How to Use an Aeg Airsoft Gun

Beginners Guide to Buying your Beginning Airsoft Gun

By u/Houseofcards32

This guide literally has everything y'all need when information technology comes to buying your offset airsoft gun. If you take 15-20 minutes to read it, I highly recommend reading. This guide was created on the 1st of 2020, and then this information is up to appointment, and sources will be cited. I take been playing airsoft since 2010, then I personally accept made plenty of mistakes forth the style. Read this guide and you lot volition not make the aforementioned mistakes I did.

Table of contents:

All-time Bang for your buck Starting AEG's
Things to consider
Choosing a Weapons Platform
Different Types of Airsoft guns
Make Overview
DO YOUR Enquiry
Agreement the Nuts
You lot get what y'all pay for
Do Non buy a sniper equally your first gun
Buying your gun
Buying used airsoft guns
Using Paypal
Conclusion

Best Bang for your buck starting AEG'due south

Classic Army Skirmish Line- $169 (M4 platform)

ICS M4A1-$150 (M4 platform)

CYMA Full Metallic AK47- 150$ (AK platform)

The guns listed above are some of the best contenders when it comes to beginner airsoft AEG'due south. These have been tested by thousands of people across the earth, and are all reliable and will last you a lifetime, if y'all maintain them properly. In that location are a massive amount of Classic Ground forces beginner rifles bachelor, in all sorts of configurations and lengths. If you're looking for something different than the ane pictured above, bank check out these here. The ane I have pictured above though is the most popular, as information technology has its ain mosfet, the Archetype Army ECS. It allows you to modify between firing modes, and have things like 3 round burst, and fifty-fifty 5 round burst. The ICS pictured is the second biggest recommendation I give to new players. The ICS sportline serial is robust, and is besides used by many. The 150$ dollar toll tag is great for almost, equally its cheaper than the CA, simply offers no mosfet. Lastly we have an AK from CYMA, who is regarded as the all-time company to make beginner-intermediate AK's. This CYMA pictured currently has the highest amount of reviews on Evike, every bit it has also been used by many. You desire to start minor when ownership your first gun, considering if you purchase a long or heavy gun and yous are scrawny, you will regret it almost immediately. The last note in this part is to not purchase a sniper burglarize every bit your first airsoft gun. Read the section regarding snipers, I will explain there.

Things to Consider

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

Practise NOT buy a sniper as your starting time airsoft gun.
Enquiry your airsoft gun
What you pay for is what you volition become.

Choosing a Weapons Platform

Before even thinking about which specific airsoft gun you want to buy, you need to figure out which blazon of gun you want to become. You want to go one that fits your mode best. If you accept a local store in your area, become at that place and become a experience for the weapons platform yous are wanting to get. M4'south and AK'south take the nigh upgrade/replacement parts bachelor, 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, as you are going to accept fun either fashion. If you like airsoft and desire to continue playing, then I would worry almost upgrading. As mentioned before, do NOT get a sniper burglarize every bit your first airsoft gun.

Different Types of Airsoft Guns

In that location are five different major types of how your airsoft gun fires bb'due south. I will give a overglorified overview of each type, but I HIGHLY recommend starting with an AEG.

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

Gas Blowback-GBB for brusk, these are realistic airsoft guns that can oft be rewarding whist playing with them. These are powered by either dark-green gas, or propane, and these power the slide or commodities which fires the bb, and and then cycles some other round in the chamber. They office identical to their real steel counterpart, but practise come up with some slight drawbacks. These do not work in common cold weather condition (unremarkably below 50 degrees) and need to be cleaned often to prevent jamming. Some GBB's apply co2, but co2 commonly wears the gun down more depending on the specific model.

Electric Blow Back- These are basically AEG's that imitate a bolt going back and along on a existent steel firearm. This adds another circuitous layer to AEG'southward and ofttimes intermission after a few uses. The EBB role normally puts a lot of stress on the gearbox, and can ofttimes lead to a cracked gearbox. The but reliable EBB at this current time is Tokyo Marui's Recoil shock line. These are normally 500-600$ and crave a lot of upgrades to perform well. Bolt has recently released a new EBB line that is apparently skilful, but time will tell if this line is a better culling to Tokyo Marui.

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

HPA- or Loftier Pressure level Air, is an extremely pop alternative to AEG's. These permit you to change the FPS/ROF relatively hands for unlike regulators. The massive downside to these is the external air tank you have to deport, besides every bit that HPA oft costs a lot more than AEG's.

Brand Overview

Hither is a list of brands and their full general qualities. Due notation that non all of these brands are recommended due to the simple fact that they do not brand proficient products. You should use this as a reference bespeak to give yourself an idea of where to go and subsequently do individual enquiry on whichever airsoft gun y'all choose. This list will include companies that make and produce AEG's.

ASG- Makes more often than not intermediate to higher end AEG'southward. Very few beginner rifles to expect at, and about of the internals on their beginner lineup is outdated.

Echo 1- Mostly outdated and amend options are out there. Internals are pretty outdated in today'south airsoft world.

Elite Force- Owned by Umerex, produces very skillful 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 nigh of their rifles, produces meh rifles. Not recommended for beginners.

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

G&G- The Gainsay Machine lineup once was the best line of airsoft guns offered to beginners, but these are 7-viii years sometime and fifty-fifty their G2 lineup is not as skilful equally other brands. Makes meh intermediate to high end guns, with their G2 mosfet being a horrible choice.

Krytac- Solid internals, merely besides kind of proprietary in their trident lineup and slightly outdated. Makers of the newer Vector, which is also had its fair share of issues also.

Classic Army - Ane of the best beginner lineups every bit 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 serial, which as of this moment is the all-time college end AEG on the market. They too oem the Elite force mp5, which has the avalon gearbox inside. They do not make beginner guns.

Male monarch Artillery- Pretty decent, they do non produce a lot of rifles anymore, just 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 nothing merely bad things about this brand, and rifles oft interruption in the span of 1-2 months.

Tippmann- Produces solid beginner rifles, has non really made anything "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 amend, as they accept partnered with KWA, G&P, etc.

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

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

Crossman- A brand that you lot should avert 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 as well.

Tokyo Marui- Used to be the most popular brand in airsoft, often referred every bit the pioneers of airsoft, articles normally tend to copy ™ designs at a much lower quality. All of Tokyo Marui'south guns are fabricated out of plastic and have very low fps laws due to Japan.

APS- Produces nada good, has the worst QC(quality control) in all of airsoft other than Lancer Tactical. Their internals are utter garbage but their externals are quite unique.

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

Practice YOUR RESEARCH

Before ownership a model, do proper enquiry on the brand and gun you are buying. I observe 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 make you are looking for, and you volition become enough of reviews. Merely notation that if you expect up a YouTube review, most of them are sponsored and the company paid to say good things about the gun they received. There are a few good ones, but most of them are either kids who zippo near the gun they bought, or a paid shill that says nothing but good things most the production they got. Both of these 2 ofttimes exaggerate how the gun performs, because ane is paid to sell them, and 2 knows very lilliputian almost airsoft internals. Therefore if you brand a decision to buy an airsoft gun based on a YT video, you have made an irrational conclusion. Instead of watching a YT video on a gun, practise proper research using the site I provided above. By not doing inquiry, you lot will terminate up with a shit gun that volition not final more m 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 volition be shooting yourself in the foot if you do not enquiry your gun. Having a skilful gun is amend than having a cleaved gun at an upshot, I promise you.

Understanding the Basics

A fairly common mistake that new players brand is disruptive the FPS(Feet Per Second) of a gun with how good it is. If y'all live in an area with a field, nearly fields do not let guns shooting over 420 fps with a .two, where as indoor arenas normally don't permit anything higher than 330 fps on a .2. By choosing an airsoft gun over the limit, you lot are limiting where you can play in your country/country. Simply because information technology has high FPS does non hateful it shoots further than a gun that shoots 350. Due to bb's being so light, hopup is used to give information technology backspin to continue it in the air longer. To simplify, the use of this hopup, the speed of a bb no longer affects the distance. In Japan, they have a -one 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 office, it's improve that you lot exercise not accept to send it to a store to go it fixed. I will requite an example. If you lot strip a piston, it is about a 25$ part. If you exercise non know or understand how to change it yourself, you have to send it into a shop where they will normally charge a 15-20 fee merely to get it on their workbench. And so a 20$ fix at present costs y'all double that, and if y'all knew how to fix it, you would accept only saved 20$. Airsoft Forum and r/airsoft are two places that I would recommend you lot beginning. This thread on airsoft forum is well-nigh 9 years old now, only still contains very useful information on how to have apart a gearbox. Use the search bar on both sites to find what you lot are looking for.

You lot get What you Pay For

If you have not discovered this in real life, if you pay nothing for a production, it is more likely shit. Airsoft is no different. If you are not willing to spend a minimum of 150$ for an AEG, charger, BB'due south etc, than airsoft is probably not the right hobby for y'all. I often recommend renting or borrowing an airsoft gun before you buy, so you can actually see if you savour airsoft. If you lot are stupid enough to spend 50$ on a Walmart LPAEG, congradulations for non listening and you simply wasted yout money. At present that yous are out 50$, you tin can't open it upward and set up it because they are non fabricated to opened up. Yous are probably thinking to yourself that those 500$ Tokyo Marui guns are expensive, but they exist for a reason. People are willing to pay a loftier price for a reliable gun, what makes you think y'all will observe a 50$ one at Walmart? If you are not willing to purchase, like I said, rent or borrow.

There are instances where airsoft guns have a loftier price tag have very poor performance, examples of this would be APS, Lancer Tactical, EMG, etc. These are fairly common in today's airsoft market as companies QC seems to have gone off a cliff. The externals may be squeamish, but the internals are utter shit.

Practice Not purchase a Sniper as your showtime Airsoft gun

If you are just getting into airsoft, delight permit me to explain why getting a sniper rifle every bit a beginner is a dumb and stupid idea. Before you call me a novritsch hater, read on and notice why.

With your budget, you volition Not exist able to get into airsoft sniping. You may look online and meet bolt action snipers within your upkeep, but not realize that stock sniper rifles are utter garbage and even some GBB's can outrange a stock sniper. You lot may watch Novritsch and Silo have good activeness in their videos, but do you e'er wonder why their videos are so short? You lot practice the math. You lot are wanting to be like them, but you don't seem to realize that sniping is non a cheap virute. Airsoft snipers are Congenital not bought. Y'all can afford a 120$ JG Bar10, only can yous beget putting 600-700$ worth of upgrades in it to make it perform like an actual sniper? Aye I didn't remember so. You take to build an airsoft sniper for it to perform well enough to qualify every bit a proficient sniper. Novsitsch sells a rebranded Modify M24, only you lot tin build a sniper far better than his for cheaper.

Blank bones basic AEG's will outperform a stock sniper rifle, and they also take like x20 more magazine capacity than your sniper. Sniping requires a lot of patience and it might exist loftier advantage, but you lot are going to be sitting in the same position exposed to fully-automated fire equally you chose to be a sniper. Existence a sniper is not often activity packed, regardless of Novrtrisch'due south clickbaiting bullshit videos. The sniper rifle you WANT like mentioned before is actually a custom tuned gun that requires a lot of work and fourth dimension. Sounds extreme,merely near airsoft snipers congenital their rifles and they perform as a sniper should. Instead of wanting to be the next Nov, I want you go to ASGI or Evike, and buy a beginner rifle and get out and accept fun.

Buying Your Gun

Now that you have decided on what gun yous desire to buy, information technology is time for you to observe a website to buy it from(if you 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 selection. Make sure to wait around their websites when you are buying, both of them normally have good deals going on. Pricing ever varies from supplier to supplier, simply almost prices are pretty consistent. Do remember that if you are buying online, y'all will more than likely have to pay for aircraft. Evike offers a coupon code that whatever gild over 99$ gets free ground (1/1/2020). Evike's website UI is a LOT better than GI's, just pushes their ain brands like Matrix and APS pretty hard, and they take also been known to accidentally mail incorrect inventory online. GI is a bit more than consequent but they are ofttimes more expensive and have brands that they have 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 section very well. I HEAVILY recommend that you DO NOT buy your start airsoft gun used. In that location are some pretty good deals out there is yous know what you are doing. Every bit a whole, buying used tin often be a risky gamble. As a beginner, you are more than likely to not know the groundwork of the gun. That is putting you into an uninformed conclusion where there is no warranty or company to send it back to. Not to mention that you can can become a broken gun that the seller can either not tell you a part is broken or merely flat out lie to you. If you lot are buying from a private party (not a company), everything is sold as is, and there are no buy backs, trades etc.

You should never pay more than eighty% of the confront value of a gun or gear, and for some guns, 80% is pushing it fifty-fifty if it has non been used. The second a gun walks out a retail store, information technology normally 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 considering they need cash, maybe they are selling it because it is "a ticking time bomb" of repairs. Either way, you need to enquiry it as if it is a new gun. Ask how many rounds it has been through, any external issues, whatsoever internal issues? Tasteful modifications such every bit internal upgrades raise the price of a used gun.

Using Paypal

Another section I am heavily knowledgeable in. If you are buying something from someone online, ALWAYS USE PAYPAL GOODS AND SERVICES! Using sites similar Venmo, or Cashapp offer no protection against scammers. Some other major scam is that someone will send y'all a check for a gun, and as soon equally yous greenbacks it, the check volition bounce and you lot are out a gun When using Paypal, brand sure to apply appurtenances and services equally mentioned above. By using Yard&S, you are covered past Paypal if something happens (seller does non send the particular, seller sends the wrong item, etc). DO NOT USE FRIENDS AND Family unit! Why? Because if you transport it through friends and family, yous will non be protected if the seller scams you. Sellers that scam users frequently tell you to send it through f&f because Paypal does not take a fee for using it. Do not autumn wary of this scam.

While ownership used, Certificate everything. Should something go wrong, whether it be the seller'south fault or your error, it is e'er better to play information technology safe. If you have to open a Paypal instance or one is opened against you, you will take all the information regarding the sale (screenshots, text messages, PM'south etc). Like mentioned before, if you tin can play your cards right, y'all can score some KILLER deals. I own an Umbrella Arsenal OCAW, that retails for $2000, and I managed to get it for $950 NIB. Overall I do non recommend buying used, equally buying new is safer for new players.

Determination

All of this information that is on this thread is information and experience I take had in my airsofting career. We play airsoft to have fun, that is the main reason we play. Do not settle for something that is not reliable, unless you want to have a broken gun at your outset game. Delight PM me if you accept any other questions, I am a respected member of the community and am more than willing to assistance yous.