Air Rifle? (Gamo Pro Fusion)

[JimBianchi]

http://www.airgunsdaily.com/

Todays (4/26/13) deal is a .22 breakbarrel.

Uses the newest nitro piston and comes with a decent scope. It will put a raccoon down with a headshot out to 30 or so yards. And the nitro piston is very quiet as compared to a spring powered gun of the same power level.

$119 is a good deal.

[mr surveyor]

some day, in the not too distant future, y'all will find that grilled **** is on of the delicacies of nature

edit to add: I can't believe that I have to type out raccoon ... un frickinn believable

[Popeye]

With all these links. I think I need to research this a little more before I buy and air rifle. Thanks guys.

[K9_Two_Tone]

If you are interested in air rifles, check out the Yellow Forum. A number of members have hunted raccoons. Some are more accurate than 22 LR's, and can easily place 5 shots into a single hole. The key to airguns is energy, not necessarily velocity.

Airgun makers often target people with firearm backgrounds, thus manufacturers advertise velocity (feet per second). This is only partially correct. If a company advertises an airgun that shoots at 1200 fps, run away - fast. One, the claim is probably not true, and if it is true that velocity was only achieved with very light useless pellets. The design and shape of pellets is like a badmitton shuttlecock. As pellets near the sound barrier, they become very inaccurate. If they break the sound barrier (both on the way through and on the way back down), the pellets tumble and spray all over the place. The sweet spot is usually up to about 90% of the sound barrier. How does one get there? If one has a very powerful airgun, you shoot heavier pellets to reduce the velocity into the sweet spot. Airguns are even more fussy than firearms about ammunition, so experiment with different brands and weights of pellets.

If you are concerned about noise, some airguns have built in shrouds that muffle an air rifle's report to what some Yellow Forum members describe as "mouse fart quiet". Think of a suppressor that's built into and surrounding the barrel.

From the front, raccoons have a hard slope-shaped skull, so the successful airgun hunters will trace an imaginary line from the ear to the eye and aim for that.

Finally airguns are really fun because they are so accurate, and there is NO artificial shortage of ammunition!!!

Good luck.

[mr surveyor]

what would be a good air gun to shoot both pellets and plain BB's? I usually have 3-4 cans of BB's on hand.

[K9_Two_Tone]

Mr. Surveyor - A precision airgun should never have steel bb's shot through them. Compared to firearm rifling, airgun rifling is much more delicate. Steel bb's would damage the rifling beyond repair.

If you have an opportunity to try an upper level rifle, you will find that with practice, 5 shot, 50 yard groups smaller than .25 ctc are not difficult. (Also assuming no wind!!!) Great fun and no cleaning required when you are finished for the day.

[mr surveyor]

I can appreciate the "precision" factor .... if target/competition is your forte'

I want full fledged utility/versatility.

I understand the issue with "steel" BB's, but what about the copper plated BB's?

Just something that can pop a pigeon off a power line is all I'm looking for

[K9_Two_Tone]

Mr. Surveyor - I don't think I can help. I suspect today's airgun rifles are much different than when you and I were kids. Steel and copper bb's use smooth bore barrels and most adult airguns use rifled barrels. For such air rifles, the even the bb's are lead and are sometimes called "Rounds".

I have never competed, but there is something appealing about accurate air rifles and firearms that make them irresistible. It's fun to challenge one's self to see how small your groups can be. My smallest have been 5-shot 25 yard groups that are not much bigger than a single pellet hole. Those have been rare, but sure are fun when it happens.

FYI - I use either Leupold 6.5-20X40 or Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24X40 scopes so I can see the holes appearing on 50 yard targets. I think other air rifle enthusiasts may use similar setups. If we were hunting squirrels, rats, pigeons, starlings or raccoons, the pests would be in serious trouble!!!

[Da Burger]

Finally a topic I have some experience in. I own 6 different air guns all long guns and have shot tree rats at 100 yrds and armadillos at 50. co2 is about useless for anything but paper, springers are good but take practise because of the recoil being forward and reverse, gas pistons are better than springers but more expensive, by far pcp ( precharged pneumatic ) is the better gun , and comes in semi auto, but more expensive and more accesories needed ( pump or tank and hose ). IMO a .22 or .25 pcp would be best for any varmit and will take any scope available. My advise is not to get into the hype with alloy pellets but stay with lead and heavy ( subsonic). Good luck on your choice and here is a link to an airgun forum.
http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php

[Robert777]

I have a RWS model 48 and it is awesome. Incredible accuracy and power, my only worry is when I'm shooting it in my small subdivision someone may not know what it is, since it looks like a high-powered rifle with the 3-9x40 hawke airmax scope on it.

[wyntrout]

An 800 fps .22 pellet gun would be better that a "hyper" .177 with the plastic pellets. All of those hyper-inflated velocities are only attainable with the PBA plastic pellets and highly suspect for small animal kills... especially something like a raccoon. Shot placement is critical for a quick kill on something bigger than a rat. Some wounded animals are VERY LOUD and sound like wounded children screaming... not for the squeamish!

Wynn

[chrish]

Da Burger,

So what's a good reasonably priced PCP semi auto gun?

I've run across a few in my research, but dude, I'm not paying 1500 or more for an air gun. If one were into it, its probably worth it, but I wouldn't mind having something that I could go to the range with to target shoot, out to 75-100 yards. Given the shortage of 22lr, what I've currently got stocked I'm gonna probably sit on until this frenzy is over. So a decent air rifle has become an interesting idea.

[JimBianchi]

IMO the best repeater for the money the Benjamin Marauder. It is a bolt action, semi-auto are out there and either grossly under powered or grossly over priced.

It is VERY quiet, very powerful, and less than $500.

Add a hand pump for $200 or so and your are golden.

I personally can't operate a hand pump for long, bad shoulder, so it would have to be a SCUBA tank for me.

[mr surveyor]

Mr. Surveyor - I don't think I can help. I suspect today's airgun rifles are much different than when you and I were kids. Steel and copper bb's use smooth bore barrels and most adult airguns use rifled barrels. For such air rifles, the even the bb's are lead and are sometimes called "Rounds".

I have never competed, but there is something appealing about accurate air rifles and firearms that make them irresistible. It's fun to challenge one's self to see how small your groups can be. My smallest have been 5-shot 25 yard groups that are not much bigger than a single pellet hole. Those have been rare, but sure are fun when it happens.

FYI - I use either Leupold 6.5-20X40 or Bushnell Elite 4200 6-24X40 scopes so I can see the holes appearing on 50 yard targets. I think other air rifle enthusiasts may use similar setups. If we were hunting squirrels, rats, pigeons, starlings or raccoons, the pests would be in serious trouble!!!

Thanks. That's the information I was looking for.

Now, how about cost and availability of pellets (per thousand costs)? I figure if I'm going strictly pellets, it's going to be .22 pellets.

I have seriously been considering an airgun for certain "needs" (should they arise).

surv

[mr surveyor]

no offense intended towards our normal chatter here at KT, but this has been the most interesting subject I've followed here in a long time.

I hope you guys in the know will keep talking