newbie alert!

[kenvlo]

Hi all

New to the sport got my first game booked at Wolverhampton at the end of the month

Started to build up my kit before I'm registered.

Any advice welcome

[Russe11]

Welcome. A useful site for basics is http://www.britishmilitarysurplus.co.uk/shop/special-offers.html

Their deal of £25 for shirt, smock and trousers is a good way to get some camo gear and they do some nice cheap boots. Don't forget to get gloves a scarf (scrim scarf or shemagh) and a hat as hands, head and neck are the places it hurts most if you get shot.

[team flex]

Welcome mate. Any small questions just ask in he quick questions thread, or feel free to start a new topic

[Saber6-1]

Welcome and Greetings from the resident American. So what weapon platform are you looking into, any particular kit or loadout you are interested in?

[Chock]

Hi and welcome.

 

As others have said, regardless of what gear you want to dress up in when skirmishing, be it a NATO grunt, jeans and a t-shirt, or even Terry Taliban, be sure to get good head and neck protection, those are the parts of your body which you'll poke out of cover the most, so are the area you are most likely to take a hit. Some advice on that...

 

Perspex goggles or glasses tend to fog up, especially this time of year, whereas mesh goggles can let the vapour out and they don't impede your vision as much as you might imagine, so I'd recommend mesh ones. If you are over eighteen, most airsoft sites will let you skirmish without wearing lower face protection, but I've seen plenty of people get their front teeth shot out with airsoft BBs, so I would strongly recommend getting some lower face protection too regardless of your age, as dental work ain't cheap and airsoft masks are. Personally, I use a mesh lower face protector similar to my mesh goggles. Whilst there are one-piece masks which cover your entire face, I would not personally recommend those, because you don't want to take off your eye protection at any time when in the skirmish area (for obvious reasons), but you may want to have a sip water whilst in battle, and you can't safely do that with a full mask, whereas with separate lower face protection, you can drop that quickly, take a swig and then pop it back up into place with minimal fuss. In addition to which, bulky one-piece face masks can prevent you from getting your rifle up to your cheek to take aim, which is another reason why they aren't such a great idea.

 

And on the subject of taking a swig of water, that's another thing you need to make sure you get hold of; some kind of small water bottle you can carry with you, because trust me, even at this time of year if you are running around in combat gear with a mask and helmet on, carrying a rifle, pistol, magazines etc, etc, you are gonna get hot. Don't need anything fancy, a small plastic coke bottle you can shove in a pouch or pocket will do, although you can of course get military gear if you like the notion of that.

 

Thin gloves are also a good idea, since that is another area where you can take a disproportionately higher number of hits compared to pother bits of your body. They need to be thin and close-fitting enough to not impede you working things such as the fire selector on your weapon (many people use fingerless gloves for that reason). I use thin leather current-issue RAF pilot gloves, which have the advantage of being long enough to also provide some wrist protection, but really, any sort of gloves which allow you to operate your weapon easily will do.

 

You are going to be squatting, kneeling and crawling, and that means knee and elbow pads are a good idea, they stop your knees getting wet when you kneel to take a shot, and they stop BBs from hurting your elbows too, since your forearms and elbows are another place where you tend to take quite a few hits.

 

Some sort of hat or helmet is a good idea - a BB in the forehead really hurts and can cut your skin there easily - doesn't have to be a military helmet, although there are airsoft replica helmets available for around about a tenner if you search the 'net, but even a baseball cap or military forage cap will do the job. Likewise, a good scarf, such as an Arab keffiyah (shemagh) or scrim is a good idea too, since a BB hit in the throat can hurt a lot and your skin is pretty thin there too, so such a hit might even draw blood if you are not covered up. All that clobber is why you will get hot!

 

Some decent boots are obviously a good idea, most army surplus places will turn something usable up for about 20 quid or so. Failing that, you can wear sturdy trainers, but make sure they are high ankle ones, to give you some support and protection. I use army wet weather boots, since they are a mixture of breathable goretex, leather and rubber so they are comfortable for long periods (I wear them to work a lot of the time) and they are very waterproof.

 

You'll see if you look around this website that lots of airsofters are obsessed with webbing and tactical vest and armor plate carriers etc. Don't worry too much about that when starting out, so long as you have something to carry as few bits and pieces (and pockets will do that), you don't need to have millions of pouches all over you - it's not as though you are going to be behind enemy lines for three weeks - and in fact, most airsoft guns use high capacity magazines which can take three hundred or more BBs, which means if you only fire on semi-auto, you might never have to reload the thing all day long. Having said that, airsofting for many people is as much about dressing up in the right gear as it is about actually fighting, let's face it, we are playing toy soldiers, so if you want to get some webbing or a tactical vest or whatever, go for it. They do at least help to protect you from painful hits from BBs.

 

Last but most definitely not least, when you do go to your skirmish - which trust me, you will really love - be honest about calling out your hits, and if in doubt, take the hit anyway. Stick your hand up and shout 'hit!' loud enough for people to hear. Airsofting relies on people being honourable about taking their hits honestly, and without that honesty, it would be crap.

[DX115FALCON]

There's a bloody good guide by one of the mods on here linked in my signature (at the bottom of this post). I really recommend reading it .

[Frosty0769]

Welcome have fun.

[cavninja]

welcome aboard Bro!

[kenvlo]

Thanks

Some great advice see you on the field