Interview with Edward King, managing director of Anglo Spanish Imports (ASI)

Airgun World (AW): ASI has worked with Cometa since 2018. What makes its cold-hammer-forged barrels and traditional Spanish craftsmanship such a consistent best-seller?

Edward King (EK): When customers first pick up a Cometa, they almost always say it looks very nicely made. We like to think of it as German quality at Spanish prices. Cometa is one of a very small number of European manufacturers still building airguns to that level of quality, and the barrel manufacturing process is what sets them apart.

Cold hammer forging is time-consuming and expensive, but you end up with barrels that are exceptionally strong and extremely accurate. Cometa makes barrels for other well-known names too.

Being made in Europe still carries real weight in this trade, and when you add hand assembly by people who genuinely care about the finished product, you have something that stands apart from the rest of the market.

AW: You’ve recently partnered with SKOUT Airguns to bring the EPOCH and EVO to the UK. How does such a technically advanced, electronically controlled competition rifle sit alongside your traditional spring-piston offerings?

EK: We had been looking to fill the top-end bracket since stepping away from FX a few years ago. SKOUT came up through a conversation and we went away and did our research. The brand came originally from paintballing — and are still leading manufacturers there — which gives them an extraordinary understanding of valves, pressures and trigger mechanisms. I have seen paintball guns firing hundreds of shots in 15 minutes.

That engineering knowledge transfers directly into airguns. We flew to the factory in Pittsburgh for specialist training before we brought the rifles over. I would say quite happily that there is nothing more technically advanced than SKOUT currently on the market.

AW: The Rainson Edge range was developed through close R&D collaboration with the Turkish manufacturer. What UK-specific features did you insist on?

EK: The 12 ft/lb limit is the defining feature of this market and shapes everything. Most manufacturers build high-power guns because that is what the US and European markets want.

Adapting a gun designed for 24ft/lb down to 12ft/lb is a complicated and often imperfect process. What we said to Rainson was to design a 12 ft/lb gun from the ground up and get that right first. The law says capable of exceeding 12 ft/lb in any calibre with any pellet, which is demanding across the range of weights available.

Once you build a relationship of real confidence with Turkish manufacturers, they will make every effort to get it right — and they have to, because a gun reading 13ft/lb instead of 12ft/lb is potentially very serious for dealer and end user alike.

AW: Cometa offers a limited lifetime warranty through ASI. How does that level of backing change the conversation with a local gun shop?

EK: It is a door opener. Dealers know it is tough out there and anything that reduces their commercial risk matters. Anything made by human hand will occasionally fail — what defines a good brand is how it responds when that happens.

We tell dealers to put Cometa on their shelves and know that if something goes wrong, it will be put right. If we cannot repair it, we will replace it. Cometa is happy for us to offer that warranty because across tens of thousands of units the incidence of claims is low.

And there is a satisfaction in it too — when an end user you have never met sends you an email to say thank you for sorting their gun out, that means something. People very rarely write to tell you when you are doing a good job.

AW: You have a dedicated airgun technician in Simon Lyon and a specialist gunsmithing team on site. How vital is that in-house capability for maintaining dealer confidence?

EK: Indispensable is the word I would use. Simon has been with us for 16 years. He came to us as a young man who simply loved understanding how things are put together, which is exactly the right foundation for that role. If you understand how something works, you have a real advantage not just in repairing it but in spotting where improvements can be made.

When a dealer rings in the morning and has an urgent job for an important customer, we can rearrange things and get that gun back to them within 48 hours. Depend on the wider trade and you are in a queue. Having your own people means you control the turnaround, and that is what builds lasting confidence.

AW: What is your testing process for ensuring a new import stays consistently below the 12ft/lb limit across different pellet weights?

EK: There is an established protocol that was submitted to the Home Office some years ago and accepted as sound methodology. The gun is held at a controlled temperature for a set period, then chronographed with light, medium and heavyweight pellets across more than one brand — covering as many variables as possible.

Room temperature is the standard because performance shifts significantly in extreme conditions, and the authorities understand and accept that. Simon oversees all testing in our workshops here and we keep a full record of results for every PCP.

AW: How do you help dealers manage their inventory across different stock options without ending up overstocked on niche finishes?

EK: Neither Cometa nor Rainson are budget products, so dealers tend to be quite selective about what they put on the shelf. They know their own customers. Where it occasionally goes wrong is when something sits there longer than expected.

In those cases we are always open to a conversation — if a walnut-stocked gun is not moving because of the price premium it carries, we can look at swapping it out for a synthetic. We would rather find a workable solution than leave stock sitting unsold.

AW: ASI is a prominent supporter of the GTA. What is the biggest legislative issue facing airgun retailers right now?

EK: Airguns have been relatively under the radar for the past couple of years. The incidence of misuse has been coming down steadily and the requirement for new guns to be sold through RFDs has played a significant part in that. An RFD understands their responsibility and makes a judgement about whether someone is a fit person.

From a legislative standpoint, politicians are not shining much of a spotlight on us. The trade is under commercial pressure from the cost of living and from broader events, but it is at least possible to operate without an imminent threat of new restrictions.

AW: What is the one hidden gem in the current ASI airgun catalogue that you think every UK dealer should have on their rack right now?

EK: The Cometa Fenix 400 USC Laminate. A brilliantly made, very high quality break-barrel hunting air gun with a laminate stock that I would argue will rival anything else at that price point on the market. It is accurate enough for a reasonable amount of target work too, which makes it genuinely versatile. Every shop should have one.