My son is wanting an airsoft for his birthday. I don't have any experience with them. Any recommendations? Is he too young? TIA

I don't have any experience but I am always reminded of this video. I'd be all for it. I got a paintball gun at that age.

Liku is that Japanese kid. I am sure he lists recommendations

I had a potentially lethal if misused air rifle at that age that I had open access to so long as I was responsible with it. I'd say airsoft is fine with responsibility involved. Treat it like a real gun outside the parameters of gaming with it.

Same. I ran around the woods with a Benjamin pellet gun and a 22 ruger. Killed every squirrel and turtle within 5 miles.

Sons have Glock brand (identical in size function to real ones) pistols and an AR.

Can confirm skills translate to real firearms. It is just a fancy dry fire exercise. When Liku gets comfortable with the trigger break and recoil he is already extremely practiced and polished with everything else. His reloads and malfunction clears are unreal.

Check out the new gel ball guns. They shoot mini orbies and are very accurate. They are safer/softer impacts and biodegradable. Ammo is dirt cheap for them.

Example gun:
TPEBI Electric Gel Water Ball Blaster with 60000+ Water Beads and Goggles, Splatter Ball Blaster Summer Team Game Toy , for Outdoor Activities, 12+ Birthday Gifts, for Boys and Girls Adult, Aqua https://a.co/aMfvhnL

I just spent 6 hours watching my son and 2 buddies go head to head with a bunch of grown ass men dressed as SEALS at a place called D-14 north of Denton. My boys are 14. They are big into airsoft. Here's my advise. We have several guns from Academy, etc that were all sub-$100. They are backyard blasters, but not what you need if you play against regulars. If he wants to go to events, you will soon find Evike.com. We got our son a HK416D (Umarex) that's been upgraded. It's on par with what most of the guys shoot. You can spend more, but I'd caution against spending less. You will just spend more money in the long run buying $100 guns they go unused as they will want/"need" better guns pretty quick.

Something that fido touched on.....
What's he gonna use it for?
Just shooting around the house like he would bb gun? Buy cheapo from academy.
Going to get into battles/games like paintball... Then go to evike and spend more but get better quality.
My son is almost 13. A year ago he was convinced he needed an airsoft gun bc of what he'd seen on YouTube.

He saved money and bought evike. Before he did so i asked if he was sure bc none of his buddies had an airsoft gun. He insisted and I saw the lesson coming

Gun never gets used except maybe once every 3 months shooting at trees in the woods. Lasts about 15 minutes he's already starting to think of selling it.

Does he want to play, or just plink?

A "HiCapa" style pistol is one you might really consider. Can be equipped with a hi cap mag and airsystem to play "speedsoft" makes a good back up outdoors, and can be used as a primary indoors or outdoors

Also teaches pistol handling well.

If you do buy an AEG, I would stick to a v2 compatible mechbox, which means an m4/16 style receiver generally. They're arguably the easiest to find parts for and tinker with.


The EMG helios is a great point to jump in, if he's planning to compete.


If you're near Houston, the evidence outpost at high grounds probably has rentals. Tanks has weekly games.

I would highly reccomend he trys it before he commits.... some kids are little whirling dervishes that give no shots about getting hit, some take a round the first time and nope completely out!

Oh...and eye safety. Real eyesafety, not mesh goggles and the minimum. I will buy him a mask out of my pocket if that's out of the budget.

I have been playing paintball for 25 years, airsoft around 20 of them. I have seen 2 incidents in my time( including as a ref) that where not cause simply by lack of proper Eyewear and following safety rules. Had a forward slide into.a staked down snake and get skewered on the spike, and a bust valve that failed in a freak accident and cause an injury.

I know, personally, people who lost an eye to a paintball, and to an airsoft bb shard( his eye is not gone, but it is nearly blinded.) Coming throught a mesh mask. Also consider soft larynx protection.... I was no there the day a friend ended up in ICU on a freak shot.

I'm not a safety sally..I dot dumb **** all the time, but safety needs to be payed attention to when you're shooting things at each other competitively. I'd rather buy the kid a mask myself than see him have an accident we could have avoided.

Great information. I think he wants to just play around the house right now.

My 7 year old son, 8 and 10 year old nephews have each fired thousands of rounds of .22 at our property. They know if any of them do something unsafe with the guns they all get them taken away. It makes them pay attention to those around them and they hold each other accountable

I found a place NW of Austin we are going to try. $50 to play and rental equipment. I'm sure I will get hooked too.

I've got a TM gas M4 you should tinker with. The thing is realistic enough I've had combat vets think it was an M4 until they looked at the mag. It actually has a BCG that looks like a proper AR platform sans the bolt, and runs like a real AR platform off gas recoil.

Orange tips!!! Unless you're going to a place designated to play, always have some form of orange tip on it. May also discuss with him what to do if he's running around on the property and has an encounter with LEO. I know that sounds silly, but you're talking about a hyper realistic replica, just go over the basics.

I nearly gave a warden heart failure 20 years ago when my f150 full of dudes in tactical gear and rifles, one of which appeared to be a 240, came pulling out of a wooded area. It was all veeeery funny after the fact, I'm sure he was glad to be wearing brown pants before he realized who I was. I did ask wth he thought he was going to do with the pistol ;-).

Just be careful with them. Karens will call and lie to the police in ways yall wouldn't believe. This is a good time to teach safe and intelligent interactions with LEO anyway.