Best $300 PAL Rated .22 Air Rifle?

M

Max-4

CGN Regular
Rating - 98.8%
85   1   0
Location
Southern Ontario
Hello, I am looking for a break barrel air rifle that is PAL rated and in .22 Cal. I don't have a preference for wood or synthetic stock, just want something of decent quality. I will likely be buying a cheap scope for it too so don't absolutely need open sights but they could be a plus.

My brother has a farm and a pigeon, squirrel and rabbit problem. What do you guys think my best bet is new for this type of rifle? It looks to me like Daisy, Crosman, Gamo and Benjamin are all the same company now and have discontinued a bunch of options? I'd like to spend about $300 Max budget on this as I will only be using it a few times a year and don't want to sink a bunch of money into it.

Thanks in advance for your help! Cheers
 
You definitely want a 22 caliber pellet rifle with 800-1200 fps. I'm assuming you have a firearms license, as you will need one to buy a pellet rifle that can obtain those velocities.

The 495 fps pellet guns are not the best idea for what you wanted to do with it.

Like Bangalore suggested, the Gamo Swarm in 22 caliber has a 1000 fps rating.

https://dantesports.com/en/product/gamo-swarm-evo-10x-gen3i-with-scope/

I would take his advice and buy that one. I've had Gamo pellet guns for over 40 years, never had a bad one........:)

And this model is on sale for $277.77. Man I almost want one now too!........:ROFLMAO:
 
I bought a Gamo Swarm Evo gas piston with 4x scope about a year ago and have been quite happy with it. I have only shot it at 25 yards but it easily does 1/2"-3/4" inch groups at that distance with quality pellets. The trigger is adjustable so you can drop the weight down to a very nice 3 pounds or so. I also like the 10 shot rotary magazines which allows for a longer shooting session without having to reload.

Keep in mind that the velocities they state are typically with lightweight alloy pellets so expect your velocities with lead pellets to be only about 70-75% of what is stated. That being said, if you whack a pigeon, squirrel or rabbit in the head with a .22 cal. 750 fps lead pellet they aren't going anywhere.

If it was me I would be looking at the Swarm Evo 10x or Swarm Fusion 10x (both Gen 3i). Looks like the main difference is the stock and 4x scope vs. 3-9x scope.
 
Powerful spring guns are hard on scopes so make sure your "cheap" scope has a lifetime warranty if you go with a springer.

Spring guns also require a bit of practice learning "the artillery hold"

A German made springer will cost a bit more then your budget but your kids kids will be hopefully shooting it one day!

Most pests are easier to control by trapping or blocking access or somehow preventing them from doing what ever they are doing... if you do need to kill them a .22 with some CCI quiets might be a good option. The CCI quiets are not the most accurate round but you should be able to hit a squirrel where it counts inside 25 yards.

Edit, I just took a quick look on D&L Airguns and it looks like the German guns have almost doubled in price over the last 5 years!
 
Last edited:
Max-4 said:
Well I'm not spending $1000 on a German Springer if that's what we're talking about. The prices of those have gone through the roof and it seems like they are never in stock here in Canada.
Click to expand...
No doubt "Justinflation" is a real b i t c h ! Maybe a used one?
I bought a real nice used HW77 maybe 10 years ago for around $300.00, but today you'd still be looking at twice that used.

Any reason you and your bro can't shoot rimfire on the farm?

There are some Chinese clones of German guns out there as well but they tend to be popular with people that like to work on guns.

Have you looked over on the airgun forums? Here's a thread discussing sub $500 options,
https://www.airgunforum.ca/forums/viewtopic.php?t=97386
 
Last edited:
ponymusic said:
Check Bullseye North, regardless of some other opinions, very affordable and decent quality.

https://www.bullseyenorth.com/shop/ux-prymex-22-black-189-inch-barrel-900-fps-pal-required-34492
Click to expand...
For $130 plus tax and shipping even if it only lasts a few years it's not a huge investment....

The 900 FPS with "alloy" pellets probably means 750 with some JSB exacts.... get a better scope and it should work for a while.... :)

Is the gas piston easy to replace down the road?
 
Gamo are quite accurate out of the box even with the noname included scope. Their reloading system works very well (gen3) however it is not easy to find extra magazines and they are expensive. But the package rifle/scope price is hard to beat for the quality that you get.
In mine the most accurate pellets that I tried are the gamo blue bombers.
It's just too bad that they cannot sell the suppressed version in Canada; it is a little noisy. But any air rifle at that speed gets noisy.
 
I gave my Diana rws 350 to my son, that is a great airgun. I bought a gopher infested acreage and picked up a Crosman vantage NP. With a Hawke scope it was easy head shots for about 100 gophers. Now it is hard to hit a pie plate at 30yds. Action screws shook loose, pivot bolt ditto, gonna give it a de-leading and doing the RC bearing trigger upgrade- the stock trigger is garbage. You get what you pay for as with everything. Good luck in your quest.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom