New Airgun enthusiast..

[KoolAidMan]

If your looking to go to a game i'm beggining to host them at an indoor field so sometime next month contact me I should have a rental for you by then games there at cqb paintball in toronto .

[pusangani]

winter is mostly indoor season for airsoft, there's a few regular indoor games that happen every week, check the ontario events section

[Rock 'N' Roll Outlaw]

Pretty much yeah, there are some outdoor games, but not that many. Thats mainly indoor season where we play at some paintball arenas. To find a list of games check out the Ontario Events section.

As for you getting AV'ed you can talk to Brian McIllmoyle here who also runs TTAC3 which is an indoor tactical venue. Games/skrims are hosted there regularily by Brian, has rentals availble sometimes, and is one of the most respected members of the Toronto airsoft community.

If you are near the west end go see Jeroon over at Army Issue. He can AV you as has a great surplus store, you never walk out of there empty handed whether its by choice or not.

Either one of these dudes will help you become a member of this community as long as you show the proper attitude. If theres one thing we collectively don't tolerate is dumbassery and blatant disrespect for those around you. As long as you can cover this, you will have nothing to worry about.

[Acidictadpole]

I'm in the Durham region for school. But for those familiar with the area a trip to Toronto is relatively trivial.

I'm pretty ill equipped for anything right now, but maybe with rentals it'll give me a good chance to try it without putting in the major cash right away.

I've also read that BBs do pierce skin, I find that understandable and expected. Is it a frequent occurrence? Obviously wearing thicker attire would prevent it from doing so all the time, but it could also hinder maneuverability. What kind of medical attention is required for a bb that has pierced skin?

I don't recall the name of the AV guy that I tried to contact, but I'm going to wait to see what he says before contacting another. I will probably attempt it also if i don't hear within a week.

[L473ncy]

If you want to try it out first it's a better idea to rent, that way you get something that's at least decent. (Rentals are usually private between two members so ask around on your local forums, price should be $20-40, owner sets the price to rent so shop around for different members to see what they have to offer). In addition to rental theres field fees (usually ~$10-20), BB's ($15-20 for a bag of 2000), and you should pick up some BDU's (Surplus Olive Drab from most surplus stores should cost around $40-60 for the set depending on condition and such). For indoor games it's not as big of a deal (I haven't played many indoor games so I'm not too experienced with this) however for outdoor games it's advised to buy BDU's just to "get into the mood", you'll blend in more rather than having a hoodie and jeans (because it's too easily seen from a distance), and you'll be more respected since you actually made an effort to try and join the group on the right foot (that is you actually bought some stuff, albeit it's minimal but it kind of shows that you came prepared and can take care of yourself and don't need another member to hold your hand).

Also, sure you could play with a $200 gun but it's like the difference between a Weekend Warrior and a car made exclusively for the track. The $100 guns you get at Canadian Tire are more akin to crappy daily drivers (like a rust bucket you would buy in university to get from A to B and you pray every time you start/drive it, it doesn't break down/explode/fall apart) that are only good for plinking in the basement.

It's best to start off with a quality gun right off the bat and if you're going to "try it out" to see if you like it a high quality gun actually holds it value REALLY well. Whereas if you buy a crappier gun (Kraken or something) then the value depreciates rapidly since most members will try to stay away from them.

EDIT: As for the BB piercing thing. Usually they won't, the big areas are usually teeth, ears and soft parts of your body. Pinky shots hurt like a bitch but won't pierce.

Remember you only get one set of eyes so good eye protection is manditory, sure you could get that set of goggles that are properly rated but seem like they were made shoddily OR you could get a nice set of $50-100 goggles that will protect your eyes forever.

As for teeth, a bandanna will usually reduce the energy enough that it doesn't chip however what I do is run with a Sykes mask (Version 1) (bought from Illusion) http://www.sykesmasks.co.uk/images/Tan%20Black.jpg I didn't buy the goggles that came with it I use my own. Other people have used neoprene masks to great effect too (ones that bikers or boarders/skiers would wear). From worst protection to best I would say Bandanna (something like this is pretty badass and can give you that badass PMC look, you should be able to buy these from motorcycle shops or whatever) second is those neoprene masks like this which is also pretty badass, again you can pick them up from motorcycle shops or whatever), and finally the Sykes mask (I don't know what it's made of, my guess is some sort of fibreglass/resin mixture) It's extremely hard and I think I read somewhere it can withstand shots of up to 800 FPS (twice what the regular field limits in Canada are). It actually saved me once, I took a shot to the face just to the right and below the bridge of my nose, if I didn't have that mask it probably would have been a bleeder.

Remember to tuck in your ears into the elastic of your goggles. Otherwise a stray BB can give you a bleeder there too.

I've also seen someone with a BB embedded here in Canada (you could still see it and all that was required was picking it out). It was a guy from Vancouver IIRC however I'm sure it was a freak accident.

[Rock 'N' Roll Outlaw]

Personally I have never heard of anyone getting a BB to embed itself in someones skin. Yeah bleeders and welts are pretty common place but the worst Ive seen was someone get a tooth knocked out. That was a freak accident. A BB getting embeded is possible and has happened somewhere in the world, but thats a reason we impose muzzle velocity limits, and minimum engagement distance in order to avoid any dangerous occurrences. People who habitually show disregard for the rules, and peoples safety are ejected from that game and its not that hard to blacklist someone from all ASC games as safety is the number 1 priority at all times.

[pusangani]

Just go to this game on Friday, you can rent a gun, get a feel for what airsoft is like AND get age verified all in the same night

http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=91834

[Shrike]

I know it's tedious but bigups to you guys who help with answering new posts. I'm sure some are trolls but there are people who keep helping them. (after being told it was a magazine still referring to it a few times as clip on this site) seems trollish to me.

Thanks for helping the excited new people, I was one once and I think it was Bruce who said "hi, welcome, slow down or something at my first rant about what gun is best, however I totally understand why flames used to be the norm.

anyhoo just site seeing, carry on

[Acidictadpole]

First off thanks for all your guys' help.. I realised that I hadn't conveyed that yet personally so I wanted to. I really appreciate the effort this community puts into its new members and helping them find their way.

Next on the list: I've realised all the guns I have are utter shit (I didn't think it was excessive as per the rules but it also seems to convey the correct attitude towards them on these boards :P) and should probably begin looking for a more serious one. So, my next step is to sit tight and wait for the Durham guy to get back to me. Once he does and I get access to the classifieds I'll go ahead and search around for something on there that looks worthwhile. I am also going to ask if any of you mind being contacted about advice on a possible purchase (and, if i find a good one, hopefully not snatching it from under my nose ).

I also wanted to give a little more info about myself that I'm fine with being on the internet. I'm 22 (to be verified i guess), male, and I live in Oshawa going to school at UOIT. I used to buy guns in South Africa (BB also) but, believe it or not they were very bad quality compared to the clearsoft (crap apparently :P) that I got at Canadian Tire; which is why I thought I had a real good deal there. I learned that, metaphorically speaking, there's always a bigger fish, and there's always a better gun

I read the FAQ boards about gun purchases and the current law issues that we're having. But I feel that without discussing the prospect about a gun to purchase in real-time with another member (i'll hit up the AV guy i meet), I probably won't get very far with a decent purchase.

[Rock 'N' Roll Outlaw]

We are more than happy to help out someone new. The misconception alot of folks have about us when we flame someone is because they:

A)Don't use proper grammar and respect.

B)Are impatient and they WANTWANTWANT a gun NOWNOWNOW

C)Don't want to take our advice when we tell them someone is crap for a reason.

D)Don't want to take the initiative to do their own research and expect us to hold their hand and spoon feed them all the answers.

You show all the qualities we look for in people new to the site/sport. Keep it up and you will love this place/sport more and more.

[pusangani]

^ correct

also to add

D) try to dodge the question when we ask how old they are

E) completely ignore us when we tell them to get av'd (because they are likely too young)

just stop saying "clips" and you should be fine here

[Acidictadpole]

Originally Posted by pusangani

just stop saying "clips" and you should be fine here

Mags?

[Rock 'N' Roll Outlaw]

He learns quick

[Shrike]

lol

[Acidictadpole]

Out of curiosity, is this a cultural thing to not call them clips? (I know for certain I've heard ammo containment mechanisms being called that before :P) Or is it outright wrong?