The Appeal of an Air Rifle

[Matt15]

  Like all of us I had a Red Rider as a kid. My parents were dirt poor, so I was jealous of my friends pellet rifles. Most of the years in between were filled with Pb's and archery. Still do the archery. My Pb's sit. In the last 12 months I shot a PB exactly twice. The 2 shots in the vitals of a buck with my Savage 99 .308. But I have shot thousands of pellets in that 12 months.
   I hunt and pest a LOT. Last year, just the mammals I kept track of were approaching 200 with Ag's . I stopped keep track and taking pictures. I take a few now and then, but not many anymore.

   For YEARS , heck most of my life I fought a pull and flinch. But shooting AG's has fixed that. AG's have vastly improved both my shooting ability and my ability's as a hunter.

   I try to spend at least a few minutes each day shooting or at the very least working on an AG. My down time.

   There is a lot i love about AG's, the flight of the pellet reminds me so of the mystical flight of the arrow. I just love it.

Boy you wrote something similar to what I was going to write. I do not have a lot of money so I really enjoy the airguns I have. For all my guns I worked extremely hard to earn them.

[Sandspike]

I had this happen the other day. I got out of my truck with my Hatsan 125 camo sniper. That rifle should impress anyone. My new neighbor saw it and across the street he came quickly.. What's that? I said it's one of my air rifles. I swear he did an about face and walked away. Not another question. I don't even think he owns a gun.

So we ask, why do they act/react like that (see above) to "Air Gun"s.  Here is one big reason. They never saw anyone shoot an airgun in a movie. Dirty Harry did not blast the bad guy with a Sumatra. Mrods were not at Iwo Jima. And yes, they don't go bang. I think they would be more impressed if we took the shrouds and suppressors off of our guns and let um go bang. But they have an ingrained impression of the louder the bang the better (more powerful) the gun. Guns that go Phft or a soft "tack" do not impress those macho guys. Plus there is no hard recoil. They can't shoot your Daystate and say....Man that gun kicks like a mule. So....it's no bang, no kick...it's a toy. Then comes the "how much did that gun cost you?? Followed by Gawdang you coulda bought a really nice AR for that much money. Why didja spend that much on a pellet gun?? Once you hear that, it's time to pack it up and go home.
They are hopeless and should remain the same.

And then it's the ladies in my neighborhood that see me sneeking around the yard carrying my evil looking black bullpup (MDRL Mrod) on a single point sling and say "George, that guy has got an Assault Weapon". "That can't be legal, should I call the Police?" Followed by, "Don't worry honey, its a BB gun, just a toy."

[stonykill]

  Like all of us I had a Red Rider as a kid. My parents were dirt poor, so I was jealous of my friends pellet rifles. Most of the years in between were filled with Pb's and archery. Still do the archery. My Pb's sit. In the last 12 months I shot a PB exactly twice. The 2 shots in the vitals of a buck with my Savage 99 .308. But I have shot thousands of pellets in that 12 months.
   I hunt and pest a LOT. Last year, just the mammals I kept track of were approaching 200 with Ag's . I stopped keep track and taking pictures. I take a few now and then, but not many anymore.

   For YEARS , heck most of my life I fought a pull and flinch. But shooting AG's has fixed that. AG's have vastly improved both my shooting ability and my ability's as a hunter.

   I try to spend at least a few minutes each day shooting or at the very least working on an AG. My down time.

   There is a lot i love about AG's, the flight of the pellet reminds me so of the mystical flight of the arrow. I just love it.

Boy you wrote something similar to what I was going to write. I do not have a lot of money so I really enjoy the airguns I have. For all my guns I worked extremely hard to earn them.

 Matt I suspect a lot of us are quite similar 

[leadskirt]

I just recently got into air guns.  I have a whole bunch of centerfire rifles and pistols.  I imagine I was like most guys...I had been through a few lower end air rifles over the years...mostly the 10-pump type you buy at Walmart.  But what really got me hooked on air guns was when I bought a Marauder.  I was totally unprepared for the accuracy and power.  I now have a Marauder rifle, Marauder pistol, and a Benjamin Trail NP2. 

All the guys at my office have borrowed one or more of these guns...and everyone loves them.  These guys also have a bunch of centerfire rifles/pistols and have begun adding air rifles to the stable.  These nicer air guns are something that most people have just never seen...they are totally unfamiliar with them...as was I until about a year ago.

One of my co-workers immediately bought a Marauder after shooting mine.  Another co-worker borrowed the Mrod pistol this week to take to his annual hunting trip with about 30 other dudes. 

These guns are fun, accurate, powerful, cheap to shoot, versatile in that you can hunt or plink with them, and ammo is readily available anytime you want it.  I can't imagine why someone wouldn't like them. 

[lefteyeshot]

Friend of my spent a couple month selling "some" of his western vintge p/b for a down payment on a new Porche. Said he lost a little on most of them. He put down two used Porches and $80,000 on the new Porche. He even looks at my Hatsan 155 and 135 like there toys. Want even pick up one of my lovingly rebuilt B3's or old XSB4-2's. He hardly ever shoots his gun. Usually to hot or cold for him.
.

[Tater]

Friend of my spent a couple month selling "some" of his western vintge p/b for a down payment on a new Porche. Said he lost a little on most of them. He put down two used Porches and $80,000 on the new Porche. He even looks at my Hatsan 155 and 135 like there toys. Want even pick up one of my lovingly rebuilt B3's or old XSB4-2's. He hardly ever shoots his gun. Usually to hot or cold for him.
.

I'm not getting the Porche reference in your post. What's the correlation to your Hatsan?

[ericnel]

Don't sell inexpensive airguns short. Pumpers are quiet as are CO2. Look what DavidS has done with his 880s. I love my slightly modified 880 and 1200 pistol. Can shoot in my shop here in town, and if I want to pop a starling, as long as I don't stand in street, nobody knows.

[DavidS]

Don't sell inexpensive airguns short. Pumpers are quiet as are CO2. Look what DavidS has done with his 880s. I love my slightly modified 880 and 1200 pistol. Can shoot in my shop here in town, and if I want to pop a starling, as long as I don't stand in street, nobody knows.

+1.