Airsoft is an active outdoor sport, played on private property or officially secured airsoft fields. The sport features confrontations between players using replica firearms that fire small plastic 6mm (BB) pellets. The energy of a projectile is small, and special face protection is used to prevent injury. These are not “soft air” rifles used for hunting small game!
Airsoft replicas come in many shapes and sizes, modeled after real firearms. This article is about airsoft stun guns, which are 1:1 scale replicas of real guns. The term “electric” comes from an electric motor that compresses a spring using a series of 4 gears. The spring, once released, drives a piston to create a burst of compressed air that propels the airsoft projectile.
This complicated assembly is called a “gearbox” because it contains 4 gears. This gearbox was originally developed by Tokyo Marui for use in their Glock 18c automatic pistol replica. Since then, numerous manufacturers, such as Cyma, TSD, Well, and Double Eagle have produced their own versions of the mini airsoft gearbox for use with electric pistols.
There is a lot of confusion about what is and what is not an Airsoft stun gun. Here’s a summary:
Originally designed by Tokyo Marui, the electric airsoft pistol (AEP):
- uses a subcompact version of the normal airsoft gearbox
- The gearbox is made of metal and offers excellent durability.
- It’s pretty much a mini automatic electric pistol (AEG) and shoots BBs at about 200 feet per second.
- All electric airsoft guns feature adjustable hop, around 0.20 grams BB
- The gun also comes with a 30-round metal magazine.
- The gun comes with a 7.2 volt rechargeable battery and charger.
- The pistol slide does not move when firing.
- It usually has 2 price ranges: 40-60$ for low-end models and 100-160$ for quality models
Often confused with an airsoft electric pistol, the electric blowback gun (EBB) uses a totally different gearbox design and also features a recoil slide (hence the term “blowback”).
- Uses various proprietary plastic gearboxes
- Shoots at about 160-200 feet per second with 0.2 gram BBs
- May include a set of fixed hops for 0.12 gram BBs
- It comes with a banana-shaped stick magazine.
- Typically powered by 4 6.0 volt Triple-A alkaline batteries
- The slide moves backwards when firing.
- It is generally priced in the range of $7-$25
The main difference between the two is durability. Many people are drawn to lower cost electric recoils as their first purchase due to the affordable price. However, the plastic nature of these weapons and the fact that they are most often used by teenagers causes these weapons to break quite quickly. This often means that people think of airsoft as a cheap and dumb hobby.
An airsoft community in the United States is still quite young, so I encourage you to explore some of the more durable airsoft guns as your first purchase, and I look forward to seeing you in the field!