I read the ads in the back of comic books that said that if I was responsible and kept my room clean, perhaps my parents would decide I could be trusted. When I talked to mom, she said maybe I could have a BB gun by the age of 12, but she wasn’t excited about it. Twelve-years-old looked a long way off when I was in kindergarten.

My prospects of getting a BB gun looked bleak until the neighbor dog started whipping on our family pooch. We had a Collie and our neighbors kept a Great Dane for home protection. The neighbor’s dog must not have had enough burglars to fight, because every few days he’d come loping up the road to put a beating on old Prancer.

One day I overheard dad tell mom he was going to buy a BB gun to keep that dog on the right side of the fence. A certain careful optimism crept in to my way of thinking.

A few days later dad laid down $7.50 for a fistful of BBs and the Daisy – a spring-air cowboy rifle, complete with plastic wood-grain on the stock and fore end. The Great Dane got the message, delivered at a humble 250 feet per second (fps).

Today’s air rifles have come a long way. Production guns are offered in several different calibers, including .177, .20, .22 and .25.

Beeman, BSA, Gamo, RWS, Crosman and other companies now make spring piston, gas spring, pneumatic, and pre-charged pneumatic rifles that shoot as fast as 1,600 fps when paired with high-speed pellets like Gamo’s Performance Ballistic Alloy. Optics manufacturers have stepped up to provide precision scopes calibrated for air rifles. Projectile manufacturers have developed pellets that fly faster and hit harder. Why the compressed-air arms escalation?

Because the consumer has signed-on in a big way. The biggest segment of the market is in the $50 to $100 range, but there are also buyers for air guns that start in the $600 to $700 range and handle like the finest firearms.

One reason is that an air rifle makes little noise and its lightweight projectile doesn’t carry enough momentum to be dangerous beyond 600 yards. A firing range and backstop can be built in a basement or in the garage without putting the family at risk.

And, outside of city limits, an air rifle can be used to dispatch unwanted varmints like rats, ground squirrels, rattlesnakes, skunks, raccoons and starlings without alarming the neighbors.

Recently, I spoke with Gary from Redmond, who picked up an air rifle for the practice it would give him for deer season.

”I never considered shooting a pellet rifle until I got frustrated at not being able to go to the range as often as I liked,” he said.

So he built a range at home and two months ago purchased an RWS Super 10 .22 caliber pre-charged pneumatic and mounted a Bushnell 3200 up top. Filling the reservoir with air out of a scuba tank, Gary can get 40 to 50 shots between charges and 1,100 to 1,200 fps with a pellet that weighs less than 10 grains. A barrel-length baffled dampener keeps the sound to little more than that of a muffled cough.

”I built a pellet trap out of two-by-fours and two-by-sixes with plywood backing and 12 layers of carpet,” he said. And instead of driving out to the range, he strolls out the back door and down to the barn.

”I thought if I can shoot offhand with an air gun that is set up similar to my hunting rifle with scope and sling then I can get good at shooting rifles again.”

”The kill zone on a deer is eight inches,” he explained. ”If I say I want to be able to consistently hit an eight-inch circle offhand that translates to three-quarters of an inch on a 10-yard range. With an air gun, I can practice three or four times a week at only 15 minutes a session.”

Gary is using the practice as training for big game, but the air gun is a hunting tool in its own right. He has his eye on the Western Gray Squirrel season this fall.

”If I can use this rifle to go shoot silver-gray squirrels, I’ll do it. I love to eat silver-grays,” he said.

”I’m going to continue trying to hone my shooting skills,” Gary added. ”I’m shooting (offhand) into approximately an inch-and-a-half circle and I think I can get to the point where I’m shooting into an inch or less.”

While we were talking, Gary let slip that he is 60 years old and I couldn’t help but catch a little bit of his youthful enthusiasm. I’ve been keeping my room clean and being responsible. Perhaps there’s a new air gun in my future.