Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Airsoft Guns - Some Brief Information

By Anthony Carter

If you're reading this then you have thought it yourself, just what is it? Airsoft guns are becoming increasingly popular in North America but many still don't know exactly what they are.

Basically put, they are exact replicas of real guns. The big difference though is that they fire plastic pellets instead of real ammunition. They fire by way of compressed gas, usually in the form of a CO2 cartridge, or sometimes from a spring powered piston or even electric motor. Their muzzle velocity is in the 30 to 250 meters per second range with pellets normally being 6mm in size.

This information should not mislead you though, if used with metal based ammunition these toys can still cause a lot of harm. You should always use the recommended plastic pellets to prevent injury since they are pretty safe and won't break the skin. 16 years or older is the recommended age for use with some states going above this and restricting the age you can enter a tournament to 18. Never let children younger then the recommended age play with these gun replicas and especially not without supervision.

Airsoft guns have an interesting history to go along with them that starts in Japan around the 1970's. You see, during that time it was illegal to have a firearm, but because people were still interested in them these replicas were invented. These earliest version were powered by springs themselves and fired rubber pellets. The standard 6mm to 8mm size we see today came later. They did evolve quickly in to gas powered guns however.

Sometime in the mid 1990's this Japanese creation found it's way over to North America and things here just haven't been the same since. North American's helped to evolved airsoft guns in to what they are today.

As with any great product, cheap knock offs eventually began to pop up forcing the United States to place restrictions on the sale and import. Today all airsoft guns must have a regulation orange tip in order to be allowed in to the country for sale.

Some airsoft gun models are so life like in fact that there have been a few Japan based companies that have encountered problems with intellectual property laws several times through the years. The United States battles this by restricting certain models from being imported in to the country for sale.

I bet you are thinking about how much fun this all sounds right now, aren't you? Well, it is! Whole families sometimes get involved in this activity and use it as a way to spend family time together. Some people say its a wonderful way to relieve stress as well! If you need a little excitement in your life but don't want anything too dangerous then just maybe you should look in to this one. Fanatics doubt you will be disappointed and you just might become a fanatic yourself.

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