My new Survival Gun

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Geckgo

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I went to wally world today. When I was there yesterday I noticed that they had a Beeman RS2 with two barrels for right at 100 bucks. It came with a .177 barrel (which I haven't decided what to do with) and a .224 barrel seperate. The second I got home I swapped to the .22 barrel. I put on the scope, also included, that is a cheesy little 4x Beeman wonder, but I do like that the covers for it are clear so you don't have to take them off to shoot. I actually really like that and am considering some new covers for my O6 scope, but I digress.

Anyways, the box advertizes 1000fps for .177 and 800 fps for .22, which I know are based on lightweight pellets, but I bought some heavy stuff (lead crosman hollowpoints) for hunting. Hooking up 1000 rounds of ammo for 15 bucks isn't a bad deal at all.

Absolutely love it. I've been wanting to get an air rifle as a survival gun and while there are better ones out there, for 100 bucks I couldn't pass it up. When I get my reloading press someday (still waiting on that one) I'm going to get some pellet swaging dies for it and I plan on saving my spent ammo as much as possible for melting and remaking pellets. To me an air rifle is #1 for a survival weapon, either that or a bow. Plus I had an excuse to make a nice trap for it so I can practice in the house. I think I went a little overboard on the backstop though. I'm starting to wonder if my trap can also stop .22 LR ammo :D Probably will wait to go to the range if I decide to try that.

Anyone been hunting with these? How do they hold up against rabbits and squirrels (main purpose). Not that I would but I'm curious about coons and cat sized game too.
 
Tried looking up your La small game regulations for you and the Small game regulations page is blank! so I don't know if air rifles are even legal in your state to hunt game. There are several states that they are not. As far as coons, the .22 barrel should deliver a kill on one. I used to, many years ago when I was very young, kill them with my pump daisy BB gun. Head shot took them right out.
 
I'll ask around on that one. In a survival scenario I don't think I would care as much about the legal issues ;) I got a .22 for small vermin right now and it works just fine for them. The pellet's more for playing. I can shoot it in doors, and if something ever were to happen, then I have a rifle with almost unlimited ammo (with the right swaging/reloading equipment) that doesn't depend on gunpowder. If a spring breaks and I'm caught without a backup I might be screwed :(
 
Air rifles have been successfully used for pest control and small game hunting for a very long time so there's little question that the right air rifle is a reasonable choice for the right game.

We don't deal with "survival" issues in this forum simply because it usually amounts to Walter Mitty fantasy and any realistic survival situation amounts to a set of practical skills that need practice to put into effect anyway.

You'd have to check with some of the dedicated air rifle forums to get folks with more experience to comment on your choice before you learn the rifle's limitations on your own.
 
:) Been reading all day on it. Truth is I just bought a new gun and want to publicise about it. I get that way around a new toy. LA legal stuff is frustrating me though. I only see one instance in the LDWF book about NOT using airguns during a dedicated primitive firearms season. Guess I'll just ask the next game warden I see about it.

The decisive thing for me is practice, and it looks like a lot of people have been taking plenty of bunnies and squirrels with guns less powerful than this one. Shot placement, just like anything else seems to be the deciding factor. I think next time I go to the range I'll take some water jugs of various sizes and see how the pellets do against them at various ranges. That's always fun.
 
I'm going to get some pellet swaging dies for it and I plan on saving my spent ammo as much as possible for melting and remaking pellets
Click to expand...

Clearly, a man who loves casting bullets, because there can't be any real cost savings there...
 
Geckgo said:
Anyone been hunting with these? How do they hold up against rabbits and squirrels (main purpose). Not that I would but I'm curious about coons and cat sized game too.
Click to expand...
Here in the UK air rifles that produce less than 12ft/lbs me are licence free - hence lots of rabbits and squirrels are taken with them. Accuracy is key, but a good marksman can take rabbits out to 50 yds with these guns.
 
Thank you Shoot the Moon. I need to get one of those cool velocity measuring devices one of these days and I can calc something up for my lead, but I think it's more than 12 based on the advertized velocity for super-light bullets. I don't think I would dare to reach 50 yards with it (specially on a windy day, I've seen what wind does to my 22LR, I can immagine with these rounds that weigh half as much), but nice to know that the confidence is there. Again, still haven't found anything out about legal hunting with air rifles in Louisiana, and I don't think I'll be back to the WMA for a while, I'm supposed to go offshore very soon. But maybe.
 
I would keep to reasonably heavy pellets for maximum retained downrange energy. Also I agree with you on distance - my skills are only good enough for 25yds, particularly as I shoot a BSA Lightning XL which has a heck of a thump to it from the piston on firing - this means consistent hold is everything when it comes to accuracy and I'm not that good! My rule of thumb is can I hit a 1.5" circle reliably at the distance? If I can, I will shoot out to that max.

With a PCP rifle, kills on small game at 50 yds (some claim more) should be achievable given a good standard of marksmanship, however I guess unless you use a manual pump rather than a divers bottle, a PCP would not fulfil your purpose.
 
Yep, thought about that route. Handpumps and PCPs don't seem to be that great for all the hype. I decided to go break-action. I may go to the range and put my trap down at 25 yrds to see how it fairs. 10 yrd shots in the house are fun and it's grouping well, but I'm keeping the groups about 1 1/2 inches below the target at that distance for now till I zero it at 25. Then I'll figure out my hold over at 10.
 
i own a benjamin/sheridan blue streak 5mm. it shoots @582fps chronographed. this is my second one, as the one i had as a kid was shot so much, it finally died. i have taken a lot of game with it. squirrels by the bucket full, rabbits, phesants (when i was a kid, i havent seen one of those for years now), birds, all sorts of stuff. the big thing is practice, and a decent scope (well, at my age anyway). when i was a kid, i could shoot a rabbit at 40 yards with the lousy open sights. as for a survival gun, i wouldn't want to count on it. a 22lr semi auto would be far superior. as a hunting tool, they definitly work, quite well, as long as you practice, and stay within your limits. when hunting game, you will need to be stealthy, if what you are after knows you are there, it will greatly reduce you chances. rabbits especially. the best way i found to hunt them is to be waiting for them to come out of their brush pile or den and ambush them. try to be patient, so you have a little room between their home and where you shoot them. if they do not drop over dead, you do not want them to be able to get back into their den. or that is where they will die, and you will not be able to retieve them. best place to shoot is either in the eye, ear, or double lung shot. the lung shot will give the animal the best chance of getting back to its den however. one in the head will drop it in its tracks. good luck, and have lots of fun! life is to short to be miserable all of the time.
 
Anyone been hunting with these? How do they hold up against rabbits and squirrels (main purpose).
Click to expand...

I hunted squirrels and rabbits with less powerful pellet rifles when I was a kid, so yes your rifle is perfectly capable of squirrel/rabbit slaying.

I recently bought my first pellet rifle that was capable of cracking the sound barrier. It was neat for awhile, but it has been gathering dust for quite some time. Those little 500 count pellet tins cost about $15 locally. For the same price I can get 300 or so 22 rounds. The pellet gun is fun for family get-togethers. Impromptu contests using the 22 spinner targets are fun.
 
Geckgo,

Give us an accuracy report; I am interested in hearing what this particular piece will do at about 25 yards.

------------------------------------

Je Suis Prest
 
Sorry, it's been a while. I just got offshore a couple days ago and before finally getting some sleep today, I had been up for about 45 hours straight.

I did get a chance to get some range time with the Beeman. Not sure what to expect from these and being far from a competition shooter, with no rests, I found that the beeman was definitely less accurate than my .22 LR, but seemed to do well enough at that range. I would put 4 pellets in a 1.5" circle and have an occasional flier land up to 2" from target center at 26 yards. If I were shooting from a rest I would probably make tighter groups, but I don't use rests. I want to say that the occasional flier is a pellet issue more than a gun issue. I'm using a standard 500 tin of crosman lead HPs. Some of them drop into the barrel easily and others need a little persuasion to fit nicely. It's hard to say. I would say, expect 1-2" groups at 25yrds depending on experience, better if you're awesome or shooting from sandbag rests. The owners manual says something about the gun starting to shoot better after 1000 rounds but I wouldn't know why.

As far as penetration, just for fun I shot one at a normal target board from 50 yrds, 1/2" of plywood and it made it through, though the wood may have been weakened or missing a couple layers on the backside from earlier, hard to say. Drop was about 2 inches, but it was only one pellet and I was just shooting for an approximate spot on my .22 target paper, not at the target itself that was already chewed up.

On a neat note, I also found out that the backstop I built will stop .22 LR Winchester 555s very easily! Fired 2 in and they didn't even make it to the plywood back. I dug them out of the final magazine stack in the back of the box! The trigger is pretty nice for a 100 dollar pellet gun as well, but that's me talking, I'm not very trigger sensitive and triggers are never a selling point for me.
 
Thousand round break in is probably the spring piston. Once it settles in it may smooth out some, and velocity might be alittle more consistant as well.

Trying a variety of pellets might yield one or two that shoot significantly better too. Thanks for the report. Air rifles are fun to shoot, I need to get another one myself.

-------------------------------

Je Suis Prest
 
That sounds like a fun air rifle at an excellent price.

However, at 7lbs. scoped, it's heavy. I'd rather have a .22LR and scrounge for ammunition.

mbogo
 
I think the beeman said on the box that it's 10 lbs scoped. Very heavy but not too bad for most things. LAK, you may be right about the spring piston. I wanted to get nitro, and I can probably upgrade any time I like, I'm sure they make a nitro cartridge for it, just don't want to throw the money at it for the moment and see no need to. I'll have to shoot a lot more and see if it gets any better as I go.

Jframe, I'm not sure about RWS but if they are like all the other brands I've read up on, the MV is for the lightweight RWS pellets, 10gr I think. My leads are about 15gr. I might look into measuring the speed on the pellets when I get a chance. I'll look into the cost for the hardware today and see if that is an option for me.
 
Gecko

You might want to try the .177 barrel. It may well be more accurate and at tree rat ranges might well do as good a job as the .22 COnsider for a moment that difference in starting velocities. it may well be that the .177 pellets have a higher impact velocity out at 35 yards than the .22s start with.

I have taken tree rats to 25 meters or so with a .177 air rifle and 4 power scope. Full penitations were not uncommon and dead right there is dead right there.

I bought my FWB 124 many moons ago because of a book called "Survival Guns" by Mel Tappen in which it was given high marks.

-k Bob
 
I could try that I guess. I prefer heavier, slower bullets in all of my guns for reasons that I won't go into here, but It might be good for accuracy's sake to get some more practice. Plus I have a tin of .177 that I was going to put through my CO2 gun, but it's preforming pretty crummy.
 
I had one of those, It never held a zero, and once the barrel for the .224 diameter flew up during cocking and bent, literally bent, I am a pretty calm tempered person, I dry fired it, and smashed it on stepping path bricks, and gave up on air guns, I have never had one worth it's weight in crap. I had a gamo, the spring broke, had a remington, barrel came loose, crosman, stock cracked after recoil, beeman was the last straw, when you miss a squirrel and try to reload and it flys up and bends.. It's smash time, I'm not trying to discourage you, but I have found in many cases a nice benjamin pump will do better than most of the others.
 
I have the exact same model and I also have zeroing issues. I then realized the barrel screw would get loose from time to time.
 
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