Spring is here and, with it, UK airsofters are heading back out onto the field. Whether you like the site — thanks — you want to support the work we do — double thanks — or you just think our logo looks cool — which it does, but thanks — this is a perfect opportunity to slap on a BadNade patch or stick one of our slaps on your gunbox.
Let’s be straightforward so you’re not wasting your time: Patches are £7, stickers are £2 but you can get both delivered to your door or handed off at a site for £8. Bargain, right?
How to buy – Instagram edition
This one is simple, if you have an Instagram account, get hold of us at @BadNadeJake or @BadNadeAirsoft and we’ll handle payment and get your stuff posted out as soon as possible.
The patches are good quality (and people are always pretty happy with them) raised PVC with good quality velcro on the back. The stickers are big and bright.
How to buy — straight up PayPal edition
Go to Paypal.me/Jake, send me cash, include your address. I’ll email you a confirmation as soon as I’ve seen the payment, and get it posted out as soon as possible.
I’ve wanted an HK416 ever since I first played Battlefield Bad Company, but some things just aren’t meant to be.
For the longest time, I wanted a top-of-the-line AEG. In my opinion, the best brand for when you want performance without compromise is a Tokyo Marui (unless you’re springing for a Systema), but I had doubts about the whole recoil thing.
Anyway, with a little help / convincing from Jon at Wolf Armouries, I’m glad I came around. The HK416 started started out as a problem gun for me, and needed a few visits to several techs before I finally worked out what the problem was: the bolt-stop feature wasn’t working.
Still, now that is fixed — I just use hi-cap magazines so I don’t have to worry about the bolt stop — there’s a lot to love about the gun. With the internal upgrades, the performance at a variety of ranges is sweet. Externally, the quality is high and I adore the HK branding and the fact that it feels sturdy, even if it means the metal quad rail is quite weighty, and it’s a gun I love using both in the field and up close as i’m kicking doors.
What’s the deal with the TM HK416D NGRS?
Photos taken by Ced Yeun unless otherwise credited.
Since the dawn of airsoft, Tokyo Marui has been the brand to go for when it comes to reliability, performance and quality. Other AEGs can come close, but no manufacturer has the weighty expectation of just working quite like TM does.
The NGRS has a few issues – being a pig to work on and a pain to get replacement parts for are the most egregious – but generally, the NGRS models are solid, shoot well and with their recoil and bolt stop they’re pretty fun to use, too.
The bolt stop feature basically works as a real steel model, meaning that when your magazine drains it stops firing, and after reloading, you’ll need to tap the bolt stop on the side of the gun to make it fire again. Honestly, I can take or leave both.
I play airsoft to be as competitive as possible and I want a RIF that can land shots at mid-range with a snappy trigger response. The 416 can do that. I’ve upgraded mine (more below) but even out of the box, it’ll perform.
One negative: TM’s NRGS range all use custom mags and proprietary batteries. You can get a conversion and put a LiPo battery in the stock of most models, but you’re pretty much stuck with the mags. This is bad news if, like me, you have a range of different STANAGS filling your kit box. Now I have two different sets of 5.56 STANAGS in my kit box. I’m happy enough with this, but if you hate clutter, this is a consideration you’ll need to make.
There’s a bunch of different HK416 models available in TM’s NGRS line, so I’m just going to bunch them all together. If you’re convinced by this and fancy getting your hands on one, be aware that some of them have different handguards, stocks or fittings. My version is just the vanilla HK416.
What did I upgrade on the TM HK416D NGRS?
My HK416 has had extensive work done to it.
Firstly, internally I had a TITAN fitted. That was it initially, but having seen what other people’s NGRS RIFs were doing after some Camoraids tech, I decided to take a chance and got the Camoraids Stage 2 upgrade which includes the below. Camo’s upgrades are fairly pricey, but I’ve been really happy with the quality of the workmanship and the performance of my gun. Enough so that if I get another TM NGRS, I’ll probably buy it from Camoraids and get the upgrades done at point of purchase.
Externally, I use my Vortex StrikeForce II or Vortex Crossfire II, depending on engagement distance. I haven’t done much to it otherwise: I’ve removed the small piece of extendable outer barrel that TM ships with the gun and have otherwise left it untouched. However, I am keen to add a decent angled foregrip, as the 416’s full metal construction is weighty and the quad rail isn’t the best surface to grip at.
Photo taken by on-site photographers at Sentinel Airsoft.
Why I love my TM HK416D NGRS
No, I don’t know what i’m doing with my little finger either.
Finally to the meat of it. Every airsoft gun is different, so it’s tough to tell you prescriptively why a gun is so good. Just know that it is subjective to me, and while I’d happily let you have a play with my RIF if you catch me at a game, you’ll know what works for you.
Still, this HK416 sure does perform. I’ve outlined the CAMO upgrade above. What I’m most excited for is the accuracy out to around 40m. With any out of the box AEG, fighting at 40m means aiming for a man-sized target and hoping to hit with accurate bursts.
With the upgrade, I can hit someone’s exposed arm without too much trouble. This pushes me realistic engagement range up and means this is the gun in my arsenal I reach for at nearly every game.
Let’s talk a little bit about, well, buying one of the most expensive RIFs on the market and then taking out all of the internals and replacing them with upgrades that cost nearly as much as the gun itself. I was leery about doing this before, as said, but I’m so happy with the result I’m considering getting a second one, maybe TM’s new URG-I, or a classic M4A1.
The Good
Solid construction.
Open to a range of upgrades.
Adjustable stock and shorter length mean you can run this anywhere.
Full HK trades, and beautiful detailing.
The Bad
Proprietary battery means you’ll have to get a conversion to use.
Proprietary magazines. This is unavoidable, and can be pricey.
In the world of Airsofting over the last few years, something strange has been happening. We’ve seen the world of fashion around airsoft grow up and, well, everyone is into night vision goggles now.
In the process, brands that are around airsoft (several veteran-owned clothing companies also have a big presence on the skirmish field) have made the jump from cringe-inducing “MP5 silhouette on a t-shirt” to a few brands that you wouldn’t feel weird wearing out to the shops, or to the pub — remember pubs?
One of the companies that really nails “fashionable stuff I don’t feel like a dork wearing” is Afraid of the Dark, who bring a streetwear style (and a whole heap of NODS) for those who want something a little different.
As someone who skirmishes regularly in a t-shirt, they won me over almost immediately with their black tee with pink neon logo, which is comfortable, looks the business, and doesn’t make you stand out when you’re hiding out in a bush.
Airsoft x Streetwear
Photo provided by Afraid of the Dark
Where Afraid of the Dark nails it is the brand’s aesthetic. AOTD founder Nathan delivers some top notch visuals and some pretty suave clothing.
“The most important thing for AOTD as a business is that all our customers remain happy every time they purchase from us,” says Nathan. “As a one man business, it’s hard to keep up with the demand. 99% of our customers are so understanding and accept that delays happen. The drawback of being a one man op is that I take the negative emails / messages so personally, but always respond as professionally as possible!”
This desire to be as good as they can be underpins a lot of what makes AOTD so special. Another is the elements that AOTD has learnt from street wear: the art of a good merch drop, with limited edition items coming out at a certain time. The tempo on these drops is high, meaning there’s always something new you want to buy for your collection.
The company only came into existence last year, and Nathan attributes a lot of the success to buy in from the Airsoft community: “As cheesy as it sounds, the community is what I love. AOTD wouldn’t have blown up as fast as it has without the backing and approval from the community. The big companies hate me because we are the same, but different. I’ve got a passion for content and always strive to enhance my own skill set as a designer and as a business owner.”
AOTD’s next big step is the 2021 spring range. “I’d love to release a date for when that’s dropping but at the moment I’m more concerned with getting everyone’s current orders printed and posted,” says Nathan. “So far the range is shaping up to be our biggest ever drop featuring; windbreakers, tees, hoodies, baseball caps, loads new slaps, patches and a coffee table book.”
As the winter range moved from the neon soaked colours of the original range into a more muted Geronimo look, it was clear that AOTD has a few tricks up their sleeve as a business. You can see new products as they launch on AOTD’s Instagram.
On the field
Photo provided by Afraid of the Dark
AOTD keeps Nathan busy and he’s not on the field as much as he’d like, and says he gets a skirmish in “Maybe every few months just to get a social in with some pals.” He’s a Milsim fan, admitting: “Milsim is where my head is at, and will probably stay that way until I decide I’m too old to play dress up.”
This is the real deal. BadNade readers can get 10 percent off any orders by entering the code BADNADE10. Get in touch and let us know what you buy, we’d love to see it.
It’s getting harder and harder to get hold of G+P M4s, but Airsofters that have been slinging plastic for a while will know the brand for their top-notch AR-platform guns, whether that’s a ‘Nam-era M16 or one of a variety of M4s.
This G+P MAGPUL M4 CQB MOE is unfortunately named, but is a fantastic blaster, becoming my go-to primary over both a Krytac Rec7 and a TM Recoil.
Why buy a G+P M4?
All photos taken at Airsoft Plantation (by Ced Yuen) unless specified
I’ve broadened this out a bit because there are really two questions here: why buy a G+P M4 and why buy my specific G+P Magpul MOE M4. I’ll try to answer both.
If you can find one, I still think G+P offer up the best M4 in the 200-300 pound price bracket, with the only glaring omission being the lack of a Mosfet. The externals are solid, the gun is accurate and has decent range and accuracy out of the box.
The gun is 680mm long with the stock tucked in, and 770 at full extension, making it easy to hurl around in close quarters This means I tend to use it as my go-to for mid-range engagements, and it’s a capable backup for both bigger field games (like Imperium Airsoft) or in close quarters (like at Sentinel)
It has a few issues: the fire selector quickly got a little wobbly, and you can still pull the trigger while it’s on safe. It won’t fire, but you can work the trigger no problems, which is bizarre.
What should you change?
This snap was taken by Sentinel Airsoft at The Outpost.
I’ve had a little work done to the G+P. The only internal change was the addition of a Gate Titan, locking the gun to a three-round burst and semi-automatic. This makes firing the gun feel snappy and satisfying, and
I also ditched the MOE handguard, replacing the front-end with a G+P Troy front-end, which is good for mounting flashlights / cameras / whatever you need to the front end, although it does make it look like some sort of mongrel gun.
I’ve fiddled around with attachments. At this point I think I’m sold on the Nuprol Folding vertical grip. It’s almost a fashion choice, as I tend to just grab my magwell because it’s an AEG without recoil. However, it makes it much more pointable
For optics, I’ve got a Vortex Strikefire II, which looks the part and performs impressively. I like the mount, I like how easy it is to adjust, but I really really like the speed at which I can acquire targets and sling plastic at them.
For the future, I’ve been thinking about putting a tightbore barrel in and flat-hopping the G+P to try and get a little more range out of it, but I’ve been using it in this exact set-up for the past year and haven’t had a problem with it.
The Good
G+P’s externals are top-notch.
Mag compability with the G+P is solid. Most Stanags will work, I’ve only found a few that won’t work.
Perfect size for CQB and mid-range engagements.
Magpul MOE stock feels nice against the shoulder, with easy access to the battery compartment.
The Bad
Build quality is lacking. Fire selector is loose, entire gun has a little bit of a wobble to it.
G+P guns don’t come with a Mosfet as standard and you will need one as the trigger contacts are ropey.
You would have to look hard to find a more generic M4.
Why I love it
Personal preference, ergonomics and even anecdotal evidence all play massively into how much you’ll dig a gun. I’ve said that before, and I’ll say it again.
As a result, it shouldn’t be a surprise when I say that I mostly love the M4 because I’ve dominated using it in a few games.
The G+P M4, with the TITAN mosfet fitted, doesn’t have the longest range or a ridiculous rate of fire, but it is consistent. That consistency means I can make shots and rely on the gun, which means I have more confidence with it than some of the weapons I regularly play with.
Some airsofters will sniff at M4s, and I admit I am a man with a stack of AR-platform guns stacked up in his cupboard, but if you’re going to use an M4, you can do a lot worse than a G+P.
You can get one for £284.99 from Wolf Armouries, but budget in a bit extra for getting a TITAN fitted, too.
Whether it’s your eye-pro or the glasses you’re wearing under goggles, fogging is one of the quickest ways to take an airsofter out of the fight, turning the local woodland into a misty horror like something out of a Silent Hill game.
If you’ve been struggling with the fog, the best thing is to try and work out why you’re fogging up, and then working to combat that. If that doesn’t work, of course, there’s always a few nuclear options for keeping you clear-eyed and on the frontline all day.
Why do airsoft goggles fog up?
Fogging is a scientific eventuality. Stupid science. When water vapour from your breath or sweaty forehead hits your lenses, they’ll cool down and switch from a warm vapour to a cooler liquid. This liquid will coat the inside of your lenses, and voila, you’re in trouble.
There are a few things that can make that even more of a pain. You can’t do much about these, but it’s important to highlight some triggers that could make this problem much worse.
Exercise makes you sweat: Bounding from cover to cover, clearing rooms or sprinting across the woodland will cause you to heat up and sweat. This generates a lot of extra moisture and sweat which is bad news.
Full seal eye-wear: If your goggles are flush to your head, there will be less air-flow, making it difficult to keep your vision clear. However, this can also keep sweat and crap from your forehead from getting into your eyes, so it’s a mixed bag.
Humidity, the vision killer: If there’s more moisture in the air, your glasses are more likely to fog. Running around on a humid day will mess with you.
The weather: The temperature of the environment around you is going to massively impact how foggy you get.
Don’t take off your eye pro!
No matter how foggy things get, don’t take off your eye protection. The only serious injury you can pick up in airsoft just from playing is losing an eye to a beeb hit.
It’s the one thing you really shouldn’t mess about with and as a result, no matter how bad the fogging gets, don’t take off your eye protection.
In an absolute emergency, there are a couple of things you can do. I wouldn’t recommend this, but they are safer than taking your glasses off for a clean in the middle of a shoot.
Pull your mesh mask over your eyes and then remove your glasses, meaning you still have a layer over your eyes.
Crouch down, face the ground and pass your goggles to a teammate to clean while you put your hands directly over your eyes. Keep these in place until your goggles are handed back to you.
Use your index fingers to clean the inside of your glasses. This is a temporary solution and won’t work if you have crap on your hands or gloves.
Again, my hard ruling is not to do any of these and to wear your goggles at all times no matter how foggy it gets, but if you’re going to ignore my advice, I’d rather you minimised your risk of losing your vision.
Fog free.
1. Buy some anti-fog (or make do with a household item)
If you’re still having trouble, the single most effective thing you can buy is some anti-fog. Your mileage may vary, so be prepared to tinker until you find what works for you and your eye-pro.
These anti-fog products come in a variety of forms: bio-gels, markers, wipes and even markers that promise to stop fog forever.
Personally, I swear by FogStop. It’s a little tiny 5ml tub that lasts just about forever. To use it, you take a tiny amount on your finger, then rub the product between your finger and thumb and slap it onto your lenses.
Click the above link or use the code BadNade to cut 10% off of your order, although I get store credit whenever people use the link so you would be indirectly helping me to get more FogStop by buying. How you feel about that is up to you.
The negative is that it’s quite difficult to get your hands on, and often has a long lead time which means you need to order well in advance of running out.
To use Fog Stop take a small amount on your finger, then rub the product between finger and thumb. Massage on to the lenses of glasses/goggles. Then simply polish off with a microfibre cloth, tissue or similar.
I also carry a little cleaning kit in my rig for lending to teammates or cleaning the lenses of my glasses. This is the Bolle kit, but I imagine many kits are similar, but for £9 and fairly dependable performance, I haven’t bothered to look for anything else.
Several people I play with also recommend the Revision Anti-Fog Cloth. These are currently issued to UK and US military and seem to do the trick, although I found that didn’t pan out for me.
If you’re reading this the day before a game, or you’ve run out and won’t be able to get more before slinging plastic, there are some DIY solutions available.
A little dish soap mixed with water and applied to the inside and outside of your goggles with a soft sponge can do the trick, although you will need to dry it properly. Washing up liquid and baby shampoo will both do the same, but all three of these products share the same issue, you’re not likely to have them on the field with you.
Your own spit will often work in a pinch, although it’s a little gross, and really if the alternative is spitting on the glasses you’re going to be wearing all day and buying a cleaning kit, I know what I’d choose.
Edge Tactical’s Fast Link goggles
2. Buy glasses that won’t fog up
I know, silly title: “just buy something that doesn’t fog” as if it’s that simple.
But there are a few pieces of eye protection that have gotten a reputation for not fogging up.
For the longest time, I’ve sworn by simple metal-framed Bolle glasses. However I’ve recently made the jump across to Edge Tactical glasses, which have “vapour shield”, which I’m clueless on, but they really do seem to handle themselves well, and I don’t notice any issues.
I use the FastLink glasses in Tiger’s Eye and clear, and I’m happy with them. I’ve just bought the Acid Gambit glasses. The FastLink glasses don’t seem to steam up, even held over a kettle. While I occasionally get issues with my sweat getting on the inside, generally the performance is better than anything I’ve encountered elsewhere.
Elsewhere, several people I play with swear by the ultra-ventilated Bolle X800 goggles. I have a pair myself but don’t like full-seal eye protection because I don’t like too much clinging to my face. They’re an expensive option, but as fogging can ruin your day, it could be an option if nothing else seems to work.
This advice will sound silly but someone from my first ever site, KGB Airsoft, once told me to avoid fogging up by “parrot breathing”. It will sound silly, but it’s worked for me.
Basically, you bring your top lip forwards and breath downwards. This keeps your breath away from your glasses and in theory will stop it from fogging up.
This works nicely when you’re moving slow and steady but this won’t help you when you’re moving fast and sweating a bunch. If you can remember to do this in combat, you’re better than me.
Charging forwards, covered in sweat
4. Cover your forehead
So, one of the biggest problems is sweat and forehead grime getting over your lenses. This one is quick and simple: whether you use a sweatband, baseball cap or even a balaclava, anything that wicks sweat will give you fewer issues with your lenses.
Base CQC, 2020
5. Let your eye-pro adjust
A special tip from BadNade pal The English Rambo, and it’s a good one.
Put your eye-pro on from the second you hop out of your car at the game, and even earlier if you can manage it. This will allow the eye protection to adjust to your body temperature and that should result in less fog on your lenses.
This might not work out on a boiling hot day, but a lot of the time this will help, especially if you pair it with an anti-fog product. This costs nothing to try, so why not have a go and see if it works for you. It’s free, after all.
Friend of BadNade, Fenrir, wearing mesh and kicking ass
6. Buy mesh goggles
One way to sidestep the fogging issue is to go mesh.
There are positives and negatives to this approach. Don’t listen to what other players say, but make your own mind about whether they might work for you.
On the plus side, by ditching the plastic lens you’ll never fog up. No matter how much humidity you’ve got, this
There are negatives: they look worse in photos, for a start. However, more realistically mesh masks have a reputation for cheap BBs shattering against them, getting shards of plastic in your eyes.
This is not the case. However, beeb impacts can occasionally cause the paint on cheaper models of mesh to shed paint. These flecks of paint can still irritate your eyes, which is less than ideal.
I’ve also encountered issues with the kill flash on my Vortex Crossfire while wearing mesh, with the two mesh surfaces making it hard to see what is what.
You can avoid the paint flaking issue by buying a decent set of goggles. Most people swear by Heroshark, who does some great mesh goggles, although they are made to order and can take a little while to arrive. My emergency mesh goggles are by Nuprol, and I’ve encountered no issues, even with up-close BB impacts.
If you run hot and you can’t deal with fogging with any of the tips above, save yourself the hassle and pick up a decent pair of mesh goggles. Remember that if you’re also wearing a lower mesh you’ll need to make sure the two pieces fit well together.
Getting started in Airsoft can seem like a daunting proposition. Other players boast of their guns, gear and grenades, but the good news is that having an enjoyable first skirmish doesn’t mean worrying about all of that.
So, here, without omission, is everything you’ll need to play your first game as a “rental” player, to ensure you have a good time. Some people might tell you these are optional, but I would strongly advise the lot. If you really don’t want to spend too much money, view the stuff in this list as an aspirational collection of things you can ramp up to in your gear bag.
This guide will serve you from your first day of Airsoft up until the part where you’re looking into getting your own gear. Buy this stuff first: my advice for everyone is that if you only have £100 to spend on airsoft you should be spending it on eye protection and boots. There’s plenty of time to buy RIFs later.
The Site List: Tower Airsoft Jake Tucker, May 13, 2021 Read more…
Want to buy BadNade patches and slaps? Here’s how Jake Tucker, March 15, 2021 Read more…
Why I love: TM HK416D NGRS Jake Tucker, March 13, 2021 Read more…
Edge Tactical Fastlinks, my go-to eye prot at the moment.
Eye-protection
Not to get all Dad about it, but the only scary thing about Airsoft is doing damage to your eyes. A good pair of eye protection (or “eye prot”) pretty much negates this risk, and it’s not even that expensive to get a cracking pair of eye protection.
Some sites will offer eye protection as a rental, but as it’s your eyes you’re protecting, I’d always recommend picking up your own.
There’s three types of eye protection.
Glasses
Goggles (closed frame full-seal)
Mesh
It’s up to you how much you want to spend here, Bolle have metal framed glasses that are absolutely the business and cost less than a tenner, but you can also pick up a pair of Edge Tactical FastLink glasses, which are what I wear for pretty much every game. They stop you “fogging up” generally, which is a problem for people who are a little bigger, those that sweat a lot and everyone when it’s humid out on the field.
These are lightweight options, so if you’re going to wear them, put them on in the mirror first and check there’s no direct access to your eye externally.
my advice for everyone is that if you only have £100 to spend on airsoft you should be spending it on eye protection and boots
If you want full-protection or you want to wear glasses underneath eye prot, you can get full-seal eye protection. This essentially means goggles that make a solid seal against your head, meaning there’s a “full seal”. These are a little more expensive and more prone to fogging but closed-frames offer the most protection possible. These Bolle goggles are decent, and although I can’t recommend buying this more expensive pair for your first game, if you decide goggles are your bag, they’re very solid.
Finally, there’s mesh. These are cheap and don’t fog, but they can occasionally shed paint, which makes people claim BBs shatter on impact. the BBs don’t shatter on impact, but it’s still not great to get flecks of paint in your eyes.
If fogging is a problem, Heroshark does some great mesh goggles, but as all of their kit is made to order, it’s probably for down-the-line rather than ahead of your first game.
Whatever you buy, it’s up to you. Remember to keep it on at all times in the game zone, and if you notice any damage to your eye protection at any point, replace them immediately – not at the end of your game – immediately.
Lower-face protection and lower face model’s own.
Lower-face protection
I don’t generally wear lower face protection, but this is a do-as-I-say-not-what-I-do thing. Also, ten years ago I knocked myself unconscious with the butt of my MP5 so I probably should wear lower face protection, but I only really wear it for CQB games.
For your first game, you’ll be wearing lower-face or full-face protection. If you’ve come from paintballing, a Paintball dye mask will work and will cover your eyes too, meaning you can skip reading all of my stuff above… the stuff you’ve already read.
Elsewhere, there are a lot of different face masks you can get. A Shemagh will look the bit in a pinch, but let’s be prescriptive to keep it simple. This Nuprol mesh mask will keep your face safe from impacts; buy this, shape it so it fits comfortably on your face and wear it for your first game.
There’s a lot of weird masculinity around wearing a mesh mask. I’d say that if you don’t like to be shot in the face, wear a lower mask. If you find that it’s unwieldy or uncomfortable and that’s more inconvenient than taking BBs to the face, stop wearing one. As many sites will tell you, you do it at your own risk, so to avoid you losing a tooth while trying out a new hobby, wear a mask for your first game.
Later, if you want something more serious, Delta Mike Face Pro is well regarded. I can’t pass judgement because I just r recently placed my own order, and they’re expected to arrive in a couple of weeks as there’s a long wait time. I’ll update this when that happens, though.
I wear Viper Venom boots because they’re silly comfortable. These ones aren’t laced properly, but look more presentable than than the ones under my desk caked in mud.
Footwear
This one could get long, so I’m going to skirt around it: wear some good boots that you don’t mind getting muddy or scuffed. A military surplus place can probably sell you decent boots for 20 quid, but if you already have some excellent boots with solid ankle support, feel free to wear those.
If you’ve never worn boots properly before, you should lace your boots to the halfway point and then jump to the top of the boot and lace downwards, tying the bow in the middle. Your ankles will thank you.
The G&G UMP is probably one of the best AEG’s I’ve ever used. For an airsofter, the UMP feels like an MP5 with all of the kinks ironed out: there are hassle-free 530 round hi-cap magazines, rails all over the place for attaching torches, grips and optics, solid externals and one of the very few silencers that dampens the noise of the gun, right out of the box.
G&G’s UMP is so good that I can even forgive it the awkward UMG name: standing for the copyright-free Uber Machine Gun.
Why buy a G&G UMP?
G&G have only been on the Airsoft scene for 20 years, and only really been taken seriously for ten. Despite this, their aftercare is brilliant, G&G’s Combat Machine and Top Tech ranges both offer great performance at their price point, and usually you can use their guns straight out of the box, with minimal tweaking.
I’ve had the G&G UMP since 2012, buying one of the first models to hit the shelves at the now-closed champions of G&G at Pro Airsoft Supplies. Ever since, it’s been one of my go-to guns for a skirmish, with a solid polymer body, great mag capacity and the fact that it can be taken from a field gun to a CQB monster by just folding the stock. The UMP isn’t unique in any of this, by any means, but there’s something about it that just works for me: perhaps it’s how comfortable it is to shoulder or the solid click as a 500+ BB magazine thunks into place.
Originally, I was looking for something that fit to my 2012 strengths: I was fast, I was a terrible shot, and I didn’t want to carry too much weight. The UMP tied in the small form factor, reliability and low-weight of the many MP5 airsoft variants out there, but then made some improvements. The simplest is the standardised Picatinny rails allowing easy attachment of optics, grips or a torch, but the introduction of ambidextrous controls and stick mags that are a big ergonomic improvement* with hi-caps that often feed better and carry over double the capacity of an MP5 stick to boot.
*Your mileage may vary.
It’s also a great gun for most situations without dropping too much money into it: I bought the suppressor, and have run it close to stock ever since. The internals have remained a sealed-up mystery to me, and I’ve only actually added some external bits to help with ergonomics or to fit a specific scenario.
What should you change?
So, as I said, I haven’t touched the G&G at all. It’s stock, and the only addition I’ve made to the inner workings of the gun is set the hop from time to time.
It’s rare as rocking horse excrement at this point, but G&G’s own UMG suppressor is the business: the gearbox in the UMP is quiet, and with the QD suppressor on I’ve shot people who heard nothing but the rounds hitting their vest. This sounds nonsense, but it’s really true. I don’t know what black magic G&G are doing with their guns (I have a G&G F2000 that’s similarly near-silent in the gearbox) but I can only assume it’s witchcraft.
Elsewhere, I’ve added a Wolf Eyes torch that has been living in my box of kit for 15 years and it’s stayed there since, although I’ve rotated through several different grips and optics before finding a cheap optic at an Airsoft boot-sale that managed to fit the bill. It’s low maintenance, none of the bits need to jump to other guns if I’m not using it, and I don’t mind if anything gets damaged because the UMP is the newest part of the set-up at eight years old. I’ve struggled to find a grip that does the trick, although that’s more on me than anything else.
The Good
Version 3 gearbox means it can keep going all day on semi.
UMP magazines are incredible to handle: clean sticks with flared grips that lock into shape with a satisfying ‘thunk’.
Can outperform several guns out of the box even at range.
Nylon fibre body means you would have to be trying to damage it.
The Bad
Most of these will be “mileage may vary” gripes, to be honest. There are a few bits about the G&G UMP that can irritate, but it mostly comes down to how unique the gun is. Read on, but cut it some slack; these issues are only problems if they grind your gears.
The G&G UMP is the only UMP seriously worth considering. This means there aren’t many upgrade parts beyond the generic bits.
When it comes to putting UMP mags in your rig, you might have a problem.*
Low and mid-caps can have some issues with feeding. It seems to be hard to reproduce, sometimes they’ll just double feed.
*They do, weirdly, have compatibility with other weird SMG mag pouches: if you’ve got a P90, MP40 or a Thompson already, your existing webbing will work for UMP magazines. Embrace it. Become the weird SMG guy.
Why I love it
This is the first “review” of an airsoft gun I’ve ever written, but the key thing is that it’s impossible to be completely objective about a RIF. Personal preference, ergonomics and even anecdotal evidence all play massively into how much you’ll dig a gun, including games you’ve played or movies you’ve seen.
I ultimately got sold on a UMP because I’d seen it pop up in a few videogames around 2012 and I wanted something small and light.
However, I love the G&G UMP because it does everything: I’ve used this while jumping out of a Land Rover at mil-sim events, I’ve cleared corridors in CQC sites and I’ve dug in and brawled with this in woodland. Whatever you throw at it, it delivers. Very few other AEGs can say the same, especially for under £250.
