Shooting with airguns: It’s worth a try
When we think of an airgun, for most of us it is unavoidable to look back to our youth, remembering those vintage-looking pistols and carbines that we could find in toy stores and theme parks; products of dubious quality and precision that were exclusively designed for children. For many gun lovers, this kind of products are unattractive by definition, especially considering the prejudices that many of us still have about them. Considering that a modern airgun can only be used a kid toy may be as daring as assuming that a car can only be driven by a child just because it does not have a high performance sports engine.
Probably, the main reason why air guns have been rejected by a large part of the users of large caliber firearms is their appearance: many of them are built in low quality materials, showing a fragile appearance and a non-professional look, something that does not happen with firearms. Fortunately, there are products on the market which have been able to demonstrate how misleading this perception is, showing that some airguns can be equated to internationally renowned firearms in terms of construction quality and technology. Currently, airguns provide a great performance in terms of power and precision at a significantly lower price than their counterparts, reason why they represent a really interesting market niche for those users who are getting started into precision sports or for those shooters who want a perfectly valid weapon to train out of season.
One of the main virtues of airguns is undoubtedly its low cost of acquisition, use and maintenance with respect to any firearm. The acquisition of a firearm is closely linked to obtaining a permit to possess and use such weapon, with the economic costs that it entails. Beyond the mere obtention of the permit, its maintenance cost involves the payment of periodic renewal fees as well as the disbursement of a monthly fee corresponding to the use of the facilities of a shooting range. Owning a firearm consequently implies assuming several maintenance costs regardless of its frequency of use. In case of acquiring an airgun, the initial expense (and probably the total cost of it) is reduced to the cost of acquisition of the product, obviously adding the cost of the ammunition, of which we will talk about later.
Within the airgun sector, there is a really wide spectrum of technical specifications, technologies and prices. We could affirm that given the existing variety of this type of products, there are options to cover all kind of needs and potential uses that we could imagine. From practicing outdoors plinking to participating in shooting competitions, these guns are a guarantee of enjoyment at a really contained price.
