New to Forum / Airsoft

[Shaddow]

Afternoon All,

 

New to Airsoft (As a hobby) and hope to have my first Skirmish mid March at a site near Banbury (Coms 3).

Iv done a few paintball sessions and been airsoft before with some mates.

 

After (Probably years) of wanting to get more involved, iv decided now is as good a time as any. As mentioned, got my first game lined up and hope to get some gear together before then (Face protection, gloves etc..) and then a RIF once I get the UKARA sorted.

 

I live just outside of Stratford-upon-Avon and from a quick google search, there seem to be 2 main sites local to me without heading into / north of Birmingham. The Grange and RIFT. Any other good ones I should give a try???

 

I would appreciate any advice people have on good quality face protection, gloves and other gear to buy.

I'v seen plenty of variant of face protection from just glasses to mesh style glasses and full face protection. Obviously each has its own pro's and con's, but again personal feedback would be appreciated on what works best. (Probably opting towards glasses and lower face protection).

Is there a general consensus if glasses + Lower face protection is better worse than a single piece half face mask?

 

Looking forward to meeting people in the future at Skirmish events.

 

Werner

[lazybike]

Hi mate, there's people here with way more knowledge than me....but in my limited experience... I started with glasses and lower face pro, the glasses didn't work for me and I changed to mesh goggles, gloves I can take or leave depending on weather, the most important thing for me was footwear, get some decent comfy boots!

I have to say all the people I have met have been very helpful and friendly...

[WoodfordWolf]

Hey. Few of us have just started in the banbury area too. We went to Westcott venture Park on Sunday and did a day there. I live like 5 mins away from com 3 so I will probably give that ago soon too. We are looking into all the gear and locations at the moment so I'll say in touch

[Shaddow]

Hey. Few of us have just started in the banbury area too. We went to Westcott venture Park on Sunday and did a day there. I live like 5 mins away from com 3 so I will probably give that ago soon too. We are looking into all the gear and locations at the moment so I'll say in touch

 

Thanks for the info. Will keep my eyes open. Ordered a few bits of kit ready for my game on the 13th.

 

Little added bonus I found out was that Zero One airsoft in Poole is about 5min walk from girlfriends parents house, so a nice easy escape location for me whenever we go visiting.

[WoodfordWolf]

I just want to own my own stuff. Went Sunday and every one looked nuts haha. You doing coms 3? As it's like 5mins away from my house I might do it. Seen some of the photos on their website looks good. Plus one of the players has a gun I'm interested in so be nice to ask for a feel of the gun.

[Bencupra]

I used mesh on Sunday and hated it couldn't see a thing like walking round with a collinder on you're face lol.

[Shaddow]

I used mesh on Sunday and hated it couldn't see a thing like walking round with a collinder on you're face lol.

 

Yeah iv seen and heard some horror stories with mesh. (Can just be low quality ones?)

After reading some reviews, I decided to order some ESS Advancer V-12 goggles.

Not got anything for lower face yet.

[proffrink]

For mesh, there are certain horror stores, but like you say it's for the cheap stuff - the same stories exist for cheap polycarbonate glasses and goggles too. Heroshark are a good brand for mesh.

 

The V12 Advancers are excellent. Remember to use the anti-fog cloth regularly and consider removing all the foam from the top bottom and sides to help with airflow and fogging (the foam is mostly there to keep dust out, which is probably why the MoD bought a load some years back).

[Shaddow]

Thanks for the info, and yeah the site I will be playing at on the13th March is Com's3 near banbury.

 

To start my research off, can anyone recommend a decent brand / RIF that I can look at.

 

I'd like the look and modular build of the M4's and SCAR-H. So either of those or something similar.

Any advice / feedback is much appreciated.

[proffrink]

What's your budget?

[Shaddow]

Guess thats the real question.

 

I am happy to spend more to get a decent gun that will last and offer good upgrade options.

 

Maybe £400ish (But again, if I can get a much better model for little more, id rather buy once and get quality than buy cheaper and find I need to sell and buy something else 6 - 12months later.)

If I have not got the budget at time of buying, I will wait a month and save a bit more until I can afford. But now I have 2-3months to save.

 

Also some recommendation for side arms. From what iv seen, they seem to be around the £100mark.

Whats the census on best options regarding spring, gas, etc..

[Dentonboy]

I would always recommend Tokyo Marui to anyone buying their first RIFs.

 

I have TM Gas pistols going strong after 20+ years (a NBB Desert Eagle) and their GBBs are top quality and seem to work well in pretty much all weathers.

 

As for an AEG, it really is horses-for-courses, but again, TM will almost certainly not let you down.

[proffrink]

I love TM - over half my guns have been Maruis, but they're lagging behind a little when it comes to refining the V2 gearbox in a standard M4. They're more of a wave maker with new-to-market stuff like their M870, AA12, recoil shock etc. rather than a company that spends a lot of time on an already pretty done-and-dusted platform. That's why I'd recommend a Krytac to OP with that budget: They make very, very solid AR gats that can perform as well as a Marui out of the box but are a little more up to date. Also he'd still have £50 left over for BBs and batteries.

 

That said, if you want to go out of the ordinary with something like an M14, a SCAR, EBB, etc. then TM really is the only choice if you don't want to have to fiddle around with internals.

 

TM still lead the field in GBB pistols though. I completely agree on that front, but then they are also revising a lot of their dated pistol designs like the M92. When it comes to AEGs, a lot of other companies have the luxury of improving upon what Marui and others have done immediately, rather than having to wait for their older version to cycle out and become profitable enough that they can justify the cost of all that new tooling.

[Shaddow]

Thanks for all the info.

Will be visiting Zero one hopefully in April so will have a good look around and get an idea of what sits best.

 

As an engineer and petrol head, I don't mind getting my hands dirty and replace / upgrade internals if needed. I would almost be more inclined to buy a cheaper base model and spend extra on upgraded mods and have a better RIF, than just spending the same amount on a more expensive out the box solution.

In my eyes, the upgrades, builds etc is half the fun!

 

From whats stated above, seems I will keep my eyes out on either TM or Krytac for the AEG and then TM for piston.

 

Got some gloves and eye protection sorted, now to decide if I get some DPM's from fleabay, or just ware my black combats. Also any recommendations on lower face protection to go well with the ESS V12 goggles?

 

Finally, anyone else going to Com's 3 site on 13th March?