How many of you think you’re too deep into this thing

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Bigragu

Bigragu

Member
Jul 8, 2018
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CA, United States
…this hobby I’m talking about, this dark side. Too deep to even think of taking on another hobby. That’s what I’d like to know.

I don’t post much anymore, but in one of my sleepless nights worrying about how I’m gonna set up my impact in 30 for what I seek it to do, i happen to see a replaceable stock on pyramid air for my Beeman RX. Been a long time since I fired that. Seems like back then when all I had was an RX and an R10, both from Beeman’s Santa Rosa shop back in the 80’s, life seemed much more simple with these break barrel Airguns.

I shared not too long ago with close friends that I may take up another hobby- to build balsa wood models like ships and planes, like I used to as a kid. Didn’t have the patience then like I do now, and back then I only made $5 a week mowing lawns so I didn’t have the best of supplies and equipment. No wonder my planes never flew!!

I was so close to ordering a Guillows balsa kit of a WW2 Mustang airplane from amazon. What stopped me was I realized how much I had invested into this dark side, not just in equipment, but in the relationships I’ve built and friendships I’ve made. I’d hate to lose all that for sure, especially the relationships. 

As far as equipment, it’s not just the guns, tanks, compressors. Think about all the knick knack items like scope mounts, accessory pic rails, sling mounts, cleaning consumables, packs and packs of targets, scope covers galore- wow!

Work on your own guns? Think of the tools you’ve invested, all the tuning notes, pellet sizers, pellet sorting equipment, chronographs(yikes!), and barrel viewing cameras(double yikes!)

Air supply? How many of you have tackle box type organization boxes with a mess of Dowty seals, QD fittings and adapters, fill station gages, and enough o rings to last ten life times, lol

Finally(not really, I could go on but I’ll stop here), the guns and ammo. A recent thread asked about Ammo, I’ve seen pics of hundreds of tins of pellets, boxes upon boxes of slugs, for those of you that melt your own, all that equipment and pounds of lead. The guns- its fair to say an average gun of quality is at around $1500- take 10 of those and add 10 scopes in the $600 range to each of those, and we have an Arsenal, ha ha. Then, if you shine the light just right, all that Saber Tactical and K&L bling will truly shine on each and every one of those PCP’s!! 

I can’t leave out the FX liners. Thank goodness I’ve been really frugal on those and have never been one to jump on any bandwagon that just came round the corner, but I bet some of you have enough of those things to reach out to 100 feet if you lined them up.


This pcp dark side isn’t just a hobby, it’s an investment, and whoever started that saying/warning about it being a slippery slope into a deep deep hole was spot on. I think I pale compared to most when I look at my “stash”, but I have to say, I’ve come a long way since the day I unboxed my first pcp, a gen2 marauder, and told myself armed with my hill hand pump “ I’m good. This is all I need”.

yeah, the balsa wood hobby isn’t happening anytime soon. I’ve got too much invested into this. The very thought of ever selling everything involved or that I’ve accumulated scares me as I know it would be a big loss on my end. So, yes, I think I’m too deep into it to ever pull away. 


PS- I haven’t even touched on the folks that have taken this to the next level, where they are professional tuners and builders of parts, with shop equipment like lathes, drill presses, barrel making equipment and such.

PS#2- I truly enjoy this hobby and best of all, servicing my equipment. It provides relaxation like no other, and when you see tight groups it makes everything I mentioned above worth it. But to just take on another hobby? No way. I’m drowning in this one I’m so deep. I’m taking this one to the grave.
 
Crazy to think how much I have into PCP's and I see LOTS of you in WayWayWay deeper.

Not craving guns here but I do want a Great White Air Tank in spite of having a Hill EC3000 compressor, AirForce hand pump and a scuba tank. WTF, thanks to a fellow AGN member that showed me his.

Avoiding drones at the moment, too many more dollars and AG's are great for me.


 
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As Malcolm Forbes said, "the only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys". When I was 13, I was mowing lawns for about $1.50 each. I saved all summer to buy a Steven's 311 shotgun, 100% of my income. When I think of my air gun spending, and my current, bottom line, net-net income......well, I'm not sure things have changed a lot!
 
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"The very thought of ever selling everything involved or that I’ve accumulated scares me as I know it would be a big loss on my end. So, yes, I think I’m too deep into it to ever pull away." 

The deep hole that we often talk about isn't deep enough because most of us are still sinking into the hole that seems to be never ending. I believe it has more to do with 3 things, "the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life" and you can dress it up any way that you or we like, it's all the same. How many toys do we have that we don't take the time to play with and yet they're just sitting where we left them. I can think of many things that are far worst than this to be hooked on but I think I'll stay where I am with my obsession of "adult BB guns".
 
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Funny stuff Augie. My obsession has been 180 degrees opposite from you. I saw my first R/C glider when I was 7. We watched a winch launch competition with me dad. I was doomed. I mowed enough lawns to buy a Spirit of '76 glider from Tower hobbies when I was 16. From there it was a constant dream come true to get to go fly. I stayed with gravity powered (sailplanes) until about 2004 when the city built a homeless shelter on the parkland where I flew. I moved to electric powered sailplanes then sport planes and warbirds. I hit the end of my slippery slope at a 33 lb gas powered Hawker Hurricane. I shrudder tonthink how much money is stranded in my storage, just as explained. I have no one to pass it on to. $12k easily.



I keep that in mind every time in start jonesing for a new airgun. After all, I could fly just one plane at a time, why did I need to build up a collection of 14 planes at one time? I churned through 50+ planes during my 35 years of R/C. In the end, that over load of toys causes me more distress than it did happiness. Possession does not mean satisfaction. Yes, I do want all the cool stuff, but I tell myself that I don't get to shoot what I have now (2x .22 and 1x .25). It is natural to want to collect stuff. You are not the only one 😂.



Shoot'em good and love who loves ya back
 
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I can think of many things that are far worst than this to be hooked on but I think I'll stay where I am with my obsession of "adult BB guns".
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You guys remember the 1987 film FATAL ATTRACTION, right? I’ll never forget that look on Michael Douglas’s face as his wife, Ann Archer, gave him a hug and said “I just love you”, and just hours earlier him and Glen Close just did the wild thing behind her back.


That guilt expression on his face, the “I’m in too deep look”, for what he did, is what has told me in the back of my mind the last 4 years in this hobby that “well, hey, things could be worse, right?” each and every time I ordered some part online, ha ha. I can’t be all that bad.

Great responses guys. And to CANTSHOOT on your comment about “should we die tomorrow”, I think about that every time I look at one of my guns. It was sold to me from a guy that was selling off every pcp item he had as he was diagnosed with the big C and he didn’t want his wife to have to deal with all this stuff. I called to check in with him a month after the purchase as when he first told me about it he was just “predicting the worse”. His wife answered the phone as she had full control of it, as he was under the care of hospice. 
yeah, unless you have an army of kids that enjoy the sport as much as you do to inherit, we all should have a plan for if and when the day comes. I’d hate for my wife to not only have to deal with it, but get ripped off cause she doesn’t know how much the stuff is worth.
 
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Very well put are your words. It is what we allow it to become. Some are in too deep but I have to believe most of us are comfortable where we are with the obsession/addiction even if we are into it a bit more than we would like now and then. Not that we have not or will not throw the entire contents of our wallets into the money pit, again and again, to get just the right gun, scope, compressor of other airgun related trinket. Still most can afford to do so without too much discomfort and those that can't well, they are in for some hard times fighting with the addiction.

There are other addictions we can have in addition to this one, so long as they don't take up to much of our funds. I used to werq on cars, but sadly can't after the assault, and I did some electric bikes, daughter went 53mph on one of them, and charging systems for awhile as well as firearms and building computers. Still this is my longest lasting "hobby" ;^) and I can still do it so it remains at the forefront.

Like someone once said;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8kXIb0cRzM&ab_channel=SunMusic

A bit of my insanity;

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/the-true-cost-of-my-60-crosman-2240/?referrer=1

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/the-true-cost-of-owning-a-pcp/?referrer=1
 
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To JIMNM-

great story!!! That is a lot of planes! Did you belong to a forum such as this, in whereas each time you said “no more planes, I’m done!” you got replies like “yeah, right you are!”

I’m right at 7 pcp’s, and could easily sell two of them but I decided that one of them would be a loaner gun and the other is a experimental gun, in where I’m converting the barrel to the FX STX system. If that doesn’t pan out it becomes a loaner, also
 
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After reading JKING’s comment about having a surplus of funds, it made me realize this-

“you know you have a in too deep problem when each and every time money falls onto your lap, it is planned for something pcp”, right? Never mind that it’s almost Xmas and there’s gifts to be bought for others, we need pellets, dang it!! 



EDIT- Sad, but true, I told my wife no more Hershey kisses, axe cologne, and tins of kippered snacks in my Xmas stocking stuffer the last four years. It’s been pellets, lol! I need pellets(put my foot down, I tell ya!)
Click to expand...
 
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Becomes a habit,too much time and money and it seems the more you have the less fun it can become.

Balance in Life...what is balance?What giveS you pleasure,is your pleasure have to cost you so much?.

To each his or her own....It does or should not take much to have pleasure, pleasure should not have to be a time and money consuming thing.

Balance ,time,money,pleasure fun.....overconsumption and habit.

Why do we show off our guns,,,have to have a reason to justify our expenditure,not really,have to feel good about it.

Money and time,pleasure and pain..Balance.....too many including me are not balanced,we act and want before we think.

Hell yes you can have too many air guns ,how many does it take to give you pleasure....

Balance and pleasure can equal money and time well spent.....well spent$$$$$$ .......it you have it..LOL
 
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Augie, great post! I feel you brother. I've been consumed by this "activity" for the last few years. As you're aware pal, I only own my FX Royale 500 & Boss as my fixed income dictates. Isn't it funny though that a full THIRD of my garage is occupied by all the support equipment & peripherals I've acquired over the 5 years since I've started! Yes, tackle boxes & tool boxes full of compressor parts, hp air fittings, requisite tools, ammo boxes of pellets & don't forget the extra scope rings, rails, bipods, 2 compressors & 4 tanks! It pales in comparison to most people here but a clear indication that, once bitten by "the BUG", I was off & running. My wife & her friends always ask "what is it with "old guys" & airguns!?!? Being a recovered drug addict the obsessive part of my personality doesn't surprise me. The fact that I chose PCP's (or they chose me) does. There was just SOMETHING about the quietness, accuracy, feel, thrill of getting better, thrill of researching & building equipment, just plain THRILL of it all that sucked me in. The most unexpected part is the people I've befriended & come to know & the incredible joy of turning other people onto the "dark side"! Every single day, without fail, I check this forum, try to learn something new & try to help someone in some way with what I've learned. All I wanted to do originally was hit the bullseye @ 50 yards. What ended up happening is that I hit an "out of the park' HOME RUN!
 
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