Standard v Midcap v Hicap

[Rvrstyxx]

Mid caps. Good balance between practicality and realism. NO stupid winding, No maraca effect, large enough capacity

[Inari]

Midcaps for me. I really do not like Hicaps - too much BBs per Mag. I think Mids have it right, and I also do not mind standards. But yeah, high's are not form e

[LordElpus]

Depends on the gun. I have no issues at all with Realcaps in on a GBBr as long as it is good enough for you to be able to hit something past 30m. AEGs I prefer mids, dunno why but mids feel better to skirmish with over realcaps, although if i want a easy/light day then i won#'t bother with LBVs and just have a couple of hicaps.

 

The more ammo you have on you, the more you use.

[Jungle_Spectre]

In some games you don't need mags at all >>> 'BANG!' Rule

[faramon]

I prefer Mids but wouldn't be against standards for normal skirmishing.

[tquilha]

Hi caps are the spawn of the devil.

Kill them with fire

[LordElpus]

In some games you don't need mags at all >>> 'BANG!' Rule

 

Bang rule is Ghey. Surrender rule is All.

[hwagan]

It's like this;

 

Realcaps: For hardcore mofo's who like to test their skill, keep it realistic and for those who like reloading in a firefight.

 

Standards: For fairly hardcore mofo's who can't quite manage with 30 round mags, but like to keep a sense of realism, enjoy controlled fire and reloading fairly often.

 

Midcaps: For your average 'softer. Decent capacity, no rattling/winding, steady feed, all the fun of not quite as frequent reloads.

 

Hicaps: Noobs, students and speedballers

.

Noobs need to get used to the limitations of Airsoft weapons, which takes time. If you give them 30 round mags, they'll fire a burst, hit noone, get shot, and sulk. Once they get used to hicaps, they'll usually go to midcaps after realising the positive compromise on offer.

Students can't afford piles of midcaps (or even a sandwich), so a hicap or two makes financial sense.

Speedballers. Should be paintballers, really.

 

Obviously there's other reasons, like carrying loads of mags to look beast, or drum mags for support gunners and stuff, but generally i'd say the above covers most reasoning behind different magazine types.

 

Personally, i like midcaps. Partly because i hate rattling and winding, and partly because i get to smack them on my head if they jam. Which is cool, because i've seen dudes in action movies do it.

 

 

 

 

Also, @LordElpus; Not so sure on that one... My local site employs it to great effect. Sticking a gun over a barricade straight into someone's face - If you're even slightly under the impression they're going to pull the trigger, you're not going to waste time and aim a little lower, you're going to pull the damn trigger first. And then someone has a face full of blood and misery, etc. Depends on the site i guess, but i know for a fact it can save a lot of arguements and minor injuries.

[LordElpus]

INstead of "Bang" you say surrender. If they move in anyway that isn't their arm being raised, you shoot them. Pretty much employed at all F&O sites and has always worked well. Besides, it's fun when you manage to get the drop on the person that asks for your surrender.

 

As for Hicaps for noobs only. I'm at the point, sometimes i can't be arsed with lbvs and all that jazz and so going out with just a gun, one hicap and maybe a pistol for backup is just nice. (esp during summer...)

[faramon]

Bang rule is Ghey. Surrender rule is All.

 

 

Real men don't use bang or surrender, either shoot them once or walk on

 

Silly Mall filling my brain ^^

[hwagan]

INstead of "Bang" you say surrender. If they move in anyway that isn't their arm being raised, you shoot them. Pretty much employed at all F&O sites and has always worked well. Besides, it's fun when you manage to get the drop on the person that asks for your surrender.

 

As for Hicaps for noobs only. I'm at the point, sometimes i can't be arsed with lbvs and all that jazz and so going out with just a gun, one hicap and maybe a pistol for backup is just nice. (esp during summer...)

 

 

I'm familiar with the rule, but like i said... Say you end up with a gun pointing directly at someone's lips from 4 feet, and say 'Surrender'. They're surprised, and go for their gun as a reaction, you pull the trigger as a reaction, and the poor sod loses several teeth. Having played at the Mall (The worst experience of my airsofting career, i might add), i'm not a fan of the surrender rule.

 

Still, the whole bang/surrender rule is a different discussion for a different thread.

 

That's a good point with Hicaps; They're handy for the summer when carrying a rig of 8 mags is just uncomfortable... I just tend to carry nothing but mags anyway though, so i don't usually feel the need.... If i'm really that knackered i'll go with a pistol, a few mags and a speedloader. But yeah, hicaps aren't always bad.

[RSM]

It's like this;

 

Realcaps: For hardcore mofo's who like to test their skill, keep it realistic and for those who like reloading in a firefight.

 

Standards: For fairly hardcore mofo's who can't quite manage with 30 round mags, but like to keep a sense of realism, enjoy controlled fire and reloading fairly often.

 

Midcaps: For your average 'softer. Decent capacity, no rattling/winding, steady feed, all the fun of not quite as frequent reloads.

 

Hicaps: Noobs, students and speedballers

 

I kinda disagree with that...where do you place someone who goes out with 6 M4 highcaps at the start of the day and finds they've only used one and a bit by home time with a decent number of hits made that day as well? I really don't think what capacity magazine you use has any bearing on your skill as an airsofter.

 

Midcaps or Standards (ie STAR 85round Mid vs TM 68 round standard, not a whole lot in it really) in my mind offer the best compromise in terms of realism (in an open day environment) because:

 

- Given the highly variable nature of airsoft guns rate of fire due to gears, springs, motors, batteries we often have ROFs well above that of the real thing, so real caps are only asking for more reloading given the nature of an airsoft skirmish in comparison to real life engagements

 

- Nature of the projectiles (ballistics, velocity, speed bleed off) and general inaccuracy means that you don't get a true point/shoot/hit flow of events, basically the odds of missing unless up close are stacked against you no matter how much tweaking you do and at these ranges it doesn't really matter what mag you use, but for extended ranges more commonly found in woodland you need to have a bit more than 30 rounds before reloading.

 

Now, if BBs could travel a bit flatter, straighter and faster more consistently and be less visible with more designation/effective use of gunner roles in games I'd go as far to say that more people would push towards midcaps.

 

But generally, at an open day I'll stick to my hicaps in case it gets silly, members days or more milsim oriented games I'll roll out the mids.

 

Much like everything else in airsoft, just because you have 1800 rounds on you doesn't mean you have to hose them all out by lunch...or in a minute, etc

[hwagan]

I kinda disagree with that...where do you place someone who goes out with 6 M4 highcaps at the start of the day and finds they've only used one and a bit by home time with a decent number of hits made that day as well? I really don't think what capacity magazine you use has any bearing on your skill as an airsofter.

 

 

Fair point - Like i said, i was mainly getting at the majority, and may have worded it a little incorrectly. I'm not saying so much someone using realcaps is an elite mentalist; More that someone using realcaps is testing their own skill and patience. I know i don't have the skill to get within 10 yards of several people in a day, hence i use Midcaps. I guess succeeding with realcaps is kind of rewarding in that you've managed to prove you're just as good without needing loads of ammo... Kind of challenging yourself i guess, or obviously just trying to keep the experience as realistic as possible...

 

Still, in retrospect, my sweeping, generalising post may have been a bit less than well thought out... I'd still say it covers a big chunk of players, but it's clearly not that simple. I feel a bit stupid now.

[RSM]

Well, hind sight is always 20:20 and I have a tendency to get really pedantic...there wasn't any intention of trying to make anyone feel stupid, just wanted to throw my hat into the ring so to speak.

[hwagan]

Well, hind sight is always 20:20 and I have a tendency to get really pedantic...there wasn't any intention of trying to make anyone feel stupid, just wanted to throw my hat into the ring so to speak.

 

 

Heh, no hard feelings, it's a rare occasion i don't feel stupid

 

 

Also, another thought; What about hi capacity midcaps? Some of them are 190-200 rounds these days, which is pretty much a hicap...

[LordElpus]

MAG Metal midcaps at 170. Only 30 less than a MP5 hicap

[gisburn20]

I voted Midcaps, but let me explain why

 

At my local site we have a very varied array of players,

 

the rental with his single hicap and bottle of bb's

 

 

The Milsim team - GBBRs or mids on aeg's (10-20 mags each seems to be carried)

 

 

The casual team (my lot) varies from 5000 round box mags on stubby killers and HK416's to one guy who carries 15 G3 hicaps (500 rounds per mag-

 

the minimum most of them carry is at least 5 hicaps plus pistols and grenade launchers etc).

 

 

 

Me- I carry 5 PTS PMAGs (120 rounds each) for a long game or a defensive game I also carry a MAG 190 round "Mid" I have a TM M4 shaped speedloader which carries 470 rounds to reload with

 

I usually carry a TM G17 or a MK23 with a spare mag as backup.

 

 

 

Now , the milsimmers think i'm not very realistic , not wearing armour and carrying 10+ mags, the casuals dont think I can possibly play without carrying 20,000 rounds....

 

but I have found a style that suits me a simple belt kit and DPM smock, not carrying ton of ###### I dont need.

 

 

Until I find some decent TM M14 mids (come on magpul ! pull your finger out!) If bring out the M14 I take out a single m14 hicap and a belted sidearm.

 

It's only a small woodland site , and the longest games are only 1 1/2 hours, safe zone is quite close by.

 

 

I have ordered a pair of Lonex "flash wind" magazines from EBB for the summer

 

if they work well I will probably ditch my belt kit in favour of those 2 mags in a mag clamp on the gun as a "Hot weather loadout" and really confuse all the "cliques" on my local!

 

 

 

 

 

When I started in airsoft , nobody used anyhing but hicaps , but the most I ever bought and carried was 3 mags, one in the gun , 2 on the belt.

 

but these days opinion is shifting and there are lots more options available inc. all the GBBR goodness coming out.

 

A few local milsimmers have GBBR's (some WA's a couple KJW , and 2 or 3 MP7s) I spent a whole day last month playing with my TM G17 -HERA carbine , in woodland with only 3x 25 round mags

 

and I found it extremely liberating , I could move so fast and cause all sorts of trouble for the Milsimmers! , I kept flanking round them and they thought (from the noise of the hera) I was one of their

 

own firing on them!, killed one of them 4 times with it and he really got the hump! it was outshooting his £1000 tricked out WA...

 

Jim

[elonaman117]

Honestly when it comes to mags i prefer standards. I run strictly 68 rnd TM mags in my M4 which imo are amongst the best feeding, durable and long lasting M4 mags om the market. I like the fact that i can slap my mag in and have reliable ready feed without having to wind my mag up. That said I do like to have a high cap but ONLY in support weapons. anything else is just a no go to me and anyone who uses high caps know that it is harder to conserve ammo and this takes away a good amount of realism.

[tquilha]

I like lowcaps best.

My loadout is 5-6 68 round mags, a full speedloader and two mags for my Glock 23.

For very long games, I'll carry extra BBs on a bottle, or a sock (no rattle, that way).

[Yorkiebar]

I prefer mids as it suits my play style i do not spray and pray anymore i lean towards milsim.

[Robin-Hood]

Mids are perfect. Airsoft guns are too inaccurate & unreliable to go 1:1 with real rounds. 3:1 seems about right to me, for instance at long range one may break through a twig, another may get blown off and the last may hit. So 90rds is perfect for me, sadly mids seem to come in 120rds or something but my 85rd mid caps work perfectly so I can live with that. High caps are just stupid & spray promoting.

 

tl;dr

 

Lows / 30rds: Too little considering airsoft guns suck.

Mids / 90rds: Spot on as 3:1 seems to work quite well in my experience.

High / 300rds: Pure fail, noisy, annoying, immersion breaking, promote spray & turn regular assault rifles into support weapons.

[ctres94]

Personally, I think that anything that is not a high cap is fine, from 30rd mags to 190rd "mid caps" (Which I happen to think are a great option for someone looking to be competitive against people with high caps) however, I think that what matters most is that there is a set limit. For instance, in a game that allows high caps, people with gbbr's or mid/low/standard caps are all at a disadvantage. The same applies for people using 30rd mags against people with 68rd mags, although in this case, the disadvantage is definitely slighter.

 

My opinion is that high caps should be banned altogether, and that specific limits should be placed on what kind of mags are used at each game. For example, 30rd mags would be a blast if everyone was using them, but if I have to play against people with high caps, or even mid caps, you won't catch me using 30rd mags, I would take the highest capacity mid cap that I could find.

[AirsoftBuyer1234]

Voted for standard cap.

 

Personally I love playing with them, far more realistic, and forces you to actually aim and use a bit of skill as opposed to "spray and pray -watch where the bbs go and adjust while still firing". Hi caps make airsoft guns like garden hoses... limited ammo, both in the gun and on you makes it far more challenging.

 

I've played a couple of real cap only games - best ever. Far more movement, as people have to reload a lot more giving you more time to move. No more stupid overkill/ hosing because you haven't got the ammo for it. Far more semi-auto fire, no more stupidly high ROFs (except for LMGs, which suddenly have some plus points).

 

Problem is when you've got a bunch of hi-cappers on the other side, holding more ammo in a mag than you've got on your person. Standard caps are great, but only when everyone uses them.

 

In short, I think it's time for standard mags only at airsoft sites.

[Silent Avenger]

Personally, I think it's got to be hi caps. True, real caps probably are a lot more realistic, and mid caps are a step in the right direction, but... at the end of the day, I don't play airsoft because it's like the real thing. It's not. I play airsoft because it's fun and exciting and... but it's not real, it's a game. And as such, you play within the rules of the game, and do everything you can to give yourself an advantage while staying within the rules. You have your rifle shooting at the exact site limit, you boost ROF to far beyond realistic levels, and you carry as much ammo as you possibly can. If you want the real thing, join the army, if not, play the game.

[Airsofty]

I thought I perferred Hicaps, however I think mine have feeding issues so I am buying some Midcaps...