Do Other Shooters Look Down At Airgun Owners???

[short-carabine]

Would you mind posting his tips so we can take the piss out them please Chris?

Blunt, but rather good at the same time

[Mike1979]

There's a few places I go where some of the people think unless you have the latest £2/3000 super pcp and scope they are better than you.
My spring rifles still knock over the same targets.
Last weekend I watched someone with a cheapo SMK hit a 30mm kill zone at 60 yards with open sights while standing, that annoyed the pcp shooters a little bit.
The main thing is we are doing something we enjoy

[Hombre]

Muskett

I welcome your comments but have to say that I'm none too certain how they relate to either the original question or my own response to it.

Are you suggesting that this country is not still socially divided? Surely not.

You must remember that little commotion, still aflame, dubbed 'Brexit'.
Every analysis concluded that the country was split in ways which pointed to a deeply divided nation and my fiver says that there were not too many airgunners in the Remain camp and that you haven't received an embarrassingly high number of invitations to the grouse moors this or any other year - with the airgun, naturally...

But what do I know? Baloney it would seem.

Just my two pence.

All the best
Hombre

[piggy589]

There's a few places I go where some of the people think unless you have the latest £2/3000 super pcp and scope they are better than you.
My spring rifles still knock over the same targets.
Last weekend I watched someone with a cheapo SMK hit a 30mm kill zone at 60 yards with open sights while standing, that annoyed the pcp shooters a little bit.
The main thing is we are doing something we enjoy

That last line about sums it up for me.

Live firing enthusiasts can offer some used bargains when selling airguns, as they often attach little value to them.

Which model SMK was it?,I've got have one,or perhaps just that shooter's eye sight and ability?.

[Craig-P]

When I have time, I do air rifle (ft and hft), shotgun (clay and vermin), rimfire and fullbore (target and vermin).
They all take the same amount of skill, whether it's flattening a 40mm kill at 55 yards or dropping a fox at a few hundred yards. Therefore all shooting sports deserve the respect they're due and anyone who says otherwise isnt worth listening to as they clearly don't have the necessary experience to comment. It's as simple as that.

[clarky]

This is a true as God story.....my uncle and i were shooters of a vast number of air rifles and pistols but one day invited by my other uncle to attend a full bore rifle range at the British Telecoms .22 target club. We did take an air rifle along and attracted all manner of scowels and obnoxious super twat comments but then we lay prone and got strapped int .22 full bore rifle each loaned from the gathering....with slings wrapped around our arms...we sighted up and fired our shots.
We both put 5 rounds down range and both exceeded anything shot that evening.....both mirroring each others groups just as we had done for years in the back garden.....some proper dumb looks coming our way....talk about eating humble pie.
Springers are difficult things to shoot well .....trigger feel and follow through everything.....they had underestimated us and not another word was said.

[TonyL]

I'm glad it isn't just me then but it's disappointing how fractured the shooting community seems to be.

Surely the sensible thing would be for the entire shooting community in the UK to stick together and support each other.

If we are all only interested in protecting our own disciplines and belittling the others it makes it easier for Government to continue to pick away at the sport?

So many good posts and valid points made on this thread.

The strength in numbers / unity thing is what we must all strive for.

As mentioned in a couple of posts, I try to get my hobby into as many conversations as I possibly can to spread the good word. And it's amazing how many people say,"Oh yes, I have an air rifle, too" ranging from old classic hand-me-downs to modern, electronic PCPs.

And I've also had the odd freebie, too, like the little Gamo I was given a couple of weeks ago.

[TonyL]

Shotgun vs Air Rifle Hunting as quoted from the late John Darling Air Rifle Hunting:

It is this elementary simplicity that attracted me to air rifles in the first place, and seduced me back to them even shooting nearly every type of weapon from spud-guns to machine-guns.

I can produce practically the same effect with a silenced air rifle as with a twelve-bore, so I'm happy to trade some quarry and the rifle's unsuitability to take flying shots for a peacefulness that is kind to the country-side.

Shot-guns remind me too much of a length of tube packed with nails and a stick of dynamite.

This makes me consider the rifle to be a superior weapon - it's so much more subtle.

Lovely post, Nick.

And something I can certainly relate too as, I guess, can many others.

My dad used a 12 bore. Indeed, when I was a sprog, my job was to try and flush rabbits out for him and then carry them home. But, a few years down the line, when I had cut my teeth with my Meteor Super, then a Mercury and then an '80, the subtlety and stealth of the air rifles shone through and my bags were larger than his. The land we shot on was pasture land and heavily poached by some of the local lads and the bunnies were well twitchy.

And he was simply stunned in the early 90s when I got a permission on a race horse paddock. The bunnies had not been hunted before and were most certainly not gun shy. Bags regularly exceeded 30 and this was from just slowly ambling round!

The smaller "audible footprint" (if that makes sense?) seems to make us more at one with our surroundings.

[Rich]

The unity thing sounds like a good ideal but we must guard against the imposition of uniformity, in the sense of common rules etc. I think there is a real danger of the airgun voice being the faintest of them, drowned out by folk with louder bangsticks.

[clarky]

I also feel that due inpart to the greater danger to life posed by Rim fires/Centre fires that such club members can be more strict and spincter twitching with their actions and conversation....understandable i guess but some downright anal.
Airgunners an altogether more relaxed and humerous crowd of folks.
Infact that pretty much summed up that day at the .22 club....we cooly ambled in...ignored the pompous attitudes....out shot the entire club and smugly ambled back out.

[Mike1979]

That last line about sums it up for me.

Live firing enthusiasts can offer some used bargains when selling airguns, as they often attach little value to them.

Which model SMK was it?,I've got have one,or perhaps just that shooter's eye sight and ability?.

Not sure which model it was but when someone asked if he was going to put a scope on it he said no point as he can hit what he wants with open sights.

[ChrisC]

Many of us feel like this bud.

Friends, family, work colleagues anyone that is brainwashed that guns are all bad period simply don't understand our passion for our sport.

The few people that actually listen do genuinely seem interested when you explain it to them but it can be damn hard work to those that simply won't listen or have superglued blinkers.

The really weird thing is I've actually listed target sports shooting on my CV down as a hobby and pastime etc and in the past it's been quite a good talking point to those non gun types even at interview stage it also shows huge responsibility and I've used it to my advantage when negotiating working hours especialy around my gun clubs opening time

Me too, i use every opportunity to educate non shooters. I have actually managed to make a couple of true anti shooting peeps re-think.

I used to shoot airguns at Broomhills. A fair few of the clay pigeon boys thought the air rifles were toys. Made it clear too. Most were ok though


Pete

We had a similar thing at the Kibworth shooting ground which is predominantly shotguns. We were shooting a HFT comp and a group of shotgunners were loitering in the background so I asked them if they wanted a go. They all jumped at the chance and soon realised it wasn’t that easy as most of them couldn't hit the target plate at 35 yards standing, never mind the kill, not that it mattered as they all had a bit of a laugh and banter with hopefully some marginal crossover of respect.

[ChrisC]

The unity thing sounds like a good ideal but we must guard against the imposition of uniformity, in the sense of common rules etc. I think there is a real danger of the airgun voice being the faintest of them, drowned out by folk with louder bangsticks.

Which is a pity Rich as i suspect that air rifles outnumber all the other forms of shooting put together.

[rogb]

Me too, i use every opportunity to educate non shooters. I have actually managed to make a couple of true anti shooting peeps re-think.



We had a similar thing at the Kibworth shooting ground which is predominantly shotguns. We were shooting a HFT comp and a group of shotgunners were loitering in the background so I asked them if they wanted a go. They all jumped at the chance and soon realised it wasn’t that easy as most of them couldn't hit the target plate at 35 yards standing, never mind the kill, not that it mattered as they all had a bit of a laugh and banter with hopefully some marginal crossover of respect.

Yes Chris, had similar discussions at Kibby and at Lea Valley, both well-established clay clubs.
I do think there is some of the "pop guns" attitude about but some friendly chat and banter and hands-on can soon start to make some have a re-think.

[Randy Bohannon]

In all seriousness they shouldn't look down on air rifle shooters as shooting an air rifle teaches you to be a better shot, particularly a springer.

I've shot centrefires and shotguns for over a decade now and recently rediscovered my old Webley Longbow.

I am currently between .22LR rifles after getting rid of my old one and being stuck in the variation time warp, I dusted the Webley off and took it down to the rifle club.

A springer really punishes any lapse in technique as the pellet hasn't left the barrel before the recoil starts and is great for "unlearning" the bad habits you accumulate in years of CF shooting.

Taking the piss out of mates who shoot air rifles/Centrefires/shotguns/nerf guns etc is fine and in fact something I enjoy personally but if someone is being arsey then just point out the above.