Airsoft as training tool?

[FlaChef]

is this a legitamate way to practise stance/ grip/ sight picture in your backyard/garage when you can't go drop $40 trowing lead downrange?

or is it just toys for those who want to play games w/ replica weapons?

obviously no one makes steyr replicas, but a sig or walther P99 replica look interesting in a Hopped-up Gas Blow Back model (and one day I'd love to own both those guns).

[RIPPED]

id say its a good tool for practicing defense/takedown tactics. not actuall target practice.. quite honestly a paintball gun has more kick than an airsoft. simply a bb gun with plastic pellets in laymens terms.

[nomadboi]

Some of the metal gas-blowback ones aren't bad. Cheapie spring guns basically just toys.

Depends on what you want to practice, I suppose. If it's about gun retention, get a Redgun rubber M series- they do make them. If it's about firing from a quickdraw or something... yeah, sure, airsoft could be a good cheap safe way to practice that at home. If it's about target shooting- kinda need the real thing.

[jng1226]

Howdy,

This is my first post, as I've been lurking for a week or so, soaking up Steyr info as I am interested in them and have pretty much decided to get a closeout before they're all gone, based on the excellent information I've read here. I have first-hand experience with this particular topic, as I just got back into shooting after a nearly 10 year absence.

I used to shoot IPSC Limited back in the early 90's. I even won a regional championship with my lightly-modded Springfield 1911 (beating many "racegun" .38 Supers along the way). Life happened, and I stopped shooting for almost 10 years.

I just got back into guns recently and experienced the situation you described, as I didn't have re-loading equipment anymore and the prospect of spending nearly $100 in ammo and range fees per session to get back to form was not really an option (I used to shoot about 3,000-4,000 rounds a month, at least).

I read about the Airsoft phenomenon and decided to buy a gas-powered Glock replica with an all-metal slide and barrel. The KWA or KSC brands are the best ones, and give surprisingly good recoil simulation while being tremendously accurate at up to 25 feet (if you really aim, they will make a ragged 1.5" hole at this range. I made a garage target out of a cardboard garment box (about 5' high). I hung a folded towel over the hanger bar and used a pants hanger to clip 8.5 X 11 paper with Shoot-N-C targets on them. BB's go through the target stop in the towel and go straight down for easy clean-up.

I'm now starting to compete in IDPA matches and use Airsoft to practice drawing from concealment, sight-picture and trigger control. Back in the early 90's I would practice this by dry-firing, but with no direct result. Now with Airsoft you can see immediately if your sights were truly on target by a hit on a Shoot-N-C.

While not a direct replacement for shooting a real gun, you would be surprised at the mechanical aspects of shooting you really do practice - full shooting grip in the holster, proper draw and presentation, finger discipline, magazine changes, etc. Most ranges won't let you draw from a holster and fire, and with Airsoft in your garage you can practice this and other combat match techniques well, such as back-to-the target/turn-draw and engage scenarios, shooting while moving, IDPA-legal engaging from cover, etc.

I've been practicing this for almost 2 weeks now and I feel that it has helped me significantly. I shot my first IDPA match 3 weeks ago, and after 1.5 weeks of Airsoft practice and only about 300 rounds of real-handgun practice with a borrowed Springfield Operator, I shot the IDPA qualifier and got rated as Sharpshooter CDP, missing Expert by 2 seconds.

My point is that I honestly feel that Airsoft has quickly allowed me to sharpen my muscle memory back to a decent point with real handguns for a fraction of the cost and without even leaving my house. I can shoot the almost-equivalent of 500 rounds of ammunition each sesssion for less than half a can of Airsoft gas ($9.95 a can) and high-quality BB's are about $10 for 5,000.

Make sure you get the KWA or KSC gas-powered, all-metal Glocks (just over $100 or so on Fleabay. They even have some that are select-fire firing around 1,200 rpm! (G23F and G18C models) They will empty a 23-round magazine in around 1 second - now that is fun. Not practical, but damn fun.

[jng1226]

I also just saw on Shooting Gallery a re-cap of the 2004 Steel Challenge. If you didn't see it, it had the best-of-the-best shooters (Todd Jarret, Rob Leatham, Dave Sevigny, etc.) competing on very challenging courses of fire. Guess who won and unseated Para-sponsored shooting-deity Todd Jarret as the reigning champion? A total newbie (to the US shooting scene) from Japan.

What makes it even more pertinent to the topic here is that he can't even shoot real guns in his home country to train for the Steel Challenge! He is some type of Grand-Master in Japan AIRSOFT competitions, which is where the craze got started in the first place.

Think about that when wondering if Airsoft is good practice for real-gun shooting...

[FlaChef]

thank you. I will be looking into gettin a GBB sig then.