Lessons learnt from my first air soft day

[Infanteer]

I had my first airsoft day in December and am going again tomorrow. I knew I'd love it but didn't think I would love it this much!

It was a lot of fun. 

 

I thought I'd share some of my experience and also put down some of the things I encountered so maybe other fellow noobs could get some insight. 

 

1. I took way too much gear. It was rather ridiculous actually, I had spare this and spare that, I had my rifle bag and a big duffel bag, I had to walk a few miles and catch 3 different buses then walk a few miles again to get to the FUP so I could get a minibus to the site. I probably could have camped overnight with the amount of crap I took. Tomorrow when I go I will probably take a third of what I took. I have a car now as well so obviously this will help. 

2. I learnt a lot in one day, I was suprised. On the field I was loaded down with a chest rig, again carrying way too much stuff. Tomorrow I will be a lot lighter which as a bigger guy will be a lot more beneficial for me. I know hicaps are not the most popular but you can hear me coming a mile off, I am not the most graceful cat in the forest so I will stick to hicaps purely because I think I barely went through one the whole day last time plus it cuts down on the amount of crap I have to carry. I did have to wind the mag a lot more than I was expecting. 

 

3. Spend time zeroing your rifle/sight. I have a holographic sight that I didn't have time to zero and the shooting was way off, I ended up ripping it off the rifle and using the sights which was not ideal. I have now reattached it and spent the time needed to at least get it somewhat accurate. My gear will improve over time, I have taped a camera to my gat for tomorrow and this is not ideal, it looks like a hot mess, especially the tape I used was the only tape I could get but it will do the job and I'll come up with a better system in the next few months. I will have the camera on 4 x zoom so it will also provide me hopefully with a visual aid, I don't know how effective this will be spotting snipers etc until i get out there but if this doesn't work (I don't have high hopes) then I will be carrying a small pair of binos in the future. 

4. Fitness. I knew I was unfit but jesus. I'm not too worried about this, I know it will come back naturally. One thing I struggled with was holding my hand up for the long, long walks back to the spawn point. I felt like I was back at school and if you stand there for five minutes with your hand in the air you will get what i mean, someone suggested pulling out a rag which might be worth looking into. 

5. Open both eyes to watch your fall of shot, a lot of people probably do this already but I found this was a good way to at least work out if the rounds are going where I want them to go. 

6. Losing gear. Over the course of the day I lost an expensive pistol mag, a normal mag and something else I can't remember which goes to show you how awesome I am at losing stuff. My pistol mag ejects easily. I tried to modify my holster for tomorrow to stop the edjector getting hit but I think its an improvement, not a permanant fix. Saying this the guys at my sight handed everything I lost in to the marshalls which was great because I was adding the costs up in my head and it would have been more than what I paid to play for the day. I found another mag and handed it in as well so the good karma must have paid off. If you find something please do the right thing and hand it in as someone else will be estastic they got it back, I know I was.

7, The site I play at doesn't use arm bands, its their rules and the owner explained why. I can't remember the reason but remember at the time thinking that sounds valid. Subsquently I spent a lot of the day challenging people when I got the drop on them which seemed to somehow annoy some of them. I asked one guy 3 times what team he was one and when he refused to answer I shot him. A couple times I asked aiming down the sights and people pulled their side arms before getting capped. Over 50% of the time these people were on my team. Maybe a better way is to duck behind a tree and answer then engage if necessary. The other team had a challenge word which I think was chicken, obviously I don't know what the response was but when I came up against a cluster of them I yelled out chicken and that bought me enough time to engage them. 

8. Be aware of people running through the site with knives and axes, I got done by a guy with an axe. It was hilarious but I was kicking myself afterwards, it was shock and awe at its finest. I wasn't expecting it and it was a bit of a humiliating walk back to the spawnpoint, expect the unexpected. Same thing happened in the woodlands with a guy with a pump action shottie. 

9. Apart from one or two high elfs, everyone seemed really friendly. Get out there and talk to people, I met a guy from Thailand which was awesome. Two guys from similar necks of the woods meeting on a scotish airsoft field on the other side of the planet, pretty cool. 

10. My eye protection was viper mesh googles, I couldn't see well in the low light and had visibility of about 20-25 m in the forest which was not adequate. Tomorrow I will have normal goggles with the yellow inserts which will hopefully brighten up my view. This was detremental to my gameplay and I am hoping this will be rectified with my new purchase. 

This was stuff I picked up on my first ever game day, hopefully this will help someone heading out for the first time or perhaps someone else whose been out a couple times will read it and get some benefit out of it. 

[L3wisD]

On the subject of tape, the amount of guys I see doing bodge safe zone repair jobs with with electrical tape, or even plain ol' sellotape is crazy.

 

The secret is Rubber "amalgamation" tape.

Plumbers use it to seal leaking pipes. It's black, soft rubber in feel and it fuses to itself so there's no adhesive involved to leave a sticky mess on your gun.

 

If you pull it really right and take your time it can look very tidy, or even a rush tape job will do the job for the rest of the day.

 

I've used to to keep my M203 from opening by itself one day (catch became very loose mid-game)

 

 

When my flashlight mount didn't arrive in time, it was perfect for fastening my torch to my gun

 

 

And even made a makeshift grip on an M4 after cutting my right hand on a tree, which made it softer to hold and made do until I got home.

 

 

It's magical stuff and the £4 roll isn't even half gone yet. 

I recommend anyone keep it in their rifle bag.

 

 

[Kash]

First time I took my kit my pistol fell out its holster twice and it ejected the mag in the gun 4 times, luckily I or somone. Nearby noticed every time so I didnt leave empty holstered... 

 

I baught a cloth holster that clearly doesnt work with glocks.

 

After that id always recommend kydax/hardcased locking holsters

[Careless]

5 hours ago, L3wisD said:

 

Plumbers use it to seal leaking pipes

 

 

lol no we dont! you mean builders and DIY enthusiast s , looks like pretty cool stuff tho

[L3wisD]

20 minutes ago, Careless said:

lol no we dont! you mean builders and DIY enthusiast s , looks like pretty cool stuff tho

 

I confess I sell it at work to truck mechanics to seal brake airlines temporarily.

 

Screwfix said that plumbers use it, I took their word for it!

[Infanteer]

I got thicker sticky tape like tape, not great but literally all i could find without going round the country side. It looks like crap, I trimmed it up with scissors but it will do the job until I get something better. 

[Albiscuit]

Dont believe any advise anyone in screwfix gives you!!!  they just work from a catalogue, they have as much knowledge in the building trade as old Doris does in Argos with Mac books!! 

 

But interesting read.. Glad the OP learnt from mistakes!

 

Makes a change from posts saying its my first game tomorrow "what do I need to take/buy".. Its nice someone is trying out and adapting gear and kit rather than wanting a one stop solution before they play

[Fumps]

My company makes the self amalgamating tape, I get all tapes for cost price.....muh ha ha ha haaaaaa!!!