Looking to get into airsoft...

[Sam-Beta]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

You don't need camo but it can help and it's not that expensive when bought from surplus stores. £20 for a top and trousers tops. If you exclude the camo from Fizzy's list you're still looking at £380.

[Andrew March]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

I'm sorry but that's not true at all, the things you need to play airsoft are:
- eye protection
- a gun
- clothes

Guns at the lower price range, aimed more at new players, more often than not come with battery and charger, and aside from TM's almost all come with a high cap mag.
When I started playing a couple of years back all I had was a JG G36c (£150) with one mag, one battery, some horrible mesh goggles, shoddy camo that was far to big for me and my old hiking boots (which I still use now), and I loved every second of it.
Airsoft is an expensive hobby/sport, but there seems to be this whole stigma from the experienced players who've amassed a huge repertoire of guns and gear that you have to be fully kitted out in full gear for your first skirmish. My regular site is a CQB site on the hill near me, i've been there with many friends, some who've been geared up in camo, MOLLE vest etc. Some who've been wearing engineering overalls, trainers and rented guns. Both sides have loved it AND been treated no differently by the people there carrying 17 pistols strapped to various body parts and 54 BFG's stuffed in their pockets. Which is how IMO it should be, as has been said many, many times before airsoft is about having fun, ultimately, and everyone interprets that in a different way because what's fun to one person may not be to another.
Back to the topic, to the OP i'd say you don't need to spend £400 initially, not at all. You can pick up a decent gun for under £200, it's not gonna be anything spectacular but it's a good start, if you want camo you can pick it up for peanuts at army surplus stores and eye protection isn't costly either. Be prepared to spend a fortune once you get hooked on it though

You must be using one of them magic AEG's that don't need batteries or Ammo and you never need to change the magazine and there is nothing like playing in a woodland environment on a wet day wearing trainers! Good call

[seansamurai1]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

You must be using one of them magic AEG's that don't need batteries or Ammo and you never need to change the magazine and there is nothing like playing in a woodland environment on a wet day wearing trainers! Good call

It's one of those new guns based on the Hollywood ones that never require a magazine change.

[mack]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

I'm sorry but that's not true at all, the things you need to play airsoft are:
- eye protection
- a gun
- clothes

Guns at the lower price range, aimed more at new players, more often than not come with battery and charger, and aside from TM's almost all come with a high cap mag.
When I started playing a couple of years back all I had was a JG G36c (£150) with one mag, one battery, some horrible mesh goggles, shoddy camo that was far to big for me and my old hiking boots (which I still use now), and I loved every second of it.
Airsoft is an expensive hobby/sport, but there seems to be this whole stigma from the experienced players who've amassed a huge repertoire of guns and gear that you have to be fully kitted out in full gear for your first skirmish. My regular site is a CQB site on the hill near me, i've been there with many friends, some who've been geared up in camo, MOLLE vest etc. Some who've been wearing engineering overalls, trainers and rented guns. Both sides have loved it AND been treated no differently by the people there carrying 17 pistols strapped to various body parts and 54 BFG's stuffed in their pockets. Which is how IMO it should be, as has been said many, many times before airsoft is about having fun, ultimately, and everyone interprets that in a different way because what's fun to one person may not be to another.
Back to the topic, to the OP i'd say you don't need to spend £400 initially, not at all. You can pick up a decent gun for under £200, it's not gonna be anything spectacular but it's a good start, if you want camo you can pick it up for peanuts at army surplus stores and eye protection isn't costly either. Be prepared to spend a fortune once you get hooked on it though

Never should skimp on eye pro

[Sam-Beta]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

Someone who had a pair of mesh googles suffered because of them. The mesh broke and they sustained an injury to their eye that required surgery. This was posted on another forum, so no definitely don't skimp on eye protection.

[palmer234]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

My mate chris had the above happen to him a few weeks back, very very lucky man!

[Someshot]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

I think you've misunderstood, I said 'horrible mesh goggles', I didn't say they provided poor protection, I meant that I couldn't stand looking through the mesh or the size of them. But either way that's besides the point, what I was saying is that you don't need to spend £400 to enjoy yourself, yes it would have been nice to have had a Systema or G&P or any high end gun instead of a low end JG G36c but I was limited by a budget and it didn't stop me enjoying the hobby. Also I did mention the site i'm a member of is a CQB site, so the aforementioned trainers were not being use in boggy woodland but on concrete.
It just seem a little off to me that the second someone announces their new-found interest in joining the hobby that they're already having a huge price tag laid on them.. I recognise that it obviously wasn't meant to dissuade the OP, but you cannot deny that such comments can be seen as quite daunting.

[Machaon]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

I quite often play CQB, and I still would never recommend wearing trainers. The amount of BBs and spent pyro that are loose on the floor is as much a risk to one's ankles as a tree-root in a woodland site. Thus speaketh a man who has broken his ankle (albeit not whilst airsofting)

If you want a cheap hobby, take up knitting, baking, or making jam. Daunting or not, let's be realistic here, airsoft IS an expensive hobby to maintain. People should be sure they can commit to it before they go splashing out IFs/RIFs that they can't afford to use/maintain. That's (one of a myriad reasons) why renting is so much better than buying a two-tone straight away.

[Machaon]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

I discovered airsoft in my last week as a student. I could never have afforded to take it up had I discovered it earlier. As a student I could barely afford to eat, let alone take up a hobby.

[Andrew March]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

what I was saying is that you don't need to spend £400 to enjoy yourself

Okay, let's test this. I've gone to well known retailer of cheapish two tone guns for the prices you see below and a cheap retailer of surplus kit for the boots and camo.

G&G Combat machine £149.99
2x ACM Hi Cap Magazines £38
2x 8.4v Crane stock batteries £36
Cheap pro peak charger £30
2x bottles of Blaster Devils .20g ammo £16
Bolle contour saftey glasses £12
Cheap surplus combat boots £18
Surplus DPM Coveralls £15
Shipping for all the above £10

Total cost: £325.00

And that was cheap, I've scrimped on the batteries and the charger, which probably isn't a good idea but I think you get the point now, well maybe you won't. By the way don't forget to add our players first green fees

Now, let's compare that to hiring a gun for his first three games...

I've run a kind of average thing and it seems the average price of an adult hire package for the day is £40, so three games total outlay= £120

To quote a famous annoying advert......Go compare, go compare........

[No1_sonuk]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

My rough calculation indicates Mr March's hire suggestion defers spending somewhere in the region of £250 (more if the hire package includes ammo) for a couple of months.
That's 2 months extra to save for decent equipment, AND to get a better idea of what you want to buy when you can.

[Fizzy]

Re: Looking to get into airsoft...

you don't need to spend £400 to enjoy yourself,

Indeed not, that was actually my point. The OP was mentioning brand new AEGs around the £200+ mark, which of course are generally only going to come with 1 mag, no battery and no charger. It was mentioned there were plenty of cheaper starter weapons and of course deals to be had in the second hand market, but the OP didn't seem that interested. Again, stating what I did before, if your budget is only £200 then you need to re-evaluate what your options are, because splashing all your budget on an AEG with no battery isn't going to get you skirmishing...

How do you find skirmishing with this? And where are you affected?
As ive just been diagnosed with this and told to take two months off minimum.

Sorry to jack the thread.

I did actually limit the number of games I was playing when it was at its worst. I also found that changing boots/insoles helped. The problem was, wearing boots made it worse and I didn't want to skirmish in trainers.

It's cleared up now, although since then I've been diagnosed as having osteoarthritis in my left knee, and advised not to go running around carrying extra weight, and considering my hobbies are airsofting and hiking, didn't go down too well