THE CAGE: BEST KIT

Airsoft & MilSim News Blog

had fully automatic! I wasn’t wearing any head gear and I hid under a

small cliff to try and flank. I ended up being shot all across the top of my head in full auto from the top of the cliff - which was only 3 meters up!

Blood streamed into my eyes under my goggles. Since then I wear a ball cap, bush hat, helmet, anything to soften the blow! Ohhh, then thankfully game rules were introduced such as one hit by a BB and you’re out… Hurrah for civilisation!”

Jon: “I think the single most important piece of kit change-up that was literally game-changing was going from a cheap pair of surplus boots, to a more modern type of “sneaker boot”.

“There was a time that waterproof meant heavy, stiff and uncomfortable leather. With the advancement of modern materials, boots are lighter, breathable and most importantly, comfortable. I still have my leather Lowa Elites in the arsenal but these days it’s folks at AKU, Under Armour, Lowa (synthetic versions) and more recently with my fishing boot find, Speero that make a difference.

“Eyepro is another; I’m now a do or die Wiley X fanboy. My Nash’ and Vapor go EVERYWHERE with me!”

So, a lot less silly then you probably thought it would be, but what the guys talk about sings to me as it’s pretty much all about personal safety, about making sure that you’re ready to get your game on and continue to do so for some considerable time!

I still think I may be adding an extra dump-pouch to my belt-kit for those Haribo though… good tip that Bill W-R!! AA @AMNBOfficial Airsoft & MilSim News Blog @airsoftmilsimnewsblog

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If you have any old kit or gear tucked away in a cupboard, garage or shed that you have thought about sticking on eBay, or a forum to get rid of it, then why not donate it to the Pilgrim Bandits instead and Tez will make sure any money raised from its sale will go towards helping even more people – and you can be sure of the undying gratitude and thanks of those who it helps to live again.

Please contact Tez on either his mobile: 07748 800 981 or email: terry.arnett@pilgrimbandits.org

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN... ISSUE 1 OCTOBER 2011

When we started this journey 129 issues ago, we didn’t dare to dream it would be as successful as it has become, going from (as it was then) the “new kid on the block”, to the largest global airsoft magazine available today!

Let me say right up front, a MASSIVE thank you to our readers and the companies that have supported us over the years; without you we would not be where we are now. I would also like to offer my sincere thanks and appreciation to the many writers, photographers and industry professionals who have contributed to Airsoft Action because without them, quite literally, we would not have a magazine!

From the beginning we determined to be different by maintaining editorial independence and, while we understood the need for commercial, as well as editorial success, that we would not be led by it. To us, the most important thing was to give our readers honest, professional, un-biased content that was relevant, well-researched and written by people who knew what they were talking about …experienced airsoft players, not “desk jockeys” or “keyboard warriors”!

From day one we stated that Airsoft Action would be all-inclusive and cover every genre of the game, rather than focus on just the “Gucci”, ego-tickling bits and coined the phrase “If its in airsoft, its in Airsoft Action!” – something that is as true today as it has always been.

Sure, there have been some “bumps” along the way and even challenges to the very survival of airsoft, such as when new regulations threatened to shut the game down throughout the EU and although we would never claim to be solely responsible, we are extremely proud to have been in the position to offer help, advice and assistance.

I guess the biggest “bump” has been the last 20 months or so, as Covid-19 ran riot around the globe, shutting down not just airsoft but life in general. Thankfully, as I write this, things are slowly returning to some semblance of normality and, like a huge bear shaking off enforced hibernation, airsoft is roaring back to life again!

Over the last 10 years airsoft has not fundamentally changed. Of course, there has been loads of innovation, masses of new kit and hundreds of new guns but when it comes down to it, the game is still the same, played with honour, integrity and respect - and we hope that we have reflected that on the pages in Airsoft Action.

To celebrate our ten years of continual publication, we thought we’d dig back into our archives and re-publish a selection of articles from the thousands we have on file – but that left us with a HUGE problem… With so much to choose from, we found it impossible to decide not what to include, but what to leave out! So, instead we decided to ditch the text and just run with as many pictures of the last 10 years that we can fit onto 10 pages …a sort of “Ten Years in Ten Pages”.

For some this will be a “patrol down memory lane”, for others an exploration of what came before but no matter how long you have been playing we hope you enjoy the pictures - and don’t forget, if you want to read any issue (or even all of them), our entire archive is available free of charge via the Airsoft Action website.

All that remains is for me to say, on behalf of the entire Airsoft Action team, thank you once again, the last ten years have been an absolute blast and we cannot wait to see what the future holds.

Play well, play hard, play with honour!

See you out there,

Nige. AA

THIS IS JUST A VERY SMALL SELECTION TAKEN FROM THE THOUSANDS OF IMAGES WE HAVE COLLECTED OVER THE LAST TEN YEARS BUT WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED OUR “TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE”. WE WOULD LIKE TO SAY A HUGE THANKS TO OUR GLOBAL LEGION OF CONTRIBUTORS FOR SUPPLYING MANY OF THESE GREAT PHOTOGRAPHS AND FOR CONTINUING TO HEAD OUT IN ALL WEATHERS TO KEEP YOU, OUR READERS, INFORMED, EXCITED AND ENTERTAINED. BRING ON THE NEXT TEN YEARS!

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LIVING THE GAS LIFE!

IN AN AIRSOFT WORLD DOMINATED BY THE AEGS, IT’S COMMONLY PERCEIVED THAT GAS RIFLES AND CARBINES ARE EXPENSIVE, TRICKY TO MAINTAIN AND COAX THE BEST PERFORMANCE FROM AND OFFER LIMITED AMMO CAPACITY, SO WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU WANT TO RUN ONE AS YOUR PRIMARY? BILL (WITH INPUT FROM SOME OF THE LEGION) TAKES UP THE ARGUMENT FOR WHY A GAS RIFLE CAN ACTUALLY BE “KING OF THE HILL” IF YOU TREAT - AND USE - IT RIGHT!

Okay, I’m going to come out and say it… Who in their right mind would head to a skirmish day with a gas rifle??? Surely you’re going to be SERIOUSLY outgunned by all those with even a box-magged MP5, as you’ll only have 30-50 BBs in a magazine whilst they have literally thousands! You’re only going to be carrying a “combat load” of perhaps five or six 30BB mags, whilst the hi-cap-heroes have more than your total ammo count in one mag, so you’ll be toast shortly after “game on” sounds… right?

However, I’d say an unequivocal WRONG! Indeed, as far as I’m concerned there are some instances where the not-so-humble-any-longer GBBR can positively thrive, but it does take an utter change in mind-set to reach that point and there are those of us that have been saying that for a LONG time!

Most times when I speak to players (and not necessarily new players at that) about “Living the Gas Life”, I’ll undoubtedly be met with a collective shaking of heads and I’m certain that many must think “the old boy has finally lost it”, but it’s an agenda I come back to time and again. Many players I speak to that have been in airsoft for a while get a bit jaded and, all too often, I hear the words “I want more realism, more immersion in my game”, but still they refuse to look at gas platforms as the way forward, citing all the old tropes that GBBRs are expensive, that they’re hard to get any real performance from and that they don’t perform when the temperatures plummet.

Once upon a time I may have agreed with them, as the old systems that were first available certainly had their “moments”! Let’s not forget that once upon a time “gas guns” and springers were IT though and if you’ve been involved as long as I have, you will remember the name “Nagata” and models of the 80’s and early 90’s from the likes of JAC, Maurzen, Asahi, MGC (OMG, who didn’t want an MGC Calico or an Asahi Sterling!), Kokusai, Escort and Sun Project!

These were the days of the intricate “bullet valve” (and even bellows!) and they were totally different from what we would now class as a “gas gun” and totally a million miles from an AEG! Many required and external bottle and hose setup (mmm, HPA anyone?) to drive them along, and that put a lot of people off, including me, until in the 1990s along came Tokyo Marui with their commercial electric gearbox, and the rest, as they say, is history.

THE RISE OF GBB

At the time that TM were dominating the electric gun market (and rightly so), at the same time we saw the rise of the GBB pistol and as we came into the 2000’s, “GBBs” were in everyone’s holster worldwide and generally reliable. Yes, mags were a pain and if you didn’t look after them they would vent in a huge cloud of gas the moment you looked at them, and

they would definitely do it the moment you REALLY needed your pistol! Alongside this was the fact that the gas used was not what we are used to today; you bought your can o’ gas but honestly had no idea what was in it and to be frank, most of the gas manufacturers didn’t have a clue either!

However, time moves on and with it we have become more questioning of EXACTLY what goes into the “mix” when we buy a can of gas, and we understand more why certain components are more important than others when it comes to optimal efficiency of a gas platform - and this moves me neatly onto debunking MYTH #1, that gas rifles are inefficient and hard to get the best from! The fact is that airsoft gases have become better and more consistent over the years as the best producers have looked into what needs to be added to the base gas, how pressure affects the gas/mix in the bottle and even the shape of the bottle itself! GBBRs are also arriving from source at the right power level direct from the manufacturers (it’s really just a case of engineering from the outset and getting the right nozzle sizing!), so we’re not having to immediately fettle them to get them within legal and site-friendly limits any more - although I will be the first to say that when many gasses are heated you will get an upswing in power, but this can be mitigated against and managed.

Stu: “I find gas far more enjoyable. Limited ammo, no spammage of the trigger, makes you approach the game differently as you need to be more selective. The ‘realism’ of inserting a mag, racking the charging handle and BOOM! And as I’m mad enough to run WA SVIs, then that’s always great fun too! I ran the WAs on propane, other stuff wouldn’t shift ‘em, or when it did, performance was dire. The KWA AR GBBRs seem very happy on Nuprol 3!”

GBBR hops too were once the very bane of my existence and, like many others, I fabricated weird and wonderful tools of my own in order to adjust the hop of my earliest gas rifles. If you look back at some designs it was almost impossible to adjust the hop without first cranking the upper and, in some cases, removing the BCG, which was massively frustrating when you were trying to get the best and most consistent trajectory for your BBs! Again, this is starting to be meaningfully addressed by the likes of VFC with their “Guide Hop” and I would simply point you towards the G&G SMC-9’s muzzle hop adjustment when it comes to ease of fine tuning (I’m really interested to see what G&G come up with when their MGCR finally becomes a reality!).

So, are they really that hard to get the best performance from then? I’d have to say no and, if anything, they’re easier to get running well and KEEP running well these days than most AEGs, as there are genuinely fewer parts involved, no fancy electronics and no gearboxes with gears and piston-teeth to shred!

MAGGED UP!

So, onto MYTH #2 - “ammo capacity” - and the fact that most GBBRs run on “realcaps” of 30 BBs, although a handful of manufacturers have upped that to 50 (and now indeed beyond if you’re looking at a gas SMG!). Does this REALLY put you at a disadvantage?

There are two things to look at and consider here and the first is that more and more sites are opening for CQB/CQC, where full-auto play is prohibited! Therefore, if you are playing on semi-only does a huge magazine capacity really benefit you? I’d again say not and in fact, when you’re trying to be uber-sneaky and quiet, a rattly old Hi-Cap can be the difference between mission success or failure!

Stewbacca: “A standard loadout for all my guns is four mags total, either individually or clipped/taped together in pairs, usually around 100-150 BBs total, plus a pistol with the same again of four mags mags and around 100 ish BBs.”

“But what of a skirmish situation?”, I hear you ask, surely you’ll be massively at a disadvantage there? Let me put it another way…

Were DELTA at a massive disadvantage in Mogadishu? Yes, they most certainly were! They were massively outgunned and their ammo was not “Hollywood endless”, but many SF units KNOW they will be at a disadvantage and have a plan to get past this… They SHOOT ACCURATELY and TRAIN HARD so that their “skills and drills” are immediate and just downright BETTER than those that they’re going to get into a gunfight with. Add to this the “force multipliers” they (should!) have on hand and the situation equalizes just a bit…

Now I’m not for a moment suggesting that any of us are anywhere close to “SF Level”, as that’s patently ridiculous but WE CAN train with our chosen platform to take aimed shots effectively and I’ve found that with a number of my gas rifles I am able to actually USE an optic to get on target! I go to the range twice a week on average to test new models, and when I do, I always take a bit of time at the end of a session to shoot and train with my AKM or SR16.

Add to this that any “SF” unit is going to train