differences between Pump vs Break Action vs CO2 vs whatever

Having shot airguns regularly for a long time, I'm really still a newby when it comes to them.

My guess is that break barrel guns are far more convenient, as pumps require several pumps to get where they need to be.

What little I know about PCPs, suggest they're a PITA because of the extra baggage involved.

Again, I'm also hoping to learn something from those in the know about your thread.

The spring-piston break barrels require only a single stroke to cock/recharge and generally offer much higher muzzle velocity (and make more noise). Multi-pumps require more fuss and bother to get them ready for the next shot and offer less muzzle velocity. CO2 is very convenient, but offers still less muzzle velocity. I have no experience with PCP but, like said above, am put off by all the support baggage and cost.

I do, however, favor multi-pumps and CO2. This is because I don't want to learn the special techniques that are required to shoot break-barrel airguns accurately. To my knowledge the "artillery hold" needed is not of value shooting regular firearms.

I also don't need the extra muzzle velocity as I only use airguns for offhand target shooting. Don't need many fps to punch a hole in paper at 15 yards. If I want to hunt, I use a firearm.

Break barrels are typically more powerful than pneumatic and CO2, and they only require one cock, not multiple pumps or buying CO2. A PCP is typically more powerful than a break barrel, but charging it is not fun, or it's expensive if you buy an electric pump. All those guns are typically louder than a break barrel, but it varies. a pcp with a suppressor like a Marauder can be quieter than any of them. So the break barrel are popular due to power, cost, and no hassle shooting. Take a tin of 500 pellets into the field and you can shoot them all if you like. A pumper would take 5000 pumps to unload 500 pellets, and at less power. A Marauder will go dead in 25-0 shots, which is probably fine for hunting but not plinking or target shooting. Plus a Marauder is much more $. If I did a Marauder I'd be looking at at $600+ for the gun and scope, another 900 for electric pump, and 700+ for a tank. Then there's several hundred in misc crap and upgrades. If you went bare minimum (hand pump) and no upgrades it'll be ~$800. Most people will not pay that for a gun, and once they pump it many will hardly use it again.
The 893 is very nice, but expensive and very low powered. Most people consider 500fps unacceptable for anything but targets at close range. If that's your thing then great, but the masses prefer 4-5 times that power or more, and a lower price.

Cost is a huge issue. Like Chevota says, the PCPs are quite costly, even more than I knew. Next come spring and nitro piston break-barrel guns.

The least expensive are the CO2 and multi-pump airguns. Those with a rifled barrel deliver very good accuracy without recoil and with very little noise. There are many available for well under $100. They may not be pretty or well made and there might be a lot of plastic, but those with rifled barrels will shoot quite well. If you're not sure if you'll like shooting airguns, they're the place to start.

I've had very good luck with the Crosman 1377, 2100B, 2240 and 2300T. I've stuck with Crosman because warranty support is only about 7 miles away...even though they've all been trouble-free.

Break-barrel springers for me.
They are relatively quite compared to pump-up guns.
And far more accurate.

Crossman and Sheridan pumps I have owned in the past were as loud as a .22, and less accurate.

CO-2 pistols I have owned in the past were fun.
But you better be ready to keep shooting till the new CO-2 cap ran dry.

Put a new capsule in, shoot two shots, put it away overnight, and it wanted you to feed it a new CO-2 capsule again.
Too expensive for me.

Springers are quite, powerful, and very accurate.

That is why I have three now, and no pumps or CO-2.

rc

Also keep in mind that there are fixed barrel springers such as RWS48, TX200 etc.

The single pump spring powered pellet rifle is hard to beat.
Simple operation, plenty of power, inexpensive and accurate.
Other than the recoil, what's not to like.
As for learing the artillery hold, it's a technique that can very well apply to firearms.
And it's not always necessary.
I have one pellet rifle that likes other methods.

All my airgun pistols and revolvers are of the C02 variety.
It's the only way to realistically do rapid fire.

Springer is best for .177, CO2 and PCP would be more efficient for larger calibers. You won't find any springer with > .22 cal, but CO2 is temperature sensitive and PCP is a pain to recharge.

This is a pretty good video series covering tons of airgun info:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL74FF159FF533DDFF

It's from Pyramyd Air, who seems to be one of the major online sellers. Somewhere in that list is one covering the different power plants. But there's also a lot of other good info, so I just sent you the list. (Plus, I'm too lazy to dig up the specific video at the moment.)

I have air rifles in all categories except PCP (cannot justify the expense and 'baggage' either). I find lately I am preferring the CO2 and the pumpers - both single and multi pumps.
I find my Daisy Avanti 853 rather quiet compared to most, and limited in power - but it is a ten meter rifle, not a hunting rifle. I like it a lot.
The CO2 guns, all Crosmans on the 22XX frame plus the 2260 rifle, seem fairly loud, especially outside. While they do not sound like a typical 'gun' I do still worry about close neighbors hearing it.
The pumpers seem quieter. The CO2 22XX based guns and the multipump 13XX based guns seem equally accurate - so nothing to put one type over the other there. Multipumpers are a bit of a PITA to pump, but really not that bad. And they do shoot so nicely!
The springers are the loudest by far. I don't have any with the built-in suppressor.
Just my personal findings and opinions.

I also have some of each other than the PCP. Would love to but don't have the $$ needed for the purchase and a way to fill it. I do mainly target shooting so my Beeman P17 and my Daisy 853 are used the most. For once in a great while hunting of small game, I use my steroid 392. The one real advantage of a pumper is the ability to control the power of the shot. 5 pumps for target and 10 pumps for small game. I have found though that the number of pumps in my rifle affects the accuracy. there is a sweet spot for velocity that gives the best accuracy. Sometimes it is only a 1 pump difference. Less than 5 pumps on mine and you see a much bigger grouping of the shots.

To my knowledge the "artillery hold" needed is not of value shooting regular firearms.

Click to expand...

Can somebody please 'splain to be what an 'artillery hold' is?

@rbernie- there's a good article and vid on it here:
http://www.pyramydair.com/article/The_artillery_hold_June_2009/63

The artillery hold works well with firearms, too.
A good friend was having trouble getting the tight groups he wanted with his .308.
Using the artillery hold instead of the usual one did the trick.
Obviously it's not the best hold for rapid fire and 3gun, but it's hard to beat for getting tight groups and for long shots.
It's a favorite at the Oympics, too.
Check out pictures of Olympic shooters to see how it's used there.

PCPs don't need to be expensive. You can get the Benjamin Discovery w/ hand pump for $340. http://tinyurl.com/Benjamin-Discovery-Walmart It is a dual fuel gun that can be used on air or CO2 (with a $40 adapter to fill from a paintball tank)

• On air it gets 20-30 shots per fill. I've read it takes about 100 pumps to fill and then about 1 per shot to top off the reservoir. It only fills to 2000 PSI so the pumping effort is less than other PCPs that fill to a higher PSI.
• On CO2 it is 50-70 shots per fill

I'm debating whether to convert my Crosman 2400KT to PCP using the HiPAC kit or spending the extra for the Discovery. If I buy the Discovery the 2400KT will be converted to a pistol. I like the convenience of CO2 but I hate the waste that comes with all those disposable cylinders.

Waste? Can't they be taken in as scrap metal?

It's a subjective thing, but for me personally, the much ballyhooed 'artillery hold' is an "old shooter's tale". I find it doesn't give any better accuracy than my standard hold, used for AG's and PB's. Steadyness and consistency rule, not scratching your ear and holding your nose just right.......
Of course, YMMV. If you feel it helps, then more power to you.

Oldnamvet said:

Waste? Can't they be taken in as scrap metal?

Click to expand...

Yes, they can, if you have a place that collects scrap steel. When I used to work in a manufacturing plant that wasn't a problem, I just tossed them the scrap steel bin. Now I don't have a good way to recycle them. Curbside recycling doesn't want steel and there is no way I'm making a special trip to the scrap yard to turn in a few used cylinders. The last time I scrapped steel was 2005 and I got $14.42 for a 1961 Buick Skylark body, cut up and sorted so it was just steel.

Even if the cylinders are recycled it is still wasteful to package CO2 in a bunch of tiny cylinders and ship them across the country when you could just pump air into a cylinder directly.

For what it is worth, I use a Gamo Hunter 220 with a BSA scope, single pump that according to my chronograph, throws a pellet out anywhere from 1070pfs to 1100fps but is advertised at 1000fps. All I know is it is definitely quiet enough to take care of all the pesky pigeons around my home. I find it very accurate out to 20 yards. In fact I've had it for at least 10 years.

BigDog: I agree for the most part, but the artillery hold exists imo as an easy way to explain to noobs how to get springers to shoot better. The long explanation is too much. I use a firm but very consistent/repeatable hold which is all that matters imo, and no doubt why you're having good luck too. Getting a noob to hold the gun exactly the same way every time is unlikely, but the artillery is much more repeatable. Guns also vary drastically in how sensitive they are to your hold. For example the guns power, weight, and CG are all big factors. More power means more problems. Tuning helps by reducing the reverse recoil. A scope adds weight and raises the cg of the gun so that helps. If the gun is better in those respects then changes in hold are minimal, but if not then any changes will move the poi. What I usually tell people is to tune the gun, then find a hold they feel the most comfortable with and program your brain to always use it. Sighting from a bench is another problem since people rarely use the same hold as freehand, plus the bench itself can cause problems. Like if you let the butt touch the table, or if the forend is resting on a harder surface than your hand you will likely have a different poi as freehand. Lots of factors, but noobs can use the artillery to get on target, then experiment from there.

Loose: What pellets are you shooting? Alloy or maybe RWS Diablo Basic? Normally those guns won't see 1100 unless they're alloy. I used to have Beeman Lasers (lead) that were 6.6gr and they could break 1100, but "normal" pellets which are 7.9gr are ~900 to just over 1000 depending on the gun. Now days Lasers and as far as I know all lead are 7gr or more. The above RWS (7gr) can hit 1100 in that gun, but most are 1000-1050. The mid to heavies usually shooter better and have better down range power, so if you haven't you might try ~8.3 to 10.5gr. The JSB 8.44 and 10.34 are outstanding.

Hank: They've had .25 out for years, I bought one ~1996 or so. It's a cal for magnum springers only imo, and even they have trouble getting good fps, but people buy them. Hatsan offers it in regular powered guns too, if you could tolerate the trajectory.

JSH: Most people consider $340 too much, plus that thing is loud. You can buy a springer for as little as $60 including scope, all you need is pellets.
Instead of pcp how about bulk full CO2? Get a 20lb tank to fill your gun with.

Another reason I tend to favor pumpers and CO2 is they are much easier on scopes! On the AG sites, guys are all the time complaining of their Springers and Nitro-Piston rifles breaking scopes.
I also most often shoot the shorter distances, so aperture sights are very good for me.

That is true, but tuning and using mid to heavier pellets will solve that problem, or at least greatly reduce it. I have never broken a scope...

Chevota, I've been using Gamo Power Pellets Performance Ballistic Alloy (PBA Gold), and Daisy Precision Max. I believe the Power Pellets are the ones that get up to 1100fps, however the Daisy do get over 1000fps. BTW I've had other ones too that get up there, but the most accurate are the Daisy Precision Max.

Chevota said:

JSH: Most people consider $340 too much, plus that thing is loud. You can buy a springer for as little as $60 including scope, all you need is pellets.
Instead of pcp how about bulk full CO2? Get a 20lb tank to fill your gun with.

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$340 is for the rifle and pump. Walmart has just the rifle for $225.

I've heard the Discover is loud but no one can tell me how loud. Considering how easy it is to get a sound meter app for a phone, I would have though someone would have a dB reading on it by now.

The HiPAC kit is dual fuel so it can also be filled with CO2. If I decide to to get the HiPAC I will definitely purchase the adapter to fill with CO2. I have a carbonation machine so I already have bulk CO2