Revelations – Part 2

When Juicy yells “Hi, Dizzy!” at you, do not raise your arm and give him a thumbs up.

A BB will hit your upraised forearm.

-dizzy

(I love ya, Juice.)

Revelations

Story time!

Today I was playing at Airsoft Gear’s game day; I found myself in a situation where I could have easily cleared a structure. This structure ASG Game Moderators generally refer to as “the tunnels” – a set of 5 buildings with elongated ~3’x3′ tunnels connecting the 4 outer buildings with the central one. Turns out I was totally paralyzed with fear at the thought of entering a dark place in order to get two kills.

It wasn’t the confined space (I didn’t get claustrophobic when I wandered in there previously, nor am I lacking in CQB skills and equipment), or the lack of security in the surrounding area (3-4 friendlies had overwatch in and around the structure – the area outside of the tunnels was completely cleared of threats a few minutes ago) that inhibited me from kicking doors down and taking names.

Instead, it felt like I’m 3 again – I’m still afraid of the dark.

-juicy

To those guys that I let down by not getting my ass in gear and clearing that structure… yeah… I’m sorry.

Geargasm – Hammerson Combat MP7 Rail System for KSC GBB

I saw a picture and tidbit about this little guy over on Popular Airsoft (link to the KSC MP7 Rail “The Fin” here). I guess I’m not entirely crazy… looks like the Airsofters over at Hammerson Combat (link goes to their Facebook page) also felt the same way about the crummy MP7 vertical grip that I do.

Now, if I had a KSC/KWA MP7 GBB SMG, this is the one thing that would make it even more cool. Asides from the initial cost (mags are quite expensive IMO, but when armed with the System7/NS2 gas system, I could play with this little guy all year round), the included folding vertical grip drives me nuts. It’s a little too stubby to broom-handle it, yet there isn’t quite enough space in front of the grip for me to really go all out thumb-break with it (see below for depiction, diagram about the Magpul AFG from TheFirearmBlog.org). Oh, in case you haven’t seen me play or set up my guns, I really like running guns with a thumb-over-bore thumb-break dealio with a vert grip. Yeah, MP7 front ends are a little too small for that, I guess.

The Hammerson Combat MP7 Rail System (picture above from popularairsoft.com) is very good looking as well – totally cool that someone actually came out with a product that solves this problem for me. It definitely is very similar to the Wilcox MP7 rail (pictured below on HKPro Forums), though it appears that the rail sections are modular, like the stock MP7 rail attachment or the current trend of modular rail sections in AR hand guards and tubes. I really liked running an AFG or RVG on the Madbull TRX 13.0 I used to run on my WE M4 GBBR – the lack of rails on the sides of the tubes made everything just fit my palm way better. Same goes on the MP7, the rails on the side annoy me quite a bit – being able to attach a larger vert. grip AND remove the side rails at the same time makes me feel way better about the potential for the MP7 to fit my hands.

Oh wow, that looks really good.

Do want.

Might be time for me to pick up a KSC/KWA MP7 when this simple little rail comes out. Dammit all, I thought I had just enough guns as is. Ah darnit all, I do want to hop onboard that crazy SEAL/DEVGRU impression train going on with what seems to be all Airsofters.

Airsoft… you cray. You cray-cray.

-juicy

Geargasm – Geissele Super Modular Rail

(photo courtesy GearScout)

Well, now I know what my next M4 rail system will be.

Get on it, Madbull!

-dizzy

 

Dizzy’s Amazing Support Gunner Journey – Day One

(image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/51678912@N02/favorites/page2/?view=lg)

So, I recently traded my SCAR-H (which looked pretty on my shelf and shot well, but spent 90% of its time collecting dust particles) for Jester’s M249 SAW Para. Yes, I change guns like I change lanes. It was a bit of a no brainer to me – who doesn’t like giant belt-fed guns? I’ve never had a support weapon before… and as it turns out, I had a lot to learn.

List of stuff I learned during my first game as a squad automatic weapon gunner after the break.

Flyye 1961A (LBT Clone) Overview

A bunch of goodies arrived today! First up is a photo of my brand new Flyye 1961A chest rig loaded up with all the gear I’d need for a day on the field.

I’ll be running exactly this set up on the field on Sunday @ ASG Game Day, will do an in-depth review on it after I actually use it for a day. Preliminary messing around with the chest rig has raised a few pros and cons IMO:

• Side medical/GP pouches aren’t quite big enough to fully enclose a 1 qt. canteen when using the flaps.
• Rifle mag pouches are large enough to accommodate TWO Beta Project AK PMAGs/Bulgarian AK waffle mags.
• Flaps for rifle mag pouches are too short to actually fully cover Beta Project AK PMAGs – the hook and loop will barely engage but it seems that the lids don’t like to remain closed with the little bit of attachment that the flap can grab onto.
• Flyye’s 1961A is a clone of early-gen LBT 1961A, there are subtle improvements made in the later gen that are not present in this one.
• TONS of space for cramming whatever I want into the chest rig – I could run two radios, carry 7000+ BB’s, and 8 AR15/AK74-sized mags. That’s not even including all possibilities for the little pouches in front of the rifle mag pouches…
• H configuration of shoulder straps has potential to be quite comfortable (angles of straps and padding is all very well thought out), but it is quite a pain to adjust on your own – I actually had to adjust one on the fly for a squadmate (“Jester”).

-juicy

… List of stuff pictured is after the break.

Flashback: Heckler-Koch Craze

Every Airsoft player has a story. See me in that picture below? Yup, this is (part of) my story as a beginning Airsoft player.

That was me in March 2010. Picture was taken by player “six4” during a game at Bigfoot Field in Mission, BC.

(Continue reading after the break.)

Flashback: G&G M4 Commando

That last post on my Pantac 6094 got me all nostalgic. To that end I’ve decided to write a little bit about my very first airsoft gun – my G&G M4 Commando. I named her Emily (I name all my guns, in the great tradition of Jayne Cobb from Firefly). She has a special place in my heart – she was my first, after all, and you never forget your first.

Join me for a trip down memory lane after the break, back when I was a typical airsoft Noobie McNooberson.

Gear Review – Pantac 6094

I have a special place in my heart for my Pantac 6094. Find out why (and peep the kitlist) after the break.

FSBE II War Belt

As per my MEU/MFR/MARSOC inspired gear, most of my gear follows the FSBE II specs. FSBE stands for Full Spectrum Battle Equipment and is the issued kit for USMC operators. Among the many items issued, there is a specific MOLLE padded belt issued that is commonly seen in use by MEU/MFR/MARSOC – this is the Eagle Warbelt in CB.

My FSBE II Warbelt (usually) looks like this:

I’ve found that wearing the belt is actually quite comfortable when you use the suspenders. The 90 degree angle at which the belt rides on your waistline (as versus being contoured like many current battle belts are) tends to let the belt slip up and down, even when fully cinched tight. However, the suspenders do their job and suspend the belt at the correct height when everything has been adjusted. The angle of the belt has been a topic of debate between a friend who works at DS Tactical and I for a few days now – my experience with this belt actually has proven to me that a non-contoured belt can actually be quite comfortable if worn with suspenders.

FSBE II issues a number of Eagle Industries FB pouches; FB pouches are pouches with a hard kydex insert inside them that allows for Level 1/passive retention on the contained magazine and retains the opening of the pouch when a magazine is not inside it. These are issued for 9mm pistol mags, .45 pistol mags, and M4 magazines. The passive retention (i.e. tightness of the fit of the pouch is the only thing holding the magazine in place) is backed up by an optional velcro lid – all of my lids are folded down, I like to keep them that way – not only does it look cool, it allows me to perform reloads in significantly less time. You may notice that the majority of my first line kits do incorporate some sort of kydex or FB pouch on the left hand side of the belt – this is something that I’ve learned from tips and tricks from training videos (e.g. Travis Haley) about keeping gear placement as consistent as possible to allow for muscle memory to kick in, in the event of SHTF.

You may notice that my kitlist has a black holster mounted on brown shroud: Safarilands used to be issued to MEU in mostly black, days of MFR you would see a mix of black and brown. The black holster is a left over tid-bit from when I first started doing impressions, of which I was doing MEU with early FSBE II and a SOPMOD Block I blaster. The 600410 leg shroud features a lower profile/single strap leg shroud allows holster to be ridden higher on the leg with more comfort – I’ve seen quite a few pics of operators sporting shrouds that look like this. I have read about operators cutting down their 6004 leg shrouds to similar profiles than the 600410 shroud in order to get a similar result.

The weapon catch and retention lanyard actually play similar roles on this belt – the retention lanyard was the piece of kit I got first. Both of which I use as some sort of weapon catch, as I generally use two point slings, I can leave my sling slacked out and drop my primary weapon’s muzzle inside the elastic of the retention lanyard, securing it in place on my side. This does cover up my magazine pouches on my belt, though I generally only do this when I need the space in front of my body to be clear of snag points (e.g. climbing ladders).

The weapon catch is primarily used for securing my stand alone M203, as a I use a single point sling with it, slung down on my right-hand/strong side. I can quickly and easily jam and/or remove the handguard of my launcher into the open weapon catch. When in place, the M203 is held surprisingly well, prevent it from swinging about when I’m moving around. I do prefer to keep my M203 slung down on my right hand side as this prevents it from getting in the way of my spare magazines located on my belt.

Flyye’s “Right-Angle Belt” is similar to the legit FSBE II Eagle Warbelt (pictured below).

The belt itself is a simple deal – 4 inches wide belt with padding and two channels of MOLLE/PALS webbing on the outside of the belt. There are 3 suspender attachment points and the included suspender system features a small (but unique) back panel that joins all 3 suspenders and generally rides in between the shoulder blades. The belt is secured at the front with a 2in buckle.

Of course, with the many different years of FSBE II kit, there are slight colour differences, design changes and brands/manufacturers may change. If you’re looking for more information on this, there are a few blogs (milfreak.wordpress.com comes to mind), and forums and/or threads (e.g. The Force Recon/MARSOC thread on Airsoft Canada) that mention, picture, and explain this in more detail. I’m not going to bother with that here – this is more of a review of the set up I’ve been replicating and using.

-juicy

For my kit list of the belt, click the “more” button below.