In the sport of Airsoft, you want to take any leg up you can get. When I first started playing I remember getting pinned down and not being able to do anything about except telling my teammates where I was taking fire from, and hoping they could hit the player. I had never even considered grenades as a feasible thing in the sport. I began looking for more items to complete my load out when I first stumbled across the Thunder B.
1 The Thunder B
The Thunder B is the first grenade we will talk about. The Thunder B is generally used as a distraction device and not a grenade from which you can gain a hit. There are some fields that allow the Thunder B to be used with bbs in the shell of it. The Thunder B works by the hammer on the top of the core hitting a piston that sends a pin in to the top of a CO2 canister. The canister than releases gas, filling the plastic shell, until it explodes. Be advised that the Thunder B can explode at very high decibels, and ear protection should be used with these, as well as gloves and eye protection. The Thunder B can be filled with bbs or used to stun the enemy and to convince them your coming from another direction by throwing it in one doorway and entering another.
2 Tornado Grenades
The next grenade were going to take a look at is the tornado grenade. This grenade comes in two different variants, the timed grenade and the impact grenade. This grenade has two holes on either side that hold between 90-100 bbs each. You fill it with either propane or Green gas by a valve located on the bottom of the grenade, by removing the base plate. When you pull the pin on the grenade it releases the bbs and gas causing the grenade to spin and release bbs in a 360 degree pattern, earning its name. This grenade is useful to gain hits, however this is its only real practical use.
3 Smoke Grenades
The third and final grenade we will be discussing the classic, and my personal favorite, the smoke grenade. The smoke grenade as several different uses. Each smoke grenade is a little different in the way it functions, however the two main types are hot-burning, and cold-burning. The two types are fairly self-explanatory, just determining whether the grenade gets hot with the risk of burning things or stays fairly cool. Most fields only allow cold-burning smoke grenades. The smoke grenades uses vary widely. They can be used to mark certain locations, such as enemies by the red smoke or friendly’s south of the green smoke. They can also be used to mark objectives and other key points in the field. Other than marking, smoke grenades can be used for concealment by creating a smoke wall or popping smoke on yourself to withdraw from the area or move from cover to cover. A more effective way of using a smoke grenade to conceal yourself from the enemy is to throw it in the enemies position. Though the enemy can throw the grenade out, that would require them to lose sight of you. The smoke it would put out would not just block sight to yourself, but also other areas as well.
No matter what you use grenades for remember that they are a very useful tactical addition to your load out, and you should pick what best fits you. Remember to practice safe use with these items and wear the proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment)
Play Hard, Play Fair, Play Fun -$pades
