Different Types of Airsoft Guns: All You Need to Know!

How many types of airsoft guns are there?

The short answer is countless. There are innumerable makes, models, and styles of guns out there. To quantify this a bit more simply, there are three primary modes of delivering power to an airsoft BB. These are spring, electric, and gas, with gas containing a few subsets as well. Within the category of gas guns, you have CO2-powered, green gas, and high-pressure air as your primary sources of the “gas” in either blowback or non-blowback styles. These can fit a variety of roles, quality levels, and aesthetic styles based on your preferences, and quality varies, with no one specific style being better than another without comparing specific guns.

How do airsoft guns work?

fucile softair guns work by using the concept of air or gas compression to deliver force to a BB, which is then spun by a hop-up bucking to rotate the BB and generate lift so that it can attain distances otherwise impossible to hit. Different power styles do this in different ways: by using compressed green gas, or CO2, or by generating their own compression via a piston either racked by hand or by a motor and gears powered by electricity. Some guns can even use the power of high-pressure air and a solenoid, similar to how a paintball gun functions.

How do electric and gas airsoft guns differ?

The primary difference is in the way that they deliver power to the battery. An electric gun utilizes a simple linkage of gears and a motor powered by your battery to pull a piston back. That piston is under load from the main spring, which pushes the piston back forward when the piston is released, generating compression inside the cylinder, which forces the BB down the barrel. 

Gas guns utilize compressed gas instead of a spring piston to propel the BB down the barrel. This is released via a series of valves, hit by a knocker when the trigger is pulled, similar to how a trigger on a firearm activates a firing pin to strike a primer, but without all of the combustion.

How do you improve your airsoft gun’s accuracy?

Improving accuracy is a complex question, as many parts of your airsoft gun play into accuracy. 

The first step is to make sure you have a steady and reliable FPS reading. Making sure you have no air leaks in your gearbox and internal components means you can more finely tune your hop-up for a given weight of BB. This is a good time to make sure you have the right air volume in your barrel, and there are plenty of tools on the internet that make the math behind this simple and easy. 

Step two involves using proper, high-quality, heavy-weight BBs (we recommend.28 g to start), as heavier BBs can carry their force longer and make better use of the hop-up’s rotational forces to stabilize in flight, leading to more accuracy. 

Step three is all about taking a look at the components of your gun and improving individual parts. A tight-bore barrel can increase accuracy in your airsoft gun by tightly focusing air behind the BB, while a hop-up bucking could help impart better spin via a longer contact patch or a different hardness of the rubber. 

Utilizing any one of these methods can help, and heavier BBs are a good, inexpensive first step before you dive into the internal parts, but finely combing through all three steps will lead to the best results. Each of these topics is honestly worth a blog article in and of itself, though, as there is a lot to unpack that we will cover in a later post.

How do I get started with airsoft?

Getting started is easy. Find a local field (by using a site like Airsoft C3 or Google) to locate one near you. If they have options for rental equipment, show up and rent a gun. It’s that easy.
If you need to buy your own gear to play because local fields don’t exist or you’re not ready for that yet, we recommend one of these starter kits. Then call your friends up, get them to buy in, and start blasting each other!

How do airsoft spring guns work?

Spring guns work on the same principle of compression as other guns; however, instead of using compressed gas or gears to pull a piston, you are locking the piston rearward via your own strength by pulling a bolt or operating rod to charge the gun. Pulling the trigger releases the piston, allowing air to compress between the piston head and the barrel and propel it out of the barrel.

How do I tell what gun an airsoft gun is based on?

This question was awfully vague, so we’ll answer it in a few different ways.
If you want to know what an airsoft gun’s counterpart is, you can often tell simply by looking, especially if you have any familiarity with firearms from the real world. Many firearm shapes are quite iconic, and it can be pretty easy to pick out the similarities. Some guns even had licensed appearances, such as this Glock or this MP5.
If you want to know how a gun is powered, it is often listed in the description of the product on our website. It will tell you if it is spring-, gas-, or electric-powered and what type of performance you can expect.

Hopefully, this has answered some of the more burning questions of the airsoft hive mind. Did you find this article helpful? Reach out to us at monopolysoftair and let us know what your softair interests are so we can help you buy softair weapons.