DAO - Isn't That a Religion ?

                                                                                                                    Photo reproduced courtesy of Tokyo Marui Japan

Pistols are big business in the military these days. At one time, only officers carried them. Now, most service people in a combat zone are trained in their use and have access to a sidearm.

Last year, the US government announced a plan to replace their M9 and it is estimated that they will buy nearly half a million pistols in the replacement program.

Many of us see written reference to the terms SAO or DAO but how many of us know what it actually means to the shooter ?




SAO = Single Action Only

The pistol must be physically cocked (i.e. the hammer cocked or the slide racked back) before the first shot.

DAO = Double Action Only

A long trigger pull is needed to cock the pistol.

DA/SA = Double Action/Single Action

A long trigger pull for the first shot and then shorter SA style pulls for subsequent shots.  


The Benefits and Merits

SAO pistols offer a lighter, crisper trigger action, but having to manually cock the pistol can make you slow to respond to an emerging threat.
"Contact" - wait, just let me rack this sucker to return fire.

It's also noisy, making stealth approaches more difficult.

This has caused shooters to carry them cocked with the safety on, which for obvious reasons has become less popular in modern times.

The long trigger pull of the DAO is seen as a safety feature to avoid negligent discharges and it's certainly quicker to respond than the SAO, but that pull can often detrimentally affect accuracy, especially for the more inexperienced user. 
DA/SA pistols offer a compromise with that long pull on the first shot, offering safety against ND's but potentially with less initial accuracy, followed by shorter triggered, more accurate rapid shots thereafter.

Other Considerations

Hammer or Striker ? -  Hammers can be a pain as they protrude. They can get caught up and straps or clothing can get in the way and stop their action just when you need it.  Strikers are internal so don't have the same hang ups, although you can't always see whether the pistol is cocked or not (unless there is a striker indicator pin at the rear).

Just to stir up the mix a little, another consideration is safety features. At one time, having a thumbed safety switch was considered ample precaution. However, it takes time to operate (crucial milliseconds perhaps) and it's easy to forget and leave it on in a stressful situation.
Pointing a loaded gun and squeezing the trigger only to find the safety is still on, is an experience you don't forget. Luckily in the airsoft world, it just means a long walk to the regen.
As a result, many makers offer indirect safety devices like a split trigger which means both parts of the hinged trigger have to be squeezed for the pistol to be operated.

Decockers are designed to allow SAO and DA/SA type pistols to de-cock and be made safe without the user having to try to squeeze the trigger and arrest the hammer, allowing it to return slowly - something that can have a mixed rate of success, especially when tired or when fingers are wet.

So, like many things in 21st century life, we are spoilt for choice. Although airsoft choice is more limited than real steel in the real world, it's still food for thought and in milsim-land where we strive for as much reality as possible, buying an airsoft pistol certainly merits some pondering before parting with cash.

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

   



 

The Diary of a Rebel#2

Somewhere in the Moldistan Forest - December 2014

Well, a lot of things have happened since we last spoke.

The weather for one !! - the snow and ice have arrived. The camp is now carpeted in 100-150mm of snow and night time temperatures plummet to a bone chilling -20 Degrees C.

Nobody has any spare energy for fighting - its just enough to keep warm.

Mind you, before the bad weather came, we did manage to secure one last pre-winter success against Gretsky.

The trucks carrying the Titanium Ore from the mine have to negotiate an old steel bridge across the Chernyy River to reach the processing plant. Fortunately for us, it is poorly guarded by the MDF and one dark night between convoys, we were able to neutralise the guards at either end with our sniper rifles and then plant explosives under the main supports of the bridge.

We removed the guards from the road and let the next convoy safely cross. Suspecting that we didn't have long before an MDF Patrol arrived (the truck drivers will have reported the lack of guards to MDF headquarters), we got to work.

The explosives detonated with a huge concussion and the bridge which was built by the Russians during the war, fell into the river with huge splashes. Not only did we destroy the bridge but we also managed to block the river for boat traffic, which will stop the government sending patrol boats up to support their men.

The trucks now have to make a 75Km detour to cross the river. Our action won't stop Gretsky and his exports to Russia but it will hinder them.

Another piece of good news is that our beloved leader, Nikolay Jakov is now the proud father of a new daughter. Born only a few days ago. It won't be long before she has her own AK47 and is fighting alongside her father in the forest.

Our group are starting to prepare for Christmas and are collecting food for the womenfolk to make Moldistani delicacies ready for the big day. We celebrate Christmas on January 7th in accordance with the Russian orthodox religion, so we will celebrate New Year before Christmas, which may seem strange to westerners !!

Anyway, the Peoples Front of Moldistan wish you all a happy western Christmas and we hope that 2015 will bring peace and freedom to all.

The Diary of a Rebel#1

Somewhere in the Moldistan Forest - November 2014

Autumn is settling in fast and the temperatures are already dropping, here in the forests of Moldistan.

Things have quietened down considerably since our fierce battles with the government troops and the American interlopers some 6 weeks ago.
- Gretsky has run back to Krasvin.
- Back to his palace, his whores and his high life.

The Americans got their wounded man back from us and have also gone home. Of course, we tried to kill Gretsky, twice and we think the Americans even tried to help us, but that man has the luck of the devil.
He even survived our RPG attack !!

Now we are just left in the cold. We sit wrapped in furs, huddled around our log fires for warmth. The world no longer cares. The news has moved on.

We have developed elaborate fire pits with special chimneys to draw the smoke away so it doesn't give our position away to the government jets patrolling high above our heads.

The Titanium mine at Gorazh is fully operational now and is churning out the stuff for the Russians.
Every day, we see trucks loaded with ore, ripped from deep below us, making their way North to the land of the bear.
We tried attacking some of the trucks, but what can we do ?

We stop the truck and scare the driver off into the woods with our rifles. The Moldistan Defence Force just send more men to take the abandoned truck and its cargo away.  We achieve nothing, but the exercise keeps us warm - haha.

Soon the snow will come. We get very cold winters here, probably -25 Degrees C and several metres of snow. We will probably spread ourselves out for the winter, seeking shelter from the harshest weather in the barns of farmers, secretly loyal to our cause. Nikolay took over from our beloved Lukashenka, may God rest his soul. Comrade Jakov is young but has the heart of a lion. He is determined to beat Gretsky and hates him with a passion. We all look forward to the days when the sun returns to our meadows and people will no longer need to live in fear of marching boots or go to bed with empty stomachs.

Today, we secretly travelled to a farm way up in the North East. We discovered a mass grave - the farmer had reported hearing trucks and machine guns one night several weeks ago but had been too afraid to investigate. Probably more victims of the government cleansing - more citizens who were too vocal and critical of Gretsky, no doubt. It was impossible to estimate how many were buried there, but it could be as many as fifty dead.

The nights are long here, so we sit round the fire and tell stories of our forefathers and sing and dance. Petr is good with his violin. He plays gypsy songs and we drink, sing and stamp our feet in time.

We look forward to spring - warmer temperatures, longer days and the chance to strike back at Gretsky.
May God let us survive long enough to take our revenge.

Stay warm Comrades.

Yours

Micha

A Different Airsoft Grenade ?

This blog has reported on the different types of pyro and grenades before, but this grenade has just come to our attention. We would start off by saying that if you expect your grenades to explode with an 130dB+ ear shattering thump and send banks of smoke reeling across the battlefield, read no further. However, if you like to play Milsims which use a stated kill zone radius and where the game is not totally dependent on the sound level alone, then this could be of interest.

The grenade is available in two shapes, the more modern M26 "Lemon" one as shown above and the older pineapple shape reminsicent of the MK2 US hand grenades.

What it provides is a reasonably realistic, re-usable grenade that will sound with a "crack" when it lands on your enemies. The "crack" is designed to be loud enough so that anybody in that kill radius will hear that it has activated and will be able to see it land, so they can decide whether they are in its kill zone or not. It is activated by landing on any surface and isn't fazed by soft grass or mud.

How Does It Work ?

The body of the grenade is plastic and very lightweight. This is advantageous in that if you are throwing the grenade, it is unlikely to hurt anybody based on its weight alone (more chance of the spoon having somebody's eye out). If you want something a little more hefty for added realism, the body is hollow and could be filled with sand.
The quality of the external finish is okay - the body has a few moulding marks so it isn't as good as some resin replica's, but in some respects, its "horses for courses". Hey, it goes bang !!

The metal spoon and upper part of the unit simply screws on to the top of the plastic body. The body is just for show really and unlike the real thing, has no practical purpose - the mechanism is all up top.

If you remove both pins and lift the hinged spoon, you will see the back end of a spring loaded hammer.

THIS IS A CLOSE-UP - Although my grenade is new, there was a bit of light surface rust on the hammer, but I wasn't too bothered. The grenade is going to get thrown around anyway!!
You need to get your thumbnail under the hammer and swing it out and up against the force of its spring.

When the hammer is as far back as it can go and under tension, you insert the little "L" shaped pin which is supplied with the grenade and called a Detonator Stay, through the housing to hold the hammer in place (stopping the spring bringing it down again). In the photo above, you can also see the supplied 5mm M.G. Caps (PF Caps) on their card. The grenade comes with 50 of them and these give the grenade its bang. Note the familiar grenade pull ring also visible in this photo.
Where the hammer has swung up out of the way, you can now see something resembling a firing pin protruding from the centre of the upper housing.

Next you place one of the little green plastic PFC caps over the firing pin, so the red/brown coloured material inside the cap sits on the firing pin itself.

 CLOSE-UP:

Close the spoon down and insert the grenade ring to make the unit safe and secure.

You can remove the Detonator Stay but be careful as the ring can easily fall out. It might be a good idea to wrap a small piece of insulating tape around the end of the ring pin so it prevents this if you are moving around. (NB - I think I will leave the Detonator Stay in as well, as an added precaution when carrying these around in pouches).

When you are ready to use the grenade, hold the spoon against the body of the grenade with your fingers and pull out the ring with the other hand. Unlike real grenades, the spoon is not spring loaded. The suppliers instructions actually tell you to slowly ease the spoon outwards until its about 30-40 degrees from the vertical plane of the grenade. You will hear one click as you start to ease it out and then another as it moves into the primed position (there is a little retainer on the inside surface of the spoon that catches the hammer as it starts to travel down to strike the firing pin through the cap). If you now toss the grenade, even the most gentle landing force will force the spoon out, allowing the hammer to strike down and the grenade to "explode".

Actually, I found it was more realistic to just pull out the pin, with my fingers holding the spoon in the safe position and then throw the grenade conventionally. The force of landing still moved the spoon sufficiently and the grenade detonated.

When I opened the parcel that came in the post and first saw the M.G Caps, I was a little disappointed. They reminded me of the percussion caps that I used as a child with my toy guns. However, when I actually used them, my spirits lifted.
Not as loud as a Mk5 pyro, they are used in the replica guns used by re-enactors etc and they do flash and smoke a little on detonation and send a clear message to the intended recipient of your grenade. I'm no expert, but they seem a lot safer than normal pyro, especially if you are wearing eye protection as you should be in Airsoft.

I can't find the spare caps on Ebay, but you can buy them from the supplier of the grenade for £8.50/100.

All in all, I can see a potential for milsims and look forward to using them in mock anger !!

The price is £27.50 including 50 bangs and 2nd class postal delivery in the UK.

Home James

Land Rover have announced that they are stopping the production of their renowned Defender vehicle, after over 60 years of production.

The Land Rover has been the mainstay light transport of many a military force over the years. For example, during the Iraq conflict, the British SAS used Land Rover WMIK vehicles.

Before Land Rover and during World War 2, the LRDG successfully used unprotected and heavily armed Chevrolet off-road vehicles to carry the fledgling SAS into the North African desert for reconnaissance patrols and raids.

The ever-present IED threat, wider mission profiles and increased amount of equipment of more recent wars has changed the requirement for vehicles.

In practice a varied range of motor transport is used by coalition special forces, including motor cycles, small ATV's and heavier vehicles like Bushmasters. However, the successors to Pinkies and the WMIK have become vehicles like the Supercat Jackal/HMT400 as shown above. These are available in many versions and a number were purchased for use by the British SAS, US Delta Force, Danish and Australian special forces during the war in Iraq.

One of the main requirements for this type of vehicle is that it can be loaded up the ramp of a CH-47 Chinook helicopter.

The Jackal can, but not easily.

Supacat have now developed their Chinook compatible LMV400, which is derived from an off-road racer and this was launched at the DSEI Defence Show in London last year. With a top speed of over 100 mph and a range of 600 miles, it is a serious multi-purpose vehicle.

LMV400 - Courtesy of Supacat Ltd

Competitors in this field include the Defenture ATTV from Holland and the US General Dynamics Flyer. The latter is also available in an Osprey V-22 compatible version.

It is envisaged that more vehicles will be developed to meet the V-22 requirement due to the growing number of global forces adopting the aircraft. Even Boeing who build the V-22, have developed their own solution in the shape of the Phantom Badger.

These vehicles are largely custom engineered to meet specific defence contracts and operational requirements. As efficient and sleek as they may be, I have a feeling that I'm going to miss the old Land Rover...