Pistols

[bornleverpuller]

Looking for opinions

 

often useful or just look really cool?

[Richard65]

Useful inside buildings and very satisfying to get kills with them rather thana rifle on full auto. Otherwise more of a backup and something to buy once you have settled on your main gun.

[Baz JJ]

Not convinced they are that useful in open play but fun to shoot and to draw down with.

 

I have a P226 and love it to pieces but don't use it in games.

[sp00n]

They are useful, in tight/confined areas, but lot of them is all show.

 

I have a CYMA glock g18c AEP great little gun, no gas usage

[padraigthesniper]

They are good to have, so you can still shoot back while reloading your magazines for the primary gun if your playing a long game

[Zak Da Mack]

Pistols are only essential if you are a sniper as many sites say that snipers have an MED of 20m, so anything under you can have charge at them (and get fully unloaded on) or you can pull out your pistol and shoot them.

[Monty]

If you're out of mags for your primary, then you can just switch to the side arm. That's how I use them anyway.

[AK47frizzle]

never used a gbb but seem to be good for shots whilst reloading main weapon

[Spawnah]

My opinion on pistols is that they're almost always for show. I've yet to be in a situation where pulling out my pistol is a better idea than using my rifle. They're great for show and to look badass but every time I've brought mine to a game it never left it's holster, so I've stopped bringing it.

[Tariq]

Pfft

None of you obviously can use a pistol properly in airsoft :L

 

Love pistols, woodland or CQB is about how you play, not what your gun can do.

Most decent pistols can usually out range most AEG rifles so a couple well placed shots will do the job just as well.

 

I also run mainly gas so the pistol does get pulled quite a lot when using it as a backup.

 

There have been days where i'd pack all my rifles in the car, and then spend the whole day only using my pistols.

[AK47frizzle]

Pfft

None of you obviously can use a pistol properly in airsoft :L

 

Love pistols, woodland or CQB is about how you play, not what your gun can do.

Most decent pistols can usually out range most AEG rifles so a couple well placed shots will do the job just as well.

 

I also run mainly gas so the pistol does get pulled quite a lot when using it as a backup.

 

There have been days where i'd pack all my rifles in the car, and then spend the whole day only using my pistols.

sooo.... what you're saying is that we should all replace our main weapons for decent pistols as they will out range enemy aeg shots?

[Tariq]

Well in short, NO. Well it depends on the game and how YOU play.

With a pistol you can be a bit more sneaky, and be able to pick your way through a fight, rather than getting directly involved in a huge firefight.
Keep your AEGs and what have you but pistols are far better than what the previous posts are making out. They are not bling things or weapons that are only useful while you're caught with your trousers down.

You still need people with AEGs to back you up. An entire team full of pistols VS a regular side wouldn't end up well as they'll have the ROF/Ammo against you.

It also depends on how good you are with a pistol.

 

The difference between an airsoft rifle and an airsoft pistol is nothing like the difference between a RS rifle and a RS pistol. The airsoft versions are much closer together, which make pistols far more useful in airsoft than they are in the real steel world.

 

On a related note, European Airsoft Practical Pistol Shooting Competition next month, YAY.

[geoffreym]

I will admit, over 3 years of airsofting I have "needed" (out of ammo or gun packed in) to pull my pistol around 20 times, and that is averaging about 1.5 games a month, still extremely satisfactory though and I've pulled it probably a couple 100 times because I wanted to.

I would never recommend a pistol to a newbie as that money should be spent on improving their primary or buying cheap and cheerful spare gun, and then a pistol so that you should never be out of a game due to gun trouble.

[jcheeseright]

Agreed. As someone who had just spent £250 on HALF a pistol, they're as useful as they need to be, in many situations I find it quicker to reload my primary (MP7, so almost a pistol anyway!) than it is to draw my pistol.

 

That said, I wouldn't have spent a third of a mortgage payment on half a gun if I didn't ever use them! In CQB a pistol (not even a good one, 100fps still works when you're 20' away) is awesome if your main is a bit longer, they allow you to get a bit closer to corners and generally be a bit sneakier.

 

If you've got a decent set of eye protection, some good boots, a reliable primary (G&G combat machine or better) and a full set of combats and assault vest etc. Sure get a pistol, they're great fun and are situationally quite useful, but get the basics first; a pistol is a luxury and not an essential!

[Black Death]

Horses for courses I think

For me personally I find when playing cqb at times I can leave my rifle with a Marshall to babysit which then allows me to go pistol in right hand and knife in the other. If you play a fast aggressive (almost wreckless to a degree) style you would be surprised how many cheeky kills you can get.

Last time I played cqb I a had a hunting style knife and a raging bull revolver. I managed to run and jump through an open window allowing me to knife kill a guy hid under the window before shooting his friend in the corner in one motion. Could I have done this whilst holding a scar h.... Deffo not. A grenade would have been more efficient but this was 10 times more fun

I think with eerie cue you use your pistol much more and more efficiently

[Guest PT247]

love pistols.... was duel wielding a pair of GBB P99s for a bit but have sold one of them now.

Was quite happy playing with just pistols when my L86 went tits up. Am possibly going to get a decent AEP and sell my remaining P99 GBB as I'll get enough selling it with the extended mag to buy a new AEP which will stay consistent in all weathers.

[kejot]

i use my pistols every time i play, hardly use my aeg's, way more fun

[Mckenzie202]

Sadly I am now without a pistol, but when I had my 1911 it was my pride and joy. I plan on playing a lot of different roles as well, in terms of designated marksman, straight up assault, shotgun, and basically anything else I fancy. For this reason I wanted to get a new pistol that would back me up in all of those situations. Plus there is almost nothing better than using a pistol in CQB, as it makes you more manoeuvrable, faster, and overall a better asset for your team. The one thing I'd definitely recommend is getting one or two spare magazines for it though, as they will save your bacon on many an occasion.

[Dan's Ark]

For snipers: A must. Especially if your local site has a MED. I have got a good amount of kills from enemies trying to exploit the MED and finding out the hard way that I have something to back myself up with. Even if your site doesn't have an MED, a pistol will come in handy when the enemy are spraying BBs past your head and you need something with a higher rate of fire to shoot back with. (You could just get a decent short barrelled AEG, but that's all down to preference, and how heavy you want your loadout to be.)

 

For AEG users: From what I've gathered from people at my local site and other forum members, pistols are like marmite to people who use AEGs. You either love them, or hate them. Personally I would rather use a pistol in CQB than poking a rifle barrel around a corner, but in open woodland your AEG can put a lot more BBs down range than a pistol can. Yes Tariq, your pistol might be more accurate than an AEG, but you only have 25ish rounds while your enemy is using a 400 round high-cap.

[Ian_Gere]

In about 16 months owning a pistol and 'softing I've used one 'in anger' less than 10 times and 3 of those have been recently, since I've started sniping. Worth bearing in mind that drawing a pistol from a secure holster, aiming, and firing on target, is a lot easier when you try it at home than it is when you're under pressure in the field.

[Airsoft-Ed]

At Skirmish's new CQB site on Saturday I ended up running my Glock and a BFG for more than half the day and I utterly bossed it. Pistols allow you to pass through doors with your gun raised ready to fire, which can't be done with any rifle, carbine or SMG and the satisfaction from getting kills with them is probably the highest level of glee you'll ever reach.

I'm more annoyed than words can express about the fact that my camera died before I started running my pistol only, 'cos if I'd been filming it would've been some of my best footage ever. Went on an 11 kill streak, 1 of which was a surrender kill, and some of the angles I caught people out from were insane.

There was also a time where I shot a guy, then an arm reached around to pull him back to cover for medicing, and I managed to grab the second guy in the freakin' arm! It was epic as hell.

Also sniped a guy from about 40m away, shot sailed and started to drop, just plinking him on the top of the head, perfect.

The site is only about 100x100m so you can happily run with pretty much any gas pistol and cope fine with the range and not get outgunned, so I might run nothing but my pistol for a lot of games I play there once the site officially opens. I'm busting a gut to get a gas rifle for it as well.

If you're new to the game then I'd advise against a pistol though, they aren't strictly needed and there are only very specific circumstances when they're more helpful than a rifle, and even then those circumstances can be worked around differently in a way that keeps the rifle handy. For woodland I'd say upgrade the rifle, if you play very tight CQB exclusively, then I might say a pistol was a good idea, but otherwise you're better off avoiding them at least until you've read a lot about keeping them in a good, skirmishable condition.

[Guest PT247]

have just ordered myself two more pistols, love them :-)

[Dan's Ark]

That last point is a very good one Ed, I should have mentioned that myself really.

 

I have had trouble in the past two months with my TM Glock magazines leaking, and the slide was not working properly. A combination of slight filing and a lot of lubricant has solved the two problems, but it showed my lack of experience in maintaining gas pistols.

 

If you buy a pistol with a blowback, you MUST keep the magazine valves and the slide lubricated or it will not function properly, and the magazines (Which are expensive, especially TM ones) can leak gas due to the valves not resetting properly.

[Zak Da Mack]

In about 16 months owning a pistol and 'softing I've used one 'in anger' less than 10 times and 3 of those have been recently, since I've started sniping. Worth bearing in mind that drawing a pistol from a secure holster, aiming, and firing on target, is a lot easier when you try it at home than it is when you're under pressure in the field.

 

 

3 words: Practice. Practice. Practice. When I first started using my pistol on the field, I struggled to pull it out, fighting with my holster before realising that the button press needed undoing.

[alex90]

I've got a usp compact and a broken kwa g18 on its way can't wait for them to arrive

Usp mags might be fun to get hold of thou