Air gun related questions, need advice...

[Stinkyshoe]

I was looking online at a few air pistols. I would like an air soft pistol and then another one that shoots pellets or bbs or both.

For the pellet/bb shooter I would like to get this....http://www.compasseco.com/shop/products.html?maingroup=Benjamin Sheridan&secondgroup=Air Pistols

The reason I like it is because it is pump powered and can be shot with 1 pump or 10 pumps. I just can't decide whether to get the 22 cal or 177 cal. what caliber would you get? My intent is to have a plinker and something capable of hunting with. Is there a big difference between the 400fps 22cal and 500fps 177cal in terms of balistics?

I also wanted to get an airsoft gun to practice when adaquate range was available. I was thinking about getting a repeating green gas powered 1911 or beretta air soft. Does it matter if the slide moves back and forth (for the sake of training)? Do the green gas guns last very long? I was thinking of something similar to this...http://www.airsoft.com/ Please share your thoughts
thanks
Ss

 

[Dionysusigma]

I've got a Crosman 1377, much like the one your link goes to but different aesthetically. It's in .177, because ammo for that caliber is easier to find (around here, anyways). It does fine for plinking, and from other people's stories it's an effective hunter for squirrels or grounded birds.

As for airsoft or ballistics of the .22 or .177, I'm not sure....

 

[Red_SC]

I had a .22 caliber air rifle growing up. The pellets had more drop than the .177's, but seemed to pack more punch.

 

[cratz2]

Well, the only air gun I've really spent much time with recently is the Winchester 1000x (I think that's what it's called) that is supposed to launch a pellet (of some weight unknown to me) at 1,000 fps. I can say with authority that on squirrels and some other unmentionable animals, the Beeman Crow pellets will just knock the crap out of whatever you hit that weighs less than about three pounds. If you do your part, they are dead right there.

For handguns, I have one of the little fake Walther P99s (pellet only). It was good for a while but recently it seems to go through a CO2 cartridge pretty quickly... not sure if that's a leak or something. It shoots well enough to practice with but it feels pretty far from the real thing.

I used to have one of the Walther PPKs (BB only) with the slide that moves. Neat, but I think it went throught the CO2 pretty quickly as well.

And I have a cheap little fake Beretta AirSoft. You have to cock it before each shot so any sort of real training is pretty much out.

At the gun shows, I've shot several of the nicer AirSoft type guns. The STI or SVI 1911 is SWEEETTTTT!!! But it's in the over $200 range and that's getting you close to a 22LR conversion for your carry gun if there is one. For my needs, I'd need to have my gun and the conversion before I could justify that. They do also have a Glock model that I think is about $90 or $100 that is very impressive which would be a bit easier to swallow.

What kind of gun are you wanting to 'practice' for? I mean, if you carry a Glock, a 1911, what?

 

[AJ Dual]

The Sheridan’s are good guns, nothing fancy, but get the job done and have been around a long time. I had a Sheridan Blue Streak rifle in the more unusual .20 caliber, and it was a great air gun, and I regret selling it.
As to the air gun caliber, if you don’t know why you need .22, you probably should stick with .177. Pellets will be cheaper, have a wider availability and variety, and will generally be flatter shooting than the heavier .22. A flatter trajectory will make you more accurate on average, and whenever you’re trying to hunt small game humanely with anything on the low end of the power scale like an air gun, accuracy is more important for a clean kill than the power IMO. .177 will let you practice more (at least theoretically, as .22 pellets aren’t that expensive, but if you run out, Wal-Mart will always at least have cheap Daisy or Crossman .177 pellets handy.) to get that accuracy as well.

For Airsoft pistols, green gas is the way to go, the quality pistols are all green gas driven, there’s a replaceable magazine very similar to whatever pistol you’ve chosen real life counterpart, except it has a valve for a refillable reservoir and feeds 6mm Airsoft bb’s. The spring cocking manual pistols and the electric pistols (not to be confused with the electric rifles and SMG’s which can be very high quality) are all usually less satisfactory in the shooting experience they deliver. The reciprocating slides are a nice touch, but do waste more gas to operate the slide, if the budget is a concern. They are more “cool†and a bit more realistic however, which could be important if you buy the Airsoft gun that matches a real gun you own as a training tool.

As to a pistol model or brand, I haven’t researched pistols much, as I use a electric FN-P90 copy for Airsoft games and skirmishing, but I do know that you won’t go wrong if you buy Tokyo Mauri brand Airsoft. There’s “boutique†Airsoft makers out there who may deliver higher quality guns, but Mauri is the big name that delivers consistent quality it seems. Aside from the Internet, you may want to check if any of the paintball, adventure game, or "Dungeons and Dragon" style stores carry Airsoft, you would be able to at least see what they have in person before you buy.