Stainesy86 Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 First of all Hi, and sorry for starting a new thread lol. I am completely new to Airsoft and want to get into it with my son. I am based in Bromley and know a couple of sites local to me. (Chislehurst and Croydon) I'm hoping to make this a new hobby of ours if we both enjoy it and looking to go a few times a year depending on budgets, time etc. Potentially even becoming registered to purchase replicas as well. I have read the requirements too. My main question is, what can I expect? I have done paintballing and that was fun, but found on the day, it was very expensive. Also, I understand the requirements for purchasing your own guns, but is my son allowed to use one of my purchased guns (providing it is two-tone coloured) at skirmish sites, he is 13 years old. Thanks, hope to see you on the battlefield at some point Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Gepard Posted December 19, 2017 Supporters Share Posted December 19, 2017 Welcome! Airsoft is similar to Paintball in many ways and your experience won't differ too much if you're renting. Airsoft can be cheap, but it can also be fairly expensive too. I would expect to spend about £30 per person if renting, but I'd bring extra cash in case you want more services such as food or ammo. Each site is different so it's best to check in beforehand and see what they have to offer. On the day you'll be provided with a weapon and eye protection as default as well as enough ammo to last the day. What your package includes will, again, depend on the site. You'll be given a weapon handling demonstration and a health and saftey brief. Its important to listen during this. You don't want to be 'that guy' who ignores the briefing and then 10 minutes later asks how to eject a magazine. Before you go out and buy your own kit I would highly recommend playing beforehand to make sure it's something you two enjoy. If you're playing in a woodland environment a pair of ankle support boots with good treads are a must. 18+ can buy a Two tone gun 18+ with a defense can buy a RIF You can buy either and let your son use them provided that criteria is met. There's plenty of useful info in the pinned posts which I recommend reading, as well as a bunch of previous threads with replies just like mine. Any further questions let us know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Head Moderator Jedi_Master Posted December 19, 2017 Head Moderator Share Posted December 19, 2017 Welcome . As I always recommend, read the pinned (sticky) topics in each section for some good advice and to improve your knowledge. Initial outlay on guns, eye-protection (under 18 needs full face protection) and gear can add up in price, depending on what you decide to buy. The more you play, effectively it gets cheaper because you have the gear and only need to pay for BBs (£5-8 bottle of 3k) and the days site fees. I would recommend getting site membership so that you can purchase a realistic gun instead of a two-tone one. Your son can use any of your guns on site, and is not restricted to only playing with a two-tone, which means you could buy two RIFs and he gets to use one of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightningCh Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 Welcome for the third time *is going to pretend I wrote all the stuff in above posts because they all have great things to say* 40 minutes ago, Gepard said: You'll be given a weapon handling demonstration and a health and saftey brief. Its important to listen during this. You don't want to be 'that guy' who ignores the briefing and then 10 minutes later asks how to eject a magazine. I was very nearly "that guy" my first time, I listened to the brief and everything! Just my goldfish memory tried to let me down lol. Anyway, welcome to the forum (for the fourth time). Hopefully you love your first day out on the field (I know I did), and hopefully you stick with it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted December 19, 2017 Author Share Posted December 19, 2017 Thank you all for the welcome posts. initially I’m gonna try it out but have a feeling I will enjoy it. I know my son will too, he is almost obsessed with call of duty and other shoot em ups, so to do it in real life he would love even more haha. I have read up on a lot of sites and also websites for the skirmish sites too. So looking forward to getting out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immortal Posted December 19, 2017 Share Posted December 19, 2017 Hello I saw you mentioned Croydon. I'm a member at TWA in Croydon and so are a few others on here. It's a friendly, fun, small venue. It's Woodland and outdoor CQB... sometimes a mix of both. All sorts and all ages turn up. New & seasoned players. Can be upto 120 players. You mention your son likes Call of Duty too. Some of the games I've played there can be very similar in principal... BUT ... lol... it's physical and a million times better! At least 3 of us will be there on the 30th Dec for the last game of the year. Otherwise games are every two weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted December 20, 2017 Author Share Posted December 20, 2017 I am looking forward to getting involved and the more videos I watch, the more I want to start lol. I am not looking to purchase any of my own equipment as of yet. But I have seen guns from the company "Bulldog" and wanted to know what you guys though of this brand. Bulldog is a name this is used in my family as part of family businesses, so it would seem fitting to own Bulldog Branded items too lol. But wouldn't just buy if they are not great. Any recommendations on where to get the best clothing. I am on the chunkier side of life so can't be anything slim fit haha. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Immortal Posted December 20, 2017 Share Posted December 20, 2017 I get army surplus off eBay or any surplus store/site that has what I need at the best price. Check your size against a NATO size chart, it'll save you a lot of time looking for what may or may not fit (if your after that sort of thing). I haven't bought anything that wasn't army surplus so I can't really point to anything else. Before any of that invest in the best eye/face protection you can afford. Then look for good boots... I have no idea about the bulldog brand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Gepard Posted December 20, 2017 Supporters Share Posted December 20, 2017 Never heard of bulldog before. Typically you've got 3 brands for budget starter guns under £150: CYMA, JG and G&G. Don't spend exorbitant amounts of money on your first gun, but don't skimp out either. I agree with @Immortal. I'd buy your own face protection first. Rental masks are fine but having your own is definitely a better feeling. As you're over 18 it's up to you what you go with. Paintball mask, goggles, glasses, etc.. I use a pair of ESS ICE. In CQC I switch them out for some good old Bollé trackers and a half mesh mask. Surplus stores are great for picking up a cheap pair of BDUs, but also look on eBay. Whilst what you wear doesn't really effect how you play, dressing up is part of the experience and getting something dedicated to getting dirty is always a plus one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted December 20, 2017 Author Share Posted December 20, 2017 Well I only noticed the Bulldog brand on the well renowned jbbg website, which I have now read up on here to avoid like the plague lol. So will obviously look elsewhere for guns and equipment. I will defo look ebay for surplus equipment also. I agree that the dressing up for the part is one of the main bits of the experience of being a soldier for the day and I am going to look around for some decent stuff. Any websites in particular to look at for equipment, guns BBs etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Gepard Posted December 20, 2017 Supporters Share Posted December 20, 2017 Patrol Base, Land Warrior Airsoft and JBBG are websites I've personally bought from without any issues. The forum has a classified section where users sell their gear. Might be worth looking if you're after some cheap second hand equipment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted December 20, 2017 Author Share Posted December 20, 2017 7 minutes ago, Gepard said: Patrol Base, Land Warrior Airsoft and JBBG are websites I've personally bought from without any issues. The forum has a classified section where users sell their gear. Might be worth looking if you're after some cheap second hand equipment. Thanks for your help. I will defo check out the classified section too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted December 20, 2017 Author Share Posted December 20, 2017 I do have one question. For a one day event that you play. How many pellets would you bring with you. I don't know if i would be that trigger happy guy or tactical shoot 1 or 2 pellets at a time. I know it is cheap to buy extra ammo on the day too, which I am not worries about anyway. Just working out a rough guide for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Gepard Posted December 20, 2017 Supporters Share Posted December 20, 2017 A bottle of 3000 BBs is about £7. I keep a couple bottles handy, but over the course of a day I wouldn't ever expect to use that much. I play quite forward and aggressive and usually end up firing off about 300 rounds per game on semi, sometimes more, sometimes less. Depending on how you play will determine how much ammo you use. Say there's 6x 30 minute rounds in a day, I'll end up using around 2000 rounds. I usually carry about 3x 120rnd midcaps, but often double that as I bought a box of 6 plus the highcap which came with the gun. I don't think I've ever had to reload more than 4 times in a single round, but that was a fairly long one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted December 20, 2017 Author Share Posted December 20, 2017 Ok perfect, so one load of extra bullets on the day would be about right then. Some sites offer an extra 3000. Thanks again for your help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Prisce Posted December 20, 2017 Supporters Share Posted December 20, 2017 Buying BBs in bulk also saves you money. You can get 36000, (12x3000) on PatrolBase for £64.99 which saves you around £1.50 a bottle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightningCh Posted December 21, 2017 Share Posted December 21, 2017 Just to show the varied usage of BBS. A guy at my site brings roughly 15,000 bbs every time i see him there. And he uses a majority of it. Which is an absolutely insane amount in my opinion. (We do 2 long games of about 2 hours each) Meanwhile, I get 2000 on my hire kit... I think I use about 300 a game at most lol. Although I'm not very forward (not really required by our game types) Only way to know is to bring your own bbs and find out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted December 21, 2017 Author Share Posted December 21, 2017 1 hour ago, LightningCh said: Just to show the varied usage of BBS. A guy at my site brings roughly 15,000 bbs every time i see him there. And he uses a majority of it. Which is an absolutely insane amount in my opinion. (We do 2 long games of about 2 hours each) Meanwhile, I get 2000 on my hire kit... I think I use about 300 a game at most lol. Although I'm not very forward (not really required by our game types) Only way to know is to bring your own bbs and find out I don't mind buying extra when I am there on he day to be honest, as long as I enjoy the day lol. I am already looking at what clothing to wear (camo stuff) and sizes as I am on the larger side of life (love a good dinner lol) I reckon I will enjoy the day regardless, I also think my son will enjoy it too as he did like the paintballing, but he is also very good at naming guns from games he plays too so maybe being able to fire a replica would be right up his street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted December 21, 2017 Author Share Posted December 21, 2017 Also, this is how Noobish (is that even a word??) I am. What do you all mean when you talk about a loadout? Is it the equipment you have, gun attachments etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporters Gepard Posted December 21, 2017 Supporters Share Posted December 21, 2017 16 minutes ago, Stainesy86 said: What do you all mean when you talk about a loadout? Is it the equipment you have, gun attachments etc. A loadout is what you bring to a game. What you wear, what you use, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted December 21, 2017 Author Share Posted December 21, 2017 I thought it was. I suppose I should have known that from playing shoot em ups lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted February 7, 2018 Author Share Posted February 7, 2018 Ok... I got my combats, I got my boots, my gloves, elbow and knee pads and a camo snood for my ears lol. I think I am ready to try it for the first time. I am gonna go to Tactical Airsoft in Croydon this weekend or maybe next game weekend in 2 weeks. Anybody going for either of those days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted February 10, 2018 Author Share Posted February 10, 2018 My son and I Popped our Airsoft cherries today. Played at Tactical Warefare in Croydon. Was great fun and everyone was friendly and showing us their guns. Thank you for making us feel welcome. I now got mud in places I didn’t think possible because I fell Arse over ahead and nearly face planted the floor haha! I think I will be back there again soon too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgeturner2001 Posted February 10, 2018 Share Posted February 10, 2018 You should try red one chislehurst, great site and not too far from you I'd imagine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stainesy86 Posted February 10, 2018 Author Share Posted February 10, 2018 7 minutes ago, Georgeturner2001 said: You should try red one chislehurst, great site and not too far from you I'd imagine! Yea it’s about 20 mins or so away from me. I will give it a look. Cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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