Pellet Rifle Advice?

In the market for a .22 (not .177) pellet rifle at the moment. I currently own a break-barrel Ruger .177 and it is adequate for the task right now but once the foliage returns and/or I opt for larger game, a .22 is going to be a better choice I think.

Much good is heard about the Benjamin 392. I'm waffling about a PCP rifle, mostly due to cost. Gamos are kind of hit or miss (pun intended), and the RWS rifles are really nice, but a tad spendy for me. My Price window is about $150 +/-

Anyone out there have any first hand experience with such things??

You'll shoot your eye out!

Have a look at bsa rifles. They are owned by gamo of spain, and for a while bsa's were being made (badly) in spain. Bsa's are now made back in birmingham again and quality has returned. If you could spend more, an air arms pcp is a very high quality piece, and the power can range from about 12 ft/lbs right up to the same levels as a .22lr, while being extremely quiet.

Consider using a real .22 and Aguila powderless CB cap ammo.

Wont cycle an auto but it's quiet and will stop a house-eater (that's squirrel for the city people).

AA

Acmemfg said:

In the market for a .22 (not .177) pellet rifle at the moment. I currently own a break-barrel Ruger .177 and it is adequate for the task right now but once the foliage returns and/or I opt for larger game, a .22 is going to be a better choice I think.

Much good is heard about the Benjamin 392. I'm waffling about a PCP rifle, mostly due to cost. Gamos are kind of hit or miss (pun intended), and the RWS rifles are really nice, but a tad spendy for me. My Price window is about $150 +/-

Anyone out there have any first hand experience with such things??

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I had a Benjamin .22, sold it and went with a Gamo Bull Whisper Bone Collector. If and when I decide to spend the cash and go PCP, I will probably pass up the .22 and go .25.

Have you seen Ted's HoldOver video's on youtube?

This one might interest you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch2n1a4Q_Z0

I have two older Feinwerkbau rifles both .177 cal spring air guns. A 124 sporter, launches a pellet about 1000 fps, and very accurate. They quit making this model 15-20 years ago. The other is a recoilless model 300 match rifle. The way it functions, is that the cylinder and fixed barrel ride on a couple of rails and when the trigger is pulled the spring releases and the cylinder/barrel releases at the same time and slide back countering any recoil force from the spring. It's made for shooting at 10 meters or 33 feet and will literally put pellet after pellet through the same hole if you can shoot that well.That rifle was purchased back in 1987, the sporter in 1975 so they are showing their age, with a lot of improvements such as single stroke pneumatics of pre charged air cylinders.

You really need to do a lot of research and determine what you want it for, match shooting, informal target/ plinking or even pest control and choose accordingly. A relative got one of the Gamo guns a couple of years ago, that was supposed to have extremely fast velocities, which did not count for much when it came down to accuracy.

What is the practical maximum range for a high quality air rifle with adequate accuracy and power for small pest control? I surprised myself once and took a crow at about 30 yds. with my Beeman P1 Magnum .177 pistol.

nortac said:

What is the practical maximum range for a high quality air rifle with adequate accuracy and power for small pest control? I surprised myself once and took a crow at about 30 yds. with my Beeman P1 Magnum .177 pistol.

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My Gamo is a break barrel design, which uses a nitrogen filled piston. It pushes .177 caliber alloy pellets from the muzzle at 1200 fps and lead 8.5 grain pellets at 950 fps. I have taken one shot kill shots on rat, skunk, rabbit out to around 50 yards and birds (pigeon, crow, starling) at 80 yards.

jkingrph said:

A relative got one of the Gamo guns a couple of years ago, that was supposed to have extremely fast velocities, which did not count for much when it came down to accuracy.

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He must have gotten one of the cheaper, lower grade Gamo's. I can keep 10 shots in a 2 inch circle @ 50 yards with my Bone Collector Gamo. And I'm no ninja / navy seal / sniper. Just a layman with a little bit of know how.

Down to the shooter, for regular 12 ft/lb power rifle (max allowed in the UK without a licence), you can kill a rabbit at 45-50 yard, MAX. 40 is more realistic. Over 50 yards and you have a BSer on your hands. .177 will kill as well as a .22 air rifle and has a flatter/faster trajectory. Air rifles only get a clean kill with a brain or heart shot! So accuracy, not pure power is key.

Rob, did you upgrade your scope on the Gamo? Will the rifle accept standard scope mounts?

PeteB said:

Down to the shooter, for regular 12 ft/lb power rifle (max allowed in the UK without a licence), you can kill a rabbit at 45-50 yard, MAX. 40 is more realistic. Over 50 yards and you have a BSer on your hands. .177 will kill as well as a .22 air rifle and has a flatter/faster trajectory. Air rifles only get a clean kill with a brain or heart shot! So accuracy, not pure power is key.

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Exactly why I only take skunk at 50 yds. Wouldn't be a clean kill with anything less than .22. Are you saying you can't take bird at 80 yds with 12 ft/lbs?

nortac said:

Rob, did you upgrade your scope on the Gamo? Will the rifle accept standard scope mounts?

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I did, Gamo scope was junk imo. Put a Centerpoint 3-9x32 with an illuminated reticle on it the minute I got it out of the box. bought the scope at Walmart for $60. It's no Schmidt & Bender, But it's adequate for a pellet rifle.

It doesn't have to be either .177 or .22, there are air rifles in .20 which seems a nice compromise between the two.

I have an older version of the Benjamin .22 pneumatic, the 342; I remember using one back in the '70s and finally got my own during the mid '80s. It's still a tac driver. You'll never run out of air as long as you've got a young neighbor who wants to pump it up for you. (In exchange for the priveledge of some target practice with you.) Seriously though, easy to use, a few pumps does the job for most cans and targets, on the 342 you could charge 8 pumps for max specified performance.

I also own PCP, and unless you have a deal with the local scuba shop, or are willing to purchase a powered pump, you'll find there's a lot of work charging upto the pressures of 3kpsi systems. Although, Crossman/Benjamin is now making their PCPs with lower operating pressures and seem to be doing fine.

I do not know the exact range, but my father in law and his cousin estimated that I took a crow out of a tree next to their garden at about 60 yards. That was with my Feinwerkbau 124 sporter which had a Williams receiver sight at the time, 40-41 years ago.

jkingrph said:

I do not know the exact range, but my father in law and his cousin estimated that I took a crow out of a tree next to their garden at about 60 yards. That was with my Feinwerkbau 124 sporter which had a Williams receiver sight at the time, 40-41 years ago.

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Great shot!

Acmemfg said:

In the market for a .22 (not .177) pellet rifle at the moment. I currently own a break-barrel Ruger .177 and it is adequate for the task right now but once the foliage returns and/or I opt for larger game, a .22 is going to be a better choice I think.

Much good is heard about the Benjamin 392. I'm waffling about a PCP rifle, mostly due to cost. Gamos are kind of hit or miss (pun intended), and the RWS rifles are really nice, but a tad spendy for me. My Price window is about $150 +/-

Anyone out there have any first hand experience with such things??

Click to expand...

Been there, done that and just gave all my air rifles away.

Not going to get much for $150 especially in a PCP.

A good PCP can be very accurate but a powerful one is louder than you think and filling it requires lots of effort with an expensive pump, or an expensive scuba tank type setup.

I agree with AdAstra. Use a .22 rimfire with subsonic ammo.

Ozziedoc said:

Been there, done that and just gave all my air rifles away.

Not going to get much for $150 especially in a PCP.

A good PCP can be very accurate but a powerful one is louder than you think and filling it requires lots of effort with an expensive pump, or an expensive scuba tank type setup.

I agree with AdAstra. Use a .22 rimfire with subsonic ammo.

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Of course the OP was wanting to stay around the $150 mark and I was thinking that he would need to up that a bit to get anything worth having. I suppose that he lives in an urban environment and needs to avoid a charge of "discharging a firearm within the city limits" or pissing off nearby neighbors. For the money it would cost for a high end air rifle, you could get a .22 with a suppressor. But in the urban environment that could be "overkill" on a couple of different levels (ie. safety). YMMV

The only one I can talk about is the RWS model 34. I bought it almost 4 years ago and it was dead on right out of the box and will still stack shots on top of each other at 40+ yards. I haven't needed to look any further and don't plan on it for quite a long time.