Airsoft Action - January 2021

FEATURE
ACTION AIR - TAIWAN
controlled manner then reinsert the magazine and fire
the first shot double action) - although I had managed
to put a lot of wear on the original Shadow 1. So, for
a birthday present to myself, I splashed out for the CZ
Shadow 2 purely for competition purposes and gotten
used to the handling and shooting.
competitors present and my resultant scoring of 84/85
pts - with 9 of us competing in Production Division
overall.
Stage 2 was my last of the morning session - hence
shot third in order - and was an interesting setup none
of us could really have prepared for…
COMPETITION DAY
When the competition day rolled around, the prelunch
sessions consisted of three short stages setup
alongside each other down the length of the room,
with access to the starting points flanked by official’s
desks in each case (for dealing with the appropriate
paperwork for each stage and competitor).
Stage 1 was the largest of the three and involved
running sideways between fault lines, with a course of
fire comprising 6 mini IPSC paper targets (2 of which
had “no-shoots” obscuring them), 5 mini poppers and
the ending plate. This was to be started in “Condition
2” and had a minimum round count of 18, with 85
points available.
The majority of the targets were to the left end
behind various obscuring cover panels, forcing you to
move the length of the stage to get eyes - and muzzle
- on them all clearly, while one of the paper targets
was actually on a sliding rail, released by the downing
of one of the poppers. A further cluster of targets
was obscured at the right end, behind a blind that
needed to be pulled and held open with a toggle on a
rope, forcing you to single-hand shoot the three paper
targets in this area - one of which was the sliding one
where it came to rest and the other two were the
ones with no-shoots obscuring them. This is where I
spent the most time ensuring I got the accuracy in and
avoided penalties. I shot this stage second in order
and managed a reasonable level of accuracy, with 15
“Alphas” and 3 “Charlies” in just over 18 seconds,
which I was much happier with given the level of
The stage was basically stationary/shooting
from a narrow fault box, with a sliding door set up
on rails, with only two narrow vertical firing slots
available for use. We had to start with the door in
the central position on its rails, in Condition One,
with a minimum round count of 13, for 65 points
and comprising a course of fire of 4 mini IPSC paper
targets, 4 mini poppers and the ending. The only
other considerations being 2 no-shoot papers right in
front of the centre of the door (to obscure the firing
slots in the central position) and a final stipulation
being your gun was not allowed to hit the outside
of the aiming holes in the door, which many of us
seemed to slow our pace to ensure compliance with.
This was easily my slowest stage of the morning
and overall when you consider the lower round
count. Despite planning the stage, I still found myself
searching for targets too much through the narrow
shooting slots. I seemed to be one of the few people
using the higher one (being the tall gangly type that I
am), with most of the others squatting low or doing
some stretchy gymnastics to shoot through the lower
port. My diligence paid off at least, with an entirely
cleanly shot 13 “Alphas” for a full score of 65 points,
albeit I had to do a few make up shots to get hits
on paper as I kept plinking rounds off the obscuring
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