new air rifle

songdog11

songdog11

New member
I've been looking in to a new air rifle and was wondering if y'all have any suggestions. Right now i have a daisy powerline 880 but would like a single shot break-open style gun. Money is kind of limited right now so something in the 100-125$ range would be best. What do y'all suggest?
 
I have a gamo that I really like. It is the 220 and is really accurate out to 40 yd. I got it on sale at Sportsman's Warehouse for $115, the only this is the trigger is really spongy with a long pull.
 
Do a search for airguns...I bought one on-line last year. Great rig from Great Britain...can't remember the brand.. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused1.gif But it cost under $150 By the way, I got a .22 caliber and I really like the added thump on target over the .177. Make sure to put a quality AIR GUN scope on it...Air rifles don't recoil the same way as firearms and they will destroy a regular scope.
 
Songdog,
I got a Webley (English) that I don't use anymore it is breakopen style. If interested its yours for $100.00.

Crunch
 
This is a very active forum of folks that use, and have graduated from, the kind of air rifle you are asking about.
AirGunAdvice.net
If you get "the bug" you may end up with an Air Arms 400ERB/.177 or 400CRB/.22. I have shot buckets of sage rats, starling, pigeon, nutria, california GS and rock chuk with these two weapons.

I started with a pneumatic, then spring piston and finally a pcp (pre-charged neumatic) that charges with a scuba tank to 3000psi and yields about 50 high power shots for the carbine.
side-by-side.jpg


Here's a Rock Chuk taken with the .22 carbine pictured above. Bi-pod, 45 yards and a mere 28 ft/lbs at the muzzle. This fella was pretty big.
BigChuck.jpg
 
you should look into benjamins. They are very nice pellet guns but they do lack fps and its a multi pump gun. Like Pbchucker said above me Gamo makes good cheap guns. The triggers are very strange and the wooden stocks feel hollow.
 
Hey songdog11-

You're just up the road from me about 80 miles. I have been bitten by the air rifle bug myself and have been plinking with a Daisy powerline 901 pump .177 for the past couple of months. It is an impressive little rifle, but like you, I was looking for bigger and better.

Just today, I bit the bullet and went to the local Academy sporting goods store and looked at all they had and came home with a Gamo Shadow Sport .177 break barrel w/ 3x9x40 scope for $158.

Just got it zero'd in and still grinning ear to ear. I am a perfectionist and shoot alot and always after the perfect group. Took about 6 shots to get sighted in and the last 3 shot group I shot @ 30 yds could be covered with a dime. Drive over to your Academy there in Abilene and look at these, you won't be dissappointed I guarantee.
 
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I had to chime in.....The guy above is right about the scope selction because a spring piston airgun has a double recoil that ABSOLUTELY TRASHES scopes.

I had a Gamo Hunter 220/.177 and it was a great starter but I agree with the guy above about the trigger. Some of the Gamo spring piston guns have aftermarket drop-in trigger upgrades. A Tasco RedDot scope would be a great choice for plinking and starling.

Here's some decent paper shot with an Air Arms PCP, .177, 20 yards, bench, 50shots/bull except for the last one and highest power.
60_shots_high_power.jpg
 
The Benjamins may be slow (800fps), but I just put a sweet trigger job on a model#397 someone gave me yesterday. Just clipped the spring a couple coils and some filing. The whole thing was quite easy. In fact this was the first trigger I have done myself. Have not tested it for accuracy yet. These are $139 at Midway.
 
800fps isn't so slow. My .22pcp shoots Beeman Kodiak 21gr at 760fps and the sage rats, starling, pigeon, ground squirrel, and nutria hate it. Those benjamins are nice and I've always wanted one.

All this stuff about ballistics is great but the "In The Field" actual results is better. When the Kodiak drops 2" at 70yds, so what. A standing sage rat or ground squirrel is a friendlt VERTICAL target.

John
 
The Benjamin put five in a half inch with iron sights at 20 yards. I had one of these when I was a kid. My dad gave it to me. He bought it for himself when he was a freshman in collage, so it was 35 years old when I got it. It had about a 1 pound trigger with no creep from the factory. I guess I was 13 or 14 when I got it, and I used it until I was about 27 or 28. When the seals finaly wore out we sent it in to fixed and the dirty bastards kept it and sent us a new one. We called and they couldn't find it at first, then they said they couldn't fix it, then they said the trigger was dangerous. The new one that my dad gave me yesterday does not even come close to the old one. We made some incredible shots with that first rifle. I am sure I will have fun with this one, and never forget the old one.
 
Sorry to hear about the Benjamin repair- that's a BS move on their part.

They should have communicated first before shipping new product and "losing" original product.

When I was kid my cousin always "hogged" the Benjamin, of course it was his, but I never forgot how well that gun shot and how I'd someday have my own and never share with him. That day has come.

John
 
Quote:
The Benjamin put five in a half inch with iron sights at 20 yards. I had one of these when I was a kid. My dad gave it to me. He bought it for himself when he was a freshman in collage, so it was 35 years old when I got it. It had about a 1 pound trigger with no creep from the factory. I guess I was 13 or 14 when I got it, and I used it until I was about 27 or 28. When the seals finaly wore out we sent it in to fixed and the dirty bastards kept it and sent us a new one. We called and they couldn't find it at first, then they said they couldn't fix it, then they said the trigger was dangerous. The new one that my dad gave me yesterday does not even come close to the old one. We made some incredible shots with that first rifle. I am sure I will have fun with this one, and never forget the old one.


Those old ones are collector items, guess someone wanted to keep it, but that is wrong. Make them give it back.
 
That was a few years ago. I took it to the point where it was obvious it required a lawyer to get any further. At 26 years old and having just moved 200 miles to start a new job in and are where we knew no one and my wife had no job, just finished putting ourselves through collage, we were struggling to say the least. Now at 39 years old my wife just finished her Masters degree, and I am working on mine. We are much more established, but I feel it is too late to do anything. Probably still could not afford a lawyer anyway.
My dad thought it would be neat so he shipped it to them in the original box, with all the original paperwork, owners manual etc... Worst part is that I told him this exact thing would happen if he sent that rifle in. He assured me he would not allow that. Good job Pop.
Well when he bought that rifle he liked it so much a few years later he went out and bought the pistol. I still have the pistol, box, papers, recipt etc... And that pistol still shoots. Don't remember where that box etc.. is though.
 
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