What is airsoft ...

Airsoft is a modern combat sport or recreational hobby in which participants eliminate opponents by hitting each other with spherical airsoft pellets, launched from airsoft guns. Participants typically employ the use of varying types of weapons designed as replicas of real firearms, tactical gear, and accessories used by modern military and police organizations.
Airsoft has its roots in late-1970s Japan where firearms were difficult or impossible to obtain due to local laws and people sought a legal alternative to owning actual firearms. The vast majority of airsoft guns, accessories, and after market upgrade parts are also manufactured in Far Eastern countries such as Japan, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Many of these Chinese guns are dominating the airsoft market. Companies like G&G, Classic Army, ICS have spread their name quickly with their cheaper and affordable prices.

Airsoft offers you the closest thing you can get to immersing yourself in war without going. You've watched films like Blackhawk Down, Platoon, and Bravo Two Zero played computer games like Call of Duty, well now you can play through those scenarios. The weapons can give you an excellant range of upto 60-80m. You can get silenced pistols for close engagements and heavy machine guns if you want to lay down covering fire big style. Boys and their Toys you may say but lots of girls play also....

Airsoft guns are full size 1:1 scale replicas of real world firearms. They shoot small plastic balls, 6mm in diameter with approximately 1 Joule of energy. This energy level is very low when compared to most other shooting genres and is a safe energy for use with both paper and human targets (i.e. you can be hit by a BB fired from one of these guns and barely notice it, but it can usually still put a small hole in a paper target).

These replicas are commonly made entirely from plastic with only a few metal parts inside to increase the reliability and durability of moving parts. Construction quality varies wildly from model to model, as does the use of materials. For example, a Marui made MP5 replica has a well made, but creaky plastic body, where as the ICS MP5 has more detailed full-metal body parts installed and is a far more rigid overall structure. This makes the ICS a better and stronger replica, although it does cost slightly more.

Airsoft guns can be powered by electricity (from a battery pack inside the gun), by spring (the user manually compresses the spring before each shot) or using an expanding gas (refrigerant gas is commonly used from a reservoir either inside or outside the gun). Written by (AirsoftGuide)