Airsoft

[Jacob(smooth)]

Anyone here done airsoft before?

Just got a few for a skirmish around some farm buildings but no idea what I'm buying!

[Jackalope]

I believe Insanity is our resident airsoft fanatic. Never done it myself, though I used to do paintball. Ouch!

[Rampant.A.I.]

Paintball. Pumps FTW. Nothing beats nailing a guy in the goggles with a pump-action marker while he's spraying 33 BPS.

[SteelCurtain]

I did airsoft in college. Bancroft Hall is the largest dormitory in the world. 4,200 midshipman live in it. 4.6 miles of hallways. We had epic battles. Until my company officer slipped on a pellet in the hallway, and banned us from doing it anymore. Then we just did it on the weekends.

This is what a hallway looks like: lots of doors directly across from each other. Fantastic for warfare! (this is another pastime for mids, mattress jousting!)



It's becoming a thing people do outside now?

[Jacob(smooth)]

Yeah, it's sort of paintball lite. Because the guns are so much easier, lighter, prettier and less bulky (ammo) it seems to be a different style of game to paintball. We're going to be playing in and around the house, few Barns, outhouses and such. Also cheaper, a full auto gun starts from about 40 quid. You can blow that on ammo for a single game of paintball (and indeed I have, many times.

Cept I dunno what to buy! Shotguns, pistols, assault rifles, smgs, you can basically buy replicas of about anything! So far I picked a cheap ak47, my Bro got a Src g36 gen 3 and his daughter got an uzi for each hand (she's just seen the matrix).

[Nine]

I did a ton of back garden/empty field battles as a kid and started doing skirmishes last year properly.

I'm pretty sure your from the UK so i'll base what I say on that.

What you want to buy depends on how much you are willing to spend and what range you are playing. You can get some cheap shotguns for like £20 that are accurate to about 20 meters that are a lot of fun if you planning on light hearted fun. They tend to be around 200fps so not too painful either. If you want to go full auto, run and gun in a big area go for G&G combat machines. They cost £120 (not including battery and charger) are accurate up to 50-60 meters and shoot at like 330fps (enough to draw blood if your too close).

You'll have to get transparent or 'two tone' brightly coloured guns unless you are a member of an airsofting site. Those cheap shotguns I was saying about are usually transparent. If you are going the combat machine route, get them from Zerooneairsoft.com they are cheaper and do free two tone on the guns.

Don't forget to wear eye protection and maybe a mask/gum shield unless you want to be minus a pair of eyes and a few teeth. It's also worth taking into account how much the police can get their pants in a twist if you do anything wrong, you have to treat airsoft guns like the real thing, even transporting them with battery and magazine out of the gun. I'm assuming this barn deal is private land of someone you know, if it's too close roads, paths or homes then you might get and unwelcome visit from the police. If you have 2 tones or transparent guns they aren't like to send an armed response team but they can take these things a bit too serious.

Anything else you want to know just let me know.

---

Yeah, it's sort of paintball lite. Because the guns are so much easier, lighter, prettier and less bulky (ammo) it seems to be a different style of game to paintball. We're going to be playing in and around the house, few Barns, outhouses and such. Also cheaper, a full auto gun starts from about 40 quid. You can blow that on ammo for a single game of paintball (and indeed I have, many times.

Cept I dunno what to buy! Shotguns, pistols, assault rifles, smgs, you can basically buy replicas of about anything! So far I picked a cheap ak47, my Bro got a Src g36 gen 3 and his daughter got an uzi for each hand (she's just seen the matrix).

In general I'd avoid cheap auto's, my friends made this mistake when we were younger. I had a tiny single shot pistol and would often sprint into a hail of bb's that were nice enough to go in a big circle around me while I got nice and close with the pistol and made them look silly. A £20 pistol or shotgun will serve you much better for accuracy, range, power and relyability. Auto's are tempting because the cloud of bb's should hit something but usually it's just frustrating, lots of time reloading and not much actually hitting things.

I went to airsofting from the cost of paintballing too. Far too expensive, I actually much prefer the experience of airsofting too. Airsofting tends to bring out a more mature compared to painball, well as mature as people running round the woods playing soldiers can be. 25 for the day at a site, £8 for enough bb's 2 last 2 events

[ShaMan]

When we played "Cowboys and Indians" as children, we all knew that the cowboys were really the bad guys. Wear eye protection!

[Jacob(smooth)]

I did a ton of back garden/empty field battles as a kid and started doing skirmishes last year properly.

I'm pretty sure your from the UK so i'll base what I say on that.

What you want to buy depends on how much you are willing to spend and what range you are playing. You can get some cheap shotguns for like £20 that are accurate to about 20 meters that are a lot of fun if you planning on light hearted fun. They tend to be around 200fps so not too painful either. If you want to go full auto, run and gun in a big area go for G&G combat machines. They cost £120 (not including battery and charger) are accurate up to 50-60 meters and shoot at like 330fps (enough to draw blood if your too close).

You'll have to get transparent or 'two tone' brightly coloured guns unless you are a member of an airsofting site. Those cheap shotguns I was saying about are usually transparent. If you are going the combat machine route, get them from Zerooneairsoft.com they are cheaper and do free two tone on the guns.

Don't forget to wear eye protection and maybe a mask/gum shield unless you want to be minus a pair of eyes and a few teeth. It's also worth taking into account how much the police can get their pants in a twist if you do anything wrong, you have to treat airsoft guns like the real thing, even transporting them with battery and magazine out of the gun. I'm assuming this barn deal is private land of someone you know, if it's too close roads, paths or homes then you might get and unwelcome visit from the police. If you have 2 tones or transparent guns they aren't like to send an armed response team but they can take these things a bit too serious.

Anything else you want to know just let me know.

---

Yeah, it's sort of paintball lite. Because the guns are so much easier, lighter, prettier and less bulky (ammo) it seems to be a different style of game to paintball. We're going to be playing in and around the house, few Barns, outhouses and such. Also cheaper, a full auto gun starts from about 40 quid. You can blow that on ammo for a single game of paintball (and indeed I have, many times.

Cept I dunno what to buy! Shotguns, pistols, assault rifles, smgs, you can basically buy replicas of about anything! So far I picked a cheap ak47, my Bro got a Src g36 gen 3 and his daughter got an uzi for each hand (she's just seen the matrix).

In general I'd avoid cheap auto's, my friends made this mistake when we were younger. I had a tiny single shot pistol and would often sprint into a hail of bb's that were nice enough to go in a big circle around me while I got nice and close with the pistol and made them look silly. A £20 pistol or shotgun will serve you much better for accuracy, range, power and relyability. Auto's are tempting because the cloud of bb's should hit something but usually it's just frustrating, lots of time reloading and not much actually hitting things.

I went to airsofting from the cost of paintballing too. Far too expensive, I actually much prefer the experience of airsofting too. Airsofting tends to bring out a more mature compared to painball, well as mature as people running round the woods playing soldiers can be. 25 for the day at a site, £8 for enough bb's 2 last 2 events

Thanks Insanity, that's helpful. Few questions...

Assuming masks and goggles are a must, (nobody wants a pellet in the ear) how easy is it to tell if you've been hit? Do you need to wear shorts and T shirts etc to tell if you've been hit, or do you want to be in thick layers to stop the bruising? I ask cos I'm wondering about involving my nieces / nephews (early teens)

What sort of fps is the minimum for effective use? If it a a weak fps one, does that mean you can't tell if you've been hit or just that the accuracy is for shit at more than 6 feet?

[Nine]

Thanks Insanity, that's helpful. Few questions...

Assuming masks and goggles are a must, (nobody wants a pellet in the ear) how easy is it to tell if you've been hit? Do you need to wear shorts and T shirts etc to tell if you've been hit, or do you want to be in thick layers to stop the bruising? I ask cos I'm wondering about involving my nieces / nephews (early teens)

What sort of fps is the minimum for effective use? If it a a weak fps one, does that mean you can't tell if you've been hit or just that the accuracy is for shit at more than 6 feet?

Even cheap spring guns at 200fps are enough to give you a good sting through clothing. It shouldn't be an issue, especially this time if year. Getting hit on bare skin isn't all that much fun even at 200fps. I've messed with those kinds of guns with just a T-shirt and it can be fairly painful. Not enough to stop it being fun but enough to make you more careful/sneaky next time.

As for your niblings, I think you will only be able to tell once they try it. I'd say stick on something long sleeved, maybe a jacket and jeans if they are concerned. They will still feel the hit and occasionally one on tight clothing that will sting. Most hits won't do more than look red for 20-30 mins bad ones can welts for a day or two. Avoid anything less than a meter with 200fps, it can hit hard enough to draw blood at that range.

Most spring rifles, pistols, shotguns fall between 200-300fps. Accuracy varies. I've always done well with cheap shotguns, they are accurate to around 20m. Same with pistols. Other assault rifle types tend to do whatever they want. They are still fairly accurate close range, something like 10m then fly off one direction. You should use 0.2 gram bb's they are more accurate than 0.12g's.

If you go as high as 300-330fps then you will get some nasty hits. You'll 100% know about it. I'm fortunate enough not to have been hit by one anywhere less than 20m away. Most UK sites only allow you to fire single shot in CQB with these types just because it's enough to spoil your fun getting hit lots at close range. For the family friendly battles you want to do I'd stay away from anything over 250fps.

At a certain point you have to pick between power and accuracy, you want to be able to hit people but not ruin their day, 200fps makes you think twice about charging in close range, 330fps is enough to piss somebody off. I'd go with 200fps unless the firefights are going to be 40m between opponents.

[Nine]

Just looked up your brothers gun. Its pretty powerful, I think its the same one they rent out at the site I go to. If you want to stand a chance go with one of these: http://www.zerooneairsoft.com/index.php?...18_403_494

They are light, powerful, well made and accurate. It might even outgun him for £40 less. You could spend that on the battery and charger you will need. His is partly made of metal which makes it fairly heavy after a while of running around where the combat machines are made of strong plastics making them nice and light.

I'd set up some loose minimum distance rules with these beasts though. At close range bb's from this thing can find themselves cutting into skin. There is one YouTube video where a guy is cutting a bb out of his face. You want to have fun not hurt each other too much.