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Gel Blasters: The Ultimate Guide

gel blasters australia

What is a Gel Blaster?

Gel blasters are relatively new on the scene, with the first iterations of gel blasters hitting shelves around five years ago. A gel blaster is essentially a cross between a paintball gun and an airsoft gun. But instead of shooting a foam bullet, or a pellet of paint, gel blasters shoot out biodegradable gel balls that are often similar to water-retaining products that are sold in gardening centers for use on plants, veggie patches and gardens.

Whilst paint can be incredibly toxic for the environment in its production of emissions that can harm the ozone layer, and non-eco-friendly foam bullets, once discarded, will eventually take over a thousand years to decompose, the gel balls used in gel blasters are completely biodegradable and environmentally friendly. And unlike paintball guns, you don’t receive a massive hit when someone shoots you in the backside – sure there’s a bit of pain if you’re shot by a larger rifle at close range, but gel blasters won’t cause significant damage or piercing to the skin and are safe to use with friends and family. 

How do Gel Blasters work?

Gel blasters are battery powered toy guns that, much like an airsoft gun, fire off pellets. However, the gel blaster pellets are, somewhat obviously, made of gel like water beads. They leave behind no mess, and there’s no need to recollect pellets to avoid spoiling your environment once you’ve finished using them. Gel blasters vary in power, accuracy and realism, depending on price range and the quality of material used to produce them. 

Blasters are primarily made of plastic, and contain a motor inside that in turn projects the gel pellets. They can also be modified in a variety of ways and are highly customizable in terms of their looks and can be upgraded internally to achieve higher performance and accuracy.   Metal parts can be added to the body of the gun to give it a more authentic weight and feel. Supplementary parts can also be added, with motors able to be modified to create higher power as well as optional extras such as laser sights and scopes, depending on what model of gel blaster you have.

Generally most gel blasters will shoot gel balls around 7-8mm in diameter, but you can also purchase blasters that fire ammunition closer to 12 or 13mm. The little packets of gel balls you’ll receive with your gel blaster will need to be emptied into a glass or dish of water and be allowed to sit for at least 4 hours, to allow the gel ball ammo to soak up the moisture, thus forming the gel pellet. We recommend leaving your gel ball ammo in water overnight, and even purchasing higher quality balls separate from the blaster itself, as the complimentary gel balls that come with your gun are often of a very poor quality.

Once you shoot a gel blaster, the pellet will pop on-impact, leaving no trace or stain on clothing or the course you’re playing on. You can even play inside at home (but only as long as you get the okay from your folks!).

Are Gel Blasters dangerous?

As previously mentioned, there are a range of differing gel blasters, with different levels of power, and thus with differing levels of impact. However, there will be no lasting damage from the impact of a gel blaster, with the impact usually creating a quick pinching sensation, and at worst temporary red mark.

Depending on what you wish to use them for, there are gel blasters that will barely be felt, such as the Renegade Blasters kids range of gel blasters, which make little to no impact. Whilst the impact of a gel blaster is nowhere near at the level of a paintball gun, we still highly recommend the use of protective eyewear as a safety precaution – safety first kids.

While there are regulations around gel blasters, particularly the more realistic-looking authentic toys, it is currently legal to import, export and purchase gel blasters, so long as they keep to local and international regulations and laws. As a general rule of thumb, in countries where airsoft toy guns are legal, then so too are gel blasters.

Yes – in parts of Australia. In Queensland and South Australia, gel blasters are completely legal. There is no weapons license required to purchase a gel blaster, as it is classed as a toy. However, again there are laws and regulations surrounding the use of gel blasters, much the same as paintball guns, airsoft guns and essentially all imitation or replica guns.

You’re not allowed to carry around a gel-blaster unconcealed in public (for obvious reasons, that they look like a real gun) but there are plenty of arenas and courses around Australia where games can be played, solo or in teams. On private property, and at home, it is also permissible to use the toys, and there is no age limit for the use or purchase of a gel blaster.

Can Gel Blasters Shoot Ball Bearings?

Gel Blasters are not designed to shoot plastic pellets, and will not have the usual desired effect if the gel pellets are replaced with plastic. The plastic pellets, on an unmodified gel blaster, could ruin the blaster, and render the gun useless. Not to mention, the modification to allow plastic pellets to work with the blaster would technically render the toy as an airsoft gun, which is illegal to own in Australia without a firearms license.

Best stick to gel pellets – less mess, less environmental impact, and less chance of you winding up in court!

What is the best Gel Blaster?

There are a range of Gel Blaster’s on the market at the moment, from a bunch of up and coming brands, producing from across the globe. Finding the best gel blaster depends on what exactly you’re looking for. The best gel blaster for competitive play is obviously going to be different to the best gel blaster to buy an eight year old kid, so here we’re going to specifically look at the higher-end of the range. Things to look out for when finding the best gel blaster range from performance, added features and of course, price.

Here we’re going to take three a look at three of our favourites Gel Blaster brands on the market today:

LDT Gel Blaster and War interest.

We love this brand as they sre making some of the best and realistic gel blasters on the market today.

Their latest line of products have set the benchmark high for how blasters should be made and each Blaster comes with their own special blaster bag.

Check out their Facebook page for more information and be sure to check out our range and one of our favourites here, to find the perfect Gel Blaster for you. 

Jingming

These guys have been around for the longest time in gel balling history. They were the innovators in the Mag Fed Gel Blaster game and their line of blasters are consistent and reliable. They have made many M4 style platforms and a few AKs. Their gearboxes are also used in a wide variety of other companies’ gel blasters and are highly upgradeable. Check them out!

Kublai

These guys are always making new creative designs in the the market. They have designed some high quality metal blasters with reinforced gearboxes, metal gears and alloy barrels.

Kublai have a considerable amount of designs and colourful options for their customers. They also offer a fair amount of extras in their blasters such as nylon or metal grips, customizable iron sights and rail attachments.

So now you know some of our top brands in the Gel Blaster market, be sure to check out some of these awesome Blasters below. Here is a quick lowdown!

Jin Ming M4A1 Gen 8.5 Nylon Gel Blaster

This gel blaster is arguably the best gun on the market, and one of the most popular blasters in the world. It’s an absolute classic. Whether purchasing your first gel blaster or you’ve been in the scene for a while, this is a crowd pleaser across all levels of gel blasting. Whilst this is a fantastic blaster straight off the bat, purists love it because of the modification possibilities. Basically, nye on endless. And for beginners, it’s also perfect, because you can basically pick it up and go, straight out of the box.

Built with solid nylon, the Jin Ming M4A1 differs from earlier iterations in feel and weight, due to the higher quality of material being used. The firing range of the Gen 8.5 is approximately 25m, and the newer model (as opposed to the Gen 8) fires at 250 per second, again an upgrade on the Gen 8 model. To add to this, for a higher range gel blaster, the price is incredibly affordable when considering the features. With a full automatic firing mode, holographic site, a mag capacity of around 180 gel balls and a firing rate of around 11 rounds per second, the price of $169.99 comes off as an absolute bargain. 

LeHui Kriss Vector V2 SMG Gel Blaster

The LeHui Vector V2 is a gel blaster that means business. If you are serious about gel blasters and want to step things up to the next level, then this is the gun for you. It has a similar firing range to the Jin Ming M4A1 Gen 8.5, but the really fun part about the V2 is that it’s the first gel blaster to come equipped with a burst firing mode. It shoots out around 15 rounds per second and has an accurate range of up to 25 metres.

Like the Jin Ming M4A1 Gen 8.5, it is also constructed with high-quality nylon material. This makes the Vector V2 one of the toughest and sturdiest blasters on the market. In addition to its high-performance levels, the design is sleek as hell, lightweight without being flimsy. Leaving one Vector V2 owner to comment that the blaster is “definitely first in aesthetics” across the range of high-end blasters.

At $219.99, the Vector V2 is a wee bit pricier than your stock standard blaster, but still doesn’t break the bank when all things are considered.

We reckon it’s worth every penny!

SKD HK416 Gel Blaster

This blaster is super new on the scene, having been released at the start of 2020. And whilst it may not have the reputation of the previous two blasters, it still packs one hell of a punch. Similar to the M4SS receiver, the HK416 has an alternate handguard, stock, and iron sights. Like the M4A1 and the Vector V2, the body of the blaster is made out of durable nylon. This a really solid gun, with a lot less flexing than in previous models.

The motor is a 480 long shaft motor and again, it fires up to 25 meters at around 240 feet per second. Unlike a lot of other gel blasters, the HK416 contains an inner-hop up that ensures the gels shoot nice and straight, greatly improving accuracy compared to use with other, lesser gel blasters. It may be the new kid on the block, but in the coming months this blaster could be making real waves in the gel blasting community. At $199.99 the HK416 comes in at a nice mid-range price-level.

Where to Buy Gel Blasters?

Since the first gel blasters were introduced into Australia around 5 years ago, the interest around gel blasters has completely sky-rocketed. Back then, there were only a small selection of vendors who had the license to import gel blasters from overseas and sell them here in Australia. This led to the production of some store-made, smaller brand gel blasters, although we would recommend only purchasing officially produced brands.

You can find these in stores throughout the country, but for the best price and the widest selection, we’d always recommend online vendors, to find exactly what you are after.

Renegade Gel Blasters

Renegade Blasters are one of Australia’s leading retailers for gel blasters, coming into existence in 2016, before most people even knew what a gel blaster was. Originally, the blasters were called “Water Bomb Gel Ball Guns” and were very basic – low quality materials were used to create the structure of the gun, and the speed and distance a pellet could travel was minimal compared to today.

Nowadays, there are a plethora of products out there on the market, and at Renegade Blasters we pride ourselves on having a wide-range of high-end models, catering for all types of gel blaster enthusiasts. We’re committed to bringing you the best and most up-to-date, high quality products at competitive prices. All of our products are shipped from Australia, so there is no cause for concern when it comes to custom inspections, as all of our goods have already been cleared upon delivery to our HQ. This is a much safer way to make a purchase, as opposed to buying from overseas from sites such as Ebay or Alibaba, where the product may or may not be the quality that you’re seeking, but will definitely be scrutinised by international customs, and may be seized if you do not obtain the correct paperwork. Better to buy local, to be sure your package arrives in a safe and timely manner.

We offer a range of upgrade parts and accessories, as well as blasters ready to run straight out of the box, with frequent specials and deals running all year round. If you’re serious about getting involved in gel blasters, check out the selection of what we have to offer HERE.

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