By: Randy Parker, PSC Rifle Director
I wasn’t around back in 1906, but I was probably around when your grandpa was a kid. Back when I was a kid when you thought about an “air gun” you were thinking about a Red Rider BB gun or a Benjamin pump-up pellet gun. These were used mainly by kids to have fun and maybe kill a sparrow or maybe a rat if you were lucky. Back then you wanted a .22 to do real shooting, and a box of .22 ammo was about $0.50 to $0.60 per box of .22 Long Rifle. Yes, and gasoline was $0.20 per gallon. We have come a long way since then, and “air gun” technology has also come a long way.
Back in 1800 there was the Girardoni air rifle and one or several of these were taken along with the Lewis and Clark Expedition in 1803. The Girardoni air rifle was a .46 caliber air gun producing a 1,000 ft per second muzzle velocity and could penetrate a 1” pine board at 100 yards. This rapid-fire rifle could shoot 22 times in less than one minute with high accuracy! Way better performance than the muzzle loading muskets of the time. Some of these air guns were used in European battles around 1790 to 1800. It is kind of amazing that there was not any investment in further development of air guns as a battlefield weapon. Anyway, after the Lewis and Clark Expedition air guns pretty much disappeared and we were left with the Red Rider BB gun.
Read more: Let Me Tell You How it was back in ought 6.
While informal shooting has always been the primary focus of the majority of our Members, PSC rifle, pistol and multi-gun matches draw hundreds of members and non-members together for a few hours of fun, fellowship and competition. While it may sound somewhat contradictory, competitive shooting isn’t solely about competition. In fact, some “competitors” don’t care about competing with anyone other than themselves. Their goal is to improve their skill at arms and have fun with old and new friends in the process.
Some matches attract more serious, competitive-minded shooters while others tend to be a bit more casual. This is discussed in more detail in the following paragraphs. Regardless of the atmosphere of the match, safety is always the primary focus. By “casual,” we mean shooters are more casual about their placement in a match, not that they are casual about firearm safety.
The PSC Shooting Club, Inc. was founded in 1966 and it is one of the finest shooting clubs in Texas. It is also one of the largest, if not the largest, serving over 3,000 Members as well as the community. Club facilities include a “position” rifle range, a bench-rest rifle range, .22 rimfire range for rifle and pistol, numerous pistol cells and pistol bays, air gun range, shotgun ranges and even an archery range. Club facilities are available to members during regular hours seven days a week. Special events including numerous matches, educational programs and other specialty events are also open to the public.