I’m doing an NCR Trooper cosplay and what I’ve noticed is that buying an M16A1 airsoft gun and some brown paint for the furniture is WAYYYYY cheaper than buying a non-functioning prop. Like, the website I saw listed an M1 Carbine Airsoft gun as 250 dollars but the prop version is over 1000. What gives?
I see a lot of slightly incorrect, or rather incomplete, answers and I actually have a little experience here. Good replicas are almost 1:1 copies. Complete with metal (and moving) parts. They are also highly regulated and certified. They need to do almost everything the original does except fire, and cannot be converted. And you can’t just file down the firing pin/striker, plug the barrel, remove the hammer Then you have the economy of scale thing. But the original manufacturing is and regulation is where a large amount of the money goes. Otherwise producers would just get some Bear Creek garbage or something from Palmetto State and do what I mentioned.