Air Guns for Practice

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Kager

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Hi
I'm curious about the effectiveness of using an air pistol/rifle to supplement centerfire training?

I realise that some types of air guns require a different technique/hold to achieve good results, does this interfere with your centerfire ability?

I have heard some people comment that if you can shoot an air gun well, anything else is easy?

Are pneumatics better than spring guns in this respect?
Or am I simply better off spending the time dry firing/using squib loads?

Regards,
Josh
 
I think any trigger time you get is better than none. Even the crummiest of air guns will have sites for you to align while you squeeze the trigger. So at the very least, you'll have practice getting an accurate site picture.
 
Bought a BRNO air-pistol austensibly to increase practice time back when I was doing a lot of bullseye shooting. Setup a 10 meter range cornered across the garage complete with spotting scope and target light.

I spent hours out there getting practice time I wouldn't have had if I had to go to the range. Shoot at midnight if ya want. Did see a marked improvement in my match scores because of a closer focus on the fundamentals and tighter concentration.

Not as good as hot range time perhaps, but it is indeed a good supplemental aid - and great fun to boot. Go for it.
 
Shooting pellet guns has greatly improved my shooting. Air guns tend to be more hold sensitive and they require more discipline to shoot accurately. This pays big dividends when you make it to the range with your firearms.

I've owned a few and I would HIGHLY recommend the Beeman P3 pistol. FANTASTIC trigger and VERY accurate. It's less than $150 new too last time I checked. It's probably the best shooting "accessory" I've ever purchased.

I have a BSA Superstar rifle too. Excellent. Good trigger, easy to shoot but hold sensitive. Shooting "Field Target" with it is great fun with this air rifle and it's an excellent way to sharpen your skills.

Of the half dozen airguns I've had, those are my favorites. If I could only have one the P3 would win out. It's handy, it's fun and it's inexpensive to shoot.
 
Absolutely

Totally agree with the more trigger time the better post.

One other bit of training that is nice is if you can get a gun that approximates one of your real guns, for example I have a C225 with is just about identical and even heavier than my SIG P225.

Both the SIG and the airgun hold 8 shots and both will fit in the same holster. This is great for draw practice or shooting with a light technique practice etc.

Besides all this "training" they are just plain fun. Training is a great excuse for SWMBO though. :D
 
I've done a lot of dryfire training with a broken (non firing) airsoft, as well as a wally world pellet pistol (the crossman revolver), and have seen an improvement in my pistol shooting. I don't own any pistols yet, so I only get to shoot other people's here and there, but it's helped.
 
I definitely agree that its good to get all the time you can behind a rifle. I wore out two very nice and fun air rifles one summer at my dad's house. I put boxes and boxes of pellets through them. I would tie some tin cans up to a bird feeder and end up scooting farther and farther back to hit em. Eventually had to scoot back up from being down the driveway shooting past the house down the yard to the cans.
Anyway, without the rambling, they're great, and one of the reasons why I can actually hit the broad side of a barn (well, most of the time...). Have fun!

-Spooky

ps - sorry to not be able to offer brand name help, but the rifles I used were wal-mart specials if I recall...
 
I have heard some people comment that if you can shoot an air gun well, anything else is easy?

One important fundamental the air gun teaches you is to really stay on target and follow through because of the very long "travel time" for the pellet to leave the barrel as compared to conventional firearms. I practice with my Beeman R7 at the indoor range and absolutely love it! It is rated at 700 fps so it is much slower than any 22lr. Plus the rifle is very accurate so I know that if I do my part the gun will deliver. One of the shooters at the range chuckled when I was shooting the quiet R7 until I showed him the target and then he looked something like this - :what:


I've owned a few and I would HIGHLY recommend the Beeman P3 pistol. FANTASTIC trigger and VERY accurate.

This is on my "to buy" list. I bought the Chinese copy at Wal Mart manufactured under the Marksman label. Gun started to malfunction in less than 20 rounds fired. Returned it! Will buy the German made P3. Will be fun to outshoot the 22lr/38/45 guys at the indoor range using a .177 air pistol!
 
When I can't get to the range, I practice in the basement with either my "Red Ryder", or my Crossman (Mdl 1706, maybe ? ? ? ) that looks like the Remington XP-100 pistol.
 
Airgun

Here is a picture of my airgun..I picked it up at a sporting goods store for $20 and it is fun to shoot and very accurate. It is a good gun to practice with. Replica of a Taurus PT92. I used to have a Sig P226 Replica but dropped it too much and broke it lol. I kill spiders with this one :) Airgun.jpg It is not a good pic, i just now took it w/ camera phone.
 
Air gun practice

Most definately yes.

Range time is range time. The muscle meory is the same regardless of the projectile.

Find a weapon you're comfortable with and go for it. It's great in the winter when you can head to the garage or the basement for a half hour or an hour and spend some quality time without the baggage of a full fledged range trip.
 
the one thing i have read (lemme see if i got the link)
yeah ok one of the things i think this guy mentions somewhere is that doing comparisions with a real pistol, his groupings were pretty much the same, however rapid fire
was not the same because of the difference in recoil.

i need to get one of those airsofts so i can practice more, overall cheaper , use anywhere, and it's got to be good practice

here's the link, lots of reviews and stuff
http://www.airsoftcore.com/reviews-list-2.html
 
A GOOD air pistol/rifle will help you develop better shooting skills. It will force you to slow down and use proper technique, without all the noise/recoil that tends to reinforce bad habits. If you flinch with an air gun, it is painfully obvious.
 
air power..

At ten meters, the 'ten ring' is about the size of a pencil eraser. The 'x-Ring' is about the size of the pencil tip.

If you can compete at that level, it would certainly seem to help to your slowfire scores if nothing else.

salty.
 
A good bb gun pistol to help show saftey skills and sight pics to new shooters is the walther ppk blowback, while it only has a fps of 300 the slide recoils every shot and stays locked back after the last shot, its realistic and fun.
 
Yes, a good airgun will do wonders for you shooting ability.
And it is fun and allows you to be involved in your hobby every day.

Many years ago, when I still lived at home with my parents, I bought a Daisy spring air pellet pistol. It was a pretty decent gun. I used to come home from school, head down to the basement where I would fire 20 shots strong hand only, 20 shots weak hand only and 20 shots both hands at a target taped to a stack of Time magazines located diagonally across the basement. I would then do a weight work-out and head upstairs for dinner. Made a very nice routine for a year or so.

One problem I have is with my air rifle. I bought a Beeman R1 (years ago: 15 years ago ?) because it was the most powerful rifle they had at the time. Now I want to use it to practice position rifle shooting and it is too difficult to cock from a shooting position like prone. So, I have to stand up between each shot: which is a PITA. I wish I would have bought a more practical air rifle instead of making the decision on the childish notion of it being the most powerful.

I also have one of those Baikal air pistols mentioned above and a Beeman P1 air pistol.
I shoot into a bullet trap that is rated for .22s. I think it is made by Outers. I have actually fired .22s into it and it stops them with no problem. The trap is easy to move around etc. It is definitely the way to go IMO. Do not use one for shooting BBs.
 
For some of us, airgun shooting isn't the practise, it's the real deal ;)

27.jpg

DSCF1278a.JPG

Air_tun_small.jpg


normal_dscf0746.jpg


:neener:
 
That's standard ISSF gear MC. Since the air rifles weigh up to 6.5kg (and few weigh less than 6), and the spine is twisted in three dimensions and supporting what doctors call an offset, assymetric load, you're allowed stabilise the spine using canvas jackets and trousers, same as you are in weightlifting and for the same reason - prevention of chronic injury. There are strict rules regarding those jackets and things like thickness, design, stiffness, and so on, to ensure that competitive advantage is kept to a minimum. They're bright colours because, well, it looks good :D
You have to admit, as a press photo, it's not half bad. And because it's air rifle, the "Safe and Harmless" image is far easier to get across.

BTW, as I understand it, the NRA shooting coats are far thicker and far more supporting than ours...

There's a fair bit of kit with the ISSF shooting though. From the "what's in your kitbag?" thread:
DSCF1271.JPG
 
"For some of us, airgun shooting isn't the practise, it's the real deal "

And of course, it is the real deal. The projectile or the presence or absense of powder really doesn't mean a thing. Shooting a rifle (or pistol) is the same whether the cartridge is powered by air or powder, whether the projectile is .177" or .452". The techniques of marksmanship are the same. Hitting the target precisely where you want to, requires all the same fundamentals no matter the "power" of the weapon.

Within the last year I became interested in shooting the targets put out by Fred of Fred's M14 stocks. They are reduced targets designed to be shot at 25 yards. Fred's idea is that you shoot at them with a service rifle. The reduced targets simulate firing at a much greater distance as far as the appearence of the target's size. Anyway, I start off the shooting session by shooting the course of fire with a .22 rifle, then I would use the same target and shoot the course of fire again with a bigger bore rifle like an M1, a 1903A3, or my M1A. It was very easy to get twice the life out of the target because you could easy tell what holes were made by the .22 and what holes were made by the '06. And, I was getting twice the practice. My shooting buddy would always say, "Yeah, that's good, but you shot it with a .22". I would beg him to explain to me why that made it any less of an accomplishment. Why did it make a difference ? Why would it be easier with a .22 ? I still had to have a good position, good breath control, good trigger control, and good sight alignment and the cartridge the rifle fired didn't make a damn bit of difference. But, he still doesn't get it.
An air gun is exactly the same. It takes just as much, if not more skill to hit the target exactly where you want to with an airgun as it does a .50 BMG. So, to make a long story even longer, I agree, air guns arn't practice for "real" shooting, they ARE "real" shooting.
 
At ten meters, the 'ten ring' is about the size of a pencil eraser. The 'x-Ring' is about the size of the pencil tip.
Click to expand...
Whoops, missed this. The ten ring on a 10m air rifle target (like the one in my post above) isn't the size of the eraser on the pencil - it's the dot in the center. 0.5mm diameter. There's no x-ring on a 10m target, for obvious reasons!
 
Thanks Guys for the great response, I will definitely check this out.
What are the pro and cons of pneumatic Vs spring.

Regards,
Josh
 
FWIW, if you want to shoot your centerfire handguns in the garage, Speer makes plastic training bullets, powered by primer only. Takes a minimum of reloading equipment to reload 'em. They have 'em for .38/357 revolvers (can also use in 9mm and .380acp, and other .38 cartridges), .44 spcl/mag, and .45 colt/acp.

I shoot my 9mm and .380 in the garage all the time with 'em. Use a hung blanket as a backstop.
 
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