Why airguns?

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Without a doubt all of the above plus, for most of us who have to suffer living in stone age Europe, it's really a case of being able to shoot without all the restrictions fire arms bring. Saying that, there are still plenty of restrictions when it comes to the use of air rifles here in Portugal.

We can't hunt with them.
we can only use them on private property.
The max calibre is .22!
This one really is a humdinger: we are NOT allowed to TRANSPORT them in our cars!

It's worse here than in my homeland England when it comes to air rifes.
 
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Yes you hit on all the main reasons in your post. We are just confirming what you already thought.

For me I love shooting and with air guns I can shoot way more than I ever could with PB's I regularly sit down at my bench and shoot 3-400 rounds at a sitting, not many could afford to do that with a firearm. So I get way more practise than I ever could with a firearm. You think its expensive to get started but if you like to shoot as much a your heart desires then ammo savings will quickly make up for the difference in initial investment.
 
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"Hammer"Better question: Why not airguns?

You answered your own question with your last paragraph.
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It's true they have a lot of things going for them that I really like but the thing that got me started on target shooting a few months ago was when a friend came down with his Win. mag and we shot out to 925 yards. It was way more fun than I thought it would be. I know he'd like to have someone to shoot long range with him and I'd like that too. So when I think about spending $2000 on an air rifle that I could reliably shoot out to 100 yards I also realize that for the same money I could get a pretty nice powder burner that would get me close to 1000 yards. That's kind of an apples to oranges comparison though.

A more direct comparison would be with rimfire. I have a few options for shooting my .22 rimfire within 5 miles of my house on private land up to about 300 yards. Was shooting it at 170 yards last weekend and got a 1.25" group, though most were a good deal larger. Finding ammo is the hard part though it seems to be showing up consistently at the bigger retailers now.

I've got a Benjamin Discovery that I plink with in the backyard. More accuracy would be nice but it does a decent job. A better airgun would give me the satisfaction of being more precise and shooting smaller targets. I can shoot about 45 yards in my backyard the way it's setup now. My neighbor is 200+ acres of public land so a one minute walk would give me a nice 100 yard air rifle range shooting off the edge of a 10' tall embankment down into an old gravel pit (dry and grass covered). Close enough I could just carry my shooting bench over.

Always hard with a new hobby knowing how to best allocate funds. Spend $1500 on a long range powder burner? Spend $2000 on a nice air rifle and tank setup? Or save my money for now and keep shooting the combination of Discovery air rifle in the yard and Savage rimfire for longer ranges? Saving my money for now until I better know my needs/desires is probably the wise choice but getting a new gun would be the most fun and exciting. ;)

Appreciate all the feedback. It's fun to see everyone's answers.

Alan

 
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I love shooting my powder burners but, I really just like to relax in the evenings after work and not have to go to my spot to shoot. Yes they are very expensive but when you compare the cost it evens back out after a while. The cost to shoot my 9mm 50 rounds in 16 bucks same price I can shoot 350 jsb's best of luck on your choice buddy
 
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I faced the same question when first viewing the sport. I found PCP's when looking for something quiet. I was all ready to go through the hassle of acquiring a silencer for my 22lr. Most friends near me in Ga. have waited about three years for the paperwork to go through. Then I saw Ted's holdover and some guy with a cool accent and Bro on the squirrel channel sniping squirrels and rats in near silence and I freaked. Then I gasped even more when I saw what they paid for those pea shooters. I'd have to sell an S&W 41 and a Thompson classic and a Remmington speedmaster to play. Ouch! I bought all the .22lr ammo that yall can't find. And I bought most of it at $9 per 500 when it was available. My wife said of the shortage,
" how did you know"? I didn't, I just bought a bunch because prices kept easing up. BUT, it really hurts that a 500 count can of .22 hollow point crosmans costs the same thing now. It's still better than the current $50 for 500 on 22lr. This sport is expensive, but I figure buy now and you won't regret it later. Sooner or later we will face what's happening across the big pond, and if you've already invested in the sport you'll be ahead of the game. I am absolutely loving my quiet, accurate, recoiless .22 marauder and I'm itching for an FXBobcat .25 already. Believe it or not most guys around here think PCP is a drug I'm using to kill squirrels not a rifle, hahahaha. I think "necessity is the mother of invention" applies here. Air rifles are acceptable where powder burners are not. AND you get to have shrouded barrels! Shhhhhhh! Enjoy while you can! Like me, a lot of people think of a weak springer at best when you say pellet. What these guns can do is amazing, and once you have a scuba tank, if the sport doesn't work for you, sell the gun, you'll be able to buy a nice boat with the cash and try scuba diving!!
Haha😬
 
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shooting Airguns is therapeutic. It helps me.
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+1

That's one of the main reasons I've continued to shoot airguns for years after I started as an activity with my young son. He's an adult now but I still set up in the backyard every chance I get and blow through a few hundred rounds. Like many, there's a fair amount of job related stress for me and I've found nothing calms me down and helps me get past it better. It sure beats trying to drink it away!
 
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The challenge of your own abilities, and not cleaning up rim fire brass. I believe that every one is right, but that’s just what works best for your family. But also were you live, I live 24 miles south of st.louis, mo. And the county that I live in it’s legal to shoot firearms, and all the guns are sound suppressed . Both powder burners and airguns, I have been having more fun with the equipment that I have more abilities to mess with to achieve the results and goals that I believe that the guns are capable of. I am not an expert just an enthusiast to find out what my guns do prefer, but it’s just the journey to find out what is the best for the present time. That’s why I mess around with the airguns, I don’t like being confined by simply just ammo. Just my view 
 
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