Airguns?

**Winnie** · 03-06-2010, 09:36 AM

So, after the Shotgun Certifcate debacle the decision is to go with an Air Rifle. I've done a search and the information was not what I wanted.
I know very little about these, I have used one many years ago but as I have a wealth of knowledgable heads at my disposal, I'm asking for help.

The Laws regarding Air Rifle use and ownership are pretty simple. Must be over 14, Air Rifle must not exceed 12ft. lbs.
There's a dizzying array of guns and pellets available.

I've been doing a bit of reading and am thinking single stroke pneumatic .22, though I'm open to other suggestions. As to what type of pellet, I have no idea! Funds are limited, so no all singing all dancing, go faster striped, bells and whistles gun. Just a good, honest workhorse that's not too heavy.

Quarry would be Rabbits, Pigeons and the like.

**Rick** · 03-06-2010, 09:57 AM

Winnie - There are a lot of good brand names on the market. A good many of them come from Europe so you should be able to pick one up rather easily. Beeman is probably at the top end of those. Diana is another great name. The truth is you can kill with just about any of them. The question really goes to accuracy, reliability and cost Hopefully, you have a sporting goods store near you so you can actually handle them. I purchased a Diana last year and it's a dandy but it's very heavy. You would not like it because of the weight. Here is a really good site that reviews some weapons and some ammo. I purchased my Diana from them last year. Personally, I would stay away from CO2 and pump up. I would look for a break action model. But try a break action before you buy it and make certain you can cock it. Some are pretty stiff to operate. If you have trouble then a pump model may be best for you. http://www.pyramydair.com/toms-airgun-picks

**Ken** · 03-06-2010, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by Winnie

Quarry would be Rabbits, Pigeons and the like.

But NO squirrels, right, Winnie?

**Winnie** · 03-06-2010, 10:10 AM

Originally Posted by Ken

But NO squirrels, right, Winnie?

No Ken, no squirrels. I just couldn't bring myself to eat one, so if I won't eat it, I won't shoot it

So break action would be a spring?(see I told you I know zip)

**crashdive123** · 03-06-2010, 10:52 AM

Winnie - the most common style (here anyway) of air rifle with a spring is the break barrel style as Rick mentioned. I don't know if that will be true where you live though. For example the break barrel rifle that I have generates 1000 fps with a .177 pellet and 800 fps with a .22 pellet. This is more than sufficient to take small game. The thing is, is that the spring is pushing 30 ft lbs. With a 12 ft lb restriction, I do not know what kind of muzzle velocities you will get out of your pellets. I'm sure the folks at you sporting goods stores can answer that question.

**Winnie** · 03-06-2010, 11:04 AM

Right, I'll scrap the idea of pneumatic and go with spring. Lots more reading and research methinks. Keep any help coming though!

**Rick** · 03-06-2010, 11:10 AM

Just make certain you can physically break the barrel down to cock it. As I said, some can be pretty stiff. If you find that you can't break the barrel to cock it you may have to go with the pump action. I have an old Crossman 760 pump up that I used as a kid and it's still in good shape. Very accurate and quite deadly. You just won't reach out as far with it because of the lower velocity. http://www.crosman.com/airguns/rifles/pneumatic/760B

**Ken** · 03-06-2010, 11:19 AM

Originally Posted by Winnie

No Ken, no squirrels. I just couldn't bring myself to eat one, so if I won't eat it, I won't shoot it

I love you, Winnie.

**Winnie** · 03-06-2010, 11:58 AM

I love you too, Ken

**Justin Case** · 03-06-2010, 12:02 PM

Awww,, Cyber Love

**mule100** · 03-06-2010, 12:12 PM

hi Winnie yes your right about 12ft lbs being the legal limit in the uk but this i more than enough for a clean kill if you go for a head shot. springers tend to be heavy and if you go down that route go for a Weihrauch or Air Arms in .177 but i'd say go for a PCP rifle and a good scope as they are much easier to shoot and a lot lighter check out them out on here http://www.airgunbbs.com/forums/index.php
Ian

**rwc1969** · 03-06-2010, 12:23 PM

http://www.pyramydair.com/site/articles/formulas/

This will let you easily calcualte the ft. lbs. based on muzzle velocity and projectile weight. The weight of the projectile is quite variable, and with pump air rifles so is the muzzle velocity. So, you can possibly "finagle" the law based on that.

I had a Crosman 766 powermaster which was a pump and with a 10.5 grain .177 pellet at 700 fps. it was just under 12 ft. lbs. according to the above calculator. That would be less than 10 pumps. As it was a 10 pump air rifle rated at 790 fps. I could effectively kill with it, but it required pumping it 20 times and using bbs instead of pellets, which would put it well over the 12 ft. lb. restriction.

And, eventhough the Crosman 760 would most likely be legal over there it won't effectively kill squat. I've owned 3 now, still have one, my cousin had two, other two cousins each had one, and my bro had one. They are to weak for "ethical" hunting period. Pigeons and doves yes, but squirrels and rabbits no. Plus they seem to limit out at 10 pumps whereas the 766 would increase alll the way up to 40 pumps without damaging the rifle. The new 766 might not be so good, but the old one certainly was.

I now have a GAMO hunter 440, I believe it's called, in .177 and it is a single cock spring air piston that delivers over 800 fps. with a 10.5 gr pellet. The rifle's rated at 1000 fps. It kills most everything I shoot with one well placed head shot at impressive ranges to boot, 50 yards+. It will shoot thru a car door, 3/4" plywood and such at short range. The 766 would not.

I think the 12 lb restriction is going to seriously limit your ability to hunt effectively. I did a lil research and many of the rifles mfg'd for the UK are supposedly limited to comply, but it all depends on the weight of the pellet and muzzle velocity. So, if they say it's under 12 ft. lbs. w' a 10 grain pellet and you use 11 grain pellets you'll most likely be breaking the law. Or, if they say it's under 12 ft lbs with 10 pumps and you pump it 11 times you'll most likely be breaking the law as well unless they have limiters on them.

RWS/Diana, GAMO, Beeman are all top of the line. Beeman and RWS are kinda the originals in my book, but they're all good. Maybe the ones mfg'd in the UK are limited, but you couldn't find one here in the states that was under 12 ft. lbs. unless it was essentially a kids toy.

In order to comply with the law and be an ethical hunter it's going to require extremely well placed shots and limiting yourself to very small game such as squirrels and possibly rabbits, but not likely. You could take squirrels and pigeons, but rabbits will likley just run off. It's likely the squirrels will run off slowly, lol, and you'll need a follow up shot or three to finish em off.

To give you an example, as kids we would go out in groups of 3 to 5, myself armed with the 766 and my cousins, friends, and or brother armed with the 760's. I would usually get the first shot and if needed my cousins would follow with a frenzied assault of pumping and firing until the critter went down. If I took the first shot and it was well placed the critter usually was wounded enough not to escape or it was dead. If my cousins shot first the chase was on. It got to the point where I had to switch guns with my cousins to make it fair. Everyone wanted the first shot and everyone knew that the 766 was the best for that, so everyone wanted to shoot my rifle. And since I'm a nice guy I sometimes complied.

Point of this example, it required 3-5 of these low powered rifles and teamwork to effectively hunt small game. Squirrels, rabbits, pigeons, coons, opossums, doves, ducks, geese, etc. Coons were the toughest and usually required many shots to subdue followed by woodchucks. Birds were the easiest as you could just head shoot or wing them and run up and finish em off by hand. After a short time we quickly learned these rifles weren't meant for coons and woodchucks so we let em be, at least I did.

I don't know if the info I provided is what you would like to hear, but it is the reality of your situation. I've hunted extensively with air guns for over 30 years and shot many, many different models, pellets, bbs, etc. and hunted just about anything that moved small game wise.

I don't know how the law works over there, but if you can get a pump like the one I mentioned and pump it over limit that would be your best option for a hunting weapon. Becuase at 10 pumps you would comply with the law and at 20 pumps you might actually be able to kill something.

Whatever you get, if you do, I'd suggest .177 cal. over .22. Especially considering the 12 lb limit. In my experience .177 air rifles are far more effective, accurate, and have longer range and flatter trajectories than .22.

**hunter63** · 03-06-2010, 12:41 PM

Originally Posted by Rick

Just make certain you can physically break the barrel down to cock it. As I said, some can be pretty stiff. If you find that you can't break the barrel to cock it you may have to go with the pump action. I have an old Crossman 760 pump up that I used as a kid and it's still in good shape. Very accurate and quite deadly. You just won't reach out as far with it because of the lower velocity. http://www.crosman.com/airguns/rifles/pneumatic/760B

I still have my Crossman 760 as well, shoot good, need 6-7 pumps, and I shoot BB's in it, so I can have more that one ready in the magazine.

Fooled around with a laser sight, but took it off.
Was funny watching the BYB's trying to brush off the red dot.

The one I use mostly now is Benjamin Legacy 1000 pellet rifle, fast, made in USA, but discontinued.
http://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/LEGACY_1000/441

Been looking at the Gamo .22 rifle/shot gun combo.
I do not know anything about them, and ammo kinda expensive, but does supposibly give you an "air shot gun".

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/c....aspx?a=322928

Air rifles are not toys, if you go high end (more tha $50 bucks)

**Winnie** · 03-06-2010, 12:47 PM

Well I'm looking around, and Holy Carp! PCP Air Rifles start at £300!!! Soooo Spring Rifle it is. Thoughts on this one? I've read some good reviews of it.
http://www.gilderscountrysports.co.u...oduct&&id=1548
It's available in my local Gunshop. So I think I'll go have a looksee and see how it feels.

Edit to add I see they do Slingshots too.......

**hunter63** · 03-06-2010, 01:10 PM

As I not an ex-pert, I would say that's a pretty good tool.
.22 cal, up to 1000ft per second, pretty much weather resistant, and seems the right price, pounds, ( I don't think I have the # sign,?) would be what in $?

**Winnie** · 03-06-2010, 01:14 PM

That would work out at $227 Hunter. That price is mid range. The cheapest I've seen are around the $75 mark, for a really good Weirach $1,000

Edit: If I lived in the U.S the same Rifle is just over 1/2 price!

**Tripwire** · 03-06-2010, 01:28 PM

I looked into airguns at one time. Found out the .22 rimfire is more bang for the buck. You can make them as quiet as an airgun.
I picked up one for $98, and another in a trade. With $100 of ammo, Im set for life.
I can use the rimfire ammo for all kinds of fun inventions that cant be mentioned in an open forum.