Are Discontinued Airsoft Guns Worth Alot

Beginners Guide to Buying your Outset Airsoft Gun

By u/Houseofcards32

This guide literally has everything you lot demand when it comes to buying your first airsoft gun. If you lot accept fifteen-20 minutes to read it, I highly recommend reading. This guide was created on the 1st of 2020, so this information is up to engagement, and sources volition be cited. I accept been playing airsoft since 2010, so I personally have made plenty of mistakes forth the style. Read this guide and y'all will not brand the same mistakes I did.

Table of contents:

Best Bang for your buck Starting AEG's
Things to consider
Choosing a Weapons Platform
Different Types of Airsoft guns
Brand Overview
Practise YOUR Enquiry
Understanding the Basics
You get what you pay for
Do Not buy a sniper every bit your first gun
Buying your gun
Ownership used airsoft guns
Using Paypal
Conclusion

Best Blindside for your buck starting AEG's

Classic Ground forces 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 best contenders when information technology comes to beginner airsoft AEG'south. These have been tested by thousands of people across the world, and are all reliable and will last yous a lifetime, if you maintain them properly. There are a massive corporeality of Archetype Regular army beginner rifles bachelor, in all sorts of configurations and lengths. If you're looking for something different than the i pictured above, cheque out these here. The one I have pictured above though is the about pop, as it has its ain mosfet, the Classic Army ECS. It allows you to change between firing modes, and take things like iii circular flare-up, and even 5 round burst. The ICS pictured is the 2nd biggest recommendation I requite to new players. The ICS sportline series is robust, and is also used past many. The 150$ dollar price tag is peachy for most, as its cheaper than the CA, just offers no mosfet. Lastly nosotros have an AK from CYMA, who is regarded equally the best company to brand beginner-intermediate AK's. This CYMA pictured currently has the highest amount of reviews on Evike, as it has as well been used by many. You lot desire to first small-scale when buying your first gun, because if you buy a long or heavy gun and you are scrawny, you will regret it almost immediately. The last note in this part is to not buy a sniper burglarize as your get-go airsoft gun. Read the section regarding snipers, I will explain there.

Things to Consider

Every bit you continue to read through this guide, I will remind you of the gilded 3 rules when it comes to starting airsoft:

Do NOT purchase a sniper as your showtime airsoft gun.
Research your airsoft gun
What yous pay for is what yous will get.

Choosing a Weapons Platform

Before even thinking near which specific airsoft gun yous want to buy, you need to figure out which type of gun you want to get. Yous want to get one that fits your style all-time. If you have a local shop in your expanse, go there and go a feel for the weapons platform you are wanting to get. M4'southward and AK's have the most upgrade/replacement parts available, and that is why they are recommended the most. Do note that a stock gun is going to be outperformed past people who have upgraded their rifles to their maximum adequacy. I would not let this discourage you lot, as you are going to have fun either way. If yous like airsoft and want to go along playing, and so I would worry near upgrading. As mentioned before, do NOT get a sniper rifle as your first airsoft gun.

Different Types of Airsoft Guns

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

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

Gas Blowback-GBB for curt, these are realistic airsoft guns that tin oftentimes be rewarding whist playing with them. These are powered by either light-green gas, or propane, and these ability the slide or bolt which fires the bb, and and so cycles some other round in the chamber. They function identical to their real steel analogue, but practice come with some slight drawbacks. These do not piece of work in cold weather (normally below 50 degrees) and need to be cleaned often to prevent jamming. Some GBB'due south apply co2, but co2 normally wears the gun downwards more depending on the specific model.

Electric Blow Back- These are basically AEG's that imitate a bolt going back and forth on a real steel firearm. This adds another circuitous layer to AEG's and oftentimes pause after a few uses. The EBB function commonly puts a lot of stress on the gearbox, and tin can often lead to a croaky gearbox. The but reliable EBB at this current time is Tokyo Marui'due south Recoil shock line. These are normally 500-600$ and crave a lot of upgrades to perform well. Commodities has recently released a new EBB line that is apparently good, but time will tell if this line is a better alternative to Tokyo Marui.

Bound Powered- These are single shot/pump/pull everytime you want to shoot. These are normally sniper rifles or spring powered shotguns, considering they mimic their real steel counterparts. The firepower of spring airsoft guns is extremely express when going upwardly against AEG's, GBB's, and HPA users.

HPA- or High Pressure level Air, is an extremely popular culling to AEG's. These allow you to modify the FPS/ROF relatively easily for different regulators. The massive downside to these is the external air tank you have to behave, besides every bit that HPA frequently costs a lot more than AEG's.

Make Overview

Here is a list of brands and their full general qualities. Due annotation that not all of these brands are recommended due to the simple fact that they practise non make good products. You should use this as a reference betoken to requite yourself an idea of where to become and later do individual research on whichever airsoft gun you lot choose. This list will include companies that make and produce AEG's.

ASG- Makes mostly intermediate to higher stop AEG's. Very few beginner rifles to look at, and most of the internals on their beginner lineup is outdated.

Echo 1- Mostly outdated and better options are out at that place. Internals are pretty outdated in today'southward airsoft earth.

Elite Forcefulness- Owned past Umerex, produces very good intermediate to higher end rifles. Their beginner lineup is about 6 years and I would avoid this brand for beginners.

EMG- Uses APS/G&P/ARES as the oem for about 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 can argue with newer companies today. Has solid loftier end guns also. Only con is that someparts internally are proprietary and cannot be upgraded.

Yard&G- The Gainsay Machine lineup one time was the best line of airsoft guns offered to beginners, but these are 7-8 years erstwhile and even their G2 lineup is not as good 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 likewise had its off-white share of problems as well.

Classic Army - One of the best beginner lineups as of 2020. Has a lot of choices to choose from, and too makes solid choices for high cease guns. They try and compete with the VFC avalon series.

Vegaforcecompany- VFC makes the Avalon series, which equally of this moment is the best higher end AEG on the market. They also oem the Elite forcefulness mp5, which has the avalon gearbox within. They do non brand beginner guns.

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

Lancer Tactical- 1 of the worst brands in airsoft, sporting bad internals, and a company that falsified safety ratings on their goggles. Users have reporting nothing simply bad things about this brand, and rifles often intermission in the span of 1-2 months.

Tippmann- Produces solid beginner rifles, has non really fabricated annihilation "new" for a few years. Their Commando lineup is the most popular.

PTS- The subdivision of Magpul that produces a lot of training gear for airsoft. They also make high end AEG's that have slowly gotten better, equally they have partnered with KWA, G&P, etc.

JG- Entry level company that produces "decent" AK'south, avoid their M4's similar the plague. Externals are usually not that great, but makes for a adept learning gun if you're learning how to tech.

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

Crossman- A brand that y'all should avoid completely, does not produce anything skillful.

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

Tokyo Marui- Used to be the most pop make in airsoft, oftentimes referred as the pioneers of airsoft, articles commonly tend to copy ™ designs at a much lower quality. All of Tokyo Marui's guns are made out of plastic and accept very low fps laws due to Japan.

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

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

Exercise YOUR Inquiry

Earlier ownership a model, do proper inquiry on the make and gun you are buying. I find that this site has a massive database when it comes to airsoft gun reviews. Just use your fingers and type in the gun and the brand you are looking for, and you will get plenty of reviews. Only annotation that if you look up a YouTube review, most of them are sponsored and the company paid to say skilful things most the gun they received. There are a few good ones, merely most of them are either kids who nothing about the gun they bought, or a paid shill that says goose egg but good things about the product they got. Both of these 2 often exaggerate how the gun performs, considering 1 is paid to sell them, and 2 knows very fiddling nearly airsoft internals. Therefore if you make a conclusion to buy an airsoft gun based on a YT video, y'all accept made an irrational decision. Instead of watching a YT video on a gun, practise proper research using the site I provided to a higher place. Past not doing research, you will terminate up with a shit gun that will not last more chiliad rounds. The market is littered with garbage guns, and if you don't do proper research, you will end upward with one. As quoted by u/thetboneguy, you lot will exist shooting yourself in the human foot if you practice non research your gun. Having a good gun is amend than having a cleaved gun at an event, I promise y'all.

Understanding the Basics

A fairly common error that new players make is confusing the FPS(Anxiety Per Second) of a gun with how good information technology is. If y'all live in an expanse with a field, nigh fields practice non allow guns shooting over 420 fps with a .2, where as indoor arenas usually don't allow anything higher than 330 fps on a .ii. By choosing an airsoft gun over the limit, you are limiting where you tin play in your country/state. Merely because it has high FPS does not mean it shoots farther than a gun that shoots 350. Due to bb'due south existence and so light, hopup is used to give information technology backspin to keep it in the air longer. To simplify, the use of this hopup, the speed of a bb no longer affects the altitude. In Nippon, they accept a -1 Joule limit, hence why all Tokyo Marui guns shoot less than 300 fps.

Y'all should empathise basic airsoft gun matientience. If your gun breaks and needs a new office, it's better that y'all do not have to ship it to a store to become it fixed. I will give an example. If y'all strip a piston, it is about a 25$ part. If you do non know or understand how to modify it yourself, you have to send it into a shop where they will normally accuse a fifteen-20 fee but to get information technology on their workbench. So a twenty$ prepare now costs you double that, and if you knew how to fix it, you would have merely saved twenty$. Airsoft Forum and r/airsoft are ii places that I would recommend you kickoff. This thread on airsoft forum is about nine years old now, but still contains very useful information on how to accept apart a gearbox. Employ the search bar on both sites to observe what you are looking for.

Y'all get What you Pay For

If you have not discovered this in real life, if y'all pay aught for a product, it is more than likely shit. Airsoft is no different. If y'all are not willing to spend a minimum of 150$ for an AEG, charger, BB's etc, than airsoft is probably not the right hobby for you lot. I often recommend renting or borrowing an airsoft gun earlier y'all purchase, and so you can actually come across if you bask airsoft. If y'all are stupid enough to spend fifty$ on a Walmart LPAEG, congradulations for not listening and you just wasted yout money. Now that you are out 50$, you can't open information technology upwards and fix it because they are not made to opened upwardly. You are probably thinking to yourself that those 500$ Tokyo Marui guns are expensive, but they exist for a reason. People are willing to pay a high cost for a reliable gun, what makes you think you volition find a fifty$ one at Walmart? If you are not willing to buy, like I said, hire or borrow.

There 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 adequately common in today's airsoft market place equally companies QC seems to have gone off a cliff. The externals may exist nice, but the internals are utter shit.

Practice NOT purchase a Sniper as your first 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 call me a novritsch hater, read on and discover why.

With your budget, you will NOT be able to get into airsoft sniping. Yous may expect online and see bolt activeness snipers within your budget, just non realize that stock sniper rifles are utter garbage and even some GBB'southward tin can outrange a stock sniper. You may watch Novritsch and Silo accept good activeness in their videos, just practise y'all always wonder why their videos are and then brusk? You do the math. You are wanting to exist like them, merely you don't seem to realize that sniping is not a cheap virute. Airsoft snipers are BUILT non bought. You lot can beget a 120$ JG Bar10, but can you afford putting 600-700$ worth of upgrades in information technology to make it perform like an bodily sniper? Yeah I didn't think so. Yous have to build an airsoft sniper for it to perform well enough to qualify equally a adept sniper. Novsitsch sells a rebranded Change M24, just you can build a sniper far better than his for cheaper.

Blank basic bones AEG's volition outperform a stock sniper burglarize, and they also take similar x20 more than magazine chapters than your sniper. Sniping requires a lot of patience and it might be high advantage, simply you are going to be sitting in the same position exposed to fully-automated burn down as you chose to be a sniper. Existence a sniper is non often activeness packed, regardless of Novrtrisch's clickbaiting bullshit videos. The sniper burglarize you lot Want like mentioned earlier is actually a custom tuned gun that requires a lot of work and fourth dimension. Sounds farthermost,but about airsoft snipers built their rifles and they perform as a sniper should. Instead of wanting to exist the side by side November, I want you go to ASGI or Evike, and buy a beginner burglarize and leave and have fun.

Buying Your Gun

At present that you lot have decided on what gun you desire to buy, it is time for you to find a website to buy it from(if yous are non buying local). Evike and Airsoft Gi are the two biggest retailers in the United states of america. Both of them are pretty reliable suppliers with a really big option. Make sure to look around their websites when you lot are buying, both of them normally accept expert deals going on. Pricing always varies from supplier to supplier, but most prices are pretty consistent. Practise remember that if you lot are buying online, you volition more than likely have to pay for shipping. Evike offers a coupon code that any club over 99$ gets gratuitous basis (1/ane/2020). Evike's website UI is a LOT better than GI's, but pushes their own brands like Matrix and APS pretty hard, and they take also been known to accidentally post incorrect inventory online. GI is a bit more consequent but they are often more expensive and have brands that they have deals with (Lancer, and CA)

Buying Used Airsoft Guns

I have been ownership/selling/trading airsoft guns for the past five years and then I know this section very well. I HEAVILY recommend that you DO NOT buy your beginning airsoft gun used. At that place are some pretty practiced deals out there is you know what y'all are doing. Equally a whole, buying used can oftentimes be a risky chance. Equally a beginner, you are more than probable to not know the groundwork of the gun. That is putting you into an uninformed decision where in that location is no warranty or visitor to send it back to. Not to mention that you can tin become a broken gun that the seller can either not tell you a function is broken or just flat out prevarication to you. If yous are buying from a private party (not a visitor), everything is sold as is, and in that location are no buy backs, trades etc.

Y'all should never pay more than 80% of the confront value of a gun or gear, and for some guns, 80% is pushing it fifty-fifty if it has not been used. The second a gun walks out a retail shop, it commonly loses anywhere from 20-25% of its value. Do remember that the seller is selling the gun for a reason. Maybe they are selling information technology because they need cash, maybe they are selling it because it is "a ticking time bomb" of repairs. Either fashion, you demand to enquiry it equally if it is a new gun. Ask how many rounds it has been through, any external issues, any internal bug? Tasteful modifications such as internal upgrades heighten the toll of a used gun.

Using Paypal

Another department I am heavily knowledgeable in. If you lot are buying something from someone online, Ever USE PAYPAL Appurtenances AND SERVICES! Using sites similar Venmo, or Cashapp offer no protection against scammers. Some other major scam is that someone will transport you a cheque for a gun, and as soon as you cash it, the check will bounce and y'all are out a gun When using Paypal, make sure to utilise appurtenances and services as mentioned above. By using M&Southward, you are covered by Paypal if something happens (seller does not send the item, seller sends the wrong item, etc). Do Non Utilize FRIENDS AND FAMILY! Why? Because if yous send it through friends and family, you will non be protected if the seller scams you lot. Sellers that scam users often tell you to ship it through f&f because Paypal does not take a fee for using it. Practise non fall wary of this scam.

While buying used, DOCUMENT everything. Should something become wrong, whether it be the seller's fault or your fault, it is always better to play it safe. If you have to open a Paypal case or i is opened confronting y'all, you will accept all the information regarding the sale (screenshots, text letters, PM's etc). Like mentioned before, if you can play your cards correct, you tin can score some KILLER deals. I ain an Umbrella Armory OCAW, that retails for $2000, and I managed to go it for $950 Neb. Overall I practice not recommend buying used, equally 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. We play airsoft to have fun, that is the chief reason we play. Do not settle for something that is not reliable, unless you want to have a broken gun at your beginning game. Please PM me if yous take any other questions, I am a respected member of the community and am more than willing to help you lot.