My son was involved with these guns at approximately that age. All I recall is that they always needed replacement springs and parts because they would invariably throw or drop them or whatever (I was afraid to ask) and stuff would stop working. So get spare parts!
RPGs, UAVs, miniguns, sniper rifles, shotguns, pistols… a lot of weapons and gear are made for airsoft nowadays. There is a huge subculture of people of all ages and occupations who play airsoft for fun and sport. An airsoft event can be little different from a sunday morning paintball game or something like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D771vcFqonc
It is really like playing a real life FPS.
What do these things shoot? Just curious.
Light plastic bb’s.
Most of them shoot 6mm plastic balls, with a few rare 8mm guns. There are different ammo types: tracers, biodegradable, high quality for sniper rifles… etc
I am so getting this for my office.
The thing about airsoft videos is that they always show the lead up to the fight. They generally have lots of shots of people in full camo stalking through the woods, or hitting the deck, or moving in formation, but very little of them firing at each other. And I found out why when I was researching whether I’d give it a go. Airsoft fights are hilarious in a dopey kind of way. The guns can’t fire the plastic balls very far or very accurately at all.* At about 50 meters you’re going to be lucky if you hit your target no matter how well you’ve aimed. The balls just get blown all over the place by the wind. The speed the pellets are fired at just isn’t high enough for them to be accurate at distance without being dangerous.
When military engagements (something Airsoft supposedly immitates) are often conducted at hundreds of meters, Airsoft is done at tens of meters. And that’s why those milsim videos are so funny. They have huge areas for the event to take place in, but you still end up with 10 guys in a small circle blasting away at each other at the end of it.
I’ve decided if I go with any shooting type sport it’ll be archery (seeing as getting a gun is quite difficult in Ireland.)
*This is down to the muzzle velocity restrictions we have in place here. Maximum muzzle velocity is generally 330fps for 6gr BBs or 1 joule in absolute terms, which means the guns simply don’t have the accuracy/staying power over distance that’s needed. I don’t think there’s any restriction in America, but I’ve heard from Airsofting acquaintances that they’ll often have restrictions of around 400-450 fps for normal weapons and about 550fps for single shot “sniper rifles.”
Airsoft looks like LARPing but for modern warfare. The guys in that video look hilariously serious.
Even though paintball has much less realistic-looking guns and gear, I really enjoy the adrenaline rush you get from bullets that actually hurt a bit and that can get you from a longer distance. It’s great when you’re behind cover and you hear the sounds of balls bursting a few inches away from you.
What must be really fun is a game with real guns, MILES and blank cartridges.
SlaintheMhath, you should just suggest your son and his friends play some Arma 2 coop :).
Yeah, paintball guns can fire much farther and with much more accuracy while not being as dangerous. Probably because they burst on impact meaning they can be fired with more force. Although that means you need a firearms license for them here.
Watching those para-military Airsoft videos it occurs to me, how do you know when you’ve been hit? Most of those guys are wearing so much military clothing and gear that a plastic BB, even at 400FPS, isn’t going to be felt unless it happens to nick a bit of exposed skin. It would be kind of frustrating to have your sniper be completely ineffective because even though he’s nailing people left and right the can’t feel it and thus don’t stop coming or even take cover.
Here’s YouTube video maker freddiew’s discussion of Airsoft, mostly in the context of using them as prop weapons: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kelqxq_mxA0
You can feel them through several layers of cloth, especially if you’re hit by a burst. But yeah, at long range they lose a lot of their hitting power and it can be frustrating to see bbs hitting someone and not getting a reaction. But generally people are firing back from cover so you’re shooting at their hands and face so it’s not that hard to score a hit.
I actually find them to be more accurate than paintball guns and waaaaay more reliable. No broken paintballs gumming up the barrel.
As far I know, it’s commonly agreed by most players that airsoft guns have way more effective range and accuracy. Paintball impacts usually leave hematomas at close range, and lose a lot of energy beyond 30m. They usually fail to explode at 40-50m.
In my experience, a tipical decent airsoft gun (@330fps with 0.20g 6mm BB ) should always hit a man sized target at 30-40m with enough force to be noticed. A fully upgraded bolt action sniper rifle (+@500fps) can do the same up to 80m or so. There are several ways to compensate for wind, like using heavier 0.25g or 0.40g BB.
You are right that airsoft its played in ranges much shorter than real guns. That’s why most non-CQB sites are either woodland or urban environments with few truly big (200m+) open areas.
There are a lot of variety and quality between player groups: From spray-and-pray teenagers, geardos, or “tactical LARPers” to milsimmers or ex-servicemen guys who actually use realistic infantry and fire-and-manouver tactics. Usually the latter mostly play at private events only accesible by invitation. Much like open servers vs private clans in online shooters.
Airsoft games are based in a honor system. Players are supposed to shout “hit!”, show a red cloth over their heads…etc and walk to their respawn area. BB hits feel like small stings, or make enough noise on most tipical gear surfaces to be easily noticed (But full size sniper guillie suits can be problematic). Usually, being hit by a good burst it’s almost impossible to ignore.
It’s not a perfect system. There are cheaters, of course. But there are also ways to deal with them.
Totally the opposite of fun, speaking as someone that has used the system in the past.
The harness is heavy, inaccurate, and prone to breakage. The emitter is very heavy and hilariously more delicate than you’d think for something sitting on the end of a rifle.
So thanks everyone for the advice and the education on Airsoft. My wife and I have spoken to my son and come to a compromise. We will order the gun (most likely the one I linked to above) now to get the discounted summer sale price, however he will not receive it until after the first quarter of school is complete and ONLY if he maintains his status as an honor roll student.
My wife was worried (and I agreed) that between sports, the Xbox and the iTouch (both items he saved his own money for in the past year) he already has too many distractions from school work to add yet another one. By waiting for the end of the quarter it not only gives him an incentive to stay on track, but it means that football will be nearly over and he’ll have far more free time to split between homework and the new obsession Airsoft will likely become. We also laid down a lot of ground rules for the use of the gun, including not using it around people unfamiliar with Airsoft guns and keeping it “locked up” when not in use. Hopefully waiting another 10 weeks will amplify the fact that this is a reward and comes with responsibility, and thus help to insure he handles it such (on threat of losing it for another quarter).
So thanks again everyone. Now I’m off to buy one of those Airsoft Claymore Mines to put a stop to those annoying neighbor kids who keep cutting through the woods behind my house… ;-)
One word of advice to any male who does any paint ball or air gun activities.
Cup.
There is a guy who probably still works for 3M who shot me there. He was on my team. He just got trigger happy and we had never met before so there is no way it was intentional. However, the fucktard did not even have the decency to apologize. Trust me on this. Bruises down there are bad.
Hello. My son is also 12 years old, and he also wants to get into the sport. He is very good at “laser tag” against his friends, but they are now getting into Airsoft, and now he wants to play it. He played it once or twice, renting a gun. But now he wants his own gun and I am not sure what to buy him. There are a lot of cheap guns on amazon, but I think those deals are too good to be true. The problem with my son is that he is very small. (55 inches tall), and is not good at carrying heavy objects. Any guns that you guys can suggest? Thank you.
I know nothing about them, but I do hope you can make sure he wears goggles at all times when playing.
Yeah, I’m with JP here. Airsoft pellets are fast and not soft at all.