Spring Cocking / Air Cocking
Pull on the slide of a pistol and you cock the spring. Pull the trigger and away you go. These are usually inexpensive and a first buy. They are often called springers. Shotguns can be spring powered as well.

Gas Operated
The most common is the GBB (Gas Blow Back) pistol. Charge the reservoir in the magazine, pull the trigger and the slide cycles while the BB is shot from the barrel. You have fixed slide guns (Non Blow Backs) , where the slide doesn’t move. You also have shotguns that operate on gas.

Electric Operated
This is the most common type of gun and most often used at the Milsim Tactical Field. A battery powers a motor that turns gears which moves a piston. Speeds are close to 280 fps. About the same as a paintball gun. The automatic electric guns (AEGs) are almost always semi and fully automatic.

AirSoft BB guns have a relatively long history. Designed and marketed here in the United States about 30 years ago by a major BB gun manufacturer, AirSoft was conceptualized as a new approach in BB gun application. In place of the utilitarian air gun designed for hunting, the AirSoft BB gun was created with a pure recreational application in mind. It was created for people who enjoy target practicing or indoor plinking with friends; individuals who are not concerned about the high power hunting application of a BB or pellet gun but just wanted to have fun.

We can't over emphasize the importantance of eye protection. A full face paintball mask is recommended for mouth/tooth protection, esspecially indoors. Yes, we have seen guys losing teeth. We recommend a long sleeve clothes, but most of the airsofters quickly buy military BDUs. A helmed or a vest is not needed and mostly used because of the looks. Think also about your footwear, good shoes are no luxery! Terrain is most of the time rough, so be prepared. When playing  CQB (close quarter combat), think twice about your protection...

Orange tips are legaly required in the USA and several European countries. Keep the orange tip!  In most places it’s the law and illegal to remove to colered tip. It’s also a great way to give our local law enforcement officials a notice you have an airsoft gun, not a real gun. We support law enforcement and only legal uses of airsoft equipment.

In general in Europe there are the following age limits. Players need to be 18+. At some fields chrildren of 16+ are also accepted, however they need parental approval. Minors (16-) are not allowed on the airsoft fields, start saving guys and wait a few years! ;)

Airsoft is not legal everywhere, and if you are unsure, please contact your local authorities first. In the United states, all guns must have an orange barrel tip. The most up-to-date source on legal changes and issues is this Wikipedia page "legal issues in airsoft".

Airsoft guns have a maximum-effective range of about 40-80 meters depending on whether or not the gun has been upgraded. Stock full-size electric rifles can shoot accurately up to 20 to 40 meters yards, spring guns 15-20 meters, and electric guns 20-50 meters. All this heavily depends on weather conditions offcourse.

Most of the time when you are hit you can feel the hit.  However if you're wearing heavy equipments or vests, you will not feel it.  But in those cases, you can almost always hear the sound of the BB hitting your equipments.  We rely on an honor system in that the person getting hit must call himself out. Ingame marshals will keep an eye on fair-play.

Generally no :).  You will feel the hit through clothing but there is little discomfort.  If you get hit on exposed skin it can be smart but generally players aren’t fazed by it.  We recommend you wear suitable gear to avoid painful hits if you think it will bother you. Keep in mind the safety rules!

Generally speaking they are similar concepts, we use toy guns to play wargames.  However Airsoft is growing bigger worldwide because players tend to like more realism during their wargames.  Generally speaking if we compare airsoft rifles and paintball markers of the same price range, airsoft guns look more realistic and have greater effective range and accuracy over paintball markers.  Airsoft bb's do not burst so they do not leave a mark on your outfit once you are hit.  Because of this we wear a lot of realistic gears and equipments, without the fear of them getting damaged by paint. Personally i think airsoft is a more serious and teamminded sport vs paintball which is a more fun and entertainment sport.

Most commonly NiMH batteries are used, NiCD batteries are beeing used lesser these days. A new technology LiPo batteries also made it's way into airsoft. Keep a close eye on your manual to see whether you need large-type or small-type batteries. Biggest advantage of the LiPo batteries are that they are very small and provide the same performance compared to NiMH. Also LiPo does not have the well know problems of the "memory effect". However the technology is quite new, charge and maintain carefully! Read your LiPo instructions!

Please read your battery instuctions carefull. You can slow charge and fast charge your battery. Always discharge your battery before charging.

Please read this wikipedia article...

The benefit of a peak charger is that you do not need to monitor the time that your battery is charging. When the charging process is complete, the charger will ramp down to a trickle charge. That means you don't run the risk of damaging your battery pack by overcharging it. This is especially true of NiMH packs, as they are more sensitive to heat damage than NiCD packs.

Peak chargers come in many different flavors. There are many useful features. These can range from AC/DC operation to having a discharge feature to having variable current and voltage settings. The determining factor is your budget. A good charger is highly adviced, nothing is more annoying than preparing for an airsoft game and to find out that all your batteries are dead...

All airsoft weapons, regardless of style, fire small plastic bb’s - mostly around 6mm in diameter. There are also bb's which are made of biodegradable, non-toxic materials.

Biodegradability is a big issue nowaday. Why? Because we as airsofters should not harm the nature we are playing in/using. Therefore several brands took their responsibility and made biodegradable bb's. The quality is similar however it does not contain any toxics and will degrade after several months. A disadvantage is oftent he price, they are slightly higher priced than regular BB's. But hey, it's nature! Some great bio BB's we have played with are BIOVAL BBB's. Check out the web, since there are quite some manufacturers today providing quality bio BB's.

Yes, there are 6mm paintballs that are designed to be used with airsoft guns.  However these are usually poorly made and they tend to burst inside of the airsoft guns.  This mean nothing but big trouble for your airsoft internals, as airsoft guns are meant to shoot plastic BB's, not paintballs.  The use of such 6mm paintballs is strongly discouraged until there are better paint bb's).

There are only 6mm and 8mm BB pellets. So NO! Do NOT use this type of ammunition! It will not work at all in any airsoft guns and may cause damage to the gun itself and your friends! DO NOT USE THIS TYPE OF AMMUNITION!

.12gr - best used in shotguns or for weak handguns - they have very low accuracy at ranges beyond 30ft and will deviate wildy outside. Generally these are not used for our airsoft sport.

.20gr - the standard round used for bench-testing and normal indoor skirmishing - they are decent rounds for use outdoors but they are not too accurate beyond 30yds - best used in indoor guns/handguns or high volume of fire types of guns; this is the standard round people discuss when talking about muzzle velocity readings

.23gr - designed to be a compromise between the velocity loss from using .25gm rounds and the low accuracy of .2gm rounds. I have tested some and they performed very well- better than .2's for sure. Best used in any gun.

.25gm - Standard round for outdoor skirmishing - They maintain flight path accuracy better than .2's especially in the presense of a cross-wind. Best used in any gun to gain accuracy.

.28gr - Heavier round for enhanced stable flight and accuracy compared to .25g. Tend to be a bit more expensive than .25g.

.30gr - Good round weight to use in upgraded gun for an excellent level of accuracy on the field. They have a much better ability to punch through vegetation than lighter rounds.

.36gr - Round typically used in sniper applications. They carry a good part of their momentum for a better downrange impact force and they maintain stability even in the presence of a good wind. The Straight series of teflon bbs are very good and help preserve the life of you sniper barrel. Typical guns this round will be used in: PSG-1, APS, M40, M24... guns typically shooting over 450fps with .2gm bbs.

.39gr - Again another round that would be used almost exclusively in sniper rifles. A further step up in accuracy and stability but the higher weight requires a strong setup and good hopup to get good results. Expect to get consistent shots and wind should only play a part when engaging targets beyond 80 yards. I would not recommend this round for a gun shooting slower than 450fps. Again the round will be teflon coated for better barrel life.

.43gr - The highest weight round currently avalible. It is an extremely heavy round in comparison to normal skirmishing rounds. Expect the .43 round to maintain flight stability well beyond 100yards. I would only be concerned with wind if you are engagin targets at 100yards+ because in all honesty this round flys exceptionally true. Again this is a teflon coated round. Only use in rifles with a base velocity over 500fps with.2g.

The majority of players use 0.20gr BB's in their AEG's. Why? They are cheap and easy to procure. If the wind isn't too strong, or you are playing indoors, you will get good range out of them. In open fields or heavy brush areas, 0.25gr work well as they maintain the accuracy and help cut through some of the brush. The harder your gun shoots (in FPS) the heavier your pellet needs to be. 0.20gr is perfect for a stock AEG. A more custom tuned-up guns will need slightly heavier BB's like 0.25gr or 0.28gr.

Unless they are ANSI Z87.1-2003 (also known as Z87.1+)-rated, NO!

From close range, a BB carries a significant amount of energy that can easily crack or penetrate non ANSI-rated goggles. Eye protection is something you should not save on. When you don't trust the quality, just shoot several times on the eyewear and see what hapens.

This varies from person to person, depending on the player's environment and personal condition.

Some things to help:

• Keep your goggles clean inside and out. Keeping minute debris, sweat, and grime off the lens plays a huge part in not allowing moisture to stick to those items.
• Apply anti-fog solution regularly. For example Fogtech anti-fog work great!
• Keep boonie/hat brims away from the top of the goggles. Turn the brim up if possible.
• Invest in a goggle fan or build one.

Perhaps the most important thing to ask yourself (or the manufacturer) is: Does this product provide an adequate level of both ballistic impact protection as well as coverage from projectiles?

There are numerous products that may protect against one or the other, but it is important that Airsoft eye pro provides BOTH impact protection (US MIL SPEC MIL-DTL-43511D is recommended) AND coverage (so that a round cannot sneak around the lens into the eye area).

Although the ANSI Z87.1 standard is often referenced on many fields as the baseline level of ballistic protection for Airsoft, ESS recommends that Airsofters only use products that can meet the more rigorous US Military’s Mil Spec Test: MIL-DTL-43511D.  This standard, which demands for more than six times the level of impact protection as required by ANSI Z87.1, requires that goggle lenses can withstand impacts from .22 chisel-point projectiles fired at 550 feet/sec (~167m/sec) without penetrating the lenses. You will certainly be save during airsofting...

Common choices include:

-Paintball goggles (JT Spectra's for example)
-Tactical goggles (ESS, Bolle, WileyX)

Each have their pros/cons, such as price, profile, and fogging resistance. The goggles are really worth to invest in, you only have 1 pair of eyes!

The most accurate way is to use a chronograph, usually found at established Airsoft fields. There are some inexpensive models out there as well that you could buy, for example the Madbull chrono.

Want to make your gun last longer? BURST YOUR FIRE. Don't just spray and pray. Also, a little spray of pure silicon goes a long way. Swab your barrel. When it comes to maintaining your gear box, you can do yearly re-lubrications. These are just some general rules to keep your airsoft gun in good condition. Also read your manual!

Upgraded air nozzles may have 1 or 2 o-rings on the inside diameter to help create a better seal around the cylinder head. In addition, the nozzle tip does not have the small tabs that the stock nozzles have. This is intended to create smooth airflow through the nozzle tip, thus creating more efficient, faster-flowing air to propel the BB.

The most common answer is: White lithium grease for metal-to-metal contact (gears, anti-reversal latch) and Lube Gel for everything else (piston head/cylinder walls, pistonhead bearing, piston rails, spring guide bearing, nozzle, cylinder head).

However, some people choose to use Lube Gel (found at Radio Shack) for all the parts in their mechbox. Additionally, others use white lithium grease only, which is not recommended because it can gum up the pistonhead o-ring, not allowing it to seal correctly in the cylinder.

Only a light coating of lubrication is needed. Over-lubing can cause excess to get flung all over the mechbox, getting into the cylinder and ultimately into your barrel. Excessive lube can also get onto the trigger contacts, resulting in electrical problems. For example, similar to using white lithium on your pistonhead o-ring, excessive LubeGel can also cause sealing problems. It is best to use a very light coat on the cylinder walls.