The wonders of Airsoft and understanding the Restrictions.

As a military enthusiast, I had been deeply involved in the study and understanding of both military methodology and tactics, and a student of firearms and equipment used by modern militaries since the First World War; well, perhaps not THAT deep, its a cool subject matter and I enjoy following games, books and even the news on such things even if they aren't too appealing and might become something more in today's changing world.  Despite what the new's says, I still enjoy a good bout of wargames with friends or running around a paintball field and blasting with like-minded people, but here, in South Korea, things are a little different.

 Originally, I wanted to bring over my Paintball gear, having only recently been involved with Paintball back home, I was hoping to take my new interest with me, as Paintball is not only fun, but a very active and endurance testing sport. I had searched the interwebs and found a few places in Korea that do have fields and read a number of bits of information that tell you how to involve yourself, get your gear sent over, and enjoy the awesome sport of Paintball. That was the plan...however, plans change, and nothing originally thought of may survive what reality throws at you.

No sooner had I considered the possibility of shipping Paintball Markers when I had began to figure the actual cost of doing such a sport would be. How much would it cost to ship a marker over, let alone where could I get the CO2 needed for it, the bigger problem was the fact that it was illigal to even OWN CO2 for civilian use, so that instantly shot the Paintball idea down before I could even start to think about it, however, not all was lost. I decided to step back and involve myself in a sport that Anime has shown me to be quite popular in Japan and Korea; Airsoft.

Airsoft, like Paintball, is a military-simulated (MiLSim) game with similar principles; running around and blasting your opponent while trying to keep your team/flag/base defended. Airsoft differ's heavily from Paintball on the main factor of WHAT you use. While Paintball's are near ball-bearing size balls of paint, Airsoft uses small plastic BB's around 6mm in size, and while you might carry large pods to store 500 or so paintballs on a person at a time, BB's can be stored in the several hundreds to almost thousands in Magazines, Ammo Drums and Box Mags, not only that, but without needing a large hopper for those paintballs and instead using the original magazine design, it takes away the hardship of carrying large stores of ammo in unconventional belts and vest holsters and free's up your sights to mount more customization all over your firearm. The only real similarity is that Markers and "Blasters" (Airsoft term for their weapons) are often the same type of weapons; the latter having more Military-esq styles while the former is a mixture of military and sci-fi-looking "Speed Ball" Markers, and that's were things start to change. With Airsoft, you can worry a lot less about messing your good clothing or needing heavy protection despite the BB's travelling almost almost 50-150 PSI more than a Paintball Marker, they don't hurt nearly as much as a Paintball hitting you.  (Paintball often plays at 150-250 PSI (Pounds per Square Inch) while Airsoft plays at 300~ PSI). Remember I mentioned how CO2 is illegal, well, most airsoft gun use electricity from batteries, which are quite easy to get and martian, so you can have a lot more fun with a lot less risk involved with CO2, and since Airsoft balls fly a lot faster, using electrical charges for your blaster means you can place a battery inside the firearm, negating any bulky outcrops from the CO2 tank.

Recently, I had stumbled upon certain forum known as Airsoft Korea and found a slew of information on Airsoft meets and classifieds. After some searching, I found a meet to be rather close to where I live last Sunday, I decided to check it out at Yangjae field at Maebong line.3. After a near hour long trip, and a slight confusion with bus and taxi getting to the spot, I met up with the dude I had spoken to, Lim, or as he was known on the forum, Picky.

Picky was donning a Woodland camo scheme, a pretty sharp looking gentlemen as he lead me down a path and then up and around a small farm hovel to a wooded area where several other guys were hanging around. It felt like a small militia had gathered for fire-drills as everyone was wearing Modern Kaki Desert Camo fatigues and such.

This is my gun
Their are many like it
But this one is mine.
(temporary of course)

It was quite an experience to see such a heavy military interest bread into these guys, but considering there is a mandatory Military Enlistment at the age of 19 for all South Korean males. It makes some sense considering the countries history and location, but that's not the subject of this blog. Anyway, having arrived and quite excited to begin, I was amazed at what Picky had in store for me in terms of equipment. Shooting glasses (lab goggles to say the least), a combat vest for magazines, and the 'piece de resistance'; an MP5 that looks like one and feels a LOT lighter. The ammunition was plentiful as well, not only easier to carry it was, but 6mm BB's are quite tiny and don't really weigh too much either. You can carry quite a lot of them easily and hold them for much longer than any paint-projectile; definitely a lot easier than paintball.

Blaster's aside, the group had a rather large collection of varying Airsoft-arms, notice a common theme? Many of them are American types (with a few exceptions of German and Belgium) and many are well tended and often debated over by others; big boys love their toys right?


Once we got ourselves sorted, had a few snacks and drinks, we made our way into the brush. Sadly, due to the nature of the game and the speed it goes, I didn't really take many photos, but I can safely say that for anyone who had shunned away from paintball, Airsoft is a whole new ball game.

The balls for one are tiny little pellets, for those who have worked with BB, you'd be in familiar territory, the pint size pellets may fly faster than paintball, but they hardly hurt, and I can say that from experience as I fought one round without a sweater and was nailed in the arm by several shots; it felt less painful than even a mosquito bite, easy to walk off and with little fuss. Suffice to say, Airsoft seemed to play a very positive fiddle n my mind, and after a few hours of gaming (from like 10-1230) I had been engrossed so much to the fun of it that I wanted to do it again...and again... and again. I was fortunate that Picky had said they meet every Sunday in the same place at the same time, now its only a matter of hammering down a bus route to get there that ills my pure blissful adventure to the wonderful world of airsoft battling.

Until next time readers, stay happy and healthy, the weekend awaits!