Airsoft as a sport has been remarkably popular in some of the major Asian countries but is yet to be as well-known as paintball in North America. However, sales of guns are considerably increasing in America as well and it can easily be anticipated that the sport is going to be hugely popular in the coming years. As you go further through this post you will come across a bit about the history of this immensely enjoyable sport besides its features and reasons behind its growing popularity.

History

Airsoft pistols or rifles, though replicas of real firearms, can at once give you the feeling of handling real weapons. This was the reason why these gaming tools became so popular in East Asia and Japan in the 1950s. It wasn’t really possible for citizens to get access to real firearms. As a result, in order to derive the real fun of military role-playing and target practicing, people started using these pistols. People of Taiwan, Hong Kong started using them increasingly and today these weapons have become famous even in parts of Europe and the United States.

Popularity As A Sport

Airsoft as a sport is frequently compared to paintball. Though paintball is one of the favored sporting activities today, the other one is catching up fast as well. One of the major reasons why airsoft guns are preferred to that of the paintball guns is that the former can be maintained easily. The presence of paint in the pellet can often cause damage to the gun chamber or the gun itself. It acts as a major drawback for the paintball guns. But there is no such concern regarding airsoft pistols. Moreover, airsoft is cheaper than paintball. The wide array of gears and items needed for paintball includes box of paints, carbon dioxide tanks, gun, laundry detergent (for removing paint from the gear), long-sleeved pants and shirts masks etc. Some of the guns might cost as huge as 1000 dollars as well.

Airsoft, on the other hand, is much cheaper as a sporting activity as it requires you to avail a few gears with a gun costing around 200 dollars on an average. You might also avail them at lesser prices. Basic gears like long-sleeved shirts, pants, gloves, masks etc are required but there is no need to purchase laundry detergent to wash the paint off your gear.

According to available information, though paintball is promoted on a serious level, whereby its played by professional teams and the games are telecast on television as well, airsoft is yet to gain similar kind of exposure.

Considered to be one of the most thoroughly enjoyable combat games today, airsoft is soon expected to gain wider acceptance in the regions where it is yet to be explored as a serious sporting activity. Though it is less known in North America today, citizens are slowly taking note of it, as the pistols themselves are a cheap and flexible. Be it for casual play or else skirmishes, this next generation gaming tool is definitely here to stay.

Author Bio: Sam Payn is a sporting fanatic and is writing about Airsoft gun at present.

Photo Credits: Wikipedia http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8244/8548296147_028e01a963.jpg

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