To start off I don't know squat about it. My 15 year old son and a bunch of his buds want to start playing airsoft. They all play paintball but the nearest place to play is an hour drive away. They're looking for something to fill in between paintball trips that can be played closer in.
Any good places on the net that sell the better grade of guns? I see that Tippman is making them now. How about them?
These kids are looking to spend 50 to a hundred bucks on a gun. What do you get in that range?
                                                                                                     TIA,Nick

Good quality guns start at about $300+.  For $50-$100 they will get cheap plastic, break as soon as use them copies.  

Depends on what they want. A good full auto rifle or sub machine gun will run atleast $230 NIB. And that is just the long arm and 1 magazine. You still need bbs, battery, charger, extra magazines(if needed). For $450 you can usually get everything to start.

Gas handguns run from around $100-280 depending on the maker and model. And magazines are often $50 each.

For $100 you could get a Tokyo Marui spring pistol and a lot of extra magazines(if the distributor carries extra magazines). Those never lose thier effectiveness. Unless they are broken or abused they will always fire, yes 1 bb per slide rack, but they will always fire. No battery to charge, no gas to fill into the magazine.

Be a good place to start them off at.

www.wgcshop.com in Hong Kong has them for about $40+ shipping and $9 for the magazines. Get the pistols with Hop Up. Greater range and accuracy.

Go to  www.floridaairsoft.com and check out the forum there; you can get your hands on airsoft guns there and you can get very useful information.

One drawback...

YOU HAVE TO BE OVER 18 TO POST, BUY, SELL OR DO ANYTHING ON THE WEBSITE.

IF YOU ARE UNDER 18, FORGET ABOUT IT.

UTG or some other company like that makes an name brand MP5 clone that comes with everything they need other than the mask for $119

If you search about online and see a brand that starts with U and has three letters, know that it is a clone of the better name brand guns. Its also a crapload cheaper and of decent quality. Safe, semi, full mp5 for 119 that accepts all the name brand upgrades is good to me! I dont play airsoft, just purchased it to play with in the house.  

Quoted: Good quality guns start at about $300+.  For $50-$100 they will get cheap plastic, break as soon as use them copies.

You obviously have NO clue what you are talking about.

I picked up a brand new Double Eagle M82 (SIG552) with FVG, tac light, AEG, LAM, "silencer," battery, charger, bag'o'BBs, loader, sling and glasses for $29 on larcen-ebay. Safe, Semi and Full Auto.

Yeah, it's obviously much cheesier than the Tokyo Marui model and I had to paint the receiver, barrel, FH and FSB to make it look more authentic but I'm not interested in paying $300+ to play Pretend Gun, I just wanted a reasonable, legal SIG facsimile.

Hasn't broken yet, either.