Archive for the ‘Arn's Blog’ Category

We have a heap of upgrades planned so I’m afraid there may be some bumpy connections to the server over this week. We have a lot of data to copy backup and move around in preparation for some serious upgrades that are long overdue on here.

There may be periods of slower than usual performance while this happens. Apologies but we’re doing quite a lot in the background. I’ll post updates as and when I can during this period.

I’ll post up and give some warning as I’ll have to lock the forums from posting at some point this week so that we can move the forum data live to the new setup.

The end result should be a refreshed site, faster service to everyone and a cleaner site and look.

Update 25/03/2010: Latest mysql dump taken (service taken offline briefly to obtain copy). Last leg of remote backups carrying on at present.

Random post time… It’s interesting what you spot when you’re watching a drama in HD on the TV. The BBC recently aired The Day of the Triffids, a rework of the John Wyndham book.

I thought it’d be worth a quick “seen on the telly” post to point out the Madbull AGX Launcher and other assorted props from a familiar source that appeared throughout the second episode; it’s also a pretty decent drama if you’ve not had a chance to see it. You can grab the episodes on BBC iPlayer here if you are in the UK. If you’re outside the UK IP address range and were looking to watch it then I’m sure a quick search on a somewhere like IsoHunt.com might help…

The production is a two part post-apocalyptic drama based on the original book and stars Dougray Scott, Joely Richardson, Eddie Izzard, Jason Priestley and Brian Cox. The world’s population is blind (well most of them) and there’s large man eating plants out and about.

Strangely in a country where firearms are comparatively rare everyone gets tooled up in a matter of minutes… I’d have gone for some cans of Round Up at the local hardware store myself. ;)

Well it’s 2010, Happy New Year! I’m looking forward to the coming year and thoroughly enjoyed the last.

Thanks go out to everyone that makes this site what it is, and enjoy the bank holiday! ;)

Apologies but the server has had a bad morning for some reason. We’ve asked the hosting firm to take a quick look as it appears that the regular backup process was stalling the site. Hopefully we should be back to speed in a few minutes or so. Enjoy the bank holiday!

Update: things are back to normal but we are going to have to monitor the backup system to prevent spikes like this in the future.

Mug? Ah yes sorry I should probably expand upon that. Do you feel the need to drink beverages tactically? Does a mug with rails interest you? Have you got 300USD that you really want to burn? You do? Do you own a Hummer H1 (or a ex military spec Humvee) by any chance? Excellent…

Ladies and gents your attention is brought to Battle-Mug (and here) which was kindly pointed out by the chaps in the forums.

As far as I see the carry handle is not included in the price. Although for the price you do get a tactical item to carry your brew in complete with a funky “self defence” shaped base, you know in case someone comes at you when you are drinking your eggnog latte…

I’m lucky enough to have a SOCOMGEAR M9A1 SOF here to test and take some shots of (thanks Simon!).

Once again (for those that missed it) here’s the manufacturer’s specs for the M9A1 SOF:

Features:

• Full Aluminium Metal Slide, Body
• Desert combat TAN color camouflage coating
• High capacity double stack magazine
• FREE Licensed 9mm Gemtech Trinity silencer ($40)
• (USA: Light weight dummy version)
• Strong blowback recoil
• Tactical rail adapter for flashlight and laser
• SOCOMGEAR pistol grip panel
• Functional Safety Switch (ambidextrous safety)
• Quickly Disassembles
• Attachment Loop for Retention Lanyard
• Authentic engraving, includes: “SPECIAL OPERATION FORCES S.O.F. ; LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND”

Specifications:

• System: Gas Blow Back (NPB)
• Gas Type: Green Gas
• Magazine Capacity: 26+1
• Muzzle Velocity: 320-340 FPS
• Package Includes: Gun, magazine and a FREE Licensed Gemtech Trinity Silencer (USA version is a dummy light weight can)

Here’s a bunch of photos of the new GBB (I’ve not had a chance to use it outside as it is so darn cold here at the moment). Out of the box the level of detail and finish is impressive. The logos and lines are clean and well cut. I’ve taken some close-ups so you can see how well it has been built.

The fit and finish is what you’d expect and the logos and paint is up to a good standard.

Personally I love the finish and colours, however as you can see in a few shots the downside of a tan finish is that you will get some transfer of paint on the lighter areas such as where the magazine fits and on the slide areas.

This is one heavy pistol coming in at 825g for the pistol itself and 255g for the magazine. That’s a combined weight of 1080g in the holster. Whilst it may seem like a lot, the real M9 clocks in just over 1kg fully loaded so we’re not far off in realism here.

For those of you interested in what the guts look like here’s a few photos.

   

As you can see from the outer barrel shroud area the parts are painted rather than anodised.

The SOCOMGEAR M9 is compatible with TM parts so I’m told, however I don’t have a TM M9 here to strip and compare at this moment. The magazines should certainly be compatible as with WE magazines. Seeing as WE have just launched the CO2 M9 magazine I can see I may have some fun with this one at the next local game! I’ll get some range and accuracy details up at that point.

SOCOMGEAR’s products continue to impress and the M9A1 is a great addition to anyone’s SOF/operator load out.

I thought a quick update would be suitable after my first game in er… many years? First up to thank First and Only Airsoft for a great day’s gaming and secondly to the Bamako Bampots as the event today at The Mall was an organised charity event.

All proceeds from the event have gone to their charitable outlets. For those that don’t know, First and Only Airsoft have an urban site in the centre of Reading called The Mall. There’s a car park, and if you’re a public transport fan the bus terminal and railway station are minutes away on foot (slightly longer if you carry big arse bags of kit like me). It’s a great site, run by people in the know, ran amazingly well with all mod cons available (hot bogs, brews and charging facilities.. who needs anything else?).

Now the important bit.. Steve and the Bamako Bampots and the Wear the Fox Hat raffle. What’s it all about? Here’s a bit of blurb from their site:

We are a UK registered charity whose mission is to help communities help themselves. By providing emergency vehicles, medical equipment and funding for local personnel we help deliver critical immunisation programs aimed at reducing the infant mortality and increasing the adult life expectancy beyond the current 38 yrs.

Working with Rotary Internation[al] we contacted the Mayor of Bamako. The Mayor was thankful for any aid we could provide and specifically requested any medical aid and ambulances to be used in the Kalaban Coro area of Mail.

We resolved to provide them with two fully functional and equipped ambulances suitable for harsh African environment where they will be used to provide emergency aid to 49,000 people currently residing in the 220sq km area of Kalaban Coro currently without any vehicular or emergency aid.

For more on the work of Bamako Bampots visit www.bamakobampots.org to see the amazing work we are doing.

Raffle tickets are a fiver, and by entering you get a chance to win one of the donated items up for grabs including a Paul Piper minigun. The draw will take place on the 24th of December or sooner if all the tickets are sold. The funds all go to a good cause and you stand a chance of winning some decent Airsoft kit.

So rather than buying a handful of pyros or some extra gas and BBs at your next game please buy a ticket. It’s all for a good cause! If you’re a company and looking to make a charitable write off of some form this year then give do give them a shout.

Oh and please don’t forget Frag Photos. If Frag Photos take photos at your event they’ll appear online at http://www.fragphotos.com, where you can buy individual photos for 5p each (subscriptions are also available). All proceeds go to charity. At the moment there’s shots up there from Elite Action Games, First and Only Airsoft TA Events, South West Wargames and Bamako Bampots.

We are currently having some upgrades done to the server at this time. Do bear with us, there are likely to be small outages tonight whilst this is done.

Apologies for any inconvenience, however we are experiencing higher traffic levels lately and need to do some upgrades that are overdue.

Please be aware that should the forums become overloaded you should receive a message rather than a blank screen from now on. I’m working on curing the cause of the loading now, however this should keep things stable.

I’ll update on here with the latest information as it is available.

Update (in early AM of 12/12): well unfortunately the update didn’t take and left us with the latest PHP and SQL but SQL couldn’t be seen by PHP. End result we’ve rolled back to what we were running. We are going to schedule a complete upgrade probably next week. That’ll involve a new rack and moving all our data across onto the new box, then upgrading the news and forums. It won’t be smooth, this stuff never is, but it’ll mean more room and space. More importantly.. more pooooooower (like Clarkson would say).

Here’s some new videos that have appeared on YouTube in the past 24hours in my subscriptions:

New Videos from militaryblogjp

• アンジェリーナ・ジョリー主演「ソルト」２０１０年夏休み公開
• 『OPERATION FLASHPOINT: DRAGON RISING』プロモムービー更新

 

New Videos from RedwolfAirsoft

• Redwolf Airsoft – VFC EGLM DX Airsoft Grenade Launcher Review
• Redwolf Airsoft – A&K Masada Review
• RedWolf Airsoft – Airsoft Surgeon Diamond Extended Magazine Catch

 

New Videos from echo1usa

• The Echo1USA Platinum Edition M4

I would have added the AATV video, but we’ve already covered that in a previous post.

Madbull have a new body out and I’ve had a chance to try out the first Madbull body to roll out of the factory.

First things first a big thank you goes out to Simon at Madbull for making this article possible.

In the box for the M4 body you’ll find the new Madbull hop-up unit complete with hop-up rubbers, various bits for the receiver in a plastic bag and the body itself. Madbull highlight from the outset that the receiver requires parts and professional skills to install. Obviously you’ll need donor parts and items such as charging handles, select levers etc to complete the build. All the parts are included in the box that are specific to this receiver such as the body pins, gearbox pin and split pins that secure various latches and pieces in place. You’ll also find inside instructions for the hopup and the receiver itself.

The donor rifle for the build in this case has been a new Marui M733 so do keep in mind that my comments relate to Marui compatibility.

Lets face it -if you’re going to fit a M4 metal body you are either doing this from scratch and know what you are doing, or have a TM clone which you wish to upgrade and have parts on the table ready to go. My advice is that if this is the first body you’ve ever installed just take your time and don’t force anything (put that hammer back in the box…).

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve been behind on emails recently because of work commitments. I plan to archive and not action any news submissions made before 2nd April 2009 on the basis that duplicates have been posted for most in the news section of the forums.

If you have sent me something that you would like dealt with and posted please drop me a line and I’ll add it for you.

Apologies folks I will send out replies to those that have sent in emails to make everyone aware that the emails have not been ignored.

I haven’t posted one of these for ages, however this one was a bit too off the wall to pass up. I receive a heck of a lot of spam, of which 99.9% gets killed dead by spam filters; however occasionally a human being will take the time to contact us through the website with some outlandish request.

In our latest instalment Pakistan apparently needs (engage Keanu Reeves voice) “guns… lots of guns”.

Before getting to the email I’ve just read, lets just go over the major obvious points here:

1. we’re not a retailer
2. we don’t sell anything
3. this is an Airsoft website
4. if we did sell stuff it’s unlikely we’d ship to Pakistan
5. if we did sell stuff it would be airsoft related not real firearms
6. we don’t deal in firearms
7. the hint is in the name – “Airsoft”
8. umm.. we’re not a retailer (see #1-7)
9. in accordance with #1-8 we don’t supply “UBGM”, “AHHKAY47”, “ANPEEQUE” or “sniper raffles”

Do people actually randomly email sites like this saying “I want to buy guns” ?

Read the rest of this entry »

Your beloved Traser/H3 watch has a dead battery, is on its third strap, looks like it has indeed survived a bomb blast and suffered several bad days at work. Where do you go to get it repaired?

My own P6500 desperately needed some loving earlier this week. That’s not to say I’ve not been unkind to it, but I had worn it for a lot of rough jobs and outings. The crown was worn smooth and a lot of chunks had been nicked out of it. The strap pins were also a little bent and the battery was dead.

I have to mention here that my own H3 came from Jo at Flecktarn.co.uk. It has provided many years of faultless service in extreme conditions and as ever they have my thanks. They still sell H3 watches and their service has always impressed me.

After a quick look around I came across Greens Watch Services Ltd who are (according to their website) the sole authorised Sales and Service centre for Traser H3 watches in the UK. I obviously wanted a decent job done and after checking their comprehensive list of service options I made the decision to get the repairs done with them.

I added into the shipping box a new KHS Raptor strap that I had purchased from H3 WatchCorner and packed it all away into the post.

To my surprise I got a call from Greens shortly after lunch the next day to say that the work was done and my watch would be back with me tomorrow (after payment of course). The cost of the service, new battery, replaced crown, fitting the new strap and delivery came to £36 which seemed more than reasonable. My P6500 was back with me the following day by RM Special Delivery. To say I was impressed was an understatement.

I’ve added a couple of shots of the new strap and the replaced parts. Forgive the poor photos but there’s just not time to setup pro shots at this time of night. I’d also like to thank the ‘missing link’ that popped round and allowed me to take the photo of the watch on his arm.

Well I’m finally down to having just one email to reply to (woohoo!) and now have an empty email inbox which is rather bliss. Apologies to anyone with an email or news item that didn’t go up as quick as they’d like but we’re all only human.

Well that’ll most likely be it for news posts from me this year. Roll on 2009! Thanks go out to everyone that makes things what they are around here including forum staff news editors, friendly retailers and our supporters that make this site possible.

I wish you all a prosperous  New Year! Remember enjoy your drinks responsibly.. or something. :)

After a quick bit of playing around Arnies is now readily accessible from most PDAs. I’ve just tested it on Windows Mobile 5/6 here and systems like the PSP that have a web browser in them and all look pretty good.

Quick access key shortcuts are enabled and images in news posts are resized to work with the browser window keeping size down and mobile screens tidy.

To try this out on your own gear simply point the browser on your PDA or phone to http://arniesairsoft.co.uk and the rest just happens.

If anyone gets an problems with the browser showing you the PDA page instead of the usual one let me know via email (arnie [at] arniesairsoft [dot] co [dot] uk)