Getting Started with Airsoft - Part 2

Last time I covered what a new player should be thinking about when they decide to jump into Airsoft. If you have not read it yet, take a look at it here.

There are a number of things to consider when buying your first gun. My hope is that by bringing a few things to your attention I can help you save money and enjoy the game more.

I’ll be throwing out some numbers of prices and defining a few categories in this post. These are all opinions based on my experience. Some of the things I say here might be a different price or fit into a different category based on your own experience. It is okay to disagree of things like this. The point is that new players need to know what to expect so that they are not diving blindly into the miasma that is the Airsoft retail marketplace.

To get started, I would like to show you how I like to separate players into a few different categories, depending on their level of experience and what gear they have.

PRE-ENTRY LEVEL: This guy plays with clear guns around the house or neighborhood. He might go out into the woods every once-in-a-while with some buddies to have a war, but he still uses .12 gram BBs. This is where I and countless other veterans started.

ENTRY LEVEL: This guy owns his one real AEG and might have some camo and a vest. He has aspirations to get more gear, but is limited by either money or restrictions placed on him by his parents. He knows that .20 gram BBs are the standard, but sometimes spills them on the ground while trying to refill his high-cap mag.

MID LEVEL: This is the guy who has two or three guns and maybe some nice gear, but still plays with stock guns. He has discovered that mid-cap mags make the game a lot more fun, and has discovered that .30 gram BBs fly a lot better than the lightweight ones. He can see himself maybe specializing with a DMR or something like that soon, though he does not know for sure yet.

VETERAN: This is when you finally see your really experienced players. This guy is decked out with all his mags and his radio-helmet combo. All of his guns are not only high-quality, but also heavily upgraded internally. He is usually on some sort of squad or team, and might be equipped with a DSG sub-machine gun or HPA assault rifle. The only way to overcome this guy is to either swarm him with overwhelming numbers, or outthink him. Both are very difficult.

Moving up in my list is as simple as playing the game, becoming a better player, and getting better gear. The list is not written in stone, so you might have a veteran running around with a clear plastic MPEG just for the fun of it. The people who play are as varied as the opinions in politics, but for the most part, someone will fall into one of those categories.

Next, I’ll give you some prices to expect when getting started, so you can know what you are getting yourself into. Since pre-entry level doesn’t really play on organized fields, I will leave them out.

GEAR: shirt, pants, boots, head gear, radio, equipment, etc…

Entry: $50 for some eye pro, maybe a tactical vest, and some cargo pants.

Mid: $250 for nice boots, combat gear, nicer eye pro, a face mask, and a walkie talkie.

Veteran: $500-700 for a plate carrier and pouches, nice radio with headset and helmet, and whatever awesome gear your loadout calls for. Might be less, but that means you’re not getting the good stuff.

ASSAULT RIFLES AND OTHER AEGs: M4, AK-47, HK416, SCAR-L, MP5, UMP45, etc…

Entry: $90-150 for a decent quality stock AEG.

Mid: $200-400 for a couple of nice AEGs and maybe a few upgrades here and there.

Veteran: $450+ for a complete gearbox overhaul or HPA system, not including labor cost.

LIGHT MACHINE GUNS: M249, M60, SCAR-H, STONER, RPK, etc…

Entry: entry level players typically cannot afford a SAW or other LMGs.

Mid: $250 for a stock LMG.

Veteran: $650+ for an LMG pushed to it’s limits with an HPA setup or gearbox overhaul.

SNIPER RIFLES: VSR10, MK96, SVD, etc…

Entry: $90-120 for a stock Well or UTG sniper rifle.

Mid: $350 for the minimum parts to allow your rifle to compete with most stock AEGs.

Veteran: $700-1200 in money and time worth to max out the range and accuracy of a bolt-action rifle. This is STILL not enough to outperform some Mid level or Veteran AEGs if you lack the skill or patience to use it.

Keep in mind that this does not include ammo. The price of ammo is heavily dependent on quality and weight. I will go over what ammo to buy on a later date, but for now, expect to spend $20-30 a month for good quality BBs if you play twice a week. Keep in mind that guns using lower weights (cheaper) BBs will typically consume considerably more ammo than the Sniper Rifle that uses the .43 gram BBs that cost $10 for 500. I will cover what ammo is best and what to stay away from in a later post, but for now, don’t be afraid to ask other people’s opinions on what ammo to buy. It’s not the end of the world if happen to buy one bag of crappy ammo. You can always get more.

I have a huge caveat for those beginner that wish to become snipers. This is a very risky and, quite frankly, foolish course for beginners to take. In case you missed it, I can build an AEG for about $250 that will outperform nearly every single sniper rifle on the field. Consider carefully if you are thinking of buying a sniper rifle. It is a long and expensive road that has a tendency to interfere with having fun with the game.

Another thing to note is that those prices are not typically one-time payments. Those things are purchased over time. It may seem like a lot, but when you are splitting things up into $30, $70, or $100 segment, things suddenly seem a lot more manageable.

MY RECOMMENDATION for Beginners (even those wishing to become snipers) is to find your choice of model AEG in the $150 to $250 range. This will allow you to get out and have some fun, and slowly upgrade over time. If you want to buy a sniper rifle or other project gun later, you will always have that first AEG to fall back on if your primary goes down or is not performing.

The key to not wasting money when getting started in airsoft is to take your time. Do not rush into any decisions. Learn everything you can about whatever you want to buy beforehand. Find local groups to get advice from or join a few groups on social media for nearly unlimited access to opinions and on-the-spot reviews of products.

Thanks for the read. I hope this was helpful. I will have one or two more weeks of Airsoft theory before We get into some more practical stuff like what to buy and how to do things. Join me next week for my Introduction to my new line of Airsoft upgrades.