To Check Out or not to Check Out? (I'm a new guy)

[wehrmacht1940]

I'll mix my personal preference with your suggestion, being m36 tunic and m43 trousers. Given the m36 wasn't common, it was still there, right? I mean, towards the end of the war I guess German soldiers were equipped with whatever could be supplied and with what was left. On a side note, I'm thinking of upgrading my weapon from a dboys ker98 to an AEG MP40 or Stg44. Suggestions?

[brownien]

There is a new offering by redfire, as seen in the G2 section. Not much is known about it so far, but at $215, for a gas non shell ejecting rifle, its a steal! We always need more riflemen on the battlefield!

[aldrich]

An m36 is perfectly fine. Not as common, but could still be seen now and then and fine to use. I would also agree with brownien. Rifles are a lot of fun. I switched to a rifle and now won't go back.

[wehrmacht1940]

I currently have a dboys spring shell ejecting kar98k, and I suppose I'll give that a shot to ascertain whether or not I want a rifle still or want to go to an electric or gas smg or assault rifle.

[halfnelson]

Using the Tanaka clone (Red Fire), G&G, the real Tanaka or a VSR based Kar98k will be a much better way to compare a skirmishable rifle to an AEG than the Dboys. The Dboys rifles are a flat out PITA to play with, quite honestly.

[brownien]

Agreed, I have one also, and I would rather be stuck with a $20 spring pistol than that piece of junk. It's a nice wall hanger, but I agree, a vsr10 kar98 conversion, or the redfire kar98 on airsoft GI would be a much better gun by far!

[wehrmacht1940]

I take it there aren't too many leads on an airsoft Gewehr 43?

[brownien]

I could do a build converting a M14 into a G43. Not a perfect scale replica, but it would be as skirmishable as an M14 aeg. And nope, no company makes a G43 commercially :/

[aj czarkowski]

To be honest with you (someone's going to yell at me for saying this), using any bolt action rifle is a pain in the ass. I can tell you from experience, that even though the rifle does have a longer range and better accuracy, you'll never be far away enough where that would be an advantage. Also it doesn't help that literally everyone else will use MP40's, STG44's, M1928's, or M1A1's so you will be very outgunned. I've used many bolt actions, including one's that I built myself, and when I use them I have a terrible time. The D-Boys one being the worst out of them all. I'm not saying that they are crappy (In fact, the Tanaka Kar98k and VSR11/Bar10 are two of the best airsoft rifles I've ever used), but the problem is nobody else is using one. It would be different if the majority of the teams did use rifles like in real life.

When I built my Kar98k and M1903 all of my friends wanted to use them because nobody else has rifles. I used my M1903 and lent my friend the Kar98k, and honestly I only hit like 3 people the entire day. Did I mention we were the ONLY two there with rifles? The problem wasn't the gun, it was what the other players guns where. Full auto smg's against bolt action rifles is a bad idea. You see, people tell you to buy a rifle because there needs to be more riflemen, but most likely they don't use one themselves lol. I'm not trying to call out anyone who posted before me, I'm just going by my experience. If you are skilled enough though, and fit your rifle with a scope, you can still be very effective (I've since done that, and in my opinion they are useless without scopes).

A semi automatic rifle like the G43 would be your best bet if you want a rifle, it will definitely be more effective

[wehrmacht1940]

I will try and find an accurately priced Gewehr 43, given it's not commercially made beggars can't be choosers I suppose. On the other hand, if I find a reasonably priced and well-reviewed MP40/Stg44 I think that may be my route because of the helpful and logical info.

[stuka]

IMO, using boltie(Thats what I like to call them) is extremely fun but unless you are reenacting a russian rifleman or a british rifleman, every other allied soldier is going to have some form of semi-auto to full auto(except guad USMC) which outs the axis at a large disadvantage. Yes there were still standard rifleman in the USMC and US army with the 1903 but nobody reenacts them because, m1 garand lol. Me personally, I just like to be as good of a team mate as I can but no matter what I use, I very rarely get kills, unless I bang somebody out so for me, it's just fun to run around and survive.

I don't know about how you guys play, but when I am not inching up on the enemy I am dodging bb's running towards them, I can't tell you how many times I have dodged volley's of bb's and to tell you the truth, I am not a fast runner but I generally scare the nuts out of whoever I run up on and either got a kill on them or I die from them.

One time I did a banzi on a small slope, run right up next to them and nearly scared my friend to death which caused him to flip out on full auto(Yeah I was hit) but this allowed my team to hit him(he was their medic) and it's times like that when I say "LOL totally worth it"

[brownien]

I posted some time ago, stating that, if there are many Smg's at an event, they should have a majority regulated to semi only, and have 1 or 2 designated full auto smg gunners. Honestly having bb hoses really ticks me off. Even when I do rarely run my thompson, I only ever fire 2 or 3 round bursts. I prefer my 2ndBat m1. Even with that on semi, at my last event, I did very well against everyone else using m4's.
Bottom line, there needs to be regulations in place at events, that discourage the use of most Smg's, and make having a semi or boltie battle rifle, an advantage.

[stuka]

Regulations would turn people off from playing and there isn't much advantage to to bolties in real life the only reg's you could have would be limiting full auto's to Officers only but then i fear that would also mess with people playing but with more and more ww2 guns coming out people will have less and less excuses as time goes on

[aj czarkowski]

Limiting SMG's to semi auto is a good idea, but the problem is that even then, they are still at a huge advantage. They can still fire at least 5 shots before the other guy bolts his rifle.

Stuka, my playing style used to be similar to yours. I eventually wouldn't even bother trying to shoot at them from a range and just get in close enough where my rifle wouldn't matter. But that's the exact opposite of what a riflemen's supposed to do (except the Japanese ), and I don't know about you but that sure as hell wasn't fun for me, especially that half of the time I would get sprayed with an SMG at a very close distance. Now I've equipped my rifles with scopes, and I just stand far away enough where I don't even need cover and pick the enemy off one by one. They can't do a thing about it, just like how when they used to spray me with SMG's, I couldn't do anything about it. Revenge...

Also, in real life rifles actually had a lot of advantages over SMG's. For one they were much more accurate, and also they were much more powerful, and they had a further range. Of course, none of this matters much in airsoft which is our problem

[brownien]

With the options that people have when choosing a gun, there "should be" more battle rifles. I do see the need for events to discourage smg usage, especially on full auto. Limiting full auto to designated Smg's would limit the firepower of each side, and the full auto designation cna be traded around durring an event, so all get to use their weapon on full auto. Personally, I only own 1 Smg, out of 5 US WW2 weapons; 2 M1's, a BAR, a Trench Gun, and a Tommy gun. This will soon grow to 8 when I pick up the Cyma M1 carbine springer, a M14 for my M1 Carbine aeg conversion, and the Redfire Gas kar98k. I prefer not to get another Smg for my arsenal, because it would be just another Smg on the already Smg filled field.
Bolties can be very influential too. At the event I hosted in May, I had a friend, who was quite new to airsoft come as a partisan. I lent him my Bar98k, and my trench gun. He said he used the Bar98k most of the time. He was hid behind a rock wall, and with the help of a Mp40 guy on full auto, successfully pinned down 3 US troopers with Tommy guns and Me with my M1 garand. He was positioned 15ft to the left of the road of US advance, and the Mp40 gunner was about 25ft to the right and about 30ft further back. I could tell the Mp40 gunner was feeling the lack of range his weapon had at the range that the US troopers were attacking my friend, the partisan. He was pinning us at a distance of 75-100ft, and took about 30min of flanking and manouvering AFTER the Mp40 gunner was knocked out, to take out the partisan! Bolties are effective if employed properly. I hate to say battle riflemen are snipers, but at ranges where teammates can pin down enemy troops, a boltie battle rifleman can pick off targets easier. you just need mutual support and a coherent command structure, keeping the ballet of fire and manouver moving gracefully.

Bottom line, I would love for WW2 airsoft to be less about BB hoses, and more about squad tactics, based around riflemen supporting a main firing element eg. the Mg team.

Lastly (sorry for ranting) using a Kar98k, would make a generic wehrmacht impression the most accurate in appearance.

[stuka]

Well there were different tactics for different branches and different military's, the USMC was based around the BAR while the army was more based around the rifle with the BAR supporting, on the other hand the germans preferred more precision and lots of spray(hence the high ROF of the mg42) and I don't know much about the brits but the japanese still followed the code of bishudo(way of the warrior) and the rifleman could be compared to a swordsman while a LMG like the type 96/99 could be likened to an archer, on the other hand their infamous "knee" mortars could be likened to some sort of shock troop if you will, devastation from medium to short range

This is just from my overall glancing, can't say i am 100% correct on these tactics but please do correct what is wrong should I be wrong.

[brownien]

As far as the US, and Germans, they were both based on fire and manouver. The US preferred personal firepower, and issued te M1 as the MBR. This allowed for a more balanced spread of firepower over the whole of a squad, compared to the Germans. The Germans used the same general tactics as the US, employing a base of fire element consisting of the Mg34/42 and ammo bearers (M1919/BAR in the US case), and a manouvering element, using the Kar98k's precision accuracy, but lacked firepower for the individual soldier, as he manouvered on the attack. Although the German way of thinking, using overwhelming amounts of fire on a target for suppression, is achieved with tons of Mp40's, its not the same concept as what was actually used. The main firepower was limited to one man aiming th LMG, and two more supplying ammo and security with rifles. The only soldiers not issued rifles would be the Sarge, and the Corporal(sometimes), everyone else was limited to the Kar98k, except for the lucky few who recieved the Stg44 or the G43(but this should only be an exception, not everyone running around with Mp40's and Stg's) I may just be a simple stitch knot-see, wanting a more accurate representation of WW2 small squad tactics, but hey, this is everyone's hobby and we should all be happy doing what we love to do. IMO, though this isn't the days when we only had the Thompson and Mp40. I don't want get into a bb hose fight, I would much rather implement the Four F's with a squad and fight against an opposing team trying to do the same

Please don't rule out a Bolt action rifle because of its slow ROF. But please don't jump on a Mp40 or Stg just because they have fast ROF's. they both have advantages and disadvantages. I just see needing to rely on your squadmates because of a slower ROF and not tring to go all Rambo, an advantage to promote a more realistic WW2 airsoft experience for both sides.

[wehrmacht1940]

Well I've got a kar98 as you know, and getting an smg is kind of a secondary objective at this point, behind my uniform and equipment. For now, whilst I save more money from the loss of money on the uniform I will use the kar98, and if I get good while using it I will keep on using it. I do have close friends (who are currently buying stuff from me, don't know how relevant but yeah) and they can give me support with AEGs (although I think they'd rather be shooting at me than with me, some friends haha). Only one has an AEG and it's a Thompson so idk if that's a major problem if he'd want to be axis. He's usually into springers, in fact I sold him a spring Thompson I had lying around recently but he's thinking of getting into airsofting with groups so I'm talking to him as well about firepower. He leans towards the rambo thing which is why I asked about bolties versus AEGs. I agree stuka, playing martyr or being an absolute kamikazie sounds incredibly fun! I take it, brownien you airsoft as the Allies?

[wehrmacht1940]

Aldrich: Do you use a Kar98? Is it a gas rifle?

[brownien]

That would be correct! And besides the m1 carbine I am building, I really want to build and use a m1903!

[aldrich]

One of the members of our group out here in the midwest makes custom spring Kar 98's and that is what I use. We are at the point where almost all our regular members have one so we have been able to do rifle heavy battles which are incredibly fun! My rifle, internally, is an upgraded Bar10 that shoots around 420-450 fps. It is accurate well over the range of an aeg and I prefer it in all regards. I prefer spring as it is much more basic in terms of maintenance and it isn't effected by the cold weather we get up here in Wisconsin. That is just a personal preference. Having handled a dboys kar 98, I can see why you would want to upgrade. I personally would just stick to a rifle. As for success, it really all just boils down to how you deploy yourself.

[wehrmacht1940]

I'm still torn between an m36 tunic vs an m40 tunic (both Gavin). I float back and forth between deciding both. Which makes more sense? M36 or M40?

By the way just discovered hikishop.com. Can anybody tell me why these prices are so very low? Anyone have experience with hikishop? The products look nice but the low prices frighten me a little in terms of quality of the item.

[labrador]

Hikishop's tunics are quite decent. The wool is thick. After a couple of uses i have found a few tears in the pants especially the rear waist cinch of the M37 pants. The tunic has no problems whatsoever.

[labrador]

this one is hiki. someone pointed out the weird ribbed texture on the pants. not sure if it should be apparent.:

[aldrich]

For the sake of authenticity, an m40 would be much more correct. If I had to recommend one over the other, that is the one I would choose. As for Hikishop, I have considered buying from Hikishop before, and would be willing to. The Russian uniforms I bought from them were very good. I just do not know anything about their wool quality.

[stuka]

yeah but m36 can be used for every conflict the germans had so if we wanted to reenact the invasion of poland he could for example XD

[aj czarkowski]

I also would go with the m36, even though you wouldn't need anything earlier than the m40, especially for airsoft. But you can literally use the m36 anywhere (even though it might be uncommon). But hey, I have an m42 I bought not knowing it was an M42, and I doubt there's ever going to be a reenactment around here before 1942 anyways.

As for weapons, I agree that rifles do have their advantages, but the biggest problem is that they are so uncommon in ww2 airsoft. Generally both MP40's and STG44's are very easy to find and very cheap. Kar98k's and G43's are both very hard to find, and quite expensive (especially the G43, being a custom job). I do believe, that if it was the other way around there would be more rifles. It is the exact opposite of how it was in real life.

Unfortunately for us few guys who do use rifles, we usually get pwned by SMG's and Assault rifles. The more SMG's there are on the field, the harder it is to use a bolt action rifle. The more rifle's there are on the field, the harder it would be to use an SMG, because they would be outranged and less accurate. There's also the fact that a lot of the guys who use the SMG's simply won't use a bolt action rifle. This is for two reasons:

#1 Why use a bolt action rifle when you can have a bb hose?
#2 Rifles are more expensive than SMG's

- In my opinion, #2 is the main reason. In fact I have friends where when they started in this hobby, they actually wanted to use rifles (because of course, they could use scopes and become a sniper). Unfortunately for them they were way out of their budget. Like Brownien, I would also like to see our hobby be more about tactics and strategy, and less about spray and pray.

Sorry for the rant, but hopefully this will give you insight into why things are like that, and help you choose what works best for you. Rifles have higher accuracy and range, while SMG's have a higher rate of fire and more ammo. Both definitely do have their advantages and disadvantages.

[stuka]

well now with the red fire offerings, they are closer in price now

[wehrmacht1940]

I am realizing that for the tunics I want I am really only paying a little less for something that's been said to be higher quality on Gavin militaria. I have the means for the higher quality but from what people say Gavin has great quality and Hiki has good quality, but like you said the pants tear. I bought a Heer Gavin M40 tunic, M37 trousers, and a breast/sleeve eagle. Will have pics when they arrive!

[shiftysgarand]

What we really need now is a $150 gas or spring non shell ejecting Kar98 and a $150 M1. That would make WWII airsoft explode as a hobby. Going back to rifle vs smg, with upgrades a rifle can shoot way farther than an smg. R-hop can give you 300-350 foot shots. You will be pretty much immune to the Thompsons.
I would like to see all K98s and M1s rhopped to outrange the Mp40s and Thompsons.
If you get a rhopped Red fire k98 you will enjoy using a rifle instead of a bb hose.