Airsoft guns are all the rage among hobby gun enthusiasts. It is almost impossible to distinguish them from real weapons and are highly sought after by people world-wide. Airsoft guns are pure fun, 100% recreational toys for big girls and boys who enjoy firing a weapon in a fun, safe atmosphere. Strictly for the fun of it.

Airsoft guns are all the rage among hobby gun enthusiasts. It is almost impossible to distinguish them from real weapons and are highly sought after by people world-wide. Airsoft guns are pure fun, 100% recreational toys for big girls and boys who enjoy firing a weapon in a fun, safe atmosphere. Strictly for the fun of it.

Airsoft hand guns, rifles and semi-automatic weapons are so life-like that people who don't understand their use confuse them with the more dangerous BB gun. There are quite a few similarities between the two, however there are profound differences between airsoft guns and BB guns, too. Here's an abbreviated breakdown of the two types of life-like guns.

Guns are illegal in Japan, yet there was still a market and a demand for them. In the 1970s, Japanese manufacturers developed realistic replicas of guns with spring-firing shooting mechanisms. These early guns developed into gas-firing devices which eventually evolved into AEGs, or automated electric guns which are widely used today. It wasn't until the mid-90s when airsoft guns hit the North American market place.

Conversely, BB guns have been used for over 100 years. They became quite popular in North American when publishers of the 1940's western comic Red Ryder promoted BB guns as an advetising gimmick. BB guns are not used recreationally. They're used to shoot targets and to hunt small animals such as squirrels and other rodents.

Because they're used to hunt small prey, BB guns shoot round metal balls or pellets. Airsoft guns, used in play, shoot harmless plastic pellets which are 6mm in size and larger than BB pellets. BB guns fire at 91 to 152. 4 meters per second while the slower airsoft guns fire at 55 to 91 meters per second. The two guns have much different uses.

Similarities of the two guns include the firing mechanisms. Airsoft guns use either compressed gas, electricity or are powered by springs. BB guns are almost exclusively air or gas powered. Real guns use neither of these systems.

Airsoft weaponry and BB guns are deliberately manufactured to resemble the look of real guns and to feel like a real weapon when grasped. An unsuspecting person could easily mistake a BB gun or an airsoft gun for a lethal weapon. Fortunately, by law, an airsoft gun must be sold with a bright orange blaze at the end of the barrel to help identify it. This bright orange identifier is mandatory. Real guns do not have a neon orange tip.

Paintball guns, used for similar recreational purposes, are quite different than airsoft guns. They have a simple, more primitive design and can not be mistaken for a real gun. Like an airsoft gun, they fire using compressed air or gas which is expelled from cannisters mounted on top of the gun. They fire paintballs, which are loaded with paint and smash against their target in an explosion of messy paint. Sometimes the force can cause pain and bruising.