CraftySnipers blog
Blog entries nuff said
Hello and welcome to a slightly different style of blog entry, in this episode I am talking about what airsoft has done for me over the years. I will be talking also about the creation of CraftySniper and how I have progressed through the years to the airsofter I am today. Hopefully this will be very useful to for new players and will show them just what airsoft can really do and what skills it brings as well. Where did it all begin? Well for me it all started about 5 years ago. I was at work and it was fast approaching my birthday, my work colleagues all of which was the same age roughly as me had decided that it would be a good idea to go out and get drunk. Now being that it was my birthday I said all though I was okay with getting drunk I would prefer to do something eventful before getting drunk. Go karting was mentioned but seem as I am around 6”5 there is very little chance of me fitting in one, so the search continued. Eventually someone mentioned paintball. Now this is have never done but I did like the idea of shooting ones friends, I mean who wouldn’t ? So that was the choice made, we all booked into the nearest paintball site which was Combat Zone, a site that would become my home for another sport. We all rocked up and had a great day at the site. However I was left with two thoughts. One, I really like shooting my friends and two, just how expensive paintball really is. When I got home I realized that I really liked the sport but I could not justify the cost of repeated matches. So I started to to do some checking up on the internet to see what I could do too satisfy my itch for shooting people. I soon came across the word…….airsoft. What is airsoft? Funny that, I was asking myself the same exact question. Obviously I knew nothing about airsoft and to be honest it did sound pathetic to me, little did I know just how this sport would take over my life in so many ways. When I was searching for what airsoft really was I quickly did a search on YouTube and boy was I in for a shock. There was these young people running around dressed up like real front line infantry and they was using what could only be described as real weapons. I quickly realised that this was something that I wanted to be involved in. Now where is the nearest airsoft club? In search of a club Now I was thinking here is a sport that I want to be involved in, I know that it takes place on most Sunday’s but I knew that knowing my luck the nearest club to me would be the other side of the country. A few more quick searches and I was in for a shock, there was a club about 45mins from my6 location…………..Lincolnshire Airsoft Club.# I quickly messaged them telling them that I was very new to the sport and wondering just how I would start this new sport, I needed details. LAC quickly returned my message and suggested that I turn up on a game day to see what is really involved in airsoft, I didn’t have to play but this would give me a chance to scope out the club and really see just what an airsofter really is. I still remember that day all those years ago, it was quite cold and I knew know one. The club boss, Ian did come up and speak to me though and to he he seemed very friendly and he really did know what he was talking about. He suggested that I tag along with a marshal for the day, this would show me what is involved in an airsoft match. He also told me to go and mingle with the players as they got ready for the matches, this would show me what kind of kit players was using. I was lost for words, there was all these players with these very realistic looking weapons. In fact I was finding it hard to not to think that I was in a Hollwood movie set with all these replicas. As I mingled and talked with the players one of them asked me if I had ever used an airsoft rifle. I said no I had not and that was it, we was off to the range to try out his rifle. I was handed a desert sand coloured M4 which really looked the part. He handed me a magazine and asked me if I knew how to use the M4 rifle. I said I knew where the safety was and as soon as I made the rifle live I took my first shots with an airsoft rifle. I was shocked at just how far these plastic bb’s were going and just how accurate they was. You could easily pick off a human sized target at around 50m with this M4. After the day I knew that airsoft was what I wanted to do and I wanted to do this through LAC. I had a chance to chat quickly with the son of the club boss, Nick and he told me just what a normal player would bring kit wise to an event. I had another chat with the Ian at the end of the day and he asked me if I wanted to come back on another normal match day and actually take part in a match. I said yes and that was that, I had to turn up a week later at Combat Zone for my first match using the clubs rental package. I have to say now that those 7 days were some of the longest in my entire life. It’s go time
I can remember a few things from my first ever airsoft match. One I was very nervous and I didn’t know where any of the objectives were, I also knew nothing of the site. I found myself running through various structures of the village at Combat Zone. I think we was trying to defend the village and I was in the middle of it. There was a furious fire fight all around me, rounds were plinking the structure that I was in and I was on my own. I tried to fire back at the enemy with my rental M4, I am quite sure that I hit no players but it felt good to be involved in this fore fight. Eventually I was hit, I went back to the starting point for the defenders and tried again to hold the village. Needless to say we didn’t hold it for long and the match was soon over. When the day was over I was a one very tired person but I was very happy and excited knowing that airsoft was something that I really wanted to be involved in. I also knew that LAC and the staff that run the club were very friendly and patient with new players. I had found my future. Thinking back to those early days I now know that I was very naive to all the parts of airsoft that was around me. Everything was new and shiny to me. I was so excited about airsoft that I purchased my very own airsoft rifle on the second match. Now obviously I did not have a ukara licence so even though I had my own rifle I could not bring it home with me, the club would have to look after it in there armoury. I can still remember that cold winters day in November when my ukara paperwork had gone through and I had played the correct number of matches to qualify as a full blown member of ukara and LAC. I was now able to bring home my new G&G CM16 Carbine rifle. Now obviously I could talk a lot about my early days but to save some time I will be splitting this blog up, so the next part which will cover just how the CraftySniper became will be posted up later. CraftySniper
0 Comments
Hello and welcome to my latest review blog, in this episode I am reviewing one of the best, one of the most ultimate pistols on the airsoft battlefield right now. I am talking about the Tokyo Marui MK23, the deadliest most quietest pistol in my arsenal of replicas. If you are a sniper or you are thinking of becoming a sniper then this pistol really needs to be on your list. I will be reviewing the externals and the internals of this beast and hopefully showing just how good this replica really and why it deserves to be in anyone’s collection. So what’s a TM MK23? Well I am glad you asked, basically the MK23 is a non blow back pistol, so basically the slide does not rack back through the replica firing. However you can manually rack the slide back to load a bb into the chamber. So in terms of the millions of Glocks and 1911’s we all see in the airsoft battlefield the MK23 is very old fashioned. Also it’s made of plastic, but I will go into more details surrounding the externals in the external section of this review. Basically most players who do not know the MK23 by TM would consider it an old fashioned, large, cumbersome beast which is very unrealistic when held up against other cheaper replicas in the airsoft field. External review Okay lets dive straight into it, this replica is made of plastic. It has a plastic slide, a plastic lower frame, plastic pistol grips, a plastic trigger guard, plastic front and rear basic sights. What is metal is the hammer, rear most safety lever, side mount safety, trigger,mag release and a threaded outer barrel for your suppressor. So basically all the moving parts on the externals are made out of a good metal, the plastic on the other hand is slightly weak and can be moved through squeezing the upper slide especially when the MK23 is disassembled. Now most TM MK23’s are quite old as they are very hard to find brand new, so most peoples MK23 mine included are showing signs of age through use. But to be honest I have seen worse in other airsoft products. My MK23 has a few small scratches where it has sat in my holsters over the years. The threading is showing signs with all the times I have screwed the suppressor on and off over the years too, but all in all it’s still in great shape. Now for all those people who love markings on there airsoft product the MK23 has a few, on the left side of the replica there is the markings for……. HK US-GOVT. Cal. .45, on the slide HK .45 on the pistol grip Possibly a unique serial number too all though this could be a mass produced number On the right there is the following markings…….. HK Cal .45 on the slide Tokyo Marui Co.,LTD Made in Japan US SOCOM MK23 The suppressor also has some markings which say US GOVT and Tokyo Marui. So the MK23 has a good few markings showing it’s connection to the real steel replica. Externals grade ***/5 only let down due to the age of my MK23, new ones would be in better shape. Internals review Now we get onto the part that makes this replica one of the best. Because this replica is capable of lifting heavy rounds and sending them out over incredible distances. With a few small modifications the MK23 can send .4’s to over 70m!!!!!! Internally speaking the MK23 is very simple to use and look after. To access the internals all you need to do is slightly pull back the slide until you can pop out the side mounted safety lever. Then you just slowly push the slide forward and the slide will come off the lower. The hop wheel is located in the inside the slide, so you will have to separate the slide from the lower to dial in your hop on the MK23. If you want to get to the barrel and hop bucking then you will have to slowly slide the outer barrel and hop chamber off of the nozzle. Just a few more small screws to take out and you will be able to change your bucking and barrel. You do not need to be a scientist to dismantle the MK23 and there really is only one small spring that can pop out. But to be honest if you are slow and working on a clean table then you will have no issues at all. Now comes the fun part, upgrading the MK23. The MK23 takes TM VSR inner barrels and buckings, so what ever works really well in your upgraded VSR sniper rifle then it should work very well in the MK23. Reassembling the MK23 can be fiddly but once again if you are slow and take care it should take no longer then 10 mins. Internals Grade ****/5 only let down by a fiddly slide when putting back on the MK23 The Metal Gear Solid MK23 Yes I know as a gamer you will most likely came across the MK23 in the MGS series of games, I was the same. So you can actually buy the MK23 that comes in a hard case. Also included in the case is a working, yes working suppressor and a LAM light unit. When you attach the included suppressor and the light unit the MK23 becomes the one out of the MGS series of games, allowing you to become Solid Snake. Unfortunately the light unit is not that good, is does work as a torch but you won’t be blinding anyone which I suppose is a good thing. It also comes with a low powered red laser, again low powered so as not to hurt anyone. The batteries for both lights are stored in the light unit itself. There is a switch at the rear of the unit that allows you to have the torch one all the time or only with your finger on the lever switch. You can butcher the light unit and put in a brighter bulb and lens to focus the light if you wish but like I said it does involve butchering the unit and I a rule of mine is never to open up a TM product unless it’s broken. The suppressor works really well and allows the MK23 to become one of the quietest pistols in all of airsoft. Because there is no slide racking back as you fire the MK23 and the suppressor actually working as a suppressor the MK23 becomes one evil hand cannon. So what’s my thoughts on the MK23?
Well needless to say I will never repeat NEVER sell my MK23 and I am keeping it externally the same as when I got it all those years ago. I would recommend changing the bucking but only once the TM one has died, it’s actually a good bucking. You can change the inner barrel for a longer one and run it into the suppressor but this WILL increase your FPS. Normally the MK23 will shoot at around 320-340 pending on temps. Adding a longer barrel and hot temps will see this replica go over 350 fps and reach up to 400FPS!!!! All that from a pistol, no wonder it’s amazing. If you have a chance to get an original TM MK23 then get it, even if you are not a sniper these things are awesome. A great hunting weapon. Overall rating *****/5 Simply put amazing!! CraftySniper As many of you know I am a member of Lincolnshire Airsoft Club. For many years this club was based just outside Kirton in Lindsey in Lincolnshire, but a couple of years ago they had to move out of there old sites. They ended up at a paintball site in Lincolnshire called Combat Zone. Now before you turn away because I mentioned paintball you might want to read on because this has turned out to be great news to LAC. There has been many many matches where 100+ players have turned up and had a great action packed day. So this is my review of Combat Zone and what they have to offer to not only airsofters but also paintballers too. A bit of a back story Combat Zone is located just a few short miles from the city center of Lincoln. They have easy access to the city and the Lincolnshire area via the A46, the site is located just off of the A57. They have been in the paintball business for over 16 years and what they don’t know about paintball is not worth knowing. They also have over 80 years of staff experience so if you have any questions regarding paintball then these guys are the guys you need to be speaking too. Combat Zone is a 25 acre site with 10 maps on site, now obviously these maps are setup for paintball matches but they are always looking to improve the site and the unique maps. They have buildings in the form of a church, a two story building, a fully stocked out village with small buildings and so much more to offer. After all the running around you will become very tired and maybe you will want a drink and some food, well Combat Zone has you covered with a shop which sells snacks and drinks. There also is a hut which sells simple cooked food. To be very honest if you turn up for a paintball match or an airsoft match you will be well catered for at Combat Zone. So lets here about the airsoft Crafty Well I am a person who likes to get to the site nice and early. You do have to travel down a dirt track to get to the front gate, once you get passed the gate you will be in the main car park. There is plenty of space for a full days shooting fun. But at the height of summer it can be quite tight especially if there is a paintball event taking place at the same time as an airsoft match. Once you have parked up and you have unloaded the car of all your airsoft kit you will have to have a small walk to the safe zone. On your way you will go past the toilets for both men and women. You will then pass the range where paintballers test there weapons before a match, airsofters can also test there replicas here but it’s also used as a place where club marshals can test your replicas fps. You will then be in the safe zone where there is multiple large booths and picnic tables for you to put your kit on. On a normal LAC game day one section of the safe zone is a dedicated shop and a place where you can get your rentals sorted out. This is a safe place where for example you can hand in your car keys to the LAC shop girls and they will look after them if you do not want to go on site with them in your pocket. And yes this has happened before and you can very quickly guess what happened to the keys. Maybe an hour before the matches start there will be a call for all players who have there own replicas to go to the range to have there replicas tested and zip tied. Once all the paper work is sorted out you will go onto the church ground for a safety talk. Finally once all of this is sorted out you will be taken to a map for a match. Now most of the time we start of with a quick fire match to get every one warmed up for the day. It will be something like attack and defend the island or attack and defend the two story building. If there is no other paintballers on site then after the firs match then the fun begins because LAC will introduce larger matches. Sometimes we have site wide matches and that is where the fun is and what shows Combat Zone off because you can have out in the open firefights, you can be hiding in the deep dense woodland bushes and you can be fighting in and around buildings. The sight is not as big as some sites in the UK or even Lincolnshire but it guarantees fast paces action where anyone with a sub 350 fps replica to a 500 fps sniper can have fun. Combat Zone is simply put amazing in summer with all the foliage and buildings, it can be a bit more testing in winter when all those places you was able to hide in just are not there but speaking personally I like a challenge. Another very important thing to mention is the almost special relationship between Combat Zone and LAC. Combat Zone is always looking for ways to improve the site for everyone but just recently they have gone out of there way to improve the site for airsofters. Crafty conclusion
I have been going to Combat Zone for nearly as long as I have been attending airsoft matches and yes in the past especially during winter I have found the site to be a little too sparse for airsoft needs but this was three to four years ago. Now I would really recommend the site to anyone who is into airsoft or paintball. It’s well worth a visit. Crafty rating *****/5 CraftySniper Another storming LAC match Hello and welcome to my latest blog review. Now the last blog was me reviewing the Lincolnshire Airsoft Club away day event at the Gaol. Now obviously that event went down a treat with us players, so I decided to create a review for a normal LAC match, if there is such a thing. In this event we had 120 plus players, we had great weather and oh yeah we had a tyrannosaurus rex, no that’s not a typo we did have a T rex at the club, but more on that later. Location As with most LAC matches this took place at Combat Zone in Lincolnshire, this is now the home of LAC since our move form our old site a few years ago. Now most of you will know that Combat Zone is a paintball site and though this is true it is still an amazing airsoft site for all those seeking some fast paced in your face airsoft action. Now normally we would have painballers on the site at the same time as us and this obviously means that some of our matches have to be on a smaller scale. But not this time as there was no paintballers on site. So this meant we could have run of the total site. So what was the matches like? Well with the whole site able to be used the matches were great. Normally we would start off with a quick attack and defend the island, this allows players some fast action where they can get straight into the action at Combat Zone. However this time we started off with a quick drop the flag match over the church. One team would attack the church and to win would have to either kill off all the opposing team or get inside the church and drop the flag in the tower. The defending team would just have to stop the attacking team from achieving there mission. This was a timed match and after the first match we would swap the teams roles over and go at it again. I was on the defending team for the first match and my chosen weapon was my bolt action rifle. Now I was at a massive negative as a recon player I had a 35m minimum distance rule, in short I could not move to a flank to engage the enemy and they would be able to attack from all sides. However on the rematch I was in my element, I was able to flank the enemy positions and pick a few players off as they was attacked by my fellow team players. Common talk about the T rex Well I have to say I was surprised about the addition of the T rex. Basically the T rex was one of the marshals and he was protected by a team of other players. There missions was to protect him as he could not carry a weapon. The teams had to shoot the T rex and escort him to another marshal who would be moving through the site. If a team got the T rex to the marshal then they scored two points. The T rex then would be released into the wild to be hunted again. The team defending the T rex could also be captured by either attacking teams, the only difference with them was that they was only worth a single point. This match was capped at thirty mins as it was a hot day and the marshal in the dino suit would be getting quite hot. He also had no ability to move at speed or even defend himself with a weapon, just relying on his defensive team. What about food at CZ? As with all matches at Combat Zone there is a staff member from the Combat Zone team on hand to serve up hot dogs for a small cost. There also is a shop on site which sells everything from cans of energy drinks to smoke grenades. I have a pack lunch with me on most matches but I have to say that the hot dogs did look a treat. So all in all another great day?
Yep, as with most matches at Combat Zone it was another great day. A lot of team work from both teams with very little complaining form the players. The weather held out and even was actually quite warm for a September day. LAC keep managing to put awesome matches on again and again and I truly believe that they are one of the best airsoft clubs in the UK, and before anyone say’s I am paid by the club well that is not the case. If you are in the Lincolnshire area and you are after a great day airsofting then get onto the Lincolnshire Airsoft Club web page or Facebook site and find out when the next brilliant game day is going to take place. Oh and did I say we hunted a T rex? Another awesome day, well done to LAC and there marshal team for putting on a brilliant day for us players. CraftySniper Photo of the T rex credited to Ian Lawrence Hello and welcome to my latest blog episode, in today’s episode I will be reviewing my time at the Gaol. As part of Lincolnshire Airsoft Club I was able to take part in a very special airsoft match. LAC arranged a special match where we as a club took over an old jail. This jail was the famous Gaol events in Leicestershire, the premiere airsoft cqb site in the UK. An introduction to the jail The Gaol is an old prison with a multitude of buildings including actual jail wings, canteens, office blocks and a what seems like never ending long corridors. Most buildings are lit up very well by either lighting or sun light is allowed through the thick jail cell windows, how ever some parts of the buildings are in pitch black and make you feel very confined. Along with the buildings there is all the grounds surrounding the wings and other buildings. There also is a car park with actual cars and vans dotted around them. All in all the site is an absolute blast to fight around, something very very different form the big open woodland sites that I am normally playing in and around. There also is a large indoor safe zone with many rooms to put your kit in. Each room is full of chairs and tables so you can relax before or after a match. They also have toilets and a room for checking the fps of your chosen weapon or weapons. I have to admit one of the best parts of the safe zone apart from the comfy seats is the canteen which sells excellent food and drinks. I always make straight for the canteen to get a bacon roll before I get down to the finer parts of airsoft war. Lincolnshire Airsoft Club at the jail This event was to be a bit different as the normal Gaol staff would not be running the day, this would be done by a mixture of LAC, Gaol and Airsoft Commando staff. This was advertised many months ago on all the pages as an LAC run jail match. To say that I was excited would be an understatement, I have been to the jail a few times before and I have always had a brilliant time. Now LAC my home club was taking over the jail I was sure that I was onto a winner. This event was a prepay through PayPal event so there was no need to pay on the door, it was just turn up and rock out in one of the if not the best cqb sites in the country, this time run by LAC. My chosen weapon I had a long time to think about which weapon to run at the jail and knowing that this is a up and very close kind of site with only some outdoor areas I decided to bring my TM Scar H recoil rifle. The only change I made to the rifle was to take off the rather long suppressor and flash hider and put the much smaller flash hider form my GHK G5. I know that this would only remove a few inches fro the over all length of the rifle but ever little helps. For my secondary I had mt TM MK23 suppressed pistol. I picked this pistol over my other secondaries as it would be a great silent choice in the dark corridors and would not give my position away. How did the day go? Speaking form a players point of view it went well, I had no issues with my chosen weapons and I witnessed no player related issues. The matches if a little on the confusing side regarding the match rules played out well. To be honest it would have been better playing some attack and defend single buildings, this would of shown the 80% of first timers to the jail just what is expected out of a cqb site. The ranges are a lot closer and those bb’s carry a lot of the momentum right into there chosen targets, as such there also is no full auto in this site. This is not a problem to me as most of the time I am shooting in semi auto only. But to some players it was a shock that they could be attacked from all around them, you can be shooting through the office blocks and the enemy can suddenly be right at your side shooting you at less then 5m. Protective clothing is a must at this site. The weather was very hot through out the day and with a lot of players me included carrying a lot of kit and wearing lots of clothing the temps soon started to rise. Unfortunately this soon got to a small group of players. There is choke points on this site and these become cluster points with lots of up close and very personal fighting. It was it this point that I heard my first temper o’clocks as I like to call it. At no point did this ruin the event for me or the payers around me, in fact it was maybe only 1% of players who had an issue. The downside is that when tempers start to rise then the marshal team have to step in. We had payer marshals who was looking forward to this event just like me who then had to step out of the fight and marshal the players. But by the end of the day most issues were sorted out and the rest of the players came back in with smiles on there faces. It seemed like LAC had done it again, they had run another excellent match. What was the best part Crafty? There was for me only one point that was the absolute best. Through out the site and in the buildings there was brown envelopes, if you found one you could ignore it and carry on playing or open it. Most had a card and some spare arm bands inside them. You then made sure no body else was near you, you then swapped your colors and you was shooting for the enemy team, in short you had the chance to shoot your friends that was on your team. I found one of these such envelopes and as I was on my own and in the office block I decided to open it. With a smile I swapped my bands and went on a rampage which ended up with the deaths of a good few of my friends (haha). Eventually I was hunted by my own friends in the office block, I actually was hiding in the dark besides an old toilet as they searched for me. A few grenades later and I was dead. When I came out of my toilet we was all laughing at the whole firefight. Will there be another event like that?
I honestly do no know, I have since spoke to the club boss and he has said there was lots of issues that need to be resolved before another event at the Gaol. All the marshals had a hard time at the event and I would like to say thank you for putting up with all the issues. I do think that if there is another match like that it will be limited to 40/50 players max, it may also be a pistol & shotgun only match. This would still be a good match to me and if it happens next year then I will be putting my name down very quickly so I can once again go to jail with the guys and girls from Lincolnshire Airsoft Club. CraftySniper Photo credit goes to Chris Lee (great pics bud) Hello and welcome to my latest review blog, in this episode I will be reviewing my latest action camera. I will also be talking a bit about action camera in airsoft too. Now when people talk about action cameras in airsoft most people will think of GoPro and to be honest they are a great example. I myself have an old GoPro that I use for POV shots. In fact if you have watched any of my action videos you will of been watching the results of my GoPro. Nowadays you can get many different versions of the GoPro, all with differing abilities.My GoPro is an early version one of the Hero range. To be honest it’s been a very good camera with great quality visual as well as audio abilities. Along with the GoPro I have a Stealth action camera which is another great choice. I use the Stealth as a camera that looks back at me, I normally mount this camera to my chosen rifle and have it look back at me. Now there is one thing that makes the Stealth camera better then the GoPro and that’s the ability to spin the lens around. So you can change which way the Stealth camera records an image, where as if you tried this with the GoPro you would have to edit this feature into your video with some editing software. Now there is another camera that I have in my collection but I will wait to give that camera it’s own review as it’s something quite special. So what’s this Crafty Cam? Well glad you asked. For many years I have been making videos of me taking part in airsoft matches. Now with the GoPro and Stealth cameras I hope I have been making good videos. But there has been a void in my videos, something that I could never record and it’s something quite important. That is recording the actual kill shot. I have shot lots of enemy players (some players on my team) and I have thought that it would have made a great video seeing these players getting shot by a Crafty player. So I got onto my computer and looked at ways of recording these shots. I looked at other airsoft players and checked out how they got there kill shots onto camera. I was left with few options. One was to fit an actual video camera to the top of my scope. This would allow me to record zoomed images but the downside is that the camera is quite expensive, quite large and quite heavy. Now I know some of you are going to say that most of my airsoft replicas are heavy and that is true but the weight of the camera was very noticeable and it’s very top heavy, so it makes the rifle feel different. The other opting was to get a special camera custom made for me, and I could not find anyone in the UK that would be able to do this. Whilst searching on Facebook one day I came across a company that would do this and the best thing was that they are in the UK. FNKY Airsoft I was searching through Facebook and I came across this guy who makes custom zoomed action cameras based around other action cameras. I started to talk to this guy and soon I realised that this guy knew what he was talking about. He had the ability to create just what I had been looking for. After a lots of messages we had both agreed just what type of camera I needed. Now this is very important as FNKY airsoft mouth different size lenses onto normal action cameras, cameras like the RunCam. Now obviously you will need different size lenses for different replicas. If you are using a normal replica at under 350fps you will need a lens that is zoomed but not that zoomed as you will only be shooting at around 40-50m. Now if you are using DMR’s or bolt action snipers that are shooting at 60m+ then you will need a lens that has lots more zoom. So after lots of messages too and from we had come up with a camera that would suit my needs as a long range shooter. I paid for my camera through PayPal and he got onto making my camera. In just a few short weeks I had my new camera in my hands, and boy was I blown away. What comes in the box? Well obviously the camera is the main object in the box. You will also get a small USB to micro USB charging cable, you will then get a few cables that allow the RunCam to be connected to your TV to play the video clips that are on the memory card. Now talking about the memory card, you don’t get one in the box. So I already had one ready for my new camera but you can pick these up at any electrical shop. Now onto the camera, my camera has a 50mm lens fitted to it. This allows it to record a man sized target in great quality out to 70m. It does take a bit of dialing but eventually and quickly you will have your action camera set up for the ranges that you take shots at. Now due to the 500mm lens being quiet large for the camera it does come with a plastic cap that fits to the end of the lens and protects it whilst you are travelling too and from a match. So how does it stay on the rifle? When you get FNKY airsoft to make you a custom camera not only does he fit the lens and do all the software sorting out for you but he also creates a 3d printed case to sit around and protect your new camera. On the bottom of the camera is a 16mm picatinny rail that allows this camera to fit to 99% of replicas. In fact to be honest I am planning to fit the camera to a rail that sits on the top of my scope. What about battery life? Well you was never going to get a good battery life form this camera as it records in full 1080 and 720 so you can use a slightly longer power cable then the one that comes in the original box and then fit it to portable power pack. I found that my sniper rifle could fit a power pack at the rear of my stock. I then fed the cable through my scope rings and up to the camera. The cable never came loose all day but this is something that you will have to work out as all replicas are different. So will you be recommending FNKY airsoft?
Oh yes very much so. He provides great service at great prices and if you tell him what you are looking for in an action camera then he will be able to build you exactly what you need. I will most likely be ordering another camera off of him in the new year. Only difference is this new camera will be setup for shorter AEG ranges. CraftySniper Hello and welcome to my latest blog entry. In this episode I am going to be talking about the sticky subject of rate of fire and what’s acceptable and most definitely not acceptable. Now I have been playing airsoft for around 5 years and in my time I have seen some very high rate of fire weapons and I have been on the end of them too. I myself had also had a Tokyo Marui P90 high cycle replica which was able to shoot at around 25-30 rounds a second. But every other replica in my collection has never been setup for a high rate of fire, bar the MG42 which was setup by G&G but I play the burst fire rule on that replica which I will go into later in this blog. So where is the issue? Right we all have been in that situation where we are in a firefight with the enemy, we are shooting semi auto rounds and from out of no where we get hit by 10+ rounds, all of which hit us. Needless to say most players in this situation usually are a little annoyed with the enemy shooter. What’s worse is when the enemy shooter fires his/her long burst into you and they are really close to you. Not only does it hurt but with airsoft replicas when one round hits you from very close the rest of the rounds will hit and you won’t be able to get out of the way of them. I can safely say from my own experiences of airsoft I am not in the business of hurting anyone and I have been known to check on an enemy player when I have hit them with three of my rounds ( I must remember that a Tokyo Marui will still be accurate at 50m). Some players though not all seem to think that a high rate of fire replica is a must and they are willing to fit these replicas with highcaps and spray enemy players, I hope that they are not intentionally trying to hurt other players. It used to be that airsoft companies would not be making high rate of fire replicas but now more and more companies are making there products capable of these high rates of fire weather it be by adding an 11.1 lipo batteries or by setting up the internals so that they will have faster motors and gears that will with stand the pressures of a high rate of fire setup. And this say’s nothing of players who will themselves gut a replica and rebuild it with a new higher rate of fire internal setup. Sounds like you have a real issue with these replicas Crafty It may sound like that but if I am honest no I do not have a problem with these replicas. I think the issue lies with the shooters themselves. A high rate of fire replica does have a place on the airsoft field, it just needs a shooter that will treat the replica correctly. How does he/she do that then? Quite simple really……………burst fire. I am a member of a club who have been trying to solve the high rate of fire issues over the past year or two. They do this by showing all players at the start of the day at the safety briefing what is acceptable in full auto. They will show semi auto which is self explanatory, then they will show a full auto burst which is around 4-6 rounds. They will then show what is not acceptable which is a long full auto burst. Then through out the day the marshal team is watching out for any really long bursts which lets face it can’t be hidden on the battlefield. But what about machine guns? Glad you asked, other then in Hollywood movies you will never find a real machine gunner putting out very long bursts. He or she won’t be doing this because….. A. They don’t have enough ammo for that B. They want to have some level of accuracy C. Prolonged rates of fire will heat up and damage the barrel. Obviously in airsoft those restrictions don’t really apply. Most machine guns have thousands of rounds and they still have quite good accuracy and they don’t have to worry about heating up the barrel. So for machine gunners who have dedicated machine guns and no an M4 with a box mag does not count as a machine gun, they have a little longer for there bursts. Somewhere around 8-10 rounds. So how do we stop overkill?
I honestly think we as players and clubs including marshaling teams have to stand up to stop this issue. As a player I very rarely use full auto anyway but when I have had to I make sure to only put small bursts down range. The players that have these very fast rate of fire replicas need to remember just how fast there replicas can really shoot at. Some replicas can have burst wizards installed that will only allow a certain amount or rounds to be fire in one pull of the trigger. The club’s too will have to keep an eye out and ears open to listen for these longer then normal bursts. It only takes a few times to tell players to watch there bursts to stop these issues. CraftySniper 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 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 |
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
Categories |