Armored farmer
Member
Wander through the descriptions and reviews at www.airgundepot.com and www.pyramidair.com.
I think that really depends on the velocities. A .22 is easier to keep subsonic. I have mine shooting at 850 fps with good accuracy.I'm thinking .177 or .22 makes no big difference for what I want to do. I know noise varies between brands of guns, but whether the smaller caliber is quieter, I haven't got a clue. It wouldn't surprise me. As far as PCP, I am ambivalent. The extra gear seems a bit much for a backyard gun, but I have no experience to go on.
Few things worth mentioning from my personal point of view. Please understand that of course that doesn't make me RIGHT it only makes me right for me. That said I have a fair bit of experience and have been down the very same road you are taking................I just took the offramp MANY MILES AGO.
1-The SIG PCP's - They are known to be fairly loud. More powerful PCP rifles tend to bark a bit. They are more easily suppressed but out of the box PCPs can get pretty loud as the power increases.
2-PCP support gear - PCP's offer the ability to fire multiple shots without having to compress the air each time. This opens up capabilities like bolt actions, mag fed, semi auto etc. You must however pay the piper so to speak. Filling the air reservoir can be accomplished in several ways. A hand pump, an external tank, or a compressor. The reality is any of these of any quality is going to be a couple hundred bucks or more IMO. Hand pumping is not bad as long as you generally keep the fill pressure to around 3000psi and the reservoir size to 100-150ccs. This is NOT a difficult task with that criteria but if you are going to have a more powerful rifle you will get fewer shots and therefore need to fill more. So basically it will become a chore if you are filling multiple rifles or low shot count rifles. I have 2 Air Arms S200T's. These are low powered target guns. They are very quiet, get me about 80-100 shots per fill and are trivial to pump by hand to 170-190 bar.
3-Indoor or Back Yard Plinking or Target Shooting - I, personally feel, that the best candidate for this type of shooting is a low powered, break barrel spring rifle of higher end quality, ala the HW30/R7. It is a grab on a whim and bang out 50 shots or a whole tin if you like and then put it down. No worrying about if you pumped it up after the last session, no ancillary gear, no hammer tensions, no regulators to be set etc. etc. It's just a simple, accurate, easy to use grab and go rifle. We are all gun owners so, generally, that is what we are looking for as our power needs are likely covered by our powder burning guns.
4-Suppression/moderators - The vast amount of noise from most spring guns come from the action. If you have ever dry fired an open bolt SMG and felt and heard that big old "kachunk" of the bolt dropping you will have some idea of a spring piston air gun. I have many air rifles spring and a couple PCPS. If you keep the power down you will have no need for any kind of suppression and based on your wants I think you can easily keep the power down.
5-Noise signatures - Air guns make noise. I know it seems stupid to say this but when I was a kid I just figured they all farted out a little pffft of air and that was that. The reality is they all have a bark. As a matter of fact in most cases a super collibri type .22LR in a bolt action rifle will be quieter. That said the noise is probably far more noticeable to you then to anybody 20 to 50 yards away. It's a little bit like carrying for the first time and doing the "Walmart Walk". It will take you some time to realize that the noise isn't really bothering anybody.
6-Laws/Etiquette - If you are going to shoot outside make sure you can legally do so. There are plenty of jurisdictions where discharging an air gun is the same as discharging a firearm by law. Now will the local cops treat it like that? I dunno, best not to find out. Also if you are going to shoot outdoors it might not be the worst idea to let your neighbors know what you are doing and that play up its just an air rifle like we all had as kids. I find that being open and polite and asking for permission really generally puts folks at ease and keeps them from glancing out the window and seeing "A MAN WITH A GUN!!!!!!" and calling the SWAT team. You are just that neighbor with the toy gun.
7-Safety - Indoors or out you want a good pellet trap IMO. You don't want your shots going wild as they can go quite far and injure a person or damage property. It's also good etiquette if outside you are still able to show that you are keeping all shots on your property and safety contained. In general treat any air gun exactly the same as you would a firearm with the only exception being you have a wider range of places you can shoot it.
8-Airgun Glass - Keep in mind if scoping a break barrel/spring piston gun, the scopes need to be rated for both forward and backward recoil. Honestly I have never spent more than $150-$160ish on air gun glass and I have been very happy. UTG makes several very good AG scopes. You can go crazy but don't feel like you have to. Also I HIGHLY suggest getting and adjustable objective/parallax. You want to be able to focus down to 10 yards or so and out to 100 yards or so. I would also suggest some kind of mil dot or other drop compensating reticle, it helps if you decide to stretch out to 50+ yards. Again there is no need to break the bank here unless you want to. UTG, HAWKE, NIKON used to have some good rimfire/AG scopes etc.
Those are just a few things that came to my mind reading this thread. I think your budget is right on the mark for getting a very good air rifle. Many folks cheap out and are disappointed. I think if you stay in the Air Arms/Weihrauch/Diana tier roughly in that order you will be THRILLED with your purchase. NOTE - Weihrach makes the Beeman spring guns. R9=HW95, R7=HW30s etc. etc.
Take care, shoot safe and don't shoot your eye out kid.
Chris
I have found .22 tends to be a little more “mellow” shooting. A tad quieter. Not enough to matter but just a hair “mellower” overall. Tough to describe.
For a target gun get the .177 ……. Smaller holes…..smaller groups.
Don't know why I'm typing this. Looks like minds are made up and I'm hopelessly out of step anyway. But at 77 with a tremor and eyesight headed downhill I'm having a tremendous amount of fun shooting offhand with Crosman pump and CO2 guns. Specifically the 2100B and the 1377 as well as the CO2 2300T and 2400.
But their triggers aren't the best, take some getting used to, and don't respond well to gunsmith hacks. So trigger snobs generally look elsewhere.
For offhand practice, you don't need dime sized groups, though with the right pellet the Crosman guns will do it. If you're going to sit at a bench and shoot groups at 50 yds or need power (but you don't) then a PCP makes sense. If offhand practice is the goal, 10 yds will tell the story and you can do it in most basements with a bullet trap and a decent Crosman or Benjamin. Even scopes for these rifles are inexpensive (<$20), effective and can be had at Walmart. Don't know about you, but I'm sick of spending big bucks on shooting gear.
For your $500 budget,you could afford a small arsenal, if you aren't fussy and are willing to put up with some plastic. It's not heirloom stuff but it's fun and effective...and will probably last our lifetimes.
On the off chance you end up with a Benjamin 397 or 322, save yourself some trouble and put a Williams peep sight on it. Makes the gun an excellent shooter, even as a ghost ring.
You might have to file down that hump on the butt stock too in order to use iron sights...but try it first.
I think that really depends on the velocities. A .22 is easier to keep subsonic. I have mine shooting at 850 fps with good accuracy.
I don’t know if you were specifically addressing the 392 as far as pellet but across the board I have been happiest with H&N stuff for years. Field Target Trophy’s usually. Now my 2 Air Arms S200Ts prefer either Air Arms Diabolo Fields (which also have proven a good all a rounder) or H&N Finale Match Heavy’s.
If I was limited to a single brand it would be H&N for me. LOTS of folks love JSB stuff but for me I have found it middling in most cases. Not bad just not as good as H&N for me.
Thought I would add a couple more groups I shot today with the HW30s. I have ........ well lets just say I have between say 2 and 500 firearms and air guns ( its not a problem if you ignore it!!! ) and these little HW30s rifles are far and away some of my absolute favorite projectile relocators that I own air or powder.
View attachment 1053833
View attachment 1053834
JSB 18.13 grainWhat is your favorite pellet?
I am beginning to wonder about that fast delivery. I ordered a rifle, in stock Sunday, got an invoice, my credit card shows paid, sent copy of drivers license via the link when I ordered, then got email the next day, so sent it again. The order is still showing as processing 3 days later, and I emailed asking about shipment status, and never got a reply.Also my DB test was indoors.
Order from Krale
Weihrauch HW30 S (krale.shop)
They are in the Netherlands and it will cost about 50-60 bucks to ship and will be at your door faster then if you ordered domestically (I KID YOU NOT) and will be cheaper all around.
They are currently out of stock but they get stock quickly and often.
I am beginning to wonder about that fast delivery. I ordered a rifle, in stock Sunday, got an invoice, my credit card shows paid, sent copy of drivers license via the link when I ordered, then got email the next day, so sent it again. The order is still showing as processing 3 days later, and I emailed asking about shipment status, and never got a reply.
If you haven't bought an R7 yet look into the RWS Model 48 or 52 (fancier stock), IF you can find one for sale.
I bought an early Model 48 (.177) over 25 years ago. It shoots hard, it's very accurate, and has bagged many small game out to 30 yds with factory sights. But it is heavy (which is a plus for me). I've considered buying a .22 version of either but i waited to long. .22s are getting harder to find now.
View attachment 1054750
I think that really depends on the velocities. A .22 is easier to keep subsonic. I have mine shooting at 850 fps with good accuracy.