Air guns for VERY CHEAP plinkering?

[Dave Markowitz]

My dad hasn't been shooting his airguns so he let me take a couple home yesterday. The first is his old Geco Diana Model 27, vintage 1970s.



It's a real nice shooter. The 5 shot group in the top left target was shot offhand at 25 feet with RWS Meisterkuglen .177 pellets. I put a couple drops of silicone airgun oil on the breach O-ring and down through the transfer port into the compression chamber.



The other gun he gave me was this RWS C225. It's a CO2 powered .177 pellet pistol he bought in 1997. AFAIK the mechanicals are basically the same as the Walther CP88 CO2 pistols.



I shot it a little today. The trigger is sticking after each shot so I have to give it a little push to reset. It's a neat gun but I still want to get a single shot target pistol.

 

[Geddinight]

The Crosman 1377 and 1322 are decent plinkers that do really well under 15 yds. You can hit the same hole if you do your part. You won't spend over 75 dollars for either one.

Pop for an after market set of grips and you have a nice looking set too.

 

[rodinal220]

.177 would be the cheapest and easiest to use.I like spring-piston guns and cut my teeth on them.A very nice break barrel RWS-34 in .177 would make a decent choice.
I like PCP guns(pre-charged pneumatic) but the set up costs are much higher and you must have a source with you.The springers are self contained.

 

[JohnKSa]

If your primary goals are recreational shooting, don't get sucked into buying something based purely on high velocity.

My favorite airgun, a Beeman R7, shoots Crosman 7.9gr premiers at about 650fps. It's accurate, not very hold-sensitive, very easy to cock and it's quiet.

I have other airguns that are much more powerful, but they don't get shot as much because the cocking effort is higher, they tend to be more hold-sensitive (at least the spring-piston airguns), and they make a lot more noise.