10 minute read
LAST POST
COVID
While the pandemic will hopefully be a one-off (eventually) how did it affect you as a business and has it led to changes which are likely to persist well beyond it?
FS: We made changes to our shop hours in light of our experiences, but that’s about it. LWA: Twitchy bottom time at the start of the first lockdown, but in fact we found that sales remained healthy despite players having very limited opportunities to use their gear. We suspect that those on furlough actually had a bit of spare cash to put into their interests as they weren’t carrying the costs associated with getting to and from work.
THE FUTURE
Do you have any concerns as to the future viability of airsoft as a business?
FS: Nothing in particular beyond the expected competition within the market. There is only so much pie there and we’re all fighting for our slice. LWA: The next ten years, aside from supply issues and reduced production across the board I think the number of players and game fields will steadily increase. I don’t see any reason for it reducing so long as Call of Duty type games keep appearing to pique an interest. We’ve seen big reductions in manufacturing, with the likes of Classic Army, G&P and Real Sword slowing output. I doubt any new manufacturers will appear either, but then how many new AR15s can we need?
As always we’re only a law change away from things being illegal which is always a mild concern but I think the future is bright.
SUMMING UP
Unsurprisingly there is a lot of common ground between the two companies, and knowing the two companies and the people behind them, I can see where the differences might emerge. The general opinion is upbeat. Both expect to see airsoft continuing and growing.
LWA distributes Umarex in the UK and have been handling a lot of their paintball equipment, in particular the T4E range, in addition to their airsoft offerings. This is proving to be exceptionally popular although it’s been a bit of a slow burner. One of the collateral results of this is an increase in the number of other paintball retailers who are becoming interested in airsoft, and vice versa. Firesupport has remained wholly dedicated to airsoft and continues to carry an extensive range of replacement and upgrade parts. Both companies serve the same airsoft community in slightly different ways; this has been the case for many years.
I was genuinely surprised that neither Brexit nor the pandemic seemed to have been as dramatic interludes as I expected.
Looking at Brexit, I realised that as mentioned by both companies, importing is a way of life, and the vast majority of that comes and historically has come, from outside the EU. This trade would be unaffected by Brexit and the changing relationship between Britain and the EU, in fact the effects were more obvious as far as trade from the UK to Europe was concerned. In part that has been adversely affected by the massive increase in shipping costs which have arisen on the back of the pandemic and aren’t being helped by the price of oil these days. LWA has one major European supplier in Umarex, but it will be no surprise that a global player is capable of quickly responding to changes in regulation.
Covid simply doesn’t seem to have affected either company in the way I think most of us would have imagined. The idea that sales would increase during a protracted period when sites were closed is rather counterintuitive however that seems to be what happened. In fairness, at the beginning of the first lockdown two years ago none of us could have foreseen a situation where the government would literally pay people to stay at home. It seems that some of that money has found its way to the retailers.
I was surprised not to hear of more drama from both Firesupport and LWA. The last several years have been interesting on several levels and I suppose I expected to see that reflected in businesses. I have concluded that both retailers are sufficiently mature to weather the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and while one shouldn’t draw definitive conclusions from such a small sample, it would seem that the sector is not just healthy but, in places, thriving!.AA
TIME TO GET REAL!
WHILE HE WAS AT LANDWARRIOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO FRENCHIE WAS FORTUNATE TO BE ABLE TO SPEND SOME TIME ON THEIR “REAL STEEL” RANGE. THIS HAS BEEN IN PLACE FOR A FEW YEARS NOW AND REPRESENTS SOME OF THE DIVERSIFICATION THAT THE COMPANY HAS UNDERTAKEN OVER THE YEARS, AND FRENCHIE CERTAINLY MADE THE MOST OF IT, REFLECTING WITH HIS USUAL PANACHE ABOUT HOW TWO VASTLY DIFFERENT PARTS OF SHOOTING SPORTS CAN SIT COMFORTABLY SIDE BY SIDE…
It’s a brave move, building a Home Office approved shooting range, and getting it through the system is no small undertaking! Add to that the fact that attracting shooters is not as simple as you might think, you might reasonably ask if this is a sensible direction to move in… As it turns out, good oldfashioned effort and word of mouth is paying off and both the range and the associated club are growing in popularity. I was surprised to learn that many airsofters were completely unaware that shooting was legal and available in the UK, but you know what they say about assumption!
Since it’s been several years since I shot anything other than an airsoft gun, having some full-bore fun is worth writing about. A little background; between the age of (I think) 11 and now, I have shot shotguns, a full-bore rifle (a No 3 Lee Enfield), several full bore pistols and plenty of .22 calibre guns. I have also spent several years working for or as a Registered Firearms Dealer (RFD) and while I am aware of how little I know compared to many, this is not completely unknown territory for me. I understand how firearms work, I know how to handle them safely and what to expect when you pull the trigger.
I was presented with three rifles to try; a Umarex 416 in .22 Long Rifle (LR), a lever action AR-style 9mm rifle with a sweet suppressor on it and a traditional lever-action carbine in .38 Special, an absolute cowboy classic. These are all calibres I have shot before, but both 9mm and .38 special were shot through pistols. Yes, it was quite a while ago.
As the law currently stands in the UK, a self-loading rifle can only be in .22LR and must be at least 60 cm in length. The 416 meets those criteria easily and was the only semi-auto fired that day; although a little heavier than its airsoft cousins, the rifle would be familiar to nearly all airsofters. Fitted with a red dot sight only my varifocal glasses gave me any
issues as I had to play chase the dot occasionally! Shooting a .22LR is always a pleasure. Although it’s a tiny round, it should be treated with as much respect as any other calibre. The human body is not designed to accommodate extra holes and the .22 is quite capable of creating them!
On the other hand it delivers so little recoil that you could genuinely shoot this stuff all day; it’s also relatively cheap at a time when ammo prices seem to be rising constantly. The 416 was therefore a delight to use, easy to aim, easy to shoot and very easy to keep on target.
Onto the 9mm lever action AR. This rifle was specifically designed to deal with the law which bans
self-loading rifles in centrefire calibres. The lever sits in front of the pistol grip and has to be cycled for each shot. This gun uses Glock magazines and as mentioned above has a substantial suppressor fitted. That notwithstanding hearing protection is absolutely mandatory, even the lowly .22 is bloody loud, especially in an enclosed space. Shooting is great fun but it’s not worth losing your hearing over.
The trick with manually cycled guns is not to be too gentle with them; if you don’t work the action with a certain vigour you will have misfeeds and other issues. It took me a couple of rounds to feel comfortable with this rifle but once you get into the groove it’s great fun. What surprised me was how noticeable the recoil from the 9x19mm round was, even in a full-sized rifle. It wasn’t painful in any way, but I was aware of each shot as it went downrange. Having shot a 9mm handgun years ago, I remember thinking at the time that my Webley air pistol had more kick!
The final rifle was the lever action Winchester-style carbine. No red dots here! I was surprised just how compact this gun was, it truly is a carbine, short and very handy. We were running .38 Special through this, which again I have shot in a handgun. The cartridge is the same size as the .357 Magnum round
that
but has a lower loading. Small gun, slightly more felt recoil and plenty of ‘boom’ as there is no option of fitting a suppressor here! I could have happily spent much more time with this little gun, which given the basic format dates back to the late Nineteenth century, is testament to the original designers, among whom is John Moses Browning, designer of the legendary Winchester Model 94.
LEGAL FUN!
Three guns, three calibres and two actions. Shooting sports take their responsibilities seriously, and it is right that they should, however I have always feared that the fun of shooting can get lost in the message. It is entirely possible to have a thoroughly enjoyable day’s shooting while also doing so safely and ranges like Landwarrior’s will ensure that safety procedures are rigorously observed.
Airsofters will be well aware of the dichotomies in British society’s attitudes to guns. On one hand, we all love a good action movie with plenty of gun play. On the other there is a generalised and unjustified fear of guns and shooting in general. It was not always this way and the Twentieth century saw a progressive tightening of the laws governing the ownership and use of firearms. Firearm crime is still exceptionally rare in the UK, and this ironically means that it tends to be reported in quite lurid terms. There have been some tragic events which have dramatically changed the legal landscape for shooters, and I have no intention of delving into the arguments surrounding those here. The fact today is that to legally own and use a firearm in the UK is a lengthy and bureaucratic affair, but it can be done and indeed is being done in greater numbers than previously.
If your interest in airsoft extends beyond skirmishing or speedball, if guns themselves and the art of shooting also pique your curiosity, the two sports can sit side by side. Really the only thing they share are some basic skills, an emphasis on safety and the use of gun-shaped equipment. If you’ve never shot a firearm I highly recommend finding out if you have a local shooting club. Most welcome guests and will guide you step by step through your first experience of sending lead downrange. It’s possible that you may decide it’s not for you, but you may just discover a whole new world to fill your hours and drain your wallet! AA
