About 25 years ago, I was just getting into guns, pretty much on my own. As I recall, the local pawnshop had a Benjamin multi-pumper and I paid the princely sum of $40 for it. I shot it in my basement in the evening after work. I kept noticing the ads in the gun magazines for Beeman airguns and requested a catalog. It was all downhill from there. Those of you who remember the Beeman catalogs will understand . . .
My first "adult" airgun was a Beeman R1 (a poor choice for a first airgun, it turns out). That prompted the purchase of Tom Gaylord's R1 book and several attempts to tune/calm that beast. Somewhere along the line I bought an HW55 . . . the gun that became the airgun love of my life . . . Then came "The Airgun List" and "The Airgun Letter." Then came an FWB300s. One thing just led to another. The Internet was pretty much the ruin of me. The "Yellow Forum", the vintage site and a few other online communities exposed me to other lost souls who encouraged and enabled my weaknesses. It's their fault as much as anything.
In truth, I am primarily an airgun collector. I shoot them some, but not nearly as much as I should. Although I have a couple higher power airguns that I will take outside and shoot occasionally, the vast majority of my airgun shooting is inside, down in my basement. That's a big reason why I prefer the lower-powered guns: the HW50/55/Beeman R8 family and the various match guns. I'm also a tinker and enjoying tearing the guns down and replacing the innards with aftermarket springs/guides. Always the goal is smoothness and calm firing behavior, not power.
Ultimately, I think I'm drawn to the quality and precision of good airguns. It pleases me that for a modest sum of money ($300 to $500) I can own "the best." A nice air rifle . . . especially the old Weihrauchs . . . represent the rare product that makes no (or few) compromises. It really is as good as you would ever ask. There is a level of satisfaction, a tactile sensation, that comes from holding and handling a fine thing. Airguns provide that. Of course, experiencing this joy of owning a "best" gun on my budget requires that I limit myself to decades-old technology but, fortunately, I'm drawn to the older stuff. I can't really afford (or can't justify) a brand-new high-tech Anschutz or Feinwerkbau pre-charged pneumatic match gun, but I can afford the best that those companies offered in the 1960s and '70s. Frankly, in my hands, there isn't much different at the target between the best of the past and the best of today. I get to experience fine crafted things at a price I can afford and justify.
Besides, I enjoy and appreciate the simplicity of the old spring guns. I enjoy working on them and making them even better. Servicing and rebuilding air guns allows me to experience their quality on an entirely different level.
Finally, I like to shoot. Airguns allow me to shoot any time I want. If I get tired of watching TV, I can get up from my recliner, walk down to the basement and pick up a rifle. We all are gun people so we understand the challenge and satisfaction of placing that next shot exactly where we want it to go. It's hard to beat the convenience of being able to do that any time you want. No need to drive to the range, gone is the box full of crap necessary with my other guns . . . no muffs, rests, spotting scope, target stands, etc. . . . just open a tin of pellets and shoot at the target box across the basement.
But on another level, airguns strip shooting and marksmanship down to their essential level. With the quality of these guns, their inherent precision and their calm, easy firing behavior (especially the match guns) the ONLY thing keeping me from that elusive one-hole group in the 10 ring is MY skill and execution of the shot. In other words, when shooting one of my better airguns, I have nobody to blame but myself for a bad group or a flier. There is joy and satisfaction that accompanies that situation as well. There's also the factor of skill development. Learning to shoot airguns well (especially the spring guns) has forced me to learn some marksmanship fundamentals. I've learned about natural point of aim, proper stance, breathing, etc. I've had to work on follow through and hold techniques. Plus, during times when I'm on an airgun shooting kick, I get a lot more trigger time in. If you want to get better, 20 shots fired every day will do more for your skills than 200 shots fired in one sitting every couple of months.
Why do I like airguns? I don't know . . . perhaps the same reason that some people pursue good food and fine wine (I like those, too). It's an opportunity to experience a fine thing. There's not enough of those opportunities in this modern world. I guess that's why I'm a bit of an airgun snob. Plastic stocks and mushy triggers don't satisfy the urge, but finely machined parts and crisp, light triggers do. In my mind, life is to short to waste time with cheap airguns . . . (old Crosmans being an exception, in my case, though . . . )
Sorry to wax on and on . . . it's complicated . . .