New to Airsoft

[SKRuB]

Hey, Ive been playing paintball off and on for about 10 years.

Wanted to pick up a nice air soft gun. What is a good brand to go with, Looking for a non beginner gun, but not top end either.

[Harbinger of Darkness]

Best bet is to fill out your profile and (assuming you're over 18) get yourself age verfied by a local rep.

As for what brand to go with it all depends on your budget and the style of gun you like.

Some good brands to consider would be TM, G&G, CA, and ICS.

[pipefitter316]

hey welcome to the site , best thing for you is to get aged verified, they you look at the classiffieds and find a good gun.

good luck and hope to see you on the field

[Crunchmeister]

You'll be pretty hard-pressed to find anything but low quality guns anywhere but on this site. As already stated, get age-verified and you'll have access to the classifieds where all the fun toys are available.

[TokyoSeven]

Welcome new user.

In airsoft, like in almost everything else in life you will find that cost can reflect quality.

Today’s airsoft guns are nothing more than a motor driven gear set that cranks back a piston which is then released to push and compress air in a cylinder which is then directed out the nozzle to propel the BB down the barrel. How you want it to look is up to you.

As an addendum to that statement you may wish to consider a few of the following points.

1. Cost, is the airsoft gun you desire in your price range? Is it in your price range in the future if you save. Is it the brand you want? Its not just about the looks of the gun, each and every company has their own little take and twist. An example of this is that ICS M4 have a different threading on the upper receiver than that of say a Classic Army M4. Taking that into consideration you would be limited to front ends made specifically for ICS guns if you choose to change out your front end eventually. Unless however you choose to purchase a rethreading tool to change the threading of your upper receiver. Which brings me to my next point.

2. Cost + availability or parts and your own ability to do upgrades. So you have chosen your airsoft gun. Now you want to do some modifications and upgrades. Do you know what you’re looking for in terms of compatible parts? Do you know where to acquire them easily and do you have the know how to do the work yourself or are in a situation where you know someone who can do it for you. If your not mechanically inclined and do not have access to an airsoft gun doc, I would recommend that you purchase something that has already been preupgraded or at least something that has already had the standard preventative maintenance performed on it be it used or new. Preventative upgrades are simple upgrades that will keep the airsoft gun running longer (maybe not forever but defiantly longer). Most airsoft guns come with nylon bushings; the bushings are what help hold the gears in the mechbox. Most people believe that under heavy stress they bushings can melt and warp, it is recommended that they be replaced with metal bushings. Another example of a preventative maintenance upgrade would be a spring guide. A tokyo marui M4 comes with its stock plastic TM V2 spring guide, while this maybe all fine and dandy for the time being with its stock spring, attempting to run a spring with to high a strength rating may cause that spring guide to break. Over time even with its stock spring the spring guide can weaken. It is suggested that this be an item that you do replace if performing preventative maintenance, usually with something along the lines of a bearing spring guide.

3. Is it available in Canada through one of our retailers? It’s a well known fact that attempting to import an airsoft gun from outside of Canada is equal to that of tossing your money in the toilet, lighting the toilet on fire and then pushing it out of the back of a moving school bus. It may have seemed like a good idea at the time, but now you are out a bunch of money and you also ruined a perfectly good toilet.

4. Magazines, you have your airsoft gun and you only have one magazine well that’s all fine and dandy but I’m certain there may come a day where you will require more than one magazine. You may wish to look into the different brands and manufactures out there to see what is compatible with what and how much it costs.

5. Other. You may wish to consider cost and availability of other items you may want in the future and their availability. For example lets say you bought some form of armalite variant and wanted to go the SR 47 look. Well unfortunately at this time do the Canadian law you would be unable to bring the parts in required since they are prohibited, even if it were possible it is en extremely rare mod to find and even more expensive to buy. Another example would be an under barrel grenade launcher. Hope you can find someone in Canada because importing is a no no. Other things you may wish to consider are the cost of a sling, maybe some gear and optics.

For your consideration here are a few brands that I would recommend.

Tokyo Marui - Best for internals, quality control on assembly is higher than most.
Classic Army - Best for externals, metal bodies/recievers
Jing Gong - Originally a low end company that has slowly crawled up the ladder to produce semi decent airsoft guns. Products are apparently clones of TM.

Each brand has their own specific take on airsoft guns, quality varies with each company.

[cbcsteve]

Originally Posted by SKRuB

Hey, Ive been playing paintball off and on for about 10 years.

Wanted to pick up a nice air soft gun. What is a good brand to go with, Looking for a non beginner gun, but not top end either.

Another ex-baller like me, nice.

Welcome to ASC

No wipers here and you won't have to worry about them.

I am would say from my own personal experience with guns.

- Tokyo Marui tend to be the staple brand for me on full auto guns and pistols
- Western Arms I find seem to be the premium for pistols
- G&G seem to be affordable but their gears will shred for sure as I notice all my friends with G&Gs have and had to replace their gears
- Jing Gong The most affordable guns of all and quality is decent and upgrade parts are abundant since its a clone of Tokyo Marui

So I guess you can equate Tokyo Marui to like Bob Long or Invert while Western Arms is like Tiberius Arms with their premium pistols. And Jing Gong is like Tippmann

[Amos]

You forgot about Classic Army :P

The biggest difference between airsoft and paintball is that upgrade parts 90% of the time will work across almost all brands... So if you can afford to, when buying your first gun, go with something that's very externally strong and well made

[SKRuB]

Thanks for the info,

Are their any Canadian\Alberta\Edmonton retailers websites that are available.
Does anyone know of any Edmonton Airsoft retailers, other then walmart and canadian tire.


Also, what makes a good airsoft gun? the FPS? or the internals\Externals.

Is their any Diagrams how a Airsoft marker is fired? Spring\Gas\Electric.
Iam not 100% sure on the operation.

I did see a combo for a M4 and a Pistol at walmart for $80, just based on price I assume that is going to be Ultra low end.

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by SKRuB

Also, what makes a good airsoft gun? the FPS? or the internals\Externals.

There are a lot of things to consider. First and foremost, overall build quality. As mentioned above, Tokyo Marui has excellent quality control and manufacturing. Their guns are about the most reliable on the market. Their FPS is lower than most brands, but FPS isn't everything.

A very good inner barrel and good mechbox internals (gears, piston, seals, etc.) will have quite an impact on performance. For example, a well made gun shooting 320 FPS will outperform a poorly made one shooting 400 FPS.

A lot of performance also has to do with BB weight. .20's are probably the most common, but heavier rounds such as 0.23g, 0.25, 0.28, 0.30 and so on all have advantages and disadvantages. Generally a heavier round will increase accurate distance, but decrease overall velocity. It becomes a bit of trial and error to find what works best in which gun. For most guns between 300 and 350 FPS 0.25g works well.

Generally, as mentioned, anything from Tokyo Marui, Classic Army, and ICS are very good places to start. G&P, STAR/Ares, and VFC are higher end, but make very nice very good quality guns. G&G isn't bad but their internals aren't always good and generally need some preventative maintenance. JG is a brand that's on the low end and, to an extent, make good starting guns. The issue with the cheaper brands like JG is that the quality control isn't always there and it's possible to get a gun that will fir 1,000 rounds and break as it is to get one that will go 10,000 rounds without issue.

I did see a combo for a M4 and a Pistol at walmart for $80, just based on price I assume that is going to be Ultra low end.

Walmart guns are not airsoft. They're not even close. A decent airsoft AEG will cost you $350-$450. The commonly accepted number to get into airsoft is $1,000, though you could concievably do it for less, but not under $500. After you buy the gun you still need batteries, a good charger (I can't stress that enough), magazines, and gear if you actually want to play.

[SKRuB]

Yeah, I want to find a local retailer, So i can look at these high quality guns in person

[Crunchmeister]

Perhaps you should read some of the other posts again. There are no retailers. There's only 1 way to get quality airsoft guns. Get age verified and you'll have access to the classifieds and retailer sections on this forum. Outside of that, all you'll find are lower end clear guns. The only way you'll get to see them in person is if you go to a game and ask people to see their guns.

And FPS means nothing for guns. It's all about the quality of the materials, both internal and external. Some brands are known for better internals, some externals, some have a decent balance of both.

As for how they work, there are 3 types of airsoft guns - gas, spring, and electric.

Most pistols are gas, and run on either propane (aka Green Gas) or HFC 134a (computer duster). Some will use CO2. There are also spring pistols, but those generally don't get used much as it required cocking with every shot. There are also electric pistols, but they tend to be rather low power. But the nice thing is that they work in cold weather, where propane and duster don't work.

For most assault rifles, the system is electric. Sniper rifles tend to be either spring / bolt action, or gas powered, although there are some electric ones too.

[DENZILDON]

Originally Posted by SKRuB

Thanks for the info,

Are their any Canadian\Alberta\Edmonton retailers websites that are available.
Does anyone know of any Edmonton Airsoft retailers, other then walmart and canadian tire.


Also, what makes a good airsoft gun? the FPS? or the internals\Externals.

Is their any Diagrams how a Airsoft marker is fired? Spring\Gas\Electric.
Iam not 100% sure on the operation.

I did see a combo for a M4 and a Pistol at walmart for $80, just based on price I assume that is going to be Ultra low end.

007 in Calgary and Capital Airsoft in Edmonton. You still need to be age verified to grab airsoft from them.

Reliability of parts makes a good airsoft good, or upgrades you place in them.

Go to gearbox.com

Yes, Save you money, get aged verified and get a real airsoft gun.

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by DENZILDON

007 in Calgary and Capital Airsoft in Edmonton. You still need to be age verified to grab airsoft from them.

Reliability of parts makes a good airsoft good, or upgrades you place in them.

Go to www.mechbox.com

Yes, Save you money, get aged verified and get a real airsoft gun.

Fixed.

[DENZILDON]

hahaha, thanks man!

[kalnaren]

Originally Posted by DENZILDON

hahaha, thanks man!

No worries. By the way, love the avatar.