I picked up an interest in crossbows and archery from watching Robin Hood movies as a kid back in the late 1950s. Air guns weren't featured in the movies but the Daisy underlever BB carbines looked just like the cowboy guns. Those were good enough for us city kids who weren't allowed to wander the neighborhood with actual firearms.
As I've bought and sold different air guns and crossbows over the years, I've usually tried to have a few different examples of similar items at the same time for comparison. I don't hunt but I like the technology, so having 5 or 6 examples of hunting crossbow or repeating .22 air carbines at the same time for a few months or years just seemed natural to me. They are certainly all easy enough to buy and sell used these days once I'm done comparing them.
At this point I prefer the lighter weight, smaller and lower power arrow launchers for relaxing shorter range target practice. People who would not normally shoot a firearm or a 400+f/s crossbow for fun seem to enjoy using these smaller arrow launchers for 10-to-25 yard targets. Here's a small group of 4 arrow launchers I've been playing around with recently.
The first one is the small EK Archery Adder 7-shot repeating crossbow sold by GoGun (Jorg Sprave of the amazing YouTube Slingshot channel) with the extending butt stock removed. The arrow feeder attachment isn't on it in this picture. It cocks with an underlever, automatically loads a new bolt each time, and the power averages ~35fpe with 7.5" bolts.
The next two are Umarex Air Javelins CO arrow guns converted to use 13ci air tanks instead of disposable 88 gram CO2 cartridges. The lower one in original carbine length and the other with shortened stock and barrel. Power ~30fpe on CO2 and ~25fpe using 1100psi air. Those are fun for most people because they are easy to handle, loud but not scary loud, and you can actually see where the arrows hit. Somehow those tiny little holes made by my very expensive 1000f/s pellet guns are not nearly as satisfying as seeing a 275f/s arrow sticking out of the same target. I still have my 1st Robin Hooded arrows from these Javelins and am up to 6 sets of them now from doing chrony tests without repositioning the rifle stand frequently enough. And only shot the chony itself once by accident.
The last one is a Umarex Air Saber cut down into more of a pistol format. I dislike longer heavier rifles as I get older and prefer to keep them to under 32 inches. It's easy to handle and it doesn't kick enough to make using a scope a problem. My problem with the Air Saber is also its strength as a hunting gun. At 150+fpe it's just too powerful for my archery targets or for casual shorter range target practice with friends. And with airrows now being made for larger bore air rifles there isn't as much call for a dedicated HPA arrow launcher like this. But it works great. Spyderweb offers a No Speed Limit archery targets which can handle arrows at these speeds but I don't need any more crossbow targets. I'll post it for sale for cheap in the classifieds later this month.
We've been seeing a real expansion in air gun tech over past few decades. And especially in crossbows tech if you follow that as well. The new Ravin R18 crossbow (release 9 months overdue already, finally cancelled my pre-order) is a spectacular example of novel engineering applied to a traditional crossbow.
This is a different small group of 2 I've been comparing lately, a 30fpe .22 Leshiy - have a .30 cal barrel/plug/REPR for the Leshiy already and am waiting on the 300cc tank. Below that a 48fpe .30 AEA SS+ with the folding stock removed.
And here are a 30fpe First Strike FSC pistol and a 15fpe Valken milsig paintball marker, both of which shoot 50 to 120 grain .68 caliber round balls. The Valken uses 18 round magazines and accepts a spring wound 60 round drum magazine for full auto, maybe 300 shots per air tank haven't tested it yet. The FSC has 8 round magazines and can also use a 60 round drum. A few cardboard boxes make a good target and can catch the .68 balls for reuse. These are often marketed for home defense with hard balls like the police use. I have mixed feelings about that, but actually they are just a lot of fun to shoot.
So I'm not a collector exactly. But I do acquire temporary collections for a year or two for comparison purposes before reselling most or all of them. But in the end I'm usually satisfied with the very few I end up keeping. At least until I spot a really good deal in the classifieds.
JP
As I've bought and sold different air guns and crossbows over the years, I've usually tried to have a few different examples of similar items at the same time for comparison. I don't hunt but I like the technology, so having 5 or 6 examples of hunting crossbow or repeating .22 air carbines at the same time for a few months or years just seemed natural to me. They are certainly all easy enough to buy and sell used these days once I'm done comparing them.
At this point I prefer the lighter weight, smaller and lower power arrow launchers for relaxing shorter range target practice. People who would not normally shoot a firearm or a 400+f/s crossbow for fun seem to enjoy using these smaller arrow launchers for 10-to-25 yard targets. Here's a small group of 4 arrow launchers I've been playing around with recently.
The first one is the small EK Archery Adder 7-shot repeating crossbow sold by GoGun (Jorg Sprave of the amazing YouTube Slingshot channel) with the extending butt stock removed. The arrow feeder attachment isn't on it in this picture. It cocks with an underlever, automatically loads a new bolt each time, and the power averages ~35fpe with 7.5" bolts.
The next two are Umarex Air Javelins CO arrow guns converted to use 13ci air tanks instead of disposable 88 gram CO2 cartridges. The lower one in original carbine length and the other with shortened stock and barrel. Power ~30fpe on CO2 and ~25fpe using 1100psi air. Those are fun for most people because they are easy to handle, loud but not scary loud, and you can actually see where the arrows hit. Somehow those tiny little holes made by my very expensive 1000f/s pellet guns are not nearly as satisfying as seeing a 275f/s arrow sticking out of the same target. I still have my 1st Robin Hooded arrows from these Javelins and am up to 6 sets of them now from doing chrony tests without repositioning the rifle stand frequently enough. And only shot the chony itself once by accident.
The last one is a Umarex Air Saber cut down into more of a pistol format. I dislike longer heavier rifles as I get older and prefer to keep them to under 32 inches. It's easy to handle and it doesn't kick enough to make using a scope a problem. My problem with the Air Saber is also its strength as a hunting gun. At 150+fpe it's just too powerful for my archery targets or for casual shorter range target practice with friends. And with airrows now being made for larger bore air rifles there isn't as much call for a dedicated HPA arrow launcher like this. But it works great. Spyderweb offers a No Speed Limit archery targets which can handle arrows at these speeds but I don't need any more crossbow targets. I'll post it for sale for cheap in the classifieds later this month.
We've been seeing a real expansion in air gun tech over past few decades. And especially in crossbows tech if you follow that as well. The new Ravin R18 crossbow (release 9 months overdue already, finally cancelled my pre-order) is a spectacular example of novel engineering applied to a traditional crossbow.
This is a different small group of 2 I've been comparing lately, a 30fpe .22 Leshiy - have a .30 cal barrel/plug/REPR for the Leshiy already and am waiting on the 300cc tank. Below that a 48fpe .30 AEA SS+ with the folding stock removed.
And here are a 30fpe First Strike FSC pistol and a 15fpe Valken milsig paintball marker, both of which shoot 50 to 120 grain .68 caliber round balls. The Valken uses 18 round magazines and accepts a spring wound 60 round drum magazine for full auto, maybe 300 shots per air tank haven't tested it yet. The FSC has 8 round magazines and can also use a 60 round drum. A few cardboard boxes make a good target and can catch the .68 balls for reuse. These are often marketed for home defense with hard balls like the police use. I have mixed feelings about that, but actually they are just a lot of fun to shoot.
So I'm not a collector exactly. But I do acquire temporary collections for a year or two for comparison purposes before reselling most or all of them. But in the end I'm usually satisfied with the very few I end up keeping. At least until I spot a really good deal in the classifieds.
JP
