This is my story

(written in Nobember 2014)

My Name is Novritsch, Im 22 years old and Im living in Vienna, the capital city of Austria. After
finishing a technical high school, I completed a sniper education of six months at the Austrian
Military. At the moment I am working as a technical engineer in Europe and South East Asia.
Airsoft is my biggest passion and I have been playing for more than seven years now. Besides
airsoft I love to do bodyweight training, rock climbing, free diving, traveling and video editing.

How it began
Who wasnt into toyguns as a
child?

I started playing airsoft in 2008 when I was fourteen, even though it wasnt legal for me, because I was too young. I was so fascinated by the function and performance of these toys that I
saved my whole pocket money for three months, just to buy one of these crappy china sniper
rifles. I didnt even consider buying an AEG. I simply liked the fact that these bolt action sniper
rifles were only mechanic. Movies like Shooter, Enemy at the Gates and Jarhead were certainly a big motivation too.

Development of Gameplay
Really miss those days - Im still
seeing my old school friends for a
casual game

The first airsoft match I played was with three friends in a forest we werent allowed to play in.
I simply loved the thrill of not getting caught and hit, while sneaking in grass. I also I loved the
feeling of waiting for the perfect moment to pull the trigger. Long story short: I became addicted to the game. For more than four years I played every single weekend, spent more money
on airsoft stuff than on anything else, created my own airsoft association and organized games
with more than 40 participants.
I tried almost every modification on my airsoft sniper rifle to get the best possible performance - my goal was to become the best airsoft sniper out there.

Im in the second row, the fourth from the

left. The one with the red beret.

My Time at the Austrian Military

I knew in order to fulfill my goal, I had to do way more! I joined the erste Gardekompanie which
trains six sharpshooters out of 240 soldiers every year.
We had to do a math test
while listening to earsplitting
speedmetal

At the end of the first month 12 people had made it to the last stage. After marching a whole night with 40 kg gear most of my comrades gave up. And well - I was among those six who
were crazy enough not to stop.
After finishing my sniper education successfully, I left the Austrian Military to focus on other
aspects of my life. I became a technical engineer and worked abroad in South East Asia.

Starting my Youtube Career

Lets take this shot. Thank you for
your support.You are the reason Im
still heading on

One day I saw a video of the French airsoft sniper Vavann on Youtube and I was really fascinated by his idea of recording himself playing as an airsoft sniper. I knew I had to
do something similar. I immediately built a scopecam, bought an actioncam, created my
Youtube channel and uploaded my first footage.

Now what?
Im going to quit my job starting in April 2015 to find out whether its possible to make a
living with several projects, including my Youtube channel and an online shop while still
thinking about returning to the military for further deployment.

Cleaning my gear afterwards was

fun. ..

Airsoft sniper vs Real Steel Sniper

I thought that once I had completed a professional education as a sniper I would perform much
better than I did before. I was using almost the same equipment and tried to behave like I learned it in my trainings.
My knowledge of how to urinate silently while crouching was
no longer needed

Surprisingly I had a very hard time getting back into the sport. My rifle just wasnt shooting two
kilometers anymore and small influences, like a little wind or accidentally shooting a blade of
grass, were affecting my bullets trajectory.
I really dont like all the beginner airsoft sniper guides Ive read so far on the internet, where they
all tell you to behave like a real sniper: - Always use a ghilliesuit - stay prone and only move if
necessary -bring binoculars - dont leave tracks. For me all of this is bullshit. You may look like
a real sniper, but airsoft sniping is a completely different discipline to itself.
I say play active. Support your team at the front. Scare the shit out of your enemies with
your coming from nowhere precision shots.

Me and my gear at the Austrian Military

Rifle: SSG69

Range
With a real steel precision rifle you can shoot more than twice as far as most assault rifles.
In airsoft this simply isnt the case. You are lucky if you own an airsoft sniper rifle which
can effectively shoot 30 % further than the AEGs on the field.
So the biggest difference between an airsoft sniper and a real sniper isnt the overall smaller distance you can shoot. Its the tiny difference in distance between the airsoft sniper
rifles and the automatic ones. As an airsoft sniper you need to rely on your camouflage
and fieldcraft skills, not on the bigger range of your rifle compared to the others.

Dynamics at the Battlefield

The airsoft battlefield is completely different too. People are moving much faster. Crawling in my heavy military ghilliesuit was way too slow for this type of game.
Real snipers need perfect camouflaging ghillie suits. They may need to stay in one place for several days without getting spotted.

Funfact: the optical zoom

of both my airsoft and my military sniper were the same (x4).
They prices werent.

As an airsoft sniper you dont want to spend your time only prone. Airsoft is a fast game.
The hotspots of the battlefields are moving very quickly. You have to adapt to it, otherwise you get ran over or you are too far away from your enemies.

Similarities
Still - airsoft snipers and real snipers have a lot in common!
Both need to be a master in camouflage, patience, field craft and both have to know their rifle.
Real steel snipers as well as arisoft snipers always need to stay fully focused on what they are
doing even in stressful environments.
One of the biggest weapons an airsoft sniper and a real sniper have in common is creating fear. It still fascinates me about airsoft sniping how frightened the enemies are after the sniper takes his first, well placed shot and they dont have a clue where this shot
came from.

Airsoft is a game and you shouldnt get too serious about it. The reason why youre
playing airsoft should be to have fun with your friends, not to count your hits and
getting mad when you get shot. The basic principle of airsoft is fair play. So call your
hits or quit airsoft.

Tips for Airsoft Snipers

1. Get a good gun
If you want a good setup, dont save money on your tuning base rife. Go for a quality brand
rifle which has a ton of tuning parts available. Dont buy newly released sniper rifles, especially those which arent compatible with either the VSR-10 or APS-2/96 system. There will
be hardly any gun reviews, DIY mods, disassemble- and tuning guides on the Internet referring to those. Also tuning parts are hard to get and you cant be very picky about them.
Stay away from short stroked bolt pull guns(ARES Striker 1, Marui M40A5) Their cylinder volume is too low to accelarate heavyweight BBs.
Buy a sniper rifle of an established quality brand such as Tokyo Marui for example or one which
internals are 100 % compatible to these models.
My system gains 0,3 joules if I
use 0,4g BBs instead of 0,2g BBs

Enjoy the nature - why not

think about your life. And girls.

2. Use the right BBs

Dont buy dark BBs. You cant see the trajectory, so you cant correct it if necessary.
Use heavy BBs. For rifles above 450 fps at least 0,4g. The heavier your BBs the more stable is
the trajectory, the more silent your gun will be, and the air pressure system of your rifle becomes more efficient in most cases too which means more muzzle energy. Try to find the best
BBs for your setup. You can upgrade your airsoft gun as much as possible; if you are using bad
BBs your gun will never shoot straight. Try different weights and brands to find out which BBs
work best for you.

3. Be patient
Dont shoot if you arent sure whether the enemy is in range or not. In most cases you
will lose a fight against an experienced AEG player, if he knows your position. Always try
to take your enemy out of the game with your first shot.

Winter wonderland. Believe it or not

but there is a sniper in this picture.

4. Know you rifle

At the moment my effective
range of my rifle is 70 metres.
My longest successfull hit
was approximatel. 82 metres.

Dont just buy a your sniper rifle and play with it. Get to know your rifle. Disassemble your gun,
try to understand the function of every single part and figure out what you can do to optimize it. Search on the internet for tuning parts and modification guides for your rifle, but be critical. There are a ton of useless guides on the internet written by people who dont have a clue.
Whats really necessary for an airsoft sniper is to find out the effective range of his rifle.
Do this by shooting at torso sized targets at different distances.
Effective range is a very relative term. My definition of effective range is different for automatic
and manually operated airsoft guns. If an AEG shoots for one second, which means in average
15-30 BBs, maybe the first BB misses the target by a few centimeters, but the chances that one
of the following BBs will hit are high.
So here is my personal definition of effective range in airsoft: The effective range of an
automatic airsoft gun is the distance it can hit a torso sized object with at least 2 out of
10 BBs. The effective range of a manually operated airsoft gun is the distance it can hit
a torso sized object with at least 9 out of 10 BBs.

5. Play actively
Playing with a bolt action rifle isnt an excuse for being a camper. Dont just lie down and
wait for the enemy to come around. Move. Search for enemies but still try not to get spotted. Believe it or not but lying down is in a lot of cases the worst position for a number of
reasons. When lying down in the wrong places there can be grass or stuff laying on the
ground which is in the trajectory of your BB. You wont hit anything after your BBs hit a
blade of grass. Also you cant see as good from the ground. Having a good overall field
overview is always priority number one as a sniper.

6. No sniping under bad weather conditions

Dont even try. Weather is key

Dont use your sniper if there is strong wind or rain; you will only be disappointed at the
end of the day. You wont hit anything after your inner barrel gets wet. Also if you hit a
raindrop the BB wont hit where its supposed to.
Wind is very crucial for the airsoft sniper. Most people think that wind just comes from
one direction and that you can correct it, but thats only the case, if its a wide, free area.
If there are a lot of objects near to each other, like in the forest, the air swirls around these objects. You cant calculate these swirls. Play with an automatic rifle under bad weather circumstances, so you can compensate the wind while shooting automatically.

7. Dont quit
Just dont

You will not play the first game with a sniper and hit a ton of enemies while not getting spotted. It simply needs practice to get good, like everything in life. Dont quit because you were
disappointed, of not having a good kill/death ratio in your first few games. Head on, the results
will come sooner or later if you play a lot.

8. Dont aim for the head

Two people of my team
already lost a tooth. Brotip: face
protection

The head is a very small object, compared to the torso. Aim for the torso - your chances to achieve a hit are way higher. You also dont want to be the type of guy who injures people with his +500 fps gun by giving headshots. Be responsible. A gun this strong
isnt just a toy anymore.

9. Practical gear
Customize your gear so it fits all your needs. Carry as little stuff as possible. If you are on a small
operation you dont need stuff like a compass, a map, a ton of spare mags or a binocular. Think
practically. Your gear should make you more effective, not slower, bulkier, louder and sweating.

10. Camouflage
Please dont be one of the guys who
wearghilliesuitsbutdontcamotheir
face, neck and rifle.

Its not so much the camouflage you are wearing. Its more about the type of areas you move
in and how you move. I personally dont like traditional ghillie suits because I am a very active
airsoft sniper. Another reason why I dont like ghilliesuits is the fact that you cant feel, if you
got shot with a ghillie on.
If you still want to wear one get a light one - maybe just a ghillie cap. Stay away from cheap, big, heavy ghillie suits with a ton of long burlap strings which get caught everywhere. If you want a good lightweight practical ghillie suit do it like real snipers are doing it
and make one yourself..

Brotip: dont stop running or you will

turn into a block of ice. It was -16C.

Why not an AEG

People are constantly asking me why I am not using an AEG. Even though an automatic
rifle seems attractive for a sniper in trouble, I would still always go with a good old bolt
action sniper rifle for a number of reasons

1. FPS limits
Most game rules allow higher fps for bolt action sniper rifles than for automatic/ semiautomatic rifles. Use this fps advantage. Your goal is to set up a rifle which can shoot further
than any other gun on the battlefield. Again, play responsible with your airsoftgun, dont
shoot peoples head and dont shoot at small distances, thats what your backup is for.
Over 50.000 BBs and not a single
fail. Not bad for a toy gun?

2. Reliability
A bolt action sniper rifle is a very simple weapon. There are no electric components and
not as many moving parts as in an automatic rifle. Less can go wrong.
I am playing with my upgraded VSR-10 for more than seven years now and shot over 50.000
BBs through it. Believe it or not but it never failed so far and I never had to replace a broken
part or anything.

3. Trigger response
An AEG needs time until the sector gear pulls back the piston and lets it go. If you pull
the trigger of a bolt action sniper rifle it will shoot immediately. This results in better accuracy too because with a bolt action rifle the BB will leave the barrel before the gun
starts to vibrate due to the piston movement.

This is my winter camo.

4. Stealth
A bolt action sniper rifle will always be way more silent than an AEG. Thats because of the characteristic winding noise of the AEG gearbox which is very hard to silence. The noise of a bolt
action sniper rifle is also shorter because there are no gears winding up the piston. Short noises are way harder to locate than long ones.

5. Challenge
It requires a lot of skills to properly operate with a bolt action sniper rifle. You need to be a lot
more cautious and to rely on your fieldcraft and tactics.
Everyone can spray around with BBs, but only a well skilled airsoft player can send the
enemy back to respawn zone with one precise shot. Learn to love this challenge and you
will fall in love with the role of being an airsoft sniper.
Almost like a real rifle - except the
recoil

6. Trigger response
I just like to feel every moving part of the rifle while reloading. The power of the spring,
the sears klicking into the piston, the BB getting loaded into the hopup chamber. The
short deadly noise when pulling the trigger and the complete silence after you released
your shoot and looking at your BB flying towards your unprepared target.

Dont forget to camoflage your bare skin. I

forgot.

Wanna learn more?

This was just some very basic knowledge about airsoft sniping. If you want to learn:
1. How I upgraded my sniper rifle to the performance you know from my videos
2. How to properly manipulate a bolt action sniper rifle
3. Sniper tactics
4. Which gear works best
Check out my Sniper Guide Series in which I explain all these topics in detail.

http://novritsch.com/guide

Thank you
For watching my videos and supporting me with the purchase of this Sniper Guide. I hope
you liked it.
Here you can find out more about me: