The 'How Did Your Airsoft Day Go? Thread

[Guest DrAlexanderTobacco]

2 hours ago, SussexMatt said:

@DrAlexanderTobacco How was Dogtag? I went the other day and left during the first game.  Was full of kids for one. Briefing was terrible, dry firing in the safe zone was rife, I think it was me and about 4 other people with their own kit who actually chronoed their kit and nobody checked on the way into the field. Site looked good but first impression was awful, spoke to a girl who played there regularly, she said it was pretty poor most of the time. 

I can't comment on the site as it runs normally unfortunately - this was a separate event hosted by a different company, we were just using the site. Cracking good site though!

[Rogerborg]

15 hours ago, Cannonfodder said:

This lot would understand everything in conversation, but the moment they were pulled up on something they turned into this guy so it was obvious they knew exactly what they were doing. 

 

 

I lolled, but there is a real consideration that comprehending a foreign language (or even English like the Baby Jesus spoke if you're a heathen) is a front-brain activity and can fall apart when the adrenaline is flowing.

 

The gold standard of marshalling that I've seen was at the old Depot site where the marshals didn't tend to yell, they took people away from the action and had a few moments of silence first before explaining things calmly and slowly.  Not universally, there were a few angry gingers, but the ones with a soul had clearly picked up on the correct technique from the excellent head marshal, and again I'll opine that time-served bouncers are a perfect fit.

[SussexMatt]

18 hours ago, DrAlexanderTobacco said:

I can't comment on the site as it runs normally unfortunately - this was a separate event hosted by a different company, we were just using the site. Cracking good site though!

Interesting, hadnt heard of the company running that before, will look out for future things! The site overall looked great, loads of space lots to interact with etc. Maybe I just caught a bad day there. 

[Impulse]

1 minute ago, SussexMatt said:

Interesting, hadnt heard of the company running that before, will look out for future things! The site overall looked great, loads of space lots to interact with etc. Maybe I just caught a bad day there. 

 

Can't speak for Dogtag themselves because I've never been and don't plan on going (because I hear way more horror stories than good ones from there...), but the Defiant Events guys are great and run milsim events at sites around the south. I went to Op. Spectre (the one they ran at Worthing) and while it wasn't my cup of tea it was well run and organised. Their website is https://www.defiantevents.co.uk

[SussexMatt]

1 minute ago, Impulse said:

 

Can't speak for Dogtag themselves because I've never been and don't plan on going (because I hear way more horror stories than good ones from there...), but the Defiant Events guys are great and run milsim events at sites around the south. I went to Op. Spectre (the one they ran at Worthing) and while it wasn't my cup of tea it was well run and organised. Their website is https://www.defiantevents.co.uk

Thanks, bookmarked the site! Never done a milsim before and would love to give a proper one a go. 

[Cannonfodder]

11 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

I lolled, but there is a real consideration that comprehending a foreign language (or even English like the Baby Jesus spoke if you're a heathen) is a front-brain activity and can fall apart when the adrenaline is flowing.

They could understand me fine in the middle of games so I don't think it was a heat of the moment thing. 

 

11 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

The gold standard of marshalling that I've seen was at the old Depot site where the marshals didn't tend to yell, they took people away from the action and had a few moments of silence first before explaining things calmly and slowly.  Not universally, there were a few angry gingers, but the ones with a soul had clearly picked up on the correct technique from the excellent head marshal, and again I'll opine that time-served bouncers are a perfect fit.

I didn't see it myself so I didn't see the marshals reactions, but before the last game before lunch everyone was gathered in the safe zone and we were told anyone who dry fires in the safezone, removes their eyepro in game or is caught ignoring test shots would be booted out. They were gone very quickly at lunch. 

 

Fully agree with the bouncer analogy 

[MAX DICKER]

Went to The Bunker CQB last night for a bit of pew on my way home from work. The first two TDM games were great, then there were a few 'get the bomb in the Land Rover' games, where after each game, a different 5 players were selected to defend the Landy. All great fun so far.

 

Now, The Bunker is definitely the smallest site I've ever played. Which suits me fine as I love CQB. However, as I found last night, as soon as issues arise with people nor taking hits, or being perceived to not take their hits, then the mood of the whole place goes south way faster than at a bigger site.

 

I personally experienced 2 instances of a guy not taking his hits from me (I was using a tracer, he was 6 feet from me and I had him illuminated with 1500 lumens). I notified the marshal and went to cool off (this was after a couple of other incidents where I was pretty sure I hit someone who wouldn't take their hits but wasn't 100% positive).

 

In the SZ, a couple of other people were there also complaining about the same thing.

 

Between games, the marshal came to me to say he'd had words with a couple of players including the one who I mentioned.

 

The next game started OK, I managed to push to a little corner. I saw some enemy tracer fire go past my POV so I popped put of the corner and shot the guy whilst he was still firing. In fairness, his reaction before I shot him was quick but the shot that he reflexively fired didn't get me.

 

He called his hit, then added in a shitty tone "and so are you".

 

I concede that there is a possibility that a trade took place but I didn't feel anything (tshirt, jeans, no chest rig, range was 2'). Maybe he hit my gun but gun hits don't count.

 

Anyway, it occurred to me that it'd gotten to to point where people would assume that you were cheating and I was no longer enjoying the play.

 

Shame really as its a great site and I'm definitely going back.

 

Also, got shot a beaut right on the nose

 

[Speedbird_666]

@MAX DICKER  And that's why I run paintball goggles pretty much exclusively for Airsoft these days, especially CQB.

 

Played at Portsmouth's Bunker on Sunday (I'm assuming yours is the Welsh one) for the first time and my god, those nutters (read: regulars) were running super heavy BB's , the chrono marshall was saying that some were running .36s to .40s.  In an underground CQB bunker with around 15-20ft of visibility after a few Pyros went off - I experienced some of the most painful hits I've had playing in 16-17 years.

 

Also had some similar issues to you - trading with players a 5ft range and them refusing to take the hit, being accused of cheating, despite a Marshall watching me, and only me, during the entire game whilst I was holding a key bottleneck on the field (he told the accusing player to basically fuck off - top bloke IMO). Both sides whinging about hit taking in the safe zone yadda yadda yadda....

 

But to be fair, the Marshalls were pretty spot-on dealing with the problems throughout and that's why I would play there again - just with a tracer unit and the heaviest tracer BB's I can lay my hands on next time.

 

 

Edited June 9, 2022 by Speedbird_666

[MAX DICKER]

Hate anything covering my face, literally prefer being shot in the face.... and I do.... all the time lol

 

Yeah, marshaling wasn't the issue for me either. Sometimes they can't fix a poor day.

 

And honestly, weirdly, one of my favourite things in Airsoft is a sweet mutual. Trading hits with a player, fist bump and a compliment of "well played" then back to respawn.  I love it.

[Rogerborg]

37 minutes ago, Speedbird_666 said:

the chrono marshall was saying that some were running .36s to .40s.  In an underground CQB bunker

 

Any idea why they even allow that weight of BB there?  There's no reason to use anything heavier than 0.25g in indoor CQB sites, and even that's flexing.

 

Maybe be the change you want to see?  I call hits in very-CQB when people even point at gun at me, even if they're shooting dry. They're never going to believe they missed, because their gnu is a laser and they're a Delta Beret Ninja.  Arguing the toss just leaves two people grumpy and aggrieved, and they'll be convinced that you didn't call their hit, so they'll be less likely to call yours, right?

[MAX DICKER]

7 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

 

Any idea why they even allow that weight of BB there?  There's no reason to use anything heavier than 0.25g in indoor CQB sites, and even that's flexing.

 

Maybe someone uses heavy BB's because they mainly play outdoors and doesn't want to have to buy separate weight BB's for CQB.

Funnily enough, the Bunker (south Wales) doesn't allow weight over .25g which seems strange to me. Surely the weight makes little to no difference as long as the muzzle energy is 1j

[Speedbird_666]

9 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

Any idea why they even allow that weight of BB there?  There's no reason to use anything heavier than 0.25g in indoor CQB sites, and even that's flexing.

 

No idea - infliction of pain? At the ranges we were shooting at, there was no need for additional 'accuracy'.

 

1 hour ago, MAX DICKER said:

 Surely the weight makes little to no difference as long as the muzzle energy is 1j

 

It's about energy retention of the BB during it's flight. Muzzle energy is measured at the muzzle (obvs) - not 20-30ft away at your target. Try putting the muzzle on your thigh and firing a shot point blank- THAT is 1J of muzzle energy. And painful.

 

Lower weight BB's are faster out of the gun, but shed their energy quicker than slower moving, but much heavier BBs. Felt force on the target will always be higher with heavier BB's, especially at CQB ranges.

 

 

 

[MAX DICKER]

22 minutes ago, Speedbird_666 said:

 

No idea - infliction of pain? At the ranges we were shooting at, there It's about energy retention of the BB during it's flight. Muzzle energy is measured at the muzzle (obvs) - not 20-30ft away at your target. Try putting the muzzle on your thigh and firing a shot point blank- THAT is 1J of muzzle energy. And painful.

 

Lower weight BB's are faster out of the gun, but shed their energy quicker than slower moving, but much heavier BBs. Felt force on the target will always be higher with heavier BB's, especially at CQB ranges.

 

 

 

OK, so that's pretty much what I figured. I thought there might be a reason I was unaware of that made more sense. Surely if you're playing close quarters you should expect to get shot at very close range, at energies up to 1j no matter what the weight? I mean, 1j stings but its not earth shattering. I honestly don't see the problem here.

[Speedbird_666]

1 hour ago, MAX DICKER said:

OK, so that's pretty much what I figured. I thought there might be a reason I was unaware of that made more sense. Surely if you're playing close quarters you should expect to get shot at very close range, at energies up to 1j no matter what the weight? I mean, 1j stings but its not earth shattering. I honestly don't see the problem here.

 

When you use very heavy BBs at CQB distances, it only serve to increase pain on your target. Pure and simple.

 

I wouldn't necessarily have a problem with this - except that kids play airsoft too. And at that point it just becomes cruel.

 

Fortunately my sons opted out of playing the Bunker on Sunday, and after I showed them my 'war wounds' from the day, they very much affirmed that they have no desire to play there themselves.

 

So with that in mind, I understand why some CQB sites will set a weight limit on the BB's.

 

 

[Rogerborg]

Heavier is denser is harder is less elastic is more impulse is hurtier feels.  1J of dry sponge, or 1J of tungsten?  Same energy.

 

There's also the issue of chronoing, and abuse or even the genuine miscomprehension we've seen here occasionally about what "350fps" means.

 

I got a cracker of a bruised fingertip at about 30 feet from an HPA pistol months ago that's still not fully cleared up.  I ran and told a grown up, the guy got chronoed, and came in under 350.

 

They use site 0.2g at the morning chrono-theatre, but I suspect just trusted him on the weight when chronoed in-game.

 

[Shamal]

1 hour ago, Rogerborg said:

 I ran and told a grown up

 

 

Love it. 😂

[Badgerlicious]

2 hours ago, Rogerborg said:

They use site 0.2g

I don't know how sties still do this. It's just a clear indicator they don't know how things work, and it doesn't take much searching to find out the why and hows. 

[Cannonfodder]

Exactly. I'm no Sheldon Cooper when it comes to physics, but even I understand joule creep and how heavier bbs affect muzzle energy. 

 

Personally I've no problem with cqb sites banning heavier bbs as the advantages only become apparent at ranges greater than found in cqb and adjusting the hop up shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes 

[Rogerborg]

1 hour ago, Badgerlicious said:

I don't know how sties still do this. It's just a clear indicator they don't know how things work, and it doesn't take much searching to find out the why and hows. 

 

Oh, that's fair enough, this is a CQB site with a 0.25g limit.  You're not going to get much creep from 0.2 to 0.25g, and I'd prefer them chronoing with known 0.2g rather than taking folks' word on what they're using.

 

Of course, that's still pointless if Harry HPA nudges his nob and/or slings 0.4g in there.  They should be testing with site BBs during the day as well.  That said, credit for even doing an in-game chrono at all.

[Jacob Wright]

Great day at Combat Airsoft near Thetford today. No issues with hit-taking and some really good enthusiastic players on both sides encouraging and helping the rentals. 
And to make it even better the sun came out and we won!

[SussexMatt]

Great saturday a Driver Wood, new barricades in some areas really meant that engagement was more intense, lots more cover, some intense battles couple of epic holdouts from people on the other team, one lad held a corner on his own and I swear hit almost every member of our team at some point before about 10 of us rushed him and I finally got the kill shot. Many high fives all round as it was a lot of fun. 

 

Some shenannigans from some players on the other team when they moved half way across the map before the game had started and ambushed us badly, meant we got boxed in but it was all good fun. hit taking was excellent, smaller group than usual, I think 60 players or so, more regulars hence good discipline and hit taking, couple of rental kids were there and not good at it but they were pretty young and nobody cared, they were pretty funny especially the lad who fell flat on his face in a massive muddy puddle but laughed it off when we all took the piss. 

[Shamal]

20 minutes ago, SussexMatt said:

Great saturday a Driver Wood, new barricades in some areas really meant that engagement was more intense, lots more cover, some intense battles couple of epic holdouts from people on the other team, one lad held a corner on his own and I swear hit almost every member of our team at some point before about 10 of us rushed him and I finally got the kill shot. Many high fives all round as it was a lot of fun. 

 

Some shenannigans from some players on the other team when they moved half way across the map before the game had started and ambushed us badly, meant we got boxed in but it was all good fun. hit taking was excellent, smaller group than usual, I think 60 players or so, more regulars hence good discipline and hit taking, couple of rental kids were there and not good at it but they were pretty young and nobody cared, they were pretty funny especially the lad who fell flat on his face in a massive muddy puddle but laughed it off when we all took the piss. 

Haha good for him ☺️

[colinjallen]

Having driven up to Keele on Friday evening to collect my son from University and driven back down on Saturday, including a  diversion to our favourite surplus shop, my son and I decided that a trip to Dragon's Lair would be a good way to spend today.  For those who do not know Dragon's Lair, it is a small woodland site in Essex; the terrain is undulating, with a village, a fort, lots of small structures and, as of a few weeks ago, a CQB labyrinth.

It has a good safe zone with free tea and coffee and a small shop run by Airsoft Zone.

The site is run in a friendly and relaxed manner and the marshalling is pretty much on point.  We play there a few times a year as we like to play at a variety of sites in Kent and Sussex.

Today, there were around 90 players, with about 12-15 being rentals.  Despite the small size of the site, it did not seem crowded; strangely it never does.

As usual, the games were simple, but provided some really great gameplay, with good hit taking and good sportsmanship on both sides.  It was a really fun day of what a friend once described as "good, old fashioned, dumb airsoft".  There were no high tech props, no vehicles, no gimmicks; just a bunch of like minded folk thoroughly enjoying shooting each other and getting shot, although being shot in the head from about 1m by one of my own team was not the most enjoyable part of the day.

As to the CQB labyrinth, I cannot really comment as it is not my thing, so I did not go into it; my son seemed to take up residence there and enjoyed it.

After a rather "meh" experience a couple of weeks ago at a site I really used to like, this was a refreshing change.  We drove home feeling very satisfied with our day out.

Edited June 12, 2022 by colinjallen

[Skara]

Nice and easy day on the field, despite the 30+ degrees, played in the lower part where it is a little cooler and there is more shade.

 

All well until the last game, where my PDW suddenly stopped working, it was feeding fine but air wasn't coming out, at first I thought the piston head had come loose just like what happened to my M4, but once I got home I cracked it open to find that the tappet plate spring had snapped in half. Easy fix at least, luckily I had my pistol (was testing out the new Deadly Customs holster I bought, awesome bit of kit btw).

 

This was the last Sunday game before summer break, from next week we will play on Friday night.

[sharpe]

Played at my local site (southcoast CQB) was a good day except i had issues with something on all my guns.

 

My TM scar seemed to hop a few BBs fine then would randomly send one up to the heavens.

Ran my Glock 18c in a Roni carbine kit one extended mag decided to vent all the gas mid fire fight, switched out to my other extended mag which I found out had been leaking from the fill valve.

ran my Krytac Kriss Vector the rest of the day but one mag decided to stop feeding (turned out a BB had managed to get the spring stuck) meaning i only had 3 midcaps.

 

other then that, like i said a good day. some really good hit taking and fire fights 👍