AC Guns

New Beginnings

It’s always nice to see new business ventures in these tough economic times, especially something involving shooting. I was therefore very pleased to hear from Ray Hales of A C Guns that he would be opening a gunshop just north of the seaside town of Hastings in Sussex. I first met Ray last year when I went to his old base near Bognor Regis, to pick up a rifle for review. Ray and his family have recently moved to Hastings and his new home has plenty of room to expand his business. A large double garage has been converted into a shop and he’s filled it with a nice selection of shooting related goodies. The conversion has been carried out to a high standard, and once you’re inside, you wouldn’t know that the building had previously been used for storing cars; until you look up that is and you see the roller shutter style garage door! It’s all added security when it’s locked down though, so I can see why it was retained. The interior’s nice and bright, so you can see everything clearly whilst looking around.

Nicely Stocked

Air rifles, both pre charged pneumatic and spring powered fill up racks on the right hand side of the shop, with a nice selection from makers such as BSA, Air Arms, Weihrauch, Gamo and Webley. There were obviously examples of Sam Yang rifles, which Ray imports, including versions of the Sumatra PCPs I tested last year. There were also various second hand rifles and pistols in stock, so there’s something for all budgets.

Ray showed me some very nice CO2 powered BB pistols from KWC and I was really taken by the Sig Sauer P226 X-Five that had the heft of the real thing, a realistic blowback action and a 20 shot magazine. It was a lot of pistol for £119, as was the similarly priced Tanfoglio ‘Race Gun’ semi auto. The shop also stocks a range of telescopic sights, pellets, targets etc and gun bags from BSA, Allen (no relation!) and Buffalo River.

Other accessories include targets, both knock-down and paper, PCP charging gear (manual pumps and air cylinders)and a selection of Jack Pyke products.

A C Guns isn’t only an airgun shop though, as there are shotguns, .22 rimfire and full bore rifles available, as well as the relevant ammo for them.

Exciting Future

Ray informed me that he would soon be taking delivery of a consignment of Evanix PCPs and that they would be available as soon as they’d been inspected and approved by the Proof House.

Once they’ve passed the anti-tamper test, I’ll be the first writer to get my hands on one of the new-spec Blizzards. They have loads of internal tweaks to make them more efficient and a new style 10-shot rotary magazine. There are other models coming in too and they
look very impressive indeed.

Simon Atkins aka ‘The Airgun Doctor’, has once again cast his expert eye over Ray’s new imports and he’s very pleased with their shot count and constancy.

Conclusion

It’s still early days but there was a steady stream of customers through the door during my
visit. Since I visited the shop Ray has extended the sales area into the main building, so there’s room for even more stock. There’s also an on on-site range where customers can try before they buy. Ray’s certainly hit the ground running and I’m sure he’ll go from strength to strength over the coming years.