Air rifles and switching to them

G

garrisone

Guest
I am really growing tired of the ever rising cost of shooting 22 rimfire. Eley keeps going up and up. It has just about become to expensive to shoot rimfire anymore. Hope Eley prices themselves out of the business. Air rifles are looking better and better all the time to me. I already know that I do not want a springer I done that with a gamo. I am leaning towards a tank or rechargeable system -something I can shoot 50 yds or better. I want to shoot targets and crows and tree rats. I want to find something that is moderately priced -yet able to compete with. Rockingham gun Club is near me and I think matches could be organized there but not a member of the club. Heard they were full and not takeing new members. not many around my area that I could talk to about shooting air rifles. frustrated in N.C. garrisone.
 
I've been paying $19.99 for brick(500)Remington .22 LR from Cabelas and $18 for (Tin of 500) JSB Express .22 cal pellets at Pyramid Air....(you can buy four tins (pellets) at Pyramid and get one free...)

For air rifle competition,there are some good choices out there......my recomendation would be a "budget" PCP tuned by someone for accuracy and a shot count of at least 40 minimum...either .177/.22.
 
Garrisone,

As to clubs and competition, I'm about at the fringe of commuting distance to the City of Boston, there are a lot of shooters around here and each town around me has a shooting club of some sort. However to find a competition to shoot in, I have to drive about an hour and 15 minutes each way to get to the nearest matches... You are right, its very frustrating these days to be interested in competitive shooting. I used to belong to a local Rod & Gun club with a nice range however I dropped out due to the fact there were no competitions, the ranges seemed to be used only by those wanting to sight their deer rifle before hunting season... Fortunately I have my own "home" range so I only have to make the drive once or twice a month to shoot in AGBR matches...

As to buying an airgun, first of all, you need to be more specific as to what you want to spend. Airgun shooting has a high initial expense to get into higher quality guns complete with accessories and if it were me, I'd only go for a PCP type airgun however, to do so means purchasing an expensive tank set up or an expensive hand pump to charge the gun...

For field shooting and hunting, my choice would be an Air Arms S400SL-XTRA in .22 caliber. Its a very well made, accurate PCP airgun and sells for about $862 last time I looked. Then you have to decide on tank or pump for charging it. FX in Sweden makes a very nice 4 stage hand pump capable of filling this gun to full pressure (2800-2900 psi). Personally, I prefer a tank and use an AirHog 88cu.ft. carbon fiber tank which gets me about 50 gun fills between needing to refil the tank. Part of the reason for carbon fiber at its higher cost is it holds a higher pressure (4500psi.) and weighs less (abt 17lbs full of air). Another possibility is to use bottled nitrogen instead of air if you are not near an airtank filling service. I'm fortunate in that I have a dive tank certification business about 4 miles from my house and they will fill my tank whenever needed at a cost of $5.00 per fill.

A less expensive PCP airgun that is quickly becoming popular is the Benjamin Marauder or M-Rod as some call it. A couple of fellows that come to our matches shoot them and they are a nice looking gun however don't seem to have the accuracy of the Air Arms guns from what I see of them.

On the more expensive side of the scale are the FX guns made in Sweden and the Daystate guns made in England. Top end would be Feinwerkbau and Anschutz...

Hope some of this information is a help...

Happy Shooting,
Mitch & Shadow...
 
switching sides.

Boy Howdy that just about hits the nail on the head . huh ?;) H.B.
 
The most amazing thing for me was the seemingly total lack of 'tune' with an airgun. My Daystate can be bolted into it's metal BR stock and bust out a 249 in swirly conditions, put it back in the wood stock and you have a comfortable hunting rifle. Put it away for 6 months and when you get it out it's shooting the dot right off the bat no matter what the weather.

I tried to hold AGBR matches here in GA but couldn't get any participants after the first match. Gave up and went back to RF.
 
Air Rifle

The first thing you need to do is establish a budget or price point then purchase the best you can for the money on hand.
Stay away from hand pumps I have or have had every make and manufacture and they will all add water to the guns air bottle or tube no matter what the manufacturer says.
50 yards is a long way to shoot accurately , for that distance you will need 30 foot pounds of muzzle energy or more especially if you plan on hunting crows or chucks. A gun with a free floated barrel will be less of a problem when it comes time to fine tune the gun for competition or precision hunting , meaning less than half minute of squirrel.
Another thing to consider is maintenance , tube guns like the mentioned Air Arms guns require you to drain all of the air from the gun before you can make modifications or repairs. Bottle guns like the Theoben Rapid require you to remove the bottle without loosing all of your air to make repairs or modifications , a much easier system to work on.
Along the lines of maintenance is most tube guns use a seal on the probe / bolt or in the barrel itself to seal the barrel to prevent the air from escaping the breech if that seal fails your up the creek unless you happen to have one in your pocket along with the tools needed to install it. Guns like the Theoben Rapid do not use a seal rather it is metal to metal.
Expect to pay in the neighborhood of $ 1700 for a Rapid $1500 for the FX Royale $1800 - $2000 for a Daystate all free floated barrels .
Tube guns like the Air Arms and Daystate tube models run the entire price spectrum , between $ 850 up to around $1800 to nearly $4000.
Filling equipment $400 to $600 depending on tank size and what is needed to connect the gun to fill it.
After you get over the sticker shock and you heart beat returns to normal you will discover that over the long hall shooting costs are very reasonable in comparison to powder burners.
Hope this helps a little.

Doug
 
How much more?

I've lurked here for some time following the various threads. It sounds like playing this game requires you to buy the very best air rifle and components you can afford and then you still must modify them to hope to be competitive. That seems to be quite a barrier to entry.

A couple of years ago I purchased a Theoben Rapid from Alan Zasadny that he "totally" tricked out as far as I knew what to ask for (scope, case, ranging set up on scope, filler to charge without unscrewing the pressure tube, baffle to quiet the noise, etc.) and whatever else he suggested. I also got the large AirHogg carbon fiber tank. All that to zap grackles in my back yard and beyond. :) The thing is like a death ray on grackles but this is a different game.

Now I find that you can shoot these in benchrest matches which is great but it sounds like the gun still may require further refinements. I don't have the time nor the skills to even think I could improve this rifle. I also have a Pappas one piece rest but it appears stock modifications or even a different stock (that apparently no one makes) are required. So how far off am I?

Are there any "stickys" on how to get totally set up and perhaps get involved in the sport? I may never get there but it would be nice to have a map just in case.

Az_Speed
 
Az Speed,
You can shoot what you have and see how it goes. When I started shooting air gun benchrest I was shooting my Rapid MK II off a car scissor jack and a sand bag and that was with the factory CS800 stock.
I was able to produce 247 - 248 - 249 with that set up so your gun and rest should work but you wont know until you try.
As far as the equipment is concerned I think its like any other shooting sport you are better off shooting / using the level of equipment the competition is using if you want to be able compete and if you own a Rapid your pretty much ready to go.

Doug
 
Me too! Man, oh man, and here I was thinking that my state-of-the-art Kenny Fulgham rest set up was the way to go right up until Doug showed up with his scissors jack and proceeded to kicked my butt several times over with the set-up he discribed. Now Doug, was that a Craftsman jack, or Ace Hardware jack?
 
David,
Now to add insult after the car Jack, His second rest was 2X4's frount and the sock toe filled with sand rear rest. He shot at least one 250 with that setup.
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Then the Hockey puck rear rest!!!
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Now he has taken a so so barrel and with a roll of solder and black tape shot three 250's for a 750, and the next match shot a 250 with 14X's for a record target and a 2500 on a ARA target!
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Great shooting Doug!

Paul
 
On the cheap...

Base $250 rifle (.177)...converted from CO2 to HPA.... 3000 psi fill,1800 psi regulator, 80 shots from 3000-1500 psi.. cost is at $650 including 80cu/ft scuba tank/fil adapter...I already had the $75 scope..

New at this,but shot 241 last match in San Diego..(outdoors,light winds)....tons of fun...oh yeah...using scissor jack/hunting sock filled with aquarium gravel....;)

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Shot 4100 on this target a couple matches ago...messed up at #7...(switching light winds)

BenchRestMatch035.jpg
 
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An airgun has basically no recoil so the rest setup isn't as critical is it is on even a rimfire much less something like a 30BR.
 
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