Lottiemxo

In my last post I explained about what to expect from your first time Airsofting. Hopefully you have been or at least planning to. In the post I will be explaining a bit more about the UKARA license, how to obtain one and how to use it. Also about choosing your first rifle and the different types of rifles available and the pros and cons of each.

UKARA

The United Kingdom Airsoft Retailers Alliance is an organisation, which monitors the retailers and players buying and selling airsoft guns. Due to their realistic look and people’s misuse of them this organisation has been set up to ensure that only legitimate businesses and players can buy the weapons. To obtain one of these you have to attend a UKARA registered game site, there is a list on there website, you have to be 18 years of age and you will have to attend the site you have chosen at least 3 times over a 3 month period. The idea is you prove that you are a serious player and you don’t want one to terrorise the local high street. You can either print your own form and take it with you or some sites already have them printed for you, fill in the details and each time you go get someone from the organisers to sign and date it for you and then depending on the site they will send it off for you or again you can do it yourself. After a few days you should get an email with your unique number, which you can give to retailers, which allows them to see you are registered. The license lasts 12 months but once you’ve got one it’s easy to keep it updated. If you are serious about getting heavily involved in the sport I would recommend you obtain one of these as soon as you can. Otherwise you will only be able to buy what’s known as a two-tone rifle, which is a RIF no real difference in performance but the gun itself is coloured normally a green or a blue, which does take away the realism of the gun. There are also clear plastic models as well.

Your first RIF (Realistic imitation firearm) is quite an interesting time having browsed many websites and perhaps shop walls and you can’t quite decide what you want? Well I’m going to help if I can, the first thing to consider is the different types of RIF’s there are; as mentioned in the previous post there is the most widely used AEG (automatic electric gun), the more realistic functioning GBBR (gas blowback rifle.) As a new starter I would always say an AEG is the best start as they are reliable and have been around for a long time. You can pick up a decent start up AEG for around £150-£170. What you have to consider is what you like and not what everyone else is using. At most game sites a lot of people will be running the popular M4 or a variant of one, I have 3 of these myself or G36 is a fairly common site. My advice would be where possible, visit shops and ask to hold them and feel them as you don’t want to order one online, get it delivered the week your going to play, get it out the box and then think hmmm not quite sure about this one actually.

Here are some example links for some starter AEG’s:

Landwarriorairsoft.com This is the one I started with, and still have!

Landwarriorairsoft.com Airsoft Weapons

Zerooneairsoft.com

From time to time rifles like these come up with complete battery and charger packs and sometimes you have to buy them separately. In the description it will tell you what batteries the gun is compatible with and my advice would be if your not sure either email or call the seller and they will assist you to make sure you’ve got everything you need for your first AEG. They always come with a Hi-Cap magazine as well. Hi-Cap means High Capacity and these magazines can hold up to 300 BBs but as you probably found with your rental rifle you have to wind the BBs up to keep the gun firing. If you think that’s lame, there is a solution where you use Mid-Cap magazines, which is Medium capacity. These around 80-120 BBs and have to be loaded with a speed loader, these magazines have an internal spring which pushes the BBs up, which is great but you do loose 200 rounds or so. Then there is Real or Low cap, which holds the weapons real capacity for example an M4 magazine holds around 30 rounds in real steel and that’s what the low cap Mags will hold. These are mainly for the Milsim Airsofters or for players who just like the realism. Again if your interested in purchasing more magazines for your first AEG then again I’m sure the retailer your dealing with will be more than happy to help. Before I forget you will need your own face protection, which again the retailers will be able to help you with.

I mentioned earlier about GBBR’s these are still airsoft rifles, but work with gas filled magazines. The functionality of these rifles are designed to be as realistic as possible with working cocking handles and bolt releases with stop on empty features like there real steel brothers, and their magazines only hold around 30-40 rounds. These are great guns but personally I wouldn’t recommend one to a new starter, as they do need a lot of maintenance. The main reason I would say is that the game days you maybe playing in you will be up against opponents with high and mid cap Mags and no matter how good you are you are going to be outgunned. There are some sites that run gas only games which levels the field, but I will go into this and the GBBR’s in another post.

The other factor you have to consider is the RIF’s FPS, feet per second, which is how powerful the gun is. Now you haven’t had to consider this before, as the rental rifles you have been using would have been site friendly. The FPS of a weapon will be available on asking. The limits are roughly the same from site to site which are usually;

AEG/GBBR’s/Pistols – 350 fps with 0.2g bbs

Single action DMR – 450 fps with 0.2g bbs

Bolt action sniper – 500 fps with 0.2g bbs

These limits are general and not the same at all sites. All RIF’s can have there FPS changed in different ways, which I will go through in another post but if you stick with the rifles I have suggested or ones similar or recommended by retailers then you shouldn’t have to worry about it.

The advantage of having your own kit also means that you only have to pay the ‘walk on’ price at game days which is usually £10 or so cheaper than the rental fee.

The question you maybe thinking now is that I’ve got my AEG, my battery, charger, Mags and face protection but how am I going to carry it all? Check back for my next post and all will be revealed.

What will be your first RIF?

Glen.

What is airsoft?

To put it into its simplest form it’s a combat sport played with replica models of real firearms but firing BB’s is a great and cheaper alternative to paintball and less messy! Sounds simple enough, but it is how you play airsoft that can make it so addictive and exhilarating. There are many different ways to play airsoft ranging from shooting your friends on a standard skirmish right up to Milsim, which I will explain about in another post.

What can I expect from a days airsoft?

Again it is all about what you put into it as to what you get out, on a standard game day you will probably be playing scenarios such as capture the flag, get to the enemies base etc. Some of you maybe thinking, “oh just like at paintball.” Let me give you a friendly word of advice don’t say that if you are at airsoft, there’s a slight rivalry between the sports. Anyway depending on the site you will need to book in advance so the site knows numbers for food etc, it usually costs on average between £30-40 and this usually includes; your rental rifle, site dependant, your first allotment of ammunition which is usually 3000 rounds and face protection.

So once you have found a site that you like the look of, have booked up and arrived what can you expect to see? You will mostly see a lot of camouflage in all patterns and colours and people walking to the booking office laden with bags and kit.

At your first skirmish it can seem daunting with people armed to the teeth with so many different and cooler looking guns than your rental. Don’t let this phase you, they all started with a rental gun at some point, including myself. Once everyone is booked in and sorted there will be a safety brief which will cover your dos and don’ts and each sites procedures. Then it’s off to your start marker and away you go.

So far I’ve not really painted a different picture to that of paintball but it is when you get into your first fire fight and start hearing the BBs whack and slam off cover whilst trying to return fire remembering to wind your magazine on which I’ll explain about later. Taking your first hit is definitely an experience. It stings oooh yes, now there isn’t a paint spot where you were hit so all you have to do is put your hands in the air and shout HIT! or DEAD! Or as I’ve heard OWWWW HIT! So many of you may come away with a few battle scars but will have had a great laugh. It’s an honour-based game and cheaters never prosper. Many sites will not stand for it and will send them packing I have seen it happen.

So why is it different to paintball?

So far it does sound similar to paintball but it’s when you look at the weaponry you can use in airsoft compared to paintballing. A rental rifle is usually an M4 or a variant, if you Google airsoft M4 you will see loads of responses and the first thing you may think is they look so real which is the whole point of airsoft for the weapons to look realistic and have realistic functions. The magazines are changeable if you run out so if you have two magazine runs out you can eject one and pocket it while ramming another in the mag well and carrying on instead of having to open a flap to pour your paint in. I will go into more details into how the different guns work, but for now the rental rifle you get will be known as an AEG (Airsoft electric gun.) A battery and a spring instead of gas power it, some of these can reach absolutely astonishing rates of fire, but again that’s for another day. The kit you wear is again what makes airsoft different, for your first skirmish I would recommend and old pair of trousers, boots and an old top you don’t mind getting dirty. I do say boots because trainers will get ruined, summer is not too much of a problem because the mud has dried out but I mainly say boots for the ankle support. You will be provided with face protection and unlike paintball it’s not plastic! So it doesn’t steam up, it’s a fine steel mesh which allows good vision and also doesn’t fog up which is another pro. Of course when you look around on the day you will see a lot of people running with different set ups and once you’ve been a few times and think you want to get serious you can change up what you want to wear.

So that is a very basic intro to airsoft and I will bring you more in following posts. Until then I can recommend some websites to browse for ideas of what is out there weaponry wise and some YouTube links from people who have used Go Pros. When looking through the websites you might want to buy some to play with in the back garden or a field but you wont be able to without a valid UKARA license (United Kingdom Airsoft Retailers Association) feel free to browse their website but I will go into this in more detail in another post.

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