Being a female airsofter in a male dominated sport.

Hey everyone!
Here's a blog post I've been planning on doing for a while, a piece about what it's like to be a female airsofter in such a male dominated sport. The shooting game isn't just an old boys club anymore. Women are the fastest growing demographic in shooting sports, these sports include hunting, target shooting, airsoft and archery.
 
As you all know I belong to the airsofting category and although we are heavily outnumbered by the lads, we are growing in numbers. Since the start of my blog it has been my mission to get more girls into the game and this is something I am hugely passionate about! Now female airsofters are indeed a rare breed, and although we don't ask for any special treatment, because there are so few of us we do face some incredibly varied reactions from the airsoft community.

Now, I have been playing airsoft since 2011, but took a short hiatus until August 2014, so I have been playing regularly for around 6 months - now I don't claim to be an expert on the sport - I'm just a girl who loves to pew pew but I do know a fair bit. Have you ever gone into a video game shop and been asked by an assistant 'Are you looking for your boyfriend/brother/dad?' that's how it feels being a female airsofter sometimes, now most of the Airsoft community is helpful, encouraging and supportive but you do get some class A sexists who will give you unsolicited advice on your gear - like you're incapable of creating a decent loadout by yourself or they act like you have no idea what you want and try to school you with their arm chair degree in Google in the most condescending tone they can muster. Sometimes it also feels like some male airsofters have never seen a woman before, let alone a female softer. After introducing myself on a Facebook group I received over 20 friend requests from random men, 50 messages, 200 likes and 243 comments on the post. A little much? I'd say so haha. Most were being friendly saying hello and being really encouraging etc but you do get a few lads commenting, asking things such as 'Who helped you with your load out?' or 'Why is this one out of the kitchen?', 'Marry me' which are all needless to say, quite off putting! Haha
Then there's a whole other breed of guys - the ones that won't shoot a woman, or tell others to go easy on you. Let me tell you something, I won't go easy on you, for all intents and purposes we're at war and I want to win. If you run at me and decide not to shoot me because I am a girl, I promise you that you will get lit up like a Christmas tree. I want to be treated like an equal so if you can see me, shoot me!

The only other problem I have encountered is catty female airsofters. Now I support all women getting into the sport, so why are some women just so catty towards other women? I have no idea. But as there is so few of us in the sport we should stick together and build each other up but it seems that for some the agenda is to break others down. This cattiness includes receiving abusive messages off other female airsofters or the more subtle of the two, the one who comments on every thread I comment on trying to undermine what I say or to make fun of the fact I love the colour pink. I love pink, get over it ;)

Still, all this doesn't put me off, instead it makes me work harder and push myself more to put to rest the stereotypes and it makes all the great things about being a female airsofter that much better! I have met some great friends through airsoft and there's definitely a sense of camaraderie between our team. The encouragement and support you get is fantastic and the community is more than happy to help with advice about equipment and guns. But that's not the only great thing!
Retailers are finally realising that girls are into this so they are producing more gear and accessories for women. Take the G&G Femme Fatale range of M4s, they are fabulous, so fabulous I brought two! Mechanix have made a set of pink gloves - although we could do with them in a size small for those of us with tiny hands ;) One thing I am really excited about is the collaborations that Wicked Wear Co is producing with some fabulous Slaydies - Unicorn Leah, Airsoft Hasmeen and P90 Girl. It's great to see some tactical gear especially for women! 2015 will be a great year to be a female softer :)

Kelly xo

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Introducing my newest guest blogger, Sergeant NRan! (RE-UPLOAD)

UPDATE  - This piece was originally posted weeks ago however it appears something went wrong and the coding looked a little off so I've fixed it and reuploaded it for you all to enjoy.

One of the things I love most about the international airsofting IG community is meeting new airsofters who I would never normally have the pleasure of meeting. My new guest blogger, Sergeant N Ran from Finland has followed this blog and my Instagram account since it went live 8 weeks ago! So when N Ran asked if he could be a guest blogger for me, I jumped at the chance! So here he is:
Hello there fellow Airsoft community folks!
So who the hell am I?
I’m Sergeant N. Ran (yes my military rank when I was serving as Air Force
Recon). 



I’m playing in town called Tampere in southern part of Finland. I’m active local Airsoft association & community member, I’m also semi-serious gearwhore. I post lot of stuff to Instagram under “sergeant_nran”, trying to keep certain visual level there so I hope you enjoy photos. Jump in here: http://instagram.com/sergeant_nran



So what the heck I’m doing here, in Femmefatales blog? I strongly support the better half of the human race, women. We need to have more women in our sport. Same goes for juniors, they are the future of the sport. Our Femme here doesn’t fall into the “junior” category though. Which
reminds me, I also strongly support us folks closing in on midlife crisis. I have got so much from the global Airsoft community in form of reviews, guides, discussion boards, pictures, videos etc. so it’s my turn to try to give fraction of it back. Here it means sharing part of mine & the Finland Airsoft scene with you guys. And support Femmefatale as well. So, I’m going to write some random blog posts from random topics at the future here. Thanks dearest Kelly to let me to do so.

Aaand to the introduction. How did I get to this Airsofting stuff? I got to Airsofting just over three years ago. I’m not so keen on real guns, I rarely go to the range if there’s a possibility to go with good friends, I like guns but real bullets firing are just not my thing. I also – like we all – hate war, it’s the single worst thing human kind has invented. But, I have always been really interested and
fascinated about anything tactical, anything related to military and military technology. I have been practicing all sorts of Air Guns pretty much all my life, lastly practical shooting with highly modified HPA Air Rifles. Something like five years ago I accidently stumbled into my local Airsoft
store, did not know anything about the sport or gear, but maaaan that was a cool shop! Ended up spending like hour there, buying two good blowback Co2 pistols, horrible holsters, some bad gloves and couple of cheapo masks. So what I did for couple of years was basically random plinking and pistol duels with the guys at my cottage. Until, I somehow put “Airsoft Tampere” (Tampere = my hometown) to Google. Realised that this is serious sport and there are lot of people like me, I’m not a lone weirdo feeding the inner tactical child. I bought a good used gun (sweet G36), horrible
cross draw vest, absolutely awful wrong kind of BB’s, some more mistake noobster equipment and so on, started from the bottom so to say.
Soon I found myself hanging with our Airsoft Association “Pirkanmaasoft” guys and having constant flood of gear coming towards my house from different corners of the world. Pretty much everything has changed from those days, except gear flood stays on. I have learned a lot and have done pretty much all the mistakes one can do. At this point, I would say I start to know something about the sport, there’s a lot to learn for years to come though. I have also fallen into the trap (oh what a sweet trap) of Gearwhoring as well, example my Osprey based military issued loadout has taken now almost two years to build.
Airsoft is perfect balance for the hectic work I have, Sunday morning therapy sessions. This has become more than a sport to me, part of lifestyle I would say.
So see you guys. Next time you’re going to hear from me, I’ll be sharing some
snow and cold feelings with you all.
Cheers,
Sergeant Nran
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2015 Pew Pew Wishlist!

Hey everyone!
So today is my last day of my birthday/graduation holiday so I thought I'd get another post in before my work schedule becomes hectic again! 2014 was an awesome year for airsoft goodies, and I'm planning to make 2015 even better! Now I have purchased my Glock 18C I'm on fire to get new accessories to really complete my load out and to create a secondary CQB loadout! Here's a list of items (so far lol) that I'm planning to purchase this year! Any thoughts or alternatives? Hit me up in the comment section! :D
So for my Glock, here's the wishlist:
For my Femme Fatale loadout:
Secondary CQB load out:
- Kelly xo

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Femme Fatale Loadout

Hey everyone! Kelly here, I've had a lot of questions about my current load out, so I thought I'd do a post about it and at the same time, do a little piece about my new G&G Armament GR4 Black Rose, pink tactical bag, pink gun bag, my pump action short shotty and my WE gen 4 Glock 18C which I got for my birthday. Lots of goodies :D
 
So here's me at Combat Ready Airsoft 'Barracks' on Sunday 11th January! Let's talk about the camo. On the top, I wear a Multicam UBAC, a multicam soft shell style jacket (with added foam in the arms for added protection and a multicam plate carrier with my call sign printed on the back! On the bottom I wear British Multi Terrain Pattern trousers, this is because it's a bit darker and the pattern is more concentrated, just like woodland terrain. Pretty basic, staple pieces which form a good basis for any load out, in my opinion :)
I would also like to get a black multicam set for CQB, so this is definitely on my wishlist. I also enjoy adding a *dash* of colour to my load outs - many of you who follow me on Instagram will know my favourite colour well! Here's the link in case you aren't already a follower: www.instagram.com/femmefataleairsoft
 
In this picture I'm rocking a pink Shemagh which protects my neck nicely, touch wood I've never been shot in the neck without adequate protection, nor do I ever want too! Haha I'm also sporting a pair of HK army competition sniper gloves (which were my sisters but I have commandeered them because they were a little too big for her tiny hands ;) If you're reading this Stace - love you! lol) They offer great protection and mobility for your trigger fingers.
 
 
Next we move onto face protection, I'm currently running a Nuprol WE Fast Helmet with an NVG mount for my GoPro Hero 3 White Edition, mesh goggles for eye pro (I also have perspex, vented ballistic goggles but I find mesh goggles more comfy and they never fog) and a wire mesh, half face mask - I've seen too many teeth shot out to risk having mine go the same way! I also have braces so as you can imagine - I don't want to go through two years of treatment to lose a tooth!




Guns!
 
I have two primary weapons which I switch between - my G&G FF26 Pink Storm and GR4 Black Rose, they are the same gun but in different colourways. I am more leaning towards my Black Rose because there is a greater amount of attachments and accessories for black guns, the baby pink of the FF26 is a hard colour to match. My GR4 is currently rocking a G&G Femme Fatale mock suppressor, Heckler & Koch eyelet iron sights and a Sure Fire Tactical scout torch. I have decided  not to do a written review of my GR4 because I have already written a review on the FF26.



 
Let's talk about my Christmas/birthday goodies!
For Christmas I received a pink tactical bag, a pink gun bag and a short pump action shotgun! Although I was originally bought a 3 shot pump action shotgun, the single shot short shotty is easier for me to load and carry around. I love the pump action feature - no batteries and gas definitely make it an easy gun to operate.
 
For my birthday I brought a WE Gen 4 Glock 18C from Crafty's Airsoft in Derby - you can visit them here: http://www.craftysairsoft.co.uk/
What can I say? It's amazing! I've been looking for a small, full auto pistol that has some weight behind it for a while now and this WE Glock fits the bill perfectly. It even has interchangeable grips and the upgrade possibilities are plentiful! The full auto feature is to die for and I honestly feel a little bad for whoever next encounters me at CQB when I'm wielding this haha The Nuprol 4.0 Black gas packs a punch and makes it sound awesome.

 
My other Christmas presents include NCS VISM tac bag and a rifle case, they are gorgeous, match and have plenty of storage space for all the gear I take to a game. Info for them and pictures can be found on Zero One Airsoft's site!

The NCS VISM Operators Field Bag in pink can be seen/purchased here: http://www.zerooneairsoft.com/product_info.php?products_id=8441
The NCS VISM 42" Rifle Case can be seen/purchased here:



Thank you for reading and keep an eye out for my new CQB video coming to my YouTube channel this week and another blog post from yours truly!

- Kelly xo

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Airsoft in extreme cold temperatures by Sergeant N.Ran

 
 
Dark. Cold. Snowing. Knee deep, even waist deep of snow in some areas. Temperatures dropping below -30C (-23F). Everything is frozen. Couple hours of daylight in a day. Welcome to Finland in the Winter!

I’m writing this in mid-January, which means winter is in full swing but the darkest hours of the year have passed and we are going towards light again. The winter season here sets certain limitations for Airsofting. Well, some people call them limitations, but for us, the sport just changes a bit and we need to adapt. Importance of right equipment and gear is emphasized. Most of the people are keeping roughly -15C (5F) as a limit for gaming, but there are us wackos who are going onto the field almost no matter what.
 


First thing that you notice is the lack of sunlight, which is pretty clear, you just don’t see. Our weekly Sunday games are commonly between 11:30 – 16:30, in the wintertime it’s pitch black at 15:30, so game days are bit shorter. If we go to the northern parts of Finland, the sun does not rise at all, so it’s constant darkness.

Second thing you notice is the snow and coldness, and this is not something to be taken lightly. Low temperatures are potentially dangerous, if one is not prepared. One needs to have good clothes to keep warm. I’m using multiple layers of clothes, technical underwear, merino wool, fleece, top layer etc. But at the other hand, when wearing a heavy plate carrier, I need to take care of sweat as well, so breathability (= quality) is important. Warm shoes and good gloves, naturally. Though, after running couple of games, your body gets warm and blood circulation takes care of cold, I’m using regular Oakley Factory pilots after warming up. Masks and glasses tend to fog really easy, so poor masks/glasses are useless. I’m using wire mesh goggles because of this. Your drinking water
and food is frozen, goddamnit! Also, if there’s lot of snow, it’s really difficult to move, you simply just can’t move in waist deep snow.
 


What about guns? Change is pretty dramatic in the cold. Gas does not expand enough below a certain temperature, so gas guns don’t work and are completely useless. Co2 is there and there, one may get few shots out of  mag before it’s frozen. Batteries do not work well, you get roughly 1/10 of shots out of battery compared to summer, LiPo batteries are performing a bit better. Biggest impact for AEG operation is hop up rubber, which freezes and does not give spin so well. You lose range and accuracy, unless you have changed to a suitable rubber that maintains elasticity. Low temperatures and cheap plastic do not go together, which means cheapo plastic guns break easily in the cold. Internals of the guns are also affected, cheap grease, dirt and seals tend to work poorly. Low temperature shrinks metal and plastic, expands liquids, this may affect to certain tolerances as
well.

So is it all bad? Nooooo! There are lot of good things after taking care of proper gear. It does not get too hot easily, so you don’t need so much water to drink (it’s frozen anyhow). Snow makes everything soft, so you don’t need to be so careful when moving. You can walk over wet places like marsh, wetlands, streams, rivers, lakes and oceans (yep, frozen). You can move pretty silently, no sound from shoes, no cracking branches and snow dampens the sounds overall. Tracking is easy cause you see footprints. With the right camo, you can stay unnoticed pretty easily, just dive into
white stuff! It’s calm, white and beautiful, and satisfaction of surviving the challenge nature throws at you is something I like. War stories - war stories!



As an example from last Sunday games I hosted, it was -15C (5F), windy and
snowing lightly. Perfect winter weather! We started with 43 members participating. After two hours, half remained, and the last games I was holding for 14 persons. Lot of batteries died, guns stopped working or broke down, guys with poor clothes needed to move into warm cars and get home. As a
“funny” detail, after hour or so, I jumped onto the ice of the small stream on
my left side (well that’s a nice trench there, I thought), surprisingly the
ice broke and I fell into the water, it was not deep but still water & mud – cold as hell. I was laying there for fifteen long seconds until captured the point for the team. Half of my whole leg, my left side and half of my arm was soaking wet (like laying on my side and dipped to water, as I was). After getting a point, got up and ran to cover from fire, felt my clothes cracking and freezing over immediately. Surprisingly, I could play the rest of the day quite well. Wet parts of the clothes was solid ice, but ice layer kept body heat inside and good technical underwear insulated my skin. No harm done.

So this is really fast brief how we roll here at the wintertime. I envy you guys having the perfect warm weather, but at the other hand, I have pretty good war stories to share, right?

Take care, keep warm guys! Next time you will be hearing from me I will be
talking about selling your body and soul to the, well, gear. Gearwhoring!

Cheers!
Sergeant Nran
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Domination YouTube upload

 
Hey everyone! I finally got chance to upload the footage from my domination game at Combat Ready Airsoft in Brailsford, Derbyshire to YouTube! Press play above to give it a cheeky watch.
 
Although I'm not 100% happy with the quality of the footage - unfortunately my GoPro mount worked its way loose which caused some shake and a knocking noise, which I can only imagine was my precious GoPro repeatedly hitting my helmet as I ran like a headless chicken at the enemy! Haha This issue has since been resolved as I am now rocking a NVG mount, which is very secure. Due to the distance between me and the enemy players, I've added hit markers to the footage which corresponds with enemy players announcing their hits. There is also a couple of bleeps due to a couple of rude words! These are things I will bear in mind for my next videos. I am planning to upload my new CQB footage next week, so keep an eye out for that! :D I'd also like to point out (due to some miserable git giving my video a thumbs down - without leaving any constructive criticism of course) that I am a complete beginner at editing videos and I am learning all the time. Please be kind :)
 
The game of Domination is where two teams compete to hold the majority of flags in the game area under their control. During our game there was 5 flags that we had to fight to gain control of, the two you see captured in the footage were only two of the ones we captured.
 
Hope you enjoy!
-Kelly xo
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