8 minute read
FEATURE: HIGHS & LOWS
AIRSOFT HIGHS AND LOWS...
SITTING AT HOME PONDERING WHAT SUBJECT TO COVER IN THE NEXT ISSUE OF AIRSOFT ACTION, FRENCHIE’S THOUGHTS TURNED TO THE ALL THE THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED SINCE HE GOT INTO AIRSOFT, BOTH GOOD AND NOT SO GOOD.
There have now been eleven years of Airsoft Action and the question was asked around the (virtual) office about airsofting highs and lows during that period. We had to limit this to airsoft, otherwise we would literally be here for ever!
Somewhat to my surprise a lot of the responses concerned gear rather than experiences, but we have a bit of both to offer. Unless I decide otherwise (mainly for the sheer cringe factor) all names have been changed to protect the innocent!
TEE-HEE! I’ll own this one, because I loved it! Picture the scene...
I was leading a team at a big game arranged by A.N. Other Airsoft magazine. By some foolish skulduggery I was handed into the tender care of the opposition. I think this was done because my team was caning theirs, but whatever. I was slipped a grenade, which I proceeded to use but which sadly did not send me back to my own respawn. Instead I was handed over to a couple of lovely lads in a small room and all my gear was removed and piled on the floor.
Outside the battle raged and there was a full-on running skirmish happening as my teammates performed a flanking move. This proved too fascinating to ignore for my captors who both stood at the window offering comments and commentary. Unfortunately for them they also offered me easy access to the rubber knife one of them had stuck on the back of his vest. Gently I slipped it out of its resting place and kindly I stabbed them both. I then grabbed my kit and checking my pistol, wandered out into the enemy’s stronghold. Since they were under constant attack it’s fair to say they weren’t paying too much attention to what was happening in their midst, so I wandered lonely as a cloud, shooting anyone that got in my way. I’d like to say I made a clean getaway but eventually someone twigged and shot me! That’s fine, because now I get to go and respawn. Job done.
The lesson? Never wear a knife on your shoulder and turn your back on a prisoner!
KIT LOWS One manufacturer came up with almost boring regularity: Celcius.
Now, I have never owned any of their guns but I have worked on one of their AKs with considerable assistance from one of their techs. Even then, I couldn’t get it to work consistently, so it’s fair to say I wasn’t impressed, especially as they are bloody expensive. The biggest problem Celsius seem to have is that they are copying and
already complex bit of kit in the Systema. Now, given that I have seen Alan at Land Warrior completely rebuild stock Systemas to get them to work as well as possible, it’s safe to say that playing the copy game here is probably going to be a challenge.
So it would seem, with no one at AA having a kind word to say for the brand and those who were brave enough to drop money on the brand regretting every penny they spent, especially since just buying the damned thing wasn’t enough – you had to then spend more (and more and more) trying to at least make it function. This is exactly what happened to our unnamed contributor…
“Celsius CTW (remember them?) Unfortunately, promised much and delivered little other than aggro!
Having had loads of little “niggles” with it, including a stripped piston and “grinding” from the gearbox, I ended up having my Celsius completely overhauled by JD Airsoft. I used it on just one occasion after that, with not much by way of improvement and a trigger that Arnie would have struggled to pull. It has been consigned to its box ever since.”
Oddly, or perhaps not, the same contributor had a similar experience with another gun, the ASG CZ75 SP-01 Shadow…
“The Shadow was a really good pistol... until it wasn’t!
“I used it for Action Air at Double-Tap and for the first couple of sessions it ran like a trooper ...and then the nozzle started playing up, then the hop, then the extended mag well fell off, then the seals on all five mags gave out, then the trigger became loose and the final straw was when the mag release became sticky and it would drop mags at the most inopportune moments! At that point I gave up with it!”
CELCIUS ...AGAIN! This isn’t the only time CTW was mentioned: “…for me the worst ever experience came with the Celsius CTWs. I was so stupid I even bought two!! The BS that came
out of the main retailer for them was astounding too. They knew how shit they were and kept selling them and covering up the flaws. One of my favourite examples was when my first gun kept chopping BBs. Their reply was “well it is shooting pretty fast (22rps over a chrono in their shop and not especially fast) but it’s only chopping a few so that’s pretty good really!” That whole debacle was just such a waste of time, money and energy. Makes me shudder just thinking about how much I lost on those guns.”
GEAR PROBLEMS I am now trying to think of gear problems I’ve had. It’s a bit of a struggle, mainly because having spent years tech-ing you either know what to avoid or how to fix any problems. There is one, relating to Classic Army…
I began airsofting up at The Hill, near Dundee. It was run by the redoubtable Warren Reynolds and I went through a few guns up there before I moved on to pastures new. At one point I had acquired a Marui M16A2, a fine gun with which I had a lot of fun. With it I received a Classic Army hicap magazine, amongst others. This mag was always problematic, although it never outright failed. During one game I was moving forward as part of the attacking team when we came under fire from Mr. Reynolds himself, securely dug into a small foxhole. Using the principles of fire and movement, I advanced firing, only to have that magazine crap out on me at the most inappropriate moment. They say training takes over – which would be cool if I had ever had any training – but without missing a beat I dropped the magazine and threw it at Warren, keeping his head down while I slapped
another one home. I’m not sure that’s entirely cricket, but, hey – war’s hell!
HIGH ON THE HILL Another high from the Hill came through my regular use of Marui shotguns (which I love).
Attacking up a short but steep hill, I’m taking fire from a tree above me. The shooter ducks back behind the tree and I let off a shot from the Marui. To my astonishment there is a cry of “Hit!” and my would-be assailant emerges, hand in the air. Seems that at least one of the BBs had curved round the tree trunk and hit him! Hard not to love shotguns after something like that.
The following is from an anonymous Airsoft Action staffer - let’s call him Pill Bryce Thomas… “I’ve thought about this for a while now and probably my most embarrassing moment and the funniest moment came in one single game... embarrassing first...
“I played with a great team in the USA and had a fabulous “wing man” called Jay. We were all stacked up ready to hit a building entrance, Jay #1, me #2. We’re just about to hit the “go go go” button when Jay sticks up his hand to call a halt to the breach... and I promptly shot him in the trigger finger from about six inches away... Much interesting language was the result as you can imagine...
“Same weekender and the team was down to just Jay and me whilst the others were respawning, and the mass of the opposing team (about 100 players) were heading down “Main Street” towards us... by this time Jay had ripped the front out of his trousers and is down to shorts. Naturally, the only option was for us to launch a sprinting, full-frontal assault straight up the middle of “Main Street”, shooting like loons on semi-auto all the way! Until that was, the entire opposing force opened up on us! I have never been welted like it before, or indeed again since - the other team gave us a fabulous cheer, laughed heartily at our audacity (stupidity?) and we retired welted but happy!”
So, as I rush towards a reasonable word count, it’s obvious that airsoft has it all; tears, laughter, pain, sorrow and the ability to deprive otherwise sensible people of huge amounts of cash for little or no return!
Here’s to the next eleven years of BB-based lunacy! AA
ULTIMA
