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The young fella has asked Santa for a toy sniper rifle, and sent his grandma a link to some crap looking thing on Amazon that fires Nerf bullets and probably won’t ever arrive from China anyway. In accordance with established procedures, she’s asked me to check if it’s worth buying, which it isn’t.
He’s nearly 12, has shot air rifles before and was actually half decent.
Grandma’s budget doesn’t stretch to an air rifle, notwithstanding the licence/ownership rules up here in Scotland.
I wondered if an AirSoft gun might be a suitable middle ground. He can use it in our garden (scrub/hillside behind the back fence) without the same degree of supervision he’d need with an air rifle. And as far as I can see, he shouldn’t really be able to hurt anyone or break anything with it.
Any recommendations for brands or retailers to look at? Budget is £50.
Can’t offer any experience, but there’s an outfit near me (England) that sells Airsoft:
They claim that, when sprayed, their guns are UK legal and licence free (inc Scotland).
Prices start at less than £50 (see link), up to nearly a grand for a ‘sniper’ rifle.
Not my cup of tea, but good luck.
Cheers. Yeah it seems like the blue ones are fine. He’ll only have it in the garden or his pals farm.
Don't you have to have a valid defence under the VCR act to buy an airsoft gun (in England you do) so you need to be a member of an airsoft club or similar.
edit
Don’t you have to have a valid defence under the VCR act to buy an airsoft gun (in England you do) so you need to be a member of an airsoft club or similar.
From what I can see, that’s if you want an all black or other realistic colour. If you get a blue or orange one you don’t.
The ‘valid defence’ with regards to the VCRA is for ‘realistic imitation weapons’. So things that look just like real guns.
As long as it’s more than 50% brightly coloured (known in the trade as a two-tone) it’s just an ‘imitation weapon’ and not proscribed by the VCRA without said valid defence.
A really good Scotland based retailer is Landwarrior. Your budget might be a bit on the low side to be honest though.
Yes it probably is, but it’s just for him to see if he likes it.
I’ll take a look at Landwarrior, thanks
When's he 12? That's usually the minimum age for playing at a venue.
Why not take him along to a pay and play day at your nearest operator?
Then he can find out if he likes it. You won't get much for £50 TBH but if you go along to an event there are often people selling kit and you might be able to pick up something solid for a decent price.
You might be better looking at the spring powered ‘shotguns’ that can be bought. These aren’t really ‘shot’ guns as they still have the same 6mm barrel and fire one projectile. They already to be significantly cheaper than ‘sniper’ rifles despite being essentially the same thing in a different body.
(My advice may be out of date; I ran a couple of site until about 8 years ago so I’m probably a bit out of the loop.)