Airguns are generally cheaper to buy and for sure cheaper to shoot. Airguns can cost as little as $50-100 to buy while real guns in similar models will cost many time more. Cost of ammo is so much less expensive than Real Gun ammo by a mile!
Difficulty to Obtain:
Airguns in most countries do not require any licensing or registration. Generally there are more available options in Airgun choices than Real Gun choices as restrictions often prohibit many Real Guns to be obtained.
Places to Shoot:
Unless you live in a super remote locations and your laws allow you to shoot Real Guns in those locations, then in most cases you can shoot an Airgun almost anywhere within reason. You can even shoot certain Airgun models in your basement. Airsoft is a great option for indoor shooting as the plastic ammo does not carry very much energy so with minimal effort you can make a backstop that will trap the ammo very well.
Trigger Time:
Because ammo is much less expensive and places you can shoot are easier to find, you can get a lot more Trigger Time under your belt which will also improve your shotgun with Real Guns and after all it’s just fun to shoot guns even if they are Airguns.
Safety:
I am not talking about safety in terms of protection. I am talking about safety as in if you do something stupid and your Gun goes off accidentally. If you accidentally fire your Airgun indoors, the bullet will not travel through floors or walls and potentially harm or kill someone on the other side. If you do manage to shoot yourself with an Airgun, the consequence are much less severe than shooting yourself with a Real Gun. That said, always treat an Airgun as if it was a Real Loaded Gun, as server injury and even death can occur even with an Airgun.
Ware Games and Training Situations:
There is no way you can use a standard Real Gun to shoot at people, unless extensively altered with special parts that make the Real Gun unusable to shoot live ammo. With Airguns you have the choice of using an Airsoft or Paintball gun that are both designed specifically for this purpose.
Pest Control:
If you have the need for pest control in an urban area where you do not want a stray bullet to travel too far or penetrate buildings if a shot where to go awry, then an Airgun designed for accuracy and power may be perfect for the job. Accuracy with target and hunting Airguns is on par if not better than many Real Guns and are have powerful enough to kill a pest humanely without having too much power for the job and having to worry as much about your background.
Prop Guns:
As mentioned already, Airguns can look a lot like Real Guns, so they are perfect to be used as a stand-in or Prop Gun when you need to simulate the look and function of a Real Gun. Again they are easier and cheaper to obtain and if something does go wrong, the consequences are much less severe.
Social Stigma:
Unfortunately Real Guns and perhaps any gun these days are looked upon with a social stigma as being the cause of the Crime rather than a tool used in a Crime. And so people blame Guns for these crimes rather than the people committing these crimes. If a person is motivated enough to do something bad, they are going to do it either way and will use whatever means is available to them to commit these Crimes. Including other means like: Knives, Blunt Objects, Poisons, Vehicles, Explosives… Sad but true! Airguns are not used in homicides or mass shootings as they are completely underpowered for a crime like this. They can however be used in crimes as a show of threat, as they do look a lot like real guns, generally people that use Airguns for real crimes, if challenged will give up immediately as they are completely outgunned. Don’t bring an Airgun to a Real Gun fight, you have better chance with a knife!
It has been way too long since I got to go to the gun range and shoot my "big boy" guns! I say that sarcastically, sure my real steel guns are fun to shoot but it sure costs a lot of money and basically all we really do is shoot paper targets. Shooting at papper targets is fun for a while but I kind of enjoy shooting my airguns at pretty much any type of target I choose to shoot at. And of course any time I want to and for pennies per shot.
So getting back to Range Day shooting my real steel big boy guns ;) I went with a couple of buddies of mine and we shot a nice variety of guns. My Norinco NP-30 double stack 45 cal 1911, my Wyoming Arms Parker 10mm, a couple of my friends Glock 40 cals, my Norinco NP-34 P228 and Norinco Tokarev Type 54 9mm pistols, my Chiappa 1911-22 and ISSC M22 22LR pistols, a nice Sig Mosquito 22LR, my buddies S&W M&P 15-22 22LR rifle along with my ISSC MK22 SCAR 22LR rifle and my friends mighty custom Ruger Mini 14 in .223 caliber...
It was a cold day but a really fun day and it gave me a chance to really use my iPhone 6 plus camera for its slow-motion capabilities in a decent lighting situation.
Enjoy the footage of these "real guns" shooting in real time and slowed down.
I finally got out to shoot my Wyoming Arms Parker 10mm S.S. and it worked pretty well for me, the kick was hard but the design of this 10mm pistol helps reduce recoil so the recoil was not really all that much more than shooting a .45 or .40 caliber. If you have not watched my Wyoming Arms Parker 10mm S.S. Pistol Real Steel Overview then make sure to do so... I did have a few of my reload rounds that seemed to give me a bit of trouble but other than that the Wyoming Arms shot very well for me and was extremely accurate.
I also brought along my little ISSC M22 .22LR shooting Glock look-a-like to keep some of my shooting costs down since the 10mm are so expensive I needed to recoup some of my costs shooting the super affordable .22LR ammo. And yes I have a full Table Top Review for the ISSC M22 so check that one out if you're in the market for a fairly low cost .22LR that looks a lot like a Glock.
I had a great time and we got to shot some other guns while we where at the gun range; Walther P38 9mm, Glock 22 .40 Caliber, Sig Sauer Mosquito .22LR and the Smith & Wesson M&P 15-22 .22LR in all.
I do get requests from many of my viewers to do some real steel reviews and so far I have pretty much stuck with 22LR real steel reviews and my Tokarev real steel review. I recently purchased an interesting 10mm semi auto handgun used at a local used gun show and so I though I would share this rather interesting and no longer in production pistol with you. The handgun we are looking at today is the Wyoming Arms Parker 10mm S.S. At first place it looks a lot like a 1911 but it is different in several ways. the obvious traits are the safety on the slide and lack of a grip safety, it also has a very different looking handle and there are some internal differences also.
What drew me to the Wyoming Arms Parker 10mm S.S. was it's 1911 looks, the very nice stainless steel finish and the rather unusual 10mm ammo it was chambered to shoot. If your not familiar with the 10mm round it was developed by the FBI for sue by their field agents but was later determined to be a bit too much to handle for some of their smaller but later agents. The 10mm was then detuned and turned into the S&W 40 caliber which is essentially a shorter less powerful version of the 10mm.
Here are a bunch more photos that really show off the beauty of this pistol!
Definitely make sure to watch this video as I go through the gun and show you around, I also do a field strip and talk a bit more about the Miami Shootout that was the FBI's reason to look into the development of the 10mm Auto round.
