Anyone feel weird taking airguns to public gun ranges?

Almost everyone is blown away when they check out my equipment and especially when they see the groups that I shoot. I have never had any problem or felt weird taking these amazing guns to a public range. Plus we have a story to tell especially when it comes to fun and economics of shooting compared to PB.

Offer to let the other gun owners get the chance to shoot your gun. Once they get to know how crazy accurate that "kid's b.b." gun can be - you may win a few more converts over to the air gun hobby.



Keep a good example of a target on the bench, for conversation.

I like to keep a 1" target in my wallet with 5 shots on it. When they ask me about accuracy, I show them the target. They usually don't believe it



Crusher

I’m fortunate that my local range has a small bore only range for rimfire and airguns so I don’t have to compete with the noise of the powder burners. However, I wouldn’t hesitate to take my airguns to the main range and would be proud to show them off. My FX Royale and FX Wildcat are two of the coolest looking guns I own and are topped with better optics than my any of my PB.

Before I took the plunge into airguns every time I saw one at the range they got all my attention.

Yes but Im passed that now. Thankfully the outdoor range on Long Island has an airgun only range so it makes it a little easier. I find that firearms tend to bring out the "Macho" in men and can be intimidating if you let it. Funny though that the one thing that makes all men equal is the "gun". I believe that was said by Colt.

No!! Matter in fact be prepared to answer a lot of questions!!! Before you know it you probably have the whole range group shooting Airguns!!!

If you got some friends bring them to shoot with you its more fun.I think its funny you hear BOOM! BANG! POW! then you ffffttt lol. I let the range officer shoot my FX BOBCAT and he smiles every time i show up.

No, not at all, actually the other shooters there have no idea that what they call "BB Guns" have advanced this far. They are extremely impressed!

Any one can blow powder, how about a little 59 yd challenge. Set a target out with an eraser sized dot. When you shoot their smiles off you`ll know why you shoot AR!

I have done this several times and then invariably somebody wants to shoot my rifle and sometimes you pick up a convert at least you get their eyes open

I always have people at the range asking questions about my airguns. My answer to the most often asked question is, "pennies a shot", that always gets them. They do sometimes kid me and say, "Can you keep it down over there". I am very fortunate to have a 40 yard range set up at home, I only go to the range a few times a year. 

You'll only feel strange the first time after that you'll have their respect. At our local range they've actually reserved the outer benches for strange folks like us. One gentleman stood quietly behind me and watched me shoot. After I was done the usual questions of course. His reply was we're going to have a fun match with .22s, but your not invited. He was kidding of course. The next weekend he brought his kids down to watch.

Not in the least. The Crown draws attention, So did the Airwolf for that matter. We now have two members additional who are owners of entry level AG's! My best story..........A loud mouth was trying to teach his teenage granddaughter how to shoot with a Ruger 10-22, It was embarrassing hearing him raise his voice at her, I was just left of them. He asked me politely what I was shooting and I answered a 25 FX Crown. He smiled and asked if I wanted to try a little competition at 50 yards. Sure Lets do it I said. So he started to put those 2" round splatterburst bull on the butcher paper. I said lets try something more challenging huh? I got out my .25" red dots and said "how bout these? We both get 4 dots 5 per dot and we will have the members declare the winner sound good?" So away we went! He literally quit after 2 dots.So I asked why don't you try this gun or at least let your granddaughter shoot it. I was surprised, but he agreed. He was amazed at the quality of the gun and he shot it well. So GD stepped in and he started in again. So I asked him to let me work with her a bit please. She was awesome! She had no bad habits yet and settled right in on those little dots!

Lemon-aid was made from an old sourpuss!! LOL

I used to but not any more. One day the range officer was checking out my equipment, got him to sit down and pull the trigger a few times. He was blown away. I usually shoot small caliber powder burners along with the air rifles and he always comes over to see what I brought now. He has sent a few people down to my shooting lane to check things out. I've seen a couple more air guns there this summer. 

I always take the Kalash with me" when im shooting Wisho60 people come over and say is that a bb gun?i say yes,why dont you shoot the AK,because the range master wont let me use select fire"boo ho"

I’ve never feel weird in my local SR, im very proud shooting myAGs, as a matter of fact the PBs guys always approach to me an ask questions about my guns when they see them stucking pellets in one hole @ 50 yards and nailing 3” pigeon clays @ 100 yards!

Just for an example of how things can change. I was shooting my Wildcat at 125 yards in a unused soybean field last winter and the young girl who owns a trailer on the other side of the road called the police on me. Police arrive and they tell me that the lady across the street placed a complaint with the dept. about me shooting a high powered rifle around her house and the noise had her frightened. I told them that it was an airgun and I knew the owner of the land and had his permission to shoot in his 400 acre field. At the time she placed the complaint I was at least 100 yards from her trailer. I fired the gun with it's Sumo on the end and they said, "okay, when ya gonna fire the gun" … I told them I already had and then we went down to check the target out at 125 yards and they were impressed. They mulled around for awhile, checked out the steel plates I had out and asked if they could fire the gun … just to make sure I wasn't trying to pull a fast one over on them. I said "sure … have at it" and they really looked like they were enjoying themselves. The next day the young lady called the police again and told them that I had pointed the gun at her so here we go again. I told them that I was a Vietnam Veteran and had served in an infantry platoon and knew very well what happens when you point a gun at someone. I told them that I was 68 years old, happily married, retired and only looking for a couple of years of enjoyment doing something that I liked after spending my entire life working like a dog and in the few years left to me I would rather not have to put up with people making false accusations against me because they are afraid of their own shadow. They felt bad about coming out a second time and they said so, but they had to check out each and every complaint because you never know … I said that I understood and invited them to come over to the house when they got off duty and about 15 of them showed up … I had the wife pick up some steaks and we fired up the grill and a good time was had by all ... and then the airgun subject came up again and some of the cops didn't get to see my Wildcat yet so I brought it out and they wanted to shoot it and so I pointed across the road to the field and said "Let's do it!" Every last one of them got to fire the gun before it got too dark to shoot and every last one of them wanted a gun just like it. Sooooo … yeah … ya never know what kind of reaction you will get from folks. I shot PBs all my life and never really enjoyed shooting anything as much as a high quality airgun. Sooooooooooo … if somebody makes you feel uncomfortable about shooting an airgun, they are just showing their ignorance … but many will come around if you show them how accurate and quiet they can be.

That's a great story, I hope you have your situation with your neighbor ironed out.