When was the 'Golden Age' of airsoft?

[mightyjebus]

Ahh the ye olde worlde days, when UKAN and Arnies was the font of all knowledge

I've got one of Arnies G3's somewhere......

 

[AK47frizzle]

For me,  around 2010 was the golden age.

We had... Justbbguns.

 

[strykerles]

Yeah, camouflage options...

CADPAT or Danish were incredible to see.

DPM, Flecktarn, US Woodland and French were the most commonly seen (or not...).

MARPAT and UCP were the Gucci choices.

I went DCU/Night Camo for years, then the MultiCam pull got me.

I reckon 2007 was when MultiCam really took off. I had a Chinese clone set in 2006 that faded (still in my folks' loft) and I didn't wear it a lot after that.

As said, these days it is mainly MTP (why not?! Surplus gear is so cheap) and MultiCam. You sometimes see a bit of Italian Vegetato, a pinch of DPM and a sprinkling of Flecktarn, and that is it.

My go-to for my last few games has been Ranger Green.

Recently I've been seeing more PMC loadouts, jeans and shirts kinda thing

MTP and multicam are still the most common seen. A few in black, the odd ghillie and me In digital flora

 

[TheFull9]

For me it's whenever the person gets their rose tinted glasses out. 

Ahh beat me to it.

I think if we magically went back to the selections/availability of guns and kit from any time more than a few years back everyone would lose their minds.  Plenty of brands and products have come and gone, but there's never been a wider selection overall than there is right now I'd bet a lot on that.  If you asked folks whether they though TM would make a recoil HK417, an AA-12 and a gas AK back when I started the forum threads would go nuclear.  That's just one brand too.

Many sites have definitely come and gone that's a big one I think and that will probably be something that affects certain people massively.  If you had that perfect site that was right on your doorstep, great facilities, layout you enjoyed immensely, good player base, really well run, cheap prices, nice lunch etc etc and then that all just vanished one day, it'd be a really big deal I'd imagine.

Obviously I personally wouldn't mind seeing some people stop thinking of Sunday skirmishes as a competitive sport vs a fun experience, or for the toxic clickbait content to go away, but all things considered there's no time I would go back to if I did have a time machine.  Apart from when the mall was open maybe, that was the best site for me by a good margin and my enthusiasm for actually playing is somewhat lesser since it went, but I wouldn't swap it for the range of 'stuff' available now.

 

[mirinjawbro]

probably from the age of 13-18. so 2000-2005 ish

getting my first GBB, then AEG, so many hours on uncompany and wgcshop adding things to the basket

collecting the guns from counter strike 1.5

now theres a million guns and brands and upgrades youtube everything. .

i still buy guns but no longer get excited. wish i could get it back

 

[Rogerborg]

On 18/02/2023 at 20:29, AK47frizzle said:

For me,  around 2010 was the golden age.

We had... Justbbguns.

I lolled, but I've just bought one of those, in (CURRENT_YEAR - 1).

Granted, in black, not flare-gun orange.

They're as bad as you'd expect from something loved by BBgnuz4Uz.  

 

[JimFromHorsham]

Arnies .

Combat south woodland site lunches .

TOP M60’s .

Fireball weekenders .

Town Assault 2 .

Metal slide Glock 19 & Mac 11’s for £60 .

Pyro … lots and lots of pyro being thrown like confetti .

Road trips to Airsoft Warehouse &  Airsoft Armoury .

happy days & fond memories

 

[rj1986]

Yup.  Airsoft Dynamics exited the scene rather badly.  Still, I wasted lots of time looking at their site during lunch on my school's computers.  Back when you could look at any gun stuff on the school network without it being blocked.

I remember seeing the photos to pre order the TM G36C and thinking it looked impossibly cool.

https://arniesairsoft.co.uk/forums/index.php?/topic/44401-all-users-be-advised-do-not-use-airsoft-dynamics/

Memories

 

[Groot]

Golden Age of Airsoft was Circa 2005. 

Everyone ran normal AEGs and a few snipers... Who had hot guns because Joule creep hadnt been invented yet. Running either 0.5 teflon coated or 0.29 Maruzen Super Master Grades. 
It was a level playing field with no HPA Shit or speed softers. 

You tuned your AEG to 350 FPS on 0.2s and that was it. You ran ran 0.25 Excel if you were fancy or you hosed 0.2s 
Hops were stock except for the cut down biro tubes to replace the stock bit. So everyone had fairly equal ranges. 
BBs were £6 for 4000 and everyone ran 8+ Highcaps. 
We all have 9.6v 3300 Nicads in bags on stocks or the nunchuck ones somehow crammed into the foregrip. 

No one was a whiny prick and cried about being lit up .. Because being lit up was how it was. 
Health and safety was no existant. If you got hurt then you shouldnt have been doing what you were doing to get hurt and everyone knew that. 
Pyro was crow scarers in tenis balls. £20 for 200. 

AND.. This is the most important bit.

The sites.. There was so many amazing sites. Ex Military, factory, entire industiral areas, shopping centers and TV Stations.
They are all houses now but there was a 5 year or so period where the sites were incredible.  
That and the companies that ran the games were fewer and more focused on the game play. Not turning a profit. 

Fuck Airsoft now is total shit by comparison 

 

[AK47frizzle]

I lolled, but I've just bought one of those, in (CURRENT_YEAR - 1).

Granted, in black, not flare-gun orange.

They're as bad as you'd expect from something loved by BBgnuz4Uz.  

I was planning to buy one too and display it on the shelf but in the beautiful flare-gun orange ?

 

[Duff Beer]

Fireball weekenders .

happy days & fond memories

I was at the Defcon 3 weekender, and the one the year before.  Somewhere along the road I lost both the patches.  I wish I could find copies so I could have them remade

 

[alxndrhll]

Was never really one for collecting patches, but it’s still mad to think where this ended up…

View attachment 102453

 

[The Waco Kid]

When it was “Softair” and all the guns were kits. 

I’ll get my tartan booties, pipe, shawl and AMT Hardballer.View attachment 102463

And just to underline it. ?

View attachment 102465

 

[MrTea]

The sites.. There was so many amazing sites. Ex Military, factory, entire industiral areas, shopping centers and TV Stations.

I'd kill for a site like this in the North East. Sounds great.

The majority of sites around me are either; 1: Woodland. 2: Woodland with barricades. 3: Indoor purpose build CQB.

I'd love to play in an abandoned MOD site, factory/chemical complex, shopping center etc.

 

[Dentonboy]

When it was “Softair” and all the guns were kits. 

I’ll get my tartan booties, pipe, shawl and AMT Hardballer.View attachment 102463

And just to underline it. ?

View attachment 102465

TM gas Browning HP. NBB, who cares?!

 

[Jaylordofwaargh]

"in my day...." 

*Insert old man vibes here*

This is a flippant comment due to starting work 10 minutes ago, however to the point

Any day where you go Airsofting and think - worth it, or tinker and get things 'just right', buy any kit or *that* piece of kit, new gun day, first day you bring your mate along, hell even good toy cleaning day is part of the golden age.

 

[Emergencychimps]

I'd love to play in an abandoned MOD site, factory/chemical complex, shopping center etc.

Have you tried catterick with Stirling airsoft? The themed games there run from 11:00am to 11:00pm on the Saturday (no enforced breaks) and are more of a thinking man's skirmish. Then on Sunday it's 7:30 (I think) to 11:00am. 

It's in the north east and it's the fibua site for all of the army learn at. It's also great for airsoft. 

 

[Stratton Oakmont]

View attachment 102567

 

[The Waco Kid]

 At the end of the day it's BB wars with varying levels of LARP. Like... you can't take yourself that seriously ?

Yes it is just a strange dress up fetish….

There are some very good things currently.

I have a couple of nice special rifs. But I skirmish with a couple of inexpensive “starter” ones quite effectively. 
 

Some excellent kit from what we’re once knock off manufactuers. But then again that’s how Eagle Industries started, they were a sideline for a boat canopy maker.

  When I started airsoft was by default “milsim”. All the kit surplus no real option. Many of the players were ex-paintball and wanted something that wasn’t. Less competitive and day glow.

  The speed soft does remind me somewhat of paintball back in the day.

 

[Tommikka]

I'd kill for a site like this in the North East. Sounds great.

The majority of sites around me are either; 1: Woodland. 2: Woodland with barricades. 3: Indoor purpose build CQB.

I'd love to play in an abandoned MOD site, factory/chemical complex, shopping center etc.

Most sites around the country are woodland

Back in the olden days there were ‘off world’ games going on trespassing in genuine disused buildings, but illegal and dangerous.  You don’t need to these days 

As the emergency chimp says you can now legally play in both ex MoD sites and current MoD sites - it’s definitely much better to play in a current MoD training area with the facilities actually in use 

Current sites are leased by game organisers (at some expense!) and can get canceled / rescheduled if training needs change

Airsoft has had ‘easier’ access to MoD sites as BBs can be swept up, in paintball it pretty much began with Swynnerton with the organisers paying for the additional time before and after for set up and clean up, but more sites became available when clear paintballs could be manufactured and there was a surge.  With events in Afghanistan their were a few cancelled games and the novelty wore off a little 

There remain a couple of organisers still doing the odd MoD site paintball games

Former sites are easier as a site can be established with regular games, and these last until the development market hits the right time for that location

This gave us the Mall in Reading until it was developed and they have since taken on an alternative site

Long standing players will say how much better it was, but these alternative locations do come and go, you just need to keep your eye open in the forums and be prepared to do some travel for the right game

Have you tried catterick with Stirling airsoft? The themed games there run from 11:00am to 11:00pm on the Saturday (no enforced breaks) and are more of a thinking man's skirmish. Then on Sunday it's 7:30 (I think) to 11:00am. 

It's in the north east and it's the fibua site for all of the army learn at. It's also great for airsoft.