New owner from Somerset

[B3NNL]

Evening folks,
We live in the countryside in South Somerset and as such are living the good life, surrounded by fields in an old house with a decent garden and at long last chickens! However, it appears we're playing host to most of Somersets rat population!

Last week I happened to drop the phrase that if I had an Air rifle, I could dispatch a few of the boldest furry visitors with ease. Unbelievably, she thought it was a good idea so I took that as a green light to get myself a gun. I started scanning the usual used selling sites and quickly realised, its not something you find for sale that easily, unfortunately I didn't even think about owners forums which would have saved me a few pounds and ended up just going to one of my local gun shops to see what cheap and cheerful rifles they had. In my head, I was thinking back 30+ years ago when I had an old snap barrel thing, not particularly accurate, but good fun for a 14 year old hunting rabbits.

I hadn't quite prepared myself for what's available these days, half of the stuff wouldn't have looked out of place in my old units armouries! Unbelievable. After several coffees, demonstrations of what was on offer and a tour of their ranges, (which I'll hasten to add, looked like awesome fun) I had changed the initial requirement from killing rats to seeing if my 11 year old son could get into shooting and we could have some quality father son time.

I ended up walking out with a Rotex RM8 ultra Compact. Having read a few threads now, I'm not sure of the longevity of the rifle, but its accurate and more importantly, my son can load, cock and fire it and shockingly, fire it well! (I'll put that down to all his Fortnite experience!) Its his birthday this weekend, so I'm taking him off to the range for the afternoon and see how we get on. Hopefully this could be our "thing".

Anyway, looking forward to learning a bit about the sport and seeing where things go!
Cheers Benn

[rapidresponse1]

welcome to the forum nice gun you have picked your son will enjoy using it

[oldskoolzzz]

Evening folks,
We live in the countryside in South Somerset and as such are living the good life, surrounded by fields in an old house with a decent garden and at long last chickens! However, it appears we're playing host to most of Somersets rat population!

Last week I happened to drop the phrase that if I had an Air rifle, I could dispatch a few of the boldest furry visitors with ease. Unbelievably, she thought it was a good idea so I took that as a green light to get myself a gun. I started scanning the usual used selling sites and quickly realised, its not something you find for sale that easily, unfortunately I didn't even think about owners forums which would have saved me a few pounds and ended up just going to one of my local gun shops to see what cheap and cheerful rifles they had. In my head, I was thinking back 30+ years ago when I had an old snap barrel thing, not particularly accurate, but good fun for a 14 year old hunting rabbits.

I hadn't quite prepared myself for what's available these days, half of the stuff wouldn't have looked out of place in my old units armouries! Unbelievable. After several coffees, demonstrations of what was on offer and a tour of their ranges, (which I'll hasten to add, looked like awesome fun) I had changed the initial requirement from killing rats to seeing if my 11 year old son could get into shooting and we could have some quality father son time.

I ended up walking out with a Rotex RM8 ultra Compact. Having read a few threads now, I'm not sure of the longevity of the rifle, but its accurate and more importantly, my son can load, cock and fire it and shockingly, fire it well! (I'll put that down to all his Fortnite experience!) Its his birthday this weekend, so I'm taking him off to the range for the afternoon and see how we get on. Hopefully this could be our "thing".

Anyway, looking forward to learning a bit about the sport and seeing where things go!
Cheers Benn

Welcome to the forum Benn,

And a great first post

I often wonder what it must be like for newcomers or folks that return to airgunning after a very long time since they last picked up an old classic etc.

I would say over the last few years there has been an almighty influx of all things tacticooool and even bullpups still seem fairly popular.

It must be incredibly difficult to make a decision when someone new to the sport walks into a gunshop and sees what’s currently on offer

Although I’ve been shooting on/off for 30+ years some kit on offer nowadays does raise one’s brow

Enjoy your Walther and the father & son time it’s priceless

[EricP]

Welcome to the forum!
I have the RM8 Rotex, full length version, I went for that because the stock is the same shape as my LGU and get on really well with both.
Eric