Many times in a situation during a skirmish or operation all of us have had the "Man if I had practiced my (insert here) I'd have gotten that guy before he got me".
Training is what it comes down to. Every time. Any one can take an AEG, fresh battery and a hi-cap mag and flip it to full auto and get a kill. And yes for some thats a great way to play and enjoy it. But to the others.. that’s where the Who, What, When, Where and Why of training come into effect.
Lets start shall we.
Who.
Who should train? Well that’s a good question. Theoretically every one should have some sort of training
before playing airsoft. Do they not always. Mostly it comes down to those Airsoft Players who truly want to do more then just squeeze of a few couple hundred BB's at some one and get one or two hits per game. Any one who wants to approach Airsoft with more of a Mil-sim/Tactical/Strategy Mindset should truly look into training. Training isn’t for every one. Those run of the mill Sunday come Monday airsoft players who enjoy going out picking up a skirmish here or there, training would do them more good, but if they feel they don’t need it so be it. Its up to you to figure out wither you feel training is good for you or not.
What.
What type of training do you need? hmmm.. good question! Well there are many types of training depending on your situation and gear load out. Close Quarters, Long Range, Recon, Heavy Weapons, Sniper, Counter Sniper, Patrolling, Accuracy. You name it there is probably some type of training out there to be had. What type of training do YOU want.
If your looking for a good all around training program try to incorporate two or more types of training. Start with the basics, Personal movement, Patrolling, Accuracy Improvement, Swift Engagement of Targets. Basic silencing of gear. Once you feel you have the fundamentals down don’t stop training on them! Keep doing the drills; Keep working on the procedures and process. Muscle Memory is key to these. Even if you practice once a month.
Now start looking into the specific skills. Often times, CQB and Patrolling can go hand in hand. Long Range shooting and Sniper training can go hand in hand. Pick one or two that you’re interested in and have the gear and learn up on them. Train them. If you’re on a team spread the knowledge out so that you don’t just have one (1) Sniper, one or two people good at CQB. Be versatile.
Also.. don’t forget Physical Fitness Training. Every little bit helps to reduce muscle injury and or illness on and off the field.
When and Where.
When to train.. Training can be done all the time! A lot of people don’t realize that while you’re walking down the street you can be training. Basic Patrolling isn’t just about walking through the woods with a firearm in some cammie utilities. Its about looking listening, observing, stepping properly. While your walking down the street practice your observation skills. This will not only improve your patrolling but your recon and sniping abilities as well. In the shower, practice your listening skills, turn on the radio with one of your favorite songs you know well, in another room and turn it up just enough so you can hear it but not truly understand what is being said turn on the water and see if you cant pick out certain words from the song. That will increase your awareness and help break up sounds in area’s with high background noises.
Have to wait in a line? Stand still and listen and watch.. work on your patients and observation that way.
The whole key about when is all the time! You don’t have to always go out to the field to play.
Accuracy improvement. Get an indoor/outdoor target system if you have at least 30 Feet some where in or near your house you can shoot at. Work on single shot aiming in with your open/iron sights, then adjust your scope systems. Target systems are simple and easy to make out of cardboard boxes or pie pans anything really. Swift Engagement of Targets is the same thing. Get your hands used to moving with your eyes. Where ever your eyes are looking your hands should be there. Have some one set up random pop cans in the house and walk through pointing your hand at them as your hand sees them and time it. If you can set up a course outside use your airsoft weapon in the same manner. Get used to looking with your weapon and eyes rather then just your eyes.
Use your stalking techniques in the house, if you own a cat see how close you can get to them before they look at you. Sneak up on your wife/husband/kids. At Work see how quiet you can walk from one area to another and see if any one notices. CQB same thing, Pie that corner with your eyes before you go around it.
Same things like the above mentioned done properly will not draw attention to you nor will you look stupid doing it. But at the same time your honing multiple skill sets to better your airsoft game.
Why.
Why Train.. the all mighty question. Because it increases your skills thus increasing your enjoyment. Training not only will better you but will increase your enjoyment of the game and time spent on the field. Often times training on the field will be just as enjoyable as having a quick skirmish.
In the next post I’ll start pointing out specific Training techniques developed and utilized by myself, my team and team members to hone and build our skills in the sport of Airsoft.
S/F
Lex
Full Version: Mil-sim Training. Any Time Any Where.
Airsoft Forum > Miscellaneous & Airsoft Related > Airsoft Stories, Scenarios and Tactics Discussion > Airsoft Tactics Articles
Nice article, I look forward to reading more. 
Semper Fi
Semper Fi
Alright, Lets discuss the basics first.
Gear. Alot of times people just look at gear and say "HEY That looks cool! dude I want that!" They get said gear and find it not only doesnt fit, it doesnt carry the gear they need to carry, its cumbersome on them and makes a load of noise in the field.
Coolness factor of "WOW" practical factor of... not so much.
Gear needs to fit comfortablly on your body. Different body builds mean different things for different people.
Your Basic Load Bearing Vest, needs to fit your body form. For those with larger chests you need to find a Load bearing vest that will adjust not only at the waist line but at the shoulders and upper chest area. A Particular issue with women is this very thing. Many Vests are designed off of a male frame.
The more adjustable a Vest or carrier is the better off you are. Many Military style Armour carriers have side adjustment for width and shoulder adjustment for height. Not all do though. Try to find one that gives you both options.
When you look into a vest or carrier you need to decide how much money your willing to spend on it what role you wish to play, how serious you are in your gear, and how versitale you want your gear to be.
MOLLE Systems are the common system on the market these days. Versitale but expensive depending on the durability you get. Multiple pouch and pocket types. You can do about anything with these systems.
Other type of vests are out and about, some are prefab'ed with only a certain amount of pouches.
What it comes down to with your vest is Sizing, and Versitility. Try to look up as much information on the vest your looking into.
S/F
Lex
Gear. Alot of times people just look at gear and say "HEY That looks cool! dude I want that!" They get said gear and find it not only doesnt fit, it doesnt carry the gear they need to carry, its cumbersome on them and makes a load of noise in the field.
Coolness factor of "WOW" practical factor of... not so much.
Gear needs to fit comfortablly on your body. Different body builds mean different things for different people.
Your Basic Load Bearing Vest, needs to fit your body form. For those with larger chests you need to find a Load bearing vest that will adjust not only at the waist line but at the shoulders and upper chest area. A Particular issue with women is this very thing. Many Vests are designed off of a male frame.
The more adjustable a Vest or carrier is the better off you are. Many Military style Armour carriers have side adjustment for width and shoulder adjustment for height. Not all do though. Try to find one that gives you both options.
When you look into a vest or carrier you need to decide how much money your willing to spend on it what role you wish to play, how serious you are in your gear, and how versitale you want your gear to be.
MOLLE Systems are the common system on the market these days. Versitale but expensive depending on the durability you get. Multiple pouch and pocket types. You can do about anything with these systems.
Other type of vests are out and about, some are prefab'ed with only a certain amount of pouches.
What it comes down to with your vest is Sizing, and Versitility. Try to look up as much information on the vest your looking into.
S/F
Lex
great article
Another thing to look for in vests is how everything is lined up and where you are going to use it. If you play outdoors in medium to long range OMEGA style vests are very good because everything is lined up vertically causing the front of the vest to be flat and as a result, easier to slide on while crawling. Crossdraw vests are not so good because the pistol being on your chest makes it hard to crawl in (+ you could lose it. Every game a few more players lose their pistols). However if you play indoor CQB it is reverse.The OMEGA is large and more cumbersome and since you will not be crawling very much a crossdraw vest is best.
Great article, I'll finish reading it later I have some studying for school right now. Will edit this post later.
Good Job.
Good Job.
that is a really good article. it really helps people who are working to train.
awsome thread man!
Yes, this is a very helpful thread. It is almost a compilation(sp?) of all of the information you could find if you searched google, or possibly here on the forums. Obviously, it is less specific, but for it's purpose, it is good. Keep it up, let's hear more about technique for the mental aspect. That is always good for your game.
Nice article.
So the troops have grown restless.. Well lets hit the training hard again.
We have covered the basics of gear. Specifically the vest you use. Camo is pretty much what you want to use for the area your in. Dark colors work well in heavily wooded area's. The ever present ever cheap Standard USGI Woodland camo pattern. For those wanting to get on the cutting edge you can go with ACU, MARPAT, CADPAT, MULTICAM etc. Its all about what you want to wear, your price range. It ALL WORKS. there is no one set of Camo design that is better then the other. No one set that makes you look like the "invisible ninja!" And any one that says other wise doesnt know what they are talking about.
Footwear is always a topic most forget about. Boots. simple are better, you don't need those 400 dollar pair of Danners or Bates. But at the same time don't pick up those surplus jungle boots for 14 bucks at your local surplus store. Get a pair of boots that offer good ankle support and good traction but arent so heavy you look like Frankenstein. Black or Tan, Green, they all work as long as your not running around with a pair of pink polka dotted high tops.
Once your comfortable and have your gear sized and broken in, you can start in on your training mentality.
Mental aspects of any activity you want to do comes down to one thought process. Why.
Why are you training, Why are you focusing on one set of skills or multiple sets.
Answer those for your self each individual question. Why are you training?
For most its to get better enjoyment of the sport. To hone their skills, or keep them current, get a leg up on the opponent. Each answer is to your personal thought process and goals.
Now to your focus, why one set over another. Why multiple sets. What is your goal in training this set over another set?
You may be finding out now that there are a whole lot of questions you need ask your self before you even start your actual training. Calm down its not as hard as it seems.
As to the question of what to start training first. Simple The Basics.
The Basics of Personal Skills.
Movement. Movement is probably one of the most important skills to an airsoft player and one of the most over looked. Some one with basic skills in movement will have a greater advantage then some one who tromps through the area of operation.
How do you train basic movement on a daily basis? Simple Learn to walk.
When your walking in your daily routine look at how you walk. Do you drag your feet? Scuff your feet? Do you pick them up and set your toe down first then your heel? or Heal then toe? Do you have an naturally high step? Do you avoid stepping on cracks out of habit?
Learning to walk is often the hardest thing any one individual can do. Because we all have our habits from birth wither you think of it or not.
Step 1. Use cracks, lines or any other straight object on the ground, sidewalk, walk way etc. Start stepping so that your feet fall at leat 2 to 3 inches past each line in the ground. Make it a game to not step on the cracks. Ever heard the old Nurse Maid Rhyme "Step on a crack break your momma's back"? Well practice that now as if your momma's life depended on it. This is teaching you two things. 1. To pick up your feet and 2. To actively look for straight line objects that translates to looking for trip wires and booby traps in the field.
Step 2. Once you have the stepping over lines down. Work on picking your feet up about 5 inches above the ground, for some it may seem extremely high for others not so much. This basic practice gets you used to actually stepping a bit higher, once you have 5 inches worked out start working on a bit higher until you are knee high. Your natural stride should be at least 30 inches from step to step. Knee high at 30 inches will allow you to miss most all trip wires deployed.
Step 3. Slow down! Scan with your eyes feel with your feet move with your whole body. As you lift your feet watch where you set them down. Slowly set down your heel, then toe When you set down that heel, feel for anything hard underfoot or anything that may give way, be quiet and listen for clicks or snaps. as you lift your foot feel for pressure on the top of your foot a you step up. This could be a trip line or booby trap.
With practice and patients you can start making obstacle courses and move through them blind folded. Take some string and some bottle caps and tie the string about ankle high, through out the bottle caps then walk around them blind folded see how many you find and avoid.
Key note: when moving through deep water you slide your feet rather then pick them up. High Grass you will do a combination of highstep/glide. The key to basic movement is use all your senses and to be silent, Listen, Look and Feel. All this can be done by just walking down your sidewalk to school, work, or in the mall.
Next chance I get we will discuss observation techniques.
S/F
Carry on!
Lex
We have covered the basics of gear. Specifically the vest you use. Camo is pretty much what you want to use for the area your in. Dark colors work well in heavily wooded area's. The ever present ever cheap Standard USGI Woodland camo pattern. For those wanting to get on the cutting edge you can go with ACU, MARPAT, CADPAT, MULTICAM etc. Its all about what you want to wear, your price range. It ALL WORKS. there is no one set of Camo design that is better then the other. No one set that makes you look like the "invisible ninja!" And any one that says other wise doesnt know what they are talking about.
Footwear is always a topic most forget about. Boots. simple are better, you don't need those 400 dollar pair of Danners or Bates. But at the same time don't pick up those surplus jungle boots for 14 bucks at your local surplus store. Get a pair of boots that offer good ankle support and good traction but arent so heavy you look like Frankenstein. Black or Tan, Green, they all work as long as your not running around with a pair of pink polka dotted high tops.
Once your comfortable and have your gear sized and broken in, you can start in on your training mentality.
Mental aspects of any activity you want to do comes down to one thought process. Why.
Why are you training, Why are you focusing on one set of skills or multiple sets.
Answer those for your self each individual question. Why are you training?
For most its to get better enjoyment of the sport. To hone their skills, or keep them current, get a leg up on the opponent. Each answer is to your personal thought process and goals.
Now to your focus, why one set over another. Why multiple sets. What is your goal in training this set over another set?
You may be finding out now that there are a whole lot of questions you need ask your self before you even start your actual training. Calm down its not as hard as it seems.
As to the question of what to start training first. Simple The Basics.
The Basics of Personal Skills.
Movement. Movement is probably one of the most important skills to an airsoft player and one of the most over looked. Some one with basic skills in movement will have a greater advantage then some one who tromps through the area of operation.
How do you train basic movement on a daily basis? Simple Learn to walk.
When your walking in your daily routine look at how you walk. Do you drag your feet? Scuff your feet? Do you pick them up and set your toe down first then your heel? or Heal then toe? Do you have an naturally high step? Do you avoid stepping on cracks out of habit?
Learning to walk is often the hardest thing any one individual can do. Because we all have our habits from birth wither you think of it or not.
Step 1. Use cracks, lines or any other straight object on the ground, sidewalk, walk way etc. Start stepping so that your feet fall at leat 2 to 3 inches past each line in the ground. Make it a game to not step on the cracks. Ever heard the old Nurse Maid Rhyme "Step on a crack break your momma's back"? Well practice that now as if your momma's life depended on it. This is teaching you two things. 1. To pick up your feet and 2. To actively look for straight line objects that translates to looking for trip wires and booby traps in the field.
Step 2. Once you have the stepping over lines down. Work on picking your feet up about 5 inches above the ground, for some it may seem extremely high for others not so much. This basic practice gets you used to actually stepping a bit higher, once you have 5 inches worked out start working on a bit higher until you are knee high. Your natural stride should be at least 30 inches from step to step. Knee high at 30 inches will allow you to miss most all trip wires deployed.
Step 3. Slow down! Scan with your eyes feel with your feet move with your whole body. As you lift your feet watch where you set them down. Slowly set down your heel, then toe When you set down that heel, feel for anything hard underfoot or anything that may give way, be quiet and listen for clicks or snaps. as you lift your foot feel for pressure on the top of your foot a you step up. This could be a trip line or booby trap.
With practice and patients you can start making obstacle courses and move through them blind folded. Take some string and some bottle caps and tie the string about ankle high, through out the bottle caps then walk around them blind folded see how many you find and avoid.
Key note: when moving through deep water you slide your feet rather then pick them up. High Grass you will do a combination of highstep/glide. The key to basic movement is use all your senses and to be silent, Listen, Look and Feel. All this can be done by just walking down your sidewalk to school, work, or in the mall.
Next chance I get we will discuss observation techniques.
S/F
Carry on!
Lex
Wow, GREAT info dude, thanks.
BTW, when walking/patrolling, going extra slow and scanning the area, staying in a low athletic stance, and walking so slow that you can control where you step always works.
BTW, when walking/patrolling, going extra slow and scanning the area, staying in a low athletic stance, and walking so slow that you can control where you step always works.
Fantastic article!
In fact I may use some of this info in the training of my Teams troops!
If you don;t mind, of course.
This is some quite useful information.
Great job
Sennstrom
In fact I may use some of this info in the training of my Teams troops!
If you don;t mind, of course.
This is some quite useful information.
Great job
Sennstrom
*ANY AND ALL INFORMATION POSTED HERE IS FREE FOR YOUR USE, ALL THAT IS ASKED IS YOU GIVE CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE*
So how many times have you been walking down the street and seen some one be it guy or girl and in the blink of an eye notice something but have no idea what it is your actually noticing?
Ok now.. your out in the woods, moving slowly with your team and something to your left catches your eye but you cant figure out what it was that made you look that direction.
The Human eye is an amazing thing. It can manipulate what you see in a variety of many ways, But the simple most amazing thing it can do is see just about anything. WHAT!? no way dude.. my eye cant do that, see about anything..
Yes it can, but the reason it does not is your brain has been trained to only see certain things. In the following writing I hope to give you some tips and drills to train your self to look for the not so apparent, the unnormal, and the normal alike.
Lets start with color. Color plays a large portion of sight in your life on a daily basis. But how often do you stop and actually look at what colors are present around you. Specially in your own neighborhood/home/mall/store.
Look around you slowly, try to notice all the different colors around you. Notice how each either blend with another or stand out greatly. Now Pick one color and try to count how many times you see it in a period of time and area. Now, look for a color that doesnt seem like it fits. Why doesnt it fit? Different shade? different hue etc. A great way to conduct this drill is find a brick wall. Often times bricks will be manufactured at such a high speed that one or two will always be different then the rest. Floor tiles, ceiling tiles. any area of large amounts of similar objects. Look specifically at the colors. Over a period of time your eye and brain will become accustomed to picking out the odd colored objects over the typical "they all look the same." Now.. that you have this figured out and trained lets move onto shape.
Shape is very much like color, how often have you seen a pattern on the floor tiles or wall tiles etc and traced it with your eyes to find suddenly "Hey the pattern is broken here, or not the same here, or it repeats this many times." Simple way to pick out shapes. And use your environment look around you, find objects that blend in and have a specific shape. Once you have that down now start looking at people. Notice the different shapes they make while standing, laying kneeling. Its all about muscle memory and your brain reproducing those images and being trained to recognize them.
Now, we have covered Color and Shape. Movement is a simple thing to train your brain to recognize just look for it and watch. One of the best ways to train your mind for this is find a fly and track its every movement. Moths are also a very good drill. they fly in irregular patterns and move at a pace that is fast enough to loose but slow enough to pick them back up if need be.
Now tie them together. Shape, Color, and movement all tied together. Once your comfortable with picking out specific shapes in a back ground, a specific color, and certain movements you need to start doing simple drills of sitting in the area and location you will be playing in and watching. Pay attention to the natural way the tree's move with wind, how the water causes certain things to move. Animals moving in the underbrush. The more time you study nature the more you will be able to pick up the unnatural in your environment.
Having a good feeling of natural size,shape,movement, and color will provide you a sharp edge over your competition. The final step is to be able to recognize camouflaged people. This drill really needs two or more people.
Have one person get in full gear and move into a wooded environment preplanned and mapped out with boundaries, you stay for a designated time frame out of the are not watching. upon the time frame ending, you move into the area and sit down, Now watch. The Target will have been in the area and established them self in a location hidden. Its your job to pick them out. After 10 minutes of looking for a stationary target, the target will move an arm either forward or backward and only an arm, thus allowing your eyes to register movement. If ten minutes passes and the target has not been seen they will move forward of their position a few feet. Continue in this manner till the target is spotted. then switch up.
After a few drills such as this you should be able to start picking out human camouflaged shapes. your eyes will register the movement faster then before.
Over all your saying to yourself. is this really something I need to do? Yes you will be amazed at the amount of details you start seeing in your daily life as well as how often you find yourself spotting the enemy far more often in your skirmishes then before.
Shape, Color, movement it all plays a major factor. If you can break up the shape, color and movement of a target in a environment you will survive far more often.
I hope this information helps in your further training, next discussion we will have will be over target accusation with any type of weapon.
If you have a certain training type that you would like to discuss or a question please feel free to ask at any time.
S/F
Lex
So how many times have you been walking down the street and seen some one be it guy or girl and in the blink of an eye notice something but have no idea what it is your actually noticing?
Ok now.. your out in the woods, moving slowly with your team and something to your left catches your eye but you cant figure out what it was that made you look that direction.
The Human eye is an amazing thing. It can manipulate what you see in a variety of many ways, But the simple most amazing thing it can do is see just about anything. WHAT!? no way dude.. my eye cant do that, see about anything..
Yes it can, but the reason it does not is your brain has been trained to only see certain things. In the following writing I hope to give you some tips and drills to train your self to look for the not so apparent, the unnormal, and the normal alike.
Lets start with color. Color plays a large portion of sight in your life on a daily basis. But how often do you stop and actually look at what colors are present around you. Specially in your own neighborhood/home/mall/store.
Look around you slowly, try to notice all the different colors around you. Notice how each either blend with another or stand out greatly. Now Pick one color and try to count how many times you see it in a period of time and area. Now, look for a color that doesnt seem like it fits. Why doesnt it fit? Different shade? different hue etc. A great way to conduct this drill is find a brick wall. Often times bricks will be manufactured at such a high speed that one or two will always be different then the rest. Floor tiles, ceiling tiles. any area of large amounts of similar objects. Look specifically at the colors. Over a period of time your eye and brain will become accustomed to picking out the odd colored objects over the typical "they all look the same." Now.. that you have this figured out and trained lets move onto shape.
Shape is very much like color, how often have you seen a pattern on the floor tiles or wall tiles etc and traced it with your eyes to find suddenly "Hey the pattern is broken here, or not the same here, or it repeats this many times." Simple way to pick out shapes. And use your environment look around you, find objects that blend in and have a specific shape. Once you have that down now start looking at people. Notice the different shapes they make while standing, laying kneeling. Its all about muscle memory and your brain reproducing those images and being trained to recognize them.
Now, we have covered Color and Shape. Movement is a simple thing to train your brain to recognize just look for it and watch. One of the best ways to train your mind for this is find a fly and track its every movement. Moths are also a very good drill. they fly in irregular patterns and move at a pace that is fast enough to loose but slow enough to pick them back up if need be.
Now tie them together. Shape, Color, and movement all tied together. Once your comfortable with picking out specific shapes in a back ground, a specific color, and certain movements you need to start doing simple drills of sitting in the area and location you will be playing in and watching. Pay attention to the natural way the tree's move with wind, how the water causes certain things to move. Animals moving in the underbrush. The more time you study nature the more you will be able to pick up the unnatural in your environment.
Having a good feeling of natural size,shape,movement, and color will provide you a sharp edge over your competition. The final step is to be able to recognize camouflaged people. This drill really needs two or more people.
Have one person get in full gear and move into a wooded environment preplanned and mapped out with boundaries, you stay for a designated time frame out of the are not watching. upon the time frame ending, you move into the area and sit down, Now watch. The Target will have been in the area and established them self in a location hidden. Its your job to pick them out. After 10 minutes of looking for a stationary target, the target will move an arm either forward or backward and only an arm, thus allowing your eyes to register movement. If ten minutes passes and the target has not been seen they will move forward of their position a few feet. Continue in this manner till the target is spotted. then switch up.
After a few drills such as this you should be able to start picking out human camouflaged shapes. your eyes will register the movement faster then before.
Over all your saying to yourself. is this really something I need to do? Yes you will be amazed at the amount of details you start seeing in your daily life as well as how often you find yourself spotting the enemy far more often in your skirmishes then before.
Shape, Color, movement it all plays a major factor. If you can break up the shape, color and movement of a target in a environment you will survive far more often.
I hope this information helps in your further training, next discussion we will have will be over target accusation with any type of weapon.
If you have a certain training type that you would like to discuss or a question please feel free to ask at any time.
S/F
Lex
Nice guide...pretty brief and gets to the point.
Engagement of a Target.
Recently with the weather warming up in Wyoming we decided to dust off the ole gear and head out. A few skirmishes under our belts to warm up and away we go. Good times.
and BAM it happens.. the rusty aspect of target engagement rears its ugly head like a black dragon lumber from its sleep. It seems many of my team mates had let their target engagement skills slack over the winter period from non-play.
THE SHAME. THE HORROR. The complacency...
So.. here we go again with refreshing our training mentality and target engagement.
Number 1. It doesnt matter what type of weapon your using in Airsoft but one thing holds true for all. If its got a hop-up take the few extra moments and adjust it to your liking. Ninty percent of all Airsoft weapons I've shot have all had a hop-up, all of them have been set by a different person and every single one of them have hit exactly where I was aiming after being set. Didnt matter who adjusted the hop-up. onces its set for one its USUALLY set for all. There are those rare occasions that it isnt.
How to set your hop-up you say?
Equipement needed: 1 Target, 25 foot pellet rifle target or pop can, 1 Black Magic marker, a second person to spot. 30 BB's or size you play with. a Stable table. Sock filled with sand. Eye Protection for all.
1. First Set yourself up a target usually pop cans work great, if your into dead eye accuracy, the 25 Foot Pellet Gun targets on a trap/taped to a cardboard box are excellent.
2. Be familiar with where and how your Hop-up works on your weapon. Set up your table at the 25 foot mark from the target and set your sock on it. Place the weapon on the sock making sure to keep it in the relative same position each time you fire. If using a pistol use the table to prop your Elbows up.
3. Load your weapon with the standard BB size you will typically play with. personnally I use .2 g bb's for most everything. I usually Load one Lowcap 30 Round Magazine full.
4. Set your weapon to Semi Auto and sight down range, If you have a parton with you have them watch the trajectory of the BB. Fire 1 round.
5. Annontate where your BB struck the target. Maintaining the rifle stays in the same place, Have your partner mark the bb hole on the target with the marker, PUT YOUR WEAPON ON SAFE!
6. Once your partner is clear fire again, Mark, Fire a third round and mark, Try to get a good shot placement. With three rounds in the target you should have a rough feel of where your weapon is shooting and how the hop-up is set. Adjust your hop-up according to your weapons instructions and your personnal feelings.
The great thing about adjusting the hop-up in this manner is you can adjust the sights on any weapon in the exact same manner doing the same process. It takes time and patients but in the long run it will pay off greatly in your game play.
Now to Target Engagement
Alright, every one has seen the movies where the good guy points clicks and BAM guy falls down dead right? WRONG! But I can also tell you RIGHT! It is possible to Point and click and hit what your aiming at. It takes alot of practice practice and more practice.
A Few Basic rules and skills of marksman ship.
1. Contrary to popular belief. Breathing DOES in fact effect your trajectory of your BB in an airsoft weapon. Learn to control your breathing with your Airsoft Weapon.
2. Jerking the trigger is the single most biggest cause of missed shots in Airsoft. Do not Jerk, Pull.
3. Sight alignment, Sight picture! Its simple if you have one you have the other!
4. LEARN THE WEAPON! If you havent fired it more then just a few times. you don't know it. Shoot it in a variety of enviroments, cold, hot, etc. You have to know how the weapon will react. Thus in turn you will learn where your rounds will hit.
5. Do a bit of light reading, do some searches on BB trajectory. Learn flight patterns of BB's. Even watch your own. If you find one style of BB you like and its working for you and you effectivally know its flight pattern use them.
Now.. that we have covered a few basic marksmanship principles of Airsoft shooting Lets go to the actual aquiring a target and hitting it.
Learn your sights, make sure your comfortable with them and know how to adjust them. Learning to effectively engage a target with sights is a whole different situation. Here we are going to just cover basics of swift engagement.
1. Snap engagement with Sights.
Equipment Needed: at least 15 Medium size targets, Milk Jugs with sand in the bottom work well for this, Eye Protection for all, Weapon, BB's, spare magazine or clip, and an area with at least 25 to 30 Feet in all directions.
utilizing your weapon, carry it at the Ready Arms Position, basically you have your hand on the grip and the barrel is pointed at the ground, Targets set up at 25 feet to 30 Feet from you in any pattern you choose and any height you choose. When you are ready or have some one say "TARGET" You will snap the weapon to your shoulder And Fire Two rounds center mass at the target as swiftly as possible utilizing your sights to sight in. If your using Milk jugs you will hear the hits, After you hit the first target return to the ready position and move to the next target, Repeat each process till you have hit or moved through all the targets. Your Partner keeping track of your hit tally.
Once you have become comfortable with engaging the target with a snap from the ready position and are hitting the targets succesfully every time with two rounds. Move to timed trials. You should be able to hit each target using sights within 3 to 5 seconds per target. This is a standard starting time for any one just starting out shooting with snap shots. Once you've mastered this work to increase your engagement time. You should be able to put two rounds into the milk jug sized targets at 25 feet to 30 feet within 2 seconds.
Alright so using Sights is covered.. now comes the tricky part. Your weapon should be realistically an extention of your arm. To start getting into this mentality when your head moves, move your weapon to where your eyes are looking. Here is a simple drill you can do to work this into your system.
1. Move your head to the right, holding your weapon as your head moves the weapon moves to the right. Not looking down the sights.
2. Move your head to the left, holding your weapon as your head moves the weapon moves to the left. Not looking down the sights.
Repeat. Change it up look left left, right, left, right, left, right, right, right. Always return to looking to the center. Eventually it will become a smooth extention of your head as you sweep your eyes and head from left to right.
Now that you've worked on that take your Index finger of your weak hand. The hand you do not pull the trigger with. Point it straight out. If your using a M16 or Any Rifle varient place that index finger of your weak hand along the foregrip of the weapon. The theory is every where that finger points the barrel should be pointing. you can do this with pistols as well placing your weak hand finger out along the slide of the pistol keeping it away from any openings.
Work on this. And your Target Engagement will improve 100%
Now with that said I'm off. One thing I want to ask, If any one would be interesed in a Airsoft Training Podcast. Let me know.
Semper Fi and CARRY ON!
Lex
Recently with the weather warming up in Wyoming we decided to dust off the ole gear and head out. A few skirmishes under our belts to warm up and away we go. Good times.
and BAM it happens.. the rusty aspect of target engagement rears its ugly head like a black dragon lumber from its sleep. It seems many of my team mates had let their target engagement skills slack over the winter period from non-play.
THE SHAME. THE HORROR. The complacency...
So.. here we go again with refreshing our training mentality and target engagement.
Number 1. It doesnt matter what type of weapon your using in Airsoft but one thing holds true for all. If its got a hop-up take the few extra moments and adjust it to your liking. Ninty percent of all Airsoft weapons I've shot have all had a hop-up, all of them have been set by a different person and every single one of them have hit exactly where I was aiming after being set. Didnt matter who adjusted the hop-up. onces its set for one its USUALLY set for all. There are those rare occasions that it isnt.
How to set your hop-up you say?
Equipement needed: 1 Target, 25 foot pellet rifle target or pop can, 1 Black Magic marker, a second person to spot. 30 BB's or size you play with. a Stable table. Sock filled with sand. Eye Protection for all.
1. First Set yourself up a target usually pop cans work great, if your into dead eye accuracy, the 25 Foot Pellet Gun targets on a trap/taped to a cardboard box are excellent.
2. Be familiar with where and how your Hop-up works on your weapon. Set up your table at the 25 foot mark from the target and set your sock on it. Place the weapon on the sock making sure to keep it in the relative same position each time you fire. If using a pistol use the table to prop your Elbows up.
3. Load your weapon with the standard BB size you will typically play with. personnally I use .2 g bb's for most everything. I usually Load one Lowcap 30 Round Magazine full.
4. Set your weapon to Semi Auto and sight down range, If you have a parton with you have them watch the trajectory of the BB. Fire 1 round.
5. Annontate where your BB struck the target. Maintaining the rifle stays in the same place, Have your partner mark the bb hole on the target with the marker, PUT YOUR WEAPON ON SAFE!
6. Once your partner is clear fire again, Mark, Fire a third round and mark, Try to get a good shot placement. With three rounds in the target you should have a rough feel of where your weapon is shooting and how the hop-up is set. Adjust your hop-up according to your weapons instructions and your personnal feelings.
The great thing about adjusting the hop-up in this manner is you can adjust the sights on any weapon in the exact same manner doing the same process. It takes time and patients but in the long run it will pay off greatly in your game play.
Now to Target Engagement
Alright, every one has seen the movies where the good guy points clicks and BAM guy falls down dead right? WRONG! But I can also tell you RIGHT! It is possible to Point and click and hit what your aiming at. It takes alot of practice practice and more practice.
A Few Basic rules and skills of marksman ship.
1. Contrary to popular belief. Breathing DOES in fact effect your trajectory of your BB in an airsoft weapon. Learn to control your breathing with your Airsoft Weapon.
2. Jerking the trigger is the single most biggest cause of missed shots in Airsoft. Do not Jerk, Pull.
3. Sight alignment, Sight picture! Its simple if you have one you have the other!
4. LEARN THE WEAPON! If you havent fired it more then just a few times. you don't know it. Shoot it in a variety of enviroments, cold, hot, etc. You have to know how the weapon will react. Thus in turn you will learn where your rounds will hit.
5. Do a bit of light reading, do some searches on BB trajectory. Learn flight patterns of BB's. Even watch your own. If you find one style of BB you like and its working for you and you effectivally know its flight pattern use them.
Now.. that we have covered a few basic marksmanship principles of Airsoft shooting Lets go to the actual aquiring a target and hitting it.
Learn your sights, make sure your comfortable with them and know how to adjust them. Learning to effectively engage a target with sights is a whole different situation. Here we are going to just cover basics of swift engagement.
1. Snap engagement with Sights.
Equipment Needed: at least 15 Medium size targets, Milk Jugs with sand in the bottom work well for this, Eye Protection for all, Weapon, BB's, spare magazine or clip, and an area with at least 25 to 30 Feet in all directions.
utilizing your weapon, carry it at the Ready Arms Position, basically you have your hand on the grip and the barrel is pointed at the ground, Targets set up at 25 feet to 30 Feet from you in any pattern you choose and any height you choose. When you are ready or have some one say "TARGET" You will snap the weapon to your shoulder And Fire Two rounds center mass at the target as swiftly as possible utilizing your sights to sight in. If your using Milk jugs you will hear the hits, After you hit the first target return to the ready position and move to the next target, Repeat each process till you have hit or moved through all the targets. Your Partner keeping track of your hit tally.
Once you have become comfortable with engaging the target with a snap from the ready position and are hitting the targets succesfully every time with two rounds. Move to timed trials. You should be able to hit each target using sights within 3 to 5 seconds per target. This is a standard starting time for any one just starting out shooting with snap shots. Once you've mastered this work to increase your engagement time. You should be able to put two rounds into the milk jug sized targets at 25 feet to 30 feet within 2 seconds.
Alright so using Sights is covered.. now comes the tricky part. Your weapon should be realistically an extention of your arm. To start getting into this mentality when your head moves, move your weapon to where your eyes are looking. Here is a simple drill you can do to work this into your system.
1. Move your head to the right, holding your weapon as your head moves the weapon moves to the right. Not looking down the sights.
2. Move your head to the left, holding your weapon as your head moves the weapon moves to the left. Not looking down the sights.
Repeat. Change it up look left left, right, left, right, left, right, right, right. Always return to looking to the center. Eventually it will become a smooth extention of your head as you sweep your eyes and head from left to right.
Now that you've worked on that take your Index finger of your weak hand. The hand you do not pull the trigger with. Point it straight out. If your using a M16 or Any Rifle varient place that index finger of your weak hand along the foregrip of the weapon. The theory is every where that finger points the barrel should be pointing. you can do this with pistols as well placing your weak hand finger out along the slide of the pistol keeping it away from any openings.
Work on this. And your Target Engagement will improve 100%
Now with that said I'm off. One thing I want to ask, If any one would be interesed in a Airsoft Training Podcast. Let me know.
Semper Fi and CARRY ON!
Lex
All this is good, just remember not to flag your battle buddies with your weapons. By flagging I mean don't point your weapon at anything you don't intend to shoot. Flagging someone is the quickest way to get a right hook to the face..I know, I've done it. Real or not, unloaded or not. Finger indexed on the trigger guard, weapon at the low-ready. If you walk around with your weapon ready, you will get tired. That's why we have the low-ready...
Thank you Lex! This is exactly the kind of stuff I was hoping to find here. I'm going to print your posts out and give them to my friends.
I thought I'd do a little quick blurb on something a bit out of the norm for Milsim training any time any where..
Bounding OverWatch. What brought this on you may ask? Couple days ago the Death Dealers and I where out playing a pick up skirmish. 3 on 5 team set up. I was one of the three. We decided to conduct a bounding over watch to the enemy. In an period of five minutes utilizing bounding overwatch to rush the enemy position. we wiped out a heavily fortified enemy position with superior firing positions and numbers. All because of the tactic we used. Oh... did I mention all three of us on the aggressor forces did it with Pistols?
Now to the meat and potatoes.
What is bounding overwatch you ask?
Well Dependant upon the size of your team. You would start with a base of fire. that is every one would be firing at point locations. In SHORT Semi Auto shots. Its more to keep the enemies head down then to actually hit something.
Your point or lead team member will then rush forward trying to find the next available area of cover. Rushing forward should take no more then three to five seconds. a good way to remember this is with this phrase. "I"m Up they See Me I'm down." Once that point team member is in place they set themselves up and start firing,
AS SOON as that lead person has found cover, your second person moves. it should be fluid and swift with no time space. What this does is takes the enemies fire off your lead team member and makes them focus on your second team member allowing that point team member to set themselves up and start providing cover fire. Same thing for the second team member. rush forward find cover. The rest of the team or squad lays down cover fire.
As soon as number 2 team member is under cover, number three rushes. So on and so fourth continuing up the avenue of approach.
When conducting bounding over watch YOU DO NOT WANT TO STAY IN A SINGLE FILE LINE!, spread out. keep a five meter distance between each other in all directions. If it is not able to keep a five meter distance then keep as good as distance as possible. don't all run to the same area of cover. All your doing is giving the enemy one area to fire on.
If done properly you should be able to swiftly and effectively close the distance on an target area while engaging the enemy providing cover for each other while taking minimal return fire from the enemy position. My Death Dealers have effectively done this maneuver with 5 team members against a force of 15 with emplaced M249 Saws and reached our objective with only one casualty. We covered a 100 yard distance doing it.
What you need to do before you start your game/skirmish. is assign your team members their positions.
1 through ?
As the team leader you simply can yell Bounding Overwatch! or come up with a hand signal or code word. Make sure every one knows it and how or what it is. The Key to Bounding overwatch when engaged with the enemy is swift fast and hard. WHO CARES about stealth when your engaged with the enemy.
Loud and fast. They know where you are. they know who you are. Now.. make them scared for engaging you. Loud and Fast.
Hope this helps.
Semper FI and Carry on!
Lex
Bounding OverWatch. What brought this on you may ask? Couple days ago the Death Dealers and I where out playing a pick up skirmish. 3 on 5 team set up. I was one of the three. We decided to conduct a bounding over watch to the enemy. In an period of five minutes utilizing bounding overwatch to rush the enemy position. we wiped out a heavily fortified enemy position with superior firing positions and numbers. All because of the tactic we used. Oh... did I mention all three of us on the aggressor forces did it with Pistols?
Now to the meat and potatoes.
What is bounding overwatch you ask?
Well Dependant upon the size of your team. You would start with a base of fire. that is every one would be firing at point locations. In SHORT Semi Auto shots. Its more to keep the enemies head down then to actually hit something.
Your point or lead team member will then rush forward trying to find the next available area of cover. Rushing forward should take no more then three to five seconds. a good way to remember this is with this phrase. "I"m Up they See Me I'm down." Once that point team member is in place they set themselves up and start firing,
AS SOON as that lead person has found cover, your second person moves. it should be fluid and swift with no time space. What this does is takes the enemies fire off your lead team member and makes them focus on your second team member allowing that point team member to set themselves up and start providing cover fire. Same thing for the second team member. rush forward find cover. The rest of the team or squad lays down cover fire.
As soon as number 2 team member is under cover, number three rushes. So on and so fourth continuing up the avenue of approach.
When conducting bounding over watch YOU DO NOT WANT TO STAY IN A SINGLE FILE LINE!, spread out. keep a five meter distance between each other in all directions. If it is not able to keep a five meter distance then keep as good as distance as possible. don't all run to the same area of cover. All your doing is giving the enemy one area to fire on.
If done properly you should be able to swiftly and effectively close the distance on an target area while engaging the enemy providing cover for each other while taking minimal return fire from the enemy position. My Death Dealers have effectively done this maneuver with 5 team members against a force of 15 with emplaced M249 Saws and reached our objective with only one casualty. We covered a 100 yard distance doing it.
What you need to do before you start your game/skirmish. is assign your team members their positions.
1 through ?
As the team leader you simply can yell Bounding Overwatch! or come up with a hand signal or code word. Make sure every one knows it and how or what it is. The Key to Bounding overwatch when engaged with the enemy is swift fast and hard. WHO CARES about stealth when your engaged with the enemy.
Loud and fast. They know where you are. they know who you are. Now.. make them scared for engaging you. Loud and Fast.
Hope this helps.
Semper FI and Carry on!
Lex
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