Air rifles

[rickw]

I was wondering if anyone here is familiar with high powered air rifles, 1000 fps or higher. I don't want to spend more than $300 and want one that's not too awful loud. I have my eye on a Gamo Whisper .

Any and all opinions welcomed.

 

[davenh]

I recently bought a Beeman 1073 broke barrel pellet gun for $125 at Walmart. Will shoot .177 and .22, comes with two barrels. Worked great on the groundhog I used to have in the garden

.

 

[meat hunter]

You can not go wrong with Gamo. A tack driver if you ask me. Be cautious though if you are mounting a scope as regular rifle scope do not last long on air rifles, as odd as it may seem, the recoil on air rifles is different and have been known to mess of the reticles. Look for scopes made for air rifles.

 

[eman]

i have a gammo whisper 177 cal. and have installed a simmons 3x9 scope on it .
Deadly on small game at 30 +yds.
Now for the down side . i also have a benjamin pump 22 cal. w/ the same scope. The benjamin has over 300fps less than the gammo but at 25 / 30 yds the knockdown of the 22 vs the 177 is amazing.
i like the gammo for head shots on tree rats but for rabbits, coons , stray cats i like the knockdown of the benjiman pump.

 

[rickw]

How loud is the Benjamin compared to the Whisper? I am mostly looking for something to shoot in the yard and the occasional squirrel.

 

[eman]

they are totally diferent sounds but the noise is about the same level.
If you oil your gammo and oil gets in the barrel it will be as loud as a 22 rifle the next time or 2 you fire it. The sound that i hear more w/ the benjy is the clock clock clock when you pump it.

 

[eman]

if your neighbors are going to complain about you shooting a pellet gun then noise isn't going to be a problem cause they'll complain if they see you in the yard w/ it.

 

[cruizer]

My vote is for the whisper. The shooter hears the report of the spring action. But if you get out in front of the gun the report is much less. Dime groups at fifty yards. 1200 fps. Good on dogs!

 

[thepiro]

Been out of the Air gun/field target seen for about 10 years so am not familiar with the Gamo Whisperer.

Back then the Spanish firm Gamo, or EL Gamlo had a name for producing gimmicky guns, some of which worked well and were reasonably reliable.

Don’t know about the fitted Silencer, I was under the impression that they were banned in the U.S. This will defiantly cut muzzle noise but won’t do anything for the loud thump that comes from the action.

Other problems with running an Air Gun of this power is inaccuracy unless you use well made heavy pellets, guns of this power are very pellet sensitive.

If you are serious about airguns possibly consider a second hand pre charged weapon, as their actions only produce a hammer drop sound and the silencer takes care of the rest.

I live in the UK where the maximum permitted velocity in .177 is about 800 ft per second of 12 ft Lb of kinetic energy. I shoot an old Titan Manitou in .177 with a 6X24X45 Tasco TR scope and a Logan silencer. Combo is totally recoilless.

Once charged this weapon will give me 60 good shots in the field and is much lighter than a high powered spring gun to hump around.

Using Bisley Magnum pellets, which cuts me down to about 700FT per second the combo is deadly against bunnies out to 60yds and has the accuracy to go for head shots at that range.

 

[deltadude]

Growing up in the country, hunting was part of my youth, shotguns, 22s, deer rifles, etc. My 3 children were born in the city near L.A. A hand gun for defense was about it. Until the boys got to about 8-10, then we got into air rifles for some backyard plinkin. .20 Sheridan, and a .177 RWS spring piston (can't rem the Model #), the RWS was about 700 FPS, those where the boys air guns. Of course I had to get one for myself, and it was one of the more powerful air rifles at the time.

RWS Model 48, and a 9 power scope.

Specs:
Caliber: .177
Ammo type: .177 pellets or ball
Body: Wood stock with Metal Receiver and Barrel
Power Source: Spring Pneumatic
Overall Length: 42"
Barrel Length: 17"
Fire Mode: Single Shot
Cocking Effort: 39 lbs
Action: Side Lever
Trigger Pull: 3.3 lbs
Gun Weight 8.5lbs
Muzzle Velocity: 1100 FPS
Front Sight: Fixed
Rear Sight: Adjustable

It could kill rabbits, squirrels, crows with this beast at 30-50 yds no wind. (We found orchards to varmint hunt in.)
My wife didn't enjoy us shooting the air guns in the house down thru family room, living room, hallway into the guest bath into a 18"x18" trap. We tried for single hole accuracy, but I can't rem. if we achieved it or not. Something we did on rainy days or cold nights.

My oldest son got the sheridan .20 multi pump. He still says it was one of the best Christmas presents he ever had. To our surprise, he was an exceptional shot. He was lucky, his mass production Sheridan was very accurate to about 20 yards. Here is an example: We visited Grand Dad, and went down to the river with the air rifles, we would find beer bottles and toss them into the middle and then shoot at them. After a few seconds all you could see was the neck. It was winter and the river was moving slowly, my oldest would shot the next 1st shot about 80% of the time. That is a moving target approx 1" wide, 1-2" tall, 10-15 yards, and he was knocking them off bottle after bottle 1st shot.

I want to thank you for starting this thread, it brought back those memories, of some great times with my boys.
The best thing about buying a RWS is you can resell it. I paid about $325 for mine and sold it about 3 or 4 years later for over $200.

The RWS may be about $100+ over your budget, but you will not be sorry.

 

[thepiro]

Agreed, big thanks to RickW for the thread, great memories of great days.

My first serious air gun was a .20 Sheridan with a Galway silencer; it had been doctored to reduce the power for the UK market, totally useless until it got reconverted and a good scope mounted, then it was a smashing peace of kit.

One draw back with high powered spring guns is the trigger pull can be very heavy. This makes it difficult to remain on target during the squeeze and can cause a jerk as the seer disengages thus affecting the accuracy and general shoot ability of the weapon. I always use a trigger shoe on spring powered guns as it helps with heavy pool trigger control.

As the seer on pre charge and pump up weapons is working with a light hammer spring the trigger is so much sweeter resulting in increased accuracy and more bunnies for the smoker.

The RWS which I believe are historically from the Original and Diana line of air weapons have a good reputation for high powered air weapons but if you want quality and total reliability in a spring gun think about the Weihrauch HW80 the Hw77. if you are a convertion/tunning freek this is the one to go for, there is so much out there for it.

Out the box it is unbeatable and the Record triger unit overcomes the triger pull problems faced by other manufacturers. To strip the gun you knock out 2 pins holding the triger unit and unscrew the spring block, what could be easier. It has been over engineared thus fue problems and plenty room for the DIY freeks.

I have handeled an HW80 converted to 28foot Lbs of konetic energy, it was awsome .

Only one draw back with the HW80 is it it is a bit on the heavy side to carry around all day.

 

[deltadude]

I haven't read anything on air guns in years, thanks to this thread I did a little goggling.

It really looks like the exciting stuff is happening in pre-charged air guns.
Power, accuracy, hunting big game. You tube has video where a dude kills an american buffalo with a air gun.

If I was to buy one now, it would be hard to choose between a precharged or spring.

The spring gives you a lot of target fun in the back yard, and can knock down some small varmints. Great rat killer. I think if I could find a really good spring .20 with 1100 fps, and no loss in accuracy, that would be a great all around shooter, for air gun. Springs are a lot quieter than precharged.

The precharge, you can go up in caliber to .22 or .25 have multiple shots either single or double action on a single charge. You now can hunt a little larger game, plus they are very accurate. The noise is a problem if you live in the city, sounds too much like a regular firearm.

I came across this site with a lot of user reviews.

Have fun shopping, and shooting..........

 

[rickw]

Wow, a lot more info than I expected, thanks guys. I'm going to check some of your recommendations. I want to stay with .177 due to IL. law. Anything over .18 is considered a "firearm" here in the Peoples Republic of Illinois. I don't want to get a charge of unlawful discharge of a firearm when shooting in the back yard.

 

[ronf]

There is some good information here:

http://www.straightshooters.com/nava...dfeatures.html

 

[eman]

my son was on his ROTC rifle team in H.S. I believe that the hw 80 was the rifle they used . These guns had been retooled and fitted w/ stabilizers and balance weights . All had triggerpulls that a fly could set off. they shot at 25yds for single hole 10 ring shots.
I have spent many a fri night b4 a shooting match sitting at the bench w/ him , inspecting and weighing individual pellets.
they got as many as they could w/ the same weight. that way when they sighted in b4 the match, every pellet they shot in compitition weighed the exact same as the sighting pellets.
that gun weighed more than my 12 guage dbl barrel

 

[deltadude]

After we discovered that our oldest was a natural excellent shooter, we looked into competition shooting, and started talking about it. Then soccer season started, all of our kids played soccer, 2 played almost year round on various club or competitive teams. When soccer started everything else stopped, and thus any further effort into competitive air rifle shooting was forgot.

 

[rickw]

I took at look at a RWS model 48 while at the gun range this morning. I tell ya that thing was like holding a full fledged high powered rifle. It seemed to be put together pretty darn good.

I tried to see how easy it was to charge and when returning the arm it had gotten stuck. The guy next to me said he owns one and they could be a tad stiff at times and to give it some force. Well that's what I did and I broke the damn thing. I bent the connecting rod then the damn thing broke in two. Well that doesn't bode well for RWS, first time handling one and it breaks.

I'll keep looking and reading and see what I come up with.

 

[rickw]

After a lot of looking around and reading I just ordered a Crosman Nitro .177 . Should receive it some time next week.

 

[deltadude]

Congrats on your new air rifle purchase. I can't comment on today's RWS, only point to reviews which give it some fairly high marks. My RWS 48 was purchased around 1985 so quality may have slid a bit. I know the price is not that much different today, so quality may have slipped a little.

enjoy your new fun plinker....

 

[thepiro]

The Gas Ram is an excellent system and was first used by Theoben in the UK in the late 80s or early 90s. Of all the rifles we had through the club they tended to be the heaviest but very well made and virtually maintenance free, in fact I can’t remember us ever being inside one

Many customising gun smiths purchased actions from Theoben and produced outstanding air weaponry what did well in Field Target competition. Then Theoben started producing Rams to fit other manufacturer’s weapons and a whole new world opened up.

The System has a great pedigree; and I hope you and your family have many hours of enjoinment with it.