puzzling pellet guns

[VAspeedgoat]

I know this isn't a firearms question but there wasn't an air rifle forum.

Anyway, after visiting my mother I law in what is apparently the grey squirrel capitol of the world. We have decided to get the boys pellet guns since there is a firearms ordinance in her town. After much research I settled on a crossman nitro venom. It came with a 3-9 scope and is a .22 caliber shooting lead pellets an estimated 850fps. I settled on that combo due to price and my research pointed to the fact that a slower .22 caliber is more accurate and powerful than a faster .177.

We finally got to shoot them today and I was somewhat shocked at how finicky these things are. That is despite the fact I had read that they are several times. Regardless, it still surprised me. We have close to 100 shots through each one and they are starting to mellow out. The manual advises 250 to really break it in.

Do any of you guys have any suggestions or words of encouragement. I have read about dime sized groups at 25 yds but we aren't close to that yet. We finally found a few types of pellets that are shooting well enough to hit a squirrels head most of the time, but just trying to do better.

Thanks

 

[Mountainguide]

Keep shooting, that's sounds like a lot of fun to me!

 

[Big Slick]

Use match grade hollow points. It sounds rediculous but they are very accurate. ( No they're not Bergers)

 

[VAspeedgoat]

Thanks Slick, any suggestions on which pellets?

Well after another evening shooting, we found a pellet for each.gun that shoots ok. We had five different pellets and qill likely try some others. The guns still decide to randomly start shooting crazy but they are getting better. For the life of me I can't make sense out of these things. When we quit they would have been good enough for squirrels to about 25 yds.

 

[Big Slick]

Google RWS pellets, there are plenty of different types and cals.

I got into shooting pellet guns with a friend, I had a Feinwerkbau .177. Lots of fun!

 

[Big Slick]

Check out Crossman Premier also.

 

[Tufrthnails]

Not certain of the model but I bought a refurb ruger air rifle .177 from sportsmans guide for $55. I think they retailed around $125. I got it and was amazed at how accurate it was seriously shooting dimes at 30 yards. I sit and shoot beer cans with the kid in the back yard at 50 yards and a miss is a very rare occurrance. It is outstanding practice because the trigger is so bad you really have to consentrate on pulling it smooth. It was advertised at 1250fps. well I wanted to put that to the test. it is really hard to get the chrony to pick it up but I found a small area that it will pick the pellet up. and with normal crossman hollowpoints It is shooting 1025 to 1050fps. I can't think of the exact gamo pellets I picked up but they shoot 1200 to 1250 avg. which I was really amazed that they actually flew close to the advertised speed. I've been eyeballing some gamo .22 air rifles.

 

[sbhooper]

I have not pulled the trigger on an air rifle yet, but have been tempted. I watch American Airgunner a lot on TV and they are a good source of info. From what I have seen, and read, it is not unusual for air rifles to do what yours is doing until they are broken in, or you find that "one" pellet. There are also some good You tube evaluations etc., that shed some light on them.

 

[LCH]

I use them for squirrel and crow popping here in my yard.

My 1st was a cheap Gamo .177 that I got real lucky with, immediate quarter sized groups at around 25 yards with Crosman lead pellets.

My 2nd is a Benjamin Nitro-Piston .22. It has a lot more thump than the .177, but I'm having trouble with accuracy with that one. I think it's primarily the terrible trigger, which I have plans of remediating as soon as I get time.

 

[joelhunter]

I finally bought my first pellet gun, fulfilling a childhood dream, at the age of 40. It's a Remington .177 that was on deep discount at Gander Mountain in November. After about 75 pellets through it, the accuracy is improving. Might be me though. I've not been around guns much, and have probably shot close to 1,000
arrows for every bullet or pellet I've ever fired. Thanks for posting, so I can see others responses.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

I went with a .22 cal because I had read that getting close to the speed of sound messes with accuracy. It said the turbulence associated with breaking the barrier leads to poor grouping. The article said it is better to stay below that barrier or be above it. It made sense but its been a long time since physics class.

Any thoughts on .177 vs. .22

 

[Big Slick]

The .22 has way more punch than the .177.

 

[Tufrthnails]

I went with a .22 cal because I had read that getting close to the speed of sound messes with accuracy. It said the turbulence associated with breaking the barrier leads to poor grouping. The article said it is better to stay below that barrier or be above it. It made sense but its been a long time since physics class.

Any thoughts on .177 vs. .22

That makes a little sense to me since my reg crossman hollowpoints that are cruising 1025-1050 group a lot better then the expensive ones that cruise in the 1200+ range. For hunting .22 makes sense since you can get more KE out of the bigger lead if it is moving at comparable speeds. Penetration isn't to much of a problem in varmits. I know the pointed pellets I tried punched threw squirrels so fast they would run a long ways unless it was a clean headshot. When I switched to hollowpoints I started knocking them out of the tree and although it still punched through them it seemed to hit a lot harder.

 

[Tufrthnails]

You guys suck now you got me looking at buying another air rifle!!! My buddy has a Umarex that shoots pretty well. I'm thinking about picking up one of the Umarex Octane .22. I think he has the Torq. Either that or one of the Ruger magnum .22 since I've had good luck with my Ruger.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

You guys suck now you got me looking at buying another air rifle!!! My buddy has a Umarex that shoots pretty well. I'm thinking about picking up one of the Umarex Octane .22. I think he has the Torq. Either that or one of the Ruger magnum .22 since I've had good luck with my Ruger.

LMAO, they are adicting. When I read that it took 250 shots to break them in I wondered how long that would take. Now two shooting sessions later we are over half way there.

 

[Big Slick]

Back when I was a single man the house I rented didn't have a garage. I would shoot from the living room through the kitchen into the laundry room. Having a cardboard box full of rags and pictures cut out from hunting magazines of deer to place the perfect shot. They are quite addicting.

 

[Tufrthnails]

I pulled the trigger on the Umarex Octane .22. Should be here by the end of the week. That will give me enough time to get it broke in before small game. I just found out a little WMA near my house is first come- first serve during small game, which is awesome, because I wanted to scout it anyways.

 

[buckbull]

Google RWS pellets, there are plenty of different types and cals.

I got into shooting pellet guns with a friend, I had a Feinwerkbau .177. Lots of fun!

RWS makes superb pellets in many configurations. Their air rifles are excellent as well. My dad bought me a RWS pellet gun when I was young. Young and dumb I used to clean it with WD-40 and finish with a squirt into the receiver. Turns out I wasn't properly cleaning it. The WD-40 ate up the rubber diaphragm (or whatever holds the air). I sent it back to RWS and a few weeks later I receive the rifle back free of charge. Great customer service as well. My 13 year old son now shoots the rifle, which puts the rifle around 30 years old.

 

[shootbrownelk]

Not certain of the model but I bought a refurb ruger air rifle .177 from sportsmans guide for $55. I think they retailed around $125. I got it and was amazed at how accurate it was seriously shooting dimes at 30 yards. I sit and shoot beer cans with the kid in the back yard at 50 yards and a miss is a very rare occurrance. It is outstanding practice because the trigger is so bad you really have to consentrate on pulling it smooth. It was advertised at 1250fps. well I wanted to put that to the test. it is really hard to get the chrony to pick it up but I found a small area that it will pick the pellet up. and with normal crossman hollowpoints It is shooting 1025 to 1050fps. I can't think of the exact gamo pellets I picked up but they shoot 1200 to 1250 avg. which I was really amazed that they actually flew close to the advertised speed. I've been eyeballing some gamo .22 air rifles.

I got a Ruger air rifle for Christmas, it's made for Ruger by Umarex. It's a .177 and I haven't shot it yet. Too many pigeons around my bird feeders, they need thinning.

 

[VAspeedgoat]

Back when I was a single man the house I rented didn't have a garage. I would shoot from the living room through the kitchen into the laundry room. Having a cardboard box full of rags and pictures cut out from hunting magazines of deer to place the perfect shot. They are quite addicting.

Thats awesome! A single man shooting inside his house........add a couple friends and some beer.......what the worse that could happen?

We are shooting under the barn. I think we'll start putting animals on the targets and make a game out of it. Thats a pretty good idea.