Other Sad stats for springers

Shooting in general is a guy's sport. Let's face it. Half the human population couldn't give a crap.

Most guys like to shoot. It's in their DNA. Most guys don't have a place to shoot. They live in suburbia. Most guys don't have exposure to an experienced teacher. Most gun courses are specialized and don't teach entry level skills. If you didn't get it from your father then you didn't get it.

There is no doorway into the sport. You buy a gun and figure it out (or not). Very few shooters have any formal training. Many shooters have huge misconceptions about every aspect of shooting and firearms.

Then there is the divisive nature of politics and the hostile nature of the "warrior culture" within the shooting community. That is understandably a barrier to someone interested in taking up the sport.

Our fathers taught us to handle a rifle. Most were trained in the military and knew the basics. The NRA was active in every community and taught a structured way to get into the sport. The foundation for growth was there. All boys had access and almost all took it. The rest were heavily influenced by it. Gun training was a social norm.

Now every idiot out there is carrying a glock in their pocket with no training. Just what they learned from some other idiot on the internet. Lots of hunters are completely untrained and believe they know it all.

Most of the old buzzards that know their way around a rifle don't want to hang with young people. The only well trained shooters we have are warriors passing on warrior skills they learned in the military. It's not only a recipe for killing sport shooting. It's a recipe for disaster.
 
When I was a kid we all had a bb gun to get started. What percentage of kids have a bb gun today? Probably too small to be statistically significant.
Dad gave me a BB gun and sent me outside to shoot it. And Mom was cool with it. It was the same for a lot of us. Urban sprawl changed that for many kids throughout the years. Baby mammas don't give their boys BB guns because they have zero authority over their children. And neither do their baby daddies. They gave their authority up in exchange for chasing their own dreams. Unfortunately half of the children are raised this way. Many women apparently think they don't need a husband and many men evidently don't have what it takes to get married and lead a family.
Decent roll models are virtually nonexistent today. It has to be YOU
Be the man you want your sons to be and the man you would want your daughters to marry. Family life should be something you look back on fondly. Even though it's never perfect.
Raise them up in the way you want them to go and they will not depart from it when they are old.
Raise up a generation that gives their kids BB guns AGAIN
 
Dad gave me a BB gun and sent me outside to shoot it. And Mom was cool with it. It was the same for a lot of us. Urban sprawl changed that for many kids throughout the years. Baby mammas don't give their boys BB guns because they have zero authority over their children. And neither do their baby daddies. They gave their authority up in exchange for chasing their own dreams. Unfortunately half of the children are raised this way. Many women apparently think they don't need a husband and many men evidently don't have what it takes to get married and lead a family.
Decent roll models are virtually nonexistent today. It has to be YOU
Be the man you want your sons to be and the man you would want your daughters to marry. Family life should be something you look back on fondly. Even though it's never perfect.
Raise them up in the way you want them to go and they will not depart from it when they are old.
Raise up a generation that gives their kids BB guns AGAIN
In other words...reap what you sow?
 
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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
Way back in the long long ago, we had Crosmans and Daisy's and an old brass Benjamin that looked really cool but only held air every now and then, but we had heard rumors of something more. There was a catalog that showed dozens of airguns that looked like Weatherbys and could shoot at 900 fps with a single pump. They were called spring pistons and for some reason only European countries could make them and they wanted around $300 for them and that was a real problem because we were kids and didn't have checking accounts or credit cards or $300 and my mom said there was no way she would ever spend $300 for a BB gun and so they remained seemingly forever out of our reach.

Later on, in my late teens and twenties those rifles had only gotten better. Instead of FWB124s, there were now Beeman R1's, RWS54s and TX200's, and I had a checking account, but the $600 or so I needed for one of these rifles was only available every two years or so, so by and large they still remained coveted items in the Beeman catalog that I dreamed about owning, but rarely had the opportunity to.

I imagine half the baby boomers and gen x'ers here experienced something similar and those spring piston guns of that era really were pretty good so there's quality there to reinforce the nostalgia. For a generation that grew up around Gamo's and early Chinese spring piston airguns I imagine it's completely different. For them spring piston airguns aren't anything special at all. In fact most of what they've seen are pretty crappy. For them PCP's are probably the new and coveted wunderwaffen that can shoot one hole groups at rimfire power levels.
 
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.
I don't see that. It seems to me that guns and shooting are as popular as ever, but the younger generations prefer Glocks and AR's.
 
I've actually got one more springer on the way right now. AOA had a Diana 56TH for sale in their used section and I decided to snatch that up. I've wanted one of the 48/52/54/56's for decades now, but the only ones still in production are the 54's and I hate the new style stocks they have. I understand the 56's are seriously heavy, but if I want a lightweight springer I have my HW95.
 
While I am partially handicapped (can you see my avatar), I am not ready for the oven quite yet.
I will be 80 in August and still spend time in the woods, carrying my own rifle, shotgun, air rifle or handgun.
I do my own yard work and shoot pocket billiards five days a week.
I started with a springer and I will always have one or seven:

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Wow great discussion gentleman.

From my perspective as someone under 50. The family is definitely been degrading more rapidly in modern times contributing to the decline of responsible gun stewardship. They're are still great folks however that are raising the youngsters responsibly.

I only have springers. I've been looking into getting a pcp, mainly to hunt with slugs. But they cost so much up front to get started with. I find that springers are effective up to 60 yards and they really help to discipline me to shoot better with my pellet guns as well as firearms.

I don't see springers disappearing, but I do see the manufacturers offering less and less over time. I sure hope I'm wrong however. It's up to us to get the next generation into the sport.

Have a great Sunday.
 
While I am partially handicapped (can you see my avatar), I am not ready for the oven quite yet.
I will be 80 in August and still spend time in the woods, carrying my own rifle, shotgun, air rifle or handgun.
I do my own yard work and shoot pocket billiards five days a week.
I started with a springer and I will always have one or seven:

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Salute.🫡 I had an uncle that did two tours, he also was in Burma. Never heard him mention that, he passed in the 90's.
 
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