cost of air gunning

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As many have said, it can be as much or little as one wants to spend. Big game bowhunting is my most expensive hunting (travel and nonresident tags) and my number one pastime. The air rifle entertains me during the winter months when most archery seasons are on hiatus.

I am surprised how much I've been willing to spend on a couple of Daystates, carbon tank, and compressor though. 
 
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I guess it's all about perspective, priorities and what makes you happy.

- I'd hate to think (or calculate) what we've spent over the years on motorcycles, consumables, gas, ridding gears... But the wife and I agree. It puts a big stupid grin on our faces and it's cheaper than therapy.

- I drive a 5 years old paid-off truck...that's $ available for other priorities

If you need to rationalize that new FX/Steyr/Whatnot, try this

- Cost of gun ($2000) / 4 years = $500 a year to own it
- $500 / number of hours I'll use it (lets say 2H a weekx52: 104) = $4.80/h

For $5, this


is more fun than this
 
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Wow! Great thread! I spent 900$ for a used cricket 45$ for a knockoff atlas bipod. 180$ for used aeon 24 power scope and finally 325 $ for a yong heng compressor. 

this is easily affordable for my budget and yields 100s of hours of fun a year! I'm sure I could sell everything with less than 200 bucks loss.

our family had a friendly rim fire shooting competition this thanksgiving. My little cricket took the prize EASILY!
That moment alone was priceless! Never mind the many hours spent hunting starlings and pigeons at the many dairies around here! This is money very very very well spent in my opinion! 
 
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I do this strictly for the FUN of it! Shooting my airguns and tinkering with them makes me HAPPY! Sometimes we do things for the pure unadulterated pleasure of doing so, and don't count the cost! I am enjoying my life and my airguns and my bass boat and my fishing rods and my lures and my tackle boxes and Karen....in that order! :-0
Chuck
 
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I hate terms like low budget.....what is low budget to you maybe insane to another.

As far as sending a projectile across the air and hitting X air gunning is about as cheap as you can get. I have been into airguns for about 20-ish years....I refuse to say close to 30, I also enjoy firearms, and reload. The cost of shooting airguns is NOTHING next to any powder burning firearm....you can't come close to the cost of the ammo.

The guns themselves are very different, you can get an airgun that will shoot very well at 25 yards for $100, Same with a firearm....it is when you start to push the limits things get real expensive....a Ruger Precision rifle is what most will agree as a great long range rifle and an amazing value for the money spent....cost is around 1500...to get an airgun that could do the same TYPE thing as the RPR is going to cost you more for the gun.....I am not saying 1000 yards with the airgun, but saying to do the same type of shooting, 200 yard ariguns in my little peanut mind is in the same class as the RPR....perhaps not an F-class gun but it could be used in that game....same could be said for the airguns that are out of the box like that against other airguns....the crown comes to mind.....I would put the crown and the RPR in the same class in their different areas.

I have rambled, but I think if you are looking for trigger time, air guns are the most inexpensive way to go....and still have a "real" gun.

I know for me the air gun thing has really bitten me here lately....I have had a few surgeries and shooting firearms is getting difficult....airguns are also nice for inside the house...you are not shooting your 308 in your basement.
 
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Cost is relative. I can't afford to play like some of you guys, but I enjoy watching/reading about your guns on this site. It's a blast. I watched Ted's video about getting into PCPs a couple years ago and saved up my coin till I could get a disco and set it up the way he did. I also got an HDD and clipped a couple coils. It'll shoot well under an inch at 50 yards with 29 usable shots over 20 ft/lbs. Easy fill with my hand pump. I bet my smile is just as wide as anyone with the Streamline I'm currently drooling over. The other night I was in the basement at 20 yards driving 16 penny nails into a styrofoam archery target. Just good fun there. She's a tack driver! Great topic. Nice thoughtful responses. Don't go into debt. Don't short-change your loved ones. Otherwise, have some fun!
 
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 I have a Gauntlet that I paid $270 for plus a scope- $100. I did add a 23 cu in bottle to the gun for $45. So I have appx $400 in the gun/scope.

My 4500psi (97 cu in) tank was $500(used). Pellets are 2 cents (CPDomed). I fill up the bottle for $10. Taking the the fill bottle down to 1500psi I get about 2000 shots($10 to refill), $40 (2000 times 2 cents) in pellets. So $50 for 2000 shots, so 2.5 cents a shot. So lets say I shoot 6000 shots a year (never have done that) thats $150 a year and ( lose 20% a year in the value of the tank and gun/scope that's another $180 (20% of $500 tank and 20% of $400 gun/scope). So it cost me $330 a year, or less than $1 day to enjoy my hobby.

Thats cheap.

​I have a new Air Ranger that I am willing to sell-great gun, and I have an Air Wolf with a tricked-out cpu card-it's fantastic. And The Daystates make me feel good but I don't need them.
Let's forget about the Daystates which would add another $600 a year include both of them and addition to the Gauntlet.

So w/o the Daystates you are getting by for $1 day. You can't beat that.
 
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"peole"If you live in US pcp airgunning is waste of money. It is slow, finicky, awkward, very imprecise and unreal over priced compared to real thing. Unless you have excess of money and way too many real things.
In many other parts of the world pcp airgunning is as close as you can get to the real thing.
So, it depends on geography.
Click to expand...

So what airguns have you owned and how much time did you spend learning how to shoot them? Airgunning certainly isn't as easy in most instances as shooting a firearm. It takes lots of practicing basic shooting skills to get the best out of an airgun. This in turn makes you a better firearm shooter. 
 
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"John_in_Ma"
"peole"If you live in US pcp airgunning is waste of money. It is slow, finicky, awkward, very imprecise and unreal over priced compared to real thing. Unless you have excess of money and way too many real things.
In many other parts of the world pcp airgunning is as close as you can get to the real thing.
So, it depends on geography.
Click to expand...

So what airguns have you owned and how much time did you spend learning how to shoot them? Airgunning certainly isn't as easy in most instances as shooting a firearm. It takes lots of practicing basic shooting skills to get the best out of an airgun. This in turn makes you a better firearm shooter.
Click to expand...
Shooting a PCP airgun is much more easy then shooting a firearm.....now if you want to talk springers that is a different animal all the way around.

PCP there is no recoil, no sound (next to a firearm), it is so much more easy to shoot pcp, co2 or msp....the only skill you need is basic follow through....and if you are shooting something like 22 longs with a 700fps rating....you are slinging that chunk of lead slower then most of our air rifles...yes it is a little fatter, but it is spending more time in the barrel, and that is where follow through comes in.

Don't kid yourself, PCP guns are the most easy thing to shoot, and the closest thing to a firearm....you CAN hold it like your deer rifle and it will shoot well, you can't do that with any springer.

As to PCP being pointless.....I guess it depends, some places in this country are not free, so an airgun may be the answer.....it is great for keeping skills sharp over the winter, I do agree it is just flat stoopit to do some of the things people are doing with them, and some hunting questions I see on this forum are just flat unethical and not humane to the game animal.
 
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Costs? Well, I'm into PCP and from the sounds of it, on the cheap!

​Tank - $350
​Marauder - Pump Combo was something like $450
​Fills on the tank are $5 at the Paintball shop, and gives me about a dozen fills on the gun
Pellets are $.02 or so each for good quality JSB pellets.
​Range fees at local outdoor (75 yard) range is only $5 or the local indoor ranges are typically $12 (25 yards). Not bad for a good day out doing something I enjoy.

Granted a break barrel would be under $500, and pellets would be the only extra cost, but I like the PCP's!

​Now, if it was a powder burner, (really can't afford one of these! ) a good long range gun for bench would be $1000 (on the cheap) or more like $2000 by the time you kit it out
Ammunition would be at least $1.00 or up to $5.00 per round. Reloading gear would be a must. Disposables would be a constant expense!
Shooting longer ranges requires a two hour drive to a 1,000 range south of where I live

​Lets not even talk about Dutch Oven cooking, wood shop tools, metal shops, cameras, computers, and other things you can get into.

​Makes having air gunning as a hobby all that more reasonable priced!
 
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