Airsoft Vs Real Steel
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I was recently in the US and went to a shooting range.
Last time I did this, some years ago, I hadn't even heard of airsoft, so it was interesting to compare real steel with airsoft.
I fired a SIG P226, which I've also handled in airsoft form.
My experience of handling airsoft handguns was pretty useful in terms of handling, operation, grip and general confidence with the gun.
There were, however, a few notable areas where the real thing deviated greatly from airsoft.
1) Feel - Steel doesn't feel like zine or alloy even. Real steel guns have a cold feel to them that no all-metal airsoft gun I've encountered has ever replicated (I'm sure someone will tell me the SIG's frame is actually alloy - Whatever, it still felt quite different to an airsoft gun).
The weight of the SIG wasn't noticably heavier than a decent GBB, though and the grip and overall feel of the gun in the hand was remarkably similar.
2) Magazines - Obviously you put real bullets in a real gun, rather than BBs, but the effort required of the thumb to push in more than 6 or 7 rounds was noticable. Reloading under pressure must be virtually impossible and, of course, a real steel magazine weighs virtually nothing empty.
3) Trigger Pull - Airsoft guns have incredibly light triggers as a rule. I was aware of that beforehand, but, even though I found the SIG's pull smooth, the pressure required to fire the gun was much, much greater than 99.9%+ of airsoft guns I've fired. The other controls, like the decoker, were similarly harder to operate than their airsoft equivalents.
4) Noise - Yowch!!!! Even with ear defenders AND ear plugs these things are bloody loud.
I actually found myself tensing up as I took up the trigger pressure, in anticipation of the noise - I had to consciously overcome it...
I live quite close to Army ranges, but the mild cracks drifting across the range in no way prepare you for the sound of even a 9mm in a firing range.
5) Kick - Next time I read someone saying that the TM Hi-Capa has a hard kick, I'm going to cry. The Hi-Capa's a weedy kicker in airsoft form, but even a 9mm (quite controllable compared with a .44 Magnum, which I've fired in the past, or other big-bore pistols) kicks about 10-20 times harder than the hardest kicking airsoft guns I've encountered. Even TM's Desert Eagle only flinches compared with a 9mm, no surprise, really, when you consider the relative forces involved.
I did find that I felt quite comfortable and confident handling the SIG this time, whilst I'd been quite nervous with the guns I'd fired before. They say that familiarity breeds contempt, but I welcomed the knowledge airsoft had given me and felt I was a safer shooter for it.
Likewise, the feel (aside from the gun's coldness) and sights of the gun were familar and I found it easy to place the majority of my shots in the target centre, albeit not as tightly grouped as I can do it with an airsoft pistol.
As before, the ease with which an inexperienced shooter (me) could place shots consistently in a target was a little disconcerting. It's not hard to see how high-school students can easily kill large numbers of their colleagues with these things.
In their own right, airsoft handguns are great fun (and, not least importantly, incredibly safe) and I can see how airsoft practice would be good for real-steel shooters in terms of handling of the gun and use of the sights (say for practical pistol or real-life CQB situations), but don't be fooled into believing they are a realistic substitute for shooting the real thing.
Cheers.
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