The First Airsoft Gun Ever Made: A 1970s History

Key takeaways

• The first airsoft guns were single-shot, spring-powered pistols built in Japan in the early 1970s, most often credited to the Ichida and Lascal brands.
• No single inventor or company is verified as first, but Japan, the early 1970s, and the spring-piston mechanism are widely agreed upon.
• Japan's Firearm and Sword Control Law created the demand for legal shooting replicas that made airsoft viable.
• Tokyo Marui released the first AEG in the early 1990s, turning airsoft from a plinking novelty into a skirmish sport.
• Early spring pistols had no hop-up, no gas, and no magazine-fed fire, making them mechanically far simpler than modern AEGs and GBBs.

What was the first airsoft gun ever made?

The short answer

The first airsoft guns were spring-powered pistols built in Japan in the early 1970s. The designs most often credited are the Ichida and Lascal-branded pistols of that era: simple, single-shot guns where a hand-cocked spring pushed a 6mm plastic BB out of a smoothbore barrel. There was no hop-up, no gas, and no magazine-fed semi-auto fire. They were low-powered novelty guns that happened to become the seed of an entire hobby.

Why the exact 'first' is disputed

Documentation from 1970s Japan is thin, and several small makers were producing similar spring pistols around the same time, so no single serial number one gun has been verified. What most histories agree on is the country, the decade, and the mechanism: Japan, early 1970s, spring piston (Wikipedia's airsoft history).

Who invented the first airsoft gun and why?

No single inventor takes the credit. The first airsoft guns came out of Japan in the early 1970s, designed by Japanese manufacturers responding to a very specific domestic problem: civilian gun ownership was, and remains, heavily restricted under Japan's Firearm and Sword Control Law. Millions of people wanted the feel of shooting without the legal route to owning a firearm.

Japan's gun laws as the origin story

Japan's strict controls made realistic shooting replicas a market necessity rather than a novelty. Manufacturers could sell spring-powered pistols that fired plastic 6mm BBs at low velocity, sidestepping the legal definition of a firearm entirely. The demand came from shooters who wanted training-style handling at home.

The companies that got there first

Japanese firms like Matsushiro and later Tokyo Marui drove the category forward, moving from simple spring pistols towards the gas and electric designs that followed.

When and where did airsoft originate?

Airsoft began in Japan in the early 1970s, when domestic manufacturers started producing spring-powered 6mm pistols. Japan's Firearm and Sword Control Law makes owning real firearms extremely difficult, which created demand for legal alternatives that could still be used for informal shooting.

Timeline: 1970s to the first AEGs

The 1980s were the springer decade: bolt-free, single-shot pistols and rifles sold as collectables, with hop-up arriving later to give BBs lift. Tokyo Marui's early-1990s AEG changed everything, powering a rifle with a battery and gearbox so players could skirmish rather than plink.

How the hobby spread beyond Japan

Hong Kong and Taiwan retailers exported AEGs westward in the 1990s, and UK sites adopted them as UKARA-era defence rules later formalised purchases. Skirmishing arrived in Britain as a natural fit for players who wanted longer engagements than single-shot springers allowed.

How did early Japanese spring pistols work?

Spring-piston basics

First-generation airsoft guns were single-shot springers in the most literal sense. You cocked the pistol, a piston compressed a spring, and pulling the trigger released it to push a column of air down the barrel. One cock, one shot. There was no magazine worth the name, no blowback, and no gas. Once fired, you racked the slide again before the next BB went anywhere.

That mechanical simplicity defined the whole experience. Compared with a modern RIF, where an AEG gearbox or a GBB system cycles automatically and feeds from a mid-cap, these early pistols were closer to a bolt-action in spirit. Rate of fire was however fast you could work the slide, which is why skirmishing as we know it could not have grown around them.

Materials and build quality of the era

The guns were built to a price, and mostly from ABS plastic over simple internal parts. The spring, piston, and cylinder were basic stamped or moulded components, with no hop-up to adjust trajectory and no upgrade parts ecosystem behind them. When something broke, you replaced the gun rather than the part.

That is the sharpest contrast with what you run now. A modern loadout assumes a tunable hop-up, swappable springs, and internals you can rebuild on the kitchen table the night before a skirmish. First-generation pistols offered none of that: fixed performance, plastic everything, and a single-shot action that made every trigger pull a deliberate decision. They were toys of engineering constraint, not platforms for upgrade culture, and that constraint shaped what airsoft was for its first decade.

Why did airsoft guns develop in Japan instead of elsewhere?

Japan's Firearm and Sword Control Law makes civilian ownership of real firearms nearly impossible, so demand shifted to guns you can own legally. That legal pressure created a huge market for realistic imitations, and manufacturers met it.

The Firearm and Sword Control Law

The 1958 law restricts handguns and military-pattern rifles so tightly that a shooting hobby built on live fire was never viable for most Japanese civilians. Collectors wanted the look and feel of real steel without the paperwork, and the law effectively guaranteed demand for anything that satisfied both.

From model guns to airsoft

Before airsoft, Japan already had a mature model-gun industry producing metal replica cap guns, so the tooling, craftsmanship, and collector culture were in place. When spring-powered shooting guns arrived in the early 1980s, they built on that base, and Tokyo Marui's later move into gas and then AEG designs turned the hobby into an industry.

How did the first airsoft guns differ from modern ones?

Power source and rate of fire

A 1970s Japanese spring pistol was single-shot: you racked the slide, one BB left the barrel, repeat. There was no battery, no gas, no semi-auto trigger response. Compare that to a modern AEG running an 11.1V LiPo, which throws full-auto at 20+ rounds per second, or a GBB pistol cycling on green gas with blowback. The gap is mechanical, not incremental.

Hop-up and accuracy

Early pistols had no hop-up at all, so BBs dropped hard past 10 metres and accuracy was a matter of luck. Hop-up arrived later and now defines every skirmish build: a modern AEG with a bucking and barrel swap holds grouping at ranges the first guns never reached. Materials moved too, from soft plastics and basic pot metal to nylon polymer receivers and CNC aluminium parts.

What a collector should check on an early gun

Check that the spring and piston are original, since replacements kill value. Confirm the magazine feeds and the slide racks without cracking. Expect to pay a fraction of a new mid-range AEG for a clean example, but treat any price as illustrative: surviving first-generation guns trade rarely and privately, not on open listings.

How did the first airsoft guns lead to today's AEGs and GBBs?

The gas era

Once Japanese manufacturers had proven spring pistols could work, attention moved to power sources. Early gas designs used stored pressure to cycle the slide and fire, which made blowback action possible for the first time. That lineage runs directly to the GBB rifles and pistols skirmishers carry now: the same gas-through-magazine principle, refined with better valves and hop-up units over decades.

The AEG breakthrough

The bigger leap came in the 1990s, when Tokyo Marui packaged a battery, gearbox, and motor inside a rifle shell and sold it as a hobby-grade product. The AEG turned airsoft from a back-garden curiosity into a skirmish sport, because you could fire hundreds of rounds between battery swaps. Every gearbox rifle on a site today descends from that design.

One thing has not changed since those first pistols: the legal framework. UK players should read the UKARA guidance on RIF sales and defence before buying second-hand kit.

Are first-generation airsoft guns worth collecting?

What drives value

Early Japanese spring pistols earn their price the same way any collectable does: rarity, condition, and provenance. Complete boxes, manuals, and original hop-up parts push value up sharply, while a worn, part-swapped example is worth a fraction of that. Models from the first wave of Japanese manufacturers command the strongest interest among UK collectors, especially anything with original markings intact.

Buying vintage kit safely in the UK

Legality works in your favour here: a pre-1990s spring pistol in original two-tone or clear finish is straightforward, but a painted-over RIF needs proof you're a serious collector or skirmisher under the VCRA defences, so ask sellers directly about finish history.

Check for cracked grips, seized springs, and missing hop-up rubbers before committing. Vintage kit changes hands through specialist Facebook groups, ZeroIn forum sales, and apps like HopUp and KitUp, where seller ratings and direct messaging make tracing a gun's history far easier than anonymous eBay listings.

FAQ

What year did airsoft start?

Airsoft began in Japan in the early 1970s, when domestic manufacturers started producing single-shot spring pistols firing 6mm plastic BBs. The exact year is disputed because documentation from the period is thin and several small makers were producing similar designs at the same time, but the country, decade, and spring-piston mechanism are widely agreed upon.

Were the first airsoft guns legal in the UK?

The first airsoft guns were Japanese, so UK legality only became relevant when imports arrived later. Today, vintage spring pistols in two-tone or clear finishes are straightforward to own, while realistic-looking guns require a defence under the VCRA, such as UKARA-registered skirmisher status or proof of collection purposes.

What company made the first airsoft gun?

No single company is verified as first. The designs most often credited are the Ichida and Lascal-branded spring pistols of the early 1970s, though documentation is sparse. Matsushiro and later Tokyo Marui drove the category forward, with Tokyo Marui eventually releasing the first AEG in the early 1990s.

How much is a vintage airsoft gun worth?

There is no reliable open-market figure, because surviving first-generation Japanese pistols trade rarely and privately rather than on public listings. Value depends on rarity, condition, and provenance: complete boxes, manuals, and original internals push prices up sharply, while worn, part-swapped examples fetch a fraction of that. Treat any quoted price as illustrative.

Did airsoft exist before BB guns?

No. American air rifles firing spherical shot, most famously Daisy's BB rifles, date back to the late 19th century, decades before Japanese manufacturers built the first spring pistols in the early 1970s. Airsoft borrowed the small spherical projectile concept but arrived much later, born from Japan's strict firearm ownership restrictions.