Airsoft Guns Are Adult Size Toys That Look Real.

By Anthony Carter

Originally developed in China these fire-arm replicas look and feel like the real thing. The idea stemmed from China, where firearms had been eliminated in the civilian sector. This elimination caused many people who desired to collect firearms to seek a way to have replicas that closely resembled the original items. Airsoft guns were the answer to this desire for firearm replicas. These guns that use small round pellets have developed to the point they are standardized and produced in a limited number of calipers.

Airsoft guns can be powered by battery, pump action or gas. After getting their start in China these reproduction firearms got popular in Japan and other parts of the orient and Europe and then eventually found their way to the United States. Although they were originaly intended to satisfy collectors they have since become an important part of a worldwide craze.

Airsoft guns are manufactured mostly in the orient as they were when they were first developed. Manufacturing companies for airsoft guns have sprouted up in China, Japan, Taiwan and other locations as a result of their ever growing popularity.

While these guns started out as toys, they have been adapted for use by police departments and militaries. Airsoft guns make it possible for training to occur without having to use real weapons. These training airsoft guns are produced as exact replicas on a 1:1 scale. Meaning these weapons look and weigh the same as the original.

Many methods of play have developed using airsoft guns. Perhaps the most popular of these is known as MilSim or military simulation. Military simulation is basically a hard core game set up around military missions with teams that play against each other. These serious players often go as far as to use rations, explosives and radios.

Replicating reality as close as possible the players on each team carry M16's and other military style weapons and fight out elaborate military exercises, that in many cases are reproductions of historic battles. Players of these battles typically stay involved up to the end of the game, many times for several days.

While MilSim tends to be the most popular sport it is by far not the only sport. Unlike paint-ball, another popular war simulation game, Airsoft requires a player to uphold an honor system. In paint ball the paint pellets that are fired by the guns leave obvious paint markings on the players when they are hit. With airsoft guns, there is not this obvious marking and so the player must be honest about when they have been hit and where.

Due to the exactness of these guns some areas have restricted their use, such as large inner cities. In the United States these guns are required to contain orange markings that are permanent. So they can be quickly distinguished from authentic fire-arms.

These mock-up semi-automatics can be found at many retail outlets and can be commonly found at flea markets and swap meets. Another popular way to locate these weapons is at kiosks in malls and even at some sporting goods retailers. Airsoft guns can also be found via the internet at a variety of retailers that over large selections of guns and other associated items. - 31373

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