Looking for Air Rifle Recommendation

That's what i'm talking about. I had bought a 4 pack of gamo pellets. Domed, Pointed, hollow and wadcutter. The wadcutters are amazing! But i needed to bring down the velocity so i bought heavier oned. They somehow messed up and put an RWS wadcutter in my superdomes and i shot it and man, was it amazing lol. I know theyre for target but jeeze, i almost went out and switched!
 
It's a good idea to try a variety of pellets for your rifle to find the one it likes best, for my Beeman HW97 .20 it gets the best accuracy with the Beeman FTS 11.90gr and/or the Crosman Premier 14.3 gr. .
I was looking at the price of these fine air guns and they have gone way up since I got mine. Good luck, have fun and be careful.
 
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Let me state my bias up front - I like break-barrel springers, and prefer .22 caliber - as it is more efficient and imparts more energy and more importantly momentum to the target - important if one is considering pest control or small game.

However if one is just plinking then .177 is cheaper and more commonly available.

OK my personal preference - Weirhauch HW95 - for me seems close to ideal, in .22 it is about 14-15ft-lb energy and it has the legendary Rekord trigger - one of the very best on any airgun. I use RWS Super-H Point for pest control, and for plinking/target I use Crosman Wadcutters, longer ranges I use either Crosman Premiers or Crosman Pointed.

Weihrauch HW95
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The HW-95 is powerful enough and yet sweet shooting for its power.
Note: the more powerful the springer the harsher it is to shoot (unless expertly tuned) -
eg: British law limits air-rifles to <12ft-lb and they do plenty of airgun pest control and hunting with that limit.

The HW95 is sold as the Beeman R9 - but only in .177 and .20 -
although there is a Beeman R9 Double Gold edition with scope that is available in .22 (it is still listed as current at Beeman).

Beeman R9 Double Gold
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If an airgun is wanted for plinking then the Beeman R7 in .177 is a wonderful sweet shooting gun, again with the legendary Rekord trigger - but is pretty limited for pest control/small game (I think the Beeman R7 is based on the Weihrauch HW30S?)

beemanr7gk8.jpg



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I have a Gamo Silver Shadow rifle with an advertised speed of 1000 fps; it's been reliable and accurate over a lot of shooting. comfortable too. I also have a RWS Diana Magnum 5 (700 fps) air pistol and that's a blast in the garage range. Both have fiber optic sights which I prefer for indoor shooting.
 
Break barrels are never as accurate as Co2 or side or under lever. One single barrel is way more effective than two barrels that split. You also have seals which deteriorate over time in them and you can have blowby which is caused by the parts not coming together fully or a damaged seal. I mean, if you find a super expensive one i guess it could be comparable, but in your interest a lever action would be your best bet unless you want to go for total recoiless, go for c02. With a spring air, the rifle recoils both forwards and backwards, so a specialized grip is required. You pretty much let the rifle do what it wants, a very soft hold. Also, special scopes are required as they are supported both front and back. Co2 is more gentle, can have varied velocities with the pressure and can use regular scopes.
 
But the nice thing about any break rifle is that you make your own air from leverage :-). Easier to hunt with. I find my RWS 48 a very fun rifle. I started out with a Crosman Quest 1000 with no scope, bought a scope after. Not the same scope on my RWS, that ones an expensive import tasco, japanese or chinese made i forgot, but best glass for a springer back when it was made.
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
Break barrels are never as accurate as Co2 or side or under lever. One single barrel is way more effective than two barrels that split. You also have seals which deteriorate over time in them and you can have blowby which is caused by the parts not coming together fully or a damaged seal. I mean, if you find a super expensive one i guess it could be comparable.
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Can't argue with that - but break-barrel springers are plenty accurate enough for most people - it was the most popular type of air-rifle before the pre-charged pneumatic in the UK where there used to be a big following - since firearms licenses were hard to get hold of.

All airguns use seals that deteriorate - they are usually far less accessible than break-barrel springers.

But everyone to their own preference - the Weihrauch range are some of the best and well reputed of break-barrel springers.

There aren't that many true quality CO2 guns that are readily available - also CO2 is a continuous running cost.

I own a Crosman 2260 CO2 which is pretty nice - but its trigger is nothing to write home about - indecisive feel with a lot of creep -
In contrast - the Rekord trigger on the Weihrauchs are almost without peer - perhaps the Air Arms may be comparable - so I shoot the Weihrauch HW95 out of preference.

Pre-Charged Pneumatics are currently all the rage - but they are very expensive and pretty costly to maintain - one needs compressed air and basically an air-fill tank (used to fill scuba tanks) - or have a heart attack pumping - seals are always a problem on pcp too as well as contamination.... too much fuss for gains that aren't that significant for me.

For an accurate airgun - try the Daisy 953 - can be found for just over $70 - it is a single-stroke pneumatic - but again the trigger is its main weak point but it is accurate once one learns how to shoot it...
as would most air-rifles (some just are better than others and after years of shooting airguns my preference is still a quality break barrel springer)

Daisy 953
dasypic953mz5.jpg


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jill jackson said:
Some Gamos are OK, I don't think they compare with RWS even for the price difference.
What I was saying is when they Chronographed the Hunter Extreme it didn't come close to the velocity they claim for it, so the top RWS that are even cheaper and easier to cock, with better triggers would do at least as well as the Hunter Extreme in reality. (plus shooting those lightweight pellets in a spring piston gun is hard on the piston)
This link shows the Hunter is seriously overrated in velocity, even with the alloy it was well short of 1650fps
http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2007/08/gamo-hunter-extreme-part-2-velocity.html

BTW the listed velocity for most air rifles is not from using alloy pellets. That is a Gamo thing and they are the ones that use them a lot. RWS and other companies do not list velocity with anything other than a light weight lead pellet. Even if Gamo does make it a common practice to list with alloy they still point out that it is with alloy and list the lead as well, other companies don't even bother with the alloy.
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That was an interesting read on the Gamo Hunter Extreme. Sounds like a bear to cock it, and it doesn't deliver as promised. You're right about the PBA ammo, too -- evidently I spent too much time looking at the Gamo, and didn't realize they're the only ones who rate their velocity that way.

Even so, I think I'll probably get a Gamo someday, just because it's a decent gun and a lot less expensive than the RWS. I'm sure there are much better quality guns available, but the price makes them uninteresting to me.
 
Well, if it makes any difference. I learned on the Break barrel Crosman Quest 1000 and then upgraded the scope myself, just the one that comes with the crosman kit, which i didnt get. Then i wore the crap out of it after putting tons of tins in it and the spring wore out and snapped. Planned on fixing it cuz i was attached to it but then my grandfather handed me his RWS Model 48 (the 52 just has a fancier stock, not worth the extra $$) and i was like ooooook screw the crosman lol. I've shot pills, berries, a fly that landed on my target lol, ill have to find that pic, and tons of other things. I like shooting ciggy butts too. The scope makes all the difference but ive shot with irons and have decent results. Gamo makes nice guns, but i've shot a bunch of diff springers and i always go back to the RWS. Stay away from combination rifles (pellet and BB) theyre usually not rifled. I love shooting my BB pistol though.
 
My Diana break barrel .177 air rifle I got in 1968 is still going strong and accurate after more than 40 years. :thumbup: :D
 
SuzukiGS750EZ said:
RWS=Diana
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This is mostly right - RWS is a brand that sells Diana airguns under its label.

But RWS has also sold airguns by different makers - for example the RWS 94 which was very well regarded was not a Diana, but made in Spain - a re-badged Cometa Fenix 400.

RWS 93 = Cometa 300
RWS 9B or 9N = Cometa "Indian"

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Dynabit Nobel RWS i believe is the manufacturing name that makes diana. But its said Diana RWS as far as a name is concerned. :-). Don't mean to get arguin.
 
yooperman said:
Can anyone recommend a good air rifle? Brand? Caliber?

-Mark
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Can't really recommend you anything for hunting (other than saying just use a .22), but if you're wanting a plinker check out the IZH-61. It's a little funky looking, but extremely accurate and highly adjustable.
 
I used to have the Gamo 440 hunter advertised 990ft/s. Yep chrono'd near that at altitude of 4000ft. However .177 gets a bit erratic using nomal pellets at that speed and shed energy too fast so I went to very heavy pellets, down to 830fts for great accuracy and carry.

My guess is that .177 (no.1) should not get too near sound barrier and if you get the ultrafast Gamo go for very heavy pellets

Light pellets are good in kiddies airrifles of 660f/s
 
Rather go to a .2 or .22 at 750-1000ft/s especially if you want to go over rat/squirrel size.
 
I am currently sooo very out of humour. My youngest left a jar of Daisy BB on top of the fridge door. I have him picking up of over a thousand BB on the kitchen floor, I got a major fright going in for some wine then there is a serious dumping and bouncing of little silver balls. Amazing how some stick to the fridge door magnetic strip.
 
Tim-Gabz said:
I am currently sooo very out of humour. My youngest left a jar of Daisy BB on top of the fridge door. I have him picking up of over a thousand BB on the kitchen floor, I got a major fright going in for some wine then there is a serious dumping and bouncing of little silver balls. Amazing how some stick to the fridge door magnetic strip.
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Too bad! You need a big magnet to get them up with.
If you don't have one maybe you got an old speaker laying around?
The magnet in those is very powerful.
 
Mountainman38 said:
That was an interesting read on the Gamo Hunter Extreme. Sounds like a bear to cock it, and it doesn't deliver as promised. You're right about the PBA ammo, too -- evidently I spent too much time looking at the Gamo, and didn't realize they're the only ones who rate their velocity that way.

Even so, I think I'll probably get a Gamo someday, just because it's a decent gun and a lot less expensive than the RWS. I'm sure there are much better quality guns available, but the price makes them uninteresting to me.
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The cheaper Gamo's are mostly less than a RWS.
But, that Hunter Extreme is as much as the high end RWS's, Or more.
You should look at all that's out there before you buy, comparable models between brands are pretty much like priced and Gamo makes a few models that don't have such great reputations.
That CFX is one that they make that's said to be pretty darn good.
 
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