Thread: Air rifle

Would like some CONSTRUCTIVE opinions on Air rifles please.
I am looking at buying an Air rifle and not sure whether to go .177 or .22 and what would be the better brand.
Now I realise that some of it comes down to personal preference etc, I get that.

Any knowledge etc that people can share so I make an informed choice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

i have a practically unused ruger for sale. its the earlier metal "airhawk" not the inferior plastic one. includes a proper airgun scope $300
knocks over magpies really well.
its .177 but high velocity.
i lent it to dannyb and he says its a killer too

if you have the money and licence id go pcp just as good as 22rf at shorter ranges imho @Mintie seems to be quite knowedgable on the subject

Hi Pete

Need to know a bit more about what you want the airgun to do before I can help so a couple of questions for you.

What do you want to shoot it at? paper? animals? tin cans?

What ranges do you want to be able to shoot at?

What environment are you shooting in? back yard, orchards, farm land etc? - Is noise level important?

Sounds personal but what is your build? Airguns can vary from child size/weight right up to popeye arms required.

Whats your budget?

Whats your appearance preference? wood/blued? tactical? synthetic, long, short, pistol? - Yes you can legally hunt game with an air pistol if you get something grunty enough.

Cheers

Originally Posted by Mintie

Hi Pete

Need to know a bit more about what you want the airgun to do before I can help so a couple of questions for you.

What do you want to shoot it at? paper? animals? tin cans?

What ranges do you want to be able to shoot at?

What environment are you shooting in? back yard, orchards, farm land etc? - Is noise level important?

Sounds personal but what is your build? Airguns can vary from child size/weight right up to popeye arms required.

Whats your budget?

Whats your appearance preference? wood/blued? tactical? synthetic, long, short, pistol? - Yes you can legally hunt game with an air pistol if you get something grunty enough.

Cheers

All good and important questions.

I would ( irresponsibly) guess that Pete is interested in an air rifle because he wants something to shoot with in his yard, cost less to shoot. but he also want the air rifle to be good enough so shooting it can be used as training for firearm shooting. That is where air rifles starts to get expensive.

Thanks guys for all your info.
Am wanting to shoot some pest birds in a shed on a farm at a range of no more than say 50 meters and maybe some bunnies and or possums.
I do have a .22 Ruger for bunnies etc but wont always have it with me.
ULTIMITSU If I started using an Air Rifle in my back yard then I would be in some deep trouble with the boss lady at home AND of course the boys in Blue.

Originally Posted by ZQLewis

I nail a few possums about the place with a 22cal multi pump.
Benjamin 392 factory rated to about 12ftlb but tuned to 20ftlb. Possums in trees fall down with 6 pumps out of a possible 14.
For research on individual rifles and types of power plant spend some time here.
https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/
NB multi pumps are fun in that you can shoot very quietly at say 5 mtr with kids on 2 pumps or step it up on fur.
Biggest problem is bullet drop so you need to pick a power level and shoot at intervals out to ????30mtr.
Z

Originally Posted by Paua Pete

Thanks guys for all your info.
Am wanting to shoot some pest birds in a shed on a farm at a range of no more than say 50 meters and maybe some bunnies and or possums.
I do have a .22 Ruger for bunnies etc but wont always have it with me.
ULTIMITSU If I started using an Air Rifle in my back yard then I would be in some deep trouble with the boss lady at home AND of course the boys in Blue.

A multi pump is great for that job. I bought a Canon 737 from Youngs for birds in sheds. I have it sighted in on three pumps.

Originally Posted by Paua Pete

Thanks guys for all your info.
Am wanting to shoot some pest birds in a shed on a farm at a range of no more than say 50 meters and maybe some bunnies and or possums.
I do have a .22 Ruger for bunnies etc but wont always have it with me.
ULTIMITSU If I started using an Air Rifle in my back yard then I would be in some deep trouble with the boss lady at home AND of course the boys in Blue.

tell ya what pete. upon supplying i.d which i will scan i will lend you the ruger air rifle to use, you break it you bought it though.

Originally Posted by Paua Pete

Thanks guys for all your info.
Am wanting to shoot some pest birds in a shed on a farm at a range of no more than say 50 meters and maybe some bunnies and or possums.
I do have a .22 Ruger for bunnies etc but wont always have it with me.
ULTIMITSU If I started using an Air Rifle in my back yard then I would be in some deep trouble with the boss lady at home AND of course the boys in Blue.

Technically within the law you can safely shoot in your backyard with an air rifle (with an appropriate backstop). Logically too. But these days i just dont because all you need is an ignorant / and or rifle hating neighbour and sadly you have trouble.

Gotta say Ultamitsu you know your stuff. I was of the oldbreed NHAGC club at greenheith. Got to shoot with Sean Sweeny and some of the best across the country over those 7 years.

If it were me looking for a one off birdy gun i would be settling for 30m top range. Hw30s .177cal and a fixed 6x scope. Thats to shoot quite a lot. If its just a occational bird killer then i would go a cometa fenix.
Just my 2c but i'd stay clear of .22 as these carry the enertia a hell of a long way further than .177. Keeping the gun lightly powered should make your scopes last longer too.

First up hope all are well and keeping safe in this trying time.
Just a quick thank you to those that gave constructive help with this and those that offered to lend me an air rifle.
Thanks Mintie for your help as well was much appreciated.
I ended up borrowing a Crossman .177 and seems to do the job nicely.
I also have a CO2 powered one as well have yet to try that.

Once again everyone stay safe while in lock down.

fps and caliber is secondary to accuracy. you are shooting a very light weight projectile in either 177 or 22 into a target or animal with a low kill zone. you are better off with a 700fps rifle that will shoot an inch at 15 meters than a rifle that shoots 3" but hits 1200 fps

22 for fur, 177 for feathers. It's a lot easier to shoot with 177.

Really You need to know your budget, and need to work out what you are shooting. But here are my views on this subject.

1. If you just want plinker and do not care for quality and accuracy, then all brands under 300 bucks are about the same since they are all quite well established anyway. For plinkering I dont think the improvement going from $300 to $600 is meaningful.

2. If you want some quality and accuracy, and good knock down power on rabbits and possums, you will be spending about 600-900 on a new rifle. Diana 350 N-tech is a fine example of this price range - it has a lot of power, a high end trigger, and reported very accurate for a hunting air gun. I am a believer that if you do not have a good trigger you cannot have pleasant, let along accurate, gun. It is only at this price range you start to have some good triggers, like the Diana T06 trigger.

3. if you want decent quality and decent accuracy (and let us not worry about energy and reach for the moment), air rifles are considerably more expensive than 22LR. You have only 3 choices for high end non-pcp air rifles: Air Amrs TX200 (3 variants), Weihrauch HW97K, and Dianan 54/56. They cost from 1150 to 1500 depending on features and stock. You will get build quality similar to a 800 dollar 22LR bolt action rifle (say, CZ 455 American for example), but less accuracy (without tuning work), less energy, less velocity, not too different noise level (if you go with a 22 cal 900 fps air gun), more weight, more recoil, more picky with scopes and rings. And non-pcp air rifles are very hold sensitive, meaning they are harder to shoot well than firearms. The only thing you may save is ammo cost if you went with 177. But good 22 cal air rifle ammo are close to the price of 22LR ammo.

4. only high end Air rifles are worth tuning. Tuning air guns can cost a lot of money because a lot of work is involved: re-crown, change spring, polish internals, change grease, etc. After a professional tuning you may get a air rifle that is on par with a 800 dollar 22LR rifle (out of box) in terms of accuracy within 40 meters. But the rimfire will always win further out because the inherent better BC of of the projectiles.

5. High end PCP are comparable to 22LR in accuracy and reach. Some people can make their 25 cal PCP shoot as good as 22LR rifle. But they cost way more. 2000 will get you an average one. 3000 will get you an above average one. As much as I admire good pcp rifles I feel they only have limited appeal - unless you routinely shoot upward, say for example shooting birds on roofs and trees. otherwise I do not see any application where 22LR RF will not do.

About good triggers and accuracy. I am not saying guns with bad trigger are inoperable, just to be clear. I shoot guns for pleasure. I just never get any pleasure shooting heavy and creepy triggers. This is just my personal preference. And since I dont shoot them, I never got good shooting them. Therefore, for me, bad triggers means no accuracy. That is not to say it must be so for everyone. Some people are able to shoot well with heavy and creepy triggers.

About tuning work, most people can probably perform basic clean and polish to any gun that is not too tricky to take a part, I agree. But often that is not enough and lower-end guns will need more work than high end guns. There is a recent blog post on a custom airgun shop's website, a Diana 56TH ( a $1400 NZD gun) needed re-crowning job because the factory finish was slightly off-center, thus produces flyers here and there. They did extensive turning job on top of re-crowning. In the end the gun was shooting quite well. I am guessing the tuning job would have cost close to the price of the gun (the re-crowning job alone was for about 150 USD). You can read all about it here.

Yes agree go .22 for the knockdown energy. Best way to start.