It's clear that people have very strong opinions about airsoft snipers, lets face it they are by far the minority when it comes to the play styles in airsoft, and Like Toast said, Most don't know how to play the roll correctly. So lets all take a deep breath and chill out. and turn this into a good discussion rather than ranting and raving. Everyone has their own style of play, and as long as we play smart and safe according to what your load out it then injuries will be minimized. A high powered gun will had a larger minimum engagement distance than that of a lowered powered one that way the impact feels relatively equal.
When it comes to sniping Toast hit it right on the money.
"I have no issues with high FPS sniper systems. It's their operators that are questionable. Most new airsoft players have visions of grandeur imagining themselves as snipers sneaking around unseen and getting those glorious long distance kills. Most are not seasoned or mature enough to trust with the risks involved, hence FPS limits. However I have played with "snipers" who use there platforms safely, effectively and are trustworthy enough to use a high powered rig. They're just far and few between."
Now here is my friends and my 2 cents on the world of sniping. Please if you reply, do so in a respectful and grown up manner.
So you want to be a sniper:
No matter where I play there always seems to be someone that wants to be a sniper. So I thought I would give my opinion on the matter. Don't start off as a sniper. Airsoft is not like a video game. We are dealing with a sport that uses plastic bb's and weapons with limitations. The scenarios usually require you to move around at a pace faster than a true sniper would. Almost every event I have attended the usefulness of a sniper that actually acts like a sniper is nullified. Anything that you think you can do with a sniper rifle you can do with a regular AEG.
In a video game you have a gun that as your target enters your sight and you pull the trigger you get a kill. In real life your long distance shots are greatly affected by the slightest breeze and you can't effectively shoot through debris. The advantage of being a sniper in a video game is that you can shoot at your target from a further distance and you usually don't die as much. That isn't going to happen at an airsoft event. Every time I see someone show up to a game with only a sniper rifle it makes me sad. I know already that they are at a disadvantage.
In a real life situation with a real firearm a sniper might spend an hour to move a few yards, or even longer. If you did that at one of our games you would miss out on most of the game by the time you got to the perfect spot. Since my AEG can reach the distances that most upgraded sniper rifles, you really don't have much of a distance advantage. At a past game I zig zagged and ran towards several of the enemy snipers and they really didn't have a chance of hitting me. (The same tactic works with with AEGs) Once I have closed the distance I now have an advantage with rate of fire and some of the upgraded snipers can't even fire because I am within their minimum engagement.
So please ask yourself why you want to be a sniper. If you think you are going to be the invincible ghost on the field that never dies and keeps racking up the kills. To be truly effective you have to upgrade your sniper rifle to speeds that mostly make people mad because they hate getting hit by your 480-570 FPS weapon. If you want to be a sniper because you like manually reloading every shot and it is just a fun feeling, great. Be a sniper. If you are a sniper because that's what you play in video games and think that your going to pwn everyone on the field. Get an AEG instead and have more fun. If you go the sniper route know that you will more than likely get more kills with your sidearm than you will your rifle.
One of the biggest tricks to being a sniper is knowing when to be one and when to ditch it for an AEG. Some game types being a sniper is near worthless while others it can be a lot of fun.
But like I said beginners should not be snipers. Ive been playing for about 5 years with my AUG and M4 and I finally got my first dedicated sniper rifle just over a year ago.
If you didn't get the the importance of a sidearm for a sniper here you go again. Snipers need to be dang good with their sidearm as a large portion of the kills you get will be with it.
Now if you're an ambidextrous shooter you can try dual wielding, for example I like to have my KWA M4 on my left side hanging from a strap. That way if anyone gets with in it's range I can use my left hand to aim and shoot while holding the sniper rifle in my right (don't knock the style it until you see it in action lol ). But then again thatss not a good tactic for beginners or most right handed or left handed only players.
But just to repeat what I said. Start off with an AEG and later down the road if you want to try and snipe go for it. Just know it can be expensive to get a good gun, and requires a different style of playing than what most people picture for a sniper roll.
Now to put a good word in for the snipers out there. There is nothing quite like the feeling of seeing some one hiding or running at 250+ ft away, setting your scope sights at just the right place, and then squeezing the trigger. The feeling of seeing that perfectly placed BB fly and hit it's target is priceless, not to mention the look on the persons face
Also Snipers need to know their Gun and play in such a way as to not injure other players, this is best achieved by maintaining a reasonable minimum engagement distance, I keep 100ft as my rule of thumb.
