The History of Airsoft

The game of airsoft originates from the ever-popular skirmish game of Paintball. Over the years, there has been much controversy in the airsofting community as to who actually made the first airsoft model. As a proven fact, it was Daisy who marketed what they like to call the first “softair” gun back in the late ‘70’s and early ‘80’s. It fired a miniature 6mm calibre hollow plastic shuttlecock-like projectile at very low speeds. The intention of Daisy creating this almost toy like gun, was for other markets and manufacturers to catch on, and begin their own mass production of these “softair” guns.

Tokyo Marui, was one of the first to begin production on self-assembled plastic gun replicas. It was modified some, but was still built to shoot the same projectile as Daisy. Within a short amount of time, about 5 years or so, they had built 1:1 scale models and gone into full production. Low powered airsoft kits were made, firing a new 6mm round plastic projectile. At the turn of the decade or early ‘90’s, spring powered airsoft guns became almost obsolete and the new Automatic Electric Guns, or AEG’s were put into production. AEG’s required no self-assembly, but came ready to use right out of the box. These guns, to most players’ amazement, shot with such realism and extreme accuracy just like the real-world counterparts they displayed.

As popularity grew, well over ten manufacturers emerged in Japan, Taiwan, some eastern countries, and even North America. Airsoft in recent years has now reached a level beyond that of Paintball, and is still growing in the number of people who participate.