Monday, August 10, 2009

Airsoft Guns: Making The Right Selection

By Anthony Carter

There are countless ways to use airsoft guns whether for training or sport, such as plinking, airsoft wars, and team combat. The activities for which you intend to use an airsoft gun should be the main influence on the type and quality of the airsoft gun that you use.

Spring pistols are ideal for simple plinking (shooting targets such as pop cans). Not only are they cheap, they're also very low maintenance. Plinking doesn't require a high speed airsoft gun, so you can base your spring pistol purchase upon price and looks alone if you prefer.

If backyard wars and other such friendly battles is the reason why you're buying an airsoft gun, it's recommended you consider a spring shotgun or an automatic electric gun, both of which have higher firing rates than the cheaper pistols. A spring shotgun can be easily purchased for around forty dollars and is ideal for small skirmishes.

If you want something better than a spring shotgun, try an automatic electric gun. AEGs are built to perform similarly to real assault rifles, which make them ideal for both sniping and full out firing. These of course are more expensive, ranging anywhere from seventy to over four hundred dollars and also use many more pellets in one use than slower firing guns.

An alternative to the costly automatic electric gun would be a low powered electric gun, which offer just about the same firing rate as AEGs but cost significantly less. The reason why LPEGs are cheaper is because they can't reach the same feet per second as AEGs can.

Airsoft guns start to get really expensive when you decide to join an airsoft team and participate in organized games. Not only do you need the best gun for your position, you also need to invest in the proper accessories and protective gear. The different positions on most airsoft teams are snipers, riflemen, support gunners, and grenadiers and affect the type of gun you'll needs. Sniper positions should acquire high quality airsoft rifles that shoot at least 400 feet per second and also need to have the optics required for long distance targets. On the other hand, those in riflemen positions are better off using precision AEGs with high capacity magazines.

If you want to be a support gunner, you can decide on a machine gun or an AEG with a box magazine to hold more pellets, which is the cheaper of the two. The AEG is a good choice for grenadiers as well, though this position also requires a grenade launcher and lots of grenades. The equipment needed for both support gunning and grenadier positions are more expensive than sniping or being a rifleman. In any case, all positions would benefit from having a gas pistol on them as well.

Airsoft guns are not one of those one-size-fits-all products. Regardless of what you want an airsoft gun for, you need to be prepared in order to make a cost effective purchase.

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