Ordered an Air Rifle

[holdover]

The heavier the pellet the bigger the thump , All pellets are not equal , they have varying degrees of weight The .22 cal pellet can go from 18 grains to 42 grains , the energy difference is noticeable when it hits a live target . Ive pinned them in place with the heavy ones , No jumping no kicking , just lights out , gone. The heavier pellets are also more stable for long range shots Too. I don't see any real advantage of the 177 anymore.

The nice thing about the air rifle is that you can you buy stuff legally to quiet them down , My condor was every bit as loud as a .22 but after I put my shroud on it it was as load as a red ryder. and it be brought down even more. Once I took three squirrels at 50 yards all under the same tree, and they never suspected their battle buddy was laying dead ten feet away.

 

[Bushmaster]

So not seeing an sub forum on air guns since they are considered firearms in DEC code, I figured I would post here. Been thinking to pick up a decent one for plinking and dispatching any unwelcome vermin for quite a while, I went with a Hatsan 95 gas piston, QE in 22cal. Heard good things about it. Solid wood Turkish stock and German made rifled barrel. On back order but I can wait the week until in stock. Any airgunners here? Thoughts?

stock pic
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I asked that same question once about air rifle threads. You ever see the big game ones that shoot 50cal rounds? they take Deer, Hogs etc... I use to look at this site 5-Star Guns - PyramydAir.com as mentioned though, you can get in to some big money, even higher priced than some center fire hunting rifles.

 

[Doc8404]

"Best" cost effective out of box setup with scope?

 

[NY Leatherneck]

"Best" cost effective out of box setup with scope?

Depends what your looking to do with it. I wanted something that had a good reviews, quieter, had some vermin knockdown power and of course yard plinking. Wanted a .22 for sure. Also gas piston which is good in cold weather and can stay cocked for long periods of time without damage unlike spring cockers. The hardwood stock and german made barrel sealed it. I went with the QE which claims 50% noise redux over the standard version. Comes with a 3-9x scope as well. Price.... $219 but i found a 10% code online so $21 less.

 

[meketrefe]

Gamo with the scope is a good package and very powerful air rifles. I have one that is 35 years old and it works like day one.

 

[togmaster]

"Best" cost effective out of box setup with scope?

There are a lot of choices. The Hatsan @NY Leatherneck got looks like a sweet gun. Most people start with a springer or spring piston because they don't need any additional hardware, pumps or CO2 bottles. One of the most popular choices/best bang for the buck guns is the Diana RWS 34 RWS Diana RWS 34 Striker Combo, TO6 Trigger. Air rifles . The Caliber you choose depends on what type of shooting you want to do.

As others have said air gunning is just an extension of the gun addiction. Once you get one you will want another or wind up upgrading the one you have. They are a lot of fun and a great way to practice your shooting at a very low cost.

 

[meketrefe]

tog,
One can compete too. Very demanding and challenging competitions.

 

[NY Leatherneck]

Update:
Backordered to 1/31/17....Fuck that....so I went with the 25 cal version.. same price....Ammo a little more $$....for less quantity . ...but what the hell....it's a .25 so I can can do more with it.

 

[togmaster]

tog,
One can compete too. Very demanding and challenging competitions.

I know. The club I belong to has set up an air gun course with about 8 stations along a trail. Similar to field target. American Airgun Field Target Home Page

I would love to try my hand at a few competitive events in the near future.

 

[NY Leatherneck]

Got it!!
1st thoughts . ...this thing is substantial and heavy, very well made for an entry break barrel air rifle. Mounted the scope, opened the action and ran some patches down the barrel. Hope to send some pellets down range tomorrow but hunting gets first dibs in my schedule. Got 4 tins of diablo .25cal. All set....

 

[togmaster]

Diablo's are good pellets. In my gun anyway. Good luck and have fun.

 

[Frankly]

Don't clean or oil that barrel. Seriously.

 

[NY Leatherneck]

Don't clean or oil that barrel. Seriously.

I read about that. I just ran 3 dry patches as I heard there is some oil from the mfg process in the barrel.

 

[meketrefe]

it is a very good idea to clean the barrel but then make sure you run a few patches so it is completely dry.
after the manufacturing process there is a lot of gunk and residue some with metal that might be trapped.
There are pellets that are design for cleaning but nothing like a patch. Use a cleaning rod that is lined so
you will never damage the crown work like some old style cleaning rods.

 

[Mosinitis]

Initial barrel cleaning is always a good idea. Use dry patches or special cleaning solutions which are safe for air rifles. Different types of air rifles require different cleaners/lubricants. Generally petroleum based products and most of gun solvents should be avoided. Rubber seals and dieseling is a concern. There are 3 types of air rifles: PCP pre-charged pneumatic, SSP single-stroke pneumatic and Spring Piston. The maintenance is a little different for each type. Pull through cords/lines are better suited then cleaning rods.

 

[togmaster]

Actually there are pump air guns too. But who's counting.

 

[Bananabandit]

Is that .25 a gas piston?

 

[NY Leatherneck]

Is that .25 a gas piston?

Yes it is gas piston...sighted it in and very accurate. Scope included glass not clear at all. Threw a Bushnell Banner 2-7x32 I had lying around on it and made a big difference.

 

[Marine Cpl]

Have any of you guys SBR'd your air rifle to make them more handy?

If so, would you lose velocity like you would with a gunpowder propellant?

 

[meketrefe]

Have any of you guys SBR'd your air rifle to make them more handy?

If so, would you lose velocity like you would with a gunpowder propellant?

yes. Air is very different than powders so short barrels will loose A LOT of speed.

 

[Frankly]

1984 FAS 604 10-meter target air pistol, 0.177 of course. Rink grip with putty and an Ultradot red dot on a custom mount. I shoot this in my basement into a putty pellet trap. The grip cost as much as the gun but it sure is nice. These Italian pistols were good enough for the Olympics in the early 1980s, now everyone uses PCP pistols (Steyr, FWB, etc.)

Weihrauch HW30s break barrel springer 0.177 rifle with OEM fiber optic sights. These are very smooth and accurate rifles that really deserve scopes but I like to use open sights while they still work for me - I do cheat and use fiber optics. I sent this one to the tuner John Thomas in PA and he went over it, now it is super smooth cocking and very consistent, adding Vortex springs makes it more consistent and slightly more powerful. I can use this on my outdoor range (earlier post) or indoors as it's pretty quiet and not too powerful. This one is 30 years old, new ones sell for $350 or so, still made in Germany. They make much larger and heavier springers as well but I like this 6 lb gun because it is compact and easy to cock, kids can shoot it, it is forgiving and fun.

Smooth is slow and slow is accurate, the FAS is only 430 fps and the HW30s is 620 fps. I have no conniption taking squirrels at 25 yards with the rifle, I fear the pistol is too weak. If you want to hunt larger animals either get a real .22 powderburner or dig deep and get a .25-.30 PCP scoped rifle. Those 1200 fps Gamo/Crosman and such just aren't that accurate and they twang and rip themselves apart. Or you get bored with them after a tin of pellets because they just aren't nice guns. Advertising and marketing emphasize velocity and power but it's bullshit if you can't hit anything.

I've bought and sold a dozen plus airguns to get to these, you have a similar learning curve to powder guns, everyone buys cheap Crosmans at first, you waste a lot of time and money modifying them, eventually you realize that buying quality in the first place is a lot less expensive in the long run.

I get tempted to get a nice PCP but going low end doesn't do any better than a good springer - I would consider a Wicked Air Rifles custom or a RAW HW1000 rifle, or maybe one of the newer Russian imports as they are making some pretty cool guns now. However the hassle of getting an air tank filled or spending $2500 on a proper high pressure compressor moderates this. If I were sticking to pistols or smaller PCP guns like the Crosman Discovery then I might use a hand pump (not a bicycle pump but a special $200-$300 high pressure one) but once you go to larger tanks hand pumping gets really annoying (like 50-100 hard pumps to top it off). The truth is that by the time you buy a nice gun ($1000-$2500) and scope it ($$$) and figure out air ($$$) you're many thousand into it so you better really like shooting them.

Lots of people bought Crosman M-Rods and P-Rods because they were a good value but then they just collect dust because getting tanks filled is a hassle and the guns are cheaply built and kind of unsatisfying. Yeah you get a repeater with 8-12 pellets in a magazine and bolt action but loading those mags is as much of a pain as anything else and with most guns you get 20-40 shots before recharging the air, you spend all the time you spent cocking a springer but in larger chunks.