Airsoft pistol as a training tool?

[ApexinM3]

Definately not a freak. I practice all the time with my airsoft guns, I have a few now & absolutely love them. Yes, some of the AEGs out there can be pricey, but compared to the real deal (a real M4 or MP5), they are an absolute bargain, not to mention you can own them legally (without any legal mumbo-jumbo paperwork). They are great for training newbies to firearms training: I have demonstrated with AEGs quite often with younger folks and they work great. That and shooing away pesky rodents from the yard (non-lethal)!

Not to mention you can shoot them indoors without having to worry about your neighbors on the outside.

Have fun with them, thats what they are meant for! I know I enjoy mine.

oh, yeah, one more thing: they're just cool, especially the full auto versions!

 

[Zero_DgZ]

More news from the airsoft front: The KSC M1911A1 is out and shipping from the far East retailers. Street price seems to be in the $110 to $115 range. It's plastic, like the KSC M945, but its the Colonel's secret blend of "heavyweight ABS", which is basically high test ABS with a high metal content, so it's heavy and cold to the touch. Weird stuff.

This is a bog standard mil issue looking 1911 with a 'blued' finish, wood grips, single stack, none of that fancy junk, for a decent price from a decent manufacturer. Ought to prove interesting.

Beats yet another Western Arms, anyway.

To the above poster: Get yourself a KSC, KWA, or HFC Mac-11 and let a magazine from that thing fly on full auto and it'll put a grin on your face a mile wide. Even though it's an airsoft gun the thing has an honest to goodness cycle rate of 1100 rounds per minute!

 

[Boom-stick]

I sold my M-11 a few weeks back for £10 less than I paid for it 3 years ago
Great fun to shoot the out of the trees in my back yard but that was about it. I was very tempted to get the full metal kit for it but then realised I hadn't used for so long I didn't see the point.

BUT....

I've since joined a practical shooting club, and they use airsoft as training tools for alot of point shooting skills in a blacked out range for target acquisition with flash lights (saves people getting shot in the dark!!)

Thinking about getting a Glock 17 with a metal kit to add some extra weight, but not sure about what power upgrades are available?

 

[sterling180]

Team Member: Rob Horan -who is part of the UK Practical Pistol team.

Kimber SV TLE/RL By Matt

Well as I had some time to play with, I decided to finally put together my "Kimber SV TLE/RL"
Where to start?

PGC Kimber Slide
Frame from a SVF3.9 cut down and radiused at the front to mirror the stirrup cut of the slide and then reblued. (talk about time consuming!!)
Grip cut down "Bulldog" style to accept the shorter SV mags

Rounded trigger guard to finish as well as all the usual internal bits and bobs.

Shown with G&P M3 tactical light
Too tricky to re-create perhaps but some eye candy none the less!

Price: 650.00


Top of the range airsoft models-used in the GPP competitions-to replace the cartridge pistol versions.

We have no choice but to accept the airsoft versions as the nearest thing to a real-sized semi-auto pistol and to expect them as a long-term replacement-for our banned handguns.

Boomstick,are you intersted in these customised airsoft pistols,at all? They seem to be popular with ex-pistol shooters,because they are very realistic-in their construction.
The Elite Airsoft website is:http://www.eliteairsoftuk.com/frames/fhome.htm
But,unfortunately they can be quite expensive,because of the quality of construction and realistic features-that are included in each individual gun.These can be built to your own specification.

Pictures of an Armalon customised- pistols,that was available before the handgun ban.Note that this was built in the UK,despite the fact that we cannot own these anymore.They can only be sold abroad-but can still be manufactured or customised here.

How bloody stupid the UK has become, don't they know or care that people invest time and money making these weapons-to feed themselves and their families? This applies to the cartridge-firing handguns and not airsoft guns.

 

[Zero_DgZ]

Thinking about getting a Glock 17 with a metal kit to add some extra weight, but not sure about what power upgrades are available?

What you want is a stateside KWA Glock. It will come out of the box with a metal slide and barrel.

The KWA G19's are a bit better built than the G17/18 series, but it's a matter of preference. Parts are largely interchangeable between the two, but the 19 comes with a metal feed ramp and the 17 doesn't. Otherwise, identical except for the length of the slide.

KWA (interchangeable with KSC) Glocks have a whole slew of parts available for them. Mine currently sports a threaded metal outer barrel I got from Airsoft Innovations (because it looks cool; I don't have a silencer), a steel guide rod and spring from Guarder, and a Tasco Optima on it just because. It shares a Guarder M3 knockoff with my WE 1911. I also stuck a steel mag catch in it (I think it's a G&P, but I could be wrong) and there's a houge rubber grip on it because it had it lying around.

I also installed a firefly stainless steel rocket valve and spring. My guide on the matter is available here, and applies to all KWA/KSC select fire Glocks (semi-only owners may omit removing the fire selector, arguably the most complicated part).

Other power upgrades include high flow magazine valves, but with these you need to replace the valves in all of your magazines. A similar effect can be obtained by taking the mag valve apart and drilling its ports bigger. This solution is free, but offers no recourse if you mess up. Stronger hammer springs are also available, but rarely actually required. Note that upping the flow from your valves makes the gun more powerful but causes it to use gas faster, effectively reducing efficiency.

 

[Boom-stick]

sterling180,

Boomstick,are you intersted in these customised airsoft pistols,at all? They seem to be popular with ex-pistol shooters,because they are very realistic-in their construction.
The Elite Airsoft website is:http://www.eliteairsoftuk.com/frames/fhome.htm
But,unfortunately they can be quite expensive,because of the quality of construction and realistic features-that are included in each individual gun.These can be built to your own specification.

Yes, yes i am!!!

One of the guys at my club recommened Elite as that's where he gets his airsoft from, but I'm having trouble justifing the cost as I've only just paid £495 for my Westlake buckmark, which in all fairness does make a louder bang than the airsoft pistols.

Zero_DgZ,

I'll do some research on the G19, but I've always been a sucker for the '17

My other concern is parting with all that money only to have them banned, I know we'll be able to keep them but will the gas and BB's still be available?

Boom.

 

[Zero_DgZ]

99 to one the legislature won't have a clue how to outlaw 6mm plastic spheres and bottled propane. Remember that it's always an option to import (if Taiwan or Japan ban airsoft it'll be about a 33% hit to their GDP...) and a box that you've instructed the retailer to mark as, oh... "plastic media, bulk" or similar will probably sail on through.

People in non-free parts of the world such as Australia routinely import airsoft from the far east without hassle regardless of the fact that it's totally illegal in said nation without a firearms license.

Edit: Just saw you mentioned pounds sterling. I take that to mean you're in the UK and facing the impending Violent Crime Reduction act, complete with its ban on "replica immitation firearms".

There's a lot of discussion on the matter on this forum. Now is the time for you and your countrymen to knock some sense into your government!

 

[Boom-stick]

Zero_DgZ

Been on arnies this morning already, but we're never going to over turn any of this legislation, as most of it was put in place back in the 1980's in outline form and has just been waiting to be en-acted

 

[Boom-stick]

Ok, it finally beat me, I've ordered a Glock 19 + spare mag, BB's and gas. It should be here tomorrow.

I used a friends at a practical pistol shoot on sunday and decided I had to have one I also 'gratefully' got taken through correct room clearing techniques by an certified instructor and probably gained more knowlegde in 2 hours than I have in the last year of shooting.

 

[Boom-stick]

Ok,

Here it is, a semi auto gas blow back, KWA Glock 19 with x2, 20 shot mags.

The attention to detail is out standing (except the altered logo due to a trademark dispute with Glock), this one has a polymer frame and metal slide, keeping in touch with the original

It has a respectable about of power for a standard BB gun,

Although this may just be because it's new?

The gas blow back action looks and sounds great, leaving you with a very happy look on your face

It groups quite nicely on the make-shift range I set up in the back office and for real world testing, shooting my young trainee salesman in the centre of the back resulted in a satisfying scream of pain

Highly recommended product

 

[Zero_DgZ]

How's your Glock doing accuracy-wise, Boom-Stick? I just dusted mine off the other day and refinished the slide. I took that ugly stock glossy paint off and did it matte black like the real thing. Anyway, I had to strip the thing totally to paint it and when I put it back together had to re-sight it and whatnot. I got reminded of the old problem that made me lay off the Glock for a while - It's got the touchiest hop-up system I've ever used. One click too much, one more click not enough.

Wondering if you've found yours to perform similarly...

Anyway, it doesn't bother me that much. My 3.8" 1911 is scarily accurate and soon enough it will have a twin brother to go in my other hand. The Glock has a full auto mode and plenty of big magazines for it, so I mainly use it as a spray n' pray PDW anyway. Plus, with the Optima and the M3 knockoff on it in addition to a long mag it just plain looks mean enough to tag people out. I'll post a couple of pictures of it of it later, maybe.

 

[Trebor]

Tag. Some good info here guys, thanks.

 

[Boom-stick]

Accuracy-wise, mine seems a bit erratic (is that a word?) somethings it'll put out a 3" spread but other times it will land BB's on top of each other??
(but that could be me??)

I haven't messed with hop-up yet and I'm still making my way through the freebie BB's that came with it. I'll start blasting my way with some .28g ones asap, I don't think it'll hurt to get the tighter barrel and upgraded spring & valve set either, oh and some of the new .42g BB's should be fun too.

I got it for doing practical pistol training in the UK before (hopefully) heading out vegas next spring, so I just need to shoot straight as I'm not bothered about charging across muddy fields shooting people with it (i can do that in the office.

 

[Zero_DgZ]

Settle down there, cowboy. Anything past a .25 is way too heavy for that gun, and indeed most gas pistols. You'll be planting BB's four yards from your feet if you start playing with that heavy sniper ammo. It won't hurt anything, of course, other than your wallet.

You might find that you get a little more accuracy out of the thing with .25 BB's as opposed to the .20's it came with. However, usually the heavier BB's are used to retain momentum at range with sniper rifles or to cut down on interference from crossbreezes, which I don't think you'll be dealing with very much in your situation. The KSC Glock series is built to use .20's. I use KSC Perfects in mine, but just because they're the only good BB's I can get around here and I don't have to import them by the case from Taiwan or something.

 

[Boom-stick]

Thanks for the info, the .28g's were what the store recommened with it?
so I just went them, the .42g look like they'd be worth a try once the upgrades have been done but I won't hold my breath.
The guys at my club change all the internals, run them on different gases and use the heaviest BB's they can get??

It seems to work for them?

Dispite only having this Glock for a few days I still want the 8mm raging bull revolver though?
Even if it so I don't miss out once they get Banned over here. I've missed out on a few good thing when the laws get changed

 

[Zero_DgZ]

The guy at the shop was probably playing into the ubiquitous "heavier BB's are always more accurate" myth, which even experienced armchair commandos insist on perpetuating.

The logic is thus: Snipers with highly upgraded guns use heavy ammo. Therefore, heavy ammo must be "more accurate." (Truth: Heavier ammo is heavier. The upgraded guns are more accurate.) The second part of the myth: Heavier ammo is more expensive. Therefore, heavier BB's are "better." (Truth: Heavier BB's are more expensive because they make fewer of them. Most people use .20's and .25's for good reason.)

If you have an american manual for your gun and inspect it you will notice that KSC recommends the use of .20 BB's (obivously, their brand, too...) and not the heavier ammo. Will the heavier ammo hurt anything? No. But your range and power will be compromised until you severely upgrade your gun. We're talking new barrel, new rocket valve and spring, and high flow magazine valves.

 

[Boom-stick]

If you have an american manual for your gun

Nope, it's all in pops and squeeks

We're talking new barrel, new rocket valve and spring, and high flow magazine valves

Thats what I'm talking about too

I love upgrading stuff anyway and would throughly enjoy taking it apart, so it would probably get done even it didn't make that much difference.

I've bearly put a 1000 rounds through my new buckmark and it's already on it's second set of optics and a new barrel has already been ordered, I just haven't decided what colour to go for