Gabe Suarez gives sage gunfight advice:

[JShirley]

I do have a few questions about applicability.

1) How much recoil does an AirSoft pistol have?

2) How much can be generalized about evading shots with such a difference in projectile speed between AS and the real deal? "Quick enough" vs. AS may mean too slow when dealing with 900 fps and faster.

John

 

[Bartholomew Roberts]

On a related note, how did the Airsoft pistols function? Is the manual of arms the same? I know when we did Simunitions you would get the rare stoppage from build up of plastic in the chamber - while not great from a reliability standpoint, it was a great training aid to learn to diagnose and clear stoppages under fire. I am wondering if the same thing applies to Airsoft weapons?

 

[crofrog]

1) How much recoil does an AirSoft pistol have?

Some but not much, however most people have recoil managment ingrained enough for this not to be applicable. FOF should be used to teach you how to gun fight, not how to run the gun.

2) How much can be generalized about evading shots with such a difference in projectile speed between AS and the real deal? "Quick enough" vs. AS may mean too slow when dealing with 900 fps and faster.

Hmm... Well let's do some math.

10ft time to target
Airsoft progectile traveling 350fps: 0.02 seconds
9mm traveling 1300fps: 0.007seconds

So the 9mm projectile get's there in .013 seconds faster.

Fastest man in the world at full sprint speed: 33.9 fps

Movement possible in 0.013 seconds at 33.9fps: 5.5inchs

So in that worst possible case Micheal Johnson would have moved 5.5 inchs, enough to make a head shot or perphiary shot miss, that would have other wise hit.

 

[JShirley]

I'd be careful about applying sprint speed to evasion. I've seen a fit, but moderately plump woman avoid a blow that blurred, it was moving so fast. I've seen lots of evasions of extremely fast hits from people who trained regularly, but were not world class athletes.

I've evaded paint balls. I'm not certain it would be healthy to generalize my bullet-dodging ability.

Moving 5 inches IS a big deal. Sometimes 2 inches is enough.

With a firearm, I've seen what would have been a perfect shot on big game become a bad shot because someone forgot to figure a velocity difference on a moving target. 5 to 7" would have been exactly right.

What I am saying, is that certain tools can enhance a toolbox, but be careful on relying too much on lessons learned with something other than your real life, go-to-war equipment.

John

 

[crofrog]

Force on force isn't about teaching you the mechanics of making the shot, it's about teaching you how to think and react in the fight.

Way I see it 'square range' shooting covers the mechanics of making the shot. And fof covers the tactics and mindset.

 

[NineseveN]

First on force isn't about teaching you the mechanics of making the shot, it's about teaching you how to think and react in the fight.

Way I see it 'square range' shooting covers the mechanics of making the shot. And fof covers the tactics and mindset.

That's just it, it's a package deal; one without the other is merely scratching the surface.