airgun thread / air rifle general

le bump

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>>33757664
>Tfw live in UK and moving to Scotland soon
>Need to spend £72 on a fucking licence to bring up my air rifle or face 2 years in prison
Why is the SNP so autistic?

>>33758991

is that for regular (limit) rifles, or FAC? And does it allow you to have a FAC?

Bummer that you need a license at all, but then again - UK is seriously anal about their gun/knife/air laws.

how often does a spring in a gun need replacing?
model(if it helps) is a HW85K

>>33759358
You're probably good for 100,000 shots or so. Don't leave the spring compressed for long periods (as in weeks, months) as it'll take slightly more 'set' and velocity will drop a little bit. Invest in a chrony of some sort and test velocity occasionally if in doubt about the power level. $100 or so gets you a decent tool for airgun (and firearm for that matter) velocity testing. Especially useful if you're getting into modifying airguns and need to track changes as you develop a tune.

>>33757664
Took a turkey vulture with my gamo silent stalker yesterday.

>>33759402
this helps alot. how powerfull does a air rifle have to be for hunting? my produces 230m/s with a 0.95g pellet

>>33759490
That's a bit of a silly question, sorry to say. Hunting what? That power level - about 18.5fpe - is easily sufficient for rabbits and grey squirrels out to perhaps 50 metres if you're a decent shot. By that I mean that you can hit a 2cm target 100% of the time at that range. If you're looking at larger/tougher animals for hunting then I'd recommend a more powerful airgun.

>>33759676
sorry for the stupid phrasing. you gave me all the info i needed anyway, bless your soul anon

>>33759490
You need about 5 fpe on target to humanely kill a rabbit or squirrel. Use a ballistic calculator like Chairgun Pro to figure out the downrange energy for your gun and pellet combination. Then git gud. Shot placement is key when you can't rely on excessive energy to do the job.

>>33759751
not him, but that wasn't stupid at all.

a 12 foot pound (16 Joule) rifle is enough to take a rabbit with a headshot at 50 yards, as long as it's a .22.

That's equivalent to ~170 m/s with a 1.03g pellet (pretty standard for a .22 JSB exact at 15.89 grains).

If it's a .177, 0.95g would be a very heavy pellet (something like a H&N rabbit magnum or something), so I'm guessing your rifle is a .22.

Either way, it comes down to conservation of energy and momentum. And since a heavier pellet has bgreater inertia, it will maintain velocity better than a lighter pellet, so even if they're fired at the same initial energy, a lighter, faster .177 pellet will lose energy quicker than a heavier, slower .22.

In practice, this limits a 12 fpe .177 hunting range to about 30 yards (40-ish with heavy pellets like the h&n baracuda HE in OP, especially that it's a hollow point), while a .22 will hunt comfortably up to 40, and with good shot placement up to 50.

A more powerful rifle like yours will go out further, although While yu might have the energy for it, a ~230 m/s pellet will have 10cm drop at 50m (a .22 drops 20 cm), so that may affect accuracy, and your ability to hit the killzone beyond 50m.

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Less bang bang, more pfft pfft.

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>>33760044
that is gold anon, thank you
>TFW your air rifle is more powerfull then gun laws mandate. that is if >>33759676 is correct about its power

>>33760196
Gun laws in the UK allow just under 12fpe without an FAC, but a lot higher power with the proper paperwork. Age and background are important in acquiring the FAC but it's really not all that restrictive.

Sorry if anyone took offense, I didn't mean anything like 'stupid' by suggesting the vaguely worded question was 'a bit silly' - not trying to be insulting at all. Just pointing out that 'hunting' is a very broad topic and one can not easily generalise about what power level is sufficient for any sort of hunting without more specific questions.

For what it's worth, I hunt grey squirrels and have made clean hits out to 35 metres but don't try further, as I want my kills to be humane, regardless of my feelings about the invasive critters. I'm confident in my standing shots to that distance with a 13.43gr JSB RS travelling at 800fps from the muzzle - about 19fpe. Have made hits at that distance with a 10fpe .22" but I only use the 19fpe rifle now just to be sure, and prefer to take head-on shots where possible to drop the pellet through the brain and into the torso, assuring an instant end to the tree rat.

>>33760196
Oh, and as for power level, just use the online calculators. There are plenty available. I like the tools at Airguns of Arizona:
http://www.airgunsofarizona.com/Calcs.html

>>33760380
i don't have the correct paperwork, i am sorry to say. and don't worry, you did not offend, if i say something silly i want to be corrected

>>33757664
What scope is that? Does the adjustment wheel come standard?

>>33760380
I've seen vids of rabbits dropped at 50 yards with a 12 fpe break barrel .22 (walther terrus), and of a rabit with a thoroughly busted skull (.177 baracuda hunter extreme and hw100, i'm assuming also a 12 fpd version).

In the 12 foot pound range the noteworthy difference between .177 and .22 is in the 30-50 yard range, though the baracuda he, which is quite possibly the best .177 hunting pellet on the market right now, can close the gap a bit.

At FAC levels of power, Matt Dubber from South Africa has taken dassies and other targets beyond 100m.

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>>33760411
Havke sidewinder 6-26x56 30 mil tube, 1/2 mil dot reticle scaled to 20x (and illuminated). Comes standard with the sunshade, covers, and z 4 inch wheel.
I have a 10x42 sidewinder on my pro sport (previously mounted on my, scopeless for the moment, tx200hc), that came with a 2 inch wheel (interchangable with the 4''). Pictured: my tx200hc (bottom)

>>33760517
Sorry, meant hawke sidewinder 6-24x56, stupid phone.

>>33760478
Yes, and Matt is a helluva good shot. If you can place a pellet as consistently as he can at those distances with that power level, then do what you like for small game hunting. But as most shooters aren't nearly as consistently skilled as he, or Ted, or a handful of other extremely accurate shooting Youtubers are, my suggestion regarding limiting shots to 2cm groups at whatever range you can manage them seems sound.

>>33760541
I can take a kneeling 1.5 inch kz at 40 with a springer (wind was a bitch lately). I don't hunt because stupid Polish law, and hft targets don't run away, but my main concern would be stalking closer than 30m.

>>33760569
In my experience a rabbit's KZ can be as big as that, but for squirrels I keep the KZ to 1cm in Chairgun and in practice. Same for HFT. Going bigger tends to make necessary a second shot at times and that's just not comfortable. And of course in HFT there are no second shots.

My .22 cal Maximus hand pumped pcp cheapo air rifle delivers at least 25 FPE at 50 yards with 18 grain pellets, more like 29 fully pumped. Enough for any small game. I can get at least 35 shots like that before I need to repump. Bonus no recoil!

>>33760758
How long do those take to pump up? I've been thinking about getting once since scuba tanks aren't an option where I live.

>>33761256
I have a pump that i use on my s400.

Going up to 150 bar is fairly easy, 150 to 190 is annoying to say the least. I shoot from 190 down to 100, though i've never counted how many shots that is exactly (i know it's more than 70, so no sweat). With a more powerful rifle you'll get less (obviously), and if you're good with pumping more often, you can go to 150 bar and have an easier time of it.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tasAi13pehA

>>33761430
So funny. Every single time some 12-year-old posts it. lol. smiley face here. etc.

>>33761655
Is it posted often?

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Can someone please explain to me how I'm supposed to look at this gauge? Maybe through one of those little dentist's mirrors?

>>33762506
I hate that gauge placement. Would never buy.

>>33762506
exactly like in this pic you nerd.

>>33761430
A couple years ago there was a news vid about a woman chasing off some burglars with a .25 Marauder. People laugh, but it's probably not a bad option if you're a prohibited possessor or you live in a cuck state. I sure as hell would not want to be shot with one. And dumb criminals don't know it's only 50 fpe.

>>33762506
It's not like you need to look at it when your shooting. How autistic are you? Its a target pistol. You ckeck before you start the string.

>>33762239
More than enough times. And the sad thing is the guy in the video has good intentions, trying to offer serious (even if not very useful) advice for people who live in countries/regions where owning a handgun is just not going to happen. For non-criminals anyway. Criminals of course have no problem getting guns. But honest citizens are often left gunless. Like in Canada, where I live. Maybe a few dozen Canadians who are not personal bodyguards for politicians or otherwise deemed 'safe' under our laws get issued a CCW of sorts. Even then there are tight restrictions on time and place. For the other millions of us a handgun has to be stored in a safe, with a trigger lock, and only safely transported to and from a recognised gun range where we are members and where we are (oh, joy) allowed to shoot them.

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Anyone else have a Benjamin 397/392? Was what I heard about the original rear sight causing barrel/pump chamber separation sooner or later correct or did I fall for airgun forum Fuddlore? I ordered a peep sight for it, but I would have done that anyway since I prefer them over notch rear sights.

Also, I nicked the paint off the side of the barrel by being a dumbass, would just any old black matte paint cover that up?

im going to buy my first air rifle this week, should be cheap (<150€), 4.5mm and has to be under 7.5 joule.
can any of you guys recommend one?

>>33760517
Pardon the additional question but how the hell do you people pay for such equipment, my most expensive rifle was only like 120€ and most expensive air gun was 135€. Do you guys just save for a long time/have high wage job?

>>33766470

to quote Hafthor: "don't buy other stuff".

If you're serious about the hobby, $1000 for a rifle with a decent scope doesn't seem like that much.

Also - don't yo know? Men don't grow up, theey just get more expensive toys.

>>33764916

why under 7.5? The only rifles I know in that power are 10m precision rifles, and they're nowhere near 150 yuro.

what about a baikal mp61? https://www.sportsmanguncentre.co.uk/baikal-mp-61-177

kind of crude-looking (like most things to come out of USSR), and certainly not the same level of quality as Anshutz and Feinwerkbau, but it doesn't cost $2500+ either.

Other than that, I think you can get 7.5J versions of Walther rifles, like the Walther Terrus (which you could later upgrade to a regular, 16J spring).

HW30 might be around your price range as well.

The 7.5J requirement is quite an obstacle.

>>33757664
Since we are talking about air guns. Would it be possible to build and air rifle like in the metro games where you build pressure by pumping a handle and could fire steel ball bearings from a spring loaded tube mag?

>>33767743
That is generally how PCA guns work. Those are low powered.

If you want some serious power, we'd be talking about a FAC-type pcp, which would give you about 10 shots from a full 200BAR tank, and forget about hand pumping it.

With a 3-stage compression pump (made by Hatsan, probably their best product) it takes some serious effort to go from 150 to 190 bar on my s400, and I have to throw my whole weight (about 75 KG) on the pump. And the pump weighs some 2.5kg.

>>33766470
It probably helps that i don'g drink/smoke, and have little other expenses plus a decent paying job. It still takes a few months' worth of saving to get a 700 dollar rifle with a 400 dollar scope, but the difference between being able to hit a beer can at 20m, and a bottle cap at 50 is worth it. I've shot 6mm aifsoft pellets with both .177 anc .22 from 20m away.

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Are these lead-free plastic saboted pellets gud? Do I need to clean less if I use them?

>>33770317
They penetrate good and don't need to much cleaning but are expensive compared to lead. They also don't expand upon impact like lead hollow points.

>>33770317

never used them. I mostly shoot JSB exact, H&N FTT, H&N baracuda HE, and I want to pick up some H&N sinper lights for the weekend, see how my pro sport likes them.

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My S200. Good for punching holes in paper at 30yards, havent tried it on anything living yet.

>>33770317
No. I've tried them out of springers and PCP rifles and can generally see these silly featherweight projectiles spiralling out of control inside of 10 metres. They won't 'group' on paper at all beyond 6 metres. Pathetic 1 foot or larger groups at 30 metres, out of rifles which normally deliver sub-MOA accuracy with decent JSB pellets. Don't waste your money. Buy good ammunition. Subsonic airgun barrels don't lead up anyway, as the speed doesn't cause lead melting and bonding with the rifling. So long as your bore is smoothly finished to begin with the only time you should ever clean an airgun barrel is before the first time you shoot it, to clear out any factory gunk.

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After about 30 or 40 shots the repump takes about 1 pump stroke for every shot to bring it back up to 2000 psi. They are the only PCP air rifles that work well at the lower 2000 psi pressures. If you have a 3000 psi rifle good luck pumping up to that. 2000 psi is fine and the rifles work great

>>33771333

Well something like an AA s400 will work in the 100-190 BAR range. After going down to 100 bar (about 1500 psi) you can pump to 150 bar (2175 psi), which is fairly easy. It's the 150 to 190 bar fil that's really annoying with a hand pump. Or you could get a tank. A 3L tank is about 4 kg, and there are smaller, and there are much lighter tanks.

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changing the subject a bit. What scopes do you guys prefer on your pellet guns?

Aside from the fact that spring piston guns have a lot of recoil that can damage the scope (and to preemptively answer the question: a cheap air rifle has enough vibration during the double recoil cycle to damage scopes rated for .375 H&H Magnum), I feel like a lot of pretty good scopes are useless because of bad crosshairs.

Many hunting scopes will go for something like 4A, multi-x (duplex), or simple mil-dot.
The mil-dot ones are sort of okay, but I have been spoiled by Hawke's 1/2 mil-dot reticle (pic related).

Also - what's with all the variable magnification scopes? I get it that it's cool to "zoom in" on a target, but HFT doesn't even allow changing scope settings, not to mention that a fixed mag scope is a better choice for a springer, but besides the shitty 4x32 not worth mentioning, this is the only reasonable fixed mag scope I've been able to find.

Hawke Sidewinder 10x42 30 SF IR 1/2MD.


I also quite like the reticle Hawke puts on the airmax (a variation ov the 1/2MD, only there's a lower "tree", and the horizontal are marked at 1.5; 2.5; 3.5; 4.5 (wish they used dashes instead of dots for the horizontal though).

>>33773072
Though it has only a simple reticle, I'm most fond of my Leupold VX-1 2-7x rimfire scope. Crystal clear, lots of light, and I find it's easy enough to use for FT at around 5x zoomed. I like it at full zoom when plinking at 70 metres or more. For back yard squirrels 3x is plenty. I have a Burris with the same zoom and it's nice enough, but the reticle is a bit too fine to be clear in all kinds of shadow which is a problem for HFT. Considering a Burris Veracity at some point but still on the fence, as $1,000 is a lot to spend on an air rifle scope.

>>33773349

2-7x33 is pretty low. I shoot my pcp at 20x (yes, even for close range, though it's technically a 6-24).

I'm really impressed by that veracity though. Especially the 4-20 reticle. A friend of mine has a falcon FFP scope. Pretty sweet not having to remember what the reticle is scaled to, and how the POI changes at different mag.

>>33762506
>not putting one pellet in the chamber and looking straight at front to read the gauge, with the barrel pointing to your eye, and messing with the trigger while doing so, applying 0.1lbs of force less than the required to shoot lead up your pupils so you demonstrate your lack of fear and total finger control
Safetyfags are like little babies. alternatively, you can read it even on the angle of pic related.

>>33773571
The only thing 7x doesn't work for in my experience is looking at my groups on paper from my shooting position, when that paper is beyond 50 metres. For that I can of course walk to the paper, so not really a problem.

>>33766470
I bought my Cyclone used for about half the new price. I figure it won't lose too much more value while I own it. But yeah, I had to have a pretty nice job to have that much to blow on a toy.

>>33776029

It kind of depends on the level of prdcision you want to achieve. If you're used to 10m precision (irons), maybe, but trying to hit a blu-tack at 50m is not something i'd try with less than 10x, and more like 16-20x

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Guys, no matter how I turn it, the law remains retarded in here and says you can't shoot in your backyard. So I'm looking for indoors options.
Now my problem is the following, I don't have large spaces in my house and would still like to safely shoot airguns.
What are my options ?
I have a pellet trap, but I want something as a backstop in case I miss, and I need to figure out a place to put it all.
What do ?

>>33764916
Are you from Belgium by any chance ?
Because if so, the 7.5J only applies to air pistols.

>>33780321
Try 7.5j for 10m precision?

Assuming you have 10m of space. For a backstop some plywood with silly putty (play doh) should be enough. Where are you with such retarded law?

>>33781502
Belgium and I don't have 10 meters of space.
I don't wanna drive to the range for this shit, because if I do, I'm just gonna shoot some cheap .22 instead, but I want to practice at home for when I don't want to make the drive.
See my problem here?

>>33757664
This is directed to any knowledgeable airgun anons ITT;
Is the Hatsan 135 Vortex .30 really as cool as it seems? It's a .30 break barrel airgun, it's literally neva ben dun beefo.

>>33781554

not really. I haven't heard any good things about the vortex system. In theory, it's supposed to be a variable power rifle. In practice, it's apparently inconsistent.

And there's little point going above .22 in something that's not an FAC pcp. And at 300 bucks, I'd rather just get a Terrus or something.