PAMG: RUNNIN’ AND GUNNIN’

from Airsoft Action - February 2022

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AS WE’VE PREVIOUSLY STATED, PAMG IS ALL ABOUT FRIENDLY AND FUN COMPETITION WITHOUT THERE BEING BARRIERS TO STARTING UP OR TO TRYING OUT COMPETITION STYLE SHOOTING IN THE FIRST PLACE! WE THOUGHT WE’D LOOK AT THE PLATFORMS USED BY “POSH” AND BILL AND THAT WE WOULD OFFER SOME ADVICE ON GETTING STARTED. PAMG “ORIGINATOR” JON KICKS OFF…

To recap on the whole “Practical Airsoft MultiGun” (or PAMG for ease) I’ll start by recapping on the entire concept! PAMG is meant to be fun for all that currently enjoy, or think they MIGHT enjoy, a little competitive shooting, and through PAMG we want to encourage individuals from all walks of life to join in and you don’t necessarily have to be an airsofter to compete, although it’s hoped that many of you that are already players out there would find PAMG challenging in a positive way! You might be interested in other shooting disciplines and are looking at expanding your skill set or a complete novice having never even fired a “gun” before. To this end, PAMG has a few guidelines around kit, gear and weapon systems.

I’ve already looked at the kit and PAMG does require garments that are designed with the dynamic movement needed to excel in mind; we’d urge you not to use camo gear at a PAMG match, but to look at block colour alternatives; we aren’t shooting at each other so we don’t need to be hidden! Serving, Veteran or Law Enforcement are welcome to wear uniform if they wish, and this is pretty cool of you look at the guys Stewbacca ran with at the Taiwanese IDPA match! Essentially though, a pair of jeans or tacticool pants, a well-fitting top so that it doesn’t snag when you draw a pistol on the course of fire, and of course eye protection is what you’ll need… and a cool ballcap… everyone needs a cool ballcap!

Again, gear can be quite basic, and a bare bones set-up of belt, pistol holster, a rifle magazine pouch, two pistol magazine pouches and a shotgun shell holder is really all you will need; if you want to go fancier then that’s your call, but if you already have a set of belt kit you’re comfortable with then you’re all set!

But what of your platforms (ie GUNS!), what are you going to need? Again it’s pretty simple.

OPEN OR PRODUCTION?

I have worked up a full setup for both “Production” and “Open” Classes. As a brief reminder “Production” is anything that is completely standard and has no upgrades that could give you an advantage. “Open” is any platform that has been modified, whether that’s simply adding on an optic, completely rebuilding the gearbox, or replacing the hop and inner barrel. Basically, “Open” is a modified platform that would give you ANY advantage over “Production”.

I run two pistols, an Army Armament R17 that is as it was out of the box, completely standard with Iron Sights. This is my “Production” Class pistol. It has been Cerakoted though for visual “improvement”! I also run a red Vorsk Vengeance which has a tightbore barrel, is short stroked, has an RMR Sight and has a custom-made charge handle; this sits very squarely in the “Open” Class as it has been modified to provide an advantage over stock or “Production” Class.

You will need a minimum of two magazines for each of your chosen platforms to be able to compete in all stages of PAMG as there are mandatory reloads as you progress through the courses of fire.

Bill uses a green RAVEN Hi Capa 4.3 as it’s completely streamlined without any fuss or ornate work to any of the main parts. It’s a pistol fundamentally designed to be shot, to be used rather than just carried in a holster. RAVEN have beefed up areas that they felt needed it to give the pistol longevity and durability; they changed the slide spring to cope both with the minimal increase in weight, and to give them a real kick! As this work is all done in the factory as standard “out of the box”, this is his “Production” pistol although he’s just taken delivery of a RAVEN 3.8 Hi Capa (green again!) with RMR that he intends to fettle a little for “Open”, but of course both pistols use the same magazines which will keep his costs down!

For the “Rifle Component” I have two rifles set up, the Evolution International Ghost as my “Production” Class rifle. This is an unmodified, iron-sighted, straight out of the box rifle. There have been no modifications made to the rife other than Cerakote for visual “improvement”.

I also run a modified Nuprol Recon Alpha as my “Open” Class Rifle. This has a 6.03 tight bore barrel, uprated bucking and nub, and has a Red Dot optic on a riser, with a lightweight “speed butt stock” and various other modifications such as speed mag release, lightweight angled foregrip and a few other detailing components. These modifications can help get an advantage over the “Production” class as

“IT’S A TOTALLY NEAT PACKAGE THAT LOOKS AWESOME, AND THE FLIP-UP SIGHTS THAT COME FITTED AS STANDARD ARE MORE THAN ADEQUATE, AND INDEED ARE STURDILY MADE OF ALLOY, SO THE NOVESKE IS READY TO ROLL FOR “PRODUCTION” STRAIGHT FROM THE BOX JUST BY ADDING A BATTERY AND SOME BBS”

I can get better target acquisition via the Red Dot Optic, the platform is lighter due to the aluminium components that replaced the heavier and bulkier items such as stock and foregrip and I can get a tighter grouping due to the tight bore barrel and upgraded hop rubber.

Bill at the moment is sticking to a “Production” model for his setup, but one that can be easily changed to “Open” configuration when needed by simply adding a holo sight and magnifier. His model of choice here is the EMG “Noveske 13.7” Gen 4 Infidel”. In “Bazooka Green” externally the Infidel ticks all his “Noveske Love” boxes, whilst internally there’s a LOT of stuff going on to increase both performance and longevity. It’s a totally neat package that looks awesome, and the flip-up sights that come fitted as standard are more than adequate, and indeed are sturdily made of alloy, so the Noveske is ready to roll for “Production” straight from the box just by adding a battery and some BBs; Bill reckons that it’s quite good enough to handle the “Open” opposition, but we’ll see about that when the shootin’ starts!

GOING LONG

So far so simples, but there are two additional platform elements that you’ll need for PAMG and the first of these is a shotgun. Although Bill has quite a selection of spring and gas “pump actions” (he’s a bit of a shotgun loon TBH!) it’s quite odd that both he and I have chosen the same model to compete with, and that’s the CYMA M870 tri-shot that sits in the “Open” Class. We both chose this model simply because a spring shotgun is pretty hard to break and can be quite exceptionally accurate, and the CYMA ticks all the boxes from the get go, and doesn’t cost the earth! Both of us have Cerakoted a few components (red and “Bazooka Green” respectively) to tie in a colour scheme but there are no performance upgrades. That said Bill does fancy creating an all-gas PAMG setup with the VFC BCM MCMR and to use a gas-powered 870-style shotgun for more realism, but ultimately they’ll fall into the same categories, “Open” and “Production” whatever he does.

Now for me the “Long Gun” platform element is where all bets are off! This will be an “Optional” part of PAMG, but if you’re getting into it, you may as well go all the way, be it traditional bolt-action or more DMR-style! I have a modified A&K AK(SR)25. This rifle has had a 6.03 tightbore barrel, Maple Leaf Bucking and Nub, M120 Spring, and Perun Mosfet fitted; it’s also locked to Semi Auto only and has been completely cleaned and re-shimmed from factory. It has a Nuprol Optics 1.25-5x26 scope and a Nuprol “Harris-style” bipod for stability. As it’s modified it sits in the “Open” Class. As yet, I’m still looking into the best out of the box options, to purchase a “Production” Class platform.

Bill has decided to go properly “old skool” with his “long” and decided to stick with bolt-action for this element. He’s constantly fiddling with a “Production” model based on the APS/Hakkotsu M40A3 bolt action, which he’s fitted with a NUPROL 4x32EG optic and a “Harris” style bipod, although he’s told me he’s changing that out for the fancy Spartan Magnetic Attachment System bipod that he wrote about in Issue 133 … and yes, he’s also had the rifle Cerakoted “Bazooka Green”! Thus far he’s been feeding the beast .32g RZR BBs and it seems more than happy with these, although he has some .40g to see what difference that makes. Suffice to say that at 70m he’s making VERY neat holes in the paper, and his hope is to extend this accuracy out to 100m; I’m interested to see what the M40 is capable of stock and I’m still dreading the moment he decides to bring out that CYMA DMR of his…

I hope that this will give you some idea of what you’ll need in terms of your platform elements, but of course the important thing to bear in mind, and that I hope we’ve illustrated here, is that you do not have to spend vast amounts of money on “Competition Spec” equipment. You can use your skirmish/milsim platforms in a competition so there really is no need to go out and buy anything new… unless you want to of course!

PAMG was designed as an introduction into the world of competitive shooting and as such having fun is at the forefront; that said, we’re both keen to see how our chosen platforms perform when the shooting starts, and we’ll pick up again with the “PAMG Story” when we’ve had them out runnin’ and gunnin’! AA