Airsoft Question And Answers

When the hobby was still very young there was a need to find a propellant that would be “Softer” than CO2 that was currently being used in airguns. A combination of Freon and Silicone oil was used initially and later replaced by propane and silicone oil. This mixture was dubbed “green gas” (greenlighted meaning it was safe to use) and was considerably softer than CO2 so was referred to as “Soft Air” - It was only later that the term “airsoft” was coined and used to describe the hobby.

Airsoft is a relatively affordable hobby compared to other shooting sports (Real firearms, Paintball, Archery etc). The cost of an entry-level paintball marker can be in the region of £199 to £270. A comparable airsoft gun could be in the region of £80 to £150 - If you look at the cost of the ammunition for example 2000 Valken Graffiti Paintballs are £39.95 (1.9p per shot) and are very sensitive to weather conditions and need to be stored correctly (turned on a regular basis), however, 5000 Valken Accelerate 0.20g bb’s are only £9.95 (0.01p per shot).

Airsoft guns should be treated with the same respect as their real counterpart. The ammunition they use might not be lethal but they can cause major harm or serious injury not use responsibly and if the right protective equipment (ballistic rated eye protection) is not used. Although an airsoft gun can cause severe pain is the bbs are fired at a high velocity they are not lethal. 

Airsoft (at its core) is an honour based, combat sport where participants use pneumatic, spring or gas-powered replica weapons to fire 6mm plastic ball bearings at each other with the goal of removing another player from the game and sending them back to a spawn point. When asked to explain the sport, players will often compare it to “paintball but without the paint” or “Call of Duty but in real life”. Airsoft has many different offshoots such as MilSim (Military Simulation), Speedsoft, Weekend Skirmish, Roleplay, LARP and post-apocalyptic to name a few - Most of these groups still have Airsoft or the use of Airsoft replicas at their core - some other sports and hobbies  that are compared to airsoft are paintball, Tag Archery, Lazer tag and Nerf.