What got you into Airguns

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I was never allowed to have toy guns as a child, and no one I knew was really into guns. As a 50-ish adult I respect guns, and the right to own them, but never really cared to own one myself. However, I have always enjoyed shooting when it was offered for me to take part, and I was a very good paintball player in the early 2000's. When my wife green lighted me to buy a pellet gun I found some great videos on YouTube and could feel the hook setting in deep. Now with 3 acres to play with and being surrounded by farms and woods, I have the freedom to do as I please and not be bothered. LOL, some days it sounds as if war has broken out at the neighboring farm, so I know my little airgun won't bother a soul around here! 
 
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This book looked interesting, so I looked on-line for one. Without this original cover, they were around $40. on eBay, and $36. on Amazon. With this old cover, over $100. I did order a "newer" cover from a bookseller for $20. + shipping. Looking forward to getting it.
 
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Hey Everyone! 

Obviously we all love airguns here but I'm curious what got you into airguns or what it is about airguns that got your attention in the first place. For me, it was the fact that I could practice my aim in my backyard without the cops showing up haha.
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The urge to shoot anytime, almost anywhere at a fraction of the cost, not having to worry about a lot of noise and having to drive somewhere hoping you won't get caught.



Simplyhooked
 
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I had been shooting for many years. Mostly rifle/pistol. I shot a Diana 460 magnum and couldn't believe how accurate it was. I had been trying to shoot groups as tight as possible with cartridge guns. I shot the Diana and the group that I shot was something I had been trying to achieve for decades. I bought one. - addicted. About a years or two later I bought a

Diana 54 Amazing. I am now waiting for a Weihrauch HW97 KT. It is on order. I am a patient guy.
 
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Like most, I had a Daisy when younger, graduated to a .22 and a .410 a little later. Years later I needed something to take care of pests, raccoons to start with that were raiding bird feeders and trash cans. Got a .177 Diana and needed more power so went to a .22 which was enough to do the job. Got several raccoons with it and then discovered that something was killing my blue birds and their babies in their boxes. I went to clean one out one morning that had been raided and a flying squirrel came tearing out of there when my hand touched him...lucky I didn't get bitten! Flying squirrels were killing all my bluebirds, and none of my boxes were on trees either.

Knowing that the flyers were nocturnal, I put a feeder on the side of a large oak about 30' from the house. We had spots in the back with a switch in the kitchen, so I could go to the kitchen window, ease it up and hit the spots. Every night there'd be all of these flying squirrels swarming that bird feeder, and I could get 2-3 a night easily. I wondered the next morning where the remains were going, so one night after shooting one I waited a couple of minutes and hit the spots again. 'Ol brer fox was out there chowing down on his dinner, and he'd show as soon as he heard the gun go off and the spots would go out. Never had to worry about squirrel carcasses!
 
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I wasn't allowed to have a BB gun when I was a kid but sure enjoyed the rare chance I got to spend time with a friend who had one. My dad used to apologize to me saying he just couldn't convince my mom it was a good idea. As a quick aside, my mom somehow thought an archery set was okay and let me buy one with my own money. I still remind my mother to this day that giving me an archery set was a way worse idea than a BB gun, but I digress.

So when I bought a house with a 1000 square foot garage and was given a BB gun from a friend I quickly started making up for lost time. When my nephew would come for extended stays I'd rub my fingers raw tying balloons for him to shoot. I've basically had an airgun backstop set up in the garage for the last 15 years.

Then a cousin bought me a Gamo gas piston rifle five or six years ago. I thought for sure the hobby would really take off for me but I that Gamo is just no good. I can't even bring myself to post it for free on local classified sites.

Shortly after that we bought a cabin. It was so destroyed by squirrels that I got a screaming deal on it. I bought the lot and cabin with a cistern already in the ground for about a third of just what the lot would sell for today. It was a tear down due to the squirrels. Around the time I was getting my new foundation poured a cabin a short walk away sold to a recently retired guy who I got to know. He did a lot of work on this cabin only to find squirrels moving into his crawlspace and just causing havoc.

Turns out he also had a Gamo that he had a lot of trouble with and that's when I started looking into PCP's more seriously as I knew I had an investment I had to protect. I have known about them for years and always had an intrigue but I didn't want to be disappointed like I was with my Gamo.

Long story short, I wish I had returned that Gamo and either gotten a higher quality springer or just jumped right into PCP's. This has been a very strange journey for me. I justify my airgun purchases due to the variety of pest issues I have between my home and my cabin. But the reality is that I shoot hundreds of pellets at paper for every one that I take at a pest. Yet I can't bring myself to buy an airgun that is primarily for plinking.

I should add that I live near a million acres of public land and hike nearly every day. I could easily carry a rimfire and find a place to shoot safely but the ability to shoot quietly at home has just been great for me.
 
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Ted Bier

I love to shoot, but when I found Ted's Holdover and saw this clown with a Russian Edgun nailing pigeons at 100 plus yards with a PELLET, I was hooked. I really liked his old Bird Watching video where the optics just happened to be attached to a $2000 airgun. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ee5fkOlqxIM

OK I was hooked. Bought a Marauder to get started, Still have it, love shooting it. Its accurate, cheap to shoot, economical on air (added regulator, 50 shots per fill now.), and freaks everyone at the range out when I show them the 50 yard groups. Even better when I break out the Impact and do the 75 yard groups. Nobody can believe it's a Pellet Gun!

I love the quiet, cheap fun.
 
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For me was my dad gave me a BB gun before I got a bike. He would take me deer hunting with him and let me take my bb I thought it was really sweet. 
as I grew older I always had a airgun of some sort always preferred one one over a rimfire. I could shoot cheep and quiet. They were also safer I knew if I missed a critter in a tree that it wasn’t going to land at my neighbors house 1/4 mile a ways or kill his cows. 


now that my son is 9 I’ve lit the spark in him as well
 
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The wife has always had a garden. In Phoenix the ground squirrels were beating us to the salad.. Did some research and got a Daisy Avanti. Very accurate, but from the porch to the garden the pellets just bounced off! Got a Diana 34 which did the job and attracted attention. When we moved to Cochise Co. the garden attracted large rabbits, and the distances were even greater. More power needed - Got a Weihrauch HW 90. Just the ticket. I've always liked special tools, so to 'protect the owls' in the pine trees from cactus wrens I got a 2260, polished the insides and opened the port to the point where I get 10 shots out of it and it's deadly accurate with the CO2 power being very consistent. So now there's PCP's, an underlever, more break barrels and I've been waiting for a Weihrauch HW 30 for three months. It's all fun - ringing metal, punching paper, thumpin' rabbits, thinning birds. Best part of retirement. 
 
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Was into airsoft as a kid but didn't have the opportunity to do matches or anything so I mostly shot cans in the backyard. Each one I got broke so I eventually decided to get an airgun. Bought a 2240 for Christmas and went down the Crosman aftermarket rabbit hole. Bought a TKO and was fascinated at how airguns could be Hollywood quiet. Got into hunting from airgunning and watched a lot of Ted's Holdover. Eventually did a PCP build with a heavily modded 2250 before moving up to a marauder. Started watching Matt Dubber around that point and became fascinated with ballistics and long-range shooting. Did a LOT of work and thought into improving my rifle, and here we are.
 
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I work on a golf course in Northern California. So for me, airguns have been a way to do some pest control without scaring any golfers! Started with a break barrel .177 from gamo. From there I graduated to my first pcp which was a .25 marauder and then moved onto a .25 fx impact x. Let’s just say I’ve killed thousands of squirrels in the last couple years. 
 
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My father was an avid hunter, fisherman, and trapper. If he was given a rifle, fishing pole and some traps, he could live off the land year round. He was a WWII Veteran and Purple Heart recipient. He loved shootin and me and my five brothers shot bb guns and rifles when we were kids. After I got married and bought a place in this small town, didn't shoot again for 42 years. Went over to visit a neighbor the next block over a couple months ago and I told him about some of the ugh-uhm varmints getting into my fenced in back yard pooptin, pissin and killin the good song birds. That's when he brought out his air rifle and showed his answer to the varmint problem. Since then, I bought two Wally world gamo air rifles, a springer and a gas piston. Went through 1000s of pellets. Trying to get the red out became an obsession, and those backyard pest didn't stand a chance. The accuracy of the Gamo rifles just wasn't there, into the PCP arena I went. First with the Benjamin Armada stacking the JSB 18.13grns at 30 yards and head shots to sparrows at that same distance, but like many of you, I haven't stopped there. Now waiting on my new FX Maverick 30 cal sniper version. Sometimes I feel like Dad is still there by my side and were shootin together!
 
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After I took the hunter safety course at school, my dad relented and bought me a Sheridan Blue Streak. Many years later and living in a city townhouse, I bought a Beeman R8 to shoot in the basement. That hooked me, and I started looking for any excuse to visit the wife's parents who lived on 10 acres up north adjacent to county land. Then I found out I needed something to handle the longer distances available up there, so that got me into the higher powered springers and PCPs. Now I have my own home in the country, and living my dream with two outdoor ranges and a basement range for the winter. Life is good!
 
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