15 minute read
ACTION AIR: TAIWAN
SO YOU WANNA SHOOT ACTION AIR?
ACTION AIR IS AN INTERNATIONAL SHOOTING SPORT WHERE COMPETITORS NEED BOTH SPEED AND ACCURACY TO SUCCEED. OUR “MAN IN TAIWAN”, STEWBACCA, HAS BEEN SHOOTING ACTION AIR FOR A WHILE NOW AND HERE HE BRINGS US UP TO DATE WITH WHAT HE’S LEARNT AND HOW WELL (OR OTHERWISE) THINGS HAVE GONE.
Having been shooting Action Air in Taiwan for nearly a year and a half now, as well as being a gas blowback pistol aficionado for nearly two decades (and given the fact that I’ve experimented with a variety of pistols for both skirmishing and Action Air - more recently shifting to using the CZ75 Shadow SP01 and then the Shadow 2 and finding the weak points of the succession of gas guns I’ve used in a competitive environment), I figured it might be a good time to relate to you my experiences of using all these guns, along with how to approach choosing a gun, a division to train and compete in and other sundry considerations for new shooters.
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
Back in March 2019 the Taipei Focus Action Shooter (TFAS) and Spring Rain (SR) operated “Ding Ding Cup” was held, which was open to all shooters and my skirmish teammate at the time, Belinda (then a member of team Spring Rain), invited me along to give “running and gunning against the clock” a try, instead of against my usual meat target firefights in skirmish settings.
For that initial foray I used my somewhat standard sidearm of the time, a KWA HK45 GBB pistol (as reviewed in depth back in Airsoft Action issue No. 121 January 2021), the first gun I ever bought upon arriving in Taiwan and one that I had used in skirmishes for around a year and a half at the time. As well as adding a Docter red dot site and being very comfortable with the handling, I was making accurate shots at reasonable distances with it. At the time, the HK45 represented a reasonably hard-hitting, accurate and consistent choice, although I had a few magazine leak issues during that competition due to my use of it in skirmishes - and having accidentally dropped some of my magazines on Action Bunker’s concrete floors which compromised their base seals and general gasholding integrity!
Were it not for these issues and the fact that when I finally moved to Taipei from Zhubei in late 2019 my HK45 was unserviceable and awaiting spare parts, taking the best part of a year to work out all the issues with and finally return to fully operational status, I probably would have continued using it once I joined team SPPT and began training in Action Air proper.
However, in the intervening months I had acquired a Double Bell Glock 34 Taran Tactical Innovations (TTI) GBB pistol for my 34th birthday, just before moving and starting to shoot competitively. I had also acquired the somewhat ubiquitous Double Alpha Academy two-part competitive shooting belt, which comes with a velcro loop lined inner belt that you thread through your trouser belt loops before attaching the (more substantial) outer belt rig, with your holster and magazine carriers fitted to the outside with the corresponding velcro hook inner lining.
Along with this tacticool - and obviously “John Wick” inspired - birthday present to myself, I splashed out on an official Safariland 6379 active retention ALS holster to carry it in style. Plus, with a more military or police service style holstering option that was no doubt inspired by the Garand Thumb reviews of the time extolling the virtues of the ALS system and its retention capabilities, I could use it for competition and skirmishing alike without too many worries.
Unfortunately, this somewhat expensive initial investment lead to issues when I first began training and competing! Having failed to do my homework beforehand and with the Glock 34 being an extended length slide and barrel version and incorporating slide porting and an enlarged magazine well, it is disqualified from use in “Standard” and “Production” divisions, which is where many shooters start their competitive careers before progressing to “Open” divisions, where extended slides and barrels are more par for the course.
This, combined with some sear wear and other long term issues which made it a little unpredictable and potentially unsafe or prone to doubling or full auto fire (a situation highly frowned upon in the competition circuit), I was pushed to reconsider my choice of competitive pistol.
With the Glock 34 being inappropriate and the HK45 being unserviceable, I fell back on my reserve option and made use of my KWA USP Compact (reviewed in Airsoft Action Issue No. 124 April 2021) and used this for a few months of training and to do my TPSA Action Air licence qualification. While this is an all-round excellent pistol and a previous favourite I’d owned in the UK before emigrating, it isn’t perhaps the most ideal for competitive use. The polymer frame is a little undersized for my bear paws and is a bit of a squeeze for me to fit - and it disappears into my hands when held with both! That - and the double action/single action trigger with de-cocker and safety lever - made for a slightly slower operation in terms of rapid follow-up shots, which was noticeable when facing off against my teammates during training sessions. It just felt a little poorly suited for shooting fast, despite its reliability and the fact it carried me through my certification before I broke its trigger.
MOVING ON
Thus, a few months into 2020 as I was experimenting out loud through the medium of my Instagram and Facebook followings, I moved towards an open comparison of the Asia Electric Gun (basically WE) F17/SIG Sauer M17 clone GBB pistol I had been gifted by a teammate and the KJWorks CZ75 SP01 I had been gifted by Muubi of UBCA. This allowed me to be very objective (having not spent any money acquiring either of these pistols) and thus not really having a dog in the fight as such. I compared the consistency and accuracy of the groupings as well as measuring the trigger in terms of their ranges of motion, pull weights and reset distances to ascertain which would be better for running stages and gunning at speed.
Initially I leaned towards the M17 clone as it had a simpler manual of arms. Due to Action Air mirroring real steel IPSC rules, if you have a DA/SA pistol without a de-cocker you must cycle a round into the chamber on loading, remove the magazine, manually drop the hammer slowly, then re-insert the magazine and fire the first round in a stage in a double action fashion.
This all seemed like an additional faff at the time and I was still relatively new to the sporting aspect of Action Air as well as operating in a predominantly Chinese speaking environment (albeit range commands still being given in English). I decided to err on the side of caution and go for the simple strikerfired, one-trigger-pull type operation of the AEG M17, which served me well in my first competition but later developed a bit of a worrying loose outer barrel issue that would cause it to fly forwards and project
out of the slide. This would no doubt raise eyebrows from Range Officers were I to try and compete with it further in future.
Thus, after a few months of various experimentation with striker-fired and DA/SA pistols, with or without de-cocking features and various trigger pulls lengths and weights, form factors and benefits, I was somewhat forced down the road of adopting the KJWorks CZ75 SP01 Shadow GBB pistol to avoid the failures of other platforms I’d trialed and to avoid having to dole out any more money by acquiring a new setup.
So, I had the final pistol of choice and also acquired some extra magazines; these were actually somewhat difficult to source in fairness and would continue to be so over the long term, definitely a consideration I would encourage any new Action Air shooters to consider. Much as I love running the oddball guns for my own particular flair or interests, it does make things a bit harder in terms of accessories, maintenance, upkeep and operations in general.
My teammate was also good enough to gift me his skeletal IPSC holster rig that he hadn’t had chance to use, which paired nicely with my DAA competition belt and TMC Scorpion Gen 2 FASTMag pouches I’ve been using for basically everything pistol calibre or similar since I arrived in Taiwan. I had originally used plastic shell magazine carriers with variable retention screws for my Glock magazines and may revisit these at some point, but had settled on the TMC FASTMags as they allow easy interchanging of a variety of magazine sizes and profiles during my constant changing of guns.
The advantage of a pure competition holster also can’t be overstated! As much as I have more of a lilt towards pragmatic or practical loadouts or realistic carry options in general, trying to use a retention or duty style holster in a competitive environment inevitably slows you down. I also purchased a genuine Safariland 579 adjustable holster, which will basically carry most (if not all) of the different pistols I have for skirmishing or competition, and retain them securely - until your natural grip of the weapon upon drawing pushes the lever on the rear of the holster and disengages the wraparound internal lock that grabs the trigger guard in a fairly typical fashion.
This, of course, is faster and more repeatable than the use of the ALS thumb drive Safariland 6379 or similar, but I found it still caused issues every so often when trying to draw in a hurry during on-the-clock environment training. So, obtaining a dedicated competition-style holster is pretty much a necessity if you want to be effective in Action Air. Mine has an adjustable muzzle cone which can be positioned along the main spar of the holster to sit inside the front end of the barrel, which you seat down onto it, then rotate the pistol rearward so the trigger guard seats into the retention unit for it further up the holster.
This unit also includes a manual lock to prevent the pistol falling out during movement around training or competition environments and this should only be disengaged once you are on the firing line and preparing to “load and make ready”. Upon the “go” signal the pistol can be easily and intuitively drawn straight upward, overcoming the retention of the trigger guard gripping unit and allowing rapid and repeatable unholstering, which becomes ever faster and slicker with practice.
Magazines themselves can perhaps be a weak point, in terms of extensive usage and drills related beating on them. Another thing to consider with Action Air, is that your mags are going to take a massive increase in lifecycle over someone skirmishing with a pistol as a last-ditch holster filler that perhaps rarely gets drawn. You’ll probably run them into the ground in short order with the amount of ammunition you need to put down range. A key issue with double stack 9mm magazines is their thinner profile compared to the more typically fielded Hi Capa 45 calibre double stack offerings, the internal gas volume and resistance to “cool down” effects over repetitive use in short order are definite concerns to consider.
This was less of an issue with my earlier gun choices, however, has caused some chronic issues for me when running the CZ75 SP01 Shadow and Shadow 2, compared to my Hi Capa-wielding teammates, with stuttering or venting of mags during strings of fire as a result of rapid reusing of magazines during colder months (by Taiwan’s standards, at least), or even in general just due to heavy usage during drills prior to practice stages towards the end of sessions.
Most of the time we use hair dryers, an air heating machine with racks that we put our magazines in as a team during training, or more recently my teammates
“MOST OF THE TIME WE USE HAIR DRYERS, AN AIR HEATING MACHINE WITH RACKS THAT WE PUT OUR MAGAZINES IN AS A TEAM DURING TRAINING, OR MORE RECENTLY MY TEAMMATES HAVE BEEN REPURPOSING OR REVERSE-ENGINEERING ELECTRONIC BABY BOTTLE WARMERS TO HEAT THEIR MAGAZINES BETWEEN ROUNDS TO AVOID COOL DOWN ISSUES. ”
have been repurposing or reverse-engineering electronic baby bottle warmers to heat their magazines between rounds to avoid cool down issues. However, I definitely suffer them worse due to the much slimmer cross-section of my Shadow magazines and thus their lower internal volume and reduced resilience to the mechanics of green gas evaporation upon firing.
CO2 magazines are an alternative that I have more recently resorted to. The good thing about KJWorks (and an increasing number of other manufacturers) is the option to use either green gas or CO2 mags in the same pistol. So, for my Shadow 2 I purchased a pair of CO2 capsule powered magazines and a box of 50 capsules to overcome the cool down issues in the coldest winter months of Taiwan, for use in competition stages when reliability is absolutely critical. Although, it is worth realising that this will increase wear on your pistol in warmer environments or if used excessively, resulting in issues shortly after my most recent competition where my Shadow 2’s outer barrel fractured due to increased wear caused by the CO2 magazine use - even though I had switched back to green gas for training at the time. In European settings it might be easier to get away with, due to lower ambient temperatures in general.
CONSIDERATIONS
So, what to consider when choosing a pistol and related division for Action Air training or competition? Trigger pull and weight are likely considered as quite important, as is magazine availability, gas volume, durability, ease of maintenance and resistance to cool down effects. Ammunition capacity isn’t so much of a concern due to the rules for each division always ensuring a maximum of 28 rounds or less, as well as a 17cm overall magazine length restriction, thus ensuring standard magazines for any pistol model will likely be sufficient for the respective divisions they suit. The majority of “Open” competitors will undoubtedly be running a Hi Capa, or similar double-stack M1911 derivative, due to their excellent short, light triggers and ease of finding accessories such as red dot bridge mounts and internal upgrade components.
Competition holsters are widely adjustable to ensure compatibility with trigger guard width and top slide and barrel lengths, or presence of compensators in the likes of Open division race pistols, so something like a Glock or other polymer framed duty pistol of H&K or Walther types can still be held effectively by removing the spacer plates to accommodate the trigger guard. Metal framed Hi Capa or CZ75 style guns with thinner trigger guards can equally be retained.
Magazine carriers tend to follow the industry, leaning towards 45cal double-stack magazines and their Open division competitor’s use and set up of them, with adjustable angle carriers being prevalent to allow comfortable placement and grabbing motions with the support hand for faster reloading. Most people carry around four but own as many as ten or more spare magazines.
The ability to adjust (or replace) trigger components and do internal tuning is a consideration. Most “Production” division competitors I face off against here in Taiwan make use of Glocks, with lightened or shortened triggers to improve their speed of follow up shots. I’ve only encountered one other competitor making use of a Shadow 2 thus far and seen very few other pistol types being fielded, in all honesty.
Red dot mounting options in terms of slide or bridge mounted are another consideration. I would run an RMR or SRO on my CZ75 Shadow 2 if there was a “Production Optics” division available in Taiwan, but there just isn’t enough interest to justify subsets of each of the three major divisions, so it is worth talking to existing clubs or competitors in your area to see what is available.
A striker-fired style of pistol, such as a Glock, H&K VP9, Walther PPQ, or similar, will serve you well in Production or Standard division, or you could also make use of a DA/SA style gun (with or without a de-cocker) if you are prepared to do the extra manual of arms preparation each time you run a stage. Maybe something like a Beretta M92 series, H&K USP or similar, or a hammer fired CZ might be worth investing in if you can ensure reasonable accessory and part availability.
IN THE END
In the end it’s down to personal preference but practical considerations obviously encroach into practical shooting. I’ve always been more into European made polymer framed duty-style pistols, which is why I went for Production division, where guns are usually off the shelf service weapons and equipment which makes it slightly more realistic. Although only the Czech police are carrying CZ75 Shadow 2s as far as I’m aware but, nonetheless, I run mine stock with iron sights.
I have had a great time thus far in my Action Air “career” and would encourage everyone to give it a try, not only will it improve your pistol skills dramatically, it might also mean you get that muchneeded pistol kill when you are next skirmishing! AA
