23 minute read
AA LEGION: MOA 2022
MOA 2022 - BACK TO BUSINESS!
WITH RESTRICTIONS FINALLY LOOSENING IN TAIWAN REGARDING INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL AS WELL AS INDOOR EVENTS, LOCAL TAIWANESE MAGAZINE QRF’S CENTREPIECE SHOW COULD MAKE A RETURN TO ITS FULL FORCE! HAVING ALREADY HAD THE CONSOLATION PRIZE LOCAL INDUSTRY AND PLAYERS ONLY MOA2022 CAMPFEST EARLIER IN APRIL AS A RESULT OF THE CANCELLATION OF 2021’S SHOW AND THE CONTINUED EMBUGGERANCES AT THE TIME REGARDING PANDEMIC CONTROLS ON EVENT SIZES, FINALLY MOA COULD RETURN IN ITS TRUE INCARNATION, MOA2022…2? STEWBACCA MIGHT AS WELL MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME EH?
Having rushed to sort tickets to Japan for the Krytac Owner’s meeting less than a month before, cramming in multiple testing skirmishes and competitions on either side of MOA, the last two months of 2022 have certainly been an… experience… in terms of compressing all of the content I would normally have a more relaxed schedule for into basically a nonstop shootfest where I’ve barely had time to process my own thoughts, let alone all the resultant photos or especially videos! But, sleep deprivation and general mania aside, I’ve been living the dream as usual with everything going off and was extremely happy to finally see long lost friends from before the “Thanos Blip” return to our shores here in Taiwan, as well as see some other familiar faces make their first trips here and doing business on island with plenty of site visits and meetings going on in the runup days and weeks prior to the main event. Thanks to the timely abolition of incoming traveller quarantine requirements, a flood of international visitors returned in force for what has rapidly risen to become the de facto airsoft trade show in Asia! QRF magazine’s Eric Chu has worked tirelessly over the past few years not only to keep his online and print magazine afloat but also return the Military Outdoor and Airsoft exhibition - MOA - back to its former 2019 glory from before the “dark times”.
Our friend Vic of Popular Airsoft could finally come back in person on his way back to his native land for the holiday season, as well as the gents from Poland’s WMASG media outfit returning, alongside business focused people from various distributors in the UK, South Korea, Japan and Europe either being present at the show itself or doing their rounds on the lead up to it. It’s certainly felt like there’s been a buzz in the air before and after the show with many important deals and announcements being made for numerous manufacturers who have been undoubtedly isolated from their partners outside of telecoms related exchanges; certainly in Asia, the culture has heavy emphasis on benign there in person when important initial or milestone meetings or agreements are required to get things moving, while on the media side it’s of course nice to see our international siblings joining the likes of myself and Jonothan from Airsoftology who are basically part of the furniture here at this point. We’re back in force, and back on course, fellow shooters!
Once again I booked off a long weekend off work for the 2nd-4th of December allowing me to cram as much floor walking and flesh pressing as I could to take in as much of the people, show and the new products, and in some cases entirely new businesses springing up, that made their debut at the show this Xmas period. In the evenings prior I’d been hitting my usual local haunts to see Vic as well as Larry from CentOp/Gunfire Asia and Joppe who was in town for a few weeks scoping out potential business opportunities or suppliers and reconnecting over a taste of home and the usual liquid conversation lubricant in pint form.
IN COUNTRY AND GOOD TO GO
With everyone in country and all preparations made we descended in concert once again on the Taipei International Convention Centre
(TICC) in the shadow of neighbouring Taipei 101 and prepared for a tour de force of information gathering and content or business deal generation, with around 70 individual stalls or exhibitors present to show off their latest releases or ongoing projects and product lines. These ranged from the one man custom operations right up to industry leviathans; the sheer variety and fact there’s a place for everyone is one of the things that makes MOA an excellent experience and truly representative of a cross section of Taiwan’s local airsoft industry and just how much it has to offer the world! At present boasting 70% of the world’s market share, it continues to be “airsoft central” as Bill put it, so many issues back when I first came abroad and aboard.
Arriving on the Friday morning I scoped out the upstairs floors overlooking the show itself prior to opening time, watching the fine folks below busily putting the finishing touches on their booths and getting the lay of the land for myself in person having already perused the published exhibition map and mentally planning out my movements and time as best I could; lots to be done, as always, especially with things escalating in general as of late here.
Returning to the foyer I bumped into Piotr and Patryk from the Gunfire team and said my “Hellos!” to them and their multinational team on site to move things ahead with their Asia division. While we waited for our passes at the information counter, I also bumped into Nelson of Archwick with his cohort of South Korean friends who were taking in the show prior to returning home. Military Anny was working the AST/RATech booth right inside the right front entrance so came out to touch base before the mad rush ensued, while many other familiar faces passed by and the usual forlorn pleasantries and catchup chats ensued.
As 10:00 rolled around the queues were already backing up out the main door of the foyer and people eagerly filed in as the typical cacophony of dry firing AEGs and excited murmuring began to fill the air. I made a bee-line for A001-001 - AST & RAtech to see what the folks there have been up to - Anny had pre-briefed me on their release of their Noveske N4 GBBR platform, which she was handling adeptly and showing off in usual apt fashion (available in four variants) with either 5.56mm or 300BLK markings and realistically
positioned gas blocks and systems as well as two lengths 10.5 & 14.5” barrel lengths to match their real steel counterparts. Not only are these finished to an outstanding aesthetic quality with the realistic markings in all the right places, but are also produced from realistic aerospace grade materials formed and finished in the same way as their real world siblings with genuine forged aluminium AR receiver blocks and machined billet lower receivers as well as CNC machined extruded aluminium front handguards. Internally these are also exceptionally smooth in operation and lack the typical mid-stroke hangups of most GBBR ARs as the bolt carrier group rides over the hammer as it cocks it; I’m not sure how they managed this feat, but colour me impressed, the whole setup looks and feels the business.
RA Tech are the manufacturing outfit behind numerous upgrade components (some of which already reside in my WE G36C, T91 and HK416 GBBRs) including steel action components, reinforced CNC machined nozzles or bolt carrier units, magnetic latching NPAS systems as well as optional external or aesthetic assemblies for a wide range of existing manufacturer’s AR, AK, and other GBBR systems, as well as more recently releasing their own turnkey FN SCAR-SC GBBR platform, DD Mk18, and Mk16 URGI platforms among a myriad of other options. Including a hefty WE Tech - RA Tech infused M14 EBR and M1A1 Thompsons they had on display - AST - AirSoft Taiwan are their front of house business that sell and distribute RA Tech and other manufacturer’s components and products locally and internationally.
To the rear of AST/RAT were Maple Leaf who have recently opened their own custom house and showroom in the southwest of Taipei which I need to get around to visiting when time permits; alongside their much loved inner barrels and HOP rubbers, they were also showcasing their own turnkey bolt action sniper and GBBR platforms, including their “hummingbird” buffer tubeless bolt carrier system allowing AR18 style systems to be produced and
“RA TECH ARE THE MANUFACTURING OUTFIT BEHIND NUMEROUS UPGRADE COMPONENTS... ...INCLUDING STEEL ACTION COMPONENTS, REINFORCED CNC MACHINED NOZZLES OR BOLT CARRIER UNITS, MAGNETIC LATCHING NPAS SYSTEMS AS WELL AS OPTIONAL EXTERNAL OR AESTHETIC ASSEMBLIES FOR A WIDE RANGE OF EXISTING MANUFACTURER’S AR, AK, AND OTHER GBBR SYSTEMS”
amply demonstrated with their ultra shorty AR GBBR pistol akin to something out of Star Wars which I of course had to have a go with. The bolt action offerings included urban style systems with moulded chassis and stackable baffle/barrel extension systems
allowing for a highly customisable overall length as well as TDC HOP units with nomenclature clad fine click adjustment dials hidden in the front end of stub picatinny rail sections to better blend them into the aesthetic of the rifles as well as provide a base for scope camera setups or other forward auxiliary attachments.
Across the walkway from Maple Leaf on the bottom right corner of the show were my good friends Archwick, whose facility I spend a lot of time hanging out at and getting an all access kind of arrangement with, so while none of the products were a surprise to me, it was nonetheless exciting to see everyone else’s reactions to them!
Having recently cut out the middleman and struck an unusual, for the industry, deal direct with B&T of Switzerland to produce their B&T AIR product line; with the much anticipated APC9k GBB SMG stealing the show for the most part in its advanced prototype guise with functioning mechanism (albeit with some of the controls awaiting final components and 3D prints as stand ins) with the 3D printed AEG equivalent prototype flanking it and pegged for release toward the tail end of 2023 under present plans; longer-barrelled AEG variants are set to follow in the longer term, as well as the established USW-G chassis systems being joined by their more economical polymer framed counterparts, and the B&T SPR300 PRO bolt action urban sniper rifle with large capacity cylinder, dual style magazine feed system (VSR up front or realistic more rearward magazine in the correct position to match the real steel equivalent). They were also showing off some of their high end AR offerings in the shape of MRP, MFR, L119A2, and DDM PDW turnkey platforms with GHK/MWS system internals and usual high-end realistic manufacturing methodologies and finishes we’ve come to expect from them.
PISTOL GOODNESS AND MORE!
Behind them were our friends from Poseidon & CSI sharing a booth. Poseidon’s growing range of Orion Glock format pistols (with hidden select fire system under the rear slide) as well as an array of aesthetic components to enable users to highly customise the colour scheme and appearance of their GBB pistols were on display
and their proven internals are also being used as the basis for CSI’s more futuristic pistol offerings, with their external appearances being very aesthetically interesting as well functional with various iron or optic sighting options, tracer unit compatibility and replacement top units offering picatinny rail should users wish to attach more involved scopes. I got to let off a few BBs into their upward canted firing channel with the tracer unit, and they already sent me a sample model of the Orion earlier in the year which I need to get around to fielding; I’ll also be happy to visit their plant in the far East of Taipei when I have the time.
Besides them towards the centre of the show were Thunder Sports, the domestic distributor of major brands like ESS (my trusted eye pro for a decade and a half!) as well as Krytac; I had already gotten hands on with early production mock-ups of their surprise-drop Maxim 9 GBB pistol in Japan at Laylax, but now also got to test out the final release including the integral tracer unit and the specific holster available! Mr Song is a well-known character in the community here with his long beard and heavily tattooed appearance but perpetually warm and friendly nature he was more than happy to get me letting off BBs into the small firing range box on their booth and get my first impressions of the Maxim 9; I
should hopefully be getting hands on a T&E unit when they are released in full soon.
Against the right wall were Acetech exhibiting not only their ever growing range of more ‘standard’ pistol and rifle tracer units of various functionality and aesthetics, a new QD mounting system for their full suppressor systems, as well as their own APP driven target array systems, chronographs and other
accessories, but also their Quark KSG shotgun tracer and related internal module, which they were also showing me installed into a new M870 compatible shotgun attachment. My prior musing at Hooha show where I first encountered this proved to be true in the form of them expanding into more common models after using the KSG as a bold technology demonstrator for their module.
Beyond Acetech was the TPSA booth, Taiwan Practical Shooting Association, the governing body I’m a member of that organises and administers shooters and events in domestic Action Air / AIPSC in Taiwan, and along with their usual promotional materials they
were of course also letting people try their hands on their own short stage arranged to test people’s shooting skills; having just had the level one shoot and the level three one looming, I didn’t feel the need to get any trigger time myself, but again I was happy to bump into many familiar faces from said events and see them encouraging new shooters to try their luck.
Towards the rear of the show were ModelWorks Custom (MWC) who make highly customised GBB pistols and rifles, typically compatible with MWS
platform components, including their new retro CAR15 rifles along with more modern platforms as well as their T91 national service rifle and AK offerings. They are also partnered with Laylax as their domestic distributor and thus had an array of upgrade components such as the Prometheus barrels and HOP buckings, springs, as well as soft goods such as their Aeroflex face masks, container gun bag and breakout holster and upgrade components for the SOCOM Mk23 NBB which they already sent me home with form their headquarters previously.
OLD FRIENDS APLENTY!
Along the rear edge of the show near the main stage was Specna Arms/Gunfire Asia’s booth, with Piotr and his team displaying a small offering from their expansive range of Edge 2.0 AEGs as well as soft goods; for the most part they seemed to be very busy with face to face meetings elsewhere given their recent activities in setting up their new business wing on this side of the world, and it sounds like there’s plenty of opportunity for them to have domestic media creators to help raise awareness of their products.
And opposite them along the very back wall were PAF Airsoft, Penghu Arms Factory, and my good friend Well Hsu who’s making a name for himself in the heavy weapons field both locally with the ministry of defence and supplying them with training mockups of field systems, as well as selling them further afield to collectors or reenactors who would rather not have to deal with purchasing real M2HBs or grenade/rocket launchers! He’s recently moved into an office nearby to provide a more Taipei centric business approach despite being previously based on the outlying islands between Taiwan and the PRC.
The opposite back corner was dominated by the RoC defence capabilities in the form of recruitment booths and weapons systems displays of all branches of the domestic armed forces, with many taking an interest in clambering over attack buggies and handling an array of weapons systems or getting their pictures taken with the camouflage and balaclava-clad SF units sporting their frontline gear, an array of small arms and body armour.
Working from the front left next I went to see Bolt Airsoft; I’d seen their team and Tomy at the POLK 2 MilSim and our teammate MingYang has been long term testing their latest offering in the form of the Cybergun licensed FC SCAR-SC EBB AEG so I’d had hands on with it long before the show, but nonetheless wanted to see what else was on offer. With a growing range of their SWAT (MP5) EBB AEG platforms including the smallest MP5k and larger SD variants, as well as Daniel Defense licensed DDM4, M4A1 and Mk18 systems using the Bolt Recoil Shock System (BRSS) I haven’t visited Bolt since I first arrived so I might have to go and cover them for Airsoft Action at some point soon as well!
Front and centre was the quite large LCT Airsoft stand which I’d seen the impressive design for floating around the online media prior to the show; it was nice to catch up with their team as always and check out the latest releases they’d been perfecting since I visited their facility back in April as featured in issue No.138 - June 2022. Back then I’d gotten hands on with the late stage prototype LK-3K SAS, the shortened G3 AEG version of the platform favoured by the British special forces which makes for a handier package, while elsewhere on the stand their latest 9mm AK variants such as the LPPK20 which has the latest in ergonomic profile pistol grips as well as an AR style telescopic and side folding stock and slim front handguard as well as optics rail, in their case sporting an EOTech 558 clone which suited the overall aesthetic surprisingly well. Also keep your eyes peeled for their new Zenitco style lightweight front rail handguard variants that make for more manageable tacticool AK models! Back towards the left edge of the show was Northeast Airsoft’s typically understated but nicely presented booth, with their ever present comfy couch and gun hanging displays emphasising their niche but excellently finished range, this time purely focused on their array of MP2A1 GBB Uzi SMGs including their second generation offerings with large suppressor and heavily modernised top mounted cantilever picatinny
rail allowing the affixing of myriad optical and illuminating devices, as well as the U-shape folding stock allowing for use with masks or respirators.
Dominating the middle of the show was the VegaForce Company (VFC) split stand that showcased an array of their different classes and families of replica weapons of all shapes and sizes; with a few surprise announcements as always this year, smallest in scale but nonetheless of great interest to this avid James Bond fan is their imminent release of the Walther PPKS GBB available in both flat black and chrome, with a stubby silencer also available! I couldn’t get hands on unfortunately but will of course as soon as humanly possible. Moving up in scale there were the their Gen 2 MP5k and MP5SD5 variants of everyone’s favourite 9mm SMG, as well as a surprise announcement of HK53 in both slick and tactical versions, the display of their FAL DX edition with steel receiver and realistic wooden transit crate, along with the array of Carl Gustav M3 MAAWS recoilless rifle gas launchers with a variety of payloads on display; I should hopefully get hands on with some of these soon and report accordingly!
Stealing the show for them however was their pleasantly shocking announcement of an M249 GBB LMG which is lightweight enough to field all day long, but throws down in a realistic fashion thanks to its 150-175 BB cassette magazines which snap in to the top cover and feeds downwards into the open bolt mechanism, all powered by either a mock AR style magazine that functions as a gas reservoir, or larger underslung gas reservoirs for green gas, single or twin large CO2 bulbs, or even HPA line in systems! Allowing for at least 500 BBs of firepower from a single filling of the green gas reservoir this should be landing late 2023 and I’m extremely excited to field it with Team Taiji as a realistic section weapon given my experience of test firing it on their integral range at their booth. The steel plate was ringing, as were my ears, and I was grinning. Outstanding, as usual, guys!
Behind them were Modify, focusing mainly on the release of their ‘mud’ coloured licensed Steyr Scout Elite, with all of the previous models features such as the TDC wheel adjustment HOP unit hidden beneath the full length picatinny top rail, integral flush fit fold down bipod legs secreted in the sides of the front of the stock, as well as a more adjustable stock cheek pad, and an available reversible corrugated silencer that also allows for installation of a suitable tracer unit module should the user require one.
My next stop was CLPD’s booth and Clarence and Katherine were showing off the latest in option parts for ASG CZ Shadow 2 & SP01 models, including
all of the internal and external upgrades previously covered in my Issue No.141 September 2022 article but also Clarence’s latest offering in the form of an entirely CNC machined aluminium lower frame and top slide for improved durability and lower overall weight. Additionally his range of revolver upgrade components as well as holsters, moon clips and holders were also on show; I’ve seen a few shooters sporting these at the IPSC and IDPA competitions as of late, so he’s clearly having a continued influence on the competition circuit since coming to Taiwan.
REALISM AND IT’S A WRAP!
Further to the rear were Trench & Victory Airsoft, specialists in WW2 collectible rifles either in airsoft bolt action formats, or non-firing prop versions that are ultra-realistic and even make use of genuine furniture or components, and offer something a bit niche and special for discerning collectors or players… including their prototype MAS 38 rifle of French service. A quick stop off at Svoboda allowed me to check out their ultra-heavy and ultra-realistic shell ejecting big-bore rifles in the form of their Barrett and Cheytac Intervention centrepiece antimateriel rifle platforms before I rounded off the new releases with a look at GHK Airsoft, who were showcasing not only their new licensed Colt Mk12 Mod 1 GBBR US SOCOM sniper platform, but also their 5th generation MOS optics ready Umarex Glock with additional front slide serrations and using their somewhat unique realistic striker system fired GBB pistol which seems to have a vastly improved trigger pull from what I experienced; however the magazine was not gassed up so I can’t comment further on performance until I get hands on with one when they are released.
There were many other booths and stalls to see, but most are directly related to more domestic only oriented products or auxiliary services and given the already long nature of this article I figured I’d try and stick to the more obvious or pertinent products that are likely of interest to the widest audience, however the entirety of my photographic exploits can be found on my Stewbacca: Island Insider Facebook page.
Over the course of the three days I had lots of time to converse with old friends and industry partners and should hopefully have more content and site visits or product testing to undertake in 2023 as a result of all these renewed connections following the relative silence of many manufacturers over the last few years. As always our sincere thanks go to Eric and his team at QRF for putting on such an excellent show and to all the exhibitors and our friends in the media for making the show, and the wider community at large what it is. AA
