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For the ease of writing this article the term “low-cap user” refers to anybody who doesn’t use a hi-capacity magazine (with a capacity from 200-600+ rounds).
The term “low-cap” or “low-cap mag” refers to a STAR “real-cap” mag (from 20-30rds.), a standard TM mag (from 28rds. for a MP5K, to 80rds. for an AUG), or a mid-cap mag (from 100rds. for a MP5, to 160rds. for a M14 & AK mid-cap).
Don’t take this article as being the absolute truth, it’s my opinion, and I’m having fun writing it. I will be insulting (in a joking manner) all you low-cap users as a part of it. So don’t take it as a personal attack. Don’t take offense. I’m very sarcastic so read this thread with an open mind. I’ve taken small liberties here and there, but 99.9% of this is based on the physical properties of the 6mm Airsoft projectiles we shoot, and I’ve referenced websites on many of the facts I give.
One other theory I would like to explain is I believe most low-cap users almost exclusively use semi-auto fire since their mag has a smaller, more puny capacity. This may be an error on my part, but my experience in the last 2 years has shown that almost every person who uses low-cap magazines prefers semi-auto fire to full-auto fire. That’s not to say that they don’t use full-auto, but a gun with a 9.6v battery can empty a standard 68rd. Mag in around 3 seconds; whereas a 300rd. Hi-cap mag takes a full 15 seconds of continuous full-auto firing to be emptied, so you can see why a low-cap user would only use semi-auto. Even if you find a rare low-cap user who exclusively uses full-auto; the fact they have to reload many times to equal the capacity of a hi-cap, plus the time they can’t shoot while reloading is detrimental to effectiveness in an Airsoft skirmish. ...so when I say "low-cap user" I'm generally speaking about somebody who only uses low-cap mags and shoots in semi-auto exclusively.
The Doctrine:
Let me first start out with a true statement you cannot refute: A hi-cap user can do everything a low-cap user can do, and more. They can do more because their mags have a higher capacity, so they can shoot more without having to reload.
The first shot of both a semi-auto shot, and the first shot of a full-auto burst does the same thing; BUT, the full-auto burst has a good 20+ BB’s helping to find it’s way to the target. Which has the higher chance of hitting its target? The full-auto shot does. It also helps find the hole through any obstacles (branches, leaves, etc.) that may be between you and your target, and negate any effects of wind due to the “shotgun effect” at range (when you’re shooting at a target close to the maximum distance your gun can shoot, you’ll never have a 3” grouping. The BB’s on full-auto will cover a larger area like a shotgun filled with pellets does; that’s what I call the “shotgun effect”).
A common mantra for the hordes of people going to low-caps mags is the saying “high-caps aren’t realistic”. To me, the only thing that makes hi-cap magazines unrealistic is the rattling sound they make. Contrary to popular belief this sound will never give you away since even the lightest footsteps in a forest will make as much, or even more noise. Your mag-type speed-loaders you have to carry with you to load your low-caps make the same noise. The clicking of a speed-loader for you firepower-deprived low-cap users is a just as loud, if not a louder sound in the quiet of a forest.
Hi-capacity mags are not unrealistic for numerous reasons. Most of these reasons are due to the constraints of an AEG. This includes even a highly upgraded AEG at 400 FPS (the field limit at almost all fields).
To me, hi-capacity mags, and shooting in full auto make an Airsoft gun perform closer to the real thing.
The Unspoken Truth:
The below points are reflecting the inadequacy of our AEG’s, the positive points of using hi-caps and full-auto exclusively, as well as my reasons why hi-caps are superior in all aspects to low-cap magazines.
1.) Distance/Range: A standard military issue M16A2 has an effective range of 550 yards (1). Even a .45 ACP handgun has a good 50 yards (2). AEG’s, even upgraded ones, typically have an effective range of 50 yards or 150 feet. Go and measure that distance in your back yard if it’s large enough; it’s a pretty decent distance. Accuracy at that range, in real world conditions, is a different matter.
2.) Accuracy: Airsoft guns take many more shots to hit a target than a real gun will. Let’s face it, compared to real-guns, Airsoft guns have utterly horrible accuracy. That fact right there takes most of the validity out of anybody saying Airsoft is completely mil-sim ("it's more mil-sim" is the main argument for why low-cap users use low-cap mags). Your AEG can’t shoot even 1/11th the distance of a standard issue M16A2 can. You’re lucky to be able to hit a man-sized target at 60 yards with 1 shot; if there’s even a slight 5 MPH wind, or you hit a single leaf or thin twig (A), you’re out of luck.
Full-auto, and long bursts of full-auto negate the effect of wind to a great degree since the full-auto string of BB’s have a shotgun effect at range so you’re more likely to hit what you’re aiming at. You can also better see where your BB’s are hitting when there’s more of them in the air; this also helps with your accuracy and your chance of hitting the target.
Now in regards to distance and accuracy many people say the normal engagement range in Airsoft is about equal to what it is in real life military situations. This is not true unless you play exclusively CQB in places like MOUT training facilities. Most of us play in the woods. I equate that to the many battles fought during WW II. Most of those engagement distances were at and under 325 yards (3). The only other major military engagements with infantry troops (not in cities for the most part) since then would be Korea and Vietnam, and most of us don’t play in the jungle with those shorter engagement distances, nor do we play in cities like our troops in Iraq are facing right now.
(A) Many people counter argue that by saying that even a thin twig can deflect a huge fast moving bullet. That is true, but it's only true if it hits that obstacle during the first part of it's flight path; then it'll be off target by quite a bit when it gets to the range of the initial target. What I'm talking about in Airsoft is 99% of the time the person is hiding directly behind a bush or undergrowth in the forest. A real bullet can go through quite a lot of brush and hit what's directly behind it; that's the difference, and that's why that argument isn't valid.
3.) Wind: Many players accuse hi-cap users of not aiming, and just “walking the BB’s into the target”. When there’s the slightest bit of wind, what do you think you low-cap, semi-auto users do? It’s the same thing. You shoot one shot, then when you see you have to aim to the left about 5 feet because there’s a faint 10 MPH wind, then you adjust and take another shot, then adjust again, and again if needed.
When you have full-auto this is accomplished easier and faster, thus it’s more effective. A short 2 second burst of full-auto (or as long as you want, because let’s admit it, full-auto is just more fun to people like us) and you’ve correctly adjusted for any wind and hopefully hit your target in one fluid movement. Remember that after the first shot your enemy may hear the BB landing close to them, so they will find cover as fast as they can. With full-auto another 20+ BB’s are heading their way at the same time so it’s more effective than semi-auto fire in this aspect.
4.) Penetration: Airsoft BB’s have little to no penetration. When there’s 20 more BB’s coming from behind the first shot this will do two things; give you a better chance for that one BB to slip though the branches and leaves and hit your target, and that many BB’s on full auto will literally tear though small obstacles (even at medium range). Also see the footnote (A) of #2.
5.) Feeling your hits: We all know Airsoft is a game of honor. Some people say no matter what you may not feel your hits, but you’ll always feel or hear them. In many cases that is incorrect. But how can you hear those shots, which you don’t feel, when you have a gun shooting 400 FPS at 20 RPS screaming in your ear? Let alone the noise of the other people’s fire, people yelling commands, you yelling commands back, the radio earbud in your ear chirping away.....sometimes you don’t hear, see, or feel that one BB from a semi-auto gun. How can you see a BB bounce off your gear when you have one eye closed and the other peering through the small reticule of a scope or red-dot? Many people get tunnel vision when they’re engaging a single target. You have other things to look out for in the heat of battle besides seeing a single 6mm BB bounce off you.
At 100 feet distance, from a 320 FPS gun, a .2 gram BB (the most popular BB weight) is traveling at 100 FPS (4). I don’t know about you, but I almost exclusively engage targets at a greater range than 100 feet, and am almost always shot at around 100 feet. Can you hear a single BB, that’s only going 100 FPS hit your gear? A lot of the time you won’t, and there’s nothing wrong with it. It’s a honest mistake and you couldn’t have done anything to prevent it besides stop firing, and stand there to physically look down and look for a BB bouncing off you while you’re being fired upon. Right here is a perfect example of why full-auto, and being able to dish out ammo like any other because of your superiority in numbers (BB’s) over the evil pig-dog (I mean low-cap user), is when you hit your target there’s not just 1 BB they can feel or see or hear, but 20+ BB’s hitting and bouncing off all around them. If they call their hits in a honorable way, there’s no way they won’t call out (unless you blatantly missed). So here we even see full-auto fire making the players, and the game, able to be more honorable since it gives people a better chance to call their hits better (and a higher percentage of correct, honorable, “HIT!” calls).
6.) If soldiers could do it, they would. Why do you think we switched to the M16 platform for our armed services all those years ago? One of the greatest reasons was because the soldiers could carry much more of the 5.56mm ammo than they could of the bulkier and heavier M14 ammo. So if soldiers do it, how can you say it’s wrong to carry 300 BB’s in a single mag (when you factor in all the other points I’ve made)? You Darn well know if soldiers could carry 5,000 rounds with them they would. It’s their job to get every single advantage over the enemy they possibly can....so with that in mind how can you call hi-caps unrealistic? It’s an advantage plain and simple, and I don’t know why any smart person wouldn't take advantage of it.
Ever hear the saying “Peace though Superior Firepower”? In the Airsoft world there are no bigger caliber of BB’s (unless you count the uncommon 8mm which no AEG to my knowledge uses), So our only way to have “Superior Firepower” is to either throw more BB’s at the enemy thus giving us a higher chance of scoring a hit; have a faster ROF which doesn’t do much with a 30rd. Star mag for those semi-auto-only user; or upgrade the FPS of you gun, and semi-auto users and full-auto users can be at the same FPS, so again it goes to who’s the better shot (no difference between semi-auto or full-auto/hi-cap users), or who can throw more BB’s down range (which the hi-cap users can do better, for longer, and don’t have to reload as often).
There's another mantra that the military goes by, it goes something like "win at all costs and use every available advantage to do so". Do you really think if soldiers could carry more ammo comfortably (without impeding their movement) they wouldn't? But for some reason that seems to be what low-cap users allude to.
7.) Mid-Caps. For you mid-cap posers, especially people with AK’s or M14’s, your “mid-cap” can hold almost as much as a MP5 hi-cap; 160rds. for the AK & M14 mid-cap vs. 200rds. for the MP5 hi-cap; and when you factor in how many BB’s are stuck in the hi-cap’s feeding tube, and left in the bottom of the mag (they don’t feed every single BB), it’s extremely close. This qualifies you as a “poser”. You like to say you’re more realistic, and more mil-sim because you don’t use hi-caps, yet your mag capacity is almost the same as a MP5 hi-cap (which is an extremely common gun on the field). For you mid-cap users: I hope you seriously consider these points before you think or say something bad about a person who uses hi-caps because you’re dangerously close to the same ammo capacity per mag (and you probably carry more mid-caps then they carry hi-caps).
I know many people swear by G&P (or other brand) mid-caps. You love them and don’t use anything else. I’ll tell you right now, and I know this by personal experience (of the broken wallet kind), and from how many people I know in person, and how many posts I read about mid-caps mis-feeding, that these are a less than ideal solution. The BB’s are double stacked in a nice long “U”, or even “S”like formation inside the mag. This leads to many people having feeding problems with mid-cap magazines. I experienced it personally with my 8 G&P M16 mid-caps which I had to sell at a loss, and my G36 STAR mid-caps as well. They never, ever, fed right 100% of the time (90% and below just won’t cut it for me), and they always seem to misfeed when you have that perfect shot. I tried every trick in the book on them and neither brand worked right all the time. Swear all you want that yours work perfectly, many, many, peoples do not.
8.) Ammo is cheap. Shooting full-auto for me and many others is a great feeling. Think of every shoot-'em-up movie you’ve ever seen. Think of all those Stallone and Schwarzenegger movies you grew up loving......yet you nasty low-cap users look down on us. You think we use full-auto fire and hi-caps as a crutch for our horrible aim and lack of tactics. You say nasty thinks like “that’s un-realistic”, “you’re not mil-sim”, “eww, you have 8 M4 hi-caps and 7 MP5 hi-caps, why do you need 3,840 loaded rounds?”. Well, I guess the last quote is more of a rhetorical question....I need, and have that much loaded firepower because I can. I have that many BB’s loaded in mags, ready to cover your entire location with bouncing white BB’s because I can and I like it. Can you keep 3 different skilled players pinned down in separate locations for a half hour with semi-auto fire? That would be a feat I would like to see. As soon as you reload I’m jumping up with 24 RPS with your name on them. And by the way, it doesn’t really matter if I hit you or not, I like keeping people pinned down as much as I like getting a “kill”....just shooting the gun at a inanimate object like a tree is something I enjoy almost as much.
A dedicated hi-cap user should be buying BB’s by the case (or at least splitting a case with a couple people). For the best quality BB’s on the market, Airsoft Elite .25’s, cost .35 cents each ($.0035) including shipping factored in. That’s about 1 cent for every 3 BB’s. That’s a $1.05 per 300rd. M4/M16 Hi-cap. Now how much joy does shooting an entire hi-cap, on full-auto, at an enemy, while playing dress-up soldier give you? To me, and people like me, it’s worth much more than $1.05.
9.) Drum/Box mags: My thoughts on drum mags may be to the contrary to what you think I would say. I only think drum-mags should be used on guns if they produce a drum-mag for the real steal. Furthermore, I believe these drum mags should only be used on guns that can sustain that many rounds through them without malfunctioning.
An example is the M16/M4. They do make a real drum mag for the M16. But the problem is if you emptied even 2 of these drum mags through the gun in a short period of time the gun would overheat and malfunction. For the sake or realism, I do not like, and will not use, a drum mag on my M16 (or any gun with the same circumstances in regards to this).
Guns like the M249 & M60 which are dedicated support weapons in real life do have drum mags and they can empty tons of rounds before the gun overheats (or you have to quick-change the barrel). Drum mags on these guns are great!
....yet, why do low-cap users have no problems with a CA M249 with a Star 5,000rd. box mag attached to it? A real M249 box mag carries 200 rounds. So why are people OK with a 25:1 ratio of BB's in a M249, yet a 10:1 ratio in a M4 with a hi-cap is ruining the mil-sim aspects of Airsoft?
10.) Just because you use hi-caps, and full-auto spray a lot does NOT necessarily mean you lack tactics. It also does NOT mean you lack fire control; it can simply mean you love the joy of full-auto fire as much as the low-cappers hate it (and I secretly think they’re just mad you have more firepower than them).
11.) You can’t give suppressive fire adequetly (not saying you positively can’t) without full-auto; and for those people who use low-caps, your barrage of full-auto will be as short lived as the capacity of your mag. In Airsoft suppressive fire usually keeps heads down because they hear an almighty barrage of BB's hitting whatever they're hiding behind (and don't pop up from behind it). Hearing 1 BB a second hitting what you're hiding behind doesn't have the same effect.....especially if there's more than 1 person you're trying to suppress.
12.) BB’s travel very slow through the air. With a real gun the shot is almost instantaneous at its target since the bullet travels so fast. People can dodge a BB as it flies through the air, even if it’s shot from a 400 FPS AEG. But trying to dodge 50 BB’s with no good cover nearby is something almost impossible to do. Full-auto fire in this instance can make the difference between the kill, and being killed yourself.
pulled this from another forum
thanks
Guest_TriChrome_*
great write up
my 2 cents
i think all games full auto all the time
med smem ed full auto five feet beats saying surrender as you get shot by the player YOU HAD THE JUMP ON!!!!!
its air soft-we shoot each other-thats the game
if you do not want to get shot up
play marbles not airsoft
