Air Rifles - planning before purchase

Rimfire bolt action rifles, lever action, pump action and self loading rifles. Air rifles.

Air Rifles - planning before purchase

Post by bladeracer » 21 Feb 2018, 12:52 pm

With all the talk of air rifles lately it's hard to resist not adding some to the safe :-)

I shot air rifles competitively as a kid with PCYC in Perth (nearly forty years ago!). My first rifle was a Norinco break-barrel springer in .177", although I still struggle to call air rifles "rifles" :-)

I only used it for competition, for which it was eminently suited. Even when I moved to the country, I can't recall ever thinking of using it to hunt with. Perhaps if I'd come across a situation that was not suitable for one of my other firearms I might have considered it. I can't recall ever trying to put a scope on it either.

I can't see me having any interest in wanting to shoot competitively with an air rifle again though, so I'd just be looking for some fun plinking, and perhaps the occasional rat.

What are the things to consider nowadays when choosing an air rifle?

I guess the old springer-style has an advantage of exactly the same pressure with every shot?
I recall one kid had a side-lever springer that I thought was brilliant, but I don't think it performed quite up to scratch? The longer sight radius could've been advantageous over a break-barrel though.
Do all of the compressed-air designs suffer from reducing pressure with every shot or do some have means to mitigate that?
I imagine that semi-auto's have the same advantages as all semi-auto firearms, maintaining the same sight picture throughout a string, and being able to shoot strings quickly when the winds are steady?
I guess the compressed-air designs also dislike being kept in the safe for long periods under pressure? So you would have to charge the rifle every time you wanted to use it rather than simply take it from the safe, drop a pellet in, fire it, and throw it back in the safe?
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Re: Air Rifles - planning before purchase

Post by AusTac » 21 Feb 2018, 4:28 pm

I can't answer all your questions but i own a hw77 .177 which is a break under lever single shot, i did a fair bit of research before buying an am absolutely satisfied with what i got, i went the under lever because they're more accurate than break barrels as the barrels fixed in position like a traditional rifle, if i had the cash i'd also get a weihrauch hw100 pcp, but to set one up your looking at about 4g's with all the bits, mines scoped and smashes rabbits inside 40m, they're super accurate but finicky to shoot until you get used to it, mine will clover leaf every day of the week with h&n field target trophy, in my opinion weihrauch make the best general air rifles on the market
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Re: Air Rifles - planning before purchase

Post by sungazer » 21 Feb 2018, 4:48 pm

I had a similar set up air rifle to AusTac and used it in the shed to shoot starlings which I thought I had made Starling proof. They would s**t themselves when I went into the shed with the gun.,some even died trying to get out in such a hurry they would fly into things. Yet I could go in the shed without the gun and they wouldn't care. I tried a few similar looking sticks ect to see the reaction they knew the gun from anything else. The shed is 20m long and I could hit a 5c piece pretty consistently and Starlings pretty regularly as well.
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Re: Air Rifles - planning before purchase

Post by bladeracer » 21 Feb 2018, 5:35 pm

AusTac wrote:I can't answer all your questions but i own a hw77 .177 which is a break under lever single shot, i did a fair bit of research before buying an am absolutely satisfied with what i got, i went the under lever because they're more accurate than break barrels as the barrels fixed in position like a traditional rifle, if i had the cash i'd also get a weihrauch hw100 pcp, but to set one up your looking at about 4g's with all the bits, mines scoped and smashes rabbits inside 40m, they're super accurate but finicky to shoot until you get used to it, mine will clover leaf every day of the week with h&n field target trophy, in my opinion weihrauch make the best general air rifles on the market


Thanks AT.
I would probably go with a similar design, a fixed barrel springer in .177". I had a quick look online (Gunworld have a _lot_ of air rifles listed). I have no idea what quality my rifle was, but I don't think it was particularly cheap at the time - probably around the $200 mark I would think as it took some time to save for it. So I'm surprised to see them starting around $150 nowadays. The HW77's start around the $800 mark, not cheap, but not outrageous either.
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Re: Air Rifles - planning before purchase

Post by rsj223 » 21 Feb 2018, 7:59 pm

I got Gamo IGT with the right pellets its spot on
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Re: Air Rifles - planning before purchase

Post by Sawyers » 21 Feb 2018, 8:39 pm

Buy quality to begin with, I cheaped out and bought a Dianna pather 21 (chinese made version) and realised very quikly you get what you pay for, at 580 fps it is underpowered and inhumane to use for vermin controll, its deceent as a plinker and good for the kids to use as its lite, easy to cock and very accurate, but realisticaly it just takes up room in my safe.
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Re: Air Rifles - planning before purchase

Post by bigfellascott » 21 Feb 2018, 9:58 pm

Weihrauch HW80 - 22cal owner here, goes good on the bunnies that I've shot with it and also had a Sharp Innova .177 which was a cracker air rifle too, very powerful and deadly deadly accurate. I don't use my air rifle much if at all these days, probably should sell it but had it since I was a kid so find it hard to part with.
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Re: Air Rifles - planning before purchase

Post by Gamerancher » 22 Feb 2018, 8:16 am

There's a bunch of Weihrauch's on abusedguns at the moment. For a general plinker and pest control gun, get an under-lever. More accurate than a break-barrel and far less maintenance and upkeep than a pre-charge.
The Wiehrauch's would be my recommendation for your application, forget the cheap-arsed Chinese crap.
P.S. Springers have a tendency to totally destroy cheap scopes and even expensive ones due to the "recoil" that the piston develops. A dedicated air-rifle scope that is designed for this will stand up to it. I've seen Vari-X III Leupolds totally destroyed by high-powered springers.
One thing they do, do, is teach you about follow through. :lol:
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Re: Air Rifles - planning before purchase

Post by Mitch@Ripley » 22 Feb 2018, 9:27 am

I have a secondhand (not sure how old, gunny said could be 20-30 y/o) Gamo 440 hunter, which came with a tasco scope but I prefer the irons. With a scope, it'll shoot a ragged hole at 25, and hit bottlecaps at 30. Apparently my dad and uncle have knocked down a few birds reliably, but I was never there to see it ;)
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