Other Sad stats for springers

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PaulK62

PaulK62

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Apr 4, 2024
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For those who don’t follow the Tinbum Tuning channel on YouTube, Nick posted a video yesterday where he shared statistics on what age groups his audience is composed of:

18-24: 0.5% (Nick, “Where’s the future of our sport?”)
25-34: 4.4%
35-44: 9.2%
45-54: 17.6% (Nick’s age group)
55+ : 68.5%

Here’s the link:



I'd be interested in hearing what Airgun Nation thinks about this.
 
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Sounds about right. Even the older guys at the club who I've slowly been pushing into air are drawn to PCPs. A) They like the power and B) They struggle to cock moderately powered break barrels. I have gotten a few of them into 10m rifles such as the 300 and 75 though.

As far as actually shooting them goes, I'm (37yo) usually one of two guys showing up to matches with a springer. There are a handful of guys who do shoot them occasionally as well but more often than not they bring a PCP.
 
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For about 20 years the gap between springers and PCP was cost. The accuracy, power, convenience, etc of PCP earned it the name 'the dark side' since so many shooters started with springers and didn't go back after they tried PCPs. Now in 2025 you can buy extremely cheap PCPs, tanks, and compressors and so many shooters make the jump from an entry level springer directly to PCP instead of trying a full quality springer.

I think it is safe to say there are plenty of springer shooters out there who don't know they own a 'springer' and have little idea that there are other airguns and airgun content. They own their Gamo and that's as far as they'll go with it.
 
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PaulK62 said:
For those who don’t follow the Tinbum Tuning channel on YouTube, Nick posted a video yesterday where he shared statistics on what age groups his audience is composed of:

18-24: 0.5% (Nick, “Where’s the future of our sport?”)
25-34: 4.4%
35-44: 9.2%
45-54: 17.6% (Nick’s age group)
55+ : 68.5%

Here’s the link:



I'd be interested in hearing what Airgun Nation thinks about this.
Click to expand...
It's simple in my mind, those before the internet, and those after.
But they're younger people involved in other shooting sports, like PRS, NRL, pistol shooting..etc. I think a lot of today's kids just haven't had the chance to experience quality air rifles, like we have. Since we grew up air gunning,
we've always had them on our radar. This is what I think anyway. 🤷🏼‍♂️
 
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I think it’s largely nostalgia. Those of us that are 55+ remember when the best airguns you could buy were all springers. When I was a kid the guns in the Beeman catalog were what I dreamed about owning and comparing them to the Crosmans, Daisy’s and the occasional Benjamin we had seemed like a comparing a Bentley to a Plymouth.

Younger shooters have largely been exposed to cheap spring piston airguns for most of their lives and the idea of a more accurate one with a walnut stock just seems like another variety of Fudd gun.
 
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Not sure what this proves really, it's kinda what I'd expect to see.....

Folks of all ages generally start off with an entry level springer bought locally r gifted (starting off so not involved enough to delve into the online airgun world).

If interest grows they begin researching the Internet and discover the next step is Co2/ pcp as theyre easier to shoot.

They invest, and dive right into the sport, spending loads of money, until one day they wake up and realise they've got c××p all over the place, and shooting pcp's is boring, and then......

At mid life they go back to springers because they're more challenging to shoot, simpler to own, and the correct gun choice for a real man 👍

Stats explained. You're welcome 😁
 
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Yep. Not suprising. I was 50 when I got into quality springers. I knew then I was just a kid compared to most on another forum. I'm 59 now and still probably younger than most of the people on this forum.
High end springers will eventually die out unless some new technology improves them greatly. I don't see that happening.

New high end springers are almost dead now. Diana's basically given up, AA is on the balls of the a$$ and quallity at Weihrauch is in a downslide. What's left to carry springers that has any quality? Don't tell me the Spanish and Turkish guns. They're hardly better than Chinese box store junk.

Enjoy your nice springers while they last. I have enough Weihrauchs and parts for them that I'm set for my life and that's all I care about.

Frankly the new generations need for easy, constant stimulus and instant gratification scares me in general.
 
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I'm still well under 50 and have been seriously into springers for years now. When these Youtube stats (Razor62's, and now TinBum's) come up I'm always startled - is this really so that pensioners are the main audience?

That the above isn't the whole picture comes from the fact that I know several springer guys around my age, who do not participate in social media, online forums, or subscribe to Youtube channels, but springerin' they are. There are untold thousands of these kinds of guys, all over the world.

I buy, tune and sell almost nothing but old springers. Even if the production of new springers stopped tomorrow, there'd be no shortage of quality springers for anyone interested, for a good, long while. But I guess many people feel they need to get new stuff, not just new-to-them.

I do keep my eye on parts, though, knowing that when my suppliers close shop, they will likely have no successors.
 
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Well let me turn over the apple cart in the middle of the road and kick a few apples around. Chuckle!!!
For years I shot the HW95, I owned a great many others such as the HW97 and TX200 and sold them all as they required me to hire a porter to carry them around for me.
I have seen that this Airgun forum definitely does not like Gamo. Yep boy now that is taboo!!! You better go get you HW95 son, that Gamo is crap!!

Well my HW95 with its perfect tune will shoot a true One Hole group at 30 yards with the Hades pellets. Why I dunno the gun chose them and it likes them.
I have a Gamo Bone Collector that will do the very same thing. The Bone Collector has a repeater magazine, it is much lighter and enjoyable to carry around shooting at pine cones, knots on trees and dandelions and so on. I do not require a bench and six sandbags to shoot it. At 25 yards a 3/4 group offhand is normal and it is myself not the gun that keeps it from being smaller. It is a very light balanced air gun and loves to be shot offhand and comes up quick and easy.

So my current two favorite airguns are the .22 Gamo Bone Collector and the .22 Gamo Fusion.
Its kinda cold in South Carolina right now, I am not one to enjoy the cold at all, however when it warms up I would be happy to shoot against anyone at 30 yards be you have an 5000 dollar pcp or a 300 dollar springer.

Gamo has improved their game..........Their guns with such as the very expensive Barracuda Green pellet in the Magnum rifles will amaze you. They will hold their own and even defeat those HW things. Chuckle.

Just thought I would roll a few apples around in the road with a big Grin!!!

Oh I do not see springers or shall we say Nitro Piston rifles vanishing anytime soon.

Cheers
Kit
 
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Sawney Bean said:
I think it’s largely nostalgia. Those of us that are 55+ remember when the best airguns you could buy were all springers. When I was a kid the guns in the Beeman catalog were what I dreamed about owning and comparing them to the Crosmans, Daisy’s and the occasional Benjamin we had seemed like a comparing a Bentley to a Plymouth.
Click to expand...
I'm in my 40s and I studied the high end airguns sold through Cabelas (RWS Diana). Never saw a Beeman catalog but I got to know the Beeman models in the 2000s.

At some point the Gamos appeared and the Dianas disappeared. That was the beginning of the end that I could see.

David
 
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I believe the numbers. You see it across the board in centerfire and rimfire as well as air rifle. I started shooting a springer HW97k about 6 months ago. I am in my late 70's and enjoy it since I can shoot in the winter months in my basement. In the summer months I shoot rimfire and centerfire matches and would not give this up to shoot springers. Most of the matches consist of shooters over 65 years of age. I believe the cost of being competitive in matches as well as a lack of interest by younger people has resulted in both shooting and hunting experiencing a sharp decline.
 
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dgeesaman said:
For about 20 years the gap between springers and PCP was cost. The accuracy, power, convenience, etc of PCP earned it the name 'the dark side' since so many shooters started with springers and didn't go back after they tried PCPs. Now in 2025 you can buy extremely cheap PCPs, tanks, and compressors and so many shooters make the jump from an entry level springer directly to PCP instead of trying a full quality springer.

I think it is safe to say there are plenty of springer shooters out there who don't know they own a 'springer' and have little idea that there are other airguns and airgun content. They own their Gamo and that's as far as they'll go with it.
Click to expand...
I have a friend that only owns a Gamo "high Power 1200 FPS " and he only uses "Gamo made pellets cause they make pellets special for their guns " . "If i am using Gamo pellets i know they are going 1200 FPS cause thay are made by Gamo for their guns ."


really ! P.S. he is 84 and shoots in his garage or basement .
 
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