Need a better pellet handgun, recommends?

bjjzak

bjjzak

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I was out the other day with my Umarex CP88 (Walther P88 copy). Picked it up last fall for plinking and practice, thought I would try it out on some gophers. Used to shoot a lot of them with a Crossman 3576, and it worked good. But this thing doesn't seem to have the jam that the Crossman did. 8 shots into a gopher and he still ran off. Tried 4 different types of pellets and not much difference in terminal impact it seems.

Methinks I need something with a bit more authority. Any thoughts or recommends?
 
CO2? Best you can do, in an off the shelf pistol, is a .22 cal. tuned up to push the pellet out as close to 500fps as you can get.

That pretty much makes it a 2240, if you are shopping new. Look at the early Crosman 38T, in .22, with the long barrel, and all metal parts. Tim, at Mach1 Airguns says they can be tuned up pretty well, and can be accurate.
A tuned up Crosman 600 is a semi-auto option. Some bucks though!

If you don't mind going custom, there are still a few large caliber options around for shooting anywhere from .25 cal., up to .50 cal round balls at varying velocities legal in Canada. Stuff like 9mm uppers that fit on a Crosman frame, with a modded valve in it. Mostly, you have to really hunt to find them, but start by looking up Quackenbush Airguns in the US, and checking out the Yellow Forum and the Crosman Forum, and searching for Big Bore references.

Mostly though, pistols for gophers is am accuracy game. Headshots are it, if you want a clean kill. Take a look at some UK oriented sites and see what they recommend as a target zone for rat shooting to get a good idea.

Look at the 2289 pneumatic carbine, too. Again, shot placement!

Cheers
Trev
 
trevj is spot-on, but velocity is only part of the equation. You might find the following helpful. First, an article on small game hunting with an air gun, second, a series of calculators that allow you to check what kind of wallop the pellets you're using have at impact.

http://www.beemans.net/field use.htm (see chart mid-way down)

http://www.airgunhome.com/pages/calculators.html

As a side note, I'm not sure of any scenario where a stock 2240 would be humane for a ground hog. (I used to have one) Modified, including a longer barrel (boosting fps a little) would be necessary. Not judging, but an air rifle that shoots .22 closer to 500fps would be a much better choice. An (easily) tuned QB CO2 rifle, or spring piston gun. Watch for the latter, cheaper ones use the same power plant for .177 and .22 and they set the power to shoot the lighter pellets at sub 500fps.
 
Anybody that thinks a 2240 is a good gun, should look around for an original "150 Pellgun". The FIRST co2 pistol, all steel upper, compact, powerful, accurate, good trigger and made with a level of quality that is very sadly lacking in today's Crossman stuff. Mine is 56 years old and is a really dandy sporting pellet pistol. Best I've ever found, though I have not owned a Weirauch HW, which has a great reputation.
 
2240

Never tried gophers with my Crossman .22 pump air pistol (don't remember the model #), but I've shot tons of grouse and snowshoe rabbits with it. I imagine if it'll drop a rabbit, it should do a gopher.
 
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