Really basic airsoft questions.

[kwrangln]

Guess I should start out with "I have zero experience with airsoft", just so everyone knows.

Currently there is not a blowback airsoft model of a S&W M&P pistol. Question is, would I really be missing anything with a non blowback version? Do you have to rack the slide on a blowback when you load it? Do they have a slide stop that kicks in when they are empty? Does the blowback lend itself to a more realistic feel when firing?

Uncle Sam aint gonna let me throw a pistol in my checked baggage when I go TAD, but I think an airsoft may get by since I travel stateside, so would like to get one to practice when I'm on the road.

I've read on the board here that one M&P shooter uses a Sigma airsoft since it has the blowback while the M&P version doesn't, I may go that route if the blowback design really does make a difference in training.

Any input you can offer me on this is much appreciated, thanks.

[nub]

One of my friends has a nonblowback M&P. I shot it and it is very different from blowbacks I've shot. If i was you I'd get a blowback. Personaly I dont think airsoft is good training because the actions and recoil of airsoft guns are different from real guns.

[Genghis]

I saw an ad for a M&P BB gun, I believe gas blowback.

[Duane Thomas]

Personaly I dont think airsoft is good training because the actions and recoil of airsoft guns are different from real guns.

The fact that the recoil level with Airsofts is different than with real guns is one of their great training virtues. I can already tell that I'm going to get tired of cutting and pasting this same paragraph I wrote, but OTOH I'm just not up for typing the same thing over and over again.

"Actually the fact that there is very little recoil and muzzle flip with an Airsoft is one of its major virtues. For one thing, it's very hard, if you do all or most of your practice with live ammo, for even hardened shooters to not develop at least a bit of flinch. Airsoft gets you around that. But for the sort of shooting we do, probably the major Airsoft virtue is that, because there's little muzzle flip and because, in the overall scheme of things compared to a real gun, the sights are moving back-and-forth more slowly, it's much easier to watch the sights move through the entire arc of recoil. This seems to transition over to an improved ability to tract the sights once you switch back over to a real gun. It's a common experience with a shooter who stays away from live ammo for awhile and does copiious amounts of Airsoft practice that the next time they go to the range with live ammo, they find that not only has their speed improved, so has their accuracy at speed."

[kwrangln]

Thanks Duane, that makes perfect sense.

Looks like I have to hold out for a blowback M&P gun, or find something at least pretty close to it. I've heard the Sigma airsoft is fairly close, but don't know if it will fit my holster. Guess it's a waiting game.