air guns.....

valleytinworks

valleytinworks

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Dec 13, 2005
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? read the thread on slingshots....... any thoughts on what type of air powered rifle would be best? highest fps and what caliber? 177 or 22?
 
depends what you're using it for I guess. I've potted many a squirrel and rabbit with a .177 pellet rifle at 1000 fps.... crossman make single shot cO2 pistol in .22 caliber I think the fps is around 495 fps the added punch of the .22 made up for the lack of velocity, I don't own one but I used my buddies for a while and have put more than a few squirrels on the table with it.... it's light and will fit in a back pack as well... but co 2 doesnt work well in the cold... if you don't mind the added size and wait of a rifle a .177 at 1000 fps or greater will doy you good. but for that matter for about the same price you could an h&r sportster .22 rifle it takes down with a thumbscrew into a light easy to pack bundle and will fire .22 lr, and .22 short thier are a light of sub velocity shrot range cartridges that will give you similar perormace of a pellet rifle, plus you have the extra juice of an actual .22 should you want it.
 
As said in the slingshot thread the Crossman 1377 (177)is a nice handy pistol. Pump action, single shot with 600fps. They used to make a 22 version that had more "thump" which was the one I used to have. I loved it. Small size, cheap ammo and free air.
 
From my experiance hunting with airguns,accuracy is the most important,I've killed cottontails very cleanly with a 177 pellet at 500-600fps,close range with a Hw30 I knew I could hit with,and have unfortunatly wounded a few with more powerful ones.A 177 at 800-1000fps will take small game cleanly with a good shot.But a .22 or .25 pellet increases the size of the kill zone considerably,and though may have a more bowed trajectory,hits with a much nicer thud:D The larger calibers hold on to there velocitly and energy better as well.
 
I like spring piston aka break barrels,sidelevers etc but for a wilderness or pack gun a pump might be a better choice,lighter,shorter ,probobly less expensive,knowledge but little tools required for mantenence.For the money I think it's hard to beat a Rws in springers and the same with a benjamin in pnematics.
 
Crosman may still sell .22 replacement barrels for the 1377. They definitely still sell the longer .22 barrels, and could be cut and crowned to any length needed. Anything longer than the stock barrel, however, will also need a new barrel band. Which they also still sell.

And they sell shoulder stocks for the 1377, turning it into a nice little carbine.

One of the really neat things about much of the Crosman line is that they are modular, and many of the parts for the CO2 and pumpers are interchangeable, allowing for a wide range of customization.
 
My first air rifle was a lever-action pump .177. It did well. The one I have now is a Daisy .22, lever-action pump. I think you can pump it up 10 times, maybe more, but I don;t go over ten. In fact, I always pump 8....that takes care of animals as large as a large jackrabbit at out to about 120 feet or so.
 
I doubt you'd want to carry my Benjamin Sheridan unless you were carrying it to use it. There's a lot of wood, so it's not light. I doesn't come with sling swivels, either. The Crossman website lists it at 5.5 pounds. Also, I saw one at a Ganders last week & the finish was awful. Mine is about 15 years old & the finish is amazing.

A Williams peep sight is a must for it unless you like scopes.
 
I dunno, I always did just fine with my Sheridan Blue Streak and its stock iron sights. The .20 pellet does pack a punch, too. And as far as weight goes, I think your going to have to tote around some heft if you want to carry a high quality air rifle. While my first airgun, a Daisy Powerline 880, was great fun when I was a kid, over time the seals started leaking and it lost some zip. My Sheridan, which I got maybe 2 years after the 880, is still going strong with no noticable loss of velocity. Of course, it probably has lost a step over the last 25 years and could probably be tuned up.
 
I've got a Gamo Shadow 1000, with fiber-optic iron sights, it shoots point-on out to about 30-40 yards with 9.3 grain flat points. It does fine on squirrels and chipmunks that get too close to my house. They will try to get in, if given a chance.
 
Your best bang for the $$ is with the pump up Sheridan or Benjamin. Of the Cal. you suggest, go with the .22.
>20 works great but you will likely need to order anything other than standard pellets but you will also need to order .22's as well if you want speciality pellets.
>20 is better than .177. Flatter shooting than .22 with a heavier pellet than a .177
It is more complicated than that but in a nut shell still the truth.
 
Definately 1000 fps. I have a 495 fps one (anything higher requires a firearm license here) and plinked cats crapping in my yard many times, they just jump, ran away, and come back again in a few days.
 
Why not just bring a proper 22LR if you're gonna go through the trouble with carrying something that big in the woods to begin with?
 
Ok, I don't know a lot about knives, but airguns I do know. I would suggest going to www.straightshooters.com and checking out their huge selection. What you get largly depends on what your willing to spend. Any break barrel gun with a sufficient ammount of power to "humanely" kill a squirrel at any distance will have a recoil that will damage an improper scope. Airgun scopes for spring guns are double recoil rated, as the gun recoils foreward and backwards. This recoil will break a regular firearm scope, so keep this in mind and be sure to get an actual airgun scope. They are available in light, medium and heavy recoil ratings. If you buy a pre charged pneumatic air rifle, these are generally more accurate and have zero recoil, while most often being significantly more powerful. They also tend to be expensive and do generally cost more then many spring guns. You also need to buy air bottles with aren't cheap. Anyway, for squirrell killing at a reasonable price I would suggest the Beeman R9. High end spring rifle ar a good price point. Any inexpensive "pump" gun is far too ill powered and innacurate for reliable animal killing, with the exception of the Benjamin/Sharidan guns (still low quality but better than other cheap pump guns). The very best pre charged gun you can buy for the money is the Air Arms S410E. I haven't seen this exact model available at straightshooters, but they have very similar models to it. Give the gun a google search to find a store wgere you can find pricing. The starting price point for it is around $400-$500 and worth every penny. It is widely considered the best value available. Hope this helps.
 
I would second Artilary6's recommendation about straightshooters.com.

I have nothing to do with them, other than being a satisfied customer.

Keep in mind that one reason good air guns are as expensive as good firearms is that the air gun is also the power source for the pellet so it has that additional complexity too it. A firearm uses the ammo as the power source.
 
Artilary6 said:
Any inexpensive "pump" gun is far too ill powered and innacurate for reliable animal killing, with the exception of the Benjamin/Sharidan guns (still low quality but better than other cheap pump guns). .
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I also know airguns and this statement is crap, toggle safety sheridans quality is very good indeed. With a little tweaking they can shoot a medium weight 5mm pellet at velocities aproaching 1000fps and are practically indestructable. The newer offerings aren't nearly as good as the older but an older Benjamin or Sheridan will put meat in the pot for the rest of your natural life. Hell I have been killing squirrels with mine since the 70s and show no signs of quitting.

I have a Daystate PH6 in .25, will my benjamins and sheridans compare to that, hell no, but I can grab my early 70s era silver streak and a tin of pellets and go hunting, no expensive pumps or scuba bottles.

Something you left out about springers, beside wrecking scopes the powerful spring guns are hard to learn to shoot accurately, the typical newbie will be shooting much better, much faster with a recoiless pnuematic than they will with a magnum spring gun. Did I mention how long and heavy springers are compared to the benjis and sheridans.

Opinions are like buttholes but for a survival situation the Benjamin in 22 or a Sheridan in 5mm are the clear winners for me. Chris
 
I am sure someone will chime in with "that's all they are worth" but out of these guns the most I payed for any of them is 80 dollars. Every one of them is one ragged hole at 15 yards and absolute death on squirrels and rabbits if you can shoot. Chris

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Well I guess they will kill a squirrel if you are 15 yards away...why not walk up to the little critter and stick the barrel in its mouth? While your at it, stick your attitude in there as well.
 
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