What Airsoft Gun Should I Get?

Airsoft is a huge sport with an immense number of ways to play and a gigantic variety of uniforms, gear and guns to choose from. For a newer player just getting into airsoft this variety can be quite daunting to wrap your head around and it can be quite difficult to figure out what is best for you. Naturally your biggest question is likely to be the most important, which is ‘what airsoft gun should I get?’ Types of airsoft guns span a plethora of different models, brands, power sources and aesthetic tastes so we’ve set up a handy guide here to help you out.

How to Choose the Right Types of Airsoft Guns

As mentioned, selecting what airsoft gun should I get relies on ensuring your initial forays into airsoft are enjoyable without breaking the bank, the factors you must consider are:

1. Your preferred shooting experience
2. Your budget
3. Model of gun

Desired Shooting Experience

The most important part of figuring out what airsoft gun should I get, is understanding the kind of role you might want to play inside a game as there will be specific types of airsoft guns and models for each playstyle. A more general role may see you using an assault rifle as they can function both in short and medium range engagements, a sniper would be ideal for long distance shots but find it difficult in any shorter ranges while SMG, shotguns or pistol would thrive in shorter engagements.

Your Budget

Airsoft guns range in price from last little as $30 for a spring-powered pistol to thousands of dollars for high-end LMGs. Ultimately, how much you spend on your first airsoft gun is entirely dependent on your budget. Even if money isn't really a concern, though, there isn't much reason to spend a small fortune on a high-end airsoft gun as your introduction into the sport. In fact, we often recommend that our customers start out with guns that are considerably more affordable so that they are able to learn more about what they like and what they don't before they spend the money on a higher-priced gun.

Model of gun

There are a tremendous number of types of airsoft guns models out there with a vast array of different brands, variations, styles, materials and power sources to choose from. Once you’ve narrowed down the kind of role you want to play and the budget you have, the sky is basically the limit in terms of what you can choose! We have a tremendous amount of resources within this site to help you select your ideal gun within your chosen role and price range as well as our world famous Youtube Channel where we review all the hottest guns of the week.

Airsoft Gun Types

Airsoft Guns come in a variety of types mainly defined by their method of operation and how the BB is propelled out the barrel, in figuring out what airsoft gun should I get you should understand that they almost all fall into the following categories:

Spring Powered Airsoft Guns

Spring airsoft guns are manually cocked airsoft guns that compress an internal spring.  You need to cock them each time you want to shoot.  Spring guns are not capable of shooting in semi or full auto mode.  On some guns like pistols and rifles, one airsoft BB is fired each time you pull the trigger, while spring shotguns can shoot multiple BBs each time.  Spring airsoft guns are available in many shapes and sizes.

Gas Airsoft Guns

Gas Airsoft guns are powered by compressed gas. Several variants of gas are available and listed in order of pressure from lowest to highest, they are HFC134a, Green Gas, Red Gas, and Black Gas. Some Japanese guns can only handle the lower pressure HFC134a gas, but higher pressure green gas airsoft guns are by far the most common in the world. Gas airsoft guns are also classified into non-blowback (NBB) and gas blowback pistols (GBB), and gas blowback rifles (GBBR). NBBs do not have visible moving parts, while GBB pistols have slides that cycle automatically on each trigger pull, mimicking the actions of a real pistol. Instead of a cycling slide, GBBRs have a bolt that moves back and forth like a real rifle. This cycling action creates both a visual and sensory experience of a real gun.

Automatic Electric Guns (AEG)

Electric airsoft guns are the most popular airsoft guns and rely on electric power to generate compressed air for shooting BBs. AEG guns are powered by rechargeable batteries that are usually stored inside the gun’s stock or handguard. The core of an AEG is the gearbox, which uses a series of contrasting gears to compress a stiff spring. The spring is connected to a piston and when it reaches full compression, it is allowed to release. The expanding spring pushes the piston into a cylinder, forcing high pressure air behind the BB to propel it out of the gun. This cycle begins all over again for the next shot.

High-Pressure Air Guns

High-pressure air (HPA) systems are a type of pneumatic airsoft weapon that use externally supplied high-pressure air instead of internal gas canisters like the majority of gas-operated airsoft guns. Think of it as a cross between an AEG and GBBR except that there’s no blowback and shoots similar to an AEG but with more range and power! HPA airsoft guns are adjustable and suffer less from peak performance limitations compared to other systems. Thus they usually come at a price but require less tuning to reach peak performance.

Specs to Look for in an Airsoft Gun

Muzzle Velocity

Muzzle velocity is the main way that players define the overall power of an airsoft gun and is hugely influential in terms of determining a gun’s performance, velocity is usually measured in terms of Feet Per Second or FPS for short and you will often see a gun’s FPS being shown in reviews or on the box of the gun itself. There are a lot of aspects to which FPS can affect but it really boils down to the airsoft gun’s power and range.

Power is how hard the BB hits the target and is measured in Joules; this is determined by a combination of both the BB’s velocity and the BB’s weight. The power of a BB is exceptionally important for safety reasons as the more powerful the BB the greater the pain and damage to anyone hit by it

The next point is range, the more force behind the BB, the further it is likely to travel, the muzzle velocity of the BB can make all the difference between hitting a target or falling short of it. In addition, the BB’s weight can also determine how long it will maintain its velocity against air resistance.

Length of Gun

The length of your airsoft gun can be a significant factor in determining what role it would be used for, longer airsoft guns like DMRs, Sniper Rifles and Machine Guns are more likely to have greater range and power over long distances but will be heavy and unwieldy in close quarters. Conversely, shorter guns like Pistols, and Sub Machine Guns are ideal for close quarter scenarios but less likely to be effective over longer ranges.

Hop Up

Almost all airsoft guns will be installed with parts called an inner barrel, hop-up chamber, and hop-up rubber or bucking. For an airsoft gun to shoot, a BB is loaded into the hop-up chamber and when the user pulls the trigger, the airsoft gun will then release a small amount of pressurized air or gas to force the BB through the chamber and exit out of the inner barrel. When the BB is being propelled by the pressurized gas, it will pass through the nub of the hop-up rubber which will provide a backspin to the BB, causing a phenomenon called the Magnus Effect once it exits the inner barrel. The backspin lowers air pressure above the BB causing lift, similar to a wing and when adjusted properly, this Magnus Effect will allow the BB to maintain its travel through the air for significantly longer than it would otherwise.

Gun Material and Weight

Airsoft guns can be made from a variety of different materials depending on their role, style, historical period and their cost. Cheaper guns tend to be popular airsoft guns but are made either of ABS polymer or a die-cast zinc alloy; they are both affordable and easy to manufacturer making them just ‘good enough’ for the vast majority of airsoft applications. The downside is naturally their lack of realism and greater fragility.

More expensive higher end types of airsoft guns will be made of a sturdier thermosetting plastic or forged aluminum and even steel. These guns will be significantly more robust and feel far more realistic to the player but it will come with a significantly greater price tag.

Historically themed guns are also likely to have parts of their receivers and stocks made of wood to better replicate their real steel counterparts, though this is also likely to cost more than simply using faux wood made from plastic. 

Magazines

Almost all airsoft guns rely on some form of magazine feeding system and they can come in all kinds of shapes and sizes. Sniper rifles due to their slower rate of fire tend to feature relatively small magazines containing of ten to thirty rounds maximum while machine guns with their great size and rapid rate of sustained fire are able to hold thousands of BBs at a time, allowing you to unleash an overwhelming volume of fire at your opponents.

Upgrades and Repairs

Additionally, if you plan on keeping your popular airsoft guns for an extended length of time, it’s essential to learn how to maintain, repair and even upgrade your gun if you need to. Accordingly, choosing a rifle that can easily be upgraded with parts over time is recommended as this saves you both money and time. Moving toward repairs, it is equally important to have spare parts readily available, so before choosing that limited edition rare gun, check if its parts are readily available in the market.

Barrels and Body

Many manufacturers neglect a rifle’s barrel and body to cut costs. The thing with metals is that they are robust and cannot be broken easily. For a sport like airsoft which involves all sorts of movement, kneeling, bending, sprinting, and jumping, dropping or unintentionally hitting the gun is almost guaranteed. Now assuming you don’t want to be running around with a gun that can be broken know that barrels and bodies are ideal if they are made of metal or a high strength polymer. It’s not mandatory but a good thing to have, though all-metal rifles can be a bit more expensive than ABS-plastic ones.

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