The Airgun Thread

[awp101]

Saturday our club hosted an airgun show. American Airgunner was there and everything! This was my first exposure to any kind of large scale airgun activity and anything other than a Crosman 760 or springer break barrel and I'm pretty interested now.

I thought there might be others here that are either into airguns or like me, interested but haven't taken a serious look into them yet. I figured why not start a thread for information and pics?

I'd like to hear from the experienced airgunners and if anyone has questions feel free to ask so have at it!

[kings6]

My experience is limited to my Beeman Hurricane and Tempest pistols but I go borrow a friends Rrmington 1200 when I run the air gun range for the church father/son day. This rifle really shoots hard and in fact shoots clear through 1/2"
Plywood. I have customers who shoot the refillable reservoir type air rifles and they are scary accurate and powerful.

[AxeHandle]

Pocket pool shooters like those pellet guns. International competition is dominated by air pistols and air rifles. For their intended range, 10 Meters, they are the most accurate guns on the planet. Current state of the art guns run on compressed air. My mid 80s CO2 gun can provide 200 match grade shots with one liquid CO2 cylinder fill. The x ring on the 10 meter pistol target is smaller than the head of the pellet. The guns can sick the pellets all in the same hole.

[Otony]

I don't have any match airguns, but I have a fair number of "adult" airguns!

My two favorites are an English market Air Arms S400K in .22 that has been customized for "different" performance (read: better AND more versatile), and a Crosman 1720T .177 to which I've added an AR stock and a compact scope. Both of these are PCP, pre-charged-pneumatic, operating at 3000psi.

There are nine other airguns in the safe, all of which get regular exercise. Around here, the most fun tends to be using the English bell target I built. Take a fire alarm bell, the red, bowl shaped variety. Mount it to a sturdy base using an L-shaped bracket. It needs to be a bit loose on the bracket for a truly satisfying ring. Now, construct a barrier in front of the bell with a small hole through which you shoot your pellets so as to hit the bell on the outer portion.....if successful, "DING"!

I used scap shelving material, and shield the front from errant pellets with a large washer. I've got room in my shop to set the target up at 10 meters, and place the whole target assembly inside an equally homemade pellet trap. It is a "ringing success" on a low temperature winter evening when we aren't too interested in playing outside. Believe it or not, in England, bell targets are found in pubs! You bring your rifle, or use the pub rifles, and enjoy hoisting a few whilst shooting! Think darts taken to another level, bell shooting has been around for many, many decades.

While I can't in good faith condone drinking and shooting, I have to applaud my British brothers that they still have that odd freedom left to them.

[BigBore44]

Otony
Id love to see a pic if that bell setup if not a hassle...?

Thnx
BB44

[Otony]

I copied it from this article. Forgot to mention the clapper, which is dumb really, as the first one I built I omitted the clapper and destroyed the bell in short order.

www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=466.0

For what it is worth, I ended screwing the base to a piece of 4x4. The target and trap sit on a bench in the shop.

Best not to shoot this with magnum class airguns!

[oregon45]

Both of my airguns are former match guns, a Feinwerkbau 300S rifle and a Feinwerkbau 90 pistol. What I like best about them, aside from their fantastic triggers and accuracy, is that the cocking effort on each is minimal. The 300S rifle cocks with 7lbs of force, the pistol cocks with about 12. Both are easy to shoot for long strings of fire. I ultimately sold my Air Arms TX200 because it was such a bear to cock; it was wonderfully accurate and powerful, but not fun to target shoot with.

[Rimfire69]

We have and shoot a good variety of powerful and not so powerful air rifles here, outdoor as well as indoor. I do not have, but would like a match grade air pistol to shoot indoor all winter, its a great way to get more trigger time.

[awp101]

Thanks for the responses so far!

This was a real eye opener for me and I'm really starting to look harder at at "adult airguns" to see what I would like and am willing to actually spend money on. I've got a Crosman 7600 (IIRC) that's the plastic replacement for my old pot-metal receiver 760 that wore out after 20-something years. I've also got a break barrel Ruger Airhawk that I picked up at a Cabela's return department 6 years ago or so and I doubt I've put 30 pellets through it.

After firing the .25 caliber AirForce Condor SS PCP and .45 caliber (350g, .457" cast slug!) AirForce Texan Big Bore Air Rifle I'm pretty sure I've been missing out on some fun!

Not my pics, but here's a thread with some pics of the day: www.network54.com/Forum/79537/message/1472355601/Texas+Airgun+Show+2016+in+Pictures...

[oregon45]

I'd budget for an airgun like I'd budget for a good centerfire or rimfire gun. You're going to shoot it alot--I've been shooting 100 pellets a night out of my FWB 90 air pistol on my back porch range, far more than I shoot almost any of my firearms. For a gun that will get used that often, it pays to spend the money to buy quality.

[rjm52]

I'm a .20/5mm "Enthusiast"...


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Bob