGION AS USUAL TO ASK THEM WHAT WAS ON THEIR LETTER TO THE 

NORTH POLE! 

2021 has been another strange 

old year right enough, hasn’t 

it? 

Although games are most well and 

truly back as a fixture on all our 

calendars, the fact is that for many of us 

the sense and reality of isolation has been a 

fact in our daily lives, and for some, 

like me, more than others. 

After several years of 

facing up to “The 

Big C” (and 

thankfully 

coming out the other side!), I find that recent events 

have been somewhat lesser for me, as I’ve already had 

to spend a lot of “downtime” on my own. 

After major surgeries my 2017 and 2018 basically 

disappeared during my recovery, followed pretty 

swiftly by a worldwide pandemic lockdown, but there 

was one thing that kept me going at full speed, and 

that was the love and support given unconditionally 

by my family, friends, the Airsoft Action Legion, 

and you guys in the global airsoft community! 

Don’t even get me started on the “black 

humour” though, or the “Kidney Cake” that 

arrived after my “Big Op”, that’s a story for 

another day! 

42 


THE CAGE 

2021 WISHLIST 

Sadly being in and out 

of hospital more than I 

have to this point admitted 

meant that before and during 

the pandemic I missed my airsoft fix 

very badly, and I had to spend time on 

my 

own… a lot of time. As I’ve said many times 

before though I am lucky in that I have some private 

woodland where I test new AEGs and GBBs each and 

every month, and it’s there that I can sling BBs to my 

heart’s content. 

This has also kept me at least a little sane, and 

having now been able to get back out to a couple 

of games I’m beginning to see light on my personal 

airsoft horizon again, and with a whole new year 

beckoning I’m beginning again to pick ticks against 

games and events, and smiling as I do so! 

Everyone has been massively supportive, and I hope 

that the work we’ve done in 2021 has proved that 

Airsoft Action is raring to head into 2022! There are 

new RIFs to be evaluated, old ones to reflect back on, 

gear to be tested, events to attend, and games to 

be played, and we’re very much looking forward to 

reporting on all of it. There are also plans in house to 

further extend our regular online coverage, but again, 

that’s a story for another day… 

But let’s get to it, shall we? What do the members 

of the AA Legion really, really want for Christmas? 

I know there’s a couple of bits I would love to see 

wrapped under the tree, but after many moons 

playing and building my armoury my needs are 

modest! For me the best pressie has already arrived in 

the shape of a new RAVEN PRO 3.8 Hi Capa which I 

already adore, but it would be to have a nice wood kit 

to really finish off my A&K PKM, a DB K55A grenade 

launcher for 

VFC gas 

my Specna AK-74, some more 

V-MAGs for my SR16 and 

MCMR, mags again in 

the form of some Ares 

120BB short midcaps 

for 

my PAMG AR 

AEG, and some more 

VORSK gas… lots of gas, 

and especially the V12! 

Okay, perhaps not so 

“modest” after all! 

FESTIVE TEAM TALK! 

Of course, that’s just me, so as 

usual I got together with the 

members of the AA Legion and 

asked them “What would you 

like to find Santa has left you for 

airsoft underneath your Christmas 

Tree??? Is it a new AEG or GBB, 

some gucci tacticool gear, or simply 

and bag of BBs? Or are we all 

just wishing for World Peace like 

Gracie?” and this is what they told 

me! 

Chris: “I’ve got a scout scope on 

my wish list, and a spare USP mag. 

I would love Santa to bring me 

some Gucci camo though, like 

Phantomleaf!” 

Miguel: “I would love to see 

a full VIPER Tactical M81 Uniform 

(combat and ACU cut) and a 

M16A3 EDGE 2.0 from Specna 

Arms.” 

Jimmy: “All I want for 

Christmas is you! Seasonal 

lovin’ aside, I would love a 

complete authentic CTSFO 

loadout, the full works, the 

complete G&G 2021 catalogue, 

a Marui 416 Delta, I would love 

a Clarence Lai fully custom oneoff 

competition pistol, some 

GPNVG18, a lifetime supply 

of quality BBs, bring back 

the Chuckle Brothers, a 

big jar of pickled eggs 

and a partridge in a 

gun tree… See, not 

so much!” 

Boycie: “In 

all honesty I 


CLICK/TAP IMAGES FOR MORE INFORMATION

THE CAGE 

2021 WISHLIST 

would love to see an end to 

snobbery within airsoft. One 

part of the sport (yes I call it a 

sport) thinking they are better than 

another part. How many times do we 

see an uber l337 operator shot by a new player/ 

rental with a knackered old AEG? That said I would 

love a SIG AIR MPX and and Umarex Glock just for 

me, and I’d really like some M17 mags.” 

Stewbacca: “Aside from the VFC FAL/SLR/LAR 

GBBR, the P90 GBBR, CZ USWA1 and perhaps some 

things the AW boys are cooking up... I think I have 

everything. The PSG-1 was a righteous find that 

rounds off my massive #BagOfKochs nicely!” 

Bill W-R: “Oh where do I start! Bariatric surgery. 

New teeth. Some new knees. To go back to when 

I was 16 knowing what I know now! Realistically 

though, a Chiappa Rhino, Custom Clarence Lai 416, 

a good, reliable Breacher, some NVG, a decentlysized 

Chest Rig… and a van to carry all my gear in…. 

possibly a Challenger 2 MBT…” 

Robbie: “Tickets to the UK to visit my mates and 

game there.” 

Stu: “A WA 1911 single stacker - either PGC or SD 

kit!” 

Dan: “In no particular order... For LCT to make me 

an MP5K with the Navy style grip and Choate folder, a 

proper steel FAL AEG, a SIG AIR MPX, and a consistent 

supply of inventory would be nice too so I can get on 

with all those tech jobs in the New Year...” 

Steve T: “How greedy can I be? I’ll take a GHK 

G17 without a second thought, thanks! And then 

a VFC BCM because I still haven’t found an M4/AR 

platform I can really love. But that said, I do fancy an 

ICS Hera CQR. But at the end of the day, I’ll 

ask for a 

and 

Silverback MDR-X please 

thank you, whether 

that’s this Xmas, 2022, 

or beyond!” 

Jon: “There really isn’t 

anything that I “need” at 

all but if I were granted a free 

ride, I’d ask for a Direct Action 

Spitfire MK11 Plate Carrier with 

Plates, Direct Action Spitfire 

MK11 Utility Back Panel, 

Direct Action Spitfire MK11 

Under Pouch, Direct Action 

Spitfire MK11 Rapid Access 

Cummerbund, Direct Action 

Spitfire MK11 Slick Carbine Mag 

Flap & Skeletonized Triple Flap, 

Direct Action Warhawk Modular 

Belt, Direct Action Med, Dump, 

Pistol and 55.6 Pouches… all 

in Adaptive Green! A Kydex 

Customs G17 Holster in Green 

wrap, a full UF-Pro All Season BDU 

System in GZ, MTP, Adaptive and Grey, 

that’s the full 7 Tier system. Oh, and 

some boots, everyone loves new 

boots. That’s about it airsoftwise, 

no biggie!” 

Jonathan: “A Rhodesian 

painted GBBR FN FAL please!!! I’ve 

a set of Rhodie furniture to put on 

to it when I get one…” 

So, that’s a wrap-up for the 

2021 wish-lists, and as the 

big days approaches we’ll be 

shutting down AAHQ for a few 

days between Christmas and 

New Year (that turkey don’t eat 

itself you know!), but rest assured 

we’ll be back and firing on all 

cylinders for Issue 134 in January! 

It’s an exciting time for many, 

many reasons, and from all 

of us at Airsoft Action 

we wish you a very 

Happy Christmas and 

all the very best 

for 2022… I look 

forward to seeing 

you out there! 

AA 


RED CELL 

XMAS SPECIAL 

RED CELL 

THE GUNS 

OF 

At 

christmas 

46 


RED CELL 

XMAS SPECIAL 

BRUCE WILLIS DECLARED THAT “DIE HARD IS NOT A CHRISTMAS MOVIE,” BUT AT THIS PARTICULAR 

TIME OF THE YEAR MANY AIRSOFTERS, US INCLUDED, WILL BE SETTLING DOWN TO GIVE THE 1988 

MOVIE ITS ANNUAL VIEWING, AND IN FACT FOR US “CHRISTMAS DOESN’T BEGIN UNTIL HANS FALLS 

OFF NAKATOMI TOWER!” CONTINUING OUR DECEMBER FUN IT’S TIME FOR RED CELL TO LOOK AT 

THE “GUNS OF DIE HARD” AND GIVE THEIR THOUGHTS ON WHY IT MOST DEFINITELY IS A CHRISTMAS 

MOVIE! 

“Oh, the weather outside is frightful, But the fire is so 

delightful, And since we’ve no place to go Let it snow, 

let it snow, let it snow!” 

So sings Vaughn Monroe in the soundtrack; “Die 

Hard” has all the features that make a good 

Christmas movie, and as I sit typing the first 

snowflakes of the winter are fluttering behind me; 

okay, it’s more sleet than snow, but a man can dream! 

Let’s look at the evidence shall we? 

So, “Die Hard” is set at Christmas; New York cop 

John McClane (Bruce Willis) is visiting his estranged 

wife HOLLY (Bonnie Bedelia) so that he can be with 

his two daughters for Christmas. McClane heads, on 

Christmas Eve I may add, to join her at a Christmas 

party in the headquarters of the Japanese-owned 

Nakatomi Corporation where she works, high in 

the imposing Nakatomi Plaza. When he rides up the 

elevator to the offices he emerges into a scene that 

features a Christmas tree, and a Christmas party in full 

swing. 

Okay, not so “Christmassy” is the fact that Hans 

Gruber (a totally on-form in every possible way Alan 

Rickman), and his heavily armed team of militarygrade 

villains seize the tower and secure those inside 

as hostages except for McClane, who manages to get 

away in the confusion. And so begins a story that is 

close to the heart of so many of us, that of the “Lone 

Wolf” who against all odds manages to take on the 

guys and emerge victorious! 

I mean, come on! Isn’t this a scenario that we all 

dream of when playing an airsoft game? If you’re 

anything like me then undoubtedly you will have 

“that memory” of the game where everything, and 

I mean down to the finest detail, went perfectly. 

That game where you found yourself out on your 

own, where your kit felt like a second skin, your AEG 

performed perfectly, and every shot you took resulted 

in an opposing player taking a walk, and that seemed 

to go on and on until you successfully achieved your 

objective? I know that I have one of these tucked 

away to smile at from time to time, and I’m certain 

you do too! 

John McClane epitomises everything we love about 

the “Lone Wolf”. His ability to adapt and overcome, 

to improvise, take the punches and just keep on 

going, and of course his innate ability to come up 

with a cracking one-liner even when in the midst of a 

firefight make him the perfect airsoft hero. Of course 

he’s not perfect as he admits when asked why he 

didn’t leave New York with his wife; 

“‘Cause I’m a New York cop. I got a six-month 

backlog on New York scumbags I’m still trying to put 

behind bars. I can’t just pick up and go that easy.” 

In that comment, as far as I can see, John makes it 

clear that he’s a man of duty and honour, but I believe 

that he is also a little bit scared of change. Being a 

detective is the life he knows and has worked hard 

at, and as with many of us, the thought of just giving 

all that up is anathema to him. In the end though it’s 

the realisation that his loved ones, friends (even new 

ones like Al and Argyle), and his own moral code 

are the most important things in life that makes him 

somewhat of an “everyman”. 

As much as Bruce may not believe that “Die 

Hard” is a Christmas movie the screenwriter appears 

to disagree! It’s reported that Steven E. de Souza 

weighed into the debate on Twitter, giving his 

definitive answer to the question. Responding to a 

fan who had listed all the festive components in the 

film he asked “...how could it not be a Christmas 

movie? Plus a woman about to give birth features 

prominently.” I’m with de Souza! 

If I’m pushed I have to say that my favourite of the 

“Die Hard” movies is McClane’s second outing, “Die 

Harder” that sees some of the old crew reconvene; 

released in 1990, the second instalment takes place 

on Christmas Eve! McClane is waiting for his wife 

to land at Washington Dulles International Airport 

when “bad people” (that turn out to be USSF lead 

by former U.S. Army Special Forces Colonel Stuart 

“AS MUCH AS BRUCE MAY NOT BELIEVE THAT “DIE HARD” IS A CHRISTMAS MOVIE 

THE SCREENWRITER APPEARS TO DISAGREE! IT’S REPORTED THAT STEVEN E. DE 

SOUZA WEIGHED INTO THE DEBATE ON TWITTER, GIVING HIS DEFINITIVE ANSWER TO 

THE QUESTION. ” 


RED CELL 

XMAS SPECIAL 

BERETTA 92F (M9) - WE M9 FULL METAL GEN.2 GBB 

Price: iro UK£130.00 

Length: 216 mm 

Weight: 1254g 

Magazine Capacity: 24+1 

Chrono: 1.09Joule/344fps 

Available from: All WE stockists 

HECKLER & KOCH P7M13 - MGC P7M13 GBB 

Price: A LOT NOW! 

Length: 174mm 

Weight: 849g 

Magazine Capacity: 15 + 1 

Chrono: 0.37 Joule/200fps 

Available from: Collectors item! 

WALTHER PPK - MARUZEN WALTHER PPK GBB 


Length 159 mm 

Weight 314 g 



Available from: We hope your “Google-fu” is strong! 

SMITH & WESSON MODEL 15/19 - TANAKA S&W 

M10 MILITARY & POLICE 4” V3 

Price: iro UK225.00 (also see Tanaka S&W M66 4 inch iro 

UK£180.00) 

Length: 238mm 

Weight: 650g 


Chrono: 0.72 Joule/280 fps 

Available from: Originally came from wolfarmouries.co.uk 

GLOCK 17 - UMAREX GLOCK 17 GEN3 GBB 


Length 204mm 

Weight 649g 


Chrono: 1.0 Joule/330 fps 

Available from: www.landwarriorairsoft.com 

M1911A1 - WE-E001A-ORIGINAL 1911 A GBB 


Length: 218mm 

Weight: 945grams 



Available from: All WE stockists 

48 


RED CELL 

XMAS SPECIAL 

HECKLER & KOCH MP5 – ICS CES A5 AEG 


Weight: 1980g 

Length: 500 - 640 mm 

Magazine Capacity: 230 (Mid/HiCaps available) 


Available from: www.gunfire.com 

HECKLER & KOCH MP5K – CYMA CM.041K BLUE 

EDITION AEG 


Weight: 2145 g 

Length: 300 mm 

Magazine capacity: 65 (Mid/HiCaps available) 

Muzzle velocity fps: 1.01 Joule/330fps 

Available from: www.taiwangun.com 

M-16A1 - CYMA CM.009C MOSFET EDITION AEG 


Weight: 2640g 

Length: 998mm 

Magazine Capacity: 160 (will accept all STANAG/AR) 

Chrono: 109 Joule/344fps 

Supplied By: www.taiwangun.com 

STEYR AUG – JG STEYR AUG A1 AEG 


Weight: 3200g 

Length: 809mm 

Magazine Capacity: 300 (MidCap available) 


Supplied By: www.taiwangun.com 

STEYR SSG 69 – ASG STEYR SSG 69 P2 (SPRING) 


Weight: 2500g 

Length: 1080mm 

Magazine Capacity: 25 


Available from: All ASG Stockists 

ITHACA 37 - KTW ITHACA M37 NEW FEATHER LIGHT 

(SPRING) 

Price: UK£170.00 

Weight: 1460g 

Length: 920mm 

Magazine Capacity: 46 


Available from: www.redwolfairsoft.com 


RED CELL 

XMAS SPECIAL 

(William Sadler)!) take control of the air traffic control 

system in order to intercept a “rendition” aircraft 

carrying (ably played by Franco Nero) General Ramon 

Esperanza, a drug lord and dictator. Shirt story, once 

again McClane battles the bad guys (and Head of 

Airport Security Carmine) largely on his own before 

Holly’s plane and several other incoming flights that 

are circling the airport run out of fuel and crash! 

So, #2… Christmas Eve, last flights in before the Big 

Day, people carrying gifts, lots of snow and Christmas 

decorations… ALSO A CHRISTMAS MOVIE! 

FEW, BUT COOL! 

Whilst you may remember “Die Hard” as a real gunlovers 

movie you might also be surprised that were 

only a handful of models that actually featured! Yup, 

if you actually count up the main firearms models 

used by the central characters I think you’ll be as 

surprised as me when you actually tally them up. In 

reality there were only about a dozen models, but 

some of them were real crackers! 

Let’s start off with John himself, and his Beretta. 

This at the time was a handgun that would not have 

been on the issue list of the NYPD, but it doesn’t 

shock me greatly that McClane carried this model, 

especially a customised version with an extended 

magazine and slide release. I’m proud to know a 

number of serving and former LE guys in the USA 

and believe me when I tell you that many of them 

carry a handgun concealed when off-duty that is far 

from their issued “service pistol”. Bear in mind that 

McClane is going to see his family and is not at work 

during the film, but from the very first moment it’s 

glimpsed under his jacket when he’s still on the plane 

it establishes him as a police officer, one of the “good 

guys”. 

Of all of the firearms used in the movie an M9 

variant is probably the easiest to get hold of in airsoft 

form as it’s made by a whole host of manufacturers! 

That said, if you want an almost exact replica of the 

handgun used in the movie, then you need look no 

further than Tokyo Marui who make a lovely M92F 

that’s good to go straight from the box aalthough for 

me the WE just edges it. 

Al Powell (Reginald VelJohnson) of course uses 

his tried and trusted Smith and Wesson Model 15 

.38 Special. Sadly, as we find out during the course 

of the movie, Al has a sad history when it comes to 

firearms, so having him wield something so simple 

actually makes sense in relation to the storyline. Now 

I could easily say to you that in airsoft terms any 

revolver would do, but I won’t. Instead I’ll direct you 

to the superlative works of Marushin and Tanaka 

who both made some stunning “.38” wheelguns, 

and although Al uses a S&W I’d particularly point out 

a Tanaka model called rather pompously the “Colt 

Police Positive Special 4 inch Heavy Firing Model Gun” 

which is absolutely stunning! You can still find these 

if you search hard enough, but the recent release of 

a number of S&W wheelguns means you now have 

more to choose from! 

Now we get into some tricky territory, as the “bad 

guy guns” are quiet unique. First off is the classic 

Walther PPK as used by Karl (Alexander Godunov), 

and to this day I find it amazing that there’s not a 

“stock” airsoft version; “Walther” models are out on 

the market in all their wondrous forms… apart from a 

really good classic PPK which although Umarex have 

a licenced one, you don’t see them that often! I have 

no idea why as I’m certain that many of us would buy 

one immediately given “007” reasons. Yes, there have 

been some dodgy gas versions, and some actually very 

nice springers, but come on manufacturers, let’s have 

a reliable and usable PPK GBB that we can actually 

buy and use effectively in-game! 

What makes this all the stranger is that both the 

other major handguns from the first movie have in 

the past been available in airsoft form! The Heckler 

& Koch P7M13 used by Hans himself, though now a 

collector’s item was made by Model Gun Corporation 

50 


RED CELL 

XMAS SPECIAL 

(MGC) in GBB from back in the 90’s, and TM even 

made a springer! Ditto the Walther P5 used by 

Heinrich (Gary Roberts) as this was made as a NBB by 

Marukoshi. Okay, finding either of these models today 

is going to be a tall order, especially the P7M13 as it 

was actually quite a good airsoft pistol, but find them 

you can if you trawl the Japanese sales groups. From 

#2, the other addition is the classic 1911 used by 

Esperanza which is in fact a blued M1911A1; as I’ve 

been using a WE 1911 “Government” for a number 

of years (since 2008 and it’s still kicking!) that’s where 

my money would go, but there’s others to choose 

from if you wish. 

Sticking with film #2 we see the arrival of what 

has become one of the biggest names in the global 

handgun market for both the professional and the 

civilian user…GLOCK! Used by the bad guys the 

Glock 17is described wrongly by McClane to Chief 

Carmine as a “Glock 7, a porcelain gun made in 

Germany that doesn’t show up on your airport 

metal detectors and costs more than you make in 

a month.” 

Okay, even the newest airsofter amongst us will 

know that this is complete and utter BS, and the 

guys at Glock must have been twitching in their 

lederhosen, but boy, did it put the Glock name on 

the map! Of course for airsoft purposes you can 

choose from amongst numerous manufacturers for 

an excellent “not a Glock 17 at all”, but for me the 

Umarex has it due to the correct, licenced trades… 

okay, finding a Gen 1 these days is harder, but up to a 

Gen 3 would be okay in my book! 

NOW I HAVE A MACHINE GUN; HO HO 

HO! 

Immortalised on t-shirts and jumpers, this McClane 

quip sums up the other real star of “Die Hard”, and 

that’s the MP5! In 1988 when the movie first aired the 

H&K MP5 had already been around for a while, but 

even for Hollywood production companies the “real 

deal” was still very expensive and hard to get hold of. 

For the movies the “MP5A3” models used by the bad 

guys and ultimately by John McClane were actually 

chopped and converted Heckler & Koch HK94s! 

I actually don’t care as they look great, and the part 

where McClane extends the stock hoping to use it as 

an anchor so he can descend down the ventilation 

shaft via the sling still brings me out in a cold sweat! 

McClane manages to acquire another MP5 from 

another slain terrorist, using it until he runs out of 

ammunition during a gun battle with Karl. He then 

picks up yet another MP5 from a terrorist on the roof, 

firing it into the air to scare the hostages brought up 

before the helipad gets blown; he discards this one 

only when it runs out of ammunition before the final 

battle with Hans. I think our man John may have a 

thing for the MP5. When it comes to airsoft versions 

of the MP5, well, take your pick, but my own is an ICS 

that has seen action both home and abroad. 

In “Die Harder” we see more of the eponymous 

MP5, but as well as the “standard” A3 and A5 models 

we also get a proper showing for the “K”! Heckler & 

Koch MP5K submachine guns are the main weapons 

used by Stuart’s men, and really make an appearance 

in the shootout on the Annex Skywalk, and it’s said 

that the MP5K used by actor Ken Baldwin “jammed 

repeatedly firing blanks while filming this scene, so 

his angry outbursts (including the instance where 

he curses at the gun) were unscripted and genuine 

expressions of frustration”! Many of “Ks” have two 

mags taped together ‘jungle style’ with blank and live 

ammo (a BIG plot device!), as do the regular MP5s. 

During the Skywalk shootout, a few of the MP5Ks are 

actually converted Heckler & Koch SP89s. Again, in 

airsoft form you can take your pick of “Ks”, as there 

are some great ones out there but we’ve chosen to 

add the CM.041K to our list given the price! 

Of course there’s another couple of firearms 

to mention before I quit, and the first of these is 

the now-venerable Steyr AUG which is used by 

“Karl” throughout the first movie. This was mostlikely 

chosen as the writers wanted to contrast the 

terrorists’ “unusual” European weapons with the 

more traditional American firearms used by the LAPD. 

The AUG is given some “full chat” by Karl during his 

personal mission to get revenge against McClane after 

he killed the first terrorist, who also happened to be 

Karl’s brother. In a memorable scene at the end of the 


RED CELL 

XMAS SPECIAL 

film, a revived and bloodied Karl emerges from a body 

bag with his AUG in hand for one last-ditch attempt 

to kill McClane! Again, there’s now a multitude of 

AUGs to be had in 6mm form, but those from TM, 

ASG, and CYMA are definitely worth a look amongst 

the crop. 

Last but by no means least is the Steyr SSG 69 

sniper rifle used by Agent Johnson (no relation!) 

which in the helicopter scene is fitted with an AN/PVS- 

3 Starlight scope. This leads to one of my absolute 

favourite verbal exchanges (of which there are many!) 

in the movie; www.imdb.com describes it as: 

Big Johnson: [flying in the chopper to the 

roof] Just like fxxxin’ Saigon, hey, Slick? 

Little Johnson: [smiling] I was in junior high, 

dickhead. 

Again, any bolt-action sniper rifle would stand in 

for the Steyr but why would you want anything other 

than the STEYR SSG 69 P2 that ASG sell? Make a 

few simple mods, chuck on a Starlight scope (good 

luck with that!) and you’re good to go. The other 

firearms used extensively in the movie are basically 

the M16A1 (we again picked the CYMA here, a slid 

representation!), the M60 and the M60E3, all of 

which are readily available in airsoft form. 

So, that’s my take on “The Guns of Die Hard”, but 

let’s now see what the rest of the crew had to say! 

100% A CHRISTMAS MOVIE! 

Iggy: I admit, I watch “DIE HARD” every Christmas 

Eve after the kids and my wife have gone to bed. 

Before that we all watch things like Elf, Arthur 

Christmas, The Grinch and even Home Alone; but for 

me it’s not Christmas until I have seen John McClane 

send Tony Vreski down in an elevator wearing the 

jumper saying “Now I have a machine gun... HO... 

HO... HO!” 

This is where my love of the Beretta and the MP5 

was conceived. I was lucky enough during one of my 

visits to Afhganistan to fire an M92 Beretta at the 

range, belonging to an American Serviceman and an 

MP5 belonging to the police at a “sunny” range in 

England. The Tokyo Marui MP5 A5 was my first ever 

AEG. Throughout my time airsofting I have owned 

and sold a few MP5’s. I have finally rested at an ICS 

MP5 A3. I have always liked the retractable stock 

version and used it both with traditional plane fore 

grip and the inbuilt torch version. The MP5 has been 

an iconic SMG that still to this day brings back the 

excitement I had when I first saw “Die Hard”. 

I have owned two GBB Beretta’s made by WE. One 

was all black, which I bought as soon as I got back 

to the UK from Afghanistan after my introduction 

to the real one there, whilst the other was a chrome 

S.T.A.R.S Racoon Police version. If I’m honest, to me 

the Beretta feels the most comfortable pistol to hold; 

it’s not the most accurate or the most reliable in both 

airsoft and reality, but with it being another icon. I 

can’t help but have it on the list of pistols I love. 

I look forward to my annual fix of “Die” Hard this 

Christmas Eve! 

Stewbacca: First of all, “Die Hard” is an Xmas movie. 

Fight me! 

The Beretta M92 holds a particularly special place 

in my heart, it was the first ever airsoft gun I bought, 

a Marui M92F springer many years I’d rather not 

count ago, and was one of the first GBB pistols I 

bought before moving away to uni and getting into 

skirmishing! It saw plenty of use in a shoulder holster 

and is a model I’ve returned to time and again having 

sold various ones one and bought others; I must have 

been through about six different versions and most 

“THIS LEADS TO ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE VERBAL EXCHANGES (OF WHICH 

THERE ARE MANY!) IN THE MOVIE; WWW.IMDB.COM DESCRIBES IT AS: 

BIG JOHNSON: [FLYING IN THE CHOPPER TO THE ROOF] JUST LIKE FXXXIN’ SAIGON, 

HEY, SLICK? 

LITTLE JOHNSON: [SMILING] I WAS IN JUNIOR HIGH, DICKHEAD.” 

52 


RED CELL 

XMAS SPECIAL 

recently got the WE version here in Taiwan. It’s the 

Monica Belucci of pistols to my mind, sure it isn’t the 

newest, but it’s been used in a lot of great media and 

you just can’t argue with those classic Italian lines and 

curvy grabby parts... 

As for the MP5 we are all more than aware of my 

#EverybodyLovesTheKoch mentality and aside from 

the MP5K and MP5J and A4 AEGs back in the UK I 

have the WE MP5A4/A5 and MP5K PDW GBB SMGs 

here in Taiwan and love running them and enjoying 

the noisy recoiling funtimes in CQB... “Now I have a 

machine gun... HO... HO... HO!” 

The AUG was one I dabbled with in an AEG guise in 

the UK but is also something that landed on my desk 

in GBBR form from Ray at Archwick who was keen to 

lend me his GHK to try out for review. Another classic 

and a bullpup, which I’m usually a fan of in general, 

but the Austrians really got it right with that one. 

And we all know it isn’t Xmas until Hans Gruber 

falls off Nakatomi Plaza; the sacred tradition of 

watching “Die Hard” around the holidays, barefoot 

and with a Beretta and/or MP5 to hand is something I 

imported to Taiwan along with myself, and will remain 

a holiday fixture for me! 

It’s the perfect anti-hero down and out film about a 

guy that life is already giving a hard time but happens 

to have it turn it all the way up to 11 and come out 

on top against the Eurotrash!. A great mix of dark 

humour and cultural references as well as obvious 

action and gunplay appeal, punctuated with the oneliners 

we all love. “You oughta be on TV with that 

accent Hans...” 

Jon: Although the others have talked about the 

weapons used in the movies, I, as usual, will take a 

different tack! It’s that time of year again and we’re 

being asked about whether “Die Hard” is a Christmas 

Movie or not. Well, I say “HELL YEAH IT IS!” 

“Die Hard” director John McTiernan weighed 

in and settled it once and for all. In an interview 

he drew direct comparisons to the 40’s classic, 

“It’s a Wonderful Life”; he said “Specifically the 

Pottersville sequence. Which is what happens 

when the evil banker gets to do what he wants 

in the community without George getting 

in the way to stop it. And it’s the clearest 

demonstration and criticism or runaway, 

unregulated cowboy capitalism that’s ever been 

done in an American movie. It was imagination 

then, but now, if you go out in most of the 

country, it’s the life people live.” 

See where this is going? John McClane is George 

Bailey and Hans Gruber is Mr Potter. It’s not a hero 

versus terrorists, it’s about Good versus Evil. It’s about 

the little guy standing up for the community against a 

villainous entity which threatens them. “A Christmas 

Carol” is another obvious comparison to be drawn. 

It’s set entirely during the Christmas Holiday season, 

the events take place at a Christmas party, there are 

four Christmas Songs played during the movie, Winter 

Wonderland, Let it Snow, Christmas in Hollis (God 

Bless Run DMC) and of course Jingle Bells. 

“Die Hard” IS, without a shadow of doubt, a 

Christmas Movie and long shall it be, not because I 

said so but because the Director and more importantly 

the millions of viewers every year who watch “Die 

Hard” as a Christmas Movie. 

Stu: “Die Hard”, so where to start..... 

MP5; bloody amazing little AEG. I had to wait for 

a decent CA one to arrive. Loved it and stupidly sold 

it on. AUG? I make no secret of my love for the Steyr 

Bullpup, and I’ve run various makes/styles etc over the 

years; it’s a quirky design, but I love ‘em. I’ve not had 

an M9 , which for me is an oversight, as I’m a huge 

fan of them, and that still may be remedied! 

Oh, Hans Gruber’s sidearm? I know a man who has 

one, kept very carefully in a nice case, comes out to 

be drooled over and is then put away again…. EVERY 

Christmas, when “Die Hard” is watched! 

Boycie: When Bill asked for my comments on the Die 

Hard series of films the first question he asked was “Is 

Die Hard a Christmas movie?” 

The answer simply is yes, of course it is! 

When else would all the executives in a big 

company gather in one place? Yes a Christmas Party. 

The sound track is crammed with Christmas songs, 

most notibly “Winter Wonderland”, “Let it snow” 

and “Ode to Joy”. Lt McClane’s wife is called.... 

HOLLY. Sgt Al buys Twinkies (other snacks are available 

but Twinkies rule! Eh Bill ????). Tony, the first body 

that John sends back to Hans is wearing a Santa 

hat and has a very special Christmas message on his 

sweatshirtshirt. Agent Johnson, no not that one, the 

other Agent Johnson, gifts Hans with easier access to 

the vault when he orders cutting off the power grid. 

Oh and John McC’s Beretta is loosely gift wrapped 

before he grabs it to finally stop Hans. Finally at the 

end, as it snows the music “Let it snow” plays over 

the credits. 

“Die Hard” IS A CHRISTMAS MOVIE...QED! 

For me the early “Die Hard” movies remind me of 

the end of my teenage years and set me off on trying 

to find a way to shoot all of the weapons used in 

the film. I still watch the movie, and can pretty much 


RED CELL 

XMAS SPECIAL 

recite the script as the movie runs, but this year will 

be quite special as I will be introducing my wife to the 

series for the first time. Yes she has never seen any of 

them, although she is aware of my love for the movie 

as I own several T-shirts with “It ain’t Christmas until 

you see Hans Gruber fall off the Nakatomi Tower”. 

Several of my friends and I, a select group of firearm 

lovers, even have a light-hearted group based around 

Hans and his freefall jump off the tower! 

Over my shooting career which started in 1979 

(ouch I feel old!), I’ve been lucky to not only have 

owned a number of airsoft variants of the weapons 

used in “Die Hard”, but also I’ve owned the Real 

Steel versions of some as well. One of the first pistols 

I owned when I started airsofting all those years ago 

was my trusty TM M9 (still in a box somewhere). It 

served me for many years and often when running 

into a certain shower of BB’s from the opposing 

team, I’d be heard shouting “Yippee Kai Yay Maggot 

Farmers” as I ran in with my M9. This was also one of 

the Real Steel 9mm pistols I owned in the very early 

1990’s. 

Second to my TM G3 SG1 was my TM MP5. This 

was one of the go to AEG’s for a long time for a large 

number of players. In the film they were actually 

HK94’s which had shortened barrels and converted to 

full auto. Whilst I’ve not owned a real MP5 I have had 

a number of opportunities to fire the live version. Sgt 

Al Powell carried a Smith & Wesson Model 15. The 

nearest I have had to this was a Model 66 revolver 

which in airsoft form I can’t remember the brand of. I 

really enjoyed shooting my .357 Model 66 and it was 

the first live revolver I ever owned. 

Steyr AUG; I’ve used the TM version on a number 

of occasions but never owned one. As a left-hander 

I really liked it as I could shoot from either shoulder 

and the ergonomics of the magazine well let to some 

speedy reloads during skirmishes. When in Australia 

and staying at the School of Military Engineering 

(SEME) in Liverpool, New South Wales, I had the 

chance to handle the real thing and also shoot on the 

Small Arms Trainer that was on base. A really strange 

thing to do was to take the barrel out of the body 

to prove the chamber clear. But then I recognised 

this in the AEG version as you can do the same to 

make the rifle shorter for storage or also to check the 

“chamber” is clear of BBs. The M16A1 as used by the 

LAPD SWAT in the film, well, I have owned a couple 

during my airsofting days. More often in the A4 

version in AEG form it was one of the early “DMR” 

type rifles that were carried on the skirmish field. 

For me the Holy Grail of pistols used in Die Hard 

was the H&K M7M13. This was and still is the airsoft 

pistol I would REALLY LIKE TO SEE make a return 

to airsoft. In the late 80’s I was loaned a P7M13 to 

compete in IPSC “Concealed Carry” class during a 

practical competition. It certainly was an experience 

I would love to recreate again in airsoft. I’ll have to 

leave it there as there is so much more I could write, 

but I’ll leave some column inches for my fellow Red 

Cell friends! 

Jimmy: John Mcclane and “Die Hard” will forever be 

ingrained as a Christmas movie. The film is set during 

the Christmas period John attends Takagi’s christmas 

party hence it’s a Christmas film. For some, Christmas 

means putting up the decorations, time with the 

family, and over-indulging on pretty much everything. 

For me Christmas is all of the above but it wouldn’t be 

the same without the prerequisite film binge in order 

for Christmas to actually feel like it that time of year. 

There is a set list of films which sadly don’t make 

that much of an appearance anymore but one that 

will forever be a favourite is the “Die Hard” franchise. 

John McClane is a symbol of Christmas much like 

Rudolph, everybody knows the name, if not, what 

rock have you been hiding under? He’s cool frankly 

and the entire film was just made up of unforgettable 

quotes. 

“Twas the night before christmas and all 

through the house not a creature was stirring, 

except for the four a-holes coming in the rear in 

standard two by two cover formation”; a classic 

unforgettable quote amongst many! 

Something else the “Die Hard” films are famous for 

is the weaponry, classic iconic weapons. Now I’m not 

a fan of a lot of them and as a result I have very little 

experience with most of them. One that does stand 

out and is a very well recognised pistol is the Berretta 

M92, a pistol which has featured in all four of the 

“Die Hards” and has featured in many films over the 

years (there are too many to list!) I remember having 

“OVER MY SHOOTING CAREER WHICH STARTED IN 1979 (OUCH I FEEL OLD!), I’VE 

BEEN LUCKY TO NOT ONLY HAVE OWNED A NUMBER OF AIRSOFT VARIANTS OF THE 

WEAPONS USED IN “DIE HARD”, BUT ALSO I’VE OWNED THE REAL STEEL VERSIONS OF 

SOME AS WELL. ” 

54 


RED CELL 

GAS BLOW XMAS BACK SPECIAL RIFLES 

a cap-gun Berretta as a kid and I loved it. I own one 

Berretta which is an W01P from Tokyo Marui from 

the Biohazard/Resident Evil lineup, and is based on 

TM’s M9A1 and it is spot on. If there was a TM “Die 

Hard” limited edition I’m fairly certain that would 

be part of my and many other peoples collection. 

Another very popular film pistol would be the 

M1911 most definitely my favourite platform; I have 

several 1911 pistols all sporting different features 

and characteristics. 

Argyle: [Argyle shuts the limo door] If this 

is their idea of Christmas, I *gotta* be here for 

New Year’s. 

And to sign off for 2021 the Red Cell crew and 

I wish you a very Happy Christmas, may all your 

airsoft wishes come true, and here’s to a full-on, hard 

charging 2022 (and this time next year, someone 

PLEASE run a “Die Hard” FilmSim!) Changing 

McClanes words to Hans Gruber just slightly… 

“Welcome to the (Christmas) party pal!” AA 

Bill: So, to conclude, in our minds “Die Hard” is 

totally a Christmas movie, as much part of the 

season’s festivities as mince pies and mulled wine, 

and a movie that I and my fellow members of “The 

Nakatomi Freefall Club” will watch with almost 

religious fervour each and every year. 

For another month, and indeed another year, I’ll 

wish you all “Yippee ki-yay” and if you’re still in any 

doubt about its seasonal flavour just listen to the 

closing words of “Die Hard”: 

John McClane: Merry Christmas, Argyle. 

Argyle: Merry Christmas. 

Richard Thornburg: [to the camera] Did ya 

get that? 


KIT & GEAR 

HELIKON-TEX LONG-TERM TEST 

HELIKON-TEX 

WINDRUNNER 

WINDSHIRT 

AND 

FIRESPARK 

“STEEL” 


THERE HAVE BEEN SOME GREAT NEW ADDITIONS TO THE HELIKON-TEX LINE IN THE PAST COUPLE OF 

YEARS, AND IT’S GREAT TO SEE THOSE REALLY GETTING THE ATTENTION THEY DESERVE! BILL HAS BEEN 

LONG-TERM TESTING A COUPLE OF ITEMS FROM THEIR “OUTBACK” AND “BUSHCRAFT” COLLECTIONS 

AND BRINGS YOU HIS FINDINGS. 

I 

really like the fact that Helikon-Tex categorise 

their clothing and equipment as it makes life far 

easier when you’re looking for a particular item. 

As a keen outdoorsman as well as an airsofter I’m 

therefore every bit as interested in what they have 

in the “Outback” and “Bushcraft” categories in 

addition to the “Range” and “Patrol” lines as good 

outdoor equipment can act as the backbone for any 

situation as Jon’s ongoing series of “TOD” articles 

have clearly illustrated. 

The “Outback Line” is their technical clothing and 

accessories line concept; everything from baselayers 

through all intermediate levels of insulation for both 

dynamic and static activities to outer layers including 

windshirts, softshells, hardshells and Climashield 

parkas is included in this category. Accessories 

developed for the Outback Line focus on travel, gear 

packing and outdoor expeditions, which makes them 

perfect when you’re gearing up for a multi-day game 

or MilSim event. 

It’s that time of year where I live when the north 

wind is starting to pick up, and although I’m not yet 

ready to transition into a fully-fledged hardshell I do 

want something that can be worn over a microfleece 

to add an additional layer against wind chill, and 

ideally I look for garments that are lightweight and 

have a minimal pack size. 

The Windrunner Windshirt has been my “go 

to” for this, and is an ideal carry item because of 

its minimum weight and size when folded. At just 

190g (size XL) its ultra-light, tightly-woven Nylon 

fabric protects you from the wind, and if the DWR 

coating is regularly maintained, also from light rain; 

the Windrunner is an ideal garment for any kind of 

outdoor training! Mesh ventilation slats in armpits 

allow increased air circulation for when you’re really 

working hard, and on a cooler day, worn on top of a 

fleece, it keeps your all-important core warmth from 

escaping and protects against wind chilling. A large 

front channel pocket easily accommodates a cap, 

58 


KIT & GEAR 

HELIKON-TEX LONG-TERM TEST 

gloves or a buff, and two small flat pockets inside 

the larger pocket help to organize small items like 

smartphone or ID (or a cheeky extra mag!). 

Additional features are sparse and minimalistic 

in that there is a lightweight hood, elasticated cuffs 

and a drawstring hem, and that’s it. On a garment 

like this though you don’t need a massive amount of 

features as that just increases bulk and weight. My 

first Windrunner (the tan version) has been with me 

since 2017 and I have to admit that I absolutely love 

it and have worn it a LOT! It’s a superb piece of kit 

that gives you just that little extra protection when 

things start to get cooler, and therefore I would 

thoroughly commend it to you; in fact I’ll tell you 

right now that I’ve added additional Winfrunners in 

different camos and colours to work with different 

loadouts (Green, Grey, and RenCott) so this really 

does come with my complete recommendation! 

Instead of the traditional carbon steel though the 

FIRESPARK makes use of a long Ferrocerium rod; 

while ferrocerium “steels” function in a similar way 

to natural flint and steel in fire starting, ferrocerium 

takes on the role that steel played in traditional 

methods; when small shavings of it are removed 

quickly enough the heat generated by friction is 

enough to ignite those shavings, converting the 

metal to the oxide, i.e., the sparks are actually tiny 

pieces of burning metal. 

This long spark rod with durable handle make 

starting a fire with FIRESPARK and knife a breeze; 

combined with my favourite bushcraft knife created 

for me by Josh Curry of the Athena Knife Co. in the 

USA, the FIRESPARK is absolutely awesome, sending 

fan of sparks away with every stroke, so if your 

lighter runs out, or your matches get wet this can be 

a real lifesaver! And there’s even a hollow aluminium 

handle may be used to house water purification 

tablets, tinder or even rolled banknotes if you want 

to hide them away! 

As I said, I really the Helikon-Tex categories as it 

makes it really easy to find that unique piece of kit 

that you may have been searching for; there are 

other items that I have on long-term test, so rest 

assured I’ll update things regularly! 

For more information please visit www.helikontex.com 

for country stockists, and in the UK check 

out www.military1st.co.uk for the very latest brand 

updates. AA 

SPARKIN’! 

When you’re bivvied out for a weekender, body 

heat of course is all important when it comes to 

your well-being and being able to light your cooker 

to make some hot grub is absolutely essential, so 

another little bit of kit from Helikon-Tex that I added 

to my MilSim kit is their “FIRESPARK” firesteel; 

designed and tested by specialists in bushcraft and 

survival techniques, the FIRESPARK firesteel is a 

modern rendering of classic piece of equipment. 


KIT & GEAR 

RED DOT HANDGUN SIGHTS 

JOINING 

THE 

DOTS 

MORE AND MORE OF US ARE ROUTINELY CARRYING PISTOLS FITTED WITH RED DOT SIGHTS THESE DAYS, 

AND ALTHOUGH SOME MAY KNOW THE SCIENCE BEHIND THEM, BILL THOUGHT IT WOULD BE A SOLID 

TOPIC TO DIVE INTO SO THAT WE ALL CAN GET A TRUE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THEY WORK, AND HOW 

THEY MAY JUST GIVE YOU THAT ALL-IMPORTANT EDGE IN-GAME! 

IMAGE COURTESY SHIELD SIGHTS 

If there’s one handgun that I’ve been waiting for 

during 2021 it’s undoubtedly the latest model in 

the RAVEN Hi Capa GBB family, and that’s the 

short-barrelled, uber-compact 3.8 version! You may 

ask why this is, and as I will tell all and sundry (at 

least those who care to listen!) I honestly believe 

that RAVEN have created to me what is the ultimate 

airsoft “fighting pistol” in their RAVEN Hi Capa, and 

although I already have the excellent 5.1 and 4.3 

models I do love a compact sidearm, and the new 

3.8 REALLY fits the bill if you’ll forgive the intentional 

pun! 

There’s just something about the RAVEN Hi Capa 

that I love! Sure, during my long-term torture-testing 

both existing models have stood up well to massive 

abuse and continue to shoot reliably and accurately, 

but it’s the overall simplicity of the RAVEN that totally 

sings to me; there’s no extraneous parts, no intricate 

styling to catch on clothing or a holster, and it just 

screams “get the job done” to me. There’s a rail 

for a taclite sure enough, and you can easily add a 

suppressor with a simple adapter, but that’s all she 

wrote, and the pistol is better, and eminently more 

functional, because of this. 

I’ve dabbled a little with red-dot sights on my 

pistols, but that far my RAVENs have remained 

unadorned with such modern technology and iron 

sights alone have proved that I can get on target 

using the hi-vis fibre-optics easily enough; but have 

I been missing a BIG trick? I was recently involved 

in a conversation in the “real steel world” about 

the increasing adoption of red-dot sights, or RDS, 

on everyday carry pistols, and given the size of the 

new RAVEN it fits perfectly into that category (and 

into my Kydex Customs holster!). I’ve been using my 

“Green Ravens” as a part of my PAMG setup, so I 

sought some insight on the truth behind the RDSphenomenon. 

Luckily, as I have a foot on both the airsoft and 

real steel worlds, I have knowledgeable friends 

to turn to when I have a question about the true 

“mechanics” of shooting, and in this case it was 

my colleague Jim WenzeI; Jim is a prior-service U.S. 

Marine veteran and a retired Law Enforcement 

Officer, and these days an NRA/USCCA Instructor 

and NRA Chief Range Safety Officer, so you could 

say he knows a thing or two about the mechanics of 

shooting! 

34 


KIT & GEAR 


Specifically with red dot sighting options in mind 

I asked Jim the simple question; is the pistol RDS a 

friend or foe, and this is what he had to tell me… 

Is a pistol optic for you? I asked myself this very 

same question several times over the course of the 

past year. I’m a bit of an old school shooter, even 

at basic training in Parris Island, our qualifications 

pushed us out to 500 yards with iron sights with 

our issued rifles. For years when I heard “optic”, I 

thought long range precision shooting with a long 

gun. 

Then as I was retiring from Law Enforcement in 

2018, I saw that one of the alphabet agencies was 

in the process of transitioning to pistol red dots 

for their employees. My initial gut reaction 

was “Why are we going 

experienced shooters that come to a class and are 

carrying their firearm with a red dot. It was due to 

this uptick and trend that I knew in order to help 

students that I would have to invest in a red dot, 

open my mindset, and get myself trained up. 

FUNDAMENTAL BENEFITS 

Contrary to some beliefs, there are some 

fantastic benefits to 

picking up and learning 

how to utilize a 

pistol red dot. 

For one, we are 

reducing the 

amount of 

focal planes 

being used. 

Traditional 

iron sight, 

firearm 

to a piece of equipment that can fail” 

and secondly, “I’ve seen enough yearly 

qualifications where people fail or barely pass 

a qualification due to not being able to apply the 

fundamentals as it is”. 

I will admit that I was extremely sceptical with 

this change. I didn’t feel that agencies would put in 

enough training time or do so properly. I can recall 

when they came out with the new spring for Glocks 

that had a laser in it. It didn’t improve accuracy as 

the agency thought it would, nor was it essentially 

cost effective as the spring was much weaker than 

the standard Glock spring which led to the springs 

breaking and making the pistol inoperable. The 

agency went back to the standard Glock spring after 

that. 

Now to the present, since retiring, I became a 

civilian firearms instructor and during that time I 

have come across many new shooters and some 

fundamentals 

of shooting 

use three 

focal planes. A 

shooter has to look 

through their rear 

sight, identify the 

front sight, and then 

place the sight on 

target. This is done with 

an emphasis on focusing 

on the front sight and blurring the target in 

the distance. An issue with this is that we won’t be 

able to quickly recognize if a threat is still present. 

We are putting a lot of focus into a fine motor 

skill which is relatively non-existent under stress. 

Hence, why point shooting is taught for close range 

“WITH THE DEVELOPMENT AND UNDERSTANDING THAT COMES WITH USING A SINGLE FOCAL 

PLANE SIGHTING SYSTEM SUCH AS THE RED DOT, ONE CAN MORE EFFECTIVELY KEEP THEIR 

EYES ON A THREAT DURING AN ENCOUNTER WHICH CAN MAKE A LARGE IMPACT ON THE 

OUTCOME OF THAT ENCOUNTER.” 


KIT & GEAR 


IMAGE CREDIT: DAVID BAHDE - PERSONAL DEFENSE WORLD 

engagements, at the very least, if you point the 

firearm at the intended threat at close proximity, you 

will hit the target. In relation to your context, that of 

airsoft scenarios, small tight groupings from precision 

shooting are not required, you need to get rounds on 

target as safely and quickly as possible. 

Now that we covered the proper use of iron 

sights, let’s jump over to the red dot side of things. 

The pistol red dot reduces the focal planes down 

to two, some will say one. I leave that debate up to 

each individual. We acquire the red dot through the 

optic and place it on the target. We are able to then 

have a focus on the intended target while using the 

red dot. I’ll talk about this more later in the article. 

The main drawback that is common with any 

tool is the risk of mechanical failure. Batteries could 

die, the sight could hit something and fall off, or 

the glass could break. Good old Murphy’s Law, 

“Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” With 

this in mind it is imperative to ensure that you don’t 

disregard and stop training the basic fundamentals 

with your iron sights. In which I also add, implement 

training where the iron sights have broken off or 

aren’t operational. If you fail to prepare, you prepare 

to fail. 

Points to Ponder… 

Searching the pistol optic that is right for you can 

be a difficult yet fun task, some things to consider 

are: 

• What is the purpose the optic will be used for 

(professional-personal, competition etc.)? 

• How large is the sight? Can you conceal if 

necessary? 

Batteries: 

• Where is the compartment, does a battery 

change mean you have to re-zero the optic? 

• How long does the battery last? 

• (Editors Comment: And how easy are the 

batteries to find, are they a common size?) 

ZERO IN 

Still being relatively new to implementation of 

the pistol red dot system into my training, I was 

pleasantly surprised at how easy it was for me to 

find the red dot on my chosen model, the Leupold 

Deltapoint Pro NV FDE. I had tried other sights before 

that my colleagues had, and it was difficult to pick 

it up at first. The Deltapoint Pro didn’t disappoint. I 

“I FOUND THAT AFTER PUTTING IN MANY HOURS ON THE RED DOT, IT HAS INCREASED MY 

ABILITY TO PICK UP ON THE FRONT SIGHT. I NOW USE MY IRON SIGHTS AS A FAILURE DRILL 

EXERCISE, AND IF BOTH FAIL, MOST ENCOUNTERS HAPPEN UP CLOSE AND THIS WILL ALSO 

ENHANCE YOUR POINT SHOOTING ABILITIES. ” 

36 


KIT & GEAR 


was able to acquire the target quickly and effectively 

put rounds on paper where I wanted them. I set up 

my zeroing targets and benchrest position. I worked 

from the 3,5,7,15,20, and 25 yard lines respectively 

utilizing five round groups to zero in the red dot. 

With the zero acquired, it was time to see what the 

red dot hype was all about and as I mentioned earlier, 

will it be our friend or foe when it comes to utilizing 

this tool? What I found out relatively quickly is that 

there is a distinct difference between the traditional 

iron sights and the red dot system, which is that while 

utilizing iron sights, a person’s eyes have to perform a 

number of complex functions, contrasting those using 

a red dot in which uses one function. This is a very 

important mention to me, but to many of you as well, 

as in some stressful environments we have to make 

rapid decisions. 

With the development and understanding that 

comes with using a single focal plane sighting system 

such as the red dot, one can more effectively keep 

their eyes on a threat during an encounter which 

can make a large impact on the outcome of that 

encounter. It will not only increase your reaction time 

due to quicker target acquisition, it allows you to 

have a higher degree of focus on the engagement as 

opposed to the traditional iron sights. 

Let’s dig a bit further into this, from our 

understanding of human behaviours; we note that 

humans have a natural tendency to focus on whatever 

is threatening us during a fear (fight, flight, freeze) 

response. It becomes very difficult for someone to 

take their eyes off the threat and put the focus into 

their pistol sights, which in relative terms are tiny 

objects outstretched an arm’s distance from us. 

With this being said, part of my evaluation of the 

red dot system was to increase my relative stress level 

(increase my heart rate) while performing several 

drills going between the red dot and traditional iron 

sights. What I found is that the red dot allowed me 

to make faster follow-up shots as I didn’t have to 

go through the process of aligning my sights after 

each shot was fired. I believe this will be an “AHA!” 

moment for those transitioning to the red dot from a 

new to experienced shooter, as you will see it makes it 

easier for someone to be able to shoot with both eyes 

open. Most shooters, although they try and put in the 

training hours, struggle with this. This occurs due to 

having to hyper focus on the front sight, the red dot 

eliminates that and allows you to acquire the target 

with both eyes and helps speed up your scan for 

additional threats as you now are no longer fighting 

one eye blind. 

There is, however, a bit of a learning curve for those 

of us that are veteran pistol iron sight shooters. Due 

to this fact, we will have developed for the sake of red 

dot shooting, the bad habit of looking at the front of 

the pistol to find the front sight. We have to change 

our mindset from being front sight focused to target 

focused. This is countered by training and putting in 

the repetitions. 

This will take time and training. Contrary to many 

new and experienced shooters’ beliefs, adding the red 

dot does not instantly make you a better shooter! The 

red dot only simplifies two of the seven principles of 

marksmanship, sight alignment and sight picture. It 

does not fix a poor stance, bad grip, or terrible trigger 

control. Where the red dot is most beneficial in my 

opinion is that one can see what the dot is doing in 

relation to your target and your hits on target. For 

instance, you can see where the dot is on the target 

and if you anticipate, flinch, or jerk the trigger you 

can see where the red dot is in relation to the target, 

allowing for quicker corrections. 

Finally, if you’re looking to implement a red dot 

into your training development, I will say that you 

have a friend when it comes to this tool. When 

applied properly with your fundamentals, you will see 

improvement over time. I found that after putting 

in many hours on the red dot, it has increased my 

ability to pick up on the front sight. I now use my 

iron sights as a failure drill exercise, and if both fail, 

most encounters happen up close and this will also 

enhance your point shooting abilities. For those of 

us that are aging, the red dot is a great option as it 

makes it easier for those to acquire targets and their 

sights, which are now dependent on reading glasses 

for example. 

So, with all this information in hand it was a simple 

decision to add an RDS-equipped RAVEN 3.8 to my 

PAMG setup, and I look forward to reporting back 

fully on how this cracking little GBB performs at a 

later date! My sincere thanks go to Jim for agreeing 

to let me use his wise words here, and if you’ve got, 

or intend to get, a pistol that has a full-time red dot 

then the old adage is still true… training leads to 

perfection! AA 


KIT & GEAR 

JAVELIN BIPOD SYSTEM 

STABILITY 

FOR THE 

WIN 

BIPODS WERE DESIGNED TO GIVE YOU COMPLETE SUPPORT AND STABILITY IN A RUGGED, LIGHTWEIGHT 

PACKAGE, AND THESE DAYS WE’RE SEEING THEM MORE AND MORE ON CARBINES AS WELL AS DMRS 

AND BOLTIES. BILL’S BEEN WORKING WITH A NEW MODEL FROM SPARTAN PRECISION EQUIPMENT OVER 

THE PAST FEW MONTHS SO NOW TAKES AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT BIPODS AS A WHOLE! 


Why should I use a bipod? I mostly use a 

carbine or SBR when playing, and in fact 

my favourite models are short, compact 

variants of the AK and AR so until relatively recently 

for me a bipod lived on either my DMR or my 

precision rifle. I’ve seen much photographic evidence 

of bipods being fitted “in the wild” to SBRs and 

indeed even to compact CQB-length M4s, and I have 

to admit that I’ve often wondered “why?” 

The answer to me partly lies in the increased issue 

of even the most basic infantry rifle with a magnified 

optic; slowly but surely we’ve seen the “grunt” 

become equipped with some pretty spangly optics, 

and of course when you’re talking about “556” the 

ballistic performance of the round itself is actually 

one of the determining factors when it comes to 

accuracy over extended range. The performance 

of the accepted-issue round tends to tail-off 

dramatically when the range extends, so in many 

cases the abilities of the optic are greater than those 

of the round being fired! 

A stable firing position is king in this situation, 

and for a stable shooting platform that offers greater 

precision and increased support a bipod is second 

to none. At longer ranges shooting from some 

positions with accuracy can be next to impossible 

without some form of stabilisation. As a “real” 

shooter you have many variables to account for 

such as environmental factors (wind, rain, snow, 

temperature, humidity, etc), and even the mechanics 

of the human body! A good bipod helps eliminate 

many of these factors before you put the first round 

downrange. 

It’s pretty clear to me then that a bipod that’s 

mounted at the fore-end of a platform will aid in 

that quest for a stable shooting position and allow 

you to get the best possible from your chosen 

optic, and this is equally true whether it’s 5.56mm 

rounds or BBs that you are putting out there; in fact, 

given the vagaries of hop performance you could 

even argue that a stable shooting position is MORE 

important to us as airsofters! A bipod provides you 

“I’VE SEEN MUCH PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE OF BIPODS BEING FITTED “IN THE WILD” TO 

SBRS AND INDEED EVEN TO COMPACT CQB-LENGTH M4S, AND I HAVE TO ADMIT THAT I’VE 

OFTEN WONDERED “WHY?”” 

66 


KIT & GEAR 


with stability both horizontally and vertically; in game 

you’ll often find yourself shooting at a target from 

a really weird position, where stabilising your rifle or 

carbine fully can be next to impossible without some 

form of artificial support; bipods give you the option 

to rest and stabilise your AEG or GBBR, reducing 

fatigue whilst increasing accuracy. 

Fundamentally the best bipod is the bipod 

attached to your chosen primary platform! I know 

that this sounds like I’m being even more of a 

simpleton than usual, but the fact is that having 

a bipod fitted gives you, especially in the prone 

position, unmatched stability and gives you more of 

a chance to place your BBs exactly where you want 

to! 

Benefits of shooting with a bipod simply put are; 

• Stability; when you use a bipod, you’re able 

to rest your platform against any object or 

surface. This could be the ground, but also 

includes walls, vehicles, furniture, rocks, and 

anything else that you might encounter in the 

field. This means that these objects will bear 

the full weight of your platform instead of 

your “MK1” arm muscles! When fatigue is 

taken out of the equation, your mind, arms, 

and fingers can remain completely focused on 

aiming and firing. 

• Flexibility; bipods come in many shapes and 

sizes, and this flexibility is augmented even 

further when you use the latest lightweight 

models. Bipods can be tilted and rotated 

to allow you to make contact with multiple 

surfaces and objects, even if they’re not 

directly beneath you (or completely flat). 

• Accuracy; the benefits of increased stability 

and flexibility combine to make you a more 

accurate shooter, plain and simple. Bipods 

also allow you to aim accurately at your target 

before firing and use your optic to its true 

potential. 

WHAT’S IN A WORD? 

Bipod is made up of the Greek and Latin words “bi” 

and “pod.” Bi means “two” while “pod” refers to 

“the foot” or “feet.” Hence the literal definition of 

“two footed.” When you look at a bipod, you can 

see that this description is very accurate: a bipod 

comes with two feet that allow you to balance the 

weight of your rifle with more stability. 

Before they were adopted by shooters bipods 

were used by photographers to take high quality, 

detailed images of a subject that would be more 

difficult without stabilization. It is believed that the 

first use of a bipod in conjunction with a rifle dates 

back as far as the 1800’s, and of course we know 

that the “monopod or “shooting stick” predates 

even that. In World War II, soldiers utilized bipods 

that were often just sticks tied together to give them 

a simple platform to rest their heavy rifles, and with 

the introduction of weapons such as the MG38 and 

BAR at squad level simple metal bipods began to 

appear in the hands of the ordinary “grunt”; the 

bipods enabled them to take more accurate shots 

while at the same time helping avoid fatigue from 

the sheer weight and bulk of their weapon! 

A traditional bipod is a simple two-legged stand 

that holds your chosen platform stable; generally 

speaking they utilise various and numerous methods 

of attachment, and the legs can be folded up for 

easy transportation and locked into place when 

required; many models of bipods offer adjustable 

legs that allow you to tailor them to match your 

shooting position in any given terrain, and rubberised 

feet provide greater friction and grip. 

Grip-Pods, as now standard for many military-issue 

platforms such as the SA-80, are bipods that are 

deployed from a foregrip mounted at the fore-end 

and are regularly seen in use by infantry riflemen 

and support gunners who need to rapidly transition 

between standing and prone shooting positions. 

Affixing a Grip-Pod is as simple as attaching a 

conventional foregrip to your platform depending on 

the rail system or handguard your rifle/carbine has. 

Many “modern” bipods are works of art in 

themselves; Magpul for instance make theirs from 

industry-leading, high-strength polymer and Mil-Spec 

aluminum, providing an unmatched combination 

of functionality, strength, and value. They come in 

four different mounting configurations, meaning 

that there’s a shooting platform available for just 

about every rifle you’ll ever own. Their bipods include 

user-friendly features such as tool-less adjustment 

and spring-tensioned legs for rapid deployment, 

and they’re optimized for one-handed use. Most 

include an industry-exclusive 50° of total tilt and 

40° of pan, which are controlled by a glove-friendly, 

knurled locking knob. The legs extend from 6.3 “ to 

10.3” and they fit neatly 2.3” under the barrel when 

stowed. 

For general use with a carbine or DMR, for 

convenience and durability, many bipod mounts 

now affix directly to a rail system or the Picatinny 

rail of a handguard (and of course now Keymod 

and M-Lok too!). Rails allow for accessories to be 


KIT & GEAR 


attached to the platform without fuss and often offer 

quick detachment capability, usually in the form of a 

retention pin or stud should the need arise to attach 

or remove the bipod in a hurry without sacrificing 

stability. Stud bipod mounts affix to the fore-end of 

the rifle and allow the installation of many bipod 

models (such as one of my faves, the Harris system), 

and these stud mounts even allow the bipod to swivel 

and pivot dependant on the model you choose. Some 

cheaper bipods will also attach direct to the barrel; 

whilst this is fine for airsoft use, and a sensibly-priced 

alternative for many, I’d urge you to look into how 

this affects barrel dynamics/harmonics, and the effect 

it can have particularly over longer differences. 

The bottom line though is that the use of bipods 

is on the rise with everyone from the military to law 

enforcement, hunters, and recreational users, and 

the increased use of optics fitted as standard to most 

platforms, both real and airsoft, now means that 

stability is a key denominator. This increase in demand 

has given huge boost to many new companies making 

bipods for a variety of uses, and you’ll find great 

models from Harris Engineering, Magpul, NCStar/ 

UTG, Versa-Pod and in airsoft form from the likes of 

most good manufacturers (most of mine come from 

NUPROL). 

JAVELIN! 

So, bipods are great front support and add to the 

stability of your rifle/optics system, and after meeting 

the guys from Spartan Precision Equipment at the NAE 

I’ve been trialling one of their models, and putting it 

through a pretty tough testing regime! For those that 

don’t know Spartan, they’re a proudly British company 

based in the beautiful South East of the UK. Having 

met them in person I can tell you that they’re a close 

and friendly team dedicated to producing some of 

the finest, most innovative shooting accessories in the 

world. 

Their patented Spartan Magnetic Attachment 

System is at the heart of many of their products. Light, 

strong and reliable, the systems use Neodymium rare 

earth magnets to attach to your platform in seconds, 

enabling you to follow targets and stay level on 

uneven ground, and the best bit is that you will only 

ever need one bipod/tripod for all your platforms! 

Since launch they have partnered and worked with 

some of the finest brands in the shooting industry 

such as Blaser, Sauer and First Lite to name a few. 

I’ve been testing out their Javelin Bipod; these 

are made from Carbon Fibre and milled 7075 

aerospace Aluminium with their patented magnetic 

attachment system, so that one bipod model is easily 

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KIT & GEAR 


changed from rifle to carbine! With interchangeable 

leg options, the Javelin Lite Bipod® is available in 

three lengths to accommodate shooters wanting 

a lightweight modular bipod that will serve a 

multitude of disciplines from shooting on the range to 

skirmishing in the most demanding environments. By 

using high-grade carbon fibre, the Javelin Lite weighs 

just 130 to 135 grams and does not compromise the 

balance of your platform, making it perfect for those 

on the move, especially as it can be attached and 

detached in an instant using the ‘Spartan Magnetic 

Attachment System’. 

Features are impressive and include: 

• Locking cant facility for uneven terrain 

• Track targets with the traversing function or use 

in locked target mode 

• Interchangeable fixed-height legs 

• Quick and easy to swap to other rifles using the 

spartan magnetic attachment system 

• Secure sling attachment 

• Low profile adapter makes carrying a slung rifle 

comfortable 

• Range of different accessory legs available to 

accommodate different shooting positions and 

terrain 

• Supplied with classic rifle adapter kit to attach 

bipod 

• Compatible with a full range of 12mm Spartan 

adapters 

I’ve been using the Javelin on carbines, rifles, my 

DMR, and my bolt action and I absolutely love it! The 

guys from Spartan provided me with a number of 

different attachment options (the set comes with a 

number of rubber spacers and different length hex 

bolts that mean you can get a really positive seating) 

which means I can keep these firmly attached to 

different platforms, simply moving the legs of the 

bipod between them at will…. And it really is easy 

to do, even though once attached the legs remain 

solidly fixed to the rail attachment. The legs also offer 

a clever lateral/tilt movement thanks to a small throwlever, 

and once again this can be locked off to give a 

solid and stable platform. This means that I need only 

one set of legs, which given their light weight and tiny 

“footprint” means that I can keep them safely stowed 

in my Admin Pouch until I need them, knowing that 

they’ll pop onto whatever primary platform I may be 

carrying at any given moment! 

So, I start the day with my DMR… the rail 

attachment is fixed in place so all I need to carry is 

the legs. Perhaps I decide in the afternoon that I’ll go 

and do a little light “hunting” with my bolt-action… 

the QD stud attachment is already fitted and I have 

the very same legs in my Admin Pouch so I’m good 

to go! Now I could carry the legs attached to the 

platform full-time, but common sense to me dictates 

that the less protruberences I have sticking out from 

my rifle means the less likely I am to snag a branch in 

the woods… and of course if I have an attachment 

point fitted to the rail of my MK18 I can easily pop on 

the Javelin if I want to make the most of my red-dot 

magnifier in a CQB environment, and actually use it 

from a stable position too. 

Bottom line here folks is that if you want to get 

the best from your optics and your primary platform, 

adding a bipod to create the best, most stable 

shooting position is actually a bit of a no-brainer; 

with super-light, super-versatile bipod systems like the 

Javelin you can make even the shortest of airsoft SBRs 

real tack-drivers! 

Many thanks to the guys at https://javelinbipod.com 

for providing me their system to test and evaluate; if 

you’re interested in adding a bipod to your armoury 

then please do take a moment to check out their 

super system. AA 

“THE GUYS FROM SPARTAN PROVIDED ME WITH A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT ATTACHMENT 

OPTIONS THAT MEAN I CAN KEEP THESE FIRMLY ATTACHED TO DIFFERENT PLATFORMS, 

SIMPLY MOVING THE LEGS OF THE BIPOD BETWEEN THEM AT WILL” 


RELOADED 

CYMA CM.098A 

TACTICAL 

TACK DRIVER 

CYMA HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH AIRSOFT FOR ALMOST AS LONG AS ANYONE, 

AND HAVE RIGHTFULLY MOVED UP FROM THEIR POSITION AS THE “MOST LIKELY TO BE 

A RENTAL GUN” TO CREATING AEGS THAT ANYONE SHOULD BE PLEASED TO HAVE IN THEIR 

ARMOURY! AFTER OVER A YEAR OF OWNERSHIP BILL REFLECTS ON HIS “BIG BOY” DMR, THE 

CM.098A, AND HOW IT’S STOOD UP TO SOME HARD USE DURING LOCKDOWN! 

This year I’ve really been working on my “distance 

game”, so I’ve been looking at longer range 

airsoft options; I wanted something with a little 

extra power and range, but preferably semi-auto 

rather than bolt-action, and there’s actually a lot to 

go at when it comes to this type of rifle these days to 

fulfil the role of “Designated Marksman” (DM)! Now 

this is, of course, a very different role from that of 

the true sniper, as the DM will usually be embedded 

within the usual section or fire-team order of battle 

for any unit, so what they will carry will not obviously 

look very different from the rifle of carbine carried by 

other members of their squad. 

The main difference between a DM and a sniper 

is that “marksmen are usually considered an organic 

part of a unit and are never expected to operate 

independently away from the main force, whereas 

snipers usually work alone or in very small teams with 

“independent mission objectives””. In recent conflicts 

it was found that the infantryman with a 5.56mm 

carbine or rifle was often outranged by enemies 

still using older, large calibre battle rifles, so the DM 

became a solution for helping them dominate the 

“middle ground”, ranges deemed beyond effective for 

a standard infantry platform, but well inside that of a 

dedicated sniper rifle. The role of the DM in airsoft has 

likewise matured. 

There are many dedicated airsoft rifles, both AEGs 

and GBBs that you can buy “off the rack” to act 

as a DMR, and I for one love this! You can buy a 

decent SVD (I love my SVD GBBR for MilSim OPFOR 

shenanigans as I’ve said before!) or M14 EBR just 

about anywhere, and the sheer choice for Mod 

12 SPRs and SR-25s in now somewhat mindboggling! 

Many of the so-called DMRs though 

still come as regular, full-auto AEGs so to 

create a “precision marksman platform” 

you’ll have needed in the past to do a 

fair bit of internal work, but of course 

programmeable systems are now 

making this far easier! There are a 

number of AEGs that I return to time and 

again to fine tune and tweak, and foremost 

among them has been a CYMA, namely their 

CM.098A “.308” AR DMR, and it’s a rifle that I 

have truly come to adore! 

CYMA have been producing AEGs for as long as 

I can remember, and could be rightly classed as one 

“EXTERNALLY THE 098A IS A PEACH, AND IT LOOKS DROP-DEAD GORGEOUS IMO! 

THE ENTIRE RIFLE IS MADE OF HIGH-GRADE ALLOY, AND FINISHED IN A SUPER SATIN- 

BLACK THROUGHOUT, AND THE FINISH HAS STOOD UP WELL TO THE RAVAGES OF 

BOTH SITE AND RANGE.” 

70 


RELOADED 

CYMA CM.098A 

of the industry “veterans”. CYMA have been around 

it seems to me... forever! If I go back to earlier days 

a CYMA was probably the most common “rental” 

AEG that you’d find, certainly throughout the UK and 

even farther afield, especially their plastic AK models. 

Okay, the originals were unashamed clones, they did 

have a habit of snapping regularly where the butt 

meets the body, they had some problems with the 

quality control, and some models arrived as new in 

simply laughable packaging! Although the quality of 

the old CYMA AEGs could not be compared to more 

expensive brands the fact of the matter was that they 

ran like trains (even without the butt!), were easy to 

work on and upgrade, and above all they were cheap, 

and I mean DIRT CHEAP! 

Over the past few years my personal view on 

CYMA has changed quite dramatically, and I’ve been 

hugely impressed with their AK AEGs since they 

released the 040 series; yes, they still make 

the original 028 series of AKs and they 

are still cheap as chips (under 

80 quid for an AEG!), but 

for me the 040 series 

really put them 

with CYMA on the 0.98 AR DMR model and asked 

me if I would be interested in trying one I thought 

to myself “why the hell not” as although I hadn’t 

bothered at the time putting my hands on a CYMA 

“AR” in years, the AKs had really opened my mind 

to what the brand was producing so I thought it was 

time to get behind a CYMA AR and find out what it 

was truly capable of. 

And oh boy, am I glad I said “yes”, or what? 

NEW AND VERY MUCH IMPROVED! 

I asked the guys in Poland at the time about the 

collaboration between TWG and CYMA, as in my 

mind nobody seems to talk to CYMA directly, and I 

was told: 

“The new 09 series of AEGs has been created as 

the result of a long cooperation and mutual trust 

between companies which have significant experience 

in this domain, CYMA and TAIWANGUN.COM. These 

carbines have produced to a different specification; 

the lower receiver, the upper receiver, the stock tube, 

the external barrel, the fire selector, the magazine 

release button, the trigger, the charging handle, and 

the front and rear sight are made in aluminium, which 

has made the replica more realistic. Each model even 

has on the lower receiver a unique serial number.” 

The 098A I received was the then-new 

“E-EDITION” configuration with a stock velocity 

of around 410fps and the claim was that in 

combination with a LiPo battery you’d be 

getting a ROF around 25rps and a really good 

trigger response. After testing I have 

to agree with this claim, and this 

seems to be largely down to 

new gearbox parts with 

increased durability, 

such as a 

in a very different 

place. 

I’ve been using on 

and off an 

externally upgraded 

070 series 

AK for a while 

now, and 

it’s a super little 

AEG that 

often gives rise to 

comment 

as it performs 

beautifully. 

On the strength of this 

I got myself 

an 077A AK (the Magpully one, now at a new home 

with Jon), and then a 040I Tactical model to use as a 

project base, and these too have been wonderful. 

When the guys at Taiwangun (TWG) contacted me 

a year or so ago to say that they were working directly 

reinforced 

V2 long 

gearbox frame 

with quick spring 

change system, a 

polycarbonate piston 

with steel teeth, a 

CNC machined steel 


RELOADED 

CYMA CM.098A 

gear set (ratio: 13:1), 8mm bearings, a CNC machined 

aluminium silent cylinder and piston head set (ball 

bearing piston head, double o-ring cylinder head), and 

a high-speed motor. There’s even a processor unit with 

built-in MOSFET system although I’ve largely left that 

alone. 

Externally the 098A is a peach, and it looks dropdead 

gorgeous IMO! The entire rifle is made of 

high-grade alloy, and finished in a super satin-black 

throughout, and the finish has stood up well to the 

ravages of both site and range. The free-float outer 

barrel (16” external barrel, with a precision 6.03mm 

inner barrel) can also be unscrewed to reveal a 14mm 

CCW thread for suppressors and tracer units should 

you desire to fit one, although I replaced the AACstyle 

flash hider with a Madbull “Lantac Dragon”. 

The 14.5” M-Lok handguard is slick and beautifully 

formed, and it can take M-Lok compatible accessories 

such as the BCMGUNFIGHTER-style lo-profile rail 

covers and bipod rail section I’ve fitted; it also has 

a QD socket for a sling. The 20mm top rail runs 

contiguous to the rear of the upper, and the 098A 

comes with some great Flip Up sights as part of the 

deal. 

Both the upper and lower are of a modern “billet” 

style, with the lower being sized to accommodate 

“.308/7.62” mags, and the selector is fully 

ambidextrous. Behind the receiver set is an ambi sling 

plate, but the stock also has a QD sling point to be 

used in conjunction with the front one so that you 

can fit a nice two-point to distribute weight easily. 

The stock is also where the battery goes, and the 

connection is Deans. One thi9ng I love is that the 

battery can be simply changed by popping down a 

latch which in turn releases the entire butt pad. 

STOCK PERFORMANCE 

In terms of performance I wasn’t sure what to expect 

straight from the box, but I was genuinely pleased 

when I first set up on the range. The model I received 

came in at 1.57 Joule/412fps and this has remained 

pretty constant so far. One thing here though… the 

098A is clearly marked as “Safe/Semi” only, but I was 

with a little effort able to move the selector all the 

way onto “Full”, which was a problem as this put me 

into “over the limit” and “on the edge of UK Illegal” 

territory, so once I’d carried out my initial shoot test 

it was off to the workshop where Marcus placed a 

pin into the lower for me, to ensure that there was 

physically no way that this AEG could be used in 

anything other than “Safe/Semi”! It’s a simple fix for 

any good airsoft tech to carry out, and makes it very 

obvious on site that the 098A is a semi-only DMR. 

As I’m a midcap player I was a little bemused with 

the “non-DMR” polymer 500BB model that came 

as standard, although this fed flawlessly throughout 

testing; a quick search though led me to some 

awesome 110BB Battleaxe middies that have proved 

ideal for the “DMR life”. Initially groupings at 30m 

prone were great, and over time this has improved 

greatly, with the 098A having had time to bed in 

properly; now I’m happily hitting the small steels 

out to 75m-plus consistently on .30g. As I prefer to 

shoot on semi-auto the ROF, although exactly where 

claimed, was of little interest to me and indeed was 

lost when the selector was pinned, but the trigger 

response is indeed crisp… SUPER crisp! 

Every so often now I take the 098A down to the 

local shop and have at it on the indoor range on the 

iron sights (I have an NUPROL 1.25-5x26 optic fitted 

usually, along with one of their Harris-style bipods) 

and I hand it around to the guys to try. Probably 

just like you these are dedicated airsofters that play 

nearly every weekend somewhere or other, and they 

are constantly tweaking their own RIFs to get better 

range, more consistency, and more performance from 

them. These, I find, are the harshest critics of any new 

AEG I show them, and all of them LOVE the 098A! 

It must be said that many retailers are getting 

directly involved in producing AEGs in collaboration 

with an established OEM, and from what I’m seeing 

this is a very good thing as the player is getting exactly 

what they are asking the frontline retailers for. At 

the end of the day the 098A is a rifle that you can 

currently buy for well under UK£250 that looks utterly 

superb, feels as solid as a really solid, solid thing, 

and is more (way more!) than adequate in terms of 

performance. Without any real modification the 098A 

is well into DMR territory, and with a little more work 

I’m hoping that I can finally crack the elusive 100m 

mark with a tacticool AR! 

My thanks go to www.taiwangun.com for initially 

providing the CM.098A, and please do go and check 

out what they have available, which is A LOT! AA 

“AT THE END OF THE DAY THE 098A IS A RIFLE THAT YOU CAN CURRENTLY BUY FOR 

WELL UNDER UK£250 THAT LOOKS UTTERLY SUPERB, FEELS AS SOLID AS A REALLY 

SOLID, SOLID THING, AND IS MORE (WAY MORE!) THAN ADEQUATE IN TERMS OF 

PERFORMANCE. ” 

72 


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CYMA CM.098A 


ACTION AIR 

LEVEL 1 TPSA IPSC COMPETITION 

TESTING 

METTLE, 

WINNING 

MEDALS! 

“C19... HIT! YOU SUNK MY BATTLESHIP!! ...ALONG WITH OUR HOPES AND DREAMS”, AN EPITHET NO 

DOUBT EVERYONE CAN RELATE TO AS OF LATE, AND DESPITE TAIWAN BEING POSSIBLY THE LEAST 

AFFECTED LITTLE ISLAND NATION AMONG ALL OF THIS MESS, STEWBACCA AND HIS FELLOW SHOOTERS 

NONETHELESS WERE EVENTUALLY HIT BY SEMI-STRICT LOCKDOWNS DUE TO LOCAL SPREAD OF THE 

BLIGHT. BUT EVENTUALLY THERE WAS LIGHT, AND PERFORMANCES TO BE INSPIRED BY! 

As a result of the almost-inevitable restrictions 

my fellow shooters and I in Taiwan lost out 

on a number of competitions, and had 

to put training on hiatus, albeit only for a few 

months compared to everyone else’s no doubt 

longer suffering. As a result the second Shooting 

Centre Shooters Cup which was intended for July/ 

August was cancelled, as was the PengHu islands 

competition; thankfully I managed to salvage a 

getaway trip from that anyway and covered PengHu 

Arms Factory while I was on the islands, right before 

lockdown back in mid May 2021. 

With all this considered, despite getting off 

relatively lightly here, there were still casualties 

beyond the lost time; it would appear that the 

largest Northern IPSC team, Taipei Focus Action 

Shooters or TFAS that are usually based in Action 

Bunker have, at least for the foreseeable future, 

ceased training as a result of the closures and the 

impact upon their classes due to having greater 

“AS A RESULT OF THE ALMOST-INEVITABLE RESTRICTIONS MY FELLOW SHOOTERS AND I IN 

TAIWAN LOST OUT ON A NUMBER OF COMPETITIONS, AND HAD TO PUT TRAINING ON HIATUS, 

ALBEIT ONLY FOR A FEW MONTHS COMPARED TO EVERYONE ELSE’S NO DOUBT LONGER 

SUFFERING.” 

74 


ACTION AIR 


numbers. Thankfully, at least, some of their members 

have broken away to form smaller individual squads 

in the aftermath of such a serious hit to the local 

shooting community. 

Team Yamars emerged and began training in the 

shooting centre our own team SPPT calls home, on 

the other nights of the week when our team isn’t 

training there. This no doubt has been good for Chris 

and James and the centre itself having also been hit 

by closures and lost revenue and training; it’s good to 

see them joining us training there, as once again we 

keep building that longer table. 

Despite a few months away from running and 

gunning, the cancellations of competitions seems 

to have at least given individual competitors and 

teams the time to focus on honing their skills and 

cut their teeth while they awaited things to take off 

once again. Clearly the smaller group attending this 

time had been sharpening their skills and some of 

the shooters and their capabilities observed were 

outstanding, with many sounding like they were 

running burst fire guns on some of the stages! 

I am, thankfully, also glad to have had a shift in 

circumstances this academic year; having transferred 

to a Linkou branch of my cram school, which is 

closer to both my home on the West side of Taipei, 

as well as the shooting centre, thus allowing me 

to recommence training on Friday nights (albeit it 

arriving a little late and just in time for stage practise) 

and this really seems to have helped my skills on live 

paper and popper stages rather than just drilling on 

steel targets which tends to be our Tuesday night 

remit. 

Clearly this uptake in attendance and doubling of 

time behind a pistol every week has paid off, given 

the apparent improvements and results, although it 

has added to my workload in terms of video editing, 

although I now await yet another replacement GoPro 

and unfortunately only have third person footage of 

my own stages for this competition. 

COMP READY 

So it was, on Sunday the 21st of November the 

twenty competitors, half of the normal amount of 

attendees, which illustrates how hard we actually 

were hit, assembled at the Shooting Centre in 

Sanchong and began our preparations for a five 

stage level 1 TPSA IPSC competition. As per usual 

we had three short to mid-length stages laid out by 

Chris and James alongside each other, and along the 

length of the training room for the morning section. 

Having only half the previous number of shooters 

at least made logistics a little easier; all of us would 

do Stage 1 first and get it out of the way… literally 

allowing us to clear the barriers and targets out from 

the entrance end of the room and make more space 

for queuing and planning the second and third short 

stages. 

Stage 1 comprised a Condition One start, and a 

maximum score of 110 points; seven paper targets, 


ACTION AIR 


“I WAS RUNNING AND GUNNING LIKE A MAN POSSESSED AND BARELY MISSED A BEAT, 

STRINGING PRETTY SEAMLESSLY ACROSS POPPER TRANSITIONS IN EACH BAY AND 

MANAGED TO ALMOST SHOOT IT CLEAN WITH THE EXCEPTION OF A SINGLE C HIT… 

IRONICALLY ON THE CLOSEST AND LEAST OBSTRUCTED TARGET!” 

two with no shoot obstructions, eight poppers and 

the ending plate, all distributed across three bays in a 

trident formation similar to the previous competition’s 

first stage, but this time it was shorter front to back, 

and there was just the one pull toggle activator which 

dropped a single blind obstructing the ending plate on 

the right bay, as well as partially obstructing the paper 

target beneath it when released. 

Shooters had to plan around either engaging 

that target first, and then returning to the toggle to 

release the blind and reveal the ending plate above, 

or pull it from the get go and risk a lower score on 

the paper or have to take a knee to get eyes on the 

A-Zone. The vast majority of shooters elected for the 

latter option, given the reduced movement it required, 

myself included, although I had to get down and low 

from my usual shooting position as a result. The only 

takeaway was one of the ROs taking me to one side 

to caution me on my muzzle sweep as I got very close 

to the ‘180’ as I moved to the right, but managed to 

avoid a DQ thankfully, my arms are long, and the fault 

lines are tight for my big feet at times… I do what 

I can with what I have and try to remain as safe as 

possible, but always bear these things in mind. 

I felt really good about my performance on this 

stage… I was running and gunning like a man 

possessed and barely missed a beat, stringing pretty 

seamlessly across popper transitions in each bay and 

managed to almost shoot it clean with the exception 

of a single C hit… ironically on the closest and least 

obstructed target! Nonetheless, I was very happy by 

my speed, movement and marksmanship, given my 

past trend of totally screwing the pooch on the first 

stage; perhaps waking up earlier than necessary and 

drinking that coffee helped! 

17:77 seconds, 22 Alphas, 1 Charlie. A suspiciously 

good start! 

Next up we split into two squads of ten each and 

alternated on Stages 2 and 3. Our squad took to 

Stage 2 first; for once I went through all the stages in 

76 


ACTION AIR 


number order, and this was a short stage comprising 

a Condition Two start, with a max score of 50 points; 

only 5 paper targets and the ending plate, with no 

poppers or no-shoots. Sounds easy? The catch was 

that these five targets were distributed behind the 

dreaded wall of narrow windows that messed up my 

Stage 3 start last competition, with all the squatting 

and searching through windows to find targets. At 

least this time the targets had no further obstructions 

behind the wall itself, but there were prison bars at an 

angle and some hard cover panels in front of the wall. 

I managed to shoot this stage effectively clean 

although with the fourth slowest time of 16.74; 

however my marksmanship made up for the time 

spent with all alphas on 11 shots, but I had to reload 

and do some make up shots to do this with a lot of 

squatting and crab shuffling, lifting and weaving to 

find all the target presentations through the narrow 

ports in the wall. For once I seemed to have managed 

to stick largely to my stage plan and not totally screw 

things up! I saw a lot of fellow competitors hitting 

the bars and portal frames, even missing the ending 

plate and not realising at first, which obviously added 

greatly to their times as they then had to re-engage 

to finish for score. Again, I was surprised at how well 

this went for me, albeit some of the engagements and 

movements could have been less sloppy, but it seems 

we were all struggling with it, and damn, my knees 

and back and such! 

On to Stage 3! Another fun first outing of the 

moving targets for the day; this was a fairly simple 

stage in theory, but lots of us struggled with the 

uncomfortable shooting positions at either side of 

the cover in front of the desk we started behind. 

This was just 4 paper targets, 2 stationery no shoots, 

2 poppers (one each side of the bay at the far rear 

down little corridors created by the cover panels), and 

the ending plate. The trick being that all four of the 

paper targets were on a single swinging bar in top 

and bottom staggered pairs, swinging behind the 

stationary no shoots, with the activator being a toggle 

hanging above the start table where our Condition 

3 beginning comprised the empty pistol and first 

magazine set on the table outside two boundary lines. 

Most players loaded and made ready on the start 

buzzer, went to the left and took out the lone popper 

there, then yanked the activator on the way to the 

right side before drilling the popper there and the four 

moving targets. 

Thankfully it seemed like most people managed 

to avoid the no shoot targets, although there were 

many people being lambasted with ‘are you playing 


ACTION AIR 


wargames?’ for their peppering of the targets in a 

panic! Personally I split the difference on this, with a 

relatively slow time of 14.66 (only four were slower 

than me) and I got 5 Alphas, 5 Charlies and 1 Delta, 

with some flurried shots and a bad stage plan that 

saw me attempting to get the left pair of swinging 

papers around the left side of the stage; most others 

just shot everything from the right and a more 

comfortable position. A lesson in listening to your 

squad leaders. 

With that we broke for a long lunch and the stages 

were reset while we took some time to reflect, relax 

and refuel; once again it was a surprisingly hot day 

for ‘winter’ in Taiwan, and despite threats of ‘Arctic’ 

temperature drops it was 28 degrees outside... so we 

ended up feeling overly full and sluggish over lunch! 

ONWARDS, EVER ONWARDS! 

Back at it and for a change we had two long stages 

after lunch. With fewer competitors Chris and 

James had managed to plan a quick switch around 

between stages 4 and 5, recycling some of the target 

presentations rapidly to allow us to squeeze in an 

extra stage at the end. Stage 4 was a symmetrical 

stage with two front bays either side of a corridor with 

a Y shaped split at the far end that had three papers 

either side, the ending plate in the middle, and a 

single popper beneath this that was largely obstructed 

from the starting point midway along the corridor. It 

was also the activator for two of the targets at the far 

end; these were non-disappearing swinging papers 

on the outside edges of the two forks of the Y shape. 

12 paper targets - 4 with no shoot obstructions in the 

front bays, 7 poppers and the end plate. 

Luckily I have the height advantage, so from a 

Condition 2 start I racked a round and sent it straight 

to the activator popper I could just see the top of from 

the start point, that meant the swingers had all the 

time I was spending dealing with the front left and 

right bays to slow down and become easier targets. 

Again I was making a start to the afternoon like a 

man on fire again, running, drilling targets, speed 

reloading and making good shots in a near frenzied 

manner. 36 seconds dead, 24 alphas, 8 charlies. Pretty 

happy with that, six people slower and only three 

players managed to beat my number of alphas, and 

some of those lost out with more deltas on the longer 

or no-shoot obstructed targets. 

With all of us finished up on this one there was a 

brief break as the final stage was organised. Stage 5 

was a no-shoot heavy, long range, minimal movement 

affair, with the shooter very much ‘on rails’ and 

limited to lateral movement to the left and right 

shooting points and the central corridor. We started in 

Condition 2, facing the crowd and having to psyche 

ourselves up by yelling ‘I wanna hit ten (targets)’ in 

Chinese before the buzzer was pressed! Most turned 

and went left first, focusing on the targets there 

before sweeping the two no-shoot obstructed left and 

right targets in the small corridor and finishing up on 

the right. I decided to do things my own way, turning 

and immediately drilling the right of the two close 

targets, shifting my weight right and hitting the left 

target, then taking out the left furthest target through 

the corridor, and moving right to get the four targets 

on that side, then finishing on the left. 22.74 seconds, 

16 Alphas, 5 Charlies… and two no-shoots I literally 

just clipped on the outer edges with both rounds not 

even breaking the outermost perforated Delta zone 

edge. 

Sad times; I managed to drill out the A-hole 

right next to one of them, but again I shouldn’t 

play it so risky on such long shots! Nonetheless I 

was exceptionally happy with my performance, no 

failures to engage or neutralise this time, and a much 

smoother experience overall. The increased practise 

and longer break since our last competition seem to 

have helped a lot. 

TEA AND MEDALS! 

With all that done we broke down the stages and 

tidied up as the ROs processed the final scores 

ready for the presentation. Clarence Lai and his wife 

Katherine had also decided to come along and get 

involved with the local community once again, having 

just visited the grand opening of VFC’s new IDPA 

shooting club at their Pentagon Service Centre just 

down the road in Xinzhuang, a few MRT stops South. 

Clarence was introducing himself and some of 

his latest products and efforts, as well as raffling off 

an array of his custom springs, feed lips, new APlus 

collaboration hop rubbers and even one each of his 

gun stands and standard division test boxes. I’d also 

like to thank Clarence for letting me try out some of 

“CLARENCE LAI AND HIS WIFE KATHERINE HAD ALSO DECIDED TO COME ALONG AND GET 

INVOLVED WITH THE LOCAL COMMUNITY ONCE AGAIN, HAVING JUST VISITED THE GRAND 

OPENING OF VFC’S NEW IDPA SHOOTING CLUB AT THEIR PENTAGON SERVICE CENTRE JUST 

DOWN THE ROAD IN XINZHUANG, A FEW MRT STOPS SOUTH.” 

78 


ACTION AIR 


his products in my Shadow 2, which no doubt helped 

me along recently and I look forward to seeing and 

testing more of his components soon! 

So, the results! There were presentations for the 

stages done on the day, as well as one for overall 

results from the year’s shooting centre cup; there 

were originally intended to be three aggregated 

competitions, but in the end only two could be held. 

For the day’s stages, the Open Division had seven 

competitors, with Bear Jan (leader of team Spring 

Rain) taking first place, and well deserved judging by 

his burn downs on some of the stages. Jacky Hou of 

Team Yamars took second and our own Rex Chen of 

SPPT took third. Standard Division had five shooters, 

with Cai YuQi of Team Yamars taking first place, Lai 

YuChen of Spring Rain taking second and our own 

Dan DingXuan of SPPT taking third. 

And for the production division, I managed to climb 

two places! Out of another round of eight shooters I 

suddenly placed second overall, beaten to the punch 

by Zhou Tingyu of Team Yamars, and followed very 

closely in third by Huang TianYu, also of Team Yamars. 

Much to my surprise, I assure you, judging by the level 

of play from everyone I was a little shocked I had set 

myself that far ahead. 

Overall for the year; Production Division third place 

was taken by Jack Pu of Spring Rain, I once again took 

2nd place overall, and was once again beaten to first 

by Zhou TingYu of Team Yamars. For the Standard 

Division, Dan DingXuan of SPPT once again took 

third, Lai YuChen of Spring Rain took second, and 

Cai YuQi of Team Yamars took first place, in the open 

division our own Rex Chen took third place, Jacky Hou 

of Team Yamars took second, and again Bear Jan of 

Spring Rain took first place. 

Everyone as usual showed excellent sportsmanship 

and support for each other, and particularly me, 

always being welcoming despite the continuing 

language barriers at some times but we’re all working 

on that, and other more far reaching plans! I’d like 

to once again thank the RO’s for doing a sterling job, 

and all the competitors for turning out and really 

raising the bar. Now I have to fight even harder, it 

seems! Congratulations once again to everyone who 

took part and excelled! AA 


KIT & GEAR 

THE UK TARGET SHOOTING SHOW 

THANKFULLY, WITH SOME OF THE RESTRICTIONS HAVING BEEN LIFTED IN THE UK AT THE TIME OF WRITING, 

WE ARE FINALLY ABLE TO GET OUT AND ABOUT TO SHOWS AGAIN, AND LAST MONTH ON 20-21 NOVEMBER 

BOYCIE HEADED OUT TO THE UK TARGET SHOOTING SHOW AT STONELEIGH TO MEET UP WITH OLD FRIENDS 

AND CHECK OUT WHAT WAS NEW AND IMPROVED! 

It feels like it’s been such a long time since I’ve been 

able to attend a shooting show and the Target 

Shooting Show was a welcome return to being 

able to get out and mix. This year the show was 

sponsored by The National Rifle Association (NRA), 

T2, Shield Sights and The UK Practical Shooting 

Association (UKPSA). As has become the way through 

Covid times, tickets were bought online for myself, 

Richard (a work colleague) and Brian, my brother 

from another mother who I have known for about 35 

years when we both started competing in UKPSA/IPSC 

Practical Shooting. 

I had originally gone to be able to have a look, in 

person, at the firearms and accessories that I’ve been 

restricted to doing online since the Covid pandemic 

struck. With an impressive 53 exhibitors, my plan 

was to start with a walk around the outer 24 stands 

then look around the remaining 29 that were in the 

centre of the exhibition hall. I spent the first couple 

of hours walking around and spotting people who I 

have known for around 30 years and had competed 

alongside over the years. A pair of very familiar faces 

were staffing the National Target Shotgun Association; 

Vanessa and Andy Duffy are veterans of many forms 

of practical shooting and long-time members of the 

UKPSA. We were reminiscing about “the good old 

days” and I was just about to mention a guy who 

I remembered well from many competitions by the 

name of Andy Haines, and before I could mention 

his name he had appeared at my shoulder. Andy was 

representing his business at the show with Master 

Class Custom Guns. 

Next to the NTSA stand was a display of steel 

reactive targets from Practical Targets. These ranged 

from small round steel “fall when hit” targets right up 

to the familiar “pepper poppers” which are still being 

“IN THE FIRST CORNER WAS A VERY FAMILIAR SIGHT OF OUR GOOD FRIENDS WITH THE 

ATTACK SENSE SMART TARGETS AND RANGE FOR VISITORS TO TRY THE SYSTEM FOR 

THEMSELVES. AS THE QUEUE WAS ABOUT FIVE DEEP ACROSS THE FRONT OF THEIR STAND I 

DECIDED TO GO BACK TO SEE THEM LATER IN THE DAY” 

80 


KIT & GEAR 


used in various competitions from shotgun to rifle. 

The neighbouring stand was Calibre Innovations and 

they were showing a number of rifles made by them. 

In the first corner was a very familiar sight of our good 

friends with the AttackSense Smart Targets and range 

for visitors to try the system for themselves. As the 

queue was about five deep across the front of their 

stand I decided to go back to see them later in the 

day. Next door to AttackSense was pair of Action Air 

stages which had been set up for visitors to try their 

hand at. Each time I passed their stand during the day 

I was seeing some really good hit factors appearing on 

the board. As I was only 

able to attend for the 

Saturday, I am sure some 

of those who attempted 

the stages on the Sunday 

would have also turned in 

some impressive scores. 

By the doors was the 

large stand of iWholesales 

preaching the word of 

airsoft! While I was there, 

the stand was 2-3 deep 

in people looking at the 

replicas on show and 

James of Bespoke Airsoft 

was constantly operating 

the card machine as the 

sales kept on coming. 

It was also great to be 

able to spend some time 

talking with the other 

James about some new 

models just out and 

others which are ‘coming 

soon’. iWholesales are 

“Big Friends” of Airsoft 

Action, so if you’d like to 

know more about some 

of those coming soon 

models then keep your 

eye out over the coming 

months. 

East Midlands Ranges 

(EMRR) was next and 

the chance to have a 

really close look at the 

CMMG Resolute 100, 

Mk4 in .22LR. Having 

built my own replica of 

a CMMG, featured in 

in the magazine, Issue 

125 (available to read in 

Back Issues via the website and other platforms) it was 

really nice to check the build quality, fit and finish of 

the real thing. For the price, coming in at UK£1200 it 

is a real contender in its price bracket. 

Next stall after EMRR to visit was the Steel Target 

Company, manufacturers of high quality steel targets 

for all aspects of shooting sports. The product that 

they make that was of the most interest to me was 

the Mini IPSC Gong, coming in at UK£28 and made 

from Hardox steel this could be finding its way into 

my kit for competitions to come. Bill and The Airsoft 

Action Red Cell have been using a similar aluminium 


KIT & GEAR 


type plate as a practice target for when we test 

various airsoft RIFs, supplied by my good self, and The 

Cell’s Jon Mills is also using the Gong as part of his 

practice for the upcoming Practical Airsoft Multi Gun 

(PAMG) development. 

Moving further round the hall the impressive Vortex 

stand was really interesting. I’ve been a long time 

fan of Vortex Optics and between myself and my 

colleague Richard we own SPARC ARII, Venom and 

Strike Eagle units, and there are some interesting new 

products coming from Vortex, more on this soon… 

promise! Simpson Brothers and Aim Field Sports 

were next. I’m afraid to say I soon breezed past them 

on the first pass as the Great Britain Precision Rifle 

Association (GBPRA) really grabbed my interest. Being 

an avid watcher of Precision Rifle videos on YouTube 

it was great to see that it’s a sport that is really active 

and popular in the UK. I spent a good 20 minutes, 

alongside Brian, finding out all about the GBPRA. Also 

finding out that the pinnacle of the sport is being able 

to take part, if you qualify, in the Bi-Annual IPRF World 

Championships! 

PASTY UP, GOOD TO GO! 

After a much needed coffee and pasty in the site 

coffee shop we went back to the Exhibition Hall to 

carry on with our wander around the other stands. 

Next was the second reason I wanted to visit the 

show and this was the Westlake Engineering stand 

and to meet the man himself behind the muzzle 

loading revolvers, Mr Alan Westlake. Alan brings in 

components of unfinished revolvers, modifies some 

parts and manufactures the muzzle loading cylinders. 

This then makes them legal Section 1 ‘Muzzle 

Loading’ firearms. A really clever way to let shooters 

have a feel of what it was like to shoot revolvers 

back prior to 1997, which would now be Section 5 

Firearms… of course we get to do this in 6mm form 

but it’s great to see “real steel” examples too. 

Next stop was the huge expanse of a stand of 

Firing Solutions. FS supply everything from a breech 

flag, through a mass of target options, reloading 

components and ammunition all the way up to 

firearms, including the new Sheild KMR S 01 Long 

Barrelled Pistol (LBP) in .22LR, based on the brilliant CZ 

Shadow; although not the cheapest LBP available, the 

feel and handling was very similar to the Tangfoglio 

DVC pistol I owned back in the 1990’s. I think I’m 

going to find it very hard not to have one of these in 

my collection in the coming years, and we MAY know 

a man that knows a thing or two about the Shadow... 

My foray into the centre of the hall started with a 

stop at Shellhouse Bullets as I was on the lookout for 

some 148gn Wad Cutters for my “real steel” work. It 

was great to speak with Donald and Macauley Locke 

who make these bullets and find out a bit about 

them. They also took the time to show me some really 

fantastic copper swaged bullets which are made by 

their friend at MME Custom Bullets. Sharing the same 

space as Shellhouse Bullets was A&A Gunsmiths. The 

owner of A&A is Alan Vickers who I used to compete 

alongside on a regular basis at Lincolnshire Shooting 

Centre back in the 90’s. Alan now is a specialist 

in Cowboy Action Shooting, supplying revolvers, 

shotguns and underlever rifles used in the discipline. 

GETTING DOWN TO IT 

Next door to A&A was The Tunnel Ranges and T2 

stand. Now this was one of the primary reasons I 

wanted to go to the show, as they are one of the 

only sellers of .22 WMR Semi Auto AR style rifles. 

The T2 is made in house from billet aluminium and I 

was given the opportunity to handle the rifle. Having 

an engineering background I was really impressed 

with the fit of the receiver; you’d need a mighty fine 

feeler gauge to find how much gap there is between 

82 


KIT & GEAR 


the upper and lower! I was told that the parts are 

machined to a 3 thou tolerance to allow for the 1.5 

thou layer of Cerakote that the rifles are finished in. 

Also in the coming months T2 will be releasing their 

own magazine which will allow the operation of the 

bolt hold open function, which can be really important 

for those wanting the functions of centrefire AR 

platforms. 

Behind T2 was John Mason, Managing Director of 

Hammer Pair Performance Ltd which had the Mantis 

X3 training tool mounted on a CO2 SIG replica. The 

Mantis was linked to both a tablet and a larger screen 

and allows you to practice the handling and dry 

firing of any platform that you can fit it to. This is all 

achieved by the micro accelerometers which analyse 

many facets of your weapon handling and display on 

your mobile phone or tablet. I have to say I’ve been 

using the Mantis now for a number of years and find 

it really handy both for practice, airsoft and also live 

fire analysis. Of course it was obligatory for Richard, 

Brian and myself to have a challenge to see who could 

get the best score. My colleague Richard was that 

impressed with the Mantis system that he wanted to 

try my unit at work the next day, and I am sure that 

both he and others at the range will be buying one to 

use in the near future. 

After some 6 hours of wandering, pondering and 

chatting to a large number of people it was time to 

make our way home. There was a lot to see and I felt 

I had run out of time to talk to everyone I had wanted 

to. If work had allowed I would have visited on the 

second day as well. I’m looking forward to next year 

and seeing what further innovations and products are 

on show. 

In the days after the show closed we caught up 

with event organiser, Mike Darby, and asked him for 

his personal thoughts. This is what he told us (and 

thanks also to Mike for the photos): 

“I am very pleased that the Target Shooting Show 

got to go ahead in 2021 after the chaos Covid has 

caused events over the last 20 months in the UK. 

The show had an excellent turnout of exhibitors and 

attendees and it shows how much we want to get 

back to normal and start attending gun shows and 

events again. 

Sadly the new variant may still play a part in shows 

and events in 2022 but hopefully the main impact is 

now behind us and we can continue as normal! 

The Target Shooting Show partners and sponsors 

were the new T2 AR15 rifles from The Tunnel Target 

Sports Centre, The United Kingdom Practical Shooting 

Association, Shield Sights, a world leading UK red dot 

gunsight manufacturer and the National Small Bore 

Rifle Association. 

We had a number of companies launch new and 

exciting guns and products at the show. Notably the 

T2 AR15 UK manufactured in .22WinMag and .223, 

the New Reflex Mini Sight X (RmsX) from Shield Sights 

and numerous other new developments. 

Regarding the world of Airsoft we had iWholesales 

the large UK airsoft distributor at the show and 

Bespoke Airsoft retailing their brands. Alongside that 

we had an Action Air practical range for punters to try 

their best against the UKs top dynamic shooters and 

AttackSense again showed off their fantastic airsoft 

electronic target systems for people to try out and for 

clubs to buy….. personally I would have spent hours 

over the weekend just doing these activities if I didn’t 

have a show to run! 

In 2022 we plan to again have the Target Shooting 

Show at NAEC Stoneleigh, Coventry in November 

but also a brand new UK show at Bisley in Surrey, 

the home of UK shooting sports in August called the 

‘National Shooting Show - Bisley’. Again this new 

show will encompass all shooting styles and types 

and airsoft will again play a big and significant part 

in the event with airsoft retailers and airsoft ranges 

for attendees to take part in and discover the exciting 

world of airsoft shooting - we hope to see you there!” 

AA 


FEATURE 

SLINGS 

SLING YER 

HOOK! 

“THIS MONTH’S MISSIVE IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY BAGELS, CHEESE AND MARMALADE!” ACTUALLY IT’S 

BROUGHT TO YOU BY FRENCHIE WHO TOLD US THAT HE IS POWERED BY THE DELICACIES ABOVE, FOCUSSING 

HIS MIND ON THE MANY YEARS HE’S BEEN AROUND AIRSOFT! THIS MONTH HE TURNS THAT FOCUS TO 

SOMETHING WE ALL NEED AND USE, SLINGS! 

Airsoft is a great pastime for teaching you new 

skills; tactical skills, co-operation, camouflage 

and convincing yourself that you’re having fun 

when you are p*ss-wet through and it’s blowing a 

gale. I’m going to add an additional skill to this short 

list - sewing. Yup, good old needle and thread skills. 

If you don’t have them, learn them. You don’t need 

anything fancy but the ability to securely fasten bits of 

material together is a bit of a godsend. 

To understand why I think this is the case, it’ll help 

if I tell you I was thinking about writing about slings 

this month. Now whether or not I can do so for the 

necessary number of words remains to be seen, but 

what’s life without a challenge? Being willing to rip 

things apart and rework them to suit your RIFs and 

your playing style is more than just handy, it can make 

a real difference to how well any given RIF works for 

you. 

When I started playing, I didn’t really care too much 

about slings, in truth I struggle to remember what 

if anything I actually used. There is also a strong 

argument for always having your “long” in your 

hands, and if you do that, who needs a sling, right? I 

also suspect that the variety of slings was a deal more 

limited than it is today and the quality leaned towards 

the amateur end of the scale. There were also good 

reasons not to sling some of the earlier airsoft guns; 

Marui M16s were notable for their flexibility at the 

barrel/receiver joint and stressing this with a sling 

could be a very expensive mistake. I do however have 

distinct memories of taking a standard three-point 

sling, most likely a Viper or some such, and ripping 

it to bits to create a sling for my very first F1 Famas. 

Now, for those of you unfamiliar with the F1, it has 

excellent fixed sling loops at the butt, and nothing 

at all at the front end. Actually, that isn’t quite true. 

There is a very proprietary connection on the bipod 

hinge to which the real sling attaches, but I don’t 

think anyone I played with at the time had even seen 

a real FAMAS sling. (As an aside, just before I left 

airsoft retail, I was given a genuine FAMAS sling by 

a friend. Foolishly, in an act of misguided kindness, I 

lent it to a young player with a FAMAS, and reminded 

them to return it. They never did, and so if you’re out 

there and happen to read this: Bast*rd!). 

Back to the past; my solution was to unpick large 

chunks of the stock sling and create an attachment 

point which went around the front of the FAMAS’s 

distinctive handle. This involved a degree of sewing 

and the result was rock solid and served me well 

through a number of these guns. My own stitching 

skills never stretched to major alterations to clothing 

of tactical gear and I can’t use a sewing machine. I 

wish I could, I could probably have had a nice sideline 

in customising gear for players. As it was a lot of 

my needle time was directed to making slings more 

useful. 

THE CIRCLE OF SLINGS 

Just like most players over a period of airsofting I have 

worked my way through the various stages of sling: 

The awful one that came in the box; the marginally 

better one I bought online, my first three-point sling, 

a good three point sling, a single point sling, many 

84 


FEATURE 

SLINGS 

much better single point slings and finally towards the 

end of my playing days, a simple two-point sling. Sort 

of a circle of slings I suppose. 

Of those, my favourites were the single and the 

two-point varieties. I don’t mind three point slings 

but the only one I truly like, and own, is the L85 issue 

sling. I used that a lot on Benelli shotguns and a few 

other things and it works exactly as it should, but I 

came to feel that as a style it was awkward as you 

were essentially strapped inside it. 

Single point slings were an eye opener as a result, 

simple in construction and simple to use. It was 

also the first time I had used a sling where I had the 

confidence to just let go of the gun, knowing that 

if I had adjusted it properly, no harm would arise. I 

can’t remember if I went truly minimal and used only 

a short strap attached to a MOLLE vest, but I might 

have, and I also don’t think I did the ‘round the neck’ 

or threaded through the vest so that it hung centrally. 

Ultimately there were a couple of factors that dragged 

me away from single points although I still had at least 

one Magpul in my collection right up until the end. 

Firstly, the single point sling works best with an 

AR15 platform. Simply swap out the end cap if 

necessary for one with a loop and away you go. 

Which is great if you use ARs. I generally didn’t. 

Putting a single point sling on an AUG or a P90 is a 

bit trickier. The P90 was resolved by the fabrication of 

an end strap which went round the butt and had an 

attachment loop. The AUG was never resolved to my 

satisfaction. Secondly, the fact is, unless the rifle is 

already short, it’s quite difficult to have a single point 

of suspension right at the butt without the danger of 

the muzzle dragging in the dirt. For the record, I’m 

not short so it isn’t simply a height thing; in order to 

work properly single point slings need a bit of slack or 

you can’t shoulder the gun. 

A further minor issue was that when I released 

the rifle, it would generally hang by my right side. 

Since releasing it generally meant I was going 

to my sidearm and I’m right handed, this was 

a bit of a nuisance. 

any rifle, even if I still had to make up attachment 

points or tweak the design depending on the gun in 

use. 

Once I started doing this, I didn’t go back. This 

basic sling would handle anything from my PKM 

down to an MP5 or UMP. It was simple, functional 

and comfortable. I think the only concession to 

anything was a quick-release buckle at the muzzle end 

which in theory made it easy to disentangle me from 

my gun should the need ever arise. It even had a kind 

of casual cool about - at least I thought so! 

So, in answer to my own question - yes I can 

write sufficient words about slings. The only advice 

I would offer regarding them is quality does make a 

difference; a Magpul or SpecOps sling is far better 

made and more functional than a £10 three-point 

sling, and finally, if you think it can be made to work 

better for you, learn some basic stitching and do it, 

regardless of how expensive the sling was. Getting it 

right can make a real difference to how you play and 

how easily you can use your rifle, whereas fighting a 

sling is nothing but unnecessary grief. 

(Thanks to SpecOps and Magpul Brands for a 

couple of the images. I used their gear a lot and still 

swear by it).AA 

TWO POINTS OF CONTACT 

The solution I finally arrived at was to use a long, 

two point sling. As I said I shot off my right shoulder 

so the sling went under my left arm and over my 

right. I could run it fairly slack without any danger 

of grounding the gun and when released it dropped 

across my chest or even round to the left, clearing my 

right hand side completely. It’s length made putting 

it on and taking it off easy and I just found that it 

worked for me. I could apply the basic principle to 


KIT & GEAR 

SHOP ‘TIL YOU DROP 

SHOP ‘TIL 

YOU DROP!! 

AFTER OUR LOOK LAST MONTH AT NEW AND IMPROVED BAD WEATHER GEAR, THIS MONTH WE’RE BACK 

TO USUAL WITH A QUICK ROUND-UP OF THE NEW LOVELINESS THAT HAS CAUGHT OUR ATTENTION THIS 

MONTH, AND AS CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST WITH US WE DECIDED TO THROW IN A FEW POTENTIAL “LAST 

MINUTE” GIFT IDEAS FOR YOUR FAVOURITE AIRSOFT FRIENDS TOO! 

Okay, a big one 

to start the 

ball rolling 

and if you haven’t 

already got caught up 

in the fanfare surrounding 

the latest release in the SIG AIR lineup, then 

batten down the hatches! You could say that 

the excitement level is high for certain members 

of the AA crew given that RedWolf have now 

advised that the SIG AIR MPX is now available 

from pre-order! 

The MPX as we know it was released in 

2015 and is a gas-operated SMG designed and 

manufactured by SIG Sauer and it’s primarily 

chambered in 9mm. The MPX is a modern take on 

the SMG platform and takes inspiration from the 

AR15 / M4 platform as its controls and operation 

is laid out similarly. Among the current crop of 

“PCCs” this is most definitely a model that’s going to 

tick all the boxes for many players, us included! 

RedWolf tell us that... 

“The MPX from SIG AIR has been a highly 

anticipated airsoft gun that many players around 

the world have been waiting for, ever since SIG 

announced that they will be entering the airsoft 

market. This airsoft version is 1:1 scale and features 

all the same controls, operations, and markings as the 

real steel counterpart. 

“Externally the AEG has a solid build quality and it 

looks as if it’s a scaled-down version of the MCX. It 

features a 14mm CCW threaded outer barrel, foldable 

and telescoping stock, and rear picatinny rails 

for the mounting of other compatible 

stocks. Interesting note, you can 

interchange the stocks 

between the MCX and 

MPX as in the real steel 

world, that’d how they 

are marketed! If you 

are a user living in a 

country where you 

have access to real 

steel accessories, they 

will also plug and play with the 

MPX, exactly like they do with 

the MCX. 

“Internally the MPX features a version 2.1 

gearbox, same as the one found inside the 

MCX. Its battery is wired to the front of the 

gun and its inner barrel is 168mm long.” 

We can also see that the feature set is solid: 

• New SMG Design by SIG 

• M-LOK Rail 

• Ambidextrous Controls 

• Semi-Translucent 100 BB Magazine with 

Dummy Rounds 

• Foldable Telescoping Stock 

• Rear Picatinny Rail for Easy Stock Change 

• Front Battery Wiring 

• Uses Version 2.1 Gearbox (Same as MCX) 

• Outer Barrel Threaded 14mm CCW 

• Flared Magwell for Smoother, Faster Reloads 

All in all this looks to be a solid addition to the SIG 

86 


KIT & GEAR 


AIR AEG line, and our run-up to Christmas just gets 

better and better as one has just landed with Boycie 

for test and evaluation! It certainly looks marvellous, 

but as is our way we’re not going to simply jump up 

and say “wow! This is fabulous!” but instead give it a 

proper hammering on the range before we comment 

fully; like you, we like to check out what a new AEG is 

really capable of before we flap our gums! 

Pistols… one that we’ve also known about for 

some time but is now in store is the new RAVEN PRO 

3.8 Hi Capa! One particular member of the AA crew 

has been going on and on… and ON about this latest 

addition to what is already a solid lineup, and now it’s 

with us we can understand why. 

Following the release of the 4.3 & 5.1 standard Hi- 

Capa models, as well as the long barrelled, split-slide 

7.0 Dragon, RAVEN have now released their compact 

version of the Hi-Capa range, and you can expect a 

snappy action and excellent gas efficiency on these 

shorter 3.8 models! 

The reduced slide travel distance as well as the 

resulting weight reduction should give the RAVEN Hi- 

Capa PROs a fast cycle rate as well as rewarding kick, 

and the combination of the Hi-Capa’s standard, large 

gas reservoir with the shortened slide should help to 

maintain performance in colder conditions making the 

3.8 a top-class performer, throughout the seasons. 

The no-nonsense, clean-cut look of RAVEN Hi- 

Capas are a world away from a lot of other Airsoft 

brand offerings and are favoured by those 

looking for a more refined Hi-Capa; 

the smooth clean slides hide a 6.03 

mm inner barrel and the finely 

stippled 

grip holds a 

double stacked 

23BB magazine within, with 

plenty of room in the gas reservoir 

for multiple reloads! All on all these 

look thoroughly righteous, and once 

again we’ve already got the standard 

and BDS models “in house” for our Christmas range 

day! 

While we were checking out the new Double Bell 

AEGs that feature in Jimmy’s review this month, we 

also saw that they’ve pulled from the D-Boys range 

to include the K-55 GP-25 Grenade Launcher! This 

has proved a difficult beast to find in the recent 

past, so we’re really pleased to see it 

more available, and the OPFORists 

amongst the 

team 

are rejoicing with 

some fine sausage, 

black bread and a few 

shots of Stoli… okay, 

not really but they’re 

certainly very happy! The 

K-55 is fully compatible (and 

will look GREAT on) with most standard length AK 

airsoft models, and benefits from a sturdy, full metal 

body. There’s also a high density polymer grip, and 

adjustable sighting system, and it even comes readyto-rock 

with a VOG-25-style shell included! 

Onto clothing and gear, and one jacket model 

that was too late to feature last month is now fully 

available! Made of a lightweight and breathable 

fabric, the Monlite Jacket from Pentagon comes with 

a high collar with chin 

guard, a 

three-point adjustable 

hood and 

a full front YKK zipper 

with a 

glove-friendly pull. The 

jacket 

feature two large, 

zipped hand 

pockets with 

mesh lining 

and two 

internal 

sleeve 

pockets for 

documents, 

keys, or 

other 

personal 

belongings. 

TPU 

laminated 

membrane 

with a waterproof rating of 

8000mm/24h and breathability 5000g/m²/24h make 

the jacket suitable for rainy, windy, and stormy 

weather conditions, while the underarm ventilation 

zippers offer optimal comfort and temperature 

management. Ideal for adventure expeditions and 

everyday outdoor use, the Pentagon Monlite Jacket 

provides superior protection against moisture and 

bad weather while remaining highly functional and 


KIT & GEAR 


comfortable. Perfect for airsoft, rangework and 

everyday wear this is a real all-rounder! 

Features include: 

• High collar with chin guard 

• Three-point adjustable hood 

• Full front YKK zipper with a glove-friendly pull 

• Two large, zipped hand pockets with mesh 

lining 

• Two sizeable internal sleeve pockets 

• Hook-and-loop adjustable wrists 

• Bottom hem adjustable with cord locks 

• Underarm ventilation openings with two-way 

zippers 

• Hanging loop 

• Three-layer rubber taped water-sealed seams 

• Inner Storm Flap protection 

• DWR coating grade 4 

We’re also pleased to see that our friends at 

Military1st have just received a bunch of packs from 

one of our 

not 

favourite packs brands, WISPORT, and 

only that but they have them 

in an unusal pattern, 

A-TACS GHOST! 

Amongst the 

range on offer is 

the SPARROW 

20 II pack, 

which we’ve 

tried and 

tested and 

found to be 

excellent! 

The main 

advantage of 

the Sparrow 

20 II are 

ergonomically 

shaped 

shoulder straps 

with a quickrelease 

chest strap, 

two 

spacious independent chambers 

secured with durable Wisport branded zippers and 

multiple MOLLE attachments points. 

Multiple quick-release buckles allow the backpack 

to be quickly dropped when required, and the front 

and side compression straps allow for the pack to be 

adapted to the size of carried kit and prevent it from 

shifting inside the bag. The front of the pack and 

side panels have multiple MOLLE strap attachments 

points, which allow for mounting of various MOLLE 

accessories ; thanks to this the overall capacity of the 

rucksack may be significantly greater than nominal 

20 litres, and makes the prefect patrol pack or even 

overnighter if you pack minimalistically! 

Okay, time for those Christmas ideas! We always 

like to give something small and fun to one another 

in the office, and let’s face it a good bag o’ BBs goes 

a long way; this year we’ve been impressed with the 

new weights from VORSK, so some of those are in the 

mix, and having now had hands-on some of the new 

BUSHIDO BBs direct from Clarence these also get our 

thumbs up! 

A great little gift for anyone using gas platforms is 

Magload MAG-LUBE; we were introduced to this by 

Tim at iWholesales and we’ve all been using it on our 

gas platforms with great results! MAG-LUBE is a high 

performance, premium gun oil with the lubricating 

properties of grease but the consistency of oil, and is 

designed for the demanding conditions of practical 

shooting with high round counts and extreme 

temperature conditions! It maintains extremely high 

levels of lubricity under all conditions, and even when 

frozen to the point where the consistency drops and 

becomes thick it retains its exceptionally low stiction 

and high lubrication qualities. Running a gasser in 

the winter months? You and your friends 100% need 

some of this! 

Simple and cheap, a good neck gaiter (snood) is 

worth its weight in gold at 

this time of the year, and 

our friends at VIPER have 

a whole range of colours 

to choose from for very few 

bucks! Liner gloves are also 

a great small gift for those 

chilly Safe Zone moments, 

and our recommendation 

here is to search for some 

“Thinnys” from outdoor 

brand Extremities; these 

are absolutely amazing, 

super-light gloves that have 

saved our fingers from freezing on many a range day 

and are 100% recommended! 

So, that’s us for 2021, and we hope that all of you 

have a wonderful Christmas and all the very best for 

2022! We’ll be on the range over the holidays with 

those new models, so join us again in January for the 

results. AA 


last post 

AIRSOFT, BREXIT AND... 

AIRSOFT, BREXIT 

AND THE ELUSIVE 

CONTAINER... 

WHEN YOU START A PIECE BY RESEARCHING SUPPLY CHAIN LOGISTICS, VALUE ADDED TAX AND THE 

EFFECT OF COVID WORLDWIDE, YOU JUST KNOW YOU’RE IN FOR AN ABSOLUTE ROLLERCOASTER OF A RIDE 

AS FRENCHIE DISCOVERED... 

Okay, sort of, but I had reason recently to spend 

some time chatting with the manager of one 

of the UK’s major airsoft retailers and it was 

something of a tale of woe. That got me thinking, and 

thinking got me reading and that all got me writing, 

so here we are. 

I doubt that any of you haven’t remarked on empty 

supermarket shelves or rising prices. To understand 

why this is the case involves both Brexit and Covid, a 

perfect storm for the UK, and not a whole lot of fun 

for anyone else frankly. The upshot is, as it was told to 

me, anyone who is waiting for a ‘reset’, when all will 

be as it was before this all kicked off, is probably on a 

hiding to nothing. The world has changed, certainly 

for the foreseeable future and choices within airsoft 

are likely to shrink, while prices creep upwards. 

According to the conversation I had, there are two 

causes of this; firstly the massively increased cost 

of shipping freight around the world, and secondly 

changes to customs regulations in the UK as a result 

of Brexit and our withdrawal from the EU. 

Shipping first. I doubt anyone hasn’t heard 

either first hand or via the media that the cost and 

availability of shipping has increased massively. This 

increased cost has to some extent been swallowed 

by importers but that isn’t a state of affairs that 

can persist and we should expect to see it reflected 

in the prices we pay sooner rather than later. The 

worldwide pandemic has been responsible for this; as 

the production of goods was affected by lockdowns 

so was the process of shipping those goods. When 

shipping was possible, the goods themselves were 

delayed, or ships weren’t available to transport them. 

Possibly they left as scheduled, but found themselves 

unable to dock at their intended destination because 

of Covid measures there, requiring rerouting, 

rescheduling, delays and the additional costs involved 

in getting them to their ultimate destination. This also 

“I DOUBT ANYONE HASN’T HEARD EITHER FIRST HAND OR VIA THE MEDIA THAT THE COST AND 

AVAILABILITY OF SHIPPING HAS INCREASED MASSIVELY. THIS INCREASED COST HAS TO SOME 

EXTENT BEEN SWALLOWED BY IMPORTERS BUT THAT ISN’T A STATE OF AFFAIRS THAT CAN PERSIST 

AND WE SHOULD EXPECT TO SEE IT REFLECTED IN THE PRICES WE PAY SOONER RATHER THAN LATER” 

90 


LAST POST 

AIRSOFT, BREXIT AND... 

meant that ships, having finally 

discharged their cargo, were in the 

wrong port and empty, leading to 

further delays, rescheduling etc. It 

was, and is, an absolute nightmare. 

If you run just-in-time supply chains 

I wonder how on earth you have 

managed to sleep for the past 

eighteen months; hitting yourself with a mallet would 

probably have been so much more fun. 

The effect on airsoft retailers has been profound. 

Pretty much everything they sell comes from abroad, 

mostly from the Far East. That means everything has 

to be shipped to the UK and costs have skyrocketed. 

Even obtaining goods from European suppliers costs 

far more than it did a year or so back. I heard of one 

instance where a shipment that would usually be 

palletised was sent as a consignment of individual 

cases. Given that it must have cost an arm and a leg 

to do that, you get an idea of how difficult and costly 

moving pallets currently is. 

To my knowledge, no UK retailers made substantial 

profits from exporting goods, but all those who I have 

dealt with over the years did steady business beyond 

the UK. I was told that a major shipping company 

was now charging a flat rate of £95.00 GBP to ship 

anything overseas, regardless of size or weight. That 

is prohibitively expensive and accordingly companies 

will simply stop offering the service. No one is going 

to pay that, and any attempt by the seller to absorb 

some of that cost will destroy their already slender 

profits on these sales. 

For the same reason some have withdrawn entirely 

from Amazon as a sales platform as it has become 

impossible to meet the service standards, particularly 

for international sales, dictated by them. While not 

a place for selling airsoft guns, there was always a 

market for accessories and tactical kit. No longer. 

Although unlikely to be a deal-breaker for established 

retailers, all of this reduces their potential market and 

makes them even more reliant upon the UK alone. 

The pandemic has impacted retailers ability to both 

import in a timely manner and to economically export, 

how has Brexit affected them? In a word, Customs. 

When the UK quit the EU, it became necessary 

to pay UK VAT on goods entering the UK. If you 

are a small European company the chances are that 

you’ll simply say the German equivalent of “**** 

that for a game of soldiers” and 

concentrate on your existing tarifffree 

trade with the rest of Europe. 

And so it has proved. Even much 

bigger companies with experience 

of shipping their goods around 

the world stuttered a bit at first 

although I’m told that their systems 

soon got to grips with the new world order. For 

importers, the easiest way to deal with this is to use 

the services of a freight forwarding company who 

will handle the administration and send you a nice 

invoice for the VAT due to the exchequer. This way 

the supplier or importer doesn’t need to find several 

thousand pounds up front, but as a solution there 

are probably limits on just how many suppliers airsoft 

companies can or will support this way. If you’d like to 

know more about the changes affecting VAT, you can 

have a read here (hint-spare yourself!). 

On top of that there seems to be greater attention 

being paid to what is crossing British borders. This 

should be a good thing, but that assumes that the 

Borders Agency staff are all up to date with what is 

and isn’t permissible. Sadly, they aren’t and I have 

heard tales of shipments which have yoyo’d back and 

forwards between the UK and the supplier. At best 

this causes delays and costs to the importer as goods 

are normally paid for up front so being able to sell 

them and recoup those costs is slightly important, at 

worst the goods never arrive leaving suppliers short of 

stock and having to work to recover the payment they 

made in the first place. 

The cumulative effect of all this is greater costs, 

more bureaucracy and increased uncertainty when 

ordering from overseas, not something that airsoft 

retailers have a choice about given that there is no 

manufacturing based here in the UK. Players should 

expect prices to rise, and while there is an expectation 

that freight costs will probably slide back, the 

estimates as to when this might happen I found when 

researching this piece suggest it will be years rather 

than months. 

Airsoft is hardly unique in all of this unfortunately, 

as mentioned above, the media has been full of 

“empty shelves are here to stay” stories. In a spirit 

of optimism I’ll posit that things will settle eventually 

and improve across the board, but we could be in for 

some years of increased costs and reduced choice. AA 

“THE CUMULATIVE EFFECT OF ALL THIS IS GREATER COSTS, MORE BUREAUCRACY AND INCREASED 

UNCERTAINTY WHEN ORDERING FROM OVERSEAS, NOT SOMETHING THAT AIRSOFT RETAILERS HAVE A 

CHOICE ABOUT GIVEN THAT THERE IS NO MANUFACTURING BASED HERE IN THE UK.” 


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Airsoft Action - Issue 133 - January 2022

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