Jim Chapman
At the AoA booth I had a chance to catch up with Robert Buchanan and Greg Glover and looked at the redesigned BSA SuperTen, the Scorpian, and the Lonestar, but the gun that really attracts me is their Shrouded Ultra. This is a compact / lightweight stalker that I’ll be using on some upcoming hunts, and look forward to getting some “hands on” field time with it. These are not brand new designs (with the exception of the soon to be released SuperTen) but what a cool product line up! I was impressed with the craftsmanship and quality of all the guns in the line. Glad to see the move towards shrouded barrels, but will say more on that later. Even though it is the Ultra that attracts me most, have to comment that he price point of the Lonestar make this a viable candidate in entry level PCPs.
Beeman has finalized their agreement to distribute Falcon airguns in the USA, and will start to more actively promote them now. I found a staff on this booth that knew their products and possessed a good grasp on the way the market was moving. For the hunter they had a selection of Falcon and Weihrauch PCP guns with shrouded barrels, in addition to the classic line of springers like the R1, RX2, and R9. I have to say that the company seems much more tuned in to the needs of American air gunners than was my impression in the past. Arguably the best collection of premium springers around for the airgun hunter, seeing the company put more weight behind their pcp range is a good sign in my opinion. Beeman gets my vote as the most improved of the major companies.
Went by Crosman and spent time with heads of engineering and marketing discussing their new rifle, the Marauder. I have to say that this is a company that both knows and listens to their customers and is developing a great line of hunting rifles. As has been mentioned by others, this rifle is a multishot with a 10 round magazine and a fully shrouded barrel. The stock is a nicely finished hardwood that is a complete resdesign over the Discovery. It appears that between the Discovery and the Marauder they have an excellent entry vehicle into the market. Like the Disco, the Marauder has been optimized to work at a lower (2000psi) fill pressure, it can also be adjusted for optimal performance at higher fill pressures (up to 3500 psi). The adjustable match trigger felt very nice, but will wait until I can get my hands on the gun to comment further. Multishot, barrel shroud, adjustable power…. Even though I haven’t shot this gun yet from a conceptual standpoint this group is getting their ducks in a row. Crosmans VP of marketing stated to me again that the company is in this market for the long haul and not looking for immediate success. They win my vote for the most responsive big company in the field.
Pyramyd Air exhibited their extensive range of products that included just about every brand; they gave a lot of display space to the Evanix, Career, AirArms, and Airforce guns. I didn’t see any new guns, but they are constantly updating the line. The guys from Pyramyd were everywhere I went, and have made solid inroads with most of the manufacturers and importers bringing airguns to American shooters. They did tell me they would be reducing the price of their gas ram springss to fit many of the Gamo and Walther guns. This will include parts and installation. The other gun that wasn't out for display was the Evanix Blizzard, which is a variation on the AR6 that has a 10 shot magazine and a shrouded barrel, I like the Evanix line and think this will be an interesting addition. The folks that work at this company are amongst some of the most knowledgeable around. They get my vote as market builder of the North American airgun market.
Umarex is becoming a more visible player in the US distribution arena. They continue to carry the RWS lines and these guns, are amongst the finest made, though somewhat hampered by the increasing cost that many of the Euro guns are experiencing The big news from this company is their distribution agreement with Hatsan to be the sole US importer of their new PCP rifle. The entry into the market will be a single shot version called the Pneuma which is being positioned as an entry level product. These side lever cocking rifles appear solidly built and sport a pretty nice Turkish Walnut stock. They will be adding additional models to the line over time, and Hatsan does have some interesting looking guns. The company also carries a full line of springers badged for Walther, Ruger and Remington.
As a quick aside, some time in the next couple of months I will be visiting Turkey for an indepth tour of the Hatsan production facilities, where I will be able to have a close look not only at the guns, but at both the production floor and the quality controls which have been introduced. These guys have some very interesting guns in preproduction and more designs in the works, if they get the quality piece in place they could have some winners, especially leveraging Umarex’s distribution.
Hawke Optics has a great line of airgun scopes; I spent some quality time with FT Champion Nick Jenkinson discussing the scopes and reticules offered by this company on which he consulted. One of the scopes I liked was the Hawke SR that was designed by Jenkinson and calibrated to suit air rifles. They are well built with low profile finger grip turrets, and ’true view’ optics that give very clear and sharp images.
Shrouds are popping up on guns everywhere, and this will really drive acceptance in the US market. Let’s face it, when you can buy a rimfire for three hundred and change, the key differentiator for hunting airguns is reduced sound signature and limited range. The companies are all tuned in to this.
A side note on Big Bores; the idea that big bore airguns could have a negative impact is fairly widespread in the industry. I maintained that every muzzle loader out there is more powerful than all BB airguns, and they are lightly/non-regulated. I also stated that hunting with airguns is one of the only ways to really justify anything larger than a .177 or more powerful than 12 fpe, the same logic used to vilify big bore airguns could easily be applied to any moderate power standard caliber as well (so we better all stick together) if you take hunting out of the equation. And what really puts air gunning at risk is the irresponsible behavior of a company that promotes inappropriate use of a conventional (caliber and power) gun.
One of the things that struck me about this meeting was that airguns were more visible and more mainstream. There was not a lot of news aside from the couple of new guns mentioned, but just the growing awareness was a good sign. I feel pretty good about the current players in the domestic market (well ok, one exception), and see a number of companies small to large that are well focused on expanding market awareness and delivering an excellent range of products, it is a good time to be air gunning.
This is just a brief summary of my last three days of creeping through acres of guns. I will write in more detail about all these companies and products in the coming months. It is a good time to be an air gunner!!
