Question: Air Rifles

[gvanzant]

Can anyone give me direction on the purchase of a pump air rifle? I notice from the Bass Pro Shop that the price of the rifle increases with the muzzle velocity. How much of that velocity is needed to drop a Crow or a rabbit? In other words what should I pay? Thanks
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[lonehunter]

before you decide to purchase an air rifle i would check yoyr state hunting regulations , here in michigan i belive they are not allowed for hunting either species .
but i belive a .177 pellet rifle with a 850 fps or better would do the trick .
now for some fun shooting i used to take some ohio blue tip matches , stand them up in the ground and try to light them with a shot . nice way to hone your shooting skills .
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[patches]

YOU WANT TO HONE UP ON HUNTIN SKILLS, TRY MY RED RIDER, BB GUN, FER SQUI

SQUIRELLS, THEN YOUR DOIN GOOD, HAHA. that,s what me and cliff learned on.

one i got when i was bout 10. my bb gun would take em down, the lever action one. still got it and tke it out and play once in awhile.[] and we can use them here as well as the air guns.
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[tubeN2]

Hey there gvanzant, Beings that you are here in SoCali near me, I would suggest going to Big 5 or Sportsmart. I have a couple of air rifles that are pumps.

If you want something decent then I would recommend the Crossman air rifle with the scope at Big 5. They are around 50 bucks. If you want something better, then I would go with the Benjamin. They run about 120bucks but they are well worth it.

Both are capable of a higher fps but the benjamin comes with a peep sight instead of a scope.

Once in awhile, Sports Chalet or Turners Outdoorsman will run a special.

If you are not in a hurry then I would check one of our sponsors from this site, or check out [url "http://www.cabelas.com"]www.cabelas.com[/url]
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[releaseit]

[size 2] I bought my Crossman at Big 5 years ago and it still works. Cost about $80 then. Only fires pellets though, no bb's.[unsure][/size]

[size 2] Red rider, reminds me of " X-Mas Story ". You'll shoot your eye out kid~[laugh][/size]
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[lonehunter]

did you get the older model that can be pumped up several times or the newer model that has the saftey pressure valve attached to the compression cylinder ?
i had the old style and found it to be excelent for rodent controll back in the city .
the new model had little effect on the varmits , so i switched to a co2 from daisy .
the boyscouts have a compitition air rifle that is out of this world , but i can't see spending almost a grand for a b b gun !
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[patches]

haha yeah, i saw that one twice this year. it is so true to the old days, haha and that smilin duck. member that at the restuarant??? chinese?? then he cuts his head off?? hahaha hope you and yours hada good christmas new years. []
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[gvanzant]

Patches: I live in Long Beach CA. A city of houses for 20 square miles and not any wide open spaces. They really frown on the appearance of guns or facimiles in the neighborhood. But, many of neighbors are taking the law into their own hands by fighting back at the crows and the roof rats. I have a couple of fruit trees that lose 90% of the crop to these pests. Do you think a pellet gun with a velocity of 800 will stop them. What is the difference between a .177 and a .22 caliber and which one do I need? Cabelas has one in the $500. bracket, which is really steep. They also sell the guns with a velocity of 1000 pounds. Some of the more expensive guns pump only once to achieve max. velocity. Is this important?
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[patches]

hey there bud, if you got that kinda problem in an area with that many houses so close to ya, i wouldn,t want nothin more than my bb gun. that little bb gun has more potency than what ya figure, even though your in your house shootin out the winder to the ground at em. hit em right in the head. that,ll learn em. my little lever action only is once done, and it does well on my squirells in the head. a squirells lot bigger than any rat i,ve seen. i never got into pellet guns, so don,t know too much about em. but i believe they can rickashea off somethin just as good as a 22. if there more powerful than my bb gun. even a bb can hit a windshield and spread crack in it clearn acroos the whole windshield. so that,s pretty powerful to do that. your not that fer away from em. shootin up in the tree or on the ground where there at. you don,t be wantin no 22. my god you,ll be shootin somebody. with all those houses people kids animals around. a 22 has a mile and a half good radius on it. can ya imagine how fer that is. and then at that close range,

it hasn,t even started to drop yet. it,ll still keep goin till it hits somethin or drops s. or somebody,





no sa! stick to a bb gun.haha the 177? well don,t know what your talkin there, unless it,s the little gun i was lookin at before i got my 410- 22 rossi, tit has two barrels, but its what they call a 17, it has a bullet that looks like the 243 cliff has, my son, the bullets shaped like the 243, but some bigger than the 22. shell, longer and pointed, so i,t in betwixt a 22, and a 223. god use to be here back the old days, the farmers went huntin deer with a 22, LR/ HOLLOW POINT AND THE 223 that is a varmit gun too, fer deer cause that,s all they had. and it brought em down nicely. but that when hunters only took a shot when they had a good shot. not just to shoot em anywhere and git em down. seen to many of those hunters. we can still hunt deer here with a 22LR/HOLLOWPOINT/ AND A 223. that bb gun will do ya fine. you dont even need anythin that big fer just crows, rats, squirells, they,ll be happier ya get the bb gun rather than a 22, or the 17.[] SO WHAT YA TALKIN 177? is that a pellet gun?? MY BB GUN BACK THEN COST MY MA, 12.99 MY RED RIDER. HAHA LOVE IT! i think the last time i saw one there about 34-37.00 well worth it though i guess i,m just prejudice bout mine [] haha memories! haha

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[tubeN2]

Hey there gvanzant, The models that allow 1 pump are fine but are more costly. I would rather put more or less pumps to have a little more control over the way it shoots. There is another alternative though.

I also use a blowdart gun. It is much quieter and doesn't get the neighbors all riled up about the noise of a gun going off in the middle of the day or night. With some moderate practice, you can get pretty good with one of them. If you get the 38 caliber size or 10mm, then you can also get some beads for real cheap at hobby stores and shoot those as well.

The blow guns are very quiet and effective. If you choose to stay with the dart option then you can buy those at Cabellas as well. They come in a variety of lengths although the 4inch seem to be the most accurate and they are easy to put together.

Give it a try and see what you think.
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[fish4fish]

gvanzant, im no expert by any means but i think i would have to go with a .177 caliber vs the .22 caliber pellet gun mostly for the cost and the avaibality of the pellets. the .22 pellets arnt all that popular any more so they are more expensive and harder to find where as the .177's are to be found every where and for a good cheep price. and i would also maybe give the blow gun a try, i ahve a little 36 incher with the 4" darts and it is pretty accurate, but i think if you were to get a longer blow gun and some of the spear head darts so they wont work their way out that would help to take care of your crow problem. i would also think that an 800fps gun would stop them, the first animal i killed was a blue pigion at almost 50yds with a red rider lever action bb gun, and it has alot less velocity the 800fps.
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[patches]

hha see i told ya i didn,t know bout them pellet guns. i thought he was talkin a 22 glenfield rifle or the 10-22 ruger jack has. haha sorry gvant i told ya.
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[BEARCLAW]

I own a Sheridan "silver streak" pellet gun. I was told that Sheridan bought out Benjamin. I could be wrong. It does resemble the old benjamin gun. It was about $120 and takes a .20 cal. (5mm) pellet. The ammo isn't hard to find either, I see it almost everywhere. It really packs a punch too. I believe the velocity is in the neighborhood of 750-1000 fps. For the money, I'd check it out before you make your final choice. Good luck and let us know what you decied on..[]
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[releaseit]

[size 2]Mine is CO2. Pretty powerful. I do not know what the rating is but it will kill a gopher or mole with ease.[/size]

[size 2] I would flood the hole then when they surface BAM! bye bye gopher. I do not like posions, but I know they work. I would rather put them down with 1 shot.[/size]

[size 2] I would never coonsider killing an animal that seems so harmless put the damage they do to my yard is really bad[unsure][/size]
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[davetclown]

I have worn out just about every air rifle ice owned but one.

gone through several daisies and crossman. crossman are nice till you get through about 1000 rounds, then you have to start to rebuild them. you cant take a head shot at a bunny at 50 with a crossman, you wont kill the bunny.

what I sugest you do is go to the bass pro shop they have an indoor range. test fire all of them prior to buying one.

you will end up with a 20 mm or a .22 caliber.

the problem with the 177 pellet is there is just not enough mass to the round to be efffetive out past 50 feet. you will not be hunting squirls with a crossman 177. them squirls will just laugh at ya when you tickle them with the slower speeds. maybe the 177 at 1000 fps might work, but after shooting in to 55 gallon drums and found the 177 just would not penitrate the drum and the 20 mm and .22 calibers would, my mind was made up then.

the largest varment I have ever managed to kill with the 177 crossman at 50 feet is a starling. grackles if they get with in 20 feet, could not drop a crow at any distance. the bellets and bb's bounce off the fethers.

there is another modle not listed by bass pro or cabellas. it ranges around the 150 price range. if you can hold off till after next wensday I will get the name and modle for you. you can compare it to the ones in the catalogs.

this one you can pump up several times, 8 max. the 20 mm will benitrate a 55 chavy fender at 100 feet. that will kill any varment you will ever want to shoot at.

the crossman 177 will not kill a ground hog, racoon, skunk, squril, oposum, fox, or a bardrock let alone a phesant past 20 feet.
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[davetclown]

take this question to our sister site [url "http://www.theoutdoorlodge.com/"]www.theoutdoorlodge.com[/url] and post it on this board ==>[url "http://www.theoutdoorlodge.com/cgi-bin/forums/ikonboard.cgi?s=3ffc930d11c5ffff;act=SF;f=44"][#000033]Ballistics and Reloading[/#000033][/url]

see if any of the gun pro's over there have any thoughts about them.
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[releaseit]

[size 2]Hey George,[/size]

There is a Fish and Game provision talking about allowing you to KILL crows anytime but they have to be doing damage to your property directley or livestock, crops, etc.

It also mentioned something about a Federal Permit is necessary. I do not know if this is a " Crow Hunting License " or what.

Bascically crow control is allowed in some areas. The DFG has an office in Los Alamitos, CA you could call. I would still check with local city hall as well about city ordinances and or penal codes concerning shooting air rifles in city limits.
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[frogfish]

Davetclown,

I wish I would have known where I could shoot a number of pelet guns before I bought one last year. I spent $180 on a Gamo 220. It's groups are not very tight. I expected it to be accurate for the money I spent but it has a lot of flyers (groups about 6inches at 20 yds.) What is the most accurate pelet gun you have shot?

Chris
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[davetclown]

for my money about the same as what you spent I would go with the Sheridan 5 mm (20 caliber) I mentioned above a 20 mm, I meant to say caliber. the 20 caliber, (5mm) runs 25 thousands smaller than the 22 caliber .200 verces .225 at the same foot pounds sends the Sheridan projectile screaming. the 177 as mentioned above is liter still.

I bought one and put a 1 inch 4X scope on it and was holding a 1 inch group at a hundred feet. that is about 35 yards. I think that is about the best you can hope for with out going in to match grade air rifles. you should expect to stay in a one inch bulls eye at the twentyfive yard range.

the pellet you use has a great deal to do with your accurcy as well. spend a little extra and get something that resembles a non riffeled projectile. strange as this may sound, you are relying on air preasure to project your round and any rifeling on the round will only allow air to pass by the round on its way out of the barrol. stay away from hallowed points, beveled or blunt nosed rounds. and if you can look at the product on the shelf befor perchasing it, try to pack in a caliper or micromiter and measure 10 -15 rounds randomly. it is posible to pick up a bad lot. when you find a good batch, buy several boxes of them. you will most likley get several good boxes out of the same lot.

the higher quality pellets will have a better consistancy in diamiter and weight.

the guys in the air rifle matches, the ones who realy get in to it weigh and measure each round and devides them in groups according to size and weight measured all the way down to the gram.

this seem a bit excessive, but when shooting in a match you need every advantage you can get.

strange as this may sound, you need to clean the barrol of your pellet rifle. lead build up is enough to slow down your round and even make it spin out of center which can make it shear 6 inches at 20 yards.

before you toss your rifle check to make sure you have the right round just because the box says it is a .22 caliber dosnt mean that it is so, it could infact be a 20 mm, and make sure your barrol is clean, ir should be cleaned every time you take it out to a target pratice, at least every 25 rounds. this will make a big difference in your

and for every one's FYI these air guns are as dangerous if not more than any other rifle in your cabnet. mostly because for the most part it is silent. when this gun goes off your neibors probably wont hear it inside their houses. but this gun can kill just the same as any other gun. treat it with due respect. I cant say this enough.
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