Ok airgun nutz, educate me.

pharaoh2

pharaoh2

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I was wandering through Wally World and saw this thing. It's .22 caliber, and the silly thing followed me home so I'll just have to keep it. Although I have to say it's stock makes the 710 look custom. There's enough raised grip to play Legos on.

So the first thing I did was throw a Tasco World class Rimfire 3-9 on it. What ranges are most guys sighting in air rifles at? I would think 25 yards, but how will the bigger pellets fly with that zero? And at what ranges can I expect to make clean kills on small critters? I bought some hollow point pellets, so that should help. :wave:

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Hi

Pellets are awfully light weight. They also are pretty soft. Try one out on an empty Coke can and see what it does or doesn't do at 10 or 20 yards. I have seen many that don't make it out the far side of the can. That's not a lot of energy.

Short range head shots on mice ....

Bob
 
pharaoh2 said:
I was wandering through Wally World and saw this thing. It's .22 caliber, and the silly thing followed me home so I'll just have to keep it. Although I have to say it's stock makes the 710 look custom. There's enough raised grip to play Legos on.

So the first thing I did was throw a Tasco World class Rimfire 3-9 on it. What ranges are most guys sighting in air rifles at? I would think 25 yards, but how will the bigger pellets fly with that zero? And at what ranges can I expect to make clean kills on small critters? I bought some hollow point pellets, so that should help. :wave:

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Keep an eye on that scope it may not be able to handle that air spring recoil.
 
Thanks for the advice. I used to have airrifles, and used to shoot gophers with them. But never had a .22 caliber air rifle, so I was expecting better results from heavier pellets. I'll skip the coke can, and hit a full water bottle. And thanks 64 about the scope. I was thinking that as well, but this rifles not overly powerful. I guess it's time to try it out. Be back in a bit.
 
That gun likely won't penetrate even one side of a full water bottle. Seriously, sub 500 FPS airguns are for paper punching only. Hunting with one, imo, is kinda like hunting deer with a .22....sure, it's possible, but not real ethical. Punch the figures into your ballistic calculator and see what I mean: 14.3 grn pellet at 390 FPS.

A .22 shooting CB's (35 grains at 700 FPS) is not only a better choice, but actually quieter as well.
 
Lesson learned, this things blows a big cloud of lead dust in the air. Don't shoot in the basement again. *cough*

I fired these at only a distance of a few yards to sight in the scope. These were offhand, as I have no good rest to try it with. The five shot group on the left of the circle was the last group. Now I'll try somthing else:
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I also think airguns need separate board, I am sure there are a few who enjoy shooting them and want to discuss things.
 
22lr said:
Pharaon, no kidding, the part about scope was a joke.
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22lr, no kidding, the part about the scope is NOT a joke.

Do some homework.....springers eat even high end rifle scopes for breakfast. You need to buy scopes marked for airgun use, as springers recoil in the opposite direction of a regular firearm, and the scopes arent braced for that...unless it's an AG scope, then it's braced on the opposite side of the lenses to account for the reverse-recoil.
 
Probably blowing oil out of the compression chamber. It'll clear up after a couple hundred shots. No petroleum oils in the compression chamber! Silicone oils are available, and are OK. One or two drops, every couple or three tins of pellets is LOTS.
You should not get any noticeable anything out of an air gun in the basement, when shooting.

Grab a couple bars of hand soap, and try them for an idea of the penetration abilities. Grouse and squirrels are a real possibility, as are pigeons and starlings, if you can find a place to shoot without stirring up the locals (like, out of town), and can do so legally (check your regs).

If you want to hunt anything with an air rifle, get proficient. Figure consistent head shots at any range, kind of proficient. That means getting a handle on both range estimation, as well as accurate shooting at all the range you are willing to shoot at.

The hollow point pellets are wasted on a sub 500 gun, too. Too slow to expand them. Pointeds can fly a little wonky, if they are not perfectly aligned. Better to just grab some round nose pellets, or, if you are working really close, like in a barn or shed, some flat nose. Use what shoots best, and stick with it though.

If you live where you can, hunting grasshoppers off the porch is a good way to practice.

Spring guns recoil different than powder guns, and a lot of really expensive scopes have been destroyed by cheap air rifles. Worth checking to see if the scope is rated for airgun usage.


Cheers
Trev
 
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I took a couple vids of water bottle shots. They are quite dark and not nearly as spectacular as I thought. The hollow point penetrated through both sides of the bottle with no sign of any expansion. The bottle was full to the cap as to not allow the water to 'rise' rather keep pressurized as the pellet traveled through. Two shots with the same results. Granted I fired both times at the same distance as the first target, so not alot of energy was lost. It seems to me that this little gun has enough energy to do a gopher in, at reasonable ranges. I also tried firing a few times at 25 long paces, but the pellets are hitting about 6 inches high. I need to settle down on a bench to really see what I can expect out of this thing.
 
Do some digging around online for info about the "artillery hold" for airguns. Some springers shoot their best when held lightly and allowed to recoil freely, others like a solid hold. It's worth playing with.

I have shot some airguns that were REALLY hold sensitive, and others that were good shooters, no matter what you did.

.22 pellets hold energy better than .177, but the tradeoff is in the trajectory you get to deal with at 490fps.

I whacked quite a few gophers with a Crosman 2200, years back. It was right at 500fps or a little less. Close in work!



Cheers
Trev
 
Well I pulled the scope and am shooting with the fibre optic sights. I'm surprised how accurate they are, considering the sights are made of plastic. I think it will need an airgun scope, as it's not shooting too well with the Tasco. It's now shooting very well at the 25 yard mark, and any popcan within that range is very scared.I'm actually having alot of fun with this little rifle. :)
 
Excellent advice about the scope. A springer recoils in both directions during firing, quite different from a regular firearm. And as stated, that forward recoil will eat scopes alive that aren't meant to withstand that motion, even scopes tough enough for the biggest magnum rounds can die a quick death on a springer airgun because of that forward jerk. Get yourself a cheap Leapers scope or something, they're made for airguns and won't die on a springer. (There are other brands, too, of course.)
 
Just out of curiousity, what did you say was the stated FPS of the .22 airgun you had purchased?

That might be helpful in penetration-and-power discussions (minds OUT of the gutter!).

;)
 
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