Most avid target shooters are aware of the high cost of ammunition and the shortage of it today. Of all the calibers, .22 long rifle, which was the least expensive ammo to use for years, now costs more and shortages are ongoing.

There are a lot of rumors about the reasons for the shortage, such as the ammo companies aren’t making enough because they want to jack-up the price for more profit or shooters are buying and hoarding .22s and some are reselling them at gun shows for a nice profit. There are more. Whichever you believe, there is another venue to try to maintain your shooting proficiency and it doesn’t necessarily require a shooting range.

With limited supplies of .22 ammunition, some sportsman are switching to airguns. And no not the Daisy BB gun types of Christmas Story movie fame, but pistols and rifles that look, feel and perform to some extent like centerfire type firearms.

Pellet or BB ammo is more readily available and markedly cheaper than .22s and other centerfire ammo. And air rifles and handguns can be safely fired in the backyard, basement or garage at a makeshift range. And new technology with airguns makes them an easy transition from .22s.

According to ShooterSurvey.com, of the 4,500 shooters they surveyed, 40-percent reported shooting an air rifle in the past 12 months. In that same period, 33-percent said they would have purchased more ammo had it been available and 17 percent said they were not able to buy all the .22 ammo they wanted.

So the question is, did those shooters opt to shoot air rifles because of the ammo shortage, or more as a substitute for their rimfire rifles and handguns?

Says ShooterSurvey.com, an interestingly sizable 75 percent of them said the limitation had zero impact on how much they shot airguns. They would have shot airguns the same amount. Eighteen percent, however, reported they would’ve shot airguns less had they been able to buy more .22 ammo, while only five percent were moved to join the airgun ranks noting they probably wouldn’t have shot airguns at all had they been able to get all the rimfire loads the wanted.

Robert Southwick, president of Southwick Associates, who designs and conducts the surveys at HunterSurvey.com,

“It would appear the recent shortage of .22-caliber ammo has some impact on increased airgun use, but maybe not as much as some people would expect,” says ShooterSurvey.com and AnglerSurvey.com. “Airguns, it seems, are popular among a portion of today’s shooters on their own merits.”

And while there are long time airgun makers like Beeman, Benjamin, Daisy, Crosman, Gamo and RWS, who make airgun rifles and handguns, major gun makers like Ruger, Smith & Wesson’s Walther Division also got into this business. Then there’s the newcomer and popular gun maker Sig Sauer, who has most recently come out with two replicas of their P226 and P250 semi-auto pistols and their MPX and MCX that look like traditional sporting rifles complete with red dot scopes. Sig says their SIG ASP line is a new breed of firearms for them and for training and recreation.

Their airguns are matched to the original centerfire models in weight, trigger pull and performance.

Most of these airguns have low feet per second speeds that range from 480 to 1,350 fps when shooting .177 pellets or BBs. Some are pneumatic powered (pumped) while others are CO2 cartridge powered. These low speeds and shallow penetration make them suitable for a home indoor range where a shooter can practice any time and in any weather.

Airgun suggested retails prices vary from as low as $45 for a quality handgun to over $600 for a precision RWS 460 Combo. The latter reaches into the price range of a centerfire long gun.

AIRBOW

While on the subject of airguns, Benjamin, the airgun maker, will be debuting its horizontal Pioneer Airbow at the upcoming Archery Trade Show. While most of the details are hush-hush, their teaser ad in Archery Business magazine says it has a speed of 450 fps and can shoot two-inch groups at 60 yards. As it’s air powered, it’ll only be a matter of time before the Pennsylvania Game Commission will call an emergency board meeting to draw up a law against its use for hunting in the state. Stay tuned for more information on this almost crossbow.

CABELA’S FREE GUN OWNERSHIP CLASSES

Beginning Jan. 5, Cabela’s Hamburg will host a series of responsible gun ownership classes that will run over a two-month period. Each class, said Ron Leh, Cabela’s Retail Marketing Manager, will be held twice a week, one at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday evenings, and the other on Saturday, at 1 p.m. in their second floor conference room.

The classes include Gun Storage and Safety, Don’t be a Victim, Gun Cleaning 101, and Home Firearms Safety.