Buying a second-hand airsoft gun: what to check
A used airsoft gun is a machine that somebody else has already run. That is the whole proposition: you are paying less because the wear has happened, so the only question that matters is which wear, and whether it is the cheap kind or the expensive kind.
The legal question comes first, and then you can forget it
Before anything mechanical: a realistic imitation firearm needs a defence under the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, and a two-tone gun does not. That decides whether you can buy a given gun at all, so settle it before you fall in love with a listing.
The whole of that is set out in the law guide on this site, including the muzzle energy limits and the 51 per cent figure that is not actually in the Regulations. It is not repeated here.
What you are really buying
An airsoft gun is a small machine with consumable parts. Some of those parts cost a few pounds and twenty minutes; some of them cost most of what the gun is worth. Knowing which is which is most of the skill in buying used.
The cheap kind of wear: scuffed furniture, a worn finish, a tired battery, perished O-rings, a hop rubber past its best. All of these are expected on a used gun and none should frighten you.
The expensive kind: a gearbox that has been apart and put back wrong, a stripped piston, a cracked shell, a gas system that will not hold pressure. These are not always visible, which is why the questions at the end of this guide matter more than the photographs.
Electric guns: the gearbox is the gun
On an AEG the externals are almost irrelevant to value. What you are buying is a gearbox, and a gearbox that has been opened by somebody careful is worth more than one that has never been opened at all.
Ask whether it has been apart, and what was changed. A straight answer is a good sign in itself. Shimming, a decent piston and a sorted hop unit are the difference between a gun that shoots well and one that merely works.
Listen to it if you can. A healthy gearbox is a consistent whirr. A grinding or rattling note usually means gears that are not meshing properly, and that is the expensive kind.
Two practical things people forget. Batteries are often not included, and the connector matters - older guns use the small white Tamiya plug, most sensible people have moved to Deans. Check which you are getting, because it is a five minute soldering job you may not want to do.
Gas blowback: the magazines are the expensive part
On a gas gun the magazines can be worth as much as the gun. A gas magazine is a pressure vessel with seals in it, and seals perish. A leaking magazine is the single commonest fault in second-hand gas kit.
A magazine that holds gas overnight is fine. One that is empty in the morning needs new seals, which is cheap, or a new magazine, which is not. Ask specifically how many magazines are included and whether they all hold.
Gas guns also lose performance in the cold, which is physics rather than a fault. If you are buying in January and testing in January, judge it accordingly.
CO2: more pressure, more wear
CO2 runs at a higher pressure than green gas, which makes it more consistent in the cold and harder on everything it touches. Seals and nozzles wear faster.
The thing to ask about a used CO2 gun is whether capsules were left in it between games. Leaving a capsule pierced and seated keeps the seals compressed and under pressure, and it is the usual reason a CO2 pistol arrives leaking.
What a chrono figure does and does not tell you
A muzzle energy figure without a BB weight attached is not a measurement, it is a number. The same gun chronographs differently on different ammunition, so a reading only means something alongside the weight it was taken with.
Energy is what the law and the sites both work in. Section 57A of the Firearms Act 1968 sets the ceiling above which a gun stops being an airsoft gun in law at all: 1.3 joules for anything that fires successive missiles on one trigger pull, and 2.5 joules otherwise.
Site limits are a separate thing and are usually well below the statutory ceiling. They are set by the site, not by the law, and they vary - so a gun that is legal is not automatically a gun your site will let you use.
Where several readings are given and they vary, that is normal and honest rather than a warning sign. It usually means the readings were taken on different BB weights.
What the photographs should show
Externals, from several angles, in real light. Scuffs and finish wear are expected on used kit and a seller who hides them is telling you something.
What photographs cannot show is the inside, and no amount of them substitutes for asking. Treat a listing with twenty immaculate external shots and no mechanical description as a listing that has told you nothing.
The questions worth asking before you pay
Has the gearbox or gas system been apart, and what was changed? Does it come with magazines, do they all hold gas, and is a battery included? What was it chronographed at, and on what BB weight? Why are you selling it?
That last one is not idle. Most used airsoft is sold by people leaving the sport or changing platform, and they will say so plainly. An evasive answer to an easy question is worth more than any photograph.
What this guide is not
It is not a repair manual and it is not sourced the way the law guide is. The legal paragraphs above are checked against the legislation and cited below; the mechanical ones are simply what goes wrong most often in the second-hand kit that passes through here, which is experience rather than authority. Treat it as such.
Questions
- Is buying a used airsoft gun risky?
- Less than people fear, as long as you ask about the inside rather than judging the outside. Cosmetic wear is expected and cheap. The faults worth avoiding - a badly rebuilt gearbox, a cracked shell, a gas system that will not hold - are usually disclosed if you ask directly, and are rarely visible in photographs.
- What is the muzzle energy limit for airsoft in the UK?
- Section 57A of the Firearms Act 1968 sets 1.3 joules for a gun that fires successive missiles without repeated pressure on the trigger, and 2.5 joules in any other case. Above that it is not an airsoft gun in law. Site limits are set separately by each site and are usually lower. The law guide on this site covers this in full.
- Why does the same gun chronograph differently?
- Because the reading depends on the weight of BB it was taken with. A figure quoted without a BB weight does not tell you much, and a range across several weights is normal rather than a sign of inconsistency.
- Do used airsoft guns come with a battery or magazines?
- Often not, and it is worth asking rather than assuming. On gas guns the magazines matter most, because a gas magazine is a pressure vessel with perishable seals and can be worth a significant fraction of the gun.
- Can I buy a used airsoft gun without UKARA?
- You can buy a two-tone gun without any defence at all. A realistic imitation firearm needs a defence under the Violent Crime Reduction Act 2006, and UKARA is the commonest way to evidence one but is not itself a legal requirement. The law guide sets out why.
- What goes wrong most often?
- On gas guns, magazine seals. On electric guns, the hop rubber and the battery - both cheap. The expensive failures are gearbox related and are the reason to ask whether it has been apart.
Sources
In the shop
The used guns on the shelf now:
Written by the person who sorts the stock, not by a copywriter. Corrections are welcome at [email protected].