The only real disadvantage of the guns is that they are not battery powered and must be cocked for every shot, making them second best when you are playing a war game. However, using airsoft grenades can offer you extra power on the battlefield when you are using spring loaded mechanisms.

Even though CO2 airsoft guns can be purchased in all formats, they're hottest as airsoft pistols. Powered by green gas or CO2 in the gas chamber, gas airsoft guns are incredibly powerful and as near to the real thing as you can imagine. With a blowback mechanism, CO2 airsoft guns give users a genuine gun like feel whenever they fire a shot. However, these airsoft guns are generally the costliest available in the market and are advised only for enthusiasts and collectors.

Airsoft guns, whether they are airsoft rifles or pistols, may be manufactured as pure toys [made of mostly toy plastic) and not realistic in appearance or may be manufactured to pass for the real thing; having the weight, mechanisms, touch, etc. of the real firearm i.e. colt 45, M16, AK47, etc. The necessary bright orange tip found on all airsoft guns required by US law and regulated by local state, county, and city ordinances and the actual airsoft gun propulsion system isolates airsoft guns from real guns.

Real guns fire a fatal propellant using a form firing pin against an explosive. Airsoft guns fire a non-lethal propellant using a burst of air. The technique used to generate that burst of air distinguishes airsoft gun operations i.e. spring, gas or electric.

Airsoft gun history began in Japan around 1970. Possessing any kind of firearm was illegal and punishable by Japanese law. Yet, shooting a pistol was a personal urge.

The economic principle of 'supply and demand' surfaced in that in which a demand exists, a supply will follow. Manufacturers introduced airsoft guns that addressed the Japan demand for firearm usage, but without the lethal effects that Japanese law addressed. By the early 1990's that supply reached the United States addressing our variation of demand. We wanted firearm usage, but without the cost and lethal affects that the true gun characterized. The Airsoft Gun industry gave Japan a boost within their economy and even a better boost when those products reached export levels that included United States.

The 'SPRING' airsoft guns tend to be the decision of airsoft guns utilized by the very first time airsoft players. The start- up costs and the simple operation are a certain advantage for the novice. Whilst the name implies; the ball player simply cocks the spring before firing the airsoft gun. Whether an airsoft pistol, rifle, or automatic, the gamer cocks the spring, before firing the gun.

The 'GAS' airsoft guns were the next to enter the collections and skirmishes. The price factors increased some, but so did the firing distance, realism in usage, and simplicity of operations. Built in to the airsoft gun or the magazine for that airsoft gun is a gas powered storage system that, when triggered, will propel the BB or pellet from the gun's barrel , empty a newspaper as fast as you can pull the trigger, and (if the airsoft gun is just a 'gas-blowback') provides for the recoil operation of the gun's receiver.