I feel like I just got my first gun
 

I got a pellet gun today and I'm actually excited. That's a little funny because I have a CCW and carry a Glock + I have a gun safe just crammed with all sorts of stuff, some fairly exotic.

This air rifle is like hitting a big reset button bringing me back to my beginnings. When I was young, after a Red Ryder I got my 1st big time gun, a Sheridan Blue Streak pump pellet gun. I carried that thing through the woods for hundreds of miles.

This rifle (yes, it is rifled) is a Stoeger "break barrel" .177 cal pellet gun. It's supposed to give 1000 fps with lead pellets and 1200 fps with the expensive alloy stuff. Screw that, I bought 1000 lead pellets for $7.00. The power level is a little more than I bargained for because the main reason for the purchase is as a sub-lethal beside-the-door gun to deal with critters but the ones that I don't want to kill, like the neighbors dog that killed one of my cats. The rifle is pretty powerful, the pellets go about 3/4" deep into some pine 2 x's and come close to penetrating my fire barrel. I'd say it's very close to the power level of a 22 short. I guess the dog is just gonna have to put up with it if it comes back here. After shooting (and cocking) the rifle around 200 times this afternoon, I can tell that there will be a little soreness in the morning and I don't think a child less than 13-14 or so or a lot of women would be able to cock it at all.

Accuracy isn't in the competition air rifle class but at a cost of $129 I don't expect it to be (and neither am I). But it is more accurate than I am and is in the class of a very good 22 rifle. I was hitting a 1-1/2 pipe at 15 yards plus consistently. Check out the target below, that was at around 7-8 yards offhand (the shots in the square were aimed there). I was dialing the sights around a bit while shooting this.

At this price range, most air rifles have scopes but I really didn't want one. I use scopes a lot but not for a piece made for close range instinctive shooting. I can acquire and shoot far faster with open sights. Plus the open sights are adjustable, highly visible and pretty good. I haven't shot much open sights in the past decade or two but this rifle really surprised me. I was walking around my property shooting at stuff offhand at up to 30-40 yards and nailing them to my great surprise. This isn't a BB gun, it performs on a level totally above that.

The main thing about the gun, and it would be the same no matter what kind I bought, is that it seems to have reawakened a basic love of shooting in me. In the past decade or two, I've just gotten so wrapped up in competition and specs and reloading and technical stuff that I'd lost sight of just the basic joy of shooting. And that this gun provides that in an accessible and very cheap way.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x.../airrifle2.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x.../airrifle3.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x.../airrifle1.jpg

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x...m/DSC01809.jpg

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

you'll shoot your... nah :p

break barrels are big fun w/o high cost of ammo! fairly stealth too. I've been playing around with a winchester. last year I had to sadly :( sell :( my gamo whisperer before moving. but I know it's bringing joy to the father and son it went to.

get all kinds of pellets and have fun :5_1_120:

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

Cool, I always wanted a pellet gun.

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

Neat! Sometimes it's good to break it all back down to the basics.

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

Try different brands of pellets, these can be picky as to what they like. Darn that is pretty stock,wish they wouldn't have put logos all over it.

Experiment with wood plugs/slugs to get that dog scareing medicine, hot dog sticks are about .177 dia

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

I've got 3 Crosman pellet guns, none of which cost me more than $65.

1377c - multi-pump .177 pellet pistol - 600 fps
2240 - co2 .22 pistol - 470 fps
2260 - co2 .22 rifle - 600 fps

They are all single-shot. They allow me to shoot in the garage without attracting any suburban attention. I use a Gamo pellet trap with metal targets. I like the 2260 rifle the best. It is extremely accurate with the standard sights, and I can hit a dime-sized target all day long. The 1377 is also very accurate. The 2240 is a shorter pistol and less accurate with the standard sights. It's also the loudest.

The co2 works out well because it's usually quite warm here so I get about 40 shots per 12g cannister. It works out to about 3 cents a shot (gas+ammo) for the co2 guns and a half-cent for the pumper.

Lots of fun for little money. They have really helped my marksmanship.

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

I got a Ruger Airhawk and can't seem to hit the broad side of a barn with it...I've tried various pellets and at 25-40 yards it's hard to place consistent shots. Think I'm going to get it figuredout this weekend cause its a good small game gun.

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

How are you holding the rifle? If you are shooting from a rest for sight in, maybe that is your problem. Yesterday I read that spring powered air rifles don't work at all well from a hard rest. Reason being that the vibrations and other movements of the spring violently unloading to push the air piston make the fore end bounce around on the rest if it is a hard surface.

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

This is actually true of real firearms to a lesser extent. A rifle will typically shoot away from a hard surface. ex. if you are using the left side of a tree as an improvised rest while hunting, the impact will probably be left of where you want it. The difference is that with a firearm, it is a lot more repeatable than with a spring powered gun.

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

I was just using it with support in kneeling position.

I like setting up lil army men and hitting them at 25 yds is like hitting a man at 300yds.

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

They are fun arent they? I use an Airsoft gun to practice draw and point shooting in the hosue (garage) and despite all my guns, my bb guns and airsoft guns still hold a warm place in my heart.

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

Just for fun and to check out the manufacturers claims of 1000 fps using lead pellets, I dug out my chronograph and shot a 5 shot string using standard (cheap $3.50/500)) Crossman .177 pellets.

chrono set up at about 10 ft from muzzle

Average 886
High 891
Low 880
ES 11
SD 4

That's pretty good! Didn't expect to hit 1000 and I'm happy with 886. Maybe these things have a break in period and it'll pick up another 50 fps or so. A standard deviation of 4 fps is excellent, right up there with the very finest firearms and loads.

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

I met a guy in the pellet gun section of an outdoor retailer who is hard-core. He showed me pictures of 300-lb wild hogs and deer he took down with his .25 cal and .45 cal high-end air rifles. He uses PCP (compressed-air) guns refilled from a scuba tank.

I was looking at some models like TomD's new baby - 1000 fps break-barrel models under $150. The guy told me he's had bad luck with "springers" and I should go right to PCP if I wanted to get serious. He said the tremendous pressure of the spring puts a lot of strain on the rifle. I don't know...he was a really big guy, so maybe he was part of the problem. It did sour me on buying one that day, though. I decided my co2 air rifle was good enough for my purposes, and if I was going to spend serious coin, I'd just get a real rifle - hence my recent thread about finding a .22LR.

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

I've heard that if you want to win matches you need PCP, but I don't. I want this rifle for getting back to basics, walking through the woods and plinking in addition to critter control. Shooting cans and fire ant mounds, put a piece of watermelon in the yard and shoot flies and yellow jackets-that sort of stuff. Adding the extra levels of complexity of buying and filling tanks, the equipment, hoses, etc., would be at cross purposes to my intended use.

I've got complicated, when I go to matches I have to haul a pickup full of equipment and gear (literally!). I want simple, a pocket full of pellets and the rifle. That's why I opted for open sights. I grew up with a Winchester single shot bolt action 22, you even had to hand pull the firing pin back. It was my Dad's, given to him in 1932 at age 12. May the burglar who stole it from my house rot in hell.

Re: I feel like I just got my first gun
 

Yeah, like I said, this guy was hard-core. He had outgrown the springers and was shooting $1500 custom jobs in exotic calibers.