Is .68 cal the most milsim shooting sport?

Wow I'm really jumping around the topics these days. The last post was on fixing speedball, the one before that was an attempt to define milsim, and now I'm all the way back to milsim again!

I'vep been running into a few discussions online lately about milsim paintball. A common theme was that 68 cal paintball isn't the best way to simulate the military as far as these things go - most folks seemed to think that .43 cal RAM does that better. I'm not sure I agree. Now there are a bunch of ways to simulate real combat including things like strapping laser tag units to real guns firing blanks or using simunitions, but I wont include those two as they aren't available to average Joe Schmoe. What is available to us is RAM, airsoft, paintball and laser tag. Laser tag can be discounted quickly - the milsim style laser tag guns are huge and innaccurate, you can only be shot in the head or gun, and the people running the games will rarely do proper scenarios. The real questions are about airsoft, paintball and RAM. These are certainly the most popular.

I'll start with looks and sounds. Immediately I can say that RAM probably wins this one with it's ejecting shell casings and exact replica markers. RAM loses out to airsoft in the variety department however, with only a very few gun types available. Both RAM and airsoft have an advantage over paintball in that most players use tactical goggles rather than full face masks. Paintball have real looking markers with magazine feeds and stocks etc. but they're rarely exact replicas. Generally milsim paintball goes with a "it's a feasible design" philosophy. In the clothing department all three disciplines are even - clothes doesn't really affect this. On sound, RAM wins with super loud reports. Airsoft comes a distant third with its whiny AEGs. Paintball guns sound as loud as the barrel you put on.

Second, feel. RAM and airsoft are fairly even but I'll give it to RAM because all of their guns are exactly weighted, which is only true of some airsoft guns. Semi realistically weighted paintball guns are available.

Third, caps. This goes to RAM again as all the markers have realistic mag sizes, paintball comes second with its 200 round hoppers and airsoft third with it's insanely huge numbers of bbs stuffed inside a single mag. However, both paintball and airsoft are often played with realistic mag limits so this point is moot.

Now it gets interesting. I've spelled out literally every inherent advantage that airsoft and RAM have over paintball - from here on out it's paintball all the way!

Accuracy. A heavier projectile will go further and straighter at the same velocity than a smaller one. Even at high velocities a smaller one with be more affected by wind. Paintball wins here especially outdoors.

Realistic sniping. In RAM there aren't really any snipers in the true range and accuracy sense, and in airsoft you can have a dude with insane velocity but then he needs minimum engagement distances which are far from realistic. Paintball has First Strike rounds, which are so accurate that you can make shots that would be tricky with a real rifle in certain instances. Scopes are actually meaningful with these rounds. Best of all, they travel at the same velocity as a regular paintball so there's no need to limit engagement distance.

Marking. In airsoft you can't always tell when you're hit. In RAM they often use paintballs but they simply aren't as good or as developed as 68 paintballs. The guns don't like paint either especially if you get a barrel break or a chop. For this reason most of the time RAM guys just end up shooting rubber balls, which takes them down to the airsoft level in terms of marking. Paintball wins here hands down, you know for sure when you've hit someone.

My point here overall is that while RAM and airsoft may seem more realistic, it's cosmetic. Having genuine snipers, better accuracy and better marking are all paintball advantages and to me at least these are the ones that count. True milsim paintball - mag fed - is still relatively rare, but as far as the actual gameplay experience goes it can be played more realistic than either RAM or airsoft currently are.

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