This D@#n Pellet Thing

I am having to face a new reality in aspect to the new ammo situation with this pellet rifle thing.

Like any "good prepper" I had a stash of pellet rifle ammo just as I should. Probably enough to last me a lifetime until two weeks ago!

I had a bit of .177 laid by and some .22. All of it from Walmart, so I thought I was ready to roll.

Since I was abducted by aliens or whatever and had the air rifle brain-worm implanted things have changed, and I have been besieged with doubt.

All of this because I started shooting these airguns again!

I had three different kinds of .177 pellets, along with a sock full of BBs for a Crosman 60 which had only had about 20 bbs put through it since new. I soon discovered that 2 of the .177 brands refused to group as they should from my rifle.

Fortunately the little Daisy pointed pellets hit right on the money, so half my stash was "no good". The next trip to Walmart separated me from another $5 and put the stash back to 1000 shots. I will burn up the other pellets on tin cans and target large enough to contain their little 2" circles at 25 yards.

Yes there is also a new accuracy standard! It is not an industry standard like a shotgun pattern test or a 50/100 yard rifle test. It is scaled down to fit my back yard, which meshes with the capabilities of these air guns very well. I know people are shooting them at 100 yards but they do not have enough power to shoot at more than 25-35 yards with ethical energy retention. The back yard, well that is 25 yards directly to the tree line in back and 35 yards to the corners.

So what is the "new standard"?

For me it is 1 inch at 25 yards. Anything smaller than that is great, anything larger is not acceptable based on the capabilities of the technology on the market today.

These guns have limited power. By limited I mean LIMITED! Even if your .22 moves at 800fps you get only 19 ft/lbs energy, and that .177 blazing away on that 8 grain pellet at 1000fps only provides 18 ft/lbs. By comparison, a CCI CB cap gives 30 ft/lbs, and we do not consider a CB cap much of a game-getter. A standard velocity .22 short, 30 grains at 1150fps, gives a whopping 88 ft/lbs.

Yep, a .22 short has 4 times the power of a .177 or .22 pellet.


Therefore the accuracy must be better than we even expect from the average pot meat shooting .22 lr. We have left the "minute of squirrel" everyone speaks of and entered "minute of squirrel eye" territory.

The .177 junk pellets in my stash will not hold that accuracy level, but I was fortunate that I had a can of Crosman pointed pellets in the cabinet that my rifle liked and shot to way better than the 1 inch circle.

There are better pellets out there. I am sure of it. Looking through the on line selections I counted a single supplier that offered 800 different .177 varieties and more than 600 selection in .22.

There is no possible way I am going to have time in the remainder of my life to test each and every one of those pellets! Don't want too and don't need to.

Like with the .22lr, I discovered that SK Pistol Match shot best in my 10/22. It costs triple what Mini-mags cost and only shoots about 1/8" better at 50 yards than the CCI, plus I have to order the SK ammo from one of three or four suppliers and have it shipped in. I can get the CCI ammo at any LGS or Wally-World. That extra 1/8" is not worth the effort if I am holding center of mass on a bunny or squirrel.

If I can get Walmart pellets to shoot inside the "standard" that is what I will be using. Besides, they come 500 in a can for a total of $8. That is less than the shipping cost for a can that might do a fraction of an inch better.

Oh well, it is a new adventure that takes me back to 1962 and a new Crosman 140 under the Christmas tree, and all the things about stalking and shooting I learned back then.

That 140 was state of the art for a field air gun back then. I wonder what 12 year old K-rat would have thought of this Diana Stormrider?

I would like to do the air gun thing but I'm just not sure which one to pull the trigger on. I would like a copy of the one Lewis and Clark took on their walkabout. Dennis Quckenbush makes copies or at least did.

You gave up on .22s and are worried about .177s? Pull out that .38 and don't worry about it. I'm pretty certain you have enough .38 to last a couple of life times.

I got a Benjamin 22 cal when I was ten. I put about ten thousand rounds through it (that's around 50,000) pumps. I pull it down off the nails every now and then to discourage the grackles from roosting in my oak trees. I may shoot for groups tomorrow if I can see the sights.

I only ever shot Benjamin or Crossman pellets (flat point) in it, or any other kind of pellet I could buy at the store. I've killed rabbits and various sundry other critters.

I realized that the world had changed one day when #1 son needed some pellets for his Benjamin. I parked in the parking lot at WalMart and told him to go get his pellets. I gave him some money and sent him into the store (He was about 10). He came back in about 5 min and said they wouldn't sell them to him. I went in and found out that kids under 18 could not buy pellets..... I probably bought 10,000 pellets by myself, after walking a mile and a half to the store, with the air rifle to get them. Nobody gave it a second thought that a kid could walk into Gibson's Discount Center with a pellet gun and buy his own pellets. This world has sure gotten STUPID in these last 60 years.

Alan

You gotta try a few different brands and weights of pellets to find the magic one your air rifle likes
but Corssman pellets are quiet good, as are the JSB Exact diablo's

I'm starting to realize these air guns are like another mouth to feed. Went to Cabela's last week for reloading supplies and bought some real fancy .22 cal pellets. They were $18 for a box of 100. That's 18 cents per pellet. I can shoot 9mm for less than that but not in my back yard.
They don't shoot any better than the Daisy pellets.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rick

You gave up on .22s and are worried about .177s? Pull out that .38 and don't worry about it. I'm pretty certain you have enough .38 to last a couple of life times.

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While this is quite true the premise is different at this point.

The air gun is not about hunting. It is not directly about survival, I have better tools for that.

This is about entertainment!

My neighborhood, after 8 years of being a backwater, is getting more dense with more young kids about and my next door neighbor has a new baby needing naps off and on all day and the Dad is now on shift work. I now have neighbors that sleep all hours of the day and night and although it is legal for me to shoot full charge firearms in my backyard it is now "less than convenient".

Now that the air gun is operational I built a nice "shooting complex" up closer to the house instead of hidden down by the creek where the poison ivy and snakes reside. It is a bit steep down there and I always had trouble getting the mower out of that wretched spot once I had driven it in.

the new target setup is a bit of overkill with the transfer of the center fire pistol rated backer plate and the bullet trap rated for .22 rim fire. I hung the big 2'x4' plate of T10 from chains so it gives a pleasant little "gong" when struck by the tiny missiles.

All of this can be accessed either from my back porch or from the confines of my workshop shed which now has heat and AC. I even replaced one of the screened panels on the back porch with a screened swing out window. Just did that yesterday.

My #1 requirement for my air gun purchase was that it be "back yard friendly". I very quickly realized that by not really being defined as a "firearm" an air gun could be equipped with an efficient silencer, as long as that piece of equipment could not be easily fitted to a "real gun".

I think that means that it can not have 1/2"x28 threads or 5/8"X whatever so that it will screw onto a standard barrel thread. Most of the new generation of back yard guns come with a built in moderator and many people gut them and rebuild them to better performance. Since there is no hot gas to deal with plastic and glue can be used effectively and "insulation material" can be used inside the unit and it will not burn away as one shoots.

The rifle I purchased came equipped with a small moderator and makes about half the racket that a .22 short would generate, and it is a different impulse. More of a twang rather than a sharp report and it rates at around 90db rather than the 125db of the .22 rim fire.

Since I had already given up on the .22 rim fires as a hunting round and now I have been sort of forced to stop using them are target and plinking rounds in the back yard I suppose that the .22 rim fire has been completely displaced in my arsenal.

I will continue to hang onto them. I will be required to keep the 10/22 Ruger until I die. I have put so much money into that useless POS that I will never get out of it what I put into it! It is like a custom built and restored hot rod.

Yeah, I get the poison ivy and snakes. I went out to the mail box today and managed to carry in an oversized spider. I was in the house before I realized it hitch hiked in. I screamed like a little girl when I realized the thing was on my hand. Good thing I didn't have my EDC on me. I would have been happily missing some fingers.

Poison ivy, snakes and spiders? On the list.

I see what you did there.