EVERYTHING ABOUT PLAYING AIRSOFT

[longbow]

Game Style
There is path of evolution for airsoft player that each one of us has to start from the lower stages. As a player, you are bound to go through these playing styles or if you are lucky enough to have already evolved local community you might be able to get in quickly to more advanced games.

Stage 1

Backyard: Often popular among young gamers, backyard shoot out with small group of friends with very basic rules. However, you still see some senior guys doing this in their offices after working hours with mini’s and springers.

Stage 2

Ad-hoc: Group of players at improvised site with improvised gear and rules, but on regular basis. This is the beginning stage of new airsoft community.

Stage 3

Operation/Scenario: Organized event, typically for weekend, with set background story and specific rules. Might contain authentic propping of location and/or players.
The rules of these ops and scenarios are usually referred as MilSim (Military Simulation) since more often than not; these ops are trying to achieve higher level of realism than Stage 2 or 4 games.

Stage 4

Tournament/League: Although not necessarily well suited for airsoft, tournament or league is based on strictly competitive rules. Not common in airsoft.

Stage 5

‘Big Op’: Highly organized event that contains military gear, vehicles, personnel and special effects. Number of players is in hundreds rather than in tens.
The leading example is ‘Ahocalypse Now’ (the misspelling is intentional) in Japan that can gather 500 players in exact Vietnam War setting for one weekend.
Mentality
In different parts of the world, airsoft players and communities have their own mentalities. Even teams differ radically from each other as the following guide let’s you know.

MilSim: Imitation of real military equipment and uniforms to create realistic atmosphere. MilSim is extremely popular in Asian countries.

Hardcore MilSim: Close simulation of real military. Realism in all levels is the purpose of the exercise. Favored among certain teams in USA, Europe and Asia.
Re-enactment: Imitation of past wars and battles with as real propping as possible. Popular around the world, but in airsoft world the biggest re-enactment games have history in Japan.

Recreational: The guys who are going for plinking and picnic.

Competitive: People who want to compete and win against other teams.

Harcore, old-school: No limits, no pain barriers. In these days most hardcore guys are legends of the past as most fields/teams/countries have strict FPS and Joule limits. These guys used to play without any FPS limits, to extend where the BBs would penetrate the uniform and skin.

Training: Folks that use airsoft as training tool for real life operations. Although limited, it’s happening among some law enforcement circles.

These are general airsoft rules that commonly apply around the world, but keep in mind that each events and teams have their own variations. So CHECK them always in advance. These rules are for REFERENCE purposes ONLY.
1. Muzzle velocity limit: Check in advance and follow the local FPS/m/s limit. No ‘hot guns’ are allowed.
2. Protective goggles: Always wear your protective goggles to protect your eyes and face from BB hits. WARNING: do not take goggles off even in the “safe-zone” area. Accidental discharges, ricochets and stray shots are a REAL POSSIBILITY.
3. Treat airsofts as real guns: Safety first! Consider your airsoft gun as real gun in terms of safety. Keep the safety on at all times, put muzzle protector on while off the game, keep your finger off from the trigger and don’t carry your gun in public. The reason is simple. You can bet that the other people will think it’s real gun and most likely you will end up in major mess. WARNING: Do not shoot the gun in safe-zone area or at boundaries of gaming field. If you need to test your gun ask event leader the correct location for it.
4. Hits and Honor code: Hit is always a hit. Get off the game by yelling “HIT!” and raise your arms above your head. Your job is to go back to safe-zone with minimal disturbance to remaining players. Honor code: Since in airsoft it is relatively easy to cheat about hits, honor code is extremely important. Cheaters will be caught eventually as the reputation goes around and results are predictable. Failure to follow the honor code will result in expulsion from the game as well as ban from future games. Don’t expect to be invited to any more games. NOTE: There will be disagreement situations of whether or not somebody was hit. While you are running and/or wearing heavy equipment it might become impossible to notice hits to e.g. backpack or tactical vest. Take the note of the situation before you start pointing fingers. Ricochets or gun hits are not counted.
5. Code of conduct: Watch your behavior. No one likes player who is abusive, drunk, ignores team orders, etc. Do not bring illegal drugs or real weaponry. Alcohol use before or during the game is prohibited. Ignoring code of conduct will most likely result getting your ass kicked and thrown out of the game.
6. Elimination: Go to designated zone for eliminated players while letting others know that you are out of the game by holding your hands high and keeping your gun over your head or sling across your back.
7. Dead men don’t speak: After being eliminated return to your safe-zone and don’t speak to your teammates who are still in the game.
8. No physical contact: You are not allowed to grab, hold or otherwise obstruct other players. No hand-to-hand combat here! Read below how to operate in extreme close ranges.
9. “Knife Kill”/ “Silent Kill” / ”Safety Kill” / Surrender: In extreme close ranges different means of elimination must be used. This rule varies from the field and event, but generally it is applied by light touch of muzzle end to the opposing player. This is effective means when the enemy has not noticed your approach. Do not use this method if the enemy has already noticed you or if the targeted player is moving rapidly. If YOU are subjected to this elimination method, do not yell loudly that you have been hit, but quietly acknowledge the elimination to opposing player and then follow the rules on points no. 6 and 7. Close range – force to surrender: If you are in position of less than 30 foot of enemy player you can try to force them into surrender by yelling i.e. “Surrender!”. This is good idea for the guy staring at the end of your barrel, ‘cause upgraded guns can cause minor injuries from close ranges. Check local rules since often this rule is not known!
10. No real weapons: Don’t bring any type of real firearms, ammunition or knives to the game.
11. No unauthorized BBs: Do not use BBs that are unauthorized. Common types of BBs that are prohibited are metal and exploding BBs. In some fields only BIO BBs are allowed.
12. Obtain permit for your game area: Don’t play in unauthorized areas. Sooner or later somebody will mistake you for bad guys and major mess will occur. Good idea is to inform local police of your activity BEFOREHAND. If you know there is some other traffic besides of your own guys, put some signs that the area is used for shooting game, etc.
13. Stay inside the area: Do not wander outside of the designated gaming area.
14. Rules of Engagement: A. do not shoot players on your side, check identification first (typically arm band of specific color). B. Chances are that outsider might enter your gaming area purely by accident. If you are not sure of your target, hold your fire. If you see civilians wandering in the gaming area yell to stop the game. If you see a player without proper eye protection cease fire immediately and call for game to be stopped.

[longbow]

To prepare you to what kind of people you will encounter in field here is quick recognition guide (no offense meant or to be taken):
Teen newbie a.k.a "n00b": Highly motivated, although might lack cohesion and understanding of the big picture.
Adult newbie: Fascinated or just curious about the guns and game. He or she might except the big guns to shoot through the tree. Might play just once or get hooked for good.
MilSim fan: Propped to the max, might be idealistic about airsoft – watch what you say.
Serious MilSim: Besides propping, he is dead serious about rules. “No hi-cap magazines!” – avoid ruining his ambush with your noisy hi-capacity magazines. Serious milsim guys might ask you to load only 30 rounds to the normal mags (or less).
For the game: He is counting every elimination. He gets kick out of the every "kill" before it comes routine to him. He likes to fight hard. He likes to compete. And most of all, he likes to win.
Not all of them are good losers, thought.
For the fun (hangarounds): Out there to have good time. Could be one of the hang-around members of the team.
Real military: Although not often seen, he usually takes time to adjust from military training to ‘reality of airsoft combat’.
Hardcore: Long-timer with plenty of knowledge about everything in airsoft. He might be or be not involved in so called “airsoft politics”.
Wannabe airsmith: This guy thinks he knows everything there is to know about airsoft guns -- by reading forums, tinkering with his own guns and quite possibly even with some unfortunate buddies of his. You might want to think twice if he offers to upgrade your gun. It is easy to get into furious debate with him about upgrading guns; he is often die-hard of his own beliefs.
Airsmith: Has accumulated proper knowledge of airsmith skills through training, experience and persistent testing. The trick is to recognize him from the wannabes.









So what do I need besides the airsoft stuff to get started?"
Good question. There is plenty of gear that you have to think about. For the sake of simplicity, from our list you only find the practical gear. The more propping oriented gear is listed on our other articles.
Headgear
As you will use your head (hopefully!) for surveillance and aiming it will be exposed to enemy observation and fire more often than any other part of your body. You need to pay extra attention how to protect your face against hits and how to camouflage your head properly.
Protective goggles: Essential equipment for all airsoft players. These will protect you from eye and facial injuries. Airsoft manufacturers provide some very strong goggles, but these are now essentially completely out of questions as real tactical goggles are now readily available and they blend perfectly into airsoft outfits (allowing more realistic appearance of the player). For beginners mesh masks do provide some very practical protection in half price.
Bolle is household name for airsoft players and this French manufacturer of tactical goggles provides good selection with affordable price. They are often carried by most airsoft retailers.
Goggle fogging is common problem and manufacturers like ESS include various anti-fogging features in their range.
Helmet: Lightweight helmet such as ProTec skating helmet (as used by Delta Force in Somalia) actually protects your head in case you get flattened in course of game (very possible in frantic CQB). Others, such as PASGT (pictured at left) helmets serve primarily in propping purposes. Helmets are also available as replicas with much more affordable price than real ones.
Some well-known Asian makers of good PASGT replica helmets are TOP (Japan) and JUST (Taiwan).
Surplus stores carry wide range of used and new US, NATO, ex-Warsaw Pact and Russian helmets with low price tags. They are also worth checking out if you are playing major event with specified nationatilities.

When using face colors do it all the way
Camo face colors: Essential tool to give basic camouflage. Normal skin is visible far away and easily detectable by enemy observation. Readily available from most military equipment retailers.

Stalker 3D
Camo netting: Excellent and affordable tool to break the very recognizable shape of human head. As you cover your head with camo netting it will blend into forest background. Alternative tool is e.g. Stalker 3D headgear.

Blackhawk offers fire resistant balaclava
Balaclava: Fire protected balaclavas are favored by Special Forces around the world for added protection against heat and to prevent personnel identification.
In airsoft world, you get advantage of lesser need to play around with the face colors and slight protection against BB hits that can be painful, if not damaging, from close range.
Uniform
There is plethora of various camos in the market. Here is quick guide what might turn out to be useful for you.
On left inset: Propper US BDU with tricolor desert pattern. Worn here by youngest-ever US Navy SEAL Scott Helvenston who also featured in "Combat Missions". He is armed with RR customized Marui M4 RIS that has Surefire torch, Systema M4 flattop metal receiver, ICS M4 LE stock and ANGS AN/PEQ-2. Tactical vest is Blackhawk DOAV System. Rest of the gear is combination of Blackhawk (tac gear), Hatch (pads) and Altama (boots).
Battle Dress Uniform (BDU): The most common uniform in most parts of the airsoft world. Woodland camo provides flexibility to most environments although you can find patterns such as desert, urban, tiger, smokey, etc. readily available in most tac gear retailers. Rip stop versions might come handy for you they are not so prone to cloth tear.
Flight Suit: Flightsuit is less obvious choice for airsofters, but in fact, because of it’s fire resistant material (Nomex) it is popular among real Special Forces operators. Flight suit is quite handy for airsofters as it can be quickly pulled over or taken off (often it is troublesome to change the gear in the field). Less expensive versions, that are made without Nomex material, can be bought from most military stores.
The two drawbacks of flightsuits are their relative incompactiveness with other military/tactical gear and they lack camo patterns.
Other tactical suits: These days there is quite few tactical suits in style of flightsuits that are made by Asian airsoft gear manufacturers. These non-authentic tactical suits sport various features that are specifically designed for airsofters. There might be impact protecting padding in knees and elbows, integrated pouches for magazines and other airsoft related features.
Unfortunately, so far they havent been that readily available outside Asia.
Ad-hoc: You can show up at local field with ad-hoc uniform combining civilian and military clothing although it is likely that you will be looked upon by already mentioned MilSim and hardcore players (unless you have managed to make yourself look like say "undercover" e.g. Delta operators in Afganistan). However, if you are newbie then this is one way to let the others know about it and no one’s expectations will run too high (which could happen should you be sporting big bucks outfit right from the beginning).
The whole ad-hoc theme is currently very popular and makers like 511 are making custom made civilian-type vests for real Special Forces operators and intelligence agents. Few scans to mass media and airsoft magazines should uncover photos of above mentioned operators in latest hot spots.
Tactical Gear
Tactical vests: Essential real operator gear for any serious MilSim and airsoft player. Modern tactical vests can carry truckloads of magazines, grenades, pistols, radios, knives, ammo, compasses, night vision goggles and other tools for the hardcore individuals.
As more and more tactical vest makers appear, the selection is improving. Most of the really scarcely made and pricey high-end tactical vests is grabbed by Special Forces guys before they even have chance to get into open market. There is clear difference in quality with the sometimes "hyped" high-end tactical vests and imitations from Asia. It is different matter what is your personal requirement, Milspec or Airsoftspec. In the end you get what you pay for.
Harnesses, web gear: Regular army load bearing equipment that will come considerably cheaper than Special Forces tactical vests. There is a great numbers of surplus web gear available from militaries around the world.
Boots
Sneakers: Rarely seen in airsoft field, but in some respect useful. Good for quick running in flat terrain, but completely useless in rough terrain.
Outdoors: Usable, but then again, won’t fit with your military gear unless you are using irregular or security outfit.
Standard issue military boots: Cheap, easily obtainable. Good for most outfits and rough terrain.
Special forces grade military boots: The best money can buy. Regardless of the price, these boots will provide the best protection and comfort for your feet (never mind the ankles…). There is plenty of selection from manufacturers ranging from CQB-oriented tactical boots to . You can find many of these from our gear database and gear retailers intel.
Other
Backpacks, Rigs, gun bags: Useful to carry large number of gear to field. Rarely needed in the actual game unless you are going to be in big op.
For true MilSim you would need to haul lot of equipment, but usually most events are limited in duration (up to 24h) and provide secure base areas, so you should be fined with basic supplies. It is best to check with event organizer what they provide and what you need to bring in. Often it does happen that supplies of every kind are running low (BBs, batteries, gas, food and water) so if you would happen to go to anything more than 24h then all of the above should be brought in more than sufficient quantities.
For tactical backpacks, rigs and gun bags they are often provided by very same tactical gear manufacturers that make vests, pouches, etc. Surplus equipment in this area, unlike in some others, comes with good quality and with extremely low prices, if you know where to look from.
Gloves: Tactical gloves provide protection against injuries and BB hits. Look for halfcut gloves with leather reinforced palms for better weapon grip. Many of the high-end gloves provide Kevlar or Nomex protection, but these are not obviously needed in airsoft.
On left: Military issue Nomex flight gloves and Blackhawk Hellstorm tactical gloves.
One of the most popular gloves at the moment are Aviator Nomex-protected gloves, which are frequently used by US Special Forces for protection against fire and heat.









What you need
Ammo: Look for high grade BBs, because the cheap BBs are not only bad for your gun, but bad for the other players as well (they might disintegrate into mesh goggles when fired with high velocity gun). High grade BBs will increase your accuracy as each low-quality BB has accuracy decreasing quality issues. Bumps in the surface, changing diameter and air bobbles inside the BB will all cause deviation and inaccuracy. You will need plenty of BBs and they usually retail at $10-15 per for bag of several thousand rounds.
Check the needed weight of BB for your gun. Stock AEGs take 0.2 – 0.25g BBs, while heavily upgraded ones might need heavier BBs to shoot in straight trajectory. Too light BBs will deviate heavily, if the gun is upgraded for higher FPS.
Guns with tracer attachments will need specially coated tracer BBs to utilize the tracer effect.
Magazines: Your gun should come with one magazine at least, but you will need more for sure. Hi-capacity magazine (hicap) is cheaper solution than stacking normal magazines. However, it’s worth to remember that hicaps are disliked by MilSim-players.
Batteries and charger: All electric guns need batteries to operate. Stock guns need 8.4v battery to operate and typical custom gun requires anywhere between 8.4v to 12v depending of the level of upgrade.
As general rule, the more mAh the battery has the more rounds it can shoot with single charge. You will need at least one spare battery.
Battery charger is essential tool and “smart” chargers (i.e. Systema Fuzzy Logic Charger) can prolong your battery life with capability to make precise charge to battery as well as automatic discharge of left over charge. This will keep your battery “clean” and allow longer life span.
Gas: There is two types of gas available for airsoft guns, regular HFC134a and high-powered HFC22 “Green Gas” (you might as well read it as Toxic Gas). Basically HFC134a is compatible with every gas gun there is, while HFC22 is not. The latter one has high pressure that makes more strain to gun parts and some guns simply refuse to work with HFC22. In worst case this gas will make your pistol slide to crack due to excessive blowback action. It’s worthwhile to notice that Green Gas increases the muzzle velocity up to 30% in comparison to HFC134a.
Store carefully (especially the HFC22) out of heavy sun exposure. Never try to use any other types of gas in your airsoft gun – the gas tank can explode.
Sling: This is not mandatory, but very useful and simple piece of equipment. It will protect your weapon from unnecessary hits as well. Consider tactical three point slings for ready carry in combat situations.
Canteen/hydration gear: You will need plenty of water in games and events. Special hydration gear from Camelbak or Hydrastorm will do the job.





Riflemans prayer
Dear God, my Father through thy Son Hear the prayer of a warrior son Give my eyes a vision keen To see the things that must be seen A steady hand I ask of thee The feel of wind on land or sea Let me not ever careless be of life or limb or liberty For Justice sake a quiet heart And grace and strength to do my part To God and Country Home and Corps Let me be faithful evermore. Amen
Author Unknown
Safe handling of airsoft guns
Airsoft gun cannot be exactly categorized as toy. For it’s ability to injury eye and face and be very real in appearance airsofts need to be handled as if they would be real guns. This will ensure right attitude and less probability for any accident.
Consider these three to be ”golden rules” to live by:
1. Your weapon might be loaded and ready to fire even if magazine is empty.
2. Even if you know your gun is not real it can be mistaken by any bystander to be real one. Always make sure to carry it concealed in bag or case to avoid misunderstandings.
3. Keep your finger off the trigger and use safety when game is over or you have been eliminated. Make these part of your instinctive actions.
On gaming day there will be lots of people around with airsofts. Make sure to know where is no-guns or so called ”safe zone”. You should be able to tell quickly if the game is being run properly or if there is lot of people running around with unsecured weapons. It is good idea to keep your safety goggles on even if you are in so called ”safe zone”.
Never take off your goggles during game. If you run into trouble with fogging goggles or trouble breathing with your mask on, exit the game and take care of the problem outside gaming area. If you are part of event where base camps are used do not take off your goggles inside tents, fortifications or during night time. You might get hit anytime (nothing is more annoying than enemy without goggles ruining your raid
Do not take your gun to public places like school. Hey, if you need to show off your new gun to your pals do it somewhere else, okay? Special moron badge should be issued for those that do that.


Practical use of airsoft gun
When using airsofts it is useful to acknowledge that they were originally designed to be used for display or recreational gaming. Mechanism in most airsofts is more vulnerable than what it is their real counterparts and often not actually perfect in operation.
By paying attention to proper use, maintenance and limitations you can get the best out of any airsoft gun. Only start customization if you are fully aware what you are doing. Remember, customization does not always make better gun than what you had in the first place.
In gaming only experience and training will allow you to come skilled in airsoft ”combat”. While various techniques from the military apply, unique airsoft ones often get the best effect and result.

Eight practical Golden Rules to live by:
1. Never put your rifle more than arm length away.
2. Position your rifle so that your sights are protected against blows or dirt.
3. Cover the rifle muzzle from dirt.
4. When crawling cover the front sights with your hand.
5. If you have to place your rifle to ground place it cocking lever up.
6. Keep your Hop Up adjusted to most balanced position (for you) and zero your gun in regularly.
7. Keep the gun away from dirt, rain, snow, water, bonfires and wannabe airsmiths.
8. Put your magazines upside down to magazine pouches so that they don't collect dirt while you are hugging the ground.
There is lot of different BB grades available, but to get started you just need to figure out which weights are for what and how to weed out the bad from good. For advanced shooting, like sniping, BB grades are very important and take some experience to get right. After all, they are not that simple how they might appear.
Using BBs
Never reuse BBs. Even if they appear to be clean, they are not. The small dirt will accumulate to the gun mechanism.
It is not advisable to use paint BBs that are in fact, at least at the time of writing this, non-usable in anything else besides low velocity airsofts.
Naturally metal or explosive BBs are not allowed to use in any game.
BB Grades
Two fundamental rules apply with BB weights.
1. The less weight the more muzzle velocity. Remember, muzzle velocity affects negatively to accuracy.
2. The more weight the more impact power (read pain). Especially bad combination with high muzzle velocity gun, BUT you need more heavier BBs to stabilize the trajectory in order to hit your target. Balance is keyword here.
0.12g: For low-end spring cocking guns that lack power to shoot any heavier than that.
0.20g: For normal spring cocking guns and electric guns.
0.22g: Western Arms BBs for their gas blowback pistol series.
0.23g: For AEGs, NBBs and GBBs.
0.25g: Especially good for electric guns with slight upgrades. They are also useful for normal electric guns if you are playing in places that have lot of under brush.
0.29g: Maruzen’s BBs for their APS series.
0.30g: Typical grade for sniper rifles that have been heavily upgraded.
0.36g: Very heavy BBs for heavily upgraded guns of more than 150m/s / 495 FPS.
0.43g: Super-heavy BBs for ”hot guns”. To have this weight of BB the plastic has been already mixed with metals chips.
Hop Up and BBs
Remember to use only same weight of BBs in magazines and pre-adjust your hop up before gaming. With different BBs you need to re-adjust the hop up.
In some guns the hop ups are fixed and are meant for one grade of BBs only. Such guns are e.g. Tokyo Marui spring cocking guns.
Make sure not to put too much hop up, this will clog the barrel.
Tracer BBs
Tracer BBs are coated with phosphor and are illuminated with bright flash of light (you need tracer unit for this) that ”activates” them. As a result you can see the BBs glow in the dark and make tracer effect during night shooting.
Tracer unit will give up your firing position since its inside LED is flashing to illuminate the BBs.
Recognizing bad BBs
”What’s the best BB?!!?”. This question comes up all the time. In fact, there is only one sure way to find out.
Substandard BBs are often cheap, but you get what you pay for. Low quality BBs fly bad and happen to disintegrate with ease. Now imagine that with mesh goggles.
Low quality BBs are widely available especially from supermarkets and many small online retailers. So how to tell what’s good and what’s not?
Look for bumps in the surface and telltale attachment line going through middle of the BB. Better layman’s way is to slice few BBs in half and check if there are any air holes inside (they cause instability to trajectory).
The earlier mentioned sure, scientific, way, is to use measuring device to see what is the average diameter of the BBs. Stable diameter readings are sign of quality BBs and the reading itself should be less than 6mm between 5.90mm and 6.00mm. Some BBs quality changes during the years if factory does not maintain sufficient quality control procedures. Over the past years Tokyo Marui has made the most consistent BBs.

[longbow]

Batteries
When selecting electric airsoft gun make sure to find out for what batteries they are compatible with. Tactically it is important to know what capacity of battery they can take and how the battery is inserted. Capacity equals how many rounds you can shoot before juice runs out and insertion of the battery is equal to something of reloading magazine. Too slow and you are ”dead”.
Voltage
This affects directly the weapons rate of fire and ability to operate heavy upgrades. The standard voltage for airsoft gun batteries is 8.4v and most typical battery for custom electric guns is 9.6v. There are also 12v and 13.2v batteries, but these should be avoided unless you have extremely powerful gun. Too high voltage of battery can effectively damage your gearbox by disrupting the synchronization of operating mechanism. Although not many realize, mAh also affects the overall voltage, as explained below.
mAh capacity
Generally with one charge 8.4v 600mAh battery will guarantee about 1500 rounds with normal electric gun and much less with upgraded one. 8.4v 1300mAh will give you on average about 3000 rounds with normal electric gun. Both of these are standard Marui batteries.
Custom makers make batteries with mAh capacity even to level of 2100mAh.
Frequently players choose most highest capacity mAh as that will ensure them large amounts of juice to go with. What you need to know is that mAh affects to the Voltage as well. The more mAh the more voltage you get. Voltage affects the rate of fire and this requires attention. Too high voltage battery can cause gearbox breakdown, i.e. operating the piston unsynchronized with gears.
Batteries tend to be fairly expensive and quick to run out. One of the most important aspects of using batteries is how to maintain their life span as long as possible.

Maintaining battery life span
To ensure your battery starts it’s life in proper way it is essential to charge the batteries ”over” during the first several battery charging sessions and afterwards empty them completely. The way to destroy your battery is to use the battery partially and recharge without emptying the remaining charge.
It is recommended to use smart-charger that can discharge and recognize when battery is full or empty.

Basics that every airsoft recruit needs to know
Maintenance requirements of airsoft guns are not nearly high as what they are in real firearms. In fact, if you are familiar with firearms you will be very surprised how maintenance-free airsoft guns are in comparison. Excluding the screws and springs, most parts in airsoft guns are made from stainless materials so oiling of the gun is not necessary and in fact, prohibited. Real gun oils will just melt important plastic parts such as hop up units and should not be used.
In all times do your best to prevent foreign materials entering your weapon. During gaming your gun will collect dirt mostly on the surface, but also to inside, if you are careless. The best thing to avoid this is to keep your magazines stored correctly in pouches (upside down) and check them for dirt before reloading. Be careful that you don’t accidentally stick muzzle of your weapon into ground during the heat of combat. When re-loading BBs into magazines the first thing to always do is to remove metal snippet from BB bags. There are quite many cases that this metal snippet has ended up inside the magazine and subsequently caused feeding malfunction when fed into gun among the BBs. So when you are re-loading make it your instinct to check that there is no stuff that should not belong there.
Avoid playing in extreme temperatures. Cold weather will quickly strain your gun as the materials shrink in freezing temperatures. Slight rain is not disastrous with electric guns, but heavy rain needs to be avoided. Needless to say any airsoft gun will be damaged if you try to execute SEAL-type waterborne operations. Having said that, some older gas guns can bear that type of operations, if properly dried and maintained afterwards.
Do not shoot in long continuous bursts or dry-fire, latter being among the worst things that you can do to your gun. Long burst will cause more strain and overheat your gun. Electric guns do produce lot of internal heat when you shoot them in continuous full-auto.
At the end of the day, make sure that the spring is not left in cocked or semi-cocked position by shooting few single shots. Keeping the spring in cocked position for overnight will reduce guns muzzle velocity about 10-15% (!). That is in other words at least around 26.5 FPS (8m/s) PERMANENTLY REDUCED from the regular Marui electric gun muzzle velocity.
Basic Maintenance Rules
• Do not dry fire your guns unnecessarily – this is one of the worst strains to your gun
• Do not use other oils than silicon oil. Wrong oils will break your gun!
• Keep dirt away from any entrance points in your gun
• Clean your magazines from dirt so it won’t end up inside of your gun
• Make sure at the end of gaming that your gun’s spring is not in cocked position. Fire last round in semi-auto to avoid this.
• Empty your magazines at the end of gaming. Leaving BBs in will cause the magazine spring to deteriorate.
• Avoid extreme temperatures, especially cold
• Position your gun away from campfires
• Discharge the batteries with “smart chargers” that have this capability. Do not use Marui battery dischargers that don’t recognize when to stop discharging. Constant wrong battery charging will quickly render batteries useless.
Procedures
The most important tool you need is silicon oil. Most electric guns have already cleaning rod in the package, but if you don’t have one, you can fashion it easily by yourself (as long as it is thin enough and without any sharp parts that could damage internal parts like barrel). It is important not to damage the barrel with too thick loading rod or one with extruding sharp parts. Never use any other oils than silicon oil for your airsoft guns (see basics). Silicon oil dries within several minutes and will leave thin, but slick, veil of oil to parts.
The procedure can vary little bit depending of the operating mechanism of the gun. See below for detailed instructions to each category.

Spring cocking guns
• thingy the gun
• Turn the gun so that the barrel will face the ceiling
• Spray the regular amount of silicon oil (2s) from the barrel to deep as possible
• Keep the gun in this position for few minutes so that the oil can spread inside of the gun(this is the purpose of oiling) and not staying just in the barrel
• You can also apply the oil to slide rails to facilitate more smoother cocking procedure
This will work with most pistols, but any guns with longer barrels such as shotguns and rifles will need some disassembly if you want to do complete maintenance. Make sure not to keep the spring cocking guns cocked, as this will deteriorate the spring.
Gas operated guns
Now, it’s important to distinguish two separate types of gas guns. The low-end and the high-end. The low-end ones are much more widely spread around the world and are usually gas pistols that have fixed slide (non-blowback (NBB)). The high-end ones are mostly gas blowbacks (GBB) and more expensive, Made In Japan, ones.
It is important to know that low-end gas guns are more rugged than their high-end counterparts, which are delicate and need more careful maintenance. HFC22a (so called ”Green Gas), ”Red Gas” and other obscure gas types should not be used in high-end gas guns as a general rule (unless you want to exchange their life-span for power). Their more powerful pressure combined with acid elements in gas will strain and break the parts in Japanese made high-end gas guns.
• Because gas guns have more metal parts than say, spring cocking guns, you need to use more silicon oil.
• Important areas to be oiled are trigger mechanism, barrel hop up rubber and valves.
• Gas-release valve is important part to be maintained as without sufficient oil it can stick and release all gas with first shot. Any experienced gas gun user has most likely experienced this phenomenon before and knows how annoying it can be.
• To facilitate oil to gas-release valve it is useful to press down the valve manually while spraying oil. This will allow oil to go to most insulating parts.
• One, although not as efficient, method is to spray silicon oil to gas-release valve so that it will spread in to piston mechanism while shooting the gun.
• In GBB guns you need to use silicon oil to any moving parts, but do not use it too excessively. It might cause malfunction especially if you flood the nozzle with too much oil.
• Western Arms sells oil product called ”Speed Grease” that is specifically made for oiling the slide rails for improved blowback. You can use this or silicon oil.

GBB Magazines
It is useful to take care of your magazines, as these are prone for breakdowns or malfunctions.
• Empty the magazine gas tank from all gas by shooting. Do NOT use the gas-release button, because this will blow-off most of the greases that are inside the magazine.
• Push the gas-release button while simultaneously spraying the silicon oil from inflow valve that resides in top part of the magazine. Make sure that before this you have emptied the gas tank by shooting.
• The gas tanks feeding valve can be sprayed with silicon oil as well --although this is not absolutely necessary.
• Always keep small amount of gas in magazines to maintain pressure – this will prolong their lifespan.
Electric Guns
• Spray the silicon oil to inside of gun from BB feed port after every 10 000 rounds. Spray of two seconds will be plenty.
• Turn your hop up to zero position (no hop up).
• Apply silicon oil to your cleaning rod that has small piece of wool attached to it.
• Now clean the barrel (make sure hop up is zero! otherwise it can be damaged) and make sure to notice the color indicated limit on the cleaning rod. Do not push the rod more than the limit indicated – it might damage the gun.
• Fire up to 300 rounds to get rid off instability that the recent oiling causes to BB trajectories.
The gearbox is well greased in factory condition, so you don’t need to open it just for that purpose. However, if you have installed custom parts at some point or are going to, then it is useful to make sure that the gears and piston are well greased (see our upgrade guide for greasing tips). You can use Marui or Systema greases for this purpose.
Electric guns have tendency to drop many kinds of external screws, butt plates and locks during the games, so it is essential to tighten them before and after the games to make sure they don’t fall of during game. If you are sure that you will not open the gun from certain part, e.g. butt plate screws, you can think about fixing the screws permanently with superglue.

[longbow]

Basic shooting techniques & marksmanship
Shooting with real gun is affected by the weapon’s recoil and that itself dictates many aspects of existing real world shooting techniques. With airsoft guns there is no recoil, so the set of rules are completely different. You can even fire full auto with one handed unless there is so called ”house rules” that prevent the most unrealistic and above else, most “unfair”, shooting techniques.
Since the guns are 1:1 replicas of real ones their sights and optics are the same. Because of the differences in flight pattern of BB and real bullet it poses dilemma whether to use them or not. It really comes to effective range of your weapon and how profient/experienced you are at shooting with airsoft guns. It all comes at the end down to training and experience with specific gun model (changing it all the time won’t help).
Here at Renegade Recon we categorize the shooting techniques into simple and advanced.
Simple, “Side watch”: Looking at the target from the side of sights and barrel
This method allows large field of vision and is very simple to use. In fact, you do not need any previous experience of shooting. Most players are quite eager to use this method since accuracy of their guns is not fixed (meaning it “varies” depending of the gun settings such as Hop Up and external conditions such as range and weather) and many don’t know exact hitting capabilities of their guns As a result typical novice/mid-level player is not confident to use iron sights. Using this method allows you to observe large area while shooting at your target, so you should not be ”blind” to other developments in situation around the area you are looking at.
Engaging target is simple enough. Shoot and adjust your aim by watching from side where your BBs end. Eventually you will hit your target unless they are very experienced and quick in reactions to get out of your line of fire.
Pros:
• Easy to learn and use
• Allows observation of larger area
• Simple, but effective
Cons:
• Inaccurate first rounds -- first shot accuracy is very difficult and unpractical to even think about. Allows more time for the enemy to react.
• You learn very wrong way to shoot with guns
Advanced, “Real Steel”: Using iron sights
This method is identical to real gun shooting except in some models that employ large sights i.e. MP5-series, P90 and SG assault rifles.
Sight alignment and sight picture are keywords in real gun iron sight use and are not explained here in detail.
Pros
• You can retain real gun shooting techniques and feel bit better about yourself
Cons
• Requires throughout knowledge and testing of your gun effective range
• Inaccurate in some situations
• Less situational awareness
TACTICAL TIP:
Positioning your weapon to minimize recoil is no longer necessary, so focus with shooting position goes to:
• Observation (of enemy and any targets of opportunity)
• Minimizing your profile to enemy observation and fire
Airsoft style
This style requires open-type wide visibility sights that can be found in MP5, G3 and SG552 series. In addition dot sights (in non-illuminating mode) such as in P90 can be utilized.
Pros
• More accurate than “Side watch” method
• Better situational awareness than what in real gun style
Cons
• Possible only with certain airsoft gun series


Tactical considerations for selecting shooting position
Selecting shooting position in a field to engage or ambush the enemy is not that simple. First consider concealing yourself against enemy observation (you cannot obviously just stand there) and then what protection the position offers against enemy fire (yeah, they will take a shot at you at first opportunity). Even if position allows perfect protection against enemy fire it is not useful for anything other than hiding, if you cannot engage the enemy from it (and you better not hide when they are coming at your position). That’s why you have to figure how far the position allows you to shoot and in how wide area. This is also known as “Kill Zone” (often covered by several of your own guys and preferably so that you can get the enemy in crossfire. If you are alone at it, well, then that’s just too bad…). You should avoid places that have lot of foliage and obstructions in field of view (clear the foliage if you have time).
See if there are any potential spots in terrain that offer enemy protection against fire and observation (in other words places where they can duck when you open fire). Your own friendly force positions should cover these potential places from various directions, so no place allows cover for enemy when they are engaged. That is in ideal conditions, but hardly ever it is ideal.
Often high ground offers excellent positions in terms of field of view and defense, but remember if you can see the enemy from your elevated position so can they. High ground, like buildings and hills, tend to get surrounded very easily. When you are at top of elevated position try to avoid making contrast against sky or water, it will give out easy target signal for the enemy.
Now that you have considered these factors you have to visualize the situation with enemy in picture and how the situation will develop once the engagement starts. How are you going to pull out from your position? Do I need to assault from this position? Can I change my firing position (to confuse the enemy)? Can I hide myself completely if I need to?
Think fast and decisively. One of the things that real operators often stress is speed and decisiveness. There might be only seconds or minutes before you need to make decisions. It takes only two seconds for the enemy to get shot at you from the time of detection. One, one-thousand….two, two-thousand…..
One of the things you learn from airsoft is that speed, aggression, shooting ability and training are crucial in combat situations.
Points to notice
• How much cover your position gives to you (against observation and fire)
• How much area you can cover from that position (observation and fire)
• Current location and possible movement direction of the enemy
• Friendly force positions of tactical importance
• Your own requirement to move during contact with enemy and immediately afterwards of it (changing firing spot, counter flanking attempts, follow-up assault, defending, retreating)
Rifleman lesson 9: Shooting stances



Standing, shooting
If you would be shooting real gun you would need to position your body against recoil by leaning forward with wide standing and knees bending. Your arms would grasp the gun tightly and pull it against your shoulder.
Since airsofts don't have recoil you don't need to do any of the above. However, by using standard combat techniques will give more sense to the gaming and avoid any ”novice” mistakes.
Standing, ready
Your gun is lowered to tactical ready position where it can be brought into action quickly. Keep the stock untucked so that you can employ it quickly towards any direction. Only tuck it against your shoulder just before taking aimed shot.
Crouching, shooting
This is same as standing position, but with more bend knees to bring down your target profile. Useful if available cover is not tall or if you need to pass windows etc. field of views.
Crouching, simple CQB
Altough not very widely used, this simple technique is employed by some militaries in building clearing. The weapon is tucked against your center torso so that it will point exactly to same direction as your body center does. Some benefits are wide field of vision and crude, but effective, accuracy in extremely close engagements. Cons are inaccuracy anything else except extreme close engagement and slow target acqusition.
Squatting, shooting
Popular stance in Asian countries this has been adopted to Western tactical shooting techiques and is better in tactical situations than what kneeling position is. Squatting position makes your target profile smaller and allows you to move faster from your position. With little leg muscle conditioning this position is actually very comfy.
Kneeling, shooting
Typical military position that is seen obsolete in tactical scenes. While still useful behind approriate obstacles and cover positions its cons are quickly seen in comparison with squatting technique. Large profile and slow reaction time are some cons of this technique.
Prone, shooting
This position gives the lowest profile and allows steady position for shooting. However, it is not that useful in CQB-situations where it easily exposes the shooter to fast moving enemy. It takes time to deploy into prone position and again re-deploy from it.
Hitting moving target
The principles of shooting at moving target is pretty much same with airsofts as with any other guns. Just estimate the target range and speed and apply lead accordingly.
With airsofts the difference is the muzzle velocity and pellets, both which tend to vary the gun performance greatly. If you are excellent airsoft shooter you can take out running target at distance with just few shots without great need for adjustment and follow up shots.
Having the advantage of plentiful ammo with automatic airsofts the most effective method is to observe the moving direction of target (especially if they are running) and position they are trying to reach. Once you know it lay long burst of fire between the two and there you have it; the target should run ”through” your burst. Scratch one bogey.
Use of full automatic fire
Suppressive fire
When confronting alerted enemy head-to-head and going on assault you need suppressive fire. The purpose of suppressive fire is to pin down the enemy so that they cannot a) fire effectively b) observe c) change position freely.
Automatic fire is effective way to suppress enemy and cover your movement.
Firing at moving target
Explained at lesson
Ambush
Firing at bunched enemy with full automatic can be devastating and offers possibility to take out multiple enemies with one burst (you might hit others besides the one you are aiming at).
Counter-ambush
Explained at lesson
Basic CQB shooting techniques
First of all, to be able to shoot effectively in CQB you need to have plenty of experience and training to be able to shoot by reflex only, in other words instinctively.
Instinctive shooting is not to be confused for shooting without sights. It is more of reaching point of repeat action that the action becomes part of your reflexes or natural so to speak.
Since CQB is exactly what the synonym implies, close-quarters-battle, you will engage the enemy in extremely quick paced actions inside or in vicinity of buildings that offer awkward shooting situations to say at least. These situations call for completely different shooting techniques than what you would use normally at outdoors.
Angular Search Method (Covered in detail at CQB lesson)
”Corner Lever”
In tightly spaced corners where available space does not allow use of angular search method, employ ”corner lever” technique. In this technique you will hold your weapon horizontally instead of traditional vertical style. Now, stop your movement just before the angle allows you to see behind the corner. Bend your torso so that you can lower your head and arms just enough to see behind the corner. All the time your weapon is horizontally aimed towards and behind that corner.
Corner lever technique with carbine Same with pistol
”Corner Position”
Tucking yourself against corner for protection is natural, but can be a bad idea. The enemy will naturally expect you to take cover behind corner and will be first to cover it. Additionally, anyone shooting at you can take out you with simple ricochets of the very same wall that is covering you. Instead put yourself several meters behind the corner and use variation of the ”corner lever” technique to expose yourself only minimally.
This technique works best when there is only one approach route. If the enemy has multiple approach routes and wide angle to see towards that corner then traditional method is obviously better since you can pull behind the protecting wall faster.
Traditional New corner technique
Electronic Dot Sight
These are great tools for CQB shooting and so briefly covered here.
The way to use electronic dot sights (a.k.a. ”red dot sights”) is to look throught the sight with both eyes open and your brain will automatically adjust the sight picture correctly. The great thing about dot sights for CQB is the speed and precision of target acqusition. Normally you would have to aim at target with iron sights and because of the fast-paced combat of CQB your aim would be much less than ideal (there is no time to fuzz about with absolutely correct sight pictures etc.). In case of properly installed and adjusted dot sight you just pull the trigger when the dot is swifted ”on top” of the enemy.
Using dot sight also allows you better situational awareness as you are keeping your both eyes open all the time plus you get extremely big sight itself.
Camouflage
Camouflage is often neglected and overlooked part of infantryman’s basic skills for battlefield survival. Indeed, camouflage is for some sign of ”professionalism”.
The purpose of the camouflage is to blend into surroundings by having same colors as the surrounding enviroment and "breaking" any obvious shapes or patterns that would give target signal for the enemy. Unnatural shapes will stand out in nature and human eye will naturally pick out these. Trained and experienced players will be intentionally and instinctively looking for these unnatural shapes. Truly experienced players, when expecting tough opponents, will proceed extra carefully when they know that opponent is capable of camouflage that utilizes concept of breaking unnatural shapes.
Battle Dress Uniform (BDU)
You get BDUs and other uniforms in all patterns these days: Woodland, Desert, Black, Tiger Stripe, Urban, Digital camo, etc. For woodland pattern there are great number of variations as most countries have their own to fit their local needs and to distinquish themselves from other armed forces. Indeed BDU's other important function besides camouflage is to be primitive recognizition tool to tell who’s friendly and who's not. Part of camouflage, especially in special operations, is use of enemy uniforms to aid in infiltration. Use of enemy uniforms is, however, generally regarded to be against the "rules of war".
Face & head
Whatever action you take in game you will use your head first and the most, that’s an unavoidable fact. The most likely and frequent target signal you are emitting to the enemy is your face and head, so it needs to be camouflaged well.
Balaclavas, boonie hats, face veils, etc. all serve the need to camouflage and protect head and face. Uncamouflaged white shiny face stands out in forest like newbie in hardcore game. Most necessary of all head camouflage tools is the camo paint, but as it is prone to wear off within several hours of hard going. Use of base paint can help to preserve the actual face camo paint longer. Face camo paint alone will not be sufficient. Face veils and camo nets are crucial to make complete camouflage because they break the shape of your head and makes it blend to the surroundings.
Indeed, in most cases the shape of head is something that will give you up even if you have blended with the colors of your surroundings. To break up the shape of your head use improvised camouflage attachments like vegetation or camo netting. Remember hats and helmets give large target signal, more than your head.



Natural camouflage
Equipment makers such as Bushrag make low-cost camouflage attachment tags that can be sewed or ironed to your BDUs. You can attach vegetation and leafs to these tags to complement your camo BDU.
Night is obvious tool for camouflaging and to take full advantage of it black clothing works the best. It will allow you to perfectly blend in to darkness of night, but remember that once light comes up you will be exposed with dark clothes for their sharp contrast with everything else.
Other natural camouflage is lack of movement or extremely slow movement. Human eye picks out movement naturally so once you stop moving your chances to avoid detection increase immensely
Patrolling
This part handles individual patrolling techniques and skills. Please refer to team lessons for team patrolling.
Patrols are fundamentally missions to gather information (i.e. is there any enemy presence in certain area) or to conduct combat activities (if this would be military the term would be ”operations”). Units and teams conduct three types of patrols: reconnaissance, combat and tracking.
Adopt right state of mind...when you go out for patrol you become the hunter and not the other way around. Your single purpose is to find the enemy and take him out.
Alert level
At all times individual or patrol needs to be alert to survey the area for enemy precesense and to respond any enemy activity against the patrol.
These can be categorized to three alert levels:
”Green”
No reason or signals to expect hostiles and in friendly territory. Weapons are still slung at front in TACTICAL SLING CARRY position for quick deployment. Panning area routinely for visual signals.
”Yellow”
Possibility of hostiles, but in friendly territory. Weapons in TACTICAL CARRY position, but secured. Intensive panning of area for visual signals and routine stops for audio signals.
”Red”
High possibility of or actually known hostiles in area. Weapons in HIGH TACTICAL CARRY position and live. Intensive panning of area for visual signals and frequent stops for audio signals. Use of most secure terrain and if possible, always close to positions that allow cover against enemy fire.
What to observe
Visual signals
• Any movement in immediate area
• Ideal positions for enemy ambush or concealement
• Extruding and unnatural shapes in terrain (possible hostile)
• Tracks of recent movement (folded brush, footprints, etc.)
• Sudden animal movement (birds taking off etc.)
Audio signals
• Sounds of human movement
• Sudden animal sounds (indicating human presence)
Moving under fire
The standing rule is that within two seconds the enemy can aim their weapon at you and shoot. However, with experience you can judge the situation by yourself whether or not you should move longer than two seconds. For example, there is no point start dashing over open ground and dive after two seconds just because of this. Obviously laying on open ground makes no sense. Dive for cover only if you have it and only if you can get out of there.
The modern infantry combat calls for fire and move preferrably with overwatch. This part of boot camp is, however, only about individual movement under fire and overwatch is not considered here (in airsoft you are often moving just by yourself or with minimal support).
Before starting any movement try to suppress the enemy with cover fire. Then dash for maximum of two seconds before taking cover. Fire again from your cover, but make sure you do that from unexpected place and that you do it very quickly (the enemy naturally expects you to continue the movement to same direction).
Make sure to change your direction of movement with as often as you cand so that it is difficult for them to hit you. Mind you, this is all one big gamble when you are charging towards enemy who is able to shoot at you.
CQB
You should be always covered by your team mates in CQB position; being alone in situation where the threat can appear from multiple directions with no warning is not recommended.
Avoid CQB movement and clearing alone. However, if you have to do it by yourself then be prepared how to do it. There is several simple guidelines that will help you:
1. Observe for target signals and positions where the enemy can get shot at you with little or no warning. Quickly priotirize the positions in your mind. Cover the most threatening with your weapon and observe remaining within field of your view with presence of mind to engage any of the positions. Stay away from the most threatening positions as much as you can and try to work yourself to them with minimal exposure.
2. Avoid giving indication of yourself to enemy. Avoid making sounds with rush movement (this is if you are moving stealthily in the area and have not been noticed), be careful not to expose your weapon or equipment to areas that you haven’t secured.
3. Focus to your movement and building clearing process as you try to maintain tactical cohesion. In otherwords stick to your gameplan and don't fall over. Do not let your mind wander or become undiscplined about your movement. With high-stress situation like CQB untrained individuals easily break any cohesive movement or become disoriented. Focus.
4. Hit accuracy. Why the real deal operators keep training shooting everyday? When it comes to the CQB you need to place the rounds to target as accurate as possible. Miss counts for nothing and makes everything else irrelevant.
One of the things you learn from airsoft is that speed, aggression, shooting ability and training are crucial in combat situations.

Basics of building team
Before divulging into team lessons in detail one important aspect needs to be covered and this lesson was thought to be most appropriate for it. The subject is team ambition and goals.
Airsoft is a game and most participants are in for various reasons. For very, very few, airsoft can be called as profession. There are hardly any competitions because of the very nature of this game.
Most airsoft teams want to improve and develop into more ”professional” outfits that can boast their exploits in websites. However, as a team leader you got to ask yourself ”How far are these guys ready to go?”. If you start strict measures to improve the teams capabilities then you might (depending of the individual members ambitions) actually reach point where some of the team members start feeling uncomfortable and drop out, but then again, maybe you want to do just that to weed out the bad recruits. It all depends what is the purpose of the team.
For most teams, the key points for keeping members in active status and attracting more recruits, are:
• Sufficient frequency of activity (not too much though)
• Team identity (name, insignia, gear, etc.)
• Balancing enjoyment and team obligations
Agree team leader
Team leader should be very clearly defined and his or her authority acknowledged by all members. For team leader the responsibility is greatest and it is him who should deal with many of the problems that will eventually rise during the team’s existence. Team leader should be identified by his or her leadership traits, experience in airsoft and willingness to shoulder responsibility.
Leadership itself is one huge and important topic that is not covered here in detail.
Deal with troublemakers
All the members of the team should be able to work with each other and also with other players who are not part of the team. If you have troublemakers within your team they will make the whole team look bad for players outside your group.
Cheater affects the whole team
It should be general rule within the team that absolutely no cheating with hit-calls, because whole team will be quickly labeled as cheaters should anyone have any reason to suspect one of your members for doing it.
Team status - prepare for rough ride
Should you play well some reputation will start to go around and it will have both positive and negative effect for the team. Your members are more willing to stay with team and participate in activities given the feel good they get from increased status.
However, some members that can’t live with little fame will get problems with their boasted egos. For starters they might not want to lose out for any newcomers and might resort to cheating - exactly what newcomers suspect when when coming across "elite team". Hence it is absolutely important not to have any cheaters in experienced team. Bragging members in events or internet looks particularly disgusting from any outsiders viewpoint. You might get lot of silent enviers and few loudmouthed enemies for doing that.
Being a member of well-known team makes you target number #1 for everybody else.