After much faffing (literally years and years) I was finally given the green light on an air rifle for myself and the children. When we took up archery it was partly as a substitute; a bow that, with the right arrow head, could kill a bear was okay, an air rifle that would do far less damage wasn’t...
Anyway I decided on PCP, good quality but basic; single shot only and went for British brand, Air Arms; the S400 carbine. Light enough for the kids, accurate enough for me.
I then did my usual thing which is to obsessively research the subject to death including a few FB groups and a forum.
What I have noticed is that Air Rifle world is FAR busier; the forum has a message every few minutes, the groups are lively.
Many air rifle enthusiasts also do compound archery. Several have swooned over my fairly modest but solid archery kit.
Enthusiasts range from the very enthusiastic to the near rocket scientists fretting about the tiniest detail.
Costs are similar for the basics, silly if you are very serious.
Having an expendable projectile is rather handy.
Air rifles are way more accurate to about 50 yards then arrows take over.
It’s quite handy not each needing an individual shooting device.
You don’t need to join a governing body yet you can kill stuff with an air rifle; slightly weird!
They do the equivalent of field archery and it looks brilliant.
I have two fun shops within 20 minutes of me. Nearest archery shop? Well over two hours.
It feels like air rifle shooting is far more popular and a bit less stuffy/old fashioned; do the two go hand in hand? Is it maybe that it’s more accessible?
None of these are criticisms, just observations but could any of these help archery get a bit more popular and maybe update it’s image? I feel it needs a bit of a push into 2020.
Anyway I decided on PCP, good quality but basic; single shot only and went for British brand, Air Arms; the S400 carbine. Light enough for the kids, accurate enough for me.
I then did my usual thing which is to obsessively research the subject to death including a few FB groups and a forum.
What I have noticed is that Air Rifle world is FAR busier; the forum has a message every few minutes, the groups are lively.
Many air rifle enthusiasts also do compound archery. Several have swooned over my fairly modest but solid archery kit.
Enthusiasts range from the very enthusiastic to the near rocket scientists fretting about the tiniest detail.
Costs are similar for the basics, silly if you are very serious.
Having an expendable projectile is rather handy.
Air rifles are way more accurate to about 50 yards then arrows take over.
It’s quite handy not each needing an individual shooting device.
You don’t need to join a governing body yet you can kill stuff with an air rifle; slightly weird!
They do the equivalent of field archery and it looks brilliant.
I have two fun shops within 20 minutes of me. Nearest archery shop? Well over two hours.
It feels like air rifle shooting is far more popular and a bit less stuffy/old fashioned; do the two go hand in hand? Is it maybe that it’s more accessible?
None of these are criticisms, just observations but could any of these help archery get a bit more popular and maybe update it’s image? I feel it needs a bit of a push into 2020.
Last edited: