school me on air rifles

[pjtoledo]

I need to deal with some pesky varmints at night without the neighbors getting involved.
mostly rats with an occasional opossum. all at less than 30 yards.
I already have a couple of break barrels but they are wayyy too noisy and would destroy a night vision scope.
of course I want to stay away from an actual firearm for various reasons.

anybody have some thoughts on Co2 or PCP?
it looks like some come with suppression barrels, how quiet are they?
recoil/kickback low enough to be safe for common scopes and night optics?
I'm thinking .22 to avoid a sonic crack from hi fps .177s.
maybe 1020 fps maximum with the .22s

pros, cons, random thoughts, obscenities?

 

[RobbieD]

Have you thought about looking into .22 CB or BB rounds?

Works well in a bolt action, and any kind of sights shouldn't be a problem.

They're quiet, and work well for small varmits.

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I thought there was a maximum fps on air well under 1000 fps. Maybe its just Canada.

 

[pjtoledo]

Have you thought about looking into .22 CB or BB rounds?

View attachment 71198

Works well in a bolt action, and any kind of sights shouldn't be a problem.

They're quiet, and work well for small varmits.

I have some Aquila powderless 22s. not quite enough punch and they are real bullets which I'm to avoid.

 

[pjtoledo]

I thought there was a maximum fps on air well under 1000 fps. Maybe its just Canada.

varies from place to place. Cabelas has some 1450 fps listed. 1250 is quite common.

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

I thought there was a maximum fps on air well under 1000 fps. Maybe its just Canada.

Just Canada and other vaginal nations.

I need to deal with some pesky varmints at night without the neighbors getting involved.
mostly rats with an occasional opossum. all at less than 30 yards.
I already have a couple of break barrels but they are wayyy too noisy and would destroy a night vision scope.
of course I want to stay away from an actual firearm for various reasons.

anybody have some thoughts on Co2 or PCP?
it looks like some come with suppression barrels, how quiet are they?
recoil/kickback low enough to be safe for common scopes and night optics?
I'm thinking .22 to avoid a sonic crack from hi fps .177s.
maybe 1020 fps maximum with the .22s

pros, cons, random thoughts, obscenities?

I have a Benjamin break action in 22. Very quiet. I like it.

 

[Blmpkn]

One of the bigger things with air rifles Is that you really don't want the pellet to go supersonic. Reason being is that the pellet won't be traveling at that speed for very long before it slows down.. and once it slows down the Shockwave will catch up to the pellet and screw with its course & accuracy.

I have a break action .22 air rifle somewhere.. forget the brand. It's just collecting dust honestly lol, which is a shame because it's pretty nice.

If I were to buy another one, It would be whichever one would shoot the heaviest pellet available at just a whisker under supersonic.


Or I'd buy one of those sweet .50 cal air rifles. Probably something else Canada can't have

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

Or I'd buy one of those sweet .50 cal air rifles. Probably something else Canada can't have

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Just Canada and other vaginal nations.



I have a Benjamin break action in 22. Very quiet. I like it.

My takeaway from this, if @PetroleumJunkie412 likes it... it is probably broken most of the time.

 

[scotts90ranger]

You don't want/need that fast... to do what you want to do 500-900fps in .22 is fine, and for accuracy sake stick to lead pellets... I've taken out racoon, nutria, musk rat and skunk with my .22 cal Benjamin Marauder shooting 850fps with 14.3 grain Crosman pellets...

You can get sucked DEEP into rabbit holes on pellet guns, I'm in there... I have several PCP's (pre charged pneumatic, generally charged to 2000psi to 4500psi depending on the model), a few brake barrels, a bunch of pumpers and some CO2... CO2 is great but is picky on temperatures as the vapor pressure changes based on temperature a lot... around freezing it barely works... if that's not a problem I would look into one, and the easiest to get into is the Beeman QB I think is the line, they're kinda funny looking but have a following... and if you want to quiet them down look at tko22.com

If you are in for more of an investment and want something cool, a Benjamin Marauder pistol and hand pump wouldn't be a bad setup for what you are wanting, it's multi shot (I think 8), quiet, .22 and compact where it can be a pistol or add a shoulder stock (I think they come with them? If not, they're cheap) and accurate with a good trigger factory. The downside is it would be about $400 or so for the gun and hand pump I think... There's other PCP's with shrouded barrels that are more affordable The Air Venturi Avenger is pretty sweet for the price, but Umarex has some good options too...

Only springers are hard on scopes, and by springer I mean brake barrels or the like with a spring and a piston that generates the air pressure when fired, everything else has zero recoil as far as the scope is concerned... and only springers are extra hold sensitive IE everything else is easier to shoot consistently.

Check out pyramidair.com or airgundepot.com or airguns of Arizona if you want to look around, for forums gateway to airguns is decent but the forum layout is a mess since they have a section for dang near everything and some random stuff is combined...

If you want something on the cheaper end a good ol standard Crosman 1322 is a pumper pistol with a 10" barrel and will shoot around 500fps at 10 pumps, a shoulder stock can be had for cheap (or get one of the kits from pyramidair that already has one), and there's a whole list of accessories and dodads you can add to them, the airgun community calls the Crosman 13XX and 22XX line "lego guns", through their parts department you can get longer barrels, steel breeches to hold sights/scopes, different bolt handles, fancier trigger frames, etc... then there's the aftermarket...

 

[Blmpkn]

Give up that free Healthcare and come live in the land of freedom!

 

[PetroleumJunkie412]

Give up that free Healthcare and come live in the land of freedom!

"Freedom"

 

[Blmpkn]

"Freedom"

Yeah yeah I know lol.

Land of guns anyways.

If he misses maple syrup he can live in Vermont although maine makes an ass ton of maple syrup too... and we're probably more gun friendly.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

You don't want/need that fast... to do what you want to do 500-900fps in .22 is fine, and for accuracy sake stick to lead pellets... I've taken out racoon, nutria, musk rat and skunk with my .22 cal Benjamin Marauder shooting 850fps with 14.3 grain Crosman pellets...

You can get sucked DEEP into rabbit holes on pellet guns, I'm in there... I have several PCP's (pre charged pneumatic, generally charged to 2000psi to 4500psi depending on the model), a few brake barrels, a bunch of pumpers and some CO2... CO2 is great but is picky on temperatures as the vapor pressure changes based on temperature a lot... around freezing it barely works... if that's not a problem I would look into one, and the easiest to get into is the Beeman QB I think is the line, they're kinda funny looking but have a following... and if you want to quiet them down look at tko22.com

If you are in for more of an investment and want something cool, a Benjamin Marauder pistol and hand pump wouldn't be a bad setup for what you are wanting, it's multi shot (I think 8), quiet, .22 and compact where it can be a pistol or add a shoulder stock (I think they come with them? If not, they're cheap) and accurate with a good trigger factory. The downside is it would be about $400 or so for the gun and hand pump I think... There's other PCP's with shrouded barrels that are more affordable The Air Venturi Avenger is pretty sweet for the price, but Umarex has some good options too...

Only springers are hard on scopes, and by springer I mean brake barrels or the like with a spring and a piston that generates the air pressure when fired, everything else has zero recoil as far as the scope is concerned... and only springers are extra hold sensitive IE everything else is easier to shoot consistently.

Check out pyramidair.com or airgundepot.com or airguns of Arizona if you want to look around, for forums gateway to airguns is decent but the forum layout is a mess since they have a section for dang near everything and some random stuff is combined...

If you want something on the cheaper end a good ol standard Crosman 1322 is a pumper pistol with a 10" barrel and will shoot around 500fps at 10 pumps, a shoulder stock can be had for cheap (or get one of the kits from pyramidair that already has one), and there's a whole list of accessories and dodads you can add to them, the airgun community calls the Crosman 13XX and 22XX line "lego guns", through their parts department you can get longer barrels, steel breeches to hold sights/scopes, different bolt handles, fancier trigger frames, etc... then there's the aftermarket...

This. There so many different ones out there. agree just get something decent and cheap from your local big5 or whatever.

I personally have a .177 1000fps break barrel rifle (forget the brand or model), and three pistols. Two are the crosman pump style, one is .177 the other is .22. Then I have one of those Crosman Co2 revolvers that hold the circular clips. They all have pros and cons, but usualy I go to CO2 revolver for pest control, because its only inconvenience is the co2 tanks, but I'm not pumping it as the varmints running away, or scaring it off cocking the barrel break, and repeatability for follow up shots. I dont leave em spring cocked or air pumped, because I feel like its bad for the gun.

 

[scotts90ranger]

Springs break because of the number of cycles they go through, not from being compressed, do you put your Ranger on jack stands when you are parked to keep the springs from breaking? and Crosman pump guns could care less, some people recommend to keep some air in them to keep the poppet valves seated and sealed... even if you hurt them it's $6 for the valve assembly and $2 for the pump cup plus $4 freight from the Crosman parts department... The spring guns break springs because the action is violent, but even then it's not the end of the world, most springs are $20 or less, more damage is done by dry firing them than leaving them cocked... the nitro piston ones are nicer and a little less hold sensitive but it doesn't fix everything, the higher power the more harsh unless you spend big money...

I didn't mention it before, but there's a new pump gun out, Crosman 362, it's .22 cal, it has a really long stroke and hits pretty hard, it's $100 but 3 pumps should be 400fps and 8 pumps is supposed to be around 700fps... it wouldn't be a bad choice, I got one this week and it feels pretty good