Airsoft Action May 2020 | Page 35

FEATURE HIGHS AND LOWS already complex bit of kit in the Systema. Now, given that I have seen Alan at Land Warrior completely rebuild stock Systemas to get them to work as well as possible, it’s safe to say that playing the copy game here is probably going to be a challenge. So it would seem, with no one at AA having a kind word to say for the brand and those who were brave enough to drop money on the brand regretting every penny they spent, especially since just buying the damned thing wasn’t enough – you had to then spend more (and more and more) trying to at least make it function. This is exactly what happened to our unnamed contributor… “Celsius CTW (remember them?) Unfortunately, promised much and delivered little other than aggro! Having had loads of little “niggles” with it, including a stripped piston and “grinding” from the gearbox, I ended up having my Celsius completely overhauled by JD Airsoft. I used it on just one occasion after that, with not much by way of improvement and a trigger that Arnie would have struggled to pull. It has been consigned to its box ever since.” Oddly, or perhaps not, the same contributor had a similar experience with another gun, the ASG CZ75 SP-01 Shadow… that point I gave up with it!” CELCIUS ...AGAIN! This isn’t the only time CTW was mentioned: “…for me the worst ever experience came with the Celsius CTWs. I was so stupid I even bought two!! The BS that came out of the main retailer for them was astounding too. They knew how shit they were and kept selling them and covering up the flaws. One of my favourite examples was when my first gun kept chopping BBs. Their reply was “well it is shooting pretty fast (22rps over a chrono in their shop and not especially fast) but it’s only chopping a few so that’s pretty good really!” That whole debacle was just such a waste of time, money and energy. Makes me shudder just thinking about how much I lost on those guns.” GEAR PROBLEMS “The Shadow was a really good pistol... until it wasn’t! “I used it for Action Air at Double-Tap and for the first couple of sessions it ran like a trooper ...and then the nozzle started playing up, then the hop, then the extended mag well fell off, then the seals on all five mags gave out, then the trigger became loose and the final straw was when the mag release became sticky and it would drop mags at the most inopportune moments! At I am now trying to think of gear problems I’ve had. It’s a bit of a struggle, mainly because having spent years tech-ing you either know what to avoid or how to fix any problems. There is one, relating to Classic Army… I began airsofting up at The Hill, near Dundee. It was run by the redoubtable Warren Reynolds and I went through a few guns up there before I moved on to pastures new. At one point I had acquired a Marui M16A2, a fine gun with which I had a lot of fun. With it I received a Classic Army hicap magazine, amongst others. This mag was always problematic, although it never outright failed. During one game I was moving forward as part of the attacking team when we came under fire from Mr. Reynolds himself, securely dug into a small foxhole. Using the principles of fire and movement, I advanced firing, only to have that magazine crap out on me at the most inappropriate moment. They say training takes over – which would be cool if I had ever had any training – but without missing a beat I dropped the magazine and threw it at Warren, keeping his head down while I slapped “ONE OF MY FAVOURITE EXAMPLES WAS WHEN MY FIRST GUN KEPT CHOPPING BBS. THEIR REPLY WAS “WELL IT IS SHOOTING PRETTY FAST (22RPS OVER A CHRONO IN THEIR SHOP AND NOT ESPECIALLY FAST) BUT IT’S ONLY CHOPPING A FEW SO THAT’S PRETTY GOOD REALLY!”” www.airsoftaction.net 35