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Speak up if you're into it!

And if you don't know what I'm talking about, check this link out.

At a glance, it's a growing sport/hobby in the UK, far more popular in Asia, but more popular here than in the US, despite their far more lax gun laws.
Akin to paintballing, but less messy, using 6mm plastic bb pellets, which leave bruises not lasting half the time or being as large and unseemly as paintballs, and at half the cost for regular participation, and much less cost for decent equipment, again when compared to paintballing.

IMO, it's much more fun than paintballing for a smattering of reasons;

- The weapons you use do not look like pieces of drainpipe with a colostomy bag strapped to the top.
- It's much easier to actually aim the rounds with Airsoft, rather than firing one, watching where it lands, and adjusting trajectory and 'lob' until the correct aim is achieved.
- Ammunition is cheaper by at least tenfold, even buying decent Excel .20g rounds.
- The whole thing is much cheaper.
- Realism is an added value, wrapping the sport in adrenaline and action.
- Akin to the last reason, using RIFs instead of tubes and colostomy bags adds the cool feeling of being in an action film or part of a decent FPS game.

ATM, I'm finally fully UKARA registered (as confirmed by my purchasing another gun last night ), and skirmish every third Sunday at the Roves Farm (A420; Swindon) and Warwick Experience Airsoft sites.

I'm not actually in possession of what might be even loosely termed a loadout, but here's what I'm using, along with .gif realisations of them, as closely done as possible.

Tokyo Marui P90 (red dot),
KSC USP .45

And ordered tonight, a Tokyo Marui Hard-Kick Desert Eagle .50AE in black, (I don't yet have a .gif for the Eagle).

Coming soon, also,
RealSword Type 56 Ak-47
>> http://www.realsword.com.hk/gun_47.htm << That's the overview of the Type 56, for anyone interested.

It's just about the best replica Ak-47 currently on the market, RealSword stuff is getting good reviews from just about everyone who currently owns them, so I'm very much looking forward to when Land Warrior Airsoft get new stock in...

Other kit I'm using includes - Fobus for the USP .45, High-Cap mags for the P90, and a Guarder thigh pouch, ESS Advancer V12 goggles, and an old cheapo mask - which I cut the eyes out of and drilled to sh*t for ventilation - to fit around them and protect my teeth, mainly.

So anyone out there also skirmish/collect/anything at all?

Not myself, but i have been getting into air rifles lately. Been on the lookout for a new rifle, liking the look of BSA's, my dads 50 year old Diana is getting on a bit now.....

For years stuff like that wasn't allowed here

But I've got a Colt MK IV 80 series replica it fires little plastic pellets ......................................I don't use it for "skirmishing" whatever that is exactly I don't know

I do use it for eeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr lets leave it at pest control

so you dont shoot anyone at a race to gain a place?

Skirmishing i think is having two teams with airsoft guns and then attacking the other and capturing thier base?

"Skirmishing", also called close quarters battle (CQB), is the most common form of play. Players may use methods and equipment, such as high capacity magazines, that differ from a realistic battle. Most players in this group dress in BDUs and have guns ranging from $50 to $500 in price.[citation needed] These battles typically take place in an abandoned building, in a wooded area, or on a farm. - From the Wikipedia article linked to in the OP.

In essence, it's just a fancy name for a group of guys getting together and playing a deathmatch or an elimination type game.

"MilSim", short for Military Simulation, generally combines airsoft play with some military live-action role-playing elements. Several goals or missions are assigned to each team, along with a basic load-out (i.e., supply) of ammunition (6 millimeter pellets), rations, batteries, and other suitable equipment such as short-range radios and head-sets. - From the Wikipedia article linked to in the OP.


MilSim is more involved - players are given aims such as 'Defend the (*insert building/area here - e.g: island, fort, base*) and 'Recover the (*insert item here - e.g: Bag, bomb, 'eyes of the idol' etc...*).

Eyes of the idol is one game type we play at Roves. Towards the back of the woods, there is a 7' carved idol with over-large eye sockets - (it's rather like a wooden mock up of an Easter Island statue). Into these sockets are put the targets to be retrieved. Usually they are tennis balls, portrayed as being some kind of valuable gem a-la a blood diamond, or similar. Two men equipped with bags in which to transport the eyes once captured, one team assaults with intent to recapture the 'eyes' of the idol, and the other defends. Usually restrictions on being a bag apply, for example, equipment dependant, the bag carriers may be restricted to side arms only to defend themselves.

We also play other popular game types, including VIP protection/assassination simulations and sabotage missions, with an engineer carrying a plunger box to wire to the 'bomb' (represented by a wired smoke grenade on a pole).

RedexRobB wrote:so you dont shoot anyone at a race to gain a place?

Skirmishing i think is having two teams with airsoft guns and then attacking the other and capturing thier base?

Some one in front of me in a race could well be described as a pest

So....................????????????????

Always looked a little sad to me. More for the people whos mums wont let them join the army.

do you use gas powered guns or are they spring?

Mine works on gas from an aerosol you just refill a cylinder in the gun...................you do get guns that work on those little CO2 cartridges.

and theres electric/battery one too I think

@ Rene *shrugs* It may well appeal to those people. I don't have any pressing urge to join any one of the forces, and couldn't if I wanted to, because I'm asthmatic. Myself it's more like... Playing a big, real game of COD4 multiplayer or Medal of Honour, or Timesplitters 2.

@ Soop, Both. My USP is a GBB (Gas Blowback) - fires using 'green gas' which is essentially propane with a slight perfume to it, often intermingled with silicon grease particles, to help keep the gun nice and lubricated.

The Desert Eagle is also a GBB, but is somewhat heavier, and with a slightly harder recoil, hence Marui terming it 'hard kick'.

The P90 and the Ak are AEGs (Automatic Electric Gun). They use a piston compressing the air behind the BB rapidly to fire it. The piston is in turn pulled back by a gearbox, which is driven by a motor, usually located in the pistolgrip. The ROF (rate of fire) depends on the voltage of the battery used, but can be absurdly high. The ROF on my p90 at full charge is something approaching 900 rpm. (rounds, not revs...)

Update!

A couple of new additions to my Airsoft Armoury since my last post.

Namely, a Tokyo Marui M3 Super 90 19" barrel pump action shotgun and a Tokyo Marui Hardkick Desert Eagle .50 AE (black).



Being in the mood for mucking about with guns, the Desert Eagle having just arrived this morning, I decided to gather all my kit together and do a couple of quick collection snaps.




So, a complete run-down of my Airsoft armoury to date.

(KSC) HK USP .45 - GBB
(3x 21rd double-stacking Magazine)




The first gun I bought when my friends invited me along to have a go, and I got hooked. Bought for £60 (ish) in 2007 from Asia, (point of interest, they now retail new at £150! :scared: ), and used to death. It detonated the topslide in spectacular fashion in 2007 in the height of summer. That was probably because it was hot as hell, and I was using Predator Ultra ('green') gas (which, fyi, is more or less essentially propane with a slight perfumed additive). It went a bit mad, decided fully auto was a normal thing to do for a semi-automatic pistol, and then blew the front off the slide, locking the slide back a full inch further than it's supposed to travel.
Repaired in summer of 2008 by me splashing out on a G&P metal slide and outer barrel kit, so now it has a good weight to it, is more balanced than before, and it looks more realistic, bearing the correct trades now, and showing some wear on the slide from my using it in a Fobus. It also makes some really nice clacky noises!

Firing at roughly 320 fps on Abbey Predator Ultra in October.

Future plans include a tightbore inner barrel, helicoiling my own thread into another metal outer barrel, for compatibility with a silencer, probably a HK Phase 2.

(Tokyo Marui) FN P90 (red dot) - AEG
(2x 58rd lo-cap Magazine, 2x 300rd hi-cap Magazine, drop leg 2 Mag pouch)







My first AEG, used and abused. It's seen action in every single skirmish I've been to, and despite being completely mistreated, battered about, used to bash holes in walls, stood on, laid on, jumped on, thrown, dropped and generally abused, it has no major damage, and it hasn't missed a beat throughout.

Firing as she did out of the box, at roughly 275 fps,
ROF of roughly 950 rpm.

Future plans include... not much, really.

(Tokyo Marui) Benelli Type M3 Super 90 19" barrel pump action SWAT shotgun - Single action spring shotgun.
(15x 30rd (10x3 shot) Tokyo Marui shells, butt stock shell holder, sling shell pouch)




Acquired last Friday, in reasonable condition, belonged to a friend of mine in the village, who I tried to get into Airsoft, who lost interest. Swapped for my old surround sound set.

Tri barreled scatter shot, fires 3 bbs at once, with a reasonable spread over 40m. Excellent for hitting targets through thick undergrowth, bushes, etc.

Not a clue what fps it's firing at, because it's really, really hard to chrono something that fires three bbs through the Chrono simultaneously, it just gives 'bad' readings.

Future plans, again, not much.

(Tokyo Marui) IMI Desert Eagle .50 AE (black, hardkick version) - GBB.
(2x 27rd double-stacking Magazine)





The newest addition to my armoury, arrived via Royal Mail this morning.
Has been lubed to death, and so far had probably just over 100 rounds put through it.

I'm impressed with the weight and the solid feel to the gun. The slide makes a good solid 'clack!' when returning, and the kick when fired, while not comparable with a real steel handgun, let alone a real steel Desert Eagle, is reasonably strong, I was worried it wouldn't be justifiably named 'Hardkick'.
I'm also impressed with the Ambi arrangement of the safety selector, firstly because I can reach it, which I didn't expect, having fairly small dannies, and it being such a large gun, and secondly because I had forgotten that there is a safety selector on either side of the gun, meaning that southpaws don't have to switch hands to safety the gun.
The ambi arrangement is rather let down by the mag release, which is in a good position on the left side of the gun to be depressed by the right thumb, and to use it left handed means a bit of an awkward motion with the left index finger.

The safety is also well thought through, because not only does the safety feature lock the trigger mechanism, it locks the entire slide in place, so with the safety on, the slide cannot be pulled or moved in any way.

Not yet chrono'd, so I don't know what FPS it's firing at, but if the feel of the thing bucking in my hands is anything to go by, it ought to be firing quite hot.

Future plans include as much metal as I can find for it, frame, slide and outer barrel.
*Edit* Also, forgot to mention, plans include some real steel parts from Magnum Research Inc., including a more comfortable rubber grip, and some real steel iridium night sights.

Also probably another, maybe another two chrome Desert Eagles, to swap parts and make a pair of complimenting Two-Tone Desert Eagles, again using metal kits. Not really for skirmish, just because.

A-la:


and



Other miscelanous items include a Tokyo Marui M16 mag type Speed Loader, a pair of ESS V12 Advancer military issue goggles, a Fobus fitting the USP .45, and an olive drab drop-leg double mag pouch for the P90 magazines.

Index

GBB = Gas Blowback - usually semi automatic, the weapon uses a propane or 134a type gas propellant to fire the round, and also cycle the weapon's slide or bolt in order to load the next round.
AEG = Airsoft Electric Gun - Usually fully automatic, the weapon uses a battery, driving a motor to turn cogs and push a piston back, to fire.

I found a .gif render of the mechanism behind an AEG's firing mech, by the way, this shows how it works, essentially.


.gif render of the firing mechanism of an AEG;

NICE, like the wepon sets there, the machine gun looks like it has real bullets in the mag. and does that shot gun have a hammer like a real gun with the pellets in the shells like a normal shotgun, on second thoughts that would be just a shot gun with plastic ball bearing carts instead....
can i play with a sawn off shotgun! that should clear the little blighters from the undergrowth.

Well cool.

Thay sell hand guns down the local market for £30, I may buy one now. Will it be any good for that sort of money?

in a nutshell "no"

you will need the gas powered ones i think they set you back a fair wack for a decent one.

Springers will still be of use occasionally. A half decent GBB pistol will be upwards of £60, however, but will be much more useful.

For really getting into it, however, an AEG is the way forward.

If you're interested, though, it's worth googling and trying to find your nearest site, and not actually buying a gun, but simply showing up to a skirmish, and renting one for the session, see how you get on and if you really enjoy it.

If you were to then do that for three sessions and get stamped a UKARA application form for each, by the time you'd rented for the three sessions, if you decided you did want to get into it further, you'd already have the ability to buy a new gun from an online retailer, much better quality than market stuff.

As far as the Market guns go, probably will be tat, also is rather illegal to buy them now.
Since the Violent Crime Reduction Act of 2005 came into action in 2007, you need to be a legitimately registered airsoft skirmisher in order to buy a new gun.

Not that anyone's really going to find out about you buying a springer off a market, but if it did cause a fuss for whatever reason, you'd be a bit fecked.

As far as kit goes;
The USP cost me £60 from Red Wolf Airsoft (an asian company), plus another mag at £15, and another later on at £15 again. They now retail the KSC USP .45 for £150, however.
The P90 cost me £165, plus a battery, plus a handful of pennies on a forum classified section (can't remember what forum it was) for some used mags, which have been brilliant! Battery and mags I think came from a guy on the forum, and set me back something like £30 overall, but aren't new. Took a risk.
The Desert Eagle cost me £79.99 plus a mag at £17
The Benelli M3 shotgun cost 'Teeve £130 new, and shells are a bob or two each, can't remember.
Gas is roughly £6-7 /litre, and a litre bottle of gas will usually give you probably thirty to forty mags (that's a complete guess).
3,700 bbs (decent manufacturer - Excel) costs £5-6 depending on where you buy them, but bulk discounts can be useful.

Then there's goggles/face mask and pouches.

It can be an expensive sport, but in comparison to paintballing, it's pittence to do regularly, mostly due to the massively reduced cost of ammunition.