New Generation Pellet rifles.

[JTH]

I've been looking at various Pellet Rifles over the last couple years and boy have they changed(especially in power). Some are very expensive. What are the highest velocity Break Barrel single shots, for under $150. I grew up with the Benjamin Pumps single shot pellet rifles and they're still being made today in this price range. It looks like a Gamo is a pretty decent rifle but they are high end Gamo's that are pretty pricey. Any opinions what is a good Pellet Rifle for the $150 range? You can get a pretty decent .22 for this price at this point it's .01 cent vs 10 cent per round. Thanks!
JT

 

[WNTFW]

Pellets can cost as much as bulk pack .22lr. and Match .22 can cost as much as centerfire. Match centerfire is even more so it never ends.

I have a Sheridan 5mm and the pellets are 1/3 to 2/3 the price of bulk pack. Not that cheap if I count my labor of pumping though.

I suggest you get a common caliber so you can have more ammo selection. The 5mm is not good in that department.

Get something with decent sights.

One of the Air gun sites (Pyramid Air??) has a way to sort or filter by price.

 

[NG VI]

the .177 pellets are way cheap. I know that much. And those gold Gamo ones were unloved by my otherwise flawless Winchester-branded pellet rifle.

 

[thebaldguy]

I've got a Gamo Big Cat 1200 in .177. It came with a factory 4x scope for under $120. It's powerful, accurate, and cheap to shoot even with Gamo Match pellets. I love this rifle and so does everyone who shoots it. I have a pump up Crosman 2100 Classic with an old Weaver .22 4x scope that shoots good, but it's not as accurate and I get tired of pumping. The matching air Crosman air pistol is fun too, but again you get tired of pumping the gun up for each shot. There are lots of good spring piston break barrel air rifles out there for your price range.

Good pellets are cheap and air guns are great practice and fun.

Here's a few links:

http://www.pyramydair.com/
http://www.airgunsus.com/
http://www.eandk.com/links.html
http://www.network54.com/

They've come a long way since that old Crosman 760 I got back in 1973.

 

[7X57chilmau]

Gamo, RWS, Crosman, there are lots of great pellet rifles these days. Most of the fps numbers are grossly inflated by using extremely light pellets to get big numbers for the marketing folks. Any true velocity over about 900-1000fps will lead to inaccuracy.... Because pellets don't stabilize well at supersonic velocities.

If you want power, you need a larger caliber to allow you to fire higher weight pellets. 22 pellets are over twice the weight on average as .177's.

A more useful number for comparing rifles is muzzle energy. foot-pounds. My .177 RWS 34 does about 900fps with normal 8gr pellets... About 15fp. A monster model 350 might do a similar velocity with heavy 22 pellets and achieve over 30fp.

If you wanna get real fancy, there's pcp and big-bore guns to consider too... Some with powers approaching centerfire pistols....

But then it isn't about saving money anymore...

J

 

[JTH]

I went to Cabela's web site and they have the Gamo Big Cat w/scope for $98.00. I don't think I'll find a much better Pellet Rifle for the price. My neighbor has one with what looks like a silencer/fluted out barrel, I believe he said he paid over $200. I have pleanty of other weapons and a big stash of ammo but I'd like to keep that big stash of ammo bought back when ammo was pretty cheap back in the mid '90s. Where I live east of Austin, if things got tough I could get fatter living of of squirrels but initially, I just want a Pellet Rifle for plinking. At 1000-1200 ft. per sec. those pellets become a lethal round to varmits. I'm just not into killing animals for no reason other than a possibly rabid animal or if times get tough for food but my other weapons fill that niche for bigger game, like deer. Thanks guys for your input!
JT

 

[thebaldguy]

That's a good price for the Big Cat with a scope. Get it and make sure you mount the scope properly so it won't move. Use a good hex wrench as the one with the rifle seemed a little small.

You will get 1200+ fps with the lightweight alloy pellets, but not with the lead. The airgun will have the crack of a .22 report which may or may not be an issue. They are real loud in my basement and make your ears ring. Some alloy ammo can be pretty expensive like the Gamo gold plated ammo. If you have to use the light alloy ammo, I have had good results with the Crosman lead free ammo which is much cheaper.

There is a wide variety of airgun ammo out there. Different airguns like different ammo, but all my airguns seem to work well with the Gamo Match. It works well for hunting as well, but there are more hunting specific pellets.