Advice on invited presentation to powder burner club

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...Less talk, more shooting...
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^^This.

Powder burner shooters will generally be amazed at the excellent triggers, lack of noise, lack of recoil and their ability to hit whatever they aim at from pretty much the first shot they take.

What kind of targets are you planning on using? As shooters they may be just fine punching paper. But if you have any reactive targets (spinners, Know Your Limits, etc.) those are so much fun with airguns. I would also recommend setting up some Charms Mini Pops for them to shoot (smacking one sounds just like smacking a squirrel's noggin), but this being at an indoor range they likely don't want you to sugar coat everything down range. ;)

Be prepared to discuss (or even start off with) muzzle velocity and power, especially if you think that you might have some hunters in the group. Yes our airguns are less powerful than powder burners, but it is still pretty incredible the power we can make just using compressed air as the propellant.

The shooters you are presenting to will likely have experience with guns in a form which is very similar to our airguns. But the group I am introducing has really shot only with open sights all of their life, and using a scope is very new to them. Be sure to bring any guns you have which have scopes with a forgiving eye box. And/or be ready to zoom way out if someone is initially having issues seeing through the scope. It has become such muscle memory for us, but isn't so for everyone.

It may be interesting to see how many of your 'students' will forget to cock the gun between shots - folks are becoming so familiar with semi-auto powder burners.
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@TMH

What group of life long shooters has only used open sights? I have to know...
 
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Explain briefly the different power plants, and show them how to handle. Explain that you need to hold onto the barrel of a break barrel to avoid loosing a finger.



Then just let them shoot. A few basic pointers and they should be good.... they should already know basic safety and things like that. Let the guns wow them above all all.

Get them hooked, and then answer any questions that they have. Then you can explain the history of the airguns.
 
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Bring top-shelf PCP's and forget the Lewis & Clark history lessons, seriously, or talk about L&C and provide a napping area.

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Bringing only a PCP gun would be the most biased thing you could do. They need to experience a multi pump, Co2, Springer and PCP. Only bringing a PCP shows them one facet of airguns. 
 
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I REALLY appreciate this input - these comments are exactly what I was looking for, spanning the spectrum of approaches to show & tell. I'm really excited about this. It's coming up on December 11. I'm proud of our shooting sports - powder & air. But I find airguns are just so much more interesting. I was a dedicated PB target shooter for many years, and just discovered airguns a few years ago. I was immediately hooked. So many options, physics of pellets & slugs, mechanical differences of different power plants, mods, different uses.... I agree that less talking and more hands-on is the way to go. But I am for sure going to tell them about Lewis & Clark, and the Girandoni. It's just too cool.
 
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The Girardoni air rifle was in service with the Austrian army from 1780 to around 1815. Many references to the Girardoni air rifles mention lethal combat ranges of 125 to 150 yards and some extend that range considerably. The advantages of a high rate of fire, no smoke from propellants, and low muzzle report granted it acceptance. It did have problems and was eventually removed from service for several reasons decades after introduction. There was also a version sold to civilians after it was removed from military service. While the detachable air reservoir was capable of around 30 shots, it took nearly 1,500 strokes of a hand pump to fill those reservoirs. Later, a wagon mounted pump was provided. The reservoirs, made from hammered sheet iron held together with rivets and sealed by brazing, proved very difficult to manufacture using the techniques of the period and were always in short supply.

Wikipedia
 
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Print enough targets where you could let them have a shoot off, springer and pcp. Give high score some little joke of a prize. Give them a time restriction to shoot so it won't take all night. Just answer questions that you can if you don't know tell them that. Try not to come off as some long winded know it all. Do your best to make it fun for yourself and them. Good luck!


 
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I would just keep it simple, don't get them bored too much with history they may not have patience to consume all, but as the previous poster mentioned, the comparisons.

Comparison in price after 10 K shots (one year of shooting) and comparison in performance?

The challenges between power levels (ie 1450 fps vs 880 fps), some people like challenges...playing LEGO, tinker...new models, many of the powder burners are diy self reloading. Compare the 22LR to .22 or .25...tickle the attention make them ask questions. Show them they can hit the same POA @ 100 using air as well....
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This. Keep it simple. Grown up Show and Tell. Cookies and crackers make great reactive targets as well. Especially those damn sugar free cookies. 😀
 
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Bring a bunch of steel to set at different distances and make sure the size is appropriate for those distances. You want them to be at a 80% hit ratio so there is some challenge so these aren't frustrating to try to hit. Reactive targets will tie together the entire experience. Don't forget paint and also bring different colors for different distances.

Also put out some cheap surveyors tape attached to rebar so people will know which way to aim into the wind.

Make sure your guns are sighted in correctly. That's my #1 gripe when I have shot other peoples guns. I know a guy who is a collector and owns hundreds of guns, very few of them are sighted in so I have to screw around wasting time and ammo to hit what I'm aiming at.
 
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