Your Questions Answered

This is a regularly asked question, as many new players didn't know, until they asked this question, that Airsoft is a thing. Here's what Wiki has to say - Airsoft originated in japan in the early 1970s, and was trade marked as ‘soft air gun’, tailoring the needs of shooting enthusiasts while conforming to Japans strict gun control laws, which are still in affect today.

According to Wiki it was a Japanese photographer and voice actor called Ichiro Nagata, who was an avid shooter himself. Ichiro thought about making model guns that shot real projectiles, but that weren't capable of killing. Here is a picture of the man himself, taken from his website www.ichironagata.com

This is another common question we get asked on the regular and is all dependant on the site you choose to play at. If you are playing Airsoft for the first time the average UK price can be between £20 and £35. If you are hiring equipment like weapons and tactical kit that could add an extra £10-£15 but is sometimes included for free (again, this depends where you choose to play). Some sites offer a membership scheme, which you can usually join once you've played your three games, and this sometimes offers lower game day prices to members - great if you are a regular player.

The cost of Airsoft weapons varies massively depending on what type and style of weapon you go for. Most pistols start from about £59.95 and can go upwards of about £300. As for an AEG (M4/AK/SMG) they start from around the £129.95 mark and go as high as £1500 for custom builds etc. Other weapons are available like shotguns, sniper rifles and support guns and the range between £59.95 and £449.95 upwards. So, I guess the answer would be something like - How long is a piece of string?

Again, this is dependant on the site - most outdoor Airsoft sites have a minimum age requirement of around 11 years old, and most indoor and CQB Airsoft sites start from around 13 years old. There are various reasons for this with the 2 most common being safety, and insurance restrictions.

Two toning is a service that we offer, free of charge, to any player over 18 years of age who wants to buy their own weapons, (rather than hiring), before they've joined a defence scheme. Two tone basically means that we will paint parts of the weapon in a bright colour so that it becomes an IF rather than a RIF. It doesn't take away the realism of the weapon and its intended purpose - to be an imitation firearm for use in airsoft - but it does make it clear to any member of the public that it isn't a real firearm, in case anyone intended to use if for purposes other than airsoft. We offer a wide range of two tone colours including blue, yellow, green, red, purple and pink. Below is a picture of a two toned airsoft weapon to give you an idea of how this would look.

The minimum legal age for buying a rifle in two tone weapon (aka IF - Imitation Firearm) is 18 years old, accompanied by correct photo I.D. As a responsible retailer we will take a copy of your I.D. and keep a record of this, along with your current address.

As stated in the previous question/answer you must be over 18 years old and provide photo I.D. but to buy a non two toned weapon (aka RIF - Realistic Imitation Firearm) you must also have a 'defence' such as UKARA, BAC membership or an alternative that proves you have played at least three games in no less than 2 months. This is to ensure that we, as an industry, stay within the law of the VCRA Act. Here is a link to the VCRA Act of 2006.

A license no, but, as mentioned above, you will need to have proof of defence to buy a non two toned weapon. Most sites will offer the UKARA scheme or an alternative scheme that you can use as a defence after you've played at least three games, in no less than 2 months. We are a UKARA registered retailer as well as being a British Airsoft Club approved retailer, but we do accept other relevant forms of defence.

In my professional opinion there is no brand that is the best, as each brand we sell is unique, and have clearly displayed their own innovation in their product creation. There are always those brands that stand out for particular reasons, such as Bolt which is a brand known for their B.R.S.S recoil system, which is an outstanding system for simulating the blowback action of a weapon whilst being powered with an AEG system. In terms of Tac Gear we love the Emerson Gear range, which offers a huge choice of colours and equipment with outstanding quality that's made to withstand the heavy use in airsoft.

The most popular style of airsoft rifle that we see are, by far, any M4 variants, like the SOPMOD or HK416D. With pistols we see a lot of customers prefer the base of the Glock 17 or 1911, although there are some really funky pistols available now that always sell well.

This is largely down to your own preference, but we find with our customers that there is a very clear preference when it comes to powering weapons. The majority of our customers prefer a gas or Co2 powered pistol, as they love the realism, whereas the preference for a rifle is most commonly electric (aka AEG). This is because, although most gas rifles are cool AF, you are at a massive disadvantage due to the mag capacity of a gas rifle usually being around 40 BBs, where an AEG mag will usually hold around 350 BBs. The other thing to consider is, if you want the convenience of an AEG but don't want to lose the realism of a blowback action, you could try something like the Bolt rifles, which offer blowback action but are powered by batteries.

I hope you have found this blog post useful and don't forget to get in touch if you have any further questions. Thanks for reading - over and out!