You might be asking yourself, what is a classic airsoft weapon? what makes a classic airsoft weapon classic?
A classic airsoft weapon is a weapon that is out of production and uses a external co2 powered tank which gives them a huge advantage over any aeg on the market.

They are not a GBB rifle as some of you might be thinking right now, they are BV rifles or bullet valve. These guns are rare, sometimes only made in small quanities during there production run, but are made out of strong metal. The most noted companies who made these guns are JAC, toytec, FTC, MGC, asahi, Kokusai, and Marushin. Most likely if you were to find a classic airsoft weapon it would be a JAC m16 rifle or a mp5 smg.

(PS: THX Dude12 for the info)

lol at first i thought you were talkign about classic army. all that info is correct but you might want to add something. as the name implies, "classics" were the second airsoft guns ever made (after spring guns), most classics came about before gas Snipers came into the market. and i wouldent say that classics have a huge advantage because they usually have mediocre gas regulators so the FPS can vary a little more than an AEG. and with most classic companies out of buisness it is almost impossible to find parts for them.

sticks

These are rare guns to find and if you do find one expect the price to be higher than a new car figuratively speaking but I would love to have a classic army sniper rifle like Adimns but don't really feel like paying that high of a price .

Alabama - keep saving buddy, they're worth the investment!

Fox, thanks for the info. - very informative. I should probably know this already, but can't Classic rifles also use green gas? I think I remember seeing some JAC rifles a while back that used an external green gas system...?

I guess they're supposed to be great guns though. I about bought a JAC M16 a while back, but it was full-auto only and I didn't like the idea of using an external gas system (seems too much like paintball).

the problem with classics(not CA's lol) is that they either need a gas gun style mag, where thwe gas is stored in the back of the mag, this usually causes the mags to be low caps because of the space needed for the gas, or they need an external gas system. most people with classics use the second because of the expense issue. ive also heard that most classics do not has a hop-up and the conversions are very expensive... if you can even find one. the bigest problem with classics is that even if/when you do find one for sale the replacement parts for it are unbelievably expensive and rare.

they are very neat. if i had the money i would have to get one of the classic JAC Mp5's. they look sooo amazing

sticks

anyone have a link to one? i want to see what they look like ^_^

Aww darn not CA's haha

I'll show you guys classic!
http://www.redwolfairsoft.com/redwolf/airsoft/ProductDetail?prodID=23994

pretty gun, tank. the savior of the ussr, right there.

Oh, something I know. where to start...
Most classics did not have a gas in the mag design, at least not anything still around today. the only guns where gas is in the mag at any time is the BV systems, the bullet valve system, simply gas released by the trigger would go down into the mag, and back out the other side with a BB, and it would press up against an oring until pressure built and forced it through.
This actually laid the ground work for some of the best hop-ups out there, by putting a spacer above the barrel, you could position the barrel so the entire oring is seated lower, basically you had the effect of a SCS nub, but over almost the entire half of the BB. It would cause so much backspin, most people wouldn't recommend anything under ,3g BBs because they just skyrocket. but this form of hop-up, called a LRB, or long range barrel(original, huh) gives them amazing rage, easily out to 300ft, that's competing with even some of the best sniper rifles of the modern airsoft.
The second form was called a SCS, or spin control system, not to be confused with the SCS nub made by EDGI. Similar concept to the TM hop-ups of today, TM even made these at one point. not as good as a LRB, but some guns you can't use an LRB.
Another form was to put a groove in the bottom of the barrel, so air escaping through it would spin the BB backwards. And another using the same concept matted to barrels with odd cuts to achieve the same effect.
Gas systems. The most conventional system still around is the BV system, used in JAC's, you can get a JAC for about what you would get a medium end gun, say, a cheap G&G proline. A lot of them had internal tanks, which was quite ineffective because it just didn't hold much, and was unregulated like modern airsoft gas magazines. So you used the external fitting. Using a readily available rig, the Palmers Pursuit Co2 rig, or any hand-built rig, you could effectively forget about having to refill on gas, it would last forever.
As I said, they JACs are special because the gas goes through them at some point, but there are a few companies still hanging on, and innovating, they aren't all wiped out. The Escort guns, they do not require anything more then a conventional AEG mag could do, hence many of producers redesigned their gun so you can use AEg mags. The Escort MP5, which has incredible kick, uses Mp5 mags, Sun project and KWC make some M4s that use AEG mags(you can get a KWC M4 on dentrinity for like $600) and believe the Toytec P90 can be converted to use TM P90 mags.
Classics may not have many parts available, but this has just strengthened the community, as they rely on each other to try and build parts, a lot of the parts, besides barrels and subchambers, don't really need replacing, except for the occasional Oring. but the rest, sub chambers, barrels, there are people in the community who have managed to acquire the tools to make things, and so its really helped in that aspect.