Which blowback?

[eyebull]

Sod all of the 4.5mm bb guns. They may look good but they are plagued with build issues, and spares and mags are not easy to come by.
Buy a good, well established 6mm gun like the TM Hi Capa 5.1 (or their service 1911 if you want that replica vibe). You'll have no problem buying spares, aftermarket parts and magazines.

[AdeC]

Sod all of the 4.5mm bb guns. They may look good but they are plagued with build issues, and spares and mags are not easy to come by.
Buy a good, well established 6mm gun like the TM Hi Capa 5.1 (or their service 1911 if you want that replica vibe). You'll have no problem buying spares, aftermarket parts and magazines.

Which is great if you've got a ukara defense for owning a toy gun. If you don't then you might be ok with having it in pink if that's your preference.
Blowback pistols are always going to suffer from more reliability issues but as long as you're not shooting hundreds of shots a day and you maintain them they're ok for what they are. The 1911's are by far the most popular but I'd recommend the sig X-five/kwc 226 s-5 (same gun) as it's accurate too.
For authenticity, reliability and build quality you're looking at a revolver really and the pellet versions of the SAA, Webley mkVI and Schofield are regarded as top of the tree.
I'm sure someone will be along to disagree with all of the above soon though...

[short-carabine]

ASG Cz75 P-09 in .177 pellet. Reliable and accurate. As long as you aren't worried about lockback on last shot (impossible with pellet blow backs and pretty pointless really) or a cut out ejection port (again pointless as there are no shells to eject, and just a dirt trap). Mine has done well over 2000 pellets without a hitch. Good blowback action too.

[eyebull]

Which is great if you've got a ukara defense for owning a toy gun. If you don't then you might be ok with having it in pink if that's your preference.
Blowback pistols are always going to suffer from more reliability issues but as long as you're not shooting hundreds of shots a day and you maintain them they're ok for what they are. The 1911's are by far the most popular but I'd recommend the sig X-five/kwc 226 s-5 (same gun) as it's accurate too.
For authenticity, reliability and build quality you're looking at a revolver really and the pellet versions of the SAA, Webley mkVI and Schofield are regarded as top of the tree.
I'm sure someone will be along to disagree with all of the above soon though...

I'm sure Nick is secure enough in his masculinity to not mind

Call me a cynical old (before my time) curmudgeon, but I don't think 'being ok for what they are as long as you don't shoot them too much' is really good enough, frankly.
Perhaps if we were paying US prices then I wouldn't mind.
But take the TFW 1911 and all its clones - marvellous replica, but plagued with issues (including major safety issues - pull the trigger on mine with the safety on, and when you take the safety off the hammer will drop. It didn't even get shot that much) and with zero aftermarket support, to the extent that even the magazines were near impossible to get at one point.

As long as no one buys them with the expectation of them being anything but disposable, self-destructing toys, that's fine.