I thought maybe some of you would be interested in my airgun journey with regards to being an "arms dealer" near San Diego, and getting many others interested in the sport. Let me tell you what I do in San Diego, and have done for the past 1-1/2 years (I've only been shooting airguns for 3 years, and competing for 1 year). It didn't start this way, as I had one, then two, then many permissions at Horse Ranches in the Descanso area east of San Diego.
Well, one day early last Summer, one of the Ranchers approached me and asked about my air rifle (.22 Cricket mini), and I told him all about modern high powered air rifles and let him shoot it. So after a bit, he asked if I saw one that I thought he might like, could I get one for him, soup to nuts. Gun, scope, mounts, level, bipod, case, air tank, fill assembly, air tank case, pellets, etc. So I found a very good deal on a used .22 FX Wildcat on AGN, bought it, changed out all the orings, cleaned it up, found a nice used scope, sighted it in, and everything else I mentioned above. Delivered it to him, shot for about an hour, satisfied customer, and he paid me. I didn't add much to my overall cost, maybe 15% or so (to cover my time and labor). This is Michael G, whose place I've been shooting at almost every weekend for about two years, and who I now consider a good friend. I actually shot for about the first year at an adjacent ranch belonging to Dru A (and still hunt there frequently).
So then it kinda snowballed, word got out in the area (there are no high end airgun retailers in or near San Diego), and from the beginning of last Summer until now I've done the same for .22 Daystate Renegades (3), .22 FX Streamline (2), .22 FX Wildcat (2), .22 FX Bobcat, .30 Vulcan2, .25 Cricket bull-pup (2), .22 Cricket bull-pup, .22 Daystate Regal XL, and I'm sure I'm forgetting one or two. All of these included scopes, rings, bipods, bubble levels, SCBA tanks, fill rigs, cases for gun and tank, etc. I also re-sealed every gun, and tuned for best performance, sighted in, developed dope sheet, and shot for about an hour with each buyer so that he knew exactly how to shoot the gun, where to aim for various ranges, load the magazine, fill the gun with air, limits, etc.
So I shoot in the same location every weekend, and now some of the guys come over when they know I'm going to be there, some with questions, some just want to shoot (and beat me, but that hasn't happened - yet), some want me to check their gun over and check their zero, etc. The second guy I sold a gun to (my used .22 Daystate Renegade), Danny G., has become a good friend (and a very good shot) and calls me the Pied Piper of Descanso Airguns. Its through him that I've sold about 6 of my airguns.
Kind of a cool story, there are now at least 12 shooters that had never heard of PCP airguns 1-1/2 years ago. And I have many places to shoot and hunt, guys to shoot with, and talk turkey. The only bad thing is that its taken over my golf game, I haven't played in over six months, and I used to be fairly serious about golf... ;(
