Air Guns

D

Diamond Dog

Joined
Jun 25, 2007
Messages
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I'm not real savy on air guns but want one really bad lately. Are they as loud as a .22 the .177 tyes of air rifles? What are good quality ones? I'm looking into the gamo big cat and whisper quiet one with the built on silencer. I'm also thinking about the Beeman air gun '1051' air rifle with the monte carlo hardwood stock, scope included. Can anyone tell me about air rifles in general. I'm looking for a more high powered air gun for plinking and varmit control, possibly some small game hunting here coming up for squirrel and rabbit. Also what is the deal on the various types of pellets as well-I gather some shoot farther than others etc?
 
Diamond Dog said:
I'm not real savy on air guns but want one really bad lately. Are they as loud as a .22 the .177 tyes of air rifles? What are good quality ones? I'm looking into the gamo big cat and whisper quiet one with the built on silencer. I'm also thinking about the Beeman air gun '1051' air rifle with the monte carlo hardwood stock, scope included. Can anyone tell me about air rifles in general. I'm looking for a more high powered air gun for plinking and varmit control, possibly some small game hunting here coming up for squirrel and rabbit. Also what is the deal on the various types of pellets as well-I gather some shoot farther than others etc?
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Yeah, some shoot farther than others, pretty much like everything else. And like everything else, you have to experiment with different pellets, but the good news is that they're cheap.

I've got a Gamo Black Shadow .177 that I've had for a few years, I like it just fine. It's rated at 1000 fps. I use it to shoot squirrels, chips and mice around the house. It sounds like a nail-gun going off, not like a .22. Nobody pays attention.

I would really like to get a Gamo Whisper, but don't really have a need for it, but would like to shoot it. That may be preferable in an urban/suburban environment where you want to do varmint control without anybody hearing you..

For what it's worth, you can get air rifles from .177 up to .44, IIRC...but .44 requires specially loaded air bottles.

Gamo makes a high-end rifle that shoots at a claimed 1600 fps.

Many folks like Beemans. RWS is another high-end rifle that I believe is made in Germany. Gamos are made in Spain.

If you want to do a Google search, you will find websites devoted to air rifles and pistols.

Edit: Lewis and Clark took air rifles along on their expedition in 1803-06. They were .31 and had air pressure of 700-900 psi. That's what I Googled, don't know how they were built or how they did it.
 
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I don't know where you are from but here in the USA we are not allowed to own silencers of any type (even airgun) without a special license. On a kinder note I second benchmadebobs suggestion for a RWS34 or for that matter anything from Beeman or RWS. If you are going to get a scope make sure that you get one that is specifically made for airguns. Their parallax adjustments are different and they are built to absorb the pounding that an airgun hands out.
 
My favourite is a Hatsan 55, a turkish gun sold in the US as a Winchester 1000x. Very accurate, mildly tuned the internals and it shoots very, very well.

Only downside (if you consider it a downside) is that it is about as heavy as a garden variety .30 cal hunting rifle! Much heavier than my levergun, for instance.
 
I own a gamo whipser with the air venturi ram conversion, this means the metal spring has been removed and replaced with a gas piston system. The advantages are numreous including no twisting, can leave cocked for long periods of time with no damage, operates better in cold weather and is more durable. You can get them at www.prymidair.com they come converted from the air venturi shop and they also mail you your metal spring with gun.

The gun does not have a silencer on it, it has a supresion device which reduces the sound only if you are shooting traditional lead pellets. If you shoot the gamo pba ammo which breaks the speed of sound at the shot, then the gun sounds just like a 22 cal rifle even in teh .177 verison.

Mine is a .177 cal and is deadly kills squirrels dead with one shot out to about 35+/- yards, but is loud as hell with the pba ammo, however with traditional lead pellets the gun is quiet, real quiet, not silent but REAL quite. The fiber optic sights are good and overall the rifle is solid and seems to be well made, but the trigger is crap with lots of creep. You can get a grtIII trigger from Charlie da Tuna for about 30 bucks and the swap is quick and painless. I've heard the grtIII trigger is awesome.

Hope this helps.
 
MikeC what would you compare the sound of the whisper with lead pellets to? would it be good in urban enviorment with 100' by 50' lots?
 
For spring guns I was always very fond of Weihrauchs. I had an HW 35, then the 80 and last an under-leaver HW 77. The rekord trigger unit was about the best around at the time for a sporting air rifle / field target. They're heavy but the mass helps a great deal once you are used to it. Legal limit here for an air rifle is 12ft/lbs and these come pretty tight to that. In fact, I played around with them a lot and one could easily stray into the 18ft/lbs mark by polishing the piston, fitting non-standard PTFE piston heads and OX mainsprings and so on. True, that's pretty puny in the big scheme of things but it was enough to take rabbits, pigeon, squirrel, crow .etc at sensible ranges. That was a joy of the Weihrauchs, most others, save for perhaps Anchutz, had spring guns with which the only route to power lay in trying to induce a combustion with leather washers soaked in 3 in 1. Clearly not a good route to accuracy. If I were after a cheap spring gun now I'd probably rootle for a used one of those. If I was after a new spring gun I'd probably start with the Weihrauch HW97K. Although I have to admit it been a while since I was into the spring gun thing, and I'm basing this on just a history of accrued prejudices.
 
first off, where are you? if your in CANADA, your are LIMITED to 495 feet per second if you DO NOT possess a PAL (firearms) licence. If your are in CANADA and you possess a PAL you can get some pretty SWEET airguns that are rated 1000 - 1500 feet per second.
 
I think an unrestricted Weihrauch HW97K is 290 meters per second in .177 and 230 in .22. 951.4407 ft/s & 754.5909 ft/s.
 
With lead pellets its quite, yes youcould get away with shooting on a 100*50 lot as far as sound goes, but you better have a solid back stop for your pellet. The gun has suprising power as most of the birds and squirrels I'm shoting the pellet is going right through them. Also if you miss or get a richot someone or something is going to get hurt or worse. I think for that small of a space you had better tone it down. The gamo has got more power than I thought it would, I've shot it into several trees both hard and soft wood with the lead pellets and the pba ammo and even at 20 yards it will sink a pellet abouta 1/4 inch into the trees and sometimes more. Thats enough power to seriously injure or possibly kill someone.
 
Bushman5 said:
first off, where are you? if your in CANADA, your are LIMITED to 495 feet per second if you DO NOT possess a PAL (firearms) licence. If your are in CANADA and you possess a PAL you can get some pretty SWEET airguns that are rated 1000 - 1500 feet per second.
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If you are in fact in Canada, one thing worth considering is that a number of guns are identical in the 495 and 1000 fps versions, except for the spring.

Springs, incidentally, are not controlled items. Anyone can buy any spring they like, no license is required.
 
benchmadebob said:
rws 34 is the way to go gamo afrent very good with qc
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I've owned a few air rifles and I'll second that, the Rws 34 is a great bargain,better IMHO than a gamo, not the most expensive or fancy gun, but one of my favorites! The Rws 48 in .22 is another favorite of mine, kinda heavy but lots of power and accuracy at a decent price.
 
benchmadebob said:
Gamo isnt very good with quality control. They focus on production numbers and not quality.
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Oh well. I'm happy with mine :D. A friend once loaned me his RWS "Diana" (don't recall the model number) with a scope, and that was a very sweet rifle. Would have preferred that but it was about $300 more than the Gamo. Mine shoots well enough for the varminting I use it for.
 
we have a gamo springer, and it's fun for plinking. I've also got a crosman 1377, and it's good enough for household pest control and plinking.

Tuning the 1377 will give me a real hunter pretty cheap. Crooked Barn receiver and bolt is about $50, $50 for a RB stock setup with a new forearm. Right there you are looking at a packable carbine that should take down small game at 15 meters.

If you want co2, the 2250 is very customizable and can do real hunting.

For springers, I like Gamo. I don't know about the QC issues, the couple I have owned have been fine. Get a 700fps or better 22 and have fun :)

For all around best of every world, I'd go with a tuned benjamin 392. With a good tuneup, you can push 900fps in .22 and that's meat.
 
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