EASTERN PROMISE

For a long time our sport has been dominated by a relatively few brands hailing, in the main, from Western and Northern Europe with a few interlopers from the other side of the pond. Names such as Weihrauch, Air Arms, Daystate, FX, Brocock and BSA have been our stock in trade.

However in recent years, as interest in airguns grows, the world gets smaller and the internet broadens our knowledge, brands from other parts of the world have appeared to challenge the status quo. They’re not all new kids on the block – just new to many of us.

Eastern Europe has been something of a hothouse for airgun design and manufacture, with rifles emerging from Ukraine, Turkey, Czech Republic and Slovenia to name just a few. And thanks to some enterprising distributors and import agents, we’re all able to enjoy them.

Airgunners can be a conservative bunch at the best of times, so it’s hardly surprising that to begin with many of us turned our noses up at anything that wasn’t stamped with the right name.

Fortunately though, a few more open-minded and adventurous types took the plunge and before long word spread that, you