Article on what is airsoft?

[ShockAirsoft]

Hi All,

I have written an article on what is airsoft, https://www.shockairsoft.co.uk/article/what-is-airsoft.

Please could you let me know what I have missed / what else should I should include?

Cheers

Shock Airsoft

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

Hi All,

I have written an article on what is airsoft, https://www.shockairsoft.co.uk/article/what-is-airsoft.

Please could you let me know what I have missed / what else should I should include?

Cheers

Shock Airsoft

OVERVIEW

Airsoft is a hobby where you can play hide and seek but when you find them you have the added bonus of shooting them with a bb gun.

WHO CAN PLAY

Literally anybody from young kids for who dressing up and playing soldiers is a normal part of childhood to fat sweaty guys called Geoff who have strange little daydreams about if they were a real super special forces commando elite death dealing uber soldier.

You also get some generally more normal and balanced individuals who just play to have a laugh (mainly at Geoff)

IS AIRSOFT LIKE PAINTBALL 

Airsoft is paintballs younger brother (yes I assumed gender) so is very much like paintball just less messy and way more pretentious.

The weapons both fire spherical highly inaccurate projectiles but paintballers use the terms markers and airsofters use the term rif. This makes airsofters feel superior and claim realism as if real guns only shoot 50mtrs and have whinly little gearboxes and motors powered by batteries.

DOES IT HURT 

That depends on how you play. If you play it like a game and don't feel the need to wear several layers of your finest camo larp outfit then sometimes it can sting a bit. If that is a problem though you can become a geardo but then you have to practice standing there looking bemused saying "I didn't feel it mate and I always call it" 

Or you can become a crye wearing geardo where it never hurts because they never get hit.......apparently.

 

[Heath]

have whinly little gearboxes and motors powered by batteries.

That's not true, some of them are powered by money (and gas) .

 

[Tommikka]

 
......

paintballers use the terms markers and airsofters use the term rif.
 

True in part....

Marker is used by some as a politically correct term and by others just because that’s been drummed into them 

I tend to use the word ‘gun’, respect it as not being a toy, don’t use language to alienate people and act as if you’re hiding a deep secret etc

In the US they are very similar to the Victorians with mixed values - what can be in the open and what seedy secrets are kept in the family

Ive had spotty pre-pubescent Facebook teenagers trying to tell me that I need to learn the true history of paintball and that ‘gun’ never featured but they have always been markers.

The originals were ‘paint marking guns’ and ‘paint marking pistols’ due to their design to mark items with oil based paint projectiles.

It became PC in America to tone down the gun element, to avoid scaring mummies, but at the same time to have violence based team names.

Another element is meant to not cause alarm - such as at an airport or when stopped by the police — clearly you should not say “I’ve got a gun” but if you say you “have a marker/RIF in the boot” the police who don’t know what a marker/RIF is  then they see a gun and you have ‘lied’

Real firearms are transported all of the time.  Be responsible, carry properly and advise people accordingly.

Idealy don’t get your car searched by the police, but if it’s going to be searched then let them know in a calm and informative manner that you have your paintball / airsoft gear there.

 

[Tommikka]

Hi All,

I have written an article on what is airsoft, https://www.shockairsoft.co.uk/article/what-is-airsoft.

Please could you let me know what I have missed / what else should I should include?

Cheers

Shock Airsoft

Is it like paintball?

Yes and no, we play similar games to paintball. However, airsoft is a lot more realistic, we use guns that look and feel like the real thing, as if you see a paintball gun you know it’s a paint ball gun.

Airsoft guns shoot a lot further than paint ball guns, and the projectile fire straighter for longer.

The other main advantage is the cost airsoft is significant cheaper than paintballing.

We only have to wash mud out of our clothes not paint

You have the common ignorance of paintball and airsoft there.

Paintball also has realistic guns, there are also paintball guns designed for police and military training which function and feel just as the real thing.

Companies such as RAP4 and Tiberius have brought their training weapons into the paintball market and others such as tippman have put their paintball guns into the police and security market such as pepperball and salt.

The paintball guns that you imagine are the ergonomic designs not restricted by the physics of firearms, and equally speedsofters go for ergonomics over looks.

Paintball has many flavours of player, equipment and game styles, just as airsoft does.

On accuracy & range there is the matter of efficiency and reliability.  Airsofters have little 6mm solid BBs with a choice of weights, paintballers have a few choices of size from 0.43”, 0.5”, and mostly 0.68” liquid filled balls - also shaped projectiles such as first strike

A paintball is bigger, which could mean more wind resistance, but it is launched with more energy.

Airsoft and paintball were previously restricted by the same muzzle energy standards, but that has been reduced for airsoft.

Quality varies in production standards and condition.  You can pick up a gun and just shoot balls, or you can optimise the fine tuning, but consistent paint which is looked after in transportation and storage, and you can practice, change barrels, etc

Are you comparing like for like?  A pellet launched directly from a plain barrel, or with added backspin from a hop up against a standard paintball barrel or with a flatline or apex for backspin (or boomerang sidespin with a tuned apex to shoot around corners)

Are you comparing rental airsoft / paintball or ‘quality’ maintained airsoft / paintball?

 

[Keldon]

Just to be pedantic none of us use guns. We use rifles and pistols. Never seen anyone run around with a 25lb'er though good on them if some built one. 

 

[Tommikka]

Just to be pedantic none of us use guns. We use rifles and pistols. Never seen anyone run around with a 25lb'er though good on them if some built one. 

The joy of pendantary is when pedants repeat what they have heard from other pedants.

‘Gun’ envelopes all sizes of firearms from pistols to the big guns of artillery and ships guns. (It also originates from before the age of the firearm)
However I wouldn’t bring up the subject in basic training. 

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

That's not true, some of them are powered by money (and gas) .

Oh yeah I forgot the other difference between airsoft and paintball is airsofters are more likely to think there is some elite kudos to be earned in spending silly money on their toys and dress up outfits.  

Thanks for reminding me........

 

[Tommikka]

Oh yeah I forgot the other difference between airsoft and paintball is airsofters are more likely to think there is some elite kudos to be earned in spending silly money on their toys and dress up outfits.  

Thanks for reminding me........

That applies to paintball too

Don’t beware of ‘all the gear no idea’, fully kitted out.  Do beware of him in the jeans & t shirt with a scabby old pistol.

(But don’t worry about me in my jeans and t shirt and scabby old pistol, as my knee will crunch and I’ll fall over in the bush after spending half an hour trying to sneak around you - either that or I’ll sneak all the way around and pop up to shoot my general in the back)

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

That applies to paintball to

Nowhere near the same level of kit snobs in paintball when I used to play as airsoft attracts.

Different mindset amongst players in general, paintballers were always more about the game.

 

[Dentonboy]

Waaaaaaaaaaah!

'People who wear Crye don't get hit...'

Genuinely one of the most pathetic, unmeasurable generalisations in hobby populated by weirdos (we smell our own).

This is not something that stands up in my fourteen years of airsofting.

 

[Heath]

Just to be pedantic none of us use guns. We use rifles and pistols. Never seen anyone run around with a 25lb'er though good on them if some built one. 

There are a few dictionaries that would disagree with you. 

 

[Tommikka]

There are a few dictionaries that would disagree with you. 

I made a mong post 

 

[Keldon]

There are a few dictionaries that would disagree with you. 

Dictionaries matter for nothing when the Battery Sergeant Major is giving you a dressing down because you called your rifle a gun. Memories how sweet.

 

[Rogerborg]

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