Anyone still around from the old days?

[Delta_Knight]

The irony that this thread I started 2 and a half years ago is still front page under general is not lost on me 🤣

Hope everyone is doing well!

Michael 

[Vash]

I'm old AF

[paranoiddroid]

Given I popped on to check something on an old news thread thought id join the old crowd returning and say hi.

 

Basically my health utterly exploded and life imploded and airsoft sort of stopped drifted back into larp 

@EdSkar you'll be pleased to know that pistol survived longer than the larp system did and it became a cherished and hugely special in game item iconic to the character.

 

Hope everyone is doing well and maybe see you on the field after the amputation.

 

Also if the Canadian guy is still needing help to get his gear back out of HK there is a way it's just kind of complicated. 

Edited December 16, 2021 by paranoiddroid

[ED-SKaR]

23 hours ago, paranoiddroid said:

 

@EdSkar you'll be pleased to know that pistol survived longer than the larp system did and it became a cherished and hugely special in game item iconic to the character.

 

Yeee, that thing I made is cooler than I will ever be!
I'm actually really pleased with how that came out, the milliput and the graphite bluing both worked really well  So yea happy others like it too.

Sorry to hear about the medical stuff, hope there's some light in the tunnel for you soon 😕 

[paranoiddroid]

On 12/17/2021 at 3:45 AM, ED-SKaR said:

Yeee, that thing I made is cooler than I will ever be!
I'm actually really pleased with how that came out, the milliput and the graphite bluing both worked really well  So yea happy others like it too.

Sorry to hear about the medical stuff, hope there's some light in the tunnel for you soon 😕 

Waiting for an amputation so... hopefully but who knows.

 

Also finally got my hands on a hwasan shotgun as well now just need to refinish it in durablue and get a full stock done.

Edited January 7, 2022 by paranoiddroid
Bleh

[sandstorm]

5 hours ago, paranoiddroid said:

Also finally got my hands on a hwasan shotgun as well now just need to refinish it in durablue and get a full stock done.

Funny thing, there's now a full-stocked version of the HwaSan available from factory. 

Which probably is better fit than adapting one from something else. Like the one I have... 

[paranoiddroid]

the money though it's 120$ before shipping to the UK for just the stock set and honestly the fit of the wood is garbage on what I have 

 

I have the advantage if knowing what the shotgun is based on which helps and honestly fitting to the action isn't that hard. 

what are you struggling with on yours?

[beretta]

I'm still knockin' about.

 

My last post was nearly 10 years ago to the day.

[TKO-Shinn]

My original account was from 2007 or 08 but I've long lost the email to it. 

Getting back into it after my last game back in 2014. Older and not very much wiser.

[Libris]

Oh my gawd.
It’s been a while - my last post was 2014 😧
I’ve decided at the ripe old age of approximately 1.8 billion seconds I need to get out more - and I really liked Airsoft…
Resubscribed to Airsoft International and we’ll see how it goes… 😀

[allizard]

Got bore.... just login to see what's up.

Been a member since 2005.

[swtim255]

Facebook has killed a lot more things than it has helped, I believe, at least on the firearms, airsoft and military related areas.

It is sad, as a lot of the companies that cater to these markets, have move to FB and are all in, but a lot of thier customers, have either left the platform due to issues, or been kicked off ( as I caught a permanent for life ban, for a pic of a Airsoft S&W 639, with a red barrel tip, and it was a re-post from a "memory" of 6 years previous)

It has made me get more motivated to restart my blog, in the same way it has driven many writers to move to substack.

I dont know if I can ever get back up to the tens of tens of views I use to get, but hell, might as well give it a shot!

( I was just thrilled to see some forum action on here when I opened the page today)

I have been "doing" airsoft since 1985, so I maybe the oldest child on here!

Never grow up, never surrender!

[rallymad_nad]

Last post nearly 10 years ago. I'm just waiting for Facebook to die and forums to make a comeback!

[RC-1138]

I still lurk time to time, play regularly where I live (Buffalo, NY, USA). I've recently started teching so I might restart writing reviews. I'm having a love affair with the new ICS MARS II's.

[Apex]

the reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

[Alias1983]

I forgot when I joined and last played because airsoft died here.

[kazuchan]

FB is killed forum platform.... FB is fast and covinice for... fast , really hard to find old answer, or when the group die. everything is dissapear with it.

I still like use Forum.

although here is very few people now, but when you want to search something, answer still at here.

It's like a museum with no customer now xD.

[chris u'5]

It's a real shame the forum has gone quiet.

There were a lot of great guys (plenty of knobs as well) on here with a wealth of information who were always willing to share.

I really enjoyed the picture threads as well.

Ahh the "good ol' days"

[Yeager]

Holy *suitcase* I remembered my login info. 

Wow um ok. 

So it's been a hot minute.  I used to hang out on here with Lupin, 101Matt1, Jagdraben, Magicalninjabuddy, Anteater, and a few others. Good times. Still talk to Lupin, he's a famous internet gun lawyer now with a youtube channel featured on Forgotten Weapons. We're still good friends. Matt became a doctor and lost touch. Never really talked to Jag or the others after I left.  I went hardcore into the RS industry and did well for myself. 

Just retired and moved to Vegas and after a night of Nostalgically watching old airsoft videos with my wife we googled local airsoft fields & stores and found an Evike outpost. 

I didn't intend to buy anything but I saw an Northeast MP2 and it was pretty much game over for that plan once I handled the gun and realized it was pretty close in operation, and feel to the real thing. 

I've been buying on the regular since and I'm tired of the US offerings. I want the good discontinued stuff. So I came here looking for a Buy/sell/trade forum and sadly it's pretty dead. So now I'm here reading and catching up. 

Lot of good memories on this site. 

[3vi1-D4n]

I am still here, from the old Airsoftzone days....

 

I think the issue is that today, airsoft was far more fragmented/differentiated as a community. 

In the yesteryear, we had meatgrinder/arena games and then milsim.  Today we have a wide spectrum, and even milsim has different strokes and takes, and even meatgrinders have differentiated between urban arena, and speedsoft/speedqb.

I remember I used to get excited over new models of guns, and arnies used to provide the first news of such developments.  Nowadays we have popularairsoft, and a host of youtube driven reviews, but new products are the same old M4/AK but with just slightly different rails, a mosfet, another PCC etc.  Its not really worth covering.

Gone are the days we get a new BAR, a M240B, an AK5C, Beretta RX4, a Galil etc.  Now, its another PCC, a rifle'rised PP2K, another speedM4 (AEG or MWS variety) with custom rail and a dildo... (Though that moaning WE AKS74UN waifu was so darn cool) .  Buying an expensive gun with lots of useless accessories, or owning a set of NVG is now a badge of honor.

Games aren't getting better, in fact games are getting worse.  Players have trouble listening and taking instructions, or be able to play for more than an hour or two.  Milsim has become more LARP and tactical fashion cosplay that favours those who have money for kit, while conventional gaming has become counterstrike with paintball guns.  Gone are the days where we would raid a base, conduct a fighting patrol at night, and do a dawn attack.

Its all a bit boring now.

[Yeager]

18 hours ago, 3vi1-D4n said:

I am still here, from the old Airsoftzone days....

 

I think the issue is that today, airsoft was far more fragmented/differentiated as a community. 

In the yesteryear, we had meatgrinder/arena games and then milsim.  Today we have a wide spectrum, and even milsim has different strokes and takes, and even meatgrinders have differentiated between urban arena, and speedsoft/speedqb.

I remember I used to get excited over new models of guns, and arnies used to provide the first news of such developments.  Nowadays we have popularairsoft, and a host of youtube driven reviews, but new products are the same old M4/AK but with just slightly different rails, a mosfet, another PCC etc.  Its not really worth covering.

Gone are the days we get a new BAR, a M240B, an AK5C, Beretta RX4, a Galil etc.  Now, its another PCC, a rifle'rised PP2K, another speedM4 (AEG or MWS variety) with custom rail and a dildo... (Though that moaning WE AKS74UN waifu was so darn cool) .  Buying an expensive gun with lots of useless accessories, or owning a set of NVG is now a badge of honor.

Games aren't getting better, in fact games are getting worse.  Players have trouble listening and taking instructions, or be able to play for more than an hour or two.  Milsim has become more LARP and tactical fashion cosplay that favours those who have money for kit, while conventional gaming has become counterstrike with paintball guns.  Gone are the days where we would raid a base, conduct a fighting patrol at night, and do a dawn attack.

Its all a bit boring now.

You get to a certain age and you realize life is one big cycle endlessly repeating. 

When I started we had Marui, CA, and ICS with the occasional boutique STAR or Guarder kit gun. Systema PTWs and YE Mp5s were for the ultra rich as were Classics.  G&P solely made parts. Sunproject & CAW made launchers and shells. Milsim was always Geardos flexing their CIRAS setups and most conventional games have always been counter strike or some variation of Japanese painsoft where people just shot each other until someone gave up. Outside of Op Irene and the like you didn't really see much like you described over here. 

Buying an expensive STAR SL8, UMP,  Western Arms SVI Infinity, or one of the boutique custom one off guns from someone like InfernoGmBh, The Cleaners, SniperX, etc. was always a thing and viewed as a badge of honor. SVI infinities were practically status symbols. People even broke into AirsoftAtlanta and stole them.  Now it's HPA guns and roided out Hicappas.... which are 2011 SVI Infinities or STI 2011s with different trades. 

Like you we complained about the seemingly endless release of Armalites too. Everything was an AR or Mp5 variant. CA broke the cycle with their G36 copy and then the CA SAW came out. Before that it was TOP or Asahi or nothing for a support gun. 

We're dealing with that in the RS world right now too but it's just a sign of small arms evolution. ARs are being printed in garages, sold for as little as $279.99 for a complete kit, made by hundreds if not thousands of manufacturers in America (I was in that number myself). Even the Russians and Chinese are making an Armalite copy.  Most of the nations which fielded exotic small arms have gone to an Armalite of some kind or have an Armalite variant in inventory. Even the UK has formally adopted one. There is no real innovation or anything new coming out. It's all an Armalite or Glock copy. 

I don't think we'll see any interesting new designs or innovations until we get mature caseless ammunition or directed energy weapons. Ultimately as much as it pains me I think the Armalite will eventually become a timeless symbol associated with humanity even more so than the AK. It's here to stay. 

As far as airsoft goes who knows? We're missing a lot of guns from the modern lineup thanks to CyberGreed and Umacrooks and the PRC chasing manufacturers out. No SL8, no FNC, etc. Stoner 63 & Real Sword being gone hurts me. I wanted a Stoner 63 and Type 56 so bad. No good quality metal kits with trades anymore. There's a gigantic void there. 

Prices dropped like a rock when UTG and CYMA introduced the first Marui AEG clones. Then JG came along. I even read posts here from users dreaming that used airsoft would be traded at 20% of it's original value like a video game at Gamestop. This is around the time I walked away. That's what ultimately made things more accessible as you described. 

That's probably also why things felt less fragmented because of the surge in new players and popularity. I assure you though, we were fragmented and spread to the wind in the late 90s and early 00s.  Arguably we're better off now than then. Back then Airsoft was a really niche hobby, now everybody knows what an airsoft gun is.

Maybe not though? With knowledge comes regulations. We didn't have to deal with CyberGreed or legislative changes like airsoft is facing now. We were so obscure that the world left us alone. 

Conclusion ; the airsoft world has simply rotated back at the beginning of the cycle.  What comes next IDK. Futures kind of bright, but it ain't lookin' pretty. 



 

[ardrummer292]

On 10/1/2023 at 7:45 PM, 3vi1-D4n said:

Games aren't getting better, in fact games are getting worse.  Players have trouble listening and taking instructions, or be able to play for more than an hour or two.  Milsim has become more LARP and tactical fashion cosplay that favours those who have money for kit, while conventional gaming has become counterstrike with paintball guns.  Gone are the days where we would raid a base, conduct a fighting patrol at night, and do a dawn attack.

Its all a bit boring now.

More hardcore/realistic events (such as Milsim West) are a mainstay on this side of the pond. Rucking in, setting up patrol bases, conducting raids, and sharing a bit of misery are all part of the experience.

As for conventional pickup games, I've learned that it's all about who you play with. I've been blessed with a solid group of teammates (and more importantly friends) who are all on the same page. Win or lose, we're all having fun.

[jez]

Still alive, 2006

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

[snowman]

I fired my first GBB since around 2015 today!

At a bit of a loose end, I dug out a couple of my GBBs, expecting them to be little more than paperweights these days.

It took me a while to track down the magazines (I kept them separately to avoid my kids - Now grown up and left home - finding working guns and maybe shooting themselves in the eye) and some gas, but, despite some leaks at the base of the two magazines I tried limiting the number of shots I got, the guns worked fine, much to my surprise!

I might try soaking the magazine seals in power steering fluid to see if I can revive them...

Cheers.

Edited August 16, 2024 by snowman

[awmperry]

I'm pretty sure I had an account here a decade or two ago, but it seems long gone now. Yeah, time and money for airsoft have been sparse since the olden times... Still got almost all of them, of course, because... well, reasons. Exchanged one of my G36s for shipping to send a bunch of my other guns from Scotland to my new place in Sweden, and sold my USP Tactical because it just didn't fit my hand. But other than that it's all still there.

 

Nowadays I just use the guns for acting jobs, and even they pretty much dried up during the pandemic. Now faced with the hassle of figuring out how to sell or give away the stuff I still have back home in the UK that I could fit into twenty years ago...