Pellet air rifle suggestions?

[dmccarty]

I have a .22 caliber RWS 48 or 52, I forget which, but the difference was cosmetic not usability. It was not cheap even when I bought it almost two decades ago.

- The rifle is accurate.
- It is NOT quiet. It is a bit noisy but it is quieter than a .22 LR.
- A scope should be made for air guns to handle the recoil.
- The recoil is WORSE than many center fire rifles I have shot. A .22 LR has much less recoil than my RWS.
- The RWS is heavy compared to a .22 LR.
- You can shoot it safely and somewhat quietly with the proper backstop in an apartment. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Later,
Dan

 

[Dozernut]

I have an Air Arms S410 E in .22 cal., a PCP (pre-charged pneumatic) made in England. It is a bolt action receiver with a 10 shot rotary clip. The power source is a mounted tubular air reservoir, below the barrel of the rifle. The reservoir is pumped up with a hand air pump or from scuba tanks or a high psi compressor. The air gun can be pumped up to 200 bars or about 2,900 psi. The gun comes with what they call a suppressor which does quiet the discharge down considerably. A large variable power scope tops it and when shooting targets you don't aim for the rings or bulls-eye but at the little numbers printed on the rings, the gun is that accurate! Accuracy starts to fall off after about 5-6 clips are shot but shooting at approximately 1100 fps that is not too shabby.

Squirrel hunting with this gun is different. The sound of the impact of the pellet on the squirrel is louder than the guns report. The S410 E is a very effective small game gun. The down side is they are pricey and pumping the air tank up with a hand pump is a work out. The rotary clip will only handle a flat faced pellet so you are limited in pellet selection.

As mentioned before a spring type air gun will destroy a scope made for a rim fire rifle. If you do put an air gun scope on a Springer, you will need to put a scope stop at the rear of the mount. The recoil will vibrate the scope to the end of the grooves and the scope will simply fall off if you don't.

None of my air guns will replace my rim fire and center fire guns but likewise they will not replace my air guns. The air guns have their niche and are a heck of a lot of fun to shoot and you do not have to wear ear protection.

These are not BB guns. Lewis and Clark carried a .46 caliber, 20 shot, air rifle on their expedition and it was a powerful and accurate weapon. Their mission would probably have failed without it. You can get .17, .20mm, .22, 9mm, .45 or .50cal. in an air rifle. These larger calibers are used for deer hunting in Europe.

Attached is an air gun forum that will answer some of your questions. Keep in mind there are fanatics and air gun fanatics are as bad as tractor fanatics. Airgun forum

 

[ManAtArms]

Dozernut,

Can't you shoot "dome" head pellets like beeman kodiaks or Crossman premiers out of the clip?

I have an Air Arms S410 E in .22 cal., a PCP (pre-charged pneumatic) made in England. It is a bolt action receiver with a 10 shot rotary clip. The power source is a mounted tubular air reservoir, below the barrel of the rifle. The reservoir is pumped up with a hand air pump or from scuba tanks or a high psi compressor. The air gun can be pumped up to 200 bars or about 2,900 psi. The gun comes with what they call a suppressor which does quiet the discharge down considerably. A large variable power scope tops it and when shooting targets you don't aim for the rings or bulls-eye but at the little numbers printed on the rings, the gun is that accurate! Accuracy starts to fall off after about 5-6 clips are shot but shooting at approximately 1100 fps that is not too shabby.

Squirrel hunting with this gun is different. The sound of the impact of the pellet on the squirrel is louder than the guns report. The S410 E is a very effective small game gun. The down side is they are pricey and pumping the air tank up with a hand pump is a work out. The rotary clip will only handle a flat faced pellet so you are limited in pellet selection.

As mentioned before a spring type air gun will destroy a scope made for a rim fire rifle. If you do put an air gun scope on a Springer, you will need to put a scope stop at the rear of the mount. The recoil will vibrate the scope to the end of the grooves and the scope will simply fall off if you don't.

None of my air guns will replace my rim fire and center fire guns but likewise they will not replace my air guns. The air guns have their niche and are a heck of a lot of fun to shoot and you do not have to wear ear protection.

These are not BB guns. Lewis and Clark carried a .46 caliber, 20 shot, air rifle on their expedition and it was a powerful and accurate weapon. Their mission would probably have failed without it. You can get .17, .20mm, .22, 9mm, .45 or .50cal. in an air rifle. These larger calibers are used for deer hunting in Europe.

Attached is an air gun forum that will answer some of your questions. Keep in mind there are fanatics and air gun fanatics are as bad as tractor fanatics. Airgun forum

 

[Dozernut]

""Can't you shoot "dome" head pellets like beeman kodiaks or Crossman premiers out of the clip?""

Yes, I can, if they are not too long. The pointed and hollow point pellets will jam the rotary clip. I was kind of lumping them into one category.

 

[ManAtArms]

""Can't you shoot "dome" head pellets like beeman kodiaks or Crossman premiers out of the clip?""

Yes, I can, if they are not too long. The pointed and hollow point pellets will jam the rotary clip. I was kind of lumping them into one category.

OK that's good to know. I don't have any AAs and didn't know the magazine had that issue. From my experience I get the best performance from domed pellets anyway so thats all I shoot.

 

[IXLR8]

After doing a bunch of research based on input from you folks, evaluating my needs/uses and taking a look at my checking account, here is the list of .22 caliber rifles I am considering.
Diana RWS 34P- $220.00
Gamo Silent Cat- $225.00
Benjamin Trail NP Hardwood- $230.00
The Benjamin is last on the list as I read in one review that it was made in China. They said the better Benjamin rifles are still made in the States.. but the less expensive ones were made in China and the quality is no longer there.

 

[Dozernut]

The Diana RWS 34P is German made and the Gamo Silent Cat is Spanish made. They are both good quality guns but I would have to give the edge to RWS. Sometimes, on the Chinese guns, you can get a good one and sometimes they are junk. My son-in-law bought a cheap Chinese .22 cal. break barrel gun and surprisingly it is not bad. He keeps it in the barn for pest control. It will not shoot as well nor has the quality that the RWS or Gamo have, but for a knock around gun it works. Buying a Chinese gun is a gamble, finding someone to work on them is even harder.

 

[Freds]

This is the one I bought last year.
Benjamin Trail NP, Nitro Piston, air rifle combo. Air rifles - PyramydAir.com

I'd recommend .22 over .177, also. I switched out the trigger like most of the reviews (last year anyway) said and it made a huge difference, but it's still not a fine rifle. I imagine you get what you pay for, but I have no problem hitting red squirrels and dropping them. And it's quiet without the range of a .22 rifle.

ETA: I was told that Crossman owns/makes Benjamin, right over here in Rochester, NY. They had to replace the scope mount for me.

 

[SPIKER]

I have dispatched some ground hogs humanely with BBguns just got to get em in the ear.

No way. A bb does not have sufficient mass to kill an 8 lb animal. A quick google produced this which is quite fitting

As stated it was what I did... back in the day there were some dumb ground hogs. and now back in the area we (my brother * I) hunted them for sport there were few left. I have not been back in the area in a long time but there was days when we went through 500 round bricks in a weekend of 22LR. apr thru jun there were days we took down a hundred hogs in new areas we walked RR tracks between towns 7+ miles down & back for the afternoon with single shot Remington bolt action open sites 100 yard shots (my brother) and I was better at sneaking up on them in old RR ties. We moved out next to a bar & used to bet the drunks on shooting black birds out of the plowed field behind the bar them using binoculars to see them and him shooting open sites 150+ yards. SO it might be YOU have never seen anyone do it but much of what we did few people will believe & I'm ok with it as I KNOW the truth.

Mark

 

[IXLR8]

I'd recommend .22 over .177, also. I switched out the trigger like most of the reviews (last year anyway) said and it made a huge difference, but it's still not a fine rifle. I imagine you get what you pay for, but I have no problem hitting red squirrels and dropping them. And it's quiet without the range of a .22 rifle.

ETA: I was told that Crossman owns/makes Benjamin, right over here in Rochester, NY. They had to replace the scope mount for me.

Crossman does own/make the Benjamin line, some are made in the states, some in China.
From the online manual for the Trail NP series.

Crosman Corporation
7629 Rts. 5 & 20
East Bloomfield, NY 14443 USA
800-7-AIRGUN
Crosman.com
Made In China

The "made in China" part explains to me why the Trial NP series gets mixed reviews. Some very good, some.. not so good, I suspect quality control is not what it could be.