Reference Source on Air/Spring Powered Guns?

May 10, 2013 12:34 PM

I'm looking for a good contemporary reference source on airguns. BB guns, paintball guns air-soft guns, pellet guns, all of the above. Google, Amazon and my local library have failed me so far. So, are the any war-gamers out there who know of an organization or publication that may help me?

Background: I'm writing a paper on air gun injuries. In my discussion I distinguish between different types of air-powered guns, but I'm having a hard time backing up what I'm saying with references.

For example, can all plastic BBs technically be called Airsoft BBs?
Are Airsoft guns marketed more for war games or target practice?

I kinda have a sense of the answer to these questions from my own experience and from cruising commercial airgun websites, but I'd like to have something like a book or magazine that I could more comfortably cite in my paper.

posted by midmarch snowman to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

almost all of the literature that is modern is written by the manufacturers

example:

http://www.umarexusa.com/pages/airriflebuyingguide.aspx


but these guys seem to have a lot of the classics:

http://www.bigspringguns.net/books2.htm
posted by bobdow at 12:42 PM on May 10, 2013

Best answer: I'd check an airsoft discussion forum. It's definitely the kind of hobby where people love to get online and talk about it in detail. Maybe the forum content won't be cite-able, but I bet it'd be an efficiency way to track down material that is.
posted by mullacc at 1:13 PM on May 10, 2013

Airsoftguns.net
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 2:30 PM on May 10, 2013