Man carrying toy gun flees police (The Sacramento Bee)

A toy gun and quick feet caused a stir today after a 22-year-old man believed to be carrying a gun took off running as Sacramento County Sheriff's deputies approached him at 8 a.m. near the intersection of Watt Avenue and Auburn Boulevard.

The Basic Workings of Airsoft Guns

Spring loading airsoft guns are similar to the old fashioned six-shooter of the Old West. They must be 'cocked' in order to fire each individual shot. This means the player must pull back the slide for a pistol and pull on the grip of a rifle. The pellets are propelled through the barrel by a set of springs. By cocking the weapon, the player is activating the spring for firing. These are the easiest types of airsoft weapons to fire and use. Prices for spring loaded guns start at $2.50 and go as high as $129.95 plus tax.

Airsoft guns, however, will never be mistaken for paintball guns even by the untrained eye. Airsoft guns were manufactured to look and feel real and the models available are replicas of many of the real weapons on the market today, such as 9mm pistols and high-powered sniper rifles. As a matter of fact, some of them even come with targeting lasers. The fact that the airsoft gun looks and feels so real is what draws many people to play airsoft and purchase an airsoft gun. Airsoft guns are also more powerful that paintball guns and they have a wider range of canister gas available for powering the firing mechanism. Playing airsoft is nothing like playing paintball. Airsoft it's a lot less messy and a lot more realistic than paintball.

Electric airsoft guns - or AEGs - also use spring propulsion, but a battery is used to power the spring. The battery gives the weapon the ability to be fired as an automatic or semi-automatic weapon. They are more powerful than the spring loaded guns, but because of the automatic/semi-automatic firing features, these guns are of a higher-quality and looked at as the superior airsoft product. These weapons start at $8.00 and go as high as $699.99 plus tax.

Airsoft guns are the newest rage in the military and police simulation game world. Each one is uniquely designed with numerous parts and the more expensive models can be as complex as a real rifle or pistol. Spring action, gas, and electric are the three types of mechanisms used to fire these guns. They use 6mm or 8mm pellet ammunition which are usually made from hard plastic and 6mm paintball pellets can also be used if the player prefers. The advantage of the paintball pellets is that players know who have been shot and where when playing with paintball guns. With airsoft guns the game is played more on the honor system since there is no real way to know if someone has been hit.