Good pistol for birds in cold weather?
- Thread starter HeadDamage
- Start date
CO2 loses too much oomph in cold weather, even if you carried inside your coat, I think. A better bet would probably be a multi-pump pneumatic pistol using compressed regular air - such as a Crosman 1322 or a Benjamin/Sheridan.
Alternatively, a spring piston pistol such as a Webley Tempest might still work well. The only thing there is that you might have to strip it down first and replace the normal lubricating oil/grease on the piston spring and washer with something like a teflon dry-slide lube instead.
To be honest, though, with the power limitations placed on air pistols in Canada, I'm not sure that any are really ideal for hunting birds the size of grouse/ptarmigan - unless you intend to take head shots at about 10 feet or less. An air rifle would probably be a better choice. And again, if you want to use a pre-charged air weapon, pick a rifle that fills with normal air from a high-pressure pump or a scuba tank rather than CO2.
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gunsaholic
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- Winnipeg, Manitoba
I also think a pistol at -20 to -30 is not a good choice at all. Many pistols are well below the 495 fps and at -30, probably even lower. And you can probably kiss the realibity factor out the window at those temps as well as the humanity factor. Hell, it's hard enough keeping a regular firearm operating reliably at those temps.
Well to keep the experiment cheap I've ordered a crosman 1322. Seems like the best bet for the money. It is not difficult to get close to the ptarmigan here so some thing that I can make 10 to 15 foot head shoots with should do nicely in the places where discharge of a firearm is not allowed. I've considered a slingshot or a bow but I'm concerned that they could fail in a painful way in the cold resulting in personal injury.
x2. Works for me.
My 1322 holds up great in cold weather and is accurate and packs a thump.
Pumping it 17 times to get there is where it gets less fun for more than say a dozen shots at a time.
I still love my slingshot and garage sale marbles. (The cheapest place to get ammo)
It's my big bore chicken getter, and believe it or not, penetrates well. If you hit it hard with a marble, you usually have to pop the marble out of the breast
Pumping it 17 times to get there is where it gets less fun for more than say a dozen shots at a time.
I still love my slingshot and garage sale marbles. (The cheapest place to get ammo)
It's my big bore chicken getter, and believe it or not, penetrates well. If you hit it hard with a marble, you usually have to pop the marble out of the breast
Pumping gets old quickly.
Well done! I've had a 1322 for years as well as my Webley Tempest and Premiers/Mark Is (earlier versions of what became the Tempest) and Sheridan HB1. The 1322 has always been accurate, reliable and packs a punch - as long as you are willing to pump it, of course.
I don't know if they are still available, but years ago I got a shoulder stock for the 1322 that attached by screwing its one-piece pistol grip on in place of the two plastic side grip panels. It turns the 1322 into a short but surprisingly steady little carbine that looks much like the newer Backpacker.
Limited out with Spruce Grouse and the 1322 this past weekend but there was a lot of pumping due to the fact I got into a big flock of them. A repeater of some sort would have been nice, good thing the birds didn't catch on and just watched me dropping their buddies one after another.
Buy a Drozd with a HPA adapter. Run a line from it to a HPA 13cc bottle. The bottle is cheap and small to buy. You can easily carry it on your hip and it will give you some 100 shots before going low. The complete gun setup with HPA is around 400 dollars but it is worth every penny.
My wife can't pump the 1322 so I've already ordered a 2240 and she is intending to use hand warmers on it to keep the CO2 warm. It might work ok because the pistol will mostly be inside of a jacket or in a heated truck and only comes out once game is in range. I'll post results with the 2240 once we have a chance to take it out for some birds.
