🚀 go-pugleaf

Just a quick note to respond to Alan Marcum's comments:

What I was describing about Beeman having an extra level of inspection and
warranty was in comparison to buying air guns via mail or phone order from
Shotgun News ads. You can save on the price if you know exactly what you
want and carefully search Shotgun News for ads from distributors who will
sell to non-FFL-holders and pick the very cheapest combination of cost +
shipping. However, you are probably on your own if there is a defect or
a problem. You are paying for a level of backup and dealer servicing
when you buy from Beeman or a similar retail-level source. This is
really something entirely different from having a specific gun selected
out for you by the factory. 

Also, remember that my posting was in response to someone who was
interested in airguns for "backyard plinking" or the like. A competitive
airgun target shooter is several orders of magnitude up the scale in
interest, committment, and involvement with this field. I doubt if there
can really be a valid comparison made between such disparate
requirements. 

However, we'd like to hear more from you about the field. From where DO
the competitors you mentioned buy their airguns, if they don't go direct
to the factories (which I would assume most never could do; that must be
a rare exception)? Are there firms known only to the elite that cater to
this select customer base, or do these people do their own customizing
and maintenance, accurizing and tweaking ordinary airguns bought from 
those Shotgun News sources I mentioned? 

Regards,
Will Martin
wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA   (on USENET try ...!seismo!wmartin@ALMSA-1.ARPA )