Starting Utah's first Canadian airsoft team (please dish out the advice)
 

Hello Airsoft Canada!

I’ve been searching your forums for a couple of weeks and finally got up the courage to post.

I’ll get right down to business.

I’m from Utah, and I’ve been tasked by my masters into creating a Utah Canada team wearing – you guessed it – CADPAT. I love CADPAT. I’ve been trying to force it down their collective throats for years, but they finally listened. So now on to my next biggest problem

I know next to nothing about CADPAT or what the Canadian Military uses gear-wise (I imagine it’s extremely similar to ours, and if that’s the case I’m well versed in it)

So I figured the most logical place to start was ASC. I’ve been to your website and forums many times in the past year (usually as a guest), but usually just researching. Since I’ll be leading this team, everyone is going to come to me for answers, especially about gear. All eyes are going to be on us for the next little while so we have to do this right. I feel with your guys help we'll be able to pull it off.

We use the country system here for our different organizations (currently I’m a german. I’ve got about 8 guys in CADPAT currently, but since I’m going to be the CO of the team, I have to look the best;)

Here are some pics of what I’ve got so far in CADPAT:

- Pants
- Shirt
- PASGT Cover

http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/8...jorcad1bd0.jpg
http://img297.imageshack.us/img297/4...jorcad2zw4.jpg

The C-8 is a work in progress. I threw it together last week and by what I’ve gathered from my research – Dimeaco receivers and such are in short supply for AEG’s. I’ve only researched C7’s and C8’s for the last few weeks so if any of you have pointers and bringing a Classic Army M15A4 up to speed, I’m all ears.

I’m used to wearing an OD CIRAS (Maritime) Plate carrier, but I’m willing to try something a bit different

Thanks to all of you for posting up links. This is what I’m thinking of currently for a plate carrier:

http://www.davesarmysurplus.com/images/hsgicadwee.jpg

http://www.davesarmysurplus.com/prod...products_id=97

I’m going to add a full assortment of CADPAT pouches, holster, kneepads and hopefully a CADPAT dump pouch. Does anyone know where I can find a CADPAT admin pouch?

Does anyone know where I can get that black netting that goes over the helmet so I can attach some CADPAT scrim to it?

How do you guys feel about us wearing a Maple leaf patch?


Thanks for taking the time to read this. Now that I’ve broken the ice, I’ll be posting throughout here from time to time

- major

We don't use thermold mags anymore. CADPAT looks good tho.

This is the vest we use http://www.armee.forces.gc.ca/lf/Images/2_0/77.jpg

aww - no more thermold mags? pity. Why did they get phased out?

where can i go about getting that vest? its pretty awesome

From what i've heard they would get cold and break. About the vest I have no idea where you can get it, sorry bud good luck tho! Keep the updates coming!

*edit* Here's a good website for you to check out http://www.cpgear.com/default.asp?mn=1.19.56&f=dbp

Also from what i've heard this place does custom work http://www.tigertactical.com/

The thermolds were dumped because they were prone to breakage.

And its very rare that you will find a Canadian LBV even here in Canada that has actually been surplussed. The company that makes them for the CF doesn't sell to civilians and there is currently no replica that I know of. The plate carrier you posted looks like it will do nicely.

Go for it..They say Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Your off to a great start too btw..Lookin good.

Very nice loadout.

thanks for the info boys. I'll keep you updated on our progress. First game is on the 17th of March

Cool! Welcome to the boards!

Personally I don't mind anyone wearing a Maple Leaf flag during an airsoft game if they're doing a Canadian kit, and I doubt you'll find any other objectors on here either.

The Thermolds did tend to break easily and had a propensity for "unloading" themselves if dropped on a hard surface. We've since gone with standard aluminum STANAG magazines although I think the occasional Thermold shows up in training or reserve units. Keep 'em if you like the look and aren't concerned about 100% authenticity.

A good place for gear pics and discussion is the forum at http://www.army.ca. Lots of Canadian Forces members on there. If you post, try to avoid mentioning airsoft as I think it's kinda looked down upon there.

I've rarely seen the CF-issue vest available for sale, as any that make it to market are usually stolen government property. There's been a few sold that went through the proper channels and they were expensive. The forum above I think has kit for sale occasionally. You'll find that while our soldiers are issued all the same kit and expected to wear it, during deployment they're usually given a considerable amount of leeway to wear and use what they want. If your guys all prefer a different rig and equipment, as long as it's in CADPAT it should look fine.

I haven't seen too many C8s in the field but you've essentially got it right, the primary feature being the big-assed Elcan. The C7A2s are coming with green furniture so that's an option too.

if you are willing to spend a bit heavily i would recommend picking up a cadpat drop leg holster from http://www.dropzonetactical.com/hols...opholster.html

the kit is 100% authentic and is used by many canadian troops in afghansitan at the moment. i know its not cheap but i use mine with my gbb and i love it, the quality is there to support that price. as well the company supplies vests including a modular vest that can be set up to look very similar to the current issue. i know he had one set up that way the last time i was in the shop. just be warned that it doesnt come cheap.

Nice kit man i love the C8

You can get a Diemaco reciever from Guarder, being in the US, I imagine ordering from Hong kong is possible. There is a leeway re: vests and rigs, but I'm pretty sure that, unless you're JTF-2, plate carriers like the CIRAS aren't used, and that they wear aftermarket load-bearing rigs over their PSP-issued armour.

EDIT: Also, we wear Bollé T-800s. You can get CADPAT Alta knee and elbow pads from Dave's Surplus. The helmet we wear is made by Gallet.

If you don't like a magnifying optic, many boys use just the Diemaco iron sights, or buy an Eotech holo-sight.

You could try a Tactical Vest like this one from Army Issue Surplus:

http://www.armyissue.com/Gallery/dis...?album=6&pos=1

I also heard that the thermold mags tended to melt at the top if you fired a lot of rounds really quickly, so they started making them with a metal top on them. I guess they realised it would be cheaper just to use solid metal ones...

So a few things I noticed that could easily be picked up;
1) (obviously) the Thermold mags
2) Helmet band (and you were asking about the scrim net, send a PM to Army Issue or check eBay).
3) Goggles: You may want to think about grabbing a pair of ESS Land Ops goggles to fill both the eye protection and LCF rolls.

Elsewise, you look more authentic then some Canadian players, go for the maple leaves, it'll just top you off.

Quite a few on this guy's team wear the US flag on their shoulder, so why the heck not have an American team wearing our patch? Heck, I'd be honoured to know an airsoft team or two in the US wore OUR flag with pride!