I had my first Airsoft Match in years and this is how it went, and how I need a bit of work.
So, I've been wanting to play an Airsoft game ever since I got my new Interceptor to complete my dreamed US Army loadout. I gathered friends, three of them so we could have a 4v4, gathered all my spare guns, gear and loaded them into boxes. Friday I head over to my grandparents, unload everything and they start walking over the mountain (takes ten minutes) and I start to lay out gear, set out guns, gas my magazines, charge the batteries etc.
So my friends get there and I teach the gun safety, what and what not to do, hand out goggles and glasses, chest rigs and uniforms so they get ready. The battery charger I was using, which from what I knew and what I read -should- have an automatic shut-off didn't actually and ended up over charging my spare batteries, one was so hot it was painful to touch.
So we load up the guns, I brought my TM P90, UTG MP5 (Which has ducktape on the grip to keep the motor plate tight, the screws are stripped) and a sporting good store XM8 for them to use along with a pistol for each.
So, the P90 stops working before we go anywhere. The XM8 weakily spits bullets and surprisingly the UTG actually works the entire game. My friends brought another person along so he had to use a pistol only, as did most of my other friends as the other guns had stopped working.
So we all drive up the mountain and we do 2v2 Counter-Terrorists and Terrorists. We actually had some fun, the Terrorists left with the hostage and we waited for a bit before we followed. We engaged them, had a fire fight and we advanced. Eventually a Terrorist was using the hostage as a shield, my friend tried to circle around but he was empty so I told the Terrorist to drop the hostage, he shot at me so I blew them both away, but he still escaped. I used my bayonet on the hostage for shits and giggles, the price of freedom.
So by this point I understand why people dislike the Interceptor. For walking around casually, guarding things or just looking badass it's great and I love it. But running around up hill it gets heavy and hot. It'd be a great winter-loadout though as I do play winter games. So my boots keep doing a weird twist and I nearly break my ankle sixty times on the uneven mountain, the boots must not be tight enough or something. So finally we track down the last guy, I give my friend my GBB and a spare magazine and we go after him. Eventually we tear him a new ass hole, knife him and that game is done.
When we get back to the truck my friend lost one of my GBB mags and he lost the springer pistol mag I gave him. Kind of a pain in the ass since they're expensive and for the life of me I can't find mags for a KJW G23.
So we head back down, I unload most of my gear and we decide to have another small skirmish on the field below. I put on an old rig to hold four mags and my pistol, my friends reload, I reload and we all head out except one who didn't want to because he was too hot or something to that effect.
We had fun on that one, we shot at each other, ran around, I got one guy out and fun was had by all. I find out there is another GBB mag missing right out of the gun. Luckily we find it in the field, apparently the mag release is to weak to hold the fucking things in the gun.
Beyond that we put everything away and stay at my friends house over the hill. We had fun but I feel a bit bad, I was hoping to impress my friends enough to get them really into it and hopefully manage to get them to buy their own guns and equipment so we were a bit better matched. I got two to enjoy it, the other two were indecisive.
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So it wasn't too bad but it could have been better and I have some revelations about my play-style and loadout as well as the care of my guns I need to work on. In addition my TM P90 still doesn't work, even with a good battery, bypassing the fuse it just doesn't do anything.
What I learned from this:
1. Your loadout needs to reflect your environment and playstyle. Just because it looks cool or is authentic doesn't make it practical. Luckily I have a lighter, smaller chest rig coming in the mail that will help this.
2. Proper care of your guns, no matter how often their use is critical. If I had stored my guns properly or done annual repairs and check-ups like I did my Primary they may have all functioned properly.
3. Batteries are vital for gameplay. This one is obvious, but here I was so eager to get a game started I barely knew how to use the charger. I suppose this could have been avoided had I been watching the batteries carefully but I wasn't. I need to learn how to use this charger well, hopefully you guys can help me learn. Now I may have two dead batteries.
4. Be Prepared. Now this one was a bit harder for me as I had to prepare the guns, gear, ammunition, magazines and batteries for four people but had I made sure all the mags were full and the batteries charged rather the waiting till I got there to do those things we would have been on the road sooner and better off.
These are a just a few, this is now the official, "Let's help Codemonkey become a better airsofter." thread.
[editline]07:33PM[/editline]
All in all I say we had a good time, I know I did besides all the things that went wrong.
k.
I love how you look legit and they just look kind of out of place.
Your first game is always the most interesting. Lots of fails are usually to be had.
I guess you could call this my first airsoft game. I've had 1v1's before but they were really low profile and we just screwed around mostly.
Upon inspection all my batteries are fine. I'm going to charge them all at one amp from now on.
My charging handle spring on my CA M15 was torn apart by my hop-up apparently during the game so as per Enders suggestion I replaced it with a rubber band and it works.
TM P90 still does not work. I cannot figure out why this is.
Is it making any noise at all when you pull the trigger?
Nope, nothing. As I said, I bypassed the fuse, checked the battery, the fuse isn't even blown. I'm not sure what else to do because it's such a unique gun. I'm not sure where the motor is, or what.
This P90 had the same problem when I first got it yeeeeears ago. I sent it in for repair though.
[editline]09:31PM[/editline]
It also worked for awhile up until we were about to use it.
If I remember right, the motor is actually below the gearbox. They're secured in together. All you have to do is remove the retaining plate out (unscrew two screws) and then pull the gearbox out.
Buy a new one and use this one as decoration on your wall.
I don't use the P90 all that often. It's a neat gun, I like the look and it's dedicated CQB weapon, although I CQB very seldom. It'd be nice to get it working but even if I don't it's not a big deal.
My Tavor will be perfect for CQB an with a quick spring change it'll be a field rifle as well.
I really regret not getting my P90 with the built on red-dot. Even if it wasn't good it looks so much better then the rail no matter what I put on it.
[editline]09:58PM[/editline]
Okay, took it apart and found the problem. The Trigger Shuttle wasn't going all the way back for some reason and it didn't make a connection, I worked the trigger a few times and then put it back together, one tight squeeze and now it's working.
Last challenge. My Classic Army M15 A4's Semi-Auto isn't working. I'll pull the trigger, it'll fire, but the trigger won't reset. It does on Auto and it will do it on Semi if the battery isn't in but it doesn't like to work when I need it.
[QUOTE=CodeMonkey3;22785534]
What I learned from this:
1. Your loadout needs to reflect your environment and playstyle. Just because it looks cool or is authentic doesn't make it practical. Luckily I have a lighter, smaller chest rig coming in the mail that will help this.
2. Proper care of your guns, no matter how often their use is critical. If I had stored my guns properly or done annual repairs and check-ups like I did my Primary they may have all functioned properly.
3. Batteries are vital for gameplay. This one is obvious, but here I was so eager to get a game started I barely knew how to use the charger. I suppose this could have been avoided had I been watching the batteries carefully but I wasn't. I need to learn how to use this charger well, hopefully you guys can help me learn. Now I may have two dead batteries.
4. Be Prepared. Now this one was a bit harder for me as I had to prepare the guns, gear, ammunition, magazines and batteries for four people but had I made sure all the mags were full and the batteries charged rather the waiting till I got there to do those things we would have been on the road sooner and better off.
[/QUOTE]
1. That's always a hard issue, especially when you play at multiple fields that are very diverse. You'll find out one piece of gear won't suit everything. Then you need to find the perfect balance of being well equipped, but not overburdened for that sort of environment. I still haven't found any loadout for me that works well for me at every field. The CIRAS does great at most fields, but kills me when I hike around the woods.
2. Checking up your guns is vital, but it also helps to know what you're doing too. Best thing to do here is browse other airsoft forums such as Airsoft Retreat and do a search for similar issues. You'd be surprised how many people may have the same issue as you. There's also the issue of having the time and money to work on your guns too. As is right now, I have 3-4 AEG's that need some work, and an old CA M15 that needs a complete fixing.
3. I provided you a formula on how long to charge your batteries in the new help thread. I'll simply state it here:
Battery mAh / Charger mAh output (may be in Amps, 1Amp=1000mAh) = Number of hours to charge battery.
4. Best thing to do is spend a few hours the night before getting ready and sorting and testing your gear.
Guns: As for testing your guns, I place a battery in all the AEG's I'm bringing (mainly to get through the chrono line faster) and for the ones I haven't used in a while I test fire them in the backyard to make sure they feed and the hop-up works. I'll also take this time to equip my rifle with accessories for the field I'm going to. Normally it's tac light, laser, and a red dot for CQB, and just a magnifying scope or red dot for more open environments. I'll zero the scopes in at 15 yards, as far as I can shoot in the backyard.
Gear: Plan on what sort of equipment you will be bringing to the game, and what equipment you will actually have on you during the game. Mag pouches are normally the first thing you put on your vest, make sure they are easily accessible and your sling won't get in the way of reloading. If you carry enough mags, don't worry about bringing extra bbs in a bag with you. If you only have a few mags, carry your bbs in a small plastic bb bottle, the ones with a nozzle on them. These are more compact than a bag of bbs and are less likely to pop open. When you have your gear all setup, toss it on and practice all the movements you would do in match. Try crouching, going prone, reloading and retaining mags. Practice them in series quickly and you'll start to find which pieces of gear are slowing you down or getting in the way.
As for tools, I recommend only a simple multitool. Keep the rest of your tools such as screwdrivers, hex wrenches and so on in a bag that you can leave in the staging area. Odds our if you have to use those, it's not going to be a quick fix anyways.
Thanks for the tip Ender. As for the battery thing, I've read around as well and I know now that my primary battery takes 3.50 amps. Everything else or the things I'm unsure of I charge at 1 amp, it's a slow steady charge and although it takes longer it does less damage to the battery. The equation you've provided really helps, I wrote it down and put it in my charger box.
Everything else I need to work on over time it seems.
Most stuff you'll learn over time and through repetition. You'll find out what works and what doesn't. Took me years to get up to the point where I had enough stuff to create field specific loadouts that worked well.
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