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There really is a lot that goes into winning the hearts and minds of people when it comes to challenging long held paradigms. Just think of the work that went into convincing Americans to simply wear their seatbelts – an idea still contested by some in the face of graveyards full of evidence to the contrary. Folks in the hunting world are not strangers to such struggles for good ideas whose times have come.

Springtime is a great time of the year for so many reasons. Not only is the grass turning green and the trees budding out, but pollen and mold counts are going up, too! With the good comes a little bad, at least where allergens are concerned. But, it’s also a time of year where everyone is wanting to get out and about, including us. With this year’s NRA Annual Meetings and Expositions scheduled for mid-April in Indianapolis, Indiana, we were anxious to attend.

The airgunning community is a niche community. Oh, nearly anyone you meet has shot an airgun of some sort and it’s not uncommon to find someone who owns an airgun. What I mean by the community being a niche is that an airgun enthusiast is a rare individual. Even rarer is an airgun hunter. You can walk into any sporting goods retailer and find a half-dozen guys who own four or more GLOCKs, AR15s, 1911s, M1 Garands, fill in the blank. You see what I mean? But finding one person who has more than one airgun of any kind, let alone someone who hunts with one, is like locating a diamond out at Murfreesboro State Park – not easy.

Okay, without a doubt the biggest news this year for Umarex USA is the Hammer Carbine. Funny that a carbine is big news, considering that this new PCP is both shorter and lighter than the original Hammer .50 caliber rifle. So is that all there is to the story? Well, no, not at all. The story, for me at least, begins on the range. The range, for trigger-activated devices, is where the rubber meets the road. It’s where you can get a feel for how something will perform and how you interface with the rifle. This past January in the Nevada desert, myself and many other people got our first opportunity to shoot the new Hammer Carbine. So, yes, the Hammer Carbine is shorter, but it’s not just this convenient fact that makes this new PCP so special. The barrel is threaded and topped off with a threaded barrel nut. Now, a consumer can easily attach a sound dampener or just use the rifle like it is, with about a 9 inch shorter platform. Now mechanically, the Hammer Carbine is very much the same as the original Hammer. Loading the magazine, working straight pull bolt action, and operating the safeties is all familiar territory for anyone who’s had any experience with the Hammer.

Honestly, everything that follows will be applicable to any spring or gas pistol air rifle, but the buzzword these days with self-contained power source airguns is “gas piston”, so there ya go. So what do you need to know about this style of airgun? Thankfully, little, but what little there is, it is very important.

So you have picked up your first Pre-Charged Pneumatic air rifle or you are thinking about pulling the trigger, so to speak, on the purchase. What are the real costs associated with PCP airgunning? Hang in with us for a few paragraphs and we will address just that!

There’s never been a more exciting time to shoot airguns. Basically, if you can imagine it, someone is building it. What are they building? Well, lots of airguns in several categories. In this blog series, we will look at all the facets of the airgun diamond. The first facet of this diamond are one-to-one licensed replicas.

At one point in my life there was no such thing as “Black Friday”. Well, there was, but it referred to the historical stock market crash in October of 1929 that decimated fortunes and sadly was the opening act of a very bad decade. Around 25 years ago a retail shopping phenomenon developed that would come to be known as “Black Friday”. In the days before e-commerce was a thing, people actually got up at the crack of dawn to go shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Retailers seeking to out-sell their competition, opened their doors a little earlier each year, until it became unnecessary to set an alarm at all. The shopping would commence at midnight.

Glacier View School/MSBSD have launched a SAR program after teachers and volunteers from Glacier View School, Twindly Bridge Charter School and Kenny Lake School obtained SAR Basic Air Riflery Instructor certification. Funding for the program came from the local community and a grant from the NRA Foundation.

When it comes to playing paintball, it’s important to remember that paintballing is a competitive game. This means that there are winners and losers, and to win, there are strategies and tips to keep in mind that can help you do so. At the same time, remember that paintball is also primarily recreational, meaning it’s meant to be fun and a great experience to bond with your friends.