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Beginners Guide to Buying your Kickoff Airsoft Gun

By u/Houseofcards32

This guide literally has everything you need when information technology comes to buying your first airsoft gun. If y'all accept xv-20 minutes to read it, I highly recommend reading. This guide was created on the 1st of 2020, and so this information is upward to date, and sources will be cited. I have been playing airsoft since 2010, so I personally accept fabricated plenty of mistakes along the way. Read this guide and you will not make the aforementioned mistakes I did.

Tabular array of contents:

Best Bang for your cadet Starting AEG'due south
Things to consider
Choosing a Weapons Platform
Different Types of Airsoft guns
Brand Overview
DO YOUR Enquiry
Agreement the Nuts
Yous get what you pay for
Do NOT purchase a sniper as your first gun
Buying your gun
Buying used airsoft guns
Using Paypal
Determination

Best Bang for your buck starting AEG'south

Classic Regular army Skirmish Line- $169 (M4 platform)

ICS M4A1-$150 (M4 platform)

CYMA Full Metal AK47- 150$ (AK platform)

The guns listed above are some of the all-time contenders when it comes to beginner airsoft AEG's. These have been tested by thousands of people across the world, and are all reliable and will last you lot a lifetime, if you lot maintain them properly. There are a massive amount of Classic Ground forces beginner rifles available, in all sorts of configurations and lengths. If y'all're looking for something different than the one pictured above, bank check out these here. The i I have pictured to a higher place though is the most popular, as it has its own mosfet, the Classic Army ECS. It allows you lot to change between firing modes, and accept things like 3 round burst, and fifty-fifty v round flare-up. The ICS pictured is the 2d biggest recommendation I give to new players. The ICS sportline series is robust, and is likewise used by many. The 150$ dollar toll tag is great for nearly, equally its cheaper than the CA, but offers no mosfet. Lastly we accept an AK from CYMA, who is regarded as the best company to make beginner-intermediate AK's. This CYMA pictured currently has the highest corporeality of reviews on Evike, every bit it has too been used by many. Y'all want to start small-scale when buying your first gun, because if you buy a long or heavy gun and you are scrawny, y'all volition regret it most immediately. The last note in this part is to non buy a sniper burglarize equally your outset airsoft gun. Read the section regarding snipers, I will explain in that location.

Things to Consider

As you lot continue to read through this guide, I will remind you of the golden 3 rules when it comes to starting airsoft:

Do Non buy a sniper equally your first airsoft gun.
Enquiry your airsoft gun
What you pay for is what you will get.

Choosing a Weapons Platform

Earlier even thinking almost which specific airsoft gun you want to buy, you need to figure out which type of gun you want to get. You want to go one that fits your way best. If y'all have a local store in your area, go there and get a feel for the weapons platform you are wanting to get. M4's and AK's have the most upgrade/replacement parts available, and that is why they are recommended the well-nigh. Do annotation that a stock gun is going to exist outperformed by people who have upgraded their rifles to their maximum capability. I would non let this discourage you, as yous are going to have fun either mode. If you similar airsoft and want to go along playing, and so I would worry about upgrading. Equally mentioned before, practice Not get a sniper rifle as your get-go airsoft gun.

Unlike Types of Airsoft Guns

There are 5 different major types of how your airsoft gun fires bb's. I will give a overglorified overview of each type, just I HIGHLY recommend starting with an AEG.

Automated Electric Gun -AEG for short, this uses an electric motor to drive a piston, which is then compressed by a spring, which compresses air to fire the gun. This is obviously overglorified and is much more complicated than this, merely AEG's are powered by NiMh or LiPo batteries. I highly recommend NiMh batteries to beginners.

Gas Blowback-GBB for short, these are realistic airsoft guns that can often exist rewarding whist playing with them. These are powered past either greenish gas, or propane, and these power the slide or bolt which fires the bb, and then cycles another round in the chamber. They function identical to their existent steel analogue, but do come with some slight drawbacks. These do non work in cold weather (normally below fifty degrees) and need to be cleaned often to forestall jamming. Some GBB's use co2, only co2 ordinarily wears the gun downwards more depending on the specific model.

Electric Blow Dorsum- These are basically AEG's that imitate a bolt going back and along on a real steel firearm. This adds another circuitous layer to AEG's and ofttimes break after a few uses. The EBB role normally puts a lot of stress on the gearbox, and tin often lead to a cracked gearbox. The just reliable EBB at this current fourth dimension is Tokyo Marui's Recoil shock line. These are normally 500-600$ and require a lot of upgrades to perform well. Bolt has recently released a new EBB line that is plain practiced, only time volition tell if this line is a better alternative to Tokyo Marui.

Spring Powered- These are unmarried shot/pump/pull everytime you lot desire to shoot. These are normally sniper rifles or spring powered shotguns, because they mimic their existent steel counterparts. The firepower of leap airsoft guns is extremely express when going upwards confronting AEG's, GBB'due south, and HPA users.

HPA- or Loftier Pressure Air, is an extremely pop alternative to AEG's. These allow you to alter the FPS/ROF relatively easily for different regulators. The massive downside to these is the external air tank you have to behave, every bit well equally that HPA often costs a lot more than than AEG'due south.

Make Overview

Here is a list of brands and their general qualities. Due annotation that not all of these brands are recommended due to the unproblematic fact that they do non brand proficient products. You should employ this every bit a reference point to give yourself an idea of where to go and later do individual inquiry on whichever airsoft gun you choose. This list will include companies that brand and produce AEG'due south.

ASG- Makes generally intermediate to higher finish AEG'due south. Very few beginner rifles to wait at, and most of the internals on their beginner lineup is outdated.

Repeat 1- Mostly outdated and improve options are out there. Internals are pretty outdated in today's airsoft earth.

Elite Force- Owned past Umerex, produces very skillful intermediate to higher end rifles. Their beginner lineup is about half dozen years and I would avoid this brand for beginners.

EMG- Uses APS/G&P/ARES as the oem for most of their rifles, produces meh rifles. Non recommended for beginners.

KWA- I of the oldest brands that is still producing solid beginner rifles that tin argue with newer companies today. Has solid high end guns as well. Only con is that someparts internally are proprietary and cannot be upgraded.

Grand&G- The Combat Motorcar lineup in one case was the best line of airsoft guns offered to beginners, but these are 7-eight years old and fifty-fifty their G2 lineup is non as adept as other brands. Makes meh intermediate to loftier end guns, with their G2 mosfet being a horrible selection.

Krytac- Solid internals, but also kind of proprietary in their trident lineup and slightly outdated. Makers of the newer Vector, which is also had its fair share of bug as well.

Archetype Regular army - One of the all-time beginner lineups as of 2020. Has a lot of choices to cull from, and also makes solid choices for loftier end guns. They effort and compete with the VFC avalon series.

Vegaforcecompany- VFC makes the Avalon series, which as of this moment is the all-time higher end AEG on the market. They also oem the Elite strength mp5, which has the avalon gearbox within. They do not make beginner guns.

King Artillery- Pretty decent, they do not produce a lot of rifles anymore, merely they are partnered with EMG.

Lancer Tactical- One of the worst brands in airsoft, sporting bad internals, and a company that falsified safety ratings on their goggles. Users have reporting zippo but bad things about this make, and rifles oftentimes interruption in the span of one-2 months.

Tippmann- Produces solid beginner rifles, has not really made annihilation "new" for a few years. Their Commando lineup is the most pop.

PTS- The subdivision of Magpul that produces a lot of training gear for airsoft. They also brand loftier end AEG's that have slowly gotten ameliorate, as they have partnered with KWA, Thou&P, etc.

JG- Entry level visitor that produces "decent" AK'due south, avoid their M4's like the plague. Externals are normally not that great, just makes for a good learning gun if you're learning how to tech.

CYMA- Produces some of the best entry level AK'southward available. Externals and internals are pretty practiced, although their m4's are not very good.

Crossman- A make that you should avert completely, does not produce anything good.

ICS- Makes solid beginner rifles and intermediate- high end rifles. Internals are very good on beginner rifles, externals are decent too.

Tokyo Marui- Used to be the about popular make in airsoft, oft referred equally the pioneers of airsoft, articles unremarkably tend to copy ™ designs at a much lower quality. All of Tokyo Marui's guns are fabricated out of plastic and take very low fps laws due to Japan.

APS- Produces nothing adept, has the worst QC(quality control) in all of airsoft other than Lancer Tactical. Their internals are utter garbage only their externals are quite unique.

Umbrella Armory- The most expensive brand in airsoft, specializes in high end gun builds. Known for their OCAW line and their Krytac line.

Do YOUR Enquiry

Earlier buying a model, do proper enquiry on the brand and gun you lot are buying. I discover that this site has a massive database when it comes to airsoft gun reviews. Just use your fingers and blazon in the gun and the brand you are looking for, and you will get plenty of reviews. Just note that if you wait upwards a YouTube review, most of them are sponsored and the company paid to say good things about the gun they received. In that location are a few skilful ones, but most of them are either kids who nothing most the gun they bought, or a paid shill that says null only good things nearly the production they got. Both of these 2 frequently exaggerate how the gun performs, considering one is paid to sell them, and two knows very little well-nigh airsoft internals. Therefore if you brand a decision to buy an airsoft gun based on a YT video, you accept made an irrational determination. Instead of watching a YT video on a gun, do proper inquiry using the site I provided to a higher place. By not doing research, y'all volition end up with a shit gun that will not last more than grand rounds. The market is littered with garbage guns, and if yous don't practise proper inquiry, y'all will end upwards with 1. Equally quoted past u/thetboneguy, you will be shooting yourself in the foot if you exercise not enquiry your gun. Having a good gun is improve than having a cleaved gun at an upshot, I promise you.

Agreement the Nuts

A fairly common mistake that new players brand is confusing the FPS(Anxiety Per 2d) of a gun with how good it is. If y'all live in an expanse with a field, most fields practice non allow guns shooting over 420 fps with a .ii, where as indoor arenas normally don't let annihilation higher than 330 fps on a .ii. Past choosing an airsoft gun over the limit, yous are limiting where you can play in your country/land. Simply considering it has high FPS does not mean information technology shoots farther than a gun that shoots 350. Due to bb's beingness and so light, hopup is used to give it backspin to keep it in the air longer. To simplify, the apply of this hopup, the speed of a bb no longer affects the distance. In Japan, they have a -1 Joule limit, hence why all Tokyo Marui guns shoot less than 300 fps.

You should understand basic airsoft gun matientience. If your gun breaks and needs a new part, it's better that you do not have to send it to a shop to go it fixed. I will give an case. If you strip a piston, information technology is virtually a 25$ function. If you exercise not know or empathize how to change it yourself, you lot accept to transport it into a shop where they will normally charge a 15-twenty fee but to get it on their workbench. And so a 20$ fix now costs you double that, and if yous knew how to set up it, yous would have just saved 20$. Airsoft Forum and r/airsoft are two places that I would recommend you start. This thread on airsoft forum is virtually 9 years sometime now, but still contains very useful information on how to take apart a gearbox. Use the search bar on both sites to find what you are looking for.

You get What y'all Pay For

If y'all have non discovered this in real life, if y'all pay nothing for a product, it is more than than likely shit. Airsoft is no unlike. If you lot are non willing to spend a minimum of 150$ for an AEG, charger, BB'south etc, than airsoft is probably not the right hobby for you. I oftentimes recommend renting or borrowing an airsoft gun before you buy, so you tin actually run into if yous enjoy airsoft. If you are stupid enough to spend l$ on a Walmart LPAEG, congradulations for not listening and y'all just wasted yout money. At present that yous are out 50$, you tin't open up it upward and fix it considering they are not made to opened upward. You lot are probably thinking to yourself that those 500$ Tokyo Marui guns are expensive, merely they exist for a reason. People are willing to pay a high price for a reliable gun, what makes y'all recollect y'all will find a 50$ 1 at Walmart? If you are not willing to buy, like I said, hire or borrow.

In that location are instances where airsoft guns have a high cost tag have very poor performance, examples of this would exist APS, Lancer Tactical, EMG, etc. These are fairly mutual in today'southward airsoft market every bit companies QC seems to have gone off a cliff. The externals may be prissy, but the internals are utter shit.

Practise Not buy a Sniper as your offset Airsoft gun

If you are just getting into airsoft, delight allow me to explain why getting a sniper rifle equally a beginner is a dumb and stupid thought. Before you lot call me a novritsch hater, read on and discover why.

With your budget, you volition NOT exist able to go into airsoft sniping. You may look online and see bolt action snipers inside your upkeep, only not realize that stock sniper rifles are utter garbage and even some GBB'south can outrange a stock sniper. You may watch Novritsch and Silo take good action in their videos, but practice y'all ever wonder why their videos are so short? You practice the math. You are wanting to be like them, merely you don't seem to realize that sniping is not a cheap virute. Airsoft snipers are Built non bought. Y'all can afford a 120$ JG Bar10, but can y'all beget putting 600-700$ worth of upgrades in it to brand information technology perform like an actual sniper? Aye I didn't think and then. You lot take to build an airsoft sniper for it to perform well enough to qualify as a good sniper. Novsitsch sells a rebranded Modify M24, merely you can build a sniper far improve than his for cheaper.

Blank bones basic AEG's volition outperform a stock sniper rifle, and they also have like x20 more magazine capacity than your sniper. Sniping requires a lot of patience and it might exist loftier reward, simply y'all are going to be sitting in the same position exposed to fully-automated burn as you chose to be a sniper. Existence a sniper is not often action packed, regardless of Novrtrisch'south clickbaiting bullshit videos. The sniper rifle you Desire like mentioned before is actually a custom tuned gun that requires a lot of work and fourth dimension. Sounds extreme,just most airsoft snipers congenital their rifles and they perform as a sniper should. Instead of wanting to be the side by side Nov, I want you become to ASGI or Evike, and buy a beginner rifle and go out and have fun.

Ownership Your Gun

Now that yous take decided on what gun you want to buy, it is time for yous to find a website to purchase it from(if yous are non buying local). Evike and Airsoft Gi are the two biggest retailers in the US. Both of them are pretty reliable suppliers with a really big choice. Make sure to look around their websites when you are ownership, both of them normally have practiced deals going on. Pricing ever varies from supplier to supplier, only most prices are pretty consistent. Do remember that if yous are buying online, you will more than probable accept to pay for shipping. Evike offers a coupon code that any order over 99$ gets free ground (i/i/2020). Evike's website UI is a LOT ameliorate than GI'south, but pushes their own brands like Matrix and APS pretty difficult, and they have also been known to accidentally post incorrect inventory online. GI is a bit more than consistent but they are frequently more expensive and have brands that they take deals with (Lancer, and CA)

Buying Used Airsoft Guns

I have been buying/selling/trading airsoft guns for the past 5 years so I know this department very well. I HEAVILY recommend that you lot DO Non buy your first airsoft gun used. There are some pretty good deals out there is you know what you are doing. Equally a whole, buying used can oft be a risky run a risk. As a beginner, you are more than probable to not know the background of the gun. That is putting you lot into an uninformed decision where in that location is no warranty or company to send it back to. Not to mention that you can tin become a broken gun that the seller can either non tell yous a part is cleaved or just apartment out lie to y'all. If you are buying from a private party (non a company), everything is sold as is, and at that place are no purchase backs, trades etc.

Y'all should never pay more than than 80% of the face up value of a gun or gear, and for some guns, 80% is pushing it even if it has not been used. The 2d a gun walks out a retail shop, it normally loses anywhere from 20-25% of its value. Do call back that the seller is selling the gun for a reason. Mayhap they are selling it considering they need cash, perchance they are selling information technology considering it is "a ticking time bomb" of repairs. Either style, y'all demand to research it equally if it is a new gun. Ask how many rounds it has been through, any external issues, whatsoever internal issues? Tasteful modifications such as internal upgrades enhance the price of a used gun.

Using Paypal

Another section I am heavily knowledgeable in. If you lot are buying something from someone online, Ever Use PAYPAL GOODS AND SERVICES! Using sites similar Venmo, or Cashapp offer no protection against scammers. Some other major scam is that someone volition send you a check for a gun, and every bit presently every bit y'all cash it, the cheque will bounciness and you are out a gun When using Paypal, make sure to utilize appurtenances and services equally mentioned above. By using G&S, you are covered by Paypal if something happens (seller does not ship the item, seller sends the wrong detail, etc). Exercise Not Apply FRIENDS AND Family unit! Why? Because if you send it through friends and family unit, yous will not exist protected if the seller scams you. Sellers that scam users oft tell you to send information technology through f&f considering Paypal does non accept a fee for using it. Exercise not fall wary of this scam.

While buying used, DOCUMENT everything. Should something go wrong, whether it be the seller'south fault or your error, it is always better to play it condom. If you have to open a Paypal case or one is opened against you, you lot will have all the data regarding the sale (screenshots, text messages, PM'due south etc). Like mentioned earlier, if you tin can play your cards right, you can score some KILLER deals. I own an Umbrella Armory OCAW, that retails for $2000, and I managed to get it for $950 Nib. Overall I exercise not recommend buying used, as buying new is safer for new players.

Conclusion

All of this information that is on this thread is information and experience I have had in my airsofting career. Nosotros play airsoft to accept fun, that is the chief reason we play. Do not settle for something that is non reliable, unless you want to have a broken gun at your first game. Please PM me if you have whatsoever other questions, I am a respected member of the customs and am more than willing to help you lot.