Airsoft is a hobby similar to paintball but considered by most people to be a whole lot cooler and more fun than paintball is. Why isn't it big in the US, you ask? It's growing. Airsoft originally started in Asia and spread to Europe. The first Airsoft sightings in the US were some guns made by Daisy a while back which fired standard Airsoft pellets (6mm, or .25 caliber plastic BBs) but they had to be loaded into plastic dummy cartridges and most of the spring-powered guns ejected the shells after they were fired, limiting their popularity for outdoor use since the shells were expensive to replace. Even the fact that they were spring powered limited their usefulness somewhat.

  Today, however, there are a wide variety of fantastic Airsoft products available in the US. There are several distributors and mail/internet order companies, and more in Canada as well. Currently Airsoft as a sport/hobby is growing faster than paintball did when paintball was first becoming popular.

Equipment

  Here's where the allure of Airsoft lies: the design of the guns used. 99.9% of Airsoft guns are modelled after real firearms, and quite often they function just like their real counterparts. There are different systems used to propel the Airsoft BBs - three, actually. Going over these will help you understand more about the equipment involved.

Spring Powered - These Airsofts use a spring-cocking mechanism that has to be cycled before each shot. Typically the cocking mechanism will be incorporated into the gun to match the real weapon's cocking system (i.e. pull the slide back on a handgun, the charging lever on an M16, etc.). There are spring powered handguns (very common), submachine guns, rifles, and even shotguns. Some shotguns, like Tokyo Marui's SPAS-12, fire more than one pellet at a time, emulating a real shot pattern.

Gas Powered - With these Airsofts, the detail and usefulness usually increase over the spring-powered models. Gas guns typically use one of two powering methods - an external gas source connected to the gun via a hose (usually these are the older models), or an internal reservoir which is charged from a separate cannister, much like a refillable butane lighter is charged. Most of the "serious" small weapons (namely handguns and small submachine guns) fall into this category since electric motors in the AEGs (next section) won't fit into such small packages. Gas powered guns are frequently semi-auto or full auto, or both. Recently many gas guns have been designed as blowbacks, which means as gas is propelling the pellet out of the barrel, another charge of gas is working the action of the gun, which adds a lot to the realism and feel of the gas guns, but also reduces the number of shots you can fire per charging since some of your gas goes toward working the action instead of firing more pellets. Gas guns are generally a good deal more powerful than spring powered guns, and thus have better range. And, there are a lot of custom upgrade parts available for gas guns to fine-tune their performance, such as barrels, spring kits, gas valves, etc.

Electric Powered - AEGs (Automatic Electric Guns) are considered by most to be the top of the line in Airsoft, particularly when it comes to combat. AEGs generally use 8.4 volt NiCad rechargeable hobby battery packs, similar to the ones used in radio controlled cars and planes. AEGs are frequently semi and full auto, and a few even have special firing modes like Tokyo Marui's Sig 550/551 line which have a burst mode that you can adjust from three to seven rounds per trigger pull. Electric guns are usually very detailed but lack the blowback feature of the gas guns since it would be a waste of battery power. Most serious combat players prefer electric guns since the batteries last a while and are usually fairly easy to replace in the field, and they're a lot smaller to carry around than a gas cannister or two. The smallest AEG at this time is Tokyo Marui's H&K MP5K, which is about 13 inches long, so if you want a smaller backup weapon, you'll probably want to go gas or spring depending on what your budget will allow for. Speaking of budgets, as would be expected, the AEGs are usually the most expensive variety of Airsofts (around $350 for a typical MP5 without battery), followed by gas (around $200 for a typical semi-auto pistol), then spring (about $100 for a typical rifle/submachine gun or $50 for a pistol). But considering how much a decent set of paintball equipment can cost ($500-$1000 and up), Airsoft looks pretty attractive especially given the realism of the weapons involved. Not only that, but the ammunition is considerably cheaper with Airsoft - around $6-$8 for a thousand good quality 6mm BBs, as opposed to around $9 for 200 cheap paintballs... And since a good number of Airsofts are full auto, having the extra ammo is always a nice option...

  There is a feature available on many Airsoft guns known as Hop-up. This is a method of imparting a backspin on the BB as it leaves the gun's barrel so it is more stable and has a straighter trajectory. Usually a Hop-up system consists of a rubber patch in the top of the weapon's chamber that causes friction on the top of the BB and therefore causes the backspin. Some spring weapons come with Hop-up, but it's usually non-adjustable. Most gas guns and AEGs have an adjustable Hop-up which is nice because you can sight it in for whatever weight ammo you're using (though the .25g heavy BBs are recommended by the manufacturers for Hop-up use because they fly straighter due to their added weight).

  Airsoft guns are not toys. Although they fire plastic BBs at relatively low velocities, there is still a high potential for personal injury if not using the proper protective gear. At the very least you should always have eye protection. Ideally, all exposed skin should be covered to a reasonable extent, especially if the combat is to take place at close ranges such as is usually the case with indoor CQB (Close Quarters Battle). This means ears, neck/throat, mouth, and so on.

  With that in mind, there is another danger inherent with Airsoft guns - potentially a lot more dangerous than getting hit with a BB on exposed skin, or even in the eye for that matter. This danger lies in the weapons' realism. You should never display your Airsoft weapon in public (or even have it sitting in the open in a vehicle) because there's no way anybody would ever think it was a pellet gun. Any crime committed with an Airsoft gun will carry the same penalties as if you were using a real gun. If you do something stupid like point it at somebody, you can be arrested for felonious assault. If you point it at a police officer or an armed citizen, you could wind up dead. Once again, these things are not toys. If you plan on having a battle where there's even a small chance of the public seeing the players or their equipment, you should notify the law enforcement authorities in your area beforehand. This way, when someone drives by and reports on their cell phone that "armed maniacs are running around in the woods" the police know what's really going on. It may be worth it to go down to your local police or sheriff department and talk to some supervisors about Airsoft in general and to let them know you have a group in the area. Eventually maybe they'll ask you to bring in some of your guns so they can verify your story. And who knows, some of them may even want to get involved in your tournament. (SASOT always endeavors to maintain good relations with law enforcement and military personnel since one of our central goals is to offer Airsoft as a low-cost alternative to live-fire or computer simulated training exercises)

  That having been said, we'd like to cover some basic rules of firearms handling that apply to Airsoft.

Always treat every gun as if it were loaded. Never point a gun at something you wouldn't want to shoot, hurt, or destroy, even if the gun's empty.

Do not rely on the weapon's safety. A safety is usually a very simple mechanical device that is prone to failure. I'm not saying don't ever use it; I am saying you should not put absolute trust in it.

Always be sure when you're shooting that you've got a suitable backstop. This even applies to Airsoft, though not with as great a scope as with a real firearm. With Airsoft this mainly means that you should be sure of your target before you fire and that you should be aware of where your stray BBs are going to go if you miss your intended target. Don't fire if there's even a small chance of hitting something you don't want to hit.

Always keep your trigger finger outside of the trigger guard until the moment you're going to fire. This prevents accidental (or more properly negligent) firing of your weapon.

When you're not shooting, always keep the muzzle of your weapon pointed in a safe direction. This goes back to the first rule about not pointing at anything you don't want to shoot.

Never leave a loaded weapon unattended. Airsofts are certainly no exception to this rule, especially since they're almost always harder to check for loaded status than a real firearm.

We hate to have to do this, but we are living in a litigious day and age: This site is for informational purposes only. Neither SASOT nor its members are liable for any damages inflicted directly or indirectly as a result of Airsoft or any other activity, or as a result of the use or misuse of information contained on this site. As always, think safety and use common sense.

Also, neither SASOT nor its members will be held responsible if you go broke buying lots of cool new Airsoft stuff... :-)