The Things You Need To Know!:
Having been on airsoft forums for many a year hearing "I want to become an Airsoft Sniper" becomes almost a daily event!
The fact is most can understand the desire to fulfill the support role that many movies portrait as "Elite", the sniper.
"Perched high above the rooftops objective in sight your earpiece begins to crackle. It's your friendly local combat controller and he has four targets approaching from the west of delta squad. Your spotter reacts almost before the radio transmission ends and begins to guide you to the target.
You chamber a round on your L96 and following your spotter's guidance find the target group quickly. The crosshair finds itself over a large fellow wearing civilian clothes yet wielding a AK74 and positioning himself to fire on the main compound where Delta is located!
With the simple squeeze of the trigger the large man goes down falling apon his kit and almost leaning to one side, arms contorted unaturally.
Before his body had even hit the ground, a fresh round chambered. Your reticle moves so slightly to the left just leading behind his comrade knowing his withdraw in face of his large friends delima. And as predicted he tries to move back and falls dead into your reticle, you fire!
It takes him a few micro seconds to figure out he had just been shot, his body catches up and he drops almost kneeling.
You chamber another round while trying to find your next victim when you hear all hell break lose from delta! Delta has heard your kill shots and have adressed the west side of the compound!
LAV and small arms fire, grenades and rockets rip the small ally apart and the militants with it!
A job well done"
The fact is being a airsoft sniper is nothing like the real world counterpart, most new players would say; “Well no duh jack”, hear me out.
When we look at what makes real steel snipers effective it comes down to three principals:
- Effective Combat Range
- Stealth
- Communication
Each one of these principals are crucial and interwork to make a sniper effective, without any one of these principals an sniper finds himself in a difficult situation.
Effective combat range is an snipers best asset and allows him to engage targets far sooner then any normal operator. Accuracy at long ranges with the ability to pinpoint targets makes snipers almost surgical in nature. This having been said, snipers play a important and pivotal role in providing psychological warfare and securing/monitoring/scouting large areas without the risk of doing so with a large squad or platoon.
Range&Accuracy; something all new airsoft snipers crave and desire, sadly no matter the brand make or model airsoft guns are not designed to be accurate at long ranges. No matter what you do to your airsoft sniper platform it will NEVER deliver expected range and accuracy most new players demand.
Do not misunderstand my statement, upgrades to internals will produce better results just not what most new players expect when first thinking of becoming an airsoft sniper. This leads to much disappointment and spent money for an experience airsoft simply cannot provide.
Stealth plays a vital role in providing snipers the edge while performing com relays or engaging the enemy. It alows them to deploy in and hold non friendly zones that larger formations simply could not without coming under fire. Often forgotten is the role sniper play in relaying information to control points and tactical centers. Calling in enemy movement, aiding fireteams in locating conflict areas to calling in coordinates for airstrikes not revealing your position keeps you near the action.
Stealth and communication can be acheaved fairly easily in airsoft with an almost endless choice of communication devices and camo kit to choose from on the open market. What most new players forget is that stealth is a tactic not an fashion statement! Learning to become stealthy takes time and effort and does not come instantly the day you buy your first ghillie suit!
Communication for the airsoft sniper is a pivotal role and if performed well can change the tides of battle! Having played with a few talented airsoft snipers I know too well how effective they can be at calling out enemy movement to our commanding officer or any friendly on the same channel. Knowing where and what your enemy is doing is worth more then one or two kills at the cost of a forward sniper observation post. As a sniper you will need to know when to break cover and if it’s worth it to not just your pride and ego but to your team as well!
Now for a question that has been asked almost daily; What is the best sniper rifle?
Most tend to answer this question with models and upgrades, I prefer to answer it with key principals. The simple fact is airsoft guns differ more in shape and look then in performance. I am not saying cheaper brands perform as well as name brands but that a object of equal weight being shot at the same valocity will travel almost near same paths and distance even when shot from two different weapons.
Two different brand/models AEG’s shooting .20’s @ 500 FPS will generally perform very similar regardless of upgrades etc. So the real questions when looking to buy a airsoft sniper should be; What FPS do I want it to operate at? Can the internals handle it?
Find something that will perform in the FPS range your looking for that includes internals that can handle such desired FPS. If you find a certain make or model that apeals to you make sure it’s worth the time and effort of upgrades and cost, sometimes it’s better to just buy a higher end product that requires little to no upgrades to perform high FPS.
I can hear it now what about better barrels what about this brand of bb or that hopup unit etc. The fact is the longer the barrel and better the bb fit the better range and accuracy you will get. That being said custom mod gains will be minimal…
I do not discourage anyone from playing sniper roles, if it’s really what turns your crank go for it, just keep in mind what you have read above and what to expect from your kit!
Good Hunting!
By: Cornerpedler – airsoft society
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