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Airgun Hobbyist
Another SHOT Show has come and gone, racking
up record numbers again with 67,000+ attendees this year.
Among them were your illustrious editor and myself as we
were able to meet up at the show for the first time. Look for a
“Tim’s Eye View” of the show on page 15 in this edition.
It is amazing to attend one of these things and
I feel fortunate to be able to do so. The sheer vastness,
number of booths and things to see can be overwhelming,
but having access to CEOs of most of these companies is
simply incredible. All of the manufacturers, air-powered or
powder-actuated alike, realize that getting youth involved in
the shooting sports is paramount to the continuation of our
shooting heritage. In that spirit, several introduced additional
youth models to their lines this year. Along with all of the
regular players we had the opportunity to talk with about
their latest offerings, there are some newcomers to tell you
about as well, so let’s get started:
Action Sport Games (ASG)
– a fine maker of licensed
copies of some of the world’s most famous firearms, both
in airsoft and BB. Tim and I had the pleasure of sitting
down with the CEO and co-founder of the company, Johnny
Pedersen, for a few minutes. Johnny is a trained mechanical
engineer and machinist without a background in guns. The
seeds of ASG began when he was asked to repair and modify
airsoft guns back in his hometown in Denmark, a country
with many restrictions on firearms ownership. He liked
working on them and began to do upgrades around 2002 to
guns brought to him. The rest, as they say, is history. ASG has
one of the largest and most impressive “stables” of world-
wide licensed products you will find. All specifications and
designs for these 1:1 replica guns are completed in-house and
the quality of their products is top notch. Most models are
even marked with a unique serial number like their powder
burning counterparts. The ASG catalog also includes a line
of accessories, scopes and gear to accompany their extensive
lineup of guns. A Dan Wesson revolver replica has been in
their lineup for several years. For 2014 ASG has produced a
Limited Edition version in black chrome, and it’s a beauty. In
addition, ASG announced their foray into the pellet gun arena
using the same Dan Wesson revolver platform! Changes
to the platform include an ingeniously simple system of a
threaded “bullet” which is actually a “chamber” to hold the
.177 pellet in its nose, a full length rifled brass barrel and a
precision machined metal cartridge casing. The bullet/
cap is threaded into the casing and can then be loaded as
normal into the wheel gun. The CO2 cartridge is held under
the rubber grip and gas is released upon firing and travels
through the cartridge to launch the pellet. We handled one
of the guns at the show and were duly impressed and excited
that a pellet version was now available. It is important
to note that the pellet and BB version cartridges are not
interchangeable and ASG has made the pellet bullet/cap in
black to distinguish it from the BB version. In the semi-auto
realm, ASG came out with a pellet version of the CZ 75 P-09
DUTY. This faithful copy offers a metal slide with blowback
operation, rifled barrel, and an easy load drop-free magazine
that holds the CO2 cartridge along with the pellets. It is also
capable of firing BBs. Pricing was not set for these models
yet, however, you can check out all of the other offerings from
ASG and contact them at: www.actionsportgames.com.
Air Venturi
– the parent company of the well-known
catalog operation, Pyramyd Air, is a distributor of most of the
items discussed in this article. Air Venturi has built a solid
reputation in the industry and provide a lot of support to
the airgunning community all across the country. They also
perform authorized repairs and that keeps them very busy in
the shop according to Gene Salvino, their Senior Airgunsmith.
To obtain a catalog or get in touch with their techs, contact
them at: www.pyramydair.com.
AirForce Airguns/AirForce International
– our
friends out of Ft. Worth, Texas have teamed with the host of
a reality TV show to create the Ton Jones signature series of
air rifles. Ton is one of the stars of “Auction Hunters” airing
on the Spike network. Ton describes himself as an “airgun
evangelist” and has been a fan of AirForce Airguns for a long
time. Collaboration between the two yielded the Ton Jones
signature AirForce Express rifle (24 in. barrel) and carbine
(18 in.). Both have the smaller air bottle/stock and can be
ordered with the AirForce quick detach system. The 18 inch
barrel version is the Escape UL (Ultra Light) model and can
easily be carried in a backpack. For those who want the
quietest shots, look to the Escape SS. They come in either .22
or .25 and the .22 has a velocity potential of 1275fps. Prices
start at $579.00. AirForce International imports and sells
the Spanish made Cometa line of air rifles and pre-charged
pneumatics (PCPs). These guns are worth checking out as
they are high quality and most are stocked in real walnut. To
find out more about the entire AirForce line, navigate over to
www.airforceairguns.com or www.airforceinternational.com.
Airguns of Arizona
– this purveyor of high-end air rifles
such as Daystate, FX and Weihrauch was showing off a new
Daystate Wolverine PCP and and a couple of FX air rifles in
bullpup configuration. The British-made Wolverine Mk2 is a
mid-power version of the original bolt action, rotary magazine
rifle in a Turkish walnut thumbhole stock and it retails around
$2095.00. The Swedish-made FX Bobcat is a synthetic
stocked, rotary magazine fed PCP with an 18.5 inch barrel
available in .22, 25. & .30 calibers. Prices start at $1795.00.
The other FX being showcased was the FX Indy, a bullpup
version of the FX Independence. The Indy, like its big
by Gordon D. Smith
