After you read the Airsoft Information and Getting Started Post your questions here for answers, eventually these questions will get rolled into the Airsoft Info.
I'm trying to get into airsoft, and I've been checking out a few guns. For the most part, i wanted a "full metal" gun, but have been seeing some very nice guns made up of nylon plastic and metal. Not having much hands on with airsoft guns in the field, I was wondering what you guys have to say about the durability of nylon/metal guns, and if you own one, how satisfied are you with it?
For the price of metal vs plastic it doesn't really seem to make sense to buy plastic. Unless you are looking at something rare. That said. I have guns with plastic lowers and they hold up just fine.
A lot of real guns have plastic.
Just had a hands on with an HK SL8 this weekend.
The general thought is ~ get as real as the gun you are looking at and you should be happy.
With plastic M4's you're bound to run into a couple problems.
One is the tabs that hold the upper to the lower receiver are likely to break, and the gun will creak/not feel like a real gun.
However I've been using a plastic gun (upper and lower receiver but with metal rail system and barrel) for 6 years and it's still working fine. Though the tabs did get reinforced after they broke.