Nobody has posted from this perspective yet, so I thought I'd throw it in.

I often play a sniper or DM role, which means a light load out and fairly heavy reliance on my sidearm anytime things don't go exactly as planned. Which is nearly every time. My primary is my role, but my secondary is the thing that keeps me alive. In RS it would be a lot different, since there are no MEDs in real life when your life depends on it, but I literally can't shoot you with my primary if you're too close to me, so I almost always end up firing more with my secondary than my primary. There are several different situations that have to be handled independently in a sniper/DM role, and those are traveling, overwatch, and embedded. For all of these situations the loadout, secondary weapon, and placement are the same. Secondary is on my right (firing) side on my hip, in a safariland fitted holster. The safariland keeps the gun firmly in place when running and crawling, but easy to draw. Secondary ammo is on my left (support) side. I'll mention more about the specific sidearm I use and why below. I place it on my hip because I tend to spend a lot of time on my belly and wriggling through tight places as a sniper, so cross-draw is out, and drop leg tends to catch on brush and make noise.

Traveling - I almost always have my rifle slung and my sidearm holstered. In this mode, my sidearm is my primary. Most engagements happen in this mode, while traveling with a fire team or squad, at too short a distance to be able to use my primary, which means most engagements happen with my sidearm. For this purpose, my primary is firmly slung on my back, so that it cannot shift around much on me, and my secondary is generally holstered or sometimes readied if close engagement is expected. In the event that longer range fire becomes necessary while traveling with a squad or fireteam, I'll transition the other way, to my primary, but speed is generally not the issue.

Overwatch - This is a common mode for both DM and sniper roles, where I am in a position overlooking a squad's movement, providing radio coverage and possibly fire support. Depending on the situation I may or may not have a an assault or spotter role with me, in which case I only use my primary and the other person covers me. If I'm alone (which does happen when you're short on players and can't fill out a squad ), I'll prepare my sidearm the same as embedded, below.

Embedded - This is generally only in the sniper role. While my main purpose is to lay fire with my primary, I know that close engagements are likely, given the small size of airsoft fields. For this reason, when I set up an embedded position, I ready my sidearm and lay it on the ground near me. There are several different positions I might be embedded in, but I'll lay out the most common:

Prone - my secondary is 6-8 inches to the right of my primary's grip, on it's left side. This way, I can essentially rotate my wrist 90 degrees as it falls and have my secondary in hand.

Seated/Stabilized - my secondary is on the ground, directly beside my right leg, very nearly directly underneath my primary's grip, again providing a short drop to have my sidearm readied.

Kneeling/Standing/Other awkward stabilized position - I'll leave it in my holster. In this case, I will leave my primary up, similar to the Grolnek method described above, and draw my sidearm before dropping my primary. Often my primary is stabilized against something large and solid, so I'll leave it there. The right (firing) arm is relaxed and non-supporting anyway, so dropping to my holster the primary doesn't come into play.

A word on sidearms. I use a (TM) Sig P226, and not just because it looks cool. This pistol has no safety, and instead is SA/DA with a hammer release. What this means is, it's always on. To ready it you chamber a round, drop the hammer, and holster it. When you draw, it's ready to fire: long first pull, short consecutive pulls. No futzing around with a safety, but no accidental discharges either. I don't like 1911s because flipping the safety takes your thumb out of position, and throws off your accuracy. For most this may not matter much, as has been mentioned at 20 feet you don't have to be that accurate to hit a man-sized target. But my range is 50-100 feet, and they're coming at me with an AEG on full auto, so rapid target acquisition with accuracy is a lot more important. For me, the P226 is the only sidearm that would work.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something, but I'm already being too wordy.

ryanm

HOLY SHI* DUDE. how long did it take you to right that?!?

Unnecessary..


Excellent addition, ryan. Thank you for the contribution - it was a good read! Hopefully this will clear up some questions that guys might have.

lol wow bro wow im not even going to pretend i read all that lol

Funny, the SA/DA trigger is exactly why I do not like the Sig and Berreta platforms. I have had several M92 type pistols that the trigger restet was further than I naturally wanted to move my trigger finger, so I ended up futzing over the trigger while the other guy shot me. I guess I spoiled myself with a WA Infinity with a super short restet.
I developed the habit of grabbing my 1911 high as I begin to remove it from the holster, then after drawn I move my thumb down the side of the slide to trip the safety as it moves down into my high grip shooting position.

I like how every body does things a little different with there side arm.

I'm really interested when I start to see more players using forms of the C.A.R. system.

I've played around a little with the C.A.R. system (only what I have been able to find online) a bit in my back yard. I don't really see it all that necessary for airsoft but it is kind of fun. I love how once I dial it in all my shots go pretty much the exact spot with little effort.

It's comfortable, to me. The traditional "range" styles require more effort and training for very nearly the same results for most people, while CAR takes advantage of the natural positions and movements of your body. On a range, with time between shots, there are clear advantages to some of the traditional stances, but for sheer ease of gaining good muscle memory and turning the average shooter who can't hit the broad side of a barn into a reasonably accurate and consistent shooter, CAR is pretty effective. That, and you can't take an isosceles stance while seated in a vehicle or leaning into a crawlspace.

ryanm

What I have found, even in my inexerience with airsoft, is that it is easiest for me to carry my sidearm on my strong side leg holster with the mags on the weak side. When running and there is a chance of using my pistol (running up to a building/trench or sneaking behind an enemy) I keep my strong hand on the pistol while still holding the grip or mag front of my primary with my weak hand. When I withdrawl the pistol I keep my weak hand on my primary and aim the pistol one handed. This keeps control of both my primary and secondary. I find this most efficient and clumsy free way to handle my pistol.

I didn't read this whole topic because I don't have the time right now.

I have trained myself to the point that my weak to strong side ratio is hardly noticeable - maybe 60/40. I want to get a 3-point sling for my primary and when I get a sidearm I'll get a left sided like holster... I don't like my having a right sided holster because I use my primary on my right side and I don't want "right side over load".

Also, a lot of you are saying to put mags on the weak side. What if I don't have room for both my primary mags and my secondary mags?

I think putting your sidearm in your "weak side"-as long as you can shoot decently like that-is the most effective way to go.

EDIT:: I spent an entire scenario at the last event I went to firing left handed because that was the only way I could shoot while behind cover. If you can't fire from both sides of your body than you are at a serious tactical disadvantage.

US armed forces, every police department in the US, and pretty much anyone who carries a pistol as part of their job disagrees with you.

You're better off getting good with your strong side than decent at both.

ryanm

I agree with that but once you are already great with one hand why not get good with the other? Also I suggested making your left hand (for me) into your strong hand so you can have it on the opposite side of your body of your primary.

And with a pistol it doesn't matter much but with a rifle if you are going around a right hand corner (if you are right handed) you have to expose your whole body to shoot correctly. Now that may not happen often but when it does that can determine if you get out or if the other person gets out.

On somewhat of a side note, one person in response to my previous paragraph said something to the affect of "It doesn't matter when I am coming around corners because I have 30rps that I spray at them." I have no idea how he wins at all...

Ask the marines. And the police. According to them, it's still better to make your strong arm even better, rather than to waste time getting pretty good with your weak arm. Unless you are truly ambidextrous (lateral cerebral dominance), which only happens in like 1 person in 25,000, you will never, ever, ever be as good with your weak hand as you are with your strong one. Your brain simply doesn't have the same amount of control of fine motor skills in that arm. It has nothing to do with practice, it has to do with how your brain is physically wired up.

What it comes down to is it's better to expose more of your body for a short time if you are assured the hit, than it is to expose the "wrong" side of your body for longer (or more frequently), taking repeated attempts to try to make the hit. They've studied it. Japan has all of their military train with both hands. The US doesn't. But professional shooters that I know have told me that weak-side shooting is a parlour trick that serves no real purpose other than entertainment. IOW, it looks good in movies, but that's about all it's good for.


Clearly, that is not the answer either.

Bottom line. Practice doing it one way, the same way every time, and you'll have a higher shot-to-hit ratio than any other method.

ryanm

Hmm... that's interesting. You made a lot of good points there. I'm going to have to think about that some more.


Really??? I thought that sounded like the perfect solution!

is it wise too only use a gas pistol? but u have extra clips, and ur job is stealth and sneeking recon.