Your first loadout — what to buy first, what to skip, and how to do it on £500

Bottom line

Eye protection first. Gun second. Everything else in order. Don't buy a sniper rifle as your second purchase. Don't buy a chest rig before you know what gun you're running. Do buy gloves and kneepads earlier than you think — they're cheap and the comfort upgrade is immediate.

Why sequence matters

Most new players buy what looks cool, not what makes the next game better. The sequence here is ordered by what makes the biggest difference to your actual game experience, right now, for the least money. It's not glamorous. It works.

Step 1 — Eye protection (buy this before anything else)

If you spend nothing else, spend here. A BB at 350 FPS to an unprotected eye is a permanent injury.

What to look for: ANSI Z87.1 or EN166 rated (impact-tested lenses — if a product doesn't list this, don't buy it). Anti-fog coating or fan ventilation — sealed goggles without it fog within two games on a cold morning. Full seal, not glasses or half-frames. Brands: ESS, Bolle, Pyramex, Revision.

Budget: £20–50 for a solid pair. The £12 uncertified "tactical goggles" on Amazon are not suitable. Read the eye protection buyer's guide before buying.

Step 2 — Lower face protection

Many sites require face covering below the eye pro. Even where they don't, getting a BB on the teeth is memorably unpleasant.

• Mesh lower — the standard. Stainless steel mesh protects without fogging. Clips or straps under eye pro. Brands: Nuprol, Dye, custom fabric options. £10–20.
• Full-face mask — easier for newcomers, but can limit your peripheral vision and makes aiming awkward with a cheek weld. Fine for CQB. Less popular for woodland.
• Shemagh — worn loosely by plenty of experienced players. No hard protection. Comfortable in warm weather. Acceptable at most sites but not strictly protective.

For your first loadout, a mesh lower paired with your sealed goggles is the most versatile combination.

Step 3 — The gun

The actual AEG purchase. Do this after protection, not before. You cannot use a gun you own without the gear to safely play, so sequence matters practically as well as philosophically.

AEG is the right first gun for almost everyone. Spring-powered, electrically triggered, magazine-fed, semi-and-auto. Consistent, upgradeable, wide retailer support, forgiving of beginners. See AEG vs GBB vs HPA for the full breakdown, but the short version: buy an AEG first.

Budget AEG tier (£130–200): G&G CM16 series, Specna Arms SA-C and SA-E series, CYMA AK platforms. These are the workhorses. They perform at skirmish level out of the box and are easy to upgrade later.

Mid-range AEG tier (£200–350): Krytac Trident series, ICS, ARES Amoeba. Better internals, better QC, better hop units. Worth the jump if your budget allows.

Avoid: Sub-£100 AEGs with no-name internals. Repair costs cancel the saving fast.

UKARA note: A full-colour replica is a Realistic Imitation Firearm (RIF) under the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006. Buying one requires a legal defence — UKARA registration is the standard route. Without it, you're limited to a two-tone replica until you qualify (three games at a registered site within two months). See UKARA's official site. This is not optional.

Step 4 — Magazines

4–6 mid-cap magazines is the skirmish standard. Mid-caps (80–120 rounds, spring-fed, no wind-up rattle) are quiet, reliable, and what most sites expect. Hi-caps rattle and many sites discourage them. Low-caps are for milsim once you've found your playstyle.

Your gun ships with one mag. You need four or five more. Check compatibility — M4 mags don't fit AK receivers despite both being AEGs.

Budget: £10–18 per mid-cap. 5× = £50–90.

Step 5 — Battery and charger

Get a balance charger and a LiPo. Don't use the unbranded USB charger your gun might ship with.

• Battery: 7.4V LiPo (2S), sized to fit your gun's stock or handguard. Your gun's manufacturer page or catalogue entry will specify what fits. 1300–1800mAh is the typical AEG range.
• Charger: ISDT Q6 Lite, SkyRC iMax B6, or similar balance charger with individual cell monitoring. Under £35.
• LiPo bag: £5. Charge in it. Always.

Read LiPo battery safety before your first charge. The short version: never charge unattended, never on a flammable surface, store at 3.8V/cell between games.

Two batteries for your gun is ideal — one in, one charging.

Budget: £50–70 for two batteries + charger.

Step 6 — BBs

Don't play with unknown-brand BBs. Inconsistent diameter jams hop units, damages inner barrels, and ruins accuracy.

Buy from known brands: BLS, ASG Blaster, G&G, Madbull, Geoffs.

0.28g bio for outdoor woodland skirmishing. Most UK woodland sites mandate biodegradable BBs. 0.25g bio as a secondary for CQB. See BB weights explained if you're not sure which weight to use with your gun and hop setup.

1kg bag (~3,500 BBs) of each: under £20.

Step 7 — Gloves and kneepads

This feels mundane and it's one of the best investments in the first six months.

Gloves: fingers get hit constantly. Kneecap-style work gloves or light tactical gloves (Mechanix, Hatch, Ironclad) cost £10–25 and make hit calls to the hand non-events instead of "stop, ow, collect myself" moments. Buy thin enough to still use triggers and mag releases comfortably.

Kneepads: one go-around crawling on UK woodland floor and you'll understand. Gel kneepads worn under or over trousers cost £10–20 and protect knees from rocks and roots during any kind of low-crawl or prone movement.

Combined spend: £25–40. Massive comfort return per pound spent.

Step 8 — Chest rig or pouches (defer this)

Buy after three or four games with your own gun, once you know your platform and playstyle. A cheap rig bought for the gun you have today may be useless the moment you switch platforms. Quality options (Warrior Assault Systems, Ferro Concepts, clones) cost £60–200+. In the meantime, a dump pouch for dead mags (£8–15) and cargo pockets cover you fine.

Step 9 — Comms (defer even longer)

Radios, PTTs, and headsets are useful once you're on a regular team or doing milsim. For recreational skirmishing in your first year, they solve a problem you don't have yet. Defer until you've got everything above sorted and you've found a team worth talking to.

What NOT to buy first

Skip the sniper rifle (slow rate of fire, MED zone restrictions, a specialist build that makes no sense before you can read a woodland game), the GBB pistol sidearm (expensive second learning curve for game one), NVGs (useless in daylight, which is 99% of what you'll play), and full impression kit before you have an impression. Don't open up your AEG to do tech work until you've done at least ten games. The gun is fine. Learn to play first.

The £500 budget breakdown

This is the full comfortable first loadout. Redundancy on batteries and mags, quality protection, and a gun that skirmishes well for years. Drop to a budget AEG (G&G CM16 / Specna SA-C, ~£130) and you land closer to £350, which frees budget for extra mags or better eye pro.

Buying second-hand

Gear, eye pro, pouches, chest rigs, helmets, gloves — all safe to buy used. Guns are a different matter: any realistically coloured AEG is a RIF, and buying one second-hand is still a RIF transaction that requires UKARA. You need UKARA before you buy used guns, not just new ones. See UKARA's official site. When buying a used AEG, test it at the seller's site rather than buying blind — a £100 AEG that fires five rounds and jams is a repair bill, not a bargain.

The upgrade question

After 5–10 skirmish days, the itch arrives: upgrade the gun or buy new kit? The diagnostic is simple: outranged in games? Tune the hop and try heavier BBs before spending money. Running dry mid-game? More mags. Uncomfortable at the end of the day? Sort boots and kneepads. Don't crack open the gearbox until you've exhausted external tuning — a well-hopped stock AEG at 330 FPS outperforms a poorly-tuned upgraded one at 370 FPS for anything inside 50m.

Sources & next steps

• Your first skirmish — what game day actually looks like if this is your first
• AEG vs GBB vs HPA — which gun platform makes sense for your goals
• Eye protection buyer's guide — the detail on goggle standards and what to avoid
• LiPo battery safety — before you plug in your first battery
• BB weights explained — which BB to run with your new gun
• UKARA official site — the verification scheme that unlocks full-colour RIF purchases, site registration status, and the registration process