Do Airsoft

Airsoft is a fun and active military simulation sport in which many participate. It is much like paintball, except small plastic pellets are used as projectiles, and the guns are meant to simulate actual firearms.

Steps

  1. Save up your Earn-and-Save-Money. This will take money.
  2. Get a gun. There are three types of Airsoft guns.
    • There is the spring gun (springer), which uses a high power spring to launch the bb. The downside to this is that after every shot, you have to cock the gun. Also, unless you pay 70+ for the gun, it is probably very inaccurate compared to an AEG. They make decent sidearms, and if you wish to be an Airsoft Sniper, the spring sniper rifle is where you start.
    • There is the electric gun which uses electricity to power the gun. They differ a lot in terms of cost, as some of them are good quality and cost about $90 - $100, but professional ones can easily go as high as $300 - $400. Electric guns are quite popular in Airsoft skirmishes, as they are reliable and versatile.
    • There are also gas guns which use gas to propel the bbs at very fast velocity. You need to buy gas to refill your gun, and this might cost quite a bit after a while. Gas guns also need at least {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}} to operate effectively (most of them anyway).
  3. The Main Types are LPEG, MPEG, and AEG. LPEG is low power electric gun, MPEG is mid power electric gun, and AEG is simply automatic electric gun.
  4. There are three types mainly: the Automatic Electric Gun (AEG), Automatic Electric Pistol(AEP), and the Electric Blow Back Gun (EBB). Usually the AEG is a higher quality gun and you get much more bang for your buck. Most long-time airsofters eventually get a good AEG, and it lasts a while. This is your standard "serious airsofter" type of airsoft gun. It is usually powered by a rechargeable battery.
    • AEPs are made by brands such as Well, JG, and Tokyo Marui and are decent guns. Do NOT get an EBB unless it is HIGH QUALITY.
    • Then finally, there is the gas gun (GBB). It uses HFC132a(weakest), Propane(strong), Green Gas(strong), Red Gas(very strong), CO2/Black Gas(Strongest). To power the gun.
    • Electric guns do not require cocking. If you are using a GBBR(Gas Blow Back Rifle) or standard GBB pistols, you must rack them either by the slide (pistols) or by the bolt (rifles) for every first shot. this is to chamber the first bb and set the hammer or striker. Spring guns are very reliable, but have a slow rate of fire (ROF), Automatic Electric Guns (AEGs), have a high ROF, but are trickier to maintain. GBBs have a high FPS (usually depending), can be automatic, but they are usually semi, but you need gas and you need to keep buying gas. However the gas powered (not C02) airsoft guns become exponentially less reliable in cold weather, and the plastic parts found in many cheaper airsoft guns are prone to breaking. investing in a gun with metal internals will greatly increase the reliability and performance of your gun.
  5. Find a group of people that are also interested and try to form a team or find a team to join. Your "team" could just be a group of you and your friends. There isn't any kind of registered team system, just get out there and have fun.
    • You and your team should agree on the ground rules that carry into any game. These should be mostly safety rules. Here are the ground rules from my team, to give you an idea:
      • 1. Gun safeties engaged until all players have their goggles on.
      • 2. Hands/gun in the air means "hold your fire" (this is useful when you don't want to pause the whole game, but your goggles have fogged up and you need to wipe them off.)
      • 3. Define a "safe zone." All players who are out, or need to reload, need to stay in the safe zone. You can not fire into or through the safe zone. Safe zones need to be a place where someone can safely be without goggles.
      • 4. 1 hit and you're out for that round.
  6. Find an area to play in. Paintball and airsoft fields are recommended. Have plenty of places for cover, since open areas are no fun. Woodsy places are great in the daytime, but at night tend to be too dark for the casual player. Any legal location with a well defined area is great.
    • Play at designated fields that are owned specifically for airsoft and or paintball.
    • "Backyard Airsofting" is generally looked down upon in the Airsoft community. First of all, playing in view of other people puts you at risk of having law enforcement called by a scared neighbor. As ridiculous as that may seem, remember that if someone walks or drives by your house and catches a glance of people firing very realistic-looking rifles at each other, it is very easy for that person to panic and call the cops. Secondly, if you were to accidentally fire your gun and hit a bystander, you could get in serious trouble with the law.
    • Under no circumstance should you EVER play in a public area such as a park. This is the type of behavior that leads towns and cities to ban airsoft. Find private land to play on, get permission from the owner, and keep airsoft fun for all of us.
  7. Get permission to play in the desired area. It needs to be private property! You should inform your neighbors on what you are planning to do. If you're not sure where you are allowed to play, you can always call the local police station and ask about the laws regarding airsoft usage.
  8. Learn good tactics. There are some basic tactics that you should use when you are first starting out, and you may already know some of them.
  9. Choose your game type. The three most common ones are last man/team standing (deathmatch), objective based and Milsim.
    • In last man/team standing, you just shoot each other or the other team. You and your teammates try to "kill" the other team by shooting them. Hits are based on the honor policy. A hit system should be worked out. Usually one or two hits and you're out; sometimes there is the ability to come back to life via a medic or respawn point. The team that kills all the members of the other team wins.
    • In an objective based game, you assemble two teams and each team has to either defend or attack a target, set up an ambush, the possibilities are endless. A fun option might be capture the flag.
    • MilSim stands for military simulation. Players sides are decided by uniform and kit. The games are story driven. Internationally these games may have up to 1800+ players and last for days.
  10. Proper clothing and safety! If you're playing your game at night, you might want to invest in some clothing for sneaking around. Camouflage is fun, but it tends to be highly specific to the kind of environment you're in. Its better to invest in some dark blue clothing for nighttime games, since dark blue will work well to blend you in just about everywhere. You must always wear some sort of eye protection! An airsoft pellet aimed at your head could take your eye out. Wear something like safety glasses or a Paintball Mask, even if you wear eyeglasses normally. You can get goggles to fit over your glasses. Always test ALL the pairs of goggles with each new gun that is added to the team, to make sure its safe. The best way to test is to set them up on top of a wooden fence or other surface. Don't perform the test in front of houses, cars, or anything else. If you can't get them off of the ground, you can set them on the pavement and kneel down. Always test at a fairly close range (6-10 feet, not point blank.)
  11. Have fun, don't be the one guy who everybody hates because he/she is too into it and yells at everyone. Stay loose and just shoot.
  12. Use cover. Cover is an object or change in terrain that you can use to conceal/protect yourself behind or in. A prime example of cover is a trench. While a trench is good for taking cover, it's not perfect; keep in mind that it both restricts you from moving forward and back, you can generally move only parallel to your opponent (this all depends on the curvature and length of the trench.

    Other than the obvious example of a trench, many things can be used as cover: A wide tree, man made cover (like some stacked tires), corners of a building, and even dense shrubs or bushes can block most if not all airsoft BBs.
    • Bad cover is also a thing to watch out for, bad cover is something that cannot fully conceal/block your body: like a small tree or a shallow pit in the ground. In emergency situations these are better than nothing but it's best to avoid them if at all possible. Cover is a valuable asset towards winning a match, always keep an eye out for good cover in front, behind, and to the left and right of you. this will help you when you need to move to a different place for either a better firing position, or a safer place to fall back to.
  13. Employ stealth. Now, it's nearly impossible for an untrained civilian to effectively conceal themselves let alone move undetected under a trained eye, but hopefully you're not fighting professional soldiers. In airsoft concealing yourself can be as simple as staying low, slow, and quiet.
    • Make sure you have all gear secured and silenced (this will be hard with high-cap mags).
    • Stay crouched down (or even prone on a rare occasion, this isn't ideal due to the fact that it basically immobilizes you if you are discovered).
    • Make sure all reflective/colorful clothing or gear is covered and any lights are off. this helps you blend in with your surroundings especially if you have appropriate camouflage patterns on and you have dense tree coverage/shadow).
    • Be aware of all parts of your body and where they are in the space around you, including gear and your gun, which should be considered an extension of your body; this will help you from stepping on twigs/scrapping against trees/shuffling around.
    • Avoid an enemy's line of sight if at all possible, and if you are caught in their line of sight freeze and don't move, even if they are starring right at you they may not have spotted you. The human eye is very good at detecting any movement, but not very good at picking out a camouflaged non-moving figure. However, if they have you in their sights stay low and run for the nearest cover.
  14. Practice shooting. There are a few key steps to shooting that can help you both get kills, keep from getting hit, and conserve ammo.
    • Select a target. First consider "can I hit this target?". You have to remember that airsoft BBs usually have a maximum effective range of {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}. (this is often the upper limit of even good guns), and a general effective range of {{safesubst:#invoke:convert|convert}}.
      In order to get the maximum distance out of your gun it's best to fire a placement shot to see how you have to compensate the next shot, if it hits short you will have to aim upwards to compensate for the drop. If you can't seem to get long range shots on target within the first 5-7 shots don't keep trying, airsoft BBs aren't very predictable at long range. Always know how your gun preforms and how accurate of a shooter you are.
    • Learn how to fire. Make your trigger pulls with a grip rather than with a jerk, slowly pull the trigger with consistent pressure. This will help improve accuracy (which is especially important in the varying flight paths of BBs). If you have an automatic gun, fire in three-shot bursts or on semiautomatic. With single shot weapons, have your reloading process mastered, know how to operate the bolt on your bolt action, or how fast and hard you have to pull the pump on your shotgun. Also know how to operate the slide on your pistol. This will reduce reload time and keep your firing rate high.
    • Firing from cover. Try to fire from the side of the cover and not over the top. Firing around the edge of cover keeps more of your body covered and it makes you harder to hit.

Tips

  • Always work with your team. Even though you may be able to rambo it and take out everyone on the other team in Call Of Duty, that tactic will simply not work in airsoft. If you work with your team, execute good flanking movements and communicate, you will be successful in Airsoft.
  • Get a gun you are comfortable with. It should not be too heavy and should grip well in your hand.
  • If a soldier is hit in an area loaded with enemies, do not try to get him back in. One death to a small team is bad, two however, is much worse.
  • You do not have to get a very expensive gun ($50-60 will do) but in airsoft, you get what you pay for. A good gun (only $150 or so) will last a year or so with good care. A high quality gun (a TM or CA or G&G) will cost around $250, and will last a LONG time with good care. Any guns with low FPS, and the gun will not shoot very far and will not inflict much pain. 330-350 FPS is average stock and is recommended. Some guns over 400 FPS may be illegal in your state or country. Always check your state or country laws.
  • Always keep good care of your gun. After each game, clean it well with cloth. Lube the internals with silicone spray! Not WD-40, it will eat through the seals and some plastics.
  • cover fire is very important. It will allow a soldier to get from A to B without being shot to h**l and back twice.
  • If possible, inform the local authorities (Police, etc...) that you are holding an airsoft event within the area before playing a whole day game. Also put posters, banners around the area where an airsoft is to be held. (This will give other people the idea of what really is happening before they get panicked and scared.)
  • There are many good tactics out on the internet. Leap frogging is one of them. It is when one man in a cover position in front of the other man shoots at enemy non stop while the other man runs to join the man covering him at the same cover. Do over and over until you are where you want to be.
  • When buying BBs, you have to know what you want:
    • Heavier BB's like .25, .30 and higher, weigh more. The weight makes them much more accurate in guns that have a high base FPS but they usually don't travel as far as lighter BB's. do not use Heavy BB's in LPGs (Low Power Guns) as the BB's will go a very short distance and be very ineffective. Lighter BB's like .12 (not recommended for anything but cheap spring powered guns) and .20 travel further but are less accurate. .23 gives you the best of both worlds but can be hard to find, but usually most reputable airsoft stores and websites will have them. There is a balance and you have to select the right BB for the job. Also remember you should never buy less than a .20 in an AEG. Some guns will say in the manual which weight is best, but in general, .20 is a good rule of thumb.
  • Use teamwork. Work with your teammates to figure out who will be doing what.
  • Call your hits. People who don't call hits ruin the airsoft community. If you shoot someone and they don't call their hits, it may be because they didn't feel it because of all the gear that they are wearing.

Warnings

  • DO NOT LOOK DOWN THE BARREL OF THE GUN AT ANY TIME.
  • Always wear goggles. Airsoft is a dangerous sport when played improperly, and one should always wear goggles to protect the eyes.
  • Carrying an airsoft gun in a public place (or any gun for that matter)is stupidity in motion. If you carry an airsoft gun in a public place and get shot or in trouble, its your own fault. Even if it's a POS clear gun.
  • Orange tips are for CUSTOMS ONLY! An orange tip does not mean that an officer will take it as a toy. It is still a weapon and should you make a hostile move, they have every authority to fire.
  • Should the authorities show up, shout a cease fire and put down your weapons and remove your mask. Comply with their every command.
  • Never point or shoot at anyone who doesn't have eye protection or is not in the game.
  • If you own an AEG do not dry fire (Firing without BBs) it too much or you will risk breaking the internal parts.
  • Green gas has been laboratory tested to be a combination of Propane and silicone. Be aware of how and where you load your gas magazines, n.b. don't load them near open flames or other sources of ignition.
  • Don't play where it would be disruptive to your surroundings. Many people have no problem calling the cops on you. Be careful to play on private property you're allowed to play on.
  • Keep the safety on until the game starts. Keep your finger off the trigger until your gun is aimed at what you want to shoot at.

Things You'll Need

  • Airsoft gun.
  • Goggles. Use only approved eye wear.Eye wear should meet or exceed ANSI high impact standards and that are close face/ foam sealed.Do not use "shooting glasses".
  • A full-face mask (such as a paintball mask) is also a good idea, but do not use mesh masks because the BB's will shatter and still go into your eyes.
  • Heavy Clothing
  • plastic or bio-degradable airsoft BB's.
  • Other people! This game is so much better with lots of people.

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