Home Blog  
Education / Training I’m so frustrated!

I’m so frustrated!

by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier

Today, I’m going to vent a little and tell you what disturbs me about airgunning.

This began with a letter I received. The writer spent two pages telling me why the Crosman M4-177 is not a good airgun and how unfair it is that it costs so much.

EXCUSE ME?
Yep! Apparently it’s unfair because it takes 10 pump strokes to pump the rifle completely, so for 15 shots he has to pump 150 times.

HUH? So what?

Well, according to the writer, that’s unfair, because, when you add sales tax to the price of a new M4-177, it comes to almost $100, which is a lot to pay for something that requires so much work.

Boy, am I glad I minored in psychology, because what this writer said in his letter had very little to do with what he really wanted to say.

He was angry because he had made a bad choice and didn’t like what he bought. And he didn’t want to be responsible for it. I normally associate this kind of behavior with younger people who don’t have that much experience and still think that life is supposed to be “fair.” But the man who wrote this letter is over 60 years old and tells me he has been forced to buy inexpensive airguns because he now lives on a very limited budget.

Okay, there is nothing I can do for this person. He doesn’t read the blog, so even if I try to tell him about a certain airgun’s characteristics, he isn’t going to see it. But he sure as heck knows where to complain when his life takes a bad turn!

Worst of all — I still have to answer this guy’s letter. He has asked me to explain to Crosman what a dismal failure their rifle is, but I don’t know how to do that when they are working two shifts a day just to keep up with the demand.

Too old for computers
Then there’s the guy (again, it’s a man) who tells me that he’s too old to use computers, but boy would he ever like to find such-and-such an airgun that he remembers from his youth. I tell him that these vintage airguns are as common on internet sales sites as the leaves on a tree, but Mr. Won’t-Look-At-Computers can’t be bothered to look up, can he? Oh, no! Better to walk around complaining while staring at the ground, because the light’s better down there!

Mr. Macho!
Here comes the guy who has read several times in this blog where I say that magnum gas spring rifles are too hard to cock. So he goes out of his way to meet me at an airgun show, just to show me what a bodybuilder he is. He ain’t afraid of no gas spring — no sirree!

Three years later I meet him again and he apparently doesn’t remember our previous encounter, because now he tells me he’s into PCPs and lower-powered spring rifles like the Bronco and the vintage Diana 27. He tells me what wonderful things these low-powered spring guns are — they’re light, easy to cock, very accurate, quiet and they don’t require a lot of special handling technique to shoot well. Oh, my! I wish I had told him that to begin with (I’m being sarcastic, so please read it that way).

Please agree with me
I get airgun “questions” that aren’t really questions at all. They are manifestos that I’m supposed to agree with so the writer can tell the world that Tom Gaylord is on his side. He wants to run his .177-caliber Condor on helium with a tethered (never disconnected) tank, so he can dial up the velocity of a 6-grain pellet to 1,800 f.p.s., because that way the pellet would never drop in flight and he would be able to shoot something very far away without worrying how much the pellet drops.

If that was true, it would be wonderful; but even a .17 HM2 that starts a 17-grain bullet out at 2,100 f.p.s. eventually drops. You do have to take range into account. And the lighter the projectile, the lower the ballistic coefficient and the sooner the projectile will begin to drop.

What I’m saying is that Mr. Wizard hasn’t thought the whole thing through. He’s fixated on one parameter — velocity — and, as far as he’s concerned, that’s all that matters. He’s to real science as Diane Feinstein is to assault rifles — anything with a pistol grip is evil and velocity is the only thing that matters!

He knows not what he asks
Finally — and I’m stopping here because I’m getting real angry as I write this blog — I get a question that reads as follows: “I have a chance to go bear hunting with some friends. They’ll be using real guns, but I want to use an airgun. We will be flying to a base camp on Kodiak Island and then riding horses to the hunting area. I want to know whether I should choose a Sam Yang Big Bore 909S in .45 caliber or would a Benjamin Rogue work better? I’m leaning toward the Rogue because it holds 6 bullets and Kodiak bears are known to charge when the’ve been shot. The biggest real gun my friends have is a .338 Winchester Magnum, so both of these airguns are larger. What do you think?”

I think you had better get your affairs in order before you leave. Fortunately, I know your guide will stop you from doing what you propose, but who will stop the guy in Seattle who thinks a Walther CP99 would make a wonderful defense gun because it looks so intimidating and you can buy one without any paperwork? He’s serious, because to him this CO2 pistol looks like the real deal. But when the bad people come and he’s holding a pellet pistol, they aren’t going to laugh. Nor will he, if he lives through it.

Preaching to the choir
I know my blog readers aren’t the people I’m talking about. And those people will never read this blog, so I have no way of communicating with them until they decide to contact me for approval of their plans. But I have to tell someone something, so you got the duty.

By the way — in case you think things like this don’t happen, know that Edith is our editor and allowed this to get through. She knows, because she’s seen it all, too.

I feel better now.

author avatar
Tom Gaylord (B.B. Pelletier)
Tom Gaylord, also known as B.B. Pelletier, provides expert insights to airgunners all over the world on behalf of Pyramyd AIR. He has earned the title The Godfather of Airguns™ for his contributions to the industry, spending many years with AirForce Airguns and starting magazines dedicated to the sport such as Airgun Illustrated.

105 thoughts on “I’m so frustrated!”

  1. funny, i use my refurbished one on my indoor apartment range. 2-3 pumps is all it needs to cloverleaf 5 shots at 5-10 yards, Great fun and a nice change from my air pistols. I am looking for a low powered spring cock for the same range, any suggestions

    • That’s easy, the Bronco /product/air-venturi-bronco-air-rifle?m=2013

      or for a little more, the Target Pro Bronco /product/air-venturi-bronco-target-pro-air-rifle?m=2709

      Easy to cock, quiet, and accurate as all get out.

    • Tom Gaylord you got it right when you are angry about a person seriously using any airgun for Bear defense or hunting, Realistically you should carry at least a .44 mag or large rifle to mess with bears! A .45 pellet will only travel about 700 fps which will piss the bear off and the bear will in turn eat the shooter! I myself learned the hard way about super sonic pellet shooting: while entertaining it is hard on the air rifle and affects accuracy. A person wanting to shoot a pellet 2200 fps should consider a gun or making his own pellets and rifle which would be expensive. Complaining about a 10 pump air gun is funny as it doesn’t take a lot of effort to pump them! Some people should consider common sense and proven ballistics before complaining.

    • why not use gas or propane, or better yet a electro magnetic transducer! Some people think that a .177 air rifle is supposed to be an AR 15 is amazing, pellets loose control past the sound barrier by design, I use hyper velocity pellets but only in air guns that shoot them sub sonic like air pistols. I’ll be waiting to see an affordable air gun shoot accurately at 2200 fps, until then I’m fine having guns shoot super sonic, and air rifles that are sub sonic.

  2. A trilogy of books I read lately (SPUD trilogy), the main character (schoolboy) is asked by his housemaster, “What does one do if you are a tiny island in a sea of madness?..” or something like that… the answer was, “Sir, you keep a diary.”

    Consider this a diary entry… 😉

  3. BB,

    On a bit of tear today ?!?

    The request for a bear hunting recommendation was too much. I’d of recommended the Daisy Grizzly which was specifically designed to test hunting skill rather than emphasize long distance hunting skills. In using the Daisy Grizzly it is important to dress as a court jester. The only hope is that the bear laughs himself unconscious at which point you can crush his skull by beating him with the Daisy. Now that’s a REAL man’s weapon.

    I wouldn’t go griz hunting with a bunch of damn sissies who needed a 0.50 cal rifle.

  4. Well, if the helium guy figures out a way to get the velocity up to about 37,000 fps he’ll have achieved Earth escape velocity at which point pellet drop will be much less of a concern. It’ll still follow a curved path though, it just won’t ever drop back to the ground! Of course at that speed the pellet would vaporize. Come to think of it with that kind of energy the waste heat would probably vaporize the rifle and shooter too…

    Personally I liked the first one the best. A rifle which Crosman says requires ten pumps for a full power shot requires 150 pumps for 15 shots! I’m shocked! It’s not like basic multiplication was taught in elementary school or as if pretty much every product review I’ve ever seen on a multi-pump pistol or rifle mentions all the pumping required as a drawback!

    I suppose it was out of the question for him to, just for example, look at the two Crosmans above the M4 on the website and consider the Phantom for an extra $20 (only one barrel-break per shot) or the 1077 for $10 less (and nothing to do but squeeze the trigger for every shot)?

  5. I still use a desktop PC to play newer video games on a 24″ monitor which kind of makes me a dinosaur. These days, most people use smartphones, tablets or laptops. I’m 35 and don’t own a cellphone. I see people twice my age with Bluetooth headsets. You really have to be stubborn not to learn to use a computer in some form these days.

  6. Buck up Tom…I get stuff like this also, together we can get into harness and pull these poor folks out of the mud and dispare and into the light. look on these as a learning experience so the next time you hear it you can have an answer ready…some folks, huh. I don’t know it all but what I do know I give away…….

  7. Aawww, c’mon man! I resemble at least half of those guys… They’re just on the start of a really steep learning curve. Here’s to hoping that they don’t hit their heads too hard when they fall off (although I don’t hold out much hope for the “no-computers dinosaur or the brown bear guy).

    /Dave

  8. How about those that want to “tune” and want to get more speed out of their CO2 BB guns?
    Or the guy that wants 1500fps, easy to cock, accurate and cheap springer because he can’t be bothered with the cost of CO2 or the cost and trouble of a PCP.
    Or (we get those all the time on Canadian sub 500fps airgun forum) I just got that 40$ “Beeman”(Marksman) rifle from the store and would like to know what I can kill with it?

    Common sense is becoming scarce. The worst part is when you explain to these people why it can’t or shouldn’t be done they get angry and argue, I’m used to getting that kind of response from my kids who try to argue that jumping on their bed IS a good idea but from adults???

    You should have posted that one on Friday, we could have added to the list all week-end. 😉

    J-F

    • Is a 500fps gun even powerful enough to kill a horsefly (presuming the guy can aim that precisely)?

      I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t handle some of the large cockroaches I’ve seen (early 70s, Athens, Greece; hot summer so back door was open, heard a thump on the side of my worktable… Found a roach about two inches or more long. We emptied a can of insecticide [army issue yet, not commercial] on it while it strolled down the hallway, swept it out the door, and it came back for more!)

  9. B.B.
    Sometimes in life you have to take the gloves off and tell it like it is. Trying to have a conversation with a mad person is just a waste of time.
    My suggestion is that you write some standard letters (reply)-one for each type of idiot and save them on your computer. That way you can select one, change the name and send it back.
    There. You now have more time to report on airguns.

    Pete

    • Derrick,

      In many cases, the letters come in from my column in “Shotgun News.” I feel if they go to the trouble to write, I should at least respond.

      Sometimes, though, they do come from other places. I’ll never forget the one from a inmate in a federal prison who was convicted of shipping a silencer (for an airgun, but it also worked on a firearm) through the mail. He wanted me to defend him, because he knew that I knew that airgun silencers are legal. I was called by a district attorney on that one! And, believe it or not, this guy was finally released after his attorney argued that his “rights” had been violated when they pressed charges!

      B.B.

  10. As Mark Twain supposedly said, “Never argue with an idiot (fool?). They’ll just drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience”.

    Edith, I bought “Incognito” and will start to read it this week (one magazine and one book to finish before I can get to this one.

    Fred DPRoNJ

  11. Edith, off topic, but I noticed the other night while looking on the PA ammo section for slingshot ammo , no matter the size, it was all listed as having the same wt? Not nitpicking ,but looks like a typo to me.

    • Robert from Arcade,

      I’ll see what I can do about that. I’ll either have to get the right weights from the mfr (and they may not know…yeah, surprising, isn’t it!) or someone at Pyramyd AIR will have to open one of each bag to weigh them.

      Edith

  12. Mr. Gaylord,

    Please vent anytime you wish. I know that you are in the “spotlight” because, for one, you write this blog, second, you write articles for well know magazines. I have see the forums, both firearms and airgun (and anything else regardless of the subject) and I am still AMAZED at the strife that spread around.

    You have enlightened me and instructed me in so many ways, but the one thing that you have reminded me of, “take it with a grain of salt”.

    Thank you for you patience “BB”,

    Chris

  13. If this guy is complaining about pumping the Crosman, maybe he should try pumping a PCP cylinder with a hand pump. That might put things a little more in perspective. There is a group of people who would welcome the bear hunter, though, if they were still around. Fortunately for the rest of us, recipients of the “Darwin Award” rarely survive the experience.

    Jim

  14. Remember these minor irritants are but prawns on the chess board of life.
    A priest once described confession in a girls school as “like being stoned to death with ping-pong balls”.
    Substitute “prawns” for a load of balls.

    Keep blogging….you keep me sane.

  15. A voice from the shallow end of the gene pool asks, which airgun for bear hunting? Either one will be just as effective as the other for you, says I. One final piece of advice to insure a successful hunt on behalf of all mankind….please take all your like minded friends with you and make sure they’re armed with airguns as well.

    kevin

    • How about hanging some chicken legs or some pieces of raw beef around their neck (to hide their human smell of course LOL) and if they see some cubs they should go play with them, mothers love it when stangers go and pet their babies.

      J-F

  16. Okay, now you’ve got me in a bad mood, and it’s only 7:30AM 😉
    I’m at the point where there are only 3 blogs I read, this one (of course), Snipers Hide and Photo-Net.
    They are the three I’ve found that are populated my members who really want to help others and share their (most legitimate) knowledge.
    I no longer frequent all those blogs/forums whose members either:
    -Know it all, or
    -Know what they like and can’t understand why anyone would like anything else

    As many of you know I’m a photographic wholesaler to the professional market.
    But I regularly get phone calls that go thusly…”Hi, I want to get into professional sports photography and I’m in the market to buy a full camera kit. You need to treat me real well because I’m going to be a big customer. I have about $300 to spend on a pro camera and lens kit…what do you suggest?”
    Unfortunately I have to bite my tongue and I calmly explain to them that part of the reason photographers charge so much is because of the many thousands of dollars they have invested…and the training they have.
    Which of course usually falls on deaf ears.

    • CSD,

      You opened the door! You reminded me of the phone call Edith and I got in the ’90s from a mother who wanted a recommendation for an Olympic air rifle for her son. He was going to the Olympics because he was real good in the shooting events in his Pony Club.

      When we told her about the rifles and what they sold for, she was appalled! She had been thinking in the $100-200 range, and at that time Olympic rifles were selling for $1,200-1,500.

      B.B.

      • Are you saying I can’t go to the Olympics with a Crosman 760? Oh no wait a minute a match is 60 shots at 10 pumps per shot that’s 600 pumps! Are Crosman crazy, that rifle will never sell LOL

        J-F

      • I remember the dad who called to say that his son was going to the Olympics and would definitely win gold because he’s incredibly accurate. I asked how long he’d been shooting airguns, and he said he’s never shot any but he was a pitcher on his high school baseball team and could pitch a ball at 90+ mph and make it go anywhere he wanted it to go…never missing. I was momentarily stunned & lost my ability to reply (if you know me, that doesn’t happen very often). I tried to reason with the father, but parental pride will not be diminished when some goofy woman tells you that baseballs are not pellets and a pitching arm is not an airgun. What was I thinking?!

        While the above may seem like a unique circumstance, let me assure it was not. We got a call from another dad who’s son was a superb golfer. Like the basebal dad, this man assumed his son’s prowess in golf made him a sure thing for a gold medal in airgunning at the next Olympics…no practice required! Having been prepared by the baseball dad’s call previously, I was able to deliver a convincing response that started with the cost of the gun (and, no, the U.S. Olympic committe will not pay for an expensive airgun just because your kid is a great golfer!).

        Those are just 2 of the unusual phone calls that stuck with me from the days when we published The Airgun Letter. There are many more.

        Edith

  17. BB,
    Good read. I think the Rogue is an excellent choice for G-Bear if someone is considering an airgun in that application :). The scene from Jeremiah Johnson where (as a novice) he says, “I can skin anything you bring in” (or similar) comes to mind!

    I’m waiting for a 4 or 2 bore Rogue for dangerous African game!

    • BG, my memory tells me the was the funniest scene in Jeremiah Johnson. In fact you have brought laughter to my otherwise dreary day. ~Ken

      Bear Claw Chris Lapp: Can you skin Griz?
      Jeremiah Johnson: I can skin’ em as fast as you can catch’ em.
      [Bear Claw runs through the cabin with a huge grizzly bear close behind and jumps out the back window]
      Bear Claw Chris Lapp: Skin that one, pilgrim, and I’ll get you another!

  18. I’ve seem plenty out there too. I’ve seen kids bragging on the m4-177 and how powerful it is. How they can kill a squirrel with it at 1700 yards. I know this is total B.S. I am a competition shooter with a fairly impressive pedigree. I’ve shot at competitions not even Olympic gold medalists get invited to. This is a $70 plastic gun with a 760 power plant. Jesus himself couldn’t pull off a miracle shot of tagging a squirrel ay 1700 yards with one if those.

    Then I have the guy that comes to me for a custom airgun because I build them. I specifically tell him in several e-mails to NOT do something like over pump the gun or overfill it if it’s pcp. He gets the gun and the very same day he gets it does exactly what I told him NOT to do and to his amazement he destroys the gun. Then it’s somehow my fault he destroyed the gun he paid $600 for that I put so much time and effort into building. Now I’m expected to fix it for free.

    Then there is the guy that likes one of my personal guns. My Discovery. I’ve had to do several repairs to this dog and along the way I’ve done some things to increase the power and accuracy. Problem is, the thing has a slow leak I have never been able to find or fix. It came to me new and leaking. He begs me and begs me to sell him my gun. I tell him it has a slow leak and I sell it for $50 less than I initially paid for it. Yet i hear him complaining how it leaks. (I told him it leaks long ago).

    Same guy begs me to sell him my Gamo Big cat. He just loves the .22 springers and wants a powerful one so he can run wild and shoot birds and squirrels. I initially refuse this bloodthirsty guy but he gets aggravating and finally sell him the gun. Next week he is complaining about the recoil. So I set him behind my Mossberg 100ATR and chamber 1 round for him. It kicks him in the shoulder like a disgruntled mule. Now he wants my deer rifle….He can’t have it. No way I’m giving an undisciplined guy like that a gun capable of taking down an African bull elephant.

  19. B.B.

    Just to add:

    “I put 95 kg gas spring into my Gamo Shadow. What the heck, despite cocking it with 2 hands and all my weight it doesn’t shoot like bazooka, but it had already killed 2 scopes!”
    “Weihrauch makes trash! I filed down sears just some mm’s and now that scrap metal doesn’t cock!”
    “I need my Izh-46 to shoot 290 m/s, what must be done?”
    “I bought FWB P800 for my first airgun but I cannot hit a barn side standing inside the barn!”

    And my favorite and the king of them all:
    “I boaghtt BB CO2 pistl, can I sef-difent with it?” – Yes, by hitting your opponent with its handle as hard as you can, Rambo…
    And so on and so forth.

    Well it’s a freak show. Sometimes that’s amusing sometimes it makes people to lose their temper. However such “heroes” are essential for the community – some “newborns” might see their stupidity and the way it’s being treated and decide to start to learn things or lurk more before getting started.

    duskwight

  20. Well, as someone said, fortunately/unfortunately, a free society has to tolerate idiots. Or you can laugh it off. Mark Twain writes that when he was a young river boat pilot on the Mississippi, he was walking around off duty on the boat when an older gentleman took him into the pilothouse. The guy told him that he was going to instruct him in all the instruments, then proceeded to tell him a lot of nonsense. Twain somehow caught the guy laughing to himself around the corner at his practical joke. But later when the guy saw him manning the wheel, he burst in angry and blamed Twain for not revealing himself… Some people are living in their own worlds.

    Shaky, thanks for the book recommendations. As a matter of fact, I just read a book called Proof of Heaven by a Harvard doctor who went into an apparently fatal coma and then came back to life with a vision of heaven. One would be inclined to classify this with other Near Death Experience stories. But the doctor has subsequently done a lot of scientific research into this area, and he references the major study by scientists called Irreducible Mind. The conclusion is that consciousness is not limited to the physical brain… So, B.B. and Edith both have backgrounds in psychology. No wonder we’re outmaneuvered!

    Everyone wants to hang on to their money, especially in these troubled times, so have a look at this–the world’s most accomplished thief.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MG2HPtbV-80

    I can’t even believe what I’m seeing.

    Matt61

  21. Tom,

    If you think this sort of stuff is bad, you should see some of the airgun questions that get posted on Yahoo Answers’ hunting section. I’ve had to deal with all of the above types of stuff (sometimes more than one at once) plus crap from other people who answer questions about airguns with “Go ask this in the TOYS section (or the people at Toys R Us) instead of in the hunting section”.

    For that matter you should see some of the crap people have written about me (where they basically said I’m and idiot because I don’t believe manufacturer’s velocity claims apply regardless of pellet weight and because I actually dare to tell people that the quality on a sub-$100 chinese airgun won’t be as good as what you’d get on a $200-$400 German/UK airgun) when I tried to do a primer on the .177 vs. .22 question we used to get a lot on Yahoo Answers so that the noobs would sort of see some of the trade-offs you make when picking a caliber. (/end rant)

    The point of this is that you should try to not let stupid bother you too much. The best thing to do is just continue to share what you know, and when you get frustrated take some time to relax.

    J

      • I work in a retail environment and I can tell you stories for days on end. One of my favorites was a customer named Wayne who called and ordered a big ticket triathlon racing bike and all the assorted gear. He knew his handlebar width, seat height, crankarm and stem length–everything. Sounded like he’d been riding for a decade. Day after he picks it up, he’s literally screaming at me over the phone about how he can’t run 26.4 miles in these stupid bike shoes (that he requested). So, over $6,000+ in gear and he doesn’t know he’s supposed to change shoes in the transition area.

        It sure isn’t limited to airguns.

  22. Sounds like you were overdue for a little venting, B.B. That’s got to be a good thing from time to time. Was the older mans complaint about the M4177 that it is hard to pump? Guess he could have got a Daisy 953 single pump rifle. I think a best buy in air rifles is the Crosman 2100B/Remington Airmaster 77. You tested one not long ago and got wonderful groups. And it’s one of the last multi pumps with a metal receiver. If my Airmaster was stolen I would order a new 2100B right away. I also am really liking my Crosman Custom Shop 2400 carbine. Easy to get good groups with. I have 5 CO2 guns. The Custom Shop carbine, a 1077, a C11 pistol, a Walther CP99, and a Crosman 357 with 6″ barrel. Much as I’d like more CO2 guns, I don’t want to get any more tied down to having to buy CO2 cartridges.That darn Crosman 357 pistol is a great shooter, and another best buy I think.
    Anyway, as buyers, it is up to us to do our homework in choosing our air guns. If the older gent can’t handle pumping a modern muti pump, maybe he should have considered a CO2 or that 953 single pump. He could probably trade or sell his Crosman, or return it from where he bought it.I bought my Custom Shop carbine a couple of years ago, but it was NOT very expensive at all and shoots great.

  23. B.B.,

    The problem with most of the folks you’ve described is that they haven’t done any homework and seem to think that learning something first isn’t necessary. They have lazy minds, no sense of curiosity at all. You said as much when you pointed out that they will not recognize themselves in your descriptions because they do not read this blog!

    By the way, both the 909s and the Rogue ARE capable of killing a Kodiak. The guy simply needs to nail the Kodiak right in the eye at no less than ten feet (with Kodiak Extra Heavies, of course). The bear will die of bleeding in the brain and a blood infection a week or two after eating both the shooter AND his air gun.

    On a different subject, you should make yourself feel better by reminding yourself of all of the teaching and inspiring you do through this blog.

    For example, after reading your blogs on the two Diana 25s, I got inspired and last week picked up a late ’60s/early 70s Winchester 423. Never woulda thought to do it if it hadn’t been for you. Light two-stage trigger, about — get this — 12 pounds of cocking effort, quiet, weighs four pounds, and DEADLY accurate out to 50 or so feet with 6.9 grain RWS Super Hollow Points.

    Deadly I say? I figured out what I will be able to kill with it: two hours, a couple dozen soda cans, and the two or three cans of beer I sip during the two hours, all from the shade of my rear deck on a summer afternoon.

    I can place my Winchester 423 next to my Bronco and HW25L on the rack. They are my lazy day airguns! By the way — do you prefer soda cans medium rare or medium? ;^)

    Michael

        • Kevin,
          I love jury duty. I’ve no idea why it has such a bad rap with people. The change of routine is welcome as is the chance to hear some really crazy stuff. Makes you appreciate the lack of drama in your own life.

          • derrick,

            My reason for disliking jury duty is that I’m self employed. I don’t get paid when I don’t work. It’s my duty so I’ll go. Again.

            I’ve learned a lot about jury duty. One of them is that I hope to never have my fate in the hands of a group of people that couldn’t get out of jury duty 🙂

            kevin

            • Kevin,

              We have the same problem. Nobody’s paying our way because we’re self-employed.

              If you absolutely must get out of jury duty, carry something that will get you thrown out. A book by Rush Limbaugh or Ann Coulter will do the trick. Tom has carried the former and I’ve carried the latter.

              Some people get called for jury duty a lot. Tom was called so often when we lived in Maryland that he had to resort to carrying the book.

              In Texas, Tom’s never been called but I’ve been repeatedly called. I started carrying a Coulter book (I prefer the one entitled “Guilty”) because I was being called up every 3 months since I got called for 2 different court systems…county & municipal. It was a tag-team between them.

              We don’t mind doing our duty for the country, but there are a lot of petty lawsuits that just don’t need to see the light of day.

              Edith

        • Kevin,

          You have jinxed me, man. So help me — the mail just arrived and I have jury duty!

          It’s for Feb 25, when I’m supposed to be filming “American Airgunner”, so hopefully I can get a postponement, but I want you to stop talking about things like this right now!

          For gosh sakes, DO NOT mention an emergency trip to the Dentist!

          B.B.

  24. OK, last one, I swear! Our shop is in the middle of a national park so we act as an unofficial visitor center at times.
    Last summer a woman walks in and wants to know how to get to the lake.
    “Well, there are a dozen or so lakes and ponds within the park boundaries, do you happen to remember the name of the lake? ”
    “No, but it had ducks on it.”

    I can’t make this stuff up.

  25. Here’s one that is a little irritating: I read a lot of reviews on Amazon.com about airguns. I see a ton with something like: “I bought this Crosman 880 and it just isn’t accurate. It shoots 2″ to the left.”. Stuff like this. Hey, I buy a new air gun, and if I get 1/4″ groups at, say, 10 yards and it hits 6″ off I am happy as can be. That’s what they make adjustable sights and scopes for. I wonder how many people lambast the air gun they just bought because it doesn’t shoot whatever pellet they tried dead center in the bull? I have probably sighted in at least 50 different powder burners and air guns so far, and hope to live to sight in many many more. If I buy a gun that is not accurate I get rid of it (like a Ruger Redhawk in .44 Mag I bought once. It was a nogo and I tried different handloads of every description). I used to compete in 200 meter IHMSA matches where you MUST have the perfect mix of accuracy and power. If you hit that 55 pound steel 200 meter (that’s 220 yards by the way) ram dead center and it doesn’t fall over you get a “0” for that shot.

  26. Hello B.B. and fellow Airgunners. What a wonderful blog you have written for us today. Here in British Columbia, it is the inaugural statutory ‘Family Day’ holiday, for the month of Feb. I’m not familiar if each State has the same holiday, but most provinces have adopted a stat. Holiday in Feb. It being the only month without one for a long time. Anyway, my wife is home, and enjoying the blog comments too. She works in Community Care as a Physiotherapist, giving care to people recently discharged from hospital. She meets all types in her line of work, and has stories she is not allowed to share because it goes against the oath she took not to divulge any information about her patients. I’ll never forget the time she rushed home to jump into the shower in the middle of the afternoon, after a visit to a hoarder’s house. She exclaimed it was worse then anything she witnessed on the reality TV series, Hoarders. It is eye/ear opening when a group of Physio, and Occupational Therapists get together and swap stories. Of coarse, no identities are ever revealed. Besides, I don’t wish to know.
    My favourite saying is from You Tube. A person tells someone who is obviously a trash talker, ” It wouldn’t be fair to engage in intelligent debate with anyone who is unarmed”. The pen is truly mightier then the sword. And may it forever remain so.
    Caio Titus

  27. Okay…I just remembered one that fits here…maybe you should do a ‘best of the horror stories blog’
    A couple of years ago I was the supplier of a quantity of Olympus underwater cameras (good to 30′) for a local hospital lottery.
    One of the winners came in the store one day and asked to speak to the guy who supplied them (me).
    They showed him to my office where he proceeded to complain about the false advertising concerning the camera.
    The advertising said it was ‘great for everything from a rain shower to scuba diving’.
    Well, he says, (and this is gods honest truth) ” regularly dive to 1000′ and this thing is crap”
    A thousand feet!!
    Makes you want to drink on the job!!

    • CSD,

      Know what really concerns me? That some really profoundly ignorant people are voting, reproducing, driving cars, buying liquor and even making high-level decisions for companies.

      And some of them are buying guns. I used to write copy for an ammo & military surplus mailorder company many years ago. People who’d bought hanguns in a local gun store would call our tech department to ask what caliber ammo they should buy for their guns. These were people who knew absolutely nothing about guns, but they bought them anyway without knowing the caliber. In most cases, they were buying the guns for self-defense. They most likely had no clue how much the gun recoiled or if the gun was suitable for self-defense. They knew nothing about gun safety and didn’t know anything about cleaning guns, maintaining them or anything else you need to know about guns.

      The techs would tell them were to find the caliber of their guns and then sell them the ammo. They repeatedly got these calls, so it’s not like it happened just once or twice. With the number of new people now getting guns, I suspect they’re flooded with these types of calls from new shooters.

      I imagine that these are the same people who “accidentally” shoot someone…or themselves. “I didn’t mean to. It just happened.”

      When I was 21 years old and driving to the Winter Park Mall in Florida to do some Christmas shopping, I was sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic at a stop light. The woman behind me let her foot off the brake pedal to grab her 3-year-old, who had fallen off the front seat onto the floor. A drop of no more than 10 inches. He wasn’t going to get hurt, but it was probably a natural response from the mom.

      Her car rolled into mine and popped my car’s trunk lid. When the policeman came and started to write her a ticket, she looked at him in disbelief and said, “You’re not going to ticket me. It was an accident. I didn’t mean to hit her.” I loved the policeman’s reply and still remember it: “Should I ticket her? When there’s an accident, someone is at fault. You ran into her. You’re at fault. You get the ticket.” She was almost speechless…and continued to protest being responsible for something that was not a deliberate act.

      I’m thinking there are lot of people running around today that think that they’re not at fault just because they mistakenly did something. Ya know, when I let a glass fall out of my hand and hit the floor, I don’t blame the glass. It’s my fault. From what I see these days, a lot of people would blame the glass.

      Edith

      • Edith,

        This is why Hunter-Safety training was so important, and influential, in my life as a shooter. I learned the right lessons at a young age, and that has guided me throughout the years, including being able to assess a person and their guns. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, there are people who I will not go shooting with. There are people who should not own guns. There are people who truly are an “accident” waiting to happen. Of course, we all know (or should know) that there should be no such thing as a shooting accident. The examples that you cite are all too common, and the more macho a person is about their guns, the worse they are. They are what the NRA Hunter-Safety training video’s called “Primitive Pete’s”. But we live in the land of the free where anyone can procreate, drive a car, own a gun, get married, and otherwise walk amongst us. Some not too far off from being “Walking-Dead”.

        Victor

  28. B.B.,

    As I’m sure you’re already considered, some of your readers may have started where your examples left off. Had I not been formally trained, I think my only saving grace would be common sense, because since that training and the time I found this blog, there have been too few places to get good information. Over the past 30+ years I’ve heard and seen some real doozies from self-claimed “experts”. It’s like learning sex education from a bunch of 12 year old’s. There’s just way too much bad information out there.

    Victor

  29. I think the guy should go hunting with his pellet gun. You’ll never have to read anything from him again and airguns can get a new warning on them!

    B.B. Since you’ll be informing Crosman about the M4 .177, would you please let them know that I would be in the market for a 7lb, regulated PCP, that includes a 6x20x50 AO scope, Rings, Fully adjustable stock (in walnut) that I don’t have to pump for around $200? Oh almost forgot, I’d like a ‘no fault’ warranty on that as well, so if I chop the barrel or drill some relief holes in the stock and don’t like it, I can get a new one.

    phones, cars, interwebs and all that nonsense…I’m too old for that garbage. Anybody know a blacksmith I can telegram and have a REAL gun made. Has to be relatively close, my horse is gettin on…

  30. At least the hunter thought of the gun as a tool to get a certain job done. My best guess is he was just not informed enough about hunting with air rifles. A lot of people I know usually buy a gun because of their feelings and then come up with the application later. I think it comes from the “but what if I also want to use the gun for….” mentality. It’s like buying a hammer and then settling on using screws to put together a table. At least he had a task and THEN went looking for a gun for that specific task.

    Anyway, don’t get all worked up over these folks 🙂

Leave a Reply to B.B. Pelletier Cancel reply

Buy With Confidence

  • Free Shipping

    Get FREE shipping on qualifying orders! Any order $150+ with a shipping address in the contiguous US will receive the option for free ground shipping on items sold & shipped by Pyramyd AIR during checkout. Certain restrictions apply.

    Free shipping may not be combined with a coupon unless stated otherwise.

    View Shipping Info

  • Shipping Time Frame

    We work hard to get all orders placed by 12 pm EST out the door within 24 hours on weekdays because we know how excited you are to receive your order. Weekends and holiday shipping times will vary.

    During busy holidays, we step our efforts to ship all orders as fast as possible, but you may experience an additional 1-2 day delay before your order ships. This may also happen if you change your order during processing.

    View Shipping Times

  • Shipping Restrictions

    It's important to know that due to state and local laws, there are certain restrictions for various products. It's up to you to research and comply with the laws in your state, county, and city. If you live in a state or city where air guns are treated as firearms you may be able to take advantage of our FFL special program.

    U.S. federal law requires that all airsoft guns are sold with a 1/4-inch blaze orange muzzle or an orange flash hider to avoid the guns being mistaken for firearms.

    View Shipping Restrictions

  • Expert Service and Repair

    Get the most out of your equipment when you work with the expert technicians at Pyramyd AIR. With over 25 years of combined experience, we offer a range of comprehensive in-house services tailored to kickstart your next adventure.

    If you're picking up a new air gun, our team can test and tune the equipment before it leaves the warehouse. We can even set up an optic or other equipment so you can get out shooting without the hassle. For bowhunters, our certified master bow technicians provide services such as assembly, optics zeroing, and full equipment setup, which can maximize the potential of your purchase.

    By leveraging our expertise and precision, we ensure that your equipment is finely tuned to meet your specific needs and get you ready for your outdoor pursuits. So look out for our services when shopping for something new, and let our experts help you get the most from your outdoor adventures.

    View Service Info

  • Warranty Info

    Shop and purchase with confidence knowing that all of our air guns (except airsoft) are protected by a minimum 1-year manufacturer's warranty from the date of purchase unless otherwise noted on the product page.

    A warranty is provided by each manufacturer to ensure that your product is free of defect in both materials and workmanship.

    View Warranty Details

  • Exchanges / Refunds

    Didn't get what you wanted or have a problem? We understand that sometimes things aren't right and our team is serious about resolving these issues quickly. We can often help you fix small to medium issues over the phone or email.

    If you need to return an item please read our return policy.

    Learn About Returns

Get FREE shipping on qualifying orders! Any order $150+ with a shipping address in the contiguous US will receive the option for free ground shipping on items sold & shipped by Pyramyd AIR during checkout. Certain restrictions apply.

Free shipping may not be combined with a coupon unless stated otherwise.

View Shipping Info

Text JOIN to 91256 and get $10 OFF Your Next $50+ Order!

* By providing your number above, you agree to receive recurring autodialed marketing text msgs (e.g. cart reminders) to the mobile number used at opt-in from Pyramyd AIR on 91256. Reply with birthday MM/DD/YYYY to verify legal age of 18+ in order to receive texts. Consent is not a condition of purchase. Msg frequency may vary. Msg & data rates may apply. Reply HELP for help and STOP to cancel. See Terms and Conditions & Privacy Policy.