GTA
All Springer/NP/PCP Air Gun Discussion General => PCP/CO2/HPA Air Gun Gates "The Darkside" => Topic started by: triggertreat on December 15, 2018, 04:24:42 AM
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For me it was squirrels stealing tomatoes from my small 12x20 garden spot. I was loosing one or two green ones a day and had enough. To much work for thieves to rob.
I started with a NP2 and didn't like it to much as it was just wounding the squirrels many times (I didn't have a clue about pellet sizes and such then). I upped my game after returning it for a refund and got the .22 Marauder I dubbed the Synrod being it had a synthetic stock. The rest is history. I designed the DIY internal SSG and invented the F.A.M.E mod for it to make it better with more shots and a much lower ES. Eventually I installed a WAR hammer forged barrel which took the gun to a whole new level of accuracy and then on to the TSS and MDS mods from JSAR where it sits today with my signature tune. I have a LW air tube waiting to be installed from JSAR and that should do it for mods. A long ways from garden pesting, but that's how it all started for me. I did have a Crosman pump as a young boy, but that was many moons ago and short lived.
I upped my game even more with a .25 caliber Synrod later on for more range and bigger pest, and did tons of mods to it as well. Recently, I replace my .270 deer gun with a .357 Slayer. Now we're talking a real quality PCP here averaging 275 FPE which should do fine and will be much quieter to shoot like my other two PCPs are. Now I'm all air and like that. I think that should do it for me, but I said that when I got the .22 cal Synrod, lol.
What's your story on how you got started with airguns?
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I started three years ago with a cheap .22 break barrel that I purchased to entertain my then 7 and 9 year old grand sons in my backyard.
I very quickly got addicted to tinkering, casting and shooting.
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I got my first adult air gun about 5 years ago. Wanted something that I could shoot in the back yard. Didn't want to have to pack stuff up and go to the range just to shoot. Started off with a cheap break barrel from Walmart. Then found the forum and the hobby just got more expensive from there.
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What really got me going in my retirement years is finding an airsoft pistol in the woods with my metal detector and I was off to the races once I discovered pcp's doing researching for an exploded view of my P30 airsoft gun. I have been using air guns since I was very young starting out with a Red Ryder.
(https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4409/36302277144_12a74b2aee_b.jpg)
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Right eye messed up. Bought a Beeman RS2 dual cal at Walmart to learn to shoot left hand. After I did that I was hooked.
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So bought 3 acres about 6 years ago. I always was interested in guns but never had one of my own. I didn’t like the idea of going to the range and having enough land to be able to shoot at home was just too expensive. Got me thinking about my childhood daisy pellet gun.
Found my daisy pellet gun right where I left it 15 years prior! Lol. Pumped it 5 times and it still worked. Bought a 10 dollar scope from wal mart and plinked a few cans.
So, I had a lot of doves and squirrels running around my property. For some stupid reason I wondered what they tasted like.
Googled air rifle hunting, found Tedsholdover. Bought a Trail NP from Walmart. It sucked.
Returned and found pyramydair. WOW didn’t know airguns go so expensive!!
Bought a hatsan 125 sniper .22(loved this gun)
Discovered PCP and bought a Marauder .25
Then a P-ROD.
Modified the heck out of both.
Fought with the wife and pleaded could I get more.
Modified them some more.
3000$+ and 25,000 pellets later.
I love air rifles.
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Walking thru Walmart about 5 or so years ago I spotted a Daisy 880. Memories flashed back to my youth so I picked it up. Shortly after we thought it may be cool to adorn our vintage home with vintage airguns. From there I found the GTA and it just blew up. I sometimes wonder if I should have just left that 880 on the shelf.
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The ammo shortage and a suppressed childhood pushed me over the edge. When I was growing up little girls didn't play with bb guns, they were a no no in my parent's house. Fast forward, I now have amassed a large collection and enjoying every one of them to the fullest extent. That's my story and I am sticking with it. Oh, the GTA helped a little(a lot) with the selection. ;)
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Well speaking only for myself it was quite a few things.
1-cheap ammo
2- can shoot them in places where using a rimfire would get you in hot water for fear of hitting something or someone down range
3-exceptional precision can be had from a properly tuned pcp
4-pcps are a whole lot easier to maintain and repair that firearms
5- they're a lot quieter than firearms, and with a good ldc that's an invaluable benefit particularly in hunting situations with multiple targets.
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Similar to many . . .
I had friends will BB/pellet guns as as a kid, and loved shooting them, but my mom would never allow me to have one. You know, "you'll shoot your eye out" and other such things . . .
I bought a 1322 pump pistol with the stock once I was on my own in the late 80s, and that was fine for decades - no internet, so no exposure to anything beyond that. Along comes kids and a need to teach them basic gun safety, so I get a Crosman 2100B from a local sporting goods store (one of the top models back when I was a kid) and I was happy with the addition for occasional plinking.
Then a groundhog problem developed about ten years ago, and I looked on the internet for something that could do the job better, thinking about maybe a break barrel, and was blown away by the choices. Bought a cheap Crosman Quest as a starting point, and after messing around with it, moved onto a Marauder. And it has grown from there . . . . and won't stop!
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in the first place?
Would have been about 1970 and I was too young to own a firearm. The neighbor boy had a Crosman 760 and I begged Mom and Dad until they caved. ;D
Fast forward 45 years... my 4 daughters were all grown and when they came home for family functions, their husbands / boyfriends and I would sit out on the deck while the women chatted inside.
I came up with this hair-brained idea us men-folk should all get an air pistol we could each start with the same. Then customize to our liking, and have competitions shooting off the deck. Did the research, found GTA, and decided on the 1377.
Gave each one $50 to get their own to get started....
I am the only one who followed through with it. ::)
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1948, Me and Red Ryder walking from the house to the barn, not hitting any thing, and darn hard to cock for a six year old, that was Ma's idea of a safety. What a great way for any young person to start, and just about any back yard will do set up properly.
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I've basically had a bb or pellet gun of some kind my whole life. But it was the 22lr shortage that pushed me to take a more serious look. Then like many newer shooters, I found the Ted's Holdover YouTube channel. Then the research into these crazy pcp guns began.
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Had always liked to shoot but my ex didn't like guns, I respected that.
Well as she turned to be ex I wanted to shoot and was a cnc machinist...
made one co2 .177 out of crossman grip and some tubing.
(https://img.aijaa.com/m/00378/14647773.jpg) (https://aijaa.com/plXkvg)
It got a bit sideways from there, as I figured you can build bigger pcp guns.
.177 turned in to .25, then that in to .357 then wanted bigger and more powerful. Well I can't see the end of this any time soon.
Marko
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STARLINGS >:(
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Squirrels.
I bought a Crosman 760 just to see if I liked it.
Marauder 25.
Condor 25 SS.
Crosman 2240.
Thank you GTA!
Scott
" I am the only one who followed through with it. "
Their loss, and yours.
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My grandfather borrowed Daisy #25 from someone and let me use it to thin out the english sparrows around the horse barns when I was 5. Had to get on my knees and use both hands to pump it with the butt stock on the ground.
Gary
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Guessing I was basically born into airguns :-\
Born under a BB Gun Sign ;D
(https://thabto.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/lawn.jpg)
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I bought a Revelation 760 Pumpmaster in 1966/67. It was a very powerful airgun, especially compared to everything else available at the time. I still have that airgun and shoot it occasionally.
I have always had a love of shooting.....ANYTHING. I went the route of powder burners for decades. And I have quite a few. But not having a range near by and convenient, I longed to just be able to shoot any time I got the itch. I live in a rural area but have neighbors fairly close. I COULD shoot pb in my back yard but did not deem it safe enough, not having a proper back stop.
Walking through Walmart one year some time ago, the printing on a Powerline 1000 box stopped me in my tracks. 1000fps!!!!! Wow...from a BB gun? LOL
It was late November and Teresa was all eyes and ears. Come Christmas, guess what I surprisingly unwrapped? So I can blame her for my renewed love of shooting and sending me down the rabbit hole of airgunning. Looking to smooth out this Turkish diamond in the rough is what brought me here in 2009. I haven't been able to leave since. And now have 90-100 airguns in my collection that I shoot any time I can find a few minutes to scratch that itch. Plus bench time tinkering with these is fantastic therapy for me.
Whatever brought you here and to airguns....
SAFE & Happy Shooting!!!!
Dave
8)
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Scott
" I am the only one who followed through with it. "
Their loss, and yours.
I keep casting the bait,
One S.I.L. is nibbling....but haven't hooked one yet.
;)
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When i was young i used to shoot powder burner at a club,then for several reasons i left that sport.
Some years ago i bought a CX4 storm CO2,a funny plinker,but no power there,later a lot of starlings came around my house,ok,lets get serious,i bought a Diana34,good springer,but not enough quiet,so i bought an 850 airmagnum CO2 with an LDC,good for the job.Then it happened,searching infos in the net found the "yellow pages" and joined the forum and discovered the USA world of airguns,wow,plenty of tuners and thinkerers.So i start to burn money trying mods,conversions,customizations.
Some time later i joined GTA.
So much fun and much less starlings and pigeons out there ;D
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I blame my brother in law for getting me addicted. He took out his Gamo big cat for my then 8 year old son to try out. I had never seen a breakbarrel before, I had to get one for us to use at home. 6 years and thousands of dollars later, the addiction is still strong. Love this hobby and all the great people also involved in it.
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It all started for me in the early 60's, in Red Bluff, Ca, I was running the trapline for furbearers and varmints,
and I was having a hard time dispatching some of the toothy critters (Coyotes/Bobcats/Grey Fox/Raccoons etc), without them leaving marks in/on my young body.
After couple trips to the local family DR, to get fixed up, I suggested to mom that I needed a 22 rifle for the trapline etc,
Mom said that wouldn't be a good Idea, I was too young to handle it. :'(
Was in the local sporting/gun shop and found a Sheridan pumper, for $20/30, IIRR,
I knew nothing about it and the store owner showed me how it worked, and how accurate it was at 10yds, out the back door.
I was hooked, ;D I went home and informed Mom, that I found a solution to a 22 rifle for the trapline etc, it was a "BB gun".
After a sit down discussion with Mom and the store owner, I became the proud owner of the Dan, along with a couple of packs of ammo,
But, I had to work all summer on the paper route (paper route money went to Mom),
and picking up all the glass beer/pop bottles for refunds (went towards my BB gun), to pay for it etc.
The Dan pumped up to 5-6 pumps (all I could do) would dispatch the toothy critters with smashing power, from 5', and the trips to the Dr office, stopped.
That Dan spent 18+ hrs per day in my hands, 24/7, plus untold numerous plastic packs of pellets, went thru it,
from grade school thru High school.
I soon learned that the Dan would take squirrels/rabbits/Quail cleanly when I did my part, and food for the family increased,
which helped out when feeding 5 of us, (Dad died driving a log truck), as we had very little spending money to throw around.
Fast forward to about 5 yrs ago, and I found this site, and I lurked on the outside reading numerous posts, I was hooked again, ;).
I was burnt out on PB's after shooting and building the smaller calibers, in 17,22 cals.
I have now fallen down the Dark Rabbit hole, and loving it........THANKS TO all the enablers round here. 8)
I do have that Dan in the shop somewhere, I may have to find it, now.
Tia,
Don
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Growing up on a farm, I am guessing when I was 5 years old I had a Daisy. I got a 99 Champion, which is still in excellent condition since the early 70's, and it killed countless sparrows and dozens of other sky carp. "Growing up on a farm with grain bins and livestock creates a nice shooting environment". Then my dad bought a 760 self cocking variant, that I still have, and I shot sparrows by the thousands over the next 5-6 years. Fast forward probably 30 years. I was watching Youtube when I saw a Ted's Holdover video. Then I found GTA. Then I bought 2 XS60PCP's. Now I have way more PCP's than I care to admit. They will never replace my powder burners, but fill a a spot for plinking and shorter range shooting in more populated areas. I take a .25 Marauder with when shooting Pdogs, but seldom shoot in towns that are in range for it. I am planning to go to Utah or Oregon in a copule of years, then I think the Marauder will get a workout, as lot's of shooting is done under 100yds.
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Ya'll really want to know?
Timmothy (the older neighbor kid across the street and down aways about 1961 or 1962)
Family would see Timmy early on Sundays, when we were all piled into the car going to church about 7:15- 7:20 Sunday mornings (we weren't rich...which is why in 1961 my father was still driving a 1949 Packard). Tim always had a Benjamin (probably a 312) and a burlap sack. Pop would stop and talk to him,and he's always have somthing in the sack (squirrel/rabbit/doves/ robins(Yes...folks ate robins)/ quail/ or at least a 'possum). We all knew they needed that "free" food, never talked about leagal seasons, just admired the game and wished him luck (and passoed on any information about where we had seen this or that game critter during the week).
Now Ti9nny was much older than me at the time,and like most teens, would not stand for a snot-nosed-kid following him around. Wasn'ta mean guy,just typical of a young teen, so I didn't take offence...just envied his ability to hunt.
Right about then, decided that my BB guns were just not going to cut it....various jobs suited for a kid,lot of saving money, and I had to have a Benjamin of my own (which in a sudden burst of weath, became a Sheridan "C").
The other influence:
Leroy (father'soldhunting buddy) about 1977 introduced me to "adult airguns:.
Here is is in his last years (at about 89...he passed at 92 some years back).
(https://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t50/ribbonstone/rifle%20pixs/SUNP0010-1-1_zps7f6acb5e.jpg) (https://s157.photobucket.com/user/ribbonstone/media/rifle%20pixs/SUNP0010-1-1_zps7f6acb5e.jpg.html)
So on a trip out west ,not too long after starting teaching high school, (oregon/nevada/california) picked LeRoy up (still drivng my 1966 VW Bug..which is a *(&^ of a drive from New Orleans) in Livermore...and off with Leroy to a little store front in San Raphael, California where a nice soft soken little Asian lady sold me an HW35E (and she was nice enough to go in the back and pick a really beaurtiful stock). It wasn't me, that LeRoy always had a ceretain way with the ladies.
NOpe...never asked...don't know who she was....but you all know what the stroe front was.
So basically from then (lets say 40 years) I've been "hosed".
Whole lot of chnages over the years. I'd still like to have as nice an HW35E...I'd still like to find a nice 1966 VW...but I'd give a whole lot more for one more afternoon airgunning with LeRoy.
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Started for me about 5 years ago (late 2013) when I bought my first adult airgun, a lightly used .177 Gamo Silent Cat on a whim. Just woke up one morning and saw it on Craigslist for $50. Little did I know that the $50 initial investment was gonna cost me a small fortune in the long run?
Was shooting it at paper targets on 1/4 inch plywood and noticed the pellet was going clean through the plywood? Had no idea these things were as powerful as they are? Not to mention it put my old Crosman Pumpmaster 760 with BB's to shame.
Started lurking on the forums and Youtube. Found Kenny Kormendy on "My Airgun Reviews" , god rest his soul and bought a brand new .22 Umarex Octane after watching his review on it. Learned about the artillery hold watching ArcherAirgun videos. The wife and I would have contest shooting wine corks at 20 yds.
Then I started looking at the "Ted's Holdover" channel and knew right away that a PCP was in my future.
Within two months I had bought the .25 cal Gen II Synthetic Marauder which was new at the time and the rest is history. I've bought and sold so many airguns since then I've lost count.
It's funny because I'm not a hunter, I just like to plink and target shoot!
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When I realized a BB gun wasn't "enough gun" ... ;)
Cheers,
Smoketown
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Im sure Ive told this story but I was in and auto accident and layed up at home with nothing to do so I purchased a brand new gen 1 marauder to shoot squirrels off the porch thats how I started with PCP air guns though I had many pumpers and break barrels as a kid and young adult.
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I remember shooting cans with my grandpa's Daisy model 25 when I was probably 8 or younger. I had a Crosman 760 in my early preteens- the mid '80s.
I was always attracted to adult airguns and bought myself a Sheridan CB9 in the early 90s with money from my 1st job. I used to pump that thing 8 times for every single shot, even if only shooting dandelions at 25 ft. Power was part of the attraction.
In the mid '90s I saw Gamos and RWS guns on display, and the promise of 1000fps with one cocking stroke captured my imagination. The seed was planted, and in the early 2000s I decided to take up squirrel hunting and ordered an RWS34 that arrived damaged. Sent it back and got an RWS94. Then a Crow Magnum, BSA Lightning, Lightning XL, Pro Elite, R1, C1, HW77, HW35, R7 etc.... I eventually realized the most important traits of a squirrel hunting gun were handling and accuracy. Settled on a chopped R9 in .177 as my main rig. I sold the rest and was a happy one gun R9 guy for a while.
Then, about 5 years ago, the bug bit again, and I've amassed dozens of decent rifles. Now it's for the enjoyment and appreciation of the guns instead of the single minded purpose of hunting.
No PCPs for me, though. I like self-contained shooters.
Thanks for reading!
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Now that I think about it, we got a tv when I was 8 years old. I loved to watch those westerns. Santa (Mom) brought me a daisy that looked like a 30-30 that hollywood always (wrongly) showed. Not a red rider, I think that it had a cowboy on horse back.my brother now 6 years old also got one. Many good times.
Don, Nvreloader, it sounds like that Sheridan saved mom money in the long run in Dr bills.
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About 5+ years ago I picked up a 1377 so I had something to shoot in my basement to see if it would help improve my PB pistol shooting. That purchase baited the hook because after I saw how much fun it was I decided I needed a rifle also. Picked up a .22 Mrod and it's been nothing but a down hill slide ever since. I think I've finally reached the point where I'm pretty much satisfied with what I have but every time I tell my wife I'm done buying new airguns she replies " that's what you said after you bought the last one". I still have the 1377.
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My Daisy 99 Original from 1965. I sold 15 bushels of hand picked (by me) peaches to get the money to buy this one.
I quickly got accurate with it but it lacked power. Christmas 1966 my Granddad got me a Benjamin 342.
I still have it but unfortunately I misplaced most the internals in a move across the country several times.
If I ever find the parts (I know I have them somewhere) I will be completing a rebuild on it.
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What got you started with airguns in the first place?
I'm still going to counseling for that to try to figure that out and manage it ;D
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Tim always had a Benjamin (probably a 312) and a burlap sack. Pop would stop and talk to him,and he's always have somthing in the sack (squirrel/rabbit/doves/ robins(Yes...folks ate robins)/ quail/ or at least a 'possum).
Thank you for confirming that I'm not the only one who ate Robins when I lived in Louisiana ;D
When I told my Yankee friends that I hunted and ate Robins they either didn't believe me or I had some kind of hangup :o ;D
I still remember putting them in a burlap sack, like your friend, to prepare them for a sit down meal.
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Kindly remember (and sometimes recreate) the experience of heading out into the woods with an airgun,water,1/4 pound of dry rice,salt/pepper/ and either"butter"packets looted from a fast food place or blobs of bacon fat looted from mom (bacon fat better), matches, and a beat up pot.
Shoot/clean/fire/cook/eat....4 or 6 miles from "nowhere" it tased mightly fine, even if it was Robins. Reguardless,whatever I shoot...I eat...so itpays to be selective.
Although now, they'd peel-ya and nail your hide to a barn wall for eating robins....but basically, if anything tastes like doves...it's robins.
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Tim always had a Benjamin (probably a 312) and a burlap sack. Pop would stop and talk to him,and he's always have somthing in the sack (squirrel/rabbit/doves/ robins(Yes...folks ate robins)/ quail/ or at least a 'possum).
Thank you for confirming that I'm not the only one who ate Robins when I lived in Louisiana ;D
When I told my Yankee friends that I hunted and ate Robins they either didn't believe me or I had some kind of hangup :o ;D
I still remember putting them in a burlap sack, like your friend, to prepare them for a sit down meal.
Our backyard neighbor (across the alley way) had two sons that would shoot robins with BB guns for their mom. We had chinaberry trees and the robins would come in large numbers at certain times of the year to eat them. One day, she asked me if I wanted a robin sandwich and I said yes. It was a BBQ robin sandwich, and I tell ya, it was so good that I still remember it. I never had another but always wanted one.
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Our backyard neighbor (across the alley way) had two sons that would shoot robins with BB guns for their mom. We had chinaberry trees and the robins would come in large numbers at certain times of the year to eat them. One day, she asked me if I wanted a robin sandwich and I said yes. It was a BBQ robin sandwich, and I tell ya, it was so good that I still remember it. I never had another but always wanted one.
Nice to see yet one more Southerner admit to this rite of passage ritual.
I feel a sense of belonging and guilt free now............. ;D ??? :P
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Now that I think about it, we got a tv when I was 8 years old. I loved to watch those westerns...
Dang you for jarring those old, dormant memory cells.
I guess what got me started was a Marx "Sound-O-Power” toy gun.
A western lever action plastic gun with a speaker built into the stock that when "shot" sounded like a ricochet .
Yep that started it all.
(https://i.pinimg.com/originals/55/51/d2/5551d2d8c56c62be8e6cf22dc191ced2.jpg)
Just imagine this Saturday morning cartoon commercial today for our cuddly impressionable youth.
Oh the Horror! :o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ZAXM4NeRo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9ZAXM4NeRo)
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Our backyard neighbor (across the alley way) had two sons that would shoot robins with BB guns for their mom. We had chinaberry trees and the robins would come in large numbers at certain times of the year to eat them. One day, she asked me if I wanted a robin sandwich and I said yes. It was a BBQ robin sandwich, and I tell ya, it was so good that I still remember it. I never had another but always wanted one.
Nice to see yet one more Southerner admit to this rite of passage ritual.
I feel a sense of belonging and guilt free now............. ;D ??? :P
We had a Coleman stove. Me and my neighbor buddies would all get together and fry up whatever we had as young boys. Mama didn't care as long as it was outside. I remember us frying up some rabbits, squirrels and blackbirds one day. We had a blast cooking stuff we shot all on our own. My dad gave me his .410 and just said not to shoot it up in the air or towards the neighbors. Blackbirds were a real common target with that shotgun.
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We had a Coleman stove. Me and my neighbor buddies would all get together and fry up whatever we had as young boys. Mama didn't care as long as it was outside. I remember us frying up some rabbits, squirrels and blackbirds one day. We had a blast cooking stuff we shot all on our own. My dad gave me his .410 and just said not to shoot it up in the air or towards the neighbors. Blackbirds were a real common target with that shotgun.
How times have changed.
You probably can't do any of those things anymore for fear of breaking some law or offending someone :P ::)
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My first was a 1894 daisy lever action BB gun on the farm. Then a single shot bolt action 410 became my go to. But as an adult, discovered pcp and a modified Benjamin marauder.25 when trying to figure out how to thin out some coyotes quietly without endangering the neighbors. Hooked, now own 7.
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as a kid in the 60s, a friend had a Daisy Buck we shot in the woods at everything, including each other. seeing a Crosman 454 CO2 BB pistol at Kmart, mom bought it for me and dad made me the guardian of our cherry orchard. i shot thousands of starlings with that gun over the next 6 years. my older brother had a Crosman 760 i would borrow to hunt squirrels with and sometime in the 90s i bought a 2240. i dropped it in 2015 and it started leaking. searching the net for parts i was exposed to the New and Expensive World of Airguns. after fixing the 2240 i bought a Gamo Raptor that i then sold and purchased a 2260 that i shot for 2 months before sending it off for modifications.
i've always loved to shoot and i was a range officer at work for 8 years. i had an unlimited supply of .38 and .223 at my disposal and would shoot for hours at a time.
airguns have allowed me to keep in practice at home without the expense of range fees and expensive ammunition.
when we bought our retirement place a few years ago, 1 of the criteria was it had to have space for a 50 yard airgun range and be outside the town limts.
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We had a Coleman stove. Me and my neighbor buddies would all get together and fry up whatever we had as young boys. Mama didn't care as long as it was outside. I remember us frying up some rabbits, squirrels and blackbirds one day. We had a blast cooking stuff we shot all on our own. My dad gave me his .410 and just said not to shoot it up in the air or towards the neighbors. Blackbirds were a real common target with that shotgun.
How times have changed.
You probably can't do any of those things anymore for fear of breaking some law or offending someone :P ::)
nope, sure couldn't! we would walk to the woods a 1/2 mile from our home with rifles over our shoulders and most we ever got from motorists was a wave.
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We had a Coleman stove. Me and my neighbor buddies would all get together and fry up whatever we had as young boys. Mama didn't care as long as it was outside. I remember us frying up some rabbits, squirrels and blackbirds one day. We had a blast cooking stuff we shot all on our own. My dad gave me his .410 and just said not to shoot it up in the air or towards the neighbors. Blackbirds were a real common target with that shotgun.
How times have changed.
You probably can't do any of those things anymore for fear of breaking some law or offending someone :P ::)
nope, sure couldn't! we would walk to the woods a 1/2 mile from our home with rifles over our shoulders and most we ever got from motorists was a wave.
Not too sure someone from PETA would not report you for shooting any of the above game regardless if blackbirds are a nuisance species.
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It was rattus getting into our home, garage and eating our fruit trees fruit as traps didn’t work well enough to get all of them!
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Vermin did it for me too.
My wife and I had just moved to Oklahoma from Germany (I'm retired Air Force) in 1989. We rented a small house with a large yard. At the back of the yard was a woodpile. Inhabiting the woodpile were some kind of rodent. I had remembered seeing some high end air guns at one of the local gun shops. Can't use firearms in city limits, so I decided to get a Beeman R10 (and still have it).
Convincing the wife that spending $300 on a pellet gun was a good idea, took a while. After I dropped three or four of the rats, she was sold too. That was the only air gun I had for the last 27 years until this year. Not looking back now.
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True...times change...game laws change...and become more strict.
First trip though colledge (1972 0 1976) did see a room mate wearing a blaze ornage vest picking up trash on the shoulder of I-10 for several weekends because he had a couple of Robbins ialong with some (in season) Doves in his game bag.
Thinking about it, been a long long time from the last big flock of Robins sighted....doubt it was from poor-hungry-folks shooting and eating them....more likely some environmental thing between here and then.
Anyway...wasn't PROPOSING them as game birds....they aren't...but back in the past, they were.
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I don't think people eating tasty animals would mind (PETA).
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With my yute I had the usual Daisy BB guns. Throughout Jr. and Sr. high school shot .22 for rankings, medals, patches, at the local gun club (Southern Michigan Gun Club, Kalamazoo) , Wayne knows the place ;D and left for college and didn't pick up a gun for 44 years. My son-in-law took me to a rifle range 3 years ago as a kind gesture and showed me his 'ahem', skills with his scoped .308.
He was all over the target and grumbled about not being to sight in his scope. He continued to blame the gun and showed a lot of impatience.
I just let him vent. He shrugged when he handed off the gun off to me, and remarked I might be able to beat him. I said nothing.
The muscle memory, breathing and follow through, all came back as I sighted in his rifle with 3 shots, and proceeded to place a nice grouping in the 9 and 10 rings. He just stared a bit bug-eyed. I just shrugged and later gave the target to my daughter who put it in her jewelry box, with my gun club spoils. :D :D
I will say that I did thank my son-in-law for awakening the sport shooting beast from within, but was a bit dismayed at the cost of ammunition. Going back into powder burners was going to take some coin as well as range fees. At some point, I sent away for a catalog from some place called Pyramid Air and the rest as they say, is history. Before I retired in 2017 I found it nice and relaxing to come home, make a cup of coffee, go in the backyard with a 50' range and shoot, and shoot and shoot... :o I do wish tho I had not waited 44 years to get back into target shooting. Still don't own a powder burner, but that's OK by me.
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It started when my step father took an old benjamin 177 cal 342 & sent it to the gunsmith
to get it fixed. On christmas I found it under the tree. It was on! Then a couple years later
I found a daisy red rider under the couch when my step father told me. I got hooked.
It did,nt help that beemans in santa rosa ca had a store here in town. & then I met
the rabbit hole. A boat load of air guns. :D
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Man, these are some killer stories! In a time where no one sits around to tell a good story anymore, reading all these from you all is a treat.
Okay, I guess I gotta story up with how I got into it:
I migrated from the Phillipines in 1973. I was never introduced to guns as my dad was never around. He was working at Vietnam as a civil service worker for the US military.
Anyway, I found something I fell in love with and whenever I got the chance, I would nab them up, and that was catalogs. Back in the day long before internet, everyone that had some type of retail business had a catalog of what they sold. I got my hands on a Best catalog. And there I saw my first air rifle, a Crosman American classic, in 177. I guess it was considered a 760, I can’t remember. Had a really long forearm pump, with a nice wood grain look but plastic. 10 pumps got you full power. At that time, it had the most FPS than any in its class. I added up what it would take to get the gun, a 4x20 scope, a milk carton of BB’s and a tin of pellets. $80!!
As an 11 year old with no source of income, and no one to explain to me about getting a job, I was frustrated. I spent night after night dreaming about that gun, trying to find a way to get it in my hands. I told my mom about it, but we were poor, so no go on that.
In a town called Roseville, CA, there’s this weekend only open place called Denios farmers market and auction.
You could get groceries there cheap. A man named Stanley owned this little store, and he sold second hand groceries. Canned goods that were dented, soap boxes that had tears in it, etc. well, my mom shopped there, and found out Stanley was looking for an assistant to stock shelves and unload the trucks that came in with these second hand groceries. Bam! Got a job, with the help of my mom coaching me on what to say during an interview.
I’ll make this story short, and not tell you all the BS I went thru with that job. All I know is it was a way to get me that gun. I only worked Saturday and Sunday, 10 hours a day, so twenty a weekend. On the second weekend, on the Sunday(my fourth day), my mom shows up to pick me up a half hour before quitting time. Apparently Stanley had a wife that was really sick, and he knew my dad was in ‘nam, so he makes a pass at my mom, by saying, “ let’s help each other with our loneliness”, while rubbing her back. I remember my mom said it’s time to go home, NOW!! I said I still have 15 minutes, she yells NOW!!
I didn’t know it at the time, what had happened, and on the way home my mom was really quiet. She spoke up finally and asked me how close was I to that $80 I needed. I said I was at $56. Then she say, “you’re never going back there. I’ll come up with the difference. Let’s go to Best tomorrow”. That next day I was a proud owner of that gun, and for the next year, I took out a lot of ground squirrels at a local elementary school playground(weekends only, when no one was around, lol). Even got my first blue jay with that thing.
A year went by, and Christmas came. I really wanted to get my mom something for Christmas, and I had a friend that just loved my gun, so I sold it to him for $50 so I was able to afford to buy my mom a bottle of Channell #5 perfume. I missed that gun, and one day I told myself I’d be an airgunner again.
14 years later, I was married, and met my neighbor with the R1, and my other story in Triggers other tread follows on on how I then got myself my first adult air gun, a Beeman.
Writing all of this made me realize, where has all the time gone....
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Adam Lanza, George Zimmerman and Barack Obama got me interested in guns in general. Airguns allow me to practice at home.
Bought, built, shot, modified and sold 25-30 airguns (and even more powderburners) up until recently where I seem to be content.
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Great story Augie!
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Every since I was a kid I have been interested in anything that shoots! I am one of those southern boys that grew up on a farm too, I actually got a .22 ithica lever action at around 6 yrs old, great fun but was only allowed to shoot it while Dad was around, which wasn't much.
I figured out that a bb gun was a great substitute for the times between as my grandmother would allow me to have those by the time I was 8 or so and I had run of the farm! She also gave me a very important lesson on killing only what you intend to eat.
Around here we used to have lots of sparrows and I considered those prime targets for my Daisy Red Ryder ( with custom leather boot lace shoulder strap) which I carried constantly. After she caught me killing some of them and made me ( by myself with no help) clean ,cook and eat them I moved on to Robins! They tasted much better as she helped out with the final cleaning and cooked them, so there were no feathers or blood left at the time of eating!
I got back into air rifles as an adult, with lots of stories through my early teens about them , because of a friend who likes to shoot as much as I do and pellets are way cheaper and just as much fun! And after target shooting, the time and effort to get them to shoot right, why go back to pb for hunting??
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unbridled, unlubed prison rape...j/k?
dirty ^&* squirrel mafia controlling the whole block, and their low down cottontail goons.
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Hunter
Yes it did, and I didn't have to limp around much,
Dr Martin made house calls in that time, but I still had to pay the bill out of the trapping funds made, at that time,
Muskrats were $5 p/hide and Beaver was over $60 for a super blanket, coyotes were $35,
the tough mean Bobcat (they have NO FEAR) of anything with their 10 razor sharp claws and blinding speed, were $50,
and the Grey Fox was $20, Raccoon was $15-20 plus various other critters. ;)
An old trapper took me under his wing and showed me how to trap etc, but he left out a chapter on how to dispatch the toothy critters LOL.
I made a 18" long Thumper stick from Oak, that put to sleep all the critters, the TOUGH one was the Bobcats, they were a handful,
I had an Aussie dog "Cougar" that was my buddy, he would get the critters attention, and I would sneak up from the blind side and thump them to sleep,
he was smarter than I was, it only took 1 time and he stayed away from the toothy/sharp end, I was kinda a slow learner. ::)
I can remember mom telling a friend, that our income was around $600 p/mo (from dad's death) plus SS funds added a little more,
so mom was kinda lenient towards me trapping and helping out with the living expenses for the 5 of us.
Those were the GOOD Old days......... I still use a 18" Thumper stick on the trap line today,
Old habits are hard to die hard................But I am smarter..........LOL
Tia,
Don
Don, Nvreloader, it sounds like that Sheridan saved mom money in the long run in Dr bills.
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What got me into Airguns.
I’ve had 3 neck surgeries and now have a fused and plated neck plus I’ve had several surgeries on arm and hands because of the nerve damage and then because of the chronic pain they had me on Fentanyl but a year later they put a morphine pump in my back and ran a tube up my spine with small tubes going to my nerve endings in my neck to help with the chronic pain plus I also had right shoulder surgery, while dealing with the chronic pain I ended up having a bad heart attack and found out I have CHD, I’ve also had 2 different pacemakers in last six years. All this has happened to me in the last 7 years. That’s the short of it....I’m 100% disabled now.
I used to be a avid bow hunter and 3-D shooter and was also into powder burners and long range shooting.
With everything that was going on and not being able to enjoy archery or shooting high powered rifles I needed to find something to keep me going and away from depression and while I was reading a article in a magazine they brought up airguns so I went on line and looked for different things on these airguns and ran across GTA and AGN and as I read into the forums I realized this was something I could do to keep me doing what I enjoyed doing. I’m also into crossbows.
I am now a Airgunholic and it has really saved me from depression.
I Was a avid Harley rider since 1980 and I’m a life H.O.G member, ATving and Snowmobiling were also a big part of my life as was Hunting Upland and Waterfawl before my health took a turn, I’ve had a big part of my life ripped away but finding Airguns has been a BIG savior for me.
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WOW Jim! What a comeback with airgunning. You just never know what cards you will be dealt in life, but nothing stops you. I'm inspired by how you press on.
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How I got into airgun, as a kid my dad was in the air force and we traveled all over the US and into Germany for 4 years. We ended up moving back to California in the mid 70’s and settled down in the central valley. My grandparents & cousins lived out in the in the sticks. As we visited our families we could go goof off out in the sticks. Hunting, fishing & camping with our cousins was a weekend event! We were stocked everytime we could get out doors. Good ole Mom & Dad picked up on our new life and got my brother & I our first airguns. Mine was underlever BB gun and my brother got a pumper like a Crossman 760 if I remember right. We hunted with our guns every time we went to visit family. A few years later on my brother bought me a .20 Sheridan blue streak. Now I was hunting for big game, G-squirrels, rabbits, etc. That gun got me stoked big time on airguns. The Sheridan was misplaced while in a process of getting divorced and lost… To this day I still miss that gun. I could replace now but it will not be my old gun..
Moving forward a few years, I got back to airguns with a Beeman RS2 Dual-Caliber Air Rifle Combo for dispatching vermin, birds etc. That opened me up to the Crossman 1377 pistol, modding it for more power I found Crosman air pistol forum and turned my 1377 into a 1322 hunter/carbine.
My AG interest peaked up more and as I found Marauder Forum online. Now look out!
I was hooked on AG’s at this point and could afford to spend a few more $$$ on guns. I saved up for my first PCP, I picked up a Gen 1 .25 Mrod, pump & scope. Later on I purchased a pony bottle for it. I did some DYI mods to the gun. I picked up the Prod, that replaced the Beeman RS2 for backyard protection. She went to my son and way we go.
I wanted more power for the Mrod & Prod’s and then Travis (Oldpro) came in to my life as I was looking for more power. I have never looked back since then. Travis came up with some of the best aftermarket parts for my gun collection EVER! My best and most fav AG is still my .25 cal (30fpe) Mini-rod that Travis built for me. With Oldpro’s SS Valve she’s a beast with up to 80fpe. I can never thank Travis enough for what he has done for AG’s. He can be a pain in the ^&* and make me send him money for the latest stuff he is selling at the time.. LOL
I love hunting with AG’s they can be loud or quiet as a mouse’s fart and dispatching game with laser precision. I look forward to the years of airguns. Now if AAA and Travis would just stop making some of the most bad ^&* guns I can afford that would be great!
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Never allowed any of these things as a kid, but my friend had a pump crosman. Got into powder burners as a young adult, but gradually stopped going to the range. Started thinking about it again last year and realized
A. how expensive pb had become
B. How much more shooting I could do in the yard
C. how many darn rats there are in the trees
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My Daisy 99 Original from 1965. I sold 15 bushels of hand picked (by me) peaches to get the money to buy this one.
I quickly got accurate with it but it lacked power. Christmas 1966 my Granddad got me a Benjamin 342.
I still have it but unfortunately I misplaced most the internals in a move across the country several times.
If I ever find the parts (I know I have them somewhere) I will be completing a rebuild on it.
How many times did you get your finger smacked with the spring loaded magazine?
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An abundance of rats eating my citrus, causing problems for my dog. Amazon had the CO2 powered .177 Crosman 1077 with cheapie Centerpoint 4x32 scope for under $100 and shipped by Pyramyd, so I figured shooting the rats would be an enjoyable and inexpensive thing to do.
I could never get the cheap scope to zero and wound up shelving it. While I killed a couple rats offhand using iron sights, one rat wound up taking 4 shots to the body due to bad off hand shot placement. This prompted me to get a Bug Buster scope so I could take better shots and have something with working adjustments. The better optics revealed a lot of inconsistency shot to shot due to how CO2 operated. I started reading about modifications to the 1077 and CO2 rifle operation. I needed more consistency. I had a spare paintball CO2 tank sitting in a modified sodastream, so i bought an adapter to run the 1077 from the bottle. While studying up on 1077 mods, I noticed a lot of mentions about the limitations of CO2 and HPA being the name of the game.
While waiting for the adapter, I started reading the Pyramyd catalog and drooling over the fancy, more expensive PCPs. After watching a few youtube videos on PCPs, I decided I needed to get a .177 Marauder...
...I've put in a little over $3K into "shooting rats" at this point. I've gone from rats, to squirrels, to possums, to hoping for some game next year. I now have a modified .177 Synrod, .25 ARmrod, .25 Artemis P15 bullpup, glass for each rifle, DonnyFL Shogun LDC, and I don't even have a tank yet, which I hope my wife will remedy this Christmas.
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I've put in a little over $3K into "shooting rats" at this point.
Michael, that seems like a real responsible use of your financial resources:
3000 dollars to kills some roaming rats – REALLY?!? ::)
I surely have the moral high ground here.
NOT....
Just read this:
https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=148453 (https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=148453)
:-\
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About the same or less than hiring a full time exterminator ???
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A fascination with launching projectiles while being too young to own firearms, or indeed commercially made airguns, which lead me to "rolling my own" for a few years before I bought my first, a HW45.
One of my first builds was an 6mm exhaust valve design using a cut down syringe as a piston and balsa wood endcaps epoxied in place, not the smartest construction for a pressure bearing vessel but how was a misguided adolescent to know ::) it worked pretty well to about 100 psi.
(https://i.imgur.com/61LTOpJ.jpg)
That grew into a fairly decent collection that I stupidly sold before moving half way across the world:
(https://i.imgur.com/SrOzBD0.jpg)
An excuse to start again, though now it's mostly older and unusual models.
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As a young lad, I was a dead-eye shot with an old "Buck" spring air rifle. When my son came along, and became of age, I bought him his first Buck rifle, and the following year he got his first Red Ryder. Our favorite Christmas movie of course was Christmas Story... His interest in the air guns, coupled with his enthusiasm spurned my interest in air guns again. Instead of a spring air rifle though, I went head long into PCP's (circa 2010). Unfortunately, as my son matured, he let his interest in air guns wane, as he considered them "kids toys" :o I told him that is the joy of having a second childhood... all new and improved toys to play with.
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Childhood hobby. Then my divorce gave my the free time and life crises to get back into it 😂
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Childhood hobby. Then my divorce gave my the free time and life crises to get back into it 😂
Looks like you came back hard looking at your list. Nice collection!
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The mad run on 22 lr ammo combined with Crosman's introduction of the Benjamin Discovery.
Haven't shot the 22 lr since then and the airgun collection just keeps growing :)
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9 years old got a 495 fps break barrel with a wooden stock.
Busted it up trying to figure out how to get at the spring many years later.
About 8 yrs ago I decided I need to get a co2 pistol cos I'd never had one, always wanted one. I grabbed the desert eagle first and soon added a 1377 for more power and accuracy and because of the mod scene, finally got myself a metal breech. Needed a break barrel so I got a phantom.
Now I need a rifle and pistol in each power plant. So addictive.
I've just enjoyed plinking for a long time. Love figuring out how they work and how they can be improved.
Haven't gotten PB yet, some day maybe but AG are a lot cheaper to shoot.
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11 years old, 7 acres of land with lots of trees, Crosman 10 pump, grandpas scope taken of his .22, lots of birds paid the price.
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For me it was the late 70s and I was in a gun shop. The sales guy, who knew me, said check this out. It was a Webley Vulcan break barrel in 177. I had, of course, shot pellet rifles before but I was now into "real" guns. We started shooting it in the gun shop and it went home with me. No pumping and very accurate. Then came an FWB 124, then an R1, etc, etc, and now, 38 years later, I am shooting a 30 cal FX Crown.
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For me it was the late 70s and I was in a gun shop. The sales guy, who knew me, said check this out. It was a Webley Vulcan break barrel in 177. I had, of course, shot pellet rifles before but I was now into "real" guns. We started shooting it in the gun shop and it went home with me. No pumping and very accurate. Then came an FWB 124, then an R1, etc, etc, and now, 38 years later, I am shooting a 30 cal FX Crown.
How do you like the FX 30 cal? Any issues with the gun so far or its accuracy?
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WOW....Interesting read folks !
Here is my story.
In the mid 1950's I had a model 25 Daisy pump BB gun. In 1958 I was given a Sheridan Blue Streak for my 10th birthday. That was my first really powerful air rifle. It was my pride & joy. In 1967 I went into the Army. My folks moved to a retirement community while I was in the Army. When I returned home, 6 years later, my Sheridan Bluestreak had gone missing. ( Along with some of my other things.) In the 1970's, a couple of boys were shooting pellet guns at a street light. They were chased by the police and stashed their two guns in the bushes around my house. (The house I was living in at that time but not the one I am living in now). They never came back to get those guns and I retrieved them and kept them myself. One was possibly a 760 and the other was possibly a 2100. I am not sure exactly what they were and I can no longer remember. I shot those two multi-pump guns well into the 1980's. In the mid 1980's I helped a friend move and he gave me his Chinese B-3 Underlever spring rifle. Somewhere along the line the multi-pumps failed and I tossed them. (I am regretting that now). I still had the B-3, which I shot and still do. In 1998 I was severely injured in an industrial accident and had to have reconstructive knee surgery. That put a big damper on my big game hunting for a while and I took up small game hunting with the B-3. I began lurking on the air gun forums around 2000, to see what other air gun hunters were doing. I also began wishing I had more power output than what the B-3 offered. Around 2010, I read an article in one of the air gun forums about the brand new 117 cal. Vantage Nitro Piston air rifle that Crosman had just came out with. (It may have been here in the GTA, but I am not sure.) I waited until PA offered one as a refurb and bought one. So now I had the B-3 and the Crosman Vantage NP, both in 117 Cal. When Gamo first came out with the Whisper I bought a 117 cal. Gamo Whisper Deluxe with a spring driven piston, but after a while, I sold it to a friend who lived in the city and needed a quiet rifle for pesting. Later I bought a Hatsan 85 Sniper with a spring piston in 117 cal. I quit lurking and joined the GTA on Sept 23rd 2016. I don't read the other forums now. All the rest of my air guns I have accquired since joining the GTA. The most I have ever paid for any rifle was $220 and that was for the rebuilt 1979 Sheridan Silver Streak that I bought from Yng@hrt (Marty). The rest were bought on sale or were used. The two 1377's I got Very Cheap. One was $13 at Walmart and was new. The other was used but never fired for $15.
I have pretty much given up on big game hunting with PB's.
I am now an avid small game hunter with my airguns.
My Best Wishes to All - Tom
Here is a list of the air guns that I currently own.
As yet, none are PCP but I have given serious thought about acquiring an ATI Freedom in 22 Cal.
My Primary Hunting Guns
.25cal Hatsan 125 Magnum with a Camo Thumbhole Stock & Spring Piston (HATSAN'S MOST POWERFUL BREAK BARREL RIFLE IN 25 CAL.)
.25cal Hatsan Edge Vortex. (Good Snap-Shooter on Winter or Windy Days)
.22cal Benjamin Trail NP XL 1100 Magnum W/CDT GRT III Trigger (*A POWERFUL BREAK BARREL RIFLE & MY BEST "RESTED-SHOT" HUNTER*)
.22cal Crosman Summit Ranger NP2 (***MY BEST ALL-ROUND HUNTER & WINTER GUN***)
.20cal Vintage 1979 Sheridan Silver Streak (NicelyResealed&Rebuilt By Rob112o)(*My MOST ACCURATE HUNTER & SNAP SHOOTER*)
.117cal Hatsan 85 Sniper Spring Piston W/Camo Stock & Extra 25 Cal Sniper Barrel (Good Winter & Windy Day Gun)
.117cal Hatsan Striker Vortex W/Edge Stock (*EXCELLENT SNAP SHOOTER & GOOD WINTER GUN*)
.117cal Crosman Vantage NP1 W/Titan Stock (My Old Trusty Standby Rifle)
.117cal Crosman 2100 (My Lightest Weight Hunter)
Occasional Hunters
.117cal Custom Older X-3 Stoeger W/B-3 Spring (NicelyRefinished&Rebuilt By SteveP-52)
.117cal Chinese B-3 (My Mean Mongrel Junkyard Dog)
.117cal 2 Crosman 1377 Pistols (Mouse Zappers)
.117cal Umarex NXG APX (Chipmunk Hunter)
.117cal Red Ridder BB Gun (Pop Can Hunter)
.012cal (3mm) Bug-A-Salt 2.0 (Black Fly, Deer Fly & Mosquito Hunter)
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Tom, I honestly believe that is the first time I have seen you list all your air guns.
Very nice.
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I bought a Crosman multi-pump for shooting indoors as a method of keeping up with the fundamentals and just the joy of shooting.
Then I saved up for a IZH46M.
WOW!
After I got back from Afghanistan I wanted something in a rifle and backyard friendly.
Did a lot of research, and I figured there was no way I would ever buy a PCP! Com'on! These are just air rifles right?
So I got a Gamo Bone Collector break barrel in .22.
Put a scope on it, had barrel droop issues, got a droop rail.
I would never buy a PCP!
After a year, I was looking at PCPs.
Bought a Benjamin MRod.
Been pouring money into since and dang happy to do it!
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When I was a teen, I had a Daisy CO2 pistol that I bought used for the price of a sandwich... I shot the heck out of that thing. Now, I had no idea about FPE or anything back then, and I wouldn't try it today, but I was a pretty good shot, and I used take rabbits out with it from about 20 feet. Mmmmm.. rabbit. I always wanted something more powerful and accurate though. Rabbits don't always let you get close enough, nor do they wait for you to load a fresh CO2. But, I was living in New Jersey, and you have to jump through a couple of hoops to buy an air gun in NJ. Can't just walk into a Walmart over there and buy one. I had enough other hobbies to just let it slip. Got married, had kids, worked 5 jobs... you know how it goes. Daisy pistol went missing at some point and it needed new seals anyway. But for years, it was in the back of my mind. Since then, I moved to PA, and I had a hankering for all that plinking fun I used to have. And I had a hankering for rabbit. And I needed to do something about the squirrels that were casing my attic. You get the idea. So then I bought a Crosman 1322, and I couldn't believe it! Pellets! Power! And adjustable sights!!! I was hooked. Now I have 5 guns, all customized to my preferences, and I shoot them every chance I get.
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Tom, I honestly believe that is the first time I have seen you list all your air guns.
Very nice.
Scott :
Thank You !
Best Wishes - Tom
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First rifle was a Daisy BB gun around 1956 and I was 4 years old. I killed so many birds with that rifle. Have no idea what ever happened to it. 10 years later saved up and bought a Sheridan blue streak. Again, lots and lots of birds to the point we didn't have any around for quite awhile. Got into PB and just didn't do that much with the blue streak. I think it was stolen at my father inlaw's desert cabin but bought another one. Now that one I really have no idea what happened to it. Fast forward to the early 90's and bought a RWS model 34 commemorative. Had a much nicer stock and shot the stuffings out of the one killing a bunch of GS. Decided I need a little more power so bought the RWS model 48 used from Beeman in .177. I eventually gave the 34 to my son and when he moved up to fort irwin he left it behind the U-haul's seat and never got it back. Since then I've bought a 1377 for $30 and picked up a Seneca Aspen in .22. And that's my story and I'm sticking to it. lol
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Like many others, I had two BB guns as a kid--well, one was actually a break barrel pellet gun that had a terrible habbit of spilling the pellet or BB before closing the breach. I remember it like yesterday; but that's been nearly 50 years ago.
Like many others, SQUIRRELS!!!!! Cost me nearly $1,000 in house soffit and porch repairs. Local pest control wouldn't trap them unless I left the soffit holes alone. We were already hearing noises in the eaves and around the chimney chase, so now deal. All that happened last fall. Just after Christmas I bought my first Gamo, then Weihrauch, and the rest is history. I've killed 32 squirrels since 1/1/19 and significantly wounded another 20. Of those 20, there's only been one wounded since I started shooting my Weihrauch (great head shot gun).
Unfortunately, I've also indulged in some pistols; but I'm having fun.
Best wishes,
Archie
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I moved back to New York from California in December of 2014. First spring home, father says keep an eye out, he spotted a racoon in the backyard and living in town, didn't want him trying to use his Savage 64F .22 to try taking it. After some surfing and not knowing much, I bought the first, a Hatsan Model 95 Vortex .25 which ended up doing the trick and started the interest.
Joined GTA in October of 2015 looking for trigger tweaks for an inexpensive Hatsan Edge. Fast forward to this post and I now have 30 break barrels, 3 PCP's, 4 pistols, a very pretty 1973 Silver Streak, a red Rider just because and a small fortune in pellets in 4 calibers, scopes and assorted other toys for the addi...I mean hobby.
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Tom, I honestly believe that is the first time I have seen you list all your air guns.
Very nice.
+1 Thanks for your story TOM. What an adventure so far!
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By the age of 10 every kid in my neighborhood had a pellet gun. We had small patches of woods here and there. The older kids hunted the Evergreen woods, us younger kids either did back yards or the Tenner street woods. The game changer for me was in 1983 while at a gun show with my dad, a guy had Beeman airguns. My dad found out where his shop was and took me there. I fell in love with a Webley Vulcan. Sold my Silver Streak and bmx bike to get it. I was the only kid with a brake barrel. Still have it and my TX200 can't shoot any better than it. Always shot airguns to keep me sharp with my real guns. They are so convenient. I almost have as many airguns as I do real guns. Airguns get much more use.
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I remember some BB guns at summer camp and .22 rifle another summer, but another 30 years would pass before I got my own.
The specific occasion was squirrels in the attic. They were running around up there and we could hear them. Then I read about the risk of them chewing on a wire and setting the place on fire and it was war...
Actually, I started with flashing lights (worthless) and traps, followed by a 1377 pistol (not practical). It was then a long-simmering interest in pellet guns came to the surface and I borrowed a .22 Daisy multi-pump from a friend. After a while, he needed it back and I snagged a refurbished Gamo CFX (almost half price!). That did the job until about 2017 when the PCP bug bit me. I snagged another deal, a BSA R10 on eBay, and I'm still smacking the squirrels. And the chipmunks and ground hogs too.
I started the squirrel control efforts in 2011 (maybe even late 2010) and have taken 1033 squirrels since--all out of my 0.6 acre yard surrounded by other neighbors and trees--lots of trees. Over 900 of those have an entry in a spreadsheet I keep that shows weight, sex, and some information about the "hunt" for that squirrel. Fortunately, SC law permits me to do this all year round under a special depredation clause in the game laws and that's what I do.
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I have never stopped shooting airguns since my first at age 13 in 2001. First airgun was a Crosman 760, and about a year later I got a Mendoza RM377. I also eventually got a red ryder (still love the red ryder to this day), marksman 1010 (hilariously inaccurate and fun), 1377, and walther ppk co2 pistol. Those were all my airguns as teen.
Even though I have the marauder now which can very reliably shoot the heads off of matches at 25 yards (something I enjoy doing), I still regularly enjoy plinking with a red ryder and daisy 880.
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When much much younger I used to shoot at my friend's basement....we would shoot the heck out of his plastic model airplanes and tanks. Then school, work and life got in the way and I/we didn't touch our one and only air rifle (We each had and still have our Gamo Expotec air rifles). Then about 10 years ago I found a secluded place where I can shoot that air rifle outdoors...stretched 10 yards out to 25ish yards. That got me hooked and started back into airgunning....now I can hit targets out to 35 to 60 yards (With a scope), out to 100 yards on a good day with my PCPs.
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When much much younger I used to shoot at my friend's basement....we would shoot the heck out of his plastic model airplanes and tanks. Then school, work and life got in the way and I/we didn't touch our one and only air rifle (We each had and still have our Gamo Expotec air rifles). Then about 10 years ago I found a secluded place where I can shoot that air rifle outdoors...stretched 10 yards out to 25ish yards. That got me hooked and started back into airgunning....now I can hit targets out to 35 to 60 yards (With a scope), out to 100 yards on a good day with my PCPs.
I like the 50 to 100 yard ranges when plinking. It is challenging and makes me concentrate a bunch, which takes away all other thoughts and is really relaxing in a weird sorta way.
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When I was about 6 or 7, my father gave my older brother and me, each, a Crosman push barrel v-350. We loved them, but eventually broke our father's rules and killed birds with them. We had killed birds from day one, so I really don't remember what my father got mad about, but he did take an axe and busted up both guns. I do remember that whatever it was that was done that made him so mad, was done by my older brother, not me. So I thought it really unfair that he also busted up MY gun along with my brother's gun.
One thing I liked, back then, about the v-350 was it was slow enough that I could follow the trajectory of the BB from muzzle to target! I got really good with it because of that fact.
Anyway...
In my mid teens, I bought a Crosman 1377 pump pistol. I would shoot carpenter bees off of our back porch, IN FLIGHT, with it pumped up to only 3 to 5 pumps. The range was only up to about 10 feet, but my eyes were really good then and they did tend to hover quite a bit. Dad did not complain. They were burrowing holes in the wood and I was doing a service. ;D That 1377 was stolen recently along with nearly all of my powder burners when my home was burglarized. (heavy sigh)
Fast forward to my 50's...
I was living in an apartment and the Squirrels were rampant. I bought a Crosman Fire/F4 break barrel, but was afraid to use it due to neighbors. Management told me they did not care if I killed Squirrels, but I was worried about what neighbors would do.
Recently bought a house. Literally HUNDREDS of Squirrels due to the Oak and Pecan trees. I guestimate about ~500 in a 1500 foot diameter circle around my house. That is NOT an exaggeration! Nearly broke an ankle due to holes they dug for acorns more than a few times. Not to mention, they had pulled up the roofing at one corner and entered the attic. Also, not to mention the Chipmunks that were already in the crawlspace.
Naturally, this means WAR!
For about ~1.5 years in my house, I used the Crosman Fire/F4 to battle these rodents. I had killed about 130 Squirrels, give or take and about 12 Chipmunks using the Fire/F4.
I recently purchased the Nova Freedom. 9 Chipmunks and 5 Squirrels in that short time! I really don't get many shots at Squirrels lately, but I am even more happy with the Chipmunk kills. I think I have thinned the herd of Squirrels enough that most know not to come into my backyard/kill zone. The Chippers were very hard to hit with the Fire/F4. With the Freedom and a Leupold 3-9x33, they are relatively easy head shots out to 25-30 yards.
Anyway... if I had more money, I would dive into more PCP rifles, but I am not rich and I am more than economical.
Yep... I am cheap. (grin)
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My parents gave me a Daisy BB gun at the age of 4 which would've been in 1956 or 1957. Been hooked out shooting ever since.
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For me it started when I was about 5. I'd go to my grandparents sometimes when I'd go visit dad...this was in mid 70's. We'd go in the back yard and shoot his old.pellet.gun. a daisy 220. For a special treat, he would.bring out the Benjamin pistol.
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got started with bb guns when i was a kid. harvested many a squirrel with one till i got my rim fire. bounced back and forth over the yrs. then i got the pcp bug i own almost as my pcp's as i do break barrels now i like the fact i can keep up my shooting skills in my back yard. Being a reloader for my PB's I settled on the FX Crown because of its interchangabilty(good thing i never claimed i could spell) with pellets and calibers.
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I had my first gun at about 8 years old (I'm not counting cap guns, remember those things? I burned my thumb by manually setting off one of the charges with my thumbnail, so I'll never forget cap guns lol.) It was a multi-pump BB pistol, but I don't remember what kind it was. We lived on a small ranch out in the sticks so I could run around with my friends out in the wilderness and shoot imaginary bad guys. One day when I had run out of BBs, my friend told me that I didn't need BBs because you could just load small rocks into the gun. That worked fine until I loaded a rock (can you really call it a rock when it's that small?) into the breech that was *just* a little too big. Nothing I did could get it back out again, so I was without any guns for several years.
Fast forward about 8 years, now I'm 16 or so. My high school friends both had dads that were into shooting, so both friends had air rifles, and one of them had several actual firearms. The other one had a pretty powerful pellet rifle (for the time), a Daisy with one of those new-fangled spring-air actions. It could shoot an advertised 800 fps which was way faster than any other air rifle we'd ever encountered. It also shot with the exact same power every time, and all you had to do was cock it once! No more pump, pump, pump, hope that you got the same fps as last time. The disadvantage was that it didn't have an internal magazine full of BBs and it would only shoot pellets. My friend sold it to me before we graduated and I still own it to this day. Its main use over the years was to rid my parents property of magpies.
Fast forward again by about 12 years. I’m at WalMart and see a spring-air gun (A Daisy Powerline 1000s) that is advertised as being 1000 fps capable… for only $90! And it includes a decent (for an inexpensive airgun) scope for that price! I brought it home and started playing with it. The first few times I tried to pull the trigger I thought that the safety was still engaged somehow, even though I had pushed it to the “off” position. I eventually realized that the trigger pull was just stupid heavy. When firing the gun, the trigger pull was so heavy that my whole hand literally shook from the effort. Naturally with a trigger pull that heavy, the shot grouping was less than acceptable. I did some research and found that the trigger mechanism had dual sear springs, one of which purpose was only to make the trigger pull very heavy. The forums said that the second spring was mandated by the lawyers to prevent any lawsuits related to negligent discharges. Happily, the forums also had directions on how to remove the offending spring. After doing so, the trigger pull lightened up noticeably, but still is heavier than ideal. Add in the difficulty with getting good groups on a springer, and the accuracy just isn’t what I had hoped for.
Fast forward another 12 years or so to the present. I recently used my Powerline to help my parents with their ground squirrel infestation. Although the Powerline is the right power level for this task, it’s not possible to reliably hit a 2 inch target at 25 yards with it. Sure, I may be able to experiment to come up with an artillery hold that works, or put together a sliding/rolling bench rest for it that would help, or bed the action with vibration damping material. But, I’d prefer to have something that doesn’t have the inherent accuracy difficulty in the first place. Besides, I could always use another toy right? So, after doing a lot of research I decided to put together my first custom build based on the Crosman 13xx/22xx platform. I’ll detail that in a different post.
I also recently did a re-seal job on my dad’s Sheridan model EB pistol. He’s had it since May 7, 1979 (I know because he still has the receipt in the original box!). He bought it to help with the ground squirrel problem, when I was just a lil guy. It's my earliest memory of an airgun, or any gun for that matter. It has been very lightly used; I can verify this because he also still has the original box of Sheridan pellets he bought with the gun and it’s still half full of pellets!
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60 years ago, a Daisy. I think it was a Mod. 106. My best Christmas ever. My Dad bought it at a small town hardware store, on credit. He was laid off. He later told me it cost $4.70. Times were hard then.
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Joe, thanks for reviving this thread. And thanks for your story - That Sheridan EB Pistol is an handsome air gun.