It is safe to say that almost everyone knows that paintball guns shoot paintballs, while airsoft rifles shoot plastic airsoft BBs. But the biggest differences between the 2 different types of guns, is what is inside of them. Each gun has its strong points and its weak points.
For example, all paintball guns use either regular compressed air or compressed c02, while the electric (AEG) airsoft guns use a battery, an electric motor, and a gear box. Most of the electric airsoft guns are anything from airsoft AK-47 rifles to airsoft M249 machine guns, all of which fire very quickly.
The internals of an automatic electric airsoft gun are very interesting indeed. They have a small motor inside that turns a series of gears. The gears cock back a large spring/plunger, which compresses air within an air tight chamber when it is released. Once the air in the chamber reaches a certain pressure, it opens a release valve, which then allows the air to push out the plastic airsoft BB. This is all done repeatedly, and at a very fast pace, which is why electric airsoft guns can fire off about 10-15 shots per second.
Also, there are a couple other types of airsoft guns, most notably the airsoft sniper rifles, which are single shot, manually cocked airsoft guns. These types of airsoft rifles are slightly similar to the automatic electric airsoft guns, but are single shot guns that need to be cocked for every shot. Also, they have no gears inside. While airsoft sniper rifles may be less exciting to fire than an electric airsoft M249 SAW machine gun, they do have a very high velocity, and are very accurate.
Virtually all of the paintball guns operate in the same manner; they have an air tank that needs to be filled with either compressed air or compressed C02. Nowadays most of the paintball guns use C02, as it is more powerful and lasts longer than regular compressed air. Also, pretty much all of the paintball guns are semi automatic, which can be kind of boring compared to a fully automatic airsoft AK-47, or an airsoft M249 SAW machine gun, and so on. And since they use compressed air/C02, they need to have their air tanks refilled fairly often.
As far as the actual airsoft and paintball games go, they are both pretty similar. However, the main difference is the fact that paintballs leave an obvious mark when you hit an opponent, while the plastic BBs that airsoft guns shoot leave no visible mark. You have to literally feel the airsoft BB hit you in order to tell if you have been shot while playing airsoft.
Also, the tactics for both paintball and airsoft are virtually the same. Both types of games use the same exact type of terrain, which sometimes features tactical bunkers, towers, buildings, and so on. Paintball and airsoft are both safe to play in doors and out, as airsoft and paintball guns both shoot about the same distance, and at about the same FPS (feet per second).
So what does it boil down to? Well, if you like the idea of firing off 14+ shots per second at your foes, then I would highly recommend that you give airsoft a try. But if you like the thought of leaving a nice big (and obvious) spot of paint on your opponent, then it sounds like paintball is the game for you. However, paintballs are very expensive compared to plastic airsoft BBs, so that is another factor to take into consideration as well.
Tags: airsoft, airsoft guns, Airsoft Sniper Rifles