Airsoft 'practical' shooting

[DanBow]

Back in the good old days (early 90s) I used to shoot practical pistol, real guns, shooting through and around set obstacles. More recently (late 10s) I dabbled with practical shotgun and 3Gun. Same thing, following a course of fire, shooting around or through set obstacles against a timer with penalties for missed targets etc. So, so much fun.

 

I see that there is a company darn sarf that does an airsoft version but I cant find anything national. Is there a national association, league or anything?

 

If not, why? Has it been tried and failed or just not something that's been tried?

 

 

[Cannonfodder]

There's been talk over the years of people running practical shooting/3 gun competitions but these were usually one off events rather than a regular thing.

[AttackBunny]

I wouldn’t have thought there’s enough money in it to have something like that open consistently. 
more suited to a NAF once only event. 
 

however much like you, I think something like this would be good if set up correctly 

[Lozart]

Look up AIPSC, see if there's any events near you.

[Archer]

https://xpsc.org.uk/what-is-ipsc/

 

Its very much alive, above website is an indication of what goes on.

 

Quite popular in Europe and the Far East.

 

 

[DanBow]

11 minutes ago, Lozart said:

Look up AIPSC, see if there's any events near you.

 

I found that one but their own website is dead so I didn't look any further.

 

10 minutes ago, Archer said:

https://xpsc.org.uk/what-is-ipsc/

 

Its very much alive, above website is an indication of what goes on.

 

Quite popular in Europe and the Far East.

 

 

 

I didn't see that one, ta.

[John F.]

Not quite the same thing, but I like to do some dry firing with an airsoft gun a few times a week as a warm up before circuits, or going for a run. If you want to turn it into a workout drop into prone and stand back up between rounds. Do it in a big room and add in some movement, or put a chair in for cover etc. Same with changing magazines, safety on and off between rounds etc. etc. Some fun light exercise. Since starting it I have noticed my reactions are far better, and I'm much better at getting the drop on another person during CQB than I used to be.

 

There's plenty of videos on youtube:

 

[Pseudotectonic]

If I have a garden I would build a Vtac board and just do drills for funsies

[Tommikka]

I had a go a short while back on demonstrations of the MantisX dry fire system.  It worked fairly well demonstrated on airsoft, though it didn’t manage to pick up every shot and misfired from background noise - they were running a pistol, rifle & prone sniper rifle and with two or three people shooting at once we were triggering each others microphone sensors 

 

To run it you need your chosen weapon, the app, a smartphone and a mount to clamp the smartphone on the gun

Specialist mounts can be used but other phone clamps can be found 

 

 

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/mantisx-pistol-rifle/id1050791268

 

https://mantisx.com

 

 

[CrackCommandoUnit1972]

What is practicle shooting? Ive seen those vids of people running round courses and shooting targets that would appear to very impractical have nothing to do with anything you would encounter in real life, i.e someone trying to actively kill you.

 

Im not saying its not fun like.

[Sewdhull]

It's training, using cover moving, shooting etc. It doesn't need to be realistic if the drills apply in real situations.

All training is like that until you want to do it under pressure and see if the drills have stuck.

 

 

[Enid_Puceflange]

12 hours ago, CrackCommandoUnit1972 said:

What is practicle shooting? Ive seen those vids of people running round courses and shooting targets that would appear to very impractical have nothing to do with anything you would encounter in real life, i.e someone trying to actively kill you.

 

Im not saying its not fun like.

 

It’s all about honing your skills, muscle memory, snap shooting , reflex training

I used to do a lot of similar drills for paintball tournament training years ago and think it massively improves skills out in the field
I am a big lad, and don’t (can’t) do much running about, but I’m fucking lethal at getting the first shot of quick and accurately , caught many an opposition player out just by being fastest and more accurate.

At the end of the day, when everyone is mag dumping their las mag into a puddle or their mate, Im the dork standing behind a barricade, popping out and putting a shot into a branch that’s 10m away, repeatedly, to train my muscle memory.

 

Its the “Seven P’s”

 

“Proper Planning and Practice Prevents Piss Poor Performance”

?

 

Edited February 2, 2024 by Enid_Puceflange

[The_Lord_Poncho]

I've made a few courses in the garden before - a couple of hours cutting out a lifetimes supply of IPSC carboard targets from old boxes, mounted on garden canes, inc. a few white 'no shoot' targets partially obscuring a couple on each course. A wooden framed plate rack with steel discs held loosely in place within 3d printed cradles, lots of steel disc 'gongs', and a few falling plate steel 'popper' and disc targets. I've cut up an old mesh trampoline net which I use as screens to restrict field of views/arcs (perfect for the job as once cut up as each 'panel' has a sleeve either side for garden canes to be inserted). Mild steel discs can be readily purchased online of various sizes and thicknesses - I tend to find FH Brundle a good supplier (ebay is more expensive). These can be painted (e.g. white line marking paint) and drilled to be hung as gongs etc.

 

Also, I've made a IPAS (Iron Plate Action Shoot) set up - which is good fun - 5 mild steel squares, 4 of them painted white and a fifth in red, paired with 5 simple wooden stands that allow the targets mounted at various heights/configurations. To be shot as fast as possible with a pistol, always ending on the red - various mobile phone shot timer apps will work.

 

Both are mildly diverting BBQ side activities for guests....!

 

But of course, old tin cans stuck on top of garden canes also works...

[Davet]

On 31/01/2024 at 20:59, Tommikka said:

I had a go a short while back on demonstrations of the MantisX dry fire system.  It worked fairly well demonstrated on airsoft, though it didn’t manage to pick up every shot and misfired from background noise - they were running a pistol, rifle & prone sniper rifle and with two or three people shooting at once we were triggering each others microphone sensors 

 

To run it you need your chosen weapon, the app, a smartphone and a mount to clamp the smartphone on the gun

Specialist mounts can be used but other phone clamps can be found 

 

 

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/mantisx-pistol-rifle/id1050791268

 

https://mantisx.com

 

 

Was that in the States or UK? Could be of use to me beyond just airsoft geekery…

[Tommikka]

1 hour ago, Davet said:

Was that in the States or UK? Could be of use to me beyond just airsoft geekery…

This was in the UK (Entrance hall of Army HQ) .. among a few different displays and was being demonstrated as an alternative to range time, being a lot cheaper, safer etc than the real thing and also cheaper than many of the other alternative trainer systems available to armed forces. 

The only key problem I saw for some would be the difficulty of use in numbers as a squad etc due to the sound of adjacent shooters

 

Otherwise for singles or with spacing out / fine tuning microphone sensitivity can be a winner

[Davet]

That would be very forward thinking of the Army to buy into something relatively simple to improve marksmanship - easy to do in a classroom or as a background activity then some range time to confirm. Save on ammo and limited training resource availability.

[Dan Robinson]

I don't know - looks like a lot of screens to be replaced if you keep shooting at them....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll get me coat.