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The High Cost of Air Rifles - Why?

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Besides being a small market with limited production as others have mentioned .here are some facts about importing into the U.S. .First thing after purchasing a product you have to arrange a customs broker to get you through customs and get your items to the shippers .if customs wants to I open a box add about 160 bucks to your cost.if it is a pallet load and they want to inspect several packages add 500 bucks more.Most importers expect between 20-30percent of wholesale cost for these costs including shipping .the air gun has a 4 percent duty and an additional 15 percent tax .then you have currency exchange .so the importer now has between 39 to 50 more than the gun costs.This works both ways I saw a maurader 22 advertised for 900 Euro .Stan
 
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Size of the market....a manufacturer can lower cost per unit when buying and manufacturing goes up in volume. The manufacturer has to pay the bills. I don't know total numbers produced by airgun manufacturer's per model. But let's say FX new Wildcat hit the market they have one importer AOA here in the US. My guess is they just got what maybe 200 or less rifles this first shipment. I think the mark up is a little heavy also based on number of sales. Let's say 1000.00 imported. FX makes 900 per gun AOA makes 300 per gun after all the shipping etc. Ruger has made over 1 million 1022's alone sold in every gun shop Walmart sporting goods store across the Country. No way you can compare prices between the 2.
 
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I came across this old thread while searching for something else but I have to add:

Has anyone checked the price of precision firearms lately? They can be significantly more expensive that precision air guns. Sure, you can buy cheap firearms but you can buy cheap air rifles too. If you want something with competition level accuracy then you can be paying upwards of $8000 for some of the firearms available. 

Most of us don't really need high end precision anything but it's still nice to own it. I could have bought a $100 break barrel from Walmart but my Cricket is just better. 

 
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I'm a long time firearms enthusiast and an air gun newbie. I don't think air guns are expensive, when you compare apples to apples. The inexpensive ($200-$300) rimfire PB's listed are all basic, entry level firearms so they can't be compared to a high end PCP. If you compare them to an entry level air rifle, like a basic springer, the PB cost just as much if not more. Now take a high end PCP at maybe $2k and I can show you a long, looong list of shotguns and rifles that cost more - some 10x that price (which is the ridiculous end of the scale, but they're still out there). I like shooting sporting clays and have my eye on a new Browning 725 Sporting - $3k + taxes. Most of my clay busting pals have at least that much tied up. I've got an M1A in a precision stock with a NightForce scope that I have over $5k into and I have several friends with custom precision rifles that cost them that much for the bare rifle. Anytime you go past entry level and start getting specialized in a hobby, the dollar figures will start climbing almost exponentially.

So, I don't think PCP's are expensive at all in comparison to comparable quality PB's. It could even be argued that $1-$2k is cheap when you consider you are buying the top tier of airgun technology - a Schmidt and Bender target/sniper scope will set you back more than that, as will any good camera body or lense... or a good mountain bike.... or a well tailored suit...
 
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"Because people are willing to pay the price".

Same goes for those $1M supercars even though most drive cars under $40K...because people are willing to pay the price. Look at price for the most desirable old cars at auction. There are only a few of them and a few people willing to pay so the price goes up.

And 'expensive" is all relative. Look at the top end power burners for varmit and long range that start at 2x the cost of an Impact....



 
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In the days of a $10 brick of .22, yes, break even was way out there. In today's world, where a brick is closer to $50, break even is a lot closer.

For those of us that live in the city, it's even closer. Driving to the desert (or any other open space where you can shoot) might be two hours away, so the local range is always an option at $15 per lane. Air rifles that are quiet can be used in the back of the house, if you are careful.

Unfortunately, the world seems to be changing, becoming less powder burner friendly. Air rifles are stepping in for many in metro areas like me that just like to shoot.
 
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"TheBaron"I'm a long time firearms enthusiast and an air gun newbie. I don't think air guns are expensive, when you compare apples to apples. The inexpensive ($200-$300) rimfire PB's listed are all basic, entry level firearms so they can't be compared to a high end PCP. If you compare them to an entry level air rifle, like a basic springer, the PB cost just as much if not more. Now take a high end PCP at maybe $2k and I can show you a long, looong list of shotguns and rifles that cost more - some 10x that price (which is the ridiculous end of the scale, but they're still out there). I like shooting sporting clays and have my eye on a new Browning 725 Sporting - $3k + taxes. Most of my clay busting pals have at least that much tied up. I've got an M1A in a precision stock with a NightForce scope that I have over $5k into and I have several friends with custom precision rifles that cost them that much for the bare rifle. Anytime you go past entry level and start getting specialized in a hobby, the dollar figures will start climbing almost exponentially.

So, I don't think PCP's are expensive at all in comparison to comparable quality PB's. It could even be argued that $1-$2k is cheap when you consider you are buying the top tier of airgun technology - a Schmidt and Bender target/sniper scope will set you back more than that, as will any good camera body or lense... or a good mountain bike.... or a well tailored suit...
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I clearly agree with this as I said something similar. There are exceptions to this though. There are some air guns that are more expensive than they should be because they use inefficient manufacturing processes in high cost locations. 

You are going to pay more for a product from a small business in America than you are for one that comes out of a large established manufacturing plant in an emerging market. 

What at we are missing with air guns is the generics you get with firearms. You can pay $2000 for an original AR or $300 for one with a quality generic receiver. There are tons of generic AR parts available. It's what attracts people to the platform. 


If prices continue to go up and supply fails to keep up with demand, my prediction is that we will start to see generics. Some of the popular air gun model names aren't even legally trademarked. We could even see generics advertised with the same name as the original in some cases. There are already multiple guns called "Cricket" and "Impact" is the name of another Airgun company. 

 
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