airguns, what and why

[koyote]

Hey, let's talk about airguns.

But first, we need to talk about guns, and bows, and even slingshots. See, I don't see an airgun as the *only* choice, and I don't generally play mental one gun forever games. I do think that if I want to soncideer projectile weapons in survival at all, I need to have at least a passing familiarity with several methods, and be Good with a few that have some different legal and performance characteristics.

I own and shoot firearms. That's all I really need to say about that in this thread- It's one of my two primary projectile weapon survival skills, and you have to practice and maintain the gear.

I own, even have made, and shoot bows. I'd consider this tertiary. i could do it more often that I do, but I'm halfway decent and can pull a good weigtht bow and make decent shots at middle ranges. I think that if this is going to be in your skills bag for survival you need to make at least one bow that works.

Slingshots are incredibly portable and the basic parts to make one- which means a good band with pouch, should be in every bag. I'm not that great, I used to be able to hit pigeons inthe backyard, but that was years ago. Right now I pull one out a few times a month and send a few dozen 1/4 inch shot down range. If you really want to be good, you need to put in at least 25-50 rounds 3 or 4 days a week. Given the nature of the weapon, it's probably the easiest to practice with and carry.

Right up in second spot for my skills, though, is airguns. Airguns come in all types and power ranges. They share a fundamental similarity in shooting to firearms, and this makes them ideal as a backup technology.

Airguns come in many types:

BB- I have killed small birds with BB guns as a kid, but I'm going to just dispense with discussion of BB guns as survival arms/ Aside from training kids or getting a $30 gun just to see if you like messing around, they are kinda pointless. Unless you live somewhere where it is all you can get, in which case if you can get more than 450fps out of one, have fun. I'd go with a slingshot as a specialty in that case, myself.

The important thing to know about BB guns and BBs is that BB guns are most often smoothbore, and BBs are steel. If you shoot pellets, DO NOT shoot steel BBs out of your pellet gun. (there are round lead balls available for pellet guns in all calibers, but see the ammo section for that.)


Spring guns- these are widely recognized as being the most common pellet guns available in most sporting goods shops. They use a lever, often the barrel, to compress a steel spring or on higher end models a gas ram. When released, this compresses air VERY rapidly and propels the pellet down the barrel at a, hopefully, high rate of speed.

Pump pneumatics- also commonly recognizable, this is often the first "real airgun" many of us had as youngsters. Available in single pump and multipump, these can vary from minimal performing inexpensive guns such as the crosman 760 or daisy 880 up to powerful custom hunting quality .25 caliber creations. We'll be looking at the middle ground mostly here, with one exception that starts on the low end.

CO2 powered guns. While there are issues with CO2, they form a class of very easy to use pistols and rifles with performance ranging from short range plinking to medium range hunting. If you understand the quirks and disadvantages and still enjoy them, they can serve well in a sustenance and survival role.

PCP, HPA, or pre charged pneumatics. Classically filled off of heavy scuba tanks, these guns have high pressure internal air resevoirs (HPA means High Pressure Air) and can range from precision target guns to big game - buffalo- hunting weapons. This is the oldest class of 'real airgun' and most shooters would be able recall hearing about this type of gun being carried by Lewis and Clark! Recently the hand pump has become more popular, making these very viable survival and sustenance weapons.

Big bores- while these are almost all PCP guns, they deserve a separate discussion. In this group you find expensive ($600 to $6000) air arms that range from the diminutive .25 to .50 caliber guns that can deliver 800 foot pounds of energy at the muzzle. Not for the faint of heart, if you know your way around maintaining and repairing these, you can have a 75 yard deer rifle powered by air!

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Customization- A large part of the next sections will deal with customizing air guns. To those unfamiliar, this seems sometimes absurd and often confusing. The reality is that it's cheaper and easier than the same work on firearms and can result in a rapid development of knowledge and performance.


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Another note on BB guns.

BB guns are fun, and many of us have fond memories of our Daisy 102 or Red Riders. Some of us may even (guilty) have killed small birds with them as children. It is possible to kill an animal with one of these, but only at very close ranges. It is theoretically possible to add heavier springs to some of these, but generating more than maybe 400fps is going to be nearly undoable and certainyl far from worthwhile in any circumstance except one. If you live in an area where is is illegal to own an airgun of any type other than a BB gun, and you want to shoot, and can conceivably see yourself getting very small game (think rat stew) at ranges of 7 meters, you might make it work.

For all of this, I highly recommend having a BB gun. They tend to be quiet, more accurate than airsoft, and maake decent practice guns for indoor ranges- and you never know when you will get a completely inexperienced shooting guest who you think needs 100 rounds of BBs (a whole 50 cents worth!) under their belt before loaning them a pellet gun. Also, BBs are steel. Not only are they lead free, they can be cleaned up with a magnet.

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[koyote]

Springers.

I'm having a hard time determining the order to present this. Springers are not my first choice for a survival and sustenance airgun, but that's mostly a matter of personal preference on my part. The primary disadvantage of a springer is- the spring. Spring airguns tend to develop harsh recoil at higher power, and it is a punishing jerky forward recoil that can beat a regular scope to death quickly. The spring also tends to make them very hold sensitive, and firearms style gun holds don't work well. Springs wear out and are, in my opinion, harder to replace than a seal kit on another type of gun.

Spring rifles in hunting quality tend to be big. This isn't your backpacking choice. As most of them cock by levering the barrel, the chamber is actually 6-14 inches forward of the trigger. This results in a long gun. Well made ones often feel like large caliber centerfire rifles, which isn't a bad thing.

Generally speaking, a springer should deliver at least 900fps in .177 and 700fps in .22 (and 600 or so in .25) to be a good sustenance and survival gun. Most fo the time these advertised FPS numbers are with lighter pellets than you will use for hunting, so there will be some drop to the numbers with hunting ammo. Gamo famously advertises several supersonic .177 guns that do 1200 or even 1600fps using 5 grain non-lead pellets, which is fine. You don't want to break the sound barrier with a pellet, due to aerodynimic caused inaccuracy at such high speed. But a 1200fps rifle in a 4 grain pellet will still get you well over 700 with a heavier weight hunting pellet, and a 1600fps will work VERY well for longer range small game work with a very heavy pellet such as a eun-jin 16 grain (commonly .177 hunting pellets range around 7-9 grains) being able to generate respectable speeds and 20-30 foot pounds of energy.

I prefer a .22 caliber, because of the greater variety of heavier pellets and generally better hunting performance. This is by no means an absolute, and many people hunt game up to jackrabbit size at fairly long ranges with .177 airguns. Airguns are notoriously picky about pellets, even the same model from the same manufacturer. Far more so than the .22 LR firearms, which are famous for being picky.

Performance tuning springers mostly relies on the spring- heavier and "tuned" springs are the main areas you see improvements. A tuned spring will reduce the vibration and noise of a springer, and heavier springs will increase velocity.

This is good news if you are on the cheap. in the range of $100-$200 a reasonably capable springer can be had and later tuned and possibly powered-up to perform better. The crosman quest is an example of the low end of this category- it's got the power to hunt, but money savings you get come at the cost of durable iron sights. a great buy if you want a really inexpensive scoped setup. It's also available in both the .177 1000 model and the .22 800 version. Gamo has several rifles in this range that are advertised at around 1000fps in .177- this almost always means with lead free lightweight ammo and you should expect a drop to fairly resonable minimal hunting speeds with hunting pellets. The good news is they are very tuneable!
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The sweet spot for the budget minded is going to be in the $200 to $300 range, where some powerful, durable, and accurate guns are to be had. Most producers have very good guns in that range, some noteable ones are the RWS model 34, which is a solid lifetime hunter with fantastic accuracy, durability and sights. and arguably a best buy. The walther .25 caliber falcon is available for around $275 and is VERY powerful, but needs some work on the hollow stock and spring tuning to really be a great choice (and the jury is still out on long term durability due to the stresses put on some of the parts). The Hammerli X2 is a great buy and has interchangeable barrels for both .177 and .22 caliber shooting.

Near the low end of this group is a unique rifle called the gamo viper. It's a .22 caliber air rifle that also shoots shotshells. Useful at VERY close ranges, the shotshells will take game. Longer range pellet accuracy suffers a bit, and I think it's a bit gimmicky, but it could be just your ticket, especially if your usage includes includes shooting mouse sized varmints. I think of this as more a pest control gun than a real hunter, though.

If you could spend no more than $225, wanted a springer, and asked me, I'd tell you to get the RWS34 in .22 caliber. Fantastic gun at a fantastic price.

Going up, you have an array of guns and options. The first thing is something called a gas ram. Generally this adds about $100 to the price of a springer, but makes a big difference in feel and can improve performance. The only real price you pay for the significant advantages of a gas ram is that you really have to learn what you are doing to maintain the rifle solo over the decades.

RWS, Beeman, Gamo, and Theoben are all manufacturers to look at for high end rifles. The Beeman R1 is the touchstone of mid range ($400-$600) springer performance. Excellent workmanship, durability, and accuracy. RWS has a notable gun in the 350- Insanely high quality for a $425 price tag, and hunting performance that will shock you. The American made Benjamin Super streak is a .177 that almost requires heavier kodiak or eun-jins to drop below the sound barrier and will make the most out of longer range small game (think bunnies and squirrel at 50 yards).Theoben makes THE magnum of springers- a .22 or .25 caliber $1400 rifle that gives you a top end of 28 foot pounds in .25 and has been used to varmint coyotes!

Springers have advantages, being fairly weather insensitive, easy to operate, generally long lived and coming as shoot-out-of-the-box high performance hunters for very little money. For me, they aren't the best answer, but that's because I tinker, and feel comfortable with doing complete rebuilds on some other types of air gun.

 

[koyote]

CO2.

In general, I wouldn't personally choose CO2 for extended EOTWAWKI survival use. Someday, somehow, you will run out of liquid CO2. But, for sustenance and regular survival use, if you can go get some CO2 once in a while, it's a consideration to make. CO2 guns can be very inexpensive, reliable, accurate, and powerful. ANd they are easy

CO2 is fed to an airgun by one (or more) of 3 methods.

There's the common and easily available 12 gram 'powerlet' cartridge. Originally invented by Crosman specifically for airguns at a time when small 8 gram soda cartridges were common, these have evolved in the market to become the cratridge of choice for soda water makers, bike air pumps, and for other uses. Available for around fifty to sixty cents each, and most often developing 20-30 reliable shots per cartridge in hunting tuned airguns, these are inexpensive and easy to use.

A while back, Crosman, in response to the bulk fill paintball tank modifications people were doing to their airguns, worked out the 88 gram "airsource" cartridge. Also available from Walther and others, this is a larger, heavier, and mugh higher capacity system that delivers hundreds of shots per tank. The downside? It costs about $6 for a cartridge, and it's almost pointless for hunting and survival purposes unless you have a special fitting allowing you to close off the tank at the end of a shoot or hunting session. Like 12 gram carts, it is designed to be used once the seal is popped. However, there ARE shutoff valves available, and people have developed refill systems. Since in a rifle designed for the airsource cartridge, it is light and narrow and fits the gun in question, bulk refilling the airsource can be an option for the educated and knowledgable airgunner.

Bulk fill tanks, as commonly seen on paintball equipment, are the third primary option. these can be used to fill an internally modified tank, directly connected to the airgun, or used to refill smaller bulk fill and airsource containers. How you like it is up to you, but if I wanted to have my own best answer, I'd use a modified bulking adaptor for my underbarrel 12gram tube, and a smallish tank in a pack to refill from.

Most low priced CO2 guns don't come as hunters. The crosman 1077 is an example. It's a nice double action 12 round magazine .177 CO2 gun designed as a ruger 10/22 style lookalike. It's great fun, an excellent trainer, inexpensive, and with a few low priced add ons can be very accurate. But it doesn't develop the power for hunting. Many semi-auto CO2 BB gun pistols are also available in the 300-450 FPS range, but these don't suit, either.

While there are others out there, I'm going to focus on the Crosman single shot CO2 gun series, and we'll see why in a moment.

But first. If you want to use airsource cartridges, plan to refill them or use bulk CO2, do an HPA conversion (more on that later) and like the idea of an 8 rounds magazine fed bolt action hunting airgun, there is a very good answer. The RWS 850 has become the One and Only go to gun for a large number of people who have purchased it. It's very accurate, and with a moderately priced tuning can hit long range .22 hunting velocities. It is accurate, high quality, and can be converted at any time to a high pressure air system that you can fill from a specially designed hand pump- so you can work up to going completely off the grid with this rifle. It's not an ultralight backpacking gun, it's a full size and weight hunting rifle. If ultralight bugging out ins't a concern, and you can put down $300 for a tuned rifle, this is an excellent choice.

The Age of Crosmans.

We currently live in the age of Crosman CO2 guns. With the 22xx (2240, 2250, 2260) series airguns, crosman has an array of interchangeable parts, easily customizable models, and even an online custom shop that you can use to build a pistol or carbine. In addition, most of the top end parts are interchangable with the 1377 and 2289 pump pneumatic guns. From a 7.5 inch .177 barrel to a 24 inch .22 barrel, from basic plastic sights and breeches to steel breeches and Italian target sights, with power from 400-700 fps in .22, you can go very far in this family of CO2 airguns.

The basic models:

The crosman 2240 CO2 pistol. This pistol take the standard 12 gram powerlet in an underbarrel tube with a screw on cap. The grip frame is pistol style, and it comes as stock with a 7.5 inch barrel and plastic breech, and develops around 440FPS with reasonable weight pellets. This is adequate for close range hunting, given the impact of a .22. This pistol has been called "the diamond in the rough" due to the realitively inexpensive custoomizing that turn a decent plinker and short range hunter into a powerful field gun or a competition class target pistol.

The crosman 2250- This is a backpacking carbine, classed by many as a sotcked pistol sort of gun. It's the SAME THING as the 2240, but with a stocked grip and a 14 inch barrel. The barrel length gives you more velocity, so you can count on 520 FPS is a medium hunting pellet. Yes, 7.5 inches of extra barrel does THAT MUCH. This is the magic of CO2 in the .22 caliber. (.177 doesn't give quite enough barrel volume to really make CO2 guns happy, and you'll always have greater gains in efficiency with the .22) Still coming in at under $75, this is the minimum platform for really good CO2 bulk filling the tube itself. All the custom work you want to do to a 2240 can, of course, be done on this gun, but you've already got a stock (a pair of grips is inexpensive if you want to shoot in pistol mode) and a barrel long enough to give you serious hunting velocities after a tune up.

If you want a real carbine rifle, with a wood stock, you move up to the 2260. Again, the same basic modular parts, bolt, breech, valves, everything is the same on these guns, which is why people refer to them as the 22xx series. custom parts for any will fit on any of the others, with only a few exceptions. The 2260 has a still longer tube, very useful for bulking, or for storage! the diminutive 12 gram CO2 cartridge takes up very little of the interior space and people havecut the extension rod and used the rest of the tube to store 2 spare powerlets. These run about $80 or so and develop around about 570FPS with hunting ammo.

A basic custom job, consisting of replacing the plastic breech (they do work, and are reliable, but do NOT include scope mounts and in the end aren't as durable as steel or aluminum), adding a special bolt, a trigger job, and ensuring the barrel crown is even and accurate, will run you about $60 to $120 depending on the level of DIY, the airgun smith, and whether or not you get a replacement barrel for more length. A custom valve will run around $40-$50, and you'd want better iron sights, which can run from $20 to $40.

For an example, take a basic 2250, for $78 purchased from one of my favorite airgun sites. Adding a breech and bolt kit will cost me $56. The bolt is important, you gain a lot of increased airflow having a bolt that is made a bit thinner where the gas flows into the barrel and that pushed the pellet ever so slightly further into the barrel. I'm choosing a crooked barn breech, they are lightweight and include provision for iron sights. The truth is, I don't have to spend another dime unless i want to purchase a special valve or do bulk CO2. A trigger job is very easy to do, and will lighten and smooth the trigger pull enormously. Shimming the hammer with a washer or two will increase CO2 delivery for a few pennies at the hardware store, and installing the breech and bolt is easy. If the barrel needs to be recrowned, that's very easy to do, as well.

A valve job done at home, consisting of carefully boring out the valve a bit and filing a few things flat or slanted, will take an hour or two at most, and if you mess it up badly, you can order a replacement valve or one of the high performance $40 valves easily.

There you go, now you have a packable carbine that will develop 600-650FPS with .22 hunting ammo and is good to 30 yard, maybe all the way out to 45 if you are a good and careful shot.

 

[koyote]

Pump pneumatics.

This is the area with the most value of your custom dollar, easiest tinkering and DIY repairing learning curve, highest potential performance increase, and often lowest cost. A pump pneumatic works like a bike tire pump. You pump it, compressed air gets stored in a cylinder, and released to fire the pellet. There are a few single pump guns out there, but they aren't suitable for hunting and I'm going to ignore them in favor of multipumps.

Multipumps come in various shapes and sizes, from the iconic benjamin .20 cal pump to the crosman 760 and 1377 pistol, the daisy 880 and more. While the dedicated rifles like the Crosman 760 or 2100 can be adequate close range hunters, they aren't very tunable, and I'm going to leave them with the following note: buy any 760 you see used for under $20 that holds any air at all. They are fun and great to learn mechanics on. A 760 or 2100 in the house makes for a good inexpensive pellet trainer or 'advanced' BB gun, since they shoot both. Same story with the Daisy models.

The benjamin sheridan 392 is the ideal dedicated current production pump rifle. while this basic rifle style is available from benjamin (Crosman owned, US made) in .20 and .177 calibers, I find the .22 to be ideal because that's what I have most of. But there are die hard .20 caliber people who can make convincing arguments in favor of the caliber, as it has a very flat trajectory and still puts more stopping power downrange. The .20 cal version is the C9 or CB9, and is similarly priced to the 392.

The 392 in stock trim will set you back $140 and give you around 680FPS with the maximum 8 pumps. This is decent hunting quality for ranges up to 30 yards and it could do more in a pinch if you really know your gun. With some customization, such as the Mac-1 Steroid package, you can get 900fps on 14 pumps , and while you need to take care of the oiling and not leave it stored dry, it's a durable and compact hunting gun. At that point you are going to have $230 to $260 into the gun. If you make use of it, it's well worth the price. But remember that even as stock, it's good for closer range hunting. But 30 yard shots will be much better with a performance tune.

The Benjamins are all brass, and there are some advantages to having a brass barrel when it comes to corrosion control. Whatever you do, the one abolute acecessory for survival gunning is getting a williams peep sight installed and learn to shoot with it. I don't often suggest that companies "should offer all their products" with item X, but this sight should absolutely be included on the397 and 392. it's worth the extra $20-$30.

This is probably the single most recommended survival airgun of all time and it is simple to use and maintain. Not quite the easiest to repair on your own, but if you learn, you can do it. It's hard not to recommend it as the One True survival gun myself,and even 15 years ago I would have. But times have produced some real wonders, as we are about to see.

As an aside-

In a similar vein, while talking about full fledged rifles, there are many old crosman models that can be purchased used, many will need work, but all will transform into excellent sustenance and survival airguns. I have a 1926 Crosman model 101 that will kill bunnies dead on the max 8 pumps (it's a .22, like most older Crosmans) and the 140 is another very common one. should you find an old steel and wood pump Crosman model 101, 140, 160- pretty much anything that is 3 digits with a 1 at the beginning that's not rusted inside the barrel for under $50, it's worth getting. Depending on the model and shooting quality, up to $150 is fine to pay. A hard shooting 140 for $85 to $120 would be an average price from an airgunsmith.


The 1377 American Classic and the Mod world.

The Crosman .177 caliber multipump pistol- the 1377 American Classic- is the king of potential for the survival minded. As it comes in the box it can be used for careful hunting out to 15 meters, though I've made squirrel kills at 20, I did have to put a finishing round into the animal about half the time. It is inexpensive, don't pay more than $55, and if you are lucky you can find a refurbished one for $35- I've purchased 3 that way and all are perfect shooters. Far easier to repair and maintain than the benji 392, this is an ideal extended survival and sustenance airgun to customize.

The first thing you'll notice are the grips. They are plastic, hollow, and cheap. They do work and don't hurt anything, but a fatter pump arm grip and nicer wood pistol grips can be had for resonable prices. Don't buy them yet, though. Because-

I've known people who like the heavy forward weight of the 1377 pistol and see no need to make it harder to carry by adding a stock. These are people who like 10/22 challengers. I simply don't see it. So I add a stock. Those are available online for $20, and are well worth it- now you don't need a grip, but you can put in matching wood panels onto the stock that you'd order from your custom stock builder with the pump forearm- mine came from a woodworker who goes by RB grips online, and runs a one man shop pumping out pumper grips

Modifying the top end- barrel, breech, bolt, sights, is EXACTLY like doing a 22xx CO2 gun. Same parts, same deal. The only exception is that the barrel band for the pumpers is different. And there's *2* kinds, the stock one on the 1377 and another kind that takes the .22 barrel and heavier .177 barrels. So if you plan to change the barrel and are ordering parts from a smith instead of sending him your pistol to work on, make sure you ask him what all parts you actually need.

So, let's say I'm going to make this a .22 and get a bit more power out of it. I've spent $35 to $55 on the gun, another $56 for my breech and bolt again, and $35 or so for a 12 inch .22 barrel and new barrel band, front sight, and some little set screws and such. Adding on my $30 williams peep sight I now have a pistol that will get me a reasonable low to mid 500s FPS with hunting pellets and the regular tuning- hammer shim and trigger job. All custom, for about $160. If I do custom grips and buy the stock, it's going to come out around $220, depending on what I choose. But I don't have to pay all at once, either! I can shoot for years with the stock pistol, or better yet, the stock pistol with the breech and bolt and stock (about $100 all up). And I'd buy the breech first- the .177 and .22 breeches are the SAME, the only difference being in the bolt itself.

Pumper valve and piston mods are available, but can get veyr tricky and mostly improve pumping performance and not power. But there are some mods out there that, if you want to spend the money, can get you pushing 600FPS or more.

And remember, for under $50, including pellets and pellgun oil, you can be building skills in a couple days (and spend those couple days stalking the UPS man who refuses to deliver your gun before it's arrived) with a pistol that needs nothing but elbow grease and pellets to hunt with.

At the high end, this platform can result in $400 customs that will generate >20 foot pounds of energy in as large as .25 caliber and can put half dollar groups on target at 40 yards. The sky is the limit for this American Classic- and it is as classic for it's customizing and tinkering as it is for being around in one form or another for decades.

oh, yeah- ALWAYS store your pump pneumatic with a pump or two of air in it to keep gunk out. It really will last longer.

The 1377 is one gun I'd consider sticking with .177 caliber on. As a general rule of thumb you gain 10fps per inch of barrel up to the diminishing return point of ~18 inches. So a 1377 with flow mods to the valve exit port and a good bolt and breech should get you over 650 fps with a 13 or 14 inch barrel and still be very packable. That's a good velocity for any pistol style pumper, and with something like crow magnums (8.8 grains) should be good for head shots on most small game out to 35 yards if you are careful.

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HPA, PCP, and other scary acronyms.

PCP, or HPA airguns are airguns that hold a high pressure (think 3000psi) air resevoir and shoot pellets at insane levels of performance- 800-900 FPS in .22 and often in excess of 700FPS in .25 caliber. They can be VERY expensive, VERY complicated, and perform VERY well. But, until recently, they were mostly very incapable as survival and sustenance guns because they required scuba tanks to refill the onboard resvoir.

Enter the Discovery, exit the Scuba Tank. - A few years ago Crosman (the Benjamin parent company) introduced the Discovery, a .177 or .22 caliber air rifle that uses that HPA resevoir, but comes with a $150 high pressure hand pump to charge it. A couple minutes of charging and you can shoot several dozen rounds of real powerful, accurate, bunny slaying lead.

I'm not going to go into the complicated world of PCP, but if you like the idea, that hand pump can - with adaptors- fit any PCP rifle, and so you can take your pick of weapons. My choice is a modified RWS 850, 8 shot .22 bolt action airgun that will break 800FPS when converted to PCP from CO2 power.

The discovery might, maybe, just be the best survival airgun out there. nothing else that's completely self sufficient (with the pump) comes close to the power.

If you do want to go the PCP route, consider some of the small shop and custom made modern big bores. How'd you like a .308 air rifle that puts out HUNDREDS of foot pounds, and can take deer sized game at 30-30 ranges? They can be had, and someday maybe I'll have one.

 

[koyote]

Ammo-

Basically, all airgun ammo is lead, with some exceptions. The non lead ammo is still in a new phase of development all around and I'm not comfortable with any of it for hunting.

lead balls area vailable and can be a good choice- in some guns they are all that will shoot well, for whatever reason.

Most pellets are 'diabolos' and have a skirted rear end and a flat, rounded, hollowpoint, or pointed front.

Flat fronts- wadcutters- are for target use. Most everything else can be used for hunting.

hollowpoints really only work at the higher end of the velocity range for a given caliber.

Weight matters! a 5 grain pellet isn't a hunting pellet, no matter what shape. I'd suggest staying at or over 8 grains in .177 and over 12 in .22

it's nearly pointless to find the 'sweet round' for an airgun until you have put 75 to 200 rounds through it, so go plink before you start trying to choose the One True pellet.

 

[DISCO]

Hi koyote,interesting posts.Could you elaborate /recomend any sites regarding maintenance mods etc on the Sheridan .20? I have one and would be interested to know a little more info on it's workings etc.I had also heard about leaving a pump or two in it before wasn't sure about that(i'm used to springers). In advance thanks.

 

[koyote]

Hi koyote,interesting posts.Could you elaborate /recomend any sites regarding maintenance mods etc on the Sheridan .20? I have one and would be interested to know a little more info on it's workings etc.I had also heard about leaving a pump or two in it before wasn't sure about that(i'm used to springers). In advance thanks.

Mac1 airguns does the most tuning and repair work on the Benjamins. You should be able to find exploded parts diagrams there, or send Tim an email if you want work done or want to see what can be done for your particular model (If it's older, it's likely a predecessor to the current C9 and CB9)

Storing a pump or two in a pneumatic gives you some backpressure against gunk getting in and lengthens the life of the seals.

 

[HornyToad]

I just bought a RWS 34 Panther Pro Compact for about $300. I have not had a chance to shoot it yet but I got the 3x9 scope mounted. Looks like a very nice airgun with composit stock. I will try it out this week end. One thing you did not mention is how HEAVY these airguns are. Mine weights over 9 pounds and has no place to attach a sling.

 

[richard j]

i had a sheridan .20 that i bought brand new back in 1979. i shot it so much the seals wore out. rather than send it in for repair, i had a tool made so i can take the gun apart. i modified a few parts and replaced the seals with neoprene. it shot harder than it did from the factory. i no longer shot it so i gave the gun to a buddy who is still using it. the internals of that model are pretty simple.

 

[tonym]

Intersting post Koyote.
I am in total agreement on the non lead ammo for high power air rifles. I have the Gamo Whisper which boasts a 1200 fps rate with their PBA. When fired it sounds like a 22 cal. rifle, and is not accurate at any distance over 30yds. Even at 30 yds it shoots a lil high. I have good results with the heavier lead such as Beeman crow magnum pellets and the Predator Polymag hunting pellets. When using these pellets the velocity goes down, but still packs plenty of punch. I can get good grouping even at further distances.

One thing I noticed on the Gamo WHISPER and the Shadow rifles (only ones by Gamo I have used) is the trigger play. Even after adjusting , it still had a long pull. I put a modded triger(GRT-III trigger) on my Whisper that feels and works alot better IMO.

 

[koyote]

I just bought a RWS 34 Panther Pro Compact for about $300. I have not had a chance to shoot it yet but I got the 3x9 scope mounted. Looks like a very nice airgun with composit stock. I will try it out this week end. One thing you did not mention is how HEAVY these airguns are. Mine weights over 9 pounds and has no place to attach a sling.

I suppose I'm mostly used to it and don't even think about it. The gamo rifles do tend to be lighter, but it's easy to expect 6 to 10 pounds in a full size rifle. My packing gun is a carbine based n the 1377 and weights considerably less, coming in right now at 3.5 pounds. That will go up a bit when I get a few more modifications made.

Slings are easy- you can mount QDs on most air rifles of decent quality, and gamo makes a shooter's buddy sling attachment that loops on and doesn't permanently attach. I'd put several different types of sling attachments on various airguns, you just need to watch out for the internals and barrel cocking movement when you try to place the front one.

 

[koyote]

Richard- I haven't tried to work on a banjamin since I was a kid, and I may be rememberng it as more complex than it is. Guess I have an excuse to go get one now to take apart

Tony- Yeah, trigger mods and triggers jobs are very common on crosman, daisy, gamo guns. I wish they'd larn to improve them a bit, but on the other hand, I couldn't afford to go out and buy as a single unit a perfect match grade top of the line everything gun.

I'd be really interested in the chrony numbers on the crow magnums out of a whisper, and I'd love to see how the eun-jin 16 gram pellets do for speed and for grouping at ~25 yards. Those puppies are heavy, but expand to .41 caliber when they hit game nice and hard. That's amazing performance, and I'd be tempted to trade out one of the .22 longer rifles for a super velocity .177 for that.

 

[richard j]

the sheridan/benjamin is fairly simple internally. it does require a special wrench to take the gun apart. i still have the wrench. i wouldnt take a gun apart if its not necessary. there was a lead ring on top of the nut which has to be replaced with an o ring which goes below the nut. i tried teflon tape but the o ring works much better. i shot my gun through a chronograph and it was in the 1000 fps range. here are a few pellets that were shot at a steel plate at about 30'. if i went over 14 pumps the pellets vaporized. the little dot is the backside of the pellet.

 

[koyote]

Oh, well, I take crosmans apart pretty regularly at this point, and 'necessary' depends. pulling an extra 300 fps out of a benjamin would qualify as necessary to me! Neoprene, huh. Gotta try it.

 

[richard j]

you will need to make a wrench. that nut has a square hole. you will need a lathe and a mill to make the wrench. i could make you one if you want.

 

[shecky]

Good post. I like the Benjamin/Sheridan line. Any of the rifles with a peep make a great stand alone small game getter.

I really love playing with humble little BB guns. Me and my kids use an old Daisy, a newer Mendoza, and a cosmetically modded 760 in the back yard. When the sun is high, they make out 20 yard range feel more like 200 as you can see the BB sail along toward the cans hanging from a saw horse. Tremendously fun and economical plinking machines.

 

[MBTull]

Good post. I am an airgun nut and a big fan of the 1377. I have often thought of it as a good survival tool. I think it will kill birds out of the box. I also think you would have to mod it for squirels and rabbits.

I have a stock and a scope, otherwise, it is a basic 1377. I set up a practice range in my basement and shoot at pop cans while waiting for the fletching glue on my arrows to dry when building arrows. My next purchase will be an airgun for squirrels and rabbits. I go back and forth between a Benjie 392 and a modded Crosman 1377. I do not have the time or skills to mod a 1377 myself. I will probably go with something from PSP, Mac1 or Mountain Air.

I am leaning towards a modded 1377 as it is lighter and breaks down into a pack. I think with a peep sight, it would stay zeroed in a back pack. I do not think that a scope would stay zeroed if you carried it in a back pack. I liked your ideas about a sling. I was thinking of just a baldric that went through the back of the skeleton stock. That way you could carry is scoped and bring it up to shoot.

Thanks again

 

[coaldigger]

Thanks alot guy's you are killing my wallet, first knives & now you got me wanting one of those springer air guns, I've been thinking about it for a while just never pulled the trigger I think I still have my old Benjiman.22cal multipump air rifle. My grandpa gave me & my bro. one 15~18yrs ago & they were old guns then. they both startd to leak off real bad so we put them up & haven't had them back out since. These were big heavy guns all wood & seems like brass & the pumo handle was the forearm so when the gun was ready to fire you could'nt see the pump, kinda just blended in with the rest of the gun. Where these good guns & cany you rebuild these ?

 

[mdauben]

Good post, Koyote, on an often overlooked option.

One other benefit of air guns is the ability to train just about anywhere. I've got a nice spring piston type pistol that I use for casual target practice in my garage when I don't have the time or inclination to take my "real" guns to the range. With a pellet trap you can easily set up a "range" in even a small appartment or condo (with your neighboors none the wiser).

Certainly, target shooting with an air pistol or rifle does not replace practice with "real" guns, but I think it is an excellent supplement and I believe my accuracy has benefitted immensly from my the extra target practice I get with my air gun.

 

[orrey45]

Great post Koyote! I have an old Benjamin 392 that was my dad's and now I use. Its a great gun but is definitely due for a makeover.

What are yalls thoughts on the Benjamin HB22? It is the Benjamin equivalent to the Crossman 1377 but has hardwood furniture and comes in .22 cal. My 392 is .22 so using the same ammo is nice and I know that Benjamin has great quality but I am not sure if spending an extra $50 is worth it.