You may be asking yourself whether you should be concerned about the airsoft guns and their power to penetrate through skin and seriously hurt someone. Airsoft is not a gentle sport, however it is not one of those brutal sports that offer a high set of odds of receiving an injury.
If you check out on social network, you may find some videos of people shooting each other with airsoft guns using plastic airsoft BBs. All of them survived with nothing but a bruise.
So, how much does airsoft hurt?
Airsoft may hurt a lot if the rules are disobeyed and if you are not properly protected with the safety gear. However, it is hard to define how painful airsoft really is because it depends to a person. Some players tolerate pain better than others.
I have written the entire guide on how to heal airsoft bruisers, welts and scratches effectively , so if you are experiencing some of such issues or want to be ready for the future, check it out.
In the following post I will mention a few simple, yet important preventative methods that will keep you safe for the whole duration of the game because you can minimize the pain so it almost becomes non-existent!
How dangerous and painful can Airsoft be?
Besides of the skin penetration, airsoft can not hurt you seriously! In some cases when people do not follow the safety protocol it may hurt an eye, not a pleasant feeling and the damage may vary. However, the very first thing when it comes to the safety is to protect the eyes with Airsoft protection glasses.
When you properly protect the eyes with safety gear, there are no ways that you will get hurt!
The skin penetration is often just a bruise that will diminish within days. The injuries are rare, especially when the safety protocols are followed.
Probably the most usual injury is not that related to Airsoft itself, but rather the clumsiness of the player and it is any kind of a body strain, joint twist or a bruise caused by inappropriate moving of the body.
This however, happens even when you go for a simple jogging or lifting a heavy object from the floor.
The only real way to realize how painful airsoft really is, is to test it on yourself. I think that any standard airsoft gun that shoots at velocity of 400 FPS and hits you from 100 feet should not cause any significant pain, if you are hit with the same gun at 50 feet, you may experience some pain though.
Sometimes you may see players in simple t-shirts with rolled up sleeves and sometimes you will spot players rolled in a thick winter jacket combined with a thick hoodie and additional layers beneath.
Can Airsoft penetrate skin?
Airsoft can penetrate skin but only if someone is getting shot by a high velocity Airsoft gun at a close range. Even when the skin is penetrated you are not likely to suffer any great injury besides of some pain and blood that can easily be compared to of a lesser force than what a neighbours cat may cause to you.
You should not be worried about this problem and if it ever happens to you it will all heal up in a matter of days, especially if you follow my guide on how to heal airsoft wounds!
How deep can the Airsoft BB penetrate skin?
Any of such questions are based on the overall power and velocity of a gun. An airsoft gun and its bb can penetrate skin at best until it makes you bleed, not facing any serious complications that may require a surgery like it is the case with a real bullet.
However, in 99% of the cases you will feel nothing more than a simple bruise followed by some tingling sensation. To further increase the safety of the players on an Airsoft field there are the rules that forbid being shot from a close range with a high velocity weapon.
So, fear not and enjoy the game! You shall arrive home in the same shape you have went to play in, you may also be richer for an amazing experience!
What to wear to reduce the physical pain of getting hit in Airsoft?
In order to minimalize the pain caused by an Airsoft gun, you should consider equipping yourself with some Airsoft equipment, like jackets, trousers, gloves, helmets, and most importantly the safety goggles or glasses!
I have written an entire guide on what to wear to airsoft and as a matter of fact, you may already have a bunch of useful clothes in your closet.
One thing that most people ignore is a face mesh mask. A decent and cheap mesh mask can mean a difference between a broken tooth and keeping a Hollywood smile. It can also protect your face skin that is often not targeted but hit anyways.
Gloves are also worth of a mention. Getting hit at your fingers can be annoying just as it is with all the sensitive skin.
I recommend getting good goggles or glasses before anything else, do not be cheap at these. I prefer glasses over goggles because I find them to fog less, and fogging can be another problem you may experience in this game.
To sum it all up, you do not need to spend too much money to protect your skin, sometimes you can just rely on your regular clothing that you have at home and just upgrade it with some pieces of equipment that you can find on the market.
The essentials are the eye protection and nothing else, but you should consider protecting yourself as much as you think it is necessary, just do not overequip so that you can not run or feel that bb colliding with your gear and call a hit.
Things get dirty when you find yourself in the middle of crossfire and you should be properly equipped if you want to enjoy the game in long terms. Some people may play airsoft without much of a protection, like Rambo.
These players are certainly crazy people who love getting hit for the sake of pain, ask yourself are you one of them?
What can you do to prevent the Airsoft BB from penetrating your skin and inflicting pain?
This one is simple, try to avoid getting hit for as much as possible and if you get hit call it before you get hit more. However, this may sound obvious and I shall share also a few suggestions of mine that may help you to go throughout the game with less of bruises on your skin.
Goggles are up
No matters what happens on the field, DO NOT ever remove your goggles off, they are the best protection that you have against any Airsoft gun on the field and they also represent the most important part of your body that should be protected.
Your eyes are the only sensitive part of your body that should be always protected as a number one priority. The other parts of your body may be important but certainly are not as sensitive as your eyes.
Good soft skin coverage
Right after the eyes, the soft skin like your throat and face should be considered as a pretty sensitive part as well. The worst that could happen, and I have unfortunately heard of such cases is that you get your tooth fractured.
This is something that most of the players do not pay an attention, and it happens rarely but it may happen and if you want to be completely safe, do not ignore your face!
The less dramatic injury may be just a bruise on your face, but quite frankly how will you explain all those dots on your face to the people outside of the Airsoft field? Maybe with; “ The mosquiotos are getting more and more dangerous these days that they wield guns”.
Ensure the distance is right
As we have mentioned, the guns velocity may vary up from a gun to a gun, but all the guns lose the power as the distance goes away from a point of shooting.
This is something that you are not supposed to be much concerned about when it comes to the other people because they should know the rules that state that on a close range they are supposed to use a secondary equipped weapon, an Airsoft Handgun.
You can surely make it safe for the others by respecting the rule and be a nice human being in the eyes of other players.
Playing with the right people
Eventually no rules matter if you are playing with the wrong people who are there to break the rules. Although the quote “rules are meant to be broken” sometimes may hold the ground in some situations in life, it certainly is not something that is supposed to be relevant when playing Airsoft.
Treating the Airsoft gun like you would with real one
I can not stress this one enough. If you would have a real gun in front of you, would you ever point it towards someone or yourself? Not likely, unless you are a psycho that enjoys torturing others.
Most of the injuries that happen, happen only because people do not respect Airsoft guns enough and ignore the important safety protocols.
Just handle it with respect and you should not worry about causing trouble to yourself or anyone else around.