Just when you thought it was safe to sign and seal that Christmas list, the good people over at Socom Gear go and upset everything.

Usually there would be a caption here, but there’s just drool this time.

Now, it’s fair to say I REALLY wanted one of those Ares Cheytac M200 Intervention things, (the ones that the no-scopers ruined our CoD lives with,) regardless of how useful it is or isn’t on the skirmish field, but Socom Gear have just released some images that might muddy the waters a little.

Details are a bit sparse at the moment, But from the images, it looks like we have an 8mm, gas powered, shell fed M200 coming up. From here, I can’t tell if it’s shell ejecting, if it fires any good or how much it’s going to cost but I can tell I pretty much have to have one.

Apparently, they will be available for Christmas, whether this is a date for the UK or not isn’t certain, but it does say that the first production run is limited to 50 pieces. That’s quite limited!

Here’s some more images of the Socom Gear Cheytac M200 Intervention to drool over, and stay tuned to Ai for further updates.

It’s time to admit it… I love airsoft forums. Myself, and a few members of the Ai team and it’s extended family are frequent forum users. Anyone familiar with the UK based Zeroin.co.uk (forum kindly hosted by UK retailer Zero One), will have no doubt come across some of my rantings and ramblings from time to time.

Do you like my face? It’s made of lego… No seriously… Ok, not it’s not. I was lying, It’s actually a “Special Forces” face.

Airsoft forums are great though, because they let you indulge in a bit of gun talk when the wife, girlfriend, little sister or even dog has got bored of hearing about your heroic charge through the undergrowth at the last skirmish . They give you somebody to turn to when you most recent foray into the gearbox of your AEG goes sour and you end up with a kitchen table covered in springs and washers, but most of all, they give you a great sense of extended community.

So now that’s out in the open, I can freely say it; A thread popped up on Zero In the other evening about “throwing knives” of all things.I didn’t really participate much in the thread because I guess I’m an airsoft purist. I like to shoot BBs at people and that’s as far as my game goes. I don’t really even like to use that much pyro, but that’s mostly because I’m tight and I only have one Tornado Impact Grenade.

The thread was a pretty legitimate sounding question about the feasibility of using throwing knives in an airsoft game, and if people would acknowledge it as a hit. Once we got over the shock and realised the poster was talking about DUMMY throwing knives, we got down to the real issue.

After some considerable deliberation, some talk of marital aids and a bit of friendly banter, the community as a whole came to the overwhelming conclusion that throwing knives probably had no place in your average airsoft game, on account of most players attempting to glean some level of realism from the game.

I guess the realism aspect was my main grievance with the concept. I’m not military tactician or special forces operative, in fact I’m even pretty poor in a fist fight, but every trained member of the armed forces I have ever spoken to has pushed the point that you really are in deep if you get to the point of fighting with knives. In fact, one I spoke to even commented that you were probably in a bit too deep if you felt the need to revert to your secondary weapon, and your pistol should basically be considered a glorified knife in terms of tactical advantage.

With this in mind, I kinda believe that if you have reverted to a knife, which is essentially your last ditch hope, the last thing you are going to do is lob it at somebody. Of course, the are probably some military forces in the world that are trained in the use of throwing knives and chucking blades, but I really can’t picture them picking up knives over a trusty 9mm before an operation.

This is all on top of the fact that you might well be entitled to be a bit upset at the prospect of a camo-clad loon running around hucking rubber knives at you… I only paid to have people shoot balls at me!

TF22 are a group of keen airsofters and milsimmers from the north east of the UK that specialise in UKSF impressions, and strive to do their best to look as authentic as possible on the skirmish field. If that sounds like the sort of thing you are interested in, TF22 are looking for new members…

TF22

Alex from TF22 says;

“We specialize in mainly UKSF and elite British forces, but also US special and elite forces and other elite forces from all NATO and ISAF countries from the past 10 years. For that ‘Joint Task Force’ look, we try to get our loadouts reasonably accurate. We are looking for anyone interested in joining us, but we are based in the north east so will mainly be playing there. We want people to come have a laugh and fun with us. But also join us for Training days and Milsims. If you are interested, give us a shout, were always happy to welcome new people and give you a helping hand with your kit and loadouts.”

To get in touch with Alex or Jordan, you can email them (click their names), and to find out more about TF22 visit their blog.

Tactics… Do you consider the tactics you use when airsofting as a team, or are you more of a lone-wolf kind of player? If I’m honest, my consideration of team tactics often doesn’t go beyond striking poses that you see in films, along with a few hand signals that could either be interpreted as “the enemy are over there” or “ouch! that chip was hotter than I expected”. After spending god-knows-what on guns and kit though, do sometimes feel I should justify its ownership by at least half knowing what I’m doing, so I try and come up with a cunning plan when skirmishing.

Friend and model for Ai Jamie loves a bit of sneaking… And Mountain Dew.

In real life, the element of surprise seems to be the most dangerous weapon. If the enemy is expecting you to come from anywhere, it’s 50/50. doesn’t really matter what tactics you use, if the “defenders” can predict what is going to happen, you might as well run at each other in an open field with sharp sticks.

The same works in airsoft. If you can get into a position that people don’t anticipate you to be in, you can usually run wild, catching other players unaware and racking up heaps of “kills”. It’s generally a lot more exciting than standing at maximum range taking pot shots and arguing about players taking their hits.

Of course, the great thing about playing sneaky is that you don’t need the world’s best AEG, the highest rate of fire or even a particularly good range, you can sneak in with a springer and cause havoc! Why don’t you try it next time you are on the skirmish field?

There’s a great competition in the latest issue of Ai, courtesy of our friends at www.rc-tanks.net. In case you missed it, we’re offering our blog followers the chance to enter, and win an incredible VsTank Radio Controlled Airsoft Tank, worth £79.99

We’ve had one in the office for a couple of weeks now, and shooting the boss in the legs while he’s on the phone never ceases to raise a chuckle (from us, not him)… the full-function controller makes navigating chairs, discarded coffee mugs, cats and other detritus a fun challenge, with various speed controls for forward, back, spins in either direction, turns whilst moving, turret rotation, turret elevation, machine gun firing effects, and of course, the big gun. Hold both firing triggers down, the gun primes, then BOOM – the tank recoils back a couple of centimetres and a BB is pelted out at its unsuspecting victim.

 With the incredible level of detail, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was a carefully crafted model kit, never intended to leave the mantelpiece, yet every movement and action is accompanied by realistic sound effects, with all-wheel suspension to get you over most household, office, and garden obstacles.

 If you don’t fancy filling your living room with BBs (they won’t wreck your walls like an AEG, but we chrono’d ours at 87fps with a 0.2g BB, which is more than enough to reach across any of the rooms in Ai Towers), an infrared version is available for the same price that allows up to six tanks to battle it out, with sensors stopping a hit tank and activating light and sound effects.

 Thanks to our friends at www.rc-tanks.net (a splinter cell of the fine chaps at Fire-Support), we’ve managed to secure this Tiger 1 in winter camouflage as a prize to one of you lucky people…

 Santa’s got some gifts for the lads in Afghanistan, but Rudolf’s armour’s too heavy – find the jolly bearded one hitching a ride in one of the tanks on the rc-tanks website, then email sales@rc-tanks.net to tell them where you found him. Make sure you put “Ai Comp” in the subject line of your email. The competition closes on the 20th December, and the winner will be drawn at random, and notified on the 21st. Only one entry per household please!

Adding sights to any airsoft gun is an attractive option, not only does it look really cool, which is the important thing, but in some cases, it even has the additional fringe benefit of sometimes making them easier to aim.

The problem is, they can be a little bulky and add a lot of weight to your rifle, and sometimes get in the way. Recently though, we’ve seen a few slightly more compact optics from a number of manufacturers, ranging from compact aimpoint style sights to “Docter Sight” type miniature reflex sights. In a similar vein, Element Airsoft are bringing us the new eMRDS which looks to be a great option if you are in the market for a small, lightweight and compact sight… I’m already trying to work out how one would look on top of my shottie…

M14 goodness

Dan says;

“This AEG is my pride and joy, something I’ve wanted for a long time and a bit of a showpiece. But by no means is it style over substance; being based on a Tokyo Marui M14, its a solid performer. Originally it was a toss-up between this and creating a Systema M16A4; but in the end the EBR won out for pure looks. Its heavy, and was expensive; but worth every penny. I got it assembled by the guys at Fire Support, and I’d hope you’d agree that Nick has done a sterling job.”

M3 scope

Cocking lever side

 Speaking of Fire Support, don’t forget they have a 10% ICS sale on at the moment, so if people are Christmas shopping for you,  let them know where they can save a few quid!

Advanced Armament Co. have got to be my favourite real steel manufacturer, not least because they have incredibly hot chicks wielding guns on their website, but also because they make sweet looking kit, mainly silencers and suppressors.

Mmmm… Tubey…

The best thing is, a few airsoft companies have made some fancy AAC branded airsoft replicas for our less than lethal play-things, and from the looks of things, the awesome QD silencers for the Msada/ACR are soon to be available. Never before has a metal tube been so desirable.

In response to our call for your bashed up looking, custom weathered guns, Ben Oxtoby, a frequent user of the UK airsoft forum, www.zeroin.co.uk, has sent us some pictures of his customised CYMA AK.

Foregrip not for you? Lop it off mate…

Ben says:

This has been with me since the very beginning, and just like a Real AK,
its a total workhorse. A few months ago, I stacked it mid-game and
slammed this barrel first into a wooden floor. The whole front wood kit
and barrel barts flew off all over the place. I carried on without those
bits for that game and it just kept going! The unusual shape of the
handguard I made by sawing off the foregrip and sanding and finishing.

We love the fact Ben’s not been afraid to have at his AK with a saw to get it how he likes, and it really fits the spirit of such a gun… Perhaps a bit of a roughing up of the metal work might tie it all together?

Thanks to Ben for taking the time to send his pictures in, and if you want to show of your handy-work, just drop us an email!

* A massive apology to Ben for spelling his surname wrongly in the first version of this post!

If you are a subscriber, there’s a fair chance you already have your copy, but for those of you that don’t take a subscription, you might want to keep your eyes on the news stand. The new copy of Ai will be available any time now.

Airsoft International – December 2010

Along with all your usual features, including an in depth look at the Magpul PTS Masada, the Ai team have dedicated a lot of time and effort to making your copy of the magazine not only the most informative and entertaining, but also the best looking. As you take a flick through the mag this month, see if you can work out what’s different. We are set on continuing onwards and upwards in 2011 so come along for the ride!