Mid-Caps vs Real Caps

Hivemind187

There has been quiet discussion of this issue between the MilSim junkies floating around airsoft for quite some time so I figured it might be worth getting an overview of the population distribution therein (ooooh, I'm doing science me!)

The poll above shows the different catagories people fall into based on their decision.

What is a Mid-Cap?
A Mid-cap magazine is one which contains (roughly) 3-4 times the standard capacity of the real world magazine. In M16/STANAG Mags this equates to about 100-130rounds, in AK style mags this is between 100-200rounds.

What is a Real- Cap?
Real capacity magazines are those which carry exactly the same number of BB's as you would find in its real world counterpart. In M16/STANAG Mags this equates to 30rounds, AK's 30-45 rounds (depending on variant) etc.

Note, this poll is not assuming anyones reason for choosing one mag type over another, merely their exposure and preferences. It would be good to have a real-cap vs mid-cap discussion (a civil one!) and to investigate the merits of each.

Votes are kept private so as to (hopefully) ensure a honest ballot.

REMEMBER: This isnt about "who's side you are on" - it's meant to reflect the genuine statistics and discuss the actual issue of magazine capacities.

Puding

both have there place, i;ve manly seen real caps used in swat style cqb milsim , but really if you into your milsim and are the type of person who would be looking at the real cap mil sim event your more than likely going to have attended events that use mid caps and would have both types in your inventory,

both have use same as gbb and aeg there is no right and wrong, events should set there rules as to what kind of event they want and let the people who are drawn to that type of event, you can not shoe horn people into milsim, its more a style or play that a rule set anyway

bullets

I'd be in favour of Real Caps in an Ideal world.

but because of lack of accuracy, short engagement distance, and that a lot of AEG's and some GBB's not being able to fire "all" the rounds in a magazine it does not make practical sense to me anyway.

I reckon 2 BB's for every Real world mag capacity, may
be a nice happy inbetween. But I sure as hell would not want to have to
count each one out and stick em in a load of mags.

Or Maybe if we were legally allowed to have a bit more power or other things to increase range, accuracy I'd love some 8mm stuff with real caps.

The other thing that you have to look at is people's wallets.
The average airsofter starting out will be saying to themselves.....Will I spent all this extra money on lots
of spare magazine or will I buy another airsoft gun!

Also when you start to go Real Cap, The sport tends to get
a bit more on the serious side where it may have a lot of
purest diehards doing it and may alienate total noobs to
the sport.

~B

kdouglas

There was a really great post on arnies quite a while back which I read basically explaining how Midcaps are actually more realistic than Realcaps....

Now that may sound nonsensical at first, but take into account the accuracy of an airsoft gun, assuming your target is within range and your gun is sighted correctly, in the real world you will only have to fire one round to hit that target. In airsoft, you will need to fire at least 2 or 3 rounds to ensure at least one hits due to the possibility of the BB getting blown off course and to account for the inconsistency of airsoft guns. (Except maybe for really close shots)

So where a soldier in the real world would be using semi-auto only and burst of 2-3 for suppressing fire, I would use bursts of 2-3 for semi-auto type scenarios and bursts of 6-8 for suppressing fire, hence I prefer midcaps over real caps.

Masada

I don't really see the point in real caps to be honest, their just midcaps that take less so wouldn't it just be better to have mids and load them with realistic loads? at least you can then compensate for the few BBs that are needed to push the others into the hopup chamber. theres usually about 4 left over in a mag and real caps don't allow for this so you actually are left with less ammo than in the real world.
Then you have the option of using the same mags for regular skirmishing too.

hoplite

I tried some m4 mid caps for a while last year. They were king arms 120 rounders trades and all. Worked ok for the first few skirmishes but then started to become very unreliable (not feeding)

I think this was my fault for leaving the mags loaded and this may have weakened the springs. I am informed from a reliable source that mag mid caps should be more reliable so I am going to get some of those.

Real caps make no sense to me unless its for posing with see-through mags and dummy rounds :-) maybe for a sniper role as well.

Mid caps give you the best of both worlds, with a full load and 8-10 mags you can compete against highcaps or you can load them with real capacities for milsim.

Spetzcong

Having played with both, mid-caps are far more useful. I use mid-caps for most of my regular skirmishing these days. IT would be impossible to do that with real-caps. Plus I tend to agree with that KD was saying about firing 2-3 rounds where in the real world you'd only fire 1.

Fallschirmjager

i voted for midcaps. the primary reasons is airsoft is generally and especially at this level a game of honour. if there is an event that need lowcaps its simply a case of agreeing that the loads would be 30 or 35 for the hopup issue. i think midcaps give us a the best flexibility IMHO.

kdouglas

hoplite wrote: »

I think this was my fault for leaving the mags loaded and this may have weakened the springs. I am informed from a reliable source that mag mid caps should be more reliable so I am going to get some of those.

If you leave the mags loaded the spring becomes weakened after a while, just empty your mags when you're storing them to avoid this.

NakedDex

Option three is the middle ground that most people forget; low-caps. With an average capacity of around 65-75 rounds, they're perfect for both general skirmishing (if you fancy a bit more of a challenge) and milsim use in either the strict real-capacity games or the looser double real-capacity games. I've seen many milsim games played with low-caps effectively, following the same theory that kd mentioned.
I have a full rig of real-cap mags, but I rarely use them, even for milsim events. Low-caps are my preferred option for any skirmish because I enjoy the panic of reloading now and then, though I'll take out mids for general skirmishes just as quickly and happily (and, in fact, probably more often since real-cap vs M4 w/ box mag isn't a winning battle). Plus for milsim, as Masada said, all you need do is load however many you need.

senordingdong

Went for real caps because there was no option for low caps, which is all I use.

Evolute

I voted for mid caps for the simple reason they look good no winding aggro no jingling which makes you sound like an unfit moving bottle of bbs.

Also Real caps as cool as they look are a right pain because you only have say 5 mags which means after you run through your 150 bbs you gotta reload in the field which I find to be really annoying because you end up spilling more bbs then you get into the mags:D

Rogue-Trooper

I love my mid-caps. Originally got them for Milsim where I just put 30 rounds into them but I can also fill 'em up all the way and use them for regular skirmishes too. That way I think they make more 'economic sense' as they are fulfilling two roles. As Evolute rightly pointed out you don't have to worry about winding but best of all you don't sound like the arse-end of a rattle snake while trying to sneak up on someone!

General Grobel

BOX MAG FTW!!

But seriously, I use mid-caps. I just don't see the point in real-caps, if you really want a realistic amount of ammunition just put 30 odd BBs in the mid-cap, that way at least you have the option to change between the two.

thermo

mid caps are the way to go,,,, more versatile, for milsim put in 30, regular days fill em up! oh and hivemind dont forget to wind the mag lol!

Toasty113

Midcaps definetly the most versatile option.

But I dont see where everyone gets the whole "you cant sneek with high caps" thing. sure when youre running you sound like a maraca but whenever I sneak I always do so successfully and with no rattling. I think I'll go make a thread...

Stercus Accidit

I voted low cap, but I meant actual loadout, as a mid cap mag can achieve this, the mid capacity mag is better, but I prefer games with 30bbs.

DICEMAN7

NakedDex wrote: »

Option three is the middle ground that most people forget; low-caps. With an average capacity of around 65-75 rounds, they're perfect for both general skirmishing (if you fancy a bit more of a challenge) and milsim use in either the strict real-capacity games or the looser double real-capacity games. I've seen many milsim games played with low-caps effectively, following the same theory that kd mentioned.
I have a full rig of real-cap mags, but I rarely use them, even for milsim events. Low-caps are my preferred option for any skirmish because I enjoy the panic of reloading now and then, though I'll take out mids for general skirmishes just as quickly and happily (and, in fact, probably more often since real-cap vs M4 w/ box mag isn't a winning battle). Plus for milsim, as Masada said, all you need do is load however many you need.
+1 for what dex said