VIPER TACTICAL TRIPLE MAG PLATE REVIEW!


Now we all like Gucci kit, but are we all prepared to pay Gucci prices that comes along with that? With Viper, we may not have to. Viper are well known for making great looking kit at low prices and that’s exactly what they’ve done with the Triple Mag Plate.


The Viper Triple Mag plate is a molle compatible elastic mag sleeve made from tough cordura and elastic that is designed to be worn on the front of a plate carrier or drop leg molle set-up that is low profile, slick and easy to use. The 3 mag sleeves can fit magazines, small radios, documents, flashbangs (Enola Gaye MK5s are a great fit) and bandages/field dressings making it a versatile and utilitarian piece of kit. It is pretty easy to install – I only say pretty easy as I have long acrylic nails which don’t fair too well with traditional molle (otherwise it would be easy peasy)! It has 3 molle straps with snap buttons for security.

When you first use the sleeves they are pretty tight because of the elastic and can be difficult to get mags in and out – I alleviated this by leaving 3 M4 midcaps in them for a few days before my skirmish which loosened them up enough for me to get mags in/out quickly but still have great retention. One of the things I like about elastic mag sleeves is that they have such good retention – they may be tight, but your mag won’t fall out! I also like that it looks similar to the Blue Force Gear Ten-Speed Triple M4 Mag Pouch which retails at around £39.99 making this a budget alternative with a pretty similar look! 



The sleeves are super low profile even with mags in them making this a great option for lightweight loadouts and for wearing under jackets (think to when you’re cold on STAG and you need to quickly throw something on) Which also means they wouldn’t be bulky if you were wearing your carrier in a vehicle – anyone for a tactical taxi? How low profile it is, is definitely one of the major selling points of the product along with its modern look and easy to use construction.

The triple mag plate is available in VCam (VCam cordura with tan elastic sleeve), coyote, black and green so no matter what your chosen camo pattern is there is a colourway to compliment it. I would love to see this made in the titanium colourway too as that is one of my favourites in the Viper range.

The important question, how much does it retail for? The price does vary between retailers but it is available around the £9-10 price point giving airsofters a chance to imitate those expensive looking loadouts on a budget, and hey, even having one for every colour loadout if they choose to. I think with this product Viper have definitely produced a quality budget product that will appeal to a fair few in the airsoft community.

Hardwick, K. (2018). Gear Review: Viper Triple Magplate. Airsoft Action. 91 (September), 81.
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BRAVO ONE: AIRSOFT AT THE GRANGE LIVE GAMING!



In the heart of the city centre of Birmingham, there is an activity centre that boasts a range of activities including a Rage Room, urban axe throwing, Nerf Wars, a Virtual Reality Room and even airsoft! Whilst I’ve visited Bravo One on many occasions, I’ve not played a full days skirmish there as of yet so I and team took a trip to Birmingham to see what’s going down!

I will say the one thing that always surprises me on my trips to Bravo One is how easy it is to get to! Even though it is literally smack bang in the middle of Birmingham (and about a 5/10 minute walk to the Bullring, depending on how fast your legs can carry you!) it is really easy to get to and is well signed so it’s easy to find. Parking on the street is free on a Sunday and weekdays after 6 but is limited so it is advisable to get there early to ensure you get a space! 


The Grange Live Gaming is a huge building with the space of 6 floors (usable space of 5 floors with a playing space of 3 floors). As Bravo One is heavily involved in IPSC Action Air, they have just opened up their 5th floor to target shooting. Now from the pictures, you’d assume it’s just another indoor airsoft site made from plywood but, each floor has its own theme. The first floor is the shop, café, toilets, rage room, axe throwing and the safe zone, the second floor is the spaceship-themed level, the third floor is the hospital and the fourth floor is the high street. Each floor is pretty well lit with some dark areas and almost pitch black crawl holes which are super fun for some sneaky beaky work. What I really like about the layout of the site is how much thought and effort has gone into each floor – from the hospital beds on the hospital floor to the shop fronts and bay windows on the high street floor, the floors are a true representation of their themes and they are built for tight, close quarters combat. Bravo One is unique in the sense that it has two stairwells leading up to each game floor – one for the red team and one for the blue team that lead to their correlating spawn corridors on each side of the building. Each team has a corridor that spans the length of the floor with multiple exits to be used as spawn points – I actually think this works really well as if you struggle to get out of one spawn exit, there are a couple more routes you can try.

Over the course of the day we played a range of games with different objectives on different floors – our first mission of the day was to battle it out over floor 3 and collect as many of the gold bricks as possible (and return them to our spawn points) – the teams didn’t find many of the bricks but it was a great warm-up game to get players used to the site layout. Other games played included a simple team deathmatch, a laptop/domination style game and a few others. I think my favourite game of the day was the ‘search and destroy’ game mode – players on both teams battle it out to find and detonate the ‘bomb’ which a pretty cool prop that features lights, a fully functional number pad and a VERY loud siren. The gameplay is loud, fast-paced, intense and gets your adrenaline going! As the site is so close and tight, the fear of what’s through that doorway is real – just how I like it!


The walk-on price is £36 and doesn’t include lunch which I do think is a little expensive - only considering that the walk-on fee doesn’t include lunch which is often included in the walk-on fee of similar sites up and down the country. The onsite café does have a good selection of breakfast items, snacks, paninis and drinks however and there are a few other lunch options nearby including a Tesco Express (everyone loves a good meal deal) and local restaurants. Lunch is typically an hour so you might be pushed for time if you chose to go into the city centre for lunch.

The site is staffed by enthusiastic members of staff who are experts in everything from airsoft to archery, to larping. When you walk into the centre you are greeted by the smiling faces of staff who are happy to advise customers and from the shop to the game floor and the caf̩, nothing is too much trouble. The regular players on site are also a great bunch Рawesome to have a laugh with and a pleasure to shoot against. The site is well marshalled and had a comprehensive safety brief so there were no issues over the course of the day.


Overall, I think the site is fantastic – the facilities including toilets and onsite shop/café are fantastic (some of the best in my opinion), the gaming area is well thought out and the games played are engaging and never stale. The staff also play a major part in making the site a fun and entertaining place to visit. I’ll definitely be visiting again soon! If you’re looking for a site that provides hard-hitting and adrenaline-fuelled CQB with a friendly atmosphere Bravo One should definitely be on your list of sites to visit! Keep up the good work Bravo one!

Site address & contact details:
93-99 Holloway Head,
Birmingham
B1 1QP
www.grangelivegaming.com


01216 432477

Hardwick, K. (2018). Site: Grange Live Gaming. Airsoft Action. 91 (September), 34-35.
Photography thanks to L Sibley Photography










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SPECNA ARMS SA-C09 CORE FROM GUNFIRE.PL REVIEW!

Hey everyone!
Welcome to the blog. Today I have another review for you in partnership with Gunfire.pl and this time we’ll be looking at another AEG from the Specna Arms Core range – the SA-C09!

Let’s get straight in with all the deets! What makes the Core range of rifles from Specna Arms so affordable and lightweight is the use of nylon fiber reinforced polymer throughout the build - in this model in particular the receiver (which has markings and a serial number on it), stock slide, stock and the pistol grip are all made of this polymer. The RIS handguard, flash hider, barrel, charging handle and sling swivels are all made of metal. There are of course some steel parts in the build including the shell ejection window and mock bolt carrier.


What about the internals? Well, SA-C09’s gearbox has 8 mm slide bearings and shimmed steel gears based on them. The system has four anti-reversal latches, which is combined with a polycarbonate polymer piston with a full steel strip, to increase its durability, minimise wear on the gearbox and to keep the build lightweight. It has a rotary style Hop-Up that perfectly fits with a high quality 6.03 precision barrel meaning the hop-up is easy to change and the precision barrel has a positive effect on the range. The replica is also fully compatible with both LiPo and LiFe batteries.




The SA-C09 features a CORE™ Quick Spring Exchange System. What’s great about this is that the FPS is able to be quickly upgraded or downgraded without access to a workshop or special tools - all that is needed is to remove the stock slide to gain access to the spring. Out of the box, it had a muzzle velocity of 380 FPS which was confirmed with a document from Gunfire. Included in the box is an M90 spring, which allows you to reduce the FPS to around 310 FPS meaning it will comply with UK site limits. Although the spring is easy to change, if you don’t fancy changing it yourself the GF website does offer a downgrading service.
What is it equipped with? It has a 22 mm top RIS rail, RIS handguard and an adjustable 6 point stock with an anti-slip pad stock which can be adjusted to the player's needs - the anti-slip pad makes it comfortable to shoulder. The top RIS rail has a flip-up rear sight that doesn’t get in the way of RD sights. There is also a standard flash hider with a 14 mm left-handed thread, which allows the attachment of a silencer instead. 




What I really like about the SA-C09 is that it’s really lightweight thanks to its reinforced polymer construction, there’s no wobble so it feels really sturdy and the metal components only add to this. Overall, the aesthetics are good for the price, however, the only thing I didn’t particularly like about the SA-C09 was the stock it came with out of the box as it felt a little low end, but given the price of the AEG overall it is understandable.
I ran it for a couple of CQB game days to run it through its paces and I found the Hop-Up easy to adjust, the range was impressive for such low price gun and it ran flawlessly all day - there were no jams, misfeeds or anything that would put me off using it again. I Think for the price, Specna Arms have done a great job with the SA-C09 CORE, it’s definitely an AEG that would suit a beginner player for their first gun or a more experienced player as a base of a cool build project. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed using it! 

*At the time of publication, the SA-C09 was out of stock. Price will be added at a later date.

Photography thanks to Henry Nicholson

Post sponsored by Gunfire.pl

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SPECNA ARMS SA-C09 SET-UP! SPECNA ARMS | VORTEX | OLIGHT | PTS SYNDICATE!

Hey everyone!

Welcome back to the blog! Today I'm back with another gun set-up and this time it's on my next review product - the Specna Arms SA-C09 CORE from Gunfire.pl

BEFORE

This is the SA-C09 CORE model on its first outing at Strikeforce CQB - before I started changing anything on the rifle I decided to leave her completely stock for a few games (except using my trusty PTS EPM x MAGPOD).





AFTER

Once I played a couple of games with her in her stock furniture with no attachments I decided to tart her up a little with some goodies from PTS, Vortex and Olight!


The first thing I did was remove the stock iron sights and install the PTS EBUIS (Enhanced Back-Up Iron Sights) for the rear site and the PTS Unity Tactical FUSION Mounting System with BUIS attachment.

As I was playing indoors with some dark areas I utilised my new Olight M20SX Javelot kit, this torch has an output of 820 lumens so is a great addition! You can check out my full review here.


As I no longer use Hi-Caps I chose to forego the magazine that came with the rifle and opted for my PTS EPM x MAGPOD, all the same goodness of the orginal Enhanced Polymer Magazines but it has a moulded magpod that acts as a monopod for stability! 


For this set-up I wanted it to look as realistic as possible so I chose to keep the colours muted and utilise my Vortex SPARC AR, I am a big fan of this sight for sooo many reasons - check them out here.


To give me a little more room for batteries and a comfier shoulder/cheek weld, I utilised the PTS EPS (Enhanced Polymer Stock)!



Keep an eye out for my review on the SA-C09 from Gunfire.pl which will be live on the blog next week!
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BAERP9 SET-UP! G&G ARMAMENT | PTS SYNDICATE | SHIELD SIGHTS!

Hey everyone!

Welcome back to the blog, and my apologies that it's been a while! Today I'm back with another post and it's a run through of my G&G ARP9 Black Orchid 'BAERP9' set-up!

BEFORE

Admittedly, I made a few changes to the ARP 9 Black Orchid as soon as I got her out of the box in anticipation for her first game day including swapping out the iron sights for the PTS EBUIS (Enhanced Back Up Iron Sights), removed the orange crown suppressor and added a flash hider that has the option of a QD suppressor and added my Shield CQS. Here is what she looked like before:





AFTER


One thing that was really important to me was having more battery space, as the GOS-V5 stock combined with excess wiring (imo) made it pretty difficult to fit my battery of choice comfortably and it's two fixed stock positions weren't quite right for my shooting style on either point. To combat this, I had an M4 buffer tube installed and a PTS EPS (Enhanced Polymer Stock) added. This is a 6 point stock so I have more options regarding stock length and tonnes more battery space meaning battery installation is now quite and easy!


To stay with the 'Black Orchid' colourway I chose to run my trusty Shield CQS site cerakoted in hot pink!


New to my set-up is the PTS Unity Tactical FUSION mounting system - I love running the hub and iron sight attachment from this kit rather than just an iron sight because I can add other pieces of the kit onto the hub such as a 90-degree rail piece or an extension for additional attachments such as a torch!


Last but not least, I removed the flash hider and put on the Femme Fatale mock suppressor from G&G - I love how this suppressor looks on SMG weapons and it carries on the colour scheme.



So that's my set-up ladies and gents! Keep an eye out for the review of the Black Orchid ARP 9 in the next issue of Airsoft Action!
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