THE CAGE CLOSE OF PLAY
THE CAGE: AT CLOSE OF PLAY AS LOCKDOWNS ALL OVER THE WORLD SEE OUR LOCAL SHOPS SHUTTING THEIR DOORS AND THE CLOSE DOWN OF OUR FAVOURITE SITES IT FEELS LIKE EVERYTHING AIRSOFT HAS GROUND TO A HALT, BUT THE FACT IS THAT THERE ARE STILL STORES OUT THERE HAPPY TO SEND ALL MANNER OF GOODIES DIRECT TO YOUR DOORS THANKS TO THEIR ONLINE BUSINESS PORTALS! PERHAPS NOW IS THE TIME TO GIVE YOUR AEG OR GBB THAT “TLC” THAT IT’S BEEN MISSING! BILL GOT TOGETHER WITH THE TEAM TO CHECK OUT WHAT THEY’RE UP TO…
L
et’s face it, sometimes we’re actually not that great at looking after our AEGs and GBBs are we? We spend a lot of money on buying the airsoft platform that suits us best, and then we spend even more on dressing it up in fancy party clothes to get it just the way we want it. We add new internal parts and external accessories to make it truly our own, or to resemble the very latest variant used by some uber-dark-ops Special Forces team, but then at the end of our game day we throw it into a gun bag or case until it’s time to join the fight again. In my time playing airsoft I’ve seen AEGs stuffed away after a wet game day without even so much as a wipe down, battery still connected, and magazines still half full, and I’ve seen those same AEGs come out again a week later not having been touched in the interim. I’ve seen GBB pistols with slides so dry they grate, and mags bulging to the point that they won’t actually fit any more. As much as we say that we love our airsoft guns, we sometimes treat them very badly and then bemoan the fact that they don’t work as we want them too… and all down to the fact that we don’t maintain them, even in the very simplest way. I grew up in a household where real firearms were
part of the furniture pretty much and from my earliest days I was taught to respect them. From memory, I fired my first pistol when I was about 7 years old, with my Dad, and straight away the mantra was “don’t point at anything you don’t want to kill”. Yup, the old boy took it very seriously but then he had fought in WWII and finished out his “Army days” as an Infantry Instructor, so his mantra became mine. One of my favourite things to do with my Dad as much as the shooting, was the cleaning part afterwards, where a brew would be made, biscuits or cake put on the table and the rags, rods, and gun oil would join them. To this day I cannot smell gun oil and not think fondly of my Dad, and as I actually clean my airsoft replicas regularly and thoroughly, you’ll often find me in the man cave with a big soppy grin on my face while I do so! Cleaning and maintaining your AEG or GBB should not be seen as a chore, but rather as an extension of your general airsoft day; when you get home the gun bag or case should be opened once again with a view to making sure all the contents are finally stored away for the week in tip-top condition. Another military mantra springs to mind for this, which is “First Weapon, Second
“TO THIS DAY I CANNOT SMELL GUN OIL AND NOT THINK FONDLY OF MY DAD, AND AS I ACTUALLY CLEAN MY AIRSOFT REPLICAS REGULARLY AND THOROUGHLY, YOU’LL OFTEN FIND ME IN THE MAN CAVE WITH A BIG SOPPY GRIN ON MY FACE WHILE I DO SO!”
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MAY 2020
