Other Death of the springer

[joe9090]

The death of the springer rifle

So i have a beef with the Airgun industry, specifically Spring and gas ram air rifle makers.

WHAT HAPPENED???????

When you paid a high ticket for an air rifle it was worth it as it was a functioning work of art. Bluing with a mirror finish, exhibition grade wallnut stocks, amazing triggers. Top of the line barrels and accuracy for days. Some where along the line people just forgot. Now its ABS plastics 10 lbs triggers and not so impressive stocks.

Bsa, Theoben, Airarms, Beeman, Hw, webley
These companys put out some of the best of the best. Yes some went under others sold out to other companys. But man i really wish some one would step up and bring back the springer. 90s and early 2000s were the hey day. And from like 2011 on they fell off. It sadens me it really does. Collectors hord anything worth a can of beans so finding these pieces of art work are next to impossible in the States.

Yes pcp are all the rage and have become extremely popular. The pcp really started to take over in 2013, from my point of View anyway, 2016 it just hogged the market and our beloved spring/gas ram forever applied to the back burner.

RIP to the Springer

The post is to spark conversion and or maybe reignite a love and passion for that springer in the closet.


I do not own the rifles in the pictures, if you do olease feel free to take credit. Thanks

 

[Airgun Al]

Not dead yet!
Air Arms and others still produce some very nice springers.
Quality springers are not cheap, and they will cost as much or more, than a quality PCP.

 

[joe9090]

Not dead yet!
Air Arms and others still produce some very nice springers.
Quality springers are not cheap, and they will cost as much or more, than a quality PCP.

Yea there are a few but the Hw of today is not like they were 10/15 years ago.

 

[Airgun Al]

Yea there are a few but the Hw of today is not like they were 10/15 years ago.

Unfortunately, ... nothing is.

 

[Shuggoth]

Yes, still some decent springers from AA, HW, Cometa and even the few German Diana's, but sure miss when there were great Webley and BSA springers as well..

 

[EMrider]

I too lament the demise of the high quality spring gun market. Thank goodness we still have HW, Diana and the TX/PS!

Within the past 10 years, we have seen at least three attempts to introduce a new high-quality spring gun: the Sig ASP20, the Walther LGU/LGV and the new FWB Sport. All of these guns were eventually DQd, even though they appear to be well regarded by their owners. That strongly implies that the market for high quality spring guns is simply too small to be viable, and likely shrinking. Not good news for spring gun fans, but that is reality. I have enough springs and spares to keep me shooting for a few more decades, but my hunch is that we occupy a small and shrinking corner of the airgun world.

R

 

[dgeesaman]

I came this >< close to bidding seriously on a Theoben this past weekend but my financial senses held firm. I would love to own either a Theoben Eliminator or another Air Arms Pro Elite. I've shot the Theoben and owned the PE. I know magnum springers are especially not popular anymore but I will get mine someday.

 

[dormitionskete]

All you have to do is watch this list for a while to see that Weihrauch seems to put out quite a few lemons these days. We got stuck with one. Bad news. I wouldn't buy another HW unless I could get it for pennies on the dollar.

I haven't seen anyone writing in about having problems with their Air Arms springers. Some don't like certain features on them, but no real problems with them. They're pretty, and nice shooters; but they're pricey. Are they worth it? Eh. I don't know...

We replaced our HW97K with a ProSport. At this point, I wouldn't buy anything new except an Air Arms, unless I wanted to try a Cometa. And I wouldn't call them top of the line.

So, I hear you, that's for sure!

 

[r1lover]

Evolution of the air gunning community! PCP's are where it's at. Air gunners want new and they want more and PCP's take them to that level. Spring guns reached the zenith of their development years ago and all that's left for manufacturers to add is more bling. A cu$tom tune helps, but PCP's are on a whole other playing field.

 

[dormitionskete]

Evolution of the air gunning community! PCP's are where it's at. Air gunners want new and they want more and PCP's take them to that level. Spring guns reached the zenith of their development years ago and all that's left for manufacturers to add is more bling. A cu$tom tune helps, but PCP's are on a whole other playing field.

I think supply and demand has a lot to do with it, too. I'm not privy to Weihrauch's (for instance) sales and production figures, but if you consider how much trouble suppliers like AOA, Krale, and Mundilar seem to have keeping their springers in stock -- you can go months at a time unable to buy some of their models from any of these places -- it only seems logical to assume they're having trouble keeping up with demand. In a situation like that, quality control often takes a hit.

Air Arms seems to have similar struggles producing their springers profitably, though their availability issues don't seem quite as pronounced. But they've been saying for years that they're going to stop producing ProSports because they're just too costly and labor intensive to build.

Plus, the culture of the world has changed. People just don't make things like they used to.

Even Germans will tell you that "Made in Germany" doesn't mean what it used to.

And people world-wide are working harder for less, and it shows.

Further, most companies these days just want to make every little bit of money they can, and don't care about quality.

So, I think there are a lot of factors going on here that contribute to it, and it's not just springers that are experiencing this trend. Unfortunately.

 

[Sawney Bean]

I came this >< close to bidding seriously on a Theoben this past weekend but my financial senses held firm. I would love to own either a Theoben Eliminator or another Air Arms Pro Elite. I've shot the Theoben and owned the PE. I know magnum springers are especially not popular anymore but I will get mine someday.

That Eliminator that recently sold on eBay sure went for a pretty penny. It was a gorgeous gun, but $1300+ before shipping and taxes is a lot of money.

 

[Bedrock Bob]

Those are beautiful rifles. They appeal to everyone that appreciates rifles. But that's just not where the market is for a pellet gun.

Most pellet rifles sold are for plinkers and young men to learn to shoot. They don't want fancy figured wood and deep bluing. They want something to shoot squirrels and tin cans.

Most guys need a rifle they can shoot. Most cant really afford that. They are strapped to buy groceries and diapers. Manufacturers just can't make money producing rifles to gaze upon.

There is an extremely limited market for pellet rifles like that. They are collectibles for collectors. You can shoot them but they weren't really made for most shooters.

The high end springers are truly beautiful. One of the main reasons to join a forum like this is to check out the sweet springers everyone is filling their walls with. I wouldn't take any of them on the boat or lay one across the tailgate to get a beer.

I like the Cometa 400. It's my daily shooter. I like my D34. I think rifles like these represent the type of spring rifles that manufacturers will continue to offer (find profitable). Gas rams and synthetic stocks are the future. The old works of art are monuments to a glorious past.

 

[Silver Ace]

I kind of agree, but I think mechanically HW’s are probably built as well as ever with their better cocking shoe slider, more secure forearm screw fasteners. But the laser etching, plastic parts, and post modern stock designs on most of the newer springers sometimes has me questioning my interest in airguns.


So I see no need to buy any of the new airguns as I think I have all my springer needs covered with RX1, R1, R10, R8, and P1. I am on the lookout for a vintage R7.

Springers are just far more interesting to me than PCP’s. Even though they aren’t as accurate or powerful. I like mechanical things and enjoy making them better than they came from the factory. Also like the way the vintage springers remind me of a simpler time.

 

[thom]

No more Tupperware stocks for me.

 

[Sawney Bean]

Those are beautiful rifles. They appeal to everyone that appreciates rifles. But that's just not where the market is for a pellet gun.

Most pellet rifles sold are for plinkers and young men to learn to shoot. They don't want fancy figured wood and deep bluing. They want something to shoot squirrels and tin cans.

Most guys need a rifle they can shoot. Most cant really afford that. They are strapped to buy groceries and diapers. Manufacturers just can't make money producing rifles to gaze upon.

There is an extremely limited market for pellet rifles like that. They are collectibles for collectors. You can shoot them but they weren't really made for most shooters.

The high end springers are truly beautiful. One of the main reasons to join a forum like this is to check out the sweet springers everyone is filling their walls with. I wouldn't take any of them on the boat or lay one across the tailgate to get a beer.

I like the Cometa 400. It's my daily shooter. I like my D34. I think rifles like these represent the type of spring rifles that manufacturers will continue to offer (find profitable). Gas rams and synthetic stocks are the future. The old works of art are monuments to a glorious past.

Well, that's kind of the root of the problem. Back in the 90's if you wanted the best airgun money could buy that was a springer and there were enough people who wanted them to support makers like Theoben, Air Arms, Webley, BSA, Weihrauch, Diana and Whiscombe as well as custom shops like Venom. Today about half of those companies are gone and the other half have greatly reduced their offerings. There are way more people spending way more money on airguns now than at any time in the past, but they're not spending that money on high end springers. These days the people that used to buy SLR98's or Pro Elites or JW80's are buying Impact Mk4's and Brocock Ghosts.

Fortunately there are still a lot of low end springers out there, Hatsan, Gamo, Norica, Cometa, Crosman/Benjamin, etc... and I think the actual quality of most of them is better than they are given credit for. I still miss the high end springers though. They were the guns I really wanted when I was young and money was tight.

 

[Sawney Bean]

No more Tupperware stocks for me.

Yeah, plastic doesn't do it for me either. I like guns that shoot accurately and look good. Some of the anodized aluminum furniture looks pretty good though and I can live with a good quality polymer stock. The really cheap hollow plastic stocks on the other hand just ruin the entire rifle for me.

 

[.20calguy]

The value of a gun for me is it's entertainment value, and I have taken some hits that make me thankful for warranties, but I am quite entertained with the recent offering of springers that i have aquired.

I don't know if it's some kind of hoarding problem, but I'm running out of room to store my empty tins.

 

[dgeesaman]

That Eliminator that recently sold on eBay sure went for a pretty penny. It was a gorgeous gun, but $1300+ before shipping and taxes is a lot of money.

What funny is I would have gone quite a bit higher. Maybe it would have been a stupid price but I don’t own many airguns - and the ones I own are each the best example* of their kind. It’s just that spending $1600 on an airgun was a really poor choice for me this month.
* best example for me. I don’t own collector grade guns but I do own shooters and I keep most of them in good condition.

 

[c_m_shooter]

I think it was the "price point pcp" that did them in. When pcps were all new and expensive along with all the needed accesories to fill them, a $500 springer still seemed like a value as a self contained package. Now that imported PCPs can be had for under $200 and a recent search shows cheap compressor on amazon for $132, it is hard to compete with the the apeal and ease of that. What remains to be seen is if these cheap compressors last and if the the cheap stuff keeps coming over from China. Not wanting to make this thread go there, but a slow in the flood of cheap stuff will make a good, reliable self contained package seem appealing again.

 

[dgeesaman]

I think it was the "price point pcp" that did them in. When pcps were all new and expensive along with all the needed accesories to fill them, a $500 springer still seemed like a value as a self contained package. Now that imported PCPs can be had for under $200 and a recent search shows cheap compressor on amazon for $132, it is hard to compete with the the apeal and ease of that. What remains to be seen is if these cheap compressors last and if the the cheap stuff keeps coming over from China. Not wanting to make this thread go there, but a slow in the flood of cheap stuff will make a good, reliable self contained package seem appealing again.

This is true.

And we should never ignore the appeal of power. A powerful springer needs to be built very well to be accurate and reliable, have a high quality scope and mount, and that makes it expensive, heavy to cock, and heavy to carry around. A cheap pcp has no limitations and is both more powerful and accurate. So if you love springers, there isn’t a lot supporting them outside of enthusiast support.