Anyone into air rifles?

Beeman is a good name AFAIK, I have taught many children with the crossman 781, and the older 780. depending on the gun its self, the 780's were rifled, and were more accurate, but they were capable of some impressive accuracy at 20yds.
I found that under constant use they had a life span of about 6 months, and thats with a great many children and no maintenance. YMMV, but we had other guns that died of despair very quickly.
 
I was given an RWS 24C(arbine) when I was 11 or 12. Put thousands of rounds through it. Great single shot (.177) spring piston rifle.
 
I like break-barrel springers - however $70 is near the bottom limit for those air-rifles.

Beeman is a very good brand - but mainly for their (much) higher priced springers which are made by Weihrauch Germany - eg: the R7 is about $350.....

That link you gave would seem to be OK'ish for a beginner's non-serious air-rifle for plinking - but can't say for sure.

You might want to also consider the Daisy Powerline 953 -
it is a single stroke pneumatic that shoots at about 500ft/sec - there is no recoil to speak of - very accurate - but let down by a not so great trigger - can be found for just over $70.....

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I'll give another vote for Beeman being a good company to deal with. I've bought two airguns from them, a Webley tempast and a fienwerkebau 124 rifle. Both have been going since 1981.

The price of 70 dollars is too low, it must be a Chinese or Russian air gun. Maybe okay for backyard plinking. If Beeman would give it thier lifetime warentee I'd be tempted, but not otherwise.

Buy a RWS, or Fienwerkebau. You'll pay more, but you'll get 25 or 30 years of service with no problems. Weihrouch is also very good and Beeman has them also.
 
There is some good reading in this thread about all kinds of pellet guns.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=620240

I personally don't like the break barrel/springer type of gun. I find them loud and the fact the spring can break bothers me. This is a personal preference so get what your prefer. The spring guns do usually have a higher fps rating then similarly priced competition.

I like the multi pump pneumatic guns. I have a Benjamin 392 in .22 cal and I love it. It was my father's gun then mine and it still shoots great with a lot of power. The Crossman 760 is also a very good rifle. It has more plastic on it but one I have has been performing great for the last few years.
 
orrey45 said:
There is some good reading in this thread about all kinds of pellet guns.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=620240

I personally don't like the break barrel/springer type of gun. I find them loud and the fact the spring can break bothers me. This is a personal preference so get what your prefer. The spring guns do usually have a higher fps rating then similarly priced competition.
Click to expand...

Many thanks for the link.

I guess it's what one is brought up with
Beeman waxes lyrical about break-barrel springers -
Dr. Bob Beeman probably single-handedly popularized the break-barrel springer in the USA -
when most of the airguns at the time were multi-pump pneumatics by Crosman and Daisy -
but it was hardly fair to compare $multi-hundred European springers to $20-30 multi-pumps.

In Britain and Europe this was hardly news -
the most common/popular airguns were break-barrel springers -
in theory not as "accuate" as fixed barrel side- or under levers.
But quality locking mechanisms and the added convenience of cocking with a single stroke and exposing the loading port in the same operation kept the break-barrels popular.

The pinnacle of quality for the affordable mass produced sporting airguns were the German Weihrauchs (whose fabulous Rekord trigger is still unsurpassed in a commercial sporting air-rifle), Diana (marketed by RWS in USA) - then the British Webleys (no longer Britiish made), BSA and Air Arms (whose triggers were nipping at the heels of the Rekord).

There were also nose-bleed territory match air-rifles - like Feinwerkbau - who also made some really good sporting air-rifles of very high quality like the 124 and 127 series (which also had very good triggers) - but unforunately long unavailable......

These days the popularity has shifted to PCPs - Pre-Charged Pneumatics - pricing starts about $500 to well over $1,000.
These require charging with air - either via a compressed air tank, like for scuba diving - or have a heart attack using a high pressure pump - these PCP have the advantage of virtually no recoil and the ability when charged to shoot without pumping/compressing a spring.

I grew up with break-barrel springers and therefore have a natural bias toward them - I can't stand having to pump multiple times to get any reasonable power out of a pneumatic - PCPs to me are too high maintanence (additional cost of air tank and filling + care about moisture)

I like break-barrel springers because they are low maintanence - springs do break - but not often, many people have springers "for life" -
except for the really high powered springers they are still pleasent to shoot - they do need getting used to - but then I grew up with them... ones in the 10-16ft-lb energy range are probably optimum for pest control (about 700-1000 fps for an average .177 pellet or the more prefereable for the purpose .22 that's about 500-800 fps).

However at the energies/velocities for plinking - shooting cans and paper
- about 6 ft-lbs is fine (about 500-600fps in .177) - the guns can be very pleasing to shoot - a very fine example is the Beeman R7 (re-badged Weihrauch HW30S) but then we are talking about $350.....

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I am a pre-charged pneumatic guy myself, Airforce condor being my favorite, Airarms 410 being a grail rifle. Also get a .22, you will wish you did if you get into it.
 
I bought a Gamo Whisper with the built on silencer a few months back. The specs claim 1000 fps with standard .177 pellets and 1200 fps with their special plated ones. I chronographed both and the book specs are right on. So far, I've been real pleased with it and the accuracy is great. I pot prairie dogs in my back field when they get too numerous and the Gamo will put them down out to 150 yards or better.
 
rrg991981 said:
Also get a .22, you will wish you did if you get into it.
Click to expand...

yes, this is true for anything above about 10 ft-lb energy (>500fps for .22) and it is my personal preference too.

PCPs are mostly much more powerful than springers
a lot approach or even exceed 20 ft-lb where a .177 pellet would just be too light and go just over supersonic, which is not very conducive to accuracy and consistency - as the pellet goes unstable when breaking going above and then dropping below the sound barrier..

But for lower cost and lower power for plinking (cans, paper) .177 is just cheaper and much easier to get, also the velocity doesn't fall too low, still >= 500fps due to the lighter .177 pellet.

All competition/match airguns are .177

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So that Beeman I linked is a good choice? I'm going to order it at the end of the day if no one has any other suggestions. I'd rather not have a multi pump gun, since it takes awhile to charge up the air.

Thanks.
 
rsw make great air rifles. Check them out their quality is unbelievable. Will last several lifetimes.
 
jeffreyliu838 said:
The recommended daisy looks nice, and it's pretty cheap, too.
http://www.amazon.com/Daisy-Powerli...e=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1235091666&sr=8-1
Click to expand...

Yes, that's the one I suggested looking at -
the Daisy 953 is very accurate without any recoil - except the trigger is a bit heavy and nothing to write home about -
BUT 500fps for .177 pellets probably is only about 4 ft-lb - a bit too low powered for gophers - despite the name "PowerLine".
Probably a more humane power level is >7 ft-lbs (or closer to 700fps in .177)

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jeffreyliu838 said:
EDIT: http://www.amazon.com/Winchester-1000B-air-rifle/dp/B000W2YREG/ref=pd_sbs_sg_7

Is that rifle any good? It's almost supersonic! Cheap, too.
Click to expand...

That's pretty powerful even if they "exaggerate" advertise by using very light 6.5grn pellets it's still 14.4 ft-lbs - if it actually reaches 1,000fps.

However that would be plenty of power for gophers etc -

BUT the shooting is likely to be pretty harsh - and the trigger is reputed to be pretty awful -
having said that $69 is a very good price if you can live with the harsher shooting and poor trigger.

Springers especially powerful ones need a special hold and getting used to. At that power level .22 would probably be better.

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Hmm. So the Daisy Powerline 953 and the Winchester 1000b are on the list right now. I like everything about the Daisy except for the power, and I like the power of the Winchester...

Thanks.

EDIT: Checked up a bit on ammo. Apparently the weight isn't standard. I could just buy lighter ammo if I get the 953 to bump up the speed of the pellet to insure cleaner gopher kills, right? Velocity might still be the same, but I think there'll be more penetration.
 
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jeffreyliu838 said:
EDIT: Checked up a bit on ammo. Apparently the weight isn't standard. I could just buy lighter ammo if I get the 953 to bump up the speed of the pellet to insure cleaner gopher kills, right? Velocity might still be the same, but I think there'll be more penetration.
Click to expand...

No - that is dependent on total energy (for airguns expressed in ft-lb)
A lighter pellet will give higher velocity -
BUT it should give the same energy.

All airguns are "fussy" about pellets - some pellets work well, while others just do not shoot consistently.

If you are shooting gophers - then you should get the Winchester 1000B which will have power to spare.
The Daisy 953 is UNDERpowered for that purpose - but will be very nice for your original intended purpose of backyard shooting at cans.

You will have to be more careful of your backstop with the Winchester.

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