How many of you practice with air rifles?

[Stavrogin]

Wondering how many others do this. I live right in the city, so obviously, home practice with actual firearms isn't practical, but I can go down to the basement and put 50 rounds through the air rifle any time I want, every day if I want to. Up until recently, I thought that air rifle holds and centrefire holds were totally different, but I know now they're not, which makes the air rifle practice seem much more valuable.

Any of you guys do much of this? And what kind of air rifles? Mine's a CZ Slavia 631 wearing her stock irons. My targets are eight half-inch black dots on a standard sheet of paper, used at about 9M.

 

[Zerodefect]

I use a Benjamin 397 .17pellet pump. Got it from Midway.

Very accurate. Old fashioned brass and wood quality. Probally last the rest of my life. Good for splattering bubonic plague carrying rodents without raiseing the attention of the neighbors.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

I keep a $30 Crossman by my door, stray dogs messin with my cats, possums other pests. dont want to hurt em only sting em.

 

[Zerodefect]

How is a possum a pest? Too bad you're way down in Texas, trap them live and you can release them at my place. I need more possums to keep mice infestations down.

 

[WNTFW]

Stavrogin,
My goal was 6k through mine this year. I hit 5k, July 1 I started on 5500. Slacked of due to heat, rain & other responsibilities. I shoot outside.
Sheridan 5mm. I switch up my targets for fun but shoot a lot of NRA targets scaled for 14 yds. Offhand, sitting & prone. Iron sights.
I hardly go to the big boy range any more. I am a member of an indoor range 15 minutes away. It costs me $10 to shoot there. I get a tin of 500 pellets for that. When I go to the range I shoot a lot of .22lr.
Some advantages I feel are daily contact with rifle live fire. I could dry fire my CF but that gets old. Pumping forces me to break & reestablish position at least partially. Wind is diminished on my setup but not 100%
I do think the cf hold & air rifle hold can vary depending on some factors. Looking over sights is looking over sights, trigger time is trigger time. I have heard .22lr stay in the barrel longer making steadiness & follow through critical. I would say my air rifle makes those 2-4x more critical.


What are you using for a pellet trap?

 

[Stavrogin]

I can't remember where I saw the idea for this (it wasn't my own). My pellet trap is a wood - yes, wood - box, 9" wide and 12" high (so an 8-1/2x11 sheet of paper covers the face of it) and about 8" deep. The back board is, I think, 1/2" plywood. What I've done is lined the entire back of it with about 1" of a product called Duct Seal. This stuff should be available at any hardware store. It's a putty-like stuff that's used for sealing up little air leaks in ducts. Turns out, it has almost identical properties to ballistic putty.

The pellets just sink right in and stop dead. My air rifle isn't a high-power one (rated to 500fps max, so it's not considered a firearm in Canada), but the pellets don't make it to the back of the box. They get MAYBE 3/4" into the putty, and stop dead. No dust, no fragmenting. Subsequent pellets hit the previous ones and litereally meld into them, creating clumps of lead. When it gets too heavy, I just peel the whole works out of the box. But I can put several thousand rounds into that box before I have to do that.

I try to get down to the basement every few days at least and put a few rounds through. Like you said WTNFW, trigger time is trigger time.

 

[HOOfan_1]

I did until my Crossman stopped working about 15 years ago. I keep telling myself I will buy another. They are so cheap I don't know why I haven't yet.

I shot out in my back yard and my pellet trap was a copy paper box, with old phonebooks in the back and cumpled up packing paper up front.

 

[mortablunt]

I do all the time. Now that I'n in college, I've taken up daily practice with nerf guns. They don't let me have a firearm here, so it's the best I got. I actually recommend for most people to start out with airsoft guns in order to learn basic skills, safety, and their own real level of interest before going on to more legal and expensive things.

 

[mdauben]

Sure! Like you say, it allows for casual target practice without the time or cost of going to a firearms range.

Handgun Practice - Daisy Model 747 Triumph single-pump pneumatic target pistol.



Rifle Practice - Daisy Model 853 Legend single-pump pneumatic target rifle.



Both are entry level competition guns, but they are relativly inexpensive ($150 for the pistol and around $250 for the rifle. High end, olympic-level competion air guns can easily go for over $1000 each) and more than accurate enough for home target practice.

 

[303tom]

All the time !

 

[Tim the student]

I do.

 

[Bwana John]

RWS M48 here.

 

[USAF_Vet]

I just picked up a Crosman AIR17 (M-16 lookalike from the 80s) this weekend (for free no less) and spent yesterday evening plinking in the backyard with it. It's quite fun, and apparently a collectors item in certain circles.

It's missing the faux magazine, and only came with one 4 round clip, still, fun and accurate enough for iron sight practice.

 

[mortablunt]

It's hilarious that I just bought a new Nerf with the big 35 round drum and it's okay, but I'm not allowed to have my airsoft.

 

[TexasPatriot.308]

a friend of mine went out and bought one of those high dollar pellet guns they advertise on TV, put a $200 scope on it and my .177 Crossman pumped up 10 will usually outshoot his at 50 yards. (dont believe all that on tv, those pitchmen will tell you what their sponsors want you to hear) and Zerodefect, I'll box some possums up and Fedex em to ya.

 

[ForumSurfer]

No, but I do help my kids slay evil tin cans and mutant bottle caps.

 

[mrbro]

Gamo Shadow 1000 and Crosman 357. Good training tools and effective at controlling unwanted yard critters.

 

[prid93]

My school has an air rifle club that allows me to practice for three hours a week. Luckily for me, the club provides the air rifles...and boy are they sweet...

http://www.championshooters.com/8001big.htm

We shoot at a 10m distance following all CMP air rifle competition rules (it is a CMP sponsored club.)

I have learned more about marksmanship from shooting these air rifles for a semester than I had learned from all my previous shooting experience (rimfire and centerfire rifles.)

 

[jrod]

I do. It keeps me ready for quarterly Qualification with the Mini-14. Rifle Ranges are out of the way in So. Cal.

 

[Stavrogin]

mdauben, those are some nice pieces.

prid, you're a lucky guy to have those rifles provided to you. I've never had the pleasure of actually firing a match-quality air rifle.

I DO like my CZ, though. Seems that even when it comes to air rifles, they don't do anything sub-par. I think that rifle was only $150-200 CDN (it was a gift), but it's a well-made quality piece.

Something else about spring-piston guns: the neat thing about them is that the pellet actually doesn't leave the muzzle until the very end of the firing cycle. I've read that the pellet doesn't actually move in the breech until the piston has already moved all the way forward, compressing the air in the cylinder and raising its temerature a couple hundred degrees for a split second (which is why you don't want oils in the cylinder). Then, and only then, does the pellet start to move down the barrel.

This unusually long firing cycle makes spring-piston guns murderously sensitive to hold, which can be a blessing and a curse; a curse because they're difficult to shoot well, but a blessing in that it makes them an excellent and unforgiving training tool.

At least, I think.

 

[-v-]

Frequently. Very cheap, and fun. Plus the 1 shot at a time really does focus me on getting that one shot right and beating those fundamentals in the noggin' with the equivalent of a sledge-hammer. 15-25 yard range into playing card sized targets seems to be the golden spot for me. Only "downside" of the air rifle is it sooo much lighter then the AR and balance seems to be a little better.

 

[GIJOEL]

I practice my pistol skills with look alike airsoft in the basement all the time. With an old t-shirt on a hanger as a backstop and cardboard box underneath.

 

[WALKERs210]

I have two air rifles and enjoy them as much as any of my other rifles. Also in an effort to teach my wife safe handling of a hand gun I purchased one of the spring powered that shoots the 6mm plastic bb's. I have since graduated the handgun up to a CO2 powered copy of a HK USP that is exact copy of the real HK. I have several traps I use for shooting in the house, the CO2 needs a whole lot more backing to stop the pellet. One of the rifles I own is a simple break action single shot made in China or some other place but for $25.00 and it works. Air rifles is how my grandson learned to shoot at age of 8, now at age 11 he can handle all but the highest powered rifle until he puts more weight on.

 

[MrBorland]

I love shooting air guns in my backyard. I have a IZH-46M 10meter air pistol and a Beeman R7 rifle, which was my favorite...until I found a used Weihrauch HW55 in great condition at my LGS. What a rifle!

Weirauch HW55:


5 rounds, 10 meters, standing, unsupported (had to give the windage screw a click):

 

[Smokey in PHX]

I shoot a pump air rifle and handgun three times a month in my garage or back yard. It does help wirh regular guns particularly handguns.