Air Rifle Thread

[WormShanks]

Ha! What a funny place to find this topic...

The one thing of note that I have is a Rapid MK2, .20 cal, fully shrouded barrel, etc. Excellent pest control tool, stunning accuracy. I imported it from England myself long ago when the dollar must have been a lot stronger. I paid nowhere near what they seem to go for now, holy shit!

It had been retired since I started paying others to take care of the pests for me. That was a while ago, this thread got me thinking of pulling it back out for fun.

So, what are you guys using for PCP fills? I had a SCUBA setup since that was another one of my hobbies at the time and I don't remember there being other options. Nowadays that would be a hassle. My tanks haven't been hydro'd for close to 10 years probably, among other things. I'm thinking 6k psi nitrogen since there are plenty of welding supply shops close to me. I don't know, for the cost just getting the air supply sorted it seems I could buy a nice Savage .22 . Seriously though, what's the latest?

[_cy_]

yellow forum has a fill suppliers list posted. link is towards top of page

[milq]

My local fire department said they can inspect and fill my SCUBA tank for my PCP. Tank was filled with 4500psi when I got it and haven't had to refill yet.

[4ad]

Just finished modding my urban squirrel gitter...crosman .177 2400 with a stock adapter & ahem..muzzle brake parts fabbed on my lathe. Also bored out the valve and did a trigger polish...eye shots @ 20 yds no prob.

I have a walled garden in the middle of the city with a pecan tree right in the middle which is a magnet for em...life is good.

[Fubars]

I just watched Daystate's video on their .303 Wolverine. Oh my, that looks like fun.

[_cy_]

almost forgot about my Quakenbush .457 air rifle. took me 8 years to get it. All Quakenbush air rifles are hand made and priced so low it's unbelievable.

waiting list is almost impossible to get on. Dennis takes no $$ until they are ready to ship. some folks were paying Dennis $600, then immediately reselling for $1,500+.

He's since limited his rifles to one per family to allow more folks like me that's been trying for years to get a Quackenbush rifle.

the quality of a Quakenbush air rifle is unbelievable! completely hand made from scratch including boring the barrel.

--------

2000lb bison shot with the Quackenbush LA .457 Safari gun

[FPGT72]

Well it took a little while for me to make my choice, but I went with what was suggested here and got a QB78. Ordered it sunday.

Shot a little of everything this weekend, first time with a real gun in MONTHS....doG I use to be able to hit stuff. At the trap house after 4 out of 15 I was in pretty good pain....so much for DR's telling me to quit if it hurt...but hay you can't quit on a miss, and I quit on 3 in a row with tears in my eyes.

Then at home I started with the old Gamo rifles I have....cocking is still a bit of a chore.....and makes me sore...so I said screw-it and bought the CO2 rifle. I could hit all day long from a rest, so I think that my eye and trigger control is still good....... but off hand forget about it....my left arm is just too weak to hold the rifle steady....eh...I will get there in time....I hope.

I also picked up my CZ454 with a scope larger then hubble and could not come close to being able to hold the thing steady...I did not remember it being that heavy.....I till be a LONG time before I am ready for small bore again.

[davsato]

it was my nephew's 16th birthday the other day, he wanted cash for an air rifle which he got so i took him in the local gunshop for a look see. he wanted a PCP but prices are high to say the least, the cheapest was more than a new rossi .44MAG underlever i fell in love with!

anyway, i talked him into looking at springers and he ended up buying a break barrel stoeger X20 suppressor combo. for the money (£175) it seemed a good buy but its a brand thats new here. any good?

[4ad]

Originally Posted by davsato

it was my nephew's 16th birthday the other day, he wanted cash for an air rifle which he got so i took him in the local gunshop for a look see. he wanted a PCP but prices are high to say the least, the cheapest was more than a new rossi .44MAG underlever i fell in love with!

anyway, i talked him into looking at springers and he ended up buying a break barrel stoeger X20 suppressor combo. for the money (£175) it seemed a good buy but its a brand thats new here. any good?

I just bought one of these a few months ago in .22 cal...very powerfull (1000fps), quiet (after break in), and accurate...the trigger could be better (has an overly long pull although it is somewhat adjustable.) I replaced it with a Charles de Tuna trigger which is perfect....the scope is pretty bad but most are on the combos.

I think Stoeger is owned by Benelli

[_cy_]

Originally Posted by davsato

anyway, i talked him into looking at springers and he ended up buying a break barrel stoeger X20 suppressor combo. for the money (£175) it seemed a good buy but its a brand thats new here. any good?

read their inflated claims??? ... 1,500 fps with worthless alloy pellets .. ya right
so what's the real life speed with pellets (.177 or .22) one can actually hunt with?

------------
A robust, spring-piston, break-action system gives you the power to drive .177 alloy pellets at a potent 1500 feet per second.

[davsato]

Originally Posted by _cy_

read their inflated claims??? ... 1,500 fps with worthless alloy pellets .. ya right
so what's the real life speed with pellets (.177 or .22) one can actually hunt with?

------------
A robust, spring-piston, break-action system gives you the power to drive .177 alloy pellets at a potent 1500 feet per second.

it better not fire a lead pellet at 1000fps! if it did that would push a superdome out at 32lb/ft which is nearly 3 times the legal limit here! i dont know if my chronograph still works........

[FPGT72]

Originally Posted by davsato

it better not fire a lead pellet at 1000fps! if it did that would push a superdome out at 32lb/ft which is nearly 3 times the legal limit here! i dont know if my chronograph still works........

How to they actually determine the limits in england?

I know they have some laws about the power of the air rifles, but is seems like the air rifle world is a bit like the lawn mower world, cars with horse power rates...where more is better.....but it is not quite real life.

I would think that it would actually be good for a company to have in their ad's a number that would be a little lower then what the real world FPS numbers would be....then they could sell them in the UK.

On a side note does a CO2 gun require the special scopes like springers need?....I would not think so but wanted to check.

[pretbek]

Originally Posted by _cy_

read their inflated claims??? ... 1,500 fps with worthless alloy pellets .. ya right
so what's the real life speed with pellets (.177 or .22) one can actually hunt with?

------------
A robust, spring-piston, break-action system gives you the power to drive .177 alloy pellets at a potent 1500 feet per second.

In general you try to keep the pellets under 900 fps for accuracy. You certainly do not want to shoot at 1000 fps or higher, which some manufacturers advertise as an asset in stead of the liability that it is.

For spring guns in .22 that velocity is usually lower still, because a springer that shoots at very high energy (pellet weight x velocity^2 ratio) can be harsh and hard to shoot accurately consistently.

Just recently there was a thread on yellowforum.com where someone was having accuracy problems (had flyers causing group side to open to golf ball size at 50 yards). Dropping the pellet speed from 920 to 870 fps made the gun shoot much more accurately, one ragged hole at 40 yards.


So to answer your question:
Whatever pellet speed your rifle shoots most accurately.

There is no significant "hydrostatic shock" at airgun muzzle energy, so shot placement is everything. Many argue that .22 pellets anchor their prey better than .177 given the same accuracy. But you can't go around smacking a squirrel somewhere in his body and expecting it to die instantly or even quickly. A brain or heart/lung shot is essential, especially in this particular example, squirrels seem descendants of a zombie father and an Abrams tank mother.

[WormShanks]

Originally Posted by FPGT72

How to they actually determine the limits in england?

I know they have some laws about the power of the air rifles, but is seems like the air rifle world is a bit like the lawn mower world, cars with horse power rates...where more is better.....but it is not quite real life.

I would think that it would actually be good for a company to have in their ad's a number that would be a little lower then what the real world FPS numbers would be....then they could sell them in the UK.

On a side note does a CO2 gun require the special scopes like springers need?....I would not think so but wanted to check.

It's an energy limit, 12 ft-lbs I believe. Energy = mass * velocity^2 so FPS doesn't really mean much by itself in terms of regulation. I had to go through some of this when I imported my Rapid.

[GP640]

Our limit is 495fps, over that it's classed a "firearm" and requires the same permit as any
other long gun.

That said, I'm looking for a decent pellet rifle for my son to learn on.
We were at the farm on the weekend and 20 shots with the old .22 had him hooked.