Airsoft

Airsoft is a competitive sport closely related to paintball. It is similar in that you have a gun or a marker and you re-enact a real life firefight. They both require a lot of strategy and physical fitness. In some games of airsoft, I probably travel up to mile in distance.

The main difference between the two is the projectile. In airsoft, the projectile is a 6mm plastic bb that comes in various weights such as .12g, .25g, .28g, .36g, and the most common being .20g. On the other hand, paintballs are .68 caliber. Another big difference is that airsoft tends to be more life-like than paintball in that airsoft guns are actual "model" guns, whereas paintball markers tend to just be a functional design, in no way resembling a specific gun. As far as being shot by each, I would have to say that getting shot by a paintball marker hurts much more than getting shot by an airsoft gun. Although paintballs travel slower than airsoft bb's, they have more mass, which leave a large bruise at the impact site. Airsoft shots travel much faster, but have severely less mass resulting in a smaller, but more precise welt that can sometimes draw blood. Regardless both are a fun way to pass time and exercise at the same time

Recently airsoft has come under the public spotlight. This is a result of robberies being committed using airsoft guns as a "fake gun" used to rob the store. My mom use to always tell me this story of a man who robbed a store with an airsoft gun, but the police had no way of knowing that it was a fake gun. In the end, the police ended up having to shoot and kill the robber. After the fact, it was discovered that the robber was using an airsoft gun and not a real gun. She would warn me never to use an airsoft gun in public because, despite the orange muzzle, it could be mistaken for a real gun.

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