Air rifles for squirrels ???

F

Fox Fire

New member
Any one her use a air rifle to hunt squirrels with (or hunt anything else)?
Thers a pieace of government land that you can only use a shot gun on but this year ther lettin people use pellet rifles and I'm debate'n on gettin one, hopefully a precharge pnuematic if I can round up the cash.
 
HECK YA! I am a "Back Yard Sniper" and rodents dont stand a chance against my Beeman 1074 .22 Air Rifle. You will hear lots of different opinions on air rifles but the way I look at it, I dont want to break the bank and I just want a good shooter. I use the PBA Raptor Ammo and it goes right through 1/2" plywood and breaks through the back of 5/8" plywood, this is @ 25yds. My friend has an old cow skull and it goes in without a problem @ 25yds. It doesnt come out but you can see the impact it leaves trying to exit. I am confident that it will drop a yote too. Eye Shot or just behind the eye and game over. I have experimented with 11 different types of pellets and the PBA is light and looses energy after 30yds. I then like the Crosman Pointed pellets for the longer shots. Nice velocity and carries enough energy to 50yds to drop bunnies, squirrls, birds and other small game. I would not shoot anything bigger than that though at 50yds. If you want a Very Good Air Rifle, the RWS makes some nice ones. I got my Beeman on sale for $99.00. Interchangable barrles.....177 or .22......I dont even mess with the .177. The .22 goes 800FPS and with the PBA, it goes 1000FPS....so the information states. It is under the sound barrier and all ya hear is the spring and the pellet impact. The Break Barrles seem to put out the most FPS than the pneumatic pump or the CO2 powered. Do a little research and I am sure you will find the right air rifle for you. Heck, my Crosman 10 Pump will take out squirrles. Dont even need a head shot. The last one I shot with the Crosman was with a BB and I hit it right in the vitals. Dropped on the spot. Good luck and Happy Hunting.
 
may not be the greatest gun in the world but a winchester 1000x..its a spring gun so if you want a scope you have to get an airgun scope. mines .177 caliber and shooting just a lead pellet it will kill a squirell.

quick story but when i was little my dad and i took it hunting and he said looks thers a ssquirrel first shot i hit it around the rear hip and took the leg clean off. (i was only 8 i could barely hold the gun up) but it died almost instantly.

a .22 cal gun would probably be better though
 
I've dropped a couple dozen destructive squirrels with my RWS break action.

.177 and when its locked on its deadly on the buggers.

I say go for it. Just seen a hunting show the other day where they were using pre charged on tree rats. Those Bushytails didnt have a prayer, DRT.
 
I read somthing about the spring guns can losse some of ther power if you keep them cocked all the time, they said they cock and load when they are ready to shoot some ting, I assume it would take a long time to so to speak wear out the spring in one but I dont want to wait till I have a squirrel beggin to be shot then have to ready the gun.

A guy I work with has a beaman spring gun (not sure what model) he bought for pest control and he said it realy works them over, usualy one shot puts them down. we wre shootin at work one day and I was standin beside him and it seemed to make alotta noise, a loud thop/clunk kinda noise, but just to see I stood out side the door (almost rite beside the muzzle, about 3 feet to one side and a foot in front) and it wasnt loud at all, a lot quieter than a 22short.

A pcp gun would be great but the cost of gettein started is a hard pill to choke down but in the long run would be cheaper than a .22 because of ammo cost, but a springer gun aint outta the picture if I can fined one that'll shoot acurate out far enuff an dstill carry enuff punch, I dont like woundin and losin game.
 
The springs can lose some of their power if you keep them compressed ALL THE TIME. They can be replaced. I keep a co2 container in my BB pistol all the time, does not loose pressure. I have kept my Crosman 10 Pump ready for days cuz I forgot about it. No leaks. Its 11 years old. I keep a clip for my Sig P220 laoded in my safe, just in case, no problems with the spring on it either. Im not too worried about the spring in my Beeman. If I walk around for an hour and dont see anything, pop off a round and reload. My Air Rifle is bottom of the line and I am a happy camper. Cover the group with a nickle @ 25yds. At 50yds, trigger time has taught me how to compensate for a confident shot. Plus, I dont know how many of you dry fire your rifles, in addition to dry firing my rifle, I shoot my air rifle every day and am using shooting sticks right now so I can get used to them before deer season. Trigger time iz trigger time no matter how you do it.
 
From everything I've read, a compression (coil) spring doesn't lose its strength from being held compressed. It weakens from being cycled between compressd/relaxed (number of cycles).

You should be able to hold it compressed for any amount of time without it weakening any.
 
Thats good to know. I did have some concern but didnt pay it any attention. I figured that if mine gets weak, I will just replace it or just progress and buy a better quality air rifle. Do you have any idea of how many rounds it takes to weaken a spring?

Tony
 
Quote:Do you have any idea of how many rounds it takes to weaken a spring?


It depends totally on the material and design. The more stress involved, the shorter the life span.

How many cycles do you get out of the valve springs in an engine? At 2000 RPM, that's 120,000 per hour, so if you went 100,000 miles at 60 mph, it would be 200 million cycles.

Or you could design something wrong and load the spring up past its design point and have it fail in a few hundred.

See what I'm saying?
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The sprigers are a lot more affotdable so from that point they have a lot to offer, like you said its good practice and I cant think of anything cheaper to shoot.

I've been try'n to think up a good trap to catch my pellets and try to reuse them, be kinda nice to sit on the porch and shoot off the rail.
 
I use a bale of hay as a back stop but I dont re-use the pellets. I guess you could if you cut the wire and sifted through it. I dont reuse my pellets cuz I shoot into a piece of 5/8" plywood that is in front of the hay bale or other objects that deform the pellets.
 
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Originally Posted By: Evil_LurkerFrom everything I've read, a compression (coil) spring doesn't lose its strength from being held compressed. It weakens from being cycled between compressd/relaxed (number of cycles).

You should be able to hold it compressed for any amount of time without it weakening any.
i am an avid airgunner and have some very nice air guns
dont leave them cocked for more than an hour they will weaken if this is done
I am a member of some airgun forums and a guy did some testing on this he took a few guns all same make etc and left them compressed for 1 day 1 week and 1 month
each one shows a significant drop in FPS with the long its compressed the more % of fps loss
but You can buy spring kits for a gun for 20-60 bucks so its a cheap fix if the power weakens and or the spring breaks.
 
now here is my spring gun
It is an AirArms TX200MKIII it is in .22 cal and at 25 yards i am getting basically one raggerd hole with 10 shots
out to 50 i can cover the grooups with a 50 cent piece
I can and have taken squirrels and rabbits out to 50+ but you have to know the gun and know the drop.
As far as speed goes it is a common misconception with airguns mainly due to gamo and their PBA ammo they rate these things at 1000+ fps
most guns and pellets shoot best around 850-950 fps
when you get up over 950 they start to destabilize and loose accuracy
and also with the PBA ammo they are very hard and light light pellets hurt your gun buy letting the spring hit to hard and can bust your spring quite quickly
and being so hard they do penetrate well but the dont expand at all
.177 will work for game but shot placement if needed to be presice while .22 you need good shot placement but the heavier and larger pellet retains power at longer ranges and hits harder and expands better
hope this help ya out a bit
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I think thats the best lookin spring gun I've ever laid eyes on, I've seen center fire guns that wer'nt that nice.

I looked at a Walther (or whoever makes them) spring gun today on my lunch break, camo finish with a factory scope .22 cal., 700-1000 fps depending on the ammo used,$300 and change, I think the price is a little steep and can probably find a good used upper end gun for the same money or even less.
 
i have heard good and bad on the walther's(falcon hunter and talon) more bad though
for a great outta box hunter check out the benji trail np
it is a nitro piston and CAN be left cocked for ours,days,weeks without fatigue due to it being a gas piston rather than a spring
it is a good gun another to really look at is the crosman Titan at walmart it is in .22 cal and is also a nitro piston i think price is right near 150
basically any of the nitro pistons are decent guns
but this new walmart one is gettin some good reviews on it
the gun in my pic is my pride and joy of my rifles
it can be had used around 400 sometimes with most going in the upper 400's
heres my pride of my pistols
it is also a magnum spring pistol
it is a Beeman P1 and is very accurate with some practice
nailed this starling at around 20 yards if i recall correctly and this tree rat at 14 yards enjoy
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The gas piston is gonna be better than a springer. CO2 is another choice if the temps are above 40-50F. I have a .177 RWS 850. It has an Lead Dust Collector, and uses 88gram CO2 cartridges that you can get for 2 for $10 at walmart. Each can will last for 150 shots or so. If you have paintball stuff, you can convert it over to bulk fill CO2, or it can be converted over to HPA(basically PCP, but the p's and q's are different), and it will use a regulator to keep the speed variances lower, and keep your fps variances low.
 
Thanx for the food for thought ya'll, I stopped todat and looked at a RWS (cant remember the model)it had the side cocking lever, and a scope but the wood stock didnt look so great, but not bad.

Would it be considered wrong to ask about a few good air rifle web sites to check out ???
 


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