Editor’s Note: This Article was written by Scott Hallenbeck of USAirsoft. For more information on how to find more of his videos and reviews, check out the bottom of the article.

Prepping for a game can really save you a lot of time whenever it’s time to hit the road for the field or arena you’ll be playing at for the day. You don’t want to find yourself packing everything half an hour before you leave as you wouldn’t want to wait on anyone else to pack all their things frantically.

I always start prepping my gear the night before by first setting up all the batteries I need on their chargers. This goes for my lipo batteries for my guns and for the batteries that power all the camera equipment I use to film games. Batteries can either make or break a day of play so it’s always best to charge more than one just in case you need it. Remember, two is one, and one is none.

Next I choose what primaries I want to take with me. This greatly relies on where I’ll be playing as I wouldn’t want to bring my G&G M14 EBR with me to a close quarters game when a stubby M4 would do so much better. I highly recommend you choose two or three guns to take with you if you have them and make sure to take a look at them before you pack them. Like checking your car before a long trip, I like to take a look at my guns and test them before I pack them so I won’t be surprised by any failures to feed or by any damage to the bodies. You should do the same with your other gear like your chest rig or your battle belt but this rule can be pretty universal with everything you take with you.

Lastly after you make sure the playing area you’ll be going to is open for business and make sure your crew is set if you have friends going with you. I’d also say to scan your room or home for anything else that you might have forgotten to pack. I know in most cases you’re only going for a weekend skirmish day and not a week long trip across the country but wouldn’t you want to make sure you didn’t forget that battery charger or your eye protection?

What I like to do is scan the room and look at everything as I tell myself that I don’t need anything from here or there while splitting my room up into portions.

“Don’t need this, don’t need that… “

I’ve saved myself so many times by doing this so that’s one of my biggest tips for you. Don’t be me, forgetting all my protective gear at home or all my magazines. Prep smart before hand, so you can keep playing smart.

Charge all your batteries, pick the right primaries for the scenario, check your gear before packing it, and check that everything you need is packed. Those are my tips when prepping for a good game day. Oh and don’t forget about having a good breakfast with lots of water, that’s a life saver tip right there.

-Scott Hallenbeck of USAirsoft

[Scott Hallenbeck is the mastermind behind the YouTube Channel USAirsoft. His channel features unboxings, top notch gameplay, and reviews of new and popular airsoft guns and gear. Check him out HERE]

Working here in the GI Tactical Texas store, I have interacted with many-a-new beginner player coming through looking to get started, and the interactions usually start with the new player declaring they are looking for an airsoft gun, which is almost always followed up with three questions: What style of gun are you looking for? Have you played before/what kind of play style do you want to do? What kind of Budget are you working with?

The second most common question is “What is the BEST starter gun?” Realistically, the three questions above answer this, as in airsoft, there really is not a true “best gun”. There is only price point, and features of different rifle at said price point. With that said, in this article, I will be going over the rifles that I believe to be the best bang-for-the-buck rifles for new airsoft players.

For the younger player, or the player who does not want to spend too much money getting in to the hobby, there are two very solid rifles for under $160. They are the Lancer Tactical Gen2 MK18 Mod0, and the G&G Combat Machine “CM16” M4A1.

The Lancer Tactical (LT) Gen2 is the cheapest of the bunch at $100, but that doesn’t necessarily count it out of the race at all. The Lancer Tactical comes with a solid plastic body, with a fully metal gearbox, with all the proper internals being metal. The externals are where the price point really shows, nearly all of the externals, save for the barrel and charging handle are plastic, keeping the cost and overall weight of the rifle down. The rifle being plastic isn’t exactly a bad thing, as the Lancer Rifles can definitely take a beating. Our guys over in Airsoft GI California ran an extensive torture test in which they dropped the rifle, ran it over with a truck, submerged it in water, and then took one and put mayonnaise inside the gearbox, I won’t spoil the results of the test here, but it is safe to say, it quite impressive to see “the little gun that could”. The gearbox features an 8mm bushing gearbox, which is mostly seen with higher end gun builds, makes an appearance in a $100 AEG. Also a feature of the gearbox is a quick change spring system, which, in an M4 platform only goes so far, short of a few high-end guns, the quick change spring here just means you don’t have to take the gearbox apart to swap the spring, but just remove it from the lower receiver. The internal components are nice and solid, with a polymer rotary hop-up up unit to house the barrel and bucking, and an M120 Spring to produce a velocity of nearly 400FPS, and a set of 18:1 standard ratio gears that are the powertrain of the gearbox, that are paired with a durable polymer piston with a full metal rack of teeth, which greatly help reduce the chance of stripping the piston. The internals have longevity in mind. The box includes a 9.6v battery in the box, as well as having a basic trickle charger, that just simply charges the battery.

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Airsoft GI

Editor’s Note: This Article was written by Scott Hallenbeck of USAirsoft. For more information on how to find more of his videos and reviews, check out the bottom of the article.

Playing Airsoft is rather straight forward when you break it down but it’s also very silly. It’s basically just a big game of tag with toy guns, but boy does it release a lot of stress when you get the chance to play. Get yourself a few friends together, make a plan to head out to a near by field or arena and make sure you’ve got yourself some cash.

Airsoft is not a cheap hobby at all by most people’s standards but if you can muster the cash to get yourself some gear then you’ll soon find yourself having some real fun. When you attend a field or arena it’s like you’re attending a club. Everyone around you at that field is there for one reason or another but they’re all looking for a good time and maybe some training if that’s your thing.

Some go to be the player they control in the video games they play. Some go to be their own action movie star. Some go to be competitive and some go to simply spend time with friends.

There are as many ways to play the game as there are game modes to join up on but this rule stays the same for the most part. Get hit once anywhere on your body and you’re done. Some games have rules that might change this slightly but that’s why you pay attention to the referees when they discuss what game you’ll be playing.

Pay attention, I can’t say that enough.

Airsoft can be a game of skill and luck so for your first couple of games I advise that you pay attention to how the long time players handle themselves on the field. You can learn a lot from just watching people, from their gear to their tactics.

The referees are the gods of where ever you play so whatever they say goes. If you ever have a problem, then you should always talk to them about it. Think of admins and referees as the police, always there to  take care of on-the-field issues and complaints.

There’s so much to learn that I could never include in just the time I’m allowed here, but like I said, pay attention. Ask people questions when you arrive to the field or just watch some tips and tricks videos on the
internet, you’ll find thousands of them. Give it a month at the most and you should have the basics covered. Just don’t become a nerd like me okay?

Play fairly, keep your ears open, make some new friends, and most importantly:

ALWAYS CALL YOUR HITS!

-Scott Hallenbeck of USAirsoft

[Scott Hallenbeck is the mastermind behind the YouTube Channel USAirsoft. His channel features unboxings, top notch gameplay, and reviews of new and popular airsoft guns and gear. Check him out HERE]

Airsoft GI