About 110,000,000 people have been born in the US in the last 25 years. I’ve heard that using statistics and figures is a good attention getting technique in public speaking and essay writing. However, I cannot correlate that sum with any pertinent fact in regard to airgunning. Now that I have your attention (or don’t– whatever) I need to lay down the logic on why you need an airgun in 2024.
Reason 1: Firearm ammo is not getting cheaper
Ok, yes, the ammo market has leveled off in price and it does appear to be stable at the moment. But we all know that ammo availability and prices can do two things simultaneously. Those two things are 1. Disappear and 2. Triple in price. The same thing can happen to airgun ammo, but the effect might be slightly behind that of firearm ammo. At least that was the case when the great and notable pestilence swept the land a few years back. While not completely panic-proof or immune to inflation, airguns and airgun ammo can be a cheaper way to keep shooting when firearms and their ammo are hard to buy or too expensive.
Reason 2: Airguns are quiet
Airguns are not silent, but they are very quiet especially when compared to firearms. Some of our rifles are integrally suppressed and others are equipped with threaded muzzles for the attachment of aftermarket muzzle devices. Spring and gas piston air rifles will seem louder than they are due to the piston mechanism being located right by your ear. But when you stand back and let someone else shoot the rifle, you will see that, barring a lightweight pellet that breaks the sound barrier, the rifle is extremely quiet. PCP rifles don’t have as many moving parts and seem even quieter. When it comes to BB and Pellet pistols, there’s not much more than a “pop”. While some residential areas prohibit airgun shooting in the backyard, for those places where you can, the lack of noise is certainly the icing on the cake.
Reason 3: Airguns are FUN!
Maybe this is a function of how economical and how quiet airguns are, there’s no doubt that airguns of any sort are fun. It doesn’t matter if you have a BB gun that you picked up at the local box store, a high-end airsoft gun that you take to the local airsoft field, or a compact pre-charged pneumatic pellet rifle– airguns are just fun to shoot. They are especially handy when introducing a non-shooter to shooting.
Firearms, especially handguns can be extremely loud and produce violent recoil. To a non-shooter the sound and recoil creates a high-stress environment to learn in. Airguns can remove those barriers and help communicate the next level fun shooting brings. Who knows where your airgun journey will land you? Imagine picking up an entry level PCP and in a few years you are winning the Pyramyd Cup or the Rocky Mountain Airgun Challenge! It’s happened!
Reason 4: These Aren’t Your Granddad’s Airguns
You would almost have to be living under a rock to not know how different today’s airguns are. Yes, older, traditional air rifles and pistols are still available, but the industry has progressed very far beyond low power and simple BB and pellet guns of the previous generations. CO2 powered replica BB and pellet pistols of today are remarkable in their faithfulness. Last round hold-open, blowback action, drop free full sized magazines– and one-to-one dimensions make today's replica airgun a true marvel that you only wish would have been available 20-30-40 years ago.
And then there are the rifles. Today’s break barrel rifle is likely to have multi-shot capacity and a gas-ram power device instead of single load and steel spring power. These newer “springers” are smoother, powerful, and much more user friendly than the airguns of yesterday.
The big news in airgunning for the last decade has been in the pre-charged pneumatic category. Pre-charged pneumatics feature an on-board air tank that holds sufficient air pressure for many shots without refilling and they commonly feature lever action cocking and multi-shot magazines. With these features it becomes apparent why PCP’s have become popular. But the icing on the cake is how powerful and accurate PCP’s are. Pellet rifles in .22, 25, and 30 caliber are extremely popular, but there are also very powerful arrow rifles and slug guns that can humanely harvest large and even dangerous game species. These are clearly not your granddad’s airguns!
Reason 5: You Might Need This One Day
Without getting too far into the weeds, it is becoming increasingly weird out in the world. At this point it is not hyperbole to conclude that things are going to continue to get weirder and at an exponential rate. Do you have everything you need? Do you want to make the best use of your resources? Considering some of the facts mentioned above like how quiet, powerful, accurate, and affordable airguns are, having a good pellet rifle or two and a good supply of pellets might make all the difference in the world for you. As a famous YouTuber often notes, “Act accordingly”.
