Accessories

ButcherBill

Members
Joined
Aug 10, 2024
Messages
1,832
Reaction score
3,193
Am I the only one that wants a rif to look as kewl as hell but thinking... the bi-pod, peq & tacticool torch are coming off if I'm lugging this around a forrest all day(ish)?
Maybe not as much for some of my aeg's but my M27 gbbr weighs enough even before I load up on mags.
 
Pretty much. A good number of my guns sit in storage with both a red dot and a magnified optic, then I obviously put just the one I'll actually use on to the correct mounting point come time to use said gun and the other stays in the bag. Some of them that are mainly dedicated for indoor have a more realistic SureFire white light that wouldn't be quick to take on/off, but a lot just have a place I can slap on a light that mounts to a small section of pic rail or an M-LOK slot in 2 seconds.

Bi-pods and lasers look cool but they're of minimal utility for the vast majority of actual airsoft play that takes place in the world (people running around the woods with AEGs). I do intend to get a PTS MAWL when they release in 2047, then maybe leave it on and dedicate that one gun to NV use and probably never use it at any other time.
 
I run most of my guns with all the kit on. Just means the sling come in handy between games for going back to safe zone etc.

Years ago I was told to simply get down the gym and get stronger 😂😂

It’s advice I’d pass on as well. You do get used to the weight when you run it though.
 
I leave any accessories attached but I only really mount stuff that I find useful rather than just for decoration. This means an optic, fore grip and light for cqb
 
Every one of my RIFs is set up for how I play, and everything stays on. My main issue is the cost of buying optics etc for each of them.

I get used to the weight quickly when I’m playing, and adapt play style if it’s a heavier setup. But none of mine are above 3kg all up, and I have a single point attached to my chest rig to help with the weight when not actively shooting.
 
I went through phases of having things like bipods and noob tubes.

Tended to find with a bipod you rarely get a chance to setup to use it for any length of time and its just dead weight, even on a support gun it's easier just to freehand and keep on the move.

With a grenade launcher, well, all the shells even the "terrifying" 40-mike are kinda crap when compared to just using the rifle they're strapped to.

Often found i'd have a habit of magwell gripping and seldom actually used a hand stop or vfg, granted thats an airsoft thing i'm sure in reality you'd soon learn that bit of the reciever gets hot but hey its airsoft not really an issue, so ended up not using those either.

Optics, depended on the gat. Eg for an aksu if you're using a siderail optic thats gotta come off to install/remove the battery, but on guns where that isnt the case i'd usually leave them in place. That said first time i fielded the dragonuv i found myself constantly pulling/reinstalling the optic because whilst you can theoretically use the irons with it in place practically the view is so godawful you might as well not bother.

Even as someone who's play style is all about range airsoft engagement distances i've found the acquisition speed penalty for a magnified optic is rarely outweighed by the ability to see how much you're missing by.
 
I have... opinions on accessories, but it basically comes down to immersion > practicality. If it would make sense on a real-steel platform, it tends to go on the airsoft platform, whether it's actually useful or not. I'm an immersion nerd who pretty much solely uses GBBRs and gas bolt actions with tiny mags.

There are attachments that simply do not get used very often at all; my non-bolt action rifles all tend to have weapon lights and laser modules if they are able to, though the lasers can only be used at very specific events in a limited capacity, and lights only see very occasional use in night games or CQB (which I very rarely do); often I don't even have batteries in them, but they stay on for the immersion purposes. My handguns all have lights on as well, again often with no batteries in them, once more for immersion, a little bit for practicality if I'm going to a site or event where a light may help, but also because my holsters require them now, so they also never come off.

Slings are non-negotiable. If I'm carrying a rifle, it has a sling on it. I don't have independent slings for every rifle (yet) because good rifle slings are expensive, but I never leave home without one. I'm also now starting to learn and properly use slings in the same way people do in the real-steel world and it's great. Not as much of a fan of pistol lanyards though because modern holsters are great, and it's another thing to snag or get stuck, or potentially slow down my draw which I do not want for a handgun which is meant to be an emergency weapon (or a sub-30m MED shooter where draw and aim time is also very important)

Optics are all chosen with a purpose. All my bolt actions and DMRs have mid-power variable optics as with a 30m MED, 3 or 4x minimum magnification is fine, and they're not designed for quick shooting. These are often not light, having 50mm objective lenses and 30mm tubes (though my Tanaka AICS has a 56mm objective lens with 34mm tube and is really heavy), as I chose them to be comfortable for long distance shooting from a position, with clear, high quality glass, great eye relief, and illuminated FFP reticles. People always ask "do you really need 24x zoom?" but when you're shooting at the extreme edges of airsoft ranges at UK power limits, it's incredibly elpful to be able to see exactly where the BB is dropping, or how much you're missing by so you can adjust.

My scout / recce rifles have low-power variable optics (apart from the Tanaka G33/40, as that's got a 1.5x ZF41 scope because period weapon!) as they fit that middle ground between fighting rifle and SPR, so a bit of zoom is really nice (and I sometimes run them as DMRs in airsoft terms), then my one fighting rifle has a red dot because they're fantastic for quick target acquisition and as long as you're in range and you have taken the time to zero the optic, if you line up the red dot on a target and pull the trigger a few times, that target will likely put their hand up and shout hit soon after. I did have a red dot + magnifier combo, but repro magnifiers are absolutely awful for eye relief and I just didn't get on with them. My fighting rifle setup is a 10.5" AR anyway, so red dot is fine even from an immersion stand point.

I also think that 45 degree offset sights are basically pointless in airsoft because of how hop up works, but I also don't feel the need to have one on any of my rifles. If I want a red dot alongside a scope, I tend to just mount them high, on top of the scope rings. Plus, with the aforementioned light / laser attachments, a 45 degree offset red dot is probably just going to be looking at the back of the MAWL-C1+, or the Surefire m600 mounted on that side of the rifle, or the edge of the PEQ / DBAL. It's just not great.

Then the under-barrel attachments...

Bipods. A controversial one as most people say they're wasted weight, but this fits into a mix of useful and immersive for me. I don't have any bipods on my fighting rifle or scout/recce rifles. For a fighting rifle, a bipod is absolutely pointless, though I've definitely seen airsofters with a great big bipod on their 416 replica and always wondered "why?" And for my scout/recce rifles they also don't have bipods because the whole point of those rifles is to be a bit lighter (forget that one of them is an m14 in a real wood stock with a full steel build...) and you're not sniping with these rifles. They're designed to be long range capable, sure, but they aren't SPRs. I find if I do set up in a more snipers hide style position, I just use my backpack as a rest (which again is what a lot of people do in the real-steel shooting world). Then all my bolt action sniper rifles (not the Kar98k because no...) and my dedicated SPR build have bipods. They're more deliberate shooters, and honestly the bipod is useful more often than not. When you're set up in a position for an hour or so, it's so good being able to just deploy a bipod and not hold your rifle up for the full hour or so. It's not too much more weight and is definitely worth it for those guns in my opinion.

And grenade launchers are entirely not my thing. I had one, but I never used it. I liked the idea of using one as a spotter, since the US Army scout sniper handbook that I found (older one from the 90s, widely available because it's not current military practice) talked about using an m203 to break contact, but I didn't want to shell out for tag style shells (tag products being banned at a lot of sites anyway), and shower shells are just not that useful. I tend to just use one of my scout/recce rifles if I'm playing as a spotter, as my paired sniper will be taking those long range shots and I'll be spotting targets, relaying distance and wind speed (yes, I have a proper rangefinder and a cheapo wind speed reader because immersion, but also because it makes us better shooters to try and learn some semblance of consistency), and providing security for any threats within that 30m MED, so I want something lightweight but still capable at both medium and short ranges. Instead of grenade launchers, I way prefer keeping things light and using some sort of front grip, whether angled or vertical, to just make it a bit more comfortable and ergonomic shooting the rifle.
 
I build for a cohesive look first and airsoft practically second. I try to balance it by keeping the accessories lightweight, my only gun with a suppressor uses a 3d printed one and the bipods i use are pretty lightweight ones but all my guns have some kind of magnified optic which often ends up just being a very heavy and expensive mount for a piggy back red dot that gets the most use. I try to avoid builds getting so heavy i don't want to use them anymore, I've made that mistake enough in the past, but I don't chase airsoft practicality either as they stop looking cool to me at that point.
 
Bipods are an odd one; they do have their uses. Mainly giving your arm a rest when your prone for a time or resting on cover. I do find they get tangled up alot in my sling. Quite often I'll be prone next to a fallen tree and use that as a brace anyway.

Foregrips: i have a handstop, but i rarely use it as i tend to grip the magwell. My time using a P90 has made me prefer the smaller grip length

Slings: I have 3, one QD, one HK clips, and one Paracord loop (like the frank proctor sling). The paracord one is the best: silent, no damage to the RIF, and it fits on any gun regardless of mount points

I do not own any lasers or torches as I haven't had the need for them yet.

Suppressors: I have Sniper Mechanics HEXX for my MK23 and T41; they look cool and actually do make a sound difference.
 
I've made myself a promise to play more often (ideally once a month) & to use different rif's each time (almost justifies my collection(to me)), I'm certain we all have our favourites but I'm deliberately going to use different rif's. I don't expect to get 'better' so muscle memory isn't a concern, I also have webbing/chestrigs set up for GBBR's or AEG's depending on the rif's I take so mags will be in slightly different locations.

My thoughts are... most of my collection is set up for display & as a result, most have optics/foregrips/peq's/torches etc as they'd typically be using in their era, but I'll be detaching most of them anyway to pop them into the case for transporting, I'd be as well leaving them off for the game. I had my case set up with pick n pluck foam as I expected to mainly use AR15 based rif's but hated it with a passion so wave foam FTW.

I'm not a fan of slings either, and it's easy enough to tuck the grip into any kit I'm wearing so the walk to & from the start point isn't an issue (the back & forth to the respawn point is more of a slog for me), & I'm the furthest from a speedy Boi as you can get so any accessories would solely be for the tacticool looks.

I reckon I'll detach the 'extra's' like peq's & torches but keep the grips & optics.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top