How did you first get hooked?

[mustangmike]

the first time i pulled the trigger on my disco and saw what every one is talking about when it comes to pcp's but the hook wasnt set untill i got my mrod trigger on the disco. once that match grade trigger got installed it was all down hill for me

[RC1947]

My hobby was making knives until I worked with a exceptional piece of cocobolo, not realizing that some woods are very toxic, cocobolo topping the list.  I developed a rather nasty allergy to wood dust that creates a condition much like a bad case of poison ivy, and in the worst imaginable places on my body.  Not knowing what to do to spend my time, I thought I might get back into the shooting sports.  I didn't want to have to drive to a range to do it, and so, I bought a 2240 and made a small range down cellar.  Of course, like the rest of you, one pistol wasn't going to do it for me.  Hence, another continuing saga of battling with my credit card.  And here I am. RC

[arkmaker †]

Some great stories here...thanks guys...keep em' coming!  Never tried heroin but I imagine it to be something like this!   

but it ends up like this;   

[JEBert]

Noah,
Was it just that your friend couldn't keep the streetlamp out of his eyes so he could get some sleep?  Or is there a more interesting story to it?
Cheers,

[RC1947]

but it ends up like this;   

then this:  RIP

[millipede]

then this:  RIP

yep. lots of my old friends are junkies now and a few have died. i stopped being friends with them years ago but they are still hooked. My very best friend is one of them..  it's sad


anyways, on topic:   i think the forum really is what got me so totally into airguns. if it werent for this place im sure i still would have bought that 1377 (about 3 years ago now) but it never would have crossed my mind to take it apart and modify it. I've had an old 760 sitting around for YEARS and it puzzles me now to think how i never ONCE even THOUGHT of taking it apart to see how it works, since i do that to everything else.. 

i think i've kindof moved on from modding the 1377/2240s though. i just shoot them now instead of mess with them. Im a benji guy now. i like the wood, brass and overall ruggedness and longevity that come with those materials. i dont see a 1377 being passed down for more than a generation. i bet you could let a benjiman sheridan sit in a dank shed for a century and it would still work when you found it again

[NorthStaR]

Oh I don't know. Maybe a stock 1377 would get a bit decrepid but a tricked-up one could be a family heirloom!   

[Noah]

Noah,
Was it just that your friend couldn't keep the streetlamp out of his eyes so he could get some sleep?  Or is there a more interesting story to it?
Cheers,

You nailed it right on the head. Sorry, no colorful story other than he wanted to sleep better at night 

[mudduck48]

When my dad gave me my first BB gun. I was 9 years young. Then in about 1980 got hooked again, then in 2012 got a 1322. The rest is history and a lot of money. NEED MORE GUNS!! I think that I might have a problem.

[agninja]

Thankfully there are people like mudduck48 around, so I can compare myself to them and say "See, you're not THAT bad."

It's always the same though. You get curious, you see other people doing it. They seem to be having a good time with it. Then you try your hand and start out small. Just a little 2240, or maybe a 1377 on sale somewhere. Perhaps even a choice garage sale find. Eventually you tinker around with it and start learning about modding. Soon you find that one gun is not enough. So you get another. That one is even more satisfying now that you know what you are doing. You really come into your own and start exploring the possibilities and looking at all the other models available, meanwhile checking your bank balance for available funds. Before long you'll do anything to scratch that itch. Stuffing guns under the bed, in the closet, and hiding your twisted fetish for airguns from your loved ones. Trying to explain to your wife why it is was absolutely necessary that you spend $60 on a new barrel band. "B...But it's for accuracy honey!"

You people should be ashamed of yourselves. 

[mudduck48]

What you need to do is, move out to the garage, like I did. The "wife" is in the house and I'm out there. She hasn't a clue what I'm doing. I ask for more money into my Paypal account to buy parts, and she says, how much. If I need more beer money, I just take my cans to recycle. The next thing you know you have 75 air gun instead of 50. NEED MORE GUNS.

[redpcx]

I was hooked at 11 when I got an old Diana for Christmas.
I was about 16 when I bought a Mark 2.  Price was 25 or 30 dollars,  but I got a 25% employee discount.
I think my father was proud, he always looked down on bb guns. He liked accuracy.

[funnyrunner]

Found an old stock 1377 in the closet, the one with the metal sliding cover over the breech not the newer ones with a bolt. Took it to Mississippi on a visit to a friend and took it apart, cleaned up this and polished that. Was kinda fun playing with it.
When I got back home, I started looking at airguns. Bought a Diana 34 in .22, then a Hatsan .22 Supercharger pistol, then a TX200 in .22. Bought a couple of stock 2240's, one for me and one for my son, modded them up a bit and discovered I was hooked so I bought another from the Custom Shop. Son got hooked also when I gave him the 2240. He went HPA with it and now we are both hopelessly doomed to travel down the modder's road in search of the pentultimate AG.
Just gave him a Hatsan AT44 for his birthday so I'll let him go bankrupt modding it. There seems to be no end to it.
When I first started visiting the AG forums, I was amazed at the number of AGs some people had listed in their signature. Now, I know how they got that way. Once you are in, there seems to be no way out!!!
What a great road to travel tho. Wish I had discovered it years ago.

[Flex]

Like many (most?) boy baby boomers growing up in the Midwest, I had a "you'll shoot your eye out" Red Ryder BB rifle. I'm sure that it ended up in the trash  or the Goodwill donation box after I lost interest in it.

Many, many years later, I acquired a Daisy PowerLine 92 at a garage sale. The main reason that I bought it was because of the Uncle Mikes shoulder holster system that was part of the deal. The shoulder holster was way worth the $10 price tag so the gun was basically FREE. I never cared much for the gun and have not done much with it (until recently and that's another story).

A few more years passed. I retired from the Army and bought a home to settle down. We had a bit of a pest issue. One day I came across a NOS/NIB Crosman 781 Single-Pump rifle kit (safety glasses, pellets, BBs and targets) on close out at a local Kmart. I figured it would do to give the "pests" the idea that they were "animala non grata" in my yard. It never has been much of an airgun. Woefully inaccurate with BBs. Not too bad with pellets but very underpowered. I still have it and use it as a "training rifle" when the grandkids visit.

Again, the years pass by. A couple of powder burner crises hit the wallet hard. I decided that I had to find a way to shoot for less cash outlay. I hadn't really considered air guns as an option before but now I did. WalMart had a Crosman Fury break barrel rifle as a special on their Black Friday/day after Thanksgiving sale. I bought one and as it turns out THIS was what got me "hooked" . Found the GTA website, then the Crosman Air Gun site and eventually, the CAPOF.

While I find enjoyment shooting the relatively small collection of air guns that I have acquired, I have found immense enjoyment in the rebuilding and modding process! Most any air gun can be rebuilt and perhaps be made to function better. The 13xx and 22xx models of the Crosman lineup seem to be particularly well suited to modification, improvement and upgarades. It's like they are the AR platform of air guns. I love  it .
Flex

[Redleg]

It started in 1948 with a Mod 25 Daisy.... then one day, I saw an ad for the Crosman 357 revolver and I had to have it.  That was quickly followed by a Crosman Custom Morning Fun pack (or some such name) 1377.
Now the count is up to about 6-7 Crosmans and a few others.  FedEX is delivering a Crosman MK177 on Friday.... the beat goes on, and on.  Sure is fun, though.