750 fps air rifle-good enough for what?

[firestar]

Tropical Z,
I almost ashamed to admit it, but I just bought a $25 chinese air rifle that I have heard rave reviews about. It is called the Fast Deer. It is made by Norinco and was supposed to sell for about $80 but they discontinued it and now are on clearance. It is a very nice gun for the money and the velocity is claimed at 850fps but I doubt it gets quite that much. Reports range between 550-750fps from people who have chronographed them. I think mine is somewhere around 700fps but I can't be sure. It is powerful and accurate but had a very heavy trigger. Very nice gun for the price and I think I can take rabbits and birds with it if I need to.

In my experience with Russian air guns, they are well made and accurate but are a little crude (so are the chinese guns) and I think they lie about the power as much as anyone. I have an IZH-46M that is super accurate (this is the gun that the Russians won the gold medal with) but it is also no where near the claimed velocities. I think they claim 460fps but I think it is more like 350. Fine for punching paper but worthless on anything else. You can't ever kill sparrows with it as any distance.

 

[buttrap]

I have been using a RWS 52 that does pretty much the same as a .22lr on cats for head shots. Its not very good for body shots but if you shoot the head it will go tru a cat head and go up the skirt in plywood behind the cat.

 

[Tropical Z]

OK now,whos selling the "Fast Deer"?

 

[firestar]

SOG has them in .177 and .22cal for $39.95 = shipping each but South Summit has the .177cal only for $25 + shipping. As far as I know SOG is the only place you can get the .22cal version so if you really need .22, it would be worth the extra few bucks. I am happy with my .177cal because it has more velocity and I alreadly have many, many tins of .177cal pellets. The .22cal hits harder on small game but I think it is best for the magmun air rifles.

An air rifle that claims 1000fps in .177 (which really only gets maybe 850fps) would have an even lower velocity with .22cal pellets but I think that would be just the ticket on rabbits and birds.