2023's Airsoft Spend

[Gunboat Diplomat]

So as 2023’s airsofting is over I thought I’d embark on the masochistic ritual of tallying up the year’s expenditure.  We only started in May this year, but it’s quickly ascended to being a primary hobby with an outlay to match.

View attachment 120820

I’ll preface this by pointing out this is for two as I’m covering me and my son, so you could reasonably expect to halve this for a single player.

Overall, perhaps unsurprisingly, I’ve spent more than I thought over the year, but I’m still happy with the deal I get for time out with the boy doing something we both enjoy.

There’s also chunk of discretionary spend in here.  Things like the Hi-Capa, optics and some other addons were birthday presents for the boy.  In effect that money was going to be spent regardless, if not on airsoft then some other interest or hobby.

Wearables could have been far higher I suspect.  He already has a full compliment of MTP gear from cadets and I just wear a mix of sports wear and black combats.  Most of this spend has been on face-pro and carriers.  If I was going to go down the full cosplay loadout route I expect this would be much higher.  As it is I’m happy with my current I-Use-This-For-DIY-&-Decorating Terrain Pattern loadout.

The weapon upgrades were entirely unnecessary.  Certainly nice to have but not made a huge practical difference game to game.  Both AEGs got motor upgrades, plus a new hop unit, bucking and nub for my M4 and a MOSFET for his G36.  No regrets, I like to tinker but I doubt I could claim its changed the course of any battles.

Biggest waste of money were two pairs of surplus Revision Bullet Ant goggles.  They were bulky, uncomfortable and constantly fogged up.  Replaced with Bolle Trackers for £8 a pair and they’ve been perfect.

Best buy has been my Bulle chest rig from Flecktarn.  Super cheap, super comfy, exceptionally well made and makes a vast difference to a game day.   I think my number one recommendation to new players after weapons and face protection is some kind of carrier.

Two AEGs and a pistol for a shade over £400 seems like a sensible spend for the year.  Too soon to speak for the Hi-Capa as it’s new, but my Double Eagle and his Cyma have chewed through around 10,000 rounds each without complaint.

Being sensible, 2024 could be much cheaper.  We don’t need any more gear and if I bulk buy some BBs the ammo expenditure should be reasonable.  However we’ve both got GBBRs on our list of interest so in reality it’s probably going to be another expensive year.

I regret nothing.

 

[Jacket]

Great post, it’s nice to see that the largest percentage is actually going on playing.

I think I have played 4 times, bought 2 guns and sold them both. One for a £60 loss, one will be about £50-70 profit as I’ve split it down for parts and will have made more than the new price. 
I have the very basics in terms of kit, despite playing on and off for 27 years. Eye pro, walking trousers, DPM shirt and walking shoes. I look at all the shiny chest rigs and Crye combats, but know they would see the light of day very infrequently.

 

[Impulse]

However we’ve both got GBBRs on our list of interest so in reality it’s probably going to be another expensive year.

For internal and external parts it doesn't have to be expensive for most GBBRs (at least not the ones I've bought). However, when mags are anywhere between £40 - £60 per magazine, that's where it starts getting really expensive, since you typically need a fair few as they're 35-50ish rounds per mag, depending on the gun.

I don't want to think about how much I spent on RIFs alone. This year was a year where I basically almost completed my collection of "all the guns I want, within reason", including a couple of hard to get items. I'll get the rest in 2024 (2 GBBRs and 3 GBB pistols), but I think next year will mostly be me getting scopes, extra magazines, lights and other external bits to 100% "complete" all my guns, plus a helmet setup to go with a CQB kit.

I don't think I have any massive regrets from my purchases this year though. Trying to make my 1911 super-efficient and basically making it not work was probably the worst, but that wasn't too expensive all-in as pistol builds are fairly easy to do on a light budget (and I bought another one 2nd hand so I still have a nice 1911 that works flawlessly and I stuck the entire upgraded hop and barrel setup in that one, so that wasn't wasted money).

A few really good purchases came out of this year though. KWA mac11 is a disgusting little beast of a gun, and the Modelworks mk12 parts for my MWS and m40 stock kit for my m700 have basically made them mainstays of my collection.

All I need to do is resist the temptation to do a silly HPA build with the tank in the stock, like an SR-25 or some sort of MTW built like a mk12 with a wraith X stock. Or buy something like a thermal scope. That stuff's expensive.

 

[rj1986]

If my wife asks, about £20, and i won a lot of raffles

 

[gavinkempsell]

I'd be scared to do this for my 'raffle prizes', however now that the idea is out there I 100% want to. ?

 

[Krisz]

You can reach that point when you've got so many guns you don't use half of them even if you play on a regular basis. You spend easily hundreds if not thousands before you realize it though. ?

 

[DanBow]

This has made me add up my expenditure too. Seeing as I only started in September, I didn't think I'd spent that much but £885 is more than I'd realised.

Main costs are £380 on 2 AEGs, and a shade over £200 on playing fees!

Why did no body tell me how expensive it will be? 

 

[Tactical Pith Helmet]

No new rifs for me this year, but I've invested in kit.  1950s Belgian Congo era stuff that will genuinely hold or improve its value.  Bought an unissued Afghanka too.  I don't think that I really need three sets of Afghan era kits; and my Berezkha fixation seems to be getting worse.  Thing is, I've had some kit for 30+ years, worn it a fair bit and its still worth far more than I paid for it.   

Still using the bulk BBs I bought last year, did buy a couple of new Li-Pos at £7 each on offer.  Bought the AFUK classic recommendation Bulle MLE webbing, not actually worn in game yet in favour of archaic Soviet gear/Chi-com 56 crap.  

Think I must have spent £1300 odd on tickets, at £225 per game weekend for the three of us.  Diesel and scotch and a new tent probably add up to a fair bit, but I've had the best airsoft year ever.  Operation Paramount was particularly stunning.  Saturday night post game, I ate steak and new spuds almost too tired to chew.  Stunning amount of fun.  I've memories that I think I will value as long as I'm coherent so bollox to the cost.   

Bloody good post @Gunboat Diplomat, we've sat here for a couple of hours reminiscing about what a damn good airsoft year its been.  Here's to the next!

 

[Gunboat Diplomat]

Great post, it’s nice to see that the largest percentage is actually going on playing.

That’s a good point, I certainly want to maintain that bias. I’m guilty of having a few hobbies where the time and money spent sourcing kit has far exceeded that spent on actually using it. 
 

I’ve got some truly egregious examples from cycling that, thankfully since this an airsoft forum, I don’t need to document. 

 

[Enid_Puceflange]

As I’m on a pretty strict “one in -one out” ruling which is governed by SWMBO I’ve actually not done too bad this year due to selling a couple of RIF’s to help turn things over.

Wish I could do a pie chart, maybe better that I can’t !

Out went:

TM Scar H bundle (£450)

APS Cam 870 bundle (£950)

TM Scorpion (£100)

Incoming:

Tm ngrs 416 bundle (£350)

GHK SG553 (£650)

TM Scorpion (£100)

Spent a few quid on bits from Samoon, of which shipping was ridiculous!

spare 553 parts

cheek riser

Manta cover

Probably around £200 all in

Bought a few ancillary bits for my loadout from Ali

Slings x 2 , IFAK , Phone pouch, DNC top, Tigerstripe, HW eotech and a few bits n bobs

So around £300

Went to NAF, which isn’t a cheap trip from scotland (say £600)

Played about 10 times this year, visited a few different sites too (£450 incl fuel)

Ammo & pyro’s maybe £100

Fresh Battery & Charger £75

New boots (£40 on sale)

So I recon it’s cost me about £1350 this year 

Then I just remembered forum purchases!! ??‍

Fuck this, I’m deleting my account here , you guys just tempt me! ?

 

[EDcase]

The amount we spend on our hobby is a closely guarded secret even from ourselves ?

Think of the toys as investments. Take care of them and at least you'll get some money back.

Some of my best purchases have been broken which I fixed to sell for a small profit.

Or occasionally where they increase in value due to rarity etc.

I've definitely turned into more of a collector which is getting ridiculous and I keep saying "This is the last one, I don't want any more" but then something comes up which is a great deal, unique looking or collector classic ?

I don't have enough wall space to hold them individually and its getting to the point that its a big job to take a picture of all of them ?  (I have to do an update next year)

At least I don't spend too much on clothing and tactical gear.  I've learned to go lightweight 

My son's inheritance isn't going to be money or property so he'll avoid any taxes ?

 

[RostokMcSpoons]

I had to look back at all my previous posts this year, to work out when I bought stuff, and to remind me of the smaller bits and pieces.  
Given I've been out of work for 7 months of this year (got a job now, just started a couple of weeks ago, thankfully!), I'm pretty much stunned to find out how much I'd spent... 

All the new gats were bought either used or from Action Hobbies boneyard

RIF's...

VFC HK416 GBBR
DE M904G
JG G3
CA Scarab
Rossi Sniper

G&G G36
KJW Glock 17 
 

Total: ~£850

I got 'em all at good prices, but still racked up a bigger total than I expected to see ?
I so very nearly bought a new VFC MP7 with HPA-tapped drum mag recently.  That would have added another £400, but sense prevailed (unfortunately!)

Accessories...
Balystk regulator

Sotac Eotech clone
Warhead ammo bulk purchase (10kg 0.28s)
m-pact gloves
desert boots
rucksack
mtp combat trousers
416 odin adapter 
2x g36 mags
3x 416 mags
FCU for DE906
barrel extension
masking vinyl
spray paints

misc stuff for building garden backstop

Total: ~£450

Gamedays...

~10 visits?

more ammo (0.28's from site, 0.20's and 0.40's from eBay)

gas

Total: ~£400

 

[Gunboat Diplomat]

Given I've been out of work for 7 months of this year

Ouch.  I've been looking for a good few months now (thankfully still gainfully employed but have some doubts over longevity next year) but the market has seemingly tanked compared to a couple of years ago for my line of work.

Warhead ammo bulk purchase (10kg 0.28s)

Where did you get these?  That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.

RIF's...

VFC HK416 GBBR
DE M904G
JG G3
CA Scarab
Rossi Sniper

G&G G36
KJW Glock 17 
 

Total: ~£850

That is a very healthy haul of goodies.  I've had a look at Action's boneyard a few times and it's either empty or anything decent has already gone.  I think I know who the culprit is now.

 

[RostokMcSpoons]

Ouch.  I've been looking for a good few months now (thankfully still gainfully employed but have some doubts over longevity next year) but the market has seemingly tanked compared to a couple of years ago for my line of work.

Where did you get these?  That's exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for.

That is a very healthy haul of goodies.  I've had a look at Action's boneyard a few times and it's either empty or anything decent has already gone.  I think I know who the culprit is now.

What is your line of work?  My problem is my skills are primarily in a particular, dying, IT technology.  All the companies that have used it in the past are very actively trying to dump it (or have already)

So I've taken a very big pay cut to take a role where I can lean more current tech.  It seemed the only sensible option.

The warhead BBs can be ordered here

£91 for 10kg of 0.28 bio's, plus about £13 p&p, iirc 

If you're interested we could do a joint order... £186 would buy 20kg, including the delivery?  The BBs are packed in 1kg bags.  We could do a handover at the first spec ops game next year...?

Sorry about nicking the bargains, I've missed out on quite few more I'd have bought too!

 

[Gunboat Diplomat]

What is your line of work?  My problem is my skills are primarily in a particular, dying, IT technology.  All the companies that have used it in the past are very actively trying to dump it (or have already)

So I've taken a very big pay cut to take a role where I can lean more current tech.  It seemed the only sensible option.

Software QA / automation.  Was in demand a couple of years ago, but I think the affect of higher interest rates drying up the liquidity in the tech world means there is less to go round, so most houses would rather spend on development than QA.  Doesn't help when out of work developers are taking test automation roles - I can't compete with their skills yet!

Expect you have made the right choice.  I did something similar some time ago, took a very hefty pay cut to go from being a hardware engineer to software.  Certainly paid off financially but far less satisfying.  If I'm going to royally screw something up, I prefer to use tools to do it rather than a keyboard.

AI tooling is going to make it much harder to stand out soon I think, various LLMs are producing solid (if not production ready) code already.

The warhead BBs can be ordered here

£91 for 10kg of 0.28 bio's, plus about £15 p&p, iirc 

Ah splendid, much obliged.  At least if I stock up now I'll have enough to play with if I end up on the job hunt next year!

Sorry about nicking the bargains, I've missed out on quite few more I'd have bought too!

You've probably saved me £££s!

 

[ParHunter]

I am actually too scared to add it all up. I’ve started this year in May with my son. I knew that my gun alone was £700 (Krytac incl upgrades from Negative Airsoft and a Vortex scope) so my guess was that I spend about £1000 on Airsoft over the year.

When I’ve added it up it actually came to twice the amount. And that didn’t even include what I’ve spent on my son’s games&equipment and a lot of the smaller purchases.





RIF






Gear






Pistol






Consumable








Krytac



350



Vest



40



AAP



90



BBs



80





Optics



200



Plate Carrier



70



Mags



100



Games



200





Negative Airsoft



161



Pouches



30



Gas



30



Oil



5





Mount



22



BDU



40



Holster



30



Tools



30





Sling



20



Shirt



25

















grip



14



G3 pants



85

















Mags



36



Knee pads



15

















Crono



34



Camo



60

















Fast loader



35



Sniper Veil



55

















Case



85



Boonie



15























Coms



30























Veil



7.57























Face pro



45























Eye pro



80























Belt



25























Camo paint



20





































































Total



957






642.57






250






315





Grant Total



2164.57




































































































































Regarding AI in software development, I use ChatGPT when I need to figure something out and it really helps when learning a new language. E.g. I am moving from Java (27 years of experience) to Kotlin and I can ask it how I would solve a problem in Kotlin and give it some Java code. BUT!!! It often comes up with stuff that doesn’t exists or it contradicts itself in subsequent requestes.
So yes it can be very helpful but you always have to question the results.
And you need to ask the right questions. I think AI will help with doing a lot of the boiler plate code but you will still need Developers - at least for a while, hopefully long enough for me to retire ?

 

[Tackle]

I'm refusing to get involved with this thread, it's downright foolhardy & dangerous, what if my missus got hold of my phone, let's just say it'd be a closed casket service ?

 

[Gunboat Diplomat]

If you're interested we could do a joint order... £186 would buy 20kg, including the delivery?

Just seen this update, good idea, I’ll drop you a PM. 
 

The irony of starting a thread to track Airsoft spending leading directly into more airsoft spending does not escape me. 

 

[Enid_Puceflange]

Oh fuck

just remembered that I bought a 5.11 CAMS too

theres another wad spunked

Im better off not playing this “how much did you spend” game ??‍

 

[RostokMcSpoons]

I think AI will help with doing a lot of the boiler plate code but you will still need Developers - at least for a while, hopefully long enough for me to retire ?

A line that I heard, and repeated in my successful job interview was that "programmers won't be replaced by AI, but will be replaced by programmers who use AI".

My employers are fine with using whatever tools gets the job done accurately and quickly.

So I'm going to sign up for Co-Pilot, that looks amazing.

Back somewhat on-topic, I just scored a new piece of Airsoft kit ?.  And for the princely sun of £3.50... I won an OhShiBoom OMFG grenade off Airsoft Competitions.  I only entered it a couple of hours ago on a total whim.  Yay!

Just seen this update, good idea, I’ll drop you a PM. 
 

The irony of starting a thread to track Airsoft spending leading directly into more airsoft spending does not escape me. 

Yes but it has to be said buying BBs is not very optional ?, and this means we're each buying several month's worth of ammo at a very good discount!