The Airsoft Experience
The Airsoft Experience
Building Airsoft Dreams: From Austria to Canada with Chris Neuwirth "Novritsch"
How does one go from playing with Springer pistols in a secluded Austrian village to becoming a renowned airsoft sniper? Join us as we sit down with Chris Neuwirth aka Novritsch, who shares his compelling journey from isolation to community, explaining the allure and trials of the sniper role in the world of airsoft. Chris also dishes out practical advice for newcomers, whether you're considering renting or buying your first gun. This episode is a treasure trove for anyone looking to dive deep into the airsoft experience, providing invaluable guidance on starting out.
Ever wondered how YouTube has influenced the airsoft scene in Canada? I recount my own adventure in building a new 220-acre airsoft field, filling a void left by the closure of a beloved venue. This leads to a discussion aimed at aspiring airsoft YouTubers. If you’re passionate about airsoft and want to share your journey, we offer insights into different content creation avenues—from gameplay and reviews to tech breakdowns—so you can focus on what you love without chasing views and revenue.
For those strapped for time, we explore the perks of quick, high-energy airsoft games that fit into the busiest schedules. Learn about Chris's routine for preparing gear and playing intense two-hour sessions, and discover why conveniently located fields offering quick-start games are a game-changer. Finally, get an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Noveritsch. A growing company, from solo product development to an international team poised to introduce groundbreaking new equipment. Join us in the studio at Action Airsoft Club for the first appearance in Canada of Noveritsch the man himself.
noveritsch.com
Youtube.com /noveritsch
instagram.com/noveritsch
blackblitzairsoft.com
Your one stop facility for everything airsoft. Multi floor cqb indoor field & fully stocked store.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Action Airsoft Club
www.actionairsoft.ca 905-615-7757
Ballistic Prints
www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089181244866
SlingX
www.slingx.ca
Lightfighter Milsim Airsoft Team www.facebook.com/lightfightersmilsim
Nsceibelab Laser Designs
www,facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089285134479
Army Issue Surplus Inc.
www.armyissue.com 905-271-1665
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6-1,. We have contact left, side 70. Coming to you.
Speaker 2:Contact left, contact left. We're flanking left side. Suppress, Push, push, push.
Speaker 1:We're moving, we're moving and welcome to the Airsoft Experience. I'm your host, michael Mascot, also known as Magic in Ontario Airsoft, and we are super lucky today we have Chris Novrich in the house all the way from Austria. How are you doing, bud?
Speaker 2:Doing great. I'm doing Canada.
Speaker 1:Thank you for coming to Canada. I just I know we have a little bit of time with you. We're currently recording live in Action Airsoft Club in Mississauga where he has a meet and greet going on today from 5 pm to 9 pm. He also is doing a couple cqb games as well in our field. He'll check it out for the first time. But the community wants to ask you a couple quick questions. So let's get right to it. When, how and where did it all start for you in airsoft? Like, how did you get into airsoft and where did it start for you?
Speaker 2:I think, very similar to most people. I think all young boys like guns. Anything that shoots is interesting, right, it's appealing Somehow. We just drawn to it, naturally. And yeah, you know, I saw little Springer pistols for five bucks.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's how it started and you know you play with your friends. The first person buys a semi-automatic gun and then all the other people have to kind of catch up and also get some stuff, and from there they evolved. Uh, and what was, what was quite interesting is that back then I didn't know there is an airsoft community. So we, we kind of invented the sport kind of for ourselves awesome. And then we discovered the, the, the actual sport like the actual community, which was very interesting because it was just mind-blowing for us. There's such big games with Milsims, vehicles and all that. We didn't know of any of this, we just kind of stumbled into it.
Speaker 1:So did you kind of start going to a walk-on game or a weekend short event, or did you just start in your backyard with your buddies and go straight to a Milsim?
Speaker 2:So my parents' house is very isolated, so it's like it's not in the forest but there's barely any neighbors, nice um. So it's isolated enough that we could literally just play around the house and we spring a pistols. You don't break that much stuff. Yet my parents did get very angry once we switched to a cheese. And you know, still today you can.
Speaker 1:You can actually see it on a drainage pipe, so you can see the little, the little dance in there oh, I can imagine the inside of my parents basement uh, has a lot of holes in it back when I was growing up as well um, my house. Now I've got actual airsoft range built in the basement now just to tune stuff out. Many people want to become an airsoft sniper as their first kind of thing, and that's because they're seeing a lot of your videos early in the day and then other YouTube snipers and stuff like that. What made you get into becoming a sniper? Is that something you morphed into or like? How did that come about?
Speaker 2:Well, I think people kind of fantasize about it and they believe it's a really good idea. And so did I, and I got an SF sniper with all the money I had, and then I had no plan B, right.
Speaker 1:If I would have had enough money, I would probably also bought an HE afterwards, but I just didn't.
Speaker 2:So yeah, here I was, I just made the best out of it and actually once I I kind of, let's say, master the skill, or once I got good enough with it to compete with people with ags, then I I really fell for it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I really enjoyed it is it, uh, something that you would recommend for a new player, or is it something that maybe they should kind of morph into after they kind of, you know, do a rental or around?
Speaker 2:it's actually something I used to recommend, but that's I think at least probably like 10 years ago, because that's what I did and it worked for me. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it only worked for me because I played with also not experienced people. But if you now go to a field for your first day with people who play since five years and then you also take a sniper rifle, you can have a bad time like oh yeah, don't do that, don't do that so I I don't recommend it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely not.
Speaker 1:So just get an he yeah, basically, I think the best thing to do like field like ours, we offer uh rentals. You come out, before you buy your first gun, go rent a rental and see if you actually like the sport, because you people, oddly enough, may not like it. I don't know how, but some people may not like it. So that's good advice. You heard it there Don't go directly into becoming a sniper. Find your groove and work your way around the airsoft world.
Speaker 2:On the renting and buying. I'm actually a bit split on it. I also always tell people that they should rent. But what I'm a little bit afraid of is that when you rent an airsoft gun and you play your first game, and on the first game you're gonna have a hard time right, you're gonna fog and everything's gonna itch and nothing fits and you don't hit anything and you're so overwhelmed and then you eventually dislike it and because you only rent it, you will never come, as you maybe don't come a second time, right yeah well, when you bought the gun, it's kind of like I spent 400 bucks on this, right.
Speaker 2:Okay, I didn't like the first game, but I'm still gonna come because I spent so much money on it already and I feel like that's what actually gets you into the sport, right?
Speaker 2:for sure you overcome those first few game days that are maybe not that pleasant, and you, you kind of get the gist of it and it's like, okay, now I got it, like now I know how to aim, how to bring my gun up fast and all that. Yeah, now I actually become an active member of the community and you also get that muscle memory because it's your gun.
Speaker 1:You're at home fiddling with it, you know how it works, you get into that comfort zone and I think you become a better player when you're more comfortable on the field.
Speaker 2:I find that so it is something that I'm a bit afraid about, that, while the whole rental offering makes the sport more accessible, I'm also afraid that it brings the sport into something that, yeah, I tried it once but I never came again, kind of thing, you know for sure.
Speaker 1:Uh, especially in a cqb setting because you walk around a corner like you're gonna get lit up. In a CQB like in the outdoors, it's, it's. It's not as bad. Right At the compound and the other fields the engagement distance are longer. But CQB like if you're a renter for the first time, you're right, it could. It could make you not like airsoft If you have a bad time. We try not to let that happen, but it could happen. You never know.
Speaker 2:So that's a very good point on rentals for sure.
Speaker 1:Okay, I would say a massive amount of Canadian airsofters started playing because of your YouTube videos, believe it or not? Uh, myself included, and I own two fields and a massive Milsom team and a bunch of vehicles because of watching videos like yours, believe it or not. We just opened up a 220-acre super field where we built a town, village, road systems, all of that stuff which we didn't really have here in Canada. Like, our last big field just got shut down. It was an old mental hospital, believe it or not, in Picton, which was super fun to play at, and unfortunately, over years, it decayed and then it got sold off and now it's going to become a bunch of houses. So now we had nowhere to play.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I decided to open this new field. That being said, it opens up a lot more opportunities for snipers, but a lot more opportunities for youtubers. So we have a lot of youtubers starting to spawn in the ontario airsoft, like what advice do you have for them, being, you know, an awesome YouTube channel owner? Like, do you have any advice for them?
Speaker 2:The thing is, you know, my channel worked out because no one did it back then.
Speaker 1:Oh, you're the originator, my friend.
Speaker 2:Not the originator. I mean, it's not that I was the first one doing it, but I was one of the first few who did it consistently, online, um, and really committed to it. And now, you know, the landscape looks different right, like there's a lot of people out there. So one thing I can definitely tell you is do it because you enjoy the process of doing it. Don't do it because you're after fuse, because it's super hard to get fused these days yeah, you're not.
Speaker 2:You're not gonna make money uh, don't think, okay, I'm gonna make money with this one day. It's super, super hard to make money with it. It's super, super hard to get big with it and with the fuse. So do it because you like it. Just if you enjoy the editing process, being creative with it, then just go for it, that's awesome. I think that's the best advice I can give.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, like as far as content goes, do you think more people want to see the gameplay, or weapons reviews, or breaking down teching and stuff like that? What do you think? Do you think it's gameplay, or is it a mix of everything, because you pretty much do it all?
Speaker 2:I also can't. I think people enjoy all formats, but also all formats have been done over and over. If you want to watch I don't know an LMG gameplay, you will find a hundred of them, right.
Speaker 1:That's what I run. I love it, so again.
Speaker 2:I wouldn't approach it in a way of okay, what could I do that people want to watch? Because that might be at that end and very devastating, because you might have to, I don't know, be at that end and very devastating. Yeah, because you might have to, I don't know. I mean, we saw these youtubers wearing bunny costumes and having a chainsaw just to get fuse.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I don't think that's the way, that's the way forward, and it was even for me difficult when so before I made the transition from, you know, just making videos to to becoming a brand and making products, I also was in this tight spot where fuse were going down and I thought this is what I make my living off now. So I will just start doing ridiculous things like, I don't know, playing with an earth gun or an airsoft game, right, and while it looks really fun in the video, it's actually devastating because you bring something to a field that puts you in such a disadvantage. Oh yeah, you know the video is like five minutes and maybe just 10 kills in it, but for that video I suffered for two days competing with this shitty thing again you know, I shot like five meters, they shoot 80 meters.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, don't don't do stuff you don't actually want to do because you think it will get fused. Just really do what you want to do. If you want to do reviews, do reviews. If you want to do gameplay, do gameplay. Yeah sweet.
Speaker 1:What is your favorite type of game to attend like? Do you just like the milsims? Do you like the weekend walk-ons or more of a larpy time type of game?
Speaker 2:I actually started enjoying something very different, and that's going to an airsoft game after work after, so it's an evening kind of literally just one or two hours.
Speaker 2:It it's kind of like going to play tennis or going to the gym, right. So I have my stuff prepared the day before I go to work. I grab my it's literally a gym bag. There's a GBB pistol in there and just the most essential stuff. I go to the CQB site. I play for two hours but I play really active, right.
Speaker 2:It's not this typical okay hour or like four or five hour game day where you know you don't run all the time because it's five hours long and you kind of need to spare the energy, but instead it's a I know, okay, I'm only here for two hours anyway, so I go in full energy.
Speaker 2:I only sprint, I only run and actually even sometimes before these two hours I'm already done and I'm kind of like, okay, I'm leaving, know I've been running around like crazy for an hour and I can call it and go home, right. And what I like about this is because this is a very repeatable format that you can integrate into it. Busy life actually, because many people they say people I used to play with you talk to them if they're still playing they say I have kids and the wife and I need a whole Saturday, just kind of don't get to it anymore. So I really think that and I think it could vastly help the sport if the format of after work or short games is enabled by fields that are close to where dense populations are, ideally close to city centers and games where you don't show up and then you have to listen to a half an hour long safety briefing. Then it takes 20 minutes until everyone finally loaded up the mags right.
Speaker 2:Something where you go and it says at 7pm the first game starts and no matter if people are ready or not, the game will start. So you show up. It takes you like three minutes to get ready and I just go into the game and play. That's awesome. That's what I'm looking for the most right now.
Speaker 1:We kind of have something similar to that. So Thursday nights we have a four-hour, 7 to 11. Same with Saturday and Sunday. Just a quick four-hour CQB 15 minutes on, 15 minutes off, play as your leisure, walk in, walk out, do whatever you can. So we're trying to accommodate kind of what you're saying right now here in this place.
Speaker 2:That's amazing. I think it's important to have both. I do really enjoy having if I have a whole Saturday or even like a whole weekend fuck yeah, I love it, go play as of all day. Or even like a whole weekend fuck yeah, I love it. Right, go play as of all day. But for the times where you don't have that and I think everyone has those moments in their lives, right, I don't know, they want to fix their car, you just don't have time, right, and you still would be nice to have some kind of format that you can kind of squeeze into the week For sure, quickly let's get got a couple questions.
Speaker 1:So this one's from uh connor farraghan. He uh owns a team in ontario airsoft and a vehicle team as well, so he wants to know are we ever going to see full thrust kits available for the striker platform use case hpa conversions?
Speaker 2:for the striker platform, that the aries striker? I don't think. I'm not sure. Actually I don't think so, because that would mean convincing errors to make a magazine and you hope a chamber, and you hope a bucking and you in a barrel. I don't think so, actually I don't think so but we will have. Uh, I can tease something we going to have a sniper rifle coming out in about half a year. That's going to be full thrust out of the box.
Speaker 1:Ooh, really, you just heard it here. Guys, ladies and gentlemen, that's exciting, actually. On that note, when can we see 0.48 gram 6mm BBs in meaningful quantities in Canada?
Speaker 2:Well, we're 4.9s actually, but they're not bio, so you shouldn't actually use them. It's more for indoor play. I think there's. No, is there that heavy bio BBs out there? I don't think there is actually.
Speaker 1:I don't think so.
Speaker 2:I think there's only non-bio. I think it's only non-bio. Don't shoot non-bio out there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely not on my field either. Yeah, definitely not on my field either. Vial only any interest in producing an integrally shushed double action pistol.
Speaker 2:So a site integrally. Yeah, yeah, I can't say it, but I got the idea. So kind of like a mark 23, but it's already mounted in front right. It's part of the actual replica one unit I don't dislike the idea. I I found it a little bit weird how crytek made the maxine. Oh yep, I found it weird that they made it a gas blowback actually yeah I feel like that was that form factor is.
Speaker 2:I think it's kind of weird for gas blowback because it it's this massive thing that's really hard to find a holster for and it's not quiet. But it's really chunky and it's you know, to find a holster for, and it's not quiet, but it's really chunky and it's you know. I don't know why they did it this way. I would have loved to make you know, to see them make a non-blowback maxime, I think that would have had a place in the market actually for sure.
Speaker 1:Okay, this one is from uh airsoft podcast called the can do experiment podcast. Uh, he's out of niagara falls, the nq field. He says you are such an influence in airsoft. I remember when I first started he was still new and just recording his gameplay had a big influence with my sniping career for airsoft. Ask him from my bestie at the can dodo experiment when you first started your YouTube videos, why did you pick the sniper bolt action route? Why was it that drew you to that class for your YouTube videos?
Speaker 2:Yeah, just like discussed before, man, I just thought sniping is cool and I bought one and then I was stuck with it because I just didn't have the cash for another replica. But I did see a YouTuber called Vavan56. He's a French YouTuber and he is actually the guy who invented Zoom cam footage.
Speaker 2:He was the first person to mount a camcorder onto a scope and I love to watch his videos and at some point he stopped and I thought you know he did sniping, I do sniping, I know how to edit videos, kind of. So I'm just going to pick it up and, instead of buying an HE, I'm just going to buy cameras and make those YouTube videos, which now, in retrospective, was a very important decision.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for sure, for sure. It's definitely come full circle. Okay quickly, because we got a crowd building outside for the meet and greet. What can we all expect coming from your company in the future? Example new gear, weapons, platforms, et cetera that you can release?
Speaker 2:So the company started with sniper rifles. We then ventured into pistols, which we now released quite a lot Now ATs, we do want to quite a lot Now ATs. We do want to go a little bit into HPA Nice. So some HPA products are going to come, some HPA replicas actually. Gas blowback also, more gas blowback stuff will come, gas blowback rifles Also in combination with HPA actually. So that's going to be interesting as well. Cool, but really. So you have to imagine that the first five years of this, or the first three years of this company, all the products that came to the market were developed by myself. Right, but I'm only one dude.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:And now we have a development team of it's nine people in Vienna and it's 10 over in Asia. Wow, so what's being developed right now is it's such a massive scale of projects and all of this stuff is going to come out over the next two years.
Speaker 1:So many, many, many releases over the next months are coming. I am very excited about anything gbbr and anything hpa my friend, I'll tell you that much looking forward to that. And we actually have, I think, your full line of pistols on the wall right now and a bunch of your rifles as well that you have out now. So if you are in the area and you want to come, hold them, look at them, pull the trigger, whatever you want to do, we have them here, but I don't want to keep you too much longer from everybody wanting to meet you here. So I really appreciate you taking some time and sitting with me on my tiny little podcast.
Speaker 2:Well, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:No problem, thanks for coming to Canada. We really appreciate you.
Speaker 2:Man such a professional setup.
