Buying Your First Airgun

[ikarma70]

years ago not everyone could gain access to the internet/forums like this bbs because the net wasnt so widely available and sites like this 1 didnt exist so buying your first airgun was a ''shot in the dark'' or came from advice from someone already in shooting(unless you didnt know anyone into shooting you was on your own!) but now you have places like the bbs where you can ask questions,get some very useful information/tips and tap into years of accumulated airgun related knowledge and expertise.

1st tip....budget,how much do you have to spend?

2nd tip ...buy british or german,follow that and you generally can't go wrong.

3rd tip....get down to a local gun club and try a few of the rifles that the 1st 2 tips have narrowed your choices down to.

[digitaldwarf]

hw90 tb bought unassisted and still have it
just dont use it enough

[cookoff013]

first gun i bought was.

hurricane, 100 nicker from local shop.
that lead on to...
c225,
fx2000 - good bit of kit
me98, sprcialist (wish they still had cartridge guns)(sob)
hw45
hw97
theoben mfr.

cookoff013

[BigEars]

First gun Beeman 2004e for trapped squirrel disposal, still used for this as it's accurate up to 1.5 inches from the trap.

Went to a club, tried various guns and got advice from very experienced shooter that Lightning XL was a good gun to start with, bought one and scope, good value for money. Really wanted something self contained as I wasn't sure I wanted to have the expense of air cylindars etc. Then bought proper pistol for "cowboy" nights at club, see below.

[rob_yorky]

Unassisted, aged 33, rws scimitar, just bought the other day for £250.

[cinstone]

Assisted mainly by internet with a little help from my mate Clive.

Fancied a Diana 300R after alot of searching & reading on the internet. The cost of getting set up for a PCP put me off having one of these at first, but the difficulty in getting hold of a Diana 300R & indifferent reports on it, lead me to having a Air Airms S410 in the end. The cost was a lot more to get started, but the rifle is excellent.

To keep initial costs down, I went for a pump, which helps me to get a little of some badly needed excersise!

The cost of all the stuff to do with the PCP was almost double that of the Diana 300R, or several other decent springers, but in the end, after much searching on the web, including this forum, I went for the S410 & couldn't be more pleased with it.

Still fancy the Diana 300R though. Can get one locally now for the same price as on the web, so I might just go for it anyway.

[New ola]

Assisted, my dad bought me an old Airsporter (as payment for chopping a shed load, literally, of wood at our new house at the age of 11) Because i spotted it in a junk shop just before we moved out of the town into a small farm back in 1988.

Loved it too. Lovely rifle.

Al

[Steptoe 1966]

Went to local gun shop and said I was joining a club - got told the BSA ultra in .22 would be a good starter! HA!

[andyfish]

bought a brand new hw77k in 1988 from ramsbottoms,after shooting my friends dads 77, and its still going strong today!

[Spike]

...unless you count advice from the helpful & knowledgeable chaps who frequent these parts
Ended up with (still have) a .22 Webley Longbow with AGS SWAT 3-12x44 compact scope.

Edit to say: Just realised how old this thread is - how far back do some people read ??

[Nikkormat]

After a couple of cheap pistols, my first "proper" airgun was bought unassisted. However, I'd used the same type for a couple of months at the Scouts practicing for my Master at Arms badge and knew it to be good. I'd still buy the same today if I was in that position, although I'd go for .177 instead of .22. It was a BSA Meteor MkV, no.TH57687 I think.