The Rumor Mill

This has been forwarded on to me for publication from the ABA. It looks like they are going to get the exemption that they have been looking for for airsoft in relation to the VCR Bill. Here’s the news:

I refer to my letter of 16 August about airsoft skirmishing and the Violent Crime Bill.

I have now had an opportunity to consider the case which you and your colleagues put to me and you will be pleased to know that I have decided to provide a defence for airsoft skirmishing in relation to the ban on the sale etc or realistic firearms. As you are no doubt aware, there is already a power to make regulations in clause 34 of the Bill and we will include the defence to make regulation once the Bill completes its passage through Parliament. My officials will be in touch with you shortly to arrange a meeting to discuss in detail how the defence will work.

I trust you will be pleased with this outcome and will continue to ensure that airsoft skirmishing activities are in no way linked with the problem of misuse of realistic imitation firearms. Tony McNulty, (Minister of State)

Paul from ClassicAirsoftGuns has mailed in some news from Japan, which relates to recent Police action in Japan in relation to Airsoft. Whilst there’s nothing official posted anywhere as the information was confirmed by a second source you can pretty much take his word for it being true:

Friday August 4th the Manager and staff of First Factory/Laylax were arrested during the night for selling high power airsoft guns after the .98j joule law went into effect August 1st. They face several months in jail and fines of 1 million yen per infraction. The president was unavailable for interview, but it is assumed he will take responsiblility for the acts by paying the fines and supporting his staff. It is also very probable he will be taken to jail as a result of his knowledge and lack of action. The raid went further as to contact sales recipients of highpowered guns as of August 1st. 9 people were contacted, cited, fined, and given criminal records. One such person was a government official who will now be asked to resign his position after reiceiving his criminal record. The manager was shown being taken to prison while being contrasted by his negative views of highpowered guns, not 9 months before.

This new law affects everyone from part makers to gun manufacturers, all makers including WA and TM. The standardized testing the government is using is .98j with .2g BBs at a temperature of 35deg C. The previous industry standard test was at 20c. This has all conventional gas makers concerned as their guns cannot pass at 35deg C. This will affect the market and industry dramatically and possibly give HK the toe hold it needs to truly dominate the market.

This operation was concocted in an attempt to catch Digicon, the makers of airguns used in 98% of the crimes commited in Japan. However, the operation has now extended to less serious infractions in an attempt to make an example to smaller custom shops working under the radar. Other establishments, rumored by law enforcement and industry officials, to fall in the industry are the upper echelon of ASGK, Echiogoya, Digicon, and some smaller custom shops. Paul, (ClassicAirsoftGuns)

Raif dropped me a line about some proposed legislation changes that may well affect Airsoft in Illonois, you can read more about this in the forums:

Arnie:

I am following the news about attempts in the UK to ban airsoft. Thought it would not happen here in the USA. Guess I was wrong! Thought I would drop you a note about this new bill proposed in our state legislature. House Bill 4132 would ban all replicas of “weapons designed for military purposes.” While this appears to be aimed at full size replicas of things like RPGs, clearly this would make airsoft guns illegal (at least those that are copies of military hardware).

I urge any of your Illinois readers to check out the Illinois State Rifle Association’s website at www.isra.org and find out how to contact their local legislators to kill this bill. This also would ban real guns that are otherwise legal in illinois (Garands, M1 Carbines, 1911 handguns).

Bill is reprinted below in its entirety from the state’s website:

“94TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2005 and 2006
HB4132

Introduced 10/20/05, by Rep. Daniel J. Burke

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

720 ILCS 5/24-11 new

Amends the Criminal Code of 1961. Provides that it is unlawful for any person to purchase, possess, use, sell, give away, or otherwise transfer, or to engage in the business of selling, or to exhibit for sale, any replica rocket propelled grenade launcher, bazooka, artillery piece, grenade, mine, bomb, or items similar to weapons designed and manufactured for military purposes or replicas of those items. Provides that a violation is a Class A misdemeanor.

LRB094 14522 RLC 49459 b

CORRECTIONAL BUDGET AND IMPACT NOTE ACT MAY APPLY

A BILL FOR

HB4132 LRB094 14522 RLC 49459 b

1 AN ACT concerning criminal law.
2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3 represented in the General Assembly:
4 Section 5. The Criminal Code of 1961 is amended by adding
5 Section 24-11 as follows:
6 (720 ILCS 5/24-11 new)
7 Sec. 24-11. Replica military style weapons.
8 (a) It is unlawful for any person to purchase, possess,
9 use, sell, give away, or otherwise transfer, or to engage in
10 the business of selling, or to exhibit for sale, any replica
11 rocket propelled grenade launcher, bazooka, artillery piece,
12 grenade, mine, bomb, or items similar to weapons designed and
13 manufactured for military purposes or replicas of those items.
14 (b) Sentence. A violation of this Section is a Class A
15 misdemeanor.”

Thanks for your time and attention.
Raif

Well it’s been a bit since I’ve had the time to do a rambling update around the sites that have spiked my interest, and to be honest it’s long overdue.

First up I guess should be the StarAirsoft L85 series that they have listed as coming soon to their product lists. There’s three versions coming, the standard L85A2, the carbine, the LSW and the AFV. They use a “version 2 plastic gearbox” and will be made of the correct appropriate parts. Not quite sure ont he gearbox myself there, never really been a fan of plastic gearboxes since and experience with an old ACX unit.

Oh, before I forget a lot of people mailed in to correct my my comments on the Tanaka L96 look-a-like that I mentioned earlier. Apologies, AI (Accuracy International) do make a stock for the M700 series called the AICS (you can see it here and closer here). Thanks go to Mike for the links. So the Tanaka AICS is actually a correct copy of the Stage 1.5 model. Hopefully they’ll be making a stage 2 copy in the future with the hinge in it.

Airsoft International‘s site is not live, but there is a placeholder there for the magazine now. You can contact the Paul Monaf at paul@ai-mag.com now. On the subject of AI mag, if you’ve got a copy of issue 1 or issue 2 now, please do add your thoughts and feedback on the magazine in the magazine section of the review database. I’ll get around to adding other magazines shortly so that comparative ratings and comments can be drawn.

Over at Smokies there’s shots of a new stock for the Glock AEP from Marui. Nice design, realistic (stocks for Glocks do exist) and quite practical. The new stock is priced at 6,000Yen and out now.

Guarder have a new steel bolt out for the SIG 552 series. Finished in their P-Process surface coat (powder coat black stuff) it’s priced at 24USD. They also have a new bipod and barrel set in the style of an RPK for hte AK-47 series.

Top have their own version of the Type 64 rifle on the way. Their is called the “TOP 64” and is priced at 52,800Yen and was schduled for release last Friday, so it beats TM’s AEG model to the punch. There are only going to be 30 units made in total, so these will remain pretty specialist until the TM model surfaces (if ever).

At Tanio Koba they are having a sale on their limited run of custom Hi-CAPA pistols (this is the v2 model). There’s several version available, all of which are more than your standard model with a new slide bunged on it. Parts used in each build vary from frames from Freedom Art and twisk barrels from TK themselves.

Over at CAW they have a new barrel extension set (here’s the translated page). This new model is an eight barrel model called the “8P” which is designed to fit the 40P shell (the improved version of the 24p). You can see the new barrel set in the few scans from ARMS that I added online earlier.

More to come, but first I’ve got to go through a few emails and get some other material online that’s due for publication.

The chaps at ARMS sent me a copy of their latest issue this month (thanks guys), so courtesy of them I thought I’d run a few highlights from the magazine this month (I don’t often get a chance to do this myself).

There’s some interesting new toys shown in this month’s ARMS Magazine (Issue 11, November 2005 #209). Inside the front cover there’s a poster from Tanaka of their rather nice new M1897 “Trench Gun” shotgun (src: page #1, page #2). Mojji (Sanken) have some new scopes out called the “Needle” range. There’s a 3-9×40 and a 2-6×30 both of which you can get a laser mount for from Mojji. You’re looking at around 20,000Yen for the scope and 30,000Yen for the laser itself. Moving on there’s a poster of TM’s 4.3 Hi-Capa pistol, priced at 14,800Yen. With the success of the 5.1 model the 4.3 will certainly prove popular, although the Taiwanese copies are sure to follow suit quickly. For you Western Arm lovers out there WA have a page with their latest releases on it including three new SV models (6/5/4.3in), and the Tactical Law Enforcement TLE/RLII (the Kimber look-a-like).

Laylax’s parts always have a pretty familiar look to them, and to be honest one I quite like. There’s a look and style that aren’t readily matched elsewhere. There’s a nice set of custom SIG front ends, and a custom case for anyone that wants to keep their mini AEG M93r pistol clean and safe (src: page #1, page #2). They also have a series of custom Hi-Capa slides and barrels to choose from.

Tanaka’s new rifles are showcased which include the aforementioned Trench Gun (in both wood and black stocks), and a revised model of their M700, this time it’s an L96 copy named the M700 A.I.C.S, that is fitted with a metal reinforced M700 stock (src: page #1, page #2). It’s not particularly faithful to the real thing, the barrel is too short, and basically it’s an M700 barrel and receiver set mounted in an L96 style stock, but I’m sure it’ll sell well.

On page 28 there’s a round up of what was on show at ASGK Festival 2005, which included a rather interesting 40mm style custom pistol. I’ve always been a sucker for those things.. have been for years. Sure it’s hugely unrealistic, but it’s fun and vents gas like there’s tomorrow.

A company by the name of “nite” look to be making a direct competitor to the Traser lineup of watches. I love my Traser, but am on the lookout for something a little less worn (and a bit more suitable for wearing with a suit) so I’ll be keeping an eye on these ones myself. There’s a broad range from “nite”, and as you’d expect there’s the cheap round faced models, the ones with a rotary bezel, then there’s the full metal models. Prices range from 30-48,000Yen. Their website quoted in the magazine is http://www.bigwing.co.jp although you can find the manufacturers at http://www.nitewatches.com/.

There’s a huge article covering the 2005 Ash Bash, sadly I can’t read the text of the write up myself, although the pictures pretty much say it all.

It was bound to happen sooner rather than later. Someone has made a decent pistol/shotgun mount that can take CAW’s 27mm grenades from their PEQ launcher. It’s priced at 36,000Yen, but I don’t have a clue who made it.

In the parts section there’s a rather nice wood mount for anything that takes the M4 mag, and a hideous looking top rail mount for the electric M93r. There’s also a lovely series of builds on the CAW CA870 spring shotgun showing off a series of stock and barrel mount including some decent looking grips.

In the old black and white pages towards the back there’s a few things that caught my eye. CAW’s advert shows off an ankle launcher style 40mm mount and their new CQB mount. Factor-brain.com have a custom CA870 grip, m4a1 grip adapter and laser mount for the front grip. Head1950 have a rather hideous looking M93r silencer adapter mount, but hey it might tickle someone’s fancy.

Poseidon.co.jp’s upcoming custom Glock slide is shown off, including another Manga inspired P226 under mount. Elfin’s (www4.ocn.ne.jp/~elfin712/) model M11 front grip is in the back pages too.

Right at the back there’s a rather interesting page that shows some of the early days of Airsoft, including what looks like a top heavy .177 spring pistol that’s actually calibered for 6mm BBs and a very early P38 from Maruzen; both date from 1980 (src: page #1, page #2).

You can grab your own copy of ARMS Magazine from most good retailers, although you’re more likely to find it in stock at a HK dealer.

I can’t upload huge files at the moment because I’m on a laptop in the middle of nowhere but Francis at HobbyAsia mailed over a series of photos from the Hobby Show that was on last week in Japan. I’ll add the shots as soon as I can (probably tomorrow), but for now you can find the photos on HobbyAsia’s site.

Airsoft Collector also mailed over some listings that he received via email from Marushin and Tokyo Marui. The new evolution of the Marui M4A1 AEG is mentioned in the release news (it’s about time given that CyberGun, STTi, Classic Army and a multitude of others make better versions with some being much cheaper), as is the 4.3inch HiCapa GBB, a mini AEG SIG SP2340, a mount base and hicap mag for the M93r electric pistol and a series of M14 accessories. Marushin have a load of new gas toys on the way in 8mm fomat, with new versions of the M1/M2 carbine, automag, 1911 and Sig P210 in the works.

Airsoft Collector has sent in some scans from Gun and Combat Magazine while he had a free moment. A huge thanks go to him for them for finding the time, as he’s been very busy of late.

The scans include a pre-review of the KSC Colt M1911, an update concerning the KSC Sig P226 and their USP. There’s also a strange advert form WesternArms and an article documenting the evolution of the Tanio Koba USP.

FarEast’s has posted some of his thoughts after a chat with the guys at TM. You can find the full thread in the forum, but here’s the bulk of the text:

Feeling the Pressure. In recent months the Airsoft community has seen the rise of a new challenger for title of �Manufacture King� when it comes to the release of wanted replicas, G&G seems to have its finger right on the pulse of the Airsoft community while the old favourites Tokyo Marui seem to be letting things slip.

I found out recently from a member of the Tokyo Marui staff that the M14 has actually been in production for the last 2 years and wasn�t the 3 month wonder that everyone thought it was. In a way I�m saddened by the fact as this dashes a lot of hopes of Tokyo Marui producing anything new before the supposed VCR bill goes through in the UK. Especially the L85A1/2.

So what is the future going to look like? Well G&G although being smaller really seems to have a management team that can get the gears turning and the products on the shelves, yes there have been a few teething problems with the UMG (Tappet plate) and the M14 (Heavy Trigger) but the amazing thing is that G&G is willing to rectify these problems for free! Unlike Tokyo Marui that expect the customer to fork out for the necessary upgrades or replacements of parts regardless if it�s a design fault or not. G&G also have one serious Ace up their sleeves, a fast manufacturing turn around, thus being able to actually make the guns to meet the demands of the customers within a short period of time while keeping the price reasonable.

So what is so wrong with Tokyo Marui? Well for one, it�s a one man ship, having the CEO (Owner, Director) making the choices of guns made on his preference rather than listening to the market research and the Airsoft community (there must be hundreds of signed petitions for various guns) is a real bad thing as it shows a lack of vision by a company and it�s leadership for the future of the sport, also the fact that Tokyo Marui really doesn�t have a good relationship with the press is another issue, rather than give factual and positive press releases to the Airsoft community it is left to speculate and rumourmonger about the future releases of this giant within the Airsoft world thus leaving a lot of disappointed and disgruntled people when the replicas fail to materialise.

So is it all bad? Not really. The rise of G&G and other even smaller Chinese, Taiwanese and Hong Kong based manufactures seems to have a bee in Tokyo Marui�s bonnet. When I last spoke to the guys at Tokyo Marui they were very interested in my views of the competition and the future of their company. It seems very likely that they will move away from the plastic bodies and follow G&G with the lightweight metal bodies; also it seems that they are thinking of moving into the upgrade department too, gears, springs and motors to name just a few.

But is this too much to late for Tokyo Marui, or is it still the wrong direction for them? In my opinion yes it is, there are so many companies out there that produce excellent upgrades for our sport, Systema, Phoenix to name just a few and to be honest I think they do it much better. Another reason is it still doesn�t address the problem of what the customer actually wants, to quote Neo; �We need guns. Lots of guns� and that�s the fact of the matter. The Airsoft community looks to Tokyo Marui for the production of cheap good quality guns regardless of what materials are used, that�s what 3rd party manufactures are for!

So where is this going to lead us? It looks like the future is firmly in the hands of central Asia. The economic Boom of China is having a very positive impact on our sport, mainly in the cost of production and materials. Also the general public having more money to spend on their hobbies is causing a price war among retailers in the battle to take customers cash, thus driving down the prices of their products, while also providing a relatively good customer service (Most places in Asia only provide a 30 day money back warranty as this is all that is required by law) for over seas customers.

So can Japan compete with this? Not really, Japan�s economy has been stagnant for the past 10 years with consumers reluctant to spend their hard earned cash also with the artificial land prices and the fact that Japan needs to import all its resources, factories need to charge more for the products they make to actually make a profit.

Japan could do much better to move their manufacturing plants to central Asia to take advantage of the lower overheads, but will they do this? Not really Japanese industries tend to be very xenophobic when it comes to central Asia (KSC is a classic example of this having to different names for its products, one for Japan *KSC* and another for the rest of world, of course the KSC in Japan costs more than the overseas versions!)

So what is my prediction? Unless Tokyo Marui can adapt to this fast changing market and either keep pace or set a new one with its mainland challengers in Asia I really think Tokyo Marui is going to fall within the next few years as they like the rest of the Japanese economy stagnate and flounder due to leadership problems and lack of vision. China on the other hand is showing a very healthy boom in both hobbies and economy with companies showing strong leadership and the willingness to listen to the community that purchase their products while also having the power to produce high quality items at a fair price within a short period of time . And let�s face it G&G has produce 3 high quality replicas in the past 3 months, M14, UMP and the GR300 (LR300) which proves they are very serious about taking the �Manufacture King� title. FarEast, (site forums)

Airsoft Collector dropped me a line about an article that was in the August issue of Gun concerning the new upcoming KSC GBBs. I’ll paraphraze as he asked me to tidy up the translation a bit.

How they choose the models they are willing to release? KSC just asked Japanese customers through their website, the first three pistols were the M1911, SIG P226 rail and full size HK USP.

The 1911 is working already, the R&D stage is finished and they are under testing. There’s no new system in it instead it uses the same blowback mech as the SW945.

The P226 and USP are still at the R&D stage, with only the external moulding having been done.They dont know yet if they will fit a new GBB system inside or not.

KSC knows that there will be a big competition with other makers, with the 1911 WA and up and coming Marui version announced for this Summer. With the Marui P226, and Tanaka P226 they’ll try to make their model cheaper. The same goes for their upcoming USP given the already existing Tanaka and Tanio Koba versions.

Frank has emailed over a link to a news story from the Sun Sentinel newspaper that reported quotes that Airsoft could be banned from Miami Dade County, Florida USA, according to the local major. More information can be found at this link on their page.

Just a random bit of rumor mongering, but a chap from ICS popped into the chatroom asking some pretty normal market research questions and confirmed that the AK74 from ICS will be out "very soon" and also apparently chatted about the possibility of an L85 AEG from them.

Well rumors are abound at the moment with Marui’s press department hinting that their next AEG is going to be an L85 copy (FarEast posted the news in the forums). It’s been know for some time that they were planning on a “BOYS” version of the rifle however this could well be a full size model from what’s been said so far.

Oh, I uploaded the video to the M14 news posted last as I omitted to add it to the upload list last time, sorry about that. It’s online now and should work fine for everyone now.

I’ve been sent in a bit of anonymous info (well it’s left anonymous unless the author want’s his name placed against it) about the WA/KWC/G&P pistol that has recently appeared, you can also see it on the SIIS front page, and I’m sure it was mentioned briefly before on the news page too. Anyway here’s the details so far:

I have some underground info about the Desert Eagle SIIS.

WA-SIIS Desert Eagle is made with KWC Desert Eagle frame/slide and outer barrel.
WA have then fitted the MAGNA blow back system inside.

You were right everything of this have been made with license, SIIS (aka Sekito) have a license from Cybergun for Desert Eagle guns.

This WA will only been sold by the Japanese wholesaler Sekito, because as
you can see you wont find any news on WA website about this product. Anon

Anyone in Scotland thinking that were going to be excluded from the latest round of unreasonable legislation proposals is going to be hugely disappointed. Reportedly the First Minister in Scotland is due to introduce a new licensing system for airguns north of the Border. According to the article anyone wanting to buy an air weapon will have to apply for a permit first, and by the looks of it will also have to provide a positive bucket-load of information about themselves to the store owner prior to purchase. Read the full article to see what the damage is going to be.