Anyone switching to airguns?

[Lead Waster]

OK, I keep thinking about (and I should just buy one to stop obsessing) a Benjamin Marauder "Precharged pneumatic" rifle, probably in .22 (.177 sounds fun too, but apparently it's louder than the .22 due to the sonic boom)


I hear it's very quiet and about as accurate as a .22, though without the range of course.

The downside is that a fricken air pump for the thing is like $200 ! But considering the current cost of .22lr ammo, that's making more sense now.

I almost feel like it's deciding to buy an electric car because gas is too expensive!

Anyone switch OR add to their stable with an air rifle?

I ask here because obviously people who love rimfire probably appreciate a good air gun.

And YES, I think this is a dupe of a thread I started a year or two ago! But things have changed and ammo cost is now a factor (even though I have 9k of .22 left)

[small hole shooter]

I am kind of "Thrifty" so i went with a break-barrel. in .177. Had it for 2 years and its fun to shoot. Yours will shoot much smoother, with only one recoil you can shoot it for hours. Don't be fooled, if you get into it you can drop many $$$s into your gun, scope......etc. Oh ya you can also set up a indoor range in your house as well.

[4DMASTR]

Been thinking the same thing. Lots of people looking at them at Bass Pro this weekend (about the only thing they had in stock)

[frigginchi]

I'm itchin for this.

[jthesby]

Kinda funny you mention airguns, usi in Concord does an airgun silhouette match, I believe it is the first Sunday of the month. I picked up a cheappy airgun to shoot so I could get my qualifying match for the cmp. Some of the guys there were down right serious about their airguns. Others just there to have fun. Enjoyed myself and would go again if I ever have enough free time. Seems as though Sundays are my only day of nowadays, and there are too many projects around the house to have any fun.

I believe they also have a rimfire silhouette match on first Saturday of the month.

[Izzy43]

With nine rimfire firearms I am still considering getting an air rifle. Don't know how long the ammo shortage will last. Next thing you know you won't be able to find pellets and of course our intelligent legislature will probably ban air rifles with assualt weapon feartures like triggers, stocks and sights.

[Dannicus]

My wife and I have been plinking in the backyard lately with an old daisy pump pellet rifle. It's fun, cheap, and easy to just spontaneously do.

[Vacaville]

Yes, I've been thinking of adding a powerful air rifle to my stable too. Also, either a compound or recurve bow.

[ejhc11]

Already did. No, the friggin pump I got was $300 w/the rebuild kits. But my airgun was $1800 because I couldn't justify the $2600 version...

http://s915.photobucket.com/user/ejhc11/library/Misc/Feinwerkbau

I always wanted a nice match air rifle and it was now or never. I believe this is already considered a banned weapon in NY due to the pistol grip....

[covingtonhouse]

Never left.....been shooting airguns since I was 8. There are some very nice ( and expensive) pre charged rifles coming out of Europe right now. A tin of
20 cal pellets is about 20 dollars for 500.

[Eljay]

I've been seeing more of them at the range, and I shot a friend's recently and it was pretty fun. I was looking at the Marauder, too, just not quite there yet.

The .177 I shot was crazy quiet - Nitro venom with somewhat heavy pellets to make sure they didn't go supersonic. I can see doing that too - the break action is kind of a pain but it's an amazing deal. Accuracy seemed to be solid although we were using a pretty close target.

[FTW9999]

I went a different route. I picled up a Diamond Outlaw Compound Bow and couldn't be any happier. There's an archery range in the public park a couple blocks from my house. I go and shoot the bow almost every day. Doesn't cost anything for ammo and most of the time I have the range to myself. Great experiance and uses a lot of the same skills as shooting.

[covingtonhouse]

I went a different route. I picled up a Diamond Outlaw Compound Bow and couldn't be any happier. There's an archery range in the public park a couple blocks from my house. I go and shoot the bow almost every day. Doesn't cost anything for ammo and most of the time I have the range to myself. Great experiance and uses a lot of the same skills as shooting.

+1 on archery too. For a real challenge try out some 3d shoots if you have any around ypur area. Not trying to threadjack.

[Dannicus]

I went a different route. I picled up a Diamond Outlaw Compound Bow and couldn't be any happier. There's an archery range in the public park a couple blocks from my house. I go and shoot the bow almost every day. Doesn't cost anything for ammo and most of the time I have the range to myself. Great experiance and uses a lot of the same skills as shooting.

True.

I was amazed at how shooting my compound bow has somehow honed my pistol skills.

Also, with a nearly 30" sight radius, bows are crazy precise. I rarely shoot for groups under 40 yards now to reduce damaging arrows.

[chingdaotze]

Not a pellet gun, but I bought a JG BAR-10 airsoft gun over Black Friday because I just didn't have the time to drive to Angeles every weekend. I got the rifle for $60, plus a cheap-o 4x NcStar scope for $20, and 2000 biodegradable BB's for $5. The trigger is absolute crap, but it's a pretty fun plinker. It can make exit wounds in coke cans at less than 20 ft, but it lacks consistent accuracy past 30 feet. You can still hit cans at 60+ feet... just expect one out of every five shots or so to be flyers.

As an added bonus, it works great for keeping squirrels out of our family's fruit trees. Enough to sting 'em but not enough to seriously hurt 'em.

Lastly, there's a huge aftermarket for this gun... kinda like the 10/22. I'm probably going to buy some parts (precision barrel + zero trigger + upgraded springs) and do some mods to see what kind of FPS and accuracy I can push out to 50 ft.