Rifle shopping: Need your advice

S

Silent Shadow

New member
Air Rifle shopping: Need your advice

Hi. First post :)

I am shopping for an air rifle and need some advice on the matter.

I'm buying the air rifle online from www.compasseco.com

I'm thinking of buying one of the following:

tf99.jpg


Tech Force 99 .177 cal, 1100 fps, with a 3-12x44 scope for $256

or

hunter220.gif


Gamo Hunter 220, .177 cal, 1000 fps, with 4x32 scope for $180


I was also considering the Gamo 890S or the 440 but they are not too different tha the cheaper 220.


I was debating several things here.

1) Price. My max budget is about $260 (and that's a pain too)

2) the power of the Scope. Variable or fixed? what power?

3) the caliber: 1000 fps .177 or a 750 fps .22 cal? what is better for longer range precision?

They say max range on these things are about 280-310 meter/yards

I've heard people say that I'm dreaming about such a range with an air rifle...

help! ;)

Silent Shadow
 
Last edited:
I tried a Tech Force 88. It was a piece of crap. I returned it. It was poorly made, extremely hard to load, and the velocity was nowhere near what they advertised.

I have a Gamo 440 Hunter right now. It's a much better rifle.
 
If you get a RWS, GAMO or Beeman you can't go wrong. I have a RWS 45 in .177 that is a great shooter. Just recently picked up a Winchester 722X in .22, it was fairly cheap but shoots fine.
The range you are looking at is maximum range, not max. effective range. Maximum range is how far the projectile can travel under ideal conditions (more of a safety thing). In other words if the maximum range on a pellet rifle is 310 meters then anyone within that range could be hit with the rifle held at the correct angle. Maximum effective range is how far a target may be hit with good effect and consistency. If I am shooting at cans my effective range is 50 yards. Now if I am trying to shoot a squirrel my range is closer to 25 yards. I want to be able to have enough power and penetration to get a clean kill. I may be able to hit a squirrel at 50 yards but I doubt the shot could cleanly kill it. Good luck. Joe
 
Yeah, well I've been hearing negative comments on the chinese made Tech Force air rifles, expecially concerning their safety and dependability.

Yes, Beeman, RWS and Gamo are the main air rifles I'm considering along with a couple british ones such as Air Arms and BSA.

I've finally decided on a scope to buy separately since the "combos" do not give good deals. And there is a specific scope I like which is the BSA AR 3-12x44 scope, very nice for about $85.

The guns I'm considering now are:

Gamo Hunter 220 ($150)
Gamo Hunter 440 ($180)
BSA Supersport mk2 Magnum Rifle ($195)

The RWS or Beeman rifles are more expensive for not that much difference in performance from what I see, so they are not in my list.


Ok, if anyone knows any other good air rifles for less than 200 bucks or knows some online store that sells at lower prices, I would appreciate it enormously.

Right now I don't see too much difference between the 220, 440 and the BSA rifles. So I'm leaning for the 220...but I'm still not sure...

once again any advice/experience appreicated


oh and one last question. What's better 1000fps .177 or a 750fps .22?
 
I bought the GAMO 220 in about 1996 and haven't had a problem yet. I thought about the Chinese stuff but passed. The rifle came with a cheap BSA 4X scope. It held a zero but was ditorterd around the edges. For $29 I got a 4X Simmons that is clear and works fine for plinking.
 
If your hunting game or pests, stick to the larger airgun calibers ie .20, .22, .25 -- the .177 runs out of steam quickly. The larger calibers also make more efficient use of the gun's power plant.

Velocity figures look impressive but remember this is with the lightest pellet on the gun's best day ever with some rounding up for marketing...
 
BSA over the Gammos

Well that's the way I'd go. Higher quality manu. and better luck finding airgunsmiths to tune or repair. I own several Beeman's myself but have had some time over my brother n law's SS. Shot nicely. When you scope it, be sure to spec an airgun scope. Double recoil on springers will eat up most rifle scopes. I've had good luck with B&L's - Banner or Trophy. Bad luck with one BSA scope - YMMV.

Fellow named Russ Best used to run a BSA Owners Club board. Run a search, he's very in the know on ag's.

Forget about 1000 fps guns if your interested in accuracy - think in terms of 700-850 fps for better flight stability. Bigger pellets sure kill more consistently if its small game you want. 4.5mm probably more accurate and greater variety of ag's in that cal.

I'd say effective range is in the 40 yd neighborhood for the guns your lo0king at. Don't worry too much, Buy one! if you like it, its like eatin' a potato chip - nobody can just eat one.

BTW, welcome to TFL!

Good shootin'
dog
 
I actually made a decision (subject to possible change obviously :D)

I've decided to go for the .20 cal Beeman R9 ($257) with one of the following scopes:

Bushnell 6-18x40 Trophy ($225)
Bushnell 6-18x50 Banner ($150)
Simmons 6-18x40 Pro-Air ($150)

Any comments on that choice?

Silent Shadow


PS: thanx for the welcome
 
Geat Choice on the R-9...

better than your earlier listed option IMHO. I've got one in .20 and I do love it. What kind of shooting do you think you'll mostly do? If it's mostly from bench or at paper targets a 6x18 will serve you just fine. But for hunting I'd suggest a little larger field of view, maybe 3x9 of 4x12. Tough to find a squirrel @ 6x...My $.02

In my experience the Banner optics are as good as the Trophy, also the 50mm objective will force you to go to high mounts, 40mm should work with medium. I've used Simmons on 22lr but not ag's. I guess I'd go with the Simmons of those you listed but I'd think twice about the magnification.

Congrats on your choice. Good shootin' and enjoy!
dog
 
The R9 was the most reasonable in terms of price. Moro so than the $450 R1 or $400+ R11.

I was interested in field target shooting, yet I don't know if it practiced anywhere in the local area where i live.

I'm thinking of joining the rifle club and shooting at the Armory (where they practice) with them for target shooting, or whatever they shoot in there.

So a 6x would be too much to get a squirrel? For field target shooting they use the scope as a range finder by adjusting the ojbective and reading off the yardage from it. So they use 6x18, 6x24, and fixed zoom 36x scopes.

I thought range finding using high power scopes would be useful.

But I migh think on the scope power.

Now, does anyone know of good online stores for Beemans and air gun scopes?

I've been looking all over the net for online store, yet the ones I found want you to print out their order form mail it to them and blah blah blah...anyone know of a good reliable gun store online from which I can buy the air rifle, pellets, scope etc?

thanx

Silent Shadow
 
Couple of places to start...

you might try airgunexpress.com or straightsooters.com, ss has a wealth of good data tabulated and a useful forum if I recall. Good guys to deal with too. I don't do FTS but you're on the right track as far as hi mag scopes for that sport. FWIW, none of my Bushnell optics are very accurate as range finding devices but the Trophy seems some better than Banner in that regard. Not sure .20cal is used in FTS. You may want to take another look at .177. Anyway, My advice is hunt for airgun forums on the net. There are a lot of serious shooter out there. You might try airgunforum.com. sorry I'm away from my home computer where URL's reside.

I can tell you may need multiple guns. Good searchin'
dog
 
Well, they say that the caliber of the gun is up to the shooter for FTS. I think I read that somwehre in the AAFTA home page.

As for straightshooter and airgunexpress, I've looked at both, and I would have bought from ss, but they currently don't have the .20 cal R9.

Plus, both sites don't have secure servers for online ordering...which Is how I wanted to order them...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top