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How do I join Race Gun competitions in UK?


ImaX006

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Hello to all. Im not new to airsofting because I used to skirmish a looong time ago for me. I still have my gear and guns but I mostly just plink in the garden now. But recently on youtube I have discovered race gun shooting and thats what I want to do. Ive been doing a little research and I cannot find any dedicated club to Airsoft Race Gun shooting. I have found the .22 co2 pistol shooting clubs but im not too keen on using lead BBs. Also the fact I like the look of the custom race guns and the fast paced shooting. So I just dont want to buy the pistol and plink in my garden but I want to compete against other people.

Can anyone tell me of any local clubs to london please or is it that no such club exists in UK?

Any info would be greatly appreciated and Thankyou in advance.

PS - I dont have a UKARA membership but I already own a TM Hi-Capa 5.1 which I am planning to convert into a race gun, so I know I can get parts.

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http://www.facebook.com/groups/226336689999/

these chaps do sessions that are airsoft based. There is a lot of resistance to AS shooting at most shooting clubs in the south they much prefer c02 .22 shooting and steel plate, they view airsoft as childish but there is a place north of golders green that holds a spftar match once a year or so, There used to be a practicalpistol forum for the uk but the link i have is dead. Try calling up Mike Cripps at http://www.eliteshootingcentre.co.uk/ he runs sessioons up north and is well connected and versed in the whats and wheres in the uk.

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At current there is no dedicated airsoft practical pistol shooting. The best you'll find is a normal airsoft site running a pistol/shotgun day and throwing in some practical shooting.

 

I've long been and advocate of starting a dedicated practical pistol site, as you'd need less room than a normal skirmish, and you'd gather a crowd from a wider audience given that you could set up a CO2 league next to the normal airsoft leagues

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Watching thread with interest.

 

As per the others, i looked into it, it's supposed to exisit but i couldn't find anything, all i got from ESC was check the practical shooters forum but never got anywhere.

Some random matches might happen up North somewhere, but they appeared to keep them quiet. All i could find was CO2 air pistols.

 

If your in London www.airsoftrange.co.uk seem to be heading that way, and FireKnife would like to get something up and running, but both are way out of travel range for me.

There was rumblings of something happening in Grimsby but never heard anymore about it.

 

Instead i have taken the pistol down that route, and play pistol only with a tricked up scoped Glock, i have to quick and good as my targets shoot back if i miss them :)

 

For research on here, go to the weapons picture thread and find the "2011" thread, full of flash hi-cappas and technical chatter, good reading. Also worth a look is the "sniper pistols" thread over in Sniping Haven, not really racey as such, but chatter revolves around playing pistol only, thats split between silent Non-blowback types, and more combat style racey blowbacks.

 

And my favorite you tube race gun flick :)

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Also watching this thread with interest,

 

Urban Assault used to run a pratical pistol course a few years ago , I only went once,

 

it was good , but it was run in the evenings and it was so dark that a torch was required to actually see any targets.

 

I'd love to do some more but I think a daytime course is more practical.

 

Jim

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Thankyou for all your guys replies.

 

I will actually call Mike Cripps tomorrow and find out what is available. I will post back on this any information he might have to give me. Thanks Farrasdevell.

The CO2 shooters can call airsoft race guns, 'Toys' but try keeping a straight face if you get shot by 1.

 

Thankyou Dagonet your favourite race gun flick is what got me to this point. I have seen that video atleast 10 times now. Those guys are awesome.

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Ahh munejima's videos.... That guy is a MACHINE.

 

Following this topic with GREAT interest. Unfortunately it won't do any good to me since I'm in spain but I look forward to a community dedicated to this.

 

By the way, if anyone is curious, the guy who built most of munejima's airsoft racers has a very nice blog where he discusses some of his techniques: http://pawworks2011.militaryblog.jp/

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Have looked in to it up here and have found that while it wouldn't be too hard to setup as in geti it all going it is the audience that you need to grab, you would need to find enough people to make it viable.

 

I am sure Mike Cripps could point you in the right direction, after all his website is littered with information about himself and events he has attended.

 

Saying that, if you live more in the North and my plan goes well you may see a few competitions up in places like Scotland and possibly the North, once I have got a damned audience to make it viable. ;)

 

'FireKnife'

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I can't remember what the title was, there are some youtube vids of airsoft games with serious Racegun set ups in play, mostly scaring the living daylights out of other players.

Can't remember what search i used, variations of race guns /gun/airsoft etc etc should throw up some game footage.

 

There is a handfull of players around the country that skirmish with them, will find the APOR link, thats a brilliant read from a gaming point of view.

 

And Sharkshooter really needs to make some new videos :) off to read Kenxins link now, thanks for that.

 

 

 

Edit, link to APOR.

 

This started back in 2007 on Airsoftforum.com by Battlepriest, it's a good read and based around being an active player than a competition shooter.

A google search for "Pistol Only Revolution" will bring up more. There was a small forum started earlier this year, certain Bobby Lemain on here signed up, but i can't find my way back to it, if it's still there. If you frequent lots of forums you will notice the same names crop up all the time on this subject, and most forums seem to have a small amount of info and nearly always link back to Battle Priest.

 

Airsoft needs more nutters, than can tune up a dirty great pistol, wade in, shoot up the place and be last man standing :)

 

viva la Revolution !

 

http://www.caelyntek.com/airsoft/articles/POR/PORmain.htm

 

 

Most go Hi-cappas, here in the UK easy to get parts for from ESC.

FireKnife and others go 1911, again easy to get parts for, and a slimmer nicer grip than 2011's

I went Glock 17, more simple design and real easy to modify the frame for fit, not so much choice in extras.

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I love to tune up pistols, now glock is picking up the pace in terms of accesories (with the gunsmodify trigger for example), all the glock needs now is more open setups (as in comp and mount options).

 

Freedom arts currently makes the most and best mounting options for an open glock, they have a very expensive (but nice) accucomp setup (http://shop.ehobbyasia.com/freedom-art-accu-comp-system-a-for-marui-g17-g18c-gold.html)

 

and a nice but very expensive mount in general (DX mount, types A and B)

 

Type A: http://freedomart2012.militaryblog.jp/e358566.html

Type B: http://freedomart2012.militaryblog.jp/e358573.html

 

Sadly those are rated for RS use and are expensive as fu... (manufactured by shuey customs to boot). All other frame mounting options that I've found are "meh" at best. I'll try to build an open glock as soon as I finish with my 2 current projects (a marui 2011 open all-out racegun and a limited race glock with iron sights based on the salient arms 35 slide).

 

A little question for you Dagonet, do RS mounts fit the marui 17 ? I ask because the slide mounts do not interest me as much..

 

Anyways, if you enjoy watching such competitions even in airsoft form, I'd suggest to watch this channel, they have very nice videos of HKAPSC in action:

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Oh, just learnt how to reuse attachments :)

 

May as well chat on about racey gun things as we are here, inspire the OP to go nuts and game one.

 

Not so clear a photo, i opted for the real FAB Defence USM scope mount, i could get cheaper clones out of pot metal or terrible MAKO clones from ACM, or some other Airsoft mounts at similar cost, ended up getting this for £35 +£5 Uk postage from www.ukmcpro.co.uk fitted my TM Glock frame with no work, Senor Bear on here has one fitted to a TM Guarder frame and had to do some filing to fit.

I have the TM night sights fitted, the rear sight needed some file work to enable slide removal with out removing the scope.

The FAB mount fits any 20mm railed frame, so i can carry it over if i swap to another pistol later on.

 

The stock barrel is modified and extended to house the Hi-cappa Nineball 6.03 inner barrel, i cracked my stock TM slide after a few years of use, and a very hot day on green with epic hits out to 60m, it finished in glory :) reworking a Gaurder slide, it's on a diet, milled out the front upper section (like a G18c).

The BBU unit was already butchered in the stock slide, hyper active cycle time, super fast double or triple taps, trying to get the alloy slide close to stock TM performance. Not a fan of slide mount dot sights, extra weight.

 

Stipple job to come, more info is in the Sniper pistol thread.

 

I looked at Aimtech Glock mounts available here in the UK from www.midwayuk.co.uk but like the MAKO mounts (real ones) was unsure on actual fit, so the USM mount came into play. It's taken some knocks and been dropped a few times, but being a real mount shrugs it all off, a quality bit of kit.

I went more combat racey than full blown competiton peice, and couldn't take the cost of the acu-comp mounts (although very nice)

Airsoft Glocks are cheap to upgrade :)

 

(going to watch your video link now)

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I'm just worried about the ones that use the trigger pin hole for stability, since those look the most secure to me.

 

Nice job (if a little ugly) on the BBU, reminds me of the ones that freedom arts do (the metalic one, not the plastic one):

G17%E3%83%96%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%83%81%E9%87%8D%E3%81%95.jpg

 

How much does your BBU weight? and why not use the AIP lightweight one?

 

Since Airsoft surgeon has released some nice glock stuff lately, I'm expecting more stuff to come for glock fans everywhere.

 

Still, 2011s are the easiest platform to use as a racing gun, and it shows , in the hkapsc videos, 99% of the competitors use 2011s, and basically 100% of the open class ones use that platform.

 

By the way, why not use the current availiable g34 slides instead of a tricked out guarder 17 slide? 5.1 barrel length and sight radius and the weight isn't supposedly that different.

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Cost and buying in the UK are main reasons.

 

Must try this overseas shopping sometime.

More info in the sniper pistol threads last few pages, when i started i expected what is classed as a 5.1" barrel to be just that in length, G34 slides where unavailable in the UK or quite costly elsewhere, buy chance i have ended up with about a G34 length barrel.

 

Think my BBU started at 52g now down to 39g again was unaware of the AIP variant as buying in UK and the only place that really stocks pistol parts was ditching everything but 1911/2011's cropped up in the other thread, only around 24grams for the AIP unit (out of stock)

 

In it's current form i am +18grams on the stock TM slide and undrilled BBU with my modified set. There is scope to mill out more of the slide, and maybe another gram or two from the BBU, i only have access to basic hand tools and a dremel, a miller with endcutters would be brilliant.

 

For sheer choice of parts and ease of reworking, a Hi-cappa wins hands down, followed by a 1911. I wanted the most simple low drag platform which is a Glock.

I might be mad, but lack of parts means i get to be inventive :) (FrankenGlock)

 

On the scope mounts, we have the same fear, will real mounts that use the trigger pin fit an airsoft Glock, i wasn't about to find out the hard way, Senor Bear had already fitted a FAB mount to a Guarder frame, so went with that on the basis i might have to do some minor file work for fitment

 

Tom, nice one, hopefully this and having redwolf bring the Airsoft surgeon over for the Grange day earlier in the year (i so wanted to go to that) will up the profile of practical pistol, or steel challenge IPSC style airsoft shooting.

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Overseas shopping is the way to go for exotic parts : P

 

There are lots of awesome parts for glock coming out that you'll miss out if you don't get them overseas (check out the gunsmodify trigger , it's beyond awesome).

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQ0CE2OD_Q0

 

 

Also, taking into account that the freedom art accucomp is for the marui system and also RS and uses the trigger pin, I suspect you could actually use RS mounts on the marui glock (unsure if the mount is any different for 9mm and 40 cal RS versions, since the marui is a little bit fatter than the 9mm ver...).... I can't wait to finish my current projects to try it.

 

Also, Tom, the only thing missing is shotgun.....anyone up for 3-gun competitions? : P (in all seriousness I realized last week that I have all the guns I'd need for a 3 gun run all in gas from, GBBR M4, gas m500 and MANY pistols....).

 

Also I find one of the beauties of race guns is gunsmithing them to your taste, to your specifications. Building a racegun and competing with it is a very satisfying experience (albeit a wallet-destroying one...).

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Also to add for my idea when I can secure places / players:

 

It will run both a IPSC and IDPA style events to give people that want to run full customs and others that wish to run out of the box basics a set each. In case anyone doesn't know the difference, to Google. :P

 

As for what gun to use as a base for IPSC, can't agree more that the Hi-Capa / Infinity seems to be the winner. Glocks often fall in just behind in the real world (however in IDPA they are the top gun of choice). 1911s often end up with their own competitions (limited mags, single stacker or .45 events) so they are not stacked against hi-capacity guns. Though saying that in airsoft the most common Hi-Capas, Glocks and 1911s all feature double stack mags in terms of bbs, meaning that they could easily run against each other.

 

Still when I have worked out the bugs and got some people to test and get interested it could be good, shouldn't be too difficult to set up a little site for this, seeing as the airsoft ranges wont be that great and most practical stuff can be done in short mazes etc.

 

'FireKnife'

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My Franken Glock is ghetto tuned :) short stroked the stock trigger, and buffered the slide, it still locks back, it was a bit of faff fully short stroked, when your wading in against 8 AEGs, trying to count shots gets forgotten, shooting blanks gets you hosed down real quick, that and the loading nozzle is a touch tight for a single spring due to shoehorning a 1911 vented piston head inside it :)

 

Must modify it for dual springs sometime.....

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Still prefer to keep mine stock, but then for me pistol competitions are more about things like stock defensive pistols than custom race guns.

 

I can see the point in practical custom guns, but it does have a habit of getting a bit 'my wallet is bigger than your wallet' but when you have say the rules of IDPA which say this is the true set limit and the scenarios are more 'real life' focused it just makes it easier to get others involved if you run both. :P

 

Still if I had the cash and the reason to build one I would have a custom race gun, but for the average skirmish a fully tuned gun seems over the top to me, just get a bit closer to the enemy. If it was for speed and precision target events though, well that is a different matter ;)

 

'FireKnife'

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Actually the best performance you're gonna get is a plastic marui with fully tuned race gun internals.

 

If you get a plastic hi-capa, short stroke it to the max and put a lightweight bbu on it, it's gonna go faster than any metal slide could (even more if you cut the slide a little or get the custom match by marui).

 

Still, I'm all for variety, that's why I have a single stack 1911, a g34 and a full-out racegun 2011 (in the works).

 

By the way, the previously mentioned munejima (sharkshooter) has a very nice comment on the whole "wallet vs wallet raceguns".... it's on the previously linked video

and starts at 6:45.

 

He does a steel challenge stage with a 1911a1 marui without any mods....in 1.96s . While I don't believe that this is in any way objective (he had been training for the steel challenge for over 6 years IIRC, his muscle memory just had the stage down to perfection), you can still be competitive with stock stuff

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The Grange in the West Midlands also run regular airsoft practical pistol evenings and competitions:

 

http://www.aipsc.co.uk/#/

 

As stated above, there is also Mike Cripps in Burnley who hosts maybe 3 or 4 comps a year or East Barnet gun club sometimes run comps. Mike puts on excellent competitions and puts a lot of effort into them but it is a bit of a trek.

 

One thing to bear in mind is your attitude to firearm safety. As a lot of the people who enter these competitions also shoot real steel under similar conditions (including long-barrelled .22LR pistols or .357 long-barrelled revolvers) you will have to get used to treating airsoft pistols as you would the real thing. For example, if you muzzle sweep the range officer during a stage you will at the very least get a severe ear-bashing from the RO and at worst disqualified from the comp.

 

Having said that, it's brilliant fun and you have a lot of potential for variety when setting up competitions. I shoot twice a month in our club in Oxfordshire with an airsoft pistol and a long-barrelled .22LR 1911. .22LR must be shot downrange into the backstop but with the airsoft guns we can shoot in 180 degrees which gives us a bit more flexibility with stages.

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