Guest Post | First Load Out Choices.
Friday, March 06, 2015
In my last post I went
through the license you need to obtain if you wish to buy the more realistic
looking RIF’s and the essentials to getting started in airsoft. The only thing
I didn’t go through was load carrying, which is how you carry your kit in game.
There are many different ways you can do this and many different combinations.
I will go through some with you and what I think is best for a new Airsofter
but ultimately, as always in Airsoft, it is player’s choice.
So the first thing I would
recommend in purchasing is a way of carrying your extra magazines into a game
as putting them in your pocket can be risky. I would recommend looking at the Viper
Assault Vest, it is the first vest I used in Airsoft and great for
beginners as it doesn’t break the bank as you can buy them new for around
£30-£40. They also come in a few colours; black, olive green and woodland DPM.
This vest is very versatile as the magazine pouches can fit M4, G36c and MP5
magazines, I know this from experience. There are 6 magazine pouches on the
front and a couple of pockets at the top, which I used to carry a spare battery
in. Also what you may want to look at buying is something called a dump pouch.
There are some made by viper. These are for empty magazines. When your mag is
empty you can eject the empty, pop it into the bag and then put a fresh one
into your gun and less fumbling around with pouches. It can also hook onto the
back of the vest securely.
If you don’t like the look of
the Viper vest there are a lot of different load out options available. First I
will explain about MOLLE, Modular Lightweight Load-carrying
Equipment. This is the most popular way of load carrying in airsoft as it is pretty
much endlessly customisable. It is comprised of rows of heavy-duty nylon stitched onto the vest
to allow for the attachment of various MOLLE-compatible pouches and accessories.
The pouches fix easily on by sliding the straps on the back of the pouches
through the rows and they fasten with poppers. Prices for MOLLE vest and
pouches can range massively depending on the retailer. Here a few examples of
MOLLE vests;
All of these range in prices but all do
essentially the same thing. You can move the pouches around to suit your play
style.
A similar system to this are chest
rigs, which are pretty much identical plate carriers except they only have
MOLLE on the front, here are few examples;
The other way is webbing, I
use prefer this method as everything is around your waist and leaves your front
free if you need to hit the deck. There are two different types of webbing
MOLLE, which I have already explained about or PLCE, Personal
Load Carrying Equipment which was the British army webbing system. You can pick
up a full set on eBay from time to time for around £40. It has the same
principal as MOLLE but using a different method of attaching the pouches to the
belt. Here are some more examples;
One thing you might have
noticed is that some come with pouches and some don’t. Which in a way is the
beauty of MOLLE you can buy your preferred method be it plate carrier, chest
rig or webbing or maybe even something else you found on your searches and you
can add all the pouches you want and how you want them.
Also you probably noticed
all the different camo patterns, it would be a good idea to settle on your
preferred pattern before making any commitments to your desired load out. My
advice would be to chose your pattern to your game site for example if you go
for the all black SWAT/SAS load out, you do look quite formidable, but if your
game site is woodland based your going to stick out like jam doughnut at a
weight watchers meeting. If that’s what you really want go for it! Like I said
earlier it is players choice. The most popular camo choices I have seen are
woodland DPM and multicam with the occasionally all black, but that is more at
urban game sites.
The other piece of kit you
may want to look at buying with this is a sling for you rifle, again there are
a few choices in style and colours. The most popular I have seen is the single
point sling, which is mainly used on rifles which have a sling point half way
down the rifle which allows easy movement and functionality and you wont drop
your prized possession.
Here is an example; Landwarriorairsoft.com
There are more available by
other manufactures. If you have a sling point at each end of your rifle like
the MP5 I would recommend this type of sling; 511tactical.com
There is also a sling
designed to be used with rifles with no designated sling points; Vipertacticalshop.co.uk
This can be modified to fit
most rifles. If you’re not sure which sling to use then ask the retailer for
advice or even consult the many Airsoft forums.
So that’s a lot to take in,
in my next post I will look at sidearms, which you may have already seen
players sporting. I will also cover the different ways to incorporate them into
your load out.
What will be your load out preference?
What will be your load out preference?
Glen.
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