GTW SPOTLIGHT ON...[Airguns]
Abreathof freshair for yourbusiness
The airgun category sector is amajor asset to our
trade.As newcomers regularly enter themarket,well-established firms keep churning out innovation aſter innovation and more andmore shooters are turning to airguns, so this marketwill continue to prosper.
I
n this SpotlightOn,we get to grips with the basics of
airguns, the various power plants, what activities they are suited for and which trends emerge in the market.
AIRGUNTYPES
Tere is farmore to an airgun thanmeets the
eye.Airgun types vary wildly froma humble, spring-powered,break-action toCO2-powered pistols, to the ubiquitous PCP rifles that have taken the airgun world by storm. Each type has advantages as well as disadvantages,which we will dive in to here.
SPRING-POWERED
Te break-action, spring- powered airgun is a great classic. Together with piston-powered models, ‘springers’make up for themajority of airgun sales worldwide. Tat said, it should be noted
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that themarket share of these bestsellers is slightly declining year after year in favour of the other airgun types such as pre-charged pneumatics. Tere ismore to break-action
airguns than the typicalmodels that utilise the barrel as the cocking lever. Fixed-barrelmodels featuring an additional under or side lever have appeared on the market as well. Whatever the cockingmethod,
the essential feature of break- action airguns is that the cocking motion pulls a piston to the rear inside the receiver while compressing a spring. When pulling the trigger, the
spring is released, causing the piston to generate compressed air,pushing the pellet out of the
barrel.Not only does the releasing spring cause noise, it also triggers movement in the airgun before the pellet leaves the barrel. In entry- level tomedium-powered air rifles,
this is not really an issue.Temost powerful spring-powered airguns, however, take some practice to really get themost out of them.
NITRO PISTON
Arelatively recent innovation now offered bymanymanufacturers is the nitro piston power plant, in which cocking the airgunmoves a piston to the rear but, instead of compressing a spring, a gas in a cylinder is compressed. When the gun is fired, the
compressed gas propels a piston forward to compress air in the receiver behind the projectile.Te advantages of the nitro piston as a power source include lighter gun weight and a considerable reduction in noise and vibration at the same time.
VARIABLE PUMP
In theUnited States, the variable- pump airgun is as big a classic as the break-action version is
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