Good/great nitro-piston guns out there?

[H Wally]

I rarely go into the air-gun forum, but find myself in need of an air gun since the last bit the dust. After reading I've decided I would like a nitro piston gun and would like input on two different ideas:

1) What's the "best" all round nitro piston gun? I'm talking a good solid, reliable, tough bare bones gun that I can rely on that doesn't cost as much as a high-end rifle.

2) What's the fastest nitro piston gun on the market? I don't care about the 500fps limit - this' more or less being used as a 22.

 

[Barfman]

I wouldn't focus much on the nitro piston. It's really not a big improvement over a spring. If you are sold on it, I'd say these are viable options:

http://airgunsource.com/diana-350-n-tec-magnum-22-cal/dp/2518

http://airgunsource.com/bsa-grt-supersport-se-22-cal/dp/2040

The Diana shoots too fast. You'll want to use probably 18gr pellets to slow her down to around 850-900 fps. For the most part, pellets are useless when you go significantly higher.

 

[H Wally]

Hmm - mostly I was interested due to lifespan of the gun and it being quieter with subsonic shots and apparently less sensitive to how it's held?

What's the issue with pellets and higher speeds? I would imagine if you can significantly exceed supersonic you can keep it from dropping below by the time you reach your target and avoid shock wave buffeting. In theory you could move on to a 25 or 30 caliber gun, increase your mass and velocity and basically have a general purpose small game gun.

I know I'm muddying the waters by straying into territory that's more suited to small rifles like 17hmr and 22 long or mag, I just find it more interesting.

 

[ddtank]

I think there's also a Weihrauch (is it the HW90...?).
There are some interesting YouTube vids of high velocity pellets, they start to precess and fishtail all over the place.

 

[Timberlord]

IMPO...
Check out the Umarex Octane with the ReAxis NP ...somewhere around $250ish.
Comes both .177 and .22 and decent reviews on YouTube.
I put my money down on a Hatsan 125 sniper .22 springer version . Comes both springer and Np actions.
It's a little more than $100 than the Octane , but reviews are better , with the springer slightly edging past the Np.
The stock is much nicer , than the Octane , and has an adjustable cheekriser.

Both rifles in .22cal , chron'd in , realistically at around +900fps with 14gr(ish) lead pellets and over 25fpe ( many manufacturer's seem to overvalue their rifles a lot ). That's enough guff for 50yd *plus* targets easy , as well as an occasional cottontail and some good fun

 

[Barfman]

Hmm - mostly I was interested due to lifespan of the gun and it being quieter with subsonic shots and apparently less sensitive to how it's held?

What's the issue with pellets and higher speeds? I would imagine if you can significantly exceed supersonic you can keep it from dropping below by the time you reach your target and avoid shock wave buffeting. In theory you could move on to a 25 or 30 caliber gun, increase your mass and velocity and basically have a general purpose small game gun.

I know I'm muddying the waters by straying into territory that's more suited to small rifles like 17hmr and 22 long or mag, I just find it more interesting.

I wouldn't expect most nitro pistons to outlast a good springer. In fact, I've seen quite a few bust pretty early. It will be a bit quieter than a springer, but not all that significant. As for hold sensitivity, it's almost the identical concept, and the recoil will be basically the same. In a NP, all they're doing is replacing the spring with a nitrogen filled car shock.

You can push your airguns to higher velocities when dealing with slugs, but it's pointless when dealing with a springer or NP. If you want to launch slugs, especially in larger calibre, you're going to need to look at a PCP. Springers and NPs just don't have the power required, tending to max out in the 25-30 FPE range. Even in .22, you'd want to be over 40 FPE. That's impractical with springers as they would be nearly impossible to ####.

If you really want to explore airgunning into 22LR territory, check out the PCPs out there. Even 22 Plinkster from Youtube is getting into them now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiRkvf4n-qw

You can do incredible things with PCPs. They make rifles that go up to .50 cal, and some will put out over 1000 FPE.