Air guns : An addiction or an expensive hobby

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Tuna64

Member
Mar 1, 2025
12
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Pearland, Texas
Over the past year and a half, I have dropped some dollars on the PCP way of life. As a kid, I've owned many Crossman, a Benjamin and Sheridan Siver Streak which the later two I still own today. Back then, I worked in a grocery store that provided me the funds to buy them. Fast forward today, OUCH, these air guns today will make a big kid at heart CRY but find a way to pursue his passion. I'm grateful to be able to pick-up OT to pay for that addiction which is an expensive hobby. So, far my arsenal consists of a Daystate Delta wolf .177, a Daystate Huntsman Revere .22, and a FX Streamline .22. Next up a FX Royale 400 .22 or a FX Royale 500. Oh, I almost came close to snagging a beautiful sub 12# FX cyclone from a gent in the UK but the British Customs got me. LOL

Happy Shooting
 
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ctshooter said:

An addiction or an expensive hobby? YES​


Welcome to the addiction/hobby. Some nice first purchases there.

I had a Alpha Wolf for a year or two - really enjoyed it in 177. What pellets do you shoot out of yours? Mine was keen on the H&N Barracuda Match in 4.50 head size.
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The JSB Exact Heavy 10.34 and JSB Hades 10.34
 
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Yes it's hard to explain what drives the need to continually purchase pcp airguns. In my case I can be satisfied with my guns and shoot them almost on a daily basis, but let a new gun come out that fits my criteria and I start to try to keep it off my mind. Currently the new FX M4 is making me itch. I probably will give in, but not without a fight. They are very expensive, but you only live once. See there my goose is cooked.
 
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jland48 said:
Yes it's hard to explain what drives the need to continually purchase pcp airguns. In my case I can be satisfied with my guns and shoot them almost on a daily basis, but let a new gun come out that fits my criteria and I start to try to keep it off my mind. Currently the new FX M4 is making me itch. I probably will give in, but not without a fight. They are very expensive, but you only live once. See there my goose is cooked.
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You are correct. FX new models are a miss for me. I like the older models of FX like the cyclone, royale 400/500, and the streamline - all with a beautiful walnut stock. From what I heard they are bullet proof and easy to work on. The only FX that I may consider is the DRS classic in a walnut stock.
 
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Well if you're a golfer, figure $1500 for a set of clubs, $30-50 a dozen for golf clubs. To really get anything out of the sport and any proficiency, you have to play twice a week at $60 a pop at the local cow pasture. So in a year, you can spend up to $8000. Then there's the special shoes and the fancy shirt, let alone the drinks at the 19th hole. And what it's worth in the end?? You might get $50 for the used clubs and some alligator is enjoying the golf balls. Get my picture? Then there's photography, cars, computers, not to mention model airplanes. It's only money and if you get any enjoyment from it, it's worth it. At least for airguns, you get something back for a good quality used airgun. Feel better now?? Ok, where's the PA catalog.
 
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It really depends on what you're into shooting and collecting. You don't really need to spend a fortune to enjoy this hobby, you choose to.

If you're into BB guns, replicas or multipumps, they're all fairly reasonable. You can find old Daisy's, Benjamin's, Crosmans, Sheridans and others all day for under $250 and there are some very nice replicas out there these days with prices rarely over $200.

Springers are mostly pretty cheap these days too, with Hatsans, Gamos, Noricas and Cometas usually under $350 new, HW's are mostly under $600 and only Air Arms still makes actual high end springers. There are a few collectible springers like the Theobens or Whiscombes whose prices have shot way up, but most of the older springers are still pretty affordable.

Even PCP's are affordable for the most part. We like to talk about the expensive, state of the art, $2000 airguns here, but these days you can find dozens of PCP's for under $500, Air Venturi, Benjamin, Hatsan, Gamo, Snowpeak, JTS, Barra and Umarex all make affordable PCP's.

You could get by spending $2000 or less per year on airguns, (which is a pretty reasonable amount to spend on a hobby IMO), and at the end of a decade you'd have a really nice collection.

Of course I don't do any of that reasonable spending stuff myself. 🤣
 
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I think it depends on what you’re going to use your airgun for.
I’d love a $2700 dollar FX, but I’m a plinker and not a hunter, so I can’t justify the expense.
I enjoy shooting targets, but my backyard is only 25 yards wide. I can’t justify the expense of buying an $3000 target air rifle. My sweet spot is the lower $400-$500 air rifles. I can have fun with them and dispatch a small unwelcome critter if it wanders into my backyard.
 
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Tuna64 said:
Over the past year and a half, I have dropped some dollars on the PCP way of life. As a kid, I've owned many Crossman, a Benjamin and Sheridan Siver Streak which the later two I still own today. Back then, I worked in a grocery store that provided me the funds to buy them. Fast forward today, OUCH, these air guns today will make a big kid at heart CRY but find a way to pursue his passion. I'm grateful to be able to pick-up OT to pay for that addiction which is an expensive hobby. So, far my arsenal consists of a Daystate Delta wolf .177, a Daystate Huntsman Revere .22, and a FX Streamline .22. Next up a FX Royale 400 .22 or a FX Royale 500. Oh, I almost came close to snagging a beautiful sub 12# FX cyclone from a gent in the UK but the British Customs got me. LOL

Happy Shooting
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As others have said...yes.
Pretty obvious isn't it ?

Mike
 
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The battle between our desires and the sometimes painful expense of obtaining them probably defines the human dilemma as much as anything. Here's something which people who are starting to collect airguns during their younger salad days might not consider.

Once a person has indulged their initial curiosity and has built up a small collection of 3 or 4 different models of airguns, they are ready to start selling off the ones they never really liked on the classifieds. By that time they should have a general idea of the current resale prices for different airguns in the classifieds. I still occasionally buy a new airgun from a commercial retail outlet because it is the only source and I don't want to wait for one to come up for resale. But for the most part I try to buy items from the classifieds at 1/3 to 1/2 off of the retail price. That way I don't usually lose much money on the deal when I eventually resell them. Eventually you get to the point where you will have enough invested in multiple airguns, and you can start selling one for every different one (or 2 or 3 depending) you buy and not need to dip into your wallet for more money every time.

I've noticed that groups of people with shared interests (airguns, photography, music..) often mention in forum posts that they are addicted in some way to their interest. The addiction is usually revealed as they begin to spend more time and money on the interest than they think is reasonable in their lives. For a while decades ago I had a beautiful telescope with a special $4000 filter that would let me look directly at the mid-day sun to see the corona and sun flares. Most of the people on that astronomy forum talked about their addiction to viewing the sun, And I can understand why, they were spending thousands of dollars so they could sit in the sunshine for hours staring through an expensive telescope at sunspots. As long as they can afford their hobby, and as long as it doesn't ruin the personal relationships in their lives, at least it is only one of life's more harmless addictions.
 
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Tuna64 said:
You are correct. FX new models are a miss for me. I like the older models of FX like the cyclone, royale 400/500, and the streamline - all with a beautiful walnut stock. From what I heard they are bullet proof and easy to work on. The only FX that I may consider is the DRS classic in a walnut stock.
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Not to add to the addiction but did you catch the .25 streamline with black pepper laminate stock at Airguns of Arizona ? It’s a more unusual find. Don’t see them a lot.
 
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