Random Airsoft Musings: Saving Those Chiclets

No, it’s not forehead protection. I put it on when it came to the CQB engagement distances…

When I first started playing airsoft, I wore (as most of us newbies did) a full JT paintball face mask that was integrated into my goggles. After a couple of games I began to notice that none of the uber-cool-elite-hard-as-fuck vets were wearing masks, so I ditched the mask and ran with the paintball goggles alone. I did this for about a year or two, dismissing mouth/lower face protection as being strictly the domain of the noob, together with a G&G clearsoft M4 and a Condor chest rig.

I had a few close calls along the way – over the years I took a couple of shots to the face that left bruises that had to be covered up with a band-aid and dismissed as a “hockey high-sticking bruise/cut” at work the next day (because explaining what airsoft is to your supervisor isn’t always easy or worth it). But I had never sustained any permanent damage. No teeth knocked out or embedded BBs to mar my (not really) perfect complexion.

But lately I’ve started wearing a mask again; specifically, one of the lower face mesh masks that are designed for just this purpose. Perhaps it’s the close calls and full-on accidents that fellow players and teammates have had (and the accompanying medical/dental bills) that has led to me donning the mask. Perhaps it’s the growth of the sport and the accompanying noobs, with a spray-and-pray attitude and blatant disregard for MEDs taught to them by hours fighting digital terrorists in Battlefield 4.

But I think mostly it’s because I’ve realized that all it takes is a split-second of crappy luck to ruin your day and a good chunk of days to come. Your teeth, like your eyes, don’t grow back, and you wouldn’t dream of stepping onto the field without a good set of googles protecting your peepers. And in the end, taking that risk to look uber-cool-elite-hard-as-fuck just isn’t worth it.

In Soviet Russia, friend is RPK bipod!

Also: Gorkas! I have officially started my Russian kit.

Russian kit… so hot right now.

Random Airsoft Musings: the airsoft hiatus, and why it’s a good thing.

(above pic taken from the inside of one of the buildings at Operation: Iceback)

Firstly, my apologies for the lack of entries from yours truly in the past months – I’ve moved house and been thrown some new responsibilities at work, on top of the usual juggling of social life/girlfriend/family/personal health that we all deal with. But I’m still here, and no, I haven’t quit airsoft.

This particular entry is more of a reflection piece, so feel free to skip if it ain’t your cup of tea. More random musings after the break.

Hello World: Introduction to Goggles

Hey all,

As some of you may know, in the Airsoft Community, I’m Goggles, and have been playing airsoft for little over three years now with the community most of the Overhopper writers come from. Although I have gone through other names such as, Brick, or to some, Googles. If there are any more, I haven’t bothered to even mention them as I probably haven’t heard them. I stopped asking questions a while back.

While I may not be as tech-savvy as the rest of the writers here on Overhoppers, or even own the amount of gear I know some of the writers have procured over the past few years, I have owned enough airsoft primaries to say I can at least mark what I define as quality and what I believe is just an awful excuse for a build (to which there are a few manufacturers that fall under this category), and I think that’s where my knowledge lies. Some guns I use on a daily basis (game-days) and some others are in pieces, waiting for me to figure out what I should do with them.

But that’s what makes and breaks the hobby for me at this point in time in my airsofting career. It’s the tuning part of the process of the hobby that makes airsoft interesting for me, it being a constant money sink for me for the past three years. Buying news parts to throw into the guns, or even just buying another gun just for the sake or working on it. Either way, I have gone through more guns than I cared to imagine, and now am excited to bring that knowledge to the forefront.

There are a plethora of primaries I want to write about, so put the seat belt on and be prepared to listen to a young kid go on and on about the little things on rifles that you probably could care less about. Or even less about what I’m doing inside the gearboxes of said rifles.

Cheers!

Goggles

Whatchu thinkin’ bout, Juicy?

“Oh, you know, airsoft stuffs.”

 

Armalite Grip Comparison

 

From Gearscout is an older article comparing 21 varieties of armalite compatible pistol grips.

Obviously not all of these are available in AEG friendly forms (really only the TangoDown and Magpul ones immediately come to mind, but please let me know if I’m missing some grips that have airsoft versions), but some may be GBBR compatible as GBBRs obviously don’t have to house a motor. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting look at the variety and modularity currently available for the armalite platform.

Recently I’ve personally come to favor a more vertical slant to my pistol grips. Weapon manipulation in airsoft obviously isn’t the same as it is in the real steel world, but I’ve found that having a more vertical slant on your AEG pistol grip is more conducive to modern manipulation techniques (ie, with Magpul Dynamics-esque shooting styles). As with most things, however, you mileage may vary and you should use whatever works for you.

(credit to a post by Stealthee on airsoftcanada.com for bringing this article to my attention)

DIY PRC-152 Blade Antenna

A blade antenna… made out of a blade of grass! Get it?

In the above pic, Dirt shows us that blades of grass make effective PRC-152 blade antennas. Clarity of reception and range of broadcast increased by over 9000 percent.

Tier One BBs – Review

BBs are to airsoft guns what fuel is to cars – yes, your car will run with crappy gas, but to really accurate gauge its performance you need decent quality fuel. Similarly, you could run 0.12g cheapo Walmart BBs in your AEG, or you could run $30/bag BBBastards – the choice is up to you. Sometimes, though, what you really want is a happy medium between value and performance – that’s where these Tier One BBs come in to play.

Fellow Fireteam Bro member and all around good guy Dickson recently started up his own brand of BBs and provided me with two 5000 count bags of his new brand in 0.28 and 0.25 weights for testing. The following is based off of running the entire bag of 0.28s and a handful of the 0.25s (for testing purposes). My (mostly positive) review of two weeks of running these BBs is after the break.

Chairsofting… in AOR2!

Well, maybe I wasn’t chairsofting. I was providing security for the BBQ, and the delicious, delicious ribs it produced. A job well done, if I may say.

Whiskey vs. Optix – May 25 2013

Proof that you should always, always check your six when Whiskey is around.