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BIG BOYZ TOYZ TIGER PHOBIA

KING OF THE TANKS

COLD WAR WARRIOR SMALL ARMS OF

THE SUPER POWERS

WEAPONSAGM MG42

MA5 ASSAULT RIFLE - HALO

EVENTSENGLAND V SCOTLA

ND

OPERATION NORDLICHT

OPERATION COLOSSUS

REDWOLF CHARITY BASH

FEATUREDLASER SAFETY

SVT VS GARAND

MINE WARFARE

WORLDEXCLUSIVEHALO MA5 ASSAULT RIFLE

THE Airsoft Magazine

T H E A I R S O F T E R S M A G A Z I N E O F C H O I C E

04 december 2014

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BIG BOYZ TOYZ TIGER PHOBIA

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THE SUPER POWERS

WEAPONSAGM MG42

M45 ASSAULT RIFLE - HALO

EVENTSENGLAND V SCOTLA

ND

OPERATION NORDLICHT

OPERATION COLOSSUS

REDWOLF CHARITY BASH

FEATUREDLASER SAFETY

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MINE WARFARE

WORLDEXCLUSIVEHALO M45 ASSAULT RIFLE

THE Airsoft Magazine

T H E A I R S O F T E R S M A G A Z I N E O F C H O I C E

Letter, idea or question?Got something to say? A question for our experts? An article or article idea? Drop us a line and let us know. Either email the editor (nige@airsoft-action.co.uk), write to us at the Calibre Publishing address above, or talk to us on Twitter or Facebook.

Search Airsoft Actionfacebook.com/AirsoftAction

FIND US ON

Editor: Nigel StreeterAssistant editor: Gareth Gadge HarveyGraphic design: Havoc DesignAd design: Havoc DesignPublisher: Nigel Streeter

UK 12 - issue subscription rate: 43UK 6 - issue subscription rate: 24For overseas prices visit:www.airsoft-action.co.uk

Wyche Innovation Centre, Walwyn Road, Upper Colwall, Malvern, Worcestershire, WR13 6PLTel: 01684 878 003Web: www.airsoft-action.co.ukCalibre Publishing Limited 2014

Distribution: Distributed to the newstrade by Comag Magazine Marketing, West Drayton, Middlesex UB7 7QE T: 01895 433 800

Copyright Calibre Publishing Limited 2014. All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the express permission of the publisher in writing. The opinion of the writers do not necessarily re ect those of the publisher. The editor reserves the right to edit submissions prior to print.

FIRST UP, I hope you all had a very happy Christmas and New Year and are looking forward to 2015.

2014 saw us - and by us I mean airsoft as a whole - face a number of challenges but the overriding

feeling I took from last year was one of positivity and the promise of even better things to come.

In a months time the British Airsoft Show is again at Stoneleigh Park, running alongside the British

Shooting Show and I understand from the organisers that there are a number of different ranges

being set up, including one by RedWolf Airsoft that will showcase the relatively new (to the UK)

discipline of Competitive Tactical Shooting (also known as Practical Action Shooting).

There are already a number of Clubs and groups running similar ranges but this is the rst time a

company the size of RedWolf has got fully involved and it marks the tremendous rise in popularity

this shooting skill has attracted. RedWolf Airsoft, as many of you will already know, are also involved

with the Airsoft Surgeon in staging the hugely popular and successful Airsoft Surgeon European

Championship, so it comes as no surprise to see their involvement and support of this new style of

airsoft. However, also of great interest is the step-change this brings to the game.

At Airsoft Action we will never lose sight of what airsoft is all about; that it is a most incredible

game that excites, challenges and rewards participants in the way no other game can - as an individual,

as part of a team and on personal, mental and physical level. It is also one of the most diverse games

out there, with more genres than any other that I can think of - and this is one of airsofts greatest

strengths. It is also why I welcome anything that will help to grow and enhance the public perception

of airsoft as being something more than just a bunch of blokes running about in woods shooting at

each other with toy guns, which is how I heard someone derisively describe it recently.

CTS/PAS has the potential to attract participants with a wide range of shooting skills and offers us

the chance to test our skills in a controlled, competitive environment against like-minded shooters.

It is already a rapidly growing sport in a number of countries and I, for one, hope it enjoys the same

level of success in the UK.

Whatever style of airsoft you play and wherever you play it, have a great year - its going to be a

good one!!

Nige.

12 - HALO M45 ASSAULT RIFLE

40 CHARITY GAMEWOR

LD EXCLU

SIVE

MARCH 2014

CONTENTS

05www.airsoft-action.co.uk

CONTENTSAIRSOFT ACTION FEBRUARY 2015

6 BRITISH AIRSOFT SHOW UPDATEWhats happening at next months British Airsoft Show

10 ROGUES GALLERYCool photos taken by Airsoft Action readers.

10 THE ADVENTURES OF MAGMag is out on his rst game with his new gunin Airsoft Actions exclusive cartoon

12 WORLD EXCLUSIVE: HALO ASSAULT RIFLEBefore anyone else, Scott Allan gets his hands on one of only 15 ri es coming to Europe in this Airsoft Action World Exclusive review.

16 ARMOURY: AGM MG42Scott Allan takes a look at an airsoft version of Hitlers Buzzsaw and asks Does the AGM version have two balls, or like Hitler just the one?

20 EVENT: OPERATION NORDLICHTChris Wright reports from the recent WW2 game, where Russians and Germans go head-to-head in 1942.

26 EVENT: THE AULD ENEMYWith honours even, will Scotland continue their winning ways, or can the English ght back?

30 KIT AND KABOODLERichard Bell, aka FireBaseAlpha, takes a quick look at some of the gear thats caught his eye over the last few months.

32 COLD WAR WARRIORS: SMALL ARMSContinuing his comparative series, Gareth Gadge Harvey takes a look at NATO and WP soldiers personal weaponry.

36 SITE: ACE COMBAT PEMBURYLes Lee travelled to Tunbridge Wells on Remembrance Sunday to report from a site that is getting a lot of interest.

40 EVENT: REDWOLF / BLUESTREAK CHARITY GAMENige reports from the RedWolf / Bluestreak Charity event, held in December.

44 FEATURE: LASER SAFETYHow safe are laser devices? Andy Bourne, The Tactical Optician, peels back the curtain on the myths to give us the facts.

48 BIG BOYZ TOYZ: TIGER PHOBIAFeared by all those that came up against it, Jay Slater takes a look at one of Hitlers great killing machines, the Tiger tank.

52 EVENT: OPERATION COLOSSUSKris Roberts once again nds himself caught in the middle of In ltration Airsofts on-going battle between The Flame and The Rain.

58 TEAM PROFILE: THE REAPERSDan Barlow writes about the team he co-founded and what they want to achieve in the future.

60 LOADED OR UNLOADED: A BIT SPECIALJerry Noone puts together two SF Loadouts; one on a budget, while the other will most certainly take care of any money you have left over from Xmas!

67 DEBATE: AIRSOFT ENGINEERINGDo you like tinkering, or are the inner workings of your guns a mystery? In this months debate Gadge asks How much of an airsoft engineer are you?

72 SKILLS AND DRILLS: RIFLE SHOOTING POSITIONSIf youre not stable when you re, your shot is more likely to miss. Pro-Tacts Andy Nightingale runs through some basic ri e shooting positions.

76 HEAD TO HEAD: SVT vs GARANDMilitary Historian, Will Fowler, takes a look at the pros and cons of these well-known WW2 self-loading ri es.

80 SNIPER: JOSEPH T. WARDSometimes snipers have to put their normal instincts on hold and do something different. Sniper One, Dan Mills, writes about one such occasion in Vietnam.

84 WORLD WAR ONE: WAR IN THE AIRContinuing his series about the 1st World War, Dan Mills turns his attention upwards to a new arena of battle, the sky.

88 BILLY BASICS: BUDDY BUDDYBilly writes about a cornerstone of the British military, which he has experienced many times throughout his career.

92 FEATURE: MINE WARFAREMines are both hated and feared with equal reason. Military Historian, Will Fowler, looks back at the history of this loathsome weapon.

96 SURVIVAL: EMERGENCY NAVIGATIONOut in the wilds and left your GPS at home? Survival Expert, Paul Yelland, gives us some tips on how to navigate without a map or compass.

101 BOOK REVIEW: ROBERTS RIDGE Kris Roberts on a book that doesnt pull any punches as it documents a real-life Navy Seal battle against the Afghan Taliban.

102 SITE DIRECTORYIf youre looking for somewhere to play, youre sure to nd it here.

106 DEALER LISTING: AIRSOFT ACTIONS ADVERTISER INDEXFind who you are looking for in our listing of all the adverts that appear in this issue.

FEBRUARY 2015

CONTENTS

Stoneleigh Park Exhibition Centre, Warwickshire will be the venue for the 2015 British Airsoft Show. Opening on the 13th of February, the three-day event is held in conjunction with the British Shooting Show, Europes largest public shooting event.

From humble beginnings with just a single range, The British Airsoft Show has grown into the UKs premier display of airsoft guns, equipment and gear, with many retailers and other companies using it to showcase their products and services.

To reect the continual growth, for the 2015 show the whole area has been redesigned and is now a total of 24,000 square feet dedicated purely to Airsoft. Exhibitor stands from leading manufacturers and retailers will be crammed with products and it provides a great opportunity to speak with the professionals and get the latest news and information. There will be plenty of opportunity to get up close and personal with all the latest kit and chat to the people involved in airsoft on a day to day basis.

Exhibitors already conrmed include: Airsoft Zone, Badgertac, Band of Brothers, CQC Airsoft, Daves Custom Airsoft, Epic Militaria, International Armour, JD Airsoft, Just BBs, Land Warrior, Nova Vista, The Grange, Proairsoft Supplies, Redwolf, Stirling Airsoft, TLSX-FX and of course, Airsoft Action will be there too!

Airsoft is a very hands on game and in keeping with this, there are plenty of areas that offer the chance to try it for yourself, such as the 1,000 square meter CQB demonstration area. Run by Stirling Airsoft, one of the UKs leading Military Simulation companies, you can try your hand at clearing buildings as you assault their custom-built village complete with armoured vehicle support, smoke and grenades - and all the action can be seen on interactive viewing screens, which take you right into the heart of the ght.

There will also be ranges to check out your dynamic shooting skills (against a multitude of targets - and the clock), as well as an AIPSC (Airsoft International Practical Shooting Confederation) and a nine-land shooting range.

With all this plus free to enter competitions, Show Only offers, a WW2 military vehicle display and much much more, this show is certainly not to be missed!

Dont forget, your entry ticket also includes access to the whole British Shooting Show, where you can browse around hundreds of shooting-related stands and other show features.

Advance Tickets are on sale now, so dont miss out - either telephone the ticket hotline on 01258 857700 or go to www.britishairsoftshow.com and if you book early, you save money, get in early and get fast entry too.

BRITISH AIRSOFTSHOW UPDATE

6 february 2015

ROGUES GALLERYREADERS PHOTOS

THE ADVENTURES OF MAG

AA GALLERY

CARTOON

Ian Murdoch - RAW War

Ian Murdoch - RAW War

8 FEBRUARY 2015

10 FEBRUARY 2015

ROGUES GALLERYREADERS PHOTOS

AA GALLERY

Fancy seeing yourself in Airsoft Action? Send in your photos via email (nige@airsoft-action.co.uk) or share on our Facebook page (/AirsoftAction), plus a few words describing whats going on in the image.

INFORMATION

STTS/JD Airsoft Sentinel Competition winner - Ben Slade

Ian Murdoch - RAW War

Matt Widdowson. Taken at SWAT Fortress Liverpool taken by SWAT NUTZ

Ian Murdoch - RAW War

Alex Thorpe. Taken at Combat Airsofts Winter Weekender i

n Thetford

Norfolk

11www.airsoft-action.co.uk

Images taken by Mark Lunn @ Skirmi

sh

Leicester & Coventry 14th Dec 2014

Oscar P - Xmas fun

Oscar P - Xmas fun

Oscar P - Xmas fun

Images taken by Mark Lunn @ Skirmish Leicester & Coventry 14th Dec 2014

SO WHO MADE THIS SPECTACLE? Well much like our own futures are surrounded in some mystery, so is the true origins of the MA5 Assault Ri e.

There are certain things we can work out due to some technical detective work; for a start, its not based on anything at all. People have tried to liken this to the God-awful Thundermaul, which looked like a childs effort at melting a ri e into a SMG. Similarly there are a couple of types of Pulse Ri e from the movie Aliens on the go. The cheaper one was made by Snow Wolf, which was built on a Tokyo Marui cloned Thompson then a cloned G&P kit. As a fairly cheap prop, the Pulse Ri e was still overpriced. The plastic was fairly poor but it ticked a box for Aliens fans.

The important thing here is to note once again that the MA5 is scratch built, not a clone, copy or a body kit. That all said the construction and a few internal markers seem to suggest Jing Gong or Snow Wolf parts are indeed used inside. The packaging and the bodywork gave no clues though, so this could be a new factory just using OEM parts from JG or SW. Safe to say that internally there is a solid beating heart - before we even get anywhere near the really cool stuff!

The MA5 comes in several versions over the Halo series of games and this appears to be an approximation of the B version. With this being based off a ctional computer

game ri e there will always be physical limitations that require reworking. This was also famously found in the Judge Dredd lms, the comic helmet design does not really work well in real life because well comic book heads can be any size you like and real human heads are kinda big. The rst thing you notice about the Assault Ri e is the size and then the weight! It is a bit of a monster at 4.5 kilos, around 800mm long and 250mm high. The overall size is something similar to a larger FN2000

LIKE A COVENANT CRUISER SUDDENLY APPEARING OUT OF SLIPSPACE, THIS RIFLE WAS ALMOST ENTIRELY UNKNOWN TO ALL BUT A FEW PEOPLE. THANKFULLY SCOTT AT AIRSOFT ACTION IS ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE! SO WITHOUT MUCH FURTHER ADO, WE PROUDLY PRESENT YET ANOTHER WORLD EXCLUSIVE FIRST REVIEW THE MA5 ASSAULT RIFLE!

HALO, IS IT ME YOURE LOOKING FOR?

WORLD E

XCLUSIVE

12 february 2015

due to the real game version being a bullpup which this version isnt. Using the fully electronic On/Off/Fire selector the whole rie, including digital display and lighting system, comes into life.

Normally I would speak a little about the real version but that isnt really applicable here. Okay it is a tiny amount but it is all ctional so youll have to bear with me for the ctitious facts

The MA5B, much like a real rie, is said to be air-cooled, gas-operated and fed from a magazine which feeds 7.62 x 51mm in a fully-automatic format. Curiously the people of the future still use the NATO 7.62mm round and clearly the people of the future do not need single shot. The B variant uses a 60-round magazine that would weigh just over 2 kilos. Master Chief in Halo could carry 660 rounds fed into 11 magazines, thats 22.5 kilos just in ammunition. That explains the need for fully automatic, to shed the weight and thankfully the low gravity of Halo meant the extra weight didnt slow the Master Chief down. The UNSC Marine Corps has used the rie for 50 years and as it is titanium alloy and polymer, it is very robust for all environments, even space.

Back to the more/less real Airsoft versionWhen I opened the box I was pretty darn excited; all of my inner

geek had come to life! Finally something that wasnt a new M4/AK or something else that had been done before. As one famous Airsoft tech said someone really put their balls on the line making this because it is not a fudge kit over an M4 - better still it looks and feels brilliant.

The balance is right on the money, even though it is a heavy lump the polymers and rubberised plastics are rock solid and thick. No creaks and warping to be seen anywhere across the bodywork. Okay the plastic colours are a little shiny but then it is from a game so who cares? It certainly doesnt look cheap and when you activate the Assault Rie it sparks into life. Normally Id never use the word activate on an Airsoft rie but you really do with this replica. Pushing and holding the re selector and the blue counter comes alive in a very cool blue double 7-segment display and the bodywork sports a couple of utterly unnecessary bright green LEDs, just like the game version. There are no sights but you can easily look along the top ridge that lines up perfectly to be used as a sight. Hiding under the barrel is a small LED ashlight that is probably the only disappointing feature on the rie. Its just not quite bright enough although that said, it wouldnt be hard to replace.

Naturally I was concerned about the performance of this rie. While the gearbox is standard V2/3 parts in a near P90 conguration with an AK-style hop unit, I wouldnt have wanted to ddle with it to get it to work. When we popped it open we stood in awe of a

wiring set up that is only rivalled by Systema. There is clear innovation in the design that works really, really well. Sadly some fanboys will complain that it is not a bullpup rie like the game version but then why should it be? The design would be a nightmare to change magazines with the weight and the feed system would need to be convoluted which means. Yes you guessed it kids itd be rubbish. Think of the ASG Ashbury; stunning rie with a ridiculously complex (real positioned) magazine loading system that just didnt work very well, if at all. The Airsoft MA5 magazine loads up at the front in a short 200-round, high-capacity magazine in a quick and easy fashion. This gives you two 95-round loads which well come to in a minute. The battery situation is odd; as well as your standard LiPo or NiMh, it requires a 9v square battery and then the torch takes a AAA battery - hence the candle light performance.

Safe to say that internally there is a solid beating heart - before we even get anywhere near the really cool stuff!

THE ARMOURY

13

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WORLD EXCLUSIVE | MA5 ASSAULT RIFLE

When you look at the feature list you wont see similar in any other ri e, at least not all of them together in a single package. Lets run through the startup and how it works

9v battery goes under the butt plate and the dummy game magazine at the back holds the battery. In our case we opted for an 11.1v LiPo to see what it could do. The magazine held around 200 rounds and we wound it on fully. There is a little re selector on the right hand side, depressing this for a couple of seconds and all the lights come to life. The counter reads 0. We load the magazine in and the counter jumps to 95. As much as we hate to, we use single shot rst to set the hop. The rst round double taps; one dry re and then a round. This raised questions on how the system works and then we realised how brilliantly clever it is! The round counter feeds from the end of the barrel through a light gate, much like a chronograph or tracer silencer unit. Because the system (and the word system is correct here) didnt detect a round, it allows another to re. Once it detected the round passing through, it electronically cuts the gearbox. So unlike a PTW which feels when the magazine is empty (which doesnt always work in mucky mags) this actually counts the BBs going down the barrel. That is staggeringly innovative and clever.

Is it very complicated? Not really - but the best things never are. Once the counter hits zero the electronics take over again and stop the ri e from ring. Remove the magazine and place it back in and you are back up to 95. It is worth noting that magazine removal keeps the counter at zero, this is due to a small sensor in the magazine well. No magazine no ring. I did nd you had to wind the magazine on a little to get to the end of the second load but not much. Fully automatic gave around 900 rounds a minute, not staggeringly fast but certainly quick enough. The microswitch trigger was snappy too. There is a sea of wiring inside and electronics which are nicely sealed in the body so no moisture issues should arise during game play.

At the time of writing I couldnt get any spare magazines which was a shame and being just before Christmas there wasnt a chance to skirmish this before a game. I did give it a fair few thousand rounds down the range

WORLD E

XCLUSIVE

14 february 2015

SHORT MOTOR

STEEL GEARS

LAST METAL TOOTH PISTON

SILVER WIRING

QUICK RELEASE SPRING

ELECTRONIC FIRE SELECTOR / ON AND OFF SWITCH

ELECTRONIC SHOT FIRED DETECTION SYSTEM

MOSFET

MANUAL SAFETY CATCH

MAGAZINE DETECTION SYSTEM FOR RELOADS

STOPS ON 0 ROUNDS

95 ROUND COUNTER

WEIGHT 4.5KG

LENGTH 800MM

HEIGHT 250MM

350FPS WITH 0.20G BLASTER

RRP 730

features

and it never once missed a beat. I suspect itll raise eyebrows on any game site if even for the price seven hundred hard-earned pounds is a hell of a lot of money. Or is it? I mean this is innovative. Unlike the Thundermaul or the Pulse Ri e this is bespoke, not just a clamp on kit. I am tempted to use the lip stick on a pig phrase to describe the Thundermaul, whereas the Assault Ri e is a thing of beauty. The features, design and performance are all quite staggering. Okay its not a PTW but then PTWs are slightly overrated in my opinion. They are very good out of the box and consistent but then the prices are bonkers these days. You could argue that the Assault Ri e is plastic and the PTW is metal. Yes again but its cast metal which isnt the strongest and Id bet that the MA5 is just as tough if not stronger. No, its not wallet friendly but it is very skirmishable and it is very good on the performance charts. The groupings at 25 metres were easily within 4-6 inches and with heavier ammo I dont think youd have any trouble hitting targets out to 50 metres.

CONCLUSIONI absolutely love what has been done here - its fresh and its good but it is very

expensive. It changes it from a nice little extra for the collection and moves it into the die-hard fan niche.

They will only ever be produced in limited numbers and there were only 15 released to Europe, so they are certainly collectable. When you see that Inokatsu make a $1,200 1911 then why not go for the Assault Ri e? Youd use it a lot more thats for sure. It really is all about justifying it to yourself and people who dismiss it as crap really need to pull their heads out of their backsides and research before jumping on their mighty keyboards of Airsoft doom and gloom. Its never going to be SF MilSim and the price is off-putting but the collection wants it even - if your wallet doesnt.

I utterly love it!

WORLD E

XCLUSIVE

THE ARMOURY

15

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WORLD EXCLUSIVE | MA5 ASSAULT RIFLE

16 february 2015

AIRSOFT World War II weaponry has slowly expanded over the years and it is surprising that the MG42 hasnt been produced in the last ten, although certainly it has been rumoured for the last 8 years. Well now it is here; made by AGM and you can be damned sure we were excited to get it out and tested.

WHO ARE AGM?AGM are a Chinese low to mid-range brand. They initially produced the MP40, which was amazingly good value even though it wasnt a brilliant rie. It gave players a cost-effective choice if they wanted to play German WWII and use something other than a poor performing gas blowback, or a Tokyo Marui Thompson. The potential for problems with this system are fairly high but externally it looks nearly perfect.

So why the MG42?The MG42 is an iconic piece of engineering, so good that

it is still used today by a few different armed forces. This is an aluminium and steel constructed replica that sports real wooden parts and it certainly pays homage to its real cousin. The heavy and long design of the MG42 should set pulses racing as this budget support weapon is fairly wallet friendly.

THE REAL STEELThe real MG42 is a 7.92mm, 1200 rounds per minute machine of precision death. With quick change barrels and small crews required to operate it, it ensured that fewer troops could carry more weapons which could lay down more re. When you run simple maths like that you can see why the German forces did so well for so long.

Having had the pleasure and sheer joy to re the real version at the 2014 Shot Show, I can tell you which end Id rather be on The range warden did say lean right into it and after pumping out a few belts on the GPMG and the M60 E4, I gured I easily had this in the bag. I was wrong! I leant right into it, bipod straining forward and

HITLERS BUZZSAW WAS A TERRIFYING AND FEARSOME MACHINE TO STAND AGAINST BUT SCOTT ALLAN ASKS DOES THE AGM VERSION HAVE TWO BALLS, OR LIKE HITLER JUST THE ONE?

PRECISION DEATH

17

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The real MG42 needed a three man crew but you should happily be able to buzz around your site with relative ease, setting up and moving whenever you see t.

unleashed what I expected to be a 3-5 round burst. Before I could blink the bipod was raising and I was being driven back. I eased off the trigger holding my aim to count around 15 shells still bouncing around the range. I smiled, tightened my grip and leaned in even further.

The MG42 was not only a more efcient design of the already great MG34 but it was a leap forward in warfare. The contending Allied weapons were seriously out of date from slow to change military forces. Safe to say it was a pivotal weapon in the history of warfare and redened the general purpose machine gun role.

THE AIRSOFT VERSIONExternally it is a big old beast (as you would naturally expect) but when I assembled the whole thing what did surprise me was the lack of weight. At 6.5 kilos it is considerably lighter and therefore much more skirmishable than all other MGs on the market. The nish on it is unassumingly brilliant too, the black is a smooth satin nish (which would take weathering really well if one was so inclined) and the wood looks solid and pleasantly nished. The cocking handle looked nice but when tted it kind of just opped about like a dead sh; a shame as a good, tightly sprung version would have set it off even better.

Performance for a support weapon is paramount. There is little point in wasting your hard-earned cash by lugging a heavy and cumbersome beast around, only to nd you are

out-ranged by a MP5K. Sadly this is where so many Chinese

mass-made weapons fall down generally. Cheap production means

corners are cut (sometimes whole sides) and AGM are as guilty of this as any of the others. Im not knocking them by any means but you must be aware when buying Chinese you are taking a little bit of a gamble. Good companies who sell the product will offer you a warranty and better companies will test ries before they are shipped to you.

THE ARMOURYAGM MG42

18 february 2015

This saves you a huge amount of hassle when you could order from overseas, only to nd the tin foil wiring held in place with chewing gum has come loose. I have found some bizarre things in Chinese gearboxes over the years, the most weird was a dead y and tiny pebbles like the ones you nd in a sh tank - and that is no lie!

Internally there are a few things Ive come to expect from AGM and I wasnt really surprised by the quality but the M249 style gear box which this uses is a great design and this version has the quick change spring which is helpful. The MG42 gearbox also splits (a little like an ICS M4) which is also handy. The trigger has two separate switches when you pull it. Firstly a micro switch that activates the box magazine to wind and then secondly a standard trigger contact to re. The gearbox typically had much more grease than required and I also found the shimming to be sketchier than a MPs expenses sheet.

On paper and to look at, the MG42 is a fantastic bit of kit and if you want to go down the WWII German Airsoft route, Id be sorely tempted by this. That said, there are things I would do before I skirmished it that I will cover later. However a plus point is the battery space available is quite good and we easily tted in a 1450mah 11.1v LiPo battery, unlike the recent MG34 design which didnt really take into account that it needed to be powered by a battery.

As I mentioned previously, AGM, like a lot of Chinese companies, are a bit hit and miss with their Quality Assurance. A hit and youll get a really great quality rie for a very respectable price; get a bad one and you can be lucky if it will re. The issues I had with the MG42 almost straightaway were the box magazine had winding issues and the hop up didnt work at all. Nothing major then. But that said, it didnt take long for the tech team to get them all back up and running a bonus if you have a tech team on hand yet a real bummer if you dont have much technical knowledge. This is why UK purchasing can be so handy for these brands, make it someone elses problem straight off the bat. A good company will have test red the whole thing to ensure it works rather than the Hong Kong re and forget issue. The box magazine is okay but, as with all box magazines, you may have to opt for a lower voltage and a slower rate of re to suit the winding speed of your magazine. I think a high-cap box magazine can sometimes be less hassle than an iffy electric magazine, especially a Chinese one.

IN THE FIELDIt is genuinely light enough for me to extend it out single handed. I couldnt run and shoot that way obviously but itll give you an idea of what is achievable. The real MG42 needed a three man crew but you should happily be able to buzz around your site with relative ease, setting up and moving whenever you see t. The length may not be suitable for all sites mind you and the only time youd want it indoors would be for storage.

CONCLUSIONIt is an utterly ridiculous, long and iconic nice support weapon and I dont play WWII Airsoft, so why do I want this so badly? Partly because the engineering behind the real version was so spot on that it has rightfully held its place in rearms history. I am no stranger to having a tech rebuild a gearbox to make sure it is entirely smooth and sweet at the point of purchase. For the sake of a few quid more I could go from hit and miss performance to a really solid and intimidating platform.

The WWII re-enacting scene love this type of gear too, as even a deactivated MG42 can go for 800 so it provides a more cost effective option for those events. In short it really is good value, it looks fantastic and if you can ensure you have a good one it shouldnt let you down.

LIST OF FEATURESEXCELLENT EXTERNAL METAL FINISHGOOD WEIGHT BUT NOT OVERLY HEAVYREAL WOOD STOCKFOLDING STEEL BIPODADJUSTABLE SIGHTSMOCK CHARGING HANDLELENGTH 1.2 METRESWEIGHT 6.5 KILOSMAGAZINE CAPACITY 2500 ROUNDSFPS 360 WITH BLASTER 0.20G BBRRP 550

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brought any ammo, he was issued some from a limited amount in little cardboard ammo boxes (a nice touch). Every player was also given a pyro grenade. For ries you were given 50 rounds, SMGs 100 rounds and support weapons 500 and our depleted squad of 5 Gebirgsjager (German mountain troops) collected our ammo. Between us we had 4 gas KAR98s and me with my ICS M1 Garand. I never really noticed how few BBs 50 is - so much so I counted them thinking I had been short changed but it turned out I had not.

We set off to our base which was only 200 feet away but up a large, steep slope. This would have been ne apart from having to get an MG42 on a tripod and 2 artillery pieces up there. After much shoving and pulling we got to our base and took stock of our position. We believed any Russian attack would come from the west side so we deployed our artillery facing that way.

Our rst job after a quick breather was to set up defences in case of attack. Convinced that any would attack from the west, the other squad of Germans set out on a mission to deploy a mine eld and barbed wire, while we started to build a barricade out of anything we could nd and set up a defensive position covering the western ank. With an MG42 and a nice supply of grenades at the ready and up the hill to our right, a second MG42 on the tripod behind sandbags, the Russians would be in for a shock if they attacked.

By the time we had nished the other squad had returned, so we set off on patrol to try and gather any Intel we could on enemy locations or movement but just as we had moved out we ran into a Russian patrol, they outnumbered us and had the high ground and engaged.

We were pinned down and returned re. One of the Kar98s got an early kill as we heard the scream of the rst Russian to fall

LIKE ALL GREAT AIRSOFT DAYS, THIS STORY STARTS IN A MCDONALDS

A group of us from the 34th Infantry WW2 airsoft team have met up near Keele. Its 07.30 and we are getting some strange looks as a couple of my friends are trying to gure out how to put Russian gaiters on. The weather, after a week of rain, is nice and sunny and the forecast is good. We set off and make our way to Gunman Stoke; The Hill, some folks have camped the night before and are up bright and early. Normally we tend to play American infantry but today its the second part of an ongoing storyline from the 900 Days Group, who are a group of players running Eastern Front airsoft games. Last year in Part One we played Russian but today we are mixed bunch, some of us on the Russian side and some, myself included, on the German side - and the banter has already started.

This game is set in the Autumn of 1942. The German army has captured the hills overlooking Leningrad but both sides have depleted numbers due to the battle so far. The Germans are trying to move their artillery forward and the Russians are trying to regroup and hold the line and, if possible, counter-attack the invading forces.

Looking around as we got ready it seemed that the Russians had rallied well as they seemed to outnumber the Germans but I was sure with our superior training, we would be ne. Well, that and a couple of MG42s, mines and artillery! The Russians had higher numbers and whistles (though at this time we did not know about the whistles). After a safety brief and a quick rundown of the site, the Russians moved out to their base which was unknown to us and were issued ammo. For this game no player

CHRIS WRIGHT REPORTS FROM THE A WW2 GAME, WHERE RUSSIANS AND GERMANS GO

HEAD-TO-HEAD IN 1942

OPERATIONNORDLICHT

THE WHISTLES BLEW AND THE RUSSIAN HORDE CHARGED. WE OPENED UP WITH EVERYTHING WE HAD BUT AS SOON AS WE KILLED ONE RUSSIAN ANOTHER TOOK HIS PLACE.

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and straight after I got my rst kill when a Russian popped out behind a tree and did not see me. But then their numbers and high ground advantage began to tell, with two of my unit falling to their re. We managed to deploy a smoke grenade to provide us with some cover and bandage the injured. The Russians seeing they had the advantage started to push down the hill but they had failed to notice that the re ght had attracted the attention of the second German unit! The anking Germans managed to manoeuvre behind them and tore right through, leaving no one alive.

After a few quick words of thanks and a quick ammo check we moved out and after about 5 minutes we saw a group of Russians in what we thought may have been a base. After observing them for a while we marked their location down on our map and continued our patrol. We soon came across a Russian mineeld (which we also recorded the position of) and set off back to base to report our ndings. Almost immediately we saw a large Russian patrol heading our way and being heavily out-gunned, we took cover and let them pass us by. As soon as they had gone we carried on back to base to report all of our ndings to our ofcer.

On our return I managed to restock my ammo and we grabbed a quick snack (there was no lunch break, it was eat when you could). With the intel provided to our ofcers, they asked both squads to each send a two-man patrol to check out a couple of areas to see if any Russians were there. However, due to a breakdown in communications, the other squad sent a patrol of 8 out and left 2 behind, leaving only 5 of us and 2 ofcers defending our position.

For a short while all was ne, until the moment we heard the sound of whistles along our east and south east anks! A Russian horde appeared from the woods and charged towards us. With our artillery and main MG facing the other way and being outnumbered about 4-1, we rushed to defend our position. I grabbed the MG42 which was beside me and with another Gebirgsjager took cover in a small ditch facing the enemy attack. I opened up with the MG42, felling 2 Russians straight away and this held up the south east attack as they went to ground. We turned to face the eastern attack and red at the enemy once again felling a couple of Russians. Like their comrades they went to ground as the remaining Germans took defensive positions. Again the whistles blew and the Russian horde charged. We opened up with everything we had but as soon as we killed one Russian

OPERATION NORDLICHT

Event Review

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another took his place. With concentrated re and support from the MG42 we forced the Russians to ground again on a ridge just above us, within spitting distance of the second MG42. This time the Russians were taking no chances as they patched up their wounded; smoke grenades began to come over the ridge as well as grenades. Lucky for us they were dropping short of where we were dug in. We had managed to stall them but ammo was getting low. Every time the Russians popped up their heads we would send a small burst their way - but it was just a matter of time. Half of our defensive force was lost already and again smoke dropped over the ridge. With the MG42 running low on ammo I crawled to my rie. Just as I got to it I found that the Russians had got behind us. Almost surrounded and with rounds ying in every direction, I was shot in the back. Soon after, my fellow Gebirgsjager was shot as well. We could do nothing but lie wounded as our position was over-run.

The enemy force managed to get explosives to our artillery pieces and blow them up but before they could inict worse damage on our base we were saved. Our patrols had returned and were now anking the Russian horde; with them not knowing the numbers attacking their anks, the whistles blew again and the

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most of the remaining Russians had no ammo left or were down to just a few rounds.

We all then headed back to the safe zone for the normal war stories as we changed and packed up and I have to admit I was shattered! I had not expected the site to be so physically challenging and felt I could have just rolled up into a ball and gone to sleep there. It was nice to play on a site which was very different to most sites I play at and what a great day it was too. Looking around at the faces of the other players, the smiles and the banter all indicated they all felt the same.

A lot of hard work had been put into this game by the organisers and it had paid off. I was a bit worried about such small ammo limits but it worked out well and the Russians players I talked with loved how they fought literally to the last round during the nal battle. Had their ammo carrier made it through the hail of MG42 re that had cut him down, they felt they could have held out until the end.

So many thanks to all those that ran this game, myself and many more look forward to Part 3 in 2015.

Russians melted away back into the woods from where they had come.

After the enemy withdrew, the returning patrols tended to the wounded and we took stock of the situation. The Russians had managed to destroy our artillery which was a heavy blow but they did not have time to gather our intel. While the attack was devastating, there was some good news... As the Russians were attacking in high numbers our patrols had found the Russian base, including a map marked with all of their positions and supply areas.

We managed to grab a quick snack as we restocked our ammo and prepared to go out on patrol to check out a couple of locations shown on the captured map. This time we were taking no chances - the MG42 and a bag of grenades were coming with us!

It was during the patrol I realised how challenging this site was. It was very up and down with mixed terrain and with four by fours using this site on some weekends, it had some huge tracks to cross over, which made it great to patrol and ght across and quite different to a lot of sites I had played at. The idea of the patrol was to loop around the area in one direction, with the other squad going the other way and hopefully hitting the Russians from both anks.

Twice we encountered a couple of Russian scouts but we managed to sneak past them and head to our target, which was one of the Russian supply bases. When we arrived we found it to be empty of supplies so we resumed our patrol. Not long after we heard a re ght close by and we saw that the other German squad had been engaged by a large contingent of the enemy so we closed in on their rear. The Gods were against us again and some Russians who had been back to their base to regen hit our ank. After a quick ght they over-ran us, but at great cost to them.

After the enemy had passed we headed back to our base where we stocked up on ammo and supplies for a nal assault on the main enemy base. Both squads set out together. As we got closer we encountered small pockets of enemy resistance which were trying to slow us down to allow their main force to get back to their base. It worked; forcing a large ght all around the enemy base with attack and counter attack by both sides until we slowly whittled the enemy down to a handful remaining in their base, which we then over-ran! Later on the way back I found out that

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block. The perimeter of the area is light woodland that allows great creativity with the tactics teams deploy during a game. You can have your snipers hold the woods, supported by support weapon platforms and as you enter the buildings you can go all door-kicking and grenade-slinging! This makes the event very tough to manage for the team commanders as the players you have sign on come from a variety of different backgrounds.

The event came around seven years ago, from the Stirling Christmas game. It was always an invite-only game and more and more people from Scotland began attending, due to Catterick only being a few hours drive from Glasgow and Edinburgh. Matt Belgrove, Stirlings owner and organiser, then approached me to ask about running it as a competition. Now Ive always been up for a competition and thought competitive airsoft was a good idea.

The rst year saw a foot of snow across the site and Scotland were embarrassingly crushed beneath the English heavy boot. It really felt like history repeating itself. We were outmatched and outplayed at every single turn, we knew we had to do better in the future. The main teams on the Scottish side spent more and more time looking at what we did and how we worked and over the years they got better and better. The win in 2013 was the most convincing to date for Scotland but, just because you did well one year does not give you the right to win the next and, if anything, the history of the event showed the exact opposite. Given that I was the Scottish Commander in 2013 there was some expectation (if only a personal one) that we should achieve a good result again Shouldnt we?

Naturally with airsoft (and like real warfare) the game is never totally even. To prevent any single team being given a perceived advantage, coins are tossed for which camouage is worn (greens or deserts) and which side of the site each team starts

STIRLING AIRSOFT have been running airsoft events in the UK and Spain for well over ten years now. They are said to be the best in the business hosting the biggest events, with the best scenarios on the best game sites available. They are unique in the fact that they have no home site or direct afliation with anyone and this gives them great exibility.

Their game styles vary from event to event. While they are all MilSim to some extent, they do run open events that anyone can attend and take part. How much you get out depends on how much you put in. The highest level is the combat mission games that often lean toward the role-playing, so forget the running around crazy spraying everyone. The events held in Spain are the best games I have ever played, extremely immersive with role-playing (which isnt my thing normally) and with more thought involved including using translators!

The England V Scotland event was standing at three games a-piece, so the pressure was on both sides to get the fourth win. Scotland has never been ahead in games as England has successfully broken the tie each time. To date no side has ever won two games in a row so the outlook was fairly bleak for Scotland, even though in 2013 they had a landslide victory.

The battleeld of choice is the Catterick Garrison training village which Stirling have used for many years. They hold around ve events there every year, including the Auld Enemy game. The training village is an old housing estate converted for police and military training, which offers a great range of terrain in a compact format, from rubble-ridden assault courses, burnt-out armoured vehicles, houses and tunnel networks, plus a multi-storey tower

ARGUABLY THE BIGGEST GAME OF THE YEAR HITS ITS 7TH BIRTHDAY, AS SCOTT ALLAN REPORTS FROM ENGLAND V SCOTLAND 2014 PICS: STEPHEN REYNOLDS (DIRECTOR WHO SHOT THE MOVIE VENDETTA)!

THE AULD ENEMY

THE ENGLISH SIDE WAS SWITCHED ON FROM THE GET GO ON THE SUNDAY, THIS SHOWED AS THEY HAMMERED IN THE POINTS TIME AND TIME AGAIN. BOTH TEAMS WERE EATING UP THE MULTIPLE OBJECTIVES QUICKLY AND THE POINTS EVENLY CLIMBED.

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on. To the eastern side lies Regen 1, the main safe area and accommodation. To the west lies the Regen 2 area, which has a slight advantage of being on higher ground and gives you better access across the site. The site is nearly a classic keyhole shape, with Regen 1 being at the base and Regen 2 being at the top. The Regen points can be used by either team and when it is open for a team at one side, the opposite side is open for the other team. Then both shut for 5 minutes and switch around. This keeps the ow of battle moving and prevents a solid front line being formed. If anything the front lines often look like the contours of Ben Nevis - and thats being optimistic!

The scene is set, the players sign up then the best part happens the Friday night social! Its no secret that the English used to, in part anyway, count on a large Scottish knees up happening. Sleep deprived and feeling rough is denitely the enemy of choice if you can have them. The social evening is an important part as airsoft is a social game and it gives both sides a chance to catch up as friends where North and South have a few beers and a laugh.

With 88 players signed to the English side wearing desert gear and 78 to the Scottish side in green gear, the game kicks off at 11am on the Saturday. This gives time for breakfast, general safety brief which covers site specics, such as no full-auto indoors and then there is a team specic brief just before game on. The way each team is managed is a personal choice of the Commander. Ben Watt, the English commander is a good friend and has probably commanded more Catterick events than I have played, so I know he will not give us any leeway. Any mistakes that are made by either side are quickly exploited and pushed on. Then you are in the poo big time! The trick is not being on the back foot at any time on the event but that is easier said than done.

The rst objectives are a row of split buildings that run straight North to South through the site. As well as being worth 30 points, they give maximum control of the area with minimal effort. Its a thin green line that we have to try and hold at all costs, the Regen is pretty far so any man we lose means he is gone for at best 5-10 minutes and a well organised team can overrun a position in that time. Due to an overzealous assault by the Scottish team, they left a building unoccupied so failed to score points. This meant of a possible 30 points we achieved 10 - but prevented England from gaining any points whatsoever.

Most of the afternoon was toe to toe ghting for both teams, a real slugging match. The reghts were thick and always fast,

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teams thought and fought on the y. This is where your side can unravel and it was at this point in 2013 that England fell apart quickly, thankfully for the English side, this time they stayed coherent throughout the afternoon, even as Scotland nudged ahead slightly.

Being a December game you are always against the light, even the buildings are dark early on so you quickly need to rely on a torch of some sort. Many players sport night vision of various types that can begin to get frustrating for some players. That said it is all about adapting what you do at night: Move in areas you know are secure and if you suspect there is enemy in an area, treat it as hostile. Often I have seen players from both teams wander aimlessly up to a hedge full of the enemy only for them to be cut to ribbons in seconds under a hail of torch light, grenades and weapon re. Night ghting happens closer and identifying friend from foe becomes a bigger issue.

Scotland began the evening campaign with a slight lead, a lead that could quickly crumble and be lost if the team lost direction. Night ghting at this event is fought on multiple levels and coldness, fatigue, frustration and even a healthy dose of fear are all things you have to deal with before you have even found

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at these games and I am very thankful I lled all my magazines and swapped over batteries before bed to save me thinking too hard rst thing.

There is something wretched about getting up in the cold and damp, to get dressed into cold clothes and to get ready to ght - and its still very dark. Game-on was at 7.30am and happily the rst signs of light were creeping across the site. We had held a building the night before so this is where we started the next day, gratefully it was a target building for an early objective so we knew it was in the bag. The English team had locked down Building 45 at the far end of the site, an open garage building. Its a tough building to take and defend in equal measure. We hit it continually for a sustained period but we couldnt wear down the solid defence. It was a slight dent in the moral for our team but the momentum kept up. Various re ghts were popping up all over the site but we were consistently hitting the points we needed. The English side was switched on from the get go on the Sunday, this showed as they hammered in the points time and time again. Both teams were eating up the multiple objectives quickly and the points evenly climbed.

Ultimately at 11am, the nal whistle was blown. With the points scoring it was impossible for England to catch Scotland from 9.30am on the Sunday but with great spirit they fought on regardless and treated each objective like it was the last winning point.

The nal objective saw Scotland holding one area and England locking down two areas. Regardless of the big push that Scotland made they couldnt get the traction to uproot Englands foothold. It made little change to the nal outcome but it certainly showed how tough both sides were willing to play regardless of scores.

The nal scores were:England 95 160 ScotlandPlayers KIA: England 1832 1967 ScotlandThe nal brief for congratulations all round saw the handover

of the Stirling Shield, which will spend another 12 months on display at Land Warrior Airsoft in Edinburgh!

an enemy player. The ghting always concentrates around a few key buildings, the best ght by far was around the multi-storey tower block. With a huge stairwell, room top and basement to ght and clear it is a challenge during the daytime. In the evening it is practically a mineeld. Both teams lost scores of players taking and retaking the ground levels. The English side really worked well clearing the tower, sweeping out the Scottish side a few times. The last points in the evening were only narrowly missed by England due to a last minute QRF coming in from the Scottish team that saw the building contested.

Unfortunately the Saturday had a 20-odd minute halt, as a Sandy had slipped and dislocated his elbow and that saw the Scottish side down a good player. At least we got to see him before the paramedics escorted him off and tease him about letting us down. The gas and air kept him chirpy enough to kindly advise us where we could go and jump and that we had better bloody not lose!

At the end of a confusing evening of much blue on blue, the Scottish team ended with a good score just over double Englands 50 -105. The marshals commented that without so many blue on blues the Scottish side would have run amok. There is little that can be done to prevent this - regardless of challenge and responses, different camouages between sides, the fact that you have a torch and everyone has regional accents If someone is convinced you are the enemy there is little you can do to prevent blue on blue happening. Often we would move from the Regen area to a target building perhaps 150 metres away and lose half the guys on the way. I have often wondered how many get lost or just decide to try something different.

The end of the evening sees a chance to get some much needed food and to take on plenty of uids. A quick chat with the marshal team to see if there are any serious issues that need resolved. The rst day has run pretty smoothly play-wise, there are always frustrated calls from each side but nothing major and the play seems to be solid for each country. Its 1am, we rise at 6.30 to head out for 7am. Curling up in my sleeping bag I dont think a whole thought passes through my head before I sleep.

Babies dont sleep this wellThen I doubt babies are woken up by a 6 9 jock asking me if

Im having a long lie! A quick coffee and an energy bar and put on all my gear. Swapping out socks and underwear is a religious habit

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Haley Strategic PartnersFor me personally, the Haley Strategic Partners reputation for high quality gear and equipment has been growing since the release of the D3CR (Disruptive Environments Chest Rig) in early 2013. My thoughts on the D3CR have already been well documented but I have been fortunate to get hands on with some other bits of gear from HSP recently. I have had the INCOG Discreet Rie Case for about 2 months now and it currently holds my D3CR (fully loaded) as well as my PTS RM4 ERG, although at a recent event it contained my G&G AKSU74. Currently it is only available in the Disruptive Grey colour, constructed out of 1000D with YKK zippers and Velcro placed conveniently to increase both load as well as the versatility for a users specic requirement. I hope to do a larger, more detailed review of the HSP gear after SHOT SHOW 2015. The 2nd pieces of gear that I have been using quite extensively, especially in such mild and sunny weather are the Gasket model sunglasses from Liquid Eyewear. The most notable design feature of these glasses is that they are hinge-less, something that I had not come across before. They are CNC machined out of aircraft grade aluminium making them incredibly lightweight, very strong but also durable, to a point, to allow a very comforting t to the users head. You have two choices for lenses; the ones I have been using are the polarised non-ballistic lenses; however you can get transitional ballistic rated Hellre lenses. Overall I really like the HSP Liquid Gasket sunglasses and although I may not fully use the INCOG rie case in the role it was originally designed for, it is a great piece of gear and certainly makes life easier with everything I would need stowed in one simple, compact case. UK Distributor: Tactical Kit UK Retailers: Tactical Kit and Land Warrior Airsoft

KIT AND KABOODLE

Gear Overview

RICHARD BELL, AKA FIREBASE-ALPHA, DOES HIS REGULAR ROUNDUP OF KIT THAT HAS

CAUGHT HIS EYE

KIT AND KABOODLE

Grifn Technologies Protective CasesI wonder how many of you got some new Tech from Santa this year? I know that our household just increased the strain on Wi-Fi as well as increased the stress element for damaging our new toys. For me the one company that has provided a sense of relaxation is Grifn Technologies. I started using their Survivor protective case for my iPhone over 4 years ago and as the technology increased, so did the number of protective cases. We now have two iPhones, one iPad mini and an iPod all utilising their systems and to date not one incident! We have had drops, bangs, spills, submersions, overnight back garden stints as well as skirmishes, travel, work and several other events not to be repeated and no problems. The key features of the Survivor series are Shatter-resistant polycarbonate frame, shock-absorbing silicone, Screen protector and Sealed plugs for connectors and ports. When I rst got my case they were not available in the UK however that has now changed and most stores stock these and other cases from Grifn Technologies. Regardless of your thoughts on the Grifn systems I would strongly advise you to look at the protective case you may have/have not and ask if its up to the task. There are many companies out there producing cases of a similar nature and for me it has been a worthwhile investment. Manufacture: Grifn Technology

Magnum Scorpion Patrol Boots These were sent to me a few months back by Military1st and I have to be honest and say, I did question why I was being sent a pair of desert patrol boots to rural Scotland in Autumn/Winter time. However, me being me I just addressed my choice in sock and adhered to my winter foot regime and cracked on with using them. I can recall the rst Magnum Hi-Tec boot coming out over a decade ago and they were a beautiful boot, so I had high expectations of these and guess what? They meet them and more! The combination of breathable 1150D and leather makes for a very light weight but very hardy boot that also allows for very quick drying. Some of the other features include a reinforced toecap, anti-microbial treatment, cambrelle lining, speed lacing eyelets and high traction outsole. Overall as a non-waterproof boot they have performed exceptionally in this current climate and I can only envisage that performance will increase as we move into hotter seasons.Retailer: Military1st

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CONTINUING HIS COMPARATIVE SERIES, GARETH GADGE HARVEY TAKES A LOOK AT NATO AND WP SOLDIERS PERSONAL WEAPONRY

SMALL ARMS OF THE SUPER POWERS

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SMALL ARMS

CWW

LEARNING THE LESSONS OF WWIIAfter the war the Russians were the rst to seize onto this German innovation by creating the classic Kalashnikov automatic rie, model 1947 or the AK47. Supercially this looked like the German MP44 but worked on different mechanical principles; the effect however was the same a massive amount of repower in the hands of each soldier.

With a huge conscript army, the AK47 was perfect for the Soviet Union. It was simple (with few moving parts and a near indestructible build), it had a high rate of re and used en masse was effective. Its loose tolerances and large (by western standards) gaps between moving parts meant that it could re when other guns would fail with fouling from dirt and carbon build up; although this did make it somewhat inaccurate. It was also, in its initial form, very heavy. The AK would see several major changes through the Cold War years. Initially the heavy milled steel receivers were replaced with lighter stamped steel constructions and a compensator applied to the muzzle. This used the vented gasses from ring to push the rie down and reduced its tendency to climb when red on automatic. This model is commonly known as the AKM (M for modied)

In fact the rie itself exemplied Warsaw Pact (WP) doctrine. Overwhelming short range repower. Unlike most western weapons which cycle from safe, through single shot to automatic, the AK47 (and the lightened AKM) goes straight from safe to give it loads with the safety catch doubling as the bolts dust cover sheer utilitarian genius. The Soviet Union allowed its Warsaw Pact member states to make their own domestic version of this classic rie and, with the exception of the Czechoslovakian Vz.58, even the Chinese would copy the design of the AK with their Type 56 rie. The differences between them were largely cosmetic, meaning an exceptional level of cross training and parts commonality across the WP easing logistical problems dramatically. Rather than concentrate a new SMG, the old WWII PPSH and similar models found their way into police and rear line units as the AK could do everything an SMG could and more.

Towards the end of the Cold War the Soviet Union decided to follow NATOs lead with developing a lighter infantry round (more of this later) and created the AK74, a 5.54mm rebuild of the tried and tested frame. A few concessions were made in the creation

WORLD WAR II LEFT A DRASTIC CHANGE on the face of modern warfare. The age of the bolt action rie was over and in both the East and the West the search was on for the next generation of personal weapon.

In this months article well continue our short series on comparative equipment of the major players in the cold war era. This issue well be looking at the assault ries, battle ries, SMGs and other small arms commonly in service with the Warsaw Pact and NATO.

Prior to the Second World War nearly every army in the world equipped its soldiers with long magazine fed (albeit small internal ve round magazines or short removable 10 round box mags) ries capable of engaging an enemy up to kilometre or more away. This emphasis on a large, heavy rie round and extreme range was perhaps a throwback to colonial warfare and the hard lessons learnt in the Boer War but, in WWII it was found that most infantry engagements happened at 800 metres or less. Post-war studies had also found that the accurate but slow ring bolt action had had its day. US designs like the M1 Garand (which would spawn the M14) with semi-auto re capability and the German Gewehr 43 enabled sections that had lost their light or medium machine guns to totally dominate reghts. Previously, the rie section had been seen as a means to supply the squads one or two light machine guns with ammo to supress an enemy before an assault could be made but, with the introduction of lightweight automatic and semi-automatic ries, cheap to manufacture SMGs and even the worlds rst assault ries, the bolt action had become a liability.

The rst true assault ries came late into WWII in the shape of the German MP43/44. A fully automatic rie looking (supercially) like a primitive AK47 with a large curved magazine but most importantly, it red a relatively new type of cartridge. The short intermediate or Kurtz 7.92 round combined the range and stopping power (to a degree) of a rie round but was lighter to carry, enabling the MP43/44 sturm gewehr (German: Storm Rie) to be used as a powerful alternative to the sub machine gun. By the end of WWII the Germans were equipping entire platoons of men with hastily produced MP44s (Machine Pistol 44) hoping to trade off the massive allied superiority in men and equipment with increased repower. A ten-man section with MP44 was worth more than a platoon of men with bolt action ries in a reght.

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of the AKSU for tank and vehicle crews, a compact carbine version of the AK format and recce units and paratroopers were often issued with the folding stock variants of the AK47, AKM and AK74 generally sufxed with an S to donate a folding stock.

SPRAY AND PRAYOn the other side of the political spectrum NATO small arms policy was largely led by the USA. Early on NATO had believed that accurate marksmanship was superior to high volumes of automatic re and most western designs reect this. Before the formation of NATO, Britain had developed an outstanding bullpup 7mm round, selective re assault rie with 4x optical scope, the EM2. The EM2 was clearly a world leader and could give many of todays weapons a run for their money. However the US Government were set on the heavy 7.62mm round being the NATO Standard for all nations to use, for a logistics parity with the Warsaw Pact. While NATO trials were allegedly rigged to show the M14 to be a superior rie (and this fully automatic son of the M1 Garand would be adopted by the US Army for us up to the Vietnam War) few NATO countries had faith in the heavy, overpowered M14 that was difcult to control on full auto. Germany and Spain opted for variants of the Spanish CETME 7.62 rie while Britain, Belgium and many other nations opted for Fabrique Nationals FN FAL (in British service the option of fully automatic re was removed and it was sold as the SLR or Self Loading Rie, again emphasising the British Armys priority on accuracy over spray and pray).

All of these ries which served NATO and the Warsaw Pact during the 50s, 60s and 70s are what we now call Battle Ries. However experience in the small wars in South East Asia led NATO to believe (well more for the US to admit - other nations had known all along) that adopting a 7.62 individual weapon was a mistake. The rounds themselves were heavy - limiting how many could be carried and fully automatic re was extremely hard to control. Once again NATO looked for a new round and while Britain plumped for a bullpup rie of 4.85 calibre the US again took the lead in pressuring for a 5.56mm round and the M16 to be adopted by NATO. On paper this seemed a wise choice. The M16 itself was light and had a high rate of re in its secondary re mode for emergency use, the 5.56mm round was also very light allowing a soldier to carry much more ammunition than

his predecessors. In the eld however the M16 was found to suffer from catastrophic design aws which would take at least a decade to iron out, poorly trained conscripts often used full automatic re in a panic as the default and wasted their extra ammunition - and

the reliance on 7.62 light and medium machine guns meant that the squad still had to carry heavy 7.62mm ammo anyway!

ENTER THE ASSAULT RIFLEThese problems were ironed out and later models of M16 had the full auto option replaced with a three round burst setting but not before many soldier had lost their lives in Vietnam, found dead with a cleaning rod stuck in the barrel of an M16, or trying desperately to reload one of the two 20 round mags they had been issued with for a rie with a cyclic rate of 800 rounds per minute! Combat accounts from Nam frequently report the frustration of trying to ght the NVA or VC, who would be carrying up to nine magazines of 30 rounds a piece for their AKMs, while US soldiers initially only carried 40 loaded rounds the other 400 or so being in plastic bags!

In the UK things were not that much better. While Special Forces (who generally perform reconnaissance and dont plan to be in a reght) had adopted the M16 largely due to its light weight benets, the rest of the army soldiered on with the SLR. Combat experience in the Falklands led the army to believe that a fully automatic rie was needed and the small arms for the 1980s programme was brought into production, with the rst SA80s and LSWs entering trials service in 1986. As with the Soviets, the SA80 and its short length replaced the need for dedicated SMG and the light support weapon was intended to replace the ageing L4 LMG (a rechambered WWII bren gun!)

Like the M16, the SA80 (or more technically correct L85a1) and its LSW brother (L86) were initially disastrous, with reports of ries falling apart in service and critical parts like ring pins breaking easily. Many of the worst problems were xed by unit armourers but it would take a post-Cold War overhaul by Heckler and Koch to make the SA80 the top class assault rie it is today.

By this point the world had already entered a new phase of personal weapon for the infantry soldier, the assault rie. Optimised for engagements of around 500 metres (rather than 800 metres or more) and capable of accurate re or high rate suppressive re and with a light round the assault rie began to replace the battle rie in nearly every armys inventory. The US adopted the M16; The UK the L85 and the as aforementioned, the Soviets made their AK74 for a lighter 5.45 round. France had adopted its own excellent 5.56mm bullpup (the FAMAS) while Germany and other NATO nations persevered with the G3 battle rie - a revolutionary caseless ammo assault rie had been trialled by the Germans (the G11) but had been plagued by problems and found to be too expensive to equip across the army.

While its impossible to cover the small arms of every Cold War army in a short article I hope that this issues Cold War Warriors has shed a little light on the doctrine and politics of cold war repower. Of course as airsofters we overlook these small but vital changes in design well lets look at it - nearly every one of the dozen AEGs I have res the same calibre, to the same range and with roughly the same rate of re! Even my BB weight makes little difference to the amount of kit Im humping on site but to the grunt in Vietnam these small things were, quite literally, the difference between life and death.

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ACES HIGHLES LEE TRAVELLED TO TUNBRIDGE WELLS ON REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY TO REPORT FROM A SITE THAT IS GETTING A LOT OF INTEREST

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clearly makes Chris earn his keep so well done Chris, you deserve to be Master of the Marigolds 2014!

Gates open at 08.15 hours and the morning protocol gets underway. After the safety brief, chrono check and formalities, the mission details were released and I must say, the planning that had gone into this single game day would have impressed even Eisenhower himself!

Now this is where this review takes a twist away from my typical and sometimes very vanilla style of reporting. This time, as well as the regular overview of another quality site in this corner of the world, Im going to give you the actual playbook of that day. As this was Remembrance Sunday, Ace Combat had created some very clever combat roles for every man, woman and child on site.

Nathan Scott, a veteran of some 10 plus years and Head Marshall, is the brains behind the sorties and we have been given exclusive access into this particular events objectives and results, including the nal scores, so for those strategists amongst you, please enjoy this next section where I hand you over to Nathan.

Missions Format:We ran four missions during the day, with a Spec Ops team made up of a quarter of the players from each of the two main teams attempting to get from their inltration point(s), complete a mission and then get back to an inltration point, all against the clock and the rest of the adversaries.

Everyone gets the chance to play as part of a Spec Ops team in one of the missions and prove theyve got what it takes to operate

HAVING RETURNED FROM THE MIDDLE EAST, I felt compelled to air my views on the frontline combat I had witnessed as any credible embedded journalist would do. While the rest of the civilian world were relaxing on a lazy Sunday, the battle rattle raged on in this Godforsaken rain soaked wilderness.

Well Kent is technically in the East and Pembury is somewhere in the middle, so if you were thinking I had strayed beyond my job description you would be ever-so-slightly wrong and, as much as I love my reporting I would be looking for a bit of a wage increase before I joined the rest of the Western Journalists. Besides, I like my head where it is so thanks but no thanks before anyone asks but give me a fully loaded Mini gun and I just might be tempted.

So now my bad humour moment is out of the way (maybe), let me tell you about this rather awesome Airsoft site just outside of Tunbridge Wells.

Ace Combat was formed by husband and wife team Liz and Chris Ockendon approximately 10 years ago. Their passion for Airsoft was forged from 15 plus years of playing and they were so enthused with this unique way to spend a well-earned Sunday, they decided to create their very own site and found themselves signing a deal securing a piece of land in Kent, which they were determined to make one of the best Airsoft sites in the South East of England.

That particular theatre is Ace Combat Brenchley but you are going to have to wait a while before I head back out that way, as this review is all about their second site: Ace Combat Pembury. Still in relative infancy by comparison, dont think for one minute that this is just a quick make do of a site because the high standards that are set in stone at Brenchley are emulated in this amazing mix of forest, valleys, babbling brooks and open elds covering approximately 40 acres.

As usual with my regular site reviews (as if there is such a thing as a regular site), lets start where my reports always begin with; directions - this time taken from the Ace Combat website. The road in is very well detailed and of course, a piece of cake if left to a Sat Nav. Its when you get to the gateway where, according to the directions, once through the gate I was to follow the red arrows....... So I waited....and waited..... but as impressed and excited as I was, there was still no sign of them. After all the website clearly says follow the red arrows.

Okay Les, dont let this little factor jade your judgement as there were probably perfectly good logistical reasons. Maybe they got lost in the clouds or were busy showing their stunts at an air show somewhere but they just didnt appear. So I had to simply nd my own way in with the help of lots of little white directional signs, symbolised with directional arrows painted in..... red.

Anyway, enough of my bad humour, lets get back on point. So upon arrival I was able to park right at the front door and there to greet me were Liz and Chris and a considerable number of combatants all raring to go. The safe zone is a well-constructed series of covered wooden buildings which blended in with natures

surrounding woodlands with a kind of Alpine lodge feel about them; dry, solid and very functional. Yes, this safe zone has been very well thought through and every modern day expectation was there, including the purpose-built wooden male and female toilet building, which is the cleanest I have ever seen at any site. Liz

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DELTA MADE IT TO THE BRIDGE WITH HALF THE MISSION TIME TO SPARE. THE ONLY PROBLEM NOW WAS THAT THEY NEEDED TO HOLD THEIR EXFIL. POINT TO THE END - AND THEIR DEFENCE WILL GO DOWN IN THE ANNALS OF HISTORY IN THE MISSION BOOKS.

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under pressure and against the odds, as its up to the team to decide how to tackle their mission.

Each Spec Ops Team is given a Mission Brief which gives them the basics of what they have to do and the team is also briefed by myself. The Spec Ops Team are then given a 5 minute head start to get to their inl. before the two main teams set off for their start points. The Spec Ops have one set of lives plus an additional self-medic bandage and if they use up all of their lives during their mission they rejoin their Red or Yellow main team as a normal player.

The rest of the team operatives are pitted against each other for the highest kill count, as well as trying to capture the Spec Ops to gain valuable bonus points. At the end of the day we tally the points and give each of the four mission teams a score based on their success whether they have fully or partially completed the mission and whether they have all, some or none of the players at the exl. at the end of the mission, and the two main teams based on their logged regens. and how many Spec Ops they have captured alive. That is all written up in an After Action Report posted to the Ace Combat Facebook page and the Ace Combat forum a few days later.

After Action Report Pembury 09/11/14 Remembrance Day Missions:They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morning,We will remember them.

We would like to start by saying a massive thank you to all the guys and gals that turned up for the Remembrance Day Missions, especially for their very generous contributions to the Royal British Legion, along with the donations from last weeks Brenchley event.

The morning began with a chill as the players ooded in but the grey clouds cleared mid-morning and the sun broke through for a great day of battling in the woods and open elds. The crowd were very eager all day long with four Spec Ops teams that pushed to the end against very determined forces resulting in no mission failures and a lot of regens.

Alpha Team pulled the LZ mission, where they had to make their way from the Bridge to the LZ and clear the landing pad of mines. A small group encountered early resistance but battled their way through to the LZ, against the odds and in an excellent example of a good plan executed well, they cleared the area with plenty of time on the mission clock. Not to be caught napping, they left a small distraction team in Zone A to deal with the inevitable search parties whilst the rest set up a perimeter at the exl. Despite an intense reght and the exl. being discovered towards the end of the mission, Alpha held their own to nish with a fully completed mission and 11 at the exl. with only one operative captured.

The Reds logged 35 regens and the Yellows logged 9 regens and one capture.

Bravo Team drew the Triangulation mission where they had to place LED markers on both of the main team regens and the Bridge. This meant they would need to push into the heart of both main teams territory and engage. The team was given the option to split their force and use two different inl. points but they opted to stay as one cohesive unit. At the start of the mission they split and one team headed to push down from Kazaa but they encountered immediate, heavy and organised resistance resulting in heavy losses against the Reds. Having been pushed back, they circled back round with the Reds in pursuit only to nd a wall of Yellow cutting them off in the corner of Zone A. Bravo put up one hell of a ght but one-by-one they fell to a combined Red and Yellow offensive. During this, a breakaway Bravo force did manage to get a marker on the Red regen but by the end of the mission they had suffered three captures to the Reds and none got to the exl.

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The Reds logged 31 regens with 3 captures and the Yellows logged 27 captures.

After lunch Charlie Team set up for a Surveillance mission, with the task to get at least ve identiable pictures of each team. They were split into two groups with each having a camera and separate inl. points, allowing them to stalk each team separately. Once again the two main teams pushed hard and fast from the start, engaging Charlie quickly although the teams were heard discussing possible mission targets to cover, not realising that they were the targets themselves! Despite taking some casualties and a minor technical hitch with one of the cameras Charlie managed to succeed in getting some photos as well as getting nine operatives to the exl. and only losing one capture, taken by the Yellows.

The Reds logged 18 lives and the Yellows logged 15 with one capture.

The nal mission fell to Delta and they had Dead Drop, where they had to recover two hard drives from Kazaa and get them to their exl. at the Bridge. Delta incorporated some well-seasoned veterans in Pembury Missions and it showed from the off. They had a plan and they made sure the whole team were up to speed literally! They doubled-timed it from their inl. at the LZ to Kazaa, quickly recovered the drives and then started making their way to the Bridge. Amazingly, they encountered light resistance and the bulk of Delta made it to the bridge with half the mission time to spare. The only problem now was that they needed to hold their exl. point to the end - and their defence will go down in the annals of history in the Mission books.

It wasnt too long before engagements from the main teams began and from there Delta were subjected to a relentless hammering from both of the main teams, as the combined Red and Yellow forces desperately tried to break through to the small territory on the other side of the gulley. Wave after wave crashed against the Delta force but they held strong for more than 20 minutes to nish the day with a complete mission and 12 survivors at the exl. This was all the more impressive as they started with 17 and suffered zero captures.

The Reds logged 19 lives and the Yellows logged 18.

The nal scores were:

Alpha: 625ptsBravo: 250ptsCharlie: 312.5ptsDelta: 625pts

Reds: 300ptsYellows: 600pts

With the big numbers it was always unlikely that there would be a complete mission success with a full complement of survivors but all four teams did excellent jobs as there were zero mission failures. That truly shows just how committed each and every person was to the task at hand, so congratulations to you all. That said, it was a close call between Alpha and Delta for the top dog honours but Delta edge it as they both had 17 operatives at the start but Delta held on to 12 and suffered zero captures.

And there you have it. A rare insight behind the scenes of the type of game scenario that you can expect from a day at this rather unique site.

Ace Combat has a strict adherence policy to rules and regulations which I always like to see. This is a very professionally operated site of the highest standards. These standards are in place to protect you and your fellow softers and to ensure that everyone goes home in one piece having had a cracking day. This was apparent to me as the day unfurled and the high standards were clear to see.

The Ace Combat website has all the information you will need and I would urge everyone to take a look, as there are specics that you will need to know to not only enhance your day but at the very least to allow you to reach compliance when it comes to FPS limits and standards on certain types of guns that can be used.

So as I close off this review, I can only wonder... If this new Ace Combat site is this good already, then surely

the very well established sister site at Brenchley must warrant a visit early in the New Year, where Im assured that site has even more to offer. Sounds like a no-brainer to me so Ill see you guys in the early part of 2015 and remember, keep your pistols polished and ries at the ready - theyre not known as Ace Combat for nothing, thats for sure.

As once said by the famous Arnold Squashaknacker Ill be back.

Les OUT!

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february 201540

NIGE REPORTS FROM THE REDWOLF/BLUESTREAK CHARITY EVENT, HELD LAST DECEMBER.

CHARITY BEGINSAT HOME

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REDWOLF/BLUESTREAK AIRSOFT

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immediately visible in their customary Hawaiian shirts and there was a nice array of Rafe Prizes out on display (donated by a large number of different companies), tempting you to buy just one more ticket.

As soon as all 80-odd players had arrived and signed in, one of the marshals (affectionately known as Pumped Up) gently called everyone together for the safety brief. Actually, I say gently but residents as far apart as Aylesbury and Bicester were probably looking around, wondering who was shouting at them!

Safety brief over, new and walk-on players were taken to one side and given a separate brieng on how to use any hire kit and pyros etc. I really like this aspect and Im seeing it more and more, which is a good thing as, much as we like to think we are, we are not born with an innate sense of how to change a mag, use a smoke grenade or prime a BFG!

With 80+ players two teams were quickly created, one with armbands (The Bandits) and the other without (The Greens) - a very simple thing which adds to the overall gameplay, as you dont have to look for a colour, just whether they are wearing an armband - and then it was out for BlueStreaks signature warm up game. The objective of this rst game was to shoot out all the other players (so far so good) but with a twist; the only way a hit player could be put back into the game was by being shot again - by one of his own team!

As you can imagine this is absolutely hilarious, as players were repeatedly hit and then had to take another shot to carry on playing. At one point I watched a player who seemed to spend most of his time shooting his own team. He was very good though and only shot them on their packs or bits of kit that wouldnt hurt mostly!

I have known this site for quite a while. Many issues ago I reported on a Tier 1 event here, which involved helicopters and a 48-hour mission and have been back on a number of occasions since. It is not what youd call a big site but it is absolutely packed with features, including a variety of buildings and blast shelters (well, it was a rocket testing site after all!) Ratty and his team have done a huge amount of work to make it even more playable and have created some endishly wicked Kill Houses, one of which stands out above the rest. Moving into the

SWEET AND SOUR PORK, rice, Pancake Rolls and Dim Sum are not the normal fare you would expect for lunch on an airsoft site but that is exactly what was on the menu at the second RedWolf/Bluestreak Airsoft charity event, held last December - and while the food was good, the airsoft was even better!

In December 2013, RedWolf ran their rst charity event in aid of Maggies Centre in Cheltenham and almost a year to the day later the 2014 event was also in aid of Maggies, along with a second charity, Soldiers Off The Street.

Maggies provides free practical, emotional and social support to people with cancer and their family and friends, following the ideas about cancer care originally laid out by Maggie Keswick Jenks.

Registered in August 2010, Soldiers