air gun info?

[crawdad]

i am thinking about buying a bb/pellet gun for the occasions when the .22 and scatterguns arent appropriate.
can anyone give me any info on whats the best these days.
im gonna be 40 and grew up with the crossman 760 , daisy 880, some others too.
are benjamin and sheridan still out there?
i have a few pesky critters to deal with
any comments would help
thanks
scott

 

[MikeFLA]

Scott,

I wouldn't bother with an air gun. Colibri makes a powderless (primer only) 22 shell that is as quiet as any air gun and has comparable velocities. It can even be used indoors!


22 LR Colibri - 20 gr. Solid Point Lead Bullet.
- NO GUNPOWDER, Sounds as quiet as an air rifle!!!
- 375 FPS muzzle velocity.
- This is a cartridge that contains no gunpowder. The little 20 gr. bullet is propelled soley by the Eley priming mix. For this reason the .22 Colibri produces almost no sound. The .22 Colibri round can be fired in any .22 LR rifle or pistol. However it will not cycle the slides of semi-auto guns.

Here is a <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.coledistributing.com/>link</A> to their website.

 

[LilRhody]

I prefer the Glock 21

 

[cstocks]

I bought a Benjamin .177 caliber pellet gun about 15 years ago just to plink cans and sweet gum balls. It was still pretty much the same air rifle that they made when I was a kid 35 years ago. I still have it and it has been a durable and reasonably accurate air rifle.

Last year I bought my nephew a Daisy pellet gun for his birthday. It cost the same as a Benjamin, which is to my knowledge still being made, and I figured it would be a good air rifle since Daisy has been making bb guns for decades. It was a single pump rifle and seemed to be well constructed. However, when my nephew started taking target practice the aim was way off the mark. I adjusted the sight as far as I could but it still shot way off the mark. My nephew learned how to allow for the gun's inaccuracy and got pretty good at hitting what he aimed at. I think the rifle was being marketed as a Winchester but Daisy was the manufacturer.

A friend of mine has a Crossman but is it not a cheapy model. Seems he paid $500 or $600 for it... it is a match grade rifle and is very powerful and accurate. He loads it with a cleaning wad to shoo away the neighbors' cats. Otherwise the neighbors would have some very dead cats!

Hope this helps.

Chris

 

[GaryM]

I've owned several air rifles over the years and would recommend a "spring-air" rather than a pump up type. The spring-air works by compressing a spring, often using the barrel as a lever. When the trigger is pulled, the spring extends and forces a piston forward. The air trapped by the piston propels to pellet. I have a .177 and the muzzle velocity is over 1000 FPS.

The advantage of the spring air is that the air is not compressed until the trigger is pulled. With a pump up gun, the muzzle velocity will vary depending on how soon after pumping the rifle is fired. When you pump you heat the air, then as the rifle sits, it cools off. The pressure of the stored air can also vary depending on how fast you pump. And of course how many strokes you use. The spring-air rifles can do repeat shots fater too as only one stroke is required as compared to multiple strokes of a pump up.

Cabela's has several spring-air rifles in their catalog. The RWS Model 48 has a muzzle velocity of up to 1100FPS. It's available with a four power scope for less than $400. The Gamo Hunter 1250 is rated at up to 1250FPS and sell for a similar price. The Crosman RM 777 is a spring-air rated at 1100FPS and sells for $200.

www.cabelas.com

 

[bgott]

I bought a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun to get my dogs out from under the house. It doesn't have enough power to penetrate the skin but it'll durn sure get 'em to steppin' and fetchin'! I know where the gun shoots and I'm a pretty good shot.
If there is the slightest chance I'll hit them in the eye I hold my fire. One or two go -arounds is all it takes and they stay out from under there. My GSD hated that gun so bad all I had to do was roll the BBs up and down the barrel and she would cease and desist whatever she was doing and get in the doghouse. It cured her from tearing through the chainlink fence, digging in the garbage and hiding under the house . It took one three round go- around and one two round session and that was all. We used to have BB gun wars with these guns when I was a kid so I know how it feels to get shot with one, I'd rather be popped with one of these than get shocked with an electric fence. That's the reason I went with the gun, I was afraid I'd forget about the hot wire and light myself up! I have a Crosman CO2 pellet gun I bought for shooting rats. I had a rat infestation under the house and was afraid the dogs would eat a poisoned rat and die. I got pretty good at dropping to the ground and popping them fast by the light of a flashlight. It rains a lot around here and the ground stays muddy so they were keeping ahead of me. I figured out that my dogs would just kill the rats and not eat them so I finally poisoned them. If I could keep the rats out from under the house I wouldn't mind having a few around for target practice!

 

[cstocks]

I have a bb pistol that I once used in the same manner to shut up the incessant barking of the neighbors' dog. They would tie the dog out on a leash and it would bark the entire it was outside and drive me nuts. The bb pistol had very little "umph" so the bb's did not shoot true. It took several tries before a bb hit it's mark. Once I did finally connect with a shot to the rump that was the end of that. From that day forward all I had to to was walk out the door and look at that dog and he headed for cover. If the sight of me did not do it the rolling of the bb's in the pistol certainly did! It was amazing that one little bb is all it took to train that dog mind his manners!

 

[Frosty]

Crawdad
I have an old Sheridan Blue Streak that works great. Check out Cabela's. I like it because I can give it 2-3 pumps and make 'em sting or pump it 8x and be deadly. It is quite accurate. Magpies tremble at the sight of me! /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif

 

[RanchMan]

When it comes to BB/Pelet guns, there's a lot of variety out there - from $30 Daisy Red Riders to $1500 competition class Feinwerkbaus.

If you're looking for an "economy" model, Crossman and Daisy make some nice options, but if you want something a little more "serious" but can't stomach the $400-$700 price of a nice Beeman, Gamo is a pretty good option.

Their rifles generally start in the $140 range and go up to the $300 range (the $300 price includes a pretty nice variable scope). They are made in Spain (I think) and most are the break-barrel type as found on Beemans. If you're looking for something to "shoo" the neighborhood mutt away, they aren't for you -- but if you want to hunt rabbits or squirrels, or just shoot some targets pretty accurately, they are great.

Several years ago I bought a Hunter 890 package. Took it to my parents house on a holiday - dad was so impressed, he bought the same package. Next time I visited we sat on the back porch and had some friendly target shooting competition. (We started out shooting paper, but digressed into shooting grasshoppers on the other side of the yard - not a very cost-effective pest control method - but fun /w3tcompact/icons/grin.gif)

Lots of people sell them. Here's a few links to a places that have them if you're interested. (You may find better prices though, so I'd look around a bit further first if you're interested in one.)

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ctd/dept.asp?dept%5Fid=101007&category=Airguns&dept%5Fname=Gamo+Airguns&mscssid=M3PDTRPLVVB18J4GUT4F1FDCMEK660A1>Cheaper Than Dirt - Airguns</A>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.southsummit.com/gamo_air_guns.html>South Summit Airguns</A>
<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.webcom.com/airguns/welcome.html>Advanced Precision Airguns</A>

It all depends on budget and usage - I can say though, although I've shot much more expensive (and much cheaper) BB/Pellet guns, I've enjoyed my Gamo the most. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Try www.straightshooters.com. I bought my Beeman .20 caliber R9 with scope from them, and quickly and (quietly) took care of my crow problem. Lots of good info, including air gun reviews and a discussion forum. However, if I already owned a .22 (which I don't), I would certainly try the Colibri option first.