Replicas or toys, airsoft or not airsoft certainly not as we know and accept everyone. "Cheap replicas", let's call them so for simplicity, come to us from China in an increasing number and the number of their supporters is beginning to be at least as large as the number for their opponents, especially among those who know airsoft - "the proper one".
They flooded our community, many people can not accept them, many of them are appalled by the fact of their existence and their appearance on the pages of our website aroused a lot of emotions. However, I have the impression that indignation arises in those airsofters who either forgot how they started or immediately started playing with more expensive replicas as they did not complain about a lack of money. The absence of tolerance for people who do not have a big amount of funds but are very willing to play is noticeable and very disturbing. Bad quality replicas of such companies as Umarex, Well or others that are often hard to determine, were initially sold on Allegro auction portal. Now they are available in an increasing number of stores specializing in this class of replicas.
As we all know, recently on our market cheap toys resembling airsoft replicas appeared but they usually have almost nothing in common with what we call weapon replicas. All that connect them with the already established airsoft standard is the caliber of their ammunition (the sets they are sold in contain 6 mm BBs which quality is very bad) and the appearance similar to different models of firearms. Unfortunately, the similarity ends there, because neither the workmanship, nor the materials and durability nor, in most cases, the performances are able to match the more expensive replicas they try to imitate.
The material used for their production is low-quality plastic, which results in both their appearance and durability. Taking them into your hands you have the impression that you have to be careful not to break them. The usage and endurance of those models in airsoft games I was at really puzzled me. Due to the details, the workmanship, the lack of any metal parts and the poor attention to the reproduction of any particular weapon it is difficult to use the concept of a replica in relation to them. In large part, they are hybrids of similar types of weapons and are addressed to those who do not pay attention to what they actually shoot with. All this gives the impression of a toy - its enough that it looks nice and spits BBs, regardless of the actual range. Knowing the opinions of people who have "cheap replicas" one can come to the conclusion that their parameters and characteristics are a complete lottery. Whats more, one factory-sealed replica delivered to us, unfortunately, did not shoot at all.
All of this is bad but there are also some good sides. One is definitely the price, because it is many times lower than a proper replica, sometimes not even exceeding 100 PLN. From this point of view, in the case of many models described here, the value for money is at least decent. Some of these replicas, as reported by followers of the Adam Słodowy's school, are ideal for hand-made modifications, at a low cost, often giving excellent results (see Upgrade/tuning of the G36C by Umarex).
The fact that WMASG.com is devoted to all things airsoft, and the majority of "cheap replicas" they have enough in common with them to be noticed. They exist on the market and have become popular - these are the facts. Due to their attractive price, they find supporters and open airsoft to people with less thick wallets or much smaller requirements. For less than 100 PLN, you can buy, although not entirely reproducing the original, but a weapon with which you can begin the adventure with airsoft. You can not pretend they are not there. The assessment of the appearance and performance of said replicas and should depend only on the preferences of the owner and not on the person in the target reticle. This does not mean, however, that you can put these "replicas" into one bag with replicas of already well known companies.
WMASG.com is above all a website about airsoft and airsoft, apart from the replicas themselves, is playing games using those replicas. For this reason, they must meet certain criteria. Unfortunately, airsoft is one of those areas where you have to pay for quality. When assessing "cheap replicas" we will always take into account the criterion of the accepted level of strength, performance and suitability for airsoft games, but it also does not mean that during our assessment we will not take into account the price to quality ratio.
In our opinion, "cheap replicas" can be an alternative for people who want to start the adventure with airsoft and, either because of a lack of conviction are afraid to spend more money at the very beginning or simply because they do not have it. I suppose, however, that for everyone it will be only a transitional period and after a while they will come buy higher end weapons, more expensive but representing a higher class of performance and durability. Probably, we won't be able to recommend many of those replicas to anyone, however, denying the fact of their existence would be silly.
