My Advice

[Booger]

While there are many people here on GTA thak know much more than me. From repair, tuning, & shooting just about everyone is better than me.

My first air rifle was a Benjamin Trail, she made me naucish everytime I shot her. I almost gave up airguns all together. My second airgun was a TX200MK3, and the first words out of my mouth was "WOW". Now after 2 weeks she had to be returned for warranty repair, but in the end all was good.

If I knew then what I know now: (You can get a lemon or a diamond in the rough with any airgun)

1) I would start with a RWS D-34 because of the simplicity, reliability, & accuracy. It is an excellent gun to learn on. Aftermarket springs, seals, and lube are easily accired.

2) If it turns out you really like airguns (which I have) know what you want the airgun for. Hunting, FT Matches, or just sitting outside listening to music and shooting paper.

3) Research airguns. This is important because you can easily put in $1000s of dollars in an airgun. Decide what you think you want, read reviews here on GTA. These are the most knowlegable people I know. They are willing to help! My first semi tune I did was on Gen 1 MROD. I ran into trouble and everyone jumped in to help.

4) When you find "THE" airgun that you plan to keep for life and pass down pick a good tuner and have him tune it for you. He will know all the secretes and do a fantastic job. We have a room here where tuners are given rave reviews. (On a side note I get most of my guns tuned.)

5) The most important asspect of air guning is the enjoyment of the sport and the fellowship with our great members. Get you children, grand childern, nieces, & nephews involved. Those will be days they can cherish for the rest of their lives.

In collusion, I would like for our members to add to this. I am not the total authority on this.

God Bless and good luck on your journey.


THE BOOGER

[avator]

Shooting partner....

As Jesse said.... Get others involved. Airgun shooting enjoyment doubles when you have someone to do it with. I'm fortunate enough to have my best friend and shooting partner share our home and life with.
Betty Lou is not into the "tinkering" part of the hobby/sport which suites me just fine. I get to implement my own ideas without controversy... lol

[Wayne52]

Thanks for the pointers there Jesse !!! you're a good man, I've always been a tinkerer all my life so a lot of this stuff comes naturally and for me that's just as much fun as the hunting/shooting.  I need to pay my brother a visit cause he can't hunt that well anymore with bad glaucoma however he still loves shooting at targets, I'm over due to stop by there with my tank and a couple guns to do some plinking and show him my latest stuff, I know he'll get a charge out of it.

[Korak-again]

  One thing I will add. If you have a high grade gun in mind that you want.  Save to buy that one. You will not be satisfied with the lessor gun. I've probably owned 30 guns that I was not happy with. In my case, penny pinching can get expensive.
  My final talley is four.  1 RWS, 1 GAMO, 2 HWs.

[SteveP-52]

All very well said, only thing I might add would be this:

Don't knock the lesser guns, they're a great way to learn and tinker and almost all can be made better. I'm no expert at tuning but I have a bunch, have learned a lot thanks to GTA and it's members and have turned some so-so shooters into very good rifles.

Biggest thing I've learned here is it doesn't matter how much you spend or on what brand names you buy, buying an air gun is like anything else in this world you might decide you want...there's always a 50-50 chance yer gonna get a bad one, so just have fun, buy whatever catches your eye and keep coming here, someone has the answers you're looking for