About the Game
Basically the game is very similar to paintball. If your not familiar with that sport here is an overview.
Paintball:
There are at least two teams (usually two) determined, usually of equal size and skill. Each member caries a gas powered rifle which usually looks nothing like a real rifle. The guns launch round plastic like capsules of paint which break on most targets including people leaving a spot of colored paint and a rather large welt. The guns carry around 200 rounds and can range from cocking to full-auto. Each player also usually carries extra paint balls in containers on a harness. When a player is "tagged" by a paint ball that breaks, they are considered out of play. They are to insert a bright colored plug into the tip of their barrel and are to stand up with their gun above their head and walk back to the "dead zone" while yelling "out", "hit", "dead man" or what ever. Games are played out-doors and in-doors but, mostly, the players start within view of each other or in close proximity. Games are usually won by eliminating all the members on the other team or by hanging a flag in the opposite teams starting area.
Airsoft:
Airsoft is very similar to paintball. If you are hit by a BB, you are out of the game. There are variations of rules amongst different teams but I will discuss our way of play. When a player is hit they do not have to yell it out but they can. The dead player must at least sit or lay down, out of everyone's way. Most of us enjoy making our deaths as realistic as possible (flying back still bursting off rounds and possibly throwing our gun). Dead players do not talk or move at all! Other players may attempt to use a dead man's equipment without the dead man's help but the dead man can refuse simply by shaking their head or saying only "no" as the other member tries to take their gun. If we are playing out doors we do sometimes designate a dead zone that dead players may eventually move to with their gun above their head if they are not in the middle of a fire fight. The main idea is that we don't want confusion from dead players walking around and getting in the way. Besides it's more realistic if they simply fall down when shot. Some times its confusing as to whether a person laying down is dead or not. Well, all I can say is that it's part of the game and if you don't want to be shot while dead, you can put your hands up. Allot of times, airsoft is slightly different from paintball. While playing out doors there are usually very loose boundaries and teams will often start out of sight of each other. Games usually don't end up in large stalemate fire fights this way.
Benefits of Airsoft:
- Realism: These guns are 1:1 replicas, sometimes made all of metal and are fully functional. This is probably the best part of airsoft.
- Cheaper: BBs are $15 - $20 per 2000 to 3500 for high grade BBs where paintballs are about $60-$120 per 2000. A fully automatic rifle is only $200 for airsoft where in paintball this would cost from $500 to $1200. The average price for a semi auto paint gun is $200.
- Cleaner: No clean up. You don't have to disassemble the guns to clean out broken paint and oil them and you don't have to wash out all that paint.
- Less Cumbersome: In general you don't have as much equipment. All you have is a gun or two, some extra magazines, a loader , a bottle of BBs, and maybe a can of gas. You also don't have to wear that huge face mask; your really only required to wear full coverage safety glasses.
- Gun Performance: the guns will shoot 1.5 times as far while not inflicting any more pain. Almost every gun contains a "Hop Up" which puts a back spin on the BB, causing it to follow a straighter path (not an arc). Fully-Autos can shoot 5 - 10 shots per second faster than the best paint guns. Also, sniper rifles, really are sniper rifles and they go more than 2.5 times as far as the other guns.
- The Rush: I cant say that everything we have done has been legal and I cant tell you exactly what we have done either. And some times when your on the top of some building or inside some construction sight the police officer may just happen to roll by leaving you running through the woods away from the law. When I think back to the places I've played, I just get a rush remembering that I actually played there. It really does give you a rush to be somewhere your not supposed to be especially when your holding a replica SMG. This is a benefit alone that you are able to play in these places without damaging things. So when the cops do catch you they cant get you on vandalization; if that helps at all.
About the Guns
Pictures from manuals:
UHC P99, Cocking Pistol Manual
Any kind of cocking (air cocking / springer) pistol or rifle works the same way. There is a plunger inside a cylinder. The plunger has a spring behind it and you cock the gun by, in the case of a pistol, pulling back the slide or top half of the gun. When you pull this back, the spring and plunger are compressed, and a small mechanism holds the plunger and spring in this state. At this point, when the slide is back a BB is permitted to pop up from the spring loaded clip (magazine) and into a chamber behind the barrel. When you let the slide go back into its original position, the BB is pushed into the barrel by a small nozzle connected to the cylinder. The gun is now cocked and ready to fire. When you squeeze the trigger, the plunger is released and it flies down the cylinder, pushing all the air in the cylinder out of the cylinder nozzle causing the BB to be launched out of the barrel.
Western Arms Berretta 92FS, Gas Blow Back Pistol
Gas Blow Back guns are the most complicated of all, by far. All working mechanisms work the same as a real gun. When you shoot, the slide (top part of the gun) flies back with every shot, just like a real gun. When the gun is out of BBs the slide stays in the backward position - again, just like a real gun. The BBs and gas (green gas/134-A gas/red gas/HFC-22 gas/top gas) are stored in the clip (magazine). The gas is filled into the bottom of the clip through a tiny valve opening. The gas is similar to butane and you simply fill the clip by sticking the bottle nozzle into the valve opening on the bottom of the clip and you stop when lots of extra gas starts spraying out of where your filling (this means it is full). when you first load the clip into the gun, you cock the slide back and release it. This loads the first BB into the barrel and cocks the hammer. when you pull the trigger, the hammer is released and a small nub on the bottom of it smacks a small valve on the back of the clip and a small amount of gas is sprayed up into a cylinder behind the barrel. Gas is permitted to spray out the barrel and launch the BB but some of the gas sprayed into the cylinder pushes the slide back again and cocks the hammer and loads the next BB. The cylinder has a piston inside it whichis connected to the slide and this is how the slide is pushed back. There is often much confusion about the different kinds of gas. Green gas is actually the same as 134-A gas - this is the weakest gas. Top gas is the next in power, this is sold allot in America but don't be fooled because allot of companies in America call it Green gas. You can ruin guns by using it on a gun that uses only green gas. Green gas and 134-A gas are actually nearly impossible to find in America. HFC-22 and Red gas are both high power gas and most guns cannot use them without modification. By the way, the WA Berretta above can use Top gas even though it says it can only use 134-A.
Tokyo Marui MP5A5, Electric Automatic Sub Automatic Gun
Electric guns require no gas of any kind. They simply have an 8.4 to 12 volt rechargeable battery in the grip or the stock. When you squeeze the trigger, a motor (in the handle) runs a set of gears. There is a piston which has gear teeth on the bottom of it. The last gear only has teeth on half of it and meshes with the piston. This gear spins until it fully pulls the spring loaded piston to the back of a cylinder. At this point the gear reaches the side with no teeth and the piston is released because there are no longer any teeth on the gear holding it in place. The piston slams forward pushing air out the tip of the cylinder and shoots the bb out of the barrel. The motor will continue to spin repeating the following steps if the gun is in full-auto (the gear will continue to spin until there are teeth again and the spring and piston will be compressed again and released) but will stop at this point if in semi-auto.
Maruzen Mossberg 500 Shorty 12Guage Shotgun
Most shot guns are gas powered. However, some are spring powered (see spring gun description). The Tokyo Marui shot guns are spring powered and are essentially three cocking guns in one. They hold one spring loaded shell inside which contains 30 BBs. This comes to 10 shots from one shell being that it shoots one BB out of each of its three inner barrels (each has a fixed hop up) per trigger pull. The Marui are the most powerful, cheap, long range accuracy shotguns. Any other spring cocking shotgun shoots all of its 3-10 BBs out of one barrel. The gas powered shot guns still require cocking but it is much easier and faster. Some of these guns hold their BBs in a tube under the barrel and and carry as many as 30 shots worth. Others load a shell with 3-10 BBs with each pump of the cocking lever. These guns hold 5 - 10 shells and work by loading the designated amount of BBs per shot into the single barrel and by cocking an internal hammer every time the gun is cocked. Once it is cocked, the cocking handle is locked into forward position and the BBs are in the barrel. when the trigger is pulled the hammer smacks an internal valve which lets out a burst of air out that propels the BBs down the barrel. Gas is stored in various locations in each gun but is loaded the same way as a pistol. The M1100 shot gun is the only semi-auto (self cocking) shotgun. It works exactly the same way as a blowback pistol except that instead of a single BB being loaded after each shot, an entire shell containing up to 10 BBs is loaded into position and is expelled out the side of the gun after the shot is taken.
Diagrams: still wonder how something works, just click!
Gas Grenade for Sun Projects Grenade Launcher
Hand Grenade (prototype, not on the market)
What you need
First, Decide how much money you are willing to spend. There are about three money brackets which a beginner can get into.
$30 - simple but realistic pistol which is recharged by cocking a spring
$150 - Blow back gas powered semi automatic pistol (Blow back means the slide cocks forward and back with every shot, like the real thing)
$300 - Fully automatic Electric powered rifle or shotgun.
> Having trouble picking an Electric Automatic Rifle or SMG just click the link below for help deciding WHAT GUN IS BEST FOR YOU.
If you're not sure you'll like airsoft the $30 dollar bracket is good for you. You will have a gun to play with even if it is not much of an arsenal but at least you can decide if you like the game and are willing to spend more. You can find good cocking guns for under $20. Buy some crappy $5 bottle of 2000 .12g light weight BB's with it and of coarse a pair of any old safety glasses with full protection and your good to go. We suggest American UHC pistols because they're cheap and reliable. You can find shops that sell these under our shop listing. If you wish, extra magazine cartridges are also available for about $7. You can also buy Japanese cocking pistols which are much better however more expensive if you look around. Don't forget to add about $5 shipping.
If you know you want to get into airsoft but you don't have a huge pocket of cash, You probably will fit into the $150 bracket. In this bracket you can buy a decent American or Japanese blow back gas powered pistol. This could cost you from $80 to $130. extra magazines are $25 for American pistols but an expensive $40-$50 for a Japanese pistol. You'll also need gas for the pistol; this will cost you $20 for a Liter. This will last a long time so don't worry. We suggest you buy it from a paintball store or an American web site like www.shortyUSA.com as shipping is slow from over seas. Finally you will need BB's and safety glasses. We suggest .2g BB's from Japan. We use Tokyo Marui BB's ourselves and they cost $20 with shipping for 3500. Our recommendation for a pistol is either the KSC Glock 17 ($130) or the Tokyo Marui Berretta 92F ($110). Remember that if you order from across seas for the good Japanese guns that the shipping will be about $30 for just a pistol. For one bag of Japanese BB's a Berretta and shipping from Japan and a bottle of gas, expect to pay $180. This is about the top of this bracket.
Finally, If you Know that you'll like airsoft and you do have an ass crack stuffed with cash then we recommend an AEG (Automatic Electric Gun). Actually If you can at all stretch it, we recommend you buy one, they far surpass anything else. First of all, the gun will cost you from $175 to $260. All the guns have settings for full auto and semi auto. Also, all of the guns are basically the same underneath so don't worry about what ones are better. We do however suggest that you try to get one with a version 3 gearbox and if you want more accuracy, longer barrels are slightly better. Moving on, You will then need a battery and charger. The battery will cost $30 and the charger will cost $20. Sometimes, sites have specials for with the gun, batteries, and charger. If you live near us we can assemble a custom Battery using 8 high quality longer lasting "nickel metal hydride" batteries for only $40 (they'll last 2x as ling and never burn out, they also have a significantly greater amount of power). Also If your going to play with us you don't need a charger, we will "Peak" charge them for you. Again, you will need safety glasses (if you got this much money go out and get some nice ones). For AEGs we suggest .25g BB's from Japan ($20 for 2000 with shipping). We also suggest buying at least one extra magazine for only $20. Shipping will run you $30-$60. As an alternative, You can buy a gas powered or spring cocking Shotgun for $175 and 3 extra shells for $20. These require no batteries, shoot 3 to 10 BBs at a time and some shotguns are as powerful as AEGs.
Pictures are from listed sites.