Advice on invited presentation to powder burner club

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Schnauzershine

Schnauzershine

Member
Jun 26, 2019
31
4
ME, United States
Through a series of happy coincidences, I have been enthusiastically invited to give a presentation on airguns at a local rod & gun club. My general plan is to spend a little time going over a little history (especially the Girandoni), safety considerations, ammo types (pellets, BBs, slugs), the 4 main different power plants and their pros & cons, what airguns are used for & how - esp hunting (small & sometimes larger animals), competition (field target, HFT, 10 m, EBR), skills maintenance (esp CO2 replicas) and just fun. Then I'm going to turn them loose with some of the airguns in my own collection. They have a 50 m indoor range.

I would love to hear from members any specific points you think I should be sure make about airguns to these folks, because I bet I haven't thought of everything. I would also love to hear which airguns you would bring. (I may or may not own them, but I want to know what you would bring.)



Thank you in advance for your comments.
 
Most of the powder burners have owned do own or are familiar with CO 2, multi pump and springer guns. I’d concentrate on new stuff and especially PCP guns. Many of my friends in my local club have had no experience or knowledge of guns like Daystate Red Wolf, FX IMPACTS or Crowns. Show them what the new guns are capable of . Many will be amazed. And if you have or can acquire any of the big bore stuff I think that would good to include. Maybe a short loop on the history of air guns. Just concentrate on what you think would be new information for the majority . 
 
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Less talk, more shooting. The 'talking' could be done on ONE 8x11' piece of paper discussing the different types of air rifles. Do an intro, handout and let people shoot.

Some will really like being able to shoot without hearing protection and being able get in more trigger time at a home range.

I have three main guns and would bring all of them because they are easy to shoot and have magazines:
Taipan VL .25
RTI Prophet Performance Compact .22
BSA R10 .22


 
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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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Do you plan to make the correlation between airguns and firearms concerning the use of airguns to teach children how to safely handle guns (in a general sense)? Maybe show them a YouTube clip of a EBR or FT and some airgun hunting. You can discuss how techniques for precision and long distance airgun shooting (e.g. bench rest shooting) that can be employed and honed over a much shorter distance due to the lower velocity and lower ballistic coefficient of airgun ammo, (especially pellets), and how this relates to principles of general shooting?
Also maybe discuss some advantages of airguns like safety due to the lower velocity and bc making them more adaptable for home (backyard) and indoor use. Or mention how much quieter they are which may also appeal to hunters. As was mentioned by another member, the ability to tinker adjust the air gun’s performance for various applications may appeal to some people.
 
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Good point on less talk more shooting. Show and tell for big kids . Lots of pictures 


Most of us have short attention spans . Did poorly in school . Hate lectures and think we know it all any ways. We just like killin stuff and disturbing the peace. You know let’s try to keep our anti-gun friends image of is untainted.


I’M KIDDING but hands on with answers to individuals questions may work best . It also depends on the length of time you have. And of course your best estimate of the interest of your audience .



 
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...Less talk, more shooting...
Click to expand...

^^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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...Less talk, more shooting...
Click to expand...

^^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.
Click to expand...

Good points here. I actually thought about the mini pops suggestion. That would be interesting to see their reaction. 
 
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Almost no talking, a whole bunch of shooting. Be ready to answer questions. Let the guns talk for themselves. Save your big brain doctoral thesis stuff for later. You want to get guys excited about it, not turn them off.

Just my opinion of course. I agree reactive targets, spinners and paper targets. Did I mention almost no talking and all shooting?



Good luck and have fun. Make some new friends.
 
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I think most would be familiar with the air guns, so i would just focus on what they can do nowadays ( power - accuracy / calibers ) VS what people might remember or are inclined to think, or at least just briefly touch upon the history of the air guns.

So i would just bring the gear, talk a little about it, do a demo and then let people have a go at it.

Mentioning prices, well at least for the ammo, might also make people turn their heads, i imagine most popular caliber of powder burner ammo dont come in 500 shot boxes, and if it did surely not with the price tag of pellets or slugs.

Maybe have a little comparison at hand, comparing shooter "A" and his airgun and shooter "B" with his powder burner shooting ? relevant caliber, shooting XX or XXX rounds a month, and the difference in price to do that.

That i assume would / could win over a lot of the recreational shooter types at least.
 
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Tools, we men love tools, we use 22 rimfire loads to drive hardened nails into concrete or steel, we use air-nailers for 2x4 studs and smaller air powered nailers for trim and cabinets

Air guns have a place in your tool box/arsenal. basement gun range, back yard plinking, varmint control,,, not everything requires a sledge hammer, most of us have 8 oz hammers up to 6 lb sledge,,, I do not pretend to know all your needs and wants, these are just options for your considerations

I would not dwell to much on the history but it should be mentioned, they want to know about, why they should want or need PCP, but yet mention there is co2 and springer

Q and A session will be needed
 
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Bring each representative gun

Co2 

Pumper

Springer

PCP 

Each are great in there own way. Each of the gun club members have different tastes. You will be surprised. Some will like PCP. Others Springer's. Etc... they will like PCP ease to shoot. But others will like Springer's as they mimic a firearms shooting technique closer. Yet some will like a nice co2 pistol, and the practice it will give them at home. Have fun.


 
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