What does airsoft cost?

[Tommikka]

It's a damn sight cheaper than Paintball...

It could be a damn sight cheaper than paintball.

It won't be though.

That’s a curious thing I’ve discovered on here - reputedly people have left Paintball and moved to airsoft because it’s cheaper

Some are direct transfers from Paintball rental to airsoft - which should be cheaper, but a couple of rental prices I have seen on here are very high (this was due to a rental package deal brought in by a third party company)

Paintball prices as a walkon or event player are vastly cheaper than a rental (but you can be a walkon rental and pay about £5-£10 extra) , but the underlying cost of a gelatine paintball compared to a plastic B.B. make airsoft ‘cheaper’.

But it still looks like playing to your pocket, Ive got to get round to compiling it all properly & finishing off, then I will get it up on here

Airsoft and scenario Paintball are looking very similar

 

[TheFull9]

It's the fact the ammo you literally launch away from yourself and can never re-use is expensive, that's the off-putting thing.  Look at the way BFGs have taken over from disposable pyro since they came on to the scene, same kind of mentality.

A paintballer can spend X and have some gear but a large portion of X will be blasted away in single use ammunition.  An airsofter also spends X and the percentage that's 'gone' in ammo is minuscule, the rest went in to more guns/better gear that they now get to keep and will probably last a long time.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

It's the fact the ammo you literally launch away from yourself and can never re-use is expensive, that's the off-putting thing.  Look at the way BFGs have taken over from disposable pyro since they came on to the scene, same kind of mentality.

A paintballer can spend X and have some gear but a large portion of X will be blasted away in single use ammunition.  An airsofter also spends X and the percentage that's 'gone' in ammo is minuscule, the rest went in to more guns/better gear that they now get to keep and will probably last a long time.

plus paintball hurts more and the guns don't look anywhere near as cool

 

[Huxley]

plus paintball hurts more and the guns don't look anywhere near as cool

Plus Airsoft tends to be more military orientated, so for me more realistic and enjoyable.

Paintball usually involves kids running around screaming, or guys out on a stag do.

Plus our gear looks so much better.

 

[Duff]

plus paintball hurts more and the guns don't look anywhere near as cool

No way dude, this has to be a @Gepard statement as paintball is nothing compared to airsoft. 

P=F/A

Both fire around the same fps limits but one is soft and full of liquid and the other is 4x as small and solid plastic.

Therefore P=F/A bb's hurt way more than paintballs.

 

[Jedi_Master]

No way dude, this has to be a @Gepard statement as paintball is nothing compared to airsoft.

Everyone feels pain differently, it is unique. From my limited experience with paintball, it does hurt much more than airsoft. Now that could be due to using chilled paintballs, makes them harder and the area of impact left large bruises I have never had from a little BB.

Pressure = Force divided by Area does not seem the correct equation to use.  There is probably the mass of ball involved using other Newtonian physics (F = ma) but I will let the forum scientists explain its relevance.

However, BBs tend to get spammed more because they are so cheap meaning more follow up shots in rapid succession to inflict pain. 

TL;DR - No right or wrong answer everyone different appreciations of pain.

 

[Duff]

Everyone feels pain differently, it is unique. From my limited experience with paintball, it does hurt much more than airsoft. Now that could be due to using chilled paintballs, makes them harder and the area of impact left large bruises I have never had from a little BB.

Pressure = Force divided by Area does not seem the correct equation to use.  There is probably the mass of ball involved using other Newtonian physics (F = ma) but I will let the forum scientists explain its relevance.

However, BBs tend to get spammed more because they are so cheap meaning more follow up shots in rapid succession to inflict pain. 

TL;DR - No right or wrong answer everyone different appreciations of pain.

Of course it's the correct equation, I mean you can add velocity to it but it basically boils down to the area of impact spread across the projectiles mass. Sure pain threshold is personal but physics isn't.

I have a pretty good pain threshold, having paid people to poke inked needles into my skin for many years, I have some art in some painful places; I can honestly say bb's hurt so much more compared to paintballs. Paintballs leave bigger bruises of course as they are bigger projectiles. The size of the bruise does not correlate to the force of which it hits but the force spread out over the surface area, again P=F/A

So a bb and a paintball, fired at the same speed would perform completely differently, both in flight, trajectory and impact distribution. All of this is determined mostly by the size of the projectile, the rest is by the force exerted. If the projectile force for both is 500fps, the smaller projectile will make a harder impact due to having more force exerted over its physical mass, therefore distributing it over a smaller area of impact.

But yes the unknown factor is the target and their pain threshold. Someone who isn't well hydrated or doesn't eat healthy will feel pain on a larger scale than someone who's healthy and hydrated. I pull this comparsion again, from my experience gatting tattooed and my personal pain tolerance. If I have eaten and have good levels of sugar in my body as well as being rested then I can sit for twice as long but put me in a chair on an empty belly with little sleep and I tap like any other guy.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

it's not really that simple of an equation, but for a start if you're talking about energy then your average paintball gun firing at about 260fps on a 3 gramme projectile so that's around 9j of energy

couple that with a projectile that doesn't slow down as much and shorter engagement distances you're going to be recieving most of that.

in comparison even a hot airsoft sniper pushing .48's at 600fps is going to be around 8j of energy, plus that bb will travel much further and lose a lot more energy before striking the target.

the other point of reference is you regularly see paintballers wearing full face masks and body armour, whereas a lot of airsofters go for open face and only wear body armour for aesthetics 

edit: it's a moot point anyway because airsoft guns are cooler than paintball guns, and that's what's really important

 

[Duff]

I know it isn't I was just simplifying it for those who might not be predisposed to physics and such bullshittery. 

Pressure changes over area of effect and that my friend is a fact.

But as the projectiles are different sizes and consistencies you can't really draw a factual comparison. As Jedi says it's down to the individuals pain threshold mostly.

 

[Adolf Hamster]

I know it isn't I was just simplifying it for those who might not be predisposed to physics and such bullshittery. 

Pressure changes over area of effect and that my friend is a fact.

But as the projectiles are different sizes and consistencies you can't really draw a factual comparison. As Jedi says it's down to the individuals pain threshold mostly.

true, the impact force transmission of both isn't going to be easy to measure as you have to account for a paintball bursting.

however in my experience 90% of the time i get hit i barely feel it, whereas in paintball it's very much noticable.

there are a lot of other factors at play though, for example my play style tends to keep me at range from the enemy so bb's will generally have less energy by the time they hit me.

 

[MisterG]

It's about momentum/kinetic energy, a paintball it about 10 times the mass of a .25 BB.  So it has a lot more energy to lose into you when it hits you.

 

[Sacarathe]

Also paintballs impart all of their energy to the target when they burst (albeit spread over a larger area), where as airsoft BBs bounce in some cases retaining a lot of their energy.

 

[Huxley]

Your sanity?

 

[Sacarathe]

I've got a GoPro hero 4 black broken on my desk that says this hobby is too expensive...

Also got a $10 replacement part sat on top of it, they've been on my desk 12 months...

 

[sonofsammo]

What does it cost me?
More than it should, but not as much as it could.....

 

[klein]

my cost are doubled

as i take my 16 year old

 

[Badllama]

TBH I'm just getting into it and as hobbies go it's pretty cheap IMO (this is all relative to salary of course).

I've played for 9 games and just gone through 1 bottle of Blaster BB's (.25's) and a 1 1/3 cans of gas that's playing 1/2 days CQB in semi ?

£15.00 walk on for 4 hours of fun (now I'm a member) and bought a half decent gun G&G M4 £300.00 ish and a WE P226 £90.00 both are working well.Plus mags etc... of course.

Travel is about £15.00 in juice per game.

Prior to Airsoft I did mountain biking half decent 2nd hand good full suspension bike and your looking north of £1K new your looking at £2.5 K plus! for a  Tokyo Marui grade

in the  mountain bike world new you would be starting at £4.5K. Plus a couple of sets of tyres (£30 - £50 each a year, new chains (2-3 at £23.00 each) 1 cassette and so on and so forth plus to ride the really good  stuff Lakes, North Wales etc it was £50.00 a day in fuel.

So based on what I used to do i find it great value for money ?

 

[Cleaners inc]

As above I find AIRsoft great value for money compared to other hobbies!

prevous to Airsoft I was heavily into cars (still am) and track days which cost a fortune. Even going to car shows these days mounts up to an expensive day, let alone a full track day

 

[clumpyedge]

These days now I have the kit I like (with the occasional splash out on something new... which isn't very often) my expenditures are as follows;

• game fee
  
• petrol
  
• food/drink
  
• bb's (usually 3 1kg bags every 3 or 4 months)
  

Having played for a fair few years now i have a shed full of stuff that occasionally gets used for other games but other than that you don't really need much for a skirmish other than somewhere for mags, your gun and some ammo. Biggest expendature for me has been the gun I wanted and the gear I like although bargains are always to be found especially on ebay and selling pages and this forum!