<500fps Air Pistol

I have a lot of experience with sub 500fps air pistols as I used to compete in 10m air pistol.
They would definitely be good choice for mouse sized game...at close range. And not real big mice.
 
I have the HW 45 in .22 but last time I chronographed it with a very inexpensive Chrony it ranged around 385 fps and I dont think I saw anything over 425fps. But the velocity indicated didnt seem to correlate to the striking power at 10m which seemed healthy. They are accurate and VERY well made but have a substantial ‘kick’ when they fire fwiw
 
What to expect for $80? With that in mind they are not bad though and can easily be improved if you like. I put a steel breech, red dot and carbine stock on mine, which all cost more than the pistol of course. At 10 yards or so though it is worth it to humanely take squirrels.
 
Been shooting grouse and rabbits for 30 years with my .177 Webley Tempest @ 430 fps with CPLs . Easy . With a rabbit a pellet anywhere to the head will do it as their skulls are like eggs shells . With grouse go for an upper neck or head shot but the best shot is square in the back . The feathers on the back are like fluff so the pellet breaks the spine and comes to rest in the front of the ribs , if it doesn't shoot right through . Avoid the breast with the bigger , thicker feathers and avoid side shots because of the wings .Most of my shots are 10 to 12 yards and we're talking truck loads of game over the decades . Somebody mentioned the Webley Alecto and they are very good guns , easier to shoot accurately than a Tempest .
 
Check the regulations... It would be a bummer to get in trouble for such a silly things...

In Qc as an example, they specify a "rifle" over 500fps
- Sure it can be done with a sub 500fps pistol... but that will get you in trouble.

Just like tinkering with a air pistol to bump it up over 500fps...
 
Ontario Hunting Regulations clearly state you can hunt small game with a sub 500 FPS pistol if you posses a Small Game License. The 2240 and 1322 work fine at ranges out to 25 yards if you do your job right. This is the only handgun hunting allowed in the province.
You can legally take two firearms to hunt with so long as you are licensed properly.You can take your rifle and shotgun with you but that gets too heavy for me to comfortably move in the areas I hunt.
I have verbally verified the above information with Ministry of Natural Resources personnel last year (2017)
 
Stan, do you think a 1322 will work on grouse out to 25 yards? I can see a 22 cal sub 500 being effective at perhaps 15 but 25 seems to be pushing it a bit. Those multi pump 1322's are very accurate and I can easily keep my shots inside 1" @ 8M offhand even with blurry old eyes. Quite a decent pistol for $80ish with almost no muzzle jump as it's a pumper.
 
I used a Crosman 38T in Ontario in the 80s and we killed a lot of ruff grouse and spruce hens with it. You have to be very close so that you can make a head shot but it kills them right there.
 
OkayShooter said:
The 2 best for hunting would be the Crosman 2240, or the 1322.

The 226 never go by what they say. They claim 490 fps, but in reality it's only 400 FPS.
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Stan in Toronto said:
Ontario Hunting Regulations clearly state you can hunt small game with a sub 500 FPS pistol if you posses a Small Game License. The 2240 and 1322 work fine at ranges out to 25 yards if you do your job right. This is the only handgun hunting allowed in the province.
You can legally take two firearms to hunt with so long as you are licensed properly.You can take your rifle and shotgun with you but that gets too heavy for me to comfortably move in the areas I hunt.
I have verbally verified the above information with Ministry of Natural Resources personnel last year (2017)
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The 2240 and 1322 are solid choices, as is the choice of 22cal overall if hunting is the goal. It's been my experience (shooting barn pigeons with air rifles) that 22 just does the job better...even if it's moving slower than .177. In fact, I prefer wad-cutters...not hollow points, they seem to do the best job on sub-500fps air guns. I use a Diana 24 in .22, it does the job admirably. The wad cutters just seem to bust their way through better.
 
Geologist, I'm impressed that a 177 will do the job at 15', that's encouraging. However, I did some rather unscientific trials with the 1322 (22 cal) and a Webley in 177. I used old oranges where the skin had formed into a hard shell and fired both 177's and 22's from about 10'. The 22's gave wonderful penetration and quite large holes through the orange. The 177's could almost penetrate but the cavity it produced was nowhere near as large as the 22. I'll have to redo the trials from 20' to see what the performance is. Geologist has a lot of real world experience with grouse though and my experiments are with oranges, not quite the same.
 
big boar said:
Geologist, I'm impressed that a 177 will do the job at 15', that's encouraging. However, I did some rather unscientific trials with the 1322 (22 cal) and a Webley in 177. I used old oranges where the skin had formed into a hard shell and fired both 177's and 22's from about 10'. The 22's gave wonderful penetration and quite large holes through the orange. The 177's could almost penetrate but the cavity it produced was nowhere near as large as the 22. I'll have to redo the trials from 20' to see what the performance is. Geologist has a lot of real world experience with grouse though and my experiments are with oranges, not quite the same.
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I still have that 38T somewhere. I should try it out this weekend.
 
doctortube said:
I like this one .

http://www.artemis-airgun.com/#details/series/showproduct.php?lang=en&id=51

They are available in Canadian specs . It is a regulated .22 good for 70+ shots @ 475 fps .

https://airgunarcheryfun.ca/snow-peak-pcp-pistol-pp700sa/

Just add the hand pump and you are good to go !
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That looks like a great option if the price isn't too scary to consider.

Here in BC, the regs say outright, no Handguns for any hunting, so it's kinda a moot point.

Since you are limited to 500fps max, your only option is to up the mass of the projectile, so a .22 is going to be a better bet than .177. If you don't mind dinking around a bit with custom parts, there are guys around that will make you .25, .30, or even larger barrels.
You can shoot bowling balls at 495fps, and it's still under 500, so that's all they really care about. No upper limits on energy here.
 
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