By now most people are familiar with Airsoft guns. Everyday camo wearing make believe warriors pour into the parks and wooded areas of the world for a friendly round of combat. They choose up sides, set out courses, ignore the poison ivy, and celebrate the joys of electric and compressed air powered war.

Devotes tell us that the game encourages teamwork, offers a terrific release from the stress of the work a day world, and provides them with excercise in a more entertaining environment than the gym could ever offer.

Airsoft guns have existed in Japan since the 1970’s have begun to replace the paintball gun as the weapon of choice among America’s weekend warriors. The biggest appeal of airsoft guns over paintball is probably that airsoft guns look much more like real guns than do paintball markers and have a more realistic firing action. Airsoft fans also claim that the larger mass of paintballs makes them more dangerous than airsoft pellets.

In the 1980’s the Daisy BB Gun Company released a toy gun that fired a projectile that was safe for people to shoot at one other but it failed to catch on in the U.S. The disadvantages of paintball became an increasing problem for participants and as the demand for alternatives to paintball grew new technologies were applied to air powered guns until now batteries that drive an electric motor that can fire repeatedly power the guns. This advance made the guns fully automatic and brought to feel of modern warfare to the sport.

The wholesale airsoft industry is big business, I recently read of one manufacturer that reports $10 million in earnings for the year. Many sporting good and toy wholesalers and retailers have learned that adding a line of airsoft guns and accessories have provided a big boost to their bottom lines.

The guns themselves range from around $50 for the simplest models up to several hundred dollars for the battery powered, fully automatic weapons. A bottle of 2,000 pellets will cost between $15 and $20 per bottle. The gas canisters cost around $20 apiece and must be replaced frequently. New lines of guns and supplies become available constantly.