Training Tips

[Brian McIlmoyle]

Originally Posted by Azathoth

I think you misunderstand or i wasnt clear, or poor english. The key is that the time spent training off handed shooting can be better spent (IMO) on more strong side shooting and drills.

You can still urban prone a corner, you just need to adjust the bore of your gun or your weapon position to deal with the hopup. In the local field that is the is the most built up over here, i dial off my hopup as the engagement ranges are well <50ft and hopup really isnt needed.

Why practice off handed reload? This isnt real steel, I am not going to be wounded in the arm and have to reload off hand. I can never remember in 18 years reloading with the off hand.

For a brief time i shot off hand when corning right side obstacles, now i just slice the pie or shoulder the weapon on the weak shoulder but with primary hand on the trigger.

The ability to shoot weak side is part of the suite of skills that will give you advantage over lesser shooters.

working on skills such as this presumes a base competence in strong hand techniques and skills. You must be a solid shooter strong hand to be able to transition to weak.

All of the effective shooting positions and transitons to from and through them are also important to develop skill with.

Advising people to leave out effective skills is bad advice.. advising people to practice and become effective shooters on the strong hand is good advice.

good shooters should be effective in all circumstances and have available to them familiarity and ability with all shooting positions.

This can only be acheived through committed training..

[Oborous]

Brian,

Azathoth has a valid comment here. How many Airsofters actually have good fundamentals down? I find myself slipping badly because I can see the BB's in airsoft.

I think that fundamentals are more important than alot of the extra goodies, many airsofters want to look cool and proceed to more advanced techniques almost immediately with some absolutely horrible fundamental errors which just become ingrained.

A speed reload is really sexy, but considering that we have to pay for our own mags and play in some pretty rough fields, I fully agree that you're better off spending your time doing reloads that contain retention. You can be extremely fast with those, any especially with a decent gun and good fundamentals, you still can be firing when your off hand is moving the spent mag to your dump. Besides, when you get down to it, for the real BTDT HSLD guys recommend reload behind cover with good fundamentals and some buddies covering your butt. Go onto lightfighter and see how many people have stepped on a dropped mag and gone onto their butt.

Oborous

Originally Posted by Brian McIlmoyle

The ability to shoot weak side is part of the suite of skills that will give you advantage over lesser shooters.

working on skills such as this presumes a base competence in strong hand techniques and skills. You must be a solid shooter strong hand to be able to transition to weak.

All of the effective shooting positions and transitons to from and through them are also important to develop skill with.

Advising people to leave out effective skills is bad advice.. advising people to practice and become effective shooters on the strong hand is good advice.

good shooters should be effective in all circumstances and have available to them familiarity and ability with all shooting positions.

This can only be acheived through committed training..

[AngelusNex]

Magpull dynamics Tactical reloads are good to practice. I always (aside from if in a strong hold position, I just drop mags onto the ground) use the tactical reload they they teach in the dynamics video (though my empty mag goes into my dump, but everything else I do is the same) as it is the fastest way to reload without loosing mags.


>.> it's sadly like almost the only thing in those videos that can be used in airsoft though.

[Wilson]

Originally Posted by Sepulcrum

>.> it's sadly like almost the only thing in those videos that can be used in airsoft though.

Some of us use airsoft as a training tool for the real thing and in that case, everything in those videos can be used.

Also, a lot of the drills they do will also work with airsoft (and help improve fire and movement skills, which 99% of AS players are lacking desperately).

[Blackthorne]

I think the single most important thing to practice AS or otherwise is sight picture.

I see allot of folks watching the BB's track into the target. I thinks it's a reaction to the inherent inaccuracy of airsoft.

But if you put the time in to practice with your AEG, you CAN use a proper sight picture (red dot, irons or other) to hit what you are aiming for.

Once you have a grasp the a flash sight picture technique, you can leverage it in just about every other tactic.

[KiloSixNiner]

My suggestion here will be to practice front-hand and trigger control when firing. Many people instinctivly adjust for the 'kick' of the weapon by moving their front hand up or down slightly. This can lead to missed shots, obviously. Now this is where everyone jumps in and say airsoft guns normally have little to no kick, but I've seen it with real steel, pellet guns, and airsoft too. Maybe it's the noise of the firing...
Also work on equal pressure on the trigger, as pulling the trigger wrongly can dump the gun sideways slightly(no good with hop-up) or even pull the whole barrel down slightly. These two things can lead to missed targets, scattered groupings, and a 'dead' airsofter.
I suggest some small manner of endurance training for your off hand(the one on the foregrip) as walking or even being prone with an aimed weapon can get harsh on the muscles and cause muscle shakes, thereby again throwing off your shot.

The best way to check if you have one of these problems is to hit a range. Shoot some targets at differant distances so you have a good idea of what's going on, then study them. Practice, practice, practice.

[Sasha]

Originally Posted by Blackthorne

I think the single most important thing to practice AS or otherwise is sight picture.

I see allot of folks watching the BB's track into the target. I thinks it's a reaction to the inherent inaccuracy of airsoft.

But if you put the time in to practice with your AEG, you CAN use a proper sight picture (red dot, irons or other) to hit what you are aiming for.

Once you have a grasp the a flash sight picture technique, you can leverage it in just about every other tactic.

Simple solution: play in winter.

[pugs144]

Easier solution without running the risk of cracking your mechbox: Use black bb's.

[FOX_111]

I'd say that the most usefull trainning tip is to actually train with your teamates. Developing a comunication procedure, a general SOP (standard operating procedure) and simply practicing drills with them.

Nothing beat having a pair of good mates along you for a raid that you know exacly that they are thinking like you and will have your back.

I will again give an example based on my team and I: We practiced a lot of drills together during some trainning days. When we faced a situation in game, we where able to deploy in an apropriate formation, usually a skirmish line and move up to fight the ennemy in a coordonned fashion with an incessant barrage of fire. Everyone working together to keep plastic flying and people moving.

The best reward was not winning. It was the comments from the other side after the game: "Damn, you where only 8, we tought you guys where 30!"

[Point_Man]

Originally Posted by pugs144

Don't forget guys, physical fitness is also important . Working those offhand shooting stances is tough without good core strength.

I second this one. Being physically fit will help with your flexibility in adopting different shooting positions and moving from cover to cover especially if you end up crouched/squating a lot. Don't forget to breathe. I know it sounds silly, but when your heart rate is up, you're excited the adrenaline is pumping if you haven't conciously trained yourself for it you'll forget to take that moment to tactical breathe. In through the nose for a count of 4, hold for a count of 4 and exhale for a count of 4. You can skip the middle hold if you're sucking wind through your arsehole. I realize it's airsoft and there are no real stressors persay; it's just getting lost in the excitement/moment.

[Sasha]

Originally Posted by pugs144

Easier solution without running the risk of cracking your mechbox: Use black bb's.

Bah, panzy. -5 or warmer and you're fine. And if my Kraken can take it, your gun can, too.

[juicy]

Originally Posted by Wilson

Don't hesitate. Point towards enemy.

True that. I'm just starting out (since December) and I've been finding that most of the skills on the field are about effectively engaging the enemy. Technical shooting stills are super handy to have, however, I find that I'm just too slow at spotting movement and deciding what to do about it - thus I get killed. In that sense, my number one error on the field is the hesitation/thinking process that occurs when I realize I've been spotted or I spot an enemy (it's far from my only one though, lol).

Someone was saying something about not practicing with speed reloads - amen to that, also. Dump pouches will probably become your friend if you like to get lots of BB's on target. Secure mag retention is key, I've heard the frustration of losing mags on the field (especially costly GBB magazines) and never want to have to deal with that myself.

[DanoftheDead]

best advice for Airsoft I was ever given, is Practice with ->YOUR<- AEG! use the AEG you will be gaming to practice, get really familiar with that gun in particular, know where the BB will go and adjust your sights accordingly. Once you are really familiar with it you'll find hitting a target so much easier than firing and seeing where the bb's are hitting then moving the stram to the target. I seen many players doing this when I was at FR over the last weekend. I think this is the biggest problem that airsofters have.

[Jbone 11 11]

I started playing AS here in Italy and the one thing that drives me up the facking wall is teams that don't work together. The one Im in right now is kinda crap like that... but we're working on it.

Training as a team and PT are the two biggest elements to Kickin' Ass IMHO. You aint gonna win any games on your own so working as a team... (and as hokey as it sounds) as one, is key. All the teams that do really well over here have great team work. They've taken the time to work out tactics that work for them and they kill it. As for physical fitness... well, in the Military you don't do PT for the hell of it.... you need to be in good nick to do the job. Playing at it isnt all that much different....

The "Shooting" aspect of AS, I think, is down the list some what. Not Un-important, but you should have your basics of movement and tactics down first. Good shooters are useless if their "dead" because they werent working with their team and got caught out or couldnt make that dash across the field quick enough.
My 2Cents