Is this crazy thinking???

M

microman

New member
Well, the other night I was strolling through Walmart and decided
to take a short trip by the sporting goods counter to check ammo
prices and look at some of the long guns they have on display and
then I spot this below.

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The Beretta Elite II .177 BB $54.95

Caliber: .177
Ammunition type: BBs
Velocity: 480 fps
Power supply: 12-gram CO2

So, I thought to myself.. as a boy I had a air rifle as my first
gun, learned how to shoot this way and was actually a great
shot with it. Thought why not get a air pistol to practice outside
in the back yard??

No range fee's, Save lot's of gas and can practice pretty much anytime
I feel like it. Would even be cheaper than my .22 :D

I would in no way give up shooting "real" guns but, can see where this
would be a fun cheap way to add some extra trigger time. I am sure the
accuracy is probably not the best. Might be fun though.

Is this crazy?
 
Makes perfect sense. Have fun. We have 5 airguns here of various types and function. The most powerful will launch a .177 pellet at 1,200 fps. They are all great fun and help hone marksmanship skills for the boys and I.
 
If it will help you practice trigger control and sight picture, as well as letting you make tin cans dance, then I'd say it was a pretty good deal.
 
IMhO it's a great idea. If you're 'serious' about practicing, that is, you concentrate on your sight alignment, trigger squeeze, etc. I think it would give you a LOT of help.

As for missing the recoil and noise, think of all the really good shooters that will tell you dry firing is good practice.
 
I think it's a great idea. You might want to check your local ordnances before shooting it outdoors in your backyard. Most basements have enough room for a small indoor airgun range. You could learn to shoot under a various lighting conditions also whenever you wanted. Nothing wrong with learning sighting and trigger control without recoil as long as you still shoot live ammo also when you can. Anyone here that has taken martial arts has learned by doing kata's seperate from actual sparing. As much as you can practice sighting and trigger control the more natural it comes to you under live fire.
 
As these guys have stated, there's no way this gun can preplicate a true handgun's recoil...even that of a .22.;)
However, depending on the size of your back yard...
:D
I have a CO2 powered Colt .357 revolver patterned after a Python...okay, it's really a .177 pellet gun powered by a CO2 cartridge insert, but it offers it's own fun nonetheless. I have both 6 & 10 shot cylinder inserts. One CO2 cartridge will easily feed all shown + more reloads...
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You won't get practice with recoil control, but it is good for learning trigger control and sight focus. It's at least as effective as dry-fire practice and generally a lot more fun.
 
You won't get practice with recoil control, but it is good for learning trigger control and sight focus. It's at least as effective as dry-fire practice and generally a lot more fun.
Click to expand...

What he said. Though I would recommend you visit Pyramid Air and see what's out there.

My favorite "air practice" pistols are the Crosman 357 (mentioned earlier) and the Crosman 2240.

The 357 is just fantastic. The 2240 has a horrible rear sight but a very nice trigger and is accurate as heck! Shooting these has helped a lot with my bullseye scores.
 
Accuracy is accuracy is accuracy. It's not perfectly transferable from gun to gun to gun, but much more is transferable than many novice and interemediate shooters are aware.

Am I trying to set myself up as an expert?

Nope. I'm an intermediate, might have been expert shooter who learned early on to listen to the experts and follow their lead. My scores underwent a noticeable improvement when I followed their advice and started dry-shooting every evening. The underwent an even greater improvement when I followed their advice and started shooting air pistol every evening. For the record: they suggested I keep shooting and work on hand and wrist strength in spite of arthritis, but I took aspirin and kept banging away at the keyboard. Many books, but targets I'd be embarrassed to show you.

As long as you're practicing the right things, all practice is good practice.
 
I learned to shoot handguns with a 22... that said I did learn to shoot rifles with a lever action BB gun.

I can see the value of the BB/pellet gun for learning the basics of a fire-arm they are also good for taking care of small pests quietly.
 
It depends on the quality of the pistol in my opinion. There are some very good air pistols out there, some that purposely mimic the heft and feel of larger caliber guns, even so far as having DA/SA triggers and working actions. S&W 586-4 CO2 revolver air pistol is a high-quality steel revolver, with the heft and feel of S&W 4" pistols. It is great for learning, practicing fundamentals.


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http://www.airgunwarehouseinc.com/py-114.html

I have a cheap Crossman 1377C / PC77 that I have fun shooting, but the sights are cheap and it's a lot of work zeroing it in. I wish I'd just taken the money I spent on it and put it toward a better air pistol. Later I did get a Benjamin / Sheridan Blue Streak.

Still, I've put it to good use. My mom had a $60 bird feeder for the Cardinals and a squirrel was intent on destroying it till I put a .177 lead bullet in his brain pan with the Crossman. It's not as accurate as I'd like but it's accurate enough for a head shot on a squirrel at 12 meters.

I find I can practice shooting fundamentals with air pistols and air rifles. If I get sloppy about breathing, or trigger control - it shows.

Also, I don't have to spend a whole lot of money at a range. I have a pellet trap in my basement and I can practice for an hour and only spend about 50¢
 
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Good practice or not, it looks likes something you could use to have fun! Just enjoy the thing. It's okay to a FUN while shooting.
 
We have 2 BB rifles here that I use to teach my boys with. They practice pretty regularly and are getting quite good with them. I have also been known to practice with the larger of the 2 rifles when I can't take the time to get to the range. I have noticed since I began this pratice that my rifle shooting is getting better especially with Iron sights. I agree that it won't replicate the recoil of a centerfire handgun, but it will allow you to practice trigger control and sight alignment any time you like.

Stu
 
I started out with a Daisy air rifle. My first rifle.

I have a Daisy Air Rifle and Air Pistol that I still have entered into a few military postal matches and won a few awards with those things. To hit tagets with them you still have to use basic marksmanship skills and principles that will work with anything.

We even had little silhoutte targets made for 10 meters like the 25 Meter qualification targets and a zero target lie the regular zero target used for the A1 and A2. We used these at unit marksmanship training along with the Daisy Model 853.

I still have my Daisy Model 853. I need to break that thing out and start using it in my back yard again.
 
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