Congratulations to January’s winner, Bernadette, and the runner up, Croft (Sandra).  Winner will get a $50 store certificate and runner up will get $25.  Since we have entrants from all over the states, these certificates are for web orders.  Additionally, these two lovely ladies are automatically entered into the Femme Fatale Of The Year contest, and will compete against winners from the other months yet to come.  A single winner will be voted on by the public and she will get a spectacular prize package (details to be posted as we get closer to December).

See the other entrants here:  http://gallery.airsoftextreme.com/galle ... emId=18519

For those who are wondering, our voting judges consisted of 2 women (one of which is a rabid airsofter), and 3 men (one of whom was majoring in photography).  Since I’m the one who collects up all images and puts text on them, I’m not a voting judge- I vote only if a tie breaker is needed.  

For the entrants that did not win, they will automatically be entered into February’s contest.  Or if they want, they can email a new photo and reenter the new month’s contest.

For the new month of voting, we will not post up images as we get them.  Having images up early allows others to see the competition and either try to outdo them or they don’t submit at all thinking they can’t beat the competition.  Therefore, in the interest of being fair, I will not post up any images I get until AEX members actually vote for the winner.

So, we’re off to a great start!  We’re taking entrants for February now.  Even if you don’t shop with AEX, it’s still a fun and simple contest, so get those submissions in!

If you just want to meet and greet Gunny, then bring a toy.  But if you also want a chance at winning the autographed AEG, then each entry is $10, with all net proceeds going to Toys For Tots.

Parking- please park across the street at Dixieline.

A review of the Thunder B grenades.

As soon as these came to our store, a couple of us got some sets, thinking of what kind of nasty things we could do to them.  We bought some CO2 cartridges, then “tested” them out.

For those that don’t know, Thunder B grenades are live action grenades that use CO2 to cause the grenade to pop… loudly.  There are two kits for purchase- a beginner pack and a player’s pack.  Both kits come with a “core” and a few outer shells.  Beginner pack has a core and 3 shells, a player back has a core and 12 shells.

The way it works- insert a CO2 cartridge into the grenade core.  When safety pins are pulled, and the spoon is released, a “hammer” system slams into the top of the CO2 cartridge.  The punctured cartridge quickly (about 4-6 seconds) fills up the hollow shell of the grenade to bursting point, then pops… loudly.

Afterwards, simply unscrew the core from inside the ruptured grenade shell, replace the spent CO2 cartridge, then screw on a new outer shell.  Reset the hammer and safety pins, and go at it again.

As advertised, they are LOUD.  And a bit of smart thinking went into the shell design as well.  We wondered if the grenade actually exploded hard enough to send bits and pieces everywhere, but by design, there are seams that are meant to burst open.  No flying debris.

Since the outer shell is hollow and the core fits inside, we wondered if we might make the grenade more “effective” by putting stuff inside the grenade shell.  That way, when it burst, there might be secondary effects.  We thought of putting baby powder into it, thinking there would be a big poofy cloud to go along with the loud bang.  Unfortunately, it didn’t work at all.  As the CO2 was released into the shell, it mixed up the baby powder, which then gummed up all the works within the core, not allowing the air to release as explosively as expected.  The grenade just swelled up and fizzled.

Then we thought about putting bb’s inside the hollow shell.  With the designed seam-burst, bb’s won’t come out as explosively (or in a wide pattern), like we thought.  

Ultimately, after testing about 8 grenades, we came to realize the grenades function best when utilized without extra stuff.  I also took 2 cores and 15 shells to a big op today to get some battlefield testing.  

Pros- very loud, economical, safe, and quite the attention-getter.

Cons- couple things:
-The core must be kept clean at all times.  After using the same core 3 times in a dusty field, when I attempted to use it again, it merely fizzled in the same manner it did when we put powder inside of it.  Dust must have gummed up the inner workings of the core.
-Part of the core is plastic.  A vital part.  When you throw the grenade, the spoon is released and the hammer strikes the CO2 cartridge.  That whole part is plastic and is vulnerable to breakage.  When you throw the grenade, you run the risk of the top of the grenade (where the plastic part is) of breaking when it hits the ground.  I took two grenades to an op, and one broke the first time I chucked it.  There’s no way to fix it, so now I must purchase another set just to get another core.
-There is no way to purchase just the core.  There are large packages to buy replacement outer shells, but no way to buy just the core.

Final verdict- I like these.  Whenever one of my grenades went off, people 100 feet away knew it.  After the second or third grenade went off, whenever people saw me chuck another grenade, they went running for the hills!  Terrifying in its own right!  VERY EFFECTIVE.  And with the lessons learned, I’ll be sure to keep the cores clean and try not to break any more.  If they could be made with aluminum cores, I’d gladly pay a few dollars more for a core that won’t break as easily, and will keep buying replacement shells (very cheap, by the way).  Oh, I recommend tying some kind of bright streamer to this- when you throw it into heavy scrub, you run the risk of never finding it again.  A bright streamer might help you locate it...

Show off your team!

To all our friends out there, AEX is going to create an area in our gallery just for team photos.  

If you would like to send a photo of your team, please take a good group photo and hold up any team banners or flags you may have.  If you don’t have a banner or flag, then be creative and “photoshop” your team’s name onto the photo and send it to us.

Send a JPEG (no bigger than 8 MB please) of your team to topt@airsoftextreme.com

Here’s an example:

In extremely rare fashion, but in true milsim form, AEX is conducting a clandestine operation- a SECRET SQUIRREL SALE!  

 

This sale is only being advertised and disseminated via select forums, websites and email addresses.  It is not being sent out via the normal email newsletter nor is it being posted on the main website.  However, feel free to share this info with all your buddies, on other forums, with your teammates, your moms, sisters, schoolmates, cellmates, whomever.

 

The SECRET SQUIRREL SALE will last until Nov 17 - 10% off any purchase of $25 or more.  

For online purchases code is “speshulAEXlove”.

 

For taking advantage of the sale in store, you must use our secret phrase.  Again, this is not widely distributed.  Not everyone will know about it, so if you want to take advantage of this sale, then you must tell us at checkout “There’s an evil monkey in my closet”

 

Remember, this sale ends Nov 17!