Airsoft Guns And How They Are Powered

By Anthony Carter

The three main styles of airsoft guns are spring, electric, and gas powered guns. From these three types stem a variety of rifles, pistols, shot guns, machine guns, and all the add-ons found with bullet-using firearms. These guns are replicates of real firearms, but they are made to push out projectiles of about 6-8mm in diameter.

When purchasing an airsoft firearm, many considerations need to be taken into account. These aspects include; the rate of fire, the life of the battery, the size of the gun itself, and even the holding capacity of the magazine. Alternative features that are also kept in mind are possibly the weight, reliability, range, how realistic it is, and customization.

Spring Powered - The first guns for airsoft were dubbed "springers" and were single action guns that only fired one BB at a time. Between each shot, the gun would have to be re-cocked to be ready for the next firing.

Electricity - AEGs or, Automatic Electric Guns, are the most common airsoft firearms today. Rechargeable batteries are what enable BBs to be propelled from the gun. The use of gearboxes inside is what allows the projectile to be fired and these guns usually have a longer range than the gas models.

Four magazine capacities are available for AEGs; real-capacity, low-capacity, mid-capacity, and high-capacity. The ranges of rounds being held vary from under 30 rounds to over 500 rounds. There are even drum magazines manufactured that will house up to 5000 BBs at once.

Gas Force - When gas-powered guns for airsoft came about, they offered either an internal or an external gas chamber. Reservoirs on the inside used CFC gas, while the external chambers contained carbon dioxide under extreme pressure. The realistic look to these gas powered guns make them more popular than the other versions. By enhancing the quality of gas powered guns for airsoft and using "green gas" instead of CFC and carbon dioxide, these gas powered varieties are becoming more accessible.

Once "green gas" was being used to propel the rounds from magazines and the quality of these guns had increased, they became more accessible. This new type of gas was created to be more environmentally friendly, compared to the CFC and the carbon dioxide gases previously used. Green gas is made by mixing propane with some perfume and lubricant, but there are adapters available today that allow the use of regular propane for cheaper projectile propulsion.

When using green gas, a recoil effect is caused when the gun is fired. The magazine in each pistol houses a storage cylinder with enough gas to propel 30+ BBs from the magazine, which adds to the realism of the airsoft firearm. With the gas being contained in the magazine itself, the gun can be loaded, unloaded, and fired similarly to the way a real semi-automatic pistol is. The typical gas airsoft hand gun magazine will hold 10 to 20 rounds. There are high capacity magazines with a winding mechanism that will hold up over 50 rounds.

Today a combination of aluminum and plastic are used, for both internal and external parts, to make realistic looking and light airsoft firearms. - 31409

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