Looking for air rifle recommendations...

1

1stmar

New member
Im looking for an air rifle that will serve 2 purposes. Occasionally target shooting in my backyard ideally to distances of 50 yds with accuracy = to 1” and to dispatch chipmunks destroying my yard. I dont want to spend more than $300 total for rifle and scope. Im thinking a magnum springer in 22 is my best bet as the pcp seem to be too much once you factor in the tank.
Ive done some research but no first hamd experience. Three rifles im considering are the hatsan 95, hatsan 1000x and the benjamin rogue sbd. But open to all recommendations.
One other question, i have plenty of spare centerfire scopes. The reading i have done seems to imply you need an “air rifle” scope because of the way a springer recoils. Truth?

Thanks in advance
 
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I've got an Avanti 853 I can make you a deal on. I used it to teach my wife to shoot before she went to US Army Basic Training/OCS. My daughters then used it to lean shoot and I do some living room practice on rainy days.

It is a great little rifle. PM me if interested.

https://www.airgundepot.com/dy853.html
 
One other question, i have plenty of spare centerfire scopes. The reading i have done seems to imply you need an “air rifle” scope because of the way a springer recoils. Truth?
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True. The recoil is forward and backward. Believe it or not, scopes for Air Rifles are tougher than ones for "real" rifles.
 
Joining in, does anyone know of a good quality larger caliber air rifle that well made (preferred a tank filled type)

My wife would go shooting but only is interested in Air rifles ala the Louis and Clarke expedition.
 
Take a look at the Benjamin Titan GP nitro piston. Run ya $100. Comes with a scope.

RC20: By tank filled, i take that to mean PCP rifle.
I have had a Sam Yang .45 caliber rifle for years. It is a good shooter. I use .457 lead round balls from Hornady. 143 grains at 705 fps. The .22 and the .25 caliber versions are considerably faster....better than 900 fps for ten shots. Opening shots over 1000 fps.

The gun is now branded as the Seneca Big Bore 44 909 light hunter.
If you buy a tank, invest in a 4500 psi carbon fiber tank. $$$$ but well worth the money since you get more high pressure fills than you will from a 3kpsi Scuba tank.
 
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Thank you. Very helpful. How much recoil do they have? 410 like or more?

I do have a 81 CF tank, I believe it packs 3000 psi vs the 72 that took 2600.
 
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How about an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two Hundred Shot Range Model Air Rifle, I guess that 50 yard requirement takes the Red Ryder off the table....but they sure are fun. Line up our green plastic toy army soldiers as targets ! Oh yeah...total boy fun !
Gary
 
1 inch at 50 yards with a spring Gun, you better be ON YOUR GAME.

I have some VERY nice spring rifles and 50 yards is challenging.
 
Recoil...shooting the 45 and 50 calibers. Yes, there is recoil, probably less than a .410. The guns are also LOUD.
The reason for suggesting a 4500 psi tank as opposed to the 3000 psi tank is that with the 3kpsi tank, you get only one refill at 3kpsi. Every fill sfter that is less than optimal. Still, an 80cf tank will give a lot of shooting.
 
The Diana 52 side lever in .22. German made. Deadly accurate on pests. T06 Trigger is incredible. Deep rich blueing. Checkered beech stock. $500, but you get what you pay for in life. I briefly had the Diana 350 magnum, but it was too long, too hard to cock. The 52 side lever is almost as powerful, shorter and FAR easir to cock. The Diana's have a lifetime warranty. Grackles, crows, Raccoons, opossums, feral cats, squirrels, will be easily taken with well placed .22 pellets. Chipmunks too. On a budget... Benjamin 392 in .22. Well made and powerful, but requires multiple pumps.
 
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air rifle

Webly Scott .177 cal with vel at 1250f/s.

Incredible accuracy to 50 yds.

Goes for around $330.00

As others have mentioned, must use an air rifle sciope and not a "regular" rifle scope due to particular recoil pattern of air rifles.
 
i wouldn't even think about using a .177 for any sort of pest control any larger than a starling. The high power rifles won't even penetrate fully through a squirrel, and when you do get a decent shot, even a center chest shot, the things may not even register a hit. What do most people use on squirrel? .22 lr or shotgun. What do I consider to be minimum on personal experience? .22 cb from CCI. acorn caps will do. .22 with flat point bullets? the absolute minimum.

Maybe fifteen years ago, I nailed one with my .177, he dropped to the branch that he was on, landed flat on his belly. I put one round after another into him, all he did was twitch. I gave up, I figured he was up there until he completely decomposed.

My daughter's boyfriend called several hours later, I was working outside and she was with me. When that moron started leaving his message, the phone could be heard outside. That squirrel fell after duane got only a few words out.

He was still alive, and I had to put a brain shot through his head.

I pity him. Her boyfriend makes me want to jump off of a tall place too.

True story. I never fired a .177 at any living thing again.
 
i wouldn't even think about using a .177 for any sort of pest control any larger than a starling. The high power rifles won't even penetrate fully through a squirrel, and when you do get a decent shot, even a center chest shot, the things may not even register a hit.
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I'll disagree with that. When I was a kid back in the late 60's and 70's, I killed MANY squirrels cleanly with a Crosman 760 .177 pump. Modern air/spring rifles are much faster (almost twice as fast) than that old 760 so I would definitely feel confident shooting squirrels with one.
 
Disagree if you want. I don't believe that you killed even a majority of the ones that you hit unless you brain or hears shot them. Brain and heart are both hard to achieve with iron sights. If a person can't drop a fully grown gray squirrel out of a tree nearly every time with a good shot to the chest, it's not good enough. I used a 1,000 fps spring and another high velocity pump, a crossman, a sheridan, and never, with all of the necropsy examinations that I performed did I find any sort of damage. I only shot for center chest, and no, I am not basing this on any ones that I missed. Obviously a gut shot isn't going to disable a squirrel to the point that it will be knocked down and stopped.

Maybe I should have referred to medium to high power when discussing full penetration, and adding that penetrating bullets are different, but I don't like needle pointed bullets, and a through and through shot isn't good enough if it doesn't do any damage on the way through, just slipping through tissues and gliding over bones.

"Many" is not good enough. I never shot at one unless my dog was there waiting. A falling squirrel was a toy.
 
At my old house I was overan with squirrels. I had the only pecan tree in several hundred yards that I know of. I killed 200+ squirrels before I stopped counting. Nearly all of them with a Sheridan 20 caliber and then later with a Crosman 22 and I never used more than 5 pumps in either gun. A few were killed with CB 22s. The Aquilla powderless loads are worthless for squirrels. They work on rats when using a pistol but a rifle slows them down too much and will sometimes stick in the bore. How do you think I got my name "ratshooter".

Now where I live I have no squirrels but do have a Beeman 177/22 springer I bought at Walmart for around $130 several years ago. Its the first 177 rifle I have ever owned. I never liked the small bore and thought it was useless.

But at 25 yards it will put a 177 pellet through a piece of 7/16" wafer board and halfway into the Cedar wood fence behind it. The 22s hit even harder. Its an impressive rifle.

Will it stay in one inch at 50 yards? I don't think so. Not with open sights anyway. And it did come with a 4x power scope but I just use the open sights. I can shoot a 6oz tomato sauce can to pieces at 30 yards though. I was I had a few squirrels to try it out on.:mad:
 
I have a Benjamin NP .177 supposedly making up to 1000fps. It came with an absolute trash scope and gives only mediocre accuracy. After swapping scopes twice, I tried 6 or 8 brands/shapes/types of pellet w/o finding any that produce the accuracy I was expecting. Hitting anything smaller that a 12" circle @ 50 yards would be outright luck.
I was looking for a pellet rifle that would allow me to kill starlings @ 25 yards but this isn't the solution.
 
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i wouldn't even think about using a .177 for any sort of pest control any larger than a starling. The high power rifles won't even penetrate fully through a squirrel, and when you do get a decent shot, even a center chest shot, the things may not even register a hit.
I'll disagree with that. When I was a kid back in the late 60's and 70's, I killed MANY squirrels cleanly with a Crosman 760 .177 pump. Modern air/spring rifles are much faster (almost twice as fast) than that old 760 so I would definitely feel confident shooting squirrels with one.
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So will I. Have killed many a squirrel and a few rabbits with my RWS Model 34 in .177. Over 1000fps, use the right pellet and DRT when you do your part.
 
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