Air Arms Owners Club

Hi Gents,

Just pondering as to where all the airguns have gone. I try to get as many people as I can into our sport
in one form or another. Problem I find nowadays is the lack of good quality cheap rifles.

Ten years ago you could buy an S400 brand spanking new for £350. Great quality that I recommended to
everyone getting into the sport.

Now you cant get a second hand PCP rifle for less than £500-600. As new rifles get more expensive the
second hand ones seem to follow.

I have a 1998 Rapid 7 that is as good now as it was new, my MPR is probably 10 years old and is a fantastic rifle.
Where are the old S400's, Daystate Harriers and other excellent yet affordable rifles.

Are we pricing out the tentative newcomers to our sport?

Opinions please.

I must admit that has come up in conversation with my Mrs. I can remember going into my local gun shop back in the early 90's and being able to pick up a good second hand rifle for not bad money. A few of the shops round here won't take in as part exchange or sell second hand rifles now.
Your not wrong about the relationship of new to of prices but some of it may be we are more prepared to shell out on what we want. Who knows...

the main problem is the cheap Chinese low cost air guns , the new air gunners start out thinking shooting will be fun then they buy a good looking cheap Chinese rifle then end up frustrated and thinking they will never shoot very good and give up, or the rifle will break and they think all rifles are the same,

You tend to forget that we started with cheap rifles. As we got more into the sport, we got better kit. The cheap stuff is out there but we tend to dismiss them as tat

BBF

I got my s400 classic with hunter green superlite stock for 435 pounds brand new in 2013, beach stock was even cheaper

People starting out haven't heard of sites like Gun Trader and you can't sell your old air rifles on e-bay, British law has ruined the market. A few years ago I was given a sign to put up which read Guns only fear rust and politicians. Having been a pistol shooter at the time of the ban and a shotgun shooter since 1971 I have watched politicians ruin my sport for their own purposes. No don't start me on politics I would have to resort to foul language.

hi i got an harier for 250 .
aa s410 for 400 .
so there are some cheap guns around you need to look thats all.

I think some (but not all) of the problem is that airgunners tend to be inveterate medlers. A lot of the older rifles tend to have been messed with and are worth very little. Occasionally you do get a gem but they are few and far between.

There is a decent market in the very old rifles like the BSA's and Webleys but they tend to be "Collected" rather than used much.
Over the last few years there seems to be in inordinate rise in new rifle prices, probably lead by Daystate (the Franklin Mint of airguns).

ATB
Ray.

there is a shop by me in stoke on trent he has a lot of rifles new and old , if its not on his web site ring them and ask

http://www.dolphin-discount.co.uk/ the old ones he dose not list but he has a lot ring and ask

Its slightly off topic but air rifle owners are a bit like camera owners. The next model MUST be better so everyone rushes out to buy it and the old model that probably produced the same accuracy or picture quality enters a black hole of the secondhand market and becomes worth not a lot. I think some people just hang on to their older rifles because of their low intrinsic value hence they don't appear on the market. Our local gunsmith has loads of 'trade-ins' on his rack but they seem to stay there for a long time probably because a commercial outfit needs to make a bit more on the sale thus the price gets too close to a new one. Fancy a decent air sporter myself just to have an open sight rifle.