Airsoft!

[Cue1*]

inb4Cue

Heh. +Rep

I work in airsoft. About 2 hours ago I finished running a local game here, and we're planning to startup a regional field next week. During the week I work at a retail store as the gun tech, fixing guns and upgrading guns. If you know of a gun, I've most likely had every single part stripped out of it at some point in time. We also do real steel gun accessories and minor fixes.

As for my gear, I've most likely something close to five grand or so in airsoft gear. I can safely say I'm one of those hardcore guys who enjoys being a Sunday soldier as you guys called it. My prized possession is a G&P GBBR M4 with a pair of upper receivers to swap out. I also have a Systema PTW for when it gets too cold to run green gas.

Anyone looking at pistols needs to take a look at the KWA PTP models. I promise you, there's not a better pistol on the market, period. No seriously, KWA is the best out there for a pistol.

For those of you who are may be a bit more serious, the game is about to really change. KWAs are one of if not the most reliable AEGs out there, and they're releasing a new line of guns that's supposed to ride in the $200 (US) range making it possible for basically any entry level player to have a high performance gun. the KWA affordable line is releasing this week, so anyone interested should see them out soon. To match this, Polarstar Fusion Engine Gearbox replacements are becoming more popular. It's a drop in system that just replaces your gearbox. For the higher level players, it's one of the best endgame options out there. Polarstars can easily handle 550+FPS at 70+ RPS. Yes, that's right, it can shot faster than any magazine out there can feed. Best part? There's basically no maintenance. They need to be greased every 50,000 rounds or so, and have two moving parts, both of which can be replaced for pretty cheap.

Anyone in the US planning to go to Irene 10 this year? I'm saving up the money now, I've never been before.

EDIT:

But yeah, I tried to get into airsoft but was really put off by the super-serious wannabe soldiers types (one local group here had ranks and required members to salute). I thought some of the people I'd encountered years ago in boy scouts were bad, but the airsoft people took the cake.

Jesus christ, fuck that shit. Ok, when I say play soldier, I mean on the field. Anyone who asks me to salute them can shove it right up their ass. It's a fucking game. Play serious on the field all you want, but christ, leave the whole soldier routine to the military. The worst part is the groups that I see that do stuff like that have a stick up their ass about it, even active duty wasn't as ass riden about it. I've been to games that they want people to stand in formation. Every time I stand outside of formation or show up late just for spite. Last time I was standing in a formation I got paid for it, and unless someone picks up that paycheck again, I'm not standing in another formation.

[dpidcoe]

even with a "membership" I was looking at ~50 each weekend ($20 field, $30 worth of balls)

Yeah, costs tend to skyrocket with any sport as the technology behind it improves and the regulation increases. Also the influx of stupid people once it becomes popular. Some guy in san diego owned a vacant lot that he'd let people play on. Everyone built up a pretty decent course on it, and some enterprising individual started showing up on saturdays to sell paint and CO2 fills out the back of his truck. A combination of an idiot with poor trigger discipline, an idiot who didn't want to wear a mask when near the field, and a (now slightly damaged) eyeball eventually put a stop to the entire thing.

[PraetorNZ]

used to play years ago but it all went to shit cause of a couple of guys got way too serious about all the organising of our games. been collecting guns ever since and have about 6 or 7 now. keen as to get back into it as ive got fat since i stopped playing and it really was a shit load of fun

[Lana Torrin]

I have some modded nerf guns, thats about as far as I go.

[dpidcoe]

To match this, Polarstar Fusion Engine Gearbox replacements are becoming more popular. It's a drop in system that just replaces your gearbox. For the higher level players, it's one of the best endgame options out there. Polarstars can easily handle 550+FPS at 70+ RPS. Yes, that's right, it can shot faster than any magazine out there can feed. Best part? There's basically no maintenance. They need to be greased every 50,000 rounds or so, and have two moving parts, both of which can be replaced for pretty cheap.

I've always sort of wondered why airsoft guns never really adopted gas systems except in pistols. Do you know what sort of pressure and air volume requirements to fire x amount of rounds?

Ever since I read about the polar star I've been thinking about the feasibility of putting a small pressure tank inside all that empty space in a mid cap magazine and making it dock with the gun, basically like a gas pistol. It would give the mag a bit more realistic weight, and also keep you from needing a hose attached to your gun and a tank on your back. The tank would really only need to hold enough air to expend whatever is the mag, and then have a connector to refill them off a regular paintball HPA tank (which could be done while reloading it with BBs).

[Djan Seriy Anaplian]

Actually one thing that airsoft does have over paintball is the price, it's ridiculously expensive in the UK to paintball.

[Mr Marram]

Those stats for the gearbox sound good but we get FPS limits in the UK due to peoples faces being squishy, I think its 250fps (1 Joule for a 6mm pellet) and 500 for single shot 'snipers' and a minimum engagement range of 20-30m (I cant remember exactly). Someone converted a TM M14 like the one I have, into single shot and ~500fps, 400 round mag and a fire rate as faster than you can pull, its silly accurate too.

[Varcaus]

Actually one thing that airsoft does have over paintball is the price, it's ridiculously expensive in the UK to paintball.

Doesnt the local walmart or what ever have really cheap (and bad) paint for like 5$ finding a empty space can't be that hard.

[Varcaus]

Actually one thing that airsoft does have over paintball is the price, it's ridiculously expensive in the UK to paintball.

Doesnt the local walmart or what ever have really cheap (and bad) paint for like 5$ finding a empty space can't be that hard.

[Cue1*]

To match this, Polarstar Fusion Engine Gearbox replacements are becoming more popular. It's a drop in system that just replaces your gearbox. For the higher level players, it's one of the best endgame options out there. Polarstars can easily handle 550+FPS at 70+ RPS. Yes, that's right, it can shot faster than any magazine out there can feed. Best part? There's basically no maintenance. They need to be greased every 50,000 rounds or so, and have two moving parts, both of which can be replaced for pretty cheap.

I've always sort of wondered why airsoft guns never really adopted gas systems except in pistols. Do you know what sort of pressure and air volume requirements to fire x amount of rounds?

Ever since I read about the polar star I've been thinking about the feasibility of putting a small pressure tank inside all that empty space in a mid cap magazine and making it dock with the gun, basically like a gas pistol. It would give the mag a bit more realistic weight, and also keep you from needing a hose attached to your gun and a tank on your back. The tank would really only need to hold enough air to expend whatever is the mag, and then have a connector to refill them off a regular paintball HPA tank (which could be done while reloading it with BBs).

That's a gas blow back rifle. They are amazing, and the only thing I use. :P

Those stats for the gearbox sound good but we get FPS limits in the UK due to peoples faces being squishy, I think its 250fps (1 Joule for a 6mm pellet) and 500 for single shot 'snipers' and a minimum engagement range of 20-30m (I cant remember exactly). Someone converted a TM M14 like the one I have, into single shot and ~500fps, 400 round mag and a fire rate as faster than you can pull, its silly accurate too.

We also have the same limits in the US. Fairly similiar numbers as well. The thing you're missing about the polarstar is that all of those numbers are extremely easy to adjust. The gearbox has an FCU computer that goes with it. You can store the computer where ever you want and with just a few button pushes you can reduce or raise the FPS to whatever limit you want, as well as the ROF. You can also limit it to semi-auto, three round burst or hybrid mode(three round burst hold the trigger longer to convert to full auto). It's also stupid quiet.

[Mortalitis]

Those stats for the gearbox sound good but we get FPS limits in the UK due to peoples faces being squishy, I think its 250fps (1 Joule for a 6mm pellet) and 500 for single shot 'snipers' and a minimum engagement range of 20-30m (I cant remember exactly). Someone converted a TM M14 like the one I have, into single shot and ~500fps, 400 round mag and a fire rate as faster than you can pull, its silly accurate too.

Site I play at is

500FPS for a bolt action sniper
350FPS everything else

They used to be a rifle (SLR?) that was semi auto only which had a higher fps limit but it got silly with how fast people could pull the trigger so that got scaled back to the 350fps limit.

The old limits pre-VCRA bill was 328fps (100m/s) as that was 1 joule with a 0.2g projectile. 6mm BB come in a wide variety of weights otherwise people could just load up say .28g BB and have the gun chrono at under the FPS limit.

[Mr Marram]

Those stats for the gearbox sound good but we get FPS limits in the UK due to peoples faces being squishy, I think its 250fps (1 Joule for a 6mm pellet) and 500 for single shot 'snipers' and a minimum engagement range of 20-30m (I cant remember exactly). Someone converted a TM M14 like the one I have, into single shot and ~500fps, 400 round mag and a fire rate as faster than you can pull, its silly accurate too.

Site I play at is

500FPS for a bolt action sniper
350FPS everything else

They used to be a rifle (SLR?) that was semi auto only which had a higher fps limit but it got silly with how fast people could pull the trigger so that got scaled back to the 350fps limit.

The old limits pre-VCRA bill was 328fps (100m/s) as that was 1 joule with a 0.2g projectile. 6mm BB come in a wide variety of weights otherwise people could just load up say .28g BB and have the gun chrono at under the FPS limit.

Yea I knew I didnt have the numbers right on, 250-350 and the pellet size/weight, I should have known about the weight as I picked up a bottle of .25g 6mms for the M14, cuts through the brush a little better on the forest sites.

It is still 1 joule for energy limits though, so lighter is faster, heavier slower and so on.

[Takon Orlani]

even with a "membership" I was looking at ~50 each weekend ($20 field, $30 worth of balls)

Where I used to live, we would just play in the bush, where we had quite a nice setup. People would bring scuba tanks and you could buy a cheap case for 30-50. What really kills it for me is that I'm lazy. When we used to play in the bush on sundays noone would show up before noon and play until it was dark, the local fields here all go 9-4.

  Spoiler:

What the hell kind of front block you got on that cocker?
Edit : Shit that's a pump isn't it? Mad props of it is.
Also I have that barrel kit. Rockin old school.

[Space Panda]

lol. i tried out airsoft many moons ago, and i had the same steyr aug as the OP. it was good fun, but the one time i went to a proper "field" i was really put off by the people. it's like the arma 2 community in the flesh. anyone seen that picture with the fucking fat fuck decked out in the best gear possible, with the caption, "don't worry, i'm from the internet"? yeah, it was like that. furthermore, the whole game relies on player honor. this, coupled with the fact that the little bb's do not shoot that straight, and are deflected by a leaf on a tree... well, the game can get a bit frustrating.

at least in paintball you can shoot someone a million times and they are fucking covered in paint, and the paint doesn't lie. they can wipe it but it's really obvious when someone does it, especially in speedball. too bad paintball is too expensive. i still have an old dm5 and dye gear.

i also kind hold a negative stigma towards airsofters in general, due to their horrible "gear info requests" on militaryphotos.net, especially in the SF picture threads. get out.

what needs to happen is the military needs to sell their simunition rounds, or their MILES lasertag shit to the civilian market. that would be so much fucking fun. fuck.

[Djan Seriy Anaplian]

Actually one thing that airsoft does have over paintball is the price, it's ridiculously expensive in the UK to paintball.

Doesnt the local walmart or what ever have really cheap (and bad) paint for like 5$ finding a empty space can't be that hard.

I live in the UK, paintballing as a hobby hasn't really taken off. We only have a few pro teams and decent equipment will always remain prohibitively expensive, unfortunately the price of paint won't come down until those things change and more people get into it.

[Varcaus]

Actually one thing that airsoft does have over paintball is the price, it's ridiculously expensive in the UK to paintball.

Doesnt the local walmart or what ever have really cheap (and bad) paint for like 5$ finding a empty space can't be that hard.

I live in the UK, paintballing as a hobby hasn't really taken off. We only have a few pro teams and decent equipment will always remain prohibitively expensive, unfortunately the price of paint won't come down until those things change and more people get into it.

Damn that blows

[Cue1*]

what needs to happen is the military needs to sell their simunition rounds, or their MILES lasertag shit to the civilian market. that would be so much fucking fun. fuck.

You can buy simunition, but it's fairly expensive, 9mm is like 75 cents a shot plus the barrel which is like 400 bucks. The protective gear requirement makes it even more retarded. A few friends and I have talked about getting sim rounds for our personal use, but you need some pretty serious gear to make it work.

The idiots on militaryphotos.net make airsoft look bad. Most major communities of airsofters have a stigma against the crazy ones like that, but sometimes the line is hard to find.

[ValorousBob]

God damn this thread makes me miss paintball. A lot of Bay Area fields have closed. There's only one field near Santa Cruz and it's pretty bare-bones on stuff.

at least in paintball you can shoot someone a million times and they are fucking covered in paint, and the paint doesn't lie. they can wipe it but it's really obvious when someone does it, especially in speedball. too bad paintball is too expensive. i still have an old dm5 and dye gear.

Hahahaha you bonus-balling fuckers. Big ups on the DM5 though, Dye makes solid stuff.

I have some modded nerf guns, thats about as far as I go.

Hey, modded nerf guns can be great fun though. It's somewhat of a tradition at the highschool I went to that the senior class plays "Assassins" every spring. We get in teams of three and for each round, the event organizers give each team another team they're supposed to "assassinate" with their nerf guns. I replaced my paintball gun's barrel with a PVC pipe and shot Nerf darts at a pretty ridiculous velocity. The best part though, you don't know who's going after you, and since there's usually around 50 teams, it could be fucking ANYONE. You get points for shooting your targets, or the people who are targeting you, but you lose points for shooting randoms. We had some pretty awesome firefights and car chases around my town.

[Tellenta]

what needs to happen is the military needs to sell their simunition rounds, or their MILES lasertag shit to the civilian market. that would be so much fucking fun. fuck.

You can buy simunition, but it's fairly expensive, 9mm is like 75 cents a shot plus the barrel which is like 400 bucks. The protective gear requirement makes it even more retarded. A few friends and I have talked about getting sim rounds for our personal use, but you need some pretty serious gear to make it work.

The idiots on militaryphotos.net make airsoft look bad. Most major communities of airsofters have a stigma against the crazy ones like that, but sometimes the line is hard to find.

My experience with the MILES gear is that it basically doesn't work very well. Though it's possible the other guys were cheating just to give the commanders a leadership challenge.

[Leboe]

even with a "membership" I was looking at ~50 each weekend ($20 field, $30 worth of balls)

Where I used to live, we would just play in the bush, where we had quite a nice setup. People would bring scuba tanks and you could buy a cheap case for 30-50. What really kills it for me is that I'm lazy. When we used to play in the bush on sundays noone would show up before noon and play until it was dark, the local fields here all go 9-4.

  Spoiler:

What the hell kind of front block you got on that cocker?
Edit : Shit that's a pump isn't it? Mad props of it is.
Also I have that barrel kit. Rockin old school.

CCM pump kit, so smooth