New to Air Rifles

[HK Dave]

[ejhc11]

Sounds like a pistol, these are US made and pack a punch. Might need the 22 cal.

They're pneumatic multi pump, start at three pumps for targets all the way out to 10 pumps for hunting.

Hundreds of mods and accessories, even has a shoulder stock option to make it a carbine.

Cheap and accurate, very reliable, keep the seals lubed and when storing remember to pump it once.

[McNally M.]

Sounds like a pistol, these are US made and pack a punch. Might need the 22 cal.

They're pneumatic multi pump, start at three pumps for targets all the way out to 10 pumps for hunting.

Hundreds of mods and accessories, even has a shoulder stock option to make it a carbine.

Cheap and accurate, very reliable, keep the seals lubed and when storing remember to pump it once.

^ This. The Crosman 1377 and 1322 American Classics are fantastic pistols, and built extraordinarily well. $60 new on Ebay, can't go wrong.

My dad bought a 1377 in the late 80's that remains a tackdriver to this day.

[Rivers]

The most important things to consider are going to be power, accuracy and noise. A .22 caliber pellet will dispatch up to and including a rabbit. It's a large enough caliber to have some decent energy yet right on the threshold of silence. Your neighbors aren't likely to hear the below rifles. A PCP air rifle uses a charged air tank that's built into the rifle. These can use any powder-burner rifle scope without damaging the scope. (A springer will turn that same scope into a collection of parts.) There are tuning tricks that can enhance the Marauder, as shown in the second offering below. Yes, they do make a difference.

Last point is that you CAN use a pump to recharge the air on the rifle. Or you can get a larger bottle, recharge the rifle from that and every couple of months, get that larger bottle refilled. Your common air compressor is not adequate for this. Refilling a larger bottle can be done at airsoft stores, even by a good buddy fireman at the station... Or you can get your own compressor but that's more than the cost of the rifle. Depends on how deeply into air rifles you're going to get.

Note that Benjamin is a sub-brand of Crosman, a longtime manufacturer of BB and pellet guns.

Read the reviews:

Benjamin Marauder .22

Benjamin Marauder Synrod Combo

Benjamin Marauder with wood stock

[McNally M.]

Sounds like a pistol, these are US made and pack a punch. Might need the 22 cal.

They're pneumatic multi pump, start at three pumps for targets all the way out to 10 pumps for hunting.

Hundreds of mods and accessories, even has a shoulder stock option to make it a carbine.

Cheap and accurate, very reliable, keep the seals lubed and when storing remember to pump it once.

Another reason to consider the Crosman pistols is that a should stock is available, allowing to use it as a carbine.

https://www.crosman.com/product/crosman-shoulder-stock/

[hermosabeach]

Some of the new airguns have mufflers/ suppressors/ silencers and are really quiet.


The big question is budget????

After budget becomes distance.... Squirrels will run off when shot through the body with a .5mm or 22 cal pellet... the head shot is the only clean kill.


Springers will take a set after 100-200 rounds and should stay somewhere around 80% of advertised velocity. They are the cheapest for of power for a quieter shot... Don't be surprised if the point of impact shifts as velocity decreases... this is normal and will settle down with use.


There are some new PCP air rifles that are really nice and some are quiet.

jump to 15:21 - types of guns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oljUTVxUZ3Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvQnmd2OmrE

[Sawateam]

I’m new to PCP guns, I have a .22 Marauder with an ATX Thor 4 thermal scope mounted. The rat population is now more under control.

I’ve been using a manual pump to refill the gun.

Can anyone recommend a sort of entry level tank and assembly? And any advice on where to refill tanks in San Diego?

https://share.icloud.com/photos/0LkWgfEM0F5YCrwcb_i2LV_kA#Carlsbad

[Rivers]

Can anyone recommend a sort of entry level tank and assembly? And any advice on where to refill tanks in San Diego?

Check out Joe Brancato's Air Tanks for Sale website. (714) 907-0067 (Have a good laugh at the website but the quality of the tanks is excellent. No worries about that!) Look at the Tiger Shark Deluxe tank, good for about 47 refills of a Marauder.

You should be able to get the bottle refilled at airsoft dealers around town. I remember a couple off Miramar Road, between I-15 and the Pyramid/Dixieline.

Joe also has some tweaks for the Marauder that might interest you. Ask him about it.

[CVShooter]

If you want to go cheap & iron sights, Gamo breakbarrels have been pretty good. Learn the artilery hold.

A gopher is a very small target, though. I love my little P-rod for rat control on up to turkeys. Very accurate, very handy & you can leave it charged so all you have to do is load in a magazine, cycle the bolt and you're ready to rock. Hand pump is just fine for it since it's not a big air cylinder. If you want to shoot them at 50 yards, then it's probably going to disappoint. But at closer ranges, it's hard to justify anything more substantial.

[Muleskinner]

A inexpensive and overlooked co2 rifle is an older Crosman model 60. Then have it rebuilt by Tim at Mac1 in Signal Hill Ca. I take out squirrels and other pests, no problem. I also have a Beeman QB78C that I bought on CG for $50. I took it into Beeman in Santa Fe Springs, they went thru it for a nominal fee. It shoots great...no tanks, no pumps, no problems. Also I have used these to introduce some non-shooters into the sport, they are not intimidating to beginner's

JMHO & MY 2 CENTS

[RifleShot]

Depends on distance you shooting, I'm out in the I.E. on a big lot and had a ground squirrel problem, Benjamin Marauder in .177, was good for about 50yards at 1 MOA, problem is ground squirrels are smart AF and can spot and hear you from100 yds away, was getting harder to take them down because they'd flee before I could get close enough, then I bought a AIRFORCE CONDOR in a 25 cal, that was taking them out at anything from 80 to 100 yds on a head shot, latter a bought a LCS SK19 which is semi and full auto in a 25 cal, really nice rifle although I haven't used it much, maybe 1 tin (300 pellets), but I hear its good for 200 yds.
They are both fairly quite and both are suppressed , yes totally legal on a air rifle.

I don't use them much anymore because I still have a FX Impact which is my favorite, but that air force condor has taken out more squirrels than the other 2 combined.

[Rivers]

They are both fairly quite and both are suppressed.

Air rifle term is "moderated" - no need to raise any flags in that regard.

[McNally M.]

Air rifle term is "moderated" - no need to raise any flags in that regard.

Right...please don't. Most the suppressors you see on air guns are actually just grip holds to help you gain leverage for cocking.

[BigStiCK]

You may want to consider one of these for effective Zombie Squirrel 🐿 suppression....

[HK Dave]

Thanks so much for the responses. Rattle snakes have now been added to the target list. Apparently there are lots of them here.

I am a buy once cry once kind of guy as long as that buy once is significantly better than the value option. From the sounds of things, it doesn’t look like this is a situation where I need to spend big bucks! That’s refreshing.