Your Sidearm

[ogrejager]

[T-Time]

[Solid]

KWA doesn't mess around with their gas pistols. WE has gotten their act together recently too and are pretty affordable if you can't find what you are after with KWA.

[Reascr]

[Nark]

[Steve]

Random aside: Is there a community-accepted standard for the number of mags to carry with a secondary? I've always carried one in the weapon and 4 spares, but that was driven by what I was issued when I was playing army. Until this very moment I never bothered to question the logic, I just always picked up 4 spares when I bought a new secondary. So, what does everyone else carry?

Also, from personal experience, I run Blackhawk SERPA holsters pretty much exclusively in airsoft. I've heard plenty of stories of soft holsters either dumping the gun or dropping the mag. Heard good things about the Safariland hard-shelled holsters, but haven't tried them myself.

[Solid]

[CarlitoCafe]

if you want full auto try the walther ppq or vfc m&p 9 they are the same basic internal, Nice guns. i love my KWA M9 rafficas some people have problems with them mine have never failed me. i do stick to my EF 1911a1 as it is Co2 the round count is low but i love the feel of the 1911

[Nark]

[Jewish Ninja]

I have a soft sided holster (only really use it with a couple of setups though), but I use it with my HK45 which has a lever mag catch, as opposed to a button mag catch which is more prone to dropping mags. You can also make a mag keeper out of double sided velcro wrap for about $3 (can be had at Wally world, Freddies, any craft store, etc). You cut two parts out, one to wrap around the grip, and the other to cover the mag. I'd highly suggest making one if you do go with a button mag catch, hard sided holster or not.

Hard kydex holsters are the way to go, but they can get spendy if you decide you want more than one kind of handgun, as it means you'll need to buy other holsters.

As for Steve's comment, I carry 2 spares besides the one in the gun. I've only gone through all three mags a handful of times, but I feel like 3 is a good number for a sidearm. The spares can be contained in 2 MOLLE spots, so it doesn't take up much room. Any more would feel a bit much, but it does come down to the style of play.

[Rentax]

Most of the people I have talked to about mags carry 2 extras, a few will carry 4, but even I get weird looks when people see I have more than 4 pistol mags. I have 4 to 6 on my belt and 2 spares at spawn.
I carry 3 +1 m4 mags

[ClownBaby]

4+1, Safariland all day, a lot of those condor style holsters have the edge right on the mag release. poo-poo.

If you've only got one mag, or you don't plan on changing mags in game, you can do what Jew was saying with e-tape, and it won't leave stickys like duct tape.

Nark, your pistol would stay cleaner if you ran it on yer chest. (it's also easier to off-hand draw from there, especially with the Serpa)
Lanyards are good too, I run the heavyweight Gear Keeper retractable lanyard. Sidenote, running a pistol and lanyard on your chest enables the use of a shorter line. (important if you stuck with a coiled line)

Also shorter draw equals faster draw. Bang-Bang!

[Steve]

I'm a pretty small guy (like: size small long in uniforms and size small IBA / IOTV). I normally run six dual mag pouches on the front of my plate carrier and no cummerbund. I flat-out don't have space for a chest holster. I've had great luck running my primary on a Wolf Hook sling and running a SERPA thigh rig.

I have an Ares Armor R.A.D. Pack with a chest holster, but that is really set up as a pure pistol rig with a couple spare pistol mags and a pair of NFDD pouches. The whole shtick with that pack is that you can go from unassuming citizen to armed and armored in a few seconds. Good in the real world, but both over- and under-kill in Airsoft.

I think a lot of loading out comes down to personal preference. So, the takeaway is to spend a bunch of time optimizing your rig for how you play, and spend even more time practicing accessing all of the various bits of kit. And if you feel like something isn't working right for you, adjust it to suit you. The Army was huge on uniformity in pouch placement right up until you got away from the flagpole. Thankfully, we as players don't have a ton of folks wandering around the field chewing on people for uniform violations.

[Darius137]

I used to have a KWA USP that was awesome.

I have a Tokarev now that I'll be using more as I'm all Rusky all the time.

[Nark]