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The way this blog works

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

Today I want to talk about this blog — what it is and how it operates. Two days ago, several readers got into a flaming war over politics. Each party wanted to have the last word, so the comments kept flying back and forth, getting pettier and pettier as they went. When I booted my computer Wednesday morning, I had 177 emails to read and deal with.

This blog is one of the most popular blogs that deals with the shooting sports. We have many tens of thousands of regular readers. Most of the time, this is a pretty fun place to be. But not yesterday.

Yesterday, a few people ruined the experience for everyone. They got into a political argument, and no party was willing to shut up. Back and forth, they kept zinging their comments, ruining the experience for everyone else.

I don’t mind a political statement now and then. I make them myself. But no one is going to hijack this blog just so they can get in the last word. That’s what the forums are for — or at least that’s how people who are on them behave. Not here.

This blog is successful because it sticks to the topics of the shooting sports. Mostly, it’s about airguns, but from time to time it does stray into other areas. I find the mix of topics interesting and stimulating; and from the success of the blog over the decade it’s been running, I think that sentiment is shared by a lot of readers.

We were established to educate people about airguns and the shooting sports. Some people think that if you talk about anything other than a pellet or BB gun you’ve gone off-topic, but then when I use common shooting terms like flyer or double-action in my reports, they start asking all kinds of questions. So, I’ve expanded my brief to cover the entire range of the shooting sports — just to complete the education process. If you don’t understand what rifling does, then how can you appreciate the way a diabolo pellet works?

Spams
Because we’re very popular, we get hit with spams. These are commercial messages that have nothing to do with the topics of the blog but provide embedded links to other websites. Since this blog ranks high in the search engines, the spammers are hoping they’ll be able to ride our coattails and get some ranking for their sites. Edith and I remove the spams all day long, and every morning we have to clear out a ton of them. We get 30-70 spam messages every 24-hour period, and the rate is increasing. As the blog succeeds, the spams increase.

I don’t mind mucking out the blog to get rid of these parasites, but I’m not going to let regular readers spin out of control and muddy the waters at the same time. If you’re a reader, you’re expected to treat this place like you would the living room of your own home. This isn’t an overpass where you can spray paint your frustrations. This is a place where people meet to discuss in a civil way things that interest them. If you can’t do that, go somewhere else to vent.

Family blog
This blog gets read by school-aged children. Parents email Edith and me, thanking us for providing an internet site where they can go with their kids to read about the shooting sports without having to worry about foul language. We want that to continue. That includes omitting the foul-language abbreviations that are universally recognized by young people.

Longtime readers know this and abide by it without saying anything. But, sometimes, newer readers have to be advised to clean up their language. Well, now I’m addressing everyone. Foul language will not be tolerated on this blog. That goes for slang, innuendo, abbreviations and acronyms. If you think it’s bad, I probably do, too.

Off-topic comments
We allow comments to go off-topic on this blog. A couple years ago, we had an encounter with several readers who had more rigid views of what should be allowed here. We told them our policy, and they elected not to comment on the blog anymore. Several of them still read regularly, but they no longer post under the handles they used during that encounter.

Sales and self-promotion
This blog belongs to Pyramyd Air. They pay for the servers that host it, and they pay me to write it. Yes — I am paid by Pyramyd Air! I’m not their employee, but they do pay me for what I do. At the same time, they make no attempt to censor me, nor to tell me what to write. From time to time, they do suggest topics that will help their sales people get certain messages across, but these are educational — not sales-oriented! You readers suggest 10 times as many topics as they do.

Because the blog belongs to Pyramyd AIR, we do not allow links to competing businesses. That may confuse some readers because we will link to some commercial places — as long as they are not in direct competition with Pyramyd AIR. Also, if there’s a product that Pyramyd AIR cannot carry for various business reasons, I won’t review that item on the blog. That does limit the range of airguns I can review, but Pyramyd AIR is the largest airgun dealer in the United States, so it isn’t devastating.

A couple of our readers are promoting themselves right now, but it hasn’t gotten out of hand yet, so I’ve left it alone. They’ve been subtle about it to this point. If they cross the line, I will take action.

Flaming
We will not allow one reader to verbally attack another. Edith has removed all comments on the report about the EscapeUL rifle that were argumentative. We can’t just take out the ones that are bad and leave the others — that only confuses things. And it isn’t fair to those who are interested in the EscapeUL to have to wade through a pile of muck to read comments about this rifle.

If we have a problem with a person who just can’t stop flaming (insulting or verbally attacking) others, we’ll ban that person from the blog. That’s a ban on commenting only, not on reading.

This was overdue
I’d planned a different blog for today, but it was put on hold so I could address this issue. We have so many new readers that this was long overdue. I held off because people were behaving themselves, for the most part. But a week ago, we picked up a new reader who went off the deep end almost from the beginning. Then, several other new readers joined him; and yesterday evening it culminated in a hostile food-fight exchange of comments that we had to remove.

So, here are the guidelines. When someone starts off on a personal rant, don’t answer him back. If he persists, we’ll take care of it. When you answer someone, you help create a thread that can get indexed by the search engines if we leave it up long enough. When that happens, this blog starts attracting the bad people. You don’t want that and neither do we.

Edith cleans house
My wife, Edith, is the blog clean-up gal. When the blog gets trashed with comments that don’t belong, she has to stop her other duties for Pyramyd AIR and tend to the blog. She had to delete 76 comments in yesterday’s blog. She had to read all the comments to determine which ones had to be pulled. In some cases, the content of a comment or thread had pertinent/useful airgun info in addition to the bad stuff. In those cases, she threw out the baby with the bathwater and deleted the whole thing. So, if you said something useful or helpful about airguns and it’s now gone, that’s why. Feel free to repost that info if you like.

Tomorrow
We’ll return to regular subjects tomorrow. Just to get your juices flowing, think about firearm companies like Smith & Wesson and Webley that have also made airguns. I don’t mean companies that have put their names on airguns like Colt and Dan Wesson — I mean companies that actually produced airguns.

Then, think of the airgun companies that have also made firearms. If I said Weihrauch, what kind of a company are they? Are they an airgun company, or are they a firearm company? We know they make high-quality airguns, but they also make and have made high-quality firearms. But Weihrauch has also made some of the cheapest so-called Saturday night specials that were ever produced! I’m referring to their Arminius line of zinc-diecast double-action revolvers.

When an airgun company makes a firearm, how do they make it? Good? Bad? Indifferent? Be prepared to discuss that.

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.

124 thoughts on “The way this blog works”

      • Edith
        And you can still see straight after all that read time that was involved. My head was hurting by just looking at how many comments that got posted in those 2 days of turmoil. I really did have a head ache afterwords.

        And I’m sure that simple statement that Rob made at the beginning of that day was just a simple true fact. But the thing is it did affect air guns and it hit a spot that’s touchy for people. And poor Rob did try to settle the fire that day. And he did try to communicate with people but some were not willing to accept and listen and let go.

        I said 2 cuss words in my reply I made and they were not directed at Rob but the topic at hand. I even said in my comment should I hit the submit button in terms of the cuss words I said. So yes I knew I shouldn’t of cussed and I think If I wouldn’t of cussed that my comment would still be there.

        But I did also thank you Edith after you posted saying you removed my comment because of the cuss words that it was better of that way. So my comment wasn’t even up when the war started going on.

        And the time that it was going on it kind of escalated as the evening went. So I believe only a few people seen it increasing.

        Maybe if that’s going on in the future somebody should Email you or BB at that Blogger Email address that you and BB post sometimes. (I can’t remember it off the top of my head) That way you could get a jump on the problem at hand. Just a thought. I don’t want to make it sound like a person is telling on somebody but I think that would of put a halt to the problem that was going on.

        Maybe I shouldn’t even be bringing that bad day up. But also maybe it happened to open everybody’s eyes up and make a fix to a problem. Sorry for going on again.

        • Hi Gunfun, BB, Edith, and others. I’m going to chime in here because Gunfun was kind enough to notice that I didn’t purposefully bring on the rudeness that followed my first post.

          BB, my first post was a sincere one. I worry about our sport; I’d like to keep it beyond the notice of regulators. Maybe my suggestion that we self regulate was not a good one, but my post should have been treated respectfully and not dismissed or treated as an assault…or worse, a stupid attempt to bring on a flame war. It wasn’t.

          I’m not arguing yesterday’s issues. My words, civility, and push for reason remain proven in our memories and my computer. I would like to suggest that so long as your blog discusses issues other than the mechanics of air and firearms, it be open to all related discussions based on reason, rationale, and evidence. I have no problem that others disagree with me, but what’s the point in twisting my words or calling me names or insulting our own cities, states, presidency, and nation?

          I think we should discuss gun management. With thousands of diverse readers, there are clearly different points of view that are reasoned and logical. Or, you can close out all discussion of the politics of weaponry.

          I don’t forget it’s your blog I’ve been reading…and loving…all of these years. You could shut it down to all but those espousing the most favorable interpretations of the 2nd amendment, but that’s not a healthy confident approach. If we can’t have an environment where I-a lover of pellet guns and a friend of firearms-can speak and be spoken to respectfully…where does that happen? And to what end? Insularity leads to rigid group norms, ignorance, and fear (way too much fear on Tuesday; are we on the brink of war??? No.)

          I recommend deleting all insulting posts, but reinforcing rational polite discussions. That’s how we learn. That’s how we become our best selves individually and nationally.
          Rob

          • I just want to add that I agree with so many other posters. Friendliness and civility is appreciated, and is a big part of what makes this blog great. If that is seen as most important, it wouldn’t be a terrible idea to ban political talk of all stripes. Just make the blog a bb, pellet, bullet place…and let the politicians sort out the tough stuff.
            Rob

          • Rob
            It is what was in front of us that day. Today is supposed to be the new day. And I think for the most part people felt something inside them needed to be said that day.

            It started out mostly about air guns but escalated into all kinds of different categories. And you know and other people know there was one person that kept agging things on. The next day he begged to have his account deleted. Well there was the fuel for the spark.

            Its over now and the real test now will be shown soon enough. If we all have learned it will work.

        • Gunfun1,

          I’m 65 and have been a real jerk many times. I’ve said so many things I regret that I cannot fault anyone else for being passionate or saying things they may regret.

          Perfection is unattainable. Don’t let anyone tell you it is. Do the best you can, forgive yourself for your own shortcomings or a quick temper, forgive others, live with a purpose and move forward.

          Let’s enjoy our common interests and remember to treat each other with respect, compassion and mercy.

          Thanks,
          Edith

          • Edith
            Thanks and I couldnt respond yesterday I had a crazy day at work. There’s got to be something in the air if you know what I mean.

            And I thought about saying this before but just havent. My mom was a very strong willed person also and a enabler well and my dad also. And they always was on me about doing things right and to respect people and be responsable. And to be honest and dont lie.

            Well and of course I got a few whoppings up side the head from both of them. You know to get my head on straight. But sometimes thats needed you know. It realy does help you to be a better person. I you listen.

            But anyway better days are on the way. I can just tell for some reason. 😉

  1. B.B. & E.

    The blog is frequently, and lately a little too, provocative. Well done on the clean up. I look forward to some clarification on the genealogy of various airgun flavors which I as a newbie always find confusing, distracting, and frustrating.

    john

    • John

      If there is something you are confused about or need clarification on, feel free to ask about it here. Chances are that one of the blog readers will be able to answer any question you have, or at least point you in the right direction. Lots of knowledgeable folks hang out around here.

  2. Hello B.B.,

    Keep up the good work. In my opinion, this is THE blog to read if your interested in airguns and shooting sports. It is well written, informative, interesting, and provides honest product reviews without unnecessary language or other discussions thanks to your and Edith’s stewardship. By keeping it this way, many newcomers and others will develop a positive opinion and view of the type of responsible persons the vast majority of people who engage in airgunning and shooting sports are.

    Bravo!

    • Mr Beazer. Did you go yet? Have you been sitting there all this time waiting? I think I can safely give you permission this one time. 🙂

      But remember Edith and BB are the Principal and Vise Principal here at this school location.

        • Mr. Beazer crazy day for me at work yesterday. So I couldn’t respond.

          And I wondered if you were going to make any comments on today’s topic. And I’m glad as usual to hear your wonderful words. The things you come up with always makes me laugh. But the blog has just been plain crazy lately. Hasn’t it.

          And all I can say is honest it wasn’t me that done it! It was Debby that put that tack on your chair! 😉

          • Howdy Gunner, Only one Mister around these parts, that’s our fearless leader Mr.BB & his trusty sidekick the lovely & talented Ms. Edith. I’m just Beaz, the class (or classless in some cases) clown. Yup, kinda silly, just a few folks takin’ themselves a liiitle too seriously. IMO, life’s too short ta waste time worryin’/arguin’ about schtuff that in the big picture, really doesn’t affect me & I can’t do anything about even if it did. So I just smile, nod, saddle up & ride off inta the sunset. Have a great weekend, buddy. Shoot/ride safe.
            Beaz

            • Ok only Beazer from now on. And see you around on our next air gun journey my friend. And now its my turn for my saying.

              If you ain’t having fun why are you doing it. See ya.

  3. I’ve had precious little time lately, and in reading the posts but not the comments, seem to have missed much of the hubbub you’re referring to here.

    Sorry to hear it became a problem. I have found in general that the “commentariat” (as Claire Wolfe calls it) can be as or more useful than the post itself, and I often value comments and commenters highly, especially when I have a specific interest in the topic at hand. It’s clear to me that you make quite an effort in time and thought to keep the commentary as vibrant and useful as it is, and I for one can’t tell you how much I appreciate that. It takes work, and the result sets this blog apart.

    It’s easy enough to remember “your crib, your rules”. We’re guests here, and you and Edith are beyond-generous hosts, and fine moderators. When I first started posting, you addressed my usual style (which unintentionally clashes a bit with your stated goals) gracefully and respectfully, and on even a moment’s consideration it was an easy thing for me to modify that style to play better with the flavor you want to maintain here. It’s more than worth the effort for what I get in return.

    Thank you for your efforts in working through the flare-up. Drink water, carry on. 🙂

    This next topic of “when an airgun company makes a firearm” should be interesting. I’ve got no background to draw on for it at all–at least I don’t think I do. Which, given my own history of reading this blog, usually means there are at least a few gold nuggets waiting for me that I didn’t even think to look for in the first place!

    And I’m still very much looking forward to the next installment of the Airsoft primer. I’ve managed to learn a few things since my post-holiday purchase of my first green gas gun, and have several “modifications” questions ready to go. 😀

  4. Hello Fellow Airgunners
    Yes I agree, that was quite the dust up on our blog a couple of days ago. When certain subjects come up that are dear to many readers, comments will inevitably become colourful. Sometimes someone may post a topic he/she knows will start a donnybrook just for kicks. The Daily Blog having become so popular, is a tribute to the hours of dedication you and Edith put in each and every day. I don’t envy you and Edith’s jobs at these times. However, things could be worse. Just imagine maintaining order in a room of politicians from any of the many countries represented by your many loyal readers. I feel the people here are my air gun family, and just as in any family gathering, there is the obnoxious uncle, or the rude cousin we put up with just because they are family. And when all is said and done, families do stick together.
    Ciao
    Titus

  5. A fire definitely got lit the other night that’s for sure. And it seemed that people weren’t responding as normal. (me included)

    What I have always seen here is we had pretty professional conversations through out time. And alot of good info got passed along. And that makes me remember something I wanted to say in the past and then other thoughts of the moment over ran it.

    The thing about this blog is BB has so many topics and guns and reviews and tests going on all the time. And all of us that usually respond on a daily bases or not even daily but do respond are in the loop of what we have been talking about. We already have a idea of how much experience that each of us have acquired with our time of trail and error with guns and air guns. And the conversations we have had allows us to respond to each other because we know we have the knowledge to talk about these things.

    In other words what I’m trying to say is we do know each other. We don’t know what or who that new person is that is responding. And when they pop in on a days topic they don’t know us or what we know or have talked about in the past. They see today’s topic in front of them. And they read through and pick where they want to leave a comment at and to who they want to leave it for.

    I know BB has answered the same 3, 5 or however many questions over and over when a new person pops into the blog.

    ( I know I bugged the heck out of BB with questions in the beginning. But I needed to know a answer; Well I still bug him).

    Guess what we know we just talked about that question the new person asked a day or so ago. And we all go we just talked about that. But that new person does not know that. They just know whats happening today. So each time that new person does pop in BB has to explain again.

    Here it is. The blog is new for each day that it shows up with the topic BB writes about. Then it disappears in time. Who knows when a new person will search something here on the blog in the archives and pull it up. New to them but we know we were involved and talked about the subject.

    So everyday the blog is a new day. Everyday somebody new will read it. And everyday it will have some info that goes on forever into time. Kind of scary and exciting at the same time.

    And BB up in the right hand corner of this page there is something missing in the spot under “Who Writes This Blog?”

    Do you know what it is? Today’s topic. “The way this Blog works”

    Don’t you think?

  6. Hi B.B.

    I’m really glad you brought this up Sir. This a Great Blog for all who want to learn about airguns and so much more & I think people should appreciate the effort you put into it and not muddy it with petty mindedness. Please keep up the great work & God Bless you.

    Errol

  7. BB and Edith,

    I thank you for this chastisement and offer my sincere apologies for any affront to you or others. At times I can get quite wound up and will charge forward without thought of others. I truly appreciate all you do for us and deeply regret any offense to you or others I may have committed.

    Thanks for the reminder.

  8. Here, here. Today’s blog was as useful as any others you have done on airguns. As an aside, I can confirm that should one list their email address on the blog normally rather than try to mislead the”bots”that troll these blogs looking for email addresses, you will start to get a ton of spam.

    Fred DPRoNJ

  9. BB

    It is a shame that things transpired the way they did Tuesday. The response that you gave about safeguarding your rights was perfectly crafted. Unfortunately, that pearl of wisdom disappeared into the ether when the thread on the subject was sanitized.

    Kudos to you and Edith for keeping this place civil and refreshingly free of the usual muck on the internet.

  10. I have to admit that recently I skipped a lot of comments. I wanted to comment on the flamming war but tought it would just fuel the fire (get it 😉 LOL, sorry couldn’t resist) so I didn’t post it.
    I’m quite happy to see the BLOG back to where it’s always been and where we’re respectful of one another.

    Thank you and keep up the great work.

    J-F

  11. I was going to write a long-winded response, but in the interests of brevity I’ll just leave it at this:

    Thank you Edith and B.B. (and Pyramyd Air) for providing a place where facts are presented, questions are answered and civil discussion can be had on all things pertaining to air guns. This is the second place I come to in the mornings (you guys still can’t compete with Amazon.com–can I say that here? but I don’t buy AG stuff from the big A).

    And thanks to all the “regulars” for being so helpful.

  12. BB & E,
    This is such a unique and special site. Not only do I find the variety of posts interesting, it is the additional user comments that expand my knowledge. What we all have in common is our love for this hobby/sport. Thank you for keeping us all on topic. We have a great thing going on here!!

  13. Good morning air gunners,hats off to ya BB.I am new to this blog as of the invisible air gunner blog.After years of reading and enjoying these topics I to decided to say what the heck I’ll jump in and hopefully enjoy this because I love my sport of airgun hunting and have hundreds of hours doing it.So how nice it would be talk to folks who all have something of the same interest cause as that topic was all about;most off us have nobody to play with or talk over ideas in our sport.If this interest was or had anything to do with a round ball,BB and his wife would have to hire hundreds just to “keep it clean and humane and on target”By round ball I mean sports etc.So my point is how nice to have a place to come to with others of the same interest and throw ideas around.Here’s a what I want to say.first i don’t mind and am open to being disagreed with cause that’s how great ideas start and others learn from by Liston’s to others mistakes.So trying to dance around not to offend to many knowing that not all will agree with anything at anytime cause that the way were all hardwired. My second time here expressing my concern that 900 fps.with a bb,was going to be a concern as for as a kids first bb. gun.I was more or less thinking about how this airgun could label warning could be worded so that dad could drill into his sons head that this is potentiality a deadly bb gun.That’s all ,as I said I was a kid 50 yrs. ago and I know how they think or how they do not.That was just my thoughts. Next of the petty stuff I forgot word in a popular phrase.I am new at this thing on the key board,that correct I live so far out in the hills I am still on dail up cause there is no fast Internet here,nor a TV signal sense the big switch.Point is there is not much entertainment here in the winter so I thought I’d try this blog cause I might learn something from all of you.To the point,I came in at a heated time insults were flying back and fourth.My comment I felt was run down before you could blink an eye and basically called stupid cause one felt that all children should be responsible and respectful of BB. or firearm.Yes this person may have been in his youth,but fact is many are not! I was one of them.I had respect and did know that a BB gun could cause bodily harm and was pretty safe for the most part until my little cousins and me got together then we done some stupid things with um and stuff that could put your,, never mind,I can say it.I missed spelled a word when I said that phrase last time and someone felt the need to jump on that to.Forgive me I forgot about spell check. OK,I guess I am done playing my little winning violin or how ever its spelled.Bottom line is,I thought this was a friendly place to be.After what i considered a sorta rude attack on my early visit,I wondered if this was a place I wanted to be? Again I don’t at all mind being corrected at all,but being belittled is another thing.My understanding of airgun and the way some things are short sighted and that’s one reason I wanted to visit here and weight in from time to time plus I fell I may have just a few things to offer that some of you would find helpful.Good day ‘GENTLEMEN’

    • 900 fps is, I think, way too fast to be shooting bb’s. Those things can bounce back at 1/3 that speed and still present a hazard.

      Our 4H club range (indoor) limits all airguns to 600 fps. This accommodates the bb guns and the lower-powered pellet guns. Bounce-back is not a problem with pellets, but penetration of target backers is.

      I used to use golf balls for outdoor targets. The were unsuitable because they would cause pellets from my lower-powered guns would bounce back at me (sometimes hitting me in painful places). Pellets from my higher-powered airguns would tear the balls up.

      Ping-pong balls (a suggestion from this blog) work much better. They hold up better than you might expect, sustaining numerous holes before finally falling apart.

      Les

      • Our 4H club range (indoor) limits all airguns to 600 fps. This accommodates the bb guns and the lower-powered pellet guns. Bounce-back is not a problem with pellets, but penetration of target backers is.

        Heh… sounds like my college archery class… The campus provided wimpy 20-30lb bows (and I do mean wimpy — one girl always chose the lowest weight bow, and her release looked like she was just throwing the arrow — which barely reached the targets from 10 yards).

        BUT, the course was offered mostly in the fall trimester — just before bow deer season.

        So, half the class brought their own bows.

        We often ended up searching 25-50 yards down the field for arrows that snaked under the grass AFTER having gone completely through the hay bale backstop.

  14. Politics & Religion.

    I’m proud to be a part of a blog that has contributors that are passionate about the 2nd Amendment. Lack of passion and general apathy on the subject is appalling and has resulted in a scary direction for America.

    But here’s the thing. This is an airgun blog that occasionally explores the relationship of firearms to airguns. This isn’t a Politics & Religion forum. There are plenty of other places on the internet if that’s what we want to discuss and/or yell about.

    Glad we’ve now got further clarification on this blogs guidelines for posting comments.

    kevin

  15. As the above stated. This is the first thing I read every morning. Being I had no common interest in the weapon tested. I didn’t catch yesterday’s turmoil. And I’m glad. I can understand your frustration.

      • Kinda makes me a lil jealous of your job. If you call be able to test multiple weapons systems and pellet brands a “job”. Hope to meet and shoot some targets with you guys in the near future!

      • Some of you live by BB and talk about getting to shoot with him. I would like to do that also once.

        My wife’s brother lives in the Dallas Fort Worth area; Grandview Texas which is if I remember right about 60 miles or so North East of Dallas. (I hope I’m remembering correctly)

        But we take vacation in the summertime and visit her brother and family sometimes. Maybe I can get lucky BB and send you a Email if were coming down and I can get a chance to shoot with you one day. That would be a fun day I’m sure.

        Of course if you can break away from doing your job duties for Pyramyd AIR while your on the shooting range gathering info for the blog. 😉

  16. B.B.,

    177 e-mails to deal with? This might be yet another example that 22 is better than 177! (LOL)

    One thing you might slip into today’s blog. You don’t review products not sold by Pyramyd AIR with one important (to me, anyway, as I very much look forward to these) exception: vintage items. I trust it has been a while since Pyramyd has carried the FWB 124 or Diana Model 27 with three-bearing adjustable trigger. :^)

    When I stopped by the blog yesterday with my coffee in hand, I saw all of those long political posts and actually whispered aloud, “Wow. It looks like today is one day to just move on to other stuff.”

    Just to try to inject some humor, I very briefly considered adding a post that asked, “Fascinating stuff, but what does any of this have to do with the potential effect of rifled barrels and high velocity on BB guns’ accuracy at ten meters?”

    Instead I decided that most people were not in the frame of mind for humor, so I just moved on for the day.

    Michael

    • I do now feel I should clarify my position regarding steel BBs and velocities above, say 400 fps. As we all know BBs are potentially dangerous at almost any velocity because of their ability to ricochet. At higher velocities they have the potential to wreak awful havoc on whatever they strike.

      I was simply very curious, out of “academic” interest about how a spinning BB at velocities above, say 600 fps., fired outside with an earthen berm as a backstop, might do in terms of accuracy at ten meters. My curiosity is simply out of a thirst for more knowledge and understanding, period.

      Michael

  17. I’m glad that Steve is still with us after being treated poorly by another poster.

    The Second Amendment issue and airgunning are twined in the relationship between airguns and firearms. So concerns about one should include the other.

    I’m sorry that my comments were involved in the discussion becoming out of hand. The best way to respond to attacks is to ignore them, not offer an argument. Sometimes I forget that.

    Les

  18. I used to participate in a lot of forums over the Internet about different subjects, guns, defense, aviation, airsoft, etc… the reason I left all of them and comment here on occasion is the fact that the community here was so kind and open to a friendly discussion as opposed to some forums I visited in the past. Moderators were slow to take action, and the discussion went down pretty quickly.
    I did see some of the comments on the last few days, not all, but I am glad that Tom & Edith took action. It could potentially compromise the work of many years in a few days.
    That is the power of the Internet: you can use it for the good, but some people want to use it for the bad for some reason…
    Cheers to everyone who will continue to post and share knowledge here, and congrats to those who recognise their mistakes and are willing to get back to the old mood.

  19. Excellent work, Edith. It’s much appreciated.
    It’s unfortunate that constant vigilance is necessary to keep a site toxin-free. But it should be no surprise that it is. Visit a national park and despite the efforts of the responsible, it seems as if you’ll always find the piles of garbage left at the view sites by the clueless (as polite a term as I can manage.)
    There’s not much of a stretch to extrapolate examples in either direction of the peculiar need for some to…foul…a virtual or real location. Again, thanks for being on the job.

  20. Edith and BB,

    Thankfully I missed the flame wars the other day but I still remember another very popular forum and your tireless efforts to keep order there. I hope this blog will nip this issue in the bud and that the people here will value this resource enough to protect it with you and refuse to let anyone drag it down. 99.9% of us really appreciate your efforts, lets not allow the .1% to do what they have done to so many other good sites.

  21. B.B.

    Thanks for setting the ground rules for your daily blog. It will create a more comfortable environment for me and other newbies to add our comments.

    However, now to a suggestion (or maybe a constructive criticism): I respect the fact that the TX-200 is the finest springer ever made and that you enjoy shooting it. Yet, do the readers need a 12-part blog on its intricacies. I would much rather you review some of the newer and more affordable products on market such as the Hatsan Edge .22, etc. Also, your blogs regarding airgun fundamentals, maintenance, scopes, pellets, ballistics, etc., are particularly useful and interesting. I would enjoy seeing more blogs about new products and other general airgun topics–and less minutiae about 600-dollar airguns.

    In short, I look forward to reading your blog each day–except for the 12-part series on airguns I can never afford or that are no longer in production. Finally, your readers should realize that a blog such as yours that provides this degree of expertise would typically requires a subscription–but your blog is free!

    Thanks, Mike

  22. I see some of my comments are gone and that’s ok. I’m sorry they were out of line. In my own defense, I do have a problem with more regulation being suggested as I feel that this society has more than enough rules already. The original 10 written in stone were enough and I have a hard time not being vocal about that. I should’ve known better than to air my views in a situation that was already becoming heated though. Nothing was accomplished except to make more work for Tom and Edith. For that, I apologize.

    /Dave

  23. Good on ya B.B. and Edith.
    I consider myself something of an oldtimer here (good grief, going on 7 years now I think).
    Seven years ago when I first seriously got into shooting I frequented nearly a dozen different shooting blogs.
    I’ve narrowed that down to three…this one, one related to rimfire and one that is aimed at snipers who are actually in the ‘profession’ (I sell product to a number of local LE departments and the Canadian military so I sorta have a need to be t here).
    And the reason I’ve narrowed it down to the ones I have is because they all have a sense of civility that is missing in many.
    My feeling is that if you are going to say something that you wouldn’t have the cajones to say in person to someone…DON’T SAY IT.
    I’m a huge fan of the movement out there that would make it mandatory to only be able to use your real name on forums like this…I guarantee things would be lot more civil.

    • RifledDNA
      I don’t know exactly what comments you made on that day. But it seems that a lot of people made comments that they would of normally not made. Some peoples comments got removed and some are still there.

      But now we know where to draw the line at. It was going to happen sooner or later. And a few of the blog topics from different days before that bad day went down I believe kind of got the spark flying if you know what I mean. But that spark just finally got ignited at the right time (well I should say wrong time) So I believe it was finally the time for some real learning to go on. And from what people are commenting today I believe that we did learn. I hope so anyway.

      And to just say on my time that I talked to you with the conversations we had it was ok. I think you were feeling out the surroundings. You, me, twotalon and Wulfraed had a good conversation about PCP guns. I’m sure you know what conversation I’m talking about.

      Those are the type of conversations that normally happen on this blog. You can leave if you want but I didn’t have a problem with you. And you already done the right thing by apologizing. If you truly mean it. Sorry for sounding like a dad. But everybody lives and learns. Its the ones that don’t learn that is a problem. I will shut up again. I probably already said to much again.

      • In not so much leaving as just gonna read and hang back and keeping it to a minimum, Im a pretty “loud” person when it comes to politics and such and feel like I incited our little riot, lol. I will say the “invisible airgunner” should have expected to raise some heated discussions on beliefs and politics, it sure git me going quick. The things that keep us under the radar do really upset me and the state of things are sad from my point of view as a father and ad a weapons enthusiast. In still here but I know I tend to fuel fires, should’ve seen debate class in college! Also Im on a touchscreen that’s not conducive to big thumbs so excuse my typos also and Ill stick around.

    • I hope you do not leave.
      We just got sucker-punched by a couple of trolls.

      Like errant asteroids, these guys come screaming in from out of nowhere, inflict the maximum havoc they can, then vanish. If you toss a nuke at them, it just adds to the mess.

      Our readers have core values they hold very dear. If they do not get riled enough when these values are attacked, the attacker next resorts to personal attacks. That usually results in a response.

      I regret getting suckered into rising to the trolls’ bait. I really believe what I said was true, but much of it would have better have been left unsaid.

      Les

  24. Mike, but that’s the conundrum that I don’t envy someone like B.B. with at all.
    The TX200 is very high on my list of guns to purchase in the near future. I have decided that I do want one springer (I love the platform) that will be of a quality that I can eventually hand down to my kids with pride.
    So I liked the 12 part review…I feel I can purchase the gun with no 2nd guessing.
    Yet…I too like to see reviews of the new stuff.
    Just goes to show with a blog like this…you just can NEVER please anyone…so you unfortunately have to ‘wait your turn’ (so to speak) to get the reviews that are applicable to your own interests.

  25. Wow, I guess I completely missed something unusual. Glad I did. You can find almost anything on the Internet, but a place of civil exchange about substantive information is hard to come by and must be protected at all costs. It’s easier said than done to balance the right mix of individual viewpoints which make things interesting with standards–sort of like the United States. 🙂 The way B.B. and Edith have managed this I think is one of the fundamental reasons why the blog has thrived as it has.

    It is pretty self-evident that the best response to trolls is ignore them. Too bad it is so hard to do. With the communicative powers of the Internet, it is just too easy to pull the trigger and zap them back. But it has occurred to me that with the truly marvelous technology that makes this possible–really undreamed in the history of mankind–it doesn’t make a lot of sense to use it to travel a long distance to fight somebody. It only makes sense to use the technology for something worthwhile.

    When I think of Edith as the Cleaner, I can’t help thinking of the gigantic bearded Frenchman in La Femme Nikita who goes into a building and pretty much wipes out everyone in overpowering style. Heh heh. But too bad the cleaning of spam involves so much manual work. I guess the adding device is not foolproof.

    As to the crossover between firearms and airguns, that certainly does get us back to our roots. When I first got into airgunning, my thought was to stick with established names in firearms. So, I was looking for brands of Savage and Winchester guns which I can no longer even remember now. As a result my initial response to this topic is that the quality of a company in one area has almost nothing to do with the other.

    /Dave, a small off-topic excursus in answer to your point some time ago about the chimps. A specific experiment matched the strength of human athletes in top condition against chimps lying around in cages all day. The chimps blew them away. Apparently activity has very little to do with performance for some physiologies. Lions are the same since they sleep 17 hours a day. Some animals get lucky…

    Matt61

    • Yeah they do. I read that somewhere also. An adult chimp’s strength has been measured at 3-5 times that of a grown man. The only thing that my sitting around has accomplished is the development of a very powerful muscle that allows me to sit in a recliner for long periods of time without tiring. This muscle is the one that laps over my belt when I stand up….

      /Dave

  26. Been thinking about this for a long time. I guess today is the day. I have not read any of the comments on today’s blog yet so what I have to say probably has been said several times already. Excuse me for that.

    I am one of the invisible airgunners. I purchased my first adult airgun in the fall of 2005. I wanted it for pest control. At the time I lived in an incorporated area in the northern ozark hills in central Missouri.

    I bought the fastest shooting teeth rattling spring piston air rifle I could easily get my hands on for $100.00. Those of you reading this know the rest. My first problem was scope shift. While researching the issue I found this blog. Through the teachings of BB, I was able to solve that problem but destroyed the scope shortly after. Enter BB again and Pyramyd air. Leapers scope and a lube tune. With BB’s instructions, I built a spring compressor, disassembled, cleaned and lubed that rifle with moly paste. My shooting got much better, my teeth still rattled and I became obsessed.

    At that time I began reading the blog each day and also read at least one of the earlier blogs as well. I did not have the time to follow the comments until the last three years or so. I am absolutely amazed at the knowledge that is imparted here each day and am hungry to read each and every comment.

    I normally am behind by one day so I can read the blog subject matter and the bulk of comments on the same day. This blog comment area is visited by an array of extremely intellegent and some highly educated individuals. Until I read tuesday’s blog yesterday, I had NEVER heard anyone brag about how highly intellegent and well educated they are. I visit no other blogs or forums and do not intend to.

    MY hope is that the narcissistic elitist gentleman that attemted to enlighten all of us commoners does not return.

    C1

    • C1,

      Welcome to the blog!

      You are the guy I write for — you who wrote what you went through, and the 10,000 others who are like you, but haven’t written yet.

      Your perspective on this is much fresher than mine. Would you be open to sharing a few of those lessons you learned the hard way? I mean what is it like finding things out for yourself, and then learning how to fix them?

      B.B.

  27. I followed along with that entire mess the other day and that was exactly what I considered it to be, a mess. I chose not to get involved because I can have something of a temper sometimes and did not want to get sucked in. I think it is unfortunate that we may lose a few participants over this because some of our best regular members involved were not responding as they normally do. We all “lose” it sometimes.

    Anyway, thanks for your telling us today how it is and is going to be from here on out. It is your blog. I look forward to tomorrows installment.

    G&G

  28. cyclone1,I read your comment about the person bragging on their highly educated self.This could have been me,and believe me after not proof reading what i was saying about who I was, after I posted that I saw that I had one word and that can change the meaning of everything! the word I forgot to use was “not”.So the sentence should have said “I do (not) have the best education”So by forgetting to use one word can really send the wrong meaning.I would never brag on myself cause I cant stand others who do the self gloating thing.So if it was me “one of the newbies” believe me it was a short coming on my part.but i can brag about one thing,98% chance if a squirrel happens to find himself in my sidewinder mounted on my 22 m-rod,he’s history.their,its fun saying stuff like that.And if it was”t me,then this message will explode in 60 seconds. Good day

  29. B.B. and Edith, Thank You for all you do! My kids do not read this blog (yet) but I’m proud that it’s a “Family” friendly blog! Even though today’s blog wasn’t just a review on airguns, I liked it just the same and was needed! It’s good for us all to be reminded of the “rules” and to try and abide by them.
    That all said, as for as tomorrow’s post goes…I can’t wait! Does Webley still make their own airguns or did they sell out? All the guns with just a “name” on them and not produced by the given name just confuses a lot of people who don’t know. A lot of people have swore to me they own a “Colt” 22 lr black gun or a Colt 1911 air gun and think it’s made by Colt. I hate when I burst their bubble. I still wish I had bought a Daisy 22 LR when they were under $100 new. Thanks Again B.B. and Edith! Bradly

        • RifledDNA,

          I don’t think the Stoegers are made in Turkey. I’m pretty sure they’re made in China.

          The Hatsans, which some people confuse with Stoegers, are made in Turkey. For the most part, the Hatsans seem to be pretty well made. Just from reading customer product reviews, I think the Hatsans seem to enjoy a pretty good reputation…even the less pricey ones.

          Edith

          • Ok thanks, trying to pick out a high power breakbarrel in .22 with a gas piston. Id like to actually get around 900 with lead but all the reviews I’ve read of different ones people putting them over chronys say they’re only getting 750 or so.

              • Dear B.B.,Edith,and the regulars, I stepped into the light during the invisible air gunner topic and used the handle feed Ferguson. I hope nobody to offense to that name, I was not trying to make a joke or make light of the blog. This was a nickname given at work so I used it instead of my name because a lot of people use nicknames here. The truth is I consider you my new friends and my friends call me Ricka, even my Mom! So it’s Rick from now on buddies. I jumped in finally because of the excellent treatment of one and other on this blog’s comment section and of course BB’s info,knowledge, and writing style. I must have missed the hubbub and glad I did,there is no need for that in this forum so thanks again to all and especially Edith for playing MOM to us kids and spending her valuable time keeping us clean. Sincerely Rick.

              • B.B.

                I’m certain you know this but just in case. The NP2’s can be preordered now but P.A. shows them being in stock on June 30th. Only reason I bring this up is that if preorders go as I think they might the first shipment or two may sell out before they arrive on June 30th or so. May be a good idea to preorder soon if you really want one.

                G&G

                • Sounds like a good idea, thanks ill have to check them out. The only problem with that is you don’t get any reviews or actual chrony readings before you lay your money down.

  30. I’m stunned. I would never have guessed until I read today’s blog. Now I am sitting here trying to figure out if I was playing the roll of one of the trolls. I certainly did not intend to do so. Edith said, “If someone wants to apologize, they can.” I am.

    This is the first time I have checked back since I responded to Pickles but I feel something must have really taken off after that and run off the rails. I cannot really tell since the posts have been removed (which I am perfectly fine with).

    At the time I posted my last response, I did not feel like I was in the middle of a flame war but was rather in a relatively civil discussion. (Just for the record, I have never been in a flame war. I never write on ANY online forums. I just read. But I guess this has showed me that I am rather long-winded when I do start tapping things out 🙂

    The only other excuse I have is that other members were commenting on non-air gun things so I just assumed that it was ok and it seemed good natured enough at that point. Most strongly held beliefs are not in and of themselves offensive. I tried to respond thoughtfully and did not intend AT ALL to attack any one personally and hope that it was not taken in that way. I certainly did not use profanity–I’m sure of that if not anything else.

    In any case, I feel like I needed to step forward and own up and not just drop off the map. I was not trolling; I was contributing or so I thought. As I said in my very first post a few days ago, I have been reading B.B. with great pleasure for a while now and would have to say that a large portion of what I have learned about air guns I learned from reading him. I suppose I could just go silent but I would rather be able to participate in future when I have an air gun question of comment. Again, my apologies for any contribution I made to the ruckus.

    Tim

  31. I agree 100% I come here to learn,see whats good and bad and enjoy while escaping bad stuff in life . oh yes edith you just keep cleaning up the blog house . I appreciate what the both of you do. time I said it . lets just do like edith and tom said, keep it clean and lets get back to shooting sports. as for those flaming bury the hatchet, shake hands and read the blogs . my nickel’s worth

  32. I’ll be interested to learn about the pistols Weihrauch produced. You’ve mentioned them before and I tried to find out about them just out of curiosity – I’d like to know how and why a company that makes such great airguns could also turn out a bunch of cheap and nasty revolvers. I’ve done a search online but most of what comes up is various forum posts, most of which seem rather dubious in terms of trustworthiness to put it mildly.

    • nowhere, I’ll start. Arminius revolvers are what I think you are referring to. They were imported by F.I.E back in the 1980’s. My dad who was a NRA pistol instructor used to recommend them as a first gun for students to put on their NY state pistol permit if they were short on cash as they were inexpensive. If you get your permit in NY you have to get a gun to validate it, as it is just a permit to possess here. Although cheaply made they didn’t blow up and served their purpose for folks that were short on funds. I lived next to a gun shop when I was a kid and he sold a bunch of them, often to folks who weren’t shooters but needed a gun to keep in the cash register or at their cabin just in case.

      • Ever seen any of the R.G. / Rohm products?

        We’re talking cheap painted alloy frames in the late 60s… And in that age, no transfer bar (or the opposite, hammer block).

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%B6hm_%28RG%29

        (Hmm, scary… Now owned by Umarex)

        http://www.thefirearmsforum.com/showthread.php?t=61249
        Many years ago, my father obtained a use RG-12 which I’d “inherited” in the early 70s (My brother had received a .22 single-action as a gift, so when we returned from the overseas PCS my father gave me the RG-12 that had been in storage for three years). The comment about getting out of time on that link is apropos. If one tried for a slow/controlled double action shot the cylinder didn’t rotate enough for the stop pin to snap into place. Fast double action, on hand cocked single action could impart enough momentum to lock the cylinder into place.

    • Nowhere,

      Robert gave you a good start to the answer. I don’t own an Arminius, so I can’t write a complete blog about it yet, but they are a zinc diecast revolver that uses steel inserts for strength where needed. They certainly are not unsafe, but they are at the very bottom of the food chain when it comes to build quality.

      What makes them stand out so much to my eyes are the other firearms Weihrauch made. They are world class. It is as if Bently also made the Tata.

      B.B.

  33. B.B.

    Like some others, I missed the controversial comments and am a little saddened to hear about them. I’ve been checking your blog more closely every day than I used to but I don’t always read every comment. I really just want to say thank you to you and Edith for every thing you do to make this blog a wonderful place to learn about air guns and share our mutual enjoyment of them. This blog is a precious resource of information, and none of us should take it for granted. I must admit that prior to today’s blog I never fully understood just how much you and Edith do to maintain this blog. Your efforts are greatly appreciated.

    Now back to an air gun topic. Possibly you’ve discussed this question before, but as one of those new to the blog, I thought I might ask it because it has been on my mind a lot lately. With all of the discussions about gun control (as in firearm control) across the country, have you heard any talk about proposals for air gun control at the national, state, and /or local levels of government?

    I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s blog, It sounds very interesting. I certainly hope to learn something.

      • Charles,

        I do not know what state you are from but here in Virginia a couple years ago the state legislature stepped in and put an end to the patch-work quilt of local and municipal regulations.

        (I was trying to see above, B.B. if it is ok to post links. It appears that if it is not spam and not a competing air gun vendor then it may be ok. If not, you can pull this.)

        http://monachuslex.com/?p=1162

        In any case, this post is by a firearms advocate and attorney and he offers what seems to me a very good summary and analysis of regulations related to air guns here in Virginia. When I first started becoming interested in air guns, I read his post very carefully a couple of times. I do not know but others may have done the same for their states.

        Tim

        • BallTurret,

          Greetings and thanks for the link. I was not aware of the federal preemption law concerning air guns. I live in Bellefontaine Neighbors, St. Louis County, Missouri, and gun regulations are not very strict here. Bellefontaine Neighbors does have one ordinance prohibiting the discharge of air guns outside the home for safety reasons because the houses are just too close together. I fully support and comply with that ordinance by limiting my shooting activities to my basement shooting range.

    • Uhm… Besides the PRCa proposals to require transparent or brightly colored bodies for air guns? Obviously, anything more powerful than a spring-piston AirSoft pistol will require enough metal that transparent won’t be viable. That leaves “cancer cure hot pink” for airguns.

  34. Ricka, I think your question about pcp blowouts is a good one. I would hope if anything would fail it’d be the valve and there would be little danger of shrapnel. The problem with a .25 is your guaranteed to have to order pellets, otherwise Id inquire. On another note, I honestly believe you know my father! You have my email so message me I’ll tell you who he is.

  35. Richa,

    There have been instances in which PCPs guns have blown up, with at least one death. I have had a blowup of a fill hose, which wasn’t dangerous, but very disconcerting.

    I’m putting this in the books as a blog topic for soon.

    B.B.

    • Still even the hose whipping around with that high of pressure could of been dangerous.

      I saw a air hose at work break one time and it whipped the heck out of the guys back. The quick disconnect came loose and shot off. He went and grabbed the hose and got a hold of it about 3 feet up from where the air was blowing out and got him about 4 times across the back before he cut of the air. His back was all whelped up. And we regulate the shops air pressure at 150 psi.

      Either way high pressure anything ain’t nothing to play around with. Its amazing how a everyday situation can turn bad in a blink of a eye.

    • BB, I’m sure they are safe or they couldn’t hit the market but to use a bad pun, I’m a little “gun shy” and the thought popped into my head. I know the pressure would take the path of least resistance, probably a seal of some sort and not a side of the air tube failure. I was going to check the archives actually this afternoon while resting up and see if you had previously blogged about PCP construction. Trust me if I could pull out my Marauder and pump it up today I would be out shooting.

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