Becoming a marksman in airsoft

[MajorLandmark]

Re: Becoming a marksman in airsoft

Something you probably picked up from the sniper thread if you trawled it properly. Accurate shots should always be taken during the 'respatory pause' which is just after you exhale and before you inhale. Unlike video games, holding your breath isn't really good practice. This is true for all shooting, not just sniping.

Also, if firing on the move (not really aplicable for sniping but I'll say it anyway for 'marksmanship') you should take shots when you have one foot on the ground, and your weight is on the ball of your foot, rather than on the heel. This minimises the impact of the bobing motion moving creates. If possible, tie your steps in with your breathing to combine respatory pause with having your weight balanced correctly.

When it comes to trigger pull I dont really agree with your own gun going off 'surprising you'. I think you should be the last person to be surprised. I do agree with the other sentiments however. A slow firm press to the rear is vital. The idea of 'surprise' is more to do with not anticipating the shot (more relevant with firarms which are loud and kick) and thus interfering with the aim. It's also important to make sure that the pad of your finger is the part doing the pulling, not the joint. If you use the joint, the motion is exentuated through your finger, and adds extra motion to the rifle. When making follow-up shots (semi-auto specific) make sure that the trigger resets fully after the previous shot. This involves moving your finger away from the triger until you can feel the tension ease off, and returning the trigger back to the rear. This is better for your trigger contacts on an electrical gun, and the extra control will help eliminate extraneous movement.

I'd also recommend zeroing your sights before every skirmish if there is a range available. It's quite easy for a fine tuned piece of equipment to lose its zero between or during games so dont assume it will work as well as last time. Zeroing should always be done against a target, even if that has to be a tree or a can or something. Without a solid target, it's dificult to do it to any real degree of accuracy. It's important to remember that whatever range you zero a sight to, is the range it will be accurate for. Due to height over bore, you will find that shots land higher when they are closer, and lower when they ae further away. That is, ignoring hop up, drop or other factors etc. Always set your hop before doing the sights.

One of the most important thing about marksmenship in airsoft, especially at longer ranges is to remember that just because you line it up in your crosshair dosen't mean you hit it. Just because you spent a long time setting up the sight, and your shot dosen't give you the right to shout 'take your hits'. There is few things worse than a sniper who complains about people not taking their hits when hitting is far from a certainty out at 60-80m or even more.

[Caveira]

Re: Becoming a marksman in airsoft

ML, if you notice I said ALMOST surprised. Don't try to pull the trigger fully in one quick movement, you should squeeze through the trigger pull with no noticeable change in pressure from beginning to end.

[omnomnom]

Re: Becoming a marksman in airsoft

yeh i see what you mean i did that earlier a few times; putting little pressure on the trigger without realising any change of position then bam! took the shot unexpectedly

[MajorLandmark]

Re: Becoming a marksman in airsoft

ML, if you notice I said ALMOST surprised. Don't try to pull the trigger fully in one quick movement, you should squeeze through the trigger pull with no noticeable change in pressure from beginning to end.

My mistake robin ;p. To be honest, what you said more reminded me of hearing (from professionals mind you) that one should be surprised by the gun firing. I was rather more comenting on that. 'almost' surprised is just the right amount of surprised. The semantics are there (that the pull is even and smooth, unaffected by the anticipation of the shot) but the surprise isn't.

[Bukkerz]

Re: Becoming a marksman in airsoft

Went on a 200m range with the cadets at the weekend, and the best piece of advice I can give you is to get into a cycle of breathing, making sure you know exactly what to do when a target presents itself. The key to this is breathing steadily, making sure you that you don't start breathing fast. One of the exercises we did was to sprint 100m to the 200m mark and then shoot down some steel targets. This forced you to make an effort to control your breathing, and I believe that in airsoft there will always be occasions like this.

[Ironhide]

Re: Becoming a marksman in airsoft

Lots of practice, lots of different positions and differant times of the day.

dont just do it lying down, try kneeling, or standing or leaning over a wall or out a window, get used to how you feel/ reacts to positions, also try in differant light and weather conditions, and see how this can affect your shooting.

EDIT - be cheeky and get a bipod

[Joshy-R]

Re: Becoming a marksman in airsoft

I dont know if it will help as the pro's have already pretty much covered it, but something i learnt for my shooting comp with cadets (500m range this time, :P), is that the motion comes into affect, i mean when moving your hand from the handgrip back to the cocking handle, it should flow like a river, no stupidly fast movements to impress a mate or to try and get your kill ratio up, take your time make each round count, sniping is an art and should be treated as much.

Hope it helped.

[Lt. Macka]

Re: Becoming a marksman in airsoft

practice practice practice - that is the only way to get good. - simples.

trigger pull should be nice and smooth - not a snap pull.

I wrote quite a bit about trigger pull in the sniper thread.

all the best

Mac

[SniperSayDIE]

Re: Becoming a marksman in airsoft

Been doing this a fair few years now

My key advice for you is to adjust your style of play to the scenario (Obivously :P )

In a attacking scenario (These are going to be basic non detailed btw :] ) You want to be playing a recon/supprt cover fire role (If yor team coordinate well that is) and fireback messeges through radio infrming your team and what to d and wehn.

Defensive you want to learn what area fits your camoflauge you want to know roughly where your enemy is coming from then dig in and try t dig in s you dont have t worry about your back.

Another important this which alot f people have said is controlling yhour breathing and dont pull the trigger...squeeze it

You also have to know your rifles spread at a fair few distances which you will catch onto quickly.

Ofcourse last is your camoflauge. Obvious parts first:
1. Make sure your cam matches the terrain (dont sit in a bush in ali g style blue camo)
2. Ghillie suit or dpms and a boonie hat? It depends on how thick your terrain is and how you want to play
Next the slightly more complicated parts.
3. If wearing a ghillie suit then make sure you watch your feet as alot of them tend to pck up foliage and if you pick up a long stick step forward and fall flat on your face you have a problem.
4. patience affects your camoflauge if your in a ghillie suit you cant be sprinting all the time its slow careful movements whereas in a lightweight kit out you'll have faster movement.
5. This is a KEY factor for example the enemy team is out in the open with no OVERHEAD cover so its bright and they are about to enter a forest now the forest will be dark and even if they are looking directly into it their visibility will be VERY poor and it is a key point to set an ambush or things similar.

There is so much more i can tell you but im very tired and i may post it tommorow when i finish my guide

But what really does make a good marksman/Sniper is: Patience, Knowledge in camoflauge, knowledge in your rifle and coordination.

Good luck

Sam