Snipers and marksmen are extremely complex roles. There are many different skills that an operator has to master in order to become a valuable and effective sniper, from physical conditioning to mental attitude, from patience to precision, from resistance to cold blood. That said, it’s easy to understand how, when we bump into a sniper, we can reasonably be dealing with a newbie that probably won’t be able to perform such a complicated task without committing missteps. Otherwise, we would be facing an opponent that would be unwise to face. It is also worth keeping in mind that the stereotype of the sniper that eliminates an entire assault team one by one is ill-conceived in the discipline of the airsoft, in which, because of the joule limitations of the replicas, nothing described above can reasonably occur, at least not without the sniper being shot himself.
Still, good snipers can be a nightmare on the battlefield and give you a lot of headaches. So how do you take out an airsoft sniper? Continue reading our article to learn counter-sniping techniques that should help you take out an airsoft sniper.
Table of Contents
What’s a Sniper Looking For?
Normally, experienced snipers will try to stay away from large firefights. Nothing strange about that. Snipers cannot compete with the firepower that can be offered by an assault or defense team. Their specialty is single shots, precise, unexpected, and targeted towards relevant goals. The aim is to break down individual precise, highly valuable targets. It is good to keep this attitude in mind when devising strategies to counter snipers since by making it harder or impossible for them to hit their target you can push them to desist from starting a fight that would force them to retreat as the best option.
The forte of snipers is objective acquisition. It is not expected to open fire, but simply acquire information, inspect and control sensitive targets, having on its side an advantageous observation position, advanced spotting tools, camouflage devices, and adequate support to make long observations without activating the enemy’s reaction. Of course, to succeed in the observation task, there must be a certain combination of assumptions, on which we can work to make life harder for snipers.
How To Avoid Airsoft Snipers?
So, now when we learned what snipers are looking for here are a couple of tips on how to avoid them:
- Don’t give them an easy target – what this means is that you should stay low, take cover whenever possible, and conceal your presence. Don’t just stand all the time as standing players are easy targets.
- Be patient and stay still – real-world snipers can spot targets and take shots from larger distances. The same can’t be said about airsoft snipers as they can’t take shots from more than a few hundred feet away. So you can stay still not giving snipers a target and patiently wait for them to make the first move – they’ll need to change their position making them much easier to spot.
- Don’t stand in open areas – try to find a cover and don’t stand in open areas on the battlefield.
How To Spot a Sniper?
Spotting a properly hidden sniper is a pretty tough task. They camouflage themselves perfectly, move very little and slowly, make sure not to make any noise and not to emit too strong and recognizable smells, also. An accurately trained sniper is simply too hard to find. More likely he will be able to move or eliminate those who seek him before things get worse for him. However, it is very difficult to find ourselves facing snipers who are experienced enough to adequately dominate all disciplines involved in being a sniper. Many mistakes can be made, which reveal to us the presence and possibly even the location of a hidden sniper.
Here are things we should look out for to spot a sniper.
Shiny Surfaces
Optics, sights, glasses, chrome surfaces, watches, these are all elements that can reflect light, especially if oriented in the direction in which the sniper is observing (optics, sights, glasses). In nature, not many surfaces reflect light like these artificial objects. These light flashes can make us aware of the hostile operators’ presence.
Noise
Snipers normally carry out very long stakeouts. Less trained operators tend to move more often than they should, to better settle down, reduce hassle or itching, access food or water, fix equipment, and so on. If the environment is quiet enough, hearing suspicious noises can give us a direction to inspect or even saturate if we feel like it is required. Besides, if snipers need to check targets, they may have to make radio communications from time to time, which can be heard directly by nearby players, intercepted by tuning friendly radios or listened to through equipment gathered from the enemy team.
Movement
As mentioned before, staying still for long periods is very difficult for poorly trained operators. Movement is one of the snipers’ main enemies, as the human eye easily recognizes it, even at considerable distances. Although most experienced snipers are trained to move very little, slowly and mimic the movement of natural elements around them, it is very difficult for the average sniper to be so prepared as to be able to do so. If he were, it probably would not just be hard to spot him: it would also be dangerous.
Poor quality / inadequate ghillie suits
Many snipers love to wear ghillie suits to increase their camouflage capabilities. However, many of those who use them do so improperly. Colors different from those of the environment, textures diverging from those of vegetation, positioning in areas not corresponding to their ghillie suits are elements that destroy the hiding power of their equipment and can even make them easier to spot. However, most airsoft snipers are not trained enough and don’t spend time collecting natural elements on the battlefield, like leaves and twigs, to add them to their ghillie suit, which is very important to make the ghillie suit more effective. When the Ghillie suit is properly made and used, it makes snipers almost impossible to detect. Nevertheless, it should be kept in mind that the ghillie suit is an extremely complex tool to use and at the same time extremely widespread. A result is a high number of snipers who use an instrument improperly, “shooting themselves in the foot”.
It is also worth mentioning that the synthetic residues of the ghillies that drop in the field can give us indications about the previous presence of a sniper who has abandoned the position where the synthetic fibers are found.
Human silhouette
The human eye is naturally used to recognize the typical forms of certain objects, including that of the human silhouette. Inexperienced snipers may not take this into account when positioning, making them easier to spot. The same can be applied to equipment parts and items whose shape or color is not adequately modified to suit the shapes and colors of the surrounding environment. Typical cases are the barrel of the rifle, buffet, hats, and boots.
How To Take Out Airsoft Sniper: Counter Sniping Techniques
With all being said, let’s take a look at some counter-sniper techniques that should help you take out airsoft sniper.
Prevention
Hiding sensitive targets, positioning objectives in raised places hard to watch over, deploying a great number of forces, organizing occasional roundups are all effective ways to discourage the placement of a sniper. If it does not find a suitable location for observation, cannot find the target, cannot risk revealing the location, or is likely to be found, a sniper will be unable to operate properly. Controlled perimeters prevent snipers from getting too close, hidden targets prevent them from gathering information or completing the task. Saturating defending areas with operators that are distributed over the territory, forces snipers to place themselves farther from their objectives and consequently compelling them to less precise or riskier shots.
Snipers fear firefights, as they don’t have a great firepower and support capability. Threatening snipers with numerous forces or disorienting them by hiding targets will make it more difficult for them to intervene, if not even impossible. Setting traps all around the periphery of the defended areas is also very effective. Sound or explosive devices will signal the entry of hostile operators.
Firefights
The key to defeating a sniper in a firefight is figuring out, even approximately, where he is. At that point, the preferred tactic for elimination is the simultaneous movement towards and saturation of the entire area where the sniper is likely hiding. When attacked the sniper will be forced to move, since he can’t provide enough firepower to strike back, and the movement towards him will allow the friendly team to establish the precise location and simplify his capture or elimination. Snipers are unlikely to attempt to resist units with greater firepower than their own. Instead, he will probably try to move to get cover somewhere else, get friendly support, or find a new shooting position. This mustn’t be allowed so that they cannot react to the counter-offensive.
Keep in mind that snipers often come with secondary weapons such as pistols or SMGs, which allow them to inflict heavy damages in short-range clashes, if not detected.
Evasive Maneuvers
In case you can’t risk being caught in a sniper’s fire due to the importance of the defended target, several precautions can be taken to avoid ambushes. Travel at night, cover the battlefield with smoke, change uniforms and badges, camouflage machinery and devices, are all elements that increase the sniper’s uncertainty during sightings, making it difficult to spot the target, recognize it precisely or shoot it down. The “seek and destroy” maneuver I described in the previous paragraph will work in these situations too, if the firefight begins. Friendly forces will have to keep shooting towards the area where the presence of the sniper is assumed, continuing to exfiltrate towards a safe zone or in the direction of travel, until every operator of the attacked team is safe and secure.
Other Techniques
If the rules of simulation allow that, other methods for spotting and killing snipers can be used. Drones are effective tools for patrolling distant areas without exposing friendly forces to the danger of getting eliminated and can observe from above and put pressure on hostiles. Using artillery is another good method for elimination. If you have even a bare idea of where the enemy shooter might be, a launch of explosive devices with an effective range of 5 meters (grenades) or fixed artillery strikes or mortars ( 20/50 meters of effective range) allow you to wipe out hostile forces occupying an entire area. Such an approach would be advisable if possible, taking into account that artillery is something still little-used within the airsoft.
Summary
The topic is very intricate and complex, and to be mastered to perfection requires an assiduous application and in-depth study material. The tips we gave you will provide you with the basics of how to avoid airsoft snipers and take them out. Don’t give snipers an easy target, watch for things that could give them away (shiny surfaces, noises, movements), and flank and overwhelm them to take them out.
If you play as a sniper you can check out our previous article Airsoft Ghillie Suit Tips That Work: How To Blend In which should give you pretty good tips on how to be an effective sniper. Also, we wrote a buying guide and reviews of the best airsoft ghillie suits so that you can find a perfect option that will make you more effective as a sniper without breaking a bank.
We hope that you found this article helpful. If you have any other questions feel free to contact us via the contact form or send us an email and we’ll be glad to help you.
