Furthest you've shot with an air rifle

S

Silent Shadow

New member
Just curious to see if it is possible to shoot up to a 100m with an air rifle.

Usually they say 50m is pretty much max range. But I heard someone say he shot at 75 yards...

Silent Shadow
 
I have shot beer cans with a scoped RWS .177 just for fun at 130 yards. Of course, the holdover is measured in feet and you miss ALOT more than you hit but it can be done.
 
Even with a BB gun (like the old single-cock Red Rider series), you can learn to hold over & eventualy make fairly amazing shots. It's closer to archery really than shooting - in a way.

As long as all else remains the same (hardly ever), if you know the trajectory of your projectile, the only difficulty is elevation. & once you've dialed that in for that range, it's all cake (mostly).
 
I have a Benjiman Sheridan G397 (gas version of the regular pump 397) and the range is awsome. I have a Williams reciever mounted peep sight and it shoots straight out to 50 yards, at ranges under 30 yards you need to aim low. I could probably shoot out to 150 yards with it at the highest setting for the sight. Maybe I could even kill a worm with it at that range, if I could hit it. I have killed blue jays out to 70yards before, with a differnet pellet rifle though. The longest shot I have taken with my Sheridan is about 60 yards at a blue jay, he took two wad cutter 7.9grn pellets near the same spot to slow him, then I put one in his upper beek, he had to die from shock before I got to him. It is quite easy to make long shots with pelletguns if you know how......
 
damn, 130 yards is pretty damn good for an air rifle.

I guess the pellet goes in a huge parabolic loop to get there.

So it is possible then to shoot things at 100+ m I guess.

But how do you know the elevation setting for a given distance?
 
The European spring air rifles are very accurate. You just have to guess at the hold over. As was said earlier, it's a bunch, but plugging a bird at 150 yds is doable.

Tony
 
Common knowledge says that a pellet from a typical airgun won't travel more than 400 meters.

Also, the trajectory is very pronounced past 60-70 yards for even a high-powered traditional airgun which means that you must know the range VERY precisely and be familiar with the trajectory of your airgun.

If you know the range and trajectory and there's no wind, you should be able to make hits at pretty long range. The adjustment of your sights or scope will probably top out at some point which will limit your range in that respect as well.

Of course, on the other hand, there are airguns which operate from precharged tanks of high-pressure air and fire projectiles of caliber 9mm and larger which can surpass the above numbers. IMO, these really take you out of the traditional realm of "airgunning" and into performance which plays around at the bottom end of firearm performance. They also don't enjoy two of the main benefits of airguns since they are VERY loud and aren't really safe to shoot in your backyard or garage.
 
I have shot .177 RWS spring piston air rifles my whole life, and I have made a couple of really long shots, but the longest shot I've ever seen was made with a Sheridan .20 pump, with a peep sight. I bet my friend $100 that he couldnt hit a blackbird that was AT LEAST 100 yards away on a powerline; it was across a major 6 lane road, across 2 alleys, and 5 houses down. He aimed, pow,.......... SMACK! It dropped, along with my jaw. I immediatly used the "no handshake, no deal" defense to save my $100 bucks.
 
Trying not to brag, but I shot a crow dead with a Daisy Red Ryder .177 BB gun:

He sat atop one of the galvanized steel high-tension towers that became prevalent in my part of North Texas. Had to be at *least* 120 feet almost straight up and 30 yards out. No wind that I remember. Got the kill the day (night)I got the gun, on my 10th birthday. Bird tumbled off the tower without a sound. I (as well as my buddies) were slack-jawed. Oh, and the shot was at night. :) Iron sights, of course, and made with a stock Daisy BB that came in the "Treasure Chest" with about 50 packs of cellophane-wrapped 50 BBs per pack. BB never exited the bird, all I ever saw was bright red blood bubbling out of the chest area.

Best shot I have made before or since. :)

Slammr
 
I have a...

Beeman-Webley Vulcan spring-piston air rifle in .22 cal...

small game killing range? 50 yards, MAX, even WITH the micrometer adjustable sights...

beer can range at the gravelpit? IF I care to keep trying, I HAVE figured holdover at 100 yds, AND it penetrates and exits the beer can..

but, I suspect you are REALLY stretching the barrel, and not getting much expansion out of that pellet... since at 50 yda, the exit hole on a tin can is fairly large, but at 100, it's 2 small holes, 1 in, and 1 out...
 
Are we talking scoped air rifles? because scopes do help a lot in range.

And what do you guys recon is the best caliber for long range shots?

.177, .20, .22, .25?
 
.177 is flatter shooting, .20 combines flatter shooting with knock down power, .22 has alot of knock down power, and .25, must have hecka-of-alot of knock down power, I would love to see a black bird hit at 15 yards with one:D The longest shot on a black bird now for me was around maybe 60 yards, had to hold low with my Benjiman for that. Got it a few days ago. Forgot to add that.
Does anybody else have over penetration for .177 at around 10-15 yards, and have the bird still be alive all well flying off with the other barf birds? Also, has anybody ever killed a bird that had orange blood. I think I will stop typing now...
 
I have a Farco air shotgun which will put a .433 ball out at 100 yards. Unfortunately, since it is a smoothbore, barn sized targets are preferred over stationary game.
 
And what do you guys recon is the best caliber for long range shots?
Click to expand...

It depends on the gun. If the gun has the power to handle it, go with the larger calibers. But don't go overboard.

My personal rule of thumb.

Choose the caliber that will allow the gun to launch the pellet you are interested in at 750-850 fps. That's just a range that makes sense to me--some people are very happy with lower velocities. You don't want to get close to 1,000fps because pellets get unstable around the sound barrier resulting in poor accuracy. Also note that I mentioned that you should base your choice on the velocity of the specific pellet your are interested in. For example--The advertised velocity of a Beeman R1 in .20 caliber is 860 fps. That's measured using a very light pellet. The Crow Magnum pellet exits the same gun around 740fps--it's heavier.

That means for the Beeman R1, IMO, the .20 is the best choice for most pellets.

For more powerful guns like the Beeman Kodiak/Webley Patriot, you probably want to step up at least to the .22 and maybe the .25.

If you stretch the gun by getting it chambered in too large a caliber you will pay the penalty in the trajectory department.
 
Dove @ about 60 yards. First shot, I aimed at his head & *saw* the pellet (in the scope) pass exactly one bird below his feet. Aimed one bird over his head with the second shot & blew him right outta his feathers :)
 
Good points JohnKsa. They makes sense to me.

Basically choose the largest caliber for about 700-850 fps or so.

That agrees with my decision to go for the Beeman R9 .20 caliber that shoots at about 800 fps.

Fastforty, the bird did not realize what was going on in the first shot? :eek:


And one question for you guys. How would you go about estimating range?

This is how they do it in FTS:

Why do FT shooters use high magnification scopes?

The high magnification allows the shooter to use the adjustable objective to rangefind. Range finding is the act of determining the distance to the target. The distance can be estimated by eye but using the adjustable objective can most times estimate the distance with in a yard of the actual distance. Knowing the distance to the target is key to scoring a hit. The higher the magnification scopes give more precise range finding capabilities. The scope must have very good clarity at the higher magnification to get the best rangefinding capabilities.

How do you Rangefind with a scope?

Range finding with a scope consists of adjusting the objective on the scope until the target is in perfect focus. The distance is then read from the objective bell. Most FT shooters don't rely on the factory yardage marking on the scopes. They calibrate their scopes by actually focusing on targets at every distance and then mark that distance on the scope objective bell.
Click to expand...

Anyone tried this technique?
 
The Red Rider series had a lot of power behind it. When I was younger, I did the stupid thing I did as a kid, maybe one of the supidest things. I shot my best friend in the chest with one. It was loaded with a finishing nail. Nail went all the way in and lodged itself in bone. He had to get some quick surgery to remove it. Stupid things we do as kids.
 
Smitty, Smitty, Smitty.... That was pretty stupid. One of my friends shot me in the side of my chest once, he used one of them Daisy grizzlies, luckly it wasn't powerful. When I got hit I swung around in a 180 degree circle and saw him there, I already had my barrel adjusted on him, good thing I had my finger out of the trigger.


Lets hear some stupid stories as what you guys/gals did as kids with bb/pellet guns.

Mine were: Shooting at a bucket, missed it and hit a small pvc pipe for water, shooting a heat lamp for chickens, shooting a light (it still works), and when I shot straight through a tin sign and the pellet went flying right in front of a goat. Oh forgot some, shooting a black bird when my neighbor was walking and he saw that and he caled the police (not for the bird, but for me "intentionally shooting at him," hey, I didn't, if I did he would be dead now) and accidently chasing a wounded black bird on his property. Ahhhh... Memories:rolleyes:
 
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