Short night game last sunday

On last sunday I took Ania to Warsaw for a short night airsoft game. It was supposed to start around 5 PM -- this time of year it is already after nightfall. We went to Fort Piłsudskiego -- one on many old military forts in Warsaw. We played for about two hours and I had lots of fun.

I never liked playing airsoft at night. It started when we played in Halinka some four or five years ago. I got shot by Mamut with his pump action shotgun -- the benelli m3 super 90. Two of three BBs hit me in the ear while the third hit me somewhere else in the head. I didn't like the night games because I felt very vulnerable -- I don't have any tactical flashlight on my replicas, so I can rely only on the natural light...

But last week I had fun. :) There was only eight of us but it was more than enough.

I took the AUG and AK47S with me for this game. At first I though I'd use AUG, but I felt like it was too powerful for playing at night. So I decided to use the AK47S instead and it was a good choice.

From Airsoft from Poland photos

The game was very slow. All night games are slow. You move slowly, because you aren't sure what are you walking onto. You try to move quietly, because the sound is what will tell where you are. So the best way to score some points at night game is to hide somewhere and wait for someone to come.

I camped this way a couple times. With success. :)

At first I hid behind a large tree on some small hill (around 1 meter / 3 ft high), in some bushes. When the opposite team killed three of my teammates I was left alone. They thought they killed everyone else and walked less than 10 metres from me to the point where all the killed gathered. When they were told I was still alive, they walked near me again and then I started to spray BBs. I killed one or two of them and received a hit by myself. It is not easy to aim at night... ;p

The second time was when I crouched in one place for some 5 minutes. I saw a guy walking in my direction but wasn't sure if he's in my team. When we saw each other I asked him if he's my mate or enemey -- and then he started to shoot his cheap AEP (Glock 17 by Double Eagle, I guess). At the same instant I shot him back and I decided we should both be considered shot, though I did't feel or hear his BBs on my parka.

The third time was the most interesting. This time the idea was similar -- to crouch in one place for some time and to wait what will happen. I saw one guy from the opposite team, he walked in my direction. I aimed at him to shoot whenever I feel threatened. He stopped for a moment and fired a short burst very close to me (I talked to him couple minutes later, he told me he fired at some point near me, because he heard some noise). I was scared, but didn't pull the trigger. He started walking again, walked by me and then I shot him in the back. ;)



We also had some fun with using an old refrigerator as a shield. On this photo you can see Indianin with his AK47, hidden in the refrigerator. :)

The pleasant game on last sunday

On last sunday I played a pleasant airsoft game. The first for more than two months. I haven't played since my last purchases. So you might say that this was the first time to test my new stuff.

The game took place on the southern borders of Warsaw, on a site where greenhouses used to be some time ago. It consisted of some abandoned buildings and a lot of empty space, covered only with grass and bushes. There was one very important element of this site: a high hill that was the most important place during two scenarios that were played. Below are photos taken from that hill. It was located on the northern side of the site.

From Airsoft from ...

At the very beginning we were divided into two teams, based on our camouflages. Team of players in flecktarn (german) camouflaged jackets versus any other camouflage (woodland (american), DPM (british), polish camo). The guys in german camo (including me) were divided into two smaller teams, one of 4, the other of 11 people. The scenario said that the smaller group were parachutists dropped some time ago on the ground. They were ambushed by the enemy, the second group was supposed to rescue them. After the rescue both teams were supposed to take over the hill. The team that held the hill at the end of the scenario (scheduled to be after 2 hours) was supposed to win.

The scenario wasn't as stupid as it might look. But nobody suspected that half of guys dressed in woodlands, DPMs and polish camos are going to be late for the briefing. At the end of the scenario we counted 15 guys in flecktarns and 30 in the second team. No wonder we had simply no chance to win...

After teams were balanced, the rules were changed. The team that was supposed to take over the hill was now ordered to protect it from their opponents. The attackers started at the other end of the asphalt road you can see on the pictures. We started on the hill the photos were taken from. My friend and I quickly found ourselves a great place -- the right flank. We camped in the building you can see on the right hand side on the last photo. The one that had two trees near. The attackers soon started rushing towards us, we sprayed some BBs at them. Two other guys that lied under those trees went somewhere else and we were on our own. And then the fun started.
Under those threes were two holes in ground, which were a part of sewer system I suppose. The hatches were removed (and probably sold). We agreed that it'd be a good idea to stick near the two holes. If we sat on the ground near, we could shoot above the high grass. If we jumped inside (which was not difficult), we could hide from enemy fire.

The place was great for two reasons. First of all it wasn't stormed by attackers. They found themselves another point to attack. But single enemies tried to walk past us and attack our camp from behind. Since we got our eyes high above ground level, we were warned early enough to shoot those enemies. There were two guys we weren't warned about, but we easily heard their movement in the dry grass. One of them was shot by my friend, the other was "shout-killed" by me some time later. I hid in a dark place and when he was close enough I told him he was dead. As simple as that. ;)



The above photo shows a small group of enemies thinking about what to do. Note that they were in the hot sun while we sat in the cool shade. ;)



This guy had his goggles and binoculars, but didn't have any weapon. ;)



We had a lot of time to make photos. ;)

I must say that AUG was not fully operational. Three or four times it didn't fire when I pulled the trigger. I didn't find any rule when it did and when it didn't work. If it happens again, it'll have to be shipped back for repairs.

Junk tuning

Long time, no see, huh? I didn’t attend any airsoft game for two months, so there’s nothing to write about. But when I’m not playing airsoft, I am thinking about it. So this is what I found out lately.

I mentioned here, that I have my AUG tuned. It has Guarder M110 / SP110 spring, helical gear set, full set of cylinder / cylinder head / piston head (bore-up) and some other stuff. This left me stock Classic Army spring and stock cylinder with two heads.

I am curious if I can use the spring to tune my AK-47S. If this Cyma replica is an exact copy of Tokyo Marui’s one, then I guess there’ll be some trouble with the piston / piston head / spring. As far as I remember, the TM’s piston is permanently connected to it’s head, so to change the spring you have to do something with piston / piston head. I don’t know exacly what needs to be done, i.e. if I need to have spare piston or not.

I also have one 170% CA spring, which is similar to M110. I think I’ll put this spring to the mG36, ’cause it lacks good range for being a support weapon. I’ll put it inside along with sealed air nozzle I bought a year or two ago and didn’t have time to install. ;)

AUG is operational again

The replica was brought to my work, as I wanted, on thursday. The guy from UPS didn't phone me beforehand, and I had to borrow some money from someone, since I didn't have the time to visit ATM. I dismantled the AUG into the two parts and carried it home in my backpack.

I used it yesterday during our airsoft game in Adamowice. The game was not interesting enough to be worth mentioning here. I wrote about this place and showed some photos back in december. Ania didn't make any photo that would be worth posting here, I uploaded some photos to my picasa gallery. I can't promise they'll stay there forever, though...

Ania made a very short video of me and my AUG at work, so I am currently uploading it to Google video. When it's done it'll be posted here...

AUG was used with the 3,000 mAh 8.4V NiMH KAN battery, attached to the left part of the body with some electrical tape. Somehow I couldn't make it work with 1,200 mAh 8.4V battery... The ROF was satisfying, the range was more than pleasant.

I must also mention that I burnt my 1,800 mAh NiCD Sanyo battery... At home I removed the plastic connector and left it with bare metal connectors. I put it carelessly to the gun case, the two wires touched each other and burnt some foam inside the case. I don't have to mention that it totally discharged the battery... I hope it will still be usable. At the moment it is plugged to the charger at a relatively small 50 mA current...

Here's the movie...

AUG repairs - 2nd approach

I just got a call from my favorite ASG shop. Guy told me that he thinks that the motor is the cause of all the trouble. After long burst it becomes very hot and this means that it is somehow defected. Since they didn't notice it the last time I won't be charged for shipping the replica back and forth. Cool. :) I will have to pay for the motor, someting around $80...

I asked them to sell me another magazine for the AUG. The mid-cap. The guys I play with lately want to use low-capacity magazines, so I will have to buy one of those. The replica has small battery compartment, so it'll be better for me to save the ammo and battery. I will be forced to do so when using mid-cap magazines. I'll sell the hi-cap and get some money from it. :)

I just got a call

I just received a call from my favorite asg shop. I was called by the guy who repaired my AUG. Yesterday I wrote them an email in which I described what happened. I said exactly how the replica stopped working, which batteries I used, etc.

The guy said that he tested the replica and it worked well. He fired it on full auto and didn't notice any problems.

So what caused the trouble?

He said that it was because of the temperature yesterday. I wrote him that the replica was powered by 1,800 mAh Sanyo NiCd battery and when it stopped shooting I plugged it to 3,000 mAh KAN NiMH battery. He said that 1,800 isn't very strong battery and the second one is very sensitive when it comes to temperature. So he says that my trouble was caused by the batteries and weather. He advised me to recharge the batteries again and try using the replica at home. Of course I will do so...

Another thing about last game. I found satellite photo of the place at Google Maps. Here it is:

View Larger Map

You can see a dense forest and next to it a large area covered with mud and dirt. You must zoom a little, ensuring that the dark green area of woodland will be in the middle of the frame. East, next to the forest is a large "canyon". It is a place aligned almost meridional, surrounded by four embankments. You can see one of those embankments in the background of the photo I posted yesterday.

I think that playing a game exclusively in this canyon will be a nice experience. :)

AUG: dissapointment

AUG dissapointed me today. Or maybe I should write: people who repaired it dissapointed me.

First brake down of the AUG looked like this: it worked for a while with no trouble at all. Then I fired it on full auto. And that was it. The engine coudln't move the piston at all. I think that the piston was pulled a bit during the previous shot. The anti-reversal latch ensured that it will stay in this position. Since the power spring is compressed, the energy required to move the piston from that place is greater than the energy required to start its movement from the beginning. I believe that the gears aren't positioned well to each other because the shims aren't placed properly.

When the mechbox is put together it does work. But in situation as described above it may stop.

I thought that the guys from my favorite airsoft shop will fix it. But they didn't. :(

I fired only 20 BBs or so, and then the AUG just stopped... :( It'll have to be shipped for service again... But I am not going to pay a dime...

Now two words about the game today.

There was 10 of us. We played a scenario twice.

The scenario was quite simple. There was a team of mercenaries (6 of them, me and Ania included), who was dropped on parachutes to a foreign country. Their goal was to get retrieve two "treasures" from one place, using explosives. Unfortunatelly their aircraft was shot down. So the explosives are now in the plane wreck. So this team had to get those explosives and proceed to the "treasure spot". After retrieving the treasure this team had to cross the border to reach safety. There was second team (4 players), who had to stop the mercenaries...

First time we played this scenario there was some misunderstanding. The second team took one explosive and one treasure from and went to cross the border. They probably thought that it is they who has to do this stuff. We played for 90 minutes but had only two chances to shoot those guys. First was when they were camped on the treasure spot. Ania killed 3 of them. :) I didn't fire a BB... Second chance we had when we were approaching the border. They camped there. At that moment I wanted to shoot some BBs but then the AUG broke down again... We won as two of our guys carried the treasure beyond the border.

From Airsoft from ...

The second time we played the scenario on opposite sides. I carried AK47 with attached large battery on top of it, because the battery I wanted to use with AK47 turned out to be discharged. We won again, because we camped on the treasure spot and defended it successfully. I killed one guy and probably another also. I say "probably", because I thought that at that moment I had no BBs in my hicap. It seems I was wrong. ;) Soon after I run dry I got shot.

I must mention that we had limited ammo during this game. We were told not to put more than 100 BBs in the magazine... I didn't like it at the beginning and at the end of the second round. When we were attacked the first time I forgot that I have limited ammo and I fired almost half of it in three bursts... ;)

We spent there 3 hours but most of the time we were walking, running and waiting for the enemy. There was more "hide & seek" than ever. I play airsoft for 4 years but this was the first time I had to crawl to approach the enemy and lie on the ground to be safe. But it felt very nice to wait for the enemy to appear on the opposite side of the sight.

AUG at home again

I wrote the last post at work. When I came home I got an email from my favorite ASG shop. They wrote that the replica was posted and will probably get to me the next day. Today that is.

The UPS delivery guy came today to my apartment and left the replica to Ania. I came home from work and opened the package.

My first thought was: where the heck is the AUG?

From Airsoft from Poland photos

After digging through the layer of cardboard shreds I finally saw a part of the AUG... It was something like digging a dinosaur skeleton from under a layer of dirt. ;)



I read a note from the guys. They charged me for power spring, hopup rubber and the service total amount of $50.20. I also had a precise barrel installed, but since I bought the other day in the same shop they installed it free of charge. Including the cost of sending it there and back I paid $82.

Oh, they also checked the replica on chronograph. Are you curious of the results? Check them here. :)

If I get the chance, I'll use the replica this weekend. :)

My AUG is now repaired

I just received a call from my favorite ASG shop. They told me that my AUG is now repaired and ready for shipping.

I asked them to install a precise barrel (I sent one I bought for mG36, but it didn't fit there) and stronger power spring. So they installed Guarder's M110 (SP110) spring. I hope the set of adjustments to the replica will give me something around 380 fps on 8,4V battery. :)

I will be charged with something around $50 + postal charges. The replica will be shipped by UPS.

It gives me a small chance to use the replica during this weekend's game. :)

My Steyr AUG Classic Army replica

This is a static article about my Classic Army Steyr AUG replica. I will post any updates about the replica here. Latest update: February 24th, 2008.

Replica info.
Spring: Guarded M110 / SP110.
Barrel: 6.04 mm Deep Fire precise barrel.
Gears: helical gear set.
Hopup rubber: black silicone Systema rubber.
Spring guide: metal, with bearing.
Piston: stock.
Bore-up set: cylinder, cylinder and piston heads (the latter with bearing), air seal nozzle.
Used battery: 8.4V 1,200 mAh NiMH, Intellect.

Muzzle velocity: 400 fps on 0.2g BBs.

I bought it on august 2006. In one of our interner airsoft retailers there was sale for new airsoft users. If you were a new customer, you got better price for the replica. So I asked a friend of mine to buy it for me. :)

I ordered it with set of parts I wanted to use for silencing it. I paid $600, but at that moment I paid more than PLN 3.00 for $1. At the moment $1 is worth in Poland less than PLN 2.50. :)

We installed the set of silencing parts soon after I finally got the replica. But the replica didn't become more quiet than before.

Some time after it was silenced it was broken during one of my games. It was later repaired, but soon after broke down again. So I decided that I will ship it to my favorite retailer for repairs and small tuning.

Update: January 10th, 2008.

The replica is now fully operational. It was delivered today after the repairs.

Update: February 11th, 2008.

As it became obvious soon after the AUG was delivered, it wasn't fixed properly. If stopped on full auto with power spring partially compressed, the engine couldn't move it until the anti-reversal latch (and eventually the spring) was released. The guy who repaired it tried to convince me that it was caused by battery. I sent the replica again. After checking the gearbox the guy said that the motor is getting to hot and is probably defected. They replaced the motor and sent me the replica. This time fully operational.

I am a bit disappointed though that fully charged 8.4V 1,400 mAh is not enough to fire the replica. :(

Update: February 24th, 2008.

Here's a photo of the AUG, with attached 3-point sling and battery pack I bought last week.

From Airsoft from ...

During the last game (on February 17th) I used the AUG covered with woodland net masking. It looked like this.

The AUG is gone

Not like it's dead or something. It's just gone, because I sent it to my favorite ASG shop for repairs and tuning. You probably remember that the AUG is broken and I wanted to tune it a bit.

I disassembled the replica a bit and packed it to a solid cardboard box (I got one FedEx box suitable for stuff up to 25 kg (55 lb) and cut it in half since it was too high for the replica). I protected it from any harm with a lot of mashed newspapers. Here's a photo of how did it look like.

From Airsoft from ...

Of course it was later covered with second thick layer of mashed newspapers. ;)

I paid $20 to ship the package. I wonder how much will cost the repair and the tuning...

AUG augmentations (tuning)

Last week I wrote that my AUG A1 is broken and needs repairing. I also mentioned that I'll have 10% off all the prices needed for repair, hopefully I'll also get that discount for all the parts required for upgrade / tuning the replica. So why don't I augment my AUG?

But what can I tune? I can only put there ball bearings (the one I bought were of 6mm diameter, not 7mm, so didn't fit) and power spring. Since I already have one spring I consider sending it to the shop with the replica for installation. I don't know yet, because they'll probably charge me for that comparable amount of money I'd pay for new spring from them. The power spring will surely be tuned, but I think I'll leave the bearings "as they are".

I like to spend my money on airsoft stuff, so what could I buy this time (I already bought some stuff last month)? On the market you won't find many addons for Steyr AUG replica. The only interesting thing to buy is the Phantom Silencer Set. But is it really worth it? In the shop that's gonna repair my AUG this set costs $180. I think I'll leave this for the future. Since I bought it, I didn't use my AUG more then few times. I think we must first get along before I buy anything for this replica. ;)

Oh, by the way, I found an interesting video on YouTube. Unfortunatelly it's in french, but it describes how to make this Phantom Set AT HOME! I have no idea what are they saying, but I think the images are descriptive enough... Enjoy!

The broken AUG

At home I have my Classic Army Steyr AUG A1. For some time it's broken. I borrowed it to a friend of mine couple months ago, and he broke it. He fixed it by himself and then I borrowed it to another guy (I own 4 AEGs, so it's difficult for me to refuse if someone asks me for such favor), soon at the first game the gun stopped shooting. So it became obvious that I need to send it to some professional to get it fixed.

Three weeks ago I asked my favorite ASG shop if they can fix my replica. I got an answer that their main service guy had to be operated not so long ago and they can't take more replicas for repairs. They informed me that I can send it after november 25th. But yesterday, when I asked if this offer is still open, I got an answer that they have to postpone my case to next year, because of the same reason. What other options do I have? None... They told me that I can get 10% discount on parts to be used during the repairs. When they're going to repair it, I'm going to ask them to fit the precise barrel I got from them (510 mm precise barrel for M14 replica, it won't fit there, so I am going to ask them to replace it with a proper one) and power spring. I want to have a couple fps more, but want to use 8,4 V batteries. So slightly stronger spring and the precise barrel will be enough. I remind you that the replica already has bore-up, helical gear set and spring guide with bearing.

I have to wait till next year and then I'll send them the replica. I simply have no choice, I want to get it operational again...

Tuning questions

About two weeks ago I started thinking about getting one of my replicas tuned. At this moment the MP5K and mG36 are full-stock (I mean the gearbox, not the body, bipod, battery and other stuff). AUG has the "silent" set installed, more info can be found in the post about the silenced AUG. But it does have significantly better muzzle velocity than stock replicas, I believe it's got something aroung 350 fps. (Mamut's CA870 after his tuning has 410 fps on 0,2g BBs and 380 fps on 0,3g -- meaning that the light BBs don't gain all the energy the power spring can give).

So I decided to put some money in my airsoft replica tuning.

Since MP5K cannot be used with battery larger than 1200mAh 9.6V (after small modification of some kind), I decided that MP5K will remain as it is now.

So the decision is to choose between tuning AUG and mG36. I wanted to get muzzle velocity around 420-430 fps. Tunned by ASGShop.pl both replicas are upgraded to this level by installing:

• M120 power spring
  
• super torque up gear set (Classic Army)
  
• reinforced bearing guide with bearing (Deep Fire)
  
• reinforced cylinder, cylinder and piston heads (the latter with bearing) and nozzle (Deep Fire).

Since AUG has already got both bearing guide, gear set and the bore-up cylinder set installed the tuning will eventually be only to put power spring inside. I have the Classic Army 170% power spring (I got it free of charge when buying G36) so it seems that this entire tuning will be for free (only the costs of installing all the parts...).

Later I decided that I will not put money in AUG. Why? I am afraid that the battery I have (8,4V 1200mAh) will not be enough to "fuel" this replica.

So I decided that I'll send my mG36 to ASGShop and order the 420-430 tuning. But instead ot all the reinforced cylinder-piston parts, I'll install the bore-up. It should cost similar amount of money but I believe I'll gain few more fps. Addiotionally I'll send them back the barrel I ordered and ask them to send me the one that'll fit (more about barrel troubles is written in mG36 phase III upgrade - day one.

Poor copy of Charlie's Angels

From Airsoft from ...

This is a poor copy of Charlie's Angels, photo taken on october 24th 2004. You can see there Majki with his sawed-off AUG, Wrubel with borrowed Famas (the replica was and is owned by Kmicic) and Squarek with his MP5K. That was very nice game because I always liked playing with many people (many targets to shoot).

Majki and his Steyr AUG

From Airsoft from ...

Majki's first AEG was this Steyr AUG replica by Tokyo Marui. I presume he bought it somewhere around autumn 2004 because this photo was taken on october 10th 2004. As far as I remember he sawed-off part of the barrel, silenced it (he put some foam around gearbox inside the stock) and sold the replica with income. You can see the sawed-off rifle in the post about poor copying of Charlie's Angels.

At that time I didn't understand Majki because he was buying and selling replicas on a regular basis while I stuck to one MP5 SD3. It seems now that this is a proper way of maintaining your ASG collection because you can't tell if the replica you want to buy will fill all your needs. This is the reason for which I had couple different submachine guns and rifles and even now am not sure which one I prefer...

Note that this is the same replica I own at the moment - Steyr AUG A1, but from different manufacturer. I own a Classic Army replica and this one was made by Tokyo Marui.

The silenced AUG...

I just got back from Majki's home. I went to see him to install the tuning parts I ordered for my Steyr AUG Classic Army replica.

We installed the bore-up set and the spring guide with no trouble at all. It's easy so we didn't expect any difficulties, we only thought that positioning the gears with shims will take the most time. And we were right.

I wanted to put the ball bearings inside the holes in gearbox only to find out that I ordered 6 mm bearings while I should buy 7 mm set. So the ball bearings went back to the box and the original bushings were left intact.

Majki put the helical gears inside the gearbox. He closed it, attached the motor, and tried to fire the gearbox. The motor mover the gears a bit and stopped. We thought that the battery was not charged enough (what's odd -- it fired the replica in its original state) and attached second battery, with no effect.

It took us some time to find out that one of the teeth on the spur gear was broken and we had to use the file. After that and putting all the shims we thought we need we closed the mechbox. Nevertheless the battery was not able to move the piston so we put together the replica and I went home.

At home I plugged a fresh 1,200 mAh battery to the replica and it fired easily.

I thought that the Steyr AUG after these alterations will be silent. I was wrong. It's much louder than originally. It sounds like a drill. Since you have your ear next to the gearbox it is not pleasant to fire the replica. :(

So it seems I threw $200 down the silent toilet. :(

AUG's arrival

Today I got my hands on my new Steyr AUG Classic Army replica. It's different than my mG36, it's weight is at the end of the gun (inside the stock, not in front of the grip) so it's easier to handle. And much shorter, while the barrel has the same lenght.

And shoots better, it's said to fire bb's at 330 fps, 30 fps faster than my mG36, with stock Classic Army spring.

Tomorrow I meet with my friend to install the tuning set.

New order, new replica

Today I ordered a new replica at MachineGun.pl airsoft shop. The order consisted of:
- Classic Army Steyr AUG A1 replica,
- 8.4V, 1,200 mAh NiMH battery,
- bore-up cylinder set for AUG,
- spring guide with bearings,
- 6 mm ball bearings,
- another hi-cap magazine,
- helical gear set.

I wanted the replica to be silenced, so I ordered all the things MachineGun.pl says I should. I am going to pay for all this stuff something around $600.