Just in case anyone is interested.












My buddy Rory McGahan in front of the Simunition Booth along with John MacDugall, Director of Product.

I should have take the picture of the new SIM kit for the M249 along with their new 5.56 round which is not suitable for CQB combat.

Did you know the Simmunitions guys actually have competition with the Airsoft guys (Business wise, not head to head).  At an Airsoft table today at a gun show in Pa., the Airsoft guy is telling me of his plans to win accounts with LE agencies to use his airsoft guns instead of simunitions.  He was claiming his "weapons" were safer and cleaner to use than Sims.  I did my best not to laugh in his face.  He also had a mock M4.  When I asked the price of a weapon like that (RAS, light, Aimpoint, ect.) he said around 2 grand.  I thought, "you could buy a REAL weapon for that price."  Then he tells me of their plan so as not to mistakenly take an Airsoft gun into duty instead of your real weapon.  This of course also crossed my mind, because the weapon really looked and felt like the real deal.  His idea was to sell the weapons in red bags that they were to be stored in so you knew that the red bag ment "no."  Meanwhile I'm thinking how ludicrous this idea was seeing with my own eyes how well LEO's take care of their issued gear.  Honestly I think someone will get killed takeing an Airsoft weapon to a real fire fight.

Chen, what's the scoop on the Benelli in the background?  I've never seen that stock before.

"He was claiming his "weapons" were safer and cleaner to use than Sims. "

That is very true.  (by the way you guys actually expect a Marine to use that non-CQB round at the reccommended range? ) Good luck with that. I'll bet a lot of them will injure themselves. I have several members of my unit that have permanent scars on their necks and arms from simunitions hits.

The airsofters could just paint their barrels blue like the simunitions guns.  The airsoft gun is pretty easy to tell the difference (even if it is full metal the magazine and inside of the mag well are very different as well as simply charging the handle will show you the hop-up mechanism not the bolt carrier.

The airsoft guns are far better for safe training but range is limited to around 50yds unless they are upgraded to shoot a larger caliber (like 9mm BBs) or higher velocity. Those 9mm bbs at 400FPS will probably fly 100yds without drop or innaccuracy.

Kisara,

The Benelli stock in the background looks identical to the Beretta 1201FP pistolgrip stock.  Not a definitive answer, but that's the way it looks to me.

Josh

The Sim rounds are good for about 50 yards, it is marking cabability, the exact weapon configuration and feel that makes the SIM so much better as a trainning aide for the real world operators.  Airsoft is fun and might have limited trainning capability for budget limited departments but to become the alternative to the SIM, the airsoft will have a long way to go.

Most the sim equipement is just parts, you just convert the existing guns in your department to use in SIM trainning.  

I think that was just a FP1201 on the rack.  Beretta owns Benelli and Sako.  These weapons were on display in their booth.

Here is another picture of the booth with Shotguns

[img]http://www.thermaldynamics.com/pictures/mdm/shotgun.jpg[/img]

I concur.  [:D]

Are there any places that conduct simunition training in the Texas area?

DevL,

Is this for civilian or Mil/LEO??

Sim is pretty tight on who gets the product and trainning. they frown on civilian trainning because the liability this type of exercise can create.

Any place that does individual LEO will be fine.

"GREENO, DO ARMY GUYS SCAR EASILY?"

I doubt it..  Maybe they were using the Fx round for CQB instead of the CQT round?

My team leader was in the tenth mountain division and in a platoon in which the primary task was MOUT.  He took a close range hit in the front of his neck and he has a scar.  He said that it left an open wound for almost 3 months.

a couple of our ex-marines have scars on their arms. (for some reason our unit is composed of approximately 20% ex-marine infantrymen) which is odd since the Marines have infantry reserves in Wisconsin also.

[b]It is more rare for simunitions to be used outside of special forces in the Army.  The Marines use them more extensively than we do.


I know the marking may be important but the person still knows he got hit in airsoft.  Esspecially with the upgraded 9mm gun. If they want to cheat all you have to do is hit them a few times and they will deffinitely "tap out"



What is the velocity on simunitions projectiles?


Does the paint wash out? (paintball gun paint really doesn't wash out- but instead leaves faded colored spots ruining gear [esspecially uniforms]).[/b]