14 minute read
FEATURE: ON YOUR T.O.D
PROPER PREPARATION PREVENTS POOR PERFORMANCE
IN THE PREVIOUS INSTALMENT OF TOD JON SPOKE ABOUT HOW BEING PREPARED FOR AN AIRSOFT GAME IS THE KEY TO SUCCESS AND HOW FAILURE TO PREPARE CAN LEAD TO YOU HAVING A BAD, BAD DAY …AND NOW HE MOVES THINGS ALONG A LITTLE FURTHER!
So, you’ve booked into your favourite site or with your bestest gameday organiser, you’ve sorted out how you are getting there, who you are going with and you have a realistic expectation and understanding of the on-site facilities available. The site has shared their ongoing Covid Safety Guidelines and you are raring to go. Why wouldn’t you be? Airsoft is awesome fun!
Let’s look at the essentials needed for a game day based on two scenarios; the first will be a fictional Skirmish Day and the second a fictional 24-hour Milsim event. Both fictional players will be wearing some form of BDU, body armour, boots, etc….
A skirmish day usually doesn’t require the specific kit that is often associated with a Milsim event and, as such, doesn’t require you to take as much with you. That said, we all love to run a few guns on our days out, so you may well be one of those players that requires a truck to carry your gear! So, let’s start with the most obvious of the kit, our prized possessions, the primary and secondary RIF.
RIF READY?
Firstly, are your RIFs “battle ready”?
If you’re running a new RIF this probably won’t apply but it is good practice and if it’s a battlehardened bit of kit that has seen tens of thousands of BBs, is it still “battle ready”? Have you performed maintenance on it, especially if it’s a gas system? Is the bucking OK, or could it do with being replaced? Has it been serviced recently - or at all? Are all the connections OK? Does it shoot within the site-specific limits? Taking into account all of these considerations now could save you from a big disappointment on the day.
Are your batteries charged and ready to go? Do you have enough of them? Same question with magazines. Have you stripped, cleaned and serviced them recently? There’s nothing more frustrating (or annoying) than a mag failing you right when you need it most (this I know from experience)!
If you run an optic, have you zeroed it to your RIF? Do you have a guard or protector for it and if so, is it fitted?
Do you have ammo? We’ve all done it… turned up on site, gone to bomb up and … DOH!
Don’t be that guy, don’t be me! Be prepared. You see where I’m going with this? If you set up a checklist of things for each and every time you’re off
out to play, you’re unlikely to have a bad time. Getting the basics squared away the week before will improve your day without you realising.
Secondly, how do you transport your RIF?
I flit between the box it came in, soft rifle sleeves and hard, water resistant, secure cases. Each of these have their own pros and cons. Those that live in their box are usually RIFs that aren’t my preferred weapon system, or they’re ones that are getting their first run out. Given that manufacturers spend big money on packaging, there’s always one common element: they’re as small as they can be. This is an advantage in so much that the boot of your car can fit more prized “pews” in it. Oh, they’re also “free”, as the RIF came in it. The downside is that they aren’t exactly built for longevity and are prone to breaking and the risk of damage to your weapons increases significantly over a short period of time.
The soft, or “traditional” rifle cases are great carry options. They allow for maximum storage space as they are small and lightweight, they can be locked with a travel padlock if the zippers allow it, they offer a degree of protection from light knocks and scuffs and they are super cost effective. The downside is that they usually only carry one RIF at a time. However, NUPROL has the MP PMC Deluxe Soft Rifle Case which carries two RIFs, has a padded divider to keep them from rubbing against each other and has multiple pockets up front for any associated kit. In my experience, all rifle slips/bags/cases have had at least one carry handle and a shoulder strap. The NUPROL offering has two padded shoulder straps. Excellent… two rifles, one bag!
The downside to this type of traditional slip/bag are that, while they offer more protection long term than the box the RIF came in, they are at risk of getting wet, they have no rigid protection against impacts and, apart from the previously mentioned padlock option, they aren’t super secure. Don’t get me wrong, rifle slips/bags are brilliant and they serve a fantastic purpose depending on their use case.
Then you have the hard case. These have actually come a long way (within airsoft circles) in the last few years. When I started out I had an aluminium “flight case” or keyboard case. It was great, superstrong, super-padded and it had its own combination locks so it was super-secure. The problem was it was cumbersome; it was absolutely ginormous and weighed as much as several blue whales. Thankfully, I no longer look like a roadie with Iron Maiden due to the advance in modern materials, designs and prices of airsoft developed hard cases. Don’t let the airsoft part fool you, they are just as rugged as their very expensive counterparts from manufacturers like Pelican.
A Pelican 1720 Rifle Case, which fits a rifle and a few odds and sods, will set you back around £400. A NUPROL Large Rifle Wheeled Case, on the other hand, will cost you around £70. While there are some minor differences, they’re essentially the same thing for less than one quarter of the price! The advantages of a hard case over any of the other types are numerous but the most obvious are the ruggedness of them, I threw a NUPROL case from my first floor window onto my patio WITH a RIF inside and, other than a few scuffs to the case, there was absolutely no damage
to the RIF or the optics inside because they have a layer of thick foam padding enclosing them. Speaking about these foam inserts, another advantage with these is that you can often cut (or pluck) out parts of the foam, so that your RIF and all of its accessories sit snugly within the foam. They are water resistant (in this case that means they can be fully submerged in the water) and there will be no ingress up to a certain depth. They also come with two or, in some cases, four holes along the joining faces where you can put large padlocks to secure the contents.
Exactly the same applies to Pistols, there are soft cases and hard cases and they have the same pros and cons. Ultimately, it’s up to you and your budget to decide what carrying solution you chose and it should be what suits your needs best.
Thirdly, what else???
KIT & KABOODLE
Now that your RIFs are battle ready and are safely secured in their case, where is everything else going? We mentioned BBs, batteries and magazines right at the start but what about “everything else”?
Spare, clean and dry clothing, spare socks (Oh, so very important!) and a comfy pair of shoes to wear on the way home are a bonus, but how are you storing them? It’s not like you’ll be leaving them to fly around the boot of your car and you’re not likely to be juggling them, so what are your options?
Well, the mags and batteries might just fit in your case of choice, if so happy days, that’s those taken care of. The rest has to go somewhere. I’ve seen many ways folks transport kit to sites: hold-alls, rucksacks, bin-bags, crates are some and again, like the cases they have pros and cons. If you are an organised person, you may already have a day sack or patrol bag made up with everything ready to go but for the rest of us it can be chaos.
I was a “multi bag” guy, which in all honesty was a chaos of rummaging and not finding, or dropping items out that I then couldn’t find later, until I saw a fella turn up with two tough crates from B&Q. In one he had spare clothing, civilian stuff (including spare underwear) and clean dry BDU just in case he needed it. The other had a bottle of gas, his plate carrier, belt setup, helmet, eye pro and a bag of BBs. It’s a simple set up that allowed him (and now me) to keep essentials separated, in their rightful place and easy to access. In my honest opinion, the guy was a genius and I thank you sir!
For those who are stepping out into the Milsim scenario, you have a lot more to consider because you have a greater amount of items that you may need to take on the field, which means more storage solutions are going to be required. In an ideal world you would pre-pack a bergen or daysack at home before you go.
And finally, the big bit…
So that’s storage and transportation sorted but what about you, what kit are you taking and what will you be using?
It’s all a fashion show and we have to look our best, am I right?!
We all love to look the part and fit in with our team mates, so we find ourselves in various different loadouts and sporting different brands. There’s just so much to choose from. In a future edition of “On Your TOD” we will look into the clothing and how to correctly use it based on different situations but, for now, we will be making broad strokes and generalisations.
As a rule, we will be wearing comfy underwear, a pair of trousers, a matching UBAC or shirt, a pair of boots, some form of plate carrier or chest rig and some eye protection.
Comfy undies are fairly self-explanatory, something that will quickly wick sweat away from the skin is advisable here and Under Armour do a great range for male and females, as do Helikon-Tex and for the guys, both Snugpak and VIPER are worth a look too.
Your trousers and top of whatever type you choose should be rugged enough to deal with scrapes, knocks and bangs. These items provide you with protection when out in the field and it’s important to inspect these to make sure that areas of stress, such as the seams, are secure and not likely to rip apart. A couple of years back I had a major malfunction and had to jury-rig my trousers into something resembling a tactical sarong. It wasn’t ideal and as I had failed to prepare (I didn’t have a spare pair) I ended the day with multiple bites, scratches and cuts to my lower half. Had I spotted the failure or issue prior to the day, I could have repaired or replaced the trousers and had a better experience - and saved some embarrassment. Sure, it makes for a comical anecdote now but at the time I was gutted.
The same applies to your eyepro and, if anything, it’s more important here than anywhere else. You only get two eyes; you damage them, you are screwed! You really do need to inspect your eyepro THOROUGHLY before each game day for any defects, cracks, heavy scratches and the like, as these can weaken and cause failure of your only line of defence for your eyes. If you do take a direct hit, especially at close range, our advice would be to replace them immediately. Ensure that your eye pro meets the minimum safety standard EN166 or ANSI 87. Better
still look for ANSI 87+ specification or, if you really are pushing the boat out, MIL-PRF 31013. NUPROL, Bolle, Oakley and WileyX offer budget friendly options as well as their deep pocket counterparts.
Your footwear is incredibly important. Ill-fitting, abused footwear can actually cause you some serious problems going forward. Ask a serving or veteran member of the armed forces how their feet, knees and backs are and I’m sure you’ll get a colourful response. Ideally, you want your boots clean so that you can check for damage, cracks and areas where water may be able to seep in and saturate your boot. (Wet feet suck inside boots, that’s a fact). If they are leather, consider waxing them to add another layer of protection, some material types can benefit from waterproofing sprays but be aware that this may affect breathability. Also check your laces and carry a spare pair. I, like most, really wrench at my laces when I’m tightening them and they often snap. If you can spot this before, happy days and if not and you have a spare set, you’re only mildly inconvenienced. Comfortable inserts to cushion the impact on the soles of your feet make a huge difference here.
One common thing I regularly see (and historically am guilty of) is an excessive amount of pouches or attachments to my carrier and belt. Are you really going to carry twelve mags? What about those eight 40mm grenade pouches? Six pistol mags… really? Is 10Kg of armour plates really a necessity for airsoft? In my opinion, whilst it may look cool, you’re only likely to tire yourself out, confuse yourself as to where stuff is and make yourself ineffective.
Most Milsims have ammo caps, so four or five mags (depending on capacity) are all you really need at a time, maybe cut those ‘nades down to two and only use them when you need to! Sure, your side arm needs ammo but in reality it’s there as a last resort and your heavy plates can be swapped out for EVA, lightweight foam inserts. Of course, it’s your rig, run it however you see fit but making it lighter and simpler will help to make you more effective in the field.
If you are in a Milsim setting you’ll want a daysack of some kind, or at least some way of carrying food, water and shelter with you. You may be lucky enough to be based out of a FOB, so you can set up there and operate without need but if you are constantly on the move, you will need to prepare items you’re going to need to be able to survive and be effective. Military 1st sells a plethora of carry systems, in a range of sizes and price points that will allow you to cart around all
the items you may need (in a future issue we will look at what you should be carrying in them).
IFAK or Individual First Aid Kits are essential but do you carry one or, more importantly, know how to use them in an emergency situation? You may be the first responder to an incident while you wait for site staff and/or professional help and your IFAK may save someone’s life. Only use them if you have some First Aid training though, as you could cause more harm.
What I would like you to take from this is not, “Go buy new kit” or “You’re kitted up wrong”, rather it’s: think about what type of scenario you are playing, plan for it when you are sitting at home on your sofa booking the event tickets. Prepare for it in the weeks leading up to the event, try different combinations of gear and see what works best for you.
When the day comes, you’ll be ready to go, confident that you - and your gear - are battle ready.
Remember that old school teacher… “Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail!” AA
