Comparisons just for the fun of it

[Bigragu]

A recent reply in the Air Tanks and Compressor section went something like this- “ welcome to the world of an expensive hobby”

and it prompted me to ask this of all of you- if one were to compare this pcp hobby to another common hobby(let’s not include hobbies like raising tracking pigeons, lol), where or what would be equal to? 

To make things easy let’s put ourselves two years into this hobby, and after the first month into it we decided that we really enjoyed Airguns of all kinds, and were going to make it our number one hobby. 

So two years go by, and you’ve went all out by investing in a tank, a compressor of medium quality, and say three pcp’s to add onto your two springers. With the cost of pellets, slugs, tools such as chronographs, scopes, even drives to the fill stations, what other common hobby does this compare to?

automotive performance and hop up?

scuba diving?

golf?

model railroad and/or remote control cars helicopters, etc

skiing?

i don’t have a specific answer as I don’t do the example hobbies I’ve listed, but I have to say, this is the most expensive hobby I’ve had, compared to powder burners and reloading

 

[hawkeye69]

How about photography? A top of the line DSLR will run you $2500 or more and thousands more for lenses, flash, light meter, printer, paper, ink, software and countless accessories.

 

[Windmill01]

Bigragu I’ve never heard of a “ tracking pigeon “. I know of racing pigeons, my father and I breed and raced pigeons for many, many years when I was a young fella. I also know of feral pigeons but tracking pigeons I really haven’t heard of.

If you consider the continual cost of seed, petrol expenses when training them by driving hundreds of kilometres from home for release, initial construction of a loft and registering 10 or 15 birds every week for racing, buying the special clock for recording times of official races and buying new more expensive breeding stock the costs start to mount up. It was a lot of fun and imo worthy of inclusion as an expensive hobby .

Gary

 

[jwrabbit123]

every hobby can be expensive or cheap depending on what we buy . like fishing ,you can buy a $50 dollar rod and reel ,and fish in salt or fresh water by shore ,or you can buy a boat and loomis rods and penn reels for tuna and can blow mid 6 figures ,

I found shooting the same way , you can do ELR center fire shooting , for fun with a cheap gun or you can blow 200k a yr doing the elr 2 mile high circuit , so I guess we can all have fun in our hobbies at levels we can afford , but Pcp guns to me is alot more then other hobbies I like because I am addicted and have more then 1 set up 

but it does not have to break the bank to do it , but I find with me I graduated threw the years with cheap guns to better guns from 1 air tank to 2 with compressors , Id say most money I have spend it not so much on pcp guns but the scopes is where I dumped alot of money , gee some scopes cost 2 to 3x price of the guns

 

[Kaeokini]

Aloha,

I have to put on this list. 

Having kids, between my adult sons & teenage daughters I'm lucky to have lunch money. I'll be working until I'm 90 at the rate they cost me, but I live them. 

Aloha,

Keone

 

[Bigragu]

Ha ha, Windmill, that’s what I meant- racing pigeons. Thanks for clearing that up. Forgot about fishing. If you got into it serious with a boat and lures, fuel, etc, ya that can add up, especially if you pursue it doing competitive bsss tournaments 

 

[SteveKralsAround]

It is cheaper than getting into astronomy . That is a given .....believe me .

 

[GBGUNNER]

Your Hobby is what you choose to enjoy and reduce the tension. Plus we are genetically engineered to hunt and gather food 24/7. You notice movement out of the corner of your eye, hear sounds and look around. we no longer hunt and gather 24/7, but the drive is still there. Shopping fulfills the gathering drive ( ladies ) and hunting fulfills the hunting drive. Doesn't matter if you shoot paper and strive for better groups at longer ranges, hunt for pellets, slugs, info on these things. It is pleasant to fulfill these drives and sometimes necessary as in pesting or ridding yourself of animals creating problems and threats. And the cost is comparative with all the other hobbies save reading books acquired from the library. Don't sweat it, you are doing what comes naturally ( literally ). The gathering drive is why we gather more rifles, scopes, pellets etc. Naturally. Anything you feel is necessary to insure life and make it more comfortable is a genetically driven, be it a shirt or a sandwich even children. Quit taking pot shots at yourselves and others. Just don't sacrifice the rent money for a rifle.

 

[TarheelScott]

Then there are the Riding motorcycles crowd ( That gets expensive quick haha) , Like you said before hopping up your vehicle, or worse classic cars will put you in deep and fast with the frame off restorations haha. I even spent a small fortune in the fishing gig because it turned into a camper and a boat. Then off road sports atv's and hunting got expensive if you let it. I am slowing down at a phi-nominal rate and just enjoy the easy and comfort of hanging around the house with the pcp's and plinking and hunting small game. So for me personally I feel it saves me money compared to things I have dabbled in in the past. lol This is just the way I view it from my prospective alone. No offense intended to a soul lol .

It seems to be a well rounded hobby that any age or physical ability can enjoy. So for me I will stay as long as you guys play nice haha.

 

[Michigander]

Since my pain threshold is around $1K, maybe a bit more, my spending is about the same for all my hobbies. That rules out the high end PCPs for me, but out to 50 yards I am able to do everything I need to do with what I've got. For longer distances I have some really nice firearms that cost considerably less than even a mid-priced PCP.

 

[TarheelScott]

Oh yeah and how could I have left out the competitive archery lol. I had about 6 to 7 k in that and was just getting started good haha. I think all hobbies are what you make them. This one is just my favorite. 

 

[Raden1942]

Fishing has been much cheaper for me. I buy alot of lures and gear too. I guess I buy airguns I don't need tho. If you just bought one good airgun and a really nice compressor and just stopped there I'm guessing in 3 or 4 years the fishing would start to get more expensive than the airgun hobby. Problem is nobody ever stops at just one lol. I'm going to start garage sailing and flea marketing to buy beat up oldies and rebuild them. Should be able to make some coin off that to offset. 

 

[steve123]

Buying ATV's and motorcycles for the kids and I was way more expensive... 

Firearms hobby more expensive, I like nice stuff.

Just bought a higher quality E-mountain bike, that's more money than I've spent in AG's in the last 3 years.

Ha, I saw a car show once showing this billionaires hobby, a warehouse 100 yards long that was filled with exotic cars, mostly Rolls Royce. This same guy commissioned the best builder in the country to find one of the rarest vintage cars in existence, he found one, and did a no expense spared off the frame build - all this was done to win a at a car show, and he did win it. 

I know 3 millionaires personally, each that have hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of guns. Two of them went in together and literally bought a train car full of pallets of 30-06 ammo! One of these guys showed up at my friends shooting range with a restored civil war cannon! I could go on and on.

Anyway, back to our cheap airgun hobby....

 

[TarheelScott]

Steve123 =  exactly lol.

 

[BarryW]

My problem is I enjoy too many hobbies. Still too young to give any of them up LOL. The air guns fit my physical abilities better than most. 

 

[TarheelScott]

haha Barry awesome fish lol. It seams you may be as broke as I am after all that. I think you even beat me . haha That is exactly what I was speaking of. I even have the 4x4 tractor but mine is a 2015 massey haha. Like I said earlier The airguns are a cheaper hobby for me than some of the things in the past. I'm good for now. I can't afford any more. 

Scott

 

[biohazardman]

Hobbies/addictions I have or had

Automotive I rebuilt the suspension, steering, motor and more on my MG Midget over $12k invested worth $6K at best.

Firearms/reloading Purchased built and modified firearms and recently invested in reloading equipment I have as yet not used probly near $10K invested. Actually more like $8K now that I have counted it up a bit.

Bicycles and electric bikes. Bought several mountain bikes used and new. Upgraded wheels, hydraulic disk brakes, ect... Turned three into electric bikes. So Lithium batteries, controllers motors ect...Adult daughter did 53MPH on one 6 to $8k invested.

Airguns I modified Crosman guns for quite awhile and it was fairly cheap at 350-$500 a gun for six or eight guns. Most were stolen in late 2010. But then the addiction made me buy more expensive guns to modify so 6 to $8K invested.

So, while this is not the most expensive hobby/addiction I have had it is definitely on par with all of the rest.



$12k hobby



$8k hobby



$8k hobby



$8k hobby

 

[Bigragu]

All good stuff, guys, and thanks for the pics. So, back to my original curiosity, what hobby do you feel is equal to a pcp hobby of two years? It’s very obvious the hobby’s shared out cost a pcp hobby for way sure, especially the Harley and ATV hobbies, but what is equal?



with the cool hobbies you all have posted that I didn’t even consider in my original post, you all are making me feel this pcp hobby is the most inexpensive hobby to choose, lol, but when I look at my expenditures since I got into this in October of 2017, well, I’ve spent a lot. 



Im not a golfer by all means, but using my son who is, and from his recent purchases of gear, is it safe to say golf is equal in $$ to a pcp hobby? Remember, I picked a guy two years into it, with around 6 Airguns, a medium duty compressor, and a tank, not a guy dabbling into it with an economy pcp/scope/sling combo and a $40 hand pump.



Not criticizing ones that dabble, but I’d like to use someone truly into it, meaning the minute he wakes up from dreaming about air guns, he’s tweaking or shooting them. Yes, that into it.

 

[TarheelScott]

For me the archery shooting was close to the same. About the same funds spent. an nice apple bow press is comparable to a mid range compressor or round abouts. You can get a great bow and a back up bow and compete semi pro for about the price of six mid level airguns. lol This is all just my view of course. But to answer the original post topic I would say archery is close. 

Scott

 

[Guest]

Bigragu i have bounced around 4 wheelers wife and me $20K ,no longer do that. Fishing $15K still do this pretty often. RC airplanes $3K but was an extreme time consumer when they crash couple hundred to repair till another crash , no longer do that. RC cars racing 1/10 scale about $5K but the parts broken and etc about $200 every time i ordered parts , no longer do that . Duck / Deer hunting $20K guns ,boat, gear etc , no longer do that. Competition pistol / AR15 / shotgun / 22 ruger shot competion in a bunch of states average shooting about 500 rounds every weekend about $15K but the primers/powder/bullets was pretty exspensive even though i reloaded. Now PCP i got about $3K i like this one its a little less costly than other its actually one of my cheaper hobbies in my opinion. I guess till the next hobby comes along you gotta have fun with what you can afford and live life to its fulliest.