Night Battles and Tactics

[blooddrunk7]

Ok...well I was given the idea of a new subject that needed to be addressed by xcaptainxmorganx. Night games are very popular in the airsoft world and I think that it would be really cool to hear about everyone's experiences, tactics, and gear used during them.


I'll go ahead and add to the topic that started the thread....use of scopes and other aiming devices at night.I have personally found that the use of a scope, red dot sight, and even, holosights to be of almost no use during a night game.

scopes (high magnification) - Using these at night simply becomes a game of where's waldo....but trying to find light and what looks like a target. Identifying a target at night is about 90% based on seeing movement. When noticing movement through a scope at night I have personally found it very difficult to keep up where the movement is and even trying to figure out if its my eyes just playing tricks on me.

Red dot scopes and illuminated reticules - With these scopes seeing is not a problem at all due to no magnification but it is sacrificed in another area. The light used to illuminate the reticule of the scope almost completely prohibits the user from seeing anything but....well the light in the scope!

Laser sights - In my opinion the most effective of all aiming systems for a night game. The laser an be clearly seen as far as the the eye can see and its simply point and shoot. However keep in mind that just because you can see it doesn't mean that the enemy cant.

Open sights - not as visible as the laser sight but will keep the user undetected. At night open sights are not as accurate as they prove to be in the day. Though using certain techniques can greatly improve your accuracy when using open sights during the night.
Holding your gun centered out in front of you(like you often see SWAT teams do) increases accuracy way more. Think about it...if your gun is pointed directly in the direction your body is facing then that's pretty much where your shots are gonna go.


anyways... speak your mind on this or even bring up some new topics...cant wait to hear

[immaninjabih]

One thing I've noticed with EOTech sights, their reticules are visible by the enemy if close enough. One of the guys on our team plays with an MP5A4 RIS and has one on his, and that was the first thing I saw moving was a green or red light, before i saw or heard him. This doesn't seem to be as apparent with other red dot sights, however depending on the brightness you set them on, they can actually be helpful...providing there is a little light. If your in the middle of the woods with NO moonlight, or an over-cast even, red dots are almost useless...Only time my red dot has come in handy during the night was a scenario where I was actually in the middle of a soy bean field playing, and it helped a lot...There was an overcast, however there were distant lights and lights from an airport not too far off that lit the field enough to compromise any movement that was above the 2 1/2 foot soy bean plants. However like I said, if it was completely dark, it would have been useless.

[blooddrunk7]

yeah that's true. I saw where the topic of tactical lights was brought up on another thread. I must say that the only time I ever choose to use a light is when I am bringing up the back of my team and spot lighting ahead of them....without exposing them to the light of course. It has proven to be an awesome way to prevent my team members from getting taken out by giving them the ability to see way in front of them rather than get assaulted up close.

[Azrael]

That Eotech isn't a true Eotech though. Its just a nice looking red dot sight and not a true holosight. A true holosight has no visible light from the front. I've used one before on my friends AR. Very very nice.

In practice i never use sights at night regardless of type unless there is a full moon or the equivalent amount of light, turning the environment into a low light situation.

Also a few of the games i've played out west at night, any one firing a weapon either had to have a flash light on or had to have a working tracer unit to simulate muzzle flash and allow the game to progress faster