It was only 0900H on a Saturday morning, 19 May, and there were 50+ people already queuing to go inside the Grange for the Airsoft Arms Fair 5. I was given a special pass to go inside before all the ticket holders and I managed to walk around and cover familiar grounds.  At the entrance,  I was greeted with by Airbana, Frontier Airsoft and Fireball Squadron booth who were also promoting their big game this coming June.

Pro-Tact was holding  SWAT training program which consisted of Target Indicators, Approaching Targets, Areas of Responsibility, Stacking Up, Communications, Entry into Wall Flood and Corners. A small donation was asked from each guest for the Help Of Heroes Charity. Custom Sniper Equipment was also there showing their custom made gillie suits.

At the front area of the Main tent was RedWolf Airsoft UK with guests from Hong Kong, Arclight from RedWolf TV! Speaking to Chris Kong, the Director of RedWolf UK, he will open a new store in Gloucester, which was good news for us airsofters. Familiar faces from East Midlands Airsoft, Airsoft Direct, Swindon Airsoft Supplies,  BadgerTac, First and Only Airsoft, Tag Airsoft, and a first timer in AAF, Klarus light. Airsoft International Magazine as the official media partner was also there and handed out a lot of freebies from battery to chargers to 10 pairs of Original SWAT Combat Boots!

Also a first timer at the AAF was Airsoft Surgeon Clarence Lai. A one hour workshop with him will focus on practical pistol shooting with a Q&A session at the end. Plus, all participants received a certificate to say they have been trained by Airsoft Surgeon.

Edgar Brothers together with Stirling Airsoft held a CQB Lane and Vehicle Assault Course complete with plenty  of ear deafening pyros! You can see all of these fully-loaded airsoft folks who gave participants a hell of a good time. This was also sponsored by Blue Force Gear and Danner.

Milspec Solutions was near the private sellers area selling their gas blowback products mainly from WE.  The private sellers occupied the open  pitch with tons of second hand unwanted kits and RIFs, a good place for you to haggle and mingle with fellow airsofters. Nigel from Airsoft Action Magazine was also present to cover the event.

Usual faces and new ones, that's what you get from the Airsoft Arms Fair but with even better gimmicks to make your day worthwhile. What more can you ask for when a good number of airsoft retailers in the UK can be found in one place? You get choice pickings of the latest airsoft guns and gear and you can hold them in your hands rather than rely on the spec sheets when browsing online airsoft stores.

I look forward to meeting even more new faces for the next Airsoft Arms Fair later this year. More Airsoft Arms Fair 5 photos can be found at my Facebook account.

AIPSC UK ACTION AIR MATCH
By Optimus Prime 

I had to take over from Paul/Riversphynx the duties of reporting about what transpired during that weekend as he was unable to cover Sunday. The Action Air Match the following day was the first of its kind that we covered here in the UK. The efforts of Jim and the Shop At The Grange to put up Airsoft IPSC UK has finally bore fruit with this major airsoft practical shooting. Whilst it's not yet as massive such as those held in Hong Kong, Thailand, or the Philippines, Action Air in the UK is really showing some promise.

By 10:00am, the briefing for the match started, whilst I and Masterchief (which I think you'll find more of a look-alike of Kim Il Jong) scrambled to get our photo and video gear up and running since we arrived just in the nick of time. I was supposed to meet Łukasz of Gunfire, but I missed him by a few minutes as he had to catch the train going to the airport. Perhaps, in October for the Airsoft Arms Fair 6, we'll be able to finally meet up.

There were four range courses for the Open and Standard Divisions. The first two were the hall and the big tent whilst the two others were out in the airsoft field. By 1030H the Stage events started. The shooters in the covered areas didn't have to worry about the wind factor but those in the open areas were lucky that it was a windless day, though it was a little bit chilly so shooters were encumbered with their jackets. It was also a cloudy day and we were expecting some slight rain, but nary a drop was seen, which was all good.

There were mistakes made by the shooters in the courses, but that's to be expected. With the banning of firearms in the UK, IPSC shooters are still making a transition to Action Air, and it will take a lot of cajoling for them to do so. The good thing is that Mike Cripps who is an elite shooter from the UK National Squad, was already a long time user of airsoft pistols for practical shooting. As discussed with some shooters, it will take some adjustments for some old time practical shooters to shift to airsoft, but it will happen as airsoft is here to stay and action air will be a big part of it.

The mingling of veterans with those newly introduced to Action Air was good thing, and with Clarence Lai also showing up to try out the range courses, they saw first-hand the level of Action Air shooting in East Asia, which is already very mature. Previous to that day, we were also invited to compete, as much as we want to show off our clumsy practical shooting skills, we had to do coverage of the event since no one else is available to take the cameras off our hands. Perhaps when a next AIPSC UK Action Air Match happens, we'll try to compete either in Standard or Open.

The players all had a good time, but what we noticed was the intensity of the players to develop their skills, listening to the Range Officers (ROs) explain to them how they went through the course and finding that some of their pistols need further upgrading to compete at different levels. We saw that the future is bright for Action Air IPSC in the UK. All the efforts of Jim Septhon and AIPSC UK are not for naught.

Here are the results of the match as sent in by Jim. A short video of the match can be found below while more photos can be found at the Popular Airsoft Facebook Page.