CraftySnipers blog
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No I don't want my teeth shooting outHello and welcome to my latest blog entry. I will be reviewing the Viper metal face mask. Now as an airsofter who has been around a bit I have been to many different types of matches. I have been in large open woodland sites, I have been to big open sites that have some buildings located on them and I have been to sites that are dedicated CQB sites. In this review I will be talking about a piece of equipment that in my eyes is essential when you are guaranteed to come across enemies that are extremely close. External reviewNow when it comes to protecting your mouth and your teeth then there is only one way……..a face mask. There normally is two types, one is a full face mask, the other is a half face mask. Today I have the Viper metal lower face mask. It’s got a large metal covering that will cover your mouth and side of face almost reaching round to your ears. It will also reach up to the top of your nose and down to just below your mouth. It is a mesh design and it’s very strong, it can be molded slightly to fit the form of the face. On the back is some strong elastic straps that can be adjusted to allow the mask to fit snugly and safely to your face. The straps reach round to the rear of your head and there is a larger piece of fabric that connects the straps together, this piece of fabric sits at the rear of your head and adds to the comfort of the Viper face mask. Crafty Rating ***/5 internal reviewDon’t be silly it’s a mask and the internals would be your head. Crafty Rating 0/5 My thoughts Like I said at the start of this review I have been to sites that are classed as full CQB sites and this mask is essential to the protection of my mouth and lower face. You have to remember that when you are extremely close in a firefight in airsoft the rounds will not have time to loose much fps so when they hit you they are still doing up to 350fps which at less then 20m is plenty to knock a tooth out.
If your are not used to these types of masks then they can become slightly uncomfortable to wear. They also don’t allow you to have a drink during the match as you would have to either lift the mask up potentially knocking you eye protection or taking the mask off all together making the protection to your mouth useless. You can also get slightly irritated by this mask as it can press on your face no matter how many times you mold the metal to your face. But in the grand scheme of it a slight bit of uncomfort is a lot better then taking a round to your mouth and knocking a tooth out. Overall Crafty Rating ****/5
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Hi guy's I just thought I would put this quick post up to tell you all what I hope to get out of this page.
I am going to be posting reviews of any and all airsoft kit I can get my hands on. I am also going to tackling those pesky subjects that keep raising there heads in airsoft, but this is where you can be involved because if you have any questions or comments or maybe ideas for new blog projects then let me know, I'd love to hear of your ideas. You can let me know on the Facbook page by either a public post or private PM, so let me know what's on your mind. CraftySniper Hello and welcome to my second blog post, now I was sat cleaning some of my rifles and I was wondering about what I would make my second post all about and then it hit me. In the back of my wardrobe where my rifles are located I have my SR25 DMR. So here I am talking about a subject that opens up a whole load of cans of worms with some players. So let's start with the basicsSo lets go straight to the black and white facts of DMR's and where they sit in the real world. A DMR is a semi auto rifle that usually is chambered in 7.62 rounds. He or she is the link between the sniper with the bolt action sniper rifle and the normal Army regular with his or her standard rifle. The DM will typically operate within the squad and gives the squad the ability to reach out further then a standard rifle. Just a few DMR rifles in different countries are the following...... SR25 HK417 SVD FAMAS G2 L129A1 M14 So where do DMR's sit in airsoft?In most clubs up and down the UK to class a rifle as a DMR you will have to do the following.... the rifle needs to have a real world counterpart in the DMR world, must be locked to semi only, may have a minimum distance where the shooter can not use the rifle. Only then can the rifle be allowed up to between 380 - 450 fps pending on the site. With all standard AEG's being under 350 fps and the DMR's being more then 380 fps there is a good chance that the DMR shooter can hit targets further then a standard rifle. My G&G M14 can hit targets at around 60m!! Now obviously the DMR shooter because of the increase in fps will be using more heavier rounds, I have been know to use .3's and all the way up to .4's. With the increase in fps, heavier rounds and a good hop my DMR's can live up to there real world counterparts in hitting targets that are further away from standard rifle but not as far as a fully upgraded bolt action sniper rifle. Wow that's amazing, what's bad about that??Now we get to the part where some airsofters have the issue. Obviously even in semi only I could shoot a lot of rounds from my rifle and with it being very accurate if one round hits then chances are so will the rest and remember these are heavier then standard weights. So some people do complain and I can see the point if the DMR user is just outside there minimum distances and using heavy rounds. So when some people start to complain about over kill then the clubs have to stand up and tweak the rules to the DMR user. The clubs then start to bring in rules like only one round in the air at once from a DMR rifle, and this is all very good but apart fro the shooter who is going to check on this? Now with me playing airsoft for many years and also liking the DMR way of life obviously I am not in the business of hurting people so how do I get round these issues?? Well that's very simple.................PLAY THE DMR ROLE!!!! I am always staying back form the front lines of a firefight and I am picking my targets off from usually 40 plus meters. I stalk my targets and hunt them, taking some skills from bolt action users and bringing them into the DMR world. I am also never too far away from my forces so when they are getting stuck facing stronger forces I put accurate semi automatic fire on the enemy. As a DMR user I am there for my friendly forces, giving them accurate fire and information through radios which sometimes they have not figured out due to being on the front lines. SO DO dmr's work in airsoft?Short answer is yes they do work, long answer is they will always be a target for other players who do not see the point of them or shooters who can not abide by the rules set down by there clubs.
I will not be retiring my DMR rifles anytime soon as I feel I can give more to my friendly forces through defensive or offensive fire from my rifle. See you on the battlefield very soon, CraftySniper Hello and welcome to my very first written review. I have just released a video review of the Valken M4 so I have decided to add some more information regarding this rifle in this new format. So lets dive straight in with.............. External review When I was loaned the Valken M4 I was not expecting much for this rifle after all it's a cheap starter gun and it's been a long time since I needed or used a starter rifle. I took the rifle to a quiet part of the Combat Zone site and in the short time it took me to get to where I was going to review it I realised man this is a heavy rifle!! It's not as heavy as lets say my MG42 but for a starter rifle it's got some weight. Now as an air softer who has been around a bit this rifle is an M4 and there are millions of M4's out in the market right now so this version of M4 is going to have to be that bit different. When you get hold of the rifle you will notice that's it got a grey colour to it. The buffer tube, upper and lower receiver, outer barrel and flash hider are all either very dark grey or black. The rest of the rifle is a lighter shade of grey making the rifle's externals look that bit different from other M4's in the market. The sliding stock which rides up and down the buffer tube will lock into different position allowing the shooter to set the rifle's length to fit them. The pistol grip is the same as most other M4's and does not look out of place, it's a good quality material that does not budge an inch. The trigger pull is not too long or short allowing snappy semi auto fire when you have a good battery. Moving to the front rail is where we find the first sign that this rifle is a cheap starter rifle as it's made of plastic and if you squeeze the rail tightly you can feel the flex in the rail. Now this type of rail is a key mod rail which should allow key mod accessories to be mounted. There is a normal 20mm ris rail running across the top and bottom of the rail section allowing scopes, red dot sights and fore grips to be attached very easily. The flash hider unscrews to reveal some threads which will allow the addition of a suppressor. So without breaking the wallet you can change the look of your Valken M4 easily. Crafty rating ****/5 Internals review The Valken M4 has a version 2 gen 2 gearbox meaning if you want to make any additions to the gearbox then the world is your ocean. Version 2's are known to be in most if not all M4's and you can change anything in the gearbox all though to be honest why would you? It has a 300mm inner barrel which again is good enough for this starter rifle, you can buy better quality and its very easy to change the inner barrel but again why would you? The battery goes into the sliding stock and it will take 8.4/9.6nimh and 7.4 lipo's. The stock can hold nunchuck style batteries all though when I was testing the rifle I found my 7.4 lipo which is one bank of batteries fitted in well in one of the sides on the stock. Getting the battery changed is easily done, first you have to pop the rear most part of the stock off of the rifle, this will show you your battery and the mini tamiya connector. I found that putting the stock to the smallest setting allowed you the most space to get to the connector. Once you have changed the battery just place the rear of the stock back onto the main stock and you are good to go. The hop which gives the Valken M4 it's accuracy is accessed by pulling the charging handle which will pop open the dust cover showing off the hop dial. It's a wheel that you spin either way to put hop on or take it off, when you are finished you can just click the dust cover back into place or run with it open. Crafty rating ***/5 Shooting results well in the video I was using .25 rounds and to be honest and taking into account that this rifle is a starter rifle I'd say .25's are a great weight to use. As you see in the video I was able to hit the target easily at the lesser distances but when I moved out to the further distances this rifle is still able to hit it's targets. It's a good shooting rifle out of the box, the only items I would possibly look to change is the inner barrel, I would go for a 6.03 tight bore barrel that would eek out a few more FPS and also bring the grouping in a bit more but out of the box this rifle will do the job well. Crafty rating ****/5 Final thought's
As I said at the start of this review, I have not used a starter gun since well I started airsoft and that's a few years ago. However that being said this rife is a great little package. If you take into account the price (£150-170) and the fact of how it feels and shoots it's got it all. If you are new to airsoft and you are looking for your first rifle then try this one out. Crafty rating ****/5 |
AuthorHello, my name is CraftySniper and this is my Blog section. I have been doing airsoft for 5 years and its one of the best sports I have ever played. Archives
May 2019
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