It was a tremendous privilege last year to be asked to participate in the TV show American Airgunner. After a very successful 2013 season, the executive producers gave me a call and asked me if I’d like to join them for 2014. After long and careful consideration… of about 2 seconds… I jumped at the chance to be on the show again.
For you all that are not familiar with American Airgunner, it’s a show that focuses on all aspects of airguns. There are product reviews and round table discussions on all manner of airgun topics from industry experts such as myself, Tom Gaylord, and Jim Chapman big game airgun hunter. There are airgun hunts starring Steve Criner from the Dog Soldier, industry event and competition coverage, and much more. (To learn more visit www.americanairgunner.com) The whole thing is hosted by Rossi Morreale, an Arkansas boy with a lot of gun background, but that just started learning about the wonderful world of airguns last year.
The Gang’s All Here…
I got Monday’s schedule via email and thought… “oh boy that’s a lot to cover in only one day.” My first reaction was to hire someone to let all the air out of their tires so they’d have to spend another day here with me in the studio, but then I figured someone on the crew would have AAA and then things would be “awkward.” Anyway, we started our day by taking a look at some brand new pistols from Umarex USA. These are so new that they’re not even on the site yet. The first was the new Walther PPS. There’s a bb repeater as well as a companion airsoft model. These small, lightweight pistols have a great feel, positive blowback, and a great “pop” sound when you shot them. It seems that the Umarex has been working on improving the acoustic signature along with everything else.
The next airgun we looked at was the new Beretta 84, again in both BB and Airsoft. This is an all metal replica that really feels good in the hand. It also has a great blowback feel and a great “pop” sound when fired. There’s really no way to describe how it sounds other than it sounds just like my .22 pistols, just softer. It’s like someone turned down the volume on my Beretta .22, but kept the sound true to form.
American Airgunner Host Rossi Morreale and Rick Eutsler of Airgun web review the new Beretta 84We covered about 5 different products in all. You’ll have to catch the show next fall when it airs to get all the details. But, I can share that we also looked at the Umarex Octane and the Umerx Surge, as well as took a little time with the Beretta 92. And that was all before lunch!
Out into the desert for some more fun!
After a wonderful meal provided by the good folks at Umarex, we packed up the truck and headed out to the desert for some more fun. We started with my Savage .223 shooting some 1/2 pound & 1 pound Tannerite charges (THANK YOU TANNERITE FOR YOUR SUPPORT!) and then, once we got that out of system, we lined up some of their .22LR charges to see if our airguns would do the job.
Tannerite and Airguns.. Oh YEAH….We started with the Walther Dominator 1250 in .177. This airgun is really suited for this kind of shooting as it has great velocity and accuracy, just what you need to ignite the small little charge pouches. One shot… BOOM… No question that you’ve hit it right on the money.
Exploding Targets.. are you kidding me!!!For the more refined shooter, we pulled out the Air Arms S510, also in .177, and easily took out target after target with great efficiency. I’m not sure if I could choose between my Dominator or my S510, They are both really great airguns.
AirArms S510 .177 vs exploding target.. BOOM!Does Rossie get out shot by a 6 year old girl???
The most fun of the day was when Rossi had to step up to the challenge laid down by my 6 year old daughter Naomi. So here was the scene. Umarex had provided 2 of their Steel Force Co2 BB rifles for the showdown… Let’s just say that Naomi’s had a few “upgrades” over the stock model Rossi had been provided. You’ll have to wait for the show to see how everything turned out.
Naomi and Rossi on the range…In the end, it was a great day with friends and family that reminded us of just how much fun we can have with airguns. I want to say a big thank you to American Airgunner, Rossi Morreale, Umarex USA, and the amazing crew of 5Star Productions.
