How and when did your particular air gun collecting bug actually bite.

[red bob]

coming from a village with one street lamp and one road sign you had two choices for pass times ,either the only girl worth looking at in the village or take to the fields poaching .so bartering with the local travellers[gypsy's] for some antiquated airgun ; i started with a cadet which i was reliably informed by the said gypsys would knock down a rabbit at some unbelievable distance which i of course believed . i traded up to a meteor from the same people [god was i gullible] but i did spend some of my happiest childhood hours with a mate tornado and meteor in our grubby little hands traipsing round boothys fields much to his annoyance;hilarious now i think about it, he used to chase us in his old tractor as he was so rotund! his old man i remember was arrested when he loosed off both barrels of his shotgun at the milktanker doing the rounds.
when i finally acquired an airsporter i was sure i had reached airgun nirvana;as i lived on a big nursery my mates would turn up and take a pick of my rather odd collection of used and abused airguns ;i recall an old scorpion grafted into an equally old stock being amongst my box of treasures!! we couldnt shoot pistols accurately so it seemed the simplest solution,i recall someone turning up with a hurricane which try as we might couldnt hit anything smaller than a lawn mower grass box ;we concluded with our errr limited experience that it must be so powerful it was inaccurate.my last purchase before i gave up airguns temporarily was a webley, which model i cant remember except on the box when it arrived from kays catalogue was the inscription "webley probably the best airguns in the world" .after 20 plus years away raising family, paying mortgage,i came back to it and have made up for lost time acquiring every model i dreamt of but couldnt have back then .my all time most loved model as so many here already know is the fwb 124s followed closely by a series 2 mk3 but when i want to rattle a few cans the old cadet major is still simple honest plinker with loads of memory's.

[fat man]

For me 2005, after a near 22 year break. My Partner diead with cancer in 2000, I was left to bring up our baby son and I nedded something to give me some hobby to help with stress. Dusted of some of my old springers and found a local club,. Word of mouth lead me to bbs and other related forums and a good hobby and some good friends.

[haloutdoors]

I got my first Gat gun when I was 14 unbeknown to my parents I bought it from a lad at school. I cringe when I think back to the thing we used to get upto with that pistol my love of all things gun related started before I can remember so my mum tells me anything I could hold in a similar fashion would see me running round the house shouting BANG BANG at anything in my way. But both my parents steadfastly refused to allow me any type of air gun. So I rebelled and got them anyway it is only now at the ripe age of 32 that they know how many guns I had before I bought my first air rifle a Webley Vulcan with my first wage packet when I was 16 which I still own. I went off shooting shortly after that untill a few years later my best friend from school started shooting and rekindles my interest. I am now up to nine guns from a Webley Tempest from 83 no box unfortunately, to a 223 centerfire. I used to try and justifie ever new rifle purchase to myself with the notion that each new gun had a perticular job and it was only the other day whilst reading a similar thred about rifle collectors that I thought " that's me!" So now it has come to pass I have embraced the collector in me and I'm no longer kidding myself about the need for another gun. I just say to myself " screw it. I WANT it," and ill save to make it happen. The only thing now is I need a bigger safe. Oh we'll that's my story. All the best. Hal

[laverdabru]

Probably since visiting this site! Like many people on here, I'm 50ish, & quite into machinery/engineering. Nowadays, the old motorbikes, British, European & Japanese, I used to tinker with are way beyond my financial limits. And in some cases, my physical ones. But I can pick up a nice airgun for anything from free to well under £200. fettle it in my front room rather than a drafty garage, & keep it in the spare room. Since we downsized from a semi to a small bungalow, & I had to give up my large fish tank, my airgun addiction is tolerated by my better half.

[wmp50075]

my air gun bug bit proper when my first weeks wages turned out to be not much more than my pocket money.
now my pocket money is about the same as my first weeks wages!
andyL

[hawkeye]

1968 when I got my first pay packet , had a Diana model 16 given to me one Christmas around 1964 but then started buying out of my wage including my first shotgun ,
then I got married in 75 and everything went on hold until the kids grew up and started again along with several BSA,a in the seventies as gifts mainly purchased via mail order from Don Grey (think that was him ) early BSA Mercury £34.95 posted to me brand new and I still have most of them !

[fat man]

Where to start my first airgun was a Meteor mark 5 standard in .22 in 1978. It came from my mums catalouge ( remember when you could even get shotguns that way how did we ever survive. Still have the rifle, still use her. Then it went on hold until 2005. My partner had passed away in 2000 from cancer and I was left with our baby Son at 20 months old and no mum well I got on with it but I needed an hobby as working as well . In 2004 whilst on holiday in Northern Ireland the bug bit again when I shot an old Diana 50 in .22. I was hooked again , now I have an Autistic teenager, had to finish work in 2010 after a serious accident in 2007 left my arm held together with pins and plates and part paralasis in that hand. Now some 150 plus rifles/ pistols I enjoy my hobby. i collect, buy sell some times and enjoy the banter on this part of the forum. When people say I dont complain at the hand dealt I just smile, I am resonabley happy with my lot and my Son, lifes not perfect but theres many who have had it worse than me , and of course I have my airguns.