Offer inexpensive training fun with Crosman Soft Air

Shooting Industry, Feb, 2004 by Lisa Parsons-Wraith

Selling and owning guns is a very serious business. Both ends of the transaction carry a great deal of responsibility--for you and your customers. Many current laws have transformed a fun and exciting purchase into a task consisting of a mountain of tedious paperwork and frustrating delays. Buying a firearm can also be a huge financial investment that takes a chunk out of the family budget.

All this can be a real stumbling block for your customers, especially women who want to start firearm training immediately. For these customers, offer them Crosman's Soft Air guns. They don't carry all the paperwork, yet offer good training and serious fun, all at a reasonable price.

Crosman currently offers a clear-plastic replica of the Walther P22 that offers surprising accuracy. The Crosman Soft Air Walther P22 functions like a real semi-auto except the shooter must rack the slide for each shot.

The ammunition for the Soft Air P22 is also a little different--instead of metal BBs, the airgun shoots .24 caliber bright yellow beads. The nice thing about the beads is they can be used over and over again, as long as they don't hit a hard surface, which will ruin their smooth, round shape. Even if a shooter does warp or lose the plastic ammunition, they are very economical to replace at generally $8 for 2,000 beads. The beads load into a magazine that fits inside the grip like a traditional Walther. However, these fun little air guns have a capacity of 20 rounds, providing for some serious training drills.

The Crosman Walther P22 comes in a kit with a 6 1/2-inch gel target that can sit on a tabletop, and a canister of 100 beads. The target's design makes cleanup easy, because, when shot, the beads stick to the face of the target briefly, and then slowly roll down into a trap at the base of the target.

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Other Soft Air models include a black U-SAPP22, the S1008KT, and the SAP99, a replica of the Walther P99.

The soft air market is growing, offering you an opportunity to immediately place a gun in a customer's hands that will provide plenty of entertainment and training.