WHEN did you realize you were bit??

Jump to latest Follow Reply
mtnGhost

mtnGhost

Member
Dec 15, 2018
3,755
703
Defected from the PNW, United States
I've had my fair share of mid-life crisis', expensive hobbies, and outdoor sports interests.. some of them stuck with me, and I've lost interest in others. I'd like to hear from the community on what made you realize that the AG bug stung you!!! .. was it your first bullseye out of that terrible springer with the barrel that was never cleaned? .. was it the realization that you spent X on airguns / accessories? .. was it the day that you found yourself doing your own laundry for the first time in 20+ years - after the divorce following the time when you just ran out of excuses on where that X amount of money went, when your other half demanded answers? .. was it your second visit to the ER for 3rd degree burns when you burned yourself again casting hot lead? .. or was it something else??? 


 
3 years ago I just had 1 springer. I was thinking about getting a PCP but with all the other things you need I was too cheap to spend what was needed. Then I got sick and the doctor gave me 2 months so I said **** it and bought my first PCP along with a air tank and other accessories. I found that shooting the PCP at my gun club was the equivalent to me shooting long range and saved me from the 3.5 hour trips I would make to a 1000 yard range. I found another Doctor who did an experimental surgery and 3 years later I’m still kickin. I know I have been bit because I’m to lazy to go to my safe now and count how many are in there I used to be able to know exactly what I have now I just know I have around a dozen give or take a few. Getting sick though got me my PCPs and a new truck. I figured I couldn’t take it with my so why not.
 
Upvote 0
I was bit 55 years ago on my Grandfather's knee watching him reload and cast bullets. At age 6 I sold many bushels of hand picked peaches for my first Daisy BB gun which I still have. 2 years later my Grandfather gave me a Benjamin 342 which I still have but have lost some of the pieces. The infection did not mature fully, however, till about 5 years ago some 50 years after the initial infection occur. PCP's were the total addiction and complete return to my youth! Even tried dealing PCP's for a while (I found I was my biggest customer!) which had a totally different meaning in the 1970's and 80's than it does now "fortunately" and does not involve the DEA, Alphabet org or any other 3 or 4 lettered government agency. lol ;)
 
Upvote 0
Pretty late in life, but the first time I picked up a gun... and LOVED IT! I was TWO (63 years ago).

1558752979_3044944645ce8aed3e479b5.71285381_K & R kids.jpg



 
Upvote 0
Oh gosh, probably when I graduated from a BB gun to a pneumatic at about 10 years old. I was hooked. I always had some sort of air gun to monkey with after that. We had a store in Austin called Academy Surplus and they always had some cool springers and cheap pellets. Then one day I got may hands on one of Robert Laws ARH catalogs, after that it was Doc Beeman's books, my world opened up. Once I had bought an FWB124, and later an R1, I was on cloud 9. A couple of decades rolled by and then came the internet and something called a PCP? Fiddled around with hpa on a 22XX (still do) then picked up a BSA SuperTen. Every one of these steps up the ladder was a huge improvement over what I'd owned before. Nowadays it's a .25 Wildcat and my own fill station. Can it get any better than that? Yep, all you have to do is wait a couple of years!!

Glenn in Texas
 
Upvote 0
Jeez. I’ve been a powder burner practicing for that dream hunt that never materialized until I got my first PCP. Ground squirrels. No tags. Challenging targets. Multiple opportunities. No hunting all day for maybe one shot. If that wasn’t enough, the pasture we hunt is a shooter’s dream. Various angles with ample backstop. I realized I had tasted shooter’s heroin and look forward to the next time I have some spare time to drive the arduous two miles to my piece of paradise.
 
Upvote 0
I wanted to learn to shoot long distance 1000 to 3000 meter and needed to be able to do the math and work every day on my form. I am a single dad on disability so there was no way I could afford enough ammo to make that possible or even to go to the range every day. I have always shot springers and pumpers but didn't even know about pcp airguns. Then my dad told me I could turn his backyard into an airgun range and I started watching you tube videos. The first was air velocity sports video on which gun should you buy. I then knew pcp was possible. The rest is history. I don't know that ive saved any money yet tho lol. 
 
Upvote 0
Right after I bought my first Gamo in 2013 and graduated to the Marauder, and then the Kalibrgun, and another Marauder, and the Air Arms, and another Air Arms and the FX, and the Evanix, and the Dragon Slayer, and the Disco, and the HW30 , and another Kalibrgun, and another Kalibrgun, and the Thomas, and then an Edgun, an Urban, and then another FX ....and then a Wolverine .....etc etc.
 
Upvote 0
Good topic & replies fellas.

I loved shooting with Dad at 7. That was my request every weekend I was with him. Bit by airgun bug 🐛 when I got talked into a Discovery by Rick Welknicker at Precision Airgun near PA/MD border.

I really got bit when I got my 1st .22 Marauder & it was putting Kodiaks hole in ragged hole at 50 yards. Covered by a dime ragged hole. Only pellet it shot great. Then the Greg Davis rifle amazed me, the AZ Rapids did also but soured me in price relation to Greg’s 23.74 LW & extended air tube. 

The spring guns weren’t appreciated until I got my first John Thomas tuned Diana. I’m still suffering. There’s no anti venom for this bug bite. 
 
Upvote 0
4 years ago I came across a "Hunter One" video on YouTube. Saw something about PCP & thought it was a drug video (was doing some research on drug addiction). For some reason I got hooked on watching airgun videos so I ordered a Varmint Hunter break barrel just for laughs. Fun, but not good enough. Ordered a Benji Discovery. More fun, still not good enough. Ordered an M-rod .22. More fun, still not good enough. Ordered a Hatsan AT44 .22. More fun, not yet good enough. Ordered a BT65 Elite .25. Better! Ordered an FX Royale 500. WOW, good enough! Ordered an FX Boss. My wife STILL doesn't know. THAT was the indicator that I had gotten addicted 2 years prior & didn't realize. Enough is never enough & MORE is never enough. Love this sport & turning people on to it is a blast. Unfortunately my tastes exceed my bank account. The learning curve is different than with powder burners & more equipment involved but it's part of what's so cool about it. Now that I'm mostly retired I'm so glad to have the time and multiple property permissions to get out at least a couple times a week, weather permitting. ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT & I can't stop nor do I want to! 
 
Upvote 0
I would say it's always been a passion, but got serious later in life as a matter of purpose.

It started at three years old after I took my sisters Daisy Safari out and (unsupervised) shot up a bunch of soda bottle in our garage (no deposit back on those). Got my first lever action Daisy at five (still have it), and a Daisy 881 for my tenth birthday that I literally shot until it fell apart. Picked up a Crosman 2200 Magnum at a pawn shop off post when I was in the Army and used that for years until I started Bluebirding in the backyard, and needed something very precise as I had to make the most of every shot at a HOSP. Sold it and picked up an FWB 300S, then an HW 77, then discovered Air Arms PCP's and sold the springers, and I had HOSP-free birdboxes for years. Now I'm out in the country, and with the extra space, I've been playing around a whole lot more.

The interesting thing is my airgun passion kind of follows the seasons; I pick the bug back up in early Spring but in Fall it transitions into powderburners, then the cycle repeats. Guess it must follow the seasons of the birds...
 
Upvote 0
For me 1980 after lusting over Beeman's catalog for a few years ordered a fwb124d. Probably a 5 gal pale of pellets down range. Tuned and resealed by David Slade back in the day. All-time favorite. Jsb 8.4 @860. Fast forward to 2005. First pcp was a Air Force Talon p. The power and accuracy blew me away. Have added to collection FWB 300s, beeman special edition blue stock r9, rws 54 in .22. cz634 .177. fx tarantula .22. cricket compact .22, cz 200 .177, talondor as .25 slug gun , izh 46m and more. It's a sickness we all love. 
 
Upvote 0
This is more history of shooting airguns for me...



At 7 I was given my first BB gun. Probably a Daisy something or other. I remember looking at them at Montgomery Wards when I was young and wanting one and then one day it was just “there” in my memories. I know my parents bought it for me but I don’t remember any details other than having it.

I tried shooting everything with it. I can’t remember ever hitting anything smaller than a tree with it. Ha ha! I can recall having a BB gun in my early teens but we lived in suburbia and being a teenaged male we found a lot of other things to be interested in along with BB guns. Around 17 I had a buddy that lived across the street and he bought a Crosman 1377 American Classic pump pistol. That thing was awesome! It was quite a bit “better” than the BB guns we had been used to. Soon after that I had him buy me one too. Since I was 17 I could not buy one myself but my buddy was 18. I gave him the money and we went down and he gave the money for it. 

We used to go down to the neighborhood storm water retention pond and sit on one side and shoot off into the trees at whatever birds were out there. It was a smooth bore and shot bbs or pellets. We shot both but looking back on it, it was waaaay too far away to be accurate with or hit anything we aimed at.



After growing up, getting married, having kids and moving on to 2 acres, I decided to buy that first Gamo BigCat air rifle. (I liked shooting but didn’t want to leave my wife alone with caring for the kids while I went out and did my own thing all the time). I got frustrated after not being able to hit a quarter at maybe 30 feet! I went to the internet and discovered an airgun forum and started reading. That is when the airgun world opened up for me. Soon after that is when I decided to by that Beeman R9 Goldfinger combo. Figured a better gun should give me better accuracy.



Well, I have a few airguns now of differing types. I still have that 1377 American Classic that I bought when I was 17 (47 now). A few years into my adult airgun experience I ran across these super trick Crosman pistols that had all kinds of custom parts and modded insides making great power and all that. I looked into that stuff for a bit and I ended up modding my 1377 into this. I really don’t shoot it much anymore but I do have a special bond with it since it’s been with me the longest. I made the wood for it and did all the work myself. What a great hobby!



1558806370_19263879145ce97f62cd8da8.78160560_34D19A27-F408-49EB-996C-8EADAB468ED2.jpeg



 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu