Thread: Air rifle advice

This is what I sent to my brother inlaw whos after an air rifle to smack some pigeons pooing on his house.

SPRINGER AIR GUNS - MY 20 CENTS WORTH

That old BSA Meteor is only set up and can’t surpass 650fps in 177 so power is limited.
22 cal has more thump, foot pounds but Birds (feathers) tend to wrap around and prevent penetration, so 177 with a long heavy pellet will outperform it.
Key performance is -- lead pellets loose accuracy at higher velocity, so both 22 & 177 --- 900fps is optimum, no faster.
- Most Important Springer Air Guns – Artillery Hold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOYSU5Lq7oA

Had a CFX gamo with under barrel cocking which is excellent, barrel stays solid. But issue was loading pellets was fiddly, back of pellet quiet often got damaged affecting accuracy badly.
Stay away from cheap Gas Piston set ups and even the expensive ones are no longer produced.

For the money Cometa Fusions, are as good as it gets, don’t see them second hand very often, Ron Young usually has the odd one and will be serviced it if buying a second hand one.

Scopes

As for Springer air rifles, Leapers (UTG) are hard to beat, and also would be a great choice for the 22Lr.
My HW 80 was 28ftps when I bought second hand, it was rough and grouchy, moderately accurate, certainly powerful. Has been resprung and tuned to 22 ftps accuracy and is, getting 850fps out of 16g slugs. Rig shoots to half inch at 50 yards with no wind, better than a 22Lr and is easily capable of head shooting rabbits. Don’t get caught up with fancy pellets -Webley Accupells, JSB diabolos, or H&Ns domed pellets are all good.

I am an airgun / shooting newbie but have recently bought a Gamo 1250 G-Magnum (without the swarm magazine). It is reasonably hefty to cock and recoil is considerable making it difficult to see shot placement through the scope after firing. I have the original 3-9x40 gamo scope which seems to be okay (if anyone has an airgun rated scope they want to sell, please let me know!: ideally 4-12 or higher and Hawke / UTG quality). I've shot plenty of bunnies with it up to 50m but typically around 20m. I have nothing to compare to as it's my first rifle, but on knees with artillery hold can get 2" groups at ~ 40m. Likely tighter if you were lying down or with a bipod. Like others have said before, the choice of pellets will influence accuracy. Hollow point accuracy appears to suffer over distance. Gamo lead pellets are rubbish, JSB diablo hades from Ron @ Youngs Airguns in Auckland are good hollow point option. Crosman pointed are reasonably accurate for the price @ $20 for 500 count tin.

There's always the awkward moment when you're looking at a bunny at 100m and you wish you brought your 10/22....

But for diehard airgunnners you cant go past the AA TX200HC (underlever). That thing can hold its own against the PCP shooters if you're patient enough to practice each day.

Lets start with the target end of the equation. For a humane kill on a bunny you have to hit them between the eye and the base of the ear. That's a spot about 15mm in diameter. A good springer shooter can hit a 15mm spot reliably up to around 30m. That is with a quality springer, a matching good pellet, a stable scope and some practice. 0.177 or 22? If you hit them in the right spot, the caliber doesn't matter.
Up to 40m i would go for 0.177, because of the flatter trajectory. You have to be less accurate with your distance estimation.
Stick with either JSB/Air Arms or H&N pellets. Gamo, Crosman and the likes usually are rubbish. No one in competition uses them.
Hawke scopes are generally very robust and springer-rated. Not expensive, good quality.
So now the gun. Air Arms (Pro Sport or TX200), Diana, Walther and Weihrauch are the top brands. Especially AA and Weihrauch. They have outstanding triggers and the craftsmanship is a of a very high standard. They are not cheap, but have high resale values. In general 16J/12 fpe is more than enough to place an accurate kill shot on a bunny up to 30-35m if hit between the eye and base of the ear. That equates to around 240-250 m/s muzzle velocity with a 0.5 gram pellet. Remember with springers: the more powerful they are, the more difficult they are to shoot accurately. 16J/12 fpe is good middle ground for a springer.
Other European brands. BSA/Gamo have generally good barrels, bad triggers and overall mechanics are not that great. Cometa have good barrels but like Gamo finishing and triggers are sometimes mediocre.
Most other brands are made in China and generally do not have the quality and accuracy needed. With a lot of these Chinese airrifles i would stay within 20m.

Back of the target (177 air rifle) showing the spatter of the pellets against steel at 25 yards

Some just love that weihrauch HW77... Seems to be precisely on that balance point between all things.
Never had a go of one myself. I did also like my RWS Airking but it murdered a few scopes with its metal on metal recoil (those that don't know, these airguns have a sliding anti-recoil rail system).
Worked great with a fixed scope but wow you don't want to put anything telescopic on it.
Freaking heavy to take rabbiting tho if i recall

As has been suggested, you get what you pay for and quality is never cheap. Scored two small bunnies today at 40yds with head shots and it was instant lights out with the 40ft-lb Airwolf.. That however would be well outside many people's budget, ignoring the fact you need a std firearms licence to own one.

My old BSA .177 Supersport springer is still going strong and one very unlucky starling bit the dust at 43yds the other day holding over. In reality, this rifle lives in the garage to deal with pesky swallows that annoy us this time of year. Most shots are under 20yds, normally 10-15. I have shot a few rabbits with it over the years but never over 30yds, most closer. The PCP is on a different planet, with anything under 80yds being in -serious- trouble if I have a rest and the cheap rangefinder handy.

Originally Posted by andyanimal31

My brother was I the same boat.
I ended up getting a .177 weirauch.
It's pretty impressive to be fair and good quality

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killed literally thousands of rats with a break open version...40 yards was no problem at all. plenty of grunt and good accuracy.

you can always chest shoot bunny...it will go some distance before keeling over,but keel over it will. as long as it isnt under you front porch it will melt away in no time.

"melt away" hahahaha thats so good lol. I'm definitely gonna drop that into the conversation when i wanna trigger my vegetarian mates

Like that glorious comment from Borat to the anti hunting protesters in rural England.

Skip to 2:30. Quite possibly the best trolling i have ever seen. Worth a watch from the start too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqkKE45wCWU

Originally Posted by T.FOYE

"melt away" hahahaha thats so good lol. I'm definitely gonna drop that into the conversation when i wanna trigger my vegetarian mates

yip see it in few weeks in mid summer and it will put you off rice for day or two....

Some good advice here. I'm thinking of a similar purchase, but it's because the area is becoming more built up so .22 not really an option for long. Got an under barrel lever cocking .177 off a mate, but it is neither accurate nor powerful. OK to 20m. I'm thinking PCP but still want to make sure it's relatively safe, no ricochet risk, ideally has magazine as there are a few rabbits about. Would .22 PCP at 800fps be the medicine out to 40m? Are PCP's OK for normal rifle scopes, don't have to be airgun rated?

PCPs have near zero recoil so any scope (ideally that can focus down to ~30yds) will be fine.
Yes, a .22 cal PCP delivering 800fps would easily deal death and destruction to bunnies at 40yds.

Good thread but Im going to hijack it... sorry lads.
Anyone have a cheap springer air rifle for sale , want to plink away on wet days when I cant shoot on the farm as too wet.
does not matter if .177 or .22.
Prefer open sights , just something to keep my eye in on the long wet weeks in the mighty manawatu.
Anyways PM me if you have something.