072 WWW.AI-MAG.COMTRIM THE FAT WHEN LESS IS MORE OR DO YOU REALLY NEED ALL THOSE ACCESSORIES?!
For me, it was at the Pilgrim Bandits
invitational game at Humber Airsoft last
weekend when I had to walk back to the regen
point atop a steep bank with what seemed like
even steeper steps cut into it for the umpteenth
time! Why is this important you might ask? Well,
that’s a fair question and the reason I mention
the quote is because do we make it harder on
ourselves sometimes all to look Gucci or even
more operator. You know what I mean and if
you’re honest with yourself I bet you have a
collection of accessories to bolt to your guns. I
know I do and hence why I ask; is less more?
At the start of the day I had my full plate
carrier - including 2kgs of training SAPI plates
in it. These serve absolutely no function
other than to give the plate carrier shape and
it seems unnecessary weight. They do this
superbly I might add!
Loaded with mags, a radio, grenades, pistol
and spare mags it weighed quite a bit but was
comfy enough. Then I grabbed my gun. A lovelyERG RM4 in a CQBR configuration but with an
eotech holosight, a 3x magnifier, a PEQ-15 and a
MX3 Illuminator mounted to it. Great little gun;
very accurate and with a pretty good range
too and with all the accessories I could fight
anywhere and at any time and be able to carry
on. However, on a bright sunny Saturday did
I really need the torch and the PEQ box? Was
the magnifier really essential given the ranges
involved? Well, by the end of the first game all
of that stuff was ripped off and I ran it with just
the holosight for the rest of the day. The plate
carrier also lost the pistol and mags taking a
couple of kilos off my shoulders and I felt better
for it almost immediately. I was absolutely
delighted that I opted to leave the M203 in the
car as I don’t think I’d have made it through the
first game if that had been on the gun as well!
Whilst I was there I saw some very cool load
outs and I reckon most if not all were carrying
items purely for set dressing. Items that had
absolutely zero function in an Airsoft game butlooked good. I was not immune to this but I did
limit it to a CAT, an IR cyalume and a pair of
medical shears so all in all; they didn’t add a lot
of weight to my kit and they just made it look
pretty cool - well, I thought so anyway.
Back to the question in hand though; is less
more? Should we really overburden ourselves
with essential kit and items that aren’t really
that essential? If we look at the real world;
these guys and girls oftentimes have to carry
everything they need to sustain themselves
and their weapons with no idea of when
resupply will be possible. They also train
constantly and are probably a lot fitter than
your average middle aged airsofter too which
is definitely going to help if you’re lumping
huge amounts of kit around. There’s also the
issue of zero for laser sights and optics and
whilst it is possible to get a reasonable zero
with an Airsoft gun it isn’t as vital or as likely
to hold as the quality of most Airsoft optics
isn’t really up to a huge amount. If you use
real optics then that’s different; they will most
definitely take any knocks and bumps that you
can chuck at them but the weakest link then
is the inherent inaccuracy of a smooth bore
barrel that relies on back spin to stabilise an
extremely light BB in flight.
So maybe optics and PEQs can be left on all
the time - heck, it would make me stronger and
fitter if I did do that but I doubt it would be
really noticeable!
What I did find though was that, with the
extras unbolted, I could carry my main weapon
in the ready position or hold it in an aimed
stance for longer. I could also whip it roundLESS IS MORE
BY PHIL
BUCKNALL
“I’M TOO OLD FOR THIS S$&T!” IS A FAMOUS LINE FROM A VERY FAMOUS
FILM AND I’M SURE THERE’S MORE THAN A FEW OF US OLDER AND SLIGHTLY
MORE KNACKERED PL AYERS WHO UT TER IT AT LEAST ONCE EVERY GAME DAY.
DO YOU REALLY NEED THAT?
072-073 PHIL B.indd 72 29/05/2018 12:01