Need advice for air rifle please

Doug

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A buddy of mine wants to buy a fairly high-power air rifle for pest control around his rural home. He wants a scoped, accurate rifle and his budget tops out at $300. He needs to shoot about 25 yards or so as a maximum distance.

He has a .22 but does not like to even use BB caps with it, so is kind of fixed on an air rifle.

He only has a POL, not a PAL, so a new gun rated north of 500 fps is not an option for him.

What make and brand of air rifle (new or used) should he be looking for?

Doug
 
To be honest the sub 500fps air guns are a little shy on power for larger pests at 25 yards.However his best bet would be to go with a .22 cal gun as they do provide more energy than a .177.I can recommend the gun listed on the link below.They are well made guns for a reasonable price.
http://www.airgunsonly.com/frames.html

Go to the online order section
then rifles
then WEIHRAUCH

The hw30Sc would be a good choice and it is below 500fps and below $300.

HW30Sc

A superior, light and well balanced air rifle of excellent accuracy. Designed like the HW30 M/II with the addition of tunnel front sight base with interchangeable inserts and precision adjustable match “Record” trigger. Automatic safety, micrometer sight adjustable for windage and elevation with four different notches, beech wood stock with cheek piece and butt plate. Velocity less than 150m/s for Canada. 4.5 or 5.5 mm available.
 
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If you decide to go with a 22, stay away from the CO2 models. Lots of power for a few shots, then nothing.
Go spring powered, or pump up.

I guess we could get into a discussion of penetration VS energy like a 45-70 Vs 30-06 thread.
The 177 isn't particularly powerful at low velocities IMO. Squirrels and rats take some killing.
 
stubble jumper had a great suggestion. He can also try a Diana rifle. They are a little lower in quality, but pretty damn nice. I've used a friends Diana 48 and was very impressed with it.
 
air rifle

He should check out the QB -78 in .22 cal. , it's co-2 but pretty good .and accurate .there's a guy named Marvin on the canadian airgun forum , good person to deal with , lots of choices , he's at every gun show. lol......Joe
 
I would have a look at the Benjamin Sheredin in .22 cal. They are a pneumatic
air rifle and can be pumped up and ready indefinetly. I think that they will push a .22 pellet appx. 700 fps. Also, there is no recoil so you won't need a special scope.
 
Hi Randy!

I know I am full of hot air, but I do not know diddly squat about guns that use that as a propellant.....:p

Doug
 
Doug said:
Hi Randy!

I know I am full of hot air, but I do not know diddly squat about guns that use that as a propellant.....:p

Doug

Now I have to edit my "knowledge list" and scratch out DOUG from the air rifle section.....;)
 
An RWS - "Diana" Mod. 24B in .22 cal ... about $ 250, with 22 cal "Superpoint"
pellets ... good quality, reliable and accurate for small pests. Wouldn't want
to recommend it for anything larger than squirrels or crows ( i.e., unsuitable IMHO for raccoons, skunks, etc. ) Decent sights for 10-15 yds ... a scope and mounts that will stand up to a spring gun however .... a somewhat pricier consideration. (Vibration, not recoil ... buggers scopes pretty quick)
A decent block mount with stop as supplied by RWS is in the 85-100 range
all by itself.
 
Actually, it IS recoil that buggers the scopes, not vibration. The problem with the big springers is that they actually recoil FORWARD....and the scopes arent set up for that :) All CF scopes have lots of bracing in fron to the lenses (for rearwad recoil a la centerfire rifle) but very little behind them.

Anyway, IMO the best "pester" out there for the $ is the crosman 2289 "backpacker" (It's a pumper). You can buy them for 119 bucks at Crappy Tire, push a 14.3 gr. pellet out at 420ish., are very...very easily moddable to shoot at 499.99 FPS (higher if you want to re register ;) ), surprisingly accurate, and very quiet. On note: Alot of the CO2 and Spring guns are loud...much louder than a .22 shooting CB's. The pneumatic guns are generally very quiet though.

Cheers,

Ryan
 
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