ramshackle wrote:I'm aiming to buy an air rifle / airgun soon. I'm struck by the fact that there are few dedicated air rifle dealers in Australia, and prices are incredibly high compared to the US.
Most Australian firearm dealers have air rifles tacked on as an afterthought to their main range of powder burners, and the airguns they do offer are mostly break-barrel springers, not PCPs.
If you have an air rifle or if you are considering buying one, what is your opinion of the online offerings in Australia, the prices, the after sales service, etc?
bladeracer wrote:Decide what you want and have your dealer order it. I don't think air-rifles are exclusively available to specific dealers.
ramshackle wrote:So is there a top online dealer I should use, or just my local gun shop, or look all over and compare prices, or ... ?
ramshackle wrote:I'm aiming to buy an air rifle / airgun soon. I'm struck by the fact that there are few dedicated air rifle dealers in Australia, and prices are incredibly high compared to the US.
Most Australian firearm dealers have air rifles tacked on as an afterthought to their main range of powder burners, and the airguns they do offer are mostly break-barrel springers, not PCPs.
If you have an air rifle or if you are considering buying one, what is your opinion of the online offerings in Australia, the prices, the after sales service, etc?
bladeracer wrote:Talk to your local dealer once you know what you want, he shouldn't be far off the online prices once you include the extras. Groups on Facebook and other forums would be the place to get the real-world view of various rifles so you can decide what you want. What purpose do you intend for the rifle?
Regarding prices, don't be thinking we're that badly off compared to the US. We earn double their minimum wage, we have free (from our taxes) healthcare, are not required to pay for health insurance, free (from our taxes) third-party motor vehicle accident insurance, and we're not required by law to have car insurance. Even if you're paying double what the US pays, you're still way in front.
ramshackle wrote:I want a .22 air rifle for pest control (rabbits).
bladeracer wrote:I'd probably look at ... RebelGunWorks
bladeracer wrote:Personally, for rabbits, I'd use a .22LR with CCI Quiet ammo, very quiet, plus the rifle and the ammo are probably significantly cheap than a PCP air-rifle with top-tier pellets.
ramshackle wrote:bladeracer wrote:Personally, for rabbits, I'd use a .22LR with CCI Quiet ammo, very quiet, plus the rifle and the ammo are probably significantly cheap than a PCP air-rifle with top-tier pellets.
I looked into that extensively. .22LR Quiet is actually no good after about 40m maximum, loses accuracy badly from about 30m according to people who use it, whereas pellets can make quite tight groups to 80m and sometimes beyond (lots of Youtube evidence of this). Ordinary subsonic 22LR, which is much more accurate out further, makes a lot of noise and will alert my fussy neighbours, plus it's dangerous for hundreds of metres more than a PCP pellet gun.
Pellet guns can reliably kill rabbits.
I can get into PCP airguns for about $1300
Gun = $700-900
Pump - $60 on eBay
Scope = $300-400 from US
bladeracer wrote:Can you actually buy the scopes out of the US? I guess air-rifle-specific scopes might be exempt from ITAR?
ramshackle wrote:@xcb: yes, I am planning to buy a 12x fixed SWFA SS scope, and if you look on eBay you will find the cheap pumps, and see them used on Youtube
@bladeracer: I am shooting on a 5 acre block, surrounded by trees, but even so I have to be extremely careful here (sound and trajectory). The law states that you can shoot on any size rural land, but it's up to you to make sure no harm eventuates. Of course to get the license, you must have permission to shoot on min. 40 acres (but even that is not set in stone). I may end up buying a CZ 455 or something, but the poor performance of the CCI Quiet and higher cost of bullets vs pellets is offputting.
@hazza, thanks for the QLD gun exchange tip!
@GQshayne, thanks for that recommendation. It's good to know that GunRoom are the real deal.
@on_one_wheel, I think you may be comparing a springer to a 22LR. The PCPs are a whole other thing.
@strikey, thanks yes I know the place. May well do that.
rc42 wrote:CCI Quiet should out perform any standard .22 air rifle, the lead bullet is 40 grains with a muzzle velocity of 700 fps and about 45 ft lbs, a typical .22 air rifle will be 12 ft lbs with a 15 grain pellet.
I'm aware that my CZ455 Lux II is more capable then what I use it for, I just didn't buy it with the intention of 100m shooting, I bought it because it has a long barrel and that coupled with the super quiet "CCI Quiet 40gr LRN" ammo that I use in it makes it extremely quiet to use. Great for hunting/plinking on small acreage when you don't wanna bother the neighbors. The CCI Quiet only runs about 670fps and is too under powered and inconsistent for anything past about 30 to 40m, it's much much slower, quieter and less consistent then normal subsonic 22lr..... That is 100% why I have PCP airguns, especially the FX guns. They are waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more accurate and consistent then any 22lr that is actually quiet enough without a silencer. The power wheel is basically a volume knob if you tune the gun properly. I almost never use my other guns anymore... the only thing I wanna play with is my FX Impact haha
xcb wrote:If I can somehow learn how to shoot the springer accurately then that should make it easier for me to shoot a .22LR accurately, or a centrefire if I can learn to deal with the recoil.
This is the video that convinced me to choose the SWFA SS 16x42 scope: https://youtu.be/CYydF_Vo3cM
Its a great PCP hunting channel. I have a vague memory that on one of the videos he says he likes the Air Arms PCP rifles as they are made to be maintainable.
My impression is they would be cheap to shoot, since pellets are even cheaper than .22LR ammo.
I think it will cost about $500 to import the 12x fixed SWFA SS scope. A scope mount or scope rings would cost about $100.
I thought there was a concern that using a manual pump would introduce condensation which may be harmful to the rifle, however, I don't really know, you would need to research this.
To make the shots more consistent some PCP enthusiasts like to install regulators (another expense)
ramshackle wrote:xcb wrote:I think it will cost about $500 to import the 12x fixed SWFA SS scope. A scope mount or scope rings would cost about $100.
US$300 + shipping + rings
xcb wrote:approximately $593 (for the scope and lens caps),
ramshackle wrote:@bigfellascott, that is a definite consideration. I am very inclined to deal with gunshops here in the SE Qld area first and foremost.
xcb wrote:ramshackle wrote:xcb wrote:I think it will cost about $500 to import the 12x fixed SWFA SS scope. A scope mount or scope rings would cost about $100.
US$300 + shipping + rings
It does not come with lens caps, so plus 15.95 if you want them, then shipping was $75.40 for one scope and the lens caps almost 2 years ago. So my estimate was a bit low, sorry, as the exchange rate is worse now. Saying an exchange rate of .66 (where every time I do a payment in foreign currency on paypal I have to change the settings to make the payment in the foreign currency to avoid the expensive paypal exchange rate, and my big 4 bank adds their high exchange fee) my estimate is 391.30 / 0.66 is approximately $593 (for the scope and lens caps),