The BSP Challenge January 24-25, 2009

Hillsboro, Oregon
The BSP Challenge is based on teams of Players Vs Actors with a set script. Teams are graded on time and other factors to determine the winner.

Pictures: http://blacksierra.net/index.php?option=com_phocagallery&view=category&id=15%3Absp-challenge&Itemid=58

For competitions like this body armor "counts". In field games a hit is "lethal" no matter where you get hit. But in a competition your body armor will save your life. When hit in the armor you must take a knee for 10 seconds after which you are "recovered".

Mission 1: Private Security Detail
The teams will depart the staging area in 3-4 soft (unarmored) vehicles and take a female VIP to a cabin in the woods near the city of Hillsboro.
The teams must have all their gear and weaponry hidden from view from outside the vehicles.
To this end APST wore civillian clothes, large jackets, low profile concealable body armor and carried pistols and submachineguns under our jackets. One of our members in the rear vehicle (hate truck) had a boxed LMG, which he used to wipe out a van full of bad guys.

On the way to the cabin it was our mission to maintain radio communication car-to-car and watch for any "suspicious" activity.

At the location where we were supposed to deliver the VIP there is an ambush.
For the purposes of the game mechanics, certain vehicles are "disabled" and the teams need to move the VIP to a functional vehicle to extract her.

About half the teams competing lost their VIP during the ambush.

APST upon hitting the ambush deployed smoke grenades from each vehicle, dismounted and engaged the ambushing forces. The two bodyguards assigned to the VIP moved her to a functional vehicle and the mission indexed (end of exercise).

Some teams failed to neutralize all the enemy combatants, some teams lost their VIP, some experienced heavy casualties. APST suffered no casualties and eliminated all threats. This is where practice and training for this scenario type paid off.

Mission 2: Drug sting
In this mission the player team has to send in an undercover officer to ascertain whether the bad guys (actors) have a large quantity of drugs in their possession. After that has happened, the rest of the players (simulating a sheriff's office SWAT team) move in to arrest the suspects.

The UC part of the mission had some hitches, but the SWAT part of the mission went well.

Duostock

Our newest sponsor Duostock provided us with some of their products to kick around. In a nutshell its a new two surface M4 stock that makes bringing your rifle from low ready to on target very smooth. The stock stays against your shoulder and "rolls" through the movement from low ready to on target and naturally lines your eye up with your optics/sights. Its a little bit ugly, but sure does work nicely. Visit Duostock at www.duostock.com

Strac FAST Video Demonstration

We have a short post for you today. One of our members demonstrating his FAST.

STRAC FAST system

APST is excited to announce a new team sponsor! Top has been in contact with STRAC Technologies, a company that makes innovative combat equipment. STRAC has all sorts of gear on their web site, but the "gucci" gear they hooked us up with is the FAST system. The FAST system is, well, fast. This is a magazine for you magazines. The system takes up the same space on your MOLLE rig as two M4 pouches, and stores three M4 magazines in a spring loaded fashion. Check out the videos to see more about how this contraption works. APST has received a couple of these FAST system from STRAC this week, and are rigging them to start giving them some ruthless field testing. Look forward to a full review soon.

Echo 1 Advanced Squad Carbine (SCAR)

Recently I got my hands on and in an Echo 1 Advanced Squad Carbine (SCAR). Here’s the short version:

Out of the box the E1 SCAR shoots 370 and has a pretty flat shooting hopup. It includes a pretty decent 1100mah 8.4v battery, 2 mags, a barrel extension, and all the usual accessories.

Externally the SCAR is built very solid and has a monolithic upper receiver. The only possible weak point I saw on the design is the tab that holds the stock open.

The gearbox is a standard version 2 gearbox with pretty standard quality parts. It does have metal bushings, unlike the dboys SCAR. By the way, this is a rebranded dboys gun. The gearbox looks like it'll last quite a while.

Personally I find it to be less ergonomic than a comparably sized M4, your results may vary.

Read the full article on AirsoftReview.net

New CQC training facility

Finding a place to practice for CQC is not easy. In the past we have been able to practice at a metal fabrication shop and warehouse. The shop works great, but after you train at the same place for a long time, it is easy to become too comfortable with the layout, and become desensitized to the area. It is important to have a variety of training areas. When we compete, we usually have no idea what the other side of the door will look like. That was exactly the case the first night we showed up to this huge ARMY hanger. There are at least 20 rooms, multiple floors are stair cases, low light areas, large open spaces, and tight corridors. Hitting that building gave me the same rush that a competition does.

Check out the photos of the hanger.

EOtech Replicas

I noticed the other night that everyone is starting to show up with EOtech or EOtech replica red dot sites recently. Given that they are so damn expensive I figured I could find a knock-off on Ebay for a good price- not really.

Well, for a real rifle there is no substitute for the real deal, but for airsoft a replica will do the trick. There are a few brands of replicas out there. G&P makes a good one, but they will still run you over $100. The best bang for the buck I have found out there is the EOtech 552 on Ebay Banned for $57! The 552 uses AA batteries instead of the more expensive lithiam batteries. They also have the 551 which is shorter and lower profile, but does not take AA batteries.

EOtech sites have a no-ghost red dot and a clear open site picture, which allows for fast target acquisition and which makes even the more expensive models well worth it.

Here is a picture of Amos at our last CQC practice sporting a real steel EOtech 552. Sexy! We will have more photos of that practice up later tomorrow.