Yeah. I've been looking for the older style deact AK, but they tend to be in the 5-700 GBP mark, which is a bit out of my budget. I once saw an old style Taurus Raging Bull old style deact for 650 GBP - If I wasn't poor as hell Old style deact they used to prevent the gun from firing (IIRC they filled the barrel and made it difficult to remove/filled the firing mechanism), but the mechanisms would still be workable (This was canned because they were a LOT easier to return to working order) but the new style disables the entire mechanism too, so to return it to working order would be more work than it was worth. In theory. Yes, the two tones are the "unlicensed" (Technically, it's only a register of airsoft skirmishers who have the legal defence to own RIFs, expressly for the purpose of airsoft skirmishing) variety. However, the law says you have to play X games in X time frames - A lot of sites I've seen and played at want you to play X number of games, but over a period of longer than X months. Where I am, they want you to play at least three games, but to have been playing at the site for longer than two months. Granted, they're not going to tell you to get on your bike if you play six games (That's three months), but they are if you play three games in two months and then ask for UKARA registration. The point of UKARA was to reduce the number of retailers selling them on market stalls - Granted, it was very short sighted on the governments part, because what I and other skirmishers buy (see the airsoft thread) tend to be of a much higher cost, and a much better quality than what you get off a market stall. It was done to combat the number of kids that were shooting at other kids in schools - I don't know how many UKers remember the increasing regularity with which primary school kids, pedestrians etc, were shot at with spring RIFs. As for firearms in the UK - It's really not as bad as everyone thinks. If you're a sane, nice (For the references you need), logical, person that follows the rules then you can usually have a firearms license in 18 months.
Old style deactivation you can cock and dry fire the gun but the hammer is welded in place (I think the sear has restricted movement, too). New style deactivation drops a weld into all the internals pretty much. And you can't just replace the receivers because the breech is welded to the barrel, bolt/striker and lower receiver. In fact, pretty much every moving part has a bead layed over it. You can still drop the magazine out, though. And maybe the mode selection switch moves if you're lucky.
Meh that's a shame. If I had a replica/deactivated weapon, I'd definitely want to dry-load and fire it. The sound of doing that is worth atleast half the price.
I was looking in to grabbing an airsoft G36c replica but the rules and regs for owning that stuff are insane. Something along the lines of having to be a member of a registered airsoft centre and have recorded evidence of you having attended at least three events at or with the centre within nine months. Otherwise they log you as a none attender and the bizzys come-a-knocking. I even looked in to buying one of the orange ones from amazon for £29.99, stipping the crappier internals for the full power airsoft internals then spraying it up. Wasn't worth what I wanted it for in the end, especially seeing as how spraying it up is illegal. The price of some of the airsoft replica's is appaling. Something like £3500 for a replica airsoft M60 that wasn't even very good for airsofting (Cheap internals so say reviews).
Hang on a second here, so its now illegal in the UK to have weapon replicas? Oh dear, in my loft I have model kits from about twenty years ago from a Japanese company called LS, they made perfect (and I do mean perfect) replica kits of all sorts of handguns and rifles. You had to build them yourself and get them working but the would load, cock and eject shells when you worked the action. They were made from ABS plastic with gold metalised plastic bullets and had metal springs so they could never fire but if you had the skills and materials you could try making one for real by using the kits as a blueprint. Hell I used to time myself stripping and reassembling the assault rifles and even tried it blindfolded a few time just out of curiosity. My collection consists of an M177 Colt Commando, M203 assault rifle/grenade launcher combo, AK-47 assault rifle, Sig Saur 220 pistol, Barretta 92F, M1191A Colt 45, .44 Magnum 4 inch, .44 Magnum 8 inch plus a replica hand grenade and smoke grenade. I also have a .44 AutoMagnum but its in bits as it was mashed the last time I moved house. If they were real I might do okay if there ever was a zombie apocalypse.
This is true, that click is satisfying, but nowhere near as good as when you charge something like an RK. Those were good times. Although, when it went click and no bang, then you got worried and loaded as fast as you could
To be honest, the UKARA registration is not that big a deal for actual skirmishers. The VCR bill is over the top, in my opinion, but considering that it would have - Without some exceptional work from a number of the Airsofters in the UK - been completely illegal to own an airsoft RIF of any kind. The whole point is, and this is going to sound elitist, to keep the "oh that's cool looking" crowd out of RIFs unless they genuinely want to play airsoft. RIFs may not be real, but there is just as much responsibility in looking after the things - It's our hobby, and the concessions we do have (thanks to UKARA) are only ours to keep so long as we don't cock it all up by letting just anyone have a RIF "because it looks cool". I know, it sounds elitist, but if you were a regular airsofter, then you'd understand that we're just doing what we can to keep doing what we enjoy. There is also quite a lot of misinformation, because people ask other people about the VCR bill and UKARA rather than just reading about it themselves, and asking their local site what their rules are. For example; "The time period over which you have to play your 3 games is at the discretion of the participating game site providing the 3 games are not played in a time that is less than 2 months, the maximum time period is 12 months." If you want to know about UKARA, it's not a long read, http://www.ukara.org.uk/node/5 those are the most common questions, and in my opinion, the only ones worth asking. Some of them mention being in the armed forces in the question, but that applies to civilians as well. Dave, yes, the prices on a number of replicas are on the heavy side (My M82A1, for example), but a lot of the time the same weapon is available, better, for less. A small handful of companies charge the earth for a well detailed RIF, with naff internals, but there are companies that charge a reasonable price for a good all-rounder. Inokatsu, I don't often accuse of charging fairly, but their M60 line is fairly reasonable, ranging from £980 to £1250, depending how much metal you want in the gun.
I realise the law is the law and the only reason the law allows for anything at all is because of some dedicated airsofters fighting for their hobby; But you do have to admit that it’s restrictive of people who don’t have a lot of time and want to do the hobby on a casual basis. Again, I know these places allow you to rent but as you said, the weapons take a lot of maintaining which is one of the aspects that draws me to wanting an airsoft replica. I’m curious about how stuff works and get a kick out of being able to maintain and repair it. The time frame I was quoting was from my local airsoft centre (over near Chadderton if I remember correctly) I didn’t realise it was at the centres destrection to a certain extent. Bah. I have a .177 Cal air gun that suits my casual interest in this stuff. It’s just a shame there are soo many idiots ruining it for the rest of us.
The problem with the UKARA registration is it prevents people genuinely interested in a RIF to put on their wall but don't want to go out and get a UKARA (which effectively costs money) from having anything remotely realistic. It's effectively a ban on personal ownership of RIFs. Also, I had no Idea the big SAWs were so much, Airsoft Armoury is just down the road from me and they have a couple of M249s on display. Also, to prove Lirathaels point, you can probably buy a Chinese "Snow Wolf" M82 for about £300 which is probably about a third of the price of his; it's all a matter of taste.
The law is restrictive - Which makes it "good" in my opinion, because that was the intention. Let me clarify what I mean by that. It's good in that it does what it's meant to do, but it's bad in the sense that you mention - Casual skirmishers are shafted by it. Maintaining rental guns is a nightmare, because of who use them - Newbies. They just don't know how to treat them, because they're so "real" in so many aspects, they get treated as such - Which is no good. Maintaining your own weapon is a darnsight easier, though, because you can build the mechbox to suit your shooting style. Mine, for example, is tightly shimmed because my shooting style is consistent, and I can guarantee that I am only ever chucking out three rounds on automatic. However, my local has to shim their rentals fairly loose in comparison because the newer the player the more likely to spray and pray, so to speak. It is unfortunate that the exact time frame is left to the site, so long as they operate a time frame of "longer than 2, shorter than 12", because some sites can be incredibly stringent and others might not be. Mine, because it only (usually) sees about 30 players on any given day is fairly loose about it - Especially with existing gun owners (For example, I barely played four games and they signed off on my form - It was within the UKARA limit - But a friend, who started there, had to play there twice as long as I did, just because I am quite clearly a genuine skirmisher (Given the kit I often turn up with)). However, some sites that see more (or even sites that "play it safe") players on a regular basis are likely to be more.. Strict. It's a shame, especially if you can't get anywhere else. It annoys me more that the VCR cracked down on airsoft retailers as hard as they did - Because in the vast majority of airsoft gun related incidents that prompted the VCR bill, springers were used. Springers are typically the kind found on market stalls - And are incredibly unpredictable. I know a guy who bought a pair of M92's a long while ago, chrono'd both, one chrono'd at sub-100FPS and the other at 240+. But yes. Shame idiots ruin it for the rest of us. Yeah, it does add some insane restrictions on RIFs (When you consider you can get a real steel deact for less than a RIF in a lot of cases, unlicensed). Yeah, SAWs are usually rather overpriced - If you don't shop around. If you want a cheap SAW, then your best bet would be a 249 conversion kit for a bogo-standard M733. Or if you're feeling more adventurous, you could always just buy a mechbox (Incidentally, not illegal to buy, even completely constructed) and the conversion kit, since 99% of the time SAW conversion kits for armalites just need the donor V2 Mechbox As for the Chinasoft Snow Wolf, cheap and cheerful - I'd not touch it with a barge pole, despite being less than a quarter what I paid for the M82 kit
I suppose. I spose there's just as many idiots elsewhere in the world, just seems like there's a lot of them over here,
Yeah. I've been toying with the idea of getting one of those current production factory-deactivated IZHMASH AKs through FSU but since they still make those, as a public commodity no less, they're not that high on my priority list. Right now i'm working on getting all the hungarian variants. On that note, my newest baby
You dread to think what it'd be like in England if that were the case? Think about how I feel. Yeah, for people who are genuinely interested in firearms and shooting for whatever legitimate reasons (hobby, hunting, sport etc) the UK laws provide a lot more "red tape" that you have to get around, but believe me, I'd much rather have it this way than how it is in the USA. I say that with no disrespect whatsoever towards the American people or Government. It's just that in a smaller country like England and certainly in an even smaller country like Ireland with all the history that goes with it, any less stringent firearms or weapons laws would almost certainly lead to widespread unrest and increased crime. I don't want to discuss it here at length for obvious reasons, but I'll mention it since this seems to be turning into a "UK firearms law" discussion. For the past 3 years or so, since the majority of British forces left Northern Ireland, I've felt relatively safe. Not because they left, but becuse it has been a peaceful time and it was no longer necessary for them to have as prominent a prescence as they had held for the thirty-something odd years before. Since the end of last year, as a result of certain events, I feel more uneasy each time I watch the local news or even walk out the door. We've seen a much greater number of security alerts in Northern Ireland since the start of this year, and with this weeks rioting and unrest in parts of the country, it doesn't look to be getting any better. I don't even want to think about how severe the civil unrest here would be this year if firearms were as "easy" to obtain and legally hold here as they are in other parts of the world, the USA included. I know there's a lot of gun and knife crime in parts of the mainland as well, but I'd appreciate it if we could remember this point of view if and when discussing UK firearms laws. Those laws apply to us too you know
I was going to suggest airsoft as well. That makes me sad. Well if it was here they'd be arrested or shot by the police (or another armed citizen). Either way thats what you get for being a dumbass. EDIT: Improper handling of firearms is usually a direct result of a lack of instruction and/or mentorship of the bearer. Punks brandishing weapons have zero respect for the weapon they hold usually because no one ever bothered to teach them from a young age.
I think that applies in pretty much every real country. At least i know i'd get shot if i started waving one of my AKs around in public and didn't react to the police officer's shouting fast enough. But guys, please, can we all STFU about laws and get back to gun talk?
I really agree with this. Improper handling of anything dangerous is, in my opinion, down to a complete lack of respect for the item in question - Almost exclusively through a lack of proper training/instruction. Granted, a certain amount grows from ones "confidence" with the item (although, how often has confidence turned into cocky-ness without so much as a blink), but I believe it's almost entirely a lack of proper tuition.
so complicated.. i just want a M4a1 combine to shot on my wall with all my other **** to look awesome... why is this so hard LOL
