And Mr English has, indeed, made his first visit to The Boinger Bash.
Lots of points made and questions asked in the OP!
Must admit, I do understand the "starting with Airguns and progressing to powder burners" thing, but I've always remained an airgun fan. I have shot at rimfire clubs but never felt the need to progress from the boingers. I did shoot skeet for a while, but was using my Airguns more often anyway, enjoyed them far more and the skeet was very expensive!
As Alistair says, the hardware is better now but it's the massive choice of quality pellets that have made a big difference. And, although as human beings we won't have evolved into better shooting machines physiologically, our expectations are now higher with the better guns, pellets and optics. And you see tiny groips shot at long ranges, the achievements of the FT and HFT peeps and this spurs the "hobby" shooter to new heights, too.
Yes, the TX is lovely.
Weihrauchs are still excellent. Solidly engineered, accurate and dependable.
BSA seem to be concentrating far more on PCPs (certainly in terms of new model launches). I believe all the PCPs are built in the UK and that some of the springer production has also moved back to Brum? The Spanish parent company, Gamo, was in turn taken over by a US concern, I seem to remember?
Webley don't produce any guns as far as I know, but market guns (generally Turkish made) under the Webley banner.
Many of the budget Spanish, Turkish and Chinese guns can be very good.
I find the self-contained airgun fulfills all my shooting needs and thirst for technical knowledge. And has introduced me to many fine people in the sport and trade. And nowhere is this more evident than on this fine resource.
It isn't a sport or hobby for me.......It's a way of life!
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Originally Posted by njaw
) have had a great idea, there! 
