I’ve only had a few practice shots so far, it’s been charging all evening. Should give it a good test over the next few days.

Where to play airsoft
There’s literally millions, well maybe 20, places around Ireland where you can do it. The best way to find sites/clubs to contact the Irish Airsoft Association for sites down south or Airsoft Ireland for sites up north.
You can also check this map to see where other airsofters are located and take a look at the airsoft section on boards.ie.

Unfortunately many of the sites/clubs don’t have websites but some that do include S.A.C Longford, Meath Airsoft Group (Bebo), HRTA Dublin, G-Tac Galway and Airsoft Carlow.

What you need
1. Cash. At any of the “skirmish sites” you can rent all you need. For an example of pricing check out the Drogheda site’s pricing.

2. Equipment: you can buy all you need from airsoft retailers for AEG’s or army surplus stores for equipment. The minimum you would need is an AEG (gun), face mask or goggles, some bb’s (ammo) and protective clothing.
There are plenty of extras you can buy but wouldn’t need initially.

Retailers
I’d recommend buying your AEG’s off Irish retailers because most guns need to be downgraded to comply with Irish laws.
These would be the main Irish retailers (though there are a few others):

Airsofteire.com – seem to stock the high end expensive stuff but they offer a great service with excellent helpful communication.

Eirsoft.ie – offers a great range of low and high end AEG’s and decent enough prices. Communication is quite poor though.

Mainirishairsoft.com – not as good a range but some nice items; also high end stuff.

I’ve just bought a small item off Airsoftscotland.com who have a nice range of airsoft related equipment, shipping can be expensive though.

There are a ton of other retailers out there of course, including ebay, a quick Google search will find you tons; just be cautious about importing AEG’s from abroad.

Types of games
Some good information of types of games here.

That’ll get you started. Will try to post more information as I discover it.

In airsoft you shoot 6mm hard plastic balls with guns that look and feel like the real thing. The only similarity to paintball is the type of games you play i.e. capture the flag, defend the fort, hostage rescue, run around the round bales, run around square bales and a few rusty barrels etc etc.

I should clarify, I haven’t quite started just yet. I have my first gun (AEG = airsoft electric (runs on a rechargeable battery) gun) on order and am expecting it to arrive in the coming week or so; it’s a Heckler & Goch G36C with a cool red dot sight. Voilá (without the sight):

I’m really looking forward to getting started the only problem is that if it’s as addictive as I imagine I’ll be forced to invest in extra guns and combat gear etc. The Americans seem to take it very seriously and buy all the latest and greatest equipment available including some guns which can cost up to US$4000!!
There’s no fear of me spending that much money on what is essentially a toy gun! The missus would use it on me!

It looks like a great sport and is one of the fastest growing sports in Europe. It’s actually only been legal in Ireland a short while and seems to be really taking off. The first “All-Ireland” is currently being organised for April.

For more information to satisfy your curiousity brúigh ar na nascanna thíos (click the links)!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airsoft
Irish Airsoft Associaiton
Airsoft Ireland (NI based site)

EDIT: This is next on my shopping list, the Steyr Aug A1.