I've had good luck with:
-A light recon vest
-face/eye protection
-BDUs
-A decent AEG (an Echo1 AK, in my case) w/four mid-cap mags, two speedloaders and a -----spare battery
-gloves
Everything else is gravy.
There's not much call for the sniper role in typical games.
To add to what Xavier said, Airsoft would not have hooked me if Vanguard had been my first taste. My intro was one of the STALKER games at Sasco. That was just nuts. And FighterTown is awesome, too. For stores ... Gearbox on McClintock and Southern is a bit further away from you, but they're good people.