What got you started?

THE OLD DAISY 25

In the spring of 1968, a cherished heirloom was passed down to me – a 1934 Daisy 25 BB gun, a symbol of tradition and trust. My grandpa, with his farm weathered hands and tall statue, gave it to me on my ninth birthday. It was more than just a gift; it was a rite of passage... https://www.airgunnation.com/threads/the-old-daisy-25.1310567/
 
How did you end up beginning this hobby? Squirrels raiding the family bird feeder? Target shooting and powder was too costly? What other reason?
Both, I was a huge air gunner as a kid, until my first .22 rifle, back then .22 ammo was 5 bucks a box. But I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for bb and pellet guns. Lots of great memories chasing birds and squirrels.

I like to shoot a lot, and honestly it comes down to two things: cost per shot, and noise levels. My hunting rifle is damaging to hearing even with plugs and muffs via noise traveling through the bones. I love how quiet these things can be. And nobody blinks at me running around chasing squirrels with a “pellet gun” but if I use a .22 or .17hmr nobody minds, but I get calls just to “see what I was shooting at.” I get zero calls with the pellet guns.

Plus now that 22 rifle ammo is 25-35 bucks a box I’ve just turned into a hoarder with that stuff. Pellets come in the mail, no hazmat charges etc.
 
When I was a kid, my dad kept the powder burners locked up, but I was free to do as I pleased with my air rifle. And I did! Maybe 20 years ago, I decided it was easier to make time for airgunning than shooting the firearms. Sold the guns and slowly went knee-deep with airguns. Never looked back.
 
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It all started in the early 80's when my uncle bought me a Daisy 880. I was just a kid and thought pellets were dumb, so I only shot BB's. I got very good with that gun & took out many, many critters. Some 15yrs later, I decided to get another amazingly accurate Daisy 880, and that gun couldn't hit anything. Disappointed, I put the Daisy down and lost interest. They sure don't make them like they used to.
A few years ago, I hadn't shot an air rifle in 2 decades (now in my 50's), I see the Seneca Dragonfly2 and Im hooked on airguns. Now,I always look for older airguns at rummages, working or not, and enjoy resurrecting them as much as shooting them. I stick to springers & pumpers, and have accumulated 15 airguns in a short time. I live in the country, so I can shoot w/o neighbor problems too. My eyesight keeps me at 50yds, so I have 30,40,50yd targets set up and try to get some plinking in whenever work & weather allow.
 
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Well without going too much into my personal history, I love guns, always have but I did something stupid and caught a felony. Long story short I took my ex to court for custody of my children and even though I'm the one who took her to court the judge still put a protection order on me, said it was just normal practice to protect everybody. And then set my court date for 3 months so I couldn't see my kids for 3 months and I saw my son in the park and could not help myself, went up to him and grabbed him and hugged him and I got a contempt of court 🤷

Anyway I didn't want to give up my love of something that I really enjoyed since I was a kid so I just switched to the other lane and went into PCP guns because they were legal. And now being in the PCP hobby for about 4 years I don't miss powder burners at all. I still pretty much do all the same things I did like hunt and target practice and go out shooting with my kids that I did with "regular guns"

And I know this site doesn't support this or nothing but there are some real quality PCP guns out there that give you almost the same kind of power that you would get from regular guns and you can use them for other things besides hunting like "protection" if you have no other choice.
 
Like many others, my reason was for a safer option for pest control. I have a ground squirrel problem and although I have some acres out in the country, there are still other folks around. Shooting squirrels here with a powder burner just isn't an option. Enter FX dreamline in .22 and I am starting to put a dent in my problem. Here is an example of some squirrel damage. Sucker's eat holes through everything trying to get at chicken scratch, oats, horse treats etc.
20240416_180514.jpg

Of course replacing $30 trash cans justified a $1500 pcp! 🤣🤣🤣
 
Like Vana2 I enjoy anything that will launch a projectile from rocks to bullets. like most I had an air gun when I was young. However, once I was capable to shoot a PB the “kids stuff” was left behind.
A little over 3 years ago I was at the local indoor archery lanes and the fish and game PR guy was there. We had built a bit of a relationship over the weeks and he asked if I had been next door to the air gun shop/range. He took me over and introduced me. They stuck a Daystate Pulsar in my hand, gave me a few pointers and turned me loose. It was love at first shot.
Now nearly a dozen PCP’s later I do not see me ever losing my interest.
 
When I watched the older brother shoot a tin can with a neighbor's Daisy and realized that you could do something here and something really cool would happen all the way over there, I was hooked. I was five years old... When the same brother got a 760 for Christmas in '67, that really got it all started.

Cheers,

J~
 
Around 1972 I traded something, probably fishing lures as that's about all I had, for a Daisy 25 from a friend. Spent the next year or so walking the potato fields near my house perfecting use of that 25 shooting at spent shotgun shells I would pick up and toss in air and shoot at them. Sure wish I heald onto that Old Daisy 25, although I picked up a similar vintage recently for the nostalgia.
 
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What got me started with air gunning is from my father. Back in the 90's when we first moved to the United States, at the first house that my parents bought, chipmunks dug out the foundation under the concrete slab front porch. At the time, my parents didn't know anything about pests like that we all thought they were so cute. We lived in that house for 8 years unaware that the concrete slap has sunk down 4 inches. It was a huge expense when it came time to sell the house.

Today, at their more recent new house, at their backyard, there is a fenced in garden. The entire fenced in area is retained 2 levels around 5 ft high each on top of each other with stairs in the middle. The chipmunks really love to dig their tunnel systems in the retained garden. They became enemy #1 for my father.
 
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I've been an avid shooter since I was a kid. Pellet gun at first (I wasn't allowed BBs like the other kids), then powder burners. But I never really had a period (except when I was in the Corps) that I didn't have a pellet gun, mostly for play, but sometimes for dispatching a pest - usually a starling. My standby for many years was my Benjamin Sheridan Blue Streak. Some years back there was a starling on a branch not far out my window. I broke a carefully aimed shot at it and saw downy breast-feathers fly - and the @#% flew off! At that point I knew I wanted some more power. I picked up a Discovery and a hand-pump and was quite happy with that for a while, but then memories of ads for AirForce guns prompted me to get a Condor SS. I loved that gun and it served me well for several years where I wasn't even tempted by anything else (except a compressor, and I picked up my first one sometime while shooting only the Condor. At some point I saw the next great gun I needed (Leshiy Classic, I think), I bought it, and I was finally on the slippery slope. Now I have more PCPs than I shoot and a top-notch compressor. Oh, and no complaints!

GsT