BB GUNS RIFLE BUYING GUIDE

BB GUNS RIFLE BUYING GUIDE

So you want to get your first bb gun, or maybe you're buying some bb guns as a gift for your kids, and you are just overwhelmed by the info and terminology around them, first off don't worry we are here to help and make this as painless as possible. 

if you were in our store, the first thing I would say to you if you were in the bbguns4less shop is.

1. how much do you want to spend?
2. do you want an automatic firing bb gun (aeg) or manual firing gun? (spring action)

BB Guns costs (AEG)

The cheapest automatic bb gun rifles start at about £25 and below is what I would say you get for your money.

£25 to £55 -
Entry level bb guns for home use, good for target shooting, and garden wars etc., perfect for kids or grown-ups who want a little play around.

£55 to £90 -
The Best level Entry level bb guns for home use, good for target shooting, and garden wars etc. and players who have had a taste of owning a gun before and want something with a noticeably improved performance on the cheapest automatic bb guns. On the downside of this price range, most guns are not upgradable and spare parts apart from extra mags not readily available. On the upside, if your playing at home this price range of rifle is as good as you are going to need and more expensive guns could be overkill.

£90 to £150 -
Starter skirmish grade bb guns, This type of gun will have an even better performance on the best entry level bb guns, and a better build quality, if you're looking to go to a skirmish site, this is the minimum you will need to spend to get something that's up to the job. Also if you want parts if they go wrong or you break something you should be able to get that part you need. Keep in mind lots of guns at this price point will not come with batteries or chargers as standard so if it doesn't say in the listing, it comes with the charger etc. it probably won't. One good thing about this level of gun is if you get a good one it will most likely perform as good as some guns that cost much more, as the higher you go in price from here most of that cash goes on the build cost.

£150 plus
If your spending over this you are getting a pro bb gun (airsoft guns) you going to get something with a good build around 200 you going to get a metal receiver probably and over that your looking at improved rates of fire or a unique style of bb guns like a support gun or other large weapons that are real show peace.

SPRING POWERD (SINGLE SHOT) BB GUNS

£10 to £25
This price range is the cheapest type of bb gun rifles you can buy, and for this, you can expect to get a rifle that is good for target shooting at home. The build quality at the lower end will most probably be reduced, but the guns nearer the £20 to £25 pound mark will be noticeably better made especially the double eagle brand rifles. Power wise lots of the bb guns in this range are quite good because they are cocked by hand they have mostly got stiff springs in them, and that means more powerful shots. At this price, you can get a cheap pump action shotgun or an assault rifle. You can even get a cheap sniper rifle, but at this price, it will probably not be full size, and low quality and something aimed at kids use only.

£25 to £40
around this price, you can get a decent spring powered single shot pump action shotgun or assault rifle this will still be for home use etc., as normally the only spring gun you would take a skirmish would be a sniper rifle, and in this price range a sniper will not be good enough to be skirmish-able.

£40 to £75
for this, you can expect a good pump action shotgun that takes shells and fires three shots with just one pump, or a basic sniper rifle that is mostly plastic made like the cyma ZM51 that will come with a mock red dot scope and plastic bipod.

£75+
At this price, you can get a decent WELL brand sniper rifle (without bipod and scope) that will have a metal barrel, and if you wanted to add scopes or bipods in the future, you could buy proper metal bipods and telescopic scope to fit them. Obviously the more you spend from here, the better gun you will get, but even some of the cheapest well sniper rifles around this price they will mostly all be upgradable if you wanted to do so, as some are cloned from top of the range TOKYO MARUI sniper rifles. But some upgrade parts will be costing much more than the rifle its self. click here to see our spring rifles.

RIFLE BUILD TYPE

BB Guns are mostly made from a type of plastic that is referred to on this site as "ABS plastic" which is incredibly strong and durable. But some expensive AEG Rifles can be made of metal, but they usually are costing around 200 pounds, some of the high-end rifles on bbuns4less are made from Polymer (a solid plastic-like material) this type is a step up from the standard abs plastic type guns, but you will be playing for this step up in quality. If you spent about £80 you could buy a pretty good sniper rifle with a metal barrel.

In most cases of two-tone rifles that are made of abs plastic, the plastic will be self-coloured (i.e. orange plastic), but some guns that come in black are spray painted in a colour to make them legal to buy for non-ukara members. When a gun has been sprayed sometimes even though it's new it may contain some imperfections like a scratch or some overspray, but it's not that common, and they usually are quite good.

TWO TONE VS BLACK GUNS (& THE LAW)

To put it simply if you don't have a UKARA membership or your a filmmaker etc. you have no choice other than to buy a two-tone bb gun as you could end up on the wrong side of the law. The first thing newbies ask us is "ain't black guns more powerful" to that the answer is no, two-tone and black replicas are the same gun just in a different colour. If you want to try to get a UKARA membership to allow you to buy a black replica, this will take you about six weeks to do so, to do this you will need to visit a registered skirmish site a minimum of 3 times within two months. Then will have to ask the skirmish site to apply for you to become a member. The law regarding airsoft guns is unlike air rifles, as with them you can buy them face to face only with no licence as long as you are over 18, but they can't not be sent in the post. But with bbgun/airsoft guns can send them in the post. So that means you can buy any two-tone gun from this site and get it delivered to you with no problem and no licence needed entirely legal. Or if you want a black gun you can buy it and get it sent to you so long as you have a valid defence like a UKARA etc. (sorry no exceptions). You have to be over 18 years old to buy a gun from us but there is no minimum age to use one with parental supervision, but we recommend 12+. for more info see our article Are bb guns illegal or legal? 

BB RIFLES commonly fall into THREE categories, each with their own advantages and disadvantages:

SPRING POWERD RIFLES

This is the type of rifle most new bb gun players buy if they are starting at a young age. Also, they are also usually the cheapest type bb guns rifles you can buy. Some spring rifles starting at only 10 pounds. New players looking for a rifle select this type of bb gun as its cocked manually it does not need any batteries or gas to make it shoot, and that makes this category of bb gun also the cheapest to run and maintain. To fire it you just pull back on the cocking lever until it clicks then release, then you are ready to shoot. Spring rifles will shot in a range of about 200 fps minimum and the average rifle about 250 to 350 fps and with the most powerful sniper rifles shooting at over 550 fps (fps = feet per second) goto Spring powered rifles

ELECTRIC RIFLES

Most popular for skirmishers and more fun for at home are fully auto electric rifles. This type of bb gun will usually come with a rechargeable battery pack and mains charger. With this type of gun, when you have a fully charged battery in the weapon you just pull the trigger, and it will fire. (no manual cocking by hand) commonly there are fire selectors on this type of gun that will allow you to shot in semi-auto mode (one shot with one trigger pull) or fully auto (rapid fire multiple shots with one trigger pull) on fully auto a cheaper rifle will probably start at about 5 rounds per sec, with better guns going over 12 rounds per sec in some cases.

This type of rifle sells for around 25 pounds for the very cheapest uzi type gun and goes up to over 500 pounds. They shoot in the range of around 100 to 400 fps (fps = feet per second), and they would mostly use 0.20g ammo. goto Electric rifle's

REGULAR BATTERY POWERED GUNS (RUN ON AA OR AAA BATTERY'S)

There are 1 or 2 bb guns that use AAA OR AA batteries of the bbguns4less site but they are very few, and we would commonly recommend you get a bb gun with a rechargeable battery pack. This type of gun is usually low power and is expensive to run. But if you do get one, keep in mind is that you need to use good new batteries like Duracell or similar as batteries from the pound shop just won't cut it (you can use rechargeable ones) This type of rifle sells for around 30 pounds. Lower in power than most spring guns or regular AEG'S makes this bb gun ideal for kids. Batterie pistols will shot in a range of about 100fps minimum to 200fps (fps = feet per second) with this type of pistol we would recommend 0.12g bb pellets but also see our BB Pellets Buying Guide.

GAS RIFLES

This is the third most common type of rifle we stock on bbguns4less
and its normally one of the most expensive types of airsoft rifles you can get, but with that price Gas airsoft bb guns are normally very well made, but require a bit of looking after and we would usually only recommend them to players who have had some experience with airsoft guns and a good knowledge of how they work.
In order to use a gas blowback rifle, you will need to fill the magazine with gas, or if it's a co2 gun, you obviously use a co2 capsule. The most common type of propellant is something called Green Gas. when the mag is filled you only need to pull the trigger. For it to fire. A great feature of a gas rifle is some have a blowback feature and when you pull the trigger is will give the bb gun some recoil, and that really adds a powerful dose of realism to the weapon. Gas rifles will also be the most expensive type of rifle to run with a 1000ml can of green gas costs about 10 pounds and a 13g co2 capsule cost about 60p each, but it will still be very cheap compared to paintball with a shot on average is probably going to cost less than 0.01p. GBB pistols will shot in a range of about 250fps minimum with the most powerful shooting at over 350fps (fps = feet per second). goto Gas Powered Rifles

AIRSOFT RIFLE MAINTENANCE

The number one thing is to NEVER REUSE PELLETS; this can damage the inside of your weapon and will void any warranty given. Airsoft bb guns are like real guns, and you need to keep them clean as much as possible and avoid getting them wet and dirt and dust free. There are some cleaning kits you can buy, and a cleaning rod is a handy bit of kit to own. Lubricate moving parts by using a silicone oil or a similar lubricant. This will help to keep the rifle working smoothly and prevent wear and tear on the inner parts. if you want to do something particular You tube is a good resource for showing you how to do practically anything with an airsoft rifle. 

RIFLE AMMO TYPE

It may sound crazy but usually, the small pack of bbs that come with the bb guns are normally low quality, and we don't recommend using them. There are normally about 50 bb pellets that come with the gun, and the cost of them is almost nothing, so we recommend using your good bbs from the start (if you bought some). Always use a well trusted brand (all of the bb pellets on bbguns4less are good quality) See our bb pellet buying guide for more details on the best weight pellet to use with what pistol.

BRANDS TO LOOK OUT FOR

SPRING RIFLES - Go for CYMA or Double Eagle.
GAS BLOWBACK RIFLES - LOOK AT WE Tech
ELECTRIC RIFLES - For cheaper ones look at Blackviper, well or Double Eagle for more expensive look at CYMA, Double Bell, SNOW WOLF , Dboys or Army Armerment ETC

POPULAR STYLES OF RIFLES.

Popular styles of BB GUN Rifles include M4, M16, ,MP5, G36 AK47, AK74, UZI, AUG, FAMAS, L85 SA80, P90 but this list could go on and on.

Try to think before you buy what type of game you are mostly going to play for example CQB or outdoor woodland skirmishes, also if you want rail space for multiple devices etc. and then consider what you actually like the look of. Budget wise we have most guns in most price ranges.

RIFLE SLINGS

if you are carrying you gun for long times you may want to consider buying a rifle gun sling there are quite a few types of slings for sale on bbguns4less inc 1,2, and 3 point slings and they come in lots of different colours and camo patterns to match any type of kit you may have. for more info go to our Tactical slings page.

AIRSOFT RIFLE SAFETY

When using ANY BB gun please remember to NEVER look down the barrel, loaded or not - also do not forget to buy yourself a full face mask or at the least a set of safety glasses as eye protection is essential to using any BB gun, regardless of whether you are at home or in a skirmish. Also, a rifle case is essential for safe movement of airsoft guns in public places as moving an airsoft rifle in full view of the public is not a good idea and is dangerous to do so as they can easily be mistaken for the real thing. Never go out doors in public brandishing bb guns even if its two tones as it could land you in a lot of trouble and always use common sense.

if there is any thing we have left out please let us know & please give us a good review if you love our bb guns & airsoft rifles - it helps us out a lot and allows us to get more guns on the site!

let us start by saying we truly believe you have made the right choice in using us to get your first bb gun. more more info see our article, Are BB guns dangerous?

Top 10 Airsoft Safety tips

1. Transporting guns.
Always move around guns in a protective case. Not only will it protect your gun, but it is also required by law and could prevent you from getting shot your self.

2. Never paint your gun black if you don't have a valid reason to own a black gun.
The two-tone colour helps people such as police officers distinguish it from a real gun. Painting them black is against the law.

3. Always treat the bb gun as if it were loaded.
And never look down a gun barrel.

4. Never point the gun at anything that you don’t want to shoot.
Keep your finger off of the trigger when moving, This will help to prevent accidental shooting.

5. Make sure there isn’t anything beyond your target that you don’t want to shoot, as You can’t always count on hitting your target.

6. Never take your bb gun to school.
This could get you suspended, expelled, or maybe even arrested.

7. Avoid playing in public parks and spaces which can be illegal and cause distress to any persons nearby, Play on private property, in your own garden or designated Airsoft sites.

8. Full face protective masks are suggested for full face protection at all times whether playing with the gun and even if you are just standing nearby we suggest you get something to protect your self from an accidental shot or rebound. Never shoot at anyone who dont have on proper protection.

9. Wear heavy clothing or a tactical vest etc and avoid unprotected visible skin from t-shirts etc. Thick jumpers or coats, and balaclava's, gloves, hats, strong boots, and knee and elbow pads are recommended.

10. if you dont have a full face mask, Never play without Airsoft glasses or goggles with shatterproof lenses instead.

if you interested in buying a pistol check out our pistol buying guide or if you want to see our best cheap bb guns under £50 click the link

please leave a comment if we have left anything out that we should have put in thanks and play safe.