Just a quick update. A chap by the name of Mike Mitchell based in Mississippi dropped me a line but gave no reply email address, and I’d quite like to get back to him. If you’re reading this Mike can you please drop me a line direct at arnie@arniesairsoft.co.uk?
I never really know whether to post about press material that appears or not, as I don’t want to add bad publicity as it never really serves anyone. That said a recent news story run by RTE News in mainland Ireland is typical of style of news reporting we see today in the popular media and on TV and because of this I thought I’d add a few comments.
The news story was about a haul of illegal equipment that was siezed in an organised Police crack down (see: original news report). Included in the items siezed were the usual drugs, swords, real firearms and radio scanners.. but wait a moment, isn’t that an Airsoft gun? At one point the RTE reporter holds up an plastic toy that we all know, slaps the mag in for effect and says “It may only be a replica but it’s clear evidence of the extent of the firearms trade on the internet in this country. This is an M16 assault rifle (a replica of one), but yet it can fire thousands of steel balls and hard plastic balls in full automatic mode and it is illegal in this country under the Firearms Act.” (see: news video in RealMedia format) – Click ReadMore to see the rest of the article.
Happy Chinese New Year or hopefully more appropriately Kung Hei Fat Choi (I wish you prosperity)! For anyone that didn’t catch it February 9th marks the beginning of the year 4702 and the year of the Rooster in the Chinese calendar.
Most shops and companies in Hong Kong will be either closed for a well earned break for a few days or at the very least have limited sales support for the period of the 9th to the 13th.
Factories such as ClassicArmy and G&P will reportedly be closed for the week or more so if you are waiting for anything from that end of the world (such as an email or delivery) this is why you might well experience a delay.
A Hong Kong manufacturer/retailer spoke to me about a possible project that they may start, but neither of us are particularly sure about the viability of the item. The suggested product is a metal body for the G36c. Now the real G36 obviously doesn’t have a metal body.. but would you as a G36 owner want a metal body to bulk up and reinforce your AEG? Price for the kit is dependant on the possible uptake as the initial cost of manufacture is pretty much the same for 1-100 kits.
To help the guys that want to make the new metal body we now have a simple poll setup in a special area in the forums that allows people to post their comments/opinions and vote either way about the idea. You will have to be logged in to vote, but guests can leave comments on the thread. Feedback on the product suggestion would be much appreciated if it’s a viable idea it will go forward.. if not, well it wont.
In my own opinion the PFC (Plug Fire Cartridge) systems don’t get enough airtime on the web, and are (in most parts) a lesser known product concept than Airsoft itself. True they don’t project 6/8mm BBs but they are made by the same companies that manufacture Airsoft products. Sitting somewhere between a cap gun and a blank firer they have the advantages of blowback and noise, but none of the possible legal and safety problems inherent with certain blank firer designs. Handy if you just want a prop gun, or something that looks the part as a desk toy or otherwise. If you’re feeling really adventurous, parts from suitable PFCs could be modified to be installed around an Airsoft mechanism to make your own custom build.
Over at ModelGuns.co.uk there’s a huge stock of gear in with classics from manufacturers like MGC/Kokusai that date back over 20 years in some cases, through to the more modern Hudson builds.
Added to their site today is a Colt SAA .45 PFC made by Kokusai. It’s rare, it’s metal and comes with real wood grips:
The main disadvantage of the stock over at ModelGuns is that there is normally only one of each item, so you’ll have to move quick if you want one – I doubt that the SAA will be around for long myself. It’s worth remembering that the classic PFC items whilst being in full working order shouldn’t be considered to be able to withstand the same use as modern builds simply because they are effectively antiques – this goes double for the older blowback and full auto firing models. If you’re not sure what PFC gear looks like, or what it sounds like when it’s being used, there’s a heap of videos on their website showing how they empty shells. Any budding SledgeHammer wannabes out there (at current count that’s about 7,500 of you lot) who’ve just picked up their new sports jacket will be very interested in the metal revolver section, specifically the two Magnum .44s that are left. 
Edit: While this news has been typed up and added a new S&W .357 Magnum , "Dirty Harry" .44 Magnum and Hit XM177E2 Commando have also been added to their pages. I doubt that these will hang around for long either so best get in fast.
Yesterday the lads at RedWolf Airsoft held a Guay & Guay Armament promotional launch party to which folks from around the United Kingdom Airsoft scene were invited. Sadly some retailers couldn’t make it due to other commitments, but it was nice to meet up with all the folks that did make it. I was doing really well on my New Year’s diet resolution right up until the smell of the wonderful buffet that they put on wafted through! Oh well I think 5 days is a new record for a resolution anyway :)
Anyway first up a huge thanks go to Danny and Chris for sending out an invite to the event, and a shout goes out to all the nice chaps there as it was nice to chat face to face to people that I’d not seen other than via email for far too long. My apologies to anyone that I didn’t get around to chatting to, but I literally ran out of time.
For anyone that missed the information RedWolf have opened a UK office to bring in Airsoft goods in bulk. There’s no plans to open a retail store, however they will be supplying goods to UK retailers and suppliers in bulk which will be good news for Airsoft in the UK.
The new G&G product line is looking better and better. What was on show was certainly very appealing. There were such delights as the PEQ laser unit from G&G (very nice bit of kit that), and things like the MP5 SD RAS setup. If anyone is looking for a metal slide for their KSC USP Compact then have a look out for the new slides from Guay Guay as they are top notch. Have a dig through the photos to see what’s there and what’s available – the H&K RAS front ends are of wonderful quality and will certainly give your G36C a unique and classy look. Click ReadMore for all the rest of the photos.
Richard has sent over a link to a story at the Telegraph pages that claims there are certain training issues with the MoD namely that they have no training rounds for gear such the the underbarrel grenade unit on the new L85. You never know.. there might be a use for customised Academy L85s in the MoD yet (well apart from doorstops, cricket bats and novelty paperweights):
During recently held training for Iraq, held in pouring rain at the Castlemartin ranges in South Wales, members of the Staffordshire Regiment, one of the brigade’s two armoured infantry regiments, had to shout “bang bang” to simulate the firing of the grenade launchers.
Although they did have the Minimi, they could not fire it because there were no blank attachments and no way of cleaning it even if they fired live rounds. “It’s ridiculous,” the source said. “Everybody understands the need to save money but what was the point of buying the Minimi if they don’t get the cleaning kits? Michael Smith, (Daily Telegraph Online)
On a more serious note though kit shortages have always been an issue in any of the major military deployments and whilst some new stories and comments appear that are meant in a jovial nature, the lads out there still get the job done no matter what problems face them.
As there was a bit of confusion about things recently I thought I’d post a quick note about the way the news page works. The page numbers at the bottom of the news page (when they are visible) only relate to the current month’s news so until the posts for the current month span more than one page the page numbers will not be visible. At the end of each month the news is automatically archived and can be found in the archive section for your viewing pleasure.
If you’re looking for some older news, just use the handy search function. For example if you want to find out about old news that’s been posted about Tanaka’s releases or G&P for example and is no longer on the front page, just type ‘tanaka’ or ‘g&p’ in the search box and click ‘search’.
Well it’s now 2005, so thought it would be a good idea to stick up a quick post wishing you all a Happy New Year. You’ll have to forgive any spelling errors, as I’m rather tired and about to fall asleep on the nearest flat surface (most likely this ‘ere keyboard and desk if I don’t move sharpish).
Here’s hoping that the coming year provides as much fun as 2004 has. Hopefully this year there’ll be a few less hurricanes in the vicinity of the hosting server, my own computer won’t need a complete rebuild for at least 6 months and things generally go a bit smoother than last year did in terms of technical issues.
A big thanks go out to all the guys that help out with the site; specifically Nuno, R22Master and Slayer who moderate in the forums, the chatty retailers and distributors that we speak to, the people that submit articles to the site and all the other people that help support the site and keep it the most well read Airsoft site in the UK. 
Just a few more Christmas cards that I didn’t get a chance to put online while I (metaphorically speaking) had my feet up over Christmas. First up is a card from the guys at Plastic Shot, and second there’s a card from the guys at ClassicArmy Italia and there’s also a card from Nuno (who kindly helps moderate our forums)
I’m adding them here as the cards aren’t just sent to me, but equally are applicable to all the regulars that make this site what it is.
Sorry, not doing any huge updates at the moment as it’s the festive period (yup that snow last week was a bit of a hint, and much fun to drive through) but will get through email and things that need to be added to the site shortly. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and all that.
It was nice to enjoy some festive Airsoft Armoury hospitality yesterday (bacon butties were all out, but the lasagne rocked); first up I wanted to say thanks to all the guys there and also I wanted to stick up some shots and information for them on the news page here. I could mention the occasional fumigation issue in their office, and the odd boy band haircut but that’d be unfair.. or something (honest, I’m only joking). They’re a very nice bunch of chaps and run a highly pleasant place to empty your wallet.
There’s a huge stock of Classic Army equipment and KWA pistols in stock at the moment. The KWA rail framed Glock 19s are lovely bits of kit, and coming with a metal slide and barrel you’d have to be especially cruel to it (or ham fisted in my case) to break things.
The KWA G23F is a true pocket rocket and there’s a nice selection of custom gear at Airsoft Armoury including a G23F with custom a sliding stock. For anyone thinking of getting Christmas presents at the last minute (I think that pretty much covers the entire male population of the planet) don’t forget that you really do need new Airsoft toys, and remember the guys there will be more than happy to describe to you in detail why your better half really does need a brand spanking new MKII M249. Sod “…saying it with Roses”, say it with Airsoft!
I don’t often bother with such updates, but as this one has already affected some Airsoft websites in the world and is sure to affect more it needs to be posted.
PHP and phpBB are two very common software sets out on the internet these days, and recently critical updates have been released for both because of newly apparent security holes that could be exploited. Versions of PHP prior to 4.3.10 and phpBB prior to 2.0.11 are at risk. The fixes for phpBB have been out since the 4th however many websites are still running the older versions and as of yesterday the Santy.A worm started doing the rounds. This new worm is a perl script that makes use of the highlighting exploit to deface sites running the older versions of phpBB.
A cursory look on the net shows that there’s more than just a few Airsoft forums and websites out there running phpBB that are not up to date. If you are a member of a forum or reader of a website elsewhere that runs on phpBB that is not up to date (latest version for phpBB is currently 2.0.11 – normally shown in the footer the very bottom of the page) please do your local website or colleagues/friends a favour and email the webmaster/owner of that site to remind them to check and upgrade their software urgently.
Major Airsoft websites in USA and Canada have already been caught out; true a website owner should actively keep on top of their updates anyway, but at this time of year effort can somewhat lapse and people can get distracted.. well you know how it is. Help from the community will go a long way to helping stop any other needles defacements or attacks.
Well I don’t know about you guys but I suppose that it feels a tad more like Christmas, the temperature has plummeted, I’m recovering from the flu and TV listings are decidedly uninteresting.. yup it must be Christmas time. So with that in mind thought is was about time we got some lights hung up.
Tim dropped me a line with an update from his site, like I said before it’s not strictly Airsoft, but we’re allowed the odd random post on here. The album is up for sale, and feedback (good or bad) on the tracks would be appreciated by him on his forums:
As some of you will know IveryMusic have recently released Tim Ivery’s debut album “Before You Wake”. Ivery Music has been a very strong supporter of Airsoft behind the scenes, and a huge supporter of this site. Tim Ivery announced a while back that 10% of all album sales generated from the Airsoft community will be deposited in an Airsoft protection fund, to allow for legal research to be done into attempting to protect the legal status of Airsoft. So for all their support, come on guys, buy a copy of the CD/DVD set. The music package includes a DVD with lots of bonus tracks, music videos etc, and for only 16 – inclusive of postage and packaging that represents extremely good value for money. Head on over to iverymusic.com and sign up to their forums, (they’ve put up a dedicated forum section for Airsofters); if you’re interested go to the shop page, and buy that album. (IveryMusic)