The Air Rifles & Pistols thread

[zooankski]

Some nice looking rifles on display here. Anyone with the slightest interest should definately look at joining the airgunbbs as it is full of useful info.
I currently own a Daystate Mk4, Daystate Platinum, Daystate Airwolf, Daystate Mk3 in FAC .22 @25ftlb, Walther LG300 Dominator with titanium cylinder and carbon shroud, and all are more accurate than i will ever be!
Also i have my trusty OU AYA 12g sst e , and a couple of CZ452 varmints in .22 and .17 HMR.
Each has it's own particular use (apart from the sub 12ftil air rifles i use for HFT competitions)
It is a fantastic sport and with so many various disciplines to get in to there is something for everyone, even my mrs enjoyed a round of HFT and that is saying something

!

 

[CatMangler]

I'm guessing and correct me if I'm wrong, you are fairly keen on Daystate?

Cracking piece of kit btw, love the stock.

Did some sporting at my local clay ground on Saturday after a long lay off from shooting, my old Baikal makes my shoulder sore

 

[zooankski]

I'm guessing and correct me if I'm wrong, you are fairly keen on Daystate?

Cracking piece of kit btw, love the stock.

Did some sporting at my local clay ground on Saturday after a long lay off from shooting, my old Baikal makes my shoulder sore

Yes i do have a thing for Daystates! the electronically controlled firing mechanism is out of this world and although they may not be to everyones taste i enjoy the fact that they are totally dead to fire ie, no movement at all.Also the service from the company is fantastic, any issues with any of my kit dealt with in quick time. (the Walther is the best mechanical rifle i have used by the way!)

 

[Richie]

^^

Sound advice. Though I'd be more concerned with accuracy of shot placement than energy retention, but that's just me. That said, the closer the better imo as the chances of error and other factors are not so great.

TBH, half the skill of hunting with an air rifle is the stalking part. Anyone with reasonable rifle skills can shoot a rabbit from 100+yds using a full bore rifle but, IMHO, it takes far more skill to get within 30yds of the prey and popping off an instant kill headshot.

 

[steveo]

I wouldnt want to hunt anything past 45yds myself with a non-FAC air rifle as you cannot be sure of a humane kill in every instance. I am not just referring to accuracy but power drop off is pretty high after this and there may not always be enough "shock" power transferred to the target to kill it completely.

same here anything beyond 45yds with a 12ft/lb and you increase the chances of an unclean kill putting the prey in pain, the .177 has less of a drop of than a .22 but its a smaller round so might not do the damage to the prey beyond 45yds

 

[Prophet]

I had a go with a friends 25 year old Weihrauch .22 the other day and really enjoyed it. After a few goes at 20 yards we moved up to 50 yards shooting a set of metal targets you reset by hitting one at the bottom.

I'd like to buy my own and have a budget of around £400 for the rifle and scope. What would be a good entry point at this price. I'm looking for break barrel rather than gas.

 

[Mark A]

You'd be better off going to a decent gun store to have a hold of a few different ones. I've never been, but I hear that Blackpool Air Rifles is a good one, if you fancy the trip. There might be one closer that someone can recommend though.

If you liked the HW80 then the HW97 is well worth a look. Its a similar weight (maybe a bit heavier) but is an under lever, so it will be slightly more accurate. Probably one of the most accurate spring powered rifles.

The AirArms TX200 is also worth a look, its similar to the HW97 but had delrin rings around the piston to make it smoother. These cost more but are usually well looked after and so worth looking into buying one second hand.

Breakbarrel, I would look at the HW95. This is like the HW80 but weighs less and is designed for 12ft/lb, rather than the HW80 that is designed for FAC power. I'd stay away from the BSA lightening. I have one and while its a decent rifle, its not a patch on the HW95. The trigger on the HW95 is far superior, the bsa trigger feels horrible after using a well setup record trigger.

 

[Evoss]

You guys and your little potato guns

Being as I live on a farm, I do have a Firearms Licence.

I have a SAKO Quad for hunting the wabbits and Mr Fox.

It is a fantastic rifle and quite dynamic, allows 4 interchangable barrels for the right job.

• 17 Mach 2
• 22 LR
• 17 HMR
• 22 WMR

(Dont have a photo of mine, but looks the same, just using different optics)



In the future I am looking at upgrading to a SAKO TRG-42 .338 for bigger game

 

[GothicGhost]

That is nice Evoss

I am joining up to a shooting club next week then maybe 3-6 months later apply for my FAC

Going to sell my air rifles as I have no where at home to shoot and the garden not a option with all the kids stuff and new shed lol.

Anyways here is my 3 I got, but very crap to what you guys have though

More pics here http://s976.photobucket.com/albums/ae243/gothicghost/Air guns/

 

[Mark A]

Ha, I loved my Gat gun . Wish I had kept it.

Is the top one one a B2? i remember reading 'airgunner' magazine and seeing the B2 reviewed and given something like 9/10 lmfao. My mate bought one on that review and it turned out to be rubbish. We had a bit of fun trying to get it to shoot better but there was no chance. Still it was good fun for a plinker .

For an ultra budget rifle I'd recommend the Cometa300. That was my first rifle I ever bought, had to pull all my savings together. Its a budget rifle, made in Spain, but much better quality than the Chinese budget guns. Its full size with a rubber butt pad, with good quality bluing. Its actually a very capable rifle and the power was not far off 12ft/lb.

Not bad for £109. Same price as it was when I bought mine and this has an updated stock.

 

[MAXIBOY]

I have a falcon raptor FN12 lightweight.. but owned lots of rifles from hw35,s 80,s feinwerkbau sports though airarms theobens etc..

dont shoot as much as i should but have lots of farms to shoot over..

 

[benneh]

For an ultra budget rifle I'd recommend the Cometa300. .

I'm looking for a budget rifle atm. I'll be shooting paper targets (no hunting), and I'd like to punch out as far as possible and learn about wind correction and so on. I'm a bit torn though, my father sells SMK rifles (a Chinese manufacturer), and some of the rifles seem to get a good review, especially after fettling. And most importantly for me as a beginner, I can buy any of the SMK equipment for a massively reduced price. Hmmm, what to do..

Edit, an SMK XS20 in particular, which is apparently a Weihrauch HW95K clone. I would be replacing the spring, which seems to be the let-down (and it seems some guns come properly lubed/greased, others don't), either way it would be stripped down before I fired it. I'd be looking at <£100 for the gun, bag + semi decent mil-dot scope and spring kit. But.. Is it worth buying Chinese..

 

[ianh]

SMk rifles start off as a bag 'o' crap (had a few) but if you're mechanically competent enough to strip it down safely and rteplace/tweak everything then they end up being a great little gun. My SMK Co2 XS78 was the most complicated gun I've stripped out and that was seriously good afterwards.

There's a UK based chineseairgun forum (SMK) about with lots of info and stripdown pics here - http://ukchineseairgunforum.myfreeforum.org/index.php

 

[Magic_x_uk]

I used to love my gat gun when i was a kid. Can you still buy them? I would like to buy one and chuck in the loft. Never kept mine when I was a kid.

had a search but cannot find anything on the net.

when I was a kid my dad had a few. Love to try and get my hands on some that he used to have.

Used to have a lovely Crossman Pump Pistol. You pumped the stock. Was lovely.Cant remember much about it though but I knew (then) it packed a punch.

Also he had a Gorgeous Feinwerkbau Air rifle. Really was nice. This is going back some 28 years or so.

http://www.feinwerkbau.de/ceasy/modules/cms/main.php5?cPageId=11


Shame I can't just buy a pistol for some target practice in the garden these days as I believe it's all controlled and what not nowadays?

how times have changed.

I have a nice long private garden, would be perfect for a bit of target shooting. Can I do this?

 

[Prophet]

I'm looking for a budget rifle atm. I'll be shooting paper targets (no hunting), and I'd like to punch out as far as possible and learn about wind correction and so on. I'm a bit torn though, my father sells SMK rifles (a Chinese manufacturer), and some of the rifles seem to get a good review, especially after fettling. And most importantly for me as a beginner, I can buy any of the SMK equipment for a massively reduced price. Hmmm, what to do..

Edit, an SMK XS20 in particular, which is apparently a Weihrauch HW95K clone. I would be replacing the spring, which seems to be the let-down (and it seems some guns come properly lubed/greased, others don't), either way it would be stripped down before I fired it. I'd be looking at <£100 for the gun, bag + semi decent mil-dot scope and spring kit. But.. Is it worth buying Chinese..

If you can stretch to £200 for all that I'd have a look at the Stoeger X20 range. They're Chinese made but desigend by the Italians. My friend has one as well as his Weihrauch. His was £185 for the synthetic model with a mil-dot scrope. No need to strip it etc as I was hitting targets at 50 yards the first time I'd ever shot it or an air rifle.

I just prefered the Weihrauch or I'd probably have bought one of the X20's

 

[1LANCS]

Probably gonna get rofled out of the forum for asking but airsoft weapons are pretty much replicas of real world weapons.

Are there any air rifles that are replicas of real world ones?

 

[Frozennova]

Bought my self a Stoeger X20
.22 from my local gun shop at the weekend. First impressions are fairly good after a little garden plinling. Will start rabbiting in the coming weeks once I've bought s scope and got it nicely zeroed, quality feels pretty good for a Chinese gun although not quite as good as my dads Crosman.

 

[Shilz]

My BSA XL Tactical with 9x40 AGS Sapphire scope and HAWK laser dot with pressure pad. Only ever used for targets

 

[Prophet]

My BSA XL Tactical with 9x40 AGS Sapphire scope and HAWK laser dot with pressure pad. Only ever used for targets

I was after one of those initially but was warned off. From what the guy in the shop was telling me BSA was sold off and ever since the quality has suffered.

I take it you've had no issues?

 

[Shilz]

I was after one of those initially but was warned off. From what the guy in the shop was telling me BSA was sold off and ever since the quality has suffered.

I take it you've had no issues?

To be fair i've not had any major issues with it. The one main problem I had was the silencer coming loose of its thread. As its used a cocking aid the silencer overtime looses its grip on the thread and then doesn't tighten down properly and then rattles becuase its not secure. This happened within the first few weeks I had it mind.

I took it back for a replacement and was told the newer ones had a revised fitment since I got mine replaced i've not had any problems with it. Its lovely to shoot with a nice bit of kick. Thinking of upgrading to a BSA pre-charge Scorpion T10 but will see.