I bought a RWS 34P combo on sale from airgundepot.com last year. It was right around $240 shipped. Has a black plastic stock and came with scope and mount. It was cheaper to get than just the gun and scope mount, so I was very pleasantly surprised when the scope turned out to be usable quality. It's no Leupold, but it holds zero well and the parallax adjustment is functional. It's helped rid the backyard of squirrels. My wife can't cock it, so she grabs the 10/22......
Best everyday air rifle for the common fan?
- Thread starter Big JJ
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Ditchtiger
Member
Lots of posts for the RWS 34.
I'll add to it as I've a 34 and am very happy with it in .22 caliber.
I'll add to it as I've a 34 and am very happy with it in .22 caliber.
WestKentucky
Member
My Crossman from Walmart is advertised at 1100 fps and it hits like a 22lr even though it's a .177. Break barrel springer. It's been successful from groundhog to carpenter bee with a few rabbits and crow thrown in. I would avoid the 22 cal simply for the fact that pellets are much much much more costly and harder to get.
Ditchtiger
Member
I used to go with that until I found how much harder the 22's hit
goalie
Member
Wal mart carries Crossman Premiere pellets in .22
Tactical Lever
Member
Much, much, much more costly?? Harder to get? Maybe if you live in the Antarctic or Mongolia, in a rock field, I don't know...
I have no trouble finding pellets at Canadian Tire in .22, or even hardware stores. Although the gun shops have a slightly better selection. If I want a good selection I just order online. No problems getting premium pellets, including the heavy weights for high power hunting air rifles. I ordered about 6000 last year, or year before, and chose about 10 different styles. There was one that I wanted to try that was not available.
I find the difference in price from about 3% to about 40%. 500 JSB Jumbos cost $17.49/500 vs. a whopping $2 cheaper for the .177s where I bought my Disco. Still cheaper shooting the high quality pellets than cheap .22 LR. The .25 cal starts to get a little expensive. Hits like a hammer, but takes a very powerful gun to really take advantage of the big pellets.
There is no way a .177 hits like a .22. Not even close. The heavier weight pellets are just about twice as heavy, cut a bigger hole, but for practical purposes both are limited to the same speed.
mdauben
Member
I tend to agree with Tactical Lever regarding velocity. Once the velocity exceeds aroudn 1000fps I think its time to look at moving up to .22 or even .25 caliber.
I like PCPs too, although I would figure that eventually you are going to want to go with a pressure tank air source. Hand pumping a gun up to 2500-3000psi over and over again is going to get old eventually. So, figure the tank and fill valve is going to add a couple hundred dollars, plus the ongoing cost (minor) of getting the tank refilled.
Tactical Lever
Member
Even at lower velocity the .22 hits pretty good. I had a Crosman 2200 Magnum, which is limited to below 500 for the Canada market (higher needs a license), and even at 7 pumps accounted for a bunch of Richardson ground squirrels (gophers) out to 50 yards. They are pretty tough, and even hit hard with good .22 LR hollow points manage to make it back to the hole. Did pretty well for "stopping power".
I also had the Walther Talon (rebranded Hatsan) in .25 with the Quattro trigger. It was a nice gun, but at that power level was pretty hard to shoot. I clocked 31 gr. pellets at 630 (or was it 680?). Not too far off a .22 CB cap!
The Disco shoots faster however, is lighter, and penetrates further (in wood). A lot of people say that the pumping will get tiring, but it does not bother me. It only takes about 2 pumps per shot, so to top it off after 30 shots is only 60 pumps. And it operates at low pressure (2000 psi) so it is not tough to pump. I tried it with CO2 a couple times, and it is not a huge time saver. Nice to stretch out the time in between fills, if you don't need full power.
And once pumped up the gauge will stay there for months if not shot.
oneounceload
member
Another fan of the RWS 34;even in .177 it will cleanly kill squirrels and rabbits at backyard garden distances
I bought a tin of those to break my RWS34 in with, and by the time I got to 50 shots was wondering why I'd buy anything else - wonderfully consistent in my gun.
1SOW
Member
I bought my el cheapo Daisy 10 pump BB/pellet rifle for one sole purpose---a back yard squirrrel problem. I have 116 written in pencil on the rifle. I've seen #117, but havent had a shot yet. 25 yrds with iron sights (I made the rear adjustable in height with a screw) is a one-shot kill with gammo HP pellets. Chrono'd at about 740 fps at 9 pumps.
Max squirrel range might be 30 yards with tall oak trees and neighbor's houses all around. I practice at 15 yards standing, shooting into a steel pellet trap with 3 hanging 3/4" steel squares.
I enjoy shooting the dang thing, and considering a more precise air gun in .177 due to the small city lot I'm shooting on.
Good info on this thread.
Max squirrel range might be 30 yards with tall oak trees and neighbor's houses all around. I practice at 15 yards standing, shooting into a steel pellet trap with 3 hanging 3/4" steel squares.
I enjoy shooting the dang thing, and considering a more precise air gun in .177 due to the small city lot I'm shooting on.
Good info on this thread.
I have 2 1983 San Rafael Beeman R1s. One in .177 and one in.22. They both have extra barrels so they are actually both .117 and .22. I also have a 1985 Beeman P1 magnum pistol. It also has both .117 and .22 barrels.
Weirauch makes heirloom quality airguns that are built better than many firearms. The Ruger 10/22 comes to mind.
You can look thru the airgun forum's classified sections and get one of these for the money you are talking about.
I just rebuilt my 31 year old springer at my kitchen table with no special tools. It took a new spring $16, a piston seal $11, and a breach seal $2. Most nearly all modern airguns would have been deposited in the landfill decades ago. But for $30 an all steel machined HW will live on another 31 years.
I also choose springers because they are self contained. No pumps, scuba tanks, co2 cartridges, no pump seals to go bad. Springers will run in the field forever with very little up keep.
They can be rebuilt with the Leatherman you have in your kit
As far as caliber. .177 is stocked everywhere. .22 is there 80% of the time. I shoot Crossman Premiers from walmart. There is .60 difference between the two calibers when buying the 500 round tins.
.177 shoots flat and hot. It will over penetrate and keep going. The trajectory arch is flatter and allows for range estimation errors. After 75 yards it will diminish in speed and the wind will push it around more.
.22 shoots with more of a trajectory arch. Range estimation is more critical. Energy retention is good to 100yds. Velocity is usually atleast 200fps slower than .177. Over penetration not a concern as the energy is usually dumped into the target.
SWFA SS10X42M scopes handle magnum springers well. Keep in mind that spring guns actually recoil in both directions. Most scopes are not braced for forward recoil. Leapers UTG have a line of scopes just for this. HAWK optics is another fine choice. No matter the mfg, it is extreemly helpful to get a mil dot reticle if you plan to shoot any distance at all.
Weirauch makes heirloom quality airguns that are built better than many firearms. The Ruger 10/22 comes to mind.
You can look thru the airgun forum's classified sections and get one of these for the money you are talking about.
I just rebuilt my 31 year old springer at my kitchen table with no special tools. It took a new spring $16, a piston seal $11, and a breach seal $2. Most nearly all modern airguns would have been deposited in the landfill decades ago. But for $30 an all steel machined HW will live on another 31 years.
I also choose springers because they are self contained. No pumps, scuba tanks, co2 cartridges, no pump seals to go bad. Springers will run in the field forever with very little up keep.
They can be rebuilt with the Leatherman you have in your kit
As far as caliber. .177 is stocked everywhere. .22 is there 80% of the time. I shoot Crossman Premiers from walmart. There is .60 difference between the two calibers when buying the 500 round tins.
.177 shoots flat and hot. It will over penetrate and keep going. The trajectory arch is flatter and allows for range estimation errors. After 75 yards it will diminish in speed and the wind will push it around more.
.22 shoots with more of a trajectory arch. Range estimation is more critical. Energy retention is good to 100yds. Velocity is usually atleast 200fps slower than .177. Over penetration not a concern as the energy is usually dumped into the target.
SWFA SS10X42M scopes handle magnum springers well. Keep in mind that spring guns actually recoil in both directions. Most scopes are not braced for forward recoil. Leapers UTG have a line of scopes just for this. HAWK optics is another fine choice. No matter the mfg, it is extreemly helpful to get a mil dot reticle if you plan to shoot any distance at all.
Blue Duck
Member
I bought a Gamo Big Cat in .22 cal about 2 years ago. I paid something less then $150. for it. Im pretty happy with it now but it took a while. The springers are a little different to shoot. At first the best I could get was about a 5 or 6 inch group at 50 feet. Pretty disappointing. After 500 or so pellets and perfecting my hold the group was down to less then an inch at 50 feet. I ran it through a chronograph and it runs right at 750 to 800 feet per second with several different brands of pettets. I have taken crows and rabbits at 30 yards with it. If your getting one to hunt with Id stick to the .22.
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