How many airgunners in the UK?

[Paddy_SP]

One of the ways that I earn a living is by writing books (about 22 so far). One of my publishers specialises in well-illustrated non-fiction hardbacks, so I was going to suggest to them that I do a book on airguns. Before I do this, it would be really helpful if I could get some idea of how many people are into the subject in this country...

So - does anyone know how many people own airguns in the UK?

I know airguns are not as popular as firearms in the USA, but how big is the market over there?

I guess one way to gauge the potential market for such a book is to look at the magazine sales figures - anyone know how many copies of AGW are sold each month?

Any help would be much appreciated!
Thanks in advance!

[Murphy]

Here's one.

[Paddy_SP]

OK - you and me make 2...

[Wheres me dummy.............]

Two now!(sod it too late i'm three then!

[Murphy]

To be honest i think it would be impossible to know how many airgunners there are in England.
Millions are used every weekend maybe.
But i bet there are millions more in peoples houses bought but never used.

[Paddy_SP]

Someone here must at least know AGW's circulation figures?

[martin g]

quite a lot of info here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airgun

wikipedia is a great site for info

[Paddy_SP]

Thanks for the link - I use Wikipedia quite a lot, however, this article doesn't give any indication of the number of airgunners either here or in the US...

[aston_shooter]

I'm sure someone like T.D. or Gary will be able to point you in the right direction mate, if they're not out down the potting shed drinking homebrew from a teacup.

[Paddy_SP]

Staggering! I just found on the BASC website that it is estimated that there are over 4 million airguns owned in the UK, with a further 1/4 million bought every year!

[steven]

Bu99er! ... I lost count.

We'll have to start again:

I do, so that's one. So does Murphy, which is another one, which makes two....

[BTDT]

If you can get hold of a recent edition of BRAD (British Rates and Data) - a monthly list of newspaper, TV, radio and magazine advertising rates - you'll find either audited circulation figures for magazines that sell in large quantities or publishers' claimed figures for the rest. Both airgun mags should be listed.

If you know anyone who works for a large advertising or PR agency they might have access to a copy.

[wgmorgan]

Paddy I've often suspected there are many fewer books available on airguns than the popularity of the sport might support commercially.

My thoughts FWTW:

There are recent UK published books on hunting but very few on the guns themselves.

Hiller's books are fantastic but focus on collectors' guns and not contemporary guns. The last editions of Hiller's books were published more than ten years ago.

If you look at the second hand price of John Walter's more general airguns book, last one published in, I think, 1987(?), there certainly seems to be an appetite for books on British guns out there.

Beeman's Blue Book is fine as far as it goes but is quite American in it's outlook and says virtually nothing about many European guns.

The single biggest repository of information about UK airguns is the archive of Airgun World/Airgunner but since the publisher doesn't have the wisdom/imagination/business sense to produce the archive in a readable format - or even an index - this database is difficult to access at the best of times.

My advice Paddy is go ahead and convince your publisher. I can't speak about books on airgunning as sport or hunting, but re. the guns themselves, the field seems pretty wide open right now.

Wynn

[allanb]

count me in Steve thats three, then there is the wife four
son five daughter six son in law seven

[steven]

count me in Steve thats three, then there is the wife four
son five daughter six son in law seven

See... you're going too fast.
We'll have to start again...

One!