Air Rifles

[shortthrow50]

Why not just buy a .22 rifle. A nice marlin bolt action will be cheaper than any high quality air rifle. My Benjamin air rifle was a little over 300 bucks and the .22 cost me less. 20 bucks for a brick of 500 rounds is hardly expensive and will most likely last you a long long time for your purpose. If your worried about noise you can buy rounds from Aquila. Heavy grain bullets sub sonic. Those rounds pack a nice punch and are quiter than my air rifle. Or for plinking that company also makes light grain bullets with no powder. Just uses primer to throw the round down range. No sound at all and still fly around 600 fps.

 

[forgeblast]

pyramid air has a lot of reviews, and all the stats are clearly listed for all their models. they even list what type of activity the air guns would be best for.

 

[nybirdman]

I have a Ruger 10/22 with a stainless bull barrel.With sub-sonic ammo it is quieter than an air rifle.I would purchase a bolt action .22 that would shoot shorts,longs,long rifle hyper-sonic ammo.Would cover you to about 75 yards on most varmints.
A .223 would also be a good choice ,a little more range(300 yards or so) ammo relatively cheap but not as versatile as a .22 Rural battery should include a pump shot-gun and a .22.

 

[EagleTDL]

Based on RichZ's requirements, you guys that are recommending a 22Mag or 223 are on the money...

However, I do 99% of my "pest" (skunks, blue jays, gopher, etc) shooting with a .177 cal Gamo Shadow Sport, recently converted to a Gas Piston. 1/2-3/4" group at 20 yards off the porch rail, deadly on small critters! One thing, quiet they are not... At 1200fps, the muzzle crack and recoil is surprising. Real reason I use it is that the pellets don't fly that far, whereas a 22LR will go downrage alot further than you'd expect.

 

[RichZ]

OK guys, thanks for the info. An air rifle doesn't seem likely to meet my needs.

 

[SPIKER]

Rich:

I own a few different guns the 22LR would be your best bet, I have a Rugar 10/22 semi auto the semi auto pulls off some of the distance & knock down. This is good for my area as there are neighbors in all directions. they are plenty deadly for pretty much most US game.
I also have a .177 cal Rugar pellet gun at 1000+FPS break barrel. I have had it for 2 or so years & have taken down a Ground hog at 40+ feet as it was what was in my hand. The KICK is about that of my 10/22 if not slightly worse and the spring back is disconcerting and hard to keep a good accurate shot with one. I've also had Bengrman .20 that was highly accurate & long range for a pellet gun. it was an air pump up so not the same kick back of the spring action units.

GAMO is the biggest name for price vs accuracy & quality.

Probably best one would be a bolt action clip 22 cal rifle inexpensive NEW ones can be had around a hundred bucks on sale prices so about same as the good pellet guns.

Mark

 

[vtsnowedin]

For someone asking such questions you have to assume little or no marksmanship ability. A nice basic 12 gauge shotgun might serve best. Humans seeing one brought out tend to retreat at once and skunks and coyotes tend to fold up when hit by a few number 7 shot. Of course a well stocked homestead has the trio of 22 long rifle, 12 gauge shot gun and 308 class deer rifle.

 

[Creamer]

I live right on the edge of town so I do not want to use a rifle of any type. I have a single pump nitrogen cylinder air rifle which does wonders for me. I have killed groundhogs and rabbits with it but the most common thing I use it for is to keep the Canadien geese off my lawn. I sit on my back deck and can sure make them squawk at 40-50 yds and off they go.

The key for killing power is projectile momentum. You need something that will give you 1200 FPS with a .177 or 1050 FPS with a .22 projectile. Anything less is not realistic. Still, as many have stated, these are not really for hunting anything of any size. Even a groundhog has to be a headshot and I do not think the geese are hurt - just stung a little.

 

[Alien]

It seems you have your answer but I have used a .22 and a .177 air rifles and pistols and the .177 hits harder than the .22 air pellet. I used to manage to shoot rabbits with the .177 but a semi auto .22 rimfire is the way to go. Even the low velocity will do better than either air rifle by far.

 

[genusCastor]

Agree with everyone else, you want a .22LR at least. I have a Marlin 795, you can catch them for around $100 with a rebate they run every so often. It's a decent gun, I put scope on it, purty dang accurate, and lots of fun.

- djb