Tactical simulation is a key to becoming proficient and experienced for emergency situations for many preppers. While range, or trigger time, or trigger time, is necessary to develop the fundamentals of shooting firearms; what are some options to train force on force? This sort of training can be beneficial both in small and large groups and can provide rewarding fun.
Outside of military training and systems like the MILES (Multiple integrated laser engagement system), which provide the actions, sounds and smells of actual fire arms to help create a realistic combat environment; civilian training is generally limited to paintball or airsoft. I’m ruling out civilian laser tag, nerf, and most video games as viable combat simulations.
I’m preferential to paintballing over airsoft, although there are limitations to range and foliage will generally hamper the balls striking effectiveness. The fact is, it hurts when you get his, and so you respond in a more realistic manner. However neither of these mediums for training give us the same accurate range of actual firearms, but we work with what we can. Virtual reality might be worth considering although it is not available to many of us, and lacks the same physical strains of paintball and airsoft.
What’s your preference for training person on person or force on force? What are some pros and cons?
As always, references are listed below.
Jon
Airsoft
Airsoft is a sport with game play that involves military-like strategy and tactics. Players wield airsoft handguns or rifles that shoot small plastic pellets (up to .25 caliber) using either a spring or compressed gas. There are many pros and cons to playing airsoft. Whether airsoft is the right sport for you or your child depends on many factors, including pain tolerance and the ability to distinguish fantasy from reality.
Pros:
Airsoft involves real-life game play that is performed in a variety of different landscapes. With the exception of free-for-all games, airsoft tournaments and competitions require planning and structure. Airsoft teams often designate different positions for each player, including leadership, scouting and infantry positions. Each players must follow the instruction of the team leader and cooperate with other players. This type of game play teaches players discipline, team work and tactical skills that are useful in other sports and everyday life.
Unlike video games and other sedentary activities, airsoft requires the use of a player’s entire body. Airsoft game play often includes running, crawling, crouching and hiking. Some extreme versions of airsoft also require the climbing of ropes, ladders and trees. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 150 minutes of activity a week reduces the risk of developing a chronic disease.
Spring powered airsoft guns are cheaper to make thus their market price is lower than the paintball guns’ price. This makes this sport more affordable for the newbies. Ammunitions are also cheaper. High end guns the prices for both airsoft and paintball guns is similar.
Airsoft generally hurts less than paintballs. Airsoft BBs are smaller in size and weigh less if you get hit.
Cons:
Some airsoft guns can launch pellets in excess of 500fps. The risk of injury while playing airsoft is significant, though the risk of serious injury can be reduced if proper steps are taken. All players should wear safety goggles rated for the velocity of the guns used during game play at all times. Padded clothing and protective armor can be used to protect skin and sensitive areas of the body, such as the ears, groin and extremities. If safety gear is not used, or if it is used improperly, bodily injury may occur. Typical airsoft injuries include broken skin and minor to severe bruising.
While airsoft can be a fun and rewarding sport, it is imperative that all players have a firm grounding in reality. Airsoft weapons are often identical replicas of real-world guns, and many have realistic blow-back action to simulate the firing of an actual firearm. Young children may be incapable of adequately distinguishing between the fantasy of airsoft and the reality of firearms. A child that is incapable of understanding the difference between a real gun and an airsoft gun may carelessly handle a real weapon and discharge it at himself or others.
BBs’ trajectory is not that easy to follow thus corrections are harder to make.
Marking a hit or kill cannot be guaranteed as BBs don’t leave any visible mark. This may cause disagreements and heated arguments during a game.
Accuracy and range are difficult. If you want to be more accurate on longer distance you will have to use heavier BBs to prevent wind interference. This lowers the range and BBs hurt more if you hit your opponent somewhere unprotected.
Paintball
Paintball is a combat or hunting game in which you can use a variety of guns to shoot out plastic balls full of colored paint. Once the paintballs hit the target they pop and leave a paint stain which represents a hit or kill.
Pros:
One of the main pros of the paintball game is the clearly visible mark left by the paint. As once a player gets hit he or she goes out of the game, it is best to be able to mark that with 100% assurance. The bigger ammunition is also easier to track which helps in making correction.
High range and accuracy. Paintballs are heavy enough to ensure an accurate trajectory which is less affected by a side wind or small tree branches than plastic BBs. Paintball guns use compressed gas to shoot and this gives the shot enough power for a longer range.
Cons:
It hurts. If you get hit in a non-protected place the heavy paintball will leave a mark and will hurt.
You get a lot of stains on your clothes. With all the paint stains on your clothes there is no doubt that you will have to wash your clothes for the next game even if it’s tomorrow; if you get hit of course. It is also not very easy to distinguish stains from different games in the same day if the teams don’t use paintballs with different paint colors for each.
Gas containers are often quite large. Compared to the airsoft gas containers the ones used in paintball are bigger as the guns use more gas for each shot. Placement of gas on many models can also affect line of sight.
The price of the guns and ammunition is generally higher than that of airsoft requirements.
Virtual reality
There are a couple of ways VR is used, for example games and large scale virtual environments. Virtual reality games have become increasingly popular over the years and military recruits are periodically given these games in order to learn the skills and techniques needed for a combat situation.
Pros:
One of the benefits of VR in education/training, safety and risk free training would be high in order of precedence. To get trained in a hazardous environment, people need not be exposed to these hazards in reality. The next important advantage of VR in training is the increase in retention power of the candidates. Candidates tend to retain more of the knowledge when taught using VR rather than the plain teacher led methods.
Simulating real life situations for military training and making learning lot more fun and interesting are other major advantages. A lot of research and thesis submission in the field of education can leverage VR as a powerful tool towards attaining their goals.
Cons:
A high-end VR computer can easily cost $1,000. And many high-end computers aren’t VR-ready at all. In fact, NVIDIA says 99% of computers on the market this year can’t handle the high-end specs you’ll need for a true virtual reality experience.
If you want to build your own VR computer, you’ll need to shell out at least a couple hundred dollars (on the low end) just for the graphics card alone, not to mention the rest of the computer’s internals.
And then there are the headset costs. A high-end headset like HTC’s Vive or the Oculus Rift will run you $599 and $799, respectively.
At the present costs, a VR fan will have to shell out at least $1,600 for a high-end virtual reality experience. Those costs will likely stymie VR’s growth in the high-end market. But it’s not all bad news.
The best VR experience is going to cost a lot of money for a while. But really good VR experiences, at much lower costs, should be the real VR growth driver in the short term.
Few if any environmental considerations to negotiate, and comparatively little physical strain.
http://goneoutdoors.com/airsoft-pros-cons-6685301.html
http://ezinearticles.com/?Paintball-Vs-Airsoft—Pros-and-Cons-of-Each&id=5618295
https://www.vrs.org.uk/virtual-reality-combat-training/
http://www.affinityvr.com/pros-and-cons/
http://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-virtual-reality-so-expensive-2016-9
https://overpassesforamerica.com/?p=27110
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