Been meaning to post some lengthy observations for some time now. What I've learned using air guns. Assumptions
made that have been both wrong and correct. Things that worked or not and how well they worked or didn't.
Comparisons between multi pump and spring piston and the not so new anymore "Gas Spring". Expecting this to take
some time, I plan on writing this in installments. Hope you all will bear with me and hopefully we can all gain something
from it.
Like probably a majority of shooters, the first time I ever pulled a trigger on a real gun was on a air rifle. I was 5 years old.
I still remember it clearly. Dad took me out to Oso Beach close to Corpus Christi. Back then and likely today the beach
was deserted. It's a very shallow bay that gets a lot of crap washed up on it. Piles of driftwood and trash and lots of what
attracted the thing the old Spaniards named the beach for. I can still smell all the rotting fish. Oso is Spanish for bear.
Reckon black bear were common in Texas then.
I suspect Dad's main reason for the trip was to try out some handloads for his old Savage .22 Hornet but he brought
the old pellet gun too.... and me. Recently learned that old Benjamin was even older than I'd thought. Dad told me he'd
bought it used when he was still in high school. That'd make it a late '40s or more likely 1950 something model.
Wish we still had it.
Dad found a broken piece of 2x6 with a big long splinter hanging off one end. He stuck the splinter into the sand maybe
5 yards out and we rested the rifle across a big tree that had washed up on the beach. I got my 1st shooting lesson
and after shooting a while Dad let me shoot the Hornet. He was probably tired of pumping. I remember him emphatically
telling me to never pump it more than 5 pumps. I could barely close it on 3 pumps then.
Fast forward a couple years. Our family is blessed to have a small plot of land that we could visit 2-3 times a year.
I was allowed complete run of it with that old Benjamin and a tin of mixed pellets and .22 BBs. Another year or so and that
was upgraded to Dad's old .22 rifle. We shot shorts, longs, and long rifle. Wasn't like today, burning through boxes of ammo.
Can't remember ever shooting even one whole box. I remember my grand father telling when he was boy, he could buy
shotgun shells and .22 ammo by the round. Said he'd save his money and either buy two shotgun shells or 5 .22 rounds.
Was all he could afford and he assured me he NEVER fired a shot he wasn't sure would put meat on the table. And these days we complain at the cost of .22 ammo and still shoot through 100s of rounds at a time.
Not long after, I was deemed old enough to hunt deer with dad but this property didn't have a lot of deer so just seeing a deer was considered a successful hunt. Remember much talk of the "night hunters". I was shooting "real" guns now and the
pellet gun seldom came out.
Then we moved into central Texas to the edge of suburbia. Less than a quarter mile to woods as far as I cared to roam.
Somewhere along the way, Dad's pellet gun quit working and of course I had an itch. Saved up my money and when the family took
a trip to K-Mart, I bought a brand new Benjamin pellet gun. Decided on a .177 because I could buy near twice the pellets
for the same cash. This is really when my shooting education started.
Funny, I can only remember one time shooting that thing on paper. There were probably others but I just don't remember.
It wasn't hitting close to my aim. Had to put a penny under the ramp under the rear sight with the ramp all the way as high
as it would go. That penny is still there today and the rifle gets shot once in a while but not much.
Now I learned a lot from that Benjamin. Holdover and and range estimation. Windage. Shot lots of sparrows and some pigeons.
Mostly I carried it out in the woods and shot at random stuff like rocks, old cans whatever looked like it needed shot.
Never a window broken, an eye shot out, or ..... a neighbor complaining about a kid walking through the neighborhood with...
....A GUN. Can remember a time or two a policeman stopping me. Asking where I was headed and what for. Always told him the truth and he'd tell me keep it safe and I'd say yessir and be on my way.
As I got older I graduated to using a shotgun sometimes but suburbia was growing and anything that shot bullets was a bad idea.
I wasn't the only kid in this endeavor. I know I'd gained a reputation and would like to think I was the best marksman of the bunch. A good part of that came from buying myself a bow, a real hunting bow. 50 lb. recurve which I killed my 1st deer with.
The other guys were outclassed in the shooting department from all my archery practice that gave some good upper body strength. That HAD to play a part. That and somewhere I'd got the idea that missing was just not fun.
Soon I'd graduate high school and join the army. Yes, air guns were used while I was in the army but I'll stop for tonight.