Survival airgun

O

OmegaA

Joined
Feb 13, 2004
Messages
282
Hello, everybody,
I would like to find a light airgun that can take small birds like sparrows. The caliber is most likely to be .177 (4.5 mm), pellet velocity 120 m/s will be sufficient, single shot (no need for air cartridges), good precision to hit a sparrow on 5 metres (15-16 feet). The most important it should be lightweight, as light as it gets, preferable even less than a handgun. What will be your recommendations?
The reason I would like airgun because it is legal in majority of countries, so I will be able to take it with myself when I travel abroad.
Regards,
 
I don't own one now but if I were looking to buy the first place I'd look is to the Beeman R7 or HW30 in a rifle or Beeman HW70A in a pistol. The pistol's muzzle velocity meets your 120 m/s minimum, the rifle is much higher. With practice it should be accurate enough at 5 meters. They aren't particularly light though.
 
Anything German or British will do that. US airguns are pretty crap unless they are teamed up with a German company.

The HW80 has long been a firm favourite though as its simple and has a great trigger. You can also get a gas spring made for it that gets rid of the worry about spring fatigue, these things shoot consistently year after year.

One of the better makers in the UK is Theoben, they invented the 'gas spring'



http://www.theoben.co.uk/customer/home.php

They have a US distributor too.
 
If you wanted a pellet pistol that packs a punch, check out two models made by Webley. I have a spring loaded model called the Tempest. It is very powerful with adjustable sights. Can't remember how many feet per second it shoots but I have killed small game with it.....I think they are made in the UK if I remember correctly...
 
Air reservoir pumps behave most like real rifles so that would be my recommendation for taking small game. I've taken well over a hundred pigeons for pest control with a Benjamin Sheridan and about 30 or 40 prior to that air rifle with a comparable Crosman.
 
Be aware that the Webly's are right hand grip model's . Use target flathead or hollowpoint pellets for small game. Paint the front sight a blaze orange color.
 
after months of research I got a Hercules B4-2 spring operated pellet rifle and I feel I made the right choice. Its made by Norinco I believe and is a copy of a RWS without the cost.
Here is a list of the pluses and minuses:
minus: its heavier than most other pellet rifles, which is good in some ways
plusses: its accurate out to 30 yds.
its powerful enough for one shot kills on squirrels out to 30 yds.
its inexpensive
robust and solid, as an adult rifle should be
decent trigger, excellent sites
sling swivels
provision for rail mounts

I can't say enough good about it. Its a great product for the money in the same league with the Opinel
 
I have heard of an Extremely powerful air rifle that uses compressed air. A legendary finnish gunwriter P.T.Kekkonen wrote about it...damn, I dont remember the name. It was large caliber and you could add to the power by dropping a bit of oil on the aircylinder. Damn thing worked like a diesel lighting the oil and giving insane velocity.Especially if you used a sabot round (Prometheus?) Diesel method wore out the mechanism pretty fast though....

Does anyone know what Im talking about, or had P.T. had a few drinks too much. Again...:):)
 
Crosman 1377, you can order a stock for it to turn it into a carbine. 177. I'm a terrible shot, but I took 2 grackles out with it my first day of playing with it.
 
I assume that you don't really need a gun that will last forever as a survival gun, you need one that will get you through a crisis and will not give you legal problems. The problem with air guns is that they either have powerful springs or powerful pumps and compressed air reservoirs. This makes the guns heavy. If you want a lightweight gun you could consider CO-2 powered models. These have a small gas reservoir and a moderate spring to pop open a valve when you pull the trigger. They are not as accurate as some of the other types and they are vulnerable to long term valve leakage once you open a CO-2 cartridge, but they may be a viable choice. You can carry a lot of CO-2 cartridges for less weight than most of the pump or spring-action models. I couldn't tell you what are good models these days. I used them as a teenager.
 
I've used a pellet pistol for small game (small birds and squirrels) and I've found that under 400 fps (vast majority of pistols) do not give a consistant performance..(eg kill ratio) I've had a lot of game take off (wounded) and not be recoverable.. thats not to say you can't (I've used it on a blue jay, with one shot) but in the majority I would say that I've had a lot of multiple hits/losses with the pistols ~400 fps)
 
If you're still thinking of takeing it into other countries why take the risk of trying to explain to the authorities your intentions. If you're thinking of holdin down the vermin population around the house and protecting the bird seed for the birds, then get a 50dollar crossman and call it done. I taught my boys and daughter how to hunt and handle a gun as soon as they could carry it themselves. Got 100% on thier hunter saftey courses.Took them out hunting squirrels and such each fall. We all got the fiftybucks out of it. and it still works, kinda, but now I can upgrade.

As far as world travel ,these days there is so much unrest I think other supplies might be the ticket. If you still think you want one the cheeper one can be cut down fer packing and if it gets confiscated you aint out much.
IMO of course.:)
 
OmegaA,
If you want something very light weight, able to kill small game, and accurate enough to hit a sparrow at 5 meters, perhaps you might consider a sling-shot (wrist rocket)?

Good luck,
Allen.
 
I have a webley tempest its a nice air pistol but quite heavy. I think its 2 - 4 ft lbs (ish)

I dont have much experience with firearms but wouldnt a small .22 firearm be a much better choice? Im sure you could pack up a small .22 firearm for little or no more weight than a webley tempest and a tin of pellets and it would be much better for killing small game. Small air pistols are quite poor you might kill a rat or a squirrel if you were very close but from what Ive heard you couldnt even take a bird with one unless you hit it in the head (the feathers act like a shield) Air gun hunting is mildly popular here in the UK as its the only hunting normal people can do, the standard is at least a 12 ft lb air rifle and people who are more serious about it usually get a firearms certificate so they can get a more powerful air rifle (~25 ft lb)
 
AllenC beat me to it:p but go for a standard slingshot as in some location's it's against the Law to own[go figure] But you can carry a 36 inch piece of rubber tubeing usefull as a siphon or with a premade pouch and forked branch or shaped heavy gauge wire Ta da a slingshot!:D ;)
 
Hi OmegaA- another choice would bee the beeman p1, a spring loaded pistol. its one of the most powerful factory airpistols with a muzzle velocity of about 550 to 580 fps (with standart weight .177 pellets of about 7 grains). Its also pretty compact and needs ,as most spring loaded guns, very little care. You won`t need any co2 cartridges. Its still a very week gun compared to any .22 and to hunt you should always try to go for a head shot .(But I got some smaller rabbits with body shots too)- for a little bigger animal like rabbits I prefer the pointed pellets as penetration is the key.Distance is important, you need to get as close as possible, the little pellets lose their energy very fast. Also make sure when you travel to check out the laws, a lot countrys allow the possesion off air guns ,but are very restrictive when its comes up to carry or shot them and were to shot them. Too, there are sometimes restictions depending the power of air guns. Anyway, like Bladefixation mentioned most recommend a gun with at least 12 ft lb for huntin small game and to do so is best with a rifle. You need to be pretty accurat as the kill zone of the animal ist mostly very small. This is easier done with a rifle than a pistol. For compactness the pistol is ok with good shot placement at relativley short distances. I think still its a lot easier to hunt with an air gun versus a slingshot, to get a rabbit at 30 yard with a slingshot seems a tough thing, but its done easy with a halfway powerfull rifle. For the pistol cut that distance by half. Have fun travelling. Mikel
 
For more information check Beeman.com and go for caliber and pellet selection. For sparrow sized animals and the distance you want it fore any pistol will do, for example the beeman p3(400fps, .177) very accurat, very light and easier to shot as it is a precharged design and not a spring powerd gun. Or a couple of the Gamo pistols would work as well.
 
Cynic1 said:
I have heard of an Extremely powerful air rifle that uses compressed air. A legendary finnish gunwriter P.T.Kekkonen wrote about it...damn, I dont remember the name. It was large caliber and you could add to the power by dropping a bit of oil on the aircylinder. Damn thing worked like a diesel lighting the oil and giving insane velocity.Especially if you used a sabot round (Prometheus?) Diesel method wore out the mechanism pretty fast though....

Does anyone know what Im talking about, or had P.T. had a few drinks too much. Again...:):)
Click to expand...
I remember reading about the same gun on Gunwriters (a great site). PTK mentioned a couple of times I think: It was a West-German Barracuda air rifle from thes 60s. A vial containing ethyl ether was inserted to increase power by "diesel effect". A few drops of the fuel was enough per shot.

For a survival airgun, I think I'd like a Weihrauch HW45 (Beeman P1)

Or perhaps a Cometa "Indian" Pistol which is supposed to be very decent indeed. (archived review)

If weight is not a concern, there are many good high powered rifles, Pyramydair has a great selection.
 
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