The 'How Did Your Airsoft Day Go? Thread

[Jaylordofwaargh]

7 hours ago, LMKipper said:

Gunman shenanigans 

Welcome to the wonderful world of filmsim! 

And yeah, leaning into the larp factor of it really can build the emersion that a '1 hour shoot those guys' doesn't.

They do hor cold war every 6 months or so and cold war quite often as well! 

 

[Impulse]

1 hour ago, Jaylordofwaargh said:

Welcome to the wonderful world of filmsim! 

And yeah, leaning into the larp factor of it really can build the emersion that a '1 hour shoot those guys' doesn't.

They do hor cold war every 6 months or so and cold war quite often as well! 

 

 

Can vouch for the Vietnam filmsims too. They run one in June and one in September and they're always a blast. I've missed the last few due to a few unfortunate reasons, but they've always been really solid every time I've attended.

[Lyndication]

21 hours ago, LMKipper said:

Went to Gunman Alpha yesterday for a themed ‘90s game. It was the invented nation of Sahud occupied by Russians vs the NATO forces. Everyone made lots of effort with period kit and it worked really nicely.

 

This sounds like so much fun, I love the LARP aspect 

[Baser]

Great day at Apocalypse Kent yesterday, starting to have abetter understanding of the map now. 

 

Took a mate with me so packed the MP5K, LCT G3 (its first outing) and WE SIG 226 for me an my spare MP5 and spare WE SIG 226 for my mate, with his favourite bit of kit the 1200 round drum mag. 

 

Weather was good, not too hot but muggy towards the end. Shop well stocked and I picked up a big pot of BB's as my mate went full auto for most of the day. 

 

First game was Bring your teams flag (Blue or Red) back to your base and then try and take the extra (Yellow flag) to your enemy's base as if it was an explosive and try and keep it there.  Was a hot and heated game with Ghilles sending defenders back to re spawn at an alarming rate. Strange end to the game with the Blue team camped out in the Red base and Blue team camped out in the Red base, Red team won as they took the Yellow flag to the Blue base with them. 

 

After lunch the Blue team had the honour of moving three explosive devices (big cases) to three locations to blow them up.  It was tough as they had to do it in order and each box could only be carried by specific (marked) team memebers, if made it to two of the locations they won if the Reds could keep them out of two they won. Reds camped out in the first and second locations and picked off the case carriers.  Blues got the first location but it was late in the game so win to the Reds. 

 

There was a medical issue in the second game so while that was being taken care of the third game was moved to the village and run as a very tight, semi only CQB.  Stick in a bucket in the middle of the village if it was Red at the top they won if it was Blue at the top they won.  Blues were first into the village and held it for the first half of the game but the Reds flanked both sides and picked them off then covered the Blue route back from their respawn.  Red win for this game and more critically the medical was sorted and guy was recovered to fight another day. 

 

MP5K is still intermittently losing full auto and having feeding/consistency issues which needs a proper tech to sort as its above my pay grade.  G3 shot well but it's a heavy lump for sub 350fps so needs DMR'ing quickly to make it worth the weight penalty.  SIG was epic and used to great effect in the CQB game at the end. Mate loved the MP5 and as expected went full auto for the first two games and went to mid cap sticks for the  semi only final game, I think he enjoyed the SIG but full auto is his thing I can see a LMG or mini gun in his future.

 

There were a few called out for not taking hits but I think it was mostly shooters overestimating their skill (and range) and calling players out at 70m where there was no chance of them making the hit with a 1j AEG. A few Ghilles made the game tough so my rule of shoot at any bush that moves worked quite well. 

 

Fun day had by all!! 

 

Hope to get my EBB AK back from the menders this week

Crack on and get the G3 booked in and built

MP5K is going back tomorrow as its still under warranty 

 

[Lyndication]

Had my second game day since breaking my ankle yesterday, at Sextion8 up here in Scotland.

 

Still having to take it steady, especially as the site is both very rough terrain being a plantation forest site, and had gotten a little boggy with the rain lately. Managed to get to about 2:30 before my hip seized up and I went back to the car for a lie down. 

 

First outing for my bolt action Mk12 and my VFC AK74M. The Mk12 performed excellently, absolutely uncanny range on it. It's really nice having AR ergonomics on a sniper. The VFC AK was just a solid performer and very fun.

 

I seem to have a very strange hop issue with both guns though, if anyone has some advice. I'd shoot at a guy and watch the BB fly right to them, but just before impact it would disappear. Very strange. Many shots where I was sure I saw the BB hit through a magnified scope, it simply didn't. Maybe a trick of the light? My opponents seemed to flinch at the BB disappearing but appeared unhit.

 

That aside, very fun day overall. Hip issues aside I managed to keep up and keep pushing for most of the day, and I think that's not bad going. Still having trouble explaining what Airsoft is to my Physio but she says it sounds like good exercise either way.

[Colin Allen]

1 hour ago, Lyndication said:

I seem to have a very strange hop issue with both guns though, if anyone has some advice. I'd shoot at a guy and watch the BB fly right to them, but just before impact it would disappear. Very strange. Many shots where I was sure I saw the BB hit through a magnified scope, it simply didn't. Maybe a trick of the light? My opponents seemed to flinch at the BB disappearing but appeared unhit.

9x19mm Parabellum usually solves that problem.

[Tackle]

2 hours ago, Lyndication said:

My opponents seemed to flinch at the BB disappearing but appeared unhit.

Sounds like your hop is fine, the technical term for what your experiencing is called "cheating cnuts not taking their hits".

 

Your probably hitting them at your limits of range, so the bb has lost most of its power, they in turn are feeling the hit, hence the flinch, but are possibly assuming its a ricochet due to the lack of power ?, or are just cheating sacks of 💩, in which case only a full power shot to the face🤕 will make them raise their hand.

🤬

[Lyndication]

I mean in many cases they were looking right at me

[Tackle]

4 minutes ago, Lyndication said:

I mean in many cases they were looking right at me

Means nothing, usually rare to see a bb in flight (unless its from an aep🐌   🤣), but the flinching, that's a big red flag.

[Tommikka]

@Lyndication

Are you looking through just sights or do you have any form of extra electronics such as a ‘scope cam’?

 

A digital view may still have digital artifacts from the BBs path, making it easier to ‘see’ in flight as it is continuing its route but suddenly ‘disappear’ as it loses power and has more of a drop

 

To a lesser degree we can optically see something similar in that the brain sees it where it expects to see it, but the power drop takes it out of the expected area

There may also be lighting / contrast effects as it passes though areas - more ‘lit up’ in the open flight area and perhaps a darker area when you get to their cover 

 

The flinch is the giveaway - perhaps it’s an ‘oh shit’ millisecond when BBs are spotted, but typically it would indicate that they have been hit and therefore have opted to not take the hit

 

Note that ‘in action’ BBs are deceptive - you notice lots of BBs arriving near you, and surely yours must be arriving near them as you can see their flight line.

But fire lines are often at the extent of a range, ineffective fire could be arriving at both ends landing at each others feet

 

A potential tip is to angle your fire upwards, an optimum arc then gains a few extra feet ….. a second tip is that it you are in the woods with tree cover that prevents arcing upwards is to lower your weapon, angled upwards and you gain approx half your height - a ‘normal’ person would kneel down to lower their line of fire, but it you want to add some embarrassment hold your gun down at crotch level / between your legs 

[Lyndication]

I was watching it through a 3X scope. I had just zeroed it to 74m at the site range that day.

 

I'm uh, not fond of arcing shots as that's usually only necessary if you have a bad hopup or are trying to hit outside your usual range. This was at about 40-50m.

 

That part of my comment was mostly made in jest.

[Cannonfodder]

Re players flinching, I'm not so sure it's always a sign the person is cheating. I know there's been times when a shot has missed me but it made me jump.

[Adolf Hamster]

10 hours ago, Cannonfodder said:

Re players flinching, I'm not so sure it's always a sign the person is cheating. I know there's been times when a shot has missed me but it made me jump.

 

Or hit cover near you

[Lyndication]

I was trying to be a bit facetious and failed lmao. 

[Egon_247]

On 28/07/2025 at 11:06, Baser said:

Great day at Apocalypse Kent yesterday, starting to have abetter understanding of the map now. 

 

Took a mate with me so packed the MP5K, LCT G3 (its first outing) and WE SIG 226 for me an my spare MP5 and spare WE SIG 226 for my mate, with his favourite bit of kit the 1200 round drum mag. 

 

Weather was good, not too hot but muggy towards the end. Shop well stocked and I picked up a big pot of BB's as my mate went full auto for most of the day. 

 

First game was Bring your teams flag (Blue or Red) back to your base and then try and take the extra (Yellow flag) to your enemy's base as if it was an explosive and try and keep it there.  Was a hot and heated game with Ghilles sending defenders back to re spawn at an alarming rate. Strange end to the game with the Blue team camped out in the Red base and Blue team camped out in the Red base, Red team won as they took the Yellow flag to the Blue base with them. 

 

After lunch the Blue team had the honour of moving three explosive devices (big cases) to three locations to blow them up.  It was tough as they had to do it in order and each box could only be carried by specific (marked) team memebers, if made it to two of the locations they won if the Reds could keep them out of two they won. Reds camped out in the first and second locations and picked off the case carriers.  Blues got the first location but it was late in the game so win to the Reds. 

 

There was a medical issue in the second game so while that was being taken care of the third game was moved to the village and run as a very tight, semi only CQB.  Stick in a bucket in the middle of the village if it was Red at the top they won if it was Blue at the top they won.  Blues were first into the village and held it for the first half of the game but the Reds flanked both sides and picked them off then covered the Blue route back from their respawn.  Red win for this game and more critically the medical was sorted and guy was recovered to fight another day. 

 

MP5K is still intermittently losing full auto and having feeding/consistency issues which needs a proper tech to sort as its above my pay grade.  G3 shot well but it's a heavy lump for sub 350fps so needs DMR'ing quickly to make it worth the weight penalty.  SIG was epic and used to great effect in the CQB game at the end. Mate loved the MP5 and as expected went full auto for the first two games and went to mid cap sticks for the  semi only final game, I think he enjoyed the SIG but full auto is his thing I can see a LMG or mini gun in his future.

 

There were a few called out for not taking hits but I think it was mostly shooters overestimating their skill (and range) and calling players out at 70m where there was no chance of them making the hit with a 1j AEG. A few Ghilles made the game tough so my rule of shoot at any bush that moves worked quite well. 

 

Fun day had by all!! 

 

Hope to get my EBB AK back from the menders this week

Crack on and get the G3 booked in and built

MP5K is going back tomorrow as its still under warranty 

 

@Baser

I was speaking to Jon, the site owner about getting some of the other game areas up and running again as the site is massive and they only use about 1/10 of it! 

If you look on the map by the punch bag, there's an area called "jeep". That's a killer cos its more hills but a damn good game. 

The medical was a guy with the onset of heat stroke apparently. all sorted though. The Marshalls are pretty good at sorting stuff like that. 

Me and my two boys were supposed to go up but i got the teenage whine and no one ended up going, but at some point in the next two weeks I'm making damn sure to get down there!!!

You been up to his shop yet in fawkham/brands? 

Edited July 31 by Egon_247

[Baser]

11 hours ago, Egon_247 said:

@Baser

I was speaking to Jon, the site owner about getting some of the other game areas up and running again as the site is massive and they only use about 1/10 of it! 

If you look on the map by the punch bag, there's an area called "jeep". That's a killer cos its more hills but a damn good game. 

The medical was a guy with the onset of heat stroke apparently. all sorted though. The Marshalls are pretty good at sorting stuff like that. 

Me and my two boys were supposed to go up but i got the teenage whine and no one ended up going, but at some point in the next two weeks I'm making damn sure to get down there!!!

You been up to his shop yet in fawkham/brands? 

It’s a big site and love how varied it is, there’s plenty of structures / barricades etc to give you a load of different gameplay.  Not found my way around the whole map yet but I’ve only played the site twice. 
 

Glad the the guy who went down is OK, I think I saw his Dad post he had run his legs off and gone down, glad he’s OK.  The Marshalls handled it well and changed the last game on the fly which was impressive. 
 

I have family duties this coming weekend but like to play 2/3 times a month, spent a small fortune on kit so want to use it!

 

I found the site after getting a free game from the Modern Warrior shop on the A20, if you spend over £150 in the shop they give you a free game, awesome business idea.  I popped in on my home today to pick up my TM EBB AK which died. Ricky got it going again and fixed a few internal niggles to bring back up to scratch. 
 

 

[ButcherBill]

17 minutes ago, Baser said:

spent a small fortune on kit so want to use it!

Welcome to this hobby we call airsoft.

[Mtemprell]

Went today to rift Blackstone cqb with a small group of 4. What can I can, such a great set up they have there and very well managed by the staff. If you haven't been before it's basically a whole town build inside a storage warehouse fully complete with loads of static furnishings to make it look genuine. 

 

It was my first game with my new vfc hk416a5 and got to say I love this gun for sure, was the perfect main weapon for this environment. 

 

First game of the day was a capture the flag game, one team started upstairs sporn and other team in the down stairs sporn, 4 flags to capture, I was on blue team, first run of this game was a draw and then after 20min a quick change around and start from the other sporn, unfortunately we lost this round with just 1 flag to 3 red flags. 

 

This site it's self has so much potential and so many opportunities for different scenarios, especially with their full light and sound control of the area so they can make it look day light then next game night time, throw in some appropriate sound effects like dogs barking, planes flying overhead, lightning sounds and lighting. Really made the game for me. Would fully recommend this site to any cqb nuts. 

[Apharmd]

Was at Section 8 last week with some guns I got from the Midlands Airsoft Fair among the usual loadout.

 

Ran the S&T Lee-Enfield during the warmup, turns out the extractor(?) on the bolt was loose enough to come off and caused a serious jam. Very grateful to the tech guys who got it working again.

 

At least I had a charged battery for my Aug, which worked brilliantly for a first run. Managed to get a teammate in the ear when he crossed as I was shooting.😬

 

On the good side, the pistols worked fine, though the Vorsk Defender safety seems to have jammed in the off position.

[The_Lord_Poncho]

11 hours ago, Apharmd said:

Ran the S&T Lee-Enfield during the warmup, turns out the extractor(?) on the bolt was loose enough to come off and caused a serious jam. Very grateful to the tech guys who got it working again.

 

If you are meaning the loading fin, it is a common issue - with the C clip that (should) hold it to the cylinder nozzle pinging off fairly regularly - especially if you fill the mags to full capacity. It can be permanently resolved by using a brass C clip manufactured from a 'slice' of an old inner barrel, or the best solution is to use the aluminium Airsoft Pro L96 AWS loading plate, carefully filed to shape/size, and paired with the Airsoft Pro C clip (annoyingly they don't come with the plate). Look up the Airsoft Lee Enfield group on Facebook - all the info on there. 

 

If you are meaning the rear of the bolt itself was wobbly, this is again common, but very easy to resolve - the fake 'hammer' at the rear of the bolt needs to be removed to access the allen head bolt underneath - tighten, with a bit of locktite added. Again, details/videos in the facebook group.

 

Worth the effort to get the gun shooting reliably - they are superb fun, and pleasingly accurate.

[GiantKiwi]

Went to S8 for the first time in a long time today - played 2 games in the morning, then the first game in the afternoon on yellow team. Took the WE M4 and the DE N4 with me, the former I was running on HPA, the latter my new-ish-ly acquired pile of GM PMags. With the former, I was running a positively stupid arrangement with near enough half a kilo of moving mass (182g buffer and 275g steel BCG), so stealthy wasn't an option, as I could be heard from a significant distance.

 

First game was attack/defend with swapping sides at midway, felt I did pretty well in the attacking component of that, managed to get within breathing distance of the base a few times. Defending on the second half, was hit/respawn/hit and out in the first 5 minutes, which was a little bit disappointing but we just got pinned too quickly on that.

 

2nd was some description of KOTH with tickets to collect off each player (starting with 3) and a 60 second respawn timer - spent the first 5-10 minutes stuck behind a barrier with enemies at pretty much every angle, so probably only shot the same 10 guys over and over, but at one point had accumulated something in the region of 20 tickets, before spending the remainder of the game pinned in a upturned tree stump hole and subsequently losing all but my original 3 tickets.

 

Game I played in the afternoon is basically my worse nightmare of a game, a lane with minimal structured cover and an object (beer barrel in this case) to carry to the defenders end of the road.

 

Went home after that one, purely because i'd depleted the 8L of drink I brought with me, lost almost entirely to sweating, and it was only getting warmer.

 

All in all, for what i played of it, it was a good day.

[Lyndication]

8 liters? That's pretty nuts, I hope you have some electrolytes

[GiantKiwi]

20 minutes ago, Lyndication said:

8 liters? That's pretty nuts, I hope you have some electrolytes

 

I had electrolytes tabs in 3 bottles and dehydration mix in the final one. I drink a lot anyway, as my medication mountain dehydrates me faster as a baseline, but once I reached the maximum daily intake on both the electrolytes (6 doses, 2 per bottle) and dehydration mix (1 dose), I called it quits. 

[Colin Allen]

As seems to often happen, I found myself back at Airsoft Plantation this morning.  Tom and Dan were absent, so I teamed up with a few other people I know.

The first game was a simple attack and defend in the woods (yay!).  As the attackers, we had infinite regens on a marshal, while the defenders had two lives, one defending the wobbly bridge and the other defending a flag at long walk (it is called long walk because it is a long walk from the start point at the other end of the woods).  Starting off on the left flank of our attack, I took out a few defenders and was then hit, so went in search of a marshal; having found one, I decided to move to the right flank as the woodland there is more open and easier to attack through.  A large group of us swung wide to the right, hugging the edge of the playing area and pushing across the ditch just before the smoke grenade on wobbly bridge was detonated.  With the first objective achieved, we continued our flanking movement, ending up attacking the flag at 90 degrees from our line of advance; it was secured and the game ended.

The game was then turned around.  I took up a position on the far right where a collection of fallen trees and a couple of ditches offer a number of interconnected positions.  Early on, a couple of enemy players came by; I let them go past and then shot them from a distance, so that they would not know where the shots had come from.  Soon after, a group of about 12 appeared; I let them go past and shot the rearmost four.  The others went to ground; I potted a couple of them and could hear the others discussing where I was.  This seemed to be a good time to reposition by using the cover of the ditch and the trees to fall back towards my colleagues.  Unfortunately, as I moved back, one of those colleagues shot me by mistake, so I started the long walk to long walk, where I took up a position that covered both the flag and one of the main avenues through the woods.  The latter provided a target rich environment and the MC51 scored a large number of hits before the flag was captured.

I stayed out on the field, sitting on the bridge at the border, as the next game would see us attacking the village from there and I still had plenty of ammo.  Other players eventually came out, as did a couple of marshals; from their radio chatter, it was apparent that they were looking for someone who was believed to still be out in the woods, possibly hurt.  As I know them, I asked one of them who they were looking for; he looked at me, did a double take and said "you".  Apparently, the guys had become concerned that I had not appeared in the safe zone and had told the marshals, who came looking for me.

Anyway, for the next game, we had to get bombs to three targets in the village; we could regen on one of two marshals, one on the border and one on the firebreak, while the defenders had two lives.  A group of us attacked along our right, overcoming determined opposition from two buildings before attacking across the conveniently dry pond to take the building behind it and move into that part of the village.  The three targets were bombed in due course by part of our team who had swung right round the village and attacked from the rear, so we returned to the safe zone to take luncheon.

Having dined and, as ever, marvelled at how Emily efficiently feeds so many players, the previous game was reversed.  Defending the front edge of the village, I potted a good number of attackers before I was hit and fell back into the village woods to defend against any enemy attacking from the rear; quite a lot of them were and we had some great exchanges before they finally blew up the three targets.

For the final game, both teams had to blow up a target in their opponents' base.  Our target was the Bedford in the mortar pits, while theirs was the plane at the DEA base.  Everyone could regen after falling back 30m and high fiving a colleague.  I was with the group defending the plane; as the enemy could attack it from a 270 degree arc, we sent out a lot of small fighting patrols to intercept them, leading to many confused and messy encounters in the scrub.  In one, I spotted a couple of chaps moving through the scrub; I shot the rearmost one and his companion and I exchanged shots, hitting each other.  We shook hands and went to find colleagues to regen on; a marshal who had seen the encounter noted it as being a gentlemanly exchange.  Eventually, the game timed out with neither side achieving their objective.

It was an excellent, if rather warm and very humid, day of airsoft, with around 150 players present and some great play on both sides.

It will probably be a while before I can play again, as I will be on Dartmoor next weekend (Hurrah!) and then have various other weekend commitments involving rehearsals and festival appearances.  However, if I can squeeze a day in somewhere, I will.

Weapons used
Classic Army MC51
JG SA58
ASG XP18 Commander (CO2)