Post by T A M B u k on Dec 22, 2007 20:31:36 GMT 8
Airsoft is a modern combat sport or recreational hobby in which participants eliminate opponents by hitting each other with plastic pellets, launched from airsoft guns. Participants typically use varying types of weapons designed as replicas of real firearms, tactical gear, and accessories used by military and police organizations. In North America and Europe, there is a growing interest in playing airsoft.
Origin
Airsoft was developed in Japan in the late 1970s[1] to provide an alternative for gun hobbyists because local laws prevented individuals from privately owning firearms. A heavy emphasis was therefore placed on making accurate replicas of real firearms.Many new Chinese guns are dominating the airsoft market because they are more affordable. They compete against established companies like Classic Army, I Chih Shivan (ICS), and Tokyo Marui. In contrast, paintball was developed in the United States in 1981[2] as a variation of hide and seek tag, through the use of utility companies' paint marking guns, which mark power/utility poles, and continues to focus more on their function than their form or aesthetic qualities. Paintball has quickly gained greater popularity than airsoft in the United States. However, in East Asia, airsoft is much more popular and paintball is nearly non-existent. In the interests of a more family-friendly image, paintball as an industry usually avoids direct analogies to the military and war (seen by the movement towards spectator-friendly speedball). Similarly airsoft has taken a dual route, moving away from this (as seen in Airsplat) as well as embracing them. This sometimes extends to full MilSim play.
Methods of play
MilSim (Military Simulation) generally combines airsoft play with some military live action role-playing elements. Several goals or missions are assigned to each team, along with a basic loadout of ammunition (6 millimeter pellets), rations, batteries, and other suitable equipment. The teams will remain in the field for the duration of play, only returning to a staging area or "safe zone" for medical emergencies, or other such circumstances. MILSIM-games often last several days, for example the large BERGET-event in Sweden lasts 6 days in a row, with no breaks. In larger scale MilSims vehicles as simple as painted vans and trucks will be used. But in some cases, such as Operation Irene, real APCs and tanks will be used.
Airsoft for Training
Many law enforcement departments and Military units are turning to airsoft for an effective, low cost, and safe means of force-on-force training[3]. The low-impact projectiles allow military/LE to train anywhere - schools, businesses, airplanes, etc. Training in real-life environments conditions them to deal with real life situations. The inexpensive ammo lets military/police train more frequently and repeat drills dozens of time in each session with minimal budgetary impact. Since minimal protective equipment is required, this allows them to train with their actual duty gear and equipment. Using airsoft guns for training minimizes liability to both trainees, instructors, by-standers, as well as property owners.
Honor system
An "honor system" is employed whereby the players rely on each others' honesty to admit to being hit, because unlike paintball, the plastic pellets do not leave a surface mark distinguishable at a distance. Depending on the muzzle velocity of the gun and distance from which a person is shooting, the person on the receiving end of the shot will usually feel the impact but the pellets will sometimes not be felt by a player at very long ranges or when running strenuously, hence the importance of Marshals.
In certain countries such as the Philippines where large numbers of players often play every weekend in commercial airsoft venues, additional special rules have been adopted to increase safety and avoid unnecessary injury. All "real steel" firearms, explosives, and bladed weapons are banned at any airsoft battlefield to prevent harmful accidents or misunderstandings and confusion between real and simulated weapons. Simulated "knife kills" can be performed when a player touches or taps an unaware opponent instead of shooting him or her at point-blank range. Players are prohibited from firing blindly when not able to see their target, especially around corners. Harsh language and forceful physical contact between players is strongly discouraged. To avoid unnecessary disputes that disrupt the game, players are discouraged from calling hits on their opponent but are expected to call a marshal to judge how effectively they can hit their opponents. Players are expected to acknowledge being hit even if they are in doubt.
Dishonest players who fail to follow the rules or acknowledge their hits run the risk of being labelled and ostracized as "zombies" by the local airsoft community. Players are also expected to be discrete in transporting or carrying their gear so as not to unduly alarm the general public and force the law enforcement agencies to investigate an incident involving airsoft guns.
Eye and Face Protection
The minimum safe level of gear required to participate in most games includes a pair of fully-sealing impact-rated goggles to protect the eyes of the participants. Traditional prescription glasses and sunglasses are almost never accepted as they will not prevent serious injury. Goggles not designed specifically for use with airsoft or paintball guns may break or shatter upon being struck, causing eye damage (although rare and easily prevented).
For this reason many organized groups of airsoft players and fields require that eye protection fully seals the area around the eyes, and also meets or exceeds ANSI's Z87.1-2003 goggle standard for eye protection: the ability to resist 3 joules of impact energy without damage. However, it is not uncommon for players in less organized games to use shooting glasses, which do not provide complete protection from projectiles. It is worth noting, however, that Z87.1-2003 rated goggles are specifically intended for use in industry and manufacturing and are not for use in sports. Some players instead opt for paintball goggles, which are held to higher impact rating standards, ASTM's F1776.[4]
According to ANSI publications as of June 2006, The ASTM is currently developing a more specific standard for airsoft - ASTM Z1535Z - Standard Specification for Eye Protective Devices for Airsoft Sports.[5]
The best overall protection is currently offered by paintball masks. These masks provide an additional level of protection by covering the face, teeth, and ears, reducing the risk of injury to these body parts and the chipping or complete loss of teeth. The lens is a solid piece of impact resistant plastic. Some airsoft masks are made with mesh screens, though these screens do not offer protection from cheaper or bio-degradable BBs that sometimes fragment upon impact of hard objects.[6]
Safety zone for airsoft guns is 1fps-399fps, that zone is probably the safest zone to play in, whereas the closest strike from a gun with 399fps would only make a welt, while anything below 200fps probably would feel like nothing at all. Any gun over 400fps can injure someone. For more information regarding velocity limits and BB ballistics refer to airsoft pellet ballistics.When not actively playing, many fields require "barrel bags," which were first introduced in paintball. Many airsoft guns, especially AEGs, come with small red plastic barrel blockers that fit over the muzzle, but these can be shot off the gun, and don't provide the quick visual check that a barrel bag does. The magazine is usually removed as well, and the gun fired to clear the chamber. Many fields also require players to leave their guns set to the safety position when they are not shooting, even during active gameplay. This is a practice taken from real firearms training, in which one never puts a finger on the trigger or takes the weapon off safe until ready to fire.
Blind Man
One commonly adopted practice is for players to shout the words "Cease-fire, Blind Man" or "Walker" and halt an ongoing game if a player or bystander is seen in the designated gameplay area without proper eye protection; goggles and a helmet. Any player hearing the words must, in turn, stop and also shout the words, resulting in a chain reaction which halts and alerts the whole game. Once the situation is resolved by properly removing the unprotected person from harm, the game is usually resumed at the same point at which it was stopped.
A player is required to keep their face mask/goggles/shooting glasses on at all times. This is basic safety upon an airsoft site and this rule is always enforced by the marshal in charge to ensure that all players remain safe and no accidents occur during the gameplay.
Clothing
See also: Military camouflage
Most players typically wear military battle-dress uniforms known as BDUs consisting of separate pants and shirts or jackets when playing, because it – just as with real soldiers – aids concealment from adversaries. Aside from the advantage of camouflage, some participants aim to faithfully replicate a specific force (particularly in games such as MilSim). Also common, especially among the newbie and non-regular players, are the so-called "contractor style" which combine civilian or tribal attire with isolated or mismatched military gear and attire.
The choice of camouflage pattern of the BDUs is normally determined by suitability to the playing area, but sometimes simply local availability. Typically military surplus stores are a good source for such items. In the U.S. the most common pattern is "Woodland" camouflage pattern, but recently MARPAT (recently adopted by the United States Marine Corps) and ACU (adopted in 2006 by the United States Army) have also become popular choices in North America, but most European camouflage patterns are suitable with Flecktarn (Germany) being a popular alternative or even strictly commercial patterns such as Multicam.
Tactical gear
Players wear tactical clothing and accessories not only for the added realism, but to fulfill the practical needs similar to that of a real soldier. Such as being able to carry spare magazines, water, food or other equipment in specified vests. The most common are holsters, load bearing vests, and modular rigs such as MOLLE, ALICE, and the British PLCE systems. Some players even wear military-style helmets, such as the kevlar MICH helmet, or hydration systems, such as those manufactured by Camelbak.
Pyrotechnics
Some airsoft sites allow the use of pyrotechnics, which are small explosive-driven replicas of ordnance such as grenades. There are several types of pyrotechnics: pellet grenades which fire out pellets to replicate the shrapnel of a fragmentation grenade; smoke grenades which provide cover to move and fire from behind; and flashbangs/thunderflashes which emit a very bright flash of light (often accompanied by loud sound) for the purpose of disorientating and temporarily blinding/deafening the target.
The latest Airsoft grenades have much improved since their first introduction, Spectrum Pyrotechnics and TLSFX UK have done pioneering work in the development of much tougher grenades using rocket star burst shell cases, allowing them to be thrown much farther, ring pull fuses, and filling grenades with dry peas instead of paint balls or pellets, making them mostly biodegradable. The ring pull allows German stick type grenades for re-enacters and adds to the realism of ball grenades.
Smoke grenades have also been improved with cool burning and much less toxic smoke. Use of old naval rescue smokes should be avoided, as the smoke used was never designed for possible inhalation.
Other equipment
A large amount of equipment exists for real world soldiers which is also usable in airsoft games. Military surplus stores can provide many items currently issued to the player's country but many airsofters go further and purchase other equipment that may have been used by a soldier or private military contractor. Some common examples are scopes, flashlights, picatinny rails, holsters, and silencers. Equipment is generally for increasing combat efficiency, but can be used to provide enhanced realism.
Source: wikipedia.org
Origin
Airsoft was developed in Japan in the late 1970s[1] to provide an alternative for gun hobbyists because local laws prevented individuals from privately owning firearms. A heavy emphasis was therefore placed on making accurate replicas of real firearms.Many new Chinese guns are dominating the airsoft market because they are more affordable. They compete against established companies like Classic Army, I Chih Shivan (ICS), and Tokyo Marui. In contrast, paintball was developed in the United States in 1981[2] as a variation of hide and seek tag, through the use of utility companies' paint marking guns, which mark power/utility poles, and continues to focus more on their function than their form or aesthetic qualities. Paintball has quickly gained greater popularity than airsoft in the United States. However, in East Asia, airsoft is much more popular and paintball is nearly non-existent. In the interests of a more family-friendly image, paintball as an industry usually avoids direct analogies to the military and war (seen by the movement towards spectator-friendly speedball). Similarly airsoft has taken a dual route, moving away from this (as seen in Airsplat) as well as embracing them. This sometimes extends to full MilSim play.
Methods of play
MilSim (Military Simulation) generally combines airsoft play with some military live action role-playing elements. Several goals or missions are assigned to each team, along with a basic loadout of ammunition (6 millimeter pellets), rations, batteries, and other suitable equipment. The teams will remain in the field for the duration of play, only returning to a staging area or "safe zone" for medical emergencies, or other such circumstances. MILSIM-games often last several days, for example the large BERGET-event in Sweden lasts 6 days in a row, with no breaks. In larger scale MilSims vehicles as simple as painted vans and trucks will be used. But in some cases, such as Operation Irene, real APCs and tanks will be used.
Airsoft for Training
Many law enforcement departments and Military units are turning to airsoft for an effective, low cost, and safe means of force-on-force training[3]. The low-impact projectiles allow military/LE to train anywhere - schools, businesses, airplanes, etc. Training in real-life environments conditions them to deal with real life situations. The inexpensive ammo lets military/police train more frequently and repeat drills dozens of time in each session with minimal budgetary impact. Since minimal protective equipment is required, this allows them to train with their actual duty gear and equipment. Using airsoft guns for training minimizes liability to both trainees, instructors, by-standers, as well as property owners.
Honor system
An "honor system" is employed whereby the players rely on each others' honesty to admit to being hit, because unlike paintball, the plastic pellets do not leave a surface mark distinguishable at a distance. Depending on the muzzle velocity of the gun and distance from which a person is shooting, the person on the receiving end of the shot will usually feel the impact but the pellets will sometimes not be felt by a player at very long ranges or when running strenuously, hence the importance of Marshals.
In certain countries such as the Philippines where large numbers of players often play every weekend in commercial airsoft venues, additional special rules have been adopted to increase safety and avoid unnecessary injury. All "real steel" firearms, explosives, and bladed weapons are banned at any airsoft battlefield to prevent harmful accidents or misunderstandings and confusion between real and simulated weapons. Simulated "knife kills" can be performed when a player touches or taps an unaware opponent instead of shooting him or her at point-blank range. Players are prohibited from firing blindly when not able to see their target, especially around corners. Harsh language and forceful physical contact between players is strongly discouraged. To avoid unnecessary disputes that disrupt the game, players are discouraged from calling hits on their opponent but are expected to call a marshal to judge how effectively they can hit their opponents. Players are expected to acknowledge being hit even if they are in doubt.
Dishonest players who fail to follow the rules or acknowledge their hits run the risk of being labelled and ostracized as "zombies" by the local airsoft community. Players are also expected to be discrete in transporting or carrying their gear so as not to unduly alarm the general public and force the law enforcement agencies to investigate an incident involving airsoft guns.
Eye and Face Protection
The minimum safe level of gear required to participate in most games includes a pair of fully-sealing impact-rated goggles to protect the eyes of the participants. Traditional prescription glasses and sunglasses are almost never accepted as they will not prevent serious injury. Goggles not designed specifically for use with airsoft or paintball guns may break or shatter upon being struck, causing eye damage (although rare and easily prevented).
For this reason many organized groups of airsoft players and fields require that eye protection fully seals the area around the eyes, and also meets or exceeds ANSI's Z87.1-2003 goggle standard for eye protection: the ability to resist 3 joules of impact energy without damage. However, it is not uncommon for players in less organized games to use shooting glasses, which do not provide complete protection from projectiles. It is worth noting, however, that Z87.1-2003 rated goggles are specifically intended for use in industry and manufacturing and are not for use in sports. Some players instead opt for paintball goggles, which are held to higher impact rating standards, ASTM's F1776.[4]
According to ANSI publications as of June 2006, The ASTM is currently developing a more specific standard for airsoft - ASTM Z1535Z - Standard Specification for Eye Protective Devices for Airsoft Sports.[5]
The best overall protection is currently offered by paintball masks. These masks provide an additional level of protection by covering the face, teeth, and ears, reducing the risk of injury to these body parts and the chipping or complete loss of teeth. The lens is a solid piece of impact resistant plastic. Some airsoft masks are made with mesh screens, though these screens do not offer protection from cheaper or bio-degradable BBs that sometimes fragment upon impact of hard objects.[6]
Safety zone for airsoft guns is 1fps-399fps, that zone is probably the safest zone to play in, whereas the closest strike from a gun with 399fps would only make a welt, while anything below 200fps probably would feel like nothing at all. Any gun over 400fps can injure someone. For more information regarding velocity limits and BB ballistics refer to airsoft pellet ballistics.When not actively playing, many fields require "barrel bags," which were first introduced in paintball. Many airsoft guns, especially AEGs, come with small red plastic barrel blockers that fit over the muzzle, but these can be shot off the gun, and don't provide the quick visual check that a barrel bag does. The magazine is usually removed as well, and the gun fired to clear the chamber. Many fields also require players to leave their guns set to the safety position when they are not shooting, even during active gameplay. This is a practice taken from real firearms training, in which one never puts a finger on the trigger or takes the weapon off safe until ready to fire.
Blind Man
One commonly adopted practice is for players to shout the words "Cease-fire, Blind Man" or "Walker" and halt an ongoing game if a player or bystander is seen in the designated gameplay area without proper eye protection; goggles and a helmet. Any player hearing the words must, in turn, stop and also shout the words, resulting in a chain reaction which halts and alerts the whole game. Once the situation is resolved by properly removing the unprotected person from harm, the game is usually resumed at the same point at which it was stopped.
A player is required to keep their face mask/goggles/shooting glasses on at all times. This is basic safety upon an airsoft site and this rule is always enforced by the marshal in charge to ensure that all players remain safe and no accidents occur during the gameplay.
Clothing
See also: Military camouflage
Most players typically wear military battle-dress uniforms known as BDUs consisting of separate pants and shirts or jackets when playing, because it – just as with real soldiers – aids concealment from adversaries. Aside from the advantage of camouflage, some participants aim to faithfully replicate a specific force (particularly in games such as MilSim). Also common, especially among the newbie and non-regular players, are the so-called "contractor style" which combine civilian or tribal attire with isolated or mismatched military gear and attire.
The choice of camouflage pattern of the BDUs is normally determined by suitability to the playing area, but sometimes simply local availability. Typically military surplus stores are a good source for such items. In the U.S. the most common pattern is "Woodland" camouflage pattern, but recently MARPAT (recently adopted by the United States Marine Corps) and ACU (adopted in 2006 by the United States Army) have also become popular choices in North America, but most European camouflage patterns are suitable with Flecktarn (Germany) being a popular alternative or even strictly commercial patterns such as Multicam.
Tactical gear
Players wear tactical clothing and accessories not only for the added realism, but to fulfill the practical needs similar to that of a real soldier. Such as being able to carry spare magazines, water, food or other equipment in specified vests. The most common are holsters, load bearing vests, and modular rigs such as MOLLE, ALICE, and the British PLCE systems. Some players even wear military-style helmets, such as the kevlar MICH helmet, or hydration systems, such as those manufactured by Camelbak.
Pyrotechnics
Some airsoft sites allow the use of pyrotechnics, which are small explosive-driven replicas of ordnance such as grenades. There are several types of pyrotechnics: pellet grenades which fire out pellets to replicate the shrapnel of a fragmentation grenade; smoke grenades which provide cover to move and fire from behind; and flashbangs/thunderflashes which emit a very bright flash of light (often accompanied by loud sound) for the purpose of disorientating and temporarily blinding/deafening the target.
The latest Airsoft grenades have much improved since their first introduction, Spectrum Pyrotechnics and TLSFX UK have done pioneering work in the development of much tougher grenades using rocket star burst shell cases, allowing them to be thrown much farther, ring pull fuses, and filling grenades with dry peas instead of paint balls or pellets, making them mostly biodegradable. The ring pull allows German stick type grenades for re-enacters and adds to the realism of ball grenades.
Smoke grenades have also been improved with cool burning and much less toxic smoke. Use of old naval rescue smokes should be avoided, as the smoke used was never designed for possible inhalation.
Other equipment
A large amount of equipment exists for real world soldiers which is also usable in airsoft games. Military surplus stores can provide many items currently issued to the player's country but many airsofters go further and purchase other equipment that may have been used by a soldier or private military contractor. Some common examples are scopes, flashlights, picatinny rails, holsters, and silencers. Equipment is generally for increasing combat efficiency, but can be used to provide enhanced realism.
Source: wikipedia.org