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?