The Cold War

One of the greatest downfalls of Gas Blow Back (GBB) weapons in Airsoft is the Winter.
To be more exact, it's the use of the GBB technology in cold weather.

The gas that usually powers GBB is Propane-based (typically Propane with some secret additives - a bit like Coca Cola and its secret formula). Airsoft gas suppliers rarely seem to state what is in their gas, although I'm led to believe that a perfume to make the gas smell better and silicone for mag seal lubrication is often included . They refer to their products by impressive and strong sounding names like Brut and there are often marketing type claims along the lines that it's so good it will make your toast at the same time as keeping your gun as clean as a whistle.

Although it's not an exact science, once the air temperature drops below 12 Degrees Centigrade, the performance of Propane powered guns is affected, usually by an indicative drop in BB velocity (f.p.s).

There are ways to reduce the effect (e.g. keeping your mags warm in a pocket, not firing for prolonged periods etc), but generally it can be a problem.

Although apparently, it's not a new thing, I have suddenly become aware that Airsoft maker WE are offering CO2 (Carbon Dioxide) magazines with some of their GBB pistols, as an alternative to the normal Propane ones. Carbon Dioxide as an airsoft propellant is not usually affected by our UK winter temperatures, so weapon performance is unimpaired at the lower temperatures that we experience in our autumn and winter seasons.

A problem with CO2 weapons that I've experienced in the past is that the higher gas pressure tends to make the gun f.p.s a little hot (oh the irony). With many outdoor sites operating a 350 f.p.s limit and indoor sites tending to be less than that, use of CO2 powered weapons has often been restricted in the past.

It is my understanding that those lovely people at WE have got the pressure regulated to a respectable 320 f.p.s (don't take my word for it - I'm only repeating what I've been told), which would suggest that CO2 pistols could be back on the menu.

Carbon Dioxide can be provided in 12g metal bulbs for Airsoft. Where Propane is usually introduced into its magazines by squirting it in to the reservoir using an aerosol cannister, the CO2 route allows you to screw in a bulb instead. It has to be said that the magazines are very different internally, so you can't use the same magazine for both forms of propellant.

Thinking ahead to the Okto Eight Milsim game in January (usually a cold month in the UK !), I bought the optional CO2 magazine for a WE M92 pistol to try out.

You will notice that surprisingly it comes with an Allen key in its little box.

If you turn the magazine upside down, it's possible to remove the bottom plate of the mag by lifting a slider in the magazine spring channel. Once the plate slides out, the bottom of the magazine looks like the photo above. There is a hexagonal hole (designed for the mysterious Allen key - ah that's what it's for !!).

If you insert the Allen key into the hexagonal hole and rotate it anti-clockwise, it's possible to remove the circular plug from the bottom of the magazine. The plug unscrews out, leaving the bottom of the CO2 12g bulb visible. As you unscrew the plug, you might experience a hiss of gas, which I assume is unused gas leaking out from the bulb as the physical force holding it tightly against the body of the mag is slowly released ?

Anyway, once the gas has been allowed to gently escape and the pressure is equalised, the CO2 bulb can be withdrawn completely.

Here you can see the inside of the mag chamber with the CO2 bulb removed. There is a receptacle at the top. When you fit a new 12g bulb into the chamber as a refill and screw the plug back in with the Allen key, the neck of the CO2 bulb is forced on to that receptacle, puncturing its neck seal and allowing the CO2 to flow up towards the mag valve and pressurising the magazine ready for use.

The plug acts as a 12g bulb retainer. When the bottom plate is slid back on (you have to lift that slider again first), you will see a realistic magazine end plate (with no visible refill point as you would have with a Propane type mag).

The  6mm BB's load into the magazine in the usual way and the pistol operates as it does with Propane based gas.

At the time of writing, the CO2 magazine was £4 more expensive than the normal spare gas one for the same pistol (Airsoft Zone - August 2015) and it was also possible to buy a choice of mags for some of the WE Glock models as well as their M92/M9.

Its not clear yet how long these CO2 bulb refills last, in relation to normal gas refills, so operating costs based on shots used are difficult to predict at the moment. The 12g refills can cost as little as £0.40 each (UK - CO2cartridges.co.uk) depending on source and quantity.

I'm sure many of you are already aware of this and maybe even already use the CO2 variants of the WE, but on the grounds that I wasn't aware, it seems reasonable to assume that there may be other uninformed people out there............

An Interview with Okto Eight Milsim

Okto Eight Milsim commenced their milsim series over a year ago. As an offshoot of the experienced Filmsim Ltd group, they have a good pedigree in these kinds of games and this has already been borne out in their operations so far.

We managed to spend some time with their creative team and ask them some questions about what they do.

Play it for Real !!

Our Question (1):

Why did you start Okto Eight ? Surely lots of organisers already run milsims in the UK ?

Okto Answer:

There are lots of flavours of milsims although most are subtlely different. Our parent Filmsim Ltd already operate a wide range of military and historical simulations, but nothing really like Okto.



Our Question (2):

What is different about Okto Eight ? 

Okto Answer:

It occured to us that not everybody who wants to play milsim is young, superfit or wants to spend a whole weekend sleeping rough in game. I've lived outdoors for extended periods, carrying your supplies and washing with wet wipes and while that might excite some, there are others who want to get a flavour of military life without the loss of comfort. What Okto does is to allow players to live in a battlefield for eight hours. Once the ENDEX whistle blows, the game is frozen, people retire to their modern camping tents or go home for a shower and to a soft bed. The next morning, we start again. The game restarts at the same point that it finished the day before - people even stand in the same places. Players get 16 hours of intense battle action.



Our Question (3):

Does this mean you get a lot of older people playing ? 

Okto Answer:

Strangely, no.
We have a minimum age limit of 16 and two tone airsoft weapons aren't allowed, so we get a primarily adult group, but we have a wide spread of ages. Players are encouraged to have a social get together on the saturday night and we find the various forces who play in game, tend to have their own campfire and maybe a barbecue on the go. Last game, which was Operation Tailspin, we had three forces and it was great to see the forces mingling and both old and young sitting round the fire, enjoying a beer or two and a bit of competitive and good natured banter. We often wonder if the players enjoy the social more than the war gaming !! 



Our Question (4):

Sometimes you hear airsoft players saying that milsims have too much inactivity between the firefights ? What are your thoughts ?

Okto Answer:

Real situations are like this. Skirmishes are fine for fun, but they aren't realistic. On the other hand, if you play milsims, you don't necessarily want to spend your whole weekend guarding an objective with no contacts. We try to find a happy medium. Usually our operations are arranged so that you get enough contacts around less intense guarding, escorting and patrolling activities to make the adrenaline flow. Our sites are the optimal size and the combination of force numbers and objectives and surprises make it work.

If things get quiet naturally, we have ways of livening it up !!



Our Question (5):

How realistic are your games ?

Okto Answer:

Thats a hard one. Each player would probably have a different interpretation of realistic. With airsoft, its not a particularly realistic medium - they (airsoft weapons) look the part but the lack of sound, muzzle flashes and range mean that they don't fully replicate real steel weapons. However, we see airsoft weapons as only a part of the game; effectively a tool in a toolbox. We use realistic scenarios, military vehicles, pyrotechnics and actors to create a mili-sphere; a battlezone world that players enter to become immersed.

Plenty of Props at Okto games

Our Question (6):

Tell us more about immersion ?

Okto Answer:

We could go on all day about this as its one of our passions. The key to a good game is the players. We are only a catalyst that bring out the right stuff in the players. If you come to one of our games with the wrong attitude, you won't enjoy it.  People that expect to shoot lots of BBs on full auto or that dont want to use their imagination, generally won't get the most out of an Okto game.

When players enter through the portal into the mili-sphere - the game area, we say "believe you are there - react as you would in a real situation".

If a farmer drives up to you on a tractor, speaking in a Russian accent and with what looks like a bomb round his neck, react for real. 

You don't need to be an actor to play. Its simple, if you get hit, fall down - don't put your hand up and shout "hit" as you would at a skirmish.
We encourage players to scream out for help, shout for a medic. Some players really get into it and there are extra points for hammy acting (joke).

Our current series of games revolve around the goings on in a fictional former soviet state called Moldistan. Our past Operations Skylight and Tailspin were set there and we have Operation Firestorm coming up in August. We have seen players adopting Russian accents (some better than our actors) and also players bringing their own props. Okto bring in a lot of props for added realism, but our players are now building their own. We have seen them bringing in base radios, anti air MANPADs and weapon crates which they build in their sheds at home between games - we think its great as they are buying-in to the fun which is Okto.

We also have an active online community where players belong to secure force groups that allow them to receive intel and discuss tactics, even if they live at opposite ends of the country (Some of our players come from overseas just for our games).

Our stories start before the first game and run between the games, which are approximately every four months. Playing with Okto is a regular thing - the storyline runs like a thread in the background all the time. Players can dip in and out when they like.



Our Question (7):

How seriously do you take it ?

Okto Answer:

Thats a really good question. It's a fine line. We don't allow nerf guns and dressing like elves and movie characters, but on the other end of the scale, we don't impose special forces style selection, ranks and saluting. We try and make our games as real as we can, but we impose flexible loadout requirements that allow most people to play, without spending a fortune on kit.

In game, we take the fighting seriously but there is an element of tongue-in-cheek. In one game, we took the rebels to war on a farmers trailer being towed behind a tractor. At the end of the day, its about having fun.



Our Question (8):

How do people find out more about playing at Okto ?

Okto Answer:

Get in touch with us via our Facebook page. Send us a message and make contact. The next weekend game is Operation Firestorm on 22/23rd August and this will be held at our Eversley site, near Farnborough in Hampshire. To maintain the level of immersion that we demand of ourselves, we only have about 50 players in each game. Although this ensures that people get the chance to make decisions that affect the game and play an active role, it means we get booked out quite fast. We still have a few places for Firestorm (as of 19th June), but not many.


THANK YOU