Air Rifle vs 22 Rim Fire Rifle?

[k0ua]

People always think of .177 or .22 air rifles when they say "air rifle", but there are many larger calibers suitable for taking large game.

Best Air Rifles for Hunting Large Game | Air Rifle Shopping Guide

Benjamin Rogue .357 - The world's most powerful production air rifle - YouTube

big bore, bigbore, airgun, big game hunting, hunting, airgun hunting, Shin Sung, | Adventures in Airguns

 

[Ken45101]

If you are looking for "quiet", there is "primer only" .22 ammo (Aguila Super Colibri) that is just as quiet as an air gun. The only noise you hear is the mechanical cycling of the rifle (probably not even that if you have a lever action or bolt action rifle).

I would rather shoot a gun like that than fool with the pumping up an air rifle. Yes, I have a couple of air rifles, but personally do not enjoy them.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I've been looking long and hard at the Benjamin Marauder air rifle after plinking with my friends a few weeks ago.
The eight shot magazine and .25 cal ammo gives it some varmint cred.
Crosman | Airguns | Rifles | PCP | Marauder Rifle (.25)

I watched the video but have a question as to how to pressurize the power chamber. Anyone know how this is done.

 

[RandyT]

All pellet guns are considered firearms, Wrong, some states may consider them firearms, but the Feds don'tbut what is required for ownership will vary from state to state. Some consider any with rifled barrels a weapon that needs BATF paperwork. Wrong, see above. If your FFL is insisting on a 4473 then he is incorrect, and the BATFE agents make fun of them, and want to know why they are keeping offical BATFE records on them.The biggest issue with that, is you can't just buy one online and have it shipped to your house. In most states you can, I I have.You have to actually go to a licensed firearm dealer and fill out paperwork.

And on that note, I will try not to turn this into a "big government with too much control over the people" rant.

15 USC 5001 subsection (g) basically says that no state or municipality shall regulate the sale, manufacture, transfer of air guns, pellet guns, bb guns. etc.

 

[RandyT]

I shoot a hammerli Pneuma in.22 and have dropped raccoons with head shots at 50 yards.

 

[CalG]

I watched the video but have a question as to how to pressurize the power chamber. Anyone know how this is done.

Pre charged pneumatic air rifles can be filled by way of a high pressure hand air pump, much like a typical bicycle pump, but the internals are multi-stage, capable of generating over 3000psi. That's how I do it with the two PCP airguns in my small collection of air rifles. It takes about 100 pump strokes to fire off about 35 good shots (900fps or better). It's a workout if you are having a target session, but hey! We all need more exercise.

The most popular fill option is to purchase a high pressure tank. the self contained breathing air tanks such as fire fighters use. These tanks will refill the rifle's smaller reservior many times. These portable fill tanks are common with the paintball crowd and can be filled at a paintball specialty outlet, a SCUBA dive shop or even at times, at your local fire station. (bring donuts!) Fills are around $10 and good for hundreds if not thousands of shots.

The "investment" option is to purchase a motor or engine driven high pressure air pump such as the "shops" might use to fill your tanks. These run in the thousands of dollars but you never run out of air.
There is a popular lower cost option called the "Shoebox" compressor (look it up) about $600, and a little slow to fill a storage tank.

Another method is to purchase or lease an industrual 4500psi cylinder of NITROGEN, (not oxygen) Air is about 80% N2 anyway, and a big cylinder lasts a long time. The annual lease price in your area will determine if it's a good choice for you. The local Airgas here wants a ton of money to stand one of their tanks at my place ;-) If you used Helium, the muzzle velocities could be pushed WAAAY up, but that's a different topic.

So that's what I can tell you about filling PCP air guns. For a field outing, I do like the PCPs, as the performance can be similar to a typical .22 rimy. For plinking and rodent control off the pourch, I choose the single stroke springers One stroke, one shot one kill. (I've got 5 different versions of this type)

CO2 and multi stroke pneumatic (think classic Crossman) are fun as well, The CO2 is "too" easy", and the multi stoke is a lot of work if you are shooting much.

Biggest benefit to airguns for me? they can be quiet, the sound doesn't draw the attention the way powder burners do, and the pells have rotten ballastic coefficients. They just loose a lot of velocity with distance. That's a good thing! The pells don't carry so far beyond the inteded target.

The Mauraders (Mrods) are very popular and a good buy for the money. (I choose the Evanix AR6 in both .17 and .22 just to be different. They are revolver actions ;-)

cheers

 

[bumperm]

A few more things about air guns that are spring powered, "springers" - except for the newer gas spring powered guns, they cannot be left cocked without damage. Most will change the point of impact depending on how they are held (the RWS54, to a degree, exepted due to its "sliding action", this is due to the moving mass of the released spring compressing the air before the pellet goes down the barrel. The common "break barrel" action is often difficult to optain consistent scope accuracy due to minute differences in how the barrel locks up or closes (scope is mounted to the receiver which is not solid to the barrel) using iron sights, which are mounted on the barrel, there is no problem. Most all springers are hard on scopes, so most need to be specifically designed for air gun use. This does not apply to pre-charged guns which have low recoil.

PCPs, without suppression, can be as loud as a .22 rimfire. Unfortunately, in some countries like the USA, a suppressor is a strictly regulated device regulated by the National Firearms Act. If your state allows possession and use (most do), then one must obtain a $200 "tax stamp" from the BATFE, a process that now takes about 10 months. There is a workaround that is being used by some manufacturers. If the suppressor is built into the air gun so it cannot be removed and used on a firearm, then it is not NFA regulated. This is how Gamo sells the "Whisper" series and how Benjamin gets away with selling the Marauder.

I've owned many airguns, including a RWS54, lots of break barrels and multiple pump pneumatics. The RWS54 (if you don't forget and leave it cocked overnight), is a very accurate gun. But, IMO, the advantages of the pre-charge pneumatic repeaters, such as the Marauder, make it a clear winner for small game hunting, both in its accuracy, low noise, and ability for follow on shots (10 round mag in .22 and can shoot over 3 mags without pumping up or recharging). My Marauder is stored charged to about 2800 psi and doesn't leak down. The Marauder has an excellent fully adjustable trigger as well - something not available in most guns without modifications.

That said, my go to gun is a CZ 452 "American" .22 with threaded barrel, suppressor, and shooting sub-sonics with a 4.5-16 scope. Light, dead nuts accurate, and almost movie silencer quiet. The squirrels, an endangered species in my back yard, never hear it coming.

bumper

 

[Baby Grand]

I watched the video but have a question as to how to pressurize the power chamber. Anyone know how this is done.

My friend uses a purpose built hand pump -built like a tank and very spendy. He said you can also charge it with a 3000 psi air tank, if the pump really puts you off. One charge is good for around 25 rounds on his .22 rifle. So you can run through about three 8 round magazines as fast as you can cycle the bolt & change magazines on one charge. He has an air rifle scope for it, which I'd also recommend getting.

 

[k0ua]

Pre-charged pneumatic's have been around for hundreds of years. Back in the 18 century the Austrian army had a waqon with a pump on it to charge the buttstock cylinders of their Army's repeating airguns. They also had many of the pre-charged cylinders on hand to just change out the buttstock like a magazine of sorts.

 

[dusty3030]

Pre-charged pneumatic's have been around for hundreds of years. Back in the 18 century the Austrian army had a waqon with a pump on it to charge the buttstock cylinders of their Army's repeating airguns. They also had many of the pre-charged cylinders on hand to just change out the buttstock like a magazine of sorts.

Here's one from Lewis and Clark expedition