Bought my first air rifle

[wgaynor]

...kinda. Actually had one as a gift from my parents for Christmas when I was 8 or 9. It was a Crossman pump.

But, with the price of .22lr and no desire to shoot the ammo I have (because I don't want to pay the price to replenish it), I decided to go the air rifle route.

Main use, plinking and squirrel hunting.

I bought the Beeman Kodiak Silver. Paid for it by selling my Marlin Xt ro-22 (I still have enough .22lr rifles and pistols, so no worries).

the air rifle came with a .177 caliber barrel and a .22 caliber barrel plus a scope (we'll see if it works well). I only gave the velocity a passing glance due to the hype of advertisement.

Also picked up about 1500 rounds of various ammo to use and see which is best.

Any tips for a new air rifle owner?

 

[Mousegun]

Welcome to the "club". Air guns are just too overlooked. If you learn to shoot an air rifle, you will be a better powder burner shooter by far.

Read about the artillery hold and accept the fact that 177 pellets work best below the sound barrier. Something like 850-900FPS is about all you want to go for max accuracy for the most part.

Try different pellets, each gun is different and may shoot one type better than all the others.

Good luck.

 

[bikerdoc]

Any tips for a new air rifle owner?

Enjoy, learn,get better.
I bought a used one to get started, about ready to get a new one.

 

[wgaynor]

thanks for the input... really itching to get this out onto the range and test all my ammo. Just bought some more pellets today.

I tend to overstudy things, so I've been reading up on artillery hold, maintenance, and expectations. I figured the same physics apply to air guns ammo as to the .22lr. If you break the sound barrier, you will lose your accuracy. So, if the .177 is too fast, I'll be sticking with the .22 caliber.

 

[greenmtnguy]

Enjoy it!

Avoid using the extra light pellets that are used primarily for generating the silly high velocity numbers as they tend to go fast, but not in the same place and the lighter pellets can be hard on the spring piston mechanics. Get a few different brands/styles of 177 and 22 pellets to see what it likes, and also expect that it will take a few hundred rounds to settle down. swab the bore out too. If youhaven't already found them on the internet, Gateway to Airguns (GTA) forum is very good with alot of experienced members and help available for the asking. Also, Pyramidair is a pretty good online seller for all things airgun related.

 

[Ditchtiger]

Also, Pyramidair is a pretty good online seller for all things airgun related.

Especially with pellets, buy 3 tins get one free.

 

[PigButtons]

In my experience air guns need to be cleaned a good deal more than .22lr. I don't know why except maybe the soft lead of the pellets sticks more to the barrel.

 

[wgaynor]

Well, I took it out to the range. Only had one type of .22 pellets, and it didn't like those very well. Groupings were horrible at 25 yards. Of course, maybe it was my technique.

I plan on taking off Friday and going to the range. I'll try with the .17 caliber barrel and the variety of ammo to see which works best.