GTA
All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => American/U.S. Air Gun Gates => Topic started by: ev-in-az on June 30, 2016, 01:54:40 PM
-
The air rifle that got me hooked a few years ago was a Crosman Backpacker, the original one with a 14.5" barrel. I didn't do anything but shoot it. It wasn't my first air gun but as I read about the modifications possible I got intrigued. Over time barrels got changed, modifications made and it disappeared. Today I put together a "Backpacker" that is close to the original using the 14.5" barrel. The bolt is from a Discovery rifle, the bolt handle from a steel breech kit and the piston is shimmed with an O ring to get more air in the valve, a flat top piston and flow through bolt are on order. After sighting it in I had little trouble hitting spoons stuck in the ground at twenty yards. The 1.75" knock down target was easy, the 3/4" a little harder -- all from the offhand position. Easy to empty a tin of pellets with it.
So here I am with 48 air rifles with at least one more on my mind. It's ordered now, Gamo Accu .177 from Pyramyd.
I would be curious to read how others got started.
-
My dad got me a 66 powermaster when I was 7 😁
I really wish he had himself a new airguns at the time, because he would've given me his Sheridan a lot sooner.
-
My first exposure to 'adult airgunning' was a FWB124 Deluxe, back in late '79. Still have it. My first American made airguns were a late '80s Racine Benjamin 342 and a Crosman 150, bought at the Little Rock Airgun Expo near the turn of the century.
-
My addiction starter was the Gamo Varmint Hunter HP .177 cal that i purchased in 2013 from Dicks Sporting goods and has since been custom tuned to 12.5 fpe by OleTomCat.
-
Gamo Big Cat.
-
1994 Nickel 397P, still pumps and shoots as good as ever....zero problems
-
The one in my avatar .
-
Very well worn Benjamin 317 back in the 60s that we kids were allowed to shoot before got the okay to shoot22 LRs. It was a friend's gun that we all shared. Some years, later, got my first Sheridan. Never shot a springer till the late 80s.
-
My 11th birthday in 1949...... A Daisy Model 25.
-
1963 Daisy Co2 200 pistol.
-
My dad got a crosman 766 for his tenth birthday. He still has it and I started shooting pest birds with it about the age of ten. I used it for squirrels for two years but wanted a better gun. At age 15, I found a crosman 2100 (same as the cr766) for $15. I then looked online for mods to increase the power and found GTA. After that I have been hooked. 8)
-
My 11th birthday in 1949...... A Daisy Model 25.
Man if you still have that thing I'm sure it has a whole Lotta character to it.
I don't know if they were always like this, but I love our new mod 25 as it's probably the quietest airgun ever. All you hear is a quiet pft and then the impact ( shoots plenty hard so I know that's how it's supposed to sound )
-
Alas my Model 25 met its fate somewhere along the way after I was given access to powder burners.....
But, I was aware that I had a BB gun of high quality which was the envy of my shooting friends in grade school.
I recently found and purchased a 1970s vintage Model 25... soon after purchasing a new Model 25... the comparison is very stark.
The Older 25 weighs more, feels substantial. Sounds more powerful... even has a touch of recoil.
The new 25 seems to be of higher velocity (tested by number of pages in a book test - the new gun penetrated about 15% higher using the same distance, book, and zinc BBs).
Judging from how it feels to shoot the two, I actually expected the older gun to shoot harder. I like the older bun best!
The peep sight on the new gun enables me to be a bit more accurate than with the open sight. I made a peep and JB Welded it to the old gun - that helped but is a bit far away from
the eye to equal the accuracy.
After so many years, I still have fond memories of my old BB gun and enjoy shooting these 25s almost daily.
-
We had several Red Ryder's and a 25 in the neighborhood in the late fifties and early sixties. I got hooked by Red Ryder's that I converted into Mares Leg pistols. I used the 3" barrels from Daisy pistols.
I bought one of the 3" barrels a few years ago. I just need an older Red Ryder to make another.
-
For me it was a garage sale 1077 (that is still giving me fits). I'm a long-time powder-burner and probably wouldn't have given it a second look except I'd gotten hooked on Ted's Holdover Youtube channel so I thought, 'Why not? It's not like I can find .22LR, and .308 is kind of pricey'.
I'm going to recrown that wretched 1077 this weekend and try to close up those patterns into respectable groups.
-
Crosman "Hawthorne" 180, for my 9th birthday. Then a Crosman 766 "American Classic" a few years later. Then a couple of cheap springers, many years later.
In 2013 I started looking at AGs again to conserve my meager supply of .22 ammo.
-
I had a Daisy model 94 "spittin image" when I was a kid. (I literally wore it out.)
Fast forward 50+ years. Bought a Crosman Fury springer refurb several years ago. It's the gun on which I learned how to tune. I have eight springers now (I'm a dedicated springer guy, although I have and shoot a daisy 880 pumper). Still have the Fury. I have lost track of how many times I've had it apart, or how many different springs and mods it has had done to it. The gun is detuned to about 14 fpe and has at least 20,000 shot cycles through it. Still has the original piston and breech seals.
-
My first was a Sheridan .20cal then a Crossman pump in .177/BB cause it was cheaper to shoot.
They both were stolen many years ago when I was in my early 20's if I remember correctly.
Still miss both of them bought a Benjamin/Sheridan Silver Streak .22cal just before they quit making them in .22cal.
-
My Daisy wooden stock 1960's BB gun,
Than I was given a Benjamin 312 that was my grandfathers.
Still have it and it shoots great.
-
Always a powder burner guy until 2003. Living in Sylmar California on a little lot that had about a 1/4 of land. It is a family plot and we rented it when we moved back from New Mexico. Unfortunately, the place came with a feral cat problem. In fact, my son who was 2-3ish at the time, was almost attacked by one of the cats who charged him but was scared away by an adult. With that, I went down to Big 5 and bought a Ruger Air Magnum in .177. I have since found out this is a chinese clone of the revered RWS 350. It was a decent gun out of the box - and still shoots over 1140 fps in .177 with lead pellets. Anyways, at final tally, 8 feral cats "removed" from the property. Waiting another 12 years to get back into and here I am!!!!! And the wife is sooooooooo happy I've found this sport cuz, cough cough, it's cheap!
-
Had to say, Ted, those are a couple of nice rifles. Love those wooden stocks.
-
In the late 90's I got a 1377, the kind with the magnetic probe for BBs. Shot the living daylights out of it. It was broken/stolen and replaced at least 3 times. Why not, for as inexpensive as it was just buy a new one. Wasn't until about 3 years ago that I rediscovered the platform. Now I shoot my custom 1322 almost exclusively. I've got several other springers but always come back to the 1300s.
-
Benjamin 347 from the seventies, still have it!
-
We had several Red Ryder's and a 25 in the neighborhood in the late fifties and early sixties. I got hooked by Red Ryder's that I converted into Mares Leg pistols. I used the 3" barrels from Daisy pistols.
I bought one of the 3" barrels a few years ago. I just need an older Red Ryder to make another.
For those of us who needed to look that up (mares leg pistol) enjoy!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare%27s_Leg
great post, I remember the tv show, at least in reruns
-
We had several Red Ryder's and a 25 in the neighborhood in the late fifties and early sixties. I got hooked by Red Ryder's that I converted into Mares Leg pistols. I used the 3" barrels from Daisy pistols.
I bought one of the 3" barrels a few years ago. I just need an older Red Ryder to make another.
For those of us who needed to look that up (mares leg pistol) enjoy!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mare%27s_Leg
great post, I remember the tv show, at least in reruns
I've never actually watched dead or alive ( I watch bonanza and gunsmoke ) but still think the mares leg is awesome though I'd rather have a full stock and short barrel for practicality.
-
Gamo Silent Cat .177 got me hooked
-
My first three guns as an adult were Beeman RS2, an Air Hawk and a Silent Cat. All from Walmart. Then I bought off gunbroker.com a old I.B. B3 and a XS or Peak B4-2 underlever. Rebuilding and refinishing those two gun and buying parts is what got me hooked.
-
I had a Daisy 880 first, but what really got me started was a Stoeger X10.
-
I remember having a Daisy Spittin' Image 1894 as a kid. I wasn't a bad shot with that rifle.
Many years later I purchased a TS 45 Industry Brand for $35.00 out of a magazine.
I still have it.
But, the real first was a Beeman R1 that I drove 1 1/2 hrs to purchase from a gun shop for $220.00.
What a fine piece of machinery.
I still have that one,too.
-
My first as an adult was this Stoeger X20:
(http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q112/jzorns/Airguns/0b9ee81d.jpg) (http://s134.photobucket.com/user/jzorns/media/Airguns/0b9ee81d.jpg.html)
It was a remarkably sensible choice, I must say. I replaced the trigger (weakest point) with a Charlie da Tuna one, which has made it into a keeper. It honks when cocked and is not as accurate as my German guns, but it has a wonderfully executed plastic stock with nice sharp checkering, and is pretty light for its power level. and it is reasonably accurate, something like 1" at 40 yards.
It sends out CPLs at about 920 fps, making it about a 15 FPE gun.
-
my hook was the crosman M1 carbine 1968? yes i am old. lol
Don
-
My first as an adult was this Stoeger X20:
(http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q112/jzorns/Airguns/0b9ee81d.jpg) (http://s134.photobucket.com/user/jzorns/media/Airguns/0b9ee81d.jpg.html)
It was a remarkably sensible choice, I must say. I replaced the trigger (weakest point) with a Charlie da Tuna one, which has made it into a keeper. It honks when cocked and is not as accurate as my German guns, but it has a wonderfully executed plastic stock with nice sharp checkering, and is pretty light for its power level. and it is reasonably accurate, something like 1" at 40 yards.
It sends out CPLs at about 920 fps, making it about a 15 FPE gun.
I have a synthetic stocked B19, B25, and B26. Wish my D48 was synthetic stocked.
-
My start was a 2200 when I was a teenager. Good gun, took out pigeons, magpies, scrubjays, etc. Was blissfully ignorant that soda straw barrels were inaccurate, scopes are needed for hunting, you have to find the right pellet, etc.
Took about 14 year hiatus, then bought a 392.
-
Long story short... Older bro had a Crosman 766.. It got handed down to me and my younger bro. Enjoyed shooting so much I got a 2280 and a 1377. Then I lost inrest in airguns because of girls. Many years later, I needed to kill some rats and the old 766 wouldn't hold air anymore. Came here and to the "geen" and learned how to fix it and mod airguns. Now I'm hooked for good.
-
I've been shooting airguns since I was about 10 years old, I had received a Daisy lever action BB gun for Christmas around 1962, it wasn't long after that my older brother sold me his Crosman pneumatic 22cal pistol (another one I wish I still had). I bought my first powder burner in 7th grade from a math teacher (only needed a note from my parents) and that really set me off to the races for shooting. My next notable purchase was a Sheridan Blue Streak in 1977(still have it) and I shot a lot of squirrels with that gun. Well there's a lot of airguns that I didn't mention in between however last fall is when I really got hooked on the newer airguns, I had found a airsoft P30 pistol in the woods and I had to do some work on it because by the looks of it, it had been there for a couple years, well I ended up getting it working and have been buying ever since. May latest purchase is a Marauder .25 with the wood stock (I'm definitely old school is why I chose wood 8) ) and I just can't wait to be out hunting with it. I'm hooked on pcp for sure :)
-
Mom & Dad always said I got my first Daisy from my Grandfather when I was 3 in 1957. I remember I was so small I would jam the barrel in the ground to cock it. I also remember once I forgot to close the guard and thought I had broken my fingers when I pulled the trigger. I got my second Daisy a Red Ryder with my birthday money when I turned 5. I had long since worn out the other one. I've had an air rifle or PB of some sort ever since, including 3 years we spent in England in the late 60's. Dad bought me a break barrel "Paratrooper" air rifle, with a pistol grip. I would shoot it in the attic, and could occasionally knock over a bowling pin with it if I hit it just right. I don't know if they had FPE restrictions then or not, but there were definitely gun restrictions and I was going nuts....we were going to be stationed there 3 years.
-
I have had an air pistol for a few years. Fortunately, or not, that 1088 did not spark the fire. It was purchased just for pigeon control at the house.
Fast forward a few years, I purchased a Beeman Gas Ram Quiet Tek. I started hunting small game and enjoyed the fact it didn't cost much to shoot it. I really enjoyed shooting, however, my PTSD kept me from firing PB's. Air rifles gave me the outlet I needed without negative emotional distress.
Since then, I have been collecting different lower budget rifles of assorted powerplants, just to get a feel for them all. However, that Beeman started my addiction....
-
For me it was a Diana 34. It now has been detuned to 11.5 ft pounds, has a 36 stock and barrel and wears an Avanti peep sight. Just a great all around rifle.
-
Don't remember my first. Once I saw what the FX Wildcat could do while messing around on line, got me deep. After the FX in April, I haven't been able to stop. Looking at buying a BSA in .25 right now while mt At44 .177 is still on the way. I really got to slow down!
-
soooooo many airguns. I was born into a family that was very much into guns and hunting.
the first airgun I used was my much older cousins 880 that for some reason was living at our house. This was 1985 I think. I was 7 or 8. I was only allowed to pump it maybe 3 times? My grandfather taught me how to shoot by hunting grasshoppers. I killed my first game animal - a bobwhite quail with it. My grandfather pumped it up more than the number I was normally allowed and gave it to me to shoot.
At one point, I found a love letter that my cousin had written his then girlfriend and hidden under the butt plate of that 880. I wish I knew where that gun was now. Maybe long gone. It was all metal with brown plastic stock and forearm, but the forearm didn't have the black diamond (the one I got a few years later did).
My own first airgun was a Daisy 95B that my grandfather bought me for my birthday I think in 1986. Then for christmas my uncle got me a 1377. I could not pump it myself yet at that point. A year or two later I got my own 880 (still all metal at that point - still have it). Sometime I should count how my I've actually owned. It would be quite a few.
-
It was a first variant Crosman 760, followed by a Crosman 622. The 622 sat in my closet for 40 years, until a few years ago I found it, rebuilt it, and got re-hooked. I now own 6 vintage Crosmans. Great hobby!
-
Looking back at ones youth ... @ 1969-1970 pre teenager wandering the local woods with a Sheridan Blue streak.
Neither lizard or bird was safe from the recklessness ... Tho dad said Squirrels & Rabbits you better collect and take em home !!!
-
I was never allowed to have airguns as a kid :'(.
But my folks bought a Crosman 1377 to keep the woodpeckers from further destroying the cedar siding on our house. I wasn't allowed to use it of course (but did anyway when no one else was around.)
Fast forward about 30 years and I bought my first house. Squirrels had tried to destroy my queen Victoria agave so I bought myself my first airgun to take revenge, a Crosman 1377.
It didn't shoot too well with the bulk pointed pellets that came in the milk carton (I thought I was big time for using pellets instead of the BBs that my folks used.) So I went online for help. Tom Gaylord's blog pointed me to the Green forum and it was all downhill from there.
I customized it to make it into a 2289 backpacker with an 18 inch barrel from a 2260, Crosman steel breech, bugbuster scope, etc, etc. I was hooked. My next airgun purchase was a TX200.
I blame all the (blessed) airgun enablers for what I have become.
-
I blame it on my brother in law. A few years ago he pulled out a Gamo Big Cat at a barbecue to shoot some cans with my son. I couldn't believe this new cutting edge break barrel technology ::) ;D,wow, I need to get one of these, Got one for myself, the rest is history.
-
Memories of misspent youth were formed around a Slavia 624, GAT pistol and a buddies Mk2. 8)
A fellow on another forum showed his modded 1377, which brought to mind..."I have one of those!". 1322 phase 2 was modded with flat top piston, 24" barrel, steel breech, 2289 fore arm and the 1399 stock. Things seem to have snowballed since then....slippery slope indeed. 8)
Al
-
Burned up more than a few Daisys ... YAWN.
Then, I bought my Sheridan Blue Streak in 1966 - I still have (and shoot) her. 8)
SHE was the ONE that did it!! ;)
Cheers,
Smoketown