Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Airgun Expo
I had the chance to go over to Little Rock this past weekend to attend the Airgun Expo. The Expo is an airgun show put on by Robin Parks. It was a interesting day, it rained most of the day. It really rained and at times it was raining so hard that you couldn't hear because of din of the rain on the tin roof of building where the show was held. The rain put a damper on test firing any airguns at the show but it didn't damper our spirits.
I had a great time and had time to talk with many old friends. I saw Tom Gaylord there and talked with him for a good while. He was next to Dennis Quachenbush who had some of his high powered airgun products on display. I also saw Jim Giles from Crooked Barn Airguns and Airgun Hobby magazine. He had some beautiful grips for the Crosman series pistols and had some modified pistols there with his breech block on them. I also saw Tim McMurray from Mac1, he and LD were there with some airguns and lots of airgun parts. Scott Pilkington of Pilkington Competition Equipment LLC was also in attendance along with his wife Rhonda. He sells mostly top end match rifles and boy did he have a lot of airguns for everyone to oogle. There were many others that I saw and tried to talk with over the rain noise.
The neat thing about a show like this is that there is a lot of airguns that you just won't see anywhere else. You can pick them up, look them over and put them to your shoulder. You can even shoot them when the weather cooperates. You just can't do this at a local gun shop or when looking at them on the web. This show had several interesting airguns that I hadn't seen before in person. I saw a beautiful multi-pump pneumatic Titan airgun in a new CS800 stock (I would have tried to buy it if it hadn't been a .22 rifle). I also saw a new BSA Lightning XL for the first time and boy did I want to shoot it. I really liked the short barrel and the nicely checkered stock. There were a multitude of 10 meter rifles at the show and I always enjoy checking those out too. The are so many different airguns both new and old to see. There is also a lot of accessories to be had.
The show ran two days, Friday April 28 and Saturday April 29th. I was only able to attend on Satuday, the day of 4" of rain, but I was told that on Friday a doctor rolled up to the show with a car full of airguns and sold them off at really good prices. Evidently he was swarmed by guys wanting to see and buy his goods. I was sorry that I missed that! Saturday at around 11:00 am Robin had setup an auction of various airguns and related accessories. That was a real treat and I think that there were some pretty good deals.
I really enjoyed the few hours that I had to spend at the show looking and a wide variety of airguns and talking airguns with friends. I couldn't get out of the show without buying something, I took home a thumbhole skeleton stock for my Falcon FN19 and a beautiful Paul Watts R7 walnut stock. It is such a unique experience and I would encourage everyone to try to get to one if they can. It is time well spent.
I had a great time and had time to talk with many old friends. I saw Tom Gaylord there and talked with him for a good while. He was next to Dennis Quachenbush who had some of his high powered airgun products on display. I also saw Jim Giles from Crooked Barn Airguns and Airgun Hobby magazine. He had some beautiful grips for the Crosman series pistols and had some modified pistols there with his breech block on them. I also saw Tim McMurray from Mac1, he and LD were there with some airguns and lots of airgun parts. Scott Pilkington of Pilkington Competition Equipment LLC was also in attendance along with his wife Rhonda. He sells mostly top end match rifles and boy did he have a lot of airguns for everyone to oogle. There were many others that I saw and tried to talk with over the rain noise.
The neat thing about a show like this is that there is a lot of airguns that you just won't see anywhere else. You can pick them up, look them over and put them to your shoulder. You can even shoot them when the weather cooperates. You just can't do this at a local gun shop or when looking at them on the web. This show had several interesting airguns that I hadn't seen before in person. I saw a beautiful multi-pump pneumatic Titan airgun in a new CS800 stock (I would have tried to buy it if it hadn't been a .22 rifle). I also saw a new BSA Lightning XL for the first time and boy did I want to shoot it. I really liked the short barrel and the nicely checkered stock. There were a multitude of 10 meter rifles at the show and I always enjoy checking those out too. The are so many different airguns both new and old to see. There is also a lot of accessories to be had.
The show ran two days, Friday April 28 and Saturday April 29th. I was only able to attend on Satuday, the day of 4" of rain, but I was told that on Friday a doctor rolled up to the show with a car full of airguns and sold them off at really good prices. Evidently he was swarmed by guys wanting to see and buy his goods. I was sorry that I missed that! Saturday at around 11:00 am Robin had setup an auction of various airguns and related accessories. That was a real treat and I think that there were some pretty good deals.
I really enjoyed the few hours that I had to spend at the show looking and a wide variety of airguns and talking airguns with friends. I couldn't get out of the show without buying something, I took home a thumbhole skeleton stock for my Falcon FN19 and a beautiful Paul Watts R7 walnut stock. It is such a unique experience and I would encourage everyone to try to get to one if they can. It is time well spent.
