Air rifles? Anyone into air rifle shooting?

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Airsoft-Ed

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I've just been watching some videos on youtube of hunting and target shooting with air rifles at ranges up to about 170 yards and I think it looks awesome, though I'm not sure how I'd feel about killing things... I've always thought that the most satisfying thing about hitting a target is having to take things into consideration that might make you miss and then adjusting for it. That takes skill and it's the skill learning process that attracts me. I love sniping on games when there's wind and gravity for example.

Learning how to adjust for wind and gravity etc at those ranges is just my cup of tea, so I'm just wondering if anyone's already into it? Are you any good?

...Can you teach me? Lol.

I feel that it's a bit like sniping in the military, but scaled down to something I would actually be able to take part in without the risk of being killed.

I've had an air rifle for about 6 years now but it's knackered, needs a new spring, it only shot at about 600fps with a .177 so it's sort of lame.

So does anyone do stuff like this? Air rifles at range, .22 rim fire outdoors, or even full bore at crazy ranges like 500 yards? I'd like to get into the sport if anyone can help me out.

...Might need a job first though, eh? Lol.

 
Airsoft-Ed said:
I've just been watching some videos on youtube of hunting and target shooting with air rifles at ranges up to about 170 yards and I think it looks awesome, though I'm not sure how I'd feel about killing things... I've always thought that the most satisfying thing about hitting a target is having to take things into consideration that might make you miss and then adjusting for it. That takes skill and it's the skill learning process that attracts me. I love sniping on games when there's wind and gravity for example.
Learning how to adjust for wind and gravity etc at those ranges is just my cup of tea, so I'm just wondering if anyone's already into it? Are you any good?

...Can you teach me? Lol.

I feel that it's a bit like sniping in the military, but scaled down to something I would actually be able to take part in without the risk of being killed.

I've had an air rifle for about 6 years now but it's knackered, needs a new spring, it only shot at about 600fps with a .177 so it's sort of lame.

So does anyone do stuff like this? Air rifles at range, .22 rim fire outdoors, or even full bore at crazy ranges like 500 yards? I'd like to get into the sport if anyone can help me out.

...Might need a job first though, eh? Lol.
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There are plenty of airgun mags in WHS if you want to see what's about. As regards range, any airgun will suffer a lot of pellet drop at much over 70 yards (heavier ammo that airsoft) so 170 yards is an unlikely range to shoot at. I had an Air Arms S400 pre-charged 0.177 until late 2010 and used to shoot at the local gun club range. 50 yards was the standard distance to shoot targets. Pre-charged = no recoil!!

For hunting, most knowledgable shooters wouldn't think about taking on a live target at much over 50 yards (usually 25-35 yards), as the kill zone is small (think rabbit head) and it's easy to wound rather than kill outright if you're not 100% accurate. Those who have an FAC rated airgun (above 12ft/lbs) might go for a bit longer range but you're still subject to wind, etc. and the additional hoops you have to jump through to get an FAC can make it not worthwhile

If you do want to get into airgun shooting, look on the net for details of your nearest / local gun club and go along for a look. Most shooters will let you look at what they have and may even let you try them. Clubs also usually have a few guns you can use to see it it's for you before you splash out on a gun for yourself. And if you think RIFs are expensive, wait until you see the prices of some of the top end competition guns. You'll need two jobs to pay for those.

Mike

 
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The videos I was watching were in the US, I think he had .25 pellets as well, do they have different laws out there regarding air guns? I'm guessing yes as I've seen videos of a .45 air rifle that can shoot through concrete...

I think we're limited to 12ft/lbs right? I imagine the guy I was watching must've had something a fair bit more powerful than that. His gun was shooting at over 900fps.

This guy can hit a coke can at 150 yards with a less than 12ft/lbs .22 rifle, that's pretty impressive.


But it's that kinda thing I want to do.

Just find somewhere outdoors I can shoot, stand targets a mile away and then just practice practice practice, maybe download some sort of ballistic trajectory software or something.

Edit: Just found out the guy I was watching when I originally posted this thread is using a 25ft/lbs rifle lol, he can pierce both sides of a coke can at 170 yards.

I also found another video of a guy shooting a metal sheet at 300 yards with a modified PCP rifle, it's pretty mad.

 
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A 25ft/lb air rifle on 0.25 is going to have a hell of a lot of kinnetic energy in the pellet, so yes it's easily possible, but accuracy is something else. Hitting a metal sheet at that range isn't impossible for an FAC rated gun; hitting the head of a rabbit is, so you just don't hunt with air powered rifles at those ranges.

At the level of power you are allowed in the UK (yes, the US have different laws - they can easily own real guns, so air weapons are toys to them) you would have to aim way above the target to get any chance of a hit, or you set the scope so that it's almost useless at normal ranges.

There are sites out there dedicated to airguns (try: http://www.airgunbbs.com) but a gun club is always going to be your best bet. Get out there and give it as try. If you want to go for targets at range, a PCP in 0.177 will give a flatter, more precise trajectory but less "stopping" power. A 0.22 is more of a looping shot due to the greater weight and slower pellet speed.

Spring guns of both calibres are OK, usually cheaper and you don't need a pump or a dive bottle to charge them, but suffer recoil and are harder to set up accurately and you'll use up loads of pellets trying to get the scope settled for those long distance shots. My favourite was spinning a small bulldog clip attached to a metal rod set at 50 mtrs on our outdoor range. Even with a x24 scope it was a small target but very satisfying when you hit it, especially on a slightly windy day when you had to guess the aim-off to hit it.

Mike

 
As you can probably see by my youtube channel I do quite a bit with air rifles.

when it comes to target shooting and zeroing etc I'm not great as I have an Aimpoint on my air rifle but if you have a decent PCP or CO2 air rifle you can kill something from max 70yards but more like 50 normally.

anything else let me know

 
I'm thinking of getting a 12ft/lbs PCP rifle in .22 when I've read up more on what the best ones available are. How much would I be looking at spending for something decent? Any recommendations?

There's a gun shop next to Uni and I regularly go in to talk to the guy about stuff, so I'm sure he'll help. Last time I showed an interest in air rifles he let me have a go with 3 in the back of the shop lol, one was a pretty nice .22 lever action rifle, it felt pretty beastly.

I don't intend to hunt, just shoot at targets at long range. I've seen sub 12ft/lbs rifles reach out to 200m on youtube.

In airsofting, heavier ammo is more accurate, is that true of air rifles? Will a .22 be more accurate than a .177, or will the .177's increased velocity cancel out the fact that it might drift more from wind?

What's your rifle, Nick? What's the velocity, calibre, pellet weight, energy output etc? If you know it.

Also, if shooting air rifles at stationary targets at range is a sport in its own right, does it have a name, or is it just, "Air rifle shooting at range"? Lol.

 
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For a decent new PCP you're looking at probably upwards of £450, plus either a pump or dive bottle to charge it. A 300ft/lbs dive bottle will cost around £175 but only a few £s to recharge it at a dive shop when it drops below about 150ft/lbs of pressure, as miost PCP's need about 190 / 200 ft/lbs to recharge them to normal pressure.

You'll also need a decent scope and mounts, so looking for an inclusive deal can save you money. Take a look at Airgun World or Airgunner mags to see some of the ads they run to com pare what your local shop has to offer.

If new is too much, look at second-hand deals in the local gun shop or on the various forums, although be aware that airgun sales now need to be "face to face", so the days of ordering from the web and having it delivered by post are gone, although some gun shops will do a delivery and collect service for a fee.

As regards calibre, you'll find most target shooters will plump for 0.177 over 0.22 due to the flatter trajectory. 0.22 has a much more pronounced curve to the flight of the pellet but more "stopping" power but if you just want to punch as hole in a paper tartget then stopping power isn't important.

 
Airsoft-Ed said:
What's your rifle, Nick? What's the velocity, calibre, pellet weight, energy output etc? If you know it.
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Mine is a Umarex 850 Airmagnum CO2 (would have know that if you watch my videos :D ), cost me £300 second hand, and for what i do its fine. Never had it measured but on a new CO2 canister it'll be up at 12ft/lb. Its a .22, never like .177 much don't get enough power in my mind :D oh and i couldn't lett you pellet weight cuz i use aboiut 5 different types :) my lightest are my hollow tip hunting pointed ones designed for hunting on my heaviest are my domed field target pellets which have a solid leab tip

Hope this helps :)

 
Since there's been the "CO2 is unreliable and temperature dependant" debate on here before regarding airsoft guns, do air rifles have the same problems?

Is PCP basically like a HPA rig? Or am I totally not getting it? Lol. Also, if you pump the air into it yourself, can you theoretically set the power at whatever you want?

I basically just want a PCP .22, full power that'll be able to put a shot through the same hole at 20m. Anyone have any recommendations? What are the good air gun brands?

Thanks for the help guys.

 
I've never noticed anything with the temp on my gun,

oh and basically PCP is compressed air which is why you use a diver bottle and you can give it a high pressure but the max pressure will be about 12ft/lb as any higher is illegal, over if its only 20m you're shooting my might as well get a CO2 or even spring as PCps are very expensive

 
Well my garden is 20m so I want it to be pin point accurate at that range.

I intend to travel further afield. There's an outdoor public range in Renishaw, I've been before.

 
I once saw my friend shoot a 10p coin at about 100 yards. Pretty epic

 
im quite into air rifle shooting albeit the rifle we have has such a hard trigger pull and amount of recoil from the piston slamming forward you have to be quite lucky to hit anything XD i made this video ages ago when i was really bored, nothing special and most shots were only from around 40m or so.

i also go to a .22 rifle club ( not air rifles ) and enjoy that much more due to the incredibly light trigger pull. Its not a profitable club, more for fun so its only £1 for 10 shots at 25m. i also enjoy clay pigeon shooting however recently i have became terrible at it :( i used to average around 15 or 16 out of 25 which wasnt even very good, but recently im lucky to hit 3 or 4 lol!
 
Is that a FAC .22 air rifle? I'm quite surprised it managed to pierce both sides of a pressurised can.

I've been clay shooting about 3 times, only ever missed about 3 targets at the most. Last time I went was at Centreparcs and we finished with a 10 shot tournament - whoever hit the most in 5 pulls of 2 clays was the winner. I only missed 1! The instructor thought I was a mole from another club lol.

 
Airsoft-Ed said:
Is that a FAC .22 air rifle? I'm quite surprised it managed to pierce both sides of a pressurised can.

I've been clay shooting about 3 times, only ever missed about 3 targets at the most. Last time I went was at Centreparcs and we finished with a 10 shot tournament - whoever hit the most in 5 pulls of 2 clays was the winner. I only missed 1! The instructor thought I was a mole from another club lol.
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Its not an FAC.... i hope XD We were given it for free when i sold an old fishing reel for the owner one eBay for £250 when he was hoping for around 20 quid lol. He bought it online before that was banned a few years ago so its definately not an FAC, to be honest i always that it was lacking in power lol! i had to scrub it for about an hour with steel wool to get most of the rust off :P we barely use the air rifle anymore and the scope that came with it is now fitted to my airsoft gun. :)

as for the clay pigeon shooting i only started a couple months ago and i think the fact that it has been so windy down here recently has put me off, however i have always done my best when it came to doubles. They way we do it is we stand on an old base from an old ww2 gun hut and we stand in a line of 5 and then take it in turns to shoot first at one clay, then we all move along one place and keep doing so untill you have done 5 shots/attempts at hitting one clay, and we then repeat that except you got two attemps ( they throw one clay you then hit/miss and then they do another then once everybody has done that you move one place along ) and then we go onto doubles which is like the first method mentioned except of course there are two clays being thrown. so whats been happening the past few weeks is i miss almost all the singles and then get most of the doubles lol. ( i dont blame you if you dont understand any of that, im not very good at explaining things and have made it sounds way more complicated than it is XD ) hopefully if i start to get better again then i may get my own shotgun license an start going to competitions but i doubt that will be any time soon lol.

 
Do various shooting through cadets, shot a .22 rimfire rifle, a semi-only L85A2 (the L98A2) and did a course on a 7.62mm target rifle earlier this month. Did pretty well in the range, 300m out and 4/7 shots hit the round on the target! Would've done better if it wasn't -3 and I could actually feel the trigger (not allowed to wear a glove on the trigger hand)

 
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