Airsoft Expert: The Sti

The Sti in his ghillie suit playing airsoft in Canada

The Sti in his ghillie suit sighting in for an airsoft kill. Photo by Kyle Springer.

How did you first learn about airsoft?
Six years ago when I was in high school and some friends invited me out to an airsoft game. At the time I had never heard of airsoft. They told me about how the sport worked and I just fell in love with it.

Why do you love airsoft?
Airsoft is a ton of fun. I’ve been playing airsoft for almost four years now and I’ve never had more fun. I personally love for many reasons; it’s great exercise and a great way to get out and meet new people who are also into airsoft. Airsoft is a great way for people to live out their military fantasies or even just to shoot your friends safely. In short I love airsoft because it’s a great sport to play with friends

What are your favourite airsoft pistols and why?
My favourite airsoft pistols are “Glock” clones. I love any internal hammer style pistols.

What are your favourite airsoft AEGs and why?
My favourite AEG platform would be M14s.

What is your airsoft guns history? Why did you purchase these guns? What do you like about them?

I started with just a clear $20 Walmart spring pistol which at the time when we we’re just playing in a nearby forest seemed just fine.

After that I upgraded to a Cyber Gun FAMAS. At the time I didn’t think it was pretty good as it wasn’t hitting anything. Turns out it was the airsoft BBs I was using. The cheap 0.12 gram airsoft BBs were so light they just got blown off course very easily.

My third gun was a Blaser 93 sniper rifle. I liked it, but it didn’t last too long. I had trouble finding replacement parts for the gun and ended up selling it off as parts.

The fourth gun I picked up is an APS Match Guardian. I purchased the APS because of the unique look of the rifle and I also wanted a cheap base to upgrade into a DMR. I ended up spending a year and a half upgrading the gun. Why so long to upgrade? well I wanted something that had a range of 250 feet. I ended up replacing almost all the internals to get it to that point.

I ended up putting in

  • Retro Arms gear box shell
  • G&G gears
  • M140 spring
  • ZCI high torque motor
  • Lonex piston and piston head with dampener
  • SHS cylinder, cylinder head and air nozzle
  • G&G wires
  • Lonex hop-up unit with G&G green bucking
  • 510MM Madbull version 2 python barrel

All told about $600 worth of parts in the gun. I lost track of how many hours I put into adding the parts, but it was a lot. I nicknamed the gun “the ex wife” because of how much money into it. At one point during the build I was having some problems with the gun only getting 350 FPS, but after adding the Lonex hop-up, Madbull barrel and motor spring the velocity shot up to 450 FPS. I think primarily the better air seals helped out a lot in getting that kind of increase in speed. I love the range. At 250 feet you can hit almost anything before they get a chance to hit you.

My fifth gun I picked up is a FN Herstal SPR A5M bolt-action airsoft sniper rifle. I love it for its good value. Personally I think it’s the next JG Bar 10, but less expensive. I plan to do as most other airsoft snipers do and upgrade everything in it so as to maximize its potential.

My next project will be to get an assault rifle. I’m still trying to decide on the platform. I have some parts already for an M4, but I don’t want to go with the standard gun or AK. I’m leaning towards a G36, MP5 or any other sub machine guns. If you have any suggestions leave them in the comments.

Do you have a favourite sniper rifle? What are your thoughts on sniper rifles?
Tokyo Marui VSR-10 G-Spec, I like this rifle because of the specific application of this rifle.

What’s your favourite airsoft games and why?
I really enjoy a game mode called lob. Basically you start out on your own, when hit you may be tagged back in. whoever tags you in becomes your teammate, this continues until everyone is on one team.

Which is your favourite the M4/M16 or AK-47 and why do you think that it’s better?
The AK’s normally have better internals (most come with version 3 vs version 2 gear boxes) however I just prefer the externals of the M4. Also because parts and accessories are easier to find for the M4. If you are new to airsoft just know that if you are thinking of getting an M4 and then replacing the gear box that version 3 gear boxes won’t fit inside M4s due to there shape. One other advantage of the AK-47 platform is that due to the design you aren’t required to put the gear box in last.

What type of camouflage do you wear?
I wear CADPAT pants with an upper-body ghillie I made myself.

What size airsoft speedloader do you use?
Standard issue

What’s your tactical turn offs?
Too many unnecessary attachments

What’s your tactical turn ons?
A nice rifle scope/red dot and a simple foregrip

What brands of airsoft gear are you most familiar with?
G&G, Cybergun, ICS, KWA, Tokyo Marui… pretty much all airsoft guns operate the same way.

Which types of gun are you most familiar with? (M4, AK…)
M4, AK’s, pistols, electric, gas… I’ve been dealing with airsoft guns for years so I’m familiar with just about everything on the market.

What are your preferred game modes/playing styles?
I generally play the slow and sneaky play-style. I’m a bit of a shy guy so I love being the quiet guy hiding in the brush that no one sees and sniping from long range.

Do you have a team that you play on?
I am part of SBOS.
What does SBOS stand for?
I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you 😉

What type of games do you like?
I normally just go for the drop in rec-style games with friends. I’m not into the formal tournament-style competitions.

What does SBOS stand for?
I’d tell you, but then I’d have to kill you 😉

Modern video games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, or Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon offers players a very realistic experience. How does this compare to airsoft?
Just like in the games, you can respawn when shot.

What do you do when not playing airsoft?
Talk about airsoft ;-). I run the London City Airsoft group on Facebook which has grown to over 700 members.

Any final tips?
If you’re planning on being an airsoft sniper get a good base airsoft sniper rifle then just upgrade all the internals.

Want to join the airsoft adventure? Get your airsoft gear at Forest City Surplus now!

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