On Friday we had our annual team xmas dinner at TTAC3 and it was great. I feel fortunate that I didn’t have to set everything up this time and could just show up and enjoy. 😉 It was nice to see everyone and just shoot the shit all night, this time last year I wasn’t feeling so great about airsoft but 2013 was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed playing with the guys.

We added some new friends to the team this year and I look very much forward to what 2014 has to offer.

Both Tey and Odessa baked cakes for the occasion and they turned out great! 😀

So today I received some additional parts for my SOPMOD Block 2 project and woo it’s coming together. 🙂

In the first picture you’ll see 3 guns, a M4A1 in a SOPMOD block 1 configuration, the middle is the new M4A1 SOPMOD Block 2 and the bottom is the MK18 MOD1. New parts include a Madbull DD 12.5″ RIS II and a Madbull DD gas block. Also installed is a replica Surefire Scout and Aimpoint T1, I think I’ll stick to repro products for this gun as I don’t want to tripe up on real crap… I’m not going to do much more to it, if I use this thing I’ll just move over the PEQ box from the MK18.

On a side note I sold Graham the M16 PTW (glad it’s kept within the team), I’m going to get my PAL/RPAL at the end of the month and the money from that will help me get into real steel. Maggie ain’t too thrilled about it but I’ll do it right so it’ll be ok. 🙂

Last year I updated my PTW CQBR to look like a MK18 Mod 1 and this year I’m going to upgrade my Systema M4A1 into a SOPMOD block 2. 🙂

I picked up a used black Madbull M4A1 RIS II for $85 and it comes with all the mounting hardware despite only the rail being pictured. On the way are new BUIS and a Madbull Daniel Defense gas block too, heh maybe then I’ll be more inclined to use the M4. Maggie just rolled her eyes when I told her the M4 will look like the MK18 Mod 1, just longer. It’s going to be a fun project and I can’t wait to get everything I need to finish it off.

So after sheering off the guide rails for the metal rack on two Systema pistons, I decided to try one of these aluminum pistons instead. The aftermarket piston is slightly heavier than the plastic OEM piston but whatever, I hope it lasts.

I don’t use the red cylinder to play but it’s great for stress testing, something I’ve been doing a lot as I’ve been swapping a lot of PTW motors recently.

So this weekend, Graham and I went to play Operation Triglav at this new field in Fenton Falls Ontario and it was fun. The weather absolutely sucked and it rained pretty much from the second we got onto the field till the time endex was called (there was a brief lull for about an hour after 8 PM). Unfortunately the weather forecast had said it would be light rain, I believed it and didn’t pack the proper wet weather gear so I was wet, cold and miserable as the game progressed. Talk about lesson learnt, moving forward if there’s any hint of rain I will pack all my wet weather gear, it’s light so there’s no real excuse not to.

We had to march to our CP which was around 2KM from the parking lot and that was kind of fun. Not many times have I experienced having 50ish guys marching together in formation to a single spot. The field is 500 acres in size but we only used about a quarter of it at most, god I can only imagine if we were using the full field, we’d be walking for hours without seeing anyone. Anyway we had to fight to capture the our CP, then we had to fight to “un-jam” our comms. The latter took longer than expected as the enemy forces were dug in really well. Along the way we did do a nice recce of the field and yeah this place has a lot of potential.

At one point during our initial failed attack, it was just a MSF member and I bunked down in a very brushy part of the field and the two of us held out for 30-45 minutes and took out at least 20-30 op-for members. That was fun but we were sitting ducks and it was only a matter of time before we fell. Haha what was funny, with no comms we had to rely on using the vuvuzela Graham was carrying to signal for support and it worked surprisingly well! Later Ray moved the entire team to assault the comms tower and we were finally able to capture it.

A bit later my section was standing down waiting for orders and I was pretty miserable as I was soaked and it was getting wetter… Decided to change my top from the multicam combat shirt to a woodland BDU as well as the base layer from a wicking t-shirt to an Under Armor cold gear turtleneck. Garret was also kind enough to lend me a goretex jacket which kept my torso and arms dry the rest of the night.

As night fell, a few of the guys started a fire which was a huge morale booster for our side. Even though it was very wet they got it roaring and people were drying themselves off which was great, my MC pants which were also soaked dried within 10 minutes and I was nice and toasty (aside from my feet) quickly too. At around 8:30PM, a group of us with NV and two guys without stepped off to find the enemy base. Nick was having fun playing with his new MTM thermal scope and would scan for targets every few hundred feet and never saw anything. As we got closer to the enemy base location, we started getting sporadic radio messages stating that the enemy force had left the field and that the game was over. Ray who was in overall command kept trying to contact game control to confirm but since it wasn’t official we decided to move ahead anyway. Eventually we got to the alleged enemy CP area and saw nothing and finally GC confirmed that the game was over at around 9:30 PM. It was a bit disappointing but I understood as the weather was absolutely terrible.

I decided to come home instead of hanging out, that way I would have a full Sunday with the family instead of it being a write off. I had fun and wish the game lasted longer but oh well that’s how it goes sometimes. Looking forward to playing on this field again in the future.

Edit: Nick posted some thermal pictures he took, hehe I’m in both pictures can you tell who I am? 😉

The cameras didn’t work very well at night (the shine is off the eyepiece on my PVS-14) haha and the last picture shows exactly where my section went. I’m glad I’m not super sore, haha that way I won’t move like an old man at work again. 😉

Tomorrow evening Maggie and Brandon return to Canada and I can’t wait!!!

Over the weekend I was bad and picked up a LCT AKMS… I know I shouldn’t have done it was cheap and I really like the AKMS look.

Yes it’s very similar to my RS Type 56-1 so I’m going to revert that thing back to wood for a more classical look and keep this as my modern AK. Sigh unfortunately I don’t know when or if I’ll ever use it as I’m just too comfortable running my PTWs. Oh well if that day comes that I use something else at least I’m prepared. 🙂

With that said my Surefire SR-07-IT dual pressure switch’s flashlight pressure switch finally kicked the bucket. It’s been finicky from day one so perhaps I got a lemon, anyway I’m going to send it back to Surefire to get it replaced. In the mean time I have reverted back to two individual pressure switches and I have to say it’s actually not bad. With the rail facing forward, I placed the PEQ box pressure switch on the 10-11 position and the flashlight pressure switch at the 4-5 and both fit nicely between the rails!

It’s actually pretty comfortable with the way I hold my gun, maybe I’ll save the Surefire switch for something else when I get it back.

Ugh fighting off a cold, I feel like crap so stayed at home today… Hopefully it won’t be too busy.

So I recently picked up new BUIS and a Docter mounting plate for my Elcan SpecterDR and woo I’m happy to report a NcStar Docter mini red (err green) dot works with the plate! I was considering buying a real Docter sight but worried about a $300-400 optic being shot out, if this thing breaks no big deal though it’s no big deal since it’s only $60. 🙂

Graham tells me that NcStar will warranty their stuff even if it’s shot out by airsoft so I guess that’s cool, hell if they allow for it then why shouldn’t I take advantage right… I guess it kind of makes the 1x setting for the SpecterDR kind of useless but whatever, this has got to be the ultimate combo. Mini RDS on top for quick and dirty action, 4x scope for those times I need some magnification.

Awesome, too bad I can’t play a mil sim any time soon.

I remember hearing a lot of great stories from the guys about Operation Athena so when Athena II rolled around this year (and with the family away) I decided to attend as well. The game was located at Thamesville ON so I would camp out Friday night with the guys instead of driving up early Saturday morning. On Friday, Henry came to pick me up then we went to Brayden’s place and lol we met his mother and grand mother. After loading up the mini van, we hit up a local Montana’s for lunch and then Walmart to pick up some last minute items while waiting for Graham to make it to our location.

After chilling for about 30 minutes in the parking lot Graham met up and I rode with him so he’d have some company. Along the way he was telling me about his time in the CF infantry and while it sounded very cool all the time I was thinking that I am definitely not tough enough to do it! Before hitting the field, the four of us went to have dinner at this local pizza place and it was fun. At the field we met up with Ray and Campbell, were allowed to go to the green (Russian team) parking area and set up our tents. Afterwards as more people started trickling in, we played the game Cards Against Humanity and we had a blast. As it got colder, we met up with the game host and asked if he’d find out from the field owner if we can start a fire, he said yes so we made an impromptu fire pit. It was pretty relaxing and at around 11PM, I decided to turn in as I wanted to sleep as long as I can so I don’t have to rest during the game.

The “coffin” tent I was using sucks ass, it was light but all I could do was lay down and got really wet every time I got in and out of it due to condensation. I learnt my lesson though and will be picking up one of the multicam Lightfighter tents that Graham is selling, they’re much nicer and a lot of the guys have them already. Anyway the US Army sleeping bag system worked great and I was nice and warm even though the outside temperature was in the mid single digits.

On game day we had about 40-50 players on the Russian team and there were equal numbers on the (tan) US team. We had various tasks throughout the game and even though I was attached to Cossack 5 as 2IC, I found myself in charge of a small group with various tasks throughout the game. During the day the Russian team held around 60-70% of the field and control points and lol I knew the domination would only continue at a quicker pace at night. Around 11PM I led a small 6 man squad all the way to the US CP, it looked lightly defended so we decided to attack as I really wanted to capture the US base card however it didn’t turn out the way I expected haha… There ended up to be 20-30 US players hanging around base and that battle ended rather quickly.

A couple of hours later there was a more coordinated attack with a much larger group of Russian players and this time around we were able to get in, wipe out the entire US base and grab their base card. 😀 I was very happy with how it turned out as we were in and out rather quickly.

Our last mission of the day was to move a VIP to the open farmer’s field and lol what a character… He was dressed in a white lab coat covered with glow stick goo and looked like Mr. Burns, technically he was suppose to be radioactive so we needed to keep our distance. Anyway we got to the farmers field and the VIP told me that if we could get him to the center of the field, he’d pop smoke and we’d win so I kept telling (yelling) the Russian team that we needed to push out into the open field. LOL anyway with about 5 minutes left in the game, I was able to transport the VIP to the middle of the field and after that it was mission and game complete.

LOL during the briefing I chuckled when I heard “Obviously the Russian team won” from the game host but everyone on the Russian side pushed hard and I’d say at least 80% if not more of the team was active the whole game which is impressive! After the end of game discussions, we all went to sleep for a few hours then hit Jo Mammas which was a local diner. All in all a great game and I’ll definitely go back next year!

Here are a few pictures from the game, there will be more however they’re not available yet. Heh yeah I had a good time and can’t wait for the next one!

So I got my King Arms M1A1 today… While I’m happy I got it, I’m a bit disappointed that it has a plastic receiver since I asked the seller specifically if it was metal and he said yes. Will contact him to see what he can do but I will keep it because I got a really good price on it.

A couple of the guys and I will be getting into WW2 airsoft next year and the most fun step is to get a gun right… Already have a FMU TM 1911 so woo weapon wise I’m set. 🙂

So today I went with Stephen to Graham’s store (Hero Outdoors) so I could pick up a new chest rig. I sold the Condor ATACS rig that Maggie got me last year, while I liked it, it was just too bright especially at night. In its honour, I picked up the same rig in OD along with the Condor hydration carrier and it’s pretty damn nice. It’s civilian gear but whatever for my needs it’ll work just fine. Along the way I also bought a Cold Steel training tomahawk axe, lol it was cheap and I thought pretty cool… It’s made of hard plastic but I’d like to try to use it at a zombie game if possible as it’s neat but we’ll see I guess.

Later on I went to Jason’s house to pick up my SKD Tac PIG gloves, I have a set in tan already but I wanted them in OD too.

I’ll be using the OD rig at the Athena game later in the month and I can’t wait!