Second Game

Today was my second game. We started an hour earlier than usual and trained urban assault tactics on a team level. The game location had a nice abandoned two storey industrial building so we could practice room clearing, taking stairwells and the like. Pretty cool stuff, although my mask made it pretty awkward. I need to be turning my head all the time to counter for the tunnel vision, especially to avoid tripping over things. During the game itself I was a bit cut out of the communications loop since most everyone else is using radios. Might have to get one myself later.

The AUG has some weird hop up problems. I don't seem to get very much range, even when I adjust it. It also doesn't seem to have very much power when compared with the guns others were fielding. I will have to investigate. Otherwise I'm pretty excited with the it with the angled foregrip and the reflex sight. It feels good to hold and target acquisition is quick. I think the sight is not quite zeroed in though, I'll need to zero it one day.

I also like the selective fire trigger. Half a pull gives you semi-auto shots, pulling it back all the way and it goes full auto, so no fiddling with a selector is needed. There's quite a bit more pull required for it to go full auto though, there might be something it's snagging on.

The one point sling I have seems to be a bit too long. It might have something to do with how far back the AUGs rear sling mount is sitting. When the gun is hanging down, even with the sling as short as it will go, I can't reach the grip even with my hand straight.

I also managed to shoot myself in the hand with a ricochet, simply because I didn't take into account the fact that the barrel is somewhat lower than the sight. So when I thought I was aiming out of a broken window, the barrel was actually pointing at the window frame. Oh well, you live, you learn.

Other than that, it was loads of fun again, and even the ricochet was funny after it stopped stinging.

Is This What Addiction Is Like?

I have again been frequenting the airsoft subreddit and one thing they seem to really love and suggest as a good beginner's gun is the Jing Gong G36C. It just so happens the H&K G36C is one of my long time favourites in the world of assault rifles. It also seems like a good choice to utilize both in QCB and field situations. Truth be told, I've seen the airsoft version of G36C several years ago already and have been pining for one ever since, even if until now I haven't had any use for it at all.

Yesterday was spent checking out prices online and I found a pretty amazing deal. So, having slept on it, I've this morning placed an order for one plus four midcap magazines. A person needs two guns, right? Right?!

Shots fired

So, I managed to put the AUG back together without too many problems. Since I ruined the set screw securing the outer barrel, and the threads went along with it, I had to look into some alternatives.

First of all, since the outer barrel was originally somewhat wobbly, I decided to pad it a bit. Duct tape was my material of choice.

Some layers of duct tape later the outer barrel fits snugly into its housing

I added one layer at a time and tested until I reached a good fit

I also took care of the flash hider not sitting straight. As you can see above, the outer barrel does not have any sort of alignment notches or the like, so you're free to spin it any way you want. The flash hider has a retaining set screw (see, I'm learning), which I loosened and then screwed the flash hider on properly tight. It has a 14 mm anticlockwise thread (usually referred to as counterclockwise, or CCW on shop descriptions), as do apparently most other airsoft guns. Why the unusual left-hand thread, I don't know. In short though, the flash hider was now tightly on the barrel and I secured it with the set screw.

Flash hider installed properly

I was now free to install the barrel into its housing. The final stumbling block was the ruined thread.

Yup, it's gone

As I had noticed earlier that the metal was not of the toughest quality and I had loads of short, small wood screws on hand, I decided to give it a go.

Helping the screw into its tight spot with some tweezers

A bit of force and some twists of the screwdriver, and I had re-tapped the set screw hole with a completely different thread. Shows you how sturdy the metal is, I guess. I don't really mind, though, because now the outer barrel could be tightened back on again.

The final simple step was to align the barrel so that the flash hider was in right and then tighten the screw.

Finished

Afterwards I took some shots with both the AUG and the P226. Both are performing well in my opinion. The pistol especially was very fun to shoot and had some serious kick. I even invited my SO to join me in the study for some shooting practice. She's not admitting anything, but I have a sneaking suspicion my exuberance regarding all things airsoft, every waking moment, might start to be rather annoying for her. 

I have stuff!

The angled foregrip, the reflex sight and the P226 arrived today! I need to put the AUG back together and slap these bits onto it as soon as I can, and also shoot the pistol somewhere in the apartment. Most likely the study, because there I can keep the cats out of the way. There's some real weight to the pistol and I love how it looks and feels. Can't wait to put it into action.

The reflex sight has four different reticle choices; from a single dot through two crosshairs and onto a dot in a circle.

In addition there are two choices of colour, either red or green, and three different brightness settings for each.

Game Time!

I'm back from my first ever airsoft game. It was arranged on an abandoned, overgrown industrial lot, which was pretty sweet just in and of itself. Long grass and a small wooded area mixed with the decaying ruin, broken glass and rusted machinery made for a pretty Zone-like atmosphere.

The holo sight is yet to come through in the mail, so I was mainly spraying and praying with the AUG most of the time. I managed to get a kill, though, as I was hiding behind a desk in an otherwise empty garage and a group of enemies approached. Put enough BBs their way and some of them were bound to hit!

The mesh mask is a bit of a problem occasionally. The way the goggles sit so far away from my face, I have very little peripheral vision and need to constantly stare at my feet lest I fall down a ditch. And still I did. Luckily it was dry and I wasn't going too fast.

I'm writing this about an hour after the game ended, I've just eaten and I'm completely knackered. The adrenaline rush was incredible, and the group, despite my apprehension, were a great bunch of guys. Definitely doing this again. As soon as I get some sleep first. Damn I'm so beat.

My first game, finally?

A game is planned for this Sunday. Hopefully it actually happens this time. I'm ready, at least.

Yesterday I went to the attic to get some of my winter clothes since it's starting to be a bit chilly here, and stumbled upon an old pair of Mil-Tec shooting gloves that I though I'd thrown away. They're perfect for airsoft, even if the rubbery coating on the thumbs has worn off. I also picked through my collection of gas masks for a pouch that I might use as a dump pouch with some tinkering, and came across a suitable candidate.

My ingenious dump pouch

The pouch is just tied around the belt with it's own carrying strap. Not exactly tight, but works well enough. I still need to tie the lower strings around my waist or it will flop around.

The pouch is held open by a piece of thick steel wire bent into a 90 degree angle, threaded through the original pouch stiching on the corner. The outline of the wire is just visible through the fabric. It works well enough when trying it out at home.

I also visited a local airsoft store to pick up some BBs, gas for the pistol, a one-point sling for the AUG and a Pantac Triple M4 mag pouch. A local surplus store sold me a Bundeswehr Flecktarn camo uniform. I also have a black field cap and soft kneepads that I've bought some time ago. With these I should be pretty ready for my first game.

Shopping

I've lurked by bit around reddit in the past, but now I found an airsoft subreddit that seems to have all sorts of neat stuff. I ran into some suggestions regarding European online retailers and it didn't take me too long to put an order in.

I now have on order an angled foregrip (as an alternative for the straight one), a four-mode red and green reflex sight and... A gas blowback pistol with an extra magazine. Oops! I saw the KJW P226 highly praised on the reddit threads, and it's been my favourite sidearm ever since Fox Mulder was armed with one all those years ago. I even remember playing Counter Strike way back when, and having better success with the game's P228 when I replaced the skin with a P226 one. It's a beauty, and soon it will be mine!

Now all that's left is wait for the UPS guy to show up.

I Surrender!

I couldn't wait long enough for an actual game. I think I'm in love. Or maybe just crazy. Whichever the case may be, I've now bought the AUG. After having it with me for just one day.

I now own the gun, two batteries (a 8.4 volt NiMH and a 9.9 volt LiFe), one high capacity magazine and four midcap magazines, and a front grip.

I need a sling of some sort, naturally, and magazine pouches to carry this stuff around with me. I have an old Bundeswehr harness lying around from a Halloween costume years back, but it do much good on its own.

I found a video on Youtube on how to disassemble the AUG, so I just had to see how that works. I've loved taking things apart ever since I was very young, and this is no different. The outer barrel is also a bit wobbly for whatever reason, and I want to know why.

The more eagle-eyed reader might have noticed it already on my previous post. The flash hider does not sit straight on the end of the barrel; the ports on the sides should be perpendicular to the ground.

After a bit of fiddling around, having owned my first airsoft gun less than day, this is what I had on my hands.

The rail assembly was an amazingly tight fit on the barrel housing, so it took a lot of time and effort. I finally managed to pry them apart with a flat-head screwdriver. While doing that, I sadly scratched and dented the rail assembly somewhat along the way as well. I'm not happy, but at least it's just a cosmetic problem.

The next part I wanted to get off was the front outer barrel. The outer barrel was slightly wobbly and moved back and forth a millimetre or so. There is a hole near the root of the barrel, which contains  a rivet that is keeping the outer barrel in place, albeit poorly. It again took quite a lot of force to pull out the outer barrel, but in the end it gave way to my attempts.

Looking into the barrel housing I saw the end of the rivet sticking out and decided I have to file it down if I'm ever going to get the barrel back in place. Using a small hand file and more than an hour of work, I finally managed to get it worn down pretty far. Then I had a brainwave and thought I could drill it out instead.

You can just see the hole where the rivet sat behind the ring inside the barrel housing. With the drill in play, I actually realized, once the "rivet" began to spin, that it was no rivet at all but a set screw. Which, by now, I had filed down to a short nub unable to ever hold anything in place ever again. At this point the penny dropped also as to why the rail assembly was on so tight. Oh wow.

Today I learned about set screws. At least I figured out why the flash hider was not on straight. The whole outer barrel was simply twisted a bit.

I put the parts away for another day when I might feel a bit less dumb.

So It Begins A Little Less Than I Thought

My very first game, the one I both anticipated and slightly dreaded, has been cancelled due to low participation numbers. Not letting the day slip away into nothingness however, my friend took me to a nearby airsoft site to test fire his three guns so I could at least get some kind of a feeling for all of it. With him he had two electric guns, an ASG AUG A3 and ASG Scorpion Evo 3 A1, plus a WE Glock 17 gas pistol. We set up paper targets and fired away. I had never shot an airsoft gun before, barring some springer pistols in my youth. The feeling naturally didn't compare to real steel guns which I have shot occasionally, but there was some of the same excitement still present. And going full auto is never boring, of course! The gas pistol was also a pleasant surprise, as it had quite a bit of kick to it, and the realistic blowback action is very enticing.

After a few hours we packed up, with the AUG going home with me. We had discussed the possibility of me taking it off his hands, since he recently got the EVO and the AUG was basically just taking up space. So I took it home, fiddled with it as much as I dared and read up on it as much as I could. To buy it or not? I guess I'd need to get into an actual game and get the full experience before deciding.

So, this is what is asking me to throw some money at its current owner

There is lots of rail space on top. Rather conspicuously, the AUG is missing any kinds of iron sights, and the rail itself sits too low down to actually be usable as an aiming device. My friend had a holo sight mounted on the rail, but kept it for his EVO, so if I buy this thing I'll need to get some kind of a sight.

There certainly is no lack of accessory rail on this gun. The front end has a rail on all four sides. Also note the quick detachment sling mount,  removable simply by depressing the button.

So It Begins

A friend of mine has been trying to get me into airsoft for a while now. He's been part of an active local group for about half a year and says that I could join too. I must say I'm a bit torn. On one hand it sounds like fun, but on the other it seems childish. I'm already over 30, after all. The last time I played with toy guns was more than 15 years ago. He's rather adamant that it's great fun, though, so I finally agreed to go out and buy some eye protection. Everything else, he says, they can lend me so I can test the hobby out before committing.

Like the complete newb that I am, I just walked into a local airsoft shop and let them know the situation. The words used were along the lines of "I need eye protection so I can try out this thing tomorrow". Perhaps worded less elegantly, but still. They sold me a mesh wire face mask and off I went, waiting for tomorrow with mixed feelings.

This is what 19 € buys you

Fashion statement of the year? And no, it's not the light, the whole thing is a bit crooked.

The two parts are held together by plastic pins and tabs and are easily separated so you can the goggles alone.

The mask attachment tab runs through the same opening you use to thread in the headband.

The whole thing comes with spare parts in a sprue not unlike on scale model kits. Handy if you lose any of the tiny bits.