Gear for beginners

[Wombat]

A slim-line chest rig and battle belt are a good combination for summer games. A plate carrier is good for CQB - especially if anyone is running a monster blaster

A 3 mag pouch set up for 7.62 mags allows easy access to mags - open top pouch with cord retainers. Make sure they have molle on front so you can stack pouches for longer games

Make sure all accessories are molle as there is a bigger range

Suspenders are a good idea if you run a battle belt with pistol and don’t have much of a waist to keep the belt in place. Don’t use battle belt to hold up trousers

[Maiphut]

Definitely one of these

[DocBob]

Simply need to specify if “gear for beginners” is to do with what any new hobbyist needs for their running and maintenance of a Gelblaster at home with the kids and family/friends……. or what is required for attending field games/indoor CQB events and the kit required to be able to be prepared to enjoy a day/night out in a competitive environment.

My recommendations for the average type of new backyard family/kids/friends fun style customer is to just purchase something that is decent performance and reliable such as a Gen8/9/10.

Recommend some quality gels, decent quality eye protection, safe battery handling procedures and that’s pretty much everything that’s needed as good information/gear for the basic Gelblaster enthusiasts

When we step it up to the next level, where people are asking specific technical advice about modifications for everything involved in the whole modification rabbit hole, along with recommendations for being properly prepared and equipped for field/CQB/ game days/nights and everything in between……. that’s a whole other kettle of fish!

Cheers for this thread, and am looking forward to providing whatever experience and knowledge that I can to help people out, but am gonna have to wait for questions relating to each situation, where I can hopefully give my opinions as to the best advice for what is most relevant to the discussion

[saph]

As doc bob asked for: new people at indoor games and such cause i guess thats where peeps will mostly play.

[Deadsquid]

I can help if your looking at the historical department of gear but it’s not common for many beginners to enjoy that stuff

[DocBob]

Cheers for the clarification

I have never played any official indoor/CQB type games…… only unofficially around a few old factories and Farm sheds with a few mates/kids/family……… but I did spend many years competing in Paintball tournaments which were “outdoor” complexes, yet involved many CQB buildings and field facilities.

All I can recommend kit wise as an unofficial indoor gamer is not much more than any other game situation.

You DON’T need any of the fully loaded wannabe Special Forces bullshit Tactical Combat Systems that I just pictured above!

Casual indoor/CQB style games only require a few simple things.

#1: Suitable main CQB style/size Gelblaster, with 3-4 spare preloaded magazines to suit.

#2: If the budget allows, a good sidearm/pistol. Semi or full Automatic, electric or GBB and only 1-2 spare magazines at the most.

#3: Safety wise, comfortable joggers/running shoes, lightweight long pants/long sleeve shirt, quality DYE type mask and a beanie.
(A beanie can be pulled down over your ears and back of your neck for really good protection from hits, which in Paintball would physically tear meat pieces off of your exposed extremities!)

#4: Lightweight vest/harness, minimal and lightweight as possible to only to carry spare mags, dump pouch, gas if required and maybe a water bottle depending upon the conditions. Simplicity, weight and comfort are the main considerations here.

#5: Gelblaster accessories……… a good quality touch pad high intensity LED Torch is a must! You will be severely disadvantaged and frustrated without one.

#6: Laser sight pointers……again, get a good quality unit and spend at least a half arsed attempt at getting it dialled close to your barrel at 10-15 meters.

#7: Glow Gels/Tracer Units.
Again, don’t skimp on quality, indoor environments can be very difficult to see where your gels are hitting.
A good quality Tracer Unit and Gels can allow you to fully control where you are aiming, even in higher light conditions indoors.

#8: Expensive EOTEC sights, Scopes, Optics blah blah blah…… save your money, rely on your Laser pointer/tracers/glow gels, keep your blaster as smooth, low profile, short and as light as possible…… there’s no time for acquiring targets or judging distances that apply in CQB/Indoor games!

You need a piece of equipment that is small, lightweight, free of any accessories that can snag/catch on your clothing or surroundings. Make them as slick/slim as possible and highly manageable in either left hand/right hand, overhead, prone, underhand or whatever operating position that you are needing to use them in.

#9: Attend a few different games/sessions and then fine tune your setup from there.
Get rid of anything that is uncomfortable, overweight, bulky, clumsy or not needed.

Add anything that you feel has let you down or could improve your game, and after a few short exercises you will get to a point where you will have everything on point 100% and be an absolute ninja!

[Wombat]

Recommend a plate carrier style vest for CQB. Learnt the hard way when some little SOB lit me up with his 350fps blaster at close range and was only wearing a light chest rig.

3 mags are sufficient, plus a speed loader to refill them when you have to respawn

Laser devices are banned at most indoor fields.

I’ve found these cheap reflex sights are good for CQB. You only need them when picking off someone behind a barrier or across the field but they also provide a quick aiming point

Pistol is good for when you hide behind a barrier to ambush the pray and spray player

Don’t skimp on eye protection but carefully select any mask. I use safety glasses over my spectacles and a dark balaclava because silver hair makes a great target for others. Used a wire lower mask for a while until I found out that shredded gels don’t taste all that good

[RokSolid]

I would say get a good mask with a thermal lens. CQB is warm. And as you tend to only present your face, hands and blaster, guess what gets shot a lot! A decent mask greatly increases the fun in CQB imo.

Depending on the rules of the field you attend, a blaster will generally be desired to be short and manoeuvrable, and maybe do a decent semi auto as many CQB or semi only. Fear not, as you can upgrade it to have a wicked semi auto, and no blaster out of the box has fantastic trigger response times.

You don’t need full metal, or big spend on a CQB blaster, as all the nice to have upgrades for CQB aren’t about fps, more about how quick the blaster fires from when you pull the trigger, and all blasters out of the box are similar at that, better to get something that can be upgraded to a “trigger response” build.

If the field is semi only, quite often you don’t even need a spare mag, though it is nice to have and a vest or chest rig, even a molle belt with a pouch is fine, the gear is something you will work out what is best for you. I ditched the vest as I found them too hot, and use a chest rig and belt.

Gas pistols are very viable in semi only CQB, especially if you practice and place your shots carefully. Great as a secondary of course, but I have run only gas pistols at semi only CQB fields and had a blast.

If you aren’t sure, go and hire a blaster, talk to people and find out what will work for you.

[Friendly_Fire]

Agree 100%

Stripped down, lightweight and nothing that doesn’t have a practical application on your blaster.

I have a lot of fun going pistol only with a bungee attached hand held momentary torch. Same momentary torch attaches to the M4 and is easily accessed from the vert grip.

Adds another element to your gameplay.

[saph]

Just a list ive built off for myself based on what doc bob suggested with alternate versions just incase something is out of stock, with research from the gear for hefty folks thread aswell (didnt add a belt since i have one that i like already)

[Friendly_Fire]

I reckon the Double Bell Glocks are a great entry level GBB pistol. The SAI G17 I got recently set me back $270, spare mags run for about $80 apiece. Not a bad performer at 280FPS either.

Hard to go past the nylon CYMA M4 CQBs for an equally great starter blaster… last time I looked they were sub $150 at some outlets, same price as some if the older Gen 9s and Gen 10 ARCs, and solid performers that hang in there with use. Average 260 - 270FPS in mt experience.

All three if my M4s, metal and nylon versions, are CYMA variants so mags out the wahzoo… always handy. Last count I’ve got eight mags

[DocBob]

Yeah I was a little bit wrong in my comments about Laser Pointers.

I’m in Western Australia and most of my experience has been from paintball for many years, and then still only played outdoor fields which involved CQB style gameplay/fortifications…… but technically weren’t as part of the massive open field games that we were playing in comparison to dedicated indoor CQB Events.

[Wombat]

Yep. If I play tomorrow it will be 2 x CYMAs and DB G22. Backup ACR /R or Gen 8 A1 AUG

[DocBob]

I’m still blown away that the apparently “piece of shit” pre-release Fighting Bro G18C GBB GLOCK Pistol that I was sent was an excellent product……. despite many others having the opportunity to review and test them to only have many issues and bad reviews, mine was somehow an absolute reliable and consistent product?

It took me quite some time to purchase the right gas and gels to be able to test/review it, simply because I had never had anything GBB or any interest whatsoever in EBB Gelblaster Pistols.

That FB GLOCK G18C was honestly just left laying around the house/workshop for any kids or adult visitors to simply pick up and load with gas/gels and simply let loose at whatever targets they wanted to point it at!

It never gave an ounce of trouble, always consistently fired/hit targets/locked back on empty etc whilst being handled by random people who had never seen an AEG Gelblaster rifle, let alone a GBB Pistol!

I can honestly say that it was an extremely awesome bit of gear, which might have been a bit more special being a pre-release/bulk manufacturing model…… but honestly couldn’t fault it right up until the day I had to destroy/dispose of it.

[saph]

Thats something i do need to figure out is gels for a gbb hence not being on the list.

[Friendly_Fire]

Whether you go with Ultra Elites, AKAs or any of the harder gels just make sure they’re fricken hard!

Keep in mind the smaller gels will often spew our of your mag as soon as you release the spring… size matters with some.

[saph]

So reviving my very old tread to throw up a pic of the current list, any links to diffrent things would be amazing since i can look at them faster and just paste into my notes app instead of trying to find what your mentioning.

[DocBob]

Mate, that just gave me an out of body experience seeing this!

I really want to take the time to delve into your links, but my first question is what you are actually looking for as a Blaster and what performance you are looking for

It’s much easier to ask one question at a time rather than 100 at once!

[Friendly_Fire]

Now that’s a list worthy of an ADF Quartermaster / Armourer.

I’m guessing you’re either a Virgo, Capricorn or a Pisces?

[saph]

Its a list built from your suggestions earlyer in this thread and just a more orginised version then the one i made in note pad into my main note taking app with extra options incase the first are out of stock.

Your post Gear for beginners - #8 by DocBob

The list i built off your suggestions Gear for beginners - #12 by saph