CraftySnipers blog
Blog entries nuff said
Hello and welcome to my latest airsoft blog, in this episode I will be talking about the ICAC or Inter Counties Airsoft Competition. But first some information on airsoft. Now obviously us seasoned airsofters know that there are a few different types of airsoft matches but for those who don't know there are the skirmishes, these take place on most Sundays up and down the country. There isn't a uniform code for these matches and during these skirmishes, you can have normal skirmishes, you can also have gas & spring events, pistol & shotgun events and low cap only events. The skirmish is the bread and butter of the sport. After skirmishes you have the mil-sim events, now these are aimed at being more realist with uniform codes, limited ammo weapons and a backstory to the event. These mil-sim events may have multiple points or objectives but they all come under the same name, if you are wanting to take your airsoft to the next level then mil-sims are the way forward. So where does the ICAC sit on that list? Well, most skirmishes last only one day, some mil-sims will last a few days but they take time to arrange and there may only be one mil-sim event every 6 months. Some players have asked for a system where there are a league and points for the teams to fight over. It also would be great for a home and away system of matches. There would also be dedicated teams that would fight it out for these points and at the end, there would be an actual winner. Step up the ICAC, this was created to give the players just what they have been asking for for years. I myself heard about the ICAC sometime ago and to be honest, I was a little sceptical over the whole idea, but after meeting with the creator of the ICAC I realised that he knew just what other players were asking for and best of all he had a plan on how to achieve it. The teams would be county size so anyone who lived in a county could, in theory, join the ICAC competition. I cant think of many counties that don't have a form of airsoft taking place during the weekend. The teams would have there own pages on Facebook and would be in charge of organizing there teams. They would have there own leadership and sort out there own home and away matches. In essence, they would hold their airsoft matches under the banner of the ICAC. But how do you keep the scores? Well during the matches there would be actual members of the ICAC staff that will come over to the various matches and keep score. They would also be there to deal with any of the teething issues that would raise their heads throughout the early days of these events. So what team are you part of Crafty? I am a team member of the Lincolnshire team and I am a team captain of that team too. In short, I along with two others sort out the issues during the match events when the Lincolnshire team are at an ICAC event. I am also responsible for the training of the team when we decide to have a training event to help the team get together. This also helps new members of the team meet the other members. The great thing about the ICAC is that they let you run your own team. They are there to help you out and help with the organizing of matches but they let you run your team. From what I have seen of the ICAC guys they are a great bunch and are willing to help you out with getting your team off the ground in the early days of starting your team. You can also use non-airsoft events to get your team to become more team like, you can go bowling, paintballing anything to make your team fight better on the battlefield can't be a bad thing. As I said at the start of this blog I was a bit on the fence about the idea of the ICAC but I have been blown away with the whole idea, I am now a firm supporter of the ICAC and the ICAC Lincolnshire team.
Why not search out the ICAC Lincolnshire team on Facebook and get in touch, we would love to have a match against anyone. CraftySniper a firm ICAC supporter.
0 Comments
Hello and welcome to my latest review blog. It has been a while but hopefully, I will be reviewing more kit and toys very very soon. Anyway onto today’s review. I like any other airsofter found myself in need of some new kit, I needed some new boots. But where to get them from, there are many different companies out there in the airsoft world, I did my research and ended up going back to my favourite airsoft shop……….Patrolbase. When I got there I had a large list of various airsoft bits and pieces but at the top of the list was the boots. They would have to be pretty good and comfortable. I understand that it just doesn't matter what uniform you are wearing nor what replica you are using because if your boots are not up to scratch then your day is over. I have used various walking boots I have also used actual military issue boots but I always found the boots hit and miss in there quality and comfort. That was until I found a range of boots from Viper Tactical. So you went for some actual airsoft boots then? Yep, like I said earlier I have used actual military issued boots and you would think these would be great, wouldn't you? Well, they were not the best for me. I bet they were great at allowing you to walk through a desert in Afghanistan but for me, they were not very comfortable. So I had a look through the range of boots from Viper Tactical at Patrolbase, I quickly noticed there the Elite range of boots and after holding them I noticed just how well built they were. They felt extremely well built and solid and on top of that, they were very light. Now I don’t have feet like normal people, I have canoes so after finding the correct size for me I tried them on. They feel amazing, solid and not able to flex but they were new. I walked around the shop and the weight or lack of made me almost forget that I had these great big clod-hopping canoes on my feet. So what about protection? We all know that as airsofters our boots have to put up with lots of action and movement over rough terrain and they still have to give us protection. I have over the years rolled my ankles over hard unforgiving terrain and boy does that hurt. The Viper Tactical Elite boots have very good ankle support. They reach very high up your lower leg holding your feet in one place. They will be great at just walking around or launching an attack on an enemy position. They will work on a CQB site or a massive woodland site. Bet they are not waterproof then are they? Oh yes they are, now don’t get me wrong there are boots out there that will fend off more water then these but the Viper Tactical Elite boots will work in this countries wonderful winters when it's chucking it down, they will also cope with puddles and small rivers. The only time they will let in the water is when you are up to your knees in the stuff and then any boot would not cope with that. Okay how much are they?
Patrolbase has them for £75, I think that is a great price for a great pair of boots. These things will last and take anything you can throw at them. Hello and welcome to my latest blog entry. I thought I would take this time to talk to you about some of the special matches that I have played at Lincolnshire Airsoft Club. Now I know you have seen me playing the normal skirmish style of matches at LAC but they also like to throw different types of matches with differing sets of rules and requirements. Obviously, on a normal day, you can bring any of your toys and as long as they pass the chronograph tests at the start of the day then you can use them. But at LAC they like to have some fun with a different group of matches. They have pistol & shotgun matches, gas & spring matches and they have also run low cap only matches too. On some very special occasions, they have also ran fancy dress matches, not that we don't all come dressed up for a normal event. Oh, and who can forget the zombie matches that are played during the Halloween months. So let's describe just how these matches run starting with....... Pistol & shotgun matches Well, obviously these are very easy. You are only allowed to bring pistols and shotguns and most of you will think that this would be a very boring match, you couldn't be any more wrong. They are a blast, a real laugh. There is no real seriousness with these matches and as such, it can be a good laugh as you sneak up on someone and manage to shoot them with a pump-action shotgun. I can't say this enough if you like you like your fun airsoft matches then give this one a try. You will never be outgunned by anyone. Gas & spring Like pistol and shotguns, this match is limiting you to bringing any toys that are powered by gas and or spring. So you can bring your gas rifles, pump-action shotguns, and sniper rifles. This one is a bit more tactical as sniper rifles and gas rifles are more capable weapons. Again this can be a great match with a lot more fun. Low cap matches Well this couldn't be any simpler to explain. You are allowed any weapon that you have in your collection, the only catch is that it must be using a low cap magazine. Now I admit these matches are very rare at LAC, they are also quite hard to arrange as not everyone has low caps for there chosen toys. Me I love them as I will only use mid caps at the most, in fact when I purchase a new toy I am looking to run it from low-caps to mid-caps. Fancy dress matches Again very easy to explain, you have the choice to come dressed up in anything that is not a normal requirement of an airsoft match. There is usually some form of competition running for the best outfit. These matches are not just for people who want to dress up, so you can still play in your normal gear. There is a special fancy dress match that usually is the last one before Christmas and I will be getting dressed up as an elf, not a very pretty site. Zombie match This one is an absolute treat to take part in. There is a backstory in this match that includes weaponized zombies, a slightly strange scientist, lots of glow sticks and a lot of scared players. Oh and this match takes place in the pitch dark. The fun thing is that during this match if you are a normal player and you are shot and you are not rescued by your team then you will have to wait for the ever growing army of the undead to get to you. So as you can see LAC doesn't just run the normal skirmish matches, they cater for a lot of different play styles. Yes, most of there matches are the normal types but hey like to run one of these special matches once a month or so. Why not check the LAC community page on Facebook to find out when the next special LAC match is taking place. I am sure the LAC club boss and his staff will be creating lot's more different ways of enjoying airsoft matches in the future. CraftySniper Right for the purposes of this blog, I will be calling the above-mentioned company MAS as its easier to type out. So who is MAS? They are a company that a few years ago came up with an idea to launch a project to create a new blank firing grenade into the airsoft market, this device was going to be very different to other devices already in the market. Usually, a device will only either go bang when a timer has run down or when the grenade impacts a hard surface. The MAS grenade was going to do both of them plus have sensors that would allow it to go off if it was moved by a door. You could also set it up as a tripwire device via inferred lasers. Sounds good, doesn’t it? You want one, don’t you? Well before you get too excited let us delve into some history on grenades in airsoft. As some of you may know there are some players that have grenades as part of there kit. These devices are either a blank firing grenade (BFG) or a CO2 device. The BFG usually uses a mixture of blanks to simulate a grenade going off. You can have different blanks put into these devices which will put out different levels of bang. All these levels are put under the club rules at the site you are going to play at. Some sites will allow for louder blanks and some sites will not. Most devices are single shot so basically when they go BANG you have to take out the old used blank and change it for a new one. However, some grenades now come with multi blank bases. What this means is that instead of one blank the device now has five or six. All you have to do is pick up your grenade and spin the base around to a new blank and your grenade is ready for use again. This does mean that there can be a bit of grenade spam in a match but I will leave that for another blog. So where does MAS sit in all this? Well like I said earlier a few years ago they started a project for there grenade, they listed all the specs of there device and all the things that it should be able to do and to be honest if it could do all the things they say then this device would be a world beater in the airsoft market. As with all projects like this they needed funding to get the project off the ground, they wanted 500 backers to back 500 devices at a very low price. Needless to say, they got their backers very quickly as like me other airsofters quickly realised just what this device could do. The device was already developed to use a simple flashbang type cartridge but the backers that we had at the time wanted it to use primers because the 70p (approx) per bang cost was too high compared to a 5p primer. So we then set about developing the Blank Firing Base. This is what has taken so long and so much of their time consuming resources and the relatively small amount of money that was backed. They promised to get down to work and develop the device. Obviously, this was going to take time as there was no device like this in the current airsoft market. There was not only the matter of building the device but also developing the technology inside it. A lot of airsofters were getting excited about this device and there was lots of hype surrounding it not only from normal players but also from other airsoft retailers and clubs. So where has this all gone wrong? Well now it’s three years on from the original date and there is the grand total of one device. The other 499 do not exist yet. There are a few slightly miffed backers as they have been waiting all this time for there devices. Most backers just backed one device but some backers have backed a lot more then one unit, one backer I found out recently has backed 11 units. I have kept abreast of the developments from the MAS Facebook page and it does make for good reading, all though probably not for any of the original backers. Obviously, MAS started off with an idea and all though they have had dealings with making other items which may I add have nothing to do with airsoft they decided to plow on with this new grenade idea with the support and financial backing of the original 500 backers. As for me creating this blog, there has been no sign of the original backers getting their devices. All that has come out of MAS has been excuses after excuses, there have been a few dates put onto the Facebook page but these have been the dates that MAS have said they are going to be making the devices. Now that I am typing this blog there is a date that MAS hope to have the first batch of devices made by and that is February 2018, a long time since early 2015 when the idea was put out there into the airsoft community. MAS has been taking flack from what seems like 90% of the original backers, only a few still seem to support them and show that support on the Facebook page. Most people are putting up very negative comments aimed at the grenades designers and some of them have become very rude. So what is going to happen? We just don’t know, I like to keep up to date on these new technologies that might come out into the airsoft market and even I don’t know where this will lead. If I was a backer I would be very worried about where my money has gone. Now obviously if they do manage to release them I honestly do think that the original 500 devices will be the only devices that they make. There has been a retail price put out at nearly £169.99 now the normal price for a TRMR device is around £90, if you want to have to have the multi blank extension you are looking for another £30. So what is next?
Well, quite simply we have to wait and see. I know there are a lot of backers that getting quite desperate to see their new devices but all they can do is wait for one of two possible outcomes. One is that the device is made and released to them, the second is that MAS openly admit that they have completely miss calculated just how they were to make these devices. I personally hope that second way is not going to happen. Even if the original 500 devices are the only devices that are made I hope that at least the original backers get their devices. As for the rest of us, I just can't really see anyone paying £300 for a device that you chuck around an airsoft site. Has MAS lost the plot? No, I don’t think so, they started all this off with an idea that was very new to airsoft. Yes, they have hit massive difficulties with this idea but they are working to get a solution. I understand that some people are getting tired of waiting and only getting more delays on top of delays but MAS is a very small company and this grenade project is not there primary project to work on. They also only have a very small crew of people who are working on the device so in short everyone just has to wait. Obviously, I would like to take this time to say that this blog was not sponsored in any way by MAS, this was written just by an airsofter who keeps an eye on what’s going on in the airsoft community. CraftySniper Hello and welcome to part 2 of my review of the CraftySniper. Now it goes without saying that I would suggest that you please read part 1 first. Okay done that? Well let’s get on with me and airsoft. . A few years down the line We join our intrepid hero a few years on from his first match. My collection of airsoft replicas had started to grow. I now had another G&G product in my collection, the UMP-45. This was a smaller weapon which was supposed to suit my needs regarding building clearance, I also had a pistol in the form of the WE Glock 17. Things were going well, I had even managed to make some friends in the club. These friends are still with me today and are one of the main reasons I am still attending airsoft matches. One friend I met in my very early days, his name is Richard and even though it’s been a few years we are still very good friends in and out of airsoft. One of the main reasons is our love of hunting enemy players and I think this is a good reason for why I created the CraftySniper. There was many times during our matches at the old Kirton site that we was able to stalk, hunt and kill off enemy players that would out number us. We very quickly leaned the site and was very good at taking objectives and engaging the larger enemy teams. We made for a very good ambush team. I have to give an mention to the LAC weekenders. Those that have been to these matches know what I am talking about. These events were amazing, instead of having just a Sunday for our airsoft needs we would have the Saturday too and a night match in between the two days. The deal was that we paid for the two days and the night match was thrown in for free. Now to be honest at first I would play any and all airsoft matches, a night match is greatly different from a day match. Now I was hunting players with the cover of darkness in a wood. I many times was able to stalk a player remaining no more then ten meters from them, when they moved I moved, when they stopped I stopped. I picked the time when I would be guaranteed a kill and also the best chance to get away into the darkness. As the weekenders went on and the normal matches went on I made more friends, to the point that there was a largish group of us. We all had vast knowledge of the site and would use this to fight and win against other teams. We even soon started to pick weapons that best suited our skills and me and Richard started to tinker with sniper rifles. We was the long range sneaky SOB’s that gave our team some extra fire support. So this is when the CraftySniper was created? Yes pretty much, now armed with long range weapons and near silent side arms I would go out and hunt the enemy. Most of the time I was with my group of friends but there was many times that I would end up out on my own completely out numbered, and this was when I was at my most evil. I was able to have some great times hunting enemy players on the vast Kirton site with my sniper rifle. I remember stalking an enemy patrol of maybe four players, they had no idea that I was nearing there position. They was tasked with holding a position out in the open that was surrounded by thick woods. I was able to do some recon of there position, noting there weapons through my scope. When I was happy to take the first shot I chose the furthest away player. His back was to me and I knew that if I got him then the whole patrol would think that they was being fired upon from a position that wasn’t my position. I fired and my .4 round smacked my target in the upper body from around 50m. Immediately he yells out he has been hit and the patrol raises there weapons, pointing them in the wrong position. A medic ran over to the dead player and tried to get him back into the fight, I say tried to medic him but it was too late I had fired my second round and took out the medic. Two shots two dead players, tow to go. The two live players realised that there was a sniper near by and tried to locate me but whist they was looking at the bushes and trees they was standing still. I fired my third shot and took out my third player. The last player tried to run back to a friend and medic him back in. I was faced with a terrible shot at this forth player as he was using his friend to shield his position from any further rounds from my rifle. I steadied my aim and through my scope I could see a leg from the medic, I knew I had ten seconds maximum before he would revive his friend. I took my shot and watched it fly right into the leg of the forth enemy player. The whole patrol was dead, the position was all mine. I decided not take it as I had know idea where any other enemy players were and I didn’t want to go out into the open and make the same mistakes as this patrol. I called up my team who was about ten minutes from me, they soon got to my position and took the objective. It was back in the safe zone that I heard enemy players talking among them selves about a sniper taking out an entire patrol. I walked over to them and confirmed that it was me, we all had a good laugh about it and one of the original patrol mentioned I was a CraftySniper to get all those accurate kills. And there it was the CraftySniper had been borne. One person I’d like to thank Now obviously I have made lots of friends through airsoft but there is a few very good friends who mean a lot to me. But there is one man who I have to mention, his name is Ian Lawrence. Not only is he the club boss at LAC but I would like to think he is a very close friend of mine. He has over the years taught me a lot about how to move quietly, how to shoot accurately and how to make various bits of kit work. We have worked together in matches before as a team. We have been inside one of the buildings at Combat Zone fighting against both enemy teams during a few pistol and shotgun matches. But there is one time we worked together as a two man team against lots of other two man teams. It was this match that he taught me how to move and communicate without making a sound. We engaged enemy teams and took out a lot of them. We was able to move quietly across a ridge top at the old Kirton site and engage enemy teams, in short we caused chaos amongst the other teams. I will take this time to thank Ian and his family for all the help they have been in the creation of the CraftySniper. If it was not for you guys I don’t think I would be here now all these years later still enjoying airsoft. Bang up to date As you all know I now have a page on Facebook, I have a YouTube channel and now I have website. All these were created in my name to allow me to show to other people just what I have learned through airsoft, this is a sport that is a major part of my life and this will not change. Even though I have the name CraftySniper I like to not only use sniper rifles but also assault rifles, machine guns and all the other types. I take a lot from the sniper role and bring it across into other roles. I will always have a soft spot for sniper rifles, but you will more then likely see me with my Tokyo Marui Scar Heavy, a weapon that I adore. What is the future?
It’s hard to think that five years have gone so fast and to be honest I really don’t know where I will be in the next five years. I like most other airsofters look on YouTube at other airsoft celebrities and even though I will never think of myself as a celeb, I know a few other players have started to call me one. Would I ever want to be one that was being backed by a retail shop? I honestly don’t know, I have thought about being sponsored but I don’t know if that would be a good thing for me. At the moment I am happy being supported by LAC, and I am happy to bring a down to earth an honest review of any airsoft product that I have to review. I hope you all have liked this small series of blogs based on me and I hope it shows you new players out there just what can happen with a club supporting you in the same way that LAC has supported me. Oh and don’t worry, normal blogs will be resumed after this one. CraftySniper |
AuthorHello, my name is CraftySniper and this is my Blog section. I have been doing airsoft for 5 years and its one of the best sports I have ever played. Archives
May 2019
Categories |