Seasons of an airgunner's life

by Tom Gaylord

When I started writing about airguns in 1994, I was interested in ALL types of guns. I didn't know it at the time, but mine was a minority viewpoint. It took about five or six years of writing The Airgun Letter before I realized that most people are only interested in one kind of airgun at a time, and the kind is usually related to their age and their experience with firearms.

Stage One!
The youngest and newest airgunner often wants "the powerful-est airgun in the world." They only think in terms of velocity, until the day they learn that velocity doesn't always mean power. Then they go crazy for foot-pounds. You can't talk to these people about target guns because they aren't powerful enough.

There is a strong correlation between this type of airgunner and a newbie firearms enthusiast who only wants the biggest of anything - hence the BFR and the .50 BMG rifle. If and when they actually shoot their dream guns, they fall away from the shooting sports like flies in a shower of Raid.

After the initial fascination with speed and power, the airgunner can go in an almost infinite number of directions, but as I said, they usually go there specific type of gun at a time. This is where you get the CO2 guys, the field target guys the target shooters and so on. Now a shooter doesn't have to go through the first phase at all - they can go directly to the type of gun they will love for the rest of their life, but I've seen a great number of them pass through Stage One first.

My pet peeve
I have a lot of pet peeves and I find that I'm getting more all the time. As I grow older, my patience for some things wears out. I guess that's normal, as a factor of repeated exposure. Anyway, the peeve I refer to here is the airgunner who wants it all and is unwilling or hasn't the brain power to comprehend that there must be compromises. They want a spring rifle (don't want all the "stuff" that goes with precharged guns), yet they want minute-of-angle accuracy, zero recoil and the power that only a PCP delivers. AND, they want it for under $200 - $100, if possible!

GROW UP! You don't get it all. If you want the accuracy of a PCP - buy a PCP. And be prepared to PAY FOR IT! If you want no recoil, get a pneumatic. If you want to pay less than $200, buy a Gamo CF-X and be content with two-minute-of-recoilling-angle-that-takes-technique-to-shoot!

I told you, this is a pet peeve.