Guest Post | UKARA and RIF's.
Monday, March 02, 2015
In my last post I explained about what to expect from your
first time Airsofting. Hopefully you have been or at least planning to. In the
post I will be explaining a bit more about the UKARA license, how to obtain one
and how to use it. Also about choosing your first rifle and the different types
of rifles available and the pros and cons of each.
UKARA
The United Kingdom Airsoft Retailers Alliance is an organisation,
which monitors the retailers and players buying and selling airsoft guns. Due
to their realistic look and people’s misuse of them this organisation has been
set up to ensure that only legitimate businesses and players can buy the
weapons. To obtain one of these you have to attend a UKARA registered game
site, there is a list on there website, you have to be 18 years of age and you
will have to attend the site you have chosen at least 3 times over a 3 month
period. The idea is you prove that you are a serious player and you don’t want
one to terrorise the local high street. You can either print your own form and
take it with you or some sites already have them printed for you, fill in the
details and each time you go get someone from the organisers to sign and date it
for you and then depending on the site they will send it off for you or again
you can do it yourself. After a few days you should get an email with your
unique number, which you can give to retailers, which allows them to see you are
registered. The license lasts 12 months but once you’ve got one it’s easy to
keep it updated. If you are serious about getting heavily involved in the sport
I would recommend you obtain one of these as soon as you can. Otherwise you
will only be able to buy what’s known as a two-tone rifle, which is a RIF no
real difference in performance but the gun itself is coloured normally a green
or a blue, which does take away the realism of the gun. There are also clear
plastic models as well.
Your first RIF (Realistic imitation firearm) is quite an
interesting time having browsed many websites and perhaps shop walls and you
can’t quite decide what you want? Well I’m going to help if I can, the first
thing to consider is the different types of RIF’s there are; as mentioned in
the previous post there is the most widely used AEG (automatic electric gun),
the more realistic functioning GBBR (gas blowback rifle.) As a new starter I
would always say an AEG is the best start as they are reliable and have been
around for a long time. You can pick up a decent start up AEG for around
£150-£170. What you have to consider is what you like and not what everyone
else is using. At most game sites a lot of people will be running the popular
M4 or a variant of one, I have 3 of these myself or G36 is a fairly common
site. My advice would be where possible, visit shops and ask to hold them and
feel them as you don’t want to order one online, get it delivered the week your
going to play, get it out the box and then think hmmm not quite sure about this
one actually.
Here are some example links for some starter AEG’s:
Landwarriorairsoft.com This is the one I started with, and still have!
From time to time rifles like these come up with complete
battery and charger packs and sometimes you have to buy them separately. In the
description it will tell you what batteries the gun is compatible with and my
advice would be if your not sure either email or call the seller and they will
assist you to make sure you’ve got everything you need for your first AEG. They
always come with a Hi-Cap magazine as well. Hi-Cap means High Capacity and
these magazines can hold up to 300 BBs but as you probably found with your
rental rifle you have to wind the BBs up to keep the gun firing. If you think
that’s lame, there is a solution where you use Mid-Cap magazines, which is
Medium capacity. These around 80-120 BBs and have to be loaded with a speed
loader, these magazines have an internal spring which pushes the BBs up, which
is great but you do loose 200 rounds or so. Then there is Real or Low cap,
which holds the weapons real capacity for example an M4 magazine holds around
30 rounds in real steel and that’s what the low cap Mags will hold. These are
mainly for the Milsim Airsofters or for players who just like the realism.
Again if your interested in purchasing more magazines for your first AEG then
again I’m sure the retailer your dealing with will be more than happy to help. Before
I forget you will need your own face protection, which again the retailers will
be able to help you with.
I mentioned earlier about GBBR’s these are still airsoft
rifles, but work with gas filled magazines. The functionality of these rifles
are designed to be as realistic as possible with working cocking handles and
bolt releases with stop on empty features like there real steel brothers, and
their magazines only hold around 30-40 rounds. These are great guns but
personally I wouldn’t recommend one to a new starter, as they do need a lot of
maintenance. The main reason I would say is that the game days you maybe
playing in you will be up against opponents with high and mid cap Mags and no
matter how good you are you are going to be outgunned. There are some sites
that run gas only games which levels the field, but I will go into this and the
GBBR’s in another post.
The other factor you have to consider is the RIF’s FPS, feet
per second, which is how powerful the gun is. Now you haven’t had to consider
this before, as the rental rifles you have been using would have been site
friendly. The FPS of a weapon will be available on asking. The limits are
roughly the same from site to site which are usually;
AEG/GBBR’s/Pistols – 350 fps with 0.2g bbs
Single action DMR – 450 fps with 0.2g bbs
Bolt action sniper – 500 fps with 0.2g bbs
These limits are general and not the same at all sites. All
RIF’s can have there FPS changed in different ways, which I will go through in
another post but if you stick with the rifles I have suggested or ones similar
or recommended by retailers then you shouldn’t have to worry about it.
The advantage of having your own kit also means that you
only have to pay the ‘walk on’ price at game days which is usually £10 or so
cheaper than the rental fee.
What will be your first RIF?
Glen.
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