What is highest FPS self powered air pistol.

Totally agree.
Lots of free FPE calculators out there to figure it out...as long as you have a Chrony.
But op was asking about a air pistol.
Cuts down your options pretty quick to get over 500fps/5.7fpe as most not all are .177.

Crosman 1377 American Classic Air NBB Pellet Pistol

Michael K tests the Crosman 1322 .22
491fps with a 13 g pellet....you do the math.;) Closest ya gonna get with out going over both. But man!!! Who wants to spent the day pumping!!!!

 
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bertn said:
Didn't know this is a more common issue,
Just Googled it and it is indeed a more common thing.
I guess I'll deal with it once it becomes an issue.

I am on my second one (sold the first since my daughter wasn't using it much, then bought another one because it was a good deal) and have not experienced ignition issues in both (yet).
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It took a few outings and a couple hundred rounds for both of the ones I had for the kids to develop the same problems at about the exact same time and use! Had one for the boy and one for my daughter.

I did the work to them and they both are 100% reliable now again. They're really fun little rifles. I end up shooting it more than my "adult" rifles and hog the kids fun for sure! lol

I think the spring weakens fast is one of the biggest problems with it. And its weak to start with as it's made for tiny kids to be able to #### the action. Putting a good solid shim in there doubled the snap and my 6 year old can still work it ;)
 
<rant> It's ridiculous how we, the people allowed our government to classify an air pistol as a restricted powder burning pistol or revolver based on velocity alone! It makes no fn sense, especially with an ultra low 500 fps limit, just stupid.<rant>
 
Travis Bickle said:
After you heavily file/re-shape the firing pin to penetrate the .22 rims, and recess the firing pin head so it doesn't contact the face of the chamber and stop the pin from contacting the rim....and then welding a blob of metal onto the tail of the pin (and file that to shape) to compensate for the material removed from the face and actual pin into shape.....and then getting a piece of 3/16" steel rod and cut a piece off and place in the rear of the bolt under the spring cup to compress the firing pin spring more so it has enough snap to actually set off the shells reliably.

Then I fully agree! lol I had to do all of this myself to get the Savage Rascal to fire each time every time but now it's a hoot!
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bertn said:
Didn't know this is a more common issue,
Just Googled it and it is indeed a more common thing.
I guess I'll deal with it once it becomes an issue.

I am on my second one (sold the first since my daughter wasn't using it much, then bought another one because it was a good deal) and have not experienced ignition issues in both (yet).
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Sorry, bit of a derail, but if the gun has light strikes, you may be able to work around it with CCI ammo. I picked up a Norinco M93 (copy of Colt Woodsman) and apparently both guns have a bit of a reputation for light strikes. (How's that for a faithful reproduction?) Had a lot of FTF, then switched to Blazer (made by CCI) mostly, and other CCI, and the gun turned into a 100% reliable semi auto pistol, if such a thing exists.
 
kodiakjack said:
The thing about the 1322 (in my opinion) is how loud it is to pump it. It’s 10 pumps minimum to charge it for 1 shot, and significantly more if you’re going up in caliber. Each pump ends in a loud “clack” that gets louder as pressure builds. You can pump it up ahead of time, so you can have one “quiet” shot, but I found that even new-out-of-the-box mine would lose pressure while hiking for a few hours, and when it came time to shoot the pressure had dropped to a point where poi and poa were very different things. Then, as you reload, the symphony of clacks undoes any of your sneakyness up to that point.

As for modding them, there’s a ton of aftermarket parts out there for them. Pyramid has a bunch... there’s another vendor too that I can’t think of right now.


May I ask what the end goal is you’ve hoping for?
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I wouldn't say minimum. 10 is listed as maximum, but you could likely go a few over without damage, and maybe gain a couple fps. At 7 pumps it's pretty high velocity, and I've killed a bunch of ground squirrels with a sub 500 fps pumper. And many of the kills were at 7 pumps. You could carry it fully pumped, and then top it up with a few more pumps after several hours. I guess you'd know if you went over, if the gun still discharged some air without pumping it again.

Another option might be to add a pressure gauge.
 
And since we've started a bit of thread drift with alternatives to the pellet pistol, a powerful folding slingshot can be useful.

For .22 rifles, I think the Rascal is a bit small in the stock to be easily used by an adult. I'd probably check out a youth Henry, or the Ranch Hand in .22 and fit a full length butt stock, or the short barreled (13") Savage or Norinco bolt actions.

Savage also makes a 16" or 16.5" barreled bolt with threaded muzzle in either .22 LR, or .22 WMR. A Ruger 10/22 compact is pretty handy also.

Kind of left out takedowns, as they are a bit of a pain to get together, and some of them are a bit "iffy" after many takedowns and many rounds. If I were to go that direction, though, I'd choose the Marlin Papoose, I believe it's called.
 
windage said:
<rant> It's ridiculous how we, the people allowed our government to classify an air pistol as a restricted powder burning pistol or revolver based on velocity alone! It makes no fn sense, especially with an ultra low 500 fps limit, just stupid.<rant>
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It is a stupid law but at least they never set a FPE limit like the Brits have 12FPE
You have to be 500FPS AND 4.9FPE in Canada sooo... if you could shoot a cannon ball out of your airgun as long as it’s below 500fps then your good to go. This is why we build 25cal or even 50cal PCP air pistols. You don’t get many shots off a single charge but it allows me to handgun hunt rabbits in Ontario. Not every province allows this though.
 
tactical lever said:
I wouldn't say minimum. 10 is listed as maximum, but you could likely go a few over without damage, and maybe gain a couple fps. At 7 pumps it's pretty high velocity, and I've killed a bunch of ground squirrels with a sub 500 fps pumper. And many of the kills were at 7 pumps. You could carry it fully pumped, and then top it up with a few more pumps after several hours. I guess you'd know if you went over, if the gun still discharged some air without pumping it again.

Another option might be to add a pressure gauge.
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I said “minimum” because the op was talking about turning it into a +500 pistol, and less than 10 pumps won’t do that.
 
legi0n said:
from what I have read on airgun forums, the devil is in the details.
the pellet weight has a say in the velocity.
nowadays there may be 22 pellets that shoot slightly over 500fps and exceed the jules too.

the RCMP says they take the manufacturer velocity as it is in an unmodified airgun
if it is visibly modified or they have a reason to check it thoroughly, their lab may find a different velocity

but that's not an issue in BC where hunting with any kind of gun under 12" is no go

edit:
13.5gr pellets at 500fps produce 8.60joules
14.5gr -> 9.24joules

as such, the declared velocity is the only thing keeping your unmodified airpistol legaly not a firearm
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The devil is indeed in the details. In Canada it's lawful to have a .25 caliber air pistol with 25.39 grain JSB pellets and so long as its MV is below 500 fps it's good to go without a PAL. At 450 fps such a .25 cal pellet would deliver 15.48 J (11.42 foot pounds) of energy at the muzzle. Canada's airgun laws simply require sub-500 fps MV for the airgun to be non-PAL. The 5.7 J part of the rules exists to allow for ultralight pellets that will exceed a muzzle velocity of 500 fps with a non-PAL airgun. Ultralight pellets are not useful for anything practical such as target shooting or hunting because of their relative inaccuracy and lack of energy.

By comparison, in the UK, the law allows airgunners to have air rifles without a Firearm Certificate (FAC) that do not exceed 12 foot pounds of energy (16.2 J). Pistols owned without a FAC must not exceed 6 foot pounds of energy (8.1 J). Accordingly in the UK it is not permissible for an airgunner without a FAC to have an air pistol such as a .22 cal that can shoot a 16 grain pellet at 450 fps because it would produce 7.2 fpe (9.76 J). But in Canada anyone over 18 years of age could legally have such an air pistol.
 
tactical lever said:
Sorry, bit of a derail, but if the gun has light strikes, you may be able to work around it with CCI ammo. I picked up a Norinco M93 (copy of Colt Woodsman) and apparently both guns have a bit of a reputation for light strikes. (How's that for a faithful reproduction?) Had a lot of FTF, then switched to Blazer (made by CCI) mostly, and other CCI, and the gun turned into a 100% reliable semi auto pistol, if such a thing exists.
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I hear you. Actually I read that was recommended on the interwebs as a possible solution when I started researching how to fix it. To me that's treating the symptom not the cause though.

The thing is I won't keep any gun in my small locker if it isn't reliable. Including reliable with all ammo. I hate finicky guns! My brand of .22 is whatever is the cheapest lol ;) So I tweaked it until it was good to go.
 
Scotty454 said:
Oh jesus, a sub 500FPS air pistol is NOT suitable for any sort of survival scenario. Laugh2

Get a Henry survival rifle, or one of them tiny little Chiappa mini badgers, or a 10/22 takedown, like people have suggested.
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Guy freaks about mentioning sub PAL speeds and survival in the same sentence and then proceeds to suggest the worst gun on the planet in terms of reliability...a Henry Survival rifle.... Something he likely doesn't own, and if so, assuredly never USED. Sometimes I have to just shake my head....
 
DNR in NS and NB is no joke, don't like dealing with those guys :(
OkayShooter said:
Unfortunately PAL rated air pistols are the same class as a restricted firearm. Meaning required to be registered and range only.

You best best is to get a Crosman 1322 and a chrony. And mod it to shoot 499.9 FPS.

Ive been trying to get NS to change their airgun laws to allow hunting small game with it. So if you are caught by DNR using one, you could face some troubles.
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I have a 1322 and I've done some minor mods to the trigger/hammer/sear action but not to the air valve area yet. You can change the 'breech' to steel and change the breech probe to a different length, etc. These will gain quite a few fps and still keep you under 500. I put an extended and curved pump handle on that makes pumping easy but still tedious. Personally, I pump up to 15-20 pumps and easily kill pigeons at about 75 feet. Don't know what the fps is at that pressure, but 10 pumps is only about 400 or so. With the built in peep sight I can do about 7-9 moa at 25 yds (2-3"groups) off a bench. There are lots of threads on CanadianAirgun.com and others. And youtube vids also for modding the 1322, and you can get it up over 500 without it 'looking' modded.
That said, depending on what season and where you plan to 'survive', I would prefer a light 12g pump with a full load of slugs. and a pocket full of 6-8 shot shells ;-) NB only has black bears, but any small caliber won't do much where 7-8 slugs will. My semi 12g is even light enough for in the deep wood.
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The Turkish Zoraki or its cousin labelled Webley, are the most powerful air pistols by far. Seen . 177, . 22, and . 25 models.
 
Happy with my 1322 after some mods. Averaging around 490fps. Haven't had a chance to hunt with it, but I've been using it to clear out Starlings, within 20 yards it knocks them flat with body shots. Originally bought it to keep in my pack during sits in the treestand.
 
sgt.rock said:
My daughter of 11yrs old is a crack shot with hers. I dismissed them everytime I saw one until I saw her shoot hers. It weighs so little it feels like a wand. Very accurate with the peep sight, and I mounted a 2-7x33 on it to see how it was with glass. Even that scope was almost too big but I am super impressed with its accuracy.
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Seen a young girl with her dad at the range enjoying some bench time with one.

Bushcraft Bill, will you take the pink stock model?
 
Fyn said:
Happy with my 1322 after some mods. Averaging around 490fps. Haven't had a chance to hunt with it, but I've been using it to clear out Starlings, within 20 yards it knocks them flat with body shots. Originally bought it to keep in my pack during sits in the treestand.
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The 1322 is a great platform and relatively easy to mod to 500fps. It can actually be easy to get to do 500Fps with a 30 cal round ball. Just needs a bit more advanced modding
 
mac100 said:
The 1322 is a great platform and relatively easy to mod to 500fps. It can actually be easy to get to do 500Fps with a 30 cal round ball. Just needs a bit more advanced modding
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That would be pretty sweet. Just sold a sub 500fps 25cal PCP pistol to free up some funds, I was surprised how powerful it was. I've seen some pretty extensive builds online, out of curiosity, I'm assuming you would need a custom breech to fit a 30cal barrel?
 
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