Numbers game

[peterz]

I've been thinking about moving from CO2 to a PCP rifle, and so have been doing a lot of looking on line at the companies that make the guns, and the offered product lines. That led me to thinking a bit about the economics since there are a fair number of companies actually seeming to make a business of it (FWB, Walther, Anschuetz, Steyr (I know that Steyr is owned by somebody else), at least), and they have fairly extensive product lines ranging from top-flight Olympic models to junior and "basic" models. Sounds more like mass production almost than something from the "Northern Alps."

Does anybody have a clear idea, or a not-so-clear one, how many 10 meter match air rifles and air pistols are sold each year, world wide?

[joker]

.......... (I know that Steyr is owned by somebody else.........)

Controlling share held by Anschutz

[Richard H]

Most do something else besides target guns. Walther makes their lions share from defence and law enforcement. These all are precision machine shops that are capable of doing other parts for other manufactures and they do.

[peterz]

Yes, of course they have other businesses -- even FWB which may be the closest to a pure target gun maker. But none of them are in business to lose money, so I find it hard to believe that they would invest as much as they do in R&D, new products, and promotion if the the precision gun business didn't make a profit.

Walther has several models of precision rifles; so does FWB, and so does Anschuetz. That's a big menu for what I thought until today had to be a minuscule market... Not many people near where I live (northern Virginia) shoot International disciplines. Who's buying, and how many?

-pz

[Anschutz]

Yes there's a whole world outside of America,one of the biggest participant sports is that of Olympic style Target shooting.

[mapletune]

I know that many Asian governments have some sort of shooting program for schools~

Singapore has CCA (Co-curricular activity) from primary to secondary school where students can participate in Air Rifle and Air Pistol training. In Taiwan (where I live) many high schools have a range to share with nearby schools. Must be similar in Korea...

Anyway, point is, even though Taiwan doesn't have a lot of gun clubs at all, there is still substantial exposure to target shooting for kids in school. Thus, even us who aren't known to excel in shooting have purchased lots of target match guns.

=P just food for thought~