Greetings gents ...
I'm the new guy on the block ... I am refreshing my place here in Bloomington after living in Wisconsin for some time. The airgun community up there is quite sophisticated. I have developed quite an interest in airgun "precision shooting", similar to the pistol and rifle events that take place in the Olympics. I am not really qualified to comment on how much skill transfers from airguns to firearms. But, I can speak to the incredible developments in the airgun community over just the last 5 years or so. I never thought I would ever see .357 or .45 cal airguns, much less .50 cal, but ... they are on the market today. I have never used a $5000 air gun, but they exist and I hope I get the chance to see what they are like someday. I do know that as a senior-senior citizen of 75+ years, I find a lot of features of ultra-precision shooting to suit me and my station in life. It is good to know that the cost per shot is very, very low; that the guns are smooth and not physically challenging from a recoil standpoint, and, in many cases, the gun is so quiet that, with no report beyond a "click" and a "poof", sometimes only the "click", it takes a little getting used to in the beginning. It looks as if the only comparative shortcoming these days is in the area of extreme long range accuracy and that gets better every day.
The SHOT SHOW is taking place starting today, I think, and I am sure that the next few weeks will show all kinds of progress in the airgun world also. For sure, a person has to be very, very careful about associating the word "airgun" with kid's toys these days. Many airguns have become the real deal. For all of these reasons, I have decided to make the move completely and so I consider myself an airgunner now. I don't own a firearm at the present time. Having said that, I hope you guys will not throw me out on my ear, or worse, and maybe a few of you would even like to get together from time to time and see what all this new stuff is all about.
Maybe somoene would like to start an Airgun Forum. I, for one, would like that.
John Washbush
Bloomington
Toys, no. I own one for suburban pest control.