Airsoft Newbie Buying Guide – Guns and Gears

[Skladfin]

Step 6: Miscellaneous wear
Don’t skip this part. Just because your upper body and legs are the main parts of your body, it doesn’t mean that you can skip out on your feet, head, and hands! These parts of the body are just as important as your upper body and legs. Wet feet and muddy hands can ruin your day anytime during a game. A properly equipped minor body parts will make your day much safer and less dreadful. There are many things to list here, let’s start from the top of your body.

Headwear:
There are many options for a headwear, including the option of wearing nothing. If you want to camouflage better, then boonie hat, patrol cap, baseball cap, or even a balaclava would work just nicely. Boonie hats, patrol/baseball caps are usually used for blocking the sun, or to cover revealing hair colours. Balaclava is a mask that is worn usually by terrorists to avoid revealing their identity. It will cover almost your entire face, which is good because Caucasian and some Asian skins are usually too light and sought to be too revealing. Alternative to a balaclava would be face paint. Needless to say face paint will change your face colour into a camouflage. These work really nicely, but most people who use face paint does not know that the high point of your face should be painted the darkest, as they shine the most. Face paint also blocks skin pores and causes bad skin after a while, therefore face paint is not recommended if you have skin problems.

Handwear:
Gloves are not very important, but they do help in some occasions. Sometimes the condition of the field might be a little rough. Meaning there could be sharp branches, thin tree bunks, and such. Wearing gloves will protect against any cuts to the hand. Other occasions where gloves will become useful is during wintertime to keep heat, but other than that, it’s not very useful or important in any way.

Footwear:
When playing Airsoft, it’s vital that you wear a really nice pair boots instead of a running shoe or anything else. The reason being that they prevent you from spraining your ankle. A sprained ankle will end your day on the spot, and that’s no good if you spent $1000 to play the sport. Some boots are also waterproof, which makes you able to walk across rivers and such. If you wear running s h o e s, they have none of these features, and they easily get lost if you step into a swamp. That’s why boots are so important.

Legs:
For long games, kneepads can protect your knee. That’s all I can say.

Socks:
Socks keep your feet comfortable. If you run all day, then it’s obvious that the bottom of your feet will start to numb out. Wool Socks are thick-layered socks that keep your foot comfortable all day long. They also don’t absorb water; this means that if it gets wet, then you can just twist it dry in a matter of seconds.

Section summary: Minor body parts are just as important as major body parts
You should expect to spend: $5~10 for headwear, $40~80 for footwear, and $5 for socks.

Step 7: Goggles and Safety Eyewear
Anyone should acknowledge the fact that your eyes are very important. After all, you have only one pair, so you have to do your best to protect them.

Goggles:
Goggles provide wider protection than ballistic glasses, but have much less field of vision. If you are going to play at paintball fields(which a lot of games are hosted at), then paintball approved goggles are mandatory. The best ones to get are the JT Thermal goggles. They will never fog up, and provides very wide field of view. In addition, it’s also possible to take off the mask and use only the goggle.


A JT Paintball mask

Ballistic Glasses:
Ballistic glasses are just like sunglasses, except they can stop a shotgun blast from 10 feet away. They can be used in Airsoft with no problem, but paintball fields do not allow them because they are not laboratory tested by a paintball company. If the field does allow these, then it’s preferred that you wear one of these because they provide wider field of vision.


Ballistic glasses

Section Summary: You only have two pairs of eyes, so don’t cheap out
You should expect to spend: $30~$150 for goggles, $5~$90 for Ballistic glasses

Step 8: Other Accessories
In addition to the items mentioned in previous steps, there are many other accessories you could buy for yourself to further improve your field effectiveness.

Radio:
Radio is sometimes mandatory if you are playing Mil-Sim typed games. They provide communication at longer ranges, but it’s not a must if you are playing at a smaller sized field.

Sling:
Slings become very useful in long-period games, such as Mil-Sims. They take the weight off of your arms, and that alone provides comfort over a period of time.

Extra pouches:
Again, useful in Mil-Sims, they can be used to carry anything. Such as empty magazines, maps, compass, flashlight, food, and water.


Example of a well equipped Marine

Conclusion:
After you have read and researched about your future gear, it should be more than clear to you what you should purchase and what not to. I will post up my gear for a reference:

AEG: Full Metal AKS74U(Upgraded)
Sidearm: TM MK23 SOCOM NBB
BDU: MARPAT, 50% Polyester, 50% Cotton: Multicam, OD
Boots: CF Issue Desert Tan Boots or Police Issue black leather boots(With side zip)
Gloves: Oakley SI Pilot Glove(Tan) or Half finger SWAT gloves
Headwear: N/A
Chest Rig: Multicam Chestring or Ranger Tactical MARPAT Chest rig– 3 magazine pouches + 2 Side pouches and additional radio pouch.
Eyewear: JT Spectra Flex 8 Thermal lens, Revision Desert Locust Goggles, or Daisy C2 Ballistic Sunglasses
Others: Wool Socks.

Retailers List:

Gears: BDUs, Chest Rigs, Vest, Gloves, Ballistic glasses…etc
Ehobby Asia: http://www.ehobbyasia.com/
CP Gears(Canada): http://www.cpgear.com/
Dave’s Surplus(Vancouver, B.C Canada): https://dstactical.com/

Gun parts, etc:
Ehobby Asia: http://www.ehobbyasia.com/
Airsoft Parts.ca(Canada): http://www.airsoftparts.ca/store2/
Ebay Banned: http://www.ebaybanned.com/

Hope you guys enjoyed it!

[grandjayson]

nice thread sir! thankz.....

[Lt. N. Gobin]

Well written and very informative. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

[ANG]

Awesome intro guide for a new player. Thanks very much.

[dutchxd]

thanks for the post... it is super helpfull

[SockMonkey]

Nice guide mate, though I think a few points are off the mark.

The statement that marpat is better than cad is a bit misleading. As with ALL cam its the terrain you use it in, time of year ect.

As for cam get what you want.

Vests and Rigs. Well again I think some of the statements are off. Vests are more restrictive than chest rigs.. Ever worn a fully bombed up HSGI Denali? Chest rigs are fixed and vests are MOLLE is just plain wrong. There are fixed and MOLLE in both formats.

You also missed Belt kit in your options list. great for running light!

Knee pads would be my first suggested kit after gun and bdu. I would almost say essential for any game.

Other than these minor differences I say spot on and good work.

[Skladfin]

Originally Posted by SockMonkey

Nice guide mate, though I think a few points are off the mark.

The statement that marpat is better than cad is a bit misleading. As with ALL cam its the terrain you use it in, time of year ect.

As for cam get what you want.

Vests and Rigs. Well again I think some of the statements are off. Vests are more restrictive than chest rigs.. Ever worn a fully bombed up HSGI Denali? Chest rigs are fixed and vests are MOLLE is just plain wrong. There are fixed and MOLLE in both formats.

You also missed Belt kit in your options list. great for running light!

Knee pads would be my first suggested kit after gun and bdu. I would almost say essential for any game.

Other than these minor differences I say spot on and good work.

That's exactly what I said about the camos, It's the terrain. I'm not necessarily saying which is better, my point was that people often miss the fact that the forrest has more brown than green. But I do agree that how it was written could be taken as bashing CADPAT.

And for the kits, it's all up to the user. What you think may be different from me, this is just my take.

But thanks for letting me know your thoughts

[P.K.]

I'm getting a SNIPER!

[Lawdog]

Would disagree about the necessity for kneepads. I am a big fella, but I hit the ground alot. Don't find kneepads comfortable and really don't miss them.

Ld

[Shrike]

Originally Posted by Lawdog

Would disagree about the necessity for kneepads. I am a big fella, but I hit the ground alot. Don't find kneepads comfortable and really don't miss them.

Ld

Thats a greeeaat setup for a joke about getting a promotion at work Russ.

[Lawdog]

It's hard to get a promotion when you are the boss...

[Skladfin]

Originally Posted by Lawdog

Would disagree about the necessity for kneepads. I am a big fella, but I hit the ground alot. Don't find kneepads comfortable and really don't miss them.

Ld

haha. I personally don't use knee pads either. I find the natural earth to be soft enough to not use kneepads just like you(I don't find them comfortable either).

However, indoor gaming fields such as buildings with hard floors are quite painful to knee on top of.

[Slade]

Try landing on a sharp rock when falling into prone position, you'll sure as hell wish you had kneepads after that.

[MrEvolution]

Last week I tripped over a branch and landed on my knees to avoid a faceplant, I was thankful for my pads. Highly recommended.

[Lawdog]

My sorry unco-ordinated ass has fallen over all sorts of stuff in the last while.

For me it doesn't make up for the uncomfortableness of the knee pads, and it helps me learn a lesson about body control.

Besides, I suspect I am better padded naturally than many others here...

Ld