Anybody here into air rifles?

silenthunterstudios

silenthunterstudios

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A friend of mine got me turned on to air rifles, I have my eye on a Sheridan .20. I'm not talking about bb rifles or air soft rifles, but air guns, like Crosman, Beeman (too expensive for me), Sheridan and Gamo etc. Also, anybody got information on the old air guns, like the ones marksmen used? I read that some soldiers in the 18th and 19th century, like marksmen and scouts, had air guns and they were 60 cal repeaters :eek: . Am I the only one who finds that really cool! My father has ten acres and I've started taking my Gamo repeater with me into the woods! BTW, should I get a brand new Gamo, or the Sheridan 20 that has been souped up?
 
I have a RWS sidelever in .177 that I like. The Sheridan is multipump and most Gamos are single pump. The Gamo will most likely be more powerful than the Sheridan, depending on the model. Totally different guns, but both quality. It depends on what you want, but you will do well with either one. I read that Lewis and Clark had an airgun on that famous journey and used it to take small and midsize game with. Check out some of the ones that get charged with airtanks from SCUBA gear. Serious stuff there.
 
I too enjoy the adult airguns. I have a sheridan .20 with a reciever sight on it and it's a lot of fun. Also have an RWS break-barrel .22 and an RWS side-cocker .177. Out of the three I shoot the .22 the most because it is the easiest to cock and unlike the sheridan it gives full power with one stroke.

With the sheridan, you may have two or three markings on your sights. I have one for plinking (3 pumps) and one for full power (eight pumps).

Check this guy out for the super powerful models that can take deer:
http://www.connext.net/~daq/
 
Beeman model R-X here, .22 with enough punch to pass through 5/8 plywood at 20 yards. Great squirrel and rabbit getter. Last year I had a coon that kept trying to fight his way into the attic, one hollow point in the head was all it took to end that hassle. I had a Sheridan .20 and a Benjamin .22, neither, even with the max pumps, could come close to the Beemans performance with just it's single pump. The only drawback...its as heavy as an M-14 with a full mag.
 
I've loved air guns for decades. Have a Beeman Fienwerckbau 124 rifle and a Webley tempast pistol. In the part of suburban Md. I live in it's easy to stick the webley in my coat pocket and plink while walking in the woods. Same with the rifle, I can target practice in my basement or walk out back in the woods that my home backs to.

The soldiers you're thinking of were the Prussians who were allied with the English fighting agaist the armies of Napolean. The Prussian air rifles were so deadly that if a Prussian soldier was cought with one, he was executed on the spot instead of taken POW.

At the N.R.A. musseum over in Fairfax Va. they have the Lewis and Clark air rifle on display. It was not untill the Flintlock stage of gun development that the firearm pulled ahead of the air gun. In the 1600's they even hunted boar with air guns.

In Mt.Airy Md is a guy by the name of Gary Barnes, and he builds custom air rifles that are charged off a scuba tank, is 58 caliber and will drop a deer.

Air guns are great!

Stay quiet,

Carl.
 
I love them. I shoot RWS and Gamo for plinking and Walther for target.
Don't own any pistols. I always set up a row of rifles at picnics.
Makes people forget horseshoes real quick and the kids and ladies love it too. Favorite target is aspirin tablets. They love seeing them puff like a skeet.
I'm sure you already have this site but I'll post it anyway. They have some cheap fun guns.
http://www.compasseco.com/
 
Gamo or Benjamin? Or Springer VS. Pumper?
Here is why I like Benji's/Sheridans. ( by the way, I posted this in another forum a while back and cut and pasted it here )



A brand new Benjamin pump up in which ever caliber you choose. .177, .20 or .22. They can be had for a bit under $100.00, made of wood, brass and no plastic, and are pleanty accurate and variable power for plinking or hunting.

Like I said, my opinions~~I know springers have pleanty of power, but the ones in this price range go TWANG when fired and I don't like that. The Benji just goes PPFFFTTT.

PCP's just go PPFFFTTT too, but are out of this price range.

So I like the Benji (392 in my case) because
(A) under $100.00.
(B) pump three times for targets in the basement, pump 8 times for bunnies in the field.
(C) no plastic anywhere!
(D) does not go TWANG when fired.
(E) Never out of CO2 and never needs a charge from a bottle.
(F) Williams makes a great peep site for it, and the trigger can be made quite nice two ways. You can either purchase a new sear from "charlie da tuna," or modify your own if you are comfortable in doing so.
 
It's been a long time since I shot a benji. As I recall they were not as accurate as a lot of other guns.
Is that still the case or are you satisfied with them in that area?
 
i own both RWS and Gamo. the RWS is a #34, basic 1000 fps.
the Gamo hunter 220 same basic 1000 fps.
both are good guns and have been shot ALOT!
would say RWS is a little better quality but no complaints with either.
both are fitted with 4X40 scopes.
each are single pump models. also .177 cal.
 
what kind of budget are you on? if i were you i'd get a crosman 2250, they're .22 bolt action for about 80 dollars (or a little more for a bulk c02 setup) you can upgrade the barrel (longer = higher FPS) and it comes with a scope which specs depend on whether you get the bulk airsource or the 12 gram powerlets.
great value for the money, light, VERY customizable and compact.
 
The Sheridan is a great air rifle though the new ones have a stiff trigger, good old liability issues.

I used to shoot a Sheridan Blue Streak from the 70's, had a beautiful walnut stock and was incredibly accurate even with the stock Sheridan sights. Good thing about pneumatics is they are totally recoil free though it does take a bit more effort to charge the rifle as compared to the springers. I sold my rifle for $80 in a fit of madness, sure wish I had it back.
 
I currently have a Crosman springer (600 fps), and a Daisy 717 pistol that I've had for about 25 years. I'm hoping to upgrade to either a Beeman or RWS rifle and a Beeman/Webley Tempest pistol.

Paul
 
I've have a Beeman HW-77 underlever with 4x scope that I've had for years. Extremely accurate, great trigger. I also have a webley nemesis pistol that I plink in the basement with. They are great fun to plink 9mm shell casings at 30 yards, etc. A precision air rifle will give years of satisfaction.
 
I have a Gamo 220. Very accurate, and reliable. Fit and finish isn't the best. Has a nice trigger.
They've got a few new ones out in that same range with VERY nice synthetic stocks. They're solid as a rock. I'd definitely give one of them a look if I were in the market for another. They have one with an underlever and a normal break barrel, both rated at 1000fps IIRC.
One thing you might think about is handling the guns in person before you buy. Just like any other gun, you want the stock to fit you. You won't be very accurate and you won't like shooting it if you can't comfortably get a good cheek weld and consisten sight picture. I've had people say the LOP on my gamo is too long, but it fits me very well. Points really naturally and I don't have to stretch my neck or anything. I haven't shouldered a sheridan, but they have a much straighter stock, and looks to be shorter. Don't know if one would fit me.
 
I have several. One target, one hunting and the kids have rifles and pistols too. Great fun and legitimate low cost target practice. My only advice is that if you want to hunt with an air gun, get a .20 or .22 caliber RWS or Beeman model.

When I was in Michigan on my annual deer hunting trips, we used to hunt squirrel (lunch) with my scoped Gamo 440 (1000fps, .177). Knockdown power was not very great at all, and I remember having to repeatedly shoot a few squirrels to get them knocked out of the tree. They were dead and just didn't know it yet, but....left a bad taste in my mouth.

The Gamo CO2 powered handguns are mucho fun when shooting at plastic army men in the basement from about 5 yards distance. Anyway, have fun and show someone else that shooting is a great hobby.

Jeff
 
I've used my Gamo repeater and my low power Crosman to pick off crows, grackles and other pesky birds, they were chasing off the song birds from the bird feeder. My father likes them, he got about 5 in a half an hour. It was a little disconcerting when I went out the back door, and the trees behind the house were filled with about a hundred blackbirds, all cawing at me. I turned around, went back inside, got my Gamo, and proceeded to take out about 2 before they all flew away. Haven't seen them for a while now :D .
 
TomW said:
It's been a long time since I shot a benji. As I recall they were not as accurate as a lot of other guns.
Is that still the case or are you satisfied with them in that area?
Click to expand...
By back yard plinking standards their accuaracy is fine. You probably won't win the olympics with one, but both rabbits and mice are in serious jeapordy when me and the benji are on the prowl.
 
I hope this isn't OT, but what kind of scopes do you all use on your air rifles?
I've been a gun nut all my life, but don't know much about pellet guns.
Most of the "air gun" scopes I see are cheapos, but I've read stuff in the past about "negative recoil" damaging the reticles on regular riflescopes :confused: I have a hard time imagining a scope that would be fine on a high-powered rifle not being usable on a pellet gun, so I'm curious.
I've got a single shot Gamo that was given to me, and the sights suck, so I've been thinking of putting a scope on it. Have also thought of buying one of the nicer RWS or similar air rifles. I've got several rifle scopes I could use, but wouldn't want to screw any of them up if this stuff is true.
Thanks:)
 
I just picked up two Benji's last month for $40 each. One fairly recent 392, and one late sixties 342. The 392 is okay, it still needs the sear from Charlie Da Tuna installed in it and I'm gonna throw a fixed 4x of some sort on it. My father in law got a wild hair up his ass and decided modify a 10/22 stock to fit it. Came out pretty nicely actually, but my wife is inheriting that one.

I'm hanging onto the 342 for myself...Absolutely love it! It was kept in good enough condition that it still has the original "Solid Walnut" sticker on the side of the stock. Also, the previous owner modified the bolt handle by lengthening it about two inches,which is awesome for those of us with large hands, tendonitis, or winter gloves. The trigger is incredibly sweet on it. In unmodified condition, this ones a helluva lot nicer than the 392. The 392 is a bit more powerful, but the factory trigger is soooo horrendous on it, you're gonna have a hard time directing that power to where you want it. the 342 is lighter, easier to pump, and just has better fit and finish and cleaner work throughout. Also, call me silly, but I really like the checkering on it. This is the one I'd love to have the "Mac-1 Steroid treatment" done on. Probably wouldn't hurt to do something with the seals anyways, considering it's age.

I thought I wanted a Benjamin Legacy, until I started checking out the Airgun Forums on it. Holy cow have people been having trouble with this one! There's guys that have returned there's three times or so, and STILL can't get a decent air rifle out of it. If I get a Springer any time soon, I think it's gonna be a Beeman GS 1000 or 950.

I think it's kinda a different tasks sorta thing regarding the Pump Vs. Springer thing, I kinda view Pumps as being more of the farm/utility/plinking/ocassional hunting sorta thing. It's nice to be able to pump the rifle twice to sting the neighbors dog in your garbage, and then pump it eight times to de-animate the terrorist squirrle infilitrating your attic. The Springers are probably nicer for more serious hunting/target shooting, although I wouldn't know for sure. Could be the 25-30lbs of cocking force of a fairly powerful springer might get a little old after fifty rounds or so? Of course, so does pumping your rifle four times or so every time ya' shoot a round...

Of course my full auto Bumble Bee is hell on squirrels and the neighbors dogs. :D (600 RPM BB gun) It actually shoots remarkably accurately also, not due to fine rifling or anything, but it's very light electric trigger.

I've been doing some serious drooling over some of the pre-charged ones (particularly a couple of F/X models) but just can't come up with the money for one. (around $1200 or so once the smoke starts to clear) I'd have no problem paying that kinda money for a pellet rifle, if only I had the money to pay.





Sorry, for the long post. I've been REALLY fired up about pellet rifles lately, and it's kinda hard to find other folks who share the same interest. You'd think I'd be used to that "When are you gonna grow up?" look by now... :D
 
Have to get a air rifle rated scope for springers. The momentum of the spring throws the gun backwards at first then forwards as its travel stops. The forward recoil is hell on scopes that are only reinforced in one direction. you can have anything from broken reticles to lenses coming loose. If I remember right, the NRA or someone even did tests with high end rifle scopes, none survived. Its not that its harsh recoil, its more of a vibration that the scope isn't designed to take. Some might hold up for quite a while, or they might fly apart in 10 shots. Its better just to get one thats made for a springer.
There are some nice scopes out there if you look around. I've even heard that some of the cheapies are pretty good quality.
 
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