Preview – Airguns – Ain’t No Child’s Play

Think of Airguns as toys? You Thought Wrong. Some Airguns Are Powerful Enough to Take Down Big Game, Can Help Maintain Your Shooting Skills, and Can Even Serve as Invaluable Tools When SHTF.

There is an old saying: “A BB gun in the hand is worth two boxes of expensive ammunition.” OK, maybe we’re extrapolating a bit here, but nonetheless, it does hold some validity. A modern replica airgun, or high-quality airgun of any type, can be a valuable aid to maintaining your firearm skills during the times you just can’t get to the range (or can’t locate enough ammunition to make a trip worth your while). And, at least for the time being, they are less restricted in most jurisdictions, making them freely available to adults.

Some in the firearms community might view these as merely toys. The truth is that airguns are much, much more. Aside from being an indispensable training tool in an era when ammo is either in short supply or wildly overpriced, airguns can provide many great benefits for a firearms owner.

The Benefits
Ammo Abundance: Unlike firearm cartridges (which are either AWOL or pricey as of press time), airgun ammunition is abundant. Airguns discussed in this article use .177-caliber steel BBs or lead pellets in .177 or .22. Truck over to any Wal-Mart or your local sporting goods store and, dollars to doughnuts, you’ll find plenty of all three types. If you don’t live close to a brick-and-mortar storefront, a quick search on the Internet will yield a number of suppliers that would be more than happy to ship you some.

Pellets are normally packed in tins of either 250 or 500 and could run anywhere from $3 to $12. Steel BBs come in tubes, cartons, and plastic dispensers containing up to 6,000 BBs. You can expect to cough up anywhere from $2 or $3 up to $12 for these, as well.

Wallet Friendly: The second benefit would be cost. While you could spend thousands on a custom big-bore capable of taking down a deer (no joke, there are airguns that can take large game at impressive distances), we are concentrating here on lower cost alternatives for maintaining your shooting skills. You could easily get started for an investment well under $100, or you might spend several hundred depending on your needs and desires. For example, you could shop online for the Umarex Walther PPK blowback for about $70 and an AirForce TalonSS retailing for roughly $575.

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