Airsoft Action - August 2023

CONTENTS

8 ARMOURY: ASG STEYR L9-A2

At IWA earlier this year we had a superb meeting with the new UK team from ACTIONSPORTGAMES (ASG). The first result from that meeting has been the all-new STEYR L9-A2 GBB that we’ve had in testing for a while, and now Boycie lands his verdict!

16 ARMOURY: LCT LC-3K AEG

LCT have released their much awaited LC-3K shortened, specialist battle rifle AEG, and our “Man in Taiwan”, Stewbacca, has been on point again!

Editorial Director: Bill Thomas

Deputy Editor (Asia): Stu Mortimer

Graphic Design: Calibre Publishing

Ad Design: Deadshot Design

Publisher: Calibre Publishing

26 ARMOURY: RA-TECH EMG/GHK NOVESKE 10.5 GBBR

Stewbacca managed to get his hands on the latest and greatest from one of Taiwan’s high-end custom component and turnkey solution manufacturers, Red Alert Tech (RATech) of Hualien on the East coast of Taiwan, to put it through its paces!

Web: www.airsoftaction.net

©Calibre Publishing Limited 2023

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38 ARMOURY: CYBERGUN/BOLT BRSS SCAR-SC

We’re always pleased to see a new replica AEG coming onto the market, especially when our friends at BOLT are involved, but as we’ve delved deeper into the story of the SCAR-SC things are not quite as clear as they might initially seem, as Bill reports...

56 ARMOURY: DELTA ARMORY MK18 ALPHA AEG

We’ve recently added a new “Mk18” AEG from DELTA ARMORY to the long-term test pool, and it’s proving to be quite a conversationstarter! Bill takes an in-depth look at a new take on one of his favourite AR platforms.

44 THE CAGE: DEDICATED COMP BELT KIT

As we come to the end of another sequence in THE CAGE, the AA LEGION and a very welcome “guest” are going to explain all things “dedicated” as competition belt setups are a very different beast to what we would usually use in a skirmish situation, but we’ll show y are an investment that can serve you ably for many years!

76

Dan has something of a “rep” within the AA Crew now when it comes to getting the very best out of AEGs, and this time he takes on the beast that is the LAMBDA DEFENCE MK48 MOD 1 to see if he can get it to reach the potential it promised from the outset!

48 RED CELL: HK146/MK18 UPDATE

It’s time for another mid-point RED CELL UPDATE and this time for a couple of platforms that are very dear to our hearts! As the long-term test pool continues to grow with the commitment and inclusion of numerous manufacturers for our ongoing program, we’re turning our attention this month to our HK416 and Mk18 “NSW” models!

84 AA LEGION: JAPAN

As word of the AA LEGION continues to spread, “Tama” approached Stewbacca online to submit a debut review and share his experiences of the OPS “Survival Game” Field in the Tokyo area, and thankfully he brings another player perspective from our growing contingent of friends overseas!

62 TECH: MAPLE LEAF

In the first of many planned collaborative articles with “Military” Anny Wu who Stewbacca introduced in our inaugural “Getting Personal” feature back in Issue 148 of April 2023, he sat down with her to get the scoop on her previous visit to Maple Leaf Tactical’s recently established ‘Creative Workshop’ facility open to visitors in the Southwest of New Taipei City.

Over the past few months, as the summer heat in Taiwan intensifies, Stewbacca and his expansive group of compatriots in Team Taiji have similarly been ratcheting up the action and preparation for their next big MilSim event; POLK3 will be held in the same area as last year’s POLK2 but the planners have secured better camping facilities and a more open play area which will hopefully be less of a nightmare to play through than last year’s efforts… although it’s being held in mid-July so the heat and humidity are definitely something they also need to prepare for!

68 TECH: RATTLECAN CAMO

We spend a lot of time, effort and money putting together our camouflage system of clothing and gear, but whatever pattern you prefer you still end up with a darn great black rifle sticking out in front of you unless you take some very direct action! This is an area that we’ve covered before, but as it’s a question we get asked time and again Bill gets his trusty rattlecans out again to give the pool ROSSI NEPTUNE SAS a proper field-expedient “O.W.N” spray-job!

94 RELOADED: VFC BCM

Back In 2021 Bill took a really good look at the then-new BCM MCMRs from VegaForce Company (VFC) and fell back in love with AR platforms all over again! These two premium airsoft platforms have proved to be the foundation of the VFC “BCMAIR” program so now he looks back on his experiences so far, and looks to the future!

TECH: LAMBDA DEFENCE MK48 MOD 1 OPTIMISATION

88 AA LEGION: TAIWAN

STRIKER... BUT NOT AS WE KNOW IT!

AT IWA EARLIER THIS YEAR WE HAD A SUPERB MEETING WITH THE NEW UK TEAM FROM ACTIONSPORTGAMES (ASG) AND WE WERE VERY GLAD TO SEE THAT THEY ARE OBVIOUSLY FULLY BACK ON TRACK WITH THEIR DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO THEIR LICENCED REPLICATIONS THAT WE’VE ALL COME TO KNOW AND LOVE OVER THE YEARS! THE FIRST RESULT FROM THAT MEETING HAS BEEN THE ALL-NEW STEYR L9-A2 GBB THAT WE’VE NOW HAD IN TESTING FOR A WHILE, AND NOW BOYCIE LANDS HIS VERDICT!

The newly designed STEYR PISTOL A2 MF is the newest member in the STEYR ARMS product family. It is available in 3 sizes –(L-Large; M-Medium and C-Compact) with 17rnd magazine, a real picatinny rail (MilStd. 1913) at the forend and a fully adjustable grip. The back strap as well as both sides of the grip are adjustable with different sized inlays. The grip also features a funnel for a quick magazine change. Our pistols are all IPSC-listed.

That’s what Steyr say about the A2 pistol on their website and in their marketing blurb for the “real deal”, and I have to say that it is an exciting design, and one that I’m very glad to see ably replicated by ActionSportGames (ASG) under licence!

The real Steyr M series is actually a family of semiautomatic pistols developed by Steyr Mannlicher in Austria for both professional and civilian shooters. Online research tells me that “design work on the new pistol began in the early 1990s and the final product known as the M9 (adapted to fire the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge) was officially unveiled in the spring of 1999. The M40 version chambered in .40 S&W was developed before the M9, followed later by the M357 (chambered in .357 SIG) and two smaller variants of the M9 and M40 designated the S9 and S40 respectively.”

Apparently the first pistols in the “family” were developed first and foremost for concealed carry and therefore had a shortened barrel, slide, smaller frame and a reduced magazine capacity. In 2013, the Steyr M (Medium) and S (Small) pistol models were joined by the L (Large) and C (Compact) models both available in 9×19mm Parabellum and .40 S&W chamberings as the L9-A1, L40-A1, C9-A1 and C40-A1. In 2019 though Steyr introduced the A2 MF

series in 9×19mm Parabellum in three sizes; the Large L9-A2 MF, Medium M9-A2 MF and Compact C9-A2 MF, where “MF” stood simply for Modular Frame. The revised grip frame featured a STANAG 2324 Picatinny rail, more aggressive surface texturing, a lengthened beaver tail and was adjustable to user preferences with different sized back-straps and side grip inlay panels.

Hammerless and striker-fired, the current Steyr M features a double action only (DAO) pre-set trigger mechanism marketed as a “Reset Action” trigger. Noteworthy on the Steyr M series is the unique “trapezoidal” sight picture of its fixed, and this sighting setup consists of a triangular front sight and a trapezoid rear notch that leads the eye to the target for quicker target acquisition and allow for instinctive aiming. Optional adjustable or non-adjustable tritium-illuminated three-dot low light situation sights can also be fitted to the “real”, and these have a conventional rectangular profile, although I’m certain that further development will come!

The L9-A2 has been faithfully replicated in airsoft form by the OEM, which ASG are keeping close to their chest for now as they don’t want to give too much away, and they have presented us with what looks to be a great looking airsoft version of the “real”, a GBB that thankfully I’ve been able to spend some serious time with thanks to the lovely guys at ASG UK.

GETTING INTO IT

The box is really nice, with an outline drawing of the L9-A2, and the usual warnings and licensing information. On opening the box, there’s a well presented pistol in a clear plastic bag. As with most pistols boxed this way there are the bags with

“HAVING SEEN THE REAL PISTOL THE ATTENTION TO DETAIL OF THIS AIRSOFT VERSION IS JUST BRILLIANT, RIGHT DOWN TO THE TEXTURE ON THE FRAME, SIDE PANELS AND BACK STRAPS, THE LATTER TWO BOTH BEING INTERCHANGEABLE. THE MARKINGS AS YOU WOULD EXPECT WITH THE OFFICIALLY LICENSED PISTOL ARE EXACTLY AS ON THE REAL STEEL VERSION”

accessories and parts under the inner packaging. The first thing I did, which is habit of mine and not a bad one, was to remove the pistol from the bag, removing the magazine and checking the “chamber”. Having seen the real pistol the attention to detail of this airsoft version is just brilliant, right down to the texture on the frame, side panels and back straps, the latter two both being interchangeable. The markings as you would expect with the officially licensed pistol are exactly as on the real steel version.

This is a pistol which feels really nice in the hand and has quite a unique look, but with echoes of other pistols on the market; for example, the back straps have a pattern that is reminiscent of a Gen 3 Glock, with a similar type of trigger. The grip angle is similar to that of an H&K P8. The front of the pistol is quite blocky like that of the USP. The trigger guard reminds me of that on the Beretta M9. Looking down the

slide from the rear, there is a similar profile to that of a S&W M&P9, as is the beavertail. Side on the slide has similarities to that of a SIG 226E2, but with a vastly lower profile. There are also echoes of an XDM but without the safety in the back of the grip. The method of takedown is of a similar type to that on the SIG 226 and other variants, but on the right side, not the left as on the SIG. And the rounded muzzle end of the slide is like that on the Gen 5 Glock. The side profile also reminded me somewhat bizarrely of the Krytac Maxim 9! All of these features are superb, and it’s like Steyr have searched around for all the useful and attractive features on some of the most popular models out there and melded them all into one aesthetically pleasing and highly functional handgun design of their own!

Things that I personally like about the L9-A2 immediately… there are a few! The grip angle and

“THINGS THAT I PERSONALLY LIKE ABOUT THE L9-A2 IMMEDIATELY… THERE ARE A FEW! THE GRIP ANGLE AND “PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE” TEXTURE COMES FIRST, CLOSELY FOLLOWED BY THE REVERSIBLE MAG RELEASE WHICH IS GREAT, ALTHOUGH THE SLIDE LOCK RELEASE IS ONLY USEABLE BY A RIGHT HANDER”

“BEING A STRIKER-FIRED ACTION I WANTED TO SEE WHAT THE HAMMER SPRING WAS LIKE AND LIL STU SAID “HOLEE HECK THAT IS STRONG”, WHICH I AGREED WITH. SOME OTHER BRANDS OF STRIKER FIRED RIF PISTOLS HAVE A QUITE WEAK SPRING BUT THIS, TO ME, FELT MORE AKIN TO THE STRENGTH OF WHAT I WOULD EXPECT ON A REAL STEEL FIREARM”

“passive aggressive” texture comes first, closely followed by the reversible mag release which is great, although the slide lock release is only useable by a right hander. This won’t be a problem for me as I use the ‘grasp the slide’ slide lock release method. Even though I could swap the mag release over to the right (as I am left handed), I still favour the “right handed option” as it means that my finger is most definitely off the trigger during reloads. The interchangeable palm swells are really good as well, being able to change them around to suit your hand size. Lil Stu pointed out that “for his tiny dabs” having a slim panel on the right and the medium on the left, allied to the medium back strap provided a bespoke set up that suits him. Faithfully replicated in the airsoft replica is the flared magwell which really makes the loading of the magazine really easy.

What I REALLY like is that the outer barrel has the appearance of hexagonal rifling, and the addition of a brass section around the inner barrel/hop unit just is fantastic. In a sport where a majority of people want realism, this brass ring gives the impression of a real round being chambered; this for me is such a simple thing, but has really impressed me and just caps the attention to detail found in this replica.

DOWNRANGE

Stripping the pistol is simple once you get to grips with pushing the button down, rotating the latch and holding the slide. JB from ASG UK told me that they had test fired this L9 before it was handed over to me and this, I found, had rendered it a little dry inside so before I started the firing tests, I fitted a bulb into the mag and went to the range to see how many shots it would deliver in the dry state. Unsurprisingly it only lasted 10 laboured shots before the dreaded “hissssss” of the bulb. Being a striker-fired action I wanted to see what the hammer spring was like and Lil Stu said “Holee heck, that is strong!”, which I agreed with. Some other brands of striker fired RIF pistols have a quite weak spring but this, to me, felt more akin to the strength of what I would expect on a real steel firearm.

So to the testing; loading up the magazine with a CO2 bulb and ASG Blaster BBs it was time to hit the range and chronoing on a .20g came in pretty much

bang on iro 0.83 Joule/300fps as ASG state, although I then upped to .25g. I’m lucky as I have access to an indoor range and for the most part skirmishers will use their pistol at shorter ranges like up to 25m so this was ideal for me to get some initial testing going. I started holding the L9-A2 at low ready and snap shooting from approximately 7m; the grouping was tight, all BBs landing within an A6 size group (1/4 a sheet of A4). Moving back out to 15m and taking more time to line up the shots, as you would expect the group expanded a little and then back at 20m I was still able to hit an A4 sheet sized group! This for me is a good guide as to being able to hit the target in a CQB environment where you may only have a small gap to get your shot through.

Before the firing tests I properly lubed the surfaces and blowback unit, and this made all the difference. The L9 was really snappy and completed 30 effective shots from the bulb before the slide didn’t travel far enough to re-cock the striker. As is usual the ambient temperature and how well the pistol is lubed plays a big factor in how many shots can be taken from a single bulb.

So to summarise; this is one pistol that I really enjoyed using, so much so I actually asked JB if it had to go back to ASG and “could I buy it”, to which he said he’d prefer that I get a spanky new one and a purchase will be arranged in the not too distant future, and from Lil Stu’s comments I am pretty sure he’s looking at getting one as well after being part of the review. This is really the highest recommendation we can give to any new model that we test, when we say that we’ll buy it ourselves; we get to play with so many airsoft models through the RED CELL long-term testing program that we’re often spoiled for choice, but for me, and for Lil Stu too apparently, the ASG STEYR L9-A2 GBB is most definitely a “keeper”!

My thanks go to JB at ASG UK for letting me get my hands on the evaluation sample L9-A2, to Lil Stu for his input and assistance, to Mally and Richard for helping me with the photos and to Glenn at Phoenix Range for allowing me to use the facilities for the test shoots. Finally, there is so much more that can be written about the L9-A2 but that will only come after extensive testing in the field and in Action Air comps, so watch this space for a “RELOADED” feature down the road… AA

“THE GROUPING WAS TIGHT, ALL BBS LANDING WITHIN AN A6 SIZE GROUP (1/4 A SHEET OF A4). MOVING BACK OUT TO 15M AND TAKING MORE TIME TO LINE UP THE SHOTS, AS YOU WOULD EXPECT THE GROUP EXPANDED A LITTLE AND THEN BACK AT 20M I WAS STILL ABLE TO HIT AN A4 SHEET SIZED GROUP!”

REGIMENT READY

CAST YOUR MINDS (OR INDEED EYES, THANKS TO OUR ONLINE REPERTOIRE OF FREE TO READ BACK ISSUES!) TO ISSUE 150 FROM EARLIER IN JUNE THIS YEAR, YOU’LL NO DOUBT RECALL STEWBACCA’S ASSESSMENT OF THE HIGHLY MODULAR LCT AIRSOFT H&K G3 STYLED SERIES OF LC3 AEG RIFLE PLATFORMS AND THE WEALTH OF ATTACHMENTS THEY SENT HIM TO TRY OUT; THIS, ALONG WITH EXPOSURE FROM THEIR OTHER MEDIA PARTNERS ELSEWHERE, WAS A REFRESHER OF OLDER MORE ESTABLISHED PRODUCTS AS A TASTER OF THINGS YET TO COME. WELL, AS OF THIS MONTH THEY HAVE RELEASED THEIR MUCH AWAITED LC-3K SHORTENED, SPECIALIST BATTLE RIFLE AEG, AND OUR “MAN IN TAIWAN” HAS BEEN ON POINT AGAIN!

The G3 “K” of the real steel world is another famed Heckler & Koch answer to the question of how do you cram maximum firepower into a handier package; with UK Special Forces’ experiences in Northern Ireland highlighting the continued effectiveness of 7.62x51 ammunition in certain anti-vehicle or ambush situations, many had concerns about its over-penetration in urban settings

short-barreled variant of the hugely successful more standard full length G3 system in hand, I have their whole range of H&K variants in my collection, and with the LK-33 and LK-53 5.56mm platforms having found a home on my gun wall much earlier, the arrival of their larger calibre siblings rounds things off nicely for the moment… while the MP5 and HK21 platforms have been teased previously I haven’t yet heard

the troubles with. Thus the LC-3K is a perfect addition to the collection of anyone looking for the “Brit Kit” angle and we’ll no doubt see it being adopted in the airsoft arena as fervently as it was in the real steel realm as a result… I might even direct you towards the LK003 triple-rail picatinny handguard option part in LCT’s line-up if you want to replicate the aforementioned modernised Royal Marine setup! A few weeks back (at the time of writing, at least) yet another long, suspicious package made its way swiftly to me in Taipei at the behest of Bella at LCT Airsoft down in Changhua; having already received their LC3A3W AEG along with the aforementioned box-load of stock options, rail mount systems and other accoutrements I was already well prepared for its arrival! Now with the LC3K ‘SAS’ specialist

angles. There’s also a small indent picture of the specific model within the box on the bottom right corner, a slight departure from the schematic image outline of the earlier LC-3 model.

Inside lurked the new object of everyone’s affection, the LC3K is in reality only around 120mm shorter than its full tilt older sibling which tops out at 1026mm with a fixed stock fitted, and the front furniture of the G3 has been swapped out for that of the HK33 and the reduced overall length of 900mm stock extended, effectively amounting to the exposed length of the barrel of the full length variant being lost, with the front of flash hider of the LC-3K ending around where the frontsight post of the LC3A3 would be. Of course as a result you also lose around 115mm from the inner barrel length in the process, not that

“ANOTHER LONG, SUSPICIOUS PACKAGE MADE ITS WAY SWIFTLY TO ME IN TAIPEI AT THE BEHEST OF BELLA AT LCT AIRSOFT DOWN IN CHANGHUA; HAVING ALREADY RECEIVED THEIR LC3A3W AEG ...I WAS ALREADY WELL PREPARED FOR ITS ARRIVAL!”

the remaining 400mm is anything to sniff at in an SBR laden world!

Not a massive overall difference, you might think, but the grip thickness of the LK-33 furniture is a lot less hefty than that of the LC3 to boot, so it immediately feels more handy to grip and manoeuvrable despite the apparently minor changes. It has to be said, however, that you don’t seem to

of a stable shooting platform when being used while in game or during range testing in a prone position; having to cradle all 5+ kilograms of the base rifle and all the attachments on my elbows didn’t seem too appealing. I first managed to field it at the next session of IPSC practise at team SPPT’s new training facility, running drills with the VTAC barricade I recently put together for our team, as well as running

weight of the LC-3A3 as I left it configured since the last write up.

The cross-compatibility of the identical receivers allowed me to immediately swap the LC034 picatinny adaptor rail mount section from the LC3-A3 over to the LC-3K with the minimum of fuss; this time I elected to set it up as a bit more of a close-in weapons system, given its original fame at the hands of special forces operators, so I slapped an EoTech clone along with a flip to side magnifier combination I’d just happened to acquire from a teammate earlier that day, and the initial look seemed fairly swish.

RANGING IN

Adding the LK010 folding bipod also added a little more to the weight, but also the usefulness in terms

at a somewhat close range of around 7-8m, so while I was drilling neat holes in the paper and moving up towards the centre ‘A’ as I adjusted, the extreme close quarters setup would come back to bite me later on the practical stages; height over bore at even closer targets saw me aiming at the tops of targets obscured by no-shoots and inevitably picking up some penalties as the BBs strayed into the white below. Nonetheless it was a fun and informative first outing, and at least it allowed me to get to grips once again with the rock and lock reloading and handling of the chunkier 7.62mm sized magazines, the LC-3K being supplied with an LC012 slab sided plain 140 BB midcap variant, rather than the ‘waffle’ style ribbed LC010 pair of midcaps I was sent with the LC-3A3.

Having the extra magazines lying around certainly

“THE CROSS-COMPATIBILITY OF THE IDENTICAL RECEIVERS ALLOWED ME TO IMMEDIATELY SWAP THE LC034 PICATINNY ADAPTOR RAIL MOUNT SECTION FROM THE LC3-A3 OVER TO THE LC-3K WITH THE MINIMUM OF FUSS”

“FIELDING THE LC-3K OUTDOORS AT THE TEAM’S NEXT HUTOUSHAN MOUNTAIN AND JUNGLE SITE GAME ALLOWED ME TO STRETCH ITS LEGS SOMEWHAT AND SEE WHAT, IF ANY, DIFFERENCE THE SHORTER INNER BARREL AND OVERALL LENGTH MADE TO PERFORMANCE”

helped with keeping on top of ammunition during the stages, as normally we have tens of hits at most to be made, so I tended to just use one magazine over several stages, although occasionally I had to emergency reload on the move having lost track and spent all the rounds even in the reasonably high capacity midcaps; all good practise for more lively encounters on the skirmish field, at least! The trigger itself seems even more responsive in this instance than the previous LC-3A3 I got to grips with, even though the motors and gearboxes are apparently the same specification; perhaps it’s a function of getting used to the break-point and handling from earlier experiences, or just my feelings operating it against the clock showing through!

Nonetheless, with my preference towards the telescopic stock variants I once again hampered myself a little bit with regards to the aforementioned LK33 handguard dimensions; the LK-53 has a rounder profile with a little more internal space, allowing for a small battery to be fitted with greater ease, but the LK-33 full-length furniture incorporates the indentations for the bipod to fold up into and in general is longer and narrower feeling. With a reduced volume between it and the outer barrel to contend with, it took some juggling to get my somewhat blocky 11.1v 1100mAh LiPo battery pack wedged in securely and connected up to the contacts; again, if you have the opportunity a fixed rear-wired stock, or external battery mounting solution may be an easier option, I just like everything compact due to my own personal transportation requirements for getting around in as ‘grey man’ a manner as possible out here.

I managed to make do, at least, resting the triple stacked cell battery pack against the internal bulkhead of the handguard and arranging the wiring loom and connectors in between the outer barrel and charging handle tube to make best use of the space. Using separate cell nunchaku-style battery packs arranged around the outer barrel radially might be easier, unfortunately my own one used in the previous LC-3A3 review process seemed to bulge and fry… perhaps it took a BB while somewhat exposed in the battery bag on the gun during testing in CQB environments, so I had to dispose of it!

The internal bulkhead style clamp that aligns it to

the outer barrel does have spaces around it suitable for routing wiring through, so an extended wiring loom might be a worthwhile approach if you have to use a front wired variant for similar reasons as myself. I’ll no doubt experiment with different setups and new battery units as I get the chance to in future, but do be mindful of stripping or catching the wiring when installing the batteries and re-affixing the handguard.

Rearward of the front furniture the LC-3K is basically identical to the LC-3, with the same receiver and modular fire control groups, although the LC-3K comes with a later plain ‘Navy’ style pistol grip instead of the integrally ribbed finger grooved classic version on my LC-3. The fire selector remains the SEF style large left side only lever I like, at least, despite the modernised plastic grip format. The telescopic stock once again includes the familiar welded sling loop that allowed me to readily attach my usual QD Fastex buckle to interface with my integrated single-pointedsling system of my various customised plate carriers, while the FASTMag pouches of the placards allowed ease of acceptance of the G3 7.62mm magazines that my PSG-1 also use (albeit those are heavier gas versions) but having all the gear in place to readily switch between different ‘calibres’ of real steel platforms certainly makes the reviewing process less troublesome and breeds familiarity at least.

IN GAME, FULL ON

Fielding the LC-3K outdoors at the team’s next Hutoushan mountain and jungle site game allowed me to stretch its legs somewhat and see what, if any, difference the shorter inner barrel and overall length made to performance and if the changes in handling were more effective in tight and entangling environments. The LC-3K was surprisingly consistent like its longer-barrelled predecessor and quite capable of hurling 0.3g BLS rounds out to 30-40m without much if any deviation once the HOP unit was tuned in a little, and even at further ranges the cone of fire didn’t open up a huge amount and I was shredding branches off small bushes with it during the firefights that ensued during the somewhat sweltering Sunday morning out in the mountains.

The overall weight definitely made me notice it that day too; if people are looking for an ultra-realistic AEG that’s made in a manner very similar to the real deal,

“I FIRST MANAGED TO FIELD IT AT THE NEXT SESSION OF IPSC PRACTISE AT TEAM SPPT’S NEW TRAINING FACILITY, RUNNING DRILLS WITH THE VTAC BARRICADE I RECENTLY PUT TOGETHER FOR OUR TEAM, AS WELL AS RUNNING THE GUN LIVE IN STAGES ON PAPER AND POPPERS AGAINST THE CLOCK”

and want the full weight of pressed steel that can throw rounds downrange in quick succession and look the part doing it, I imagine they need look no further! The rough raw weight of 5kg was pressed up to around 6kg by the time I added the optics mount rail, EoTech and flip to side clone optics and bipod, and it really made me feel it lugging it up hill and down dale in the tropical heat and spider-infested bushes west of Taipei!

Retracting the familiar folding charging handle against its substantial return spring allows once again for the faux bolt to be locked rearward and the drum style HOP unit to be accessed through the open ejection port for adjustment, and of course given the

forwards after all, again with an identical length of pull to the LC-3 full sized model.

The rear and front sights again follow the same format of the LC-3 and indeed all the other H&K models; fixed front post in an enclosed ring, and the windage and elevation retention screw adjustable four position angled rotary drum sight of the rear sight allowing for various peep sight hole sizes or the open notch to be selected. Truth be told on this occasion I went straight to optical sight usage for the testing to make best use of the EoTech and magnifier in the mixed range engagements of the hilltop jungle environment.

As usual, removing the butt stock via the standard

mechanism at the rear of the gearbox and change the mainspring with ease to suit your local or national power limits. Being a domestic Taiwan-usage model mine was kicking out 120m/s (390 FPS which again makes the Taiwan ready variant a bit toasty compared to the UK’s power limits) and it was shooting very consistently with as little as +/- 1m/s when using 0.20g BLS BBs for chrono testing over a string of around 15 BBs; the trigger response also felt a lot better in game, with me able to make rapid follow-up shots through the treelines.

So with another in the ever-growing line of LCT Airsoft’s fantastically, and ultra-realistically, constructed H&K AEGs in hand (no doubt already winging its way

to once again personalise your LCT AEG to suit an array of historic or personal preferences and really make it your own.

My thanks as always to Bella and the wider LCT Airsoft team for arranging the sample LC-3K ahead of its release to allow me to get to grips with it and share my thoughts before they start filling the market; no doubt they’ll find their way into the hands of many similarly impatient fans! AA

“THE LC-3K WAS SURPRISINGLY CONSISTENT LIKE ITS LONGER-BARRELLED PREDECESSOR AND QUITE CAPABLE OF HURLING 0.3G BLS ROUNDS OUT TO 30-40M WITHOUT MUCH IF ANY DEVIATION ONCE THE HOP UNIT WAS TUNED IN A LITTLE, AND EVEN AT FURTHER RANGES THE CONE OF FIRE DIDN’T OPEN UP A HUGE AMOUNT”

CUSTOM COMPONENT AND TURNKEY SOLUTION MANUFACTURERS, RED ALERT TECH (RATECH) OF HUALIEN ON THE EAST COAST OF TAIWAN, TO PUT IT THROUGH ITS PACES!

Those of you who saw my coverage of MOA 2022 back in February’s Issue 146 along with the various online media and videos covering the event, and indeed those of you who make use of customised GBBR platforms in various corners of the world will no doubt have come across the name “RATech” ( Red Alert Tech) based out here in Taiwan, who for quite some time now have been churning

out near indestructible upgrade components for an array of GBBR platforms, building on their earlier experiences of making gas nozzle components for imported Tokyo Marui guns to allow them to operate in Taiwan’s physically (and FPS-wise) hotter environments effectively. Myself and Military Anny went to visit them prior to me receiving the sample of their latest licensed product, and the full story of

5.56mm and 300BLK variants being offered with the suitably accurate variations of gas block positioning, faux gas system length and barrel profiles being similarly faithfully replicated in great detail, as well as being produced with both GHK and Tokyo Marui

of their mechanisms; the bolt carrier groups feeling like they are running on glass beads or roller bearings, there is a slight metallic grating noise of the carrier moving, but there is no real resistance like you might experience in other products, particularly in the middle of their range of movement. Many other GBBR

“IT ISN’T JUST THE OVERALL LOOKS AND MINOR DETAILS OF THE REAL SPEC NOVESKE N4 THAT ARE REPLICATED, THE PHYSICAL CONSTRUCTION METHODOLOGY ALSO GETS THE RATECH ATTENTION TO DETAIL TREATMENT”

“I DECIDED TO SEE WHAT THE RATECH WAS CAPABLE OF WHILE I WAS AT IT, PUTTING A MIX OF 0.45G AND 0.48G BLS BBS THROUGH IT WHILE I HAD IT WITH ME FOR ITS FIRST OUTING, AND IN ALL HONESTY IT WAS PERFORMING AS WELL AS, IF NOT BETTER, THAN MY PSG-1 AND FAL WOULD AT THOSE RANGES”

platforms, especially those with AR configuration internals, tend to ‘hang up’ midway at times or give more resistance to manual operation or during the firing cycle as their hammers will start resisting the movement of the bolt carrier groups as they get overridden.

This fairly typical phenomenon is noticeably absent from RATech’s N4 GBBRs and other products, as is the ‘sproingy’ operation of the buffer tube and its spring, which to me sings to the quality of the components, their realistic surface finishes interacting, as well as the fine tuning of the internal mechanism, as the hammer rests perfectly in the cocked position to not put too much upward pressure on the bolt carrier that results in that resistance.

The next thing you are likely to notice (and literally everyone who’s handled my example has commented on) is the trigger; it’s just beautiful, worthy of a Garand Thumb ghosting segment! With a very short and realistic overall slight forward travel upon cocking the action, coupled with around a 4lb short and crisp pull and break and similarly excellent reset that occurs right at the front of its resting state with no slack or take up, in a similar manner to the H&K style triggers of the PSG-1, MP5 and HK53 I have, but on a much shorter travel. It makes it ridiculously easy to let off multiple BBs in a rapid string, which, coupled with the general build quality and consistency has allowed me to stack rounds on paper at IPSC practise sessions to the point where it’s drilling one large contiguous hole in the perforated ‘A’ letter of the A-zone.

Being GHK compatible you can definitely feel the difference in its operation as well; there’s just something about GHK’s AR PMAG system that seems to deliver “Good Hard Kick” The action cycles with great impulse and speed, and of course the very enjoyable recoil and noise to accompany it, the whole system working together just pounds BBs downrange and the buttstock into your shoulder in a very reassuring and repeatable manner, with little or no cool down even when dumping all the BBs through it in semi auto strings.

After first receiving the RATech Noveske N4 GBBR I took it out to our Yangmei Dormitories outdoor CQB site along with my PSG-1 which I was going to do some paper printing work at 10, 20 and 30m to test some new ammunition and get some measurable

“THE N4 GBBR OBVIOUSLY HAS THE BENEFIT OF RATECH’S UPPER INTERNAL GAS COMPONENTS (WHICH THEY’VE LARGELY BUILT THEIR NAME AND BRAND UPON) WITH THEIR MORE RECENT INJECTION MOULDED POLYMER INCARNATIONS OF THEIR MAGNETIC LOCKING NPAS GAS NOZZLE AND BOLT CARRIER SYSTEM”

TAP/CLICK IMAGES FOR MORE INFORMATION

results prior to trying some internal upgrades. On the day I was throwing BLS 0.48g BBs, the heaviest I have found which aren’t the black colour like the 0.5g BBs which are therefore nigh on impossible to see downrange, and was happily lobbing rounds out to 50m with little or no effort, even knocking over a leftover coffee cup at that range.

I decided to see what the RATech was capable of while I was at it, putting a mix of 0.45g and 0.48g BLS BBs through it while I had it with me for its first outing, and in all honesty it was performing as well as, if not better, than my PSG-1 and FAL would at those ranges, peppering the cupboard that the coffee cup was resting on with a surprisingly narrow cone of fire at such a reasonably long range given that it’s basically an SBR sized rifle with a much shorter inner barrel than the PSG-1’s monstrous 650mm one and 7.62mm scale internal gas system.

Again a line of teammates was forming to get hands on, especially some of my fellow GBBR appreciators who recognised the platform and the GHK magazine I was feeding into it; many knowing and appreciative noises and grins all round as we threw BBs downrange in the light rain from the cover of the prep area inside one of the buildings.

I’d already taken the liberty of using the MLOK and picatinny top rail of the handguard and upper receiver to stick an ballistic protected Aimpoint T1 style red dot sight on the top, as well as the replica LA5 unit I got from TMC for the Archwick GHK L119A2 dressup bit I’d done way back for its release a year or so earlier but had since been languishing in a bag not seeing any use. This platform is perfect for such coolkid-toys and it really completed the look, as well as finally giving me a mounted illumination solution for the darker parts of the corridors and buildings, and I was soon reliably throwing BBs all the way down the length of the corridors with a consistency and accuracy that surprised myself almost as much as my teammates on the receiving end! It was a good day…

I’ve also added the leftover two point sling from the aforementioned “Obi Wan Nairobi” attempt, and also added on some QD Fastex buckles and a proper QD attachment MLOK point to the rear left slot of the handguard as well as a stub BCM style vertical foregrip angled forwards on the rearmost bottom MLOK slot as that allows me to comfortably clamp

“I’VE CHRONOGRAPHED THE N4 GBBR PUTTING OUT AROUND 1.5J MUZZLE VELOCITY, WITH 0.20G BLS BBS GIVING A VERY CONSISTENT 122-125M/S RANGE OF SHOTS WITH VERY LITTLE VARIANCE FOR THE MOST PART”

grip the whole lot as well as actuate the on-board or remote switches for the LA5 to give me torch or green laser capability. The latter mode is not permitted for use in game within our own rules in Taiwan, but nonetheless it’s useful for co-witnessing the point of aim with your red dot during zeroing or against paper or popper targets on the range. However, it’s also of limited use at times after the first BB flies downrange as the sheer recoil impulse tends to shake the LA5 and its axially mounted battery with such force that it interrupts the metal contacts inside and cuts out the light or laser if you have it stuck on continuous on mode!

Of course I won’t let this minor inconvenience detract from my great enjoyment of the system - thankfully my optics these days mostly have transverse batteries to avoid them blinking out during the inevitable recoil of the vast majority of my gun collection out here. The RATech N4 GBBR is just obscene amounts of fun to use as well as being genuinely applicable in a snap-shooting style thanks to the sheer consistency of its inner workings and the results they bring you on both paper and meat; I’m also planning on fielding it at the next ‘Ding Ding Cup’ action air competition coming in early August, as it will no doubt serve me as well in a competitive environment as it has on the skirmish field and running action air drills thus far. I’ve also acquired a further three GHK PMAGs for it to give me a total of 160 BBs so I can also take it to the upcoming POLK 3 Milsim as an alternative to my primary FAL setup

which can carry nearly as much ammunition but in fewer magazines thanks to the 40 BB capacity of the GHK PMAGs over the 25ish balls of fun of the eight FAL mags I have.

Fielding it against living targets at the recent game at our new airport side brushland outdoor site, I was once again pleasantly surprised to see it throwing heavyweight BBs out towards the 70-80m mark with ease, almost letting me pick off individual leaves on trees… if my eyes or optics were good enough for that! And again, it was rivalling the FAL for range and consistency which I’d taken along for further testing and fielding on that same occasion.

IT’S THE LITTLE THINGS…

In terms of output, the N4 GBBR obviously has the benefit of RATech’s upper internal gas components (which they’ve largely built their name and brand upon) with their more recent injection moulded polymer incarnations of their magnetic locking NPAS gas nozzle and bolt carrier system, a more economical and accessible variation on their older full CNC steel setups which found their way into my WETech HK416 and/or T91 to resolve a lot of the issues I was having with them, but which cost around the same as the base guns! These newer polymer alternatives give you all the same adjustable and position-retaining NPAS benefits but in a much more affordable guise.

Without adjusting it myself thus far I’ve chronographed the N4 GBBR putting out around 1.5J muzzle velocity, with 0.20g BLS BBs giving a very consistent 122-125m/s range of shots with very little variance for the most part; joule creep does tend to come in to play a little even though the barrel is comparatively short (the NPAS system enables the N4 to kick it up to 2J of muzzle energy when running the 0.48g BLS BBs) so, your mileage may vary depending on local temperature conditions as well as restrictions, but the obvious ease of adjustment and reliable retention of settings for RATech’s magnetic locking NPAS allow you to be sure that you can get your own N4 singing at the right note for your situation and keep it there.

The magazine well has a slight flaring around it to allow for better funnelling of magazines into it during reloading, and the ‘marine’ style pingpong double paddle makes it very easy to reliably release or manually lock open the bolt with its twin control surfaces that are heavily chequered to ensure positive thumb positioning and actuation, even with sweaty hands, although the magazine release is fairly standard right side index finger only and the other controls. Bolt release, charging handle and fire selector are non-ambidextrous as well, but I haven’t found this to be a huge hamper to my use thus far but will see how I fare in more intensive urban environment use where I’ll be transitioning shoulders

more in the longer term.

The very upright grip angle of the MOE pistol grip coupled with texturing of its outer surfaces makes it very easy and comfortable to control and handle, while the side-flapper-locked MOE stock is easy to adjust and comfortable to cheek weld on. It also affords an integral sling-mounting loop, although there are no QD sockets as standard, nor is there any mounting furniture on the rear of the castle nut plate/ lower receiver buffer tube extension, so I have just wrapped a stringed QD fastex around the castle nut for now in case I want to not make use of the two point sling at any point and clip in to my integral one point sling setup of my plate carriers.

So, with all that said would I recommend the RATech Noveske N4 GBBR to you? It certainly doesn’t come cheap, with unit prices in the 30,000 Taiwan Dollar mark it’s in the same territory as Archwick or Viper Tech products of a similar ilk, but, you are getting something very special out of the box at that! Having fielded and owned innumerate GBB rifles and SMGs at this point in my adventures out here in Taiwan, if I had to do it again or narrow down my collection to a few nice things just for me (as Bill did when he went to live in the USA and I did back in the UK in the years before I left) I would be highly inclined to pick up one of these and sell off a few other lesser platforms to offset it.

Just having something that performs to this level, with the consistency and user experience, as well as the fit, finish and operation really speaks volumes to the “you get what you pay for” aspect of airsoft equipment. If you love Noveske products, and want a licensed replica that will put BBs out in a tight cone of fire and look the mutt’s nuts, I certainly wouldn’t dissuade you from picking up one of these. It’s likely going to become my go-to ARs given the track record of the others I have and all their malfunctioning woes… AA

THE L119A2 IS JUST ONE POPULAR EXAMPLE OF OUR CURRENT RECOIL MODELS, BASED ON TOKYO MARUI’S FANTASTIC SYSTEM - FITTED WITH THE ANGRY GUN RAIL SYSTEM AND REAL STEEL MAGPUL FURNITURE

BATTLE SCAR’D

WE’RE ALWAYS PLEASED TO SEE A NEW REPLICA AEG COMING ONTO THE MARKET, ESPECIALLY WHEN OUR FRIENDS AT BOLT ARE INVOLVED, BUT AS WE’VE DELVED DEEPER INTO THE STORY OF THE SCAR-SC THINGS ARE NOT QUITE AS CLEAR AS THEY MIGHT INITIALLY SEEM! BILL REPORTS BACK AFTER TESTING THE NEW CYBERGUN-LICENCED BOLT VERSION AND DIGS A LITTLE DEEPER…

“I’VE NOT HAD A SCAR FOR SOME TIME ALTHOUGH I’VE HAD A FEW IN FOR TESTING AND EVALUATION OVER THE INTERVENING YEARS, SO WHEN IT CAME TO TALKING ABOUT THE NEW “PDW” VERSION OF THIS VENERABLE PLATFORM I HONESTLY THOUGHT “HAPPY DAYS, I’VE GOT THIS NAILED!” HOWEVER…”

very short PDW models that seem to have become dominated by the minimalist sliding stock design. I accept that in terms of engineering the sliding stock design in its now myriad forms is a thing of beauty, but as I have what is known as a “positive ape index” (which means my arm span from fingertip to fingertip is greater than my height), really short, small platforms are usually uncomfortable for me to wield.

I do appreciate that for physically smaller players than I that the PDW style can be a godsend, and that in a CQB environment this style also comes into its own in a major way! I know a number of players who totally rock their PDWs, and of course with effective airsoft ranges being somewhat more balanced than those in the real world, having a big old rifle gives you no added advantage other than that of personal comfort in terms of manipulation.

And the SCAR SC is SHORT! It benefits largely from the “superior ergonomics” of the SCAR concept and design, but in a very, very compact package… with the sliding PDW-style stock in the closed position the SC is only 535mm long, and this rises to just 655mm with the paddle-operated stock fully extended! Let me put that in perspective for you as an MP5 comes in at 535mm-655mm too, so you’re getting a replica of a “556 operators” platform that’s almost identical in length of that classic 9mm MP!

But unlike the MP5 the SC is also HEAVY! The BOLT has a lot of alloy and steel going on in the construction (a good thing IMO as that makes it superbly robust!) so it weighs in at a hefty 3248g which is actually heavier than the real thing; FN HERSTAL’s website quotes 3150g for the .556mm model without magazine! Now this is something that I’ve noted before, that the replica is heavier than the “real”, and it should really come as no surprise given that an AEG, and especially an EBB with a solid recoil system actually has a lot more going on inside the receivers than a real rifle or carbine. The fact is though, that small and compact as the SC undoubtedly is, it is no lightweight and this should be a consideration for some.

However, the fact is that The BOLT replica of the SC licensed by CYBERGUN is an exact replication, and in that respect it is beautifully finished. The collaboration has allowed the creation in a licensed model that

“KNOWING THAT THE INTERNALS ARE THE LATEST ITERATION OF THE TRIED AND TESTED BRSS, AND THAT I’VE HAD A FAIR AMOUNT OF EXPERIENCE WITH BOLT AEGS, I WAS CONFIDENT THAT OUT-OF-THE-BOX PERFORMANCE WOULD BE IMPRESSIVE, AND IT WAS INDEED!”

offers great quality and super external components at a reasonably sensible price. Similar to the original SCAR AEGs, the SC is primarily made of steel, alloy and polymer… a LOT of polymer! The upper receiver, barrel, stock, rail systems, and other smaller components are all metal, while the lower receiver, pistol grip, and stock pad/riser are made of polymer.

In the real world the SC was created as an ambidextrous platform to meet the requirements of those “operators” to provide flexibility in the battlespace, and the BOLT offers that too with an ambidextrous fire selector lever, magazine release, sling attachment points, and a reversible charging handle. Rail space is obviously “challenging” on such a short platform, with 8-slot rails at 3 and 9, a 13slot at 6, but thankfully a full-length rail up-top! I struggled a little to fit my usual CQB setup of EoTECH, PEQ-15 and scout light, as with the irons in place (I like to keep the irons for “redundancy” and the stock ones fitted are actually pretty good!) even a full-length rail gets crowded mighty fast!

I will admit though to being a big fan of BOLT, as their AEGs are designed with that Bolt Recoil Shock System, or BRSS, at the very heart of things; this is the core around which other things revolve! The BRSS is “Stage One” of any BOLT AEG design, and with my old mate Tomy Lee’s knowledge the development team at BOLT Airsoft have created a powerful recoil system which uses an outstanding design using kinetic energy produced by the piston’s movement, transferred to a recoil weight in the rear of the AEG which subsequently generates a recoil simulation, and that is awesome!

This gives you a great recoil “feel” without having to resort to a full-travel-bolt gas system, which although are becoming more reliable still don’t quite give you the usability of an AEG for most. All BOLT BRSS models feature a reinforced piston which actuates a recoil mechanism in the back end, giving you a nice “felt nudge” in the shoulder every time things cycle; trust me, this is WAY different to a “standard” EBB system (which I also dislike to be honest due to the way most interact directly with the piston), as the BRSS gives you the feeling of some real “felt recoil”, whilst keeping you in the game as BOLT AEGs can still use Hi-Cap magazines like any other AEG.

Of course it also means that they are necessarily front-wired, and in the case of the SCAR SC that means that the battery compartment is pretty tight! However, as we’re all using LiPos and LiFes these days it’s a lot less of a problem than it used to be, and I easily got one of my NUPROL 11.1v short-sticks in.

The compartment itself sits under the 6 o’clock rail section and is easily accessed by simply removing two short screws; another solution would be to use a battery-foregrip as there are slots in the rail which allow you to access the battery connection directly.

KICKIN’ IT BABY!

Okay, well-made, neat and compact, as close-to-thereal externally as you can get in AEG form, but what of performance? Knowing that the internals are the latest iteration of the tried and tested BRSS, and that I’ve had a fair amount of experience with BOLT AEGs, I was confident that out-of-the-box performance would be impressive, and it was indeed! Using .20g BBs the SCAR SC registered a properly consistent chrono reading of 1.06 Joule/339fps which is absolutely perfect for me, and for a CQB environment. I did try the BOLT with a number of different brand AR magazines, lo, mid, and hi-cap (it looks awesome and properly “CP” with shorty P-MAGS styles!), and it seemed perfectly fine with all of them.

With the 140 BB STANAG-style mid provided topped off with .28g BBs it was time to set the hop and sling some plastic downrange! The riser above the sliding stock allows a very comfortable cheekweld, but the ambi fire selector takes a little getting used to as of course it’s a 45 degree-increment throw rather than an AR-standard 90; with semi engaged though the BOLT cranked off BBs crisply with a sweet jolt in the shoulder, sending them straight downrange to target at 30m. Cranking up to full-auto didn’t faze it at all, and on the 11.1v Lipo stick the SC literally spat out BBs; accuracy was still bang on, and if anything the thump in the shoulder intensified on full-chat!

As you’ve probably worked out, once again I really like what BOLT have created. BOLT Airsoft have made, to me at least (and replicated via CYBERGUN) one of the best-realised “military PDWs” out there, not only benefitting from their outstanding recoil system but also through value for money in terms of quality parts and construction. If you love a PDW but want something that looks super-cool and shoots very well indeed, then the SCAR-SC could well be the one you’re looking for when it comes to tools for close-in battles… but just make sure you get the BOLT!

Sincere thanks go as always to the guys at ww.iwholesales.co.uk who provided the test AEG. AA

THE CAGE: GETTING COMP READY

The much-loved and well-respected Malcolm Dowding in full flow at the 2014 Airsoft Surgeon Championship.

AS WE COME TO THE END OF ANOTHER SEQUENCE IN THE CAGE, THE AA LEGION AND A VERY WELCOME “GUEST” ARE GOING TO EXPLAIN ALL THINGS “DEDICATED” AS COMPETITION BELT SETUPS ARE A VERY DIFFERENT BEAST TO WHAT WE WOULD USUALLY USE IN A SKIRMISH SITUATION, BUT WE’LL SHOW THEY ARE AN INVESTMENT THAT CAN SERVE YOU ABLY FOR MANY YEARS!

Over the past few issues the AA LEGION members and I have explored how you can use your existing skirmish kit when it comes to a little “friendly competition”. Having a shoot-off against your mates is a fun thing to do, and practicing for this also adds to your ease of manipulation and overall effectiveness with your chosen platforms too!

If you look at the history of practical competition there’s most definitely an element of “training” behind many of the disciplines that we acknowledge these days as “dedicated”, although most have now evolved forward to become entities in their own right. Different types of competition shooting will have different rulesets, and from my own experience these can be both daunting and off-putting.

However, I believe it’s important to remember that these rules are based ultimately around safe shooting practice, both for your own safety and that of others around you. They may at first seem overly “picky” to you as a skirmish shooter, but once you look at them closely you’ll see why they are in place… let’s face it, these rules have been drawn up by massively experienced shooters, many of whom use a real firearm “in the line of duty” so who are we, as recreational shooters, to disagree?

As this is a specialist area once again I delved into the vast pool of experience that I’m blessed with within the members of the AA LEGION, but in this instance I’ve also reached our further and “called a friend” so that I, and we can give you the real information you need if you’re looking to make the jump to full-on competition shooting and need to right kit, so I’d like to express a very big “thank you” to Tim Wyborn, my direct contact at iWholesales, award-winning shooter and UKPSA Action Air

National Squad Director, for agreeing to chip in this month!

TEAM TALK

So, this time I told the members of the AA LEGION that I’d like to head into specialist territory to conclude our current theme, so this was directed mainly at Stewbacca and Boycie who do actively compete regularly. I also roped in Tim as someone who has been a practitioner in this more specialist field at the very highest level for many moons, and asked if he could give all of us some pointers! I asked the guys if they could tell me about their dedicated practical shooting belt setups, what they are, what are “must haves”, and why they set things up the way they do!

Stewbacca: My current setup is quite a lightweight rig just for the pistol; when it is working I’m still running the Clarence Lai Project Design upgraded KJ Works CZ Shadow 2 (in which basically everything but the frame has been replaced at this point...) on a Double Alpha Academy Alpha X holster specific to the Shadow 2, on a Double Alpha Academy Lynx belt, with just four or five plastic hard shell pistol magazine carriers on the left hand side, behind the hip line for production division rules compliance. The only other thing I have on it is my QD clips on the front right side for my Chewbacca plushie (for morale reasons you understand) and a self-retracting chamber flag for helping to push out BBs after finishing (although the Shadow 2 tends to throw them out in a realistic extraction manner anyway). I also hang my shooter ID tag from it at competitions as well as hanging my GoPro off my magazines or gun when off-stages Besides that, I don’t really need anything further on my belt for pistol-only competitions, when it comes

“SECOND TO YOUR GUN AND MAGAZINES, THE SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT PIECE OF KIT IS YOUR BELT RIG. IT HAS TO CARRY OUT A NUMBER OF ESSENTIAL JOBS; HOLD YOUR GUN SECURELY, YET GIVE IMMEDIATE ACCESS TO IT. HOLD YOUR MAGAZINES FIRMLY, SO WHEN YOU’RE RUNNING, CROUCHING OR LEANING THEY STAY SECURE, BUT ALSO GIVE EASY ACCESS TO THOSE MAGAZINES”

to rifle I use a totally different rig on the same base velcro inner belt which is my EDC belt anyway.

Boycie: As my belt has to conform to IPSC rules, the one I use is a stiff velcro over belt and a lighter semi-rigid underbelt that goes through the belt loops and then the outer “sticks” to. My preferred belt is the Magload “Stiffy”. As a left-hander my holster, for whichever pistol/revolver I use is on the left (surprisingly!). For Open I can wear it forward of my hip bone but for production I sit the holster on my hip around the seam that goes down the outside of my leg on jeans/shorts. After that for open I run 8 moon clip holders followed by a dump pouch (for used moon clips) on my right hip and then first aid kit on the back right side. In production I use 3 mag pouches

on my right hip with a “first in” mag in my back pocket. For Open Division I use a 6 shot revolver and for Production I run a Glock 17 Gen 5. Both of these set ups I can use for either Action Air or RS so there’s no problem with muscle memory.

Tim: Second to your gun and magazines, the single most important piece of kit is your belt rig. It has to carry out a number of essential jobs; hold your gun securely, yet give immediate access to it. Hold your magazines firmly, so when you’re running, crouching or leaning they stay secure, but also give easy access to those magazines. The rig has to be as comfortable as it can be, as often you are wearing it, fully loaded with gun and 4 or even 5 magazines for long periods of time. Finally it must comply with the rule book.

“MY CURRENT SETUP IS QUITE A LIGHTWEIGHT RIG JUST FOR THE PISTOL; WHEN IT IS WORKING I’M STILL RUNNING THE CLARENCE LAI PROJECT DESIGN UPGRADED KJ WORKS CZ SHADOW 2 (IN WHICH BASICALLY EVERYTHING BUT THE FRAME HAS BEEN REPLACED AT THIS POINT...) ON A DOUBLE ALPHA ACADEMY ALPHA X HOLSTER SPECIFIC TO THE SHADOW 2, ON A DOUBLE ALPHA ACADEMY LYNX BELT”

The belt is the basis of the rig; practical shooters utilise a two-piece belt system, the inner belt which goes through your belt loops and where you need it to holds up your trousers, has a Velcro outer. Your main belt which holds the load bearing holster and magazine pouches attaches to this with Velcro. The inner belt is quite flexible, but the outer belt is very stiff. This gives the attached kit huge amounts of stability and doesn’t move or deform when your gun is drawn or a magazine removed. This in turn gives stability, predictability and consistency… all aspects you are trying to maximise.

For years the go to belt manufacturer has been Double Alpha Academy. Their belts have been the foundation of most practical shooting rigs I have seen. Their latest offering is a modular outer belt made of segmented plastic sections, held together with metal pins. It gives stability but more flexibility. My Double Alpha Academy belt purchased in 2016 is still going strong, but when it does give up the ghost it will be replaced with a Magload Stiffy. They have taken the concept of a soft inner and stiff outer belt and maximised it, and from trying one I personally think it’s the best belt on the market currently.

There are many offerings of holsters out there, but practical shooters have migrated towards speed holsters that encapsulate the trigger guard to hold the gun. The vast majority of UK shooters use the Double Alpha holsters. My Range Master model purchased in 2016 has exactly the same DNA as the current Alpha-X series. They utilise a frame and holding system and within that run interchangeable blocks for different gun frames. There are hundreds of inserts available and over the years I have collected several for all the different guns I shoot, airsoft Action Air and real steel.

The only significant changes are the system used to hang the holster; I wouldn’t change my Range master holster for a newer model unless mine broke, but it’s been in constant weekly and often daily use for seven years and is showing no signs of wearing out. The only change my holster has from original is fresh anodizing (had to be green to match team colours!), and an extended Magload lock lever. The lock does exactly what it sounds like it should do, it locks the gun into the holster so it can’t even be shaken out if it’s upside down, and originally I thought the extended lock release was a bit of a gimmick, but using it, it’s hugely better in operation and well worth looking at if you run a Double Alpha holster. With the lock removed, you can take the gun out of the holster with minimum effort, just what’s needed for a fast draw!

My magazine pouches are all Double Alpha Academy Range Master pouches. They are an aluminium case with plastic retention inserts and have a retention dial that adjusts retention for the perfect hold on your magazines, not too loose and not too tight. I have never had a magazine fall out or dislodge from one. They have an attachment system that allows you to angle them whereever you want. The latest offerings from Double Alpha are very similar, and like the holster I won’t replace them unless they break, and even after seven years of constant use, that looks unlikely. Quality Belt rigs are not cheap, a Double Alpha holster, Belt and four pouches will cost upwards of UK£500, but it is a long term investment; mine has ran flawlessly for seven years so far and still has many years left in it! AA

“AS MY BELT HAS TO CONFORM TO IPSC RULES, THE ONE I USE IS A STIFF VELCRO OVER BELT AND A LIGHTER SEMI-RIGID UNDERBELT THAT GOES THROUGH THE BELT LOOPS AND THEN THE OUTER “STICKS” TO. MY PREFERRED BELT IS THE MAGLOAD “STIFFY””

RED CELL NO EASY DAYS!

IT’S TIME FOR ANOTHER MID-POINT RED CELL UPDATE AND THIS TIME FOR A COUPLE OF PLATFORMS THAT ARE VERY DEAR TO OUR HEARTS! AS THE LONG-TERM TEST POOL CONTINUES TO GROW WITH THE COMMITMENT AND INCLUSION OF NUMEROUS MANUFACTURERS FOR OUR ONGOING PROGRAM, WE’RE TURNING OUR ATTENTION THIS MONTH TO OUR HK416 AND MK18 “NSW” MODELS!

It would appear that once again there’s a lot of players we know that are back on the Naval Special Warfare (NSW) or SEAL kick, so this update midway through our testing is well-timed it would seem! The availability of “good and righteous kit” may go up and down a bit, with CRYE-cut AOR1 and AOR2 going from in to out of stock seemingly overnight, but for those that choose to take the long path to amass the correct gear for their loadout there’s a treasure trove of cool kit out there, and the “patient watchers” will be able to find most things that they need (like Stewbacca’s recent acquisition of AOR2 trousers in “big boi” size!).

Of course at the centre of any good loadout is an appropriate AEG or GBB, and for a good NSW one you actually have quite a viable choice of “primaries” such as the M4A1, MK 18 CQBR, MK 16 SCAR-L, and the HK416 (to name just the main carbine models!) that have all been seen at some point in the hands of SEALs both real and make-believe, and that’s way before you get into some of the more esoteric stuff or SMGs/MPs and DMRs!

When it comes to the 416 it makes sense then that these “operators” will be using the latest iteration of the Heckler & Koch carbine, and what we’re seeing now is the HK416A5, the “next evolution in assault rifle technology” as it’s described. The A5 moves along the development of the HK416, with numerous technical improvements to maximize operator safety, reliability, ammunition compatibility and durability during, and I quote directly here, “over the beach (OTB)” operations.

But of course the mighty “stock AR” is still apparent although not in a standard configuration for close-in work; the Mk18 CQBR especially is a platform that works perfectly for NSW, and, at least to me, the absolute epitome of what makes a good “shorty CQB AR”! “IRL” this is exactly what the platform was designed for, and as Daniel Defense don’t do things by halves at any point, their “shorty” has undoubtedly become one of the most successful “SF” AR designs out there! Yes, again of course we do still see the MP5 and the MP7 in the hands of USN SEALs for CQB purposes, but it’s the Mk18 that really sets the tone for USSF hard chargers and door kickers!

So, with all of this in mind it’s time for RED CELL to return to all the models of both the HK416 and Mk18 that have been with them for an extended period; all models have been chrono’d using VORSK .20g BBs and lengths given are in the stock-closed position. Although there are other 416 and Mk18 out there, these are the models that we’ve been working… HARD… there’s “no easy days” for the platforms that we continue to test! This is what the guys and I have to say…

Boycie: I’ve had a VFC 416 AEG for some years now and it has to be one of my favourites, especially after Marcus used it as a test fit for the Jefftron Leviathan in issue 121 back in January 2021! Out of the box I just liked the VFC416 but felt something was lacking and we’d (Marcus, Jimmy and myself) had already chatted about cooperating on a project and so I put my rifle and money where my mouth was and paid for the Leviathan and a tune up.

Before the fit of the Leviathan it was good but the work done by Marcus and report by Jimmy, but afterwards it just was at a totally different level. Zippy and accurate, plus being comfortable to shoulder and easy to manipulate it is a regular out skirmishing when I get the opportunity. I really like the build quality externally and since the build I have swapped out the foregrip for a Geissele style rail for a bit of extra comfort over the standard quad rail normally found on the HK416A5. Writing this update has got me thinking and planning when our next outing will be!

Bill: I’ll second Boycie on the VFC 416 as I had one of the very first GEN1 AEG models to hit the market… and I still have it pumping out BBs to this day! It’s fair to say that I have a bit of history when it comes to the HK416 in airsoft terms; back in 2006 the 416 was the golden child of the special ops community and when it came to “up-gunning” after my move to the USA the VFC had just arrived at retail, and it was an obvious choice for me. It’s performed superbly with just some re-wiring and new hob rubbers needed over the years… and I STILL love it!

The fact is though that the Gen 1 VFC 416 is one hell of an AEG with very little work needed to get it performing solidly. The “real deal” is still seen in SEAL hands pretty regularly, and of course has become

“THE MIGHTY “STOCK AR” IS STILL APPARENT ALTHOUGH NOT IN A STANDARD CONFIGURATION FOR CLOSE-IN WORK; THE MK18 CQBR ESPECIALLY IS A PLATFORM THAT WORKS PERFECTLY FOR NSW, AND, AT LEAST TO ME, THE ABSOLUTE EPITOME OF WHAT MAKES A GOOD “SHORTY CQB AR”!”

TOKYO MARUI MK18 MOD 1 GBBR

Price: iro UK£620.00

Age: Two Years

Weight: 2960g

Length: 715mm

Magazine Capacity: 35 BBs

Cold Chrono: 0.99 Joule/328fps

Hot Chrono: 0.97 Joule/324fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.landwarriorairsoft.com

VFC MK18 MOD1 GBBR

Price: iro UK£450.00

Age: Four Years

Weight: 2500g

Length: 696mm

Magazine Capacity: 30 BBs

Cold Chrono: 1.07 Joule/341fps

Hot Chrono: 1.07 Joule/340fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.vegaforce.com

SPECNA ARMS E19 MK18 AEG

Price: iro UK£270

Age: Three Years

Weight: 2675g

Length: 700mm

Magazine Capacity: BBs

Cold Chrono: 1.12 Joule/348fps

Hot Chrono: 1.09 Joule/343fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.gunfire.com

DELTA ARMORY MK18 AEG

Price: iro UK£260.00

Age: New

Weight: 2600g

Length: 690mm

Magazine Capacity: 130 BBs

Cold Chrono: 1.07 Joule/340fps

Hot Chrono: 1.06 Joule/338fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.deltaarmory.co.uk

TOKYO MARUI MK18 MOD1 NGRS AEG

Price: iro UK£590.00

Age: 18 Months

Weight: 3210g

Length: 715mm

Magazine Capacity: 82 BBs (Bespoke)

Cold Chrono: 0.80 Joule/295fps

Hot Chrono: 0.80 Joule/295fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.fire-support.co.uk

“de riguer” for fans of “SIX” and “SEAL Team”; therefore, for players with an “NSW bent” the 416 is a pretty obvious choice in airsoft form, and now widely available as we’ve shown here.

Stewbacca: When it comes to the HK416 I’ve largely only had direct experience of the WE Tech GBBR variant (with mixed and storied results, as per my full review in Issue 125) which I got second hand from a teammate who barely used it as it was too heavy for his liking. I had a lot of fun times at close quarters with it and it worked very well initially but eventually, like most WE guns I’ve experienced, started to show signs of wear and malfunctions. It is a reasonably punchy AR platform in terms of recoil and had a fairly good range and consistency certainly within CQB usage and medium weight ammunition, and the recoil impulse is sufficient to shake the batteries in my Eotech 552 clone out of contact and cause issues with it going off during firing.

It handles fairly nicely, although the earlier quad rail setup of the HK416D variant I have is fairly chunky and cheese-grater like compared to the more up to date MLOK versions; MLOK is the way, fellow shooters! My teammates however have the VFC HK416A5 ambidextrous setups which we’ve all had a much better experience with in terms of the integral NPAS adjustment allowing for use in a wide array of situations thanks to the ease of power restriction to suit indoor or outdoor use, and the recoil of the VFCs just seems more powerful and deliberate by comparison, albeit my teammate did have some issues with the magazines not engaging the bolt hold open at times on empty. The later generation magazines from VFC seem to be more reliable in this aspect.

As for the AEG side of things I would nod back to the G&G CMF16 they were good enough to send me for review back in Issue 122, which is an M-LOK handguard HK416A5 styled series AEG which was lightweight, easily handled and extremely impressive in terms of its out of the box accuracy with its nice included iron sights, creature comfort features even including the ambi bolt release which allowed for access and closure of the faux bolt covering the excellent HOP unit, while the responsiveness of the trigger and on board electronics allowed me to wipe the floor against CQB players that were used to me going up against them purely with GBBR platforms beforehand. The thing is a handy and nice looking laser beam of an AEG and well worth a look if you want a reasonably priced but very capable HK146esque AEG without the full trades, but with all the features.

Dan: In the realm of premium grade HK 416 and

MK18’s, you probably have heard of the Tokyo Marui Next Generation Recoil Shock series. Considered the flagship line from TM, these rifles feature full metal externals, simulated recoil and last round cutoff features in addition to a fully operable bolt release and charging handle, and are fed from proprietary 82 round magazines.

TM produces the 416 in several variants, all of which are technically the older “D” model receiver 416’s. Specifically we’ll be covering the DEVGRU and the DELTA models respectively. The primary difference between these two is DEVGRU sports the classic full picatinny rail, whereas the DELTA version uses a more modern replica of the 10.5” Geissele HK Super Modular Rail. The DELTA is also available in the popular FDE colorway, while the classic DEVGRU model is only found in black. Both feature accurate trades and beautifully exquisite bodywork. Included accessories are a set of back up irons and black metal flash hiders. Interestingly, the DEVGRU model actually sports a copy of the early AAC SCAR-SD suppressor and 18T flash hider. The DELTA version simply comes with a clone of the old Surefire WARCOMP closed-tine flash hider with the V-Notch.

The MK18 has a fully traded Colt receiver and sports the venerable Daniel Defense MK18 RIS II rail, which is probably the most color-accurate version in Airsoft. These also come equipped with a set of FDE KAC style folding irons, and a traded replica of the Surefire 4-prong SOCOM flash hider. An FDE Crane style stock and classic A2 style motor grip round out the furniture. Speaking of the grip: this is technically the only NGRS model that is compatible with standard AEG grips. The 416, SCAR, etc. are all completely proprietary.

Speaking of internals: the MK18 largely shares the same components as the 416 series, with TM’s usual proclivity for making parts and assembly uniquely complex and utterly proprietary. Like most TM products, these also are unfortunately a bit ‘neutered’ out of the box owing to velocity restrictions in their native Japan. All of these will shoot around 0.74 J / 280 FPS to a T, which makes them generally serviceable in countries that have lower velocity limits, but downright anemic in places like the US where one is typically allowed to run up to 1.5 J / 400 FPS.

When it comes to upgrading the NGRS platform, bear in mind that aftermarket (and even stock!) parts typically run as much as 25 – 75% more expensive than traditional AEG parts do. You can and will easily exceed the cost of the base model with a fully fleshed out internal upgrade package. TM unfortunately is not known for their parts support, either, which can

ICS DD MK18 AEG

Model: ICS DD MK18 AEG

Price: iro UK£500.00

Age: 18 Months

Weight: 2877g

Length: 726mm

Magazine Capacity: 120 BBs

Cold Chrono: 1.03 Joule/334fps

Hot Chrono: 1.03 Joule/334fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.icsbb.com

BOLT B4 MK18 MOD1 BRSS AEG

Price: iro UK£360.00

Age: Two Years

Weight: 3200g

Length: 718mm

Magazine Capacity: 140 BBs

Cold Chrono: 0.98 Joule/326fps

Hot Chrono: 0.97 Joule/324fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14 CCW

Supplied By: www.nuprol.com

UMAREX /VFC HK416 A5 GBBR

Price: iro UK£599.00

Age: New

Weight: 2900g

Length: 710mm

Magazine Capacity: 30 BBs

Cold Chrono: 0.80 Joule/295fps

Hot Chrono: 0.78 Joule/290fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.davescustomairsoft.co.uk

TOKYO MARUI 416 DELTA NGRS AEG

Price: iro UK£580.00

Age: New

Weight: 3365g

Length: 711mm

Magazine Capacity: 82 BBs (Bespoke)

Cold Chrono: 0.80 Joule/295fps

Hot Chrono: 0.72 Joule/280fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.fire-support.co.uk

UMAREX/VFC 416 CQB V3 AEG

Price: iro UK£540.00

Age: Five+ Years

Weight: 2870g

Length: 710mm

Magazine Capacity: 120 BBs

Cold Chrono: 0.95 Joule/320fps

Hot Chrono: 0.95 Joule/320fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Available From: www.landwarriorairsoft.com

make servicing these in a timely fashion problematic. Whether fully or lightly upgraded, these rifles are intrinsically accurate hitters, owing largely to TM’s excellent hop up chamber designs and tight build tolerances.

Despite the costly price of admission, if you are desiring a 416 or MK18 platform that has the triumvirate of recoil, last round cutoff and functional controls (and one that isn’t a gas blowback platform) then the NGRS is generally going to be the first port of call for many.

Miguel: I remember when the Mk18 started being the AR platform that a lot of players wanted, used by several special forces and easy to customize, a dream to every Airsoft player. And when Specna Arms launched the E19 within the EDGE 2.0 range... Oh boy! It’s been my main replica for pretty much a year and a half, and it has seen me through major nationwide games and even MilSim events, I haven’t changed a single internal, it comes out of the box with a great performance and when partnering with the Aster, and all other goodies of the 2.0 range, it’s hard to find a better price/quality ratio.

That said, I’ve always been a sucker for the HK416, I just can’t resist that THICC stock! And the Specna Arms H-20 was just love at first sight. These were the first replicas that were presented when the EDGE 2.0 range was announced, and I got one soon after that! After changing the hop up rubber and started using some heavier BBs I was really pleased with the range and accuracy, and still am to this day. The only downside is that it’s a lot heavier than the Mk18, other than that it has seen a lot of action, and it never let me down.

Bill: Specna Arms certainly had an undoubted success with their E19 “MK18 CQBR” at the back end of 2020 and they’ve moved things along nicely with new models that step firmly into the NSW replica arena whilst keeping things real when it comes to pricing. The SA-H11 and H-12 are without any question “416-alikes”, and as they’re both priced sensibly which puts the “operator primary” well within the reach of those on a budget, and that is fabulous!

The H-11 I’ve had in testing is pretty much a

“standard” A5 with the usual railed HK system with integrated flip up sight, whilst the H-12 takes things up a notch with an “SMR” system, and it’s a fabulous slimline rail that brings down the front-end weight and bulk of the carbine. Both models from there out are similar externally and internally, benefitting as they do from ambidextrous operating controls; bolt catch, magazine release, safety/fire selector lever and charging handle, the rounded “winter” trigger guard for use with gloves and cold weather clothing, contiguous top rail for use of optics and aiming accessories, a redesigned ergonomic pistol grip (there’s no storage compartment for a field stripping tool of course!), an enlarged bolt catch lever and protective barrier against accidental use, and the latest slimline multi-position sliding stock; all in all they are both VERY tidy packages, and the H-11 is working very well still, even after extended use!

Jimmy: The 416 has to be my favourite of all the 5.56mm platforms if I’m honest and I’m a sucker for the A5 with its modern Geissele rail and slimline stock; they just scream operator! For a long time I wanted one and this year I bit the proverbial bullet and built my own. I could have just brought one off the shelf, but it had to be different and different is what it is but that’s for another day!

A couple of years back though I discovered the new range of Double Bell AEGs and they had just released a line of 416’s; even though they were a budget rifle they looked fantastic, the external quality for the price bracket was surprisingly nice (although sadly no trademarks, but to be honest trademarks don’t really bother me), and for me the bronze version begged to be taken home. With no hesitation I snapped one up and couldn’t wait to get it out.

On the inside there were some choice parts which to most platforms would be considered upgrade parts; for example, full metal rack piston, double o-ring 8 vent piston head, aluminium cylinder head, o-ring nozzle all of which are clearly MAXX knock-offs… but still they worked well and looked very well made. Out of the box the 416 (812s) sported pretty good performance but it soon became apparent that the performance was not here to stay. This is something we have found on many of the Double Bell rifles

“I REMEMBER WHEN THE MK18 STARTED BEING THE AR PLATFORM THAT A LOT OF PLAYERS WANTED, USED BY SEVERAL SPECIAL FORCES AND EASY TO CUSTOMIZE, A DREAM TO EVERY AIRSOFT PLAYER. AND WHEN SPECNA ARMS LAUNCHED THE E19 WITHIN THE EDGE 2.0 RANGE... OH BOY!”

DOUBLE BELL M416 AEG

Price: iro UK£220.00

Age: Two Years

Weight: 3060g

Length: 700mm

Magazine Capacity: 300 BBs

Cold Chrono: 1.01 Joule/331fps

Hot Chrono: 0.99 Joule/328fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.iwholesales.biz

EVOLUTION DEVGRU 416 ETS AEG

Price: iro UK£320.00

Age: Three Years

Weight: 2900g

Length: 690mm

Magazine Capacity: 120 BBs

Cold Chrono: 1.07 Joule/341fps

Hot Chrono: 1.05 Joule/337fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.evolutioninternational.it

SPECNA ARMS SA-H02 ONE

Price: iro UK£235.00

Age: Two Years

Weight: 2680g

Length: 700mm

Magazine Capacity: 300 BBs

Cold Chrono: 1.07 Joule/340fps (after spring change)

Hot Chrono: 1.05 Joule/337fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.gunfire.com

SPECNA ARMS SA-H12 ONE

Price: iro UK£295.00

Age: Two Years

Weight: 2800g

Length: 730mm

Magazine Capacity: 300 BBs

Cold Chrono: 1.07 Joule/340fps

Hot Chrono: 1.07 Joule/340fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.gunfire.com

BOLT B4 DEVGRU BASIC BRSS AEG

Price: iro UK£370.00

Age: Two Years+

Weight: 3000g

Length: 715mm

Magazine Capacity: 140 BBs

Cold Chrono: 0.95 Joule/320fps

Hot Chrono: 0.92 Joule/315fps

Taclite Compatibility: Good

Suppressor Compatibility: 14mm CCW

Supplied By: www.nuprol.com

recently; initially they work fine but very soon after a little use they lose a fair chunk of power and the ability to hop a BB becomes non-existent!

This is largely due to a low grade hop rubber and the power loss is due to soft springs which collapse very easily; don’t fret though because they have installed a quick change system that doesn’t require you to remove the gearbox from the lower receiver. These are relatively minor problems and are easily rectified at a fairly low cost which is great; because the rifles are reasonably priced you don’t mind footing and extra UK£25-£30 to bring them back on par. To date I have carried out custom builds on five of the Double Bell rifles and they accept upgrade parts very well! The likes of Perun, SHS, ZCI all work, and you can end up with a 100% kick-ass AEG with very little spend and effort!

Bill: I’m going to wrap things up this month and express my undying love for the Mk18! As much as I do love my old 416, of all the ARs out there the Mk18 is the one that has suited my “direct action” style of play best, and I will admit there are now several different makes, both AEG and GBB in my armoury.

From the GBBR side it has to be the VFC Mk18 that takes pole position for me; the gas airsoft version from VFC replicates the “real” very well indeed, and although it lacks the “trades” of a fully licenced model it’s obviously a Mk18, right down to the super “SF Bronze” 245mm rail system on the sharp end which interestingly IS trademarked and may give a clue as to where the Taiwanese manufacturer may be casting their effective licencing efforts in the future; I certainly hope so!

Made of high quality alloys and steel components throughout, the VFC MK18 is exceptionally well made, but I expect that from VFC. The gun is extremely solid, weighing in at 2319g feels great in hand, all the parts fit together beautifully, and in fact the only things I would change on this carbine are the CRANE stock and the A2 pistol grip; thankfully virtually any aftermarket parts will fit, so the choice of “furniture” can be totally down to you, the final setup as you like it.

Essentially the VFC is as close to the real deal as you’ll find in airsoft form, and everything is nailed down to look and feel exactly as it would on the real thing, including the operating system. Internally the gun runs the latest VFC GBBR system which makes it extremely efficient, and the internal construction also ensures added durability as well, providing a recoil impulse is solid and consistent, which makes the shooting experience fun and immersive.

And AEG? Well, as much as I do love all the

offerings from Specna Arms, BOLT, Evolution, and now DELTA ARMORY (you’ll find my take on this AEG on the pages following!) my heart has been stolen completely by ICS! In a collaboration with EMG ARMS in the USA, the new ICS DD MK18 has been created under the EMG Daniel Defense Licence and as such is 100% fully-branded, and I do mean FULLY, even down to the correct font in the trades! It’s genuinely, dropdead gorgeously RIGHT!

Everything is where it should be on both the upper and lower receivers and 9.55” RIS II rail, right down to the NSN numbers, and along with these the overall finish of the AEG is just splendid, replicating the “chocolate tan” of the receivers and furniture, and the “SF Bronze” of the rail is impeccable.

In what I believe still to be a first in airsoft, the ICS Mk18 features some super replications of the latest ergonomic DD Buttstock and Pistol Grip, both of which are colour-coded to the receivers, but with a two-tone black inset that frankly looks the absolute business. Once again the finish if these parts is splendid, but with the grip accommodating the motor and the buttstock giving lots of battery space that is easily accessed via a “twist and turn” buttpad; the MK18 is rear-wired with Deans. ICS call their take “ZETA” and the “20°-Vertical” pistol grip offers both comfort and control; the QD bottom cap allows you to perform motor maintenance easily too. With the real deal “iron” sights are sold separately, but ICS have fitted their excellent flip-ups as standard so that the AEG just needs a battery to be field-ready.

I have to commend ICS for once again for creating something that sings to me in every way possible, and if the need for a bang-up-to-date Mk18 is strong with you, then this is one AEG, albeit an expensive one, that you will most definitely want to own, and if this is the shape of things to come from ICS in the future then I’m super-excited to see what they come up with next! AA

Red Cell is supported by:

EASY DAY ALPHA!

WE’VE RECENTLY ADDED A NEW “MK18” AEG FROM DELTA ARMORY TO THE LONG-TERM TEST POOL AS YOU’LL SEE IN OUR RED CELL UPDATE THIS MONTH, AND IT’S PROVING TO BE QUITE A CONVERSATION-STARTER! BILL TAKES AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT A NEW TAKE ON ONE OF HIS FAVOURITE AR PLATFORMS AND EXPLORES IF IT REALLY DOES BRING SOMETHING NEW, INTERESTING, AND UNIQUE TO THE (DOOR-KICKING) PARTY…

In 1994, the U.S. military officially accepted the XM4 into service as the M4 carbine to replace M16A2s in certain roles, and this platform, of course fundamentally based on the mighty AR, has become prolific both in real-world-use, and is undoubtedly the “MacDaddy” of all things airsoft! The original M4 carbine started being issued to regular line units in the 90’s, but of course it had been in the hands of the “Spec Ops” community for FAR longer! You can easily find most of the information online these days in open source but if you’re looking at the M4 specifically then the Special Operations Peculiar MODification (SOPMOD) program to provide elite warfighters (those

“operators” we all apparently love to emulate in airsoft!) with a truly modular weapons platform dates back to September 1989!

Digging back into what I’ve written about the Mk18 before, the role of NSA Crane is worthy of mention again here; for those that know only of the “SOPMOD or CRANE” stock fitted to many AEGS it may interest you to know that the Naval Support Activity Crane (NSA Crane) is, amongst other things, the home of the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC). NSA Crane was originally established in 1941 under the Bureau of Ordnance as the Naval Ammunition Depot for production, testing, and

storage of ordnance under the first supplemental Defense Appropriation Act, and the base was at its height the third largest naval installation in the world by geographic area and employed thousands of people!

Now whilst personnel at NSA Crane do a lot of “interesting jobs”, it’s the work done there on the SOPMOD program that most interests me, and us, as Crane produced what would essentially become the “blueprint” for what we now refer to as the “Blocks”. The Mk18 concept was a part of the Crane Program of “M4 enhancements”; I’ve said it before but I believe the Mk18 was, and is, the “unsung hero” of the Naval Special Warfare program! Even shorter-barrelled than the M4A1 SOPMOD carbines with a 10.3 in (262 mm) barrel, the upper receiver was designated the Close Quarters Battle Receiver (CQBR), while the entire weapon system with the drop-on Daniel Dense quad-rail was designated the Mk 18 Mod 0 by the United States Navy, and became a common sight amongst the USN VBSS units, NCIS, and USN SEALs.

The purpose of the original Mod 0 CQBR was to provide operators with a weapon of compact size, but one still capable of firing a rifle cartridge, intended for urban warfare and other close quarters battle (CQB) situations. However, as one of two proposed “special mission receivers” that were planned for inclusion into the SOPMOD Block II kit, the CQBR proved incredibly popular amongst its users. The CQBR has been pretty much owned by the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division following the CQBR’s eventual removal from the main SOPMOD program, and the complete CQBR-equipped carbine was type-classified as the M4A1 CQB/R Block II, or what is commonly known to us as the “Mk18”.

The Mk18 I’m talking about though differs from the original Mk 18 Mod 0 in that it utilizes a Daniel Defense rail system (as did the original), but this time the RIS II free-float rail, often with a low-profile gas block; as with the M4/M4A1 Block II, the Mark 18 Mod 1 was a product of the SOPMOD Block II program which had its own parts list. There’s a little confusion though, as for some reason Daniel Defense also made the decision to call the RIS II the “Mk18”! It’s beyond doubt that the RIS II was designed at the

“IF AEG IS YOUR PREFERRED CHOICE OF “OS”, THEN THE MK18 MODELS THAT ARE BEING OFFERED TO US BY DELTA ARMORY ARE GREAT MODELS TO LOOK AT! THE MK18 SITS AMONG THE DA ALPHA AND BRAVO RANGES THAT WE DETAILED IN OUR INTRODUCTION TO THE BRAND IN ISSUE 150”

BRAVO ranges that we detailed in our introduction to the brand in Issue 150, with slightly different specifications, and this again gives more choice to “we, the players”. The guys at www.deltaarmory. co.uk very kindly sent me the AR15 MK18 ALPHA to have a look at, and this is now in the RED CELL Test Pool so we’ll be returning to it down the road; running stock from the box though it’s proving to be a really budget-friendly way of getting into the whole “NSW/SOPMOD-thing” if you fancy taking that direction. There are no frills, no bells and no whistles, just a solidly made short AR AEG that’s immediately ready to BB-up and get out onto the field with!

Every part of it appears to have been made and fitted with the utmost care and attention to detail. Internally the Mk18 is what I was promised by the DA team, and for a “stock gun” that’s not bad at all! Staring with a 6.03mm precision inner barrel and a metal modern-style CNC A-type, flat-face trigger, inside there are solid high-quality internal parts with an SHS piston featuring full metal teeth, SHS delayer, 8mm bearings, rotary hop chamber, and a reinforced gearbox that I’m told can handle a 120-130 spring with no problems! The guys at DA told me that;

“We ran several long-term tests with our Delta Armory Springs, but please note that different brands have different strength of springs even when they are named with same number; M120 from SHS can have the same strength as our SP140!”

Thanks to the DA QRS system, you can easily change out the spring in few minutes without disassembly of the entire AEG; DA have even gone as far as to create a quick simple video tutorial that can be accessed via their website, or by hitting the DELTA ARMORY YouTube channel direct. There’s also a Quick Motor Change function that’s pretty straightforward given the DA B5 type motor grip (more on this later).

The AEG has a very distinctive full-metal body with unique serial number; and I do mean “VERY distinctive”! Although it may cause some raised eyebrows among the “stitch-bitch” fraternity I have to say that I really quite like the approach that DA have taken with their receiver sets; you’re definitely not going to mistake this for anything other than a DA AEG as there are deeply engraved logos beneath the magwell fence and also inset to the

“THANKS TO THE DA QRS SYSTEM, YOU CAN EASILY CHANGE OUT THE SPRING IN FEW MINUTES WITHOUT DISASSEMBLY OF THE ENTIRE AEG; DA HAVE EVEN GONE AS FAR AS TO CREATE A QUICK SIMPLE VIDEO TUTORIAL THAT CAN BE ACCESSED VIA THEIR WEBSITE, OR BY HITTING THE DELTA ARMORY YOUTUBE CHANNEL DIRECT”

forward assist housing! There’s also some hand-assist grooves machined into the front of the magwell, an aesthetically pleasing touch that will also please those that favour a “magwell grip”. Controls are 100% AR-norm so no issues there, and there’s a singlepoint sling-plate fitted as standard.

The DA Mk18 upper has a standard 22mm RIS rail for optics, and this continues forward to the very nicely achieved CNC metal “DD-style” quad handguard, again with 22mm RIS rails; unlike others out in the wild this take on the RIS II has no spurious trades, just simple T, B, L, and R placement markings… as this is not a licenced replication of the rail system it’s refreshing to see (or not!) the absence. The metal outer barrel is finished with birdcage flashhider which is mounted on a 14mm CCW thread, so if you want to run a suppressor or tracer unit then you’re good to go.

Now comment have been made to me, and I have noticed myself that certain external elements of the DA AEGs do resemble those of other brands out there, and in honesty this is true. However, we all know that airsoft manufacturers tend to buy certain elements “off the shelf” from the factories in the Far East, and the use of “COTS” parts is something that happens in the real world, and not just in airsoft! Personally I see this as no bad thing as if certain parts are as good as they can be, then why re-engineer them and incur/add massive cost which inevitably we pay for as consumers? The Mk18 has flip-up front and rear sights which do undoubtedly resemble others out there, but ultimately they come as a part of the standard package, and THEY WORK! Ditto the pistol grip; looks familiar, but it’s a great, modern ergonomic design so no problem for me!

The stock however is excellent, pretty darn solid on the buffer tube and resembling a mash-up of the best features of the BCM Mod 1 and the Magpul MOE SL with the DA logo thrown in! It’s not a copy of either, but has a similar cheekweld profile and an easy-toadjust pinch release; I like it a lot, and the simple, soft rubber “squeeze-to-release” buttpad makes changing out batteries in-game an absolute breeze!

DOWNRANGE

With everything looking good it was time to give the DA Mk18 a few good hammerings on the ranges; I wanted to see how this performed both in CQB and woodland settings as it should be able to handle both well, so I had two sessions on the 10m steels before moving up to the 30m woodland range. The ALPHA model I received had been set to 1.07 Joule/340fps and this remained pretty constant through the

chrono. As I’m a midcap player I was delighted with the polymer 120 BB model as standard, and this fed flawlessly throughout testing; I did test the Mk18 on all my usual AR mags, both STANAG and other, and I’m pleased to tell you that these all fed perfectly too.

In terms of accuracy at 30m things were great, and I’m certain this will improve even further once the Mk18 has had time to bed in properly. As I prefer to shoot on semi-auto the ROF was of little interest to me (although on an 11.1 I had zero complaints on that score, dumping a few mags-worth of BBs happily and at great spped!), but the trigger response is VERY crisp, especially important when clanging the shorterrange steels…. the Mk18 is predominantly a CQBoriented design, and that’s where it will always excel, and it certainly does make each and every session an “easy day”!

To round things off, after I’d finished on the range I took the Mk18 down to my local shop to again hand it around and see what “the guys” thought; my local store is actually stocking DELTA ARMORY AEGs and indeed providing the basic “M4” variant as a rental option at one of our local sites with no issues. Probably just like you “the guys” are keen airsofters that play nearly every weekend somewhere or other, and they are constantly tweaking their own RIFs to get better range, more consistency, and more performance from them, and these, I find, are the harshest critics of any new AEG I show them; after much nodding, and approving “oohs and ahs” as to the build quality and overall fit, finish, and “feel” of the Mk18 there were quite a few comments of “yup, better get me one of these”!

So, at the end of the day the DELTA ARMORY MK18 ALPHA AEG is a carbine that you can buy for a sensible price that looks utterly superb, feels so solid that you could use it to hammer nails, and is more (way more!) than adequate in terms of performance. If you’re in need of a cheeky new CQB tool then the Mk18 ALPHA is most definitely worth a look, but with the very latest ETU models from DELTA ARMORY hitting stores now though, a few extra bucks will get you even more performance, and I’m REALLY looking forward to seeing what this enhancement brings to an already very capable performer!

My thanks go to www.deltaarmory.co.uk for providing the test sample, and please do go and check out what www.delta-armory.com have coming with their new ETU series… which is A LOT! AA

MAPLE LEAF: MAKE IT SO!

IN THE FIRST OF MANY PLANNED COLLABORATIVE ARTICLES WITH “MILITARY” ANNY WU WHO STEWBACCA INTRODUCED IN OUR INAUGURAL “GETTING PERSONAL” FEATURE BACK IN ISSUE 148 OF APRIL 2023, HE SAT DOWN WITH HER TO GET THE SCOOP ON HER PREVIOUS VISIT TO MAPLE LEAF TACTICAL’S RECENTLY ESTABLISHED ‘CREATIVE WORKSHOP’ FACILITY OPEN TO VISITORS IN THE SOUTHWEST OF NEW TAIPEI CITY.

Anyone who’s ever been interested in upgrading their airsoft platform and particularly kitting one out with a well-regarded barrel and HOP bucking selection are undoubtedly familiar with the name “Maple Leaf”, a name that’s been growing in popularity and proliferation worldwide within the airsoft community based on the strength of its ever increasing lines of option parts and more recently systems immediately ready for use in sniper rifles as well as gas blowback systems. I can’t personally recall using any of their products myself as yet (although others among the AA crew most certainly have!), but then I only really dabbled lightly in bolt action sniper rifle platforms many years ago when first starting out in the woodlands of the UK’s Midlands, and since coming to Taiwan it’s been more a case of get a new gun and run it into the ground for…science… #IBreakShitSoYouDontHaveTo, after all!

However, those who spend more time and money tuning their personal gear for the best performance in bolt action (and more recently other types of platforms) already rely on Maple Leaf’s products, among a few alternatives, to make sure their BBs land consistently and repeatedly where they expect them to. I had become aware of their physical workshop space being made open to the public a while back,

but, being me I’ve been too busy myself with other concerns and hadn’t made time to go and see them at the far end of the MRT line I live on; Anny, however, made a point of heading out there previously for her own Taiwanese language report for her website https://anny.cc/maple-leaf-creative-workshop/ so I found time to meet and we went through what Maple Leaf have been doing out there.

Hidden in the Industrial zone of Xinzhuang on the outskirts of Taipei, resides one of the leading lights of Taiwan’s domestic airsoft manufacturing base; Maple Leaf, in the guise of their “Maple Leaf Precision Creative Workshop”, and this is not only a final assembly and testing plant for their more recent developments in complete guns, but a workshop, option parts store and meeting area open to the public, allowing local players to see Maple Leaf’s latest products for themselves and choose or configure the right individual or sub-assembly components for their personal gun builds, as well as meet the people behind the products and give direct product feedback or experiences.

Despite being basically a household name in present day airsoft and the field of upgrade components, Maple Leaf at present has a relatively long history that lead them to their current place

“HIDDEN IN THE INDUSTRIAL ZONE OF XINZHUANG ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF TAIPEI, RESIDES ONE OF THE LEADING LIGHTS OF TAIWAN’S DOMESTIC AIRSOFT MANUFACTURING BASE; MAPLE LEAF, IN THE GUISE OF THEIR “MAPLE LEAF PRECISION CREATIVE WORKSHOP””

in the industry, over twenty years in fact, with the origin story of the company being somewhat of an oddity compared to others either of us have visited. The founder of Maple Leaf, Mr Lu MingDe, or “De Ge/Brother De” in local Taiwanese parlance, never actually intended to enter the airsoft market, literally stumbling into it by chance!

Originally working in the telecommunications sector, Mr. De had initially made a name for himself by opening his own service provider in the shape of “Maple Leaf Communication lines”; however one day back in 2000 he was about to head out on business for the day but bumped into two employees of a “survival games” (airsoft) store across the street, chatting for a while at the time and striking up a continuing friendship over the course of a week or so. However shortly after the unexpected happened; one of his new-found friends came across to his current telecoms business to inform him that their airsoft shop

boss had suddenly deserted them and disappeared for some reason, not only failing to pay his employees, but using their name to take out a half a million (Taiwanese dollar) loan!

Mr. De decided to help them out and provided a workspace in his existing business for them to organise themselves and continue making their living repairing and servicing airsoft guns, as well as encouraging growth in themselves and the industry in general. After a while the young employees also upped and disappeared never to be heard from again… evidently there’s “nothing as queer as folk”, especially here in the wild west, out east!

NEW BEGINNINGS

As a result Mr. De was left somewhat holding the bag in terms of a cottage industry growing within his own larger business, but not one that he had a particularly in depth knowledge of himself. Thus, leaning on this

“MOVING REARWARD INTO THE MAIN OFFICE SPACE YOU WILL FIND THE OPERATIVES ASSEMBLING COMPONENTS AND SUB-ASSEMBLIES FROM BASKETS OR BINS OF PARTS, AS WELL AS TESTING THE PARTIALLY COMPLETED GUNS AND THEIR PRIMARY OPERATING MECHANISMS PRIOR TO FINAL ASSEMBLY”

odd twist of fate, he decided to dedicate a lot of his own time and energy developing both his own knowledge of airsoft guns and components, and the industry and market at large, founding Maple Leaf Precision Creative Studio in 2001, and the rest, as they say, is history!

Working out of their four-floored office and workshop building on a side street just off the main drag travelling through from Taipei to neighbouring Taoyuan, Maple Leaf Precision’s Creative Workshop has an airy environment with floor to ceiling windows on all floors giving a comfortable and welllit workspace, which also makes all their activities somewhat literally transparent to the outside world.Almost like an attraction in itself, anyone wandering by can see the experts at work assembling, testing and putting the finishing touches and considerations into their products; somewhat of a departure from the typical secured facilities and closed door or nondescript factories hidden away from public view.

The ground floor street facing area also provides ample outdoor and indoor parking for the employees and visitor’s motorcycles or scooters, with Mr. De still regularly making deliveries to distributors personally on his own motorbike, just to help cut down on costs, delays and literally cutting through the traffic, in

favour of sending things by vans or trucks of typical local couriers. Evidently the personal touch is both a pragmatic and effective approach.

This space also functions as a comfortable meeting and business space during office hours, with a fullystocked fridge of complimentary soft drinks and even beers, as well as a well-prepared snack cart to help facilitate commerce and conversation. However the place really comes alive at night, with it functioning as a small bar stocked with harder liquors and is used as a general social space after hours, as well as the employees enjoying lunch in the area at noon on weekdays, with Friday lunchtimes seeing the “Lady of the House” herself in the form of Mr De’s wife providing delicious home cooked meals for the employees; providing such creature comforts for employees is fairly typical in Taiwan, however this is usually more “phoned in” somewhat literally in terms of complimentary lunches, rather than taking such a personal approach that makes them feel more like family.

Moving rearward into the main office space you will find the operatives assembling components and sub-assemblies from baskets or bins of parts, as well as testing the partially completed guns and their primary operating mechanisms prior to final assembly.

One of the large walls features a roller shutter enclosed product display alcove that features an array of complete guns as well as the most common separately packaged upgrade components, available for public viewing by existing or prospective domestic and foreign customers or even purchasing them by appointment via private message prior to visiting.

This area also showcases upcoming offerings and present work-inprogress or as yet incomplete products that Maple Leaf are already most of the way to completion with, or otherwise comfortable releasing information about publicly (no doubt offering an insight into them earlier will drive increased interest in time for their more general release) with (at the time of the visit) unfinished and part-complete 3D printed prototypes of the Maple Leaf MLC-LTR (Light Tactical Rifle) during the visit, which has since been released to market.

MOVING ON UP!

Moving on from the middle of the first floor (ground floor for most of you out there… yes, it’s highly confusing at times living out here!) the rearmost area encompasses the “processing area” and is kept immaculate in a more clean room style environment, rather than some airsoft manufacturing facilities. Thanks to the fastidious approach of Mr. De, his private army of sweeping robots thoroughly sweep every inch and corner on a regular basis to ensure cleanliness and quality of the product, as well as providing a nice working space for the employees. The comfort, cleanliness and consideration also extend to the “his and hers throne rooms” which are immaculately kept and stocked with products for comfort and convenience.

The second floor (again; first floor for most!) encompasses the considerable main warehouse, decked out with numerous tall storage racks adorned with endless tubs, baskets and cardboard boxes of well labelled and organised and protected

components; of course for commercial confidentiality we couldn’t release too many pictures or details of what goes on here, but enough to give you an idea of scale and whet your appetites, with the majority of precision components such as the much vaunted inner barrels being manufactured, finished and packaged ready for delivery to awaiting distributors locally or further afield.

Finally the next floor up comprises the brightly lit and spacious Quality Control and finished packaged goods department, where Mr. De’s meticulous attention to detail extends with the continued almost clean room style environment with the feeling of a highly organised and well-oiled machine; it’s very apparent that the care for products and people extends floor to ceiling on every level like the windows, and judging by Maple Leaf’s ever growing range of precision components, complete guns, and their well-regarded reputation and continued market penetration of their products worldwide, they’re clearly doing something right!

Many thanks to Anny for doing the background work on the site visit and article, as well as Mr. De and his team for accommodating her on site and facilitating her hard work; having seen and handled some of their more recent and upcoming releases at their stand at MOA 2022 I’m quite interested to see what more they have to bring us all soon. AA

“IT’S VERY APPARENT THAT THE CARE FOR PRODUCTS AND PEOPLE EXTENDS FLOOR TO CEILING ON EVERY LEVEL LIKE THE WINDOWS, AND JUDGING BY MAPLE LEAF’S EVER GROWING RANGE OF PRECISION COMPONENTS… THEY’RE CLEARLY DOING SOMETHING RIGHT!”

BLENDING IN

WE SPEND A LOT OF TIME, EFFORT AND MONEY PUTTING TOGETHER OUR CAMOUFLAGE SYSTEM OF CLOTHING AND GEAR, BUT WHATEVER PATTERN YOU PREFER YOU STILL END UP WITH A DARN GREAT BLACK RIFLE STICKING OUT IN FRONT OF YOU UNLESS YOU TAKE SOME VERY DIRECT ACTION! THIS IS AN AREA THAT WE’VE COVERED BEFORE, BUT AS IT’S A QUESTION WE GET ASKED TIME AND AGAIN BILL GETS HIS TRUSTY RATTLECANS OUT AGAIN TO GIVE THE POOL ROSSI NEPTUNE SAS A PROPER FIELD-EXPEDIENT “O.W.N” SPRAY-JOB!

There’s always a bit of a debate as to whether camouflaging your precious AEG is a good thing or not. I’m quite happy to be the first to say that some people look on this practice with horror in their eyes and I do understand why; ultimately there is no such thing as a “cheap” RIF, so do you really want to cover all that black and shiny awesomeness with paint? If you want to resell said RIF at a later point will a paintjob devalue it?

I have to say that in my opinion the answer to question one in some cases is “yes”, and to question two “no”. Let’s address question one first. When you embark on putting together your RIF there are some fundamental points to look at; if the RIF is intended as a practical shooting tool for the range then leaving it black is 100% fine, and in some cases you may even want to “bling it up” with a nice silver chrome flash hider or one of those gucci bolt covers. If however you’re building something for woodland environments then you’re probably going to want to do something as black really doesn’t occur naturally and stands out like a sore thumb.

In the woods, just as we apply can cream to break up the outline of our face, so too should the outline of our rifle or carbine be muted as well. When I look

to build a woodland rifle I will immediately think about both the specific environment and the time of year I’m going to be using it; if it’s high summer and I’m going to be playing in dense, sun mottled foliage then I’ll look to a fairly “bright” palette of colours with more green in it than anything. If it’s autumn use though I’ll look to more browns, and if it’s a “catchall” then I’ll go with a blended mix.

Consider this though. If you just paint your rifle in one block colour, although it will be better than plain black, it’s still just going to be a block of colour, again something that rarely occurs in nature. What you need to look at is blending colours effectively and picking up highlights so the overall shape becomes distorted. Think about those clever people that actually design camouflage patterns and you’ll come across words like “fractal” and “pixelated”; good camouflage is all about the “blend”.

Now to question two; many folk I speak to do believe that painting your RIF will affect its resale value negatively if you want to sell it at a later date, and again I would be the first to say that a botched, badly achieved paintjob most certainly will. A good, well achieved piece of work though (like some of the airbrushed and stencilled masterpieces we all

“IN THE WOODS, JUST AS WE APPLY CAN CREAM TO BREAK UP THE OUTLINE OF OUR FACE, SO TOO SHOULD THE OUTLINE OF OUR RIFLE OR CARBINE BE MUTED AS WELL. WHEN I LOOK TO BUILD A WOODLAND RIFLE I WILL IMMEDIATELY THINK ABOUT BOTH THE SPECIFIC ENVIRONMENT AND THE TIME OF YEAR I’M GOING TO BE USING IT”

see online!) can actually increase the desirability of a replica; it’s all in the eye of the beholder at the end of the day so if you like the paintjob then it will just mean you want “that rifle” even more. Real world “shooters”, especially but not exclusively snipers, will camouflage their rifles for a reason, so why should we in our wide-ranging world of airsoft be any different. There are lots of matt finish spray paints out there on the market, some easier to get hold of than others and I’ve used pretty much all of them over the years. This time I’ve worked with the range of “Ultra Flat Paint” (UFP) from the old NUPROL range; the team there, airsofters themselves, recognised that certain “big name” brands of paint are both expensive and hard to get hold of so they went out and sourced their own. That said, this is now harder to come by and KRYLON is still a go to for many… even the Halfords “camo” paints available here in the UK will do the trick as they’re actually prey good.

DO IT RIGHT, DO IT ONCE!

Doing your first paintjob can be a nervy affair, and many players I know shy away from doing it in case they get it wrong; my first time I certainly took a long while to pluck up the courage, that’s for sure! With any team or group of players though there are always complementary skills; I can work with wiring but I have a friend who’s far better at it than me. I have another friend for whom finding the ultimate hop-up arrangement is his “holy grail”. I’m more than happy

to pass my RIFs over to them for jobs they will do better than I because I want my own guns to work as perfectly as possible. When it comes to painting though, I am a “camo nerd”, and as long as friends provide the paint I’ll happily get the job done for them; my style is “field-expedient” rather than “artist studio” as the effect that I want to achieve is that of a platform that has been created “in theatre” from paints available.

Over the past couple of months I’ve been working up the ROSSI NEPTUNE SAS and gathering the parts to create an L119A2-style carbine inspired by that of “Obi Wan Nairobi”; after finally finding a SIG-style RDS and a stubby foregrip (my choice as Mr Craighead didn’t have one mounted on his 119) thanks to www. davescustomairsoft.co.uk everything was in place; it is the classic base for a painting project as you’ll see from the pictures with original black parts throughout. Due to the inspiration for this build I decided I wanted the finished item camouflaged as per the ouststanding “real deal” so I made a plan.

This is a key part of the process that needs to take place before a can of paint is even rattled, to look at what the rifle or carbine needs to work alongside and in this case it was based on many images sourced online in the public domain so I knew it needed to be finished in reasonably mute tones that would work in both scrub and an urban setting.

With this established STEP 1 was to mask all the areas that need to remain paint free, in this case the muzzle (I normally leave the flash hider in place but as

“THERE ARE LOTS OF MATT FINISH SPRAY PAINTS OUT THERE ON THE MARKET, SOME EASIER TO GET HOLD OF THAN OTHERS AND I’VE USED PRETTY MUCH ALL OF THEM OVER THE YEARS. THIS TIME I’VE WORKED WITH THE RANGE OF “ULTRA FLAT PAINT” (UFP) FROM THE OLD NUPROL RANGE”

the rifle was going to be used with a black suppressor/ tracer unit as per reference so I removed it), any exposed wiring, and the magwell; do not let paint build up in here as it can effect smooth magazine release. I left the “irons” in place, but also masked up the optic as this will remain dedicated to this build. I then took a clean paintbrush and thoroughly brushed any dust away; it’s actually a good idea to use the paintbrush between coats throughout the process as you do tend to get a “dust” forming as you go along. Preparation really is your friend when painting.

STEP 2 is to apply a thin, even base coat which

holds the overall pattern together; in this case tan. Always follow the directions on the can and apply multiple thin coats rather than one heavy handed one, and always try the spray on a separate area first to see what the coverage is like. Most importantly don’t rush things; some people like to hang their painting project but I prefer to do mine on an old workmate as hanging implies a roof which in turn means that paint fumes don’t disperse so easily. Spray to create a slightly uneven but full coverage of the base tan.

Once the base coat is touch dry (again follow the instructions on the can as they are there for a reason!)

STEP 3 is to apply the first of the blending lines and I chose to use green for this. You don’t need to be too precious with these as you still have a way to go! Spray on some bold green streaks at diagonals, and then mist with the green from a distance to build up the colour differentiation against the base tan; you should end up with a slightly greener hue overall at this stage.

want ultimately is a nice, even “snakeskin” pattern that really does blur outlines and shapes well. Once this is done and everything is touch-dry return to the

STEP 4 is to apply the third coat, tan again this time, in a light misted coat to start filling in the gaps between the initial blending lines; it doesn’t matter if you overlap the green slightly as this is where things start to come together and the overall outline and shape of the rifle starts to blur. Leave this overnight for the hardening process of the base coats to take place.

green for a final misting coat which nicely brings the whole project together, and tones down the harshness of the lighter colour “snaky-ness”.

STEP 5 is to take an old scrim net and lay this over the carbine, return to your tan and green and spray through it; leaving the coats beneath to cure off overnight means you shouldn’t get any “smears” when you lay the net over the carbine. You do need to get the scrim net as close to the surface you’re painting as possible so as to avoid “bleed”; what you

The next part of the project, and the finishing touch for me, is to “weather” the whole rifle; some folk don’t like to do this and leave their cam-job to wear

naturally, but if you know where a carbine should wear you can induce this to achieve an immediate

“battleworn” effect. If you do want to take this step then it’s as simple as taking some very fine grade sandpaper or wire wool and gently “knock back” the areas you want to take back close to bare metal (again, reference images usually give a good indication of where this occurs).

Then it’s simply a case of removing the masking tape and materials, giving the rifle another brush down to remove any final dusting, and refit any parts that need it; I refitted the PEQ box and taclite, along with the SF-style Angry Gun suppressor, although I can easily swap this out to a tracer unit of a similar style for low-light/ night games.

THEN LEAVE IT BE!!!

Although the paint can will undoubtedly tell you that everything is completely dry after a few hours the fact of the matter is that the longer you leave things to stand, the better the paint itself will “cure” or harden. I normally bank on standing any finished job in the workshop for at least three days to allow full curing and for any residual fumes to completely disperse.

Whether or not the “painted operator rifle” is for you is down to personal preference. What I will tell you is that good quality paints are easy to work with, go on very effectively, and blend together perfectly. If you’re not confident in having a crack at spraying something yourself then speak to people who have good examples of what can be achieved; in many cases they’ll help you take your first steps to creating a masterpiece of your own. Don’t be reticent in asking for advice, and be confident when you approach the project from the outset…. take your time and do it right, and do it once!

I’m pretty happy with how the finished NEPTUNE SAS has ended up so far; I’d still like to add a SF-style drop light mount, a dual pressure switch for the PEQ and taclite to neaten-up cable management, and a tan ERGO-style motor grip to finish things off to my liking, but as this is an “inspired by” build rather than a complete replication I think I’ll then leave it there and dispense with the RISR on the stock…. probably…

Bottom line though is that the ROSSI NEPTUNE SAS is proving to be a great little AEG so far, and relatively inexpensive as it is, in its new “party clothes” I’ll be happy fielding this in any style of game! AA

UNLEASHING POTENTIAL

to-form replicas offered,

“THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE UNIT OF A GUN; BUILT OF SOLID STEEL THROUGHOUT AND WEIGHING IN AT MASSIVE 22 LBS. WITH THE MAGAZINE ATTACHED. OUTSIDE OF REAL SWORD, I HAVE YET TO FIND ANOTHER AEG REPLICA THAT FEELS QUITE LIKE THE REAL THING AS THIS DOES”

another AEG replica that feels quite like the real thing as this does. The model specifically covered here is the MOD 1 version, which features a retractable stock and lower profile handguard and heat shield arrangement. Full disclosure: this replica was sent to me on behalf of one of Amped Airsoft’s employees who had purchased it new, but reportedly had issues with the gun straight out of the box. Despite some efforts at remedial teching, it still never fully ran 100% and had a gamut of problems. Everything from spitting BB’s, to poor feeding, low FPS, and various other assorted maladies. At this stage in its life, it was a veritable US$825 (and quite heavy) paperweight.

Admittedly, I don’t normally like to work on LMG platforms (oh REALLY, what about THAT PKM??? –Bill) because they often require an inordinate amount of time compared to what one can realistically charge for the labour to get them running smoothly. The crux of the problem is it always boils down to them having low-quality internals with sloppy tolerances. Therein, my major gripe with LMG platforms as a whole is the price-point they command does not really align with the lackluster internals they are typically outfitted with. Complaints aside, I wanted to at least get some familiarity with the Lambda so I could speak from a position of experience next time someone wants to send one in for work or get an opinion on the viability of the platform.

GETTING INSIDE

So, all that being said, despite its lofty price tag the Lambda does not defy norms and expectations and comes equipped with... an A&K M249 gearbox. Cue the salty sigh of resignation…

The first order of business would be to pull the gearbox and rebuild the foundation. This was supplied with a few upgraded internals as part of the previous effort to fix it. Since those components were largely still in new to like-new condition, they were retained for the purpose of upgrading this. Anytime I rebuild a gun, it gets a full teardown to the individual components. This is mainly so I can start from a “known base” – which is to say, it’s always beneficial to start from scratch with the full knowledge of what you have installed and how you installed it as opposed to making an assumption those parts were installed

correctly before. With respect to LMG builds, my philosophy is to build them to be durable and to last. These see a volume of fire that far exceeds that of a typical AEG - sometimes in a single game day even.

Disassembly of the Lambda MK48 is sublimely simple, and mimics the A&K version nearly identically; save for one less screw to remove and not needing to remove the charging handle either. On that latter note, the charging handle does not interfere with the closing of the feed tray cover like it does on the A&K SAW. Just like the A&K, depressing a lever will handily remove the outer barrel and hop up assembly too. I will say that the spring for the barrel takedown lever is remarkably weak. You have to be careful about ensuring the barrel assembly is properly locked in place as it is possible to not quite get it indexed and have it fall out of the gun. This is probably the only area where the A&K trumps the Lambda design since the spring for the barrel retention lever is much stronger.

The plan for this build was to use a Warhead 27K Base brushless motor and a set of Rocket 17.28:1 gears for the drivetrain. I quickly found out there wasn’t really enough room for proper shimming of the bevel gear, even with the supplied 7mm FLT bushings. The bushing shoulders just sat too high and the gears were simply too tall. I ended up taking both shell halves to my mill and milled in some recesses for the bushing shoulders so they would sit flush with the interior of the shell. The FLT’s were pressed in place with some Loctite 638 retaining compound, which is designed for press-fit applications such as this and would ensure the bushings would never spin out in their recesses. Now that there were enough clearances to work with, the gears could be properly shimmed out, starting from pinion to bevel, spur then finally the sector gear.

On the compression side, the ever-excellent Angel Custom KRATOS piston was installed with a Lonex POM ported piston head, which was itself fitted with a 70D Viton O-ring. I switched to using these as a matter of course some years ago as they are vastly more durable and longer lasting than anything supplied with Airsoft parts. Then I added a 70D AirPad to the SHS CNC cylinder head, which was installed into a MAXX unported stainless steel cylinder. For the

“THE PLAN FOR THIS BUILD WAS TO USE A WARHEAD 27K BASE BRUSHLESS MOTOR AND A SET OF ROCKET 17.28:1 GEARS FOR THE DRIVETRAIN. I QUICKLY FOUND OUT THERE WASN’T REALLY ENOUGH ROOM FOR PROPER SHIMMING OF THE BEVEL GEAR, EVEN WITH THE SUPPLIED 7MM FLT BUSHINGS…”

tappet, I replaced the stock A&K with a Guarder Ver. 2 tappet plate. Initially the air nozzle I selected was a G&P 21mm CNC nozzle. This was based on what I now believe is erroneous reporting of what the stock Lambda nozzle uses (the original nozzle was missing, so I wasn’t able to verify its length). But also because a straight-wall nozzle design is required in order to fully index into the hop up chamber. Anything with a stepped base will simply not fit into the chamber otherwise.

The last bit was to rewire the gun for a Gate WARFET MOSFET. I built a custom wiring harness using 16AWG AlphaWire EcoWire and hooked up the trigger microswitch with the supplied dual-signal wire. This was set up to sync the box mag to feed when the trigger was depressed. A Guarder SP130 spring was dropped in to start with for baseline testing. Since these gearboxes have a true quick-change spring guide setup, it would be a simple matter to swap spring to bring the gun inline to our desired LMG limit of 450 FPS.

While in stock form the gearbox is fully A&K, the hop up chamber is definitely not. This is basically a near clone of the Bullgear CNC chamber, albeit made from casting. Much like the Bullgear chamber, it places the hop up nub in a more optimal horizontal position as opposed to the hard vertical cylinder used in the A&K SAW chambers. This was outfitted with an EdGi stainless steel barrel and Maple Leaf MR Hop bucking and Omega nub. This chamber is a good improvement over the original design, but is nearly impossible to adjust when the barrel assembly is locked into place. This is because there is a spring-loaded detent that prevents the hopup wheel from being rotated, sort of a ‘lockout’ device. In order to easily adjust it, I found it was necessary to pull the barrel release latch so the chamber could be cocked forward and not have undue resistance from the detent. This is somewhat inconvenient and can be complicated by the fact that it is occasionally possible to experience what I call “BB lockup” which is where you have a BB sitting in between the entrance to the hop up and the internal feed tube. This can prevent you from removing the barrel entirely unless you remove the box magazine too.

TESTING TO PERFECTION

On first testing, I immediately determined the air nozzle was far too short… erroneous reporting indeed! On the chrono, the gun was turning in a piddly 238 FPS / 0.52J! Now I had moved to the stage of testing different nozzles to land on the perfect combination of both feeding well and sealing perfectly. There are some techniques to determining what you might need with good approximation, but obviously nothing is the arbiter of truth like actually firing the gun and observing what happens. I initially bumped up to a Retro Arms 21.40mm, which was too long to feed well, but did fit the chamber. I eventually ended on a Raptors RTQ CNC nozzle, which had the stepped base turned down and modified to 21.31mm in length. Now we were feeding! Albeit quite hotly, as the SP130 was sending them out there at a massive 535 FPS / 2.6J. An SP110 seemed to do the trick and allowed for a comfortable safety buffer with the joule output of the heavier .32g this would normally be run with.

Against my expectations, I was encountering some mild premature engagement issues with the piston, however. After another dive back into the gearbox to short-stroke two teeth from the sector and bumping the spring up to an SP120 to adjust FPS again, we were back in business and purring… well, almost.

The Lambda has a reasonably well-built 5000 round box magazine, but a woefully anemic and tiny motor to power it. Many users have reported their MK48’s simply do not feed well unless set to “constant on”. I personally do not like the idea of having a box mag constantly running whilst not doing things like actually shooting. The toggle switch is also in an inconvenient location on the underside of the magazine, which has to be accessed via a zippered flap. I would have loved to drop in a Bullgear box mag insert, but none exist for the Lambda yet. It is reportedly possible to modify a SAW insert to fit, but owing to the location of Bullgear in Russia, their products have been quite difficult to obtain lately. Here the WARFET came to the rescue with its handy ROF reduction feature. Turning it down 10% seemed to do the trick and allowed the box mag to keep up with the gearbox.

Related to the feeding issues, one of the big things inhibiting feeding is the internal feed tube

“THE LAST BIT WAS TO REWIRE THE GUN FOR A GATE WARFET MOSFET. I BUILT A CUSTOM WIRING HARNESS USING 16AWG ALPHAWIRE ECOWIRE AND HOOKED UP THE TRIGGER MICROSWITCH WITH THE SUPPLIED DUAL-SIGNAL WIRE. THIS WAS SET UP TO SYNC THE BOX MAG TO FEED WHEN THE TRIGGER WAS DEPRESSED”

that sits inside the body of the gun. Unlike the A&K M249, which feeds in from the side, the MK48 feeds from the underside, much like the PKM or G&P M249 series. There is a short feed tube that bridges the space between the feed port and the hop up chamber. This tube is kind of weirdly placed and it makes a tight little S-curve owing to the fact that it’s only held in place with tension. During assembly of the gun, you have to be very careful not to knock it out of alignment. There is also an alignment bracket for the hop up chamber that can also cause problems if the screws holding it in place are over tightened. This will essentially cause the chamber to not fully index into the gearbox, which creates an air gap between the nozzle and bucking. I found it was best to just leave those screws slightly loose.

At last, we now had a fully functional MK48… and I must admit this beast absolutely dazzles with range and accuracy now! While it took a fair bit of work, I was happy that I was able to make this a skirmishable platform. My arms were also bit thankful for finally being allowed to put the gun to rest too. Carrying this hulking beast up and down the stairs from my shop to get it outside to test fire it was a physical exercise unto itself!

Overall, my impressions of the Lambda MK48 MOD 1 are admittedly a mixed bag. On one hand, I definitely appreciate the quality of the body construction and attention to detail therein. Even the screws and hardware used are much higher quality than the soft and easily stripped bits you normally encounter. It’s simply beautiful to behold and gives

one an appreciation for what it must actually feel like to pack a (admittedly light for its type) machine gun around. The disassembly process to pull the gearbox is simple and quick and the stock can even be removed without the need for hammer and punch like so many of the overly-tight A&K and Classic Army variants require, all of which makes changing springs a breeze. The bipod is also frankly one of the best-built replicas out there and doesn’t feel like the flimsy brittle steel that one is usually acquainted with.

On the other hand, there are definitely some problematic areas with this gun that I hope will be addressed with future revision. The barrel latch spring is weak, as is the carry handle; the latter of which actually arrived broken. The trigger is a spectacularly floppy affair that hangs off a single roll pin. Then you have the internals, which are frankly disappointing to say the least. Why such an expensive gun comes outfitted with a gearbox from a manufacturer that hasn’t produced a lick of innovation for decades now is an unfathomable mystery.

Would I recommend the Lambda? If you want a MK48 replica, it absolutely is the only game in town. For the most part it is an excellent replica on the merits of the body alone, but like any other existing production, or for that matter, any discontinued LMG platform out there, you should expect to sink some time, money and sweat into making it a competitive gun on the field.

Many thanks goes out to Izaac from Amped Airsoft for giving me the opportunity to work on his MK48 MOD 1… it’s been an experience! AA

TOKYO OPS

AS WORD OF THE AA LEGION CONTINUES TO SPREAD, “TAMA” APPROACHED STEWBACCA ONLINE TO SUBMIT A DEBUT REVIEW AND SHARE HIS EXPERIENCES OF THE OPS “SURVIVAL GAME” FIELD IN THE TOKYO AREA, AND THANKFULLY HE BRINGS ANOTHER PLAYER PERSPECTIVE FROM OUR GROWING CONTINGENT OF FRIENDS OVERSEAS!

Tama (@FNWaifu) is an Indonesian airsofter who’s been studying and playing in Japan, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Maydaysan and Defrowe (having also appeared on his podcast) in the Tokyo area over the past few years as another of the growing foreign player contingent in the area. He approached me to share his experience of a “local” site that play year-round, even in the snows of the snowy Japanese winter, and this is what he had to tell me...

The OPS Survival Game Field is one of the best outdoor fields in the Tokyo-area; located in the city of Inagi in Tokyo prefecture, it’s pretty close to the metropolitan area of Tokyo, and thus is one of the easier to

access fields if you live in the city. It’s a one and a half hour train ride from my home which is in the outskirts of Tokyo, and for people living in the metropolitan area, it’s a 45 minute train ride from Shinjuku, the biggest station in Tokyo. But since the field is located on top of a hill, from the nearest station you have to take either a bus or a taxi, which takes another 20 to 30 minutes. So it’s recommended to come with a car or take a taxi. It’s typical for an outside airsoft field in Japan to be located in a pretty remote area; fortunately, the nearest station which is on the Odakyu line and Shinyurigaoka station is a pretty big station, so getting a taxi is not going to be a hassle. Also most of the local taxi drivers are well aware of the OPS Survival Game Field, so you won’t need to help them with directions to the venue!

After you drive or walk into the field, you will be greeted with a sign that says “OPS フィールド” and at the bottom “MTB コース”, don’t be alarmed; you’re in a right place! The field shares the area with a MTB course, called SBP Smile Bike Park, which is the only MTB Park in the Tokyo area. You’ll be greeted by an old guy and a woman who are the receptionists for the morning. After you are done with all the usual formalities at the reception, you need to walk through the parking area and the MTB course. After a short walk you’ll arrive at the Safety Area, where you’ll find the marshals for the field, and the field itself. They also have two smoking areas, both of which are close to the field reception area; one is a small hut, with seats and an ashtray in the middle. The other one is just a small ashtray, this one is a smoking area for the airsoft field and the MTB course. For me as a smoker, two smoking areas is a really helpful thing, you have more freedom on smoking in the Safety Area when you’re taking a break. You can also sit around and talk with other players in the small hut, where you can make more Japanese friends and further practise the Japanese language.

THE TWIN FIELD SYSTEM

For those who have never been to OPS before it can a bit of a hassle to understand how the field runs; for starters, there are two reception areas, the aforementioned one in front of the MTB Course and the further one in the safety area, so when first entering and signing in for the game, you pay and provide your personal information in the MTB Course reception, then you receive your ticket with numbers on it, which is needed to join the game. After you have finished up at the front reception, you progress to the one in the field, to put your ticket inside a box and be added to the game roster! Do ensure you do this and don’t forget to leave it with the staff and take the ticket home as a souvenir; many of my friends who have been have done that, so do be careful with your ticket, it might make a nice aide-memoire, but do consider the poor field staff who have to administer things!

It might be a bit of a hassle for first timers with the double reception system, but there’s an upside to that; on most days, they usually do no-limit or big attendance games, where they won’t put any limits on how many people can attend, which is pretty rare for an airsoft field in the Tokyo-area. Usually in Japan you need to reserve a place in a game in advance, especially for very well-known fields in the Tokyo-area. In most cases, you need to reserve a week or at least three days before the game. Meanwhile at OPS you won’t need to worry about not being able to join the game because you didn’t reserve in advance, you can go whenever you like which is a pleasant departure from the norm.

The fee for joining the game is pretty normal for an Outdoor field in the Tokyo-area; for male weekend tickets its 3,700 Yen (about 25 bucks US) or 2,700 Yen (under 20 bucks US!) for women, but on normal working days, it’s 2,700 Yen for men and 2,200 Yen for Women. If you’re a student you can get a 500 Yen discount, and since I’m still a university student I can make use of this discount; of course remember to bring your student cards for proof! They do at least allow non-Japanese student cards, so for foreigners there’s nothing to worry about on that front.

If you have a vehicle, you will have to pay the parking fee; 500 Yen for a car and 200 Yen for motorcycles of all sizes. Also do pay attention to the fact that OPS doesn’t offer you any lunch, so you will need to make preparations for yourself or buy something in the train station before you head to the field. To that effect there are two McDonalds, bakeries, a convenience store, and a variety of restaurants in the area where you can pick up food

before you go to the field, so there’s nothing to worry about if you’re a picky eater. There’s also a vending machine for beverages on the field where they sell soda, tea, and sport beverages as well as a vending machine for ice cream down near the MTB Course!

Looking back at the mention of the ‘two field system’ you might think I was referring to both the MTB Course and the airsoft field, in fact OPS Survival Game field has two separate outdoor fields, one which is a normal game field and the other which is for rental games. This is a very rare thing even in the Kanto area; having two separate fields at one site. In most fields they either prioritise rental games to play for an entire day, or split the field in half and allow two games to run at one time, but you won’t be getting the full experience when that happens, as you miss out on half the field, yet you still have to pay the full price…- OPS have two fields, so they can do two games in one day without having to bother the rental users or the normal game players.

MISSION ORIENTED

The field itself comprises a shallow hill with dense trees and bushes, a lot of natural barricades, and the field also uses a lot of short wall barricades, sandbags, small trenches and human-size bushes. There’s also one small CQB area, and one small killhouse; it’s a rather nature-based airsoft field which is typical for a Japanese outdoor airsoft field, basically using empty land or in this case a shallow hill with a lot of greenery and gravel. This brings out a “real warfare” feeling, you feel like you’re in Vietnam fighting the Vietcong, it makes the experience much more engrossing. Mostly the games are of unlimited respawn formats that allow you to use full auto or burst mode, but they also have casual elimination games, where they only allow you to use semi-auto, which is the norm in Japan. They usually hold one special game, normally after the lunch break, but the game mode is random, so it will be a surprise. When I attended we had a medic game, where they choose five people to be the medics who’ll be given a white band, which they have to give to a downed player, when you give the white band to the downed player, they’ll automatically become the medic and they have to revive another player; it’s like a game of tag, but you have to tag the downed

players. This is fun when you have a team, where you can pass around the white band to other team members and it’s a constant cycle of reviving your teammate.

OPS operate games well and by the book, there’s nothing bad about their organisation, and the staff are well-trained, they’ll readily call out people who didn’t call their hits politely. OPS also allows the use of grenade launchers, which is becoming an increasingly rare thing in Japan, so you can put out as many BBs toward the enemy player as you want, and that’s what I did. Do bear in mind that most of the staff don’t speak English, so if you are visiting then please do bring someone who can translate the rules for you!

Overall, OPS is a really fun field, with the ease of being able to come to the field with no prior reservations, and their two field system that makes it a huge plus point; either you can just play with the people you know and make a game however you like, or you can just join the normal game and have fun with a lot of players. The big Japanese wilderness gives off a vibe of fighting in a real jungle, places to run around, bushes to hide with either your camouflage or ghillie suits, and the freedom of blasting BBs with full auto or grenade launchers. The access to the field might be a hassle, along with the confusing two receptions system, and the lack of lunch provided in the area is a minus point. But the fact that it’s located pretty close to the heart of Tokyo is what makes OPS Survival Game Field a worthy airsoft field to put into your go to list.

If you’re visiting Tokyo and want to get an airsoft fix then you can find more information by visiting http://svg-ops.jp Our sincere thanks go to “Tama” for telling us about his own airsoft experience, and if you have a site you’d like to tell us about then simply drop Stewbacca or Bill a message… the AA LEGION needs YOU and we’d love to share YOUR experience with other players around the world! AA

TEAM TAIJI TOOL UP FOR MILSIM!

OVER THE PAST FEW MONTHS, AS THE SUMMER HEAT IN TAIWAN INTENSIFIES, STEWBACCA AND HIS EXPANSIVE GROUP OF COMPATRIOTS IN TEAM TAIJI HAVE SIMILARLY BEEN RATCHETING UP THE ACTION AND PREPARATION FOR THEIR NEXT BIG MILSIM EVENT; POLK3 WILL BE HELD IN THE SAME AREA AS LAST YEAR’S POLK2 (COVERED IN ISSUE 144 LAST YEAR) BUT THE PLANNERS HAVE SECURED BETTER CAMPING FACILITIES AND A MORE OPEN PLAY AREA WHICH WILL HOPEFULLY BE LESS OF A NIGHTMARE TO PLAY THROUGH THAN LAST YEAR’S EFFORTS… ALTHOUGH IT’S BEING HELD IN MID-JULY SO THE HEAT AND HUMIDITY ARE DEFINITELY SOMETHING THEY ALSO NEED TO PREPARE FOR!

Recently I’ve been regaling my Team Taiji teammates with all my old war stories from MilSims past in the UK and Spain, having only returned to the fold for weekender gaming last year at POLK2 for the first time since moving to the Far East, I have had a bit of a hiatus on that front, and fondly remembered hanging out of attack buggies, skulking around the FOBs and crawling through the long reeds at Copehill Down FIBUA training centre on the numerous occasions my old teammates would amass there for Brit Tac events back home.

We needn’t wait much longer for another fix, however, as this year’s POLK3 MilSim is less than a week away at the time of writing; Anny and I will be covering it in the next issue of Airsoft Action as she’ll be helping out with a lot of the in game photography and reporting on the experiences of the OpFor while I get stuck in with the action among my BluFor compatriots. Over the past year or so, Team Taiji’s numbers

have swelled a little, with many foreign players as well as local Taiwanese folks joining our ranks due to our approach to gameplay, strong use of tactics, communications and squad structure as well as just our all-round quality of gameplay and apparent good-natured teamwork and (to the best of our abilities!) eradication of foul play or bad apples in environments we play.

As such, having seen the internal roster for our team, which has around 90 members in total, but some of whom are less active or semi-retired but nonetheless are welcome additions at our annual Chinese New Year celebratory meal or ‘WeiYa’, we have 45 members signed up and prepared to do mock battle, comprising the majority of BluFor with a total of 80-odd players per side, and with an existing command structure and squad arrangements finalised along with transport and camping figured out to get ourselves to Northeast coast of the island, we’re all chomping at the bit to don our kit, so to speak.

Most game days over the past year or so we’ve had between 20-40 players turning up from our team on a regular basis, with us running our own skirmish games almost every Sunday aside from when there are other events getting in the way of such things. We’ve developed a solid core cadre of foreign and local players who increasingly work well together,

communicate and deploy effectively and make good use of the tactics, and we sometimes do additional training sessions after midday when the morning’s games tend to draw to a close. With an array of foreigners, most of us English teachers, hailing from America, Canada, Ireland, the UK, Turkey, Russia, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, as well as the local guys it’s a pretty cosmopolitan cluster of guys who love banter and flinging plastic in equal measure, and having regular game days and a very structured approach to how we do things is certainly starting to show dividends in how well we all work together regardless of who we are, or where in the world we’re from.

TEAM KIT CHOICES

With many of us acquiring the standard team BDUs of AOR2 or Multicam which are then decided upon for most game days it’s also helping us stand out as a unified team along with our similar gear setups and team ID patches and unified communications equipment; with many of us running the PRC152 style Baofeng reproductions after a huge bulk order supplied basically all of the core cadre with them, and we have all since been experimenting with different noise cancelling headsets, throat microphones, in-ear and bone conduction headsets as well as extension antennas to see what works best in field conditions… especially given the variety of the sites we play at, and the general terrain in Taiwan.

Hopefully all of this background work is going to pay off; last year the sheer murderous terrain and slow movement somewhat put paid to our ability to deploy effectively and quickly and make best use of the command structure we were otherwise using quite well, although at least communications and discipline largely held up and we managed to win the second day after exhausting the OpFor’s ammunition and resolve.

Personally I’ve been on somewhat of a journey in terms of my own equipment; long gone are the days of carrying way too much and trying to ‘look the part’ now, especially for prolonged games or all day wear. It’s all about comfort, practicality and sustainability for me, and many of the team follow that same line of thought, especially given the tropical conditions we have to contend

with, and a variety of AEG, GBBR or spring operated platforms we have preferences for and requirements to support.

Since being in Taiwan I’ve basically exclusively used TMC JPC 1.0 style plate carriers in various camouflage patterns to suit the gaming environments, mostly just a Kryptek Black affair for the first few years when I was almost exclusively playing indoors, but since joining Team Taiji back in September 2021, I’ve adopted the team uniforms as best as possible… although until just this week I hadn’t managed to source AOR2 BDUs in my size! Thanks to my teammate Kiran for finding those for me, but TruSpec Asia (covered by myself and Anny back in Issue 148) at least furnished me with some Multicam trousers in large and in charge size. I did at least manage to get MC and AOR2 variants of the JPC and have since set them all up with a custom placard system that allows me to rapidly switch out the main front panel for a variety of quad or trio pistol/SMG/556/762 magazine pouch units, using the TMC scorpion FAST mag units which are loose enough to take either 556 or 762 mags

without needing adjustment but also avoiding retention failures in my experience.

For my AOR2 rig for the MilSim, I did add a further four of them, because I decided in my infinite wisdom that I want to run my VFC FAL with ACOG and all eight magazines I have for it on me (albeit uploaded slightly to 25 BBs each to give me a nice round 200 BB total) as well as having my VFC Walther PPQ NPA in my Safariland 579 on my right belt line as a sidearm for close in or desperate times, with 4 magazines total; three of the TMC pistol fast mags on my left belt line to carry the ones not in the gun. My radio will be on my back left, moved further round to stop it digging in my side as well as to make more room for the additional magazine pouches, and a new throat microphone, in-ear bud and PTT switch setup arriving just in time to integrate into my rig. As a backup gun I’ll be taking the RATech EMG Noveske N4 GBBR with 4x 40 BB GHK PMAGs as it is just excellent.

STAYING POWER

For longer term sustainment I picked up the hydration plate last year for POLK2 which holds around a litre and a half of water in a rigid plastic shell with a hose attached to the bottom to feed out of the bottom of the plate carrying pouch closure. This worked well last year but I moved it to the rear plate pouch instead of the front as it makes it a bit too rigid and uncomfortable to have it in the front one. I also recently got hold of the TMC1067 field backpacks in AOR2 as well, which I immediately decided to try and better integrate into the basic plate carrier.

Having done numerous long or weekender games before, and having had to make use of additional straps for backpacks causes headaches to my mind, inevitably tangling with comms cables, antennae, slings or just the environment around you, so I made use of three large QD Fastex buckles to directly clip on the backpack to the existing shoulder straps of the JPC and fix the bottom end in place to stop it flapping around or flying forwards when going prone.

This setup is already proving very convenient to use, easily allowing me to unclip it from the plate rig and get access to it without disturbing the rest of my loadout. This will carry my 3 litre Camelbak bladder and additional bottled sports drinks, a can of green gas, as well as additional ammunition and speed loaders to keep my guns resupplied, snacks, and other longer term requirements. My team leader has already taken the same approach with his identical pack so it’s good to see others benefiting from my past experiences too.

With all my own frontline gear squared away and my camping and support equipment and other arrangements sorted, I’m really looking forward to getting my teeth into a good weekend of shooting, squadwork, barbecue… in particular the traditional spit roast suckling pig that I can already smell… as well as a good time camping out on the coast and escaping work and the city life!

Keep your eyes peeled for the upcoming event report, fellow shooters! AA

THE GUNFIGHTER ROCKS ON!

BACK IN 2021 BILL TOOK A REALLY GOOD LOOK AT THE THEN-NEW BCM MCMRS FROM VEGAFORCE COMPANY (VFC) AND FELL BACK IN LOVE WITH AR PLATFORMS ALL OVER AGAIN! THESE TWO PREMIUM AIRSOFT PLATFORMS HAVE PROVED TO BE THE FOUNDATION OF THE VFC “BCMAIR” PROGRAM SO NOW HE LOOKS BACK ON HIS EXPERIENCES SO FAR, AND LOOKS TO THE FUTURE!

Okay, it’s all true, I am just a HUGE VFC fanboi! VFC are a company that I’ve got to know very well indeed, and I’ve got to know Ray at VFC as a personal friend; it was awesome to actually be able to meet him in person again at IWA earlier this year, and we spent as much time catching up as we did talking new products… of which there are many!

As I’ve before, and indeed said in my initial reviews of the MCMR (M-LOK Compatible Modular Rail) AEG and GBBR, I absolutely adore an airsoft platfom that’s gone through all the checks and balances preproduction, thorough torture-testing, design and re-design, and a carefully controlled manufacturing process before I part with any cash. I also like a properly licenced replica as I know then what I’m getting is going to be as close to the “real deal” as possible, and VFC are past masters at conforming to all of the aforementioned processes.

And I have to say that both versions of the MCMR have proved to be every bit as good as I had hoped they would be. Over time (perhaps now because I’m looking more carefully!) the MCMR has really found a place in my heart not just because of the quality and performance in 6mm form, but for “Black Powder Red Earth” and “Terminal List” reasons! It’s always cool when you find a couple of good inspirational ideas around which to create a new loadout, and I “may” be working on a “Crisis Team Scorch” set of gear…

The BCM MCMR AEG is undoubtedly a bloody fine skirmish tool and will always be “the thing” for Sunday Skirmishes with a short-load of midcaps, and I absolutely adore the styling, balance and how it shoots… which is brilliantly BTW! However, as more and more I am driven towards the purity of my airsoft experiences with gas platforms and “realcaps”, the GBBR ultimately sings the loudest to me, and I adore it.

TRADING UP

As I told you all before, you may have noticed in all the reviews I carry out on replica firearm models that I regularly make use of the words ‘Fully Licenced’, and it’s something that is very important to me. There are many ‘replicas’ out there that may on first glance look like the original that they are designed to resemble, but in many cases it is just that, a ‘resemblance’ rather than a true reproduction. Whilst this may seem unimportant, in fact it’s a vital part of how the industry works. Development of any firearm takes years, and costs many thousands of buckeroos, and both aftermarket parts and accessories form yet another part of the process. Trademark infringement is a serious matter, and failing to work with real world firearms manufacturers could see them withdrawing their products altogether from the replica market.

VFC have worked hand-in-hand with BCM under their “BCMAIR” program, even down to using the original design specifications of the “real deal” to provide a replica with a completely authentic look and feel. Each MCMR, both AEG and GBB, comes with authentic BCM markings throughout, on the unique “MOD 1 SOPMOD” stock, the ergonomic and nicely-stippled “MOD 3” pistol grip, both upper and lower receivers, on the rail itself, and even on the “MOD 0 - 5.56” compensator at the sharp end, all of which means that this is a fully tried, tested and FULLY licenced replica! The MCMR, as both a superlative AEG and also as a high-performance GBBR, just looks fabulous, literally now as real as it gets in airsoft form!

Overall the fit and finish of both MCMRs is utterly first rate, right down to the tidy trademarks, and I’d go so far as saying that that the gasser somehow just feels “better” than the AEG. Everything about both models is utterly righteous though, and just having one in your hands makes you feel that you’re holding

“THE BCM MCMR AEG IS UNDOUBTEDLY A BLOODY FINE SKIRMISH TOOL AND WILL ALWAYS BE “THE THING” FOR SUNDAY SKIRMISHES WITH A SHORT-LOAD OF MIDCAPS, AND I ABSOLUTELY ADORE THE STYLING, BALANCE AND HOW IT SHOOTS… WHICH IS BRILLIANTLY BTW!”

to that. With .30g VORSK BBs the accuracy of both platforms is amazing at 50m now, and acceptable to iro 80m, although they both send BBs out further… I believe there is still room to improve the range (yes, really!) so I’ll have another word with Jimmy and Dan on this eventually.

I honestly love both the MCMRs; they are by no means your average “airsoft gun” and for this reason I don’t believe you’ll be seeing either regularly at Sunday Skirmishes; going head to head with hi-cap players on a normal skirmish day with a GBB and 30BB mags certainly adds a little “something” to the day, but the range, accuracy, and reliability of the BCM makes this viable. However, the AEG is perfectly at home in ALL airsoft territory.

In my mind the VFC BCM MCMRs haven’t been made for the mass market. In the case of the GBBR it’s been designed and made for those that truly want a platform that operates exactly like the real thing, but that fires safe and simple 6mm BBs, not live 5.56! Yes, it’s been designed for the MilSim player, but also for those that want to test themselves to the limit in any game or on the range, with real-like operation and real-world magazine capacities… basically it’s been

different, that’s high quality and really delivers on the performance front, then I’d urge you to check out the MCMRs, and I am excited to see what my old friends at VegaForceCompany do with the “BCMAIR” program next!

My sincere thanks go to my good mate Ray at www.vegaforce.com for getting the BCM MCMR models over to me from Taiwan, and please do keep an eye on www.bcmair.vegaforce.com for further developments in the program! AA

“I BELIEVE THAT FOR ME IT’S THE FACT THAT THE GBBR VERSION IS AS CLOSE TO THE REAL DEAL AS YOU’LL FIND IN 6MM FORM, AND THAT EVERYTHING IS NAILED DOWN TO LOOK AND FEEL EXACTLY AS IT WOULD ON THE REAL THING, INCLUDING THE OPERATING SYSTEM”