Little Ralphie longed for a genuine Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, but his parents were reluctant to let him have it in the classic film, “A Christmas Story.” Wonder what Ralphie’s folks would say if they could see some of today’s airsoft guns.
In fact, a BB gun might be considered an ancestor of today’s airsoft guns. These types of guns are used in the sport of airsoft play, which ranges from short skirmishes through organized scenarios to historical reenactments and military simulations. Participants – who must be at least 18 years old in most commercial settings — are eliminated from play when they’re hit by one of the spherical plastic pellets fired from an airsoft gun. Fans of the hobby insist that airsoft games are safe with proper caution, such as not permitting children or younger teens to participate.
Japanese manufacturers developed the first airsoft guns in the 1970s, when a national ban on gun ownership led to immense curiousity about weapons among the Japanese. The first airsoft guns were powered by springs to launch various sizes of plastic or rubber bullets. Not long afterward the manufacturers invented airsoft guns powered by some form of compressed gas, such as carbon dioxide or propane.
Fans of the airsoft guns hobby say that safety is their first priority. The guns fire spherical pellets – typically 6-millimeter plastic BBs. Even so, the guns aren’t suitable for players under age 16, and most commercial entertainments using airsoft guns require players to be age 18 and older.
A key component of games involving airsoft guns is the honor system of play. Since airsoft pellets are so light, and fired at such a slow velocity, they don’t leave a mark on skin or clothing, unlike a similar game, paintball. Consequently, a player targeted from far away might not even feel it if hit by an opponent’s projectile. However, when they do feel a hit, airsoft players are honor-bound to report it, which eliminates them from play.
As the market demand increased, manufacturers began creating ever more highly detailed replicas of law enforcement and military firearms. These later models powered by various forms of compressed gas such as CO2, propane or Green Gas. Originally they fired several different calibers of plastic or rubber BBs. Eventually these diverse sizes were standardized into 6-mm and 8-mm sizes.
While most airsoft gun bullets are rubber or plastic, some are metal. The non-metal pellets usually are too light to injure a player, but metal projectiles have been known to break a player’s skin if fired at close enough range. Usually, however, airsoft guns’ projectiles travel too slowly to do any damage to a player. Muzzle velocities for spring-power or compressed-gas airsoft guns vary from 30 to 260 meters per second (100 to 850 feet per second). Electric-powered airsoft guns fire pellets at 150 and 500 feet per second (60 to 150 meters per second), sometimes firing as many as 3, 000 rounds a minute. True bullet speed ranges from 370 to 1, 500 meters per second (or not as fast as Superman!).
Just as the airsoft sport was making its way to America, Japan was hit with a major economic recession, which wiped out many of the original manufacturers. This led to the ascendance of another manufacturer, Tokyo Marui, which had developed an airsoft gun model known as an automatic electric gun, or AEG.
Whatever its size or complexity, one thing is common to all games involving airsoft guns: the honor code. Airsoft players rely on one another’s honesty in announcing when they’ve been hit (which eliminates them from the game), since the pellets from airsoft guns rarely leave a mark on clothing or skin. While there’s no formal enforcement body supervising this code during a game, a participant who gets a reputation for violating the honor code is likely to find himself or herself only shooting airsoft guns at backyard targets.
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