Airsoft anyone?

[yourlittlesecret]

DS wants to go to a site a few miles away. He went a couple of years ago to an indoor one and got a lot of nasty cuts and bruises from the pellets.
I was ready to let him go to this one as long as he wears the right safety gear.

I've rung them and they provide goggles but not helmets. Am I being precious to think they should have some ear protection?
This reminds me of another thread. The one where you say no.

My DS14 is also asking to go to airsoft. I know nothing about it other than it involves guns and pellets.

His friends have been a few times and now he wants to go of course!

They fire hard little pellets. On thin clothes they bruise. DS marks easily but last time he went he came back with dozens of bleeding, pellet sized cuts.

I said no in the end. He has been paint balling where they have helmets and masks and protective overalls. I have no problem with that.
The person I spoke to at the airsoft place seem surprised that I asked about safety gear. I asked about helmets and she said "most of them wear baseball caps". I may have been slightly sarcastic about the ability of a baseball cap to protect mouth and ears.

When I talked to DS about it again he said he wasn't going, he knew someone who had their teeth damaged and wasn't risking it.

I have 3 DS - 19, 17, 13. They all airsoft and love it, only injuries have been the odd tiny bruise - the BBs are very small. The site they use insists on full face mask for under 16s and goggles for over 16s. They usually wear some sort of hat, a scarf to cover their neck and clothing that covers arms and legs.

They used to paintball, then they discovered airsoft and decided it didn't hurt as much!

airsoft and decided it didn't hurt as much
Interesting as that was the opposite of DS's experience. He has done both and never came back from paint balling with blood all over his back.

Mine do kit themselves out on the army surplus stall which is quite good protection from the BBs but probably only worth doing that if going regularly - although the trousers are great for camping etc :-) it probably would do more damage if they just wore a tshirt
They enjoy it anyway, and it's a full days activity which is great for wearing them all out (and I can go shopping...)

DS went last Sunday & keen to go again. He is saving up for own gear. He wouldn't tell me about cuts or bruises if he had them (no big deal, part of the fun, same could happen at beach or in the woods).