Airsoft guns are all the rage among hobby gun enthusiasts. It is almost impossible to distinguish them from real weapons and are highly sought after by people world-wide. Airsoft guns are pure fun, 100% recreational toys for big girls and boys who enjoy firing a weapon in a fun, safe atmosphere. Strictly for the fun of it.
Airsoft hand guns, rifles and semi-automatic weapons are so life-like that people who don't understand their use confuse them with the more dangerous BB gun. There are quite a few similarities between the two, however there are profound differences between airsoft guns and BB guns, too. Here's an abbreviated breakdown of the two types of life-like guns.
Guns are illegal in Japan, yet there was still a market and a demand for them. In the 1970s, Japanese manufacturers developed realistic replicas of guns with spring-firing shooting mechanisms. These early guns developed into gas-firing devices which eventually evolved into AEGs, or automated electric guns which are widely used today. It wasn't until the mid-90s when airsoft guns hit the North American market place.
BB guns, on the other hand, have been in use for more than a century. Initially developed and used in Europe, BB guns became popular as a promotional product for the comic Red Ryder in the 1940s. With more power and greater range, BB guns are used for target practice or for killing small animals such as rodents and pesky birds.
BB guns shoot round metal balls, or BBs or other types of small, metal pellets. Airsoft guns, on the other hand, shoot only plastic pellets, typically 6mm in size and larger than BBs. Since BB guns fire with significantly more power, they are more dangerous and can cause bodily harm. They fire at 91 to 152. 4 meters per second, compared with airsoft firing power of just 55 to 91 meters per second. That's not enough to cause serious harm to someone.
Similarities of the two guns include the firing mechanisms. Airsoft guns use either compressed gas, electricity or are powered by springs. BB guns are almost exclusively air or gas powered. Real guns use neither of these systems.
BB guns and airsoft guns look dramatically like real weapons. They look real, they feel real and they're just as heavy as a real gun. To the untrained eye, they could certainly be mistaken for real guns, causing public panic should they be used in an incorrect or illegal manner. For that reaon, many countries including the U. S. Have insisted that airsoft guns have an orange tip, or blaze, at the end of the barrel. This could be a piece of neon orange plastic or paint that must not be removed.
Paintball guns, used for similar recreational purposes, are quite different than airsoft guns. They have a simple, more primitive design and can not be mistaken for a real gun. Like an airsoft gun, they fire using compressed air or gas which is expelled from cannisters mounted on top of the gun. They fire paintballs, which are loaded with paint and smash against their target in an explosion of messy paint. Sometimes the force can cause pain and bruising.
