Average age of collectors

[Josie & John]

I’m 32 and have been collecting old airguns since I was about 16. It’s just become apparent I was only 17 when I joined this forum(!).

Maybe it has to be accepted that it’s quite a rare hobby in the first place, even more so by a ‘younger’ person? I have plenty of mates my own age (and younger) that own guns and shoot, but I’m certainly the only one of us that owns 40+ old air rifles.

I’m sure there’d be plenty of younger people that would buy an old airgun for £20, but I don’t think it’d artificially kickstart a desire to collect them, that’s just an oddity that makes collectors ‘collect’ isn’t it?!

Cheers
Greg

My experience has been similar. I gained an interest in old Webleys when I inherited a boxed Webley Junior from a late uncle in my mid teens and started to collect as soon as I earned my first wage packet. I think there is probably a collecting gene that we have on this forum and you either have it or you don't. My sister recently reminded me that I used to collect Matchbox cars and toy cap guns when I was around 10, so I guess I was born with the Anorak gene firmly embedded.

Kind regards,

John

[charliemow13]

I wouldn't class myself as a collector but as time passes I guess you come across older guns that really take you're fancy either in looks, mechanism, purely for the pleasure of the way it shoots or because it brings back memories. I still remember walking the farmyard feeling like a king when I was 10 after the first time grandad had handed me his bsa cadet and a full tin of wasps one day. That'll be one I'd like to own and I'm sure there'll be others. How many does that have to be before you earn your collectors badge?

I guess as long as there are parents, grandparents, family and friends who are introducing the younger generation to the joys of shooting there'll always be some budding collectors about. They maybe just dont know it yet!

[duomatic410]

Daddy ...

You was unexpected.😊👍🇬🇧

[Binners]

I said, I have enough, then this turned up last Sunday.

[Shed tuner]

I said, I have enough, then this turned up last Sunday.

ooh, looks like a much nicer example than my 49a...

[Geezer]

I’m 52.

I’ve always had a few (often quite a few) airguns around since I was a kid, but I thought of myself as a shooter or enthusiast. Only after I was 40 did I start to think I might also in some degree be a collector too.

Younger guys may have work, wife/girlfriend, kids, home or other commitments which limit their ability or willingness to spend half their two days off a week at Kempton, compared to retired folk. I live not too far away, but have only been once. A lot of times I had other firm commitments, and a couple I just chose to get some family time (or a Sunday lie-in) instead.

[Garvin]

I think this thread has revealed a certain amount of fatalism about the future of collecting. I don't dispute much of what's been said but perhaps the collecting urge could be sparked by a push in some cases?

I started collecting airguns at a youngish age, in my late teens, as soon as I was old enough to buy them legally. Mainly though I was a plinker and when possible a hunter.

Alongside my current guns I started with one or two older airguns and marvelled at their quality of manufacture. Before long I was selling my other possessions to be able to afford them. Then life intervened but I hung onto my most prized airguns through thick and thin and returned to collecting in my 40s.

I think ownership at a fairly young age was probably the key. The flame never died and today burns just as fiercely, 40-odd years after I first started!

I feel we all have a duty not just to lament the youth of the present, the restrictive laws etc, but to pass on the hobby if we possibly can. It may not be easy but this is a nation of collectors, after all, so it shouldn't be impossible.

[Geezer]

I think this thread has revealed a certain amount of fatalism about the future of collecting. I don't dispute much of what's been said but perhaps the collecting urge could be sparked by a push in some cases?

I started collecting airguns at a youngish age, in my late teens, as soon as I was old enough to buy them legally. Mainly though I was a plinker and when possible a hunter.

Alongside my current guns I started with one or two older airguns and marvelled at their quality of manufacture. Before long I was selling my other possessions to be able to afford them. Then life intervened but I hung onto my most prized airguns through thick and thin and returned to collecting in my 40s.

I think ownership at a fairly young age was probably the key. The flame never died and today burns just as fiercely, 40-odd years after I first started!

I feel we all have a duty not just to lament the youth of the present, the restrictive laws etc, but to pass on the hobby if we possibly can. It may not be easy but this is a nation of collectors, after all, so it shouldn't be impossible.

That’s a lot like my experience, though it’s only in the last decade that I have got into older stuff (40s, 50s). And while I’d like some LJs or MkIIs, the rest of you lot seem to have snapped them all up years ago, and the prices are now a tad high .

I do wonder whether 80s and 90s PCPs (early Daystate, Galway Fieldmasters, Titans, Etc) will ever be truly collectibles. I suspect so, given the demand for Gamekeepers, Skans, but am not 100% certain.

On the other hand, if you’d told the 1970s/80s me that not only would 3-litre Capris and RS1600 Escorts (which I could understand), but also regular Cortinas and Granadas be sought after 35 years later, I’d have laughed. There’s probably an Austin Maxi owners’ club where good examples change hands for twenty grand. The Maxi being roughly the vehicular equivalent of a Webley Hawk.

[Shed tuner]

Blah blah blah------The thing is people tend to go back to the things of their youth first and then work backwards. It is the same with music.

yeah, that's the critical thing.. if you shot as a kid, everything flows from there. My Dad had an HW35 when I was a kid and that was the first rifle I ever shot. He only had that one rifle, plus a pistol, and it was a tool for pest control primarily, and a bit of marksmanship practice second. In my teens I had my own airsporter, and then sold it and bought an HW80. No collection of guns, just an air rifle to do a job. Somewhat later (my late 20s and early 30s) I was never a collector (not sure I am now ) when I regularly did HFT and hunted - a handful of guns, but once again, only enough to cover my "needs".

But then I started getting interested in pre war airguns, custom springers, military trainers, and now have a good few more than my "needs" could ever dictate !

But would that interest have ever been sparked if I didn't start out with a more "normal", utilitarian, interest in guns ? And how completely absent is that youthful exposure to guns in current times ?

ATB - JB

[Maple]

All of the collectors I've dealt with over the years have been older 50+ age group. One exception was a very young "chancer" in his 20s who seemed to have gained a lot of knowledge quickly and proudly portrayed himself as a top dealer come collector - BUT I think he burned himself out !

[vintage]

I'm in my 50s and my son is in his 20's. He's a keen airgunner and has stuck with the hobby since he first started to shoot my airguns in our garage at the ripe old age of 7. I initially thought it would be a passing phase as most youngsters are into everything from bikes,skateboards, gaming you name it. But he's stuck with it and has his own collection of rifles and a few pistols. He even attended Kempton with me this year. My nephew who is 15 has also gotten into the sport. It's good to see some of today's younger generation getting into airgunning which is something more meaningful rather than wasting endless hours gaming which tends to rule their lives. My local range averages from teenagers to over 60's. Everyone there clearly enjoying themselves and also out in the lovely countryside too.

[ggggr]

I think this thread has revealed a certain amount of fatalism about the future of collecting. I don't dispute much of what's been said but perhaps the collecting urge could be sparked by a push in some cases?

I started collecting airguns at a youngish age, in my late teens, as soon as I was old enough to buy them legally. Mainly though I was a plinker and when possible a hunter.

Alongside my current guns I started with one or two older airguns and marvelled at their quality of manufacture. Before long I was selling my other possessions to be able to afford them. Then life intervened but I hung onto my most prized airguns through thick and thin and returned to collecting in my 40s.

I think ownership at a fairly young age was probably the key. The flame never died and today burns just as fiercely, 40-odd years after I first started!

I feel we all have a duty not just to lament the youth of the present, the restrictive laws etc, but to pass on the hobby if we possibly can. It may not be easy but this is a nation of collectors, after all, so it shouldn't be impossible.

-The thing is people tend to go back to the things of their youth first and then work backwards. It is the same with music.
Id never heard of a Webley Falcon (bloody nice rifle) ----and only read of the Bsa Merlin in the AGW ----and really disappointed to find, when i finally got one, that they came out of a Christmas cracker and were not a Cadet quality, small Airsporter.
I see stuff on here and think "why is that on here?" Weihrauchs (insert number) , Makarovs, Dan Wessons--------------------But I guess things will move on. When the stuff us sad old oldies think of as being modern, becomes old.
I talk to an airgunny mate about how old stuff is, and point out that the first Webley Tempest is 40 years old , and that stuff we think of as being 20 years old is actually 50 years old!!! As Apollo Creed said "Too bad we gotta get old Stallion"

Being a sad old Git and not thinking of myself as a collector, I justt try to enjoy the plinking side. Ive asked my Niece if she wants a Crosman 1300 for her brother for Crimbo (really cheap price--as I dont like pump ups) . She is not a youngster but seems to have the Sad Bar steward gene as she has a few Webley pistols + a Webley Falcon and a Meteor.

Mates son--no interest at all as he can use various weapons on a computer instead of a physical airgun

Last edited by ggggr; Today at 11:42 AM.

[45flint]

Similar demographics in the US but very different legal and arms traditions. My thoughts are to spend more time and effort at airgun shows with displays that show the unacquainted the wonders of vintage guns. Advantage here is airguns shows tend to have just as much new products directed at the growing US market in PCP’s, high power guns and hunting. I get lots of questions when I set up and it’s to me one of the joys of the hobby. Still I think airgun collectors will always be a small subset of the gun collectors here, given collecting of firearms here is huge.

The lack of Airguns Show this year is a incredible bummer to this end.

[Binners]

Similar demographics in the US but very different legal and arms traditions. My thoughts are to spend more time and effort at airgun shows with displays that show the unacquainted the wonders of vintage guns. Advantage here is airguns shows tend to have just as much new products directed at the growing US market in PCP’s, high power guns and hunting. I get lots of questions when I set up and it’s to me one of the joys of the hobby. Still I think airgun collectors will always be a small subset of the gun collectors here, given collecting of firearms here is huge.

The lack of Airguns Show this year is a incredible bummer to this end.

Well we did our best to keep em going over here, despite all the sh!t thrown our way. I am looking forward to Spring.

[45flint]

Well we did our best to keep em going over here, despite all the sh!t thrown our way. I am looking forward to Spring.

Been going to school on your efforts would like to emulate your outdoor events here.