Why you Don't blind fire in Airsoft.

[systema2]

I have little sympathy for these types of incidents considering I always wear a paintball mask. People who do not wear the appropriate protection for worse case scenarios only have themselves to blame. Being shot in the mouth is bound to happen eventually playing this sport. All I can say is learn from it and wear something over your face other than a thin piece of cloth which is really worthless when it comes to protection.

I really don't see how this has any direct correlation to blind fire. The same thing could easily happen looking down sights and shooting. The only difference is *some* discretion *could* be taken but that doesn't mean it would be. Sometimes all you have to shoot at is the head. Not ideal but it is the game. So wear the proper gear or don't whine like a little baby or blame the shooter when incidents like this occur – simple.

It just irritates me that when things like this occur fingers get pointed at the shooter when they all should be pointed at the idiot not wearing the proper protection. I mean you are participating in a sport where one of the objectives is to shoot other people with plastic at a high velocity. Never thinking your going to be hit in the mouth is just stupid. It is more stupid to accept that fact and not take any actions to prevent it – that is that next level sh*t…

[Andrew]

I don't see how this happened if you had something covering your face? If something was actually covering your face the bb should not have been able to hit your tooth.

[samfisher]

Not everyone likes to wear a full face mask. It makes it difficult to communicate over comms and subtracts from the MILSIM when you're running around in paintball mask. The half mesh masks can interfere with your eye protection if you're not careful in how you wear them and keeping a good seal on your eye protection is Job #1.

I agree though that you take the risk though when you're running around without any mouth protection that sooner or later you'll get hit and chip a tooth. Better have a good dental plan, because caps aren't cheap.

Shemaghs and balaclavas are worthless. The Shemaghs can be wrapped around thick enough alright, but they barely ever hold well in place and again make it even more difficult than a face mask to communicate through if they are wrapped thick enough. Balaclavas are thin and just aren't going to slow a 400 fps BB enough. Not to mention in the summer they're hot and uncomfortable.

It's just a risk of the sport. Every sport has injuries that can happen and this is one of the injuries you can end up with in Airsoft. It's not life threatening or going to cripple you or anything. It's something that can be fixed up and nobody will ever know the difference. Heck, you'll forget about it yourself sometimes. I've had my tooth capped for years and years. Nobody would even know unless I told them. It's a permanent fix not something like dentures you can pull off and put on.

[Ike]

Samfisher,

I think that this happened at Phoenix Tactical, where by rule he should have had something covering his face and FPS limits are 350fps. Really though, it's the kind of risk you take playing CQB. I always used a shemagh when I played CQB and never had any issues, if you wrap it properly it stays in place fine and protects your skin.

Like you said, it's the risk of the sport. This kind of thing can happen at any power level no matter what safety rules are in place. We don't really play with high powered replicas. The most powerful replicas allowed on most fields in Michigan are 550fps with a .2g BB, or about 2.8 joules. This is a far cry from the hardest-shooting AEGs, and nothing compared to paintball. It's up to the player to take the precautions necessary to protect themselves, and nobody should rely on the rules alone to stay safe, they are merely a bare minimum. I'm not calling for our engagements to be made more strict or anything (in fact, I'd love to see the opposite, or at least have the 550fps limit raised), I'm simply saying that your safety is a personal responsibility.

I'm surprised Zorak hasn't chimed in about wearing a full face mask yet. He understands that his safety is worth a slight disadvantage on the field, and I respect him for that. Hopefully this will be a lesson to those who are lackadaisical about their safety on the field.

[Timm]

Jan 2, 2012 12:26:55 GMT -5 samfisher said:

Shemaghs and balaclavas are worthless. The Shemaghs can be wrapped around thick enough alright, but they barely ever hold well in place and again make it even more difficult than a face mask to communicate through if they are wrapped thick enough.

Every time I play at PT, I wrap my shemagh around my face, keeping it there is no problem if its tight enough. And if you need to, just bite the damn thing to keep it up. Works every time, and saved my mouth twice last time I was there a couple weeks ago. It doesnt take away from any aspect of the game from being able to speak clearly to the realism.