• An AEG
• An AEG battery, preferably NiMH* 
• 12 Candles
• 666 airsoft BBs of your choice (not 665 or 667, you must count every single one by hand)
• A rusty dagger (any hearty kitchen knife will do)
• A dark room, preferably of an abandoned cottage or home 

*Satan doesn’t like LiPo batteries

Once you have these items assembled, you can begin the ritual. Place the AEG in the center of the dark room and encircle the AEG with the twelve candles. Each candle must be equally spaced, much like the numbers on a clock. Light each of the candles using sparks from the shorted NiMH battery. Start at the 12 o’clock position and move counter clockwise ending with the 1 o’clock candle. Once each of the candles has been lit, remove all other sources of lighting from the room. With the room now darkened, seat yourself outside the circle at the 6 o’clock candle with the dagger in your right hand and the warm NiMH battery in your left. Pour the 666 BBs over the top of the AEG, try to evenly coat it. Now you must place the warm NiMH battery inside the circle between the 6 o’clock candle and the gun no less than 6″ from the AEG. Proceed to stab the NiMH battery six times so that it becomes coated in NiMH battery juice, then randomly stab the airsoft BBs six times so that battery juice is imparted upon them, finally stab the AEG six times with the battery juice coated knife. For the entire duration of this stabbing ritual you must whisper this plea: “Oh Satan! Oh Satan! I impart the soul of this AEG unto thee. Bless now this AEG with an unholy amount of range, so that I may pwnzors my enemies!”

With the ritual now complete, you should notice that your AEG now has a maximum effective range of 222 yards, regardless of the AEG’s FPS or the BBs used in the gun. You’ll also notice that the soul of the AEG is completely gone, a small stamped logo of “KWA” written in demonic runes will appear on the side of the magazine well.

 In all seriousness…

I’m not here to talk to you about sacrificing your firstborn to Baal, but why hopups work and why the R-Hop appears to give users “more” range.

First and foremost, the hopup unit on all AEGs functions in basically the same way: It imparts backspin on the BB. Backspin on a circular object in forward motion (i.e., an airsoft BB after being shot) produces something called the Magnus Effect. Suffice to say, it’s basically the same principle that causes a plane’s wings to generate lift. The spinning motion of a BB creates a pocket of low pressure on the top side of the BB while the bottom side of the BB has a pocket of high pressure.

So, what does this mean for range?

Well, the faster that a BB spins, the more lift is generated. A spinning BB generates lift because of it’s “mechanical rotation” not by “airfoil action” like a regular wing (Clancy).  You’ll notice this effect with increasing the amount of hopup on any AEG. As the hopup is “turned up” it increases pressure on the BB, resulting in an increased RPM (mechanical rotation) and thus the BB will rise through the air at an increasing rate.

Courtesy of Wikipedia, here is a small diagram to help you visualize what’s going on.

“The Magnus effect, depicted with a back-spinning cylinder or ball in an air stream. The arrow represents the resulting lifting force. The curly flow lines represent a turbulent wake. The airflow has been deflected in the direction of spin.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnus_effect

If the rate of spin on a BB is the only factor in generating lift, then if both a regular hopup and an R-hop apply an equal rate of RPM to the BB, all else being equal, the two hopup units will produce exactly the same range. 

Woah, woah, woah, hold on. Stop the presses.  Why do people get increased range with R-hops?

Created by Zachary in Photoshop.

It’s all in the construction of regular hopups. Look a the diagram above. Standard hopup buckings will only contact the BB at one point. To increase the RPM, the pressure that the regular hop up applies to the BB needs to increase at that single point of contact. Regular hopups can on only apply so much pressure before they clog up and cause BBs to jam. On the other hand, an R-hop relies not primarily on increased pressure, but on increased contact time. Instead of applying a great deal of pressure at one single point, R-hops apply a smaller amount of pressure over a longer period of time.

Imagine driving a car…or your mother’s Astro minivan. When the car is in neutral, any pressure to the gas pedal will increase the RPM of the engine, but not cause the car to go anywhere. The engine is disengaged from the drivetrain (a.k.a. the wheels). If I wanted you to rev the engine to exactly 3500 RPM, which of the two following ways would be easiest? Which provides accurate and precise results the majority of the time?

1. Slam and hold your foot on the gas pedal, hoping that the RPM will peak at 3500.

2. Slowly increase the RPM to 3500 with gentle pressure.

I think it goes without saying that slowly and deliberately increasing the RPM will produce the most accurate and precise results.

This applies to airsoft BBs in the following way. Using a longer contact area will allow the hopup unit to produce the same RPM more consistently, rather than trying to go balls to the wall all at once with a regular hopup nub.

The longer contact area of an R-hop produces more range than a regular hopup only when heavier BBs are being used. With heavier BBs, regular hopups don’t have the ability to induce enough RPM on the BB to give sufficient backspin and, therefore, lift.  If we increase the contact area we can provide enough backspin to heavier BBs to give them the needed RPM to produce sufficient lift to carry the heavier BB further.

With lighter BBs (0.20g) an R-hop will really only yield more accuracy as a result of it’s consistency, which is enough of a reason to get an R-hop on all your guns anyway. You won’t really notice an increased range until you move to a heavier BB.

What about horizontal accuracy?

I’m glad you asked. Reference again the diagram of a regular hopup and an R-hop above. Notice that when looking down the bore the regular hopup contacts the BB at basically one point. Because of the flexible nature of rubber and the fact that the BB has room to move about, this contact point will  never be exactly at the same place on a BB as each BB is shot and a new one is successively loaded. This results in having BBs that spread horizontally downrange. Instead of gripping the BB at only one point, the R-hop (when constructed correctly) makes contact with a much greater area on the BB. It cups the top of the BB, resulting in the BB having a greatly reduced horizontal spread. There is much less of a chance of the BB being misaligned with an R-hop cupping it versus a single nub of a regular hopup.

Why are R-hops custom jobs?

Unlike regular hopup buckings, which can fit and function on just about every airsoft barrel in existence, an R-hop must be custom made for each barrel. The reason for this is that each hopup window on airsoft barrel is slightly different. As the barrels are shot down an assembly line in China or Taiwan, the hopup windows are cut as fast as possible. If each AEG barrel in the world had exactly the same dimensioned hopup window, then mass producing R-hops would be a possibility.

What does a finished R-hop look like?

Here’s one of my almost finished R-hops. Notice the half-moon shape.

Should I get an R-hop?

Yes! Of course! Even with lower FPS guns shooting standard weight BBs, you’ll still notice an increase in consistency and accuracy. If you’re shooting at a higher velocity (350+) consider getting an R-hop and moving to a heavier weight BB (.25g and above). You’ll notice a great deal of difference in the range of your weapon.

Consult this guide below for choosing the appropriate weight of BB for you gun’s velocity.

Airsoft Trajectory Project, Section IV-B:  Effective Range and Recommended BB Weight

Biblography

Clancy, Laurence Joseph. Aerodynamics. London: Pitman, 1975. Web.

What is circuit training?

“Circuit training is a form of body conditioning or resistance training using high-intensity aerobics. It targets strength building and muscular endurance. An exercise “circuit” is one completion of all prescribed exercises in the program. When one circuit is complete, one begins the first exercise again for the next circuit. Traditionally, the time between exercises in circuit training is short, often with rapid movement to the next exercise.
The program was developed by R.E. Morgan and G.T. Anderson in 1953 at the University of Leeds in England.[1] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_training).”

This type of training allows you to work your cardio while at the same time building your muscular strength. Beginner circuits require little to know equipment and put the primary focus on using your own body weight as resistance. Even though circuit training has been around since the early 1950’s over time it had fallen by the wayside in favor of other fitness trends. Now, however, circuit training has surged in popularity once again due to programs like Crossfit and increased media attention on the training practices of elite military and law enforcement special operations units.

How Is Circuit Training Applicable To Airsoft?

Circuit training is usually a fast paced ordeal designed to challenge your strength and cardiovascular limits. Circuits can last anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour. By consistently training circuits in a smart way, you can increase your strength and stamina exponentially. This translates to better performance in the field. In English it means, you’ll be able to run faster, jump higher, and carry all your stuff while you do it with a smile on your face. Meanwhile those who aren’t training will get tired faster. Once the opposing team gets tired they slow down. Once they slow down, they become easier to hit. Once they become easier to hit, they have to respawn more and your team wins. Don’t have to respawn more, get in shape!

How Do I Start?

As with any fitness program, ALWAYS consult with your doctor before beginning. Once you’ve been given the green light from your physician, start out slow. I firmly believe in the “crawl, walk, run” training philosophy when it comes to fitness. You don’t want to injure yourself so you need to start slow.

Begin with a warm up. Start with a light jog for 5 to 10 minutes. Then do about 15 pushups and sit-ups. Once you’ve done that, start stretching. Remember never stretch a cold muscle. After you’ve stretched out your entire body, you’re ready to start a simple, beginner’s circuit.

The Circuit

Here’s a simple circuit that you can try if you’re just starting out. I’m going to give you five exercises to do. After you’ve done each of the five exercises once, that’s one set. Your goal will be to do 5 sets total. Go slow. If you can’t do all five sets at first, that’s okay. The idea is for you to track your progress and get yourself to the point where you can do all five sets and then go from there to something more advanced. If you’ve never done any kind of circuit training before, it’s going to be a good idea for you to rest for a minute or two between sets. As you get in better shape, you can forgo the resting periods between sets and try to finish all five sets in a faster time. Additionally, you need to remember to do each exercise with proper form. If you have to choose between speed or form always choose form. Conducting these exercises with the proper form will help you avoid injury during your workouts. The following exercise descriptions are taken from the livestrong website found here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/32081 … exercises/

1. Burpee: A burpee is a standard gym class type of movement that will work your entire body. Start in a standing position and bend down to place your hands on the floor. Shoot both of your legs backward into a push-up position, then bring them back to your chest quickly. Stand up and repeat the movement 10 times

2. V-Ups: The V-up can be a challenging exercise for people with weaker abdominal muscles. Lie on your back and extend your arms up over your head. Raise your upper and lower body at the same time, keeping your arms and legs straight to form a “V.” Lower yourself slowly and repeat. Aim for 10 repetitions, but don’t push yourself too hard because the V-up is a difficult exercise.

3. Jumping Jacks: Jumping jacks require almost no space and no equipment. Start with your legs together and arms by your sides. Jump your feet out to the sides, while at the same time raising your straightened arms to create a star formation with your body. Hop back to the start and continue. You can perform jumping jacks at a leisurely pace or very quickly depending on your fitness level. Do 15 of these bad boys.

4. Push-ups: The basic push-up is an exercise that will strengthen your triceps, shoulders and chest. Including push-ups in your circuit training routine will help to give a complete body workout. Do 10 push-ups.

5. Lunges: Lunges will strengthen and tone your thighs and buttocks. You can either step out into a lunge position then return to the start and repeat, or alternate legs in a continuous walking motion across the floor. Do these without any weights in your hands. Do 10 lunges on each leg.

Okay so let’s summarize now. This is going to be your circuit:
1. 10 Burpess
2. 10 V-Ups
3. 15 Jumping Jacks
4. 10 Pushups
5. 20 total lunges (10 on each leg)

Once you’ve done the above set, REST for 1 minute. This is also a good time to hydrate a little if you need to. Then start over and do another set, then REST for one minute. Repeat this process until A. you can’t do anymore, or B. you do 5 sets.

A word of caution, it’s really important for you to warm up and stretch (in that order) prior to doing this workout. It looks easy on paper, but if you’ve never done anything like this before this will be taxing. Take it slow the first time and listen to your body. Evaluate what’s happening and decide how far you want to go in order to avoid injury. There is no time limit on this particular circuit that I’ve put together for you. That being said, time yourself anyway and record how long it takes you to complete however many sets you can do. The next time you do this circuit; see if you can improve upon your previous performance.

Conclusion

For many of the elite law enforcement and military units around the world, circuit training is a way of life. The good news is it can be a way of life for you too; you just have to start smart. As you increase your total fitness, your teammates and opponents will start to take notice and you will too. More time exercising outside of airsoft means less time waiting for a medic or a respawn in game.

This article will do two things. One: save you money, because LiPo batteries are expensive. Two: save you from property damage.

Most airsofters are under the impression that LiPo batteries are very similar to the older NiMH batteries that come with most out of the box airsoft guns. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. Treating a LiPo battery like a NiMH battery will only result in a damaged LiPo which, first and foremost, results in lower discharge rates, lower holding capacities, and most importantly, a risk of a fire.

Before we continue, let me briefly explain some LiPo battery terminology.

Terminology

S = “Cells”

On the side of a LiPo battery, you’ll notice that 7.4v batteries are 2s, 11.1v batteries are 3s, and 14.8v batteries are 4s. This means that a 7.4v LiPo is made up of two individual cells, each with a nominal voltage of 3.7 volts. Two 3.7v cells add up to a 7.4v total. As an aside, a fully charged LiPo will have each individual cell at 4.2v, which gives you a fully charged voltage of 8.4v for a 2s LiPo.

C = “discharge rate”

This is a measurement of the amount of energy that a LiPo battery can supply. Usually it is two numbers of the form xyC ~ xyC. For example, my Tenergy 7.4v LiPo has a discharge rate of 25C to 50C. The first number is the constant discharge rate, what the battery can supply when it is being used on full auto (constant draw). The second number is the peak discharge rate, think of it when the battery is used in very short bursts, like semi-automatic. The best way to think about the C rating is like the horsepower on an engine (this is somewhat false, as I’ll explain later, but it’ll do for now).

mah = “milliamps”

Milliamps are a measurement of the capacity of the battery. Think of it like the gas tank on a car. The bigger the gas tank, the farther you can go.Milliamps and the C rate can be combined to calculate the true “horsepower” of the battery, how many amps it can supply.

Amps

Think of amps like the diameter of a pipe. As the diameter of a pipe increases, the amount of water that can flow through the pipe increases too. This is the horsepower of the battery, how much juice it can pump out when put under load.

Volts

Volts are like pressure on the pipe. Even if you have a small diameter pipe, you can still have a lot of pressure behind it.

LiPo fires

One of the main components of LiPo batteries is Lithium, this is why the battery is called a Lithium Polymer battery. I’ll discuss the other components shortly. Let’s take a trip back to highschool chemistry to understand why LiPo fires are scary.

Lithium has an atomic number of 3 and is part of the family of alkali metals on the periodic table. The abbreviation of lithium is Li.  The entire family of alkali metals are reactive with water. As in, water + alkali metal = fire.

A common periodic table. Credit for this image goes to http://www.ptable.com/.

You’ll see that Lithium is pretty high up on the chart, as compared to Sodium (Na), Potassium (K), and Rubidium (Rb). With the alkali metals, the higher the element is on the chart, the less reactive it is with water. The scale at which the reactivity increases is extremely  exponential. During the 50s, scientists experimented with using Cesium (Cs) and Rubidium (Rb) as underwater warheads.

Here’s a video of different alkali metals being exposed to water, complete with an articulate British narrator. Notice the increased reactivity as they progress down the alkali family.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uixxJtJPVXk&feature=youtu.be

Blah blah blah blah. I hate chemistry. What does even mean??

Well, it comes down to this: A LiPo fire cannot be put out with conventional means. Throwing water on it will only make it worse. To put out a LiPo fire, which burns at about 1000 degrees Fahrenheit  you need to use a Class D fire extingusher. Class D fire extinguishers run about $400 a pop.

Why do I mention fires?

Abused LiPo batteries are at a much greater risk for fires than a brand new or properly cared for LiPo battery. Why is this? As a LiPo is damaged by abuse, it holds less of a charge. Imagine if you crushed the gas tank on your car a little bit smaller every time you fill it up with gas. Eventually you’d get to the point where the tank could only hold half of a gallon of gasoline, resulting in shorter range.

With a LiPo, trying to charge the battery with more than it can hold results in a fire. This is called overcharging. Let’s say you purchased a brand new 7.4v 25c 1800mah LiPo battery. The first time you charge it, your uncalibrated charger actually overcharges the battery just by a little bit. Damage takes place, but you don’t notice. Over the next few games, you charge it, and each time the battery is damaged and the mah capacity is reduced. Two months down the road, because of damage, your battery may now only hold around 1400mah. Here’s the thing, your charger doesn’t know this.

Your charger will only charge until it senses that the battery is “full.” If your charger actually thinks that “full” is really over what the battery actually holds, you will damage the battery every time that it is charged. Here’s the conversation between a battery and a charger (if such a thing could take place).

Battery: Ah, that’s nice. I’m full and content.

Charger: Huh? No, you need to finish your plate!

Battery: But Mr. Charger! I’m full!

Charger: What did you say, little battery? I can’t hear you, here comes papa!

Battery: It hurts, it hurts! Oh the pain!

Charger: Ah ha ha ha ha! Your misery pleases me!

Ok, fine, maybe that was a little bit sadistic, but you get the point. Eventually the charger  might just want to go balls to the wall because of some internal error and might grossly overcharge the battery, which will result in a fire. This happens. Go Google “lipo fire” there are numerous photographs of poor saps watching their house burn to the ground because of a LiPo fire. Don’t be one of them. Don’t risk a $5 LiPo for a $200K  worth of property and possessions.

The Tenergy “smart” chargers that airsoft stores sells are anything but “smart.” These chargers have a nasty tendency to be improperly calibrated, which means that once the cells of a LiPo reach a full charge of 4.2v, the charger might think that the cells are still at 4.15v, so it gives it another 0.5v, which results in damage.

What are Lithium Polymer batteries made out of? 

Lithium batteries have three components which make them tick.

A cathode, made out of either lithium, manganese, and oxygen, or lithium, cobalt, and oxygen…

An anode, made out of lithium and carbon held in a semi-liquid state…

And a separator that is made out of a polymer that is saturated with a conductive electrolyte.  A chemical reaction between the cathode, anode, and electrolyte causes electrons to flow, which gives us energy.

Damage to the battery happens as they age and/or are abused. The most noticeable evidence of damage is a general “poofyness” to the LiPo package. If stored and used properly, LiPos can be used for years before they need to be replaced.

As cells are used, the anode will naturally oxidize, which produces oxygen (leaving the lithium and other element in a solid state). Usually the oxygen will bond to the lithium on the cathode in a process called reoxidation (redox) and the battery will not “poof”. When charging, the reaction in the battery is reversed and the oxygen oxidized from the cathode reoxidized to the anode. This process can be repeated until the anode and cathode degrade too far to accept any more oxygen. By that point, the battery will be long past the ability to power an AEG.

When damage takes place, oxygen is produced faster than it can reoxidize to the cathode or ,in  reverse, faster than it can reoxizide to the anode. The oxygen has nowhere else to go other than to poof up around the battery’s sack. Eventually the oxygen will cause the battery to burst, resulting in a fire.

How does damage take place? 

Damage to LiPo batteries can take place in any of the following ways, each of them can be easily prevented with a little bit of knowledge about the battery.

1. Demanding too much from the battery (overdraw)

2. Discharging below 3.0v per cell

3. Storing LiPos charged

4. Overcharging

Overdraw

Simply put, overdraw is demanding too much from a battery. A stock CYMA, with a crappy ferrous magnet motor and low powered spring, will draw about 15 amps. Higher quality guns, or guns with upgrades, will draw far more amperage. It is imperative that your battery can supply the needed amps to cycle the gearbox. Trying to demand too much from a battery will result in damage to the battery.

Solution: Use a battery with far more amps than you’ll ever need. Try to shoot for 30 amps or above.

For a LiPo battery you can calculate the amps it can put out by multiplying the milliamp rating (in amps) by the constant discharge rate using the formula…

Ah * C = Amps

For a 25c, 1800mah battery, the equation would look like this.

1.8Ah * 25c = 45 Amps

As an added benefit, higher discharge rates equal faster rates of fire. White lazor beams of death!

Discharging below 3.0v per cell

Remember when I talked about the anode, the cathode, and the oxygen bound to each? The metals in the anode and the cathode are limited in the amount of oxygen that can bind to them. The anode and the cathode can only bind to X amount of oxygen molecules. So, with that in mind, the manufactures of the battery measure out the amount of metal to oxygen in a very specific ratio, so that the amount of oxygen, under normal use, will never be too much for the anode or cathode to absorb. This results in the battery having a voltage range, from 3.0v to 4.2v per cell. This means that going above 4.2v per cell or going below 3.0v per cell will release too much oxygen for either the cathode to absorb or for the anode to reabsorb during charging.

Solution: Don’t run a LiPo battery until it’s dead. Buy a small LiPo voltmeter with a digital readout. They’re a few bucks a pop. Plug it in periodically throughout the day to check the voltage of your cells. For me, personally, I only use a LiPo until the voltage is around 3.7 to 3.8v. This is, by the way, the perfect voltage to store your LiPo batteries for longer periods of time, which brings me to my next point.

Storing LiPos fully charged (or above 3.8v per cell)

LiPo batteries, by themselves, are not inert objects. When put under stress (a full charge, for example) the internal components of the battery start to degrade. With lower discharge rate batteries, like the ones we use in airsoft, this isn’t as noticeable over short periods of time, like a week or so. With higher discharge rate batteries (above 25c), the damage over short periods of time can be measured in days. Despite this, damage does occur when LiPos are stored for a period of time. Users commonly complain about batteries “puffing.” This is because of a buildup of excess oxygen in the battery sack.

Higher quality batteries made from more pure elements and with tighter tolerances will also have a lower tendency to show damage from being stored charged, but these batteries are also more expensive (because of higher performance), so it’s best to protect your investments with proper precautions.

Solution: Never leave batteries charged for more than a few days, if even that much. When batteries need to be stored, use a smart charger that has a storage function. The storage function brings the battery’s cells down to a proper voltage for storage, about 3.7 to 3.8 volts per cell. Usually, after a day of play, a decently sized LiPo battery is usually less than 3.8v per cell.  It never hurts to check, using a voltmeter, throughout the day.

As a rule of thumb, don’t charge your batteries until the day before or the day of the airsoft event. Once you use them, store them securly until the next event.

Overcharging

As I mentioned in the section above talking about discharging a LiPo under 3.0v per cell, the same type of damage can happen in reverse. Under normal use, the oxygen on the anode will oxidize, float around for a few microseconds, and then reoxidize to the cathode. This process, referred to as a redox reaction, is what puts out energy that cycles the AEG gearbox. When you charge a battery, you are essentially  moving all of the oxygen from the cathode back to the anode, so that the redox reaction can happen again.

When a LiPo battery is overcharged, the oxygen molecules are oxidized from the cathode faster than they can bind to the anode. This creates a surplus of oxygen molecules that have nowhere to go but to poof up the LiPo’s protective sack.

Solution: Buy a charger that can be calibrated, so that it never overcharges the battery. Most LiPo batteries have a tolerance of plus or minus 50 millivolts, or 0.05 volts. Having a charger that can accurately and precisely determine the voltage of the battery will go a long way for increasing the usable lifetime of a battery.

That’s it for now, folks! My next article will be praising my favorite LiPo charger, the Turnigy Accucel 6.

First things first, before you begin any kind of physical fitness program, you need to pay a visit to your doctor and get a routine physical examination. Getting a physical does a few things for you. First, a physical will tell you if you have any immediate health problems that you didn’t know about. If you discover problems, you can get started taking care of them. Second, a physical will let you know if you should avoid certain movements. This will make a difference in shaping your work out routines.

After you’ve been cleared by a medical professional to take part in rigorous physical activity it’s time to figure out what you want to do. The best way to do this is to determine where you need improvement. The coming articles will review the movements that you need to be able to do in a typical airsoft game.

Running

Let’s start with running. Running is a foundational skill that you need to be able to do in order to be effective in a game. Not only is running important, but running while carrying an AEG and load bearing gear is even more important. Now add running with weight on over uneven terrain.

The best way to train for this is to do it. Now we can’t always get out to a field, throw on our gear, and just run around, but if you can, you should! What better way to prepare for that than to do it without having to worry about getting shot at. Now on those days when you can’t get to a field in full kit, you can still work out and improve your cardio.
Trail running is an exercise that is comparable in movement to what you do in airsoft. The best way to approach this is to select a specific marked trail in your area. You should select a trail that will allow you to measure out distance. Pick a distance and run the trail for time. Be sure to start out slow. You don’t want to overdo it. With time and repetition, your times will improve and so will your cardio vascular fitness levels. As you do this you will start to see gains in your performance on the field. As you get used to running different trails over uneven ground you will develop strength in the muscle groups necessary to perform that movement. This will translate into improved in game performance. Be sure to wear the right shoes for this activity. We are very lucky to live in a state with some amazing trails nearby. Get on the internet and find a trail near you.

If you are able to hit a game field, do it! Create a route measured route and be consistent with running it. If you can, work out with a group of teammates. This will spawn competition and camaraderie within your team that will translate to better team performance in games. Make sure you record your performance in a small notebook or digitally on whatever device you prefer. This way you can track your progress.

Make sure you stay hydrated. Running with a camelback style hydration carrier is a good way to go to maintain your hydration levels while you run. Prior to doing this, make sure you pre-hydrate. This means drinking water consistently a few days before working out. Staying hydrated will allow you to perform at peak levels.

On the day you decide to start running do the following:

Conduct a 15-30 minute warm up prior to running. Take it easy and make it a light jogging warm up. This should be a very slow military shuffle to jog. Do this on even terrain. We want to get your joints warmed up and lubricated inside prior to stretching. NEVER STRETCH A COLD MUSCLE. After your warm up, some light stretching is in order. Take it easy and don’t overdo it. Once you’ve stretched, get started on your route. Be sure to keep it at a comfortable pace and be consistent. Since you’re trail running, get into the habit of being surface conscious. Pay attention to what’s going on around you and to the surface you’re running on. You don’t want to trip on an exposed tree root or rocks. This sounds simple enough but it’s a skill that many players over look. If you don’t develop this ability to be situationally aware AND surface conscious without gear on and your hands full, imagine how badly it will be compounded in a game when you’re loaded for bear and running with an AEG in your hand!

Focus on good running form. Running should be a controlled fall. To see what I mean, stand straight up with your feet shoulder width apart. Lean forward on your ankles until you feel like you’re going to fall on your face. Proceed with falling and catch yourself by stepping forward. That’s what it should feel like- a series of controlled falls in succession. For more good information on correct running form check out this website:

http://trainingclinic.vivobarefoot.com/ … the-skill/

Regardless of if you’re into barefoot running or not, good form is good form and will only help you. This will take practice so don’t get discouraged. You’ll get better at it the more you do it!

Once you’re done with your route do a short cool down consisting of walking around and stretching. Your cool down should last about 15 minutes and your stretching should be about the same. Remember to document your progress. If you’re running with a group, discuss your team’s performance and set team goals.

If your team can’t get together to run as a group; pick a route that everyone can reach individually, then each member of the team can post their times and experiences. This will help build team unity and fitness.
Running is an essential skill to have in airsoft. Being able to outrun and outlast your opponent can mean the difference between accomplishing your team’s objective and failing miserably. Having a strong cardiovascular fitness level will not only make you a better airsofter; but will also prolong your life, and we all want that!

Age:

1. You must be 16 years of age or older to play with UCA. This applies to members and guests. UCA reserves the right to make exceptions to this rule at any time.
2. 16-17 year of age. Must have a UCA sponsor which is any UCA member 21 years of age or older.
3. 18+ years of age. No age restrictions. No sponsorship needed.

All Guests and Members of UCA must adhere to this policy. If you are caught attempting to deceive UCA about your age or sponsorship, you will be banned from all future events hosted by UCA.

Seems pretty cut and dry, right? You’d be surprised. Every time a game is coming up it seems like there are at least 4 to 5 people under the decided age limit who come asking for special permission. At the bare minimum, you must be at least 16 to play with UCA. I can see that not being able to “step up to the next level” might be frustrating but, we have to look at it from several different angles.

First, there isn’t anything magical or special about being 16 years old, except for the fact that you’re able to get a driver’s license. You don’t need a driver’s license to play airsoft but you do need some way to get there. Sure, you can get mom to drop you off at the meet-up point and bum a ride, but who wants to be “that guy?” Getting yourself to and from games (or at least having the ability) is one way of showing the community you can be responsible for yourself.

The second angle is maturity. Once again, being 16 doesn’t magically make you mature. However, you are more likely to be mature and understand the consequences of your actions. We are using “toys” that can cause serious injury to another player and become (in the eyes of a judge and jury) weapons if used improperly. You could be thrown in jail for aggravated assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. I’m not kidding. At UCA we hope that by the age of 16 the average person can understand the importance of following the safety rules that are in place.

Third, we are not babysitters! Simply put, we come to UCA games to relax with friends, not to have to worry about some one else’s kid. No matter how responsible you are, if you’re too young, someone is going to feel responsible for you and your actions.

Finally (and most important) if you can’t follow a simple rule about being the proper age,  how are we supposed to believe you can follow rules about hits, spawn times, and ammo limits?

All these ideas are simplified but I think you can still see the point. We want to ensure the safety and integrity of the sport and Utah County Airsoft. Every game has liabilities, and our rule on age is set to minimize the potential problems that could affect UCA.

I’ll be doing my HUTU build on a CYMA AK-105.

Let this be your guiding thought through this guide:

Don’t do anything permanent before making sure that everything works and is 100% correct. Measure twice, cut once.

Repeat the mantra…add a Gregorian chant flare if you wish.

Measure twice, cut once.

Measure twice, cut once. 

Measure twice, cut once.

Measure twice, cut once.

in Latin

Metire bis, incide semel.

Metire bis, incide semel.

Metire bis, incide semel.

Metire bis, incide semel.

Amen.

Step 1

Take a look at what you’ll be working with. Get a general idea of how much space you have to squeeze everything in. From the outside, it seems as if I’m pretty limited on space.

Step 2

Start taking your gun apart

Protip: Keep small screws and springs in Dixie cups so you don’t loose them in your parent’s 70s era shag carpet.

Ah, much better. From this angle you can see that I really have quite a bit of room to work with. It looks like I have room to install LEDs on two sides of the hopup unit.

Step 3

Start poking guide holes for the requisite amount of LEDs. I poke these holes so that the drill bit won’t slip on the plastic when I start drilling. I’m using four LEDs here. Note: You should have already determined how many LEDs you need for this project from the previous guide.

I’m using an industrial grade dental pick to make the marks.

Step 4

Drill dem hoes holes!

I’m using a 1/8″ carbide drill bit. I know my stuff with a drill (and was feeling rather saucy) so I went ahead and drilled through to the other side with one complete pass.

Ignore the strange orange glow around my hand. I have no idea why it’s there.

Step 5

Clean up dem hoes holes.

Using my hand, I used a 1/4″ carbide drill bit to fillet the edge of all four of the holes I drilled. This lets the LEDs slide in and out with ease…and it just looks nice nicer.

Clean up the inside of the feeding tube. I’m using a small rat-tail file here.

Nice and smooooth. We don’t want there to be any source of BBs jamming as a result of the HUTU install.

Step 6

It’s LED time.

Here’s one of the 13,000 mcd LEDs I’m using for this project.

The left leg is the positive leg. The right leg is the negative leg.

Without making any cuts, I soldered up all the LEDs and the resistor that I’ll be using for this project. This is just to get an idea of how everything will end up, and to make sure that all the LEDs work.

I followed this diagram…somewhat. Instead of using two 50 ohm resistors, I just used one 150 ohm resistor. Most, if not all, batteries actually are a higher voltage than what they are rated for. Each cell on a LiPo battery should be fully charged to 4.2v. So, for a 2s LiPo (aka 7.4v), that means that a full charge will actually give you 8.4v, not 7.4v. The extra few ohms on the added resistor will keep my LEDs safe from being overcharged and killed by the extra voltage of the fully charged battery.

Step 7

Start inserting the LEDs

You can’t see it, but I marked the hopup tube with little + signs. This lets me know in what direction to face the positive leg on the LEDs. As you can see on the photo below, I have the positive leg of the top LED snaking it’s way over the top of the hopup tube with the negative leg wrapping around to the positive leg of the LED on the other side of the hopup tube. This is all following the wiring diagram as per the LED wizard above (a link to which can be found in the previous guide, or you can just Google “LED Wizard”).

I forgot to show it on the first photo, but I first wrapped the postive leg of the far side LED to the negative leg of the top side LED. I then soldered the two together and used a nail clipper to clean things up. On the photo below, I made sure to show how this is accomplished.

Soldered. You don’t need much.

Step 8

Test your LEDs again, and again, and again. I can’t stress this enough. Metire bis, incide semel.

Testing two of the LEDs.

\

Testing all four LEDs.

Step 9

Start wiring.

Both my positive and negative wires will be snaked up beside the air nozzle hopup tube that meets the front of the gearbox. Use heatshrink tubing to prevent shorts.

Note: I had to remove the resistor in the image below. There wasn’t enough room in front portion of the CYMA receiver for it to fit. I had to cut the resistor off and move it farther down the wire. An updated photo is included below with the resistor moved farther down the wire.

Here’s the resistor moved farther down the wire. This position also allows me to add on more resistors if I ever want to jump up to a higher voltage battery.

Step 10

Adjust the LED depth.

As you can see from the image below, a BB jams in the hopup feeding tube when inserted. You want BBs to be able to freely fall down the tube with only the force of gravity.

To remedy this, I inserted a phillips screwdriver that just so happened to tightly fight in the hopup feeding tube sans LEDs. So, I know it’s a perfect fit. This pushed each LED out about 2mm. With the LEDs now flush with the inside diameter of the hopup feeding tube, I applied CA glue to the outside of each of the LEDs. Let the CA glue dry completely before removing the screwdriver. If you don’t have a drill bit or screwdriver that will fit snugly, take some electrical tape and shim it up to the inside diameter of the hopup feeding tube.

Step 11

Insert the almost completed unit into your gun of choice. Don’t tighten anything down yet. Just make sure that it fits.

Step 12

Wire your HUTU to the power source of your choice.

If you wanted to use a 9v battery, you’ll simply want to wire up a 9V battery clip to the wiring of your HUTU. I’d suggest using two JST plugs so that you can easily feed the wires through tight spaces (the passage from the upper receiver to the handgaurd on AR-15 styled airsoft guns, for example).

In my case, I wanted to wire my HUTU into my gun’s power source, a 7.4v LiPo battery. I used two JST plugs.

Finished

Night games are, sadly, a rarity here in Utah. Except for Rhodesian Revolt, I can’t name one night game that I’ve seen pop up among all the public groups here since then. Though, with the increasing frequency that haunted houses are opening their doors to airsofters during the offseason, the chances are on the rise.

Even if a CQB game doesn’t happen during the night, haunted houses are filled with dark corners and rooms that would make standard sights obsolete. Low end (read: airsoft and 22. LR) red dot sights are better than nothing, but the use of mirrors in their construction makes them difficult to use in dark situations. Take a look at the front lens of your favorite red dot sight. You’ll notice that the front lens has a slightly mirrored finish. This allows the reflection of the LED  to reflect back at you, the shooter, creating the illusion of a floating dot. But, in turn, it prevents a great deal of light from entering the sight. At night, you’ll clearly be able to see the red dot, but your target…not so much.

This shortfall of red dot sights can easily be overcome by shooting with both eyes open (which you should be doing anyways), but that’s not the purpose of this article. The purpose of this article is to teach you to paint a pair of sights with a highly fluorescent (a.k.a. glow in the dark) paint. This isn’t a replacement for tritium sights. Glow in the dark paint need to be charged. However, given that you use high quality paint, it can visibly hold its charge for a few hours.

In a CQB scenario, this means that the sights are charging while you’re either outside in the sun or in a room with normal lighting. Upon entering a darker room, the sights on your weapon are clearly visible. At night, you’ll need to charge your sights with a bright LED flashlight for a few minutes. After your eyes adjust to the darkness, your sights will be visible for about two hours.

What paint should I buy?

First things first. Don’t go buy any ol’ glow in the dark (GID) paint from Hobby Lobby or other arts and crafts stores, I learned this the hard way. Glow in the dark paint is all about quality versus cost. Regular GID paint from retail stores trade quality for cost and convenience. These paints don’t hold their charge for more than a couple of minutes. You need to buy GID paint from someone who makes it for a living. Enter GlowINC.

GlowINC’s V10 Glow in the Dark Paint is regarded by many as the brightest glow in the dark paint that money can buy. I found this paint by perusing some of my favorite real steel firearm forums.

Glow Inc’s V10 paint. This 1/2 ounce container has enough paint for a few hundred sights. It cost me ~$13 after shipping on Amazon.

You can order it directly off of their site or save some money on shipping and order it from Amazon. 

Application

I found that the best tool for applying paint is a bent bobby pin. One end is clipped and the other end is left “bulbous.” The bulbous end allows even application of the paint to circular sights, like the recessed sights on a Glock or 1911. The clipped end allows easy application to sight posts (e.g., M16, M14, AK47, etc.)

After each application, let the paint dry, then keep on adding more and more coats. More applications = brighter and longer lit sights.

For recessed sights, see if you can enlarge them with a small drill bit. Remember, the volume of paint is key for brightness. Be very careful when doing so.

A simple bobby pin

Using the bulbous end

Success

Using the clipped end

Victory for the motherland!

An astute reader will notice that these sights have already been completed. I’m simply showing how I drilled recesses for the paint. I only went about 2mm deep with the drill bit. Make sure to mark your drill points with a sharp object before taking the plunge. You don’t want your bit to slip.

Charging

For most situations, you’ll want to charge your sights with a bright flashlight for a few minutes. In the day, ambient sunlight will give a pretty good charge before you enter a building or structure. I’m even considering wiring up some small UV LED lights in a Serpa or Safariland holster that would keep the sights at maximum charge at all times.

Because of the camera’s long exposure time, the brightness of the sights are slightly exaggerated, but not by much.

The front sight of my CYMA Glock at night. Again, the brightness is slightly exaggerated by the long exposure time of the camera.

I SPY…a Deans plug, a drill bit, a razor blade, helping hands, a 1mm Allen key, electical tape, a Glock, solder.

Update

I painted the sights on my MK18 with a generous amount of the florescent paint. After charging them for a few minutes, I went to sleep at quarter till 2200. I woke up at midnight to check the sights. With my eyes adjusted to the dark, they were plain as day. These things are going to be a game changer for night games. Here’s a picture of the sights. I tried to selectivly darken the areas that are glowing to compensate for my camera’s loooong exposure time. For those interested, the image below was shot at 45mm, f5.3, ISO 3200, with a 30 sec exposure time.

I selectively darkened the glowing sights with Adobe Lightroom. This is a much, much more realistic picture than the previous shots. This was shot a couple minutes after midnight, over two hours after the sights had originally been charged.

First and most important is etiquette. Two main segments of etiquette are game day etiquette and in game etiquette.

Game day etiquette is everything you do before you step onto the field to play. First make sure you read the ROE for the team whose game you plan to attend. Most teams have similar rules with some tweaks, make sure you know what those differences are. Read the scenario and special game day rules. Some one has put a lot of effort into making game day go as smooth and fun as possible. In order for that to happen they are counting on players having some idea what is going on that day. Be on time. Make sure you are to the meet up on time or at the field ready to go at the advertised game start time. No one likes to be sitting around waiting for some one to finish loading mags or to arrive. People make mental notes of who those players are, don’t be “that guy.”

The second part is in game etiquette. Simply put follow the rules that are in place for that game. If there is a set spawn time make sure you wait that time before reentering the game. If there are ammo limits follow them. The game has been set up and balanced with those limits in mind changing your load out to fit those restrictions shows respect for the event organizers. When your taking a shot be courteous. It sounds kind of odd to be courteous during a “war game” but it is very important to keep in mind where your shooting some one how far away they are. It’s been said many times but a center mass shot is always best. Head shots do happen but are highly discouraged.

A note to the gamers. We welcome you and invite you to come out and play but please keep in mind airsoft is not a First Person Shooter video game. Think about the difference between Mario cart and Granturismo. Both are fun racing games but offer very different experiences. You wouldn’t hop on Granturismo and start ramming people and forcing people off the road without expecting them to get mad. The same idea goes for airsoft and first person shooters. Both are combat simulators but that’s about where the similarities end. First Person Shooters normally revolve around one hero destroying an entire enemy force single handed. Taking on an entire team by your self is the quickest way to end up back at re-spawn. Airsoft encourages team play, embrace it.

A final piece of advise. Find a veteran player who is over all well liked by you and the community you plan to join. Spend time talking to that player find out how they play and apply what you can to yourself to make your self a better player.

Simply stated, an abstract is a portion of a book, article, or piece of literature that essentially lays it all out on the table. It’s a short summary of research so that the reader doesn’t have to drag through the morass of a fifty page research paper so that he can find out what was the experiment and what was the result. Mind you, this wouldn’t give Albert Einstein license to say “We set stuff on fire, it exploded” while talking about his research into nuclear weapons. It’s a bit more like, if this abstract sounds interesting, the rest of the article will too.  Think of it like a swamp donkey showing a little skin to an inebriated bar patron to say, “There’s more where that comes from, hon.” 

Anyway, I am writing an abstract here for two reasons:

1. I want people to know the general direction and progression they can expect from this series on HUTUs. I don’t want you to get started and find out halfway down the road that this project isn’t for you when your gun is wide open and you’ve ravaged it with a power drill and soldering iron.

2. This guide is going to be long, very long. I’m like Mr. Nutnfancy on YouTube. When I explain things, especially when I have time to ruminate over my thoughts, I can become very long winded. An abstract will let me lay out in simple terms what the hey is going on here.

Let’s get started

Abstract

Unlike barrel mounted tracer units (from now on, referred to as TUs), HUTUs allow the operator to configure his weapon in the manner of his choosing with no regard to inner barrel length,  spring choice, or magazine construction. Building a HUTU will necessitate permanent, irreversible modification to weapon the of the operator’s choice. Though in the end, the operator will have a TU that performs as well as, or better than, the highest quality end of barrel TU. HUTUs cannot be beat for their compactness, reliability, price, ease of maintenance, and realism. Do 5.56 XM856 tracers require a suppressor to function? Nope, neither does the HUTU. This article will be a combination of instruction, reference, and consolidation. There are many, many other HUTU guides in this world, and while Googling for them is easy, I want to compile as many resources into one point as possible. It’ll make the job easier on you and allow me to disseminate information in a much more efficient manner.

Materials List: Let’s go buy stuff!

Here’s a list of items you’ll want for the project. I’ve divided it into two sections, want and need. “Need” indicates that without said item, completing the project is all but impossible. “Want” items just make it a helluva lot easier to complete. You’ll also now need to make the decision if you want to wire your HUTU into your gun’s power source or not. Wiring the HUTU in with your guns means less switches and batteries to worry about, but it essentailly limits you to never exceeding the voltage that you’ve initally wired your LEDs for (i.e. if you wire up a HUTU for a 7.4v LiPo and try to use an 11.1v L iPo you’ll fry your unit). You can always go lower than your initial voltage, but you won’t be using the optimum voltage for your choice of resistors.

Need

• Soldering Iron (25W+). I recommend avoiding anything with the RadioShack brandname like the plague  You can pick up a Weller SP23L starting kit at the Home Depot for ~$15. 
• Wire Strippers (Home Depot [HD] or Radio Shack [RS])
• Power Drill (HD)
• 1/8″drill bit (HD)
• Industrial dental pick (HD)
• 22-Gauge Stranded Hookup Wire, Red and Black (RS)
• 3mm Flat Top LEDs (more clarification on this after the list)
• Resistors (see comment after LED)
• 9V Battery Snap Connectors (if you choose to use such a power source, you can choose whatever source you want, but finding the proper connector is up to you).
• Male and Female Quick Disconnects for 22-gauge wire (RS)
• Assorted heat shrink tubing (RS)
• Empty fake PEQ-15 (if you don’t have space in the handgaurd or want to wire the HUTU to your AEGs battery (Weapon Blender or Ebay))
• Generic Superglue (HD)
• Hot Glue Gun and glue (Mart of Wall)
• Lighter (Mart of Wall)
• Clean workspace and bright lights

Want

• Third Hand/ Helping Hands (~$6 off of Amazon or ~$10 from Radio Shack, it makes soldering much, much, much easier and more precise, this should really be a need, but I did my first HUTU without one, so yeah)

Kindof want (read: luxury)

• Multimeter (it’s expensive, I know, but it allows you to check circuits, the charge on batteries, and allows you to calibrate expensive LiPoly chargers). I used it once or twice during my setup.

About the LEDs and Resistors…

So, we’ve now come to the point where you decide the type and quantity of the LEDs and Resistors that you’re using for this mod. Your choice all depends on what type of gun you’re choosing to make this mod for.

Let’s start with the size. 3mm flattop LEDs are your prime choice here. From some reading I’ve done, larger (5mm and up) LEDs tend to have problems with magnetic interference from the motor. I can’t confirm this myself, but the originator of the HUTU concept (Jaws) has stated a few times in some of his HUTU guides. 3mm LEDs are also much easier to work with in terms of modifying your hopup unit. Making space for 5mm LEDs can become difficult on cramped AEGs like a V3 AK.

I know this may be a cop out, but I would suggest googling your gun of choice and seeing if you can find pictures of a completed HUTU. I only have two AEGs, a KWA and a CYMA AK. I was able to fit four 3mm LEDs in the lower hopup unit of my KWA, but I’m afraid that I’ll only be able to fit two to three on my AK’s hopup tube. I’ll include a couple pictures from some common hopup units to give you an idea of what you’re working with.

The four 3mm LEDs that I was able to fit into my KWA.

An AK-47 hopup unit with two LEDs installed.

As you can see, this is a pretty smart dude. He’s penciled in the polarity of each LED on the hopup unit for reference. Getting everything cut and soldered only to find that you flipped the polarity on one LED is downright infuriating. There are SIX 3mm LEDs on this HUTU.

 More photos are available here. 

Ok, 3mm flat top LEDs, yatta, yatta, yatta. What about color” 

Well goshdarnit, I never though’t you’d ask. The color of an LED (or anything for that matter) depends upon the wavelength of light that it emits or reflects.

Woah, man, that’s a little too groovy for my tastes, why don’t you tone it down for us non-scientists? 

Alright, alright. I’ll try to make this simple. Radio waves, X-Rays, even microwaves all have one thing in common, they are light. But, they all are at a vastly different wavelength. In layman’s terms, the wavelength is a measurement of how much an electron (single “bit” of light) travels up and down as it zips around at lightspeed. As humans, we can only see a small sliver of that huge spectrum of light.

Do you ever wonder why you only need a screen of mesh to prevent your brain from being cooked as you watch popcorn pop in your microwave? Take a look a the graph. Microwaves are about 1cm “big.” So they can’t fit through the little holes that smaller visible light can fit through. Going larger, most VHF ham radios are referred to “2 meter” radios because, you guessed it, the wavelength is ~2 meters “big.”

The Electromagnetic Spectrum. Credit goes to Wikipedia.

All that aside,  glow in the dark BBs (GIDs) respond best to wavelengths closer to the UV spectrum (~400nm). What this means is that you should choose LEDs that are either straight up UV LEDs or a high intensity purple. Don’t go to Radio Shack to get your LEDs, they do not have anything close to what we’re looking for. Ebay is your friend here.

So, for this project I’d recommend 3mm flat top 10,000mcd+ purple/ dark blue LEDs or 3,000mcd+ UV LEDs. I got away with using four 6,000mcd purple LEDs for my KWA, but I wish I would have gone brighter (they were on par with the JG TU). Mcd is a measurement of light intensity. The brighter you can get, the better.

Resistors

Ok, now that we’ve chosen our LEDs, why can’t we just wire them up straght to the battery?

Well, in a perfect world we could do this, but in our case the voltage of the battery won’t necessarily be the voltage of your LEDs. You can fry your LEDs in a hurry by trying to pump too much juice into them at once. Resistors are little devices that take the current down a measurable notch so that we don’t fry our little project.

Once you determine how many LEDs you’re going to be using and the power source (9V battery, AEG battery, etc.) head to this little tool here:

LED Array Wizard

Navigate to the page where you’ve found the LEDs you’re looking for and fill out the wizard like I have. I’ve entered 7.4v for my source voltage because I’ll be running a 7.4v LiPo that’s wired to my gun.

Alright, so you can see that the wizard says that I should use 1/4W resistors for this project. Off to either Ebay or RS. You’ll just need to buy a package (usually around 100) of the type of resistor specified. Don’t worry about the wiring diagram yet, we’ll get to that later.

And…that’s it for now. If you have any questions, leave a comment and I’ll address them here in this article.

This article is subject to change at the author’s discretion. 

MARSOC sporting some Merrell Outlands

Jake’s Newbie Guide discusses the importance of a good boot. Merrell’s fall in that category. I will not lie these boots cost as much as a cheap AEG, I paid $120 for mine, but worth every cent.

Now with all of our reviews we look at everything in the spirit of authenticity. Merrell boots are not standard issue, they are used by units that have greater latitude when it comes equipment, so keep that in mind. If you are looking to replicate a Marine grunt stop reading now.

My Merrell boots have seen hard use for two years now and not just airsoft games although most of the abuse has come from playing the game. All Merrell hiking boots are waterproof and it works well, water or snow they keep the elements out. Now this water proofing has one draw back, it retains water once it breaks over the top of the boot. They do eventually dry out on a hot day and I have never had cold feet during the winter.

The structure of the boot holds and molds to the foot giving great ankle and foot support. To get this boot to hold to your foot it is very important that you size the boot right as shoes go each manufacture sizes a little different. I went to a shoe shop and had my foot measured just to make sure I got the right size.

The internals of the shoe, specifically the foot insole, has not lost any of its cushion. They feel just as comfortable as the day I got them. I would go as far as saying they feel even better. I walked and ran all over for a two day event and I felt no foot fatigue or blisters. The tread has worn a little but they continue to grip and hold a wide range of rough terrain and urban environment surfaces.

Tread shows minimal wear and the shoe overall has minor aging.

Other manufactures make great boots that are used in the special operations community, I can understand why Merrell is on that list too. While the cost makes them a little difficult for the penny counting player, they are worth everyone.