Terminology

Airsoft Terminology

AEG: AEG stands for Automatic Electric Gun. These are the most common type of airsoft guns. They run off of batteries and use a motor driven piston assembly to shoot a bb.
AoE: AoE stands for Angle of Engagement. This is the name of a modification to help align your piston with your gears so that it is less likely to fail.
ARL: ARL stands for Anti Reversal Latch. This latch prevents your gun from spinning in the wrong direction. It can be found resting against the bevel gear.
Bevel Gear: The Bevel Gear is the gear that sits between the Pinion Gear/Motor and the Step/Spur gear. The bevel gear is named such because it has a bevel shape.
BPS: BBs Per Second is what BPS stands for. It is a unit to name how many bbs a gun is able to shoot in one second
EBB: EBB stands for Electric BlowBack. This is often a mechanical blowback system found in AEGs.
FPS: FPS stands for Feet Per Second. It is a measurement of how fast your bb is leaving your gun.
GBB: GBB stands for Gas Blow Back and is used to describe guns who have a gas blow back system. Primarily, it is used to describe pistols, but can be used as a broad term for all gas blowback guns.
GBBR: Gas Blow Back Rifle. These are full size rifles that have a blowback functionality
Hop Up: Your Hop Up is a rubber piece that sits on the top of your barrel and puts backspin on your bbs. In most guns, it is adjustable and allows you to greatly increase your range.
LPEG: Low Powered Electric Gun, or Low Priced Electric Gun. Either way, these guns are usually less than $100 and often made of all plastic.
MPS: Meters Per Second. Similar to FPS, but using a different length measurement. This is a measurement of how fast the bbs are leaving your barrel.
NBB: NBB stands for Non Blow Back. It is what we call gas guns who don't have a blowback function.
RPM: RPM stands for Rounds Per Minute. It is a measure of how many shots your gun is able to make in one minute.
RPS: RPS stands for Rounds Per Second. Sometimes called BPS, which means BBs Per Second, this is a rate of how many bbs your gun fires in a second, your rate of fire.
ROF: ROF stands for Rate Of Fire. It is similar to RPS or BPS. It is a measure for how many rounds your gun can fire in a second.
PE or PME: This stands for Premature Engagement. This is what happens when your gears spin too fast for your piston and damage it.
Pinion Gear: The Pinion Gear is the gear that sits on the end of your motor. This gear makes contact with the bevel gear.
Sector Gear: The Sector Gear is the gear between the Spur/Step gear and the piston. This gear is responsible for pulling back your piston and pulling back your tappet plate.
Shims: Shims are small round washers that fit around the axles of your gears. They are used to help align the gears so that they can more properly mesh together.
Shimming: Shimming is the process for aligning your gears so that they mesh properly.
Spur gear: The Step gear is the middle gear of your three gear gearboxes. It sits between the bevel gear and the sector gear.
Step Gear: The Step gear is the middle gear of your three gear gearboxes. It sits between the bevel gear and the sector gear. While Step Gear is the technically correct name for this gear, it is more commonly called the Spur Gear.