Airsoft Recommendations?

[muddywings]

Being the family "gun guy" [Eek2] I guess I'm supposed to know about airsoft equipment too but unfortunately I'm pretty ignorant. A quick google search was pretty overwhelming so I thought I would ask in here so I can pass something on for little johny's upcoming 12th birthday.
Can anybody throw me a few decent recommendations for a rifle (probably an M4 clone), handgun (whatever), and some basic personal protection equipment (head/face/eyes protection) so I can pass it on.
It does look like there is a pretty wide range of quality/cost so I would say say something mid-range-ish.

To be honest, they do look rather fun and reminds me of cops and robbers/cowboy and indians with my wooden, double barrel rubber-band rifle back in the day. (Damm, I gotta find me one those too!)

[ChunkyMonkey]

Cut out a m4 out of pop tart.. according to school administration it's as dangerous!!

I used to like AEG when I played airsoft.. that was 20 years ago maybe.

[WETWRKS]

There are 3 types of airsoft and various levels of quality. You first need to decide what kind of power you want the gun to run off of. There are spring powered (1 shot then have to re-cock it), air powered, and motor driven. The guys that I know who play all seem to run motor driven gear and they do it semi-professionally so I would suspect it is probably the better gear out there. Beyond that I really cannot tell you what manufacturers to go with or things like that.

I do know that anything other than spring powered starts getting costly.

[muddywings]

from what I understand I'm looking for motor driven/battery powered.

[Wulf202]

Kwa makes a decent semi gas pistol

Just got a cheapo m4 w bbs and mask from airsoftmegastore just over $100 shipped. If he gets into it ill upgrade the internals and battery and charger.

[MileHighOutlaw]

My buddy runs Dynamic paintball and airsoft out here in Aurora. He carries a bunch of different kinds.

[drew890]

Fox Airsoft in Parker is the largest online and store front airsoft retailer in the Rocky Mountain region. They have a large quantity of rifles, handguns, and accessories at their shop. They also have a staff of airsoft gunsmiths that can help you if anything breaks. Plus, in their shopping plaza is a police equipment store and a high end tactical gun and gear shop.

[tmckay2]

I used to play when I was too young to buy real guns. When I get home I'll give you the intel. I tinkered a lot. Be ready to spend some dough though.

[Robb]

Big-5 may still have a decent selection, they used too I know. I think my son mentioned they're hidden now or with the real guns now and not with the toys (?)
I bought my boy a Tokyo-mauri (or something like that) 1911 that looks great, is semi auto gas powered and shoots hard. It's a blast. He also has a Thompson with a motor that shoots awfully hard and with the motor you can switch to full auto which I have to say is kind of fun even for me. He was into it pretty hard for one summer.
Personally I wouldn't buy those for a 12 year old unless he'd be supervised all the time. Damn things could put an eye out! It would be bad news if he decided to shoot his baby sister or whatever.
For him I'd go with the single shot jobs, they're alot cheaper, a good starter, and you can find them all over, Gander/Sportsmans maybe walmart. A pair of safety glasses for everyone if he and buddies are shooting at each other.

[tmckay2]

Fox Airsoft in Parker is the largest online and store front airsoft retailer in the Rocky Mountain region. They have a large quantity of rifles, handguns, and accessories at their shop. They also have a staff of airsoft gunsmiths that can help you if anything breaks. Plus, in their shopping plaza is a police equipment store and a high end tactical gun and gear shop.

Whats the high end tactical store?

[tmckay2]

alright, so tokyo marui, classic army, g&p, g&g are all very good gear. stay away from jg, matrix, stuff like that. the one trick with tokyo marui is their rifles are not metal body, they are plastic. good inners though. now they make gas block back rifles which seem cool and down the road might be the best thing but they are new and i bet still have some kinks in them.

for the money id probably do classic army. they are well respected. the inners are fairly stock so some will recommend you replace a better motor and stuff like that but it isn't necessary. these things shoot HARD. like, be careful sort of hard. if a kid just wants to mess around you can get something cheaper and weaker but these are more for people and kids that are playing paintball sorts of things.

WE actually makes decent blowback pistols. there are a lot of options for pistols, some look and feel very, very real.

[th3w01f]

Just picked up a couple of pistols and an M4 for teaching the kids gun safety in the basement.

These have been a lot of fun and are very realistic - http://www.foxairsoft.com/fox-recommended/aps-acp-601-gas-blowback-pistol/. We got them from Fox for ~100 during a pre-Christmas sale.

[clark]

Just make sure he doesn't run around the neighborhood playing with em, neighbors will see a kid with a gun and call the cops and then all kind of bad things can happen,,,kind of a shame the society we live in now but it is the way it is.....They do look realistic if the uneducated eye doesn't know what that orange cap is....

[KS63]

I was looking at a KWA full metal 1911 strictly for training in the garage. They're pricey though.

[TEAMRICO]

I recently ordered a SVD from EVIKE.com.
They are out of Cali, look them up on Youtube. Look up "Mo Molle, Mo Problems" for a laugh.
Right now 20% off entire order.
Shipping was fast and to the door.
Prices vary and my son loves shooting in the basement.
I plan on buying him a gas blowback pistol next but right now he is using a spring loaded pistol......to build up his charging muscles!

[mrghost]

I recently picked up a KJW P226 airsoft gun. It's all metal, gas blowback, and full scale. It's my first airsoft gun and has been pretty fun and inexpensive to shoot.

[drew890]

Whats the high end tactical store?
It's the shop next door to the right of Fox Airsoft. It is run by a gentleman named David M. David was an 18C in the army and is transitioning back to the civilian world. He has a bunch of Mayflower and ATS stuff. It's a small shop right now as he finishes gunsmith school.
He specializes more in custom gun builds than tac gear and makes some very nice rifles.

[hollohas]

I have a Beretta clone from KJ Works that I purchased somewhere around 2003. Airsoft was very fringe at the time and it cost over $200 at the time if I remember correctly. I love this thing. It is gas blowback and very close to real life weight. The slide locks back on last round. It has a feature called "hop up" that puts spin on the pellet to make it more accurate and it works great as an indoor trainer. The trigger is double/single too. The magazine is actually where you load the pellets and fill up the gas. It drops free to practice mag changes too. Very cool.

Don't remove the orange paint! This one came that way at the time, I need to get around painting it. http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/01/a6atamud.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/01/2yhaqabe.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/01/01/e2enu8as.jpg

[Beprepared]

I don't know much about airsoft, but I've become real fond of...



http://u.cubeupload.com/Resfan/cCaMtI.png

[Joe_K]

Echo 1 makes real good stuff. For eye/ face pro el cheapo paintball mask will do fine. I always used mesh chainsaw goggles as they cant fog up.Gloves are a must as well mechanix or cheap gardening gloves work fine. Growing up in rural Ohio we didnt have to worry about Cops getting called. Just stayed away from roads, highways, and places of business. Airsoft as a kid was great fun. You can also use them to train novices how to handle firearms before you hand them the real thing.


Sent from my PRC 117A in my Batmobile disguised as a sedan.

[osok-308]

It's the shop next door to the right of Fox Airsoft. It is run by a gentleman named David M. David was an 18C in the army and is transitioning back to the civilian world. He has a bunch of Mayflower and ATS stuff. It's a small shop right now as he finishes gunsmith school.
He specializes more in custom gun builds than tac gear and makes some very nice rifles.

I know David personally. He is a great guy and as soon as I can, I'll visit his store almost exclusively.

Also I had an echo 1/vector arms ak for a long time and I loved that thing.