Monthly Archives: January 2015

Airsoft snipers have been flocking to the cinema lately to catch Clint Eastwood’s latest film – American Sniper.

The film has been a huge box office hit with people really enjoying seeing the story of US navy Seal Chris Kyle brought to the big screen.

The “old-fashioned western in modern military gear” is set to become the biggest-grossing war movie in history – and its popularity has got people interested in becoming Airsoft snipers. Continue reading →

In PlayStation and Xbox games like Resident Evil, Call of Duty and Halo players can choose any number of guns to use – revolvers, assault rifles and automatic machine guns – but many players are ignoring those weapons as part of an attempt to make the games more challenging.

Play Call of Duty online these days and you’re extremely likely to see people running around armed only with a survival knife – attempting to creep up on other players and stab them rather than shooting them from afar.

The idea is that doing so is far more difficult than simply making a shot from a distance, meaning players’ skills are tested to a greater extent. Continue reading →

Your range doesn't come from the speed the BB comes out of the barrel, there I've said it :-p It is a factor, but not a huge one! The most important factor in your airsoft gun's range is a good hopup system, a good rubber, a good chamber and a good barrel. But most of all a good rubber can be like night & day to an airsoft rifle, changing it from a floor shooting lacklustre pita into something that will put BBs down range laser straight for what seems like miles.

The basics... Your hopup system is a small mechanism usually around the start of the barrel which puts a backspin on the BB. This backspin does 2 things, first and most important it acts in a simiar way to an aeroplane wing, putting low pressure air above it and high pressure air below giving it lift, this allows you to stretch your effective range incredibly, your BB trajectory can be made very flat, give it a slight lift, even disappear up to the heavens if you over set it! Secondly it stops any random spin the BB would generate coming down the barrel and centralises it to just the back spin in a very specific direction, without this you would have BBs flying everywhere but where you're shooting! Taking all this into account you can see that your hop rubber can be the single most important factor in range and accuracy in your Airsoft gun!

So... What am bestest hop rubber? Unfortunately it's not quite that simple, every rubber works differently in each gun, hop windows are cut to different sizes, barrel widths are different, hop chambers can be very tight and they can even hold the barrels in slightly different positions. All of these factors complicate if you shiny new rubber will improve your shooting, sky shoot or even feed at all!

A well set up hop can almost double your effective range, a better hop rubber can push the BB even further and sometimes shrink your grouping.

Seeing strange numbers on your hop rubbers? 50, 60, 70, 75 & 80 degrees all refer to the hardness of the rubber used to make the hop rubber, the softer ones are good for lower power 50s & 60s are great around 300-350, but not so great for a high rate of fire (they can be a lot more vulnerable to tearing). 70-80 are great for snipers, gas guns & high ROF guns. Guarder make 2 different types of AEG rubber, silicon (great for low power, but delicate to fit) and rubber (great for higher power and much easier to fit!).

There are many different types of contact patch (the part that actually contact the BB) the main standard is a basic single bulge, the Maple Leaf Delta has a triangular patch, the Monster has a longer split style run. Each style has different benefits and will work differently for each individual gun. There are many more styles of patch from a separated 'R' hop patch (which is completely separate from the hop rubber) to the firefly 'finger' style patches. The only way to know what will work for you is by trying them.

Although I can only recommend 'suck it and see' with a lot of these, I've tried to clear up a few of the basics. Any more questions, give us a shout on our facebook page here or drop us a quick message through our site.

Thanks folks!
Tech Dan!

The Airsoft community has shown its strength this week after a news channel broadcast an article which linked airsoft to terrorism.

Presenters on Belgian news channel VTM introduced a piece earlier this week which linked airsoft to terrorist training camps, without justifying the link or even showing any proof that known terrorists had taken part in Airsoft milsims as part of a “terrorist training program”.

The piece promoted an angry response in the community, and a Belgian Airsoft team called Lucid Mind called for airsofters all over the world to send pictures of themselves to VTM along with the text “we are not terrorists”. Continue reading →

A team of airsofters linked to Surplus Store is set to take on all-comers at an organised milsim this March.

Metal Ops, a team formed in early 2012, will be heading to Ambush Adventures’ Operation Colossus to compete against and alongside teams from all over the country. Continue reading →

A number of top authorities on shooting have recently wondered whether airsoft could be used as a training tool for marksmen.

The idea that sports shooters, who compete in against the clock contests to shoot targets using firearms and live ammunition, could benefit from training using airsoft weapons is one that’s been gaining traction recently.

One pundit who’s begun advocating the use of airsoft guns as training tools is Rob Potter. He was initially sceptical about the idea, which was suggested to him by his uncle. However, he now believes shooting airsoft weapons can benefit shooters for many reasons. Continue reading →

Pic - Imagin' Airsoft

Airsoft is becoming more and more popular all over the world, with its popularity growing massively in developing countries – but how is it known in those other countries?

It’s known by several different names all over the world, with airsofters in countries outside the USA calling themselves by names other than “airsofter”.

So let’s take a look at what those names are! Continue reading →

More than 10,000 people have applied for a job as a crash test dummy for paintballs in return for a £40,000 salary – but would you do the job?

That’s what we’re wondering after hearing the news that a paintball site operator has advertised the job and received a huge response.

The news has hit the headlines in the past week, after UKPaintball advertised the position at the start of the year. The job offers applicants a healthy salary in return for standing in the way of paintballs travelling at high velocity in order to provide a rating for the pain they deliver to those hit by them. Continue reading →

The BB gun is a well-established favourite across the world, with many people using them for a bit of outdoor fun – but how are they made up?

We thought we’d take a quick look at what it is that makes BB guns so popular by explaining the key components of one.

The design and ways of working of BB guns have evolved over time, but the basics remain more or less the same. Continue reading →

The organisers of annual Airsoft event GF Point have released a teaser video, with just a fortnight to go until the event takes place.

The event is an annual airsoft orienteering event which is well-known across Europe. The event takes place in Poland and in recent years has become more and more popular with airsofters from across the continent.

While there are already people heading to the event from across Europe the teaser video is a last ditch attempt to attract even more people, as well as hype the excitement. Continue reading →