Airsoft

Airsoft is a combat sport similar to Paintball in which participants eliminate opponents by hitting them with (6 mm or occasionally 8 mm) plastic BBs (small, spherical balls) launched from airsoft guns. more...

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These airsoft guns can be powered by CO2, Green Gas, air that is forced through a nozzle via a manually cocked spring piston, or mechanical boxes that use motors to pull back and release a spring piston. Participants typically use varying types of weapons designed as replicas of real firearms, tactical gear, and accessories used by military and police organizations. Long popular in Asia, there is now a growing interest in airsoft weapons and events in North America and Europe. Some of the notable manufacturers of airsoft guns include Tokyo Marui, Classic Army, Jing Gong, and ICS.

History

Airsoft was developed in Japan in the early 1970s to provide an alternative for gun hobbyists because local laws prevented individuals from privately owning firearms. A heavy emphasis was placed on making accurate replicas of real firearms and target shooting. In contrast, paintball was developed in the United States in 1981 as a variation of hide and seek tag, through the use of utility companies' power pole paint marking guns, and emphasizes function over aesthetic qualities.

Paintball is more popular than Airsoft in the United States. In East Asia and the Pacific Rim, airsoft is more popular except in Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand where paintball is legal but airsoft is restricted.

In the interests of a more family-friendly image, the paintball industry usually avoids direct analogies to the military and war (seen by the movement towards spectator-friendly speedball), but Airsoft runs the gamut from Airsplat to full MilSim play.

Though Airsoft pellets generally strike with less impact than paintballs due to their small size and innovations like hop up, their ballistic properties closely model those of true bullets. Unlike simulated shooting games like laser tag the physical impact of Airsoft pellets on targets provide some of the realism of actual bullet hits because they can hurt, cause a small amount of damage, and heighten mental and emotional excitation and/or distress as with the use of real firearms. This makes Airsoft effective for combat training.

Methods of play

CQB

CQB, otherwise known as Close Quarters Battle (or CQC, Close Quarters Combat), is a popular way of playing airsoft. The basic idea is for people to play in an enclosed arena at close quarters, resulting in a fast action combat or multiple surprises. A lot of times the arena may be set up as if it were in an urban war zone or in terrain filled with enclosing walls, gates, doorways, stair ways, tunnels, apertures, overhead openings, or below-ground approaches that enable one player to shoot at another from a distance of a few feet or less. CQB can also take place in night games or in dense vegetation such as tall grass, shrubbery, and closely packed trees. In this type of combat the fps of the guns may have to be lower due to the closeness of the combat. Simulated grenades and booby traps are effective due to teams sticking together in such a small area. Players in CQB scenarios usually wear additional vests or protective clothing to avoid injury from close-in hits or ricochets.

Read more at Wikipedia.org