The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: santahog on March 06, 2015, 03:07:27 PM
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I'm being suburban... Woohoo... :(
I'm about to be overrun by squirrels and I now live in the burbs.. I need a suppressed pellet gun that shoots flat out to about 75 feet.
What am I looking for?
Where do I find objective "ratings?" on these things?
Anybody??
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The fightingquaker13 was big on pellet guns.
Search his postings for some tips.
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I've dabbled in air guns as well.
Short version. A "springer" (which also can be a nitrogen piston) is the way to go. CO2 is okay, but just when you want it, you're out of gas. PCP (Pre-Charge Pnematics) are expensive and require ta tank and refilling. They've VERY accurate but not always handy to press into service
Don't go for the "high velocity" marketing gimmicks. You want to keep the pellets under 1,100 fps so there's no supersonic shock wave. Hence, highly recommend going with a .22 and use lead pellets not the light weight alloy.
I have two both in .22. One is an underlever, Weihrauch 77, expensive, heavy but very accurate and hard hitting. Usually have a 15x scope on it. The other is a Benjamin Nitro, that uses a nitrogen piston instead of a spring. Not quite as powerful or as accurate, but good for squirrels out to 15-20yds.
One of the on-line retailers is Pyramyd Air. http://www.pyramydair.com/ (http://www.pyramydair.com/) They have a number of advice FAQs as well as foums. The Benjamin NP2 is $299 right now. Sometimes you can find them cheaper at local stores on sale. Make sure you use heaver lead pellets to keep the velocity sub-sonic.
Of course almost all the sporting good stores, Cabelas, BPS etc. carry air guns.
Another good source of reading material is Straight Shooters. http://www.straightshooters.com/ (http://www.straightshooters.com/)
They also use to sell samplers kits of pellets so you could try various pellets to see which shot best in your rifle.
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Since it's been so cold this winter I've been practicing with my old Daisy 840 in the basement. I wouldn't use it for squirrels, I would want more power, but I know people who have successfully. It's certainly accurate enough.
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Perhaps MB will chime in or you could pm him. He has a lot of experience with this sort of thing.
Richard
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Don't get too concerned about all the gimmicks and even sound. I grew up with a Crosman 760 (multiple pump - from 1 to 10). Our son was having possum, squirrel and rabbit trouble in his garden in town, so he went out and spent $40 on a 760. Picks off the little critters all day long, and nobody knows.
Of course, if you want something more ... Go For It!
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I have a Gamo Whisper suppressed .22 springer and I love it. I would get one with an "nitro spring" so it would be even quieter. With a standard spring it sounds like a staple gun. I target shoot with it INSIDE. I just set up a pellet trap in the garage, open the door to the garage and I've got a 10 meter range!
It fires a 17 grain pellet at 650-700 fps (according to my chronograph). Plenty of power to put down typical garden pests.
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Here's the link to the Pellet Sampler.
http://www.straightshooters.com/straight-shooters-full-pellet-sampler-.22.html (http://www.straightshooters.com/straight-shooters-full-pellet-sampler-.22.html)
Don't have any pictures of my HW 77, but it is an underlever springer which aids in accuracy. You're not pulling and resetting the barrel with each shot. I had to get mine from a Canadian dealer, because Beeman, who had the license for Weirhauch import at the time, wouldn't import the .22 and .25 calibers. He said they were under powered, but also because he was pushing the .20 cal guns very heavily.
All the "fancy" spring airguns, like Beeman and Weirhauch are so much more expensive now. Just looking at the Straight Shooters web site, I can't believe how much they cost.
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OMGosh. This is very bad to re-open the airgun thing for me.
So many new manufacturers and designs. Love this PCP bullpup design. Of course it's only $1,495. Curse you SantaHog.
(http://www.straightshooters.com/images/P/Cricket-Synthetic-01.jpg)
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Don't get too concerned about all the gimmicks and even sound. I grew up with a Crossman 760 (multiple pump - from 1 to 10). Our son was having possum, squirrel and rabbit trouble in his garden in town, so he went out and spent $40 on a 760. Picks off the little critters all day long, and nobody knows.
Of course, if you want something more ... Go For It!
Yea, I had a 760 myself, circa 1968-69. It dispatched a fair share of critters in it's day! Eventually, I graduated to my Grandpaps Savage 1903 that I still have today! Amazing that you can find basically the same rifle that was for sale in 1964.
I thought I could pump it 100 times and knock down a "grizzle bear" but I was 10 years old!
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I hope you have checked local laws in your area about shooting air and spring powered pellet guns. We had a Galveston Police Officer sheepishly inform us even shooting a BB gun was against City Ordinances and we needed to stop. A paranoid neighbor far out of range had called to complain and he had to make an appearance.
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PCPs are the way to go for accuracy and quietness, but they do cost a lot more than your typical BB gun. You don't need an air tank to fill them. I use a hand pump for mine. If you use a micro-bore hose on the pump, they are quite efficient. You can usually get 30 good powerful shots of .22 cal from one fill and you can leave the rifle filled up, so it will always be ready. If you have some budget, I would check out the Benjamin Marauder. They are about as cheap as you can get into a PCP for. If you like the higher end stuff, check out Rapid Air Weapons. They make some really nice pieces.
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Yea, I had a 760 myself, circa 1968-69. It dispatched a fair share of critters in it's day! Eventually, I graduated to my Grandpaps Savage 1903 that I still have today! Amazing that you can find basically the same rifle that was for sale in 1964.
I thought I could pump it 100 times and knock down a "grizzle bear" but I was 10 years old!
I got mine for my birthday in 1968, and in that era you could give them 25 pumps. I bought a replacement a few years ago, and the lit states 10 pumps. I haven't tested beyond five, because three is enough for a squirrel or sparrow on the planter or railing.
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I got mine for my birthday in 1968, and in that era you could give them 25 pumps. I bought a replacement a few years ago, and the lit states 10 pumps. I haven't tested beyond five, because three is enough for a squirrel or sparrow on the planter or railing.
I got my 760 about the same time, and I'm a little ashamed of all I did with it back then.. No grizzly bears but I figured out pretty quick that you could turn it into a scattergun.. I didn't have anybody to take me in hand much back then.. I met the 10 pump limit with never less than 14 pumps.. Once I wore it out a little, I took to doing the BB Shot thing. My first reality check was a rabbit that I "knocked down" (with 13 BBs). It didn't die cleanly and it took me forever to finally make it stop suffering.. It hurt me, and began to wise my very young hind-end up about shooting living things..
(God made a better Daddy to me than daddy did, but that was among my first experiences with that at the time..)
I don't want to do the Crossman thing, but I swear!! I put a GA tag on the car and they wanted $1,000 Bucks!! They let you finance half of it over a year! They know it's too much to be charging somebody for a tag!! The Acquisitions Dept has been under alot of strain since Santa Claws started bumming smokes last fall!
So far, homework has taken me to consider maybe a RWS underlever, but GOOD GRAVY folks! I could buy a GLOCK and a couple of extra magazines for that!!!
Is there any problem with putting a cheapie little $50 red/green dot on something like that? I've got a "extra?" 3x Sig sight around here somewhere. Does an optic have to be some special ju-ju kinda thing? Surely not, right?! (I know. Don't call me Shirley..)
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For a scope it has to be for air guns because the recoil is different and supposedly will wreck a regular scope.
I haven't heard either way about red dots.
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I got mine for my birthday in 1968, and in that era you could give them 25 pumps. I bought a replacement a few years ago, and the lit states 10 pumps. I haven't tested beyond five, because three is enough for a squirrel or sparrow on the planter or railing.
I recall we could buy these cool little fletched darts for the 760 as well. I mostly used BB unless we were hunting then pellets were in the "loadout"!
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Santahog, that's why a decent short range nitrogen piston barrel cocker is probably the best for you.
All the standard bb gun makers have them. Under $200. Easy to put into action. And you can get them with in a combo package with a scope. Ready to dispatch.
I've only owned the Benjamin Nitro for a couple of years but it's put away at least 100 of those dirty little striped, brown rats so favored by Disney fans. Gamo makes a decent one too.
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For a scope it has to be for air guns because the recoil is different and supposedly will wreck a regular scope.
I haven't heard either way about red dots.
Recoil on a springer is the opposite vibration as a powder driven firearm.