Why PCP airguns? and not just pure Fire arms?

Yes, but I live in a VERY airgun friendly state (Arizona). It is part of the State Law that you can have a firing range in your back yard (to include cities), provided you are only firing Air Rifles. They also have air rifles as allowable to hunt large game (.357 caliber or larger). So you can do more with an air rifle in Arizona, than you can a powder burning firearm here.

I have thousand of dollars of both. I'm considering getting rid of most of my powder burners.

Pellets are more economical, and I can practice at home. No need to go to the range.

In the USA Currently, Firearms and Silencers are federally regulated but Airguns and Airgun Silencers are completely unregulated (at the Federal level).

Silenced airguns make it easier to shoot multiple pest where a single shot from a firearm and you are done hunting for a period of time.

Airguns do not require you to clean often. Airgun ammunition is not flammable or explosive and does not require extra cost for a standard carrier to bring it to you. Once you cast /size your home made airgun projectile you are done. With a firearm you have just started on the reloading activity and must purchase and assemble the other components as well.

I can shoot an airgun all day or longer for what one box of firearm cartridges cost. When is the last time a firearm owner purchased 350 rounds of ammo for $16 down to $6 or less. Not since bricks of .22 Long Rifle was in that price range in the 1970's for sure.

Firearms have their purpose and I own them too as I was raised with a grand dad who was a hobbyist gunsmith and who had access to much WWII surplus ammo / powder and gun components. I was casting and reloading under his watchful eye by the first grade. Problem for most firearm lovers these days is they have to purchase a right to access a place to hunt and or shoot said firearms.

I luckily do not have this issue due to my choice to live in a remote location without the conveniences of the city. I can step out my back door and shoot anything from .17 to my 4" Black Powder Cannon without violating any ordinances at all or fear anyone hearing or caring.

Mark,

You hit on a lot of the reasons why I choose to shoot PCPs already. Also your statement here "...50 to even 100yds and maybe more if my shooting range allowed me to do so." hit on another reason. Firearm bullets fly and fly for very long distances and retain the power to kill at those distances. I like to shoot. Shooting airguns allows me to experience the effects of long range shooting over a much shorter distance. The pellets fly for quite a way (~950yds depending) but, they are much slower and retain much less energy than a firearm round. Quiet is another major attraction for me. Shoot a firearm in your yard and you may get a visit from local law enforcement or angry neighbor. On the contrary, you could shoot an air rifle for years in your back yard without anyone knowing. You could silence a firearm but then you have a $200 tax stamp for each firearm silencer + the cost of the silencer + the added bonus of being placed on a list. 

I have a good sized collection of firearms. I honestly don't remember when the last time was that I shot any one of them. I've got one that hasn't ever been fired and another that needs to be tested from being repaired about 12 months ago. I think it might have been around November of 2016 when I stopped at the gun range after work to try a buddies rifle. I brought my CCW pistol along to give it a little exercise. With an air rifle, I don't have to travel to a dedicated area to shoot either. My airgun collection has grown well beyond my firearms primarily because I can shoot them whenever I want to and not bother anyone else. 

I have not thought of getting rid of air rifles for PB's. However, I may have thought of getting rid of a PB (and related ammo) for an air rifle. No regrets with my air rifle collection, either present or past. I'm glad to have owned all of them and each one has taught me something new about myself, air guns, and shooting. At one point, I estimated my collection to be around $15,000. That was a while ago and I've since sold and bought a lot. No idea what my collection is worth today. 

Happy Shooting!

Tom

Why should I care what your know it all friend thinks? 

Hahah your friend needs to be enlightened! Here is why I think pcps and airguns are awesome

• most pcps are really quiet without the need of going subsonic, fitting a moderator, and thus needing to obtain tax stamps
• Cheap to shoot to hone target skills and easy to obtain ammo
• Unique and unknown, I literally met the first person in Georgia who knows about them and shoots them
• Easy to obtain, no need for background checks 
• Backyard friendly if your laws allow it. With a pellet trap you can be extra safe where a firearm would usually penetrate unnecessarily.
• Uses air instead of gunpowder which is free
• People know it is a air rifle or pellet gun so they don't get scared as much
• Just very satisfying if you out shoot a powder burner

dont get me wrong firearms have their own pros+cons. However, airguns are just more usable/daily able. I think it is a good idea to have a healthy collection of both airguns and firearms. 

I shoot 1000 yd competitions and enjoy powder burners immensely. I have plenty of rifles, shotguns, pistols and also a CCW in California. I started shooting air guns when I was a boy and have never stopped. It's great practice for when I don't have time to drive to a range where I can shoot 1000yds. All of the things that make a great shooter apply to air guns as much as they do to powder burners... trigger control, breathing, body positioning, reading the wind, figuring dope, etc... I can practice and get trigger time at my home, in my yard where I have a range set up to 60-70yds. My neighbors don't hear me, don't care and I can shoot all day long for practically nothing. My only cost with a pcp is a tank of air and a tin of pellets, with a springer, only pellets. Another factor that has gotten me shooting air guns more and more is that I have two young boys who love to shoot. Because neither of them are 18 years old, they can't even step foot on the range where I practice shooting 1000yds because of liability and no insurance for anyone under the age of 18. I got tired of driving 2.5hours to practice or compete and leaving my boys at home. Airguns are just another enjoyable option for those of us that love to shoot. As many have already stated, I think you'll find that most everyone on this site have plenty of powder burners and can shoot them very well.

I'll never get rid of my air rifles nor any of my firearms. I echo many of the statements posted above

Heavens forbid if we end up in a WROL situation (unlikely) and I run out of ammunition for my firearms (very unlikely). Renders them useless. Great news though. I have a few airguns for back up. And since I'm fairly proficient with them, I can still hunt small and medium game in order to feed the family. And as a last resort, I'll have a means to protect myself without entering into hand to hand combat.

Bring on the zombie apocalypse! lol

I have powder burners and I have air rifles. I prefer air rifles. My 30-06 is nice, but at $1.00 per shot, and after developing a flinch whenever I fire more than a couple rounds, the air rifle is just that much more fun. My son has a 45-70, or better known as a small cannon. 40 rounds and he's done for the day. Shoulder hurts, spent about $50 on ammunition, and still has to clean his gun. At 10 magazines or around 160 rounds, I'm just getting started. My shoulder doesn't hurt, and I've spent under $5.00 for ammunition and air.

Also, the light weight pellets are a challenge to shoot at 100 yards accurately. Wind and such makes it so much more fun learning how to make it all work together.

As for those that reload, my Impact is about as flexible as you can get. I control the amount of air, speed that the air passes to the pellet, and everything else about the shot. Incredibly flexible.

Can I buy a rifle and enjoy it? Yup, I sure can. I bought a .22 carbine a year or so ago, still haven't put a single shot through it. Been shooting pellets instead.

Plus, I can shoot without hearing protection if I want. Eyes are mandatory, but hearing is optional due to the quiet nature of the gun.

Just more that I personally like about airguns instead of powder burners.

My friend got me into this mess when he took me to the shooting gallery... in his side yard! He had spinners and drop targets as well as paper bullseyes. Since then I’ve spent more on air rifles than I have on my powder burners. The most expensive single rifle is a pcp rifle. More than I spent on a 300 win mag with scope! Since then I have spent more time with my pcp’s than my regular rifles. I would load my own rounds for the utmost accuracy. For the pcp, I wash & lube pellets. My local ranges only go to 200 yards max. To get the most out of that 300 win mag I have to travel 4 hours. I can spend hours at my friends shooting gallery and have, and it’s five minutes from my house. Behind his house is a field full of ground squirrels. There is another level. Hunting or pesting requires no tags, no travel, and is so much fun for very little hassle. All the while I’m practicing good marksmanship for the few times I get to a gun range. But all I need right now is air & pellets. It’s fun like real rifle shooting minus a lot of the hassles.

It seems that I am slowly selling off my firearms collection and converting it to airguns. I enjoy pcp airguns so much more than firearms. After shooting pcp rifles over the last 7 or 8 years I have become accustomed to their quiet behavior. Shooting along side a friend with an ar15 I find his rifle to be so loud and obnoxious as to be no fun. The solution was to get him hooked on airguns too. Now his ar15 stays home in the safe and he brings his Marauder. I’ll never get rid of all my firearms but I will also rarely ever shoot them as much as I do my airguns.

There's no way I could do farmyard pest control with a powder burner, not even a .22LR. Shooting in close proximity to cows, horses, sheep and goats requires a gun that is very quiet so as to not startle the animals. And hunting in general, if you miss a shot on a squirrel for instance, the animal will most likely not scare and run, and you can get a second shot off. I've had this happen several times.

If you don't need to be quiet, then by all means stick with a 22LR. But if you want any chance at shooting on a farm or near livestock, you'll need an air rifle. Just try approaching a farmer and asking for permission to shoot pest birds or animals on the farmyard, and tell him you'll be shooting a firearm. He'll probably think you are out of your mind. When I shoot on the farmyards, the people working and living there don't even know what I'm doing because they can't hear it.

Good luck!!

The main reason I prefer PCPs is that I can get in trigger time everyday if the weather permits. I can go out in the backyard and shoot a little or stay out and shoot a lot and don't have spend a lot of money or drive somewhere to a range or out of the way place to shoot. I love my rimfire guns almost as much as PCPs. I have a certificate so I have a suppressor on both my 22LR and 17HMR rimfires. I shoot subsonic ammo with my 22LR and it's as silent as a quiet PCP. The ammo is not expensive and it's a nice short lite weight carbine. The 17 shoots supersonic so it has a loud crack. 

To the OP the statement your friend makes is incorrect in the first instance, whilst laws maybe strict in Europe and licensing a mandatory requirement even in the UK we can own plenty of types of firearm.

Not availible to us are semi-auto centerfire, (although S/A .22 RF is perfectly legal) and handguns.

Air rifles without a license are subject to a maximum power of 12FT/ILBS and can be shot in your backyard legally as long as pellets stay within your boundary. Not much is gained by having more than 12FT upto 25 yards, .25 cal & .30 cal can be had sub 12FT but what would be the point? hence .177 is the most popular calibre for airguns here.

I run a shooting club in the UK and mainly shoot AR15's, I have owned pretty much everything calibre wise in bolt gun form, shot deer with a supressed .338 Lapua for years, had most custom US rifles including Nesika, Stolle etc. etc. we runs supressors on everything no problems there.

I have moved back heavily into PCP over the last year, a lot of the reason for that is indeed due to little restriction on sub 12FT/LB air rifles, cost is not really a point excepting ammo costs, 5.56 milsurp is about $75/100 here, .22 CCI is $100/1000. Of course high end PCP's are costly indeed but can be traded freely and as many 12FT owned as you can afford without requiring licensing each time.

Another big reason is nostalgia, shooting airguns rekindles experiences from youth, of course we know some of the best airguns in the world are made in England anyway so htat does help.

Your friend is indeed correct about the 2nd ammendement though, if I could get a visa to live and work in the USA I would leave England tomorrow. I work for a US company but still can't get one, for gun enthusiasts the USA is indeed the holy grail. So if anyone on here has a fat ugly sister they want to marry off please send her my details by PM ASAP!

Hi Renegade

Good that there are lots of opinions .

Regarding your friends sweeping statements about airguns and PB's in UK and Europe are both misleading and in some areas totally incorrect. There are plenty of accurate definitions available both here and on the web. I would suggest before generalising about gun laws acrioss 27 different countries he reads up on the subject.

safe shooting

I love my PCP. It’s deadly accurate and I can shoot it in my backyard whenever I want. I’ve sold or given away my firearms, just because I couldn’t use them whenever I wanted. When I do go to the shooting range, I now can’t stand the sound of firearms. Finally, I love to hunt pest birds which I can do in my backyard and at two local farms. Had I approached the farmers and said I had a firearm and wanted to pest, as Bob O said earlier, they would have shown me the door. Quite frankly, I love my PCP, am on a waiting list for another, and don’t miss my firearms at all! Plus that the lack of regulations is liberating.

Any of my airguns individually have been shot more than all of my firearms combined. If you like to shoot, airguns are the way to go.



R

there is alot of places just a stones throw from my suburban neighborhood full of game to shoot, but not with powder burners.Still to close to buildings and roads/highways. Air guns can open up alot of new hunting/pesting territory. Air guns are quieter and you can spend more time knockin down pest with out spooking everything first shot. You can shoot inside of structures with little to no damage to the structure, and some states/counties/towns do not allow that with fire arms. It can be more difficult to hunt with an air riffle....I left fire arms 10+ years ago, was to easy...Now I use only airguns and sticks n strings....Some states now allow you to hunt pretty much anything smaller than an elk with airguns

GREAT QUESTION! This is a subject near and near to me, I have always loved shooting I'm 63 my dad taught me of course, took my first shot 1960, 1999 moved to Tennessee U.S.A., ( great airgun state ) bought a farm (117 acres) to hunt and shoot, since than I've shot everything from .177air rifle to .50 Barrett there, I have been handloading since 1977. In recent months I've liquidated most of my PB's, kept a few of course, bought two PCP's ( Wildcat and Bobcat ) and planning to get one more, Bobcat was most I ever spent on any gun. Why PCP's over PB's? I can shoot them more, no powder, no primers, no cartridge cases, no barrel heating, no muzzle blast, very little barrel cleaning (I hate to clean barrels ) the time it took to load the cartridges, still do but not as much, air guns are not regulated can buy and ship to most places easy ( this is a big one ) don't have to store so much "stuff" to support PB's no recoil, I have a plate in my neck, love the fit and finish and nice triggers, I guess that's enough said. I can't help but wondering how long airguns will remain under the radar, don't get me started on the "political climate". One down side to air gunning, have a difficult time finding "people of like mind" to shoot with, sold a R9 .20 to my buddy to try to convert him, he uses it for a yard sweeper, quite effectively, but after several years he's still using the same tin of pellets! Oh did i mention I love the accuracy of PCP's!!! Wish I could meet some of you guys, would take ya to the farm, its a hunting and shooting paradise, nothing like having your own property!!!