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Been considering picking up a quality M&P airsoft pistol to practice with.
Up until recently I only thought of airsoft as a toy.
Does anyone use them as a serious training tool here? I can see where a quality blowback could help build fundamentals.
Looking at one of these...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=he_Jc0KzT2c
Blowback Armory Airsoft - The Airsoft Specialist
https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-l...8%252520PM.jpg
http://www.defensivecarry.com/forum/...y-airsoft.html
I've been thinking about getting one myself. I'd definitely get one if there was a Shield Airsoft. The blowback looks cool, but I doubt it would be much "help" in anything. In terms of making you have to re-acquire your target, I don't think it would be a very close analog to your actual gun, so you might be getting practice, but it wouldn't be accurate. --Just my thoughts. But in terms of having something to drill with--firing from concealed, etc., I think it could be a great tool, and would allow you to practice at home, and for relatively very little money. With quality airsoft guns having identical dimensions and controls and similar weights to their real life counterparts, you could use your EDC holster, etc. Good idea. --Just not too sure about the blowback aspect.
Ricky
Thank you, didn't see that. :frown:
I have one that fits my holsters that hold my G-19's. The blowback works fine and the mags hold 28 pellets and the gas to propel them. Training with them is really great but remember a Full Face mask and neck wrap. Many of the better schools now offer Gun Fighting Courses that include FOF training.
Airsoft are great for FOF and give you feed back on how things work against another live subject. They are also good to practice drills, drawing and movement most anywhere. Can be done in backyard or even in your house. With ammo getting hard to find and cost going up that can be a big help in your trigger time.
Pyzik, I put my thoughts in slowsword's original thread. :smile:
Here's a couple of direct answers to your specific questions here, though. :wink:
Hope this helps! :wave:Quote:
Because of the dimensional similarities between the replica and the real-deal, airsoft is great to keep in-practice when it comes to the draw stroke as well as movements with the gun. However, even the most accurate or highly modified replicas will show a noticeable difference in weight distribution, and similarly, there is virtually no way to properly simulate stoppages with airsoft. "Blow-back" forces can be quite decent in some models, and can also be tweaked...however, even with the best of the genre, it is still in the range of being below or only equivalent to a .22 caliber trainer. Similarly, effective range is limited. Even with good or highly-modified gas-blow-back pistols, while a 6 to 8-inch diameter target can easily be hit from 10 to even 15 yards, unless you have a really highly modified replica, point-precision/accuracy is completely lost at that distance.
Tatsuya Sakai, a Japanese national who had until perhaps a month before never touched a real firearm and practiced solely using airsoft won the 2004 Steel Challenge, you can Google who he beat. And like AK_Brian pointed out, it can also extend beyond pistol work. Travis Haley's Haley Strategic YouTube channel has a segment on "Airsoft X-Training." It's a legitimate training tool, just like dry-fire, just like sub-caliber training, just like the SIRT. And just like those other devices, there will be instructors/schools/shooters who prefer one while downplaying the other.
I've used mine in a FOF training class and messing around in the backyard. Great practice tool imo. There's more plastic in them making them somewhat fragile but parts are sometimes replaceable.
Doh! Forgot one more thing.....
The trigger.
Depending on the platform, there can be *significant* differences.
Keep in mind that if you want a good airsoft replica for practice it's going to cost a lot... I'd expect to pay at least $150-200 and make sure you buy from someone reputable. They are great to practice with, just remember you get what you pay for.
I'm not an expert, but I bought an M&P replica CO2 BB gun with the idea that it would be good for training. The trigger is very different but the other ergonomics are very similar to my M&P 9c. I think the extra trigger time is good training for holding the gun still, grip, finger control, straight pull, etc. I did find that BB are not the most accurate projectiles. It couldn't be me :smile:.
^ Those are very nice for both manipulations and target-practice (with specific allowances made for the trigger, of-course; also, it's arguable whether if it will be an even less suitable sub-caliber substitute, as, IIRC, the CO2 airgun lacks a cycling slide). The traditional "airgun" setup of this item, using .177 caliber BBs from the muzzle at ~450 fps. means that it will have better external "ballistics" than airsoft replicas that propel a very lightweight plastic 6mm BB at typically well less than 350 fps.
This BB gun should not be used in Force-on-Force, though. Use airsoft instead. A friend in my local concealed-carry community purchased one specifically with the goal of being able to use it at TDI for F-o-F (his SD/HD handguns are M&P autos), but was denied permission due to the nature of this item.