The one that started the addiction

[ev-in-az]

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.

[bantam5s]

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.

[anuthabubba]

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.

[grimeszee]

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.

[uglymike]

Gamo Big Cat.

[tennx]

1994 Nickel 397P, still pumps and shoots as good as ever....zero problems

[19Sheridan57]

The one in my avatar .

[north country gal]

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.

[Redleg]

My 11th birthday in 1949...... A Daisy Model 25.

[peanut]

1963 Daisy Co2 200 pistol.

[Matt15]

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. 

[bantam5s]

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 )

[Redleg]

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.   

[Korak-again]

  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.

[svaz]

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.

[WECSOG]

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.

[ricksplace]

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.

[Old Swede]

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.

[Ted Howe]

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.

[Wildcatter]

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!