Are Air rifles the pacifier or alternative to ammo availability & cost?

[steve123]

Just to keep things interesting here's some pics of my modified Field Targets I use for practice here at my property.

These steel knock down targets are designed for Field Target air rifle comps. A interesting feature is they are designed with a camming system which prevents the target from falling in the event of a pellet split on the target face. A split means that a small portion of the pellet contacted the target face and the rest of the pellet hit the paddle behind the hole on the target face. The object being to cleanly shoot through the hole, or as we FT shooters call it the "kill zone", striking the paddle on the other side and actuating the fall of the target. The 3rd pic shows the paddle behind the target face.

I have this target placed at 25Y, smaller kill zone is 1/2", larger 5/8".

This one at 10Y. the small hole is approx .20 caliber and larger is 1/4"

 

[smurph]

Steve123 those are great! Looks like they have been put to good use.

 

[smurph]

Smurph

I live with people close by, and I wouldn't buy anything other than a Benjamin or crosman with NITRO piston. They are very quiet, consistent and powerful.

Shouldered several Crosmans as well as many other air rifles over the last few days. I am leaning towards a Trail NP. At first I didn't like the pistol grip as the models I held at the big box stores had trigger guards and were attached to a cable. It was tough to get a feeling for it; once I found one without everything attached at a LGS it was much better. How do you feel about the center point AO scope that is included?

Also found out that in this wonderful state I live in has a wait period to pick up a .22 cal air gun. I was going to buy a 1322, but the shop was over 30 miles from my house and I didn't want to drive back to pick it up. I did get to handle a Beeman P1 Magnum pistol that has a 1911 style grip frame which I loved. Just not in the budget right now.

 

[JoeMartin]

I'm looking pretty heavy at the Ruger Air Hawk, .177 / 1000 fps... Watched some reviews on this one and a member of our gun club let me shoot his last year. I was impressed that from 20 yards the pellet did penetrate the golf ball, and the noise factor was (from what I recall) just right for shooting in my yard without the neighbors having any idea. I could shoot this on my 25 yard (soon to be 35 yard) home archery range. If I remember right, the trigger pull wasn't bad at all. I could have fun with this, and I'm all about enjoying my shooting sports.

 

[steve123]

Steve123 those are great! Looks like they have been put to good use.

Sleeves of pellets on those but still not enough. I should be out practicing right now but no, here I am on the computer.

rhino targets These are the best quality FT targets I've ever used.

 

[1911fan]

Just to keep things interesting here's some pics of my modified Field Targets I use for practice here at my property.

These steel knock down targets are designed for Field Target air rifle comps. A interesting feature is they are designed with a camming system which prevents the target from falling in the event of a pellet split on the target face. A split means that a small portion of the pellet contacted the target face and the rest of the pellet hit the paddle behind the hole on the target face. The object being to cleanly shoot through the hole, or as we FT shooters call it the "kill zone", striking the paddle on the other side and actuating the fall of the target. The 3rd pic shows the paddle behind the target face.

Looks like fun- where did you get them?


1911fan

 

[smurph]

Sleeves of pellets on those but still not enough. I should be out practicing right now but no, here I am on the computer.

rhino targets These are the best quality FT targets I've ever used.

Thanks for the link. They have a pretty nice selection.

 

[USMC mustang]

I bought one of the refurbished Daisy 853s from the CMP last year for $100. If you're looking for an affordable way to keep your marksmanship skills up this is it. The CMP sells them only to people who are developing new shooters; a note explaining that I have three children sufficed. I routinely use it to shoot 10 meter targets in my garage and my oldest son has been routinely smacking a 6" piece of AR500 we have in the backyard from a rest (he's six). When the kids gets older it will be a nice way to introduce them to position shooting.

Rifle Sales - Sporter Air Rifles

 

[duotone]

Crosman certainly has a some good humor.

Crosman | Airguns | Rifles | PCP | APR1 Quad-Cal

 

[KBR97]

Crosman certainly has a some good humor.

Crosman | Airguns | Rifles | PCP | APR1 Quad-Cal

hehehe....

 

[duotone]

I'm at a crossroads as to whether to get a Mark II TR or a PCP.

This thing stacks pellets at 50 yards, and the bonus is.... I can get pellets with no effort, and can shoot it in my back yard. Check out videos on youtube.. it's a bonified bolt action.

Walther 1250 Dominator Combo. Air rifles - PyramydAir.com

 

[steve123]

I'm at a crossroads as to whether to get a Mark II TR or a PCP.

This thing stacks pellets at 50 yards, and the bonus is.... I can get pellets with no effort, and can shoot it in my back yard. Check out videos on youtube.. it's a bonified bolt action.

Walther 1250 Dominator Combo. Air rifles - PyramydAir.com

Here's another choice I found, looks to be a great deal, 5mm is a good compromise in energy and BC. Then buy your self a BSA tactical 4-14 FFP/mil/mil. My BIL bought one of those Centerpoint 8-32's, didn't track right nor repeatable, very poor image at high mag.

AirForce Talon Bounty Hunter. Air rifles - PyramydAir.com

 

[duotone]

Yes, that's another I've eye'd.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but with a PCP, can't I put any scope on? I know with my Nitro I need to get a specific scope to handle the reverse recoil....

 

[steve123]

Yes, that's another I've eye'd.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but with a PCP, can't I put any scope on? I know with my Nitro I need to get a specific scope to handle the reverse recoil....

Yep, any scope but with a air rifle it's best to get a scope that has 10y parallax at least minimum.

Just last Saturday at a 22 match we had a stage at 25y and I was using a 50y minimum parallax scope. It sucked because I had to dial the mag all the way down to 8x and the image was blurry and small, which cost me some points.

I highly recommend that BSA for the price, they are a Midway exclusive for $250, I have 3 of them and they are quite a value. Another good scope is the SWFA fixed powder Super Snipers, the newer ones are mil/mil, older are moa/mil. With any scope you get I suggest matching turrets and reticle. FFP mil/mil scopes rock, holdover, holdunder, holdoff, lead, range, measure because a mil is a mil on any magnification.

I have the "SHOOTER" ballistic app on my smart phone. One of the nice features is it'll work for airguns above 500 fps.

 

[duotone]

Well, that does it... I'm going to get a new 22 cal PCP, silencer, bipod, scope and pump. This will allow me to shoot anytime I want in my back yard, through heavier lead, and save on my powder ammo. Besides, the PCP will stack lead all day long. With Connecticut caving to the pressure of anti gun government, all we'll have is air guns in the not too far future..... sorry for the rant.

 

[smurph]

Well, that does it... I'm going to get a new 22 cal PCP, silencer, bipod, scope and pump. This will allow me to shoot anytime I want in my back yard, through heavier lead, and save on my powder ammo. Besides, the PCP will stack lead all day long. With Connecticut caving to the pressure of anti gun government, all we'll have is air guns in the not too far future..... sorry for the rant.

Let's hope not. Be sure to post pics of the new PCP when you get it.

 

[shaman]

Duotone, please call don't call them silencers, please call them Lead Dust Collectors. They aren't limited by the government yet, and most would prefer that they not be.

 

[duotone]

Duotone, please call don't call them silencers, please call them Lead Dust Collectors. They aren't limited by the government yet, and most would prefer that they not be.

Got it....

I'm leaning towards the MRod or the Hammerli pneuma elite 10. The new MRods will be available in July, but the Hammerli's are on sale now. Then there's the HATSAN's, which are really, REALLY nice rifles, and all their stats are based on throwing average weight lead in testing.

 

[duotone]

By the way.... > TKO Airguns

Lead dust collector.

 

[duotone]

Just committed to: Benjamin Marauder Air Rifle
Scope: BSA 6-24
BiPod

Already tuned to drill holes at 50 yards.

 

[steve123]

Just committed to: Benjamin Marauder Air Rifle
Scope: BSA 6-24
BiPod

Already tuned to drill holes at 50 yards.

Good for you, man!

 

[steve123]

Here's a video I shot today. The head on the Rams are about the size of a quarter.

 

[woogie_man]

Have an fwb 300s coming this weekend. Will get some pics and what not when it gets here.

 

[seanh]

You'll like that 300...sweet shooting airgun. Not a lot of power but pleny to kill squrrels and dove at sub 20 yards

 

[woogie_man]

Yeah I love them, this will be my third one. Have taken many pests with them.


Hoping to get my wife more into shooting. That and will help with my army shooting competitions as well! So two with one stone.

 

[RANCH 532]

Trigger time

Well I dug out my 887, traded for a 4x32 Truglow, rounded up some Millet rings and set up shop in the house. Here's a 10 yard 5 shot group I shot from my recliner. Didn't waste any of my Merlin Match I just used the cheapest pellet "Walnart" sells. At least I'm getting some trigger time, and this should hold me over till ammo becomes available.

 

[duotone]

Hey TP

I think I have a new addiction... I'm still waiting for my MRod to arrive, as well as the scope and rings, but yesterday the beautiful brown truck pulled in and delivered some goods. I got several 1000 rounds of .22 cal lead, and also my PCP pump.

2 days to go till that wonderful truck brings my joy. Till then, all I can do is look at me pellets, and build a good pellet trap. This trap needs to be something solid as the energy level is going to be quite a bit more than a .177.

Stay tuned.

Tony

 

[TOP PREDATOR]

Hey TP
I think I have a new addiction...
Tony

Me too! never thunk it, but these things are far from "toys". even the cheapie crosman venom i got is impressive to me, i'm pretty convinced think i'm going to PCP in the future.

one thing i learned about the pellets is just like center or rimfire ammo, you have to buy a selection and shoot them all at every distance you plan on shooting. luckily after testing a whole bunch, the venom really like the cheap crosman premier HP 14.3. it also loves the H&N field target trophy 14.66. though the groups were better at 50 yds, the twice the price H&N's vs crosman premier just didn't justify me to get several thousand H&N's (at least to me). they were only slightly better.

oddly it didn't like the more top shelf RWS superdomes and the JSB selection as much as the cheaper ones. but it did like simple domed style pellets over the more exotic shapes.

there's no real selection for pellets in my area, so i got a bunch through pyramid air, buy 4 tins get the lowest priced tin for free is a darn good deal, even with shipping.

also tried the crosman trigger washer modification foound on youtube. i don't know the size of the split lock washer i pulled out of the drawer, but it did measure a .483" OD.

originally the trigger was 5 to 5.5 lbs (varied on the gauge with every shot) and .5" to .75" of creep --- after the washer mod, the trigger is now squeezing 2.5 lbs. consistently, and though there still is creep, but only about 1/8" now.

then i got greedy and used a longer screw for the "adjustment" on the crosman trigger - bad idea if you over adjust. i'm too embarrassed to mention in detail the comedy of errors that soon followed. but found out alot about how to straighten an air rifle barrel... just get a GRT III trigger if you don't like yours it's not worth chancing with a bubba remedy.

but much like reducing the weight and creep on the trigger (along with using the other fundamentals) on a powder burner helps to tighten groups, it is EXTREMEMLY helpful with the air rifle.

i also did learn when a break barrel is slammed shut either intentionally or unintentionally (as in my case due to too light of a trigger / sear engagement) the barrel tends to whip up and bend. luckily i found a few sites that describes how to unbend it, and is a pretty common practice used by "airsmiths" to help tune an air rifle barrel.

will get up some pics of the rifle and targets when i get it sorted out.

next up is a optic upgrade. the one it came with the parallax and focus becomes an issue after 25 yards.

BTW i PM'd the admin about a seperate air rifle forum, since i don't see one up, i guess they didn't make a decision on it yet.

 

[steve123]

LOL,

I'm laughing with you TP, not at you, because I've had the same thing happen with break barrel springers before. I'd actually forgotten about it until reading this. Now I remember why I like fixed barrel springers and PCP's.

 

[woogie_man]

I have never understood why people play off air rifles as "toys".... most of them are very serrious shooters.

I know I have a places around my area that they will let me come shoot pests with my air rifle, but not with my .22lr. So this really opens up areas to hunt, espically when you are very close to animals and other people that don't know you are there. Just make sure that you check with the locals before you go shooting at things in their backyards and what not.

 

[seanh]

The reason why is simple...daisy red ryder, crosman 7something or the CO2 pistols...all plastic junk. What they don't see is the 1500-2K+ precision rifles or the high power airguns that can kill a hog, deer, elk. All they see is what you get at walmart.


Just had a conversation with my wife today...she "needs" an air pistol. I've got a 22lr rifle and have Aguila super colbri ammo that puts it in the airgun power range....does she use it? No. Why? Because she wants a pistol. CRAP! Just another gun to buy. It's bad enough that she wants her own rifles which means another custom 308- well probably 223 for her, not to mention she wants me to build her a custom 1911...I used to build them for a living "why can't I have this one and you build another one?". What else does she want...don't remember but I bet she'll remind me. At least the air pistol is for a good cause...to remove squirrels from the garden.

I've got to get a HPA compressor...would make the choice a lot easier.

I did show her the full auto Drozd...she liked it. Would just have to add the air catcher compensator
Drozd Blackbird - BB Machine Guns

 

[duotone]

The brown truck just delivered the goods!

All I have to say is, Oh. My. Lord!

I will be updating the scope as I didn't know this Barfsca scope didn't have mildots. Oh well, this thing is the bomb. Will build pellet trap tomorrow and I'll give a detailed report as time permits.

 

[duotone]

Crosman Marauder is a great entry-level PCP, congrats! Its cons are a low shot count and a hammer debouncing issue that waste a bit of air with each shot.

Yeah, well... one man's entry level is another man's dream.

I have several full frame DLSR's, and professional 3D video cameras, but I don't remember ever telling someone that they had a nice entry level camera. Just say'n. I just got the thing, and I'd like to enjoy it before someone starts telling me things of this nature.

As you were.

 

[duotone]

No problem. It's like bringing you new baby over to a friends house and they say "hey, congrats. You might want to do something about that kids ears." I appreciate advice when I ask for it. But I understand some people like to give it out. That's fine.

On another note. I zeroed the scope and I love this set up. RWS super domes broke the sound barrier and the sound o the pellet hitting the stop was real loud. Very accurate. This has been tuned and shoots very true!

I realize there are better offerings, but this suits me fine.

 

[steve123]

No problem. It's like bringing you new baby over to a friends house and they say "hey, congrats. You might want to do something about that kids ears." I appreciate advice when I ask for it. But I understand some people like to give it out. That's fine.

On another note. I zeroed the scope and I love this set up. RWS super domes broke the sound barrier and the sound o the pellet hitting the stop was real loud. Very accurate. This has been tuned and shoots very true!

I realize there are better offerings, but this suits me fine.

Looks like this baby might of had those ears fixed already.

 

[BERTMAN77MK2]

have had several good springers and am ready for a PCP gun----probably an Airforce Condor SS---any other reccomendations in that price range?

 

[BERTMAN77MK2]

have had several good springers and am ready for a PCP gun----probably an Airforce Condor SS---any other reccomendations in that price range?

 

[duotone]

have had several good springers and am ready for a PCP gun----probably an Airforce Condor SS---any other reccomendations in that price range?

I was looking at the Airforce, but ended up with the Marauder because it was tuned, but the 2 I was most interested in was the one I have, and the Hammerli - Hammerli Pneuma Elite 10 Air Rifle. Air rifles - PyramydAir.com

The Hammerli was bought by Hatsan, so they're clearing out the Hammerli's on Pyramid and Air Gun Depot (AGD). AGD has the 22 cal for the same price, but they are as loud as a 22lr, but there are sound suppressors available.

 

[sonicdmb]

in the uk we don't have access to 22rf like you do in the states you can only shoot one on approved ranges if you're under 17 I can't let my two youngest use mine. what we can have are 12 foot pounds airguns there are lots to choose from with pcp out selling spring/gasram by a long way for serious use daystate air arms bsa to name a few. most of these will shoot one hole groups out to 50 yds or more. like 22rf they can be ammo fussy. there are two main realistic based as opposed to paper target competitions field target and hunter field target the later started because FT became almost elitist due to cost of rifles etc. both use knock down steel targets but in HFT once you set your gun up scope mag focus setting zero, you must shoot the whole match on those settings each target must be shoot from a peg you must touch there are shots from prone kneeling etc targets vary in range and size so you have to practice all your shooting skills which transfer to any other rifle. most top uk shooters with rifle and indeed shotgun started with an air rifle. you can't beat stalking within 20/30yds of rabbits to learn fieldcraft. even a spring gun teaches consistency.

 

[duotone]

After church I threw on a new scope and shot a 20 target group at 25 yards from within my den.... It's still snowing in Michigan!!! UGH!

1 flyer, and 7 that I pulled or the wind kicked.... Not to mention, I was just getting into a groove when the wind blew over my target and stop! CURSE YOU WEATHER!

http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-z...MAGE_B8A82EC9-1C26-4BA7-B52B-FB2F5A9F06F3.JPG

Overall I'm very pleased for a windy day. Stretching things out to 50 yards next week, weather permitting... It is April, aint it?

 

[longguntoter]

Here's a video I shot today. The head on the Rams are about the size of a quarter.

That is one beefy rifle!

 

[steve123]

That is one beefy rifle!

For a airgun I suppose it is in a way but it only weighs 8 lbs and is easy to shoot in all positions.

BTW is my video working? A friend tried to access it and it didn't work for some reason.

 

[steve123]

After church I threw on a new scope and shot a 20 target group at 25 yards from within my den.... It's still snowing in Michigan!!! UGH!

1 flyer, and 7 that I pulled or the wind kicked.... Not to mention, I was just getting into a groove when the wind blew over my target and stop! CURSE YOU WEATHER!

http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-z...MAGE_B8A82EC9-1C26-4BA7-B52B-FB2F5A9F06F3.JPG

Overall I'm very pleased for a windy day. Stretching things out to 50 yards next week, weather permitting... It is April, aint it?

Windy here today too! At a rifle match earlier I had to hold 1.8 mils to hit a steel at 800 yards.

What pellets did you use?

 

[Rolltide]

This is a very interesting thread. Locally, all I see are Gamo Bone Collector models. it's tough to figure out where to start when you have nothing to reference on a local basis. Thanks for the input.

Chris

 

[duotone]

Umm.... 800 yards? Do you mean, 80 yards?

I was using CPHP (Crosman premier hollow points), they seem to work best for this, that is... I'm still trying to find the right pellet. I just got it Friday...

 

[steve123]

No it was 800Y and a centerfire match.

I predict a calm day and a better shooting pellet in your future, wink.

 

[duotone]

No it was 800Y and a centerfire match.

I predict a calm day and a better shooting pellet in your future, wink.

Ohhhh... I thought you were shooting an air rifle, and yes, I need different pellets.

 

[woogie_man]

The rifle in the back is my PWS T3 summit rifle.
Silencer Co suppressor
Falcon 4-14x44 ffp scope
Leupold QR scope rings
Harris Bipod
4 10 round mags
The other rifle is my new FWB 300s match air rifle. These rifles were used back in the olympics before the use of modern PCP rifles. These use to hold countless records and top honors at nearly all shooting competitions. I have her dialed in right now at the 10m and am putting pellet into pellet on target. And this is just using the stock target peep sights. You can see on the rifle the stickers.....these are the entry stickers for the competitions that the previous owner was in. And what is cool about it is that I have the original owners name on the stock as well, so that means I am still trying to track him down and see who he was and how he shot.

 

[Comber]

Any chance of a close-up of the stickers, Woogie ?

The Capercaille and the red lions gives me some Scandinavian vibes. I really want a FWB300 as well, it would make a suitable teammate for the FWB65 pistol.

 

[kihnspiracy]

I know a few people who have taken up air rifle shooting until ammo becomes more readily available.