Anyone else into air guns?

The Goose

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I love to shoot. I used to be one of those guys who shot outdoors all winter. Many times my footprints in the snow were the first out to the 200 yard berm. However, I have developed arthritic hips and knees and I also take a blood thinner. The cold is a lot harder to deal with now. So this fall I thought I would set up a range in my basement and get one if those cheap break barrel air rifles with a scope on it and give that a try. I picked up a Gamo .22 and made a silent pellet trap out of a plastic storage bin filled with rubber mulch.

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Right away I was hooked. Every day I would go down and shoot off 40 - 50 shots. And I did not have to leave the house. Of course this made me curious about what else was out there. A quick search on line and like everything these days I discovered this massive culture of air gun enthusiasts. Had I just stopped there I would have had an inexpensive hobby. Of course I could not stop there. Turns out that although spring loaded break barrels (springers) have a following the state of the art is the PCP or Pre Charged Pneumatic air rifle. These guns use an external high pressure air source such as a hand pump, scuba tank or compressor to charge a reservoir on the rifle which then delivers a certain number of shots before needing to be re-charged. Not so simple or inexpensive any more. An entry level rifle starts at around $400 and can then run easily to $2000 or more and that is without scopes, bipods, moderators, regulators and a host of other doodads. That being said, many of these rifles are flipping amazing. These things are not your childhood Red Ryder BB guns. Enthusiasts have extremely high expectations of accuracy. Single holes at 50 yards is common as are 1" groups at 100 yards. The other surprise for me was the power that these rifles generate. At the low end you are taking about an 18gr .22 pellet moving at 900 - 1100 fps and at the higher end a 405 gr. .457 bullet moving at 900+ fps. Some states have made big bore air rifles legal for deer hunting and in Texas they are very popular for wild pigs. At any rate what started as a cold weather hobby has become a passion for me that has gone beyond basement plinking. I still shoot every day, but I have a couple of big bores that are way too big for the basement or backyard. I invested in my own compressor with a carbon fiber tank that I can take anywhere. I also have a small compressor for just filling a rifle directly.
So are there any other NES airgunners? Any good places to shoot? I know about New England air guns in Hudson. Anyone have a secluded back yard and want to do some plinking?
IMG_20190223_165407600.jpg IMG_20190209_121858170.jpg IMG_20190104_074253019.jpg IMG_20190220_091359916.jpg IMG_20190122_210355976.jpg a
 
I love to shoot. I used to be one of those guys who shot outdoors all winter. Many times my footprints in the snow were the first out to the 200 yard berm. However, I have developed arthritic hips and knees and I also take a blood thinner. The cold is a lot harder to deal with now. So this fall I thought I would set up a range in my basement and get one if those cheap break barrel air rifles with a scope on it and give that a try. I picked up a Gamo .22 and made a silent pellet trap out of a plastic storage bin filled with rubber mulch.

View attachment 270959

View attachment 270961
Right away I was hooked. Every day I would go down and shoot off 40 - 50 shots. And I did not have to leave the house. Of course this made me curious about what else was out there. A quick search on line and like everything these days I discovered this massive culture of air gun enthusiasts. Had I just stopped there I would have had an inexpensive hobby. Of course I could not stop there. Turns out that although spring loaded break barrels (springers) have a following the state of the art is the PCP or Pre Charged Pneumatic air rifle. These guns use an external high pressure air source such as a hand pump, scuba tank or compressor to charge a reservoir on the rifle which then delivers a certain number of shots before needing to be re-charged. Not so simple or inexpensive any more. An entry level rifle starts at around $400 and can then run easily to $2000 or more and that is without scopes, bipods, moderators, regulators and a host of other doodads. That being said, many of these rifles are flipping amazing. These things are not your childhood Red Ryder BB guns. Enthusiasts have extremely high expectations of accuracy. Single holes at 50 yards is common as are 1" groups at 100 yards. The other surprise for me was the power that these rifles generate. At the low end you are taking about an 18gr .22 pellet moving at 900 - 1100 fps and at the higher end a 405 gr. .457 bullet moving at 900+ fps. Some states have made big bore air rifles legal for deer hunting and in Texas they are very popular for wild pigs. At any rate what started as a cold weather hobby has become a passion for me that has gone beyond basement plinking. I still shoot every day, but I have a couple of big bores that are way too big for the basement or backyard. I invested in my own compressor with a carbon fiber tank that I can take anywhere. I also have a small compressor for just filling a rifle directly.
So are there any other NES airgunners? Any good places to shoot? I know about New England air guns in Hudson. Anyone have a secluded back yard and want to do some plinking?
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Been thinking about setting up in the basement to practice offhand for CMP matches.

How do you like the Taipan?
 
That’s some seriously nice gear you have.
What psi’s do you run in the tanks?
How many shots do you get before a refill?
I charge the tank to 4500 psi. Number of shots depends on rifle and caliber. I have a regulated Marauder .22 that get 70-80 shots to a fill. Air Force Condor .25 gets about 30.
 
I charge the tank to 4500 psi. Number of shots depends on rifle and caliber. I have a regulated Marauder .22 that get 70-80 shots to a fill. Air Force Condor .25 gets about 30.

4500 wow! I worked in a gas house when I was a young lad.
We filled our high pressure 300cf cyl, oxy, argon, nitrogen, helium, etc...
to 3600psi. That’s 3300psi with a 10% over fill. Which was legal
in the day. They can’t do that anymore.
You must need a serious compressor to get those pressures?
 
I have an Omega Supercharger air compressor along with one of Joe's tanks. I have a bunch of PCP's as well as some modified Drozd BB Full Autos.
I have a Mutant .25 standard and a Mutant .177 shorty that was converted for me. Kalibrgun Cricket shorty in .177 and a FX Wildcat in .22 to name a few.
 
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1CFD7F4F-C831-4CB0-99C8-689237602083.jpeg Escape ss in .22 (12 in. Barrel) is my go to rifle to protect the garden. This thing is truly amazing. I can get consistent nickel size groups at 50 yards. Super quiet and will punch thru 1 in. pine board at 50 yards and blow the back of the board out!
I also have a 24 in. .22 cal barrel that, while not suppressed will give me about 75 foot pounds at the muzzle out of the same gun.
 
nice I like air rifles but im more of the old school pumpers like sheridans and crosman 140/1400
Stepped into the pcp game with a Discovery and a hand pump.
My practice target rifle for indoors is a Daisy 853
I have done a few mods on the Disco, no where as nice as the stuff you got but Im getting moa with the disco after some work and tunes
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the 853 scoped for the kids to use
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View attachment 271017 Escape ss in .22 (12 in. Barrel) is my go to rifle to protect the garden. This thing is truly amazing. I can get consistent nickel size groups at 50 yards. Super quiet and will punch thru 1 in. pine board at 50 yards and blow the back of the board out!
I also have a 24 in. .22 cal barrel that, while not suppressed will give me about 75 foot pounds at the muzzle out of the same gun.
nice . and this(bottom) is my go to garden/grab gun(crosman 1400 with some mods) 22 cal 650fps inside 25 yards nothing is safe!
when I have time I get into my perch (up on deck) and use the discovery for 50=yards

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I have several air pistols including a Gamo - can't recall the model at the moment - that I use in informal competition at our club in the summer. I would really like to find a Baikal IZH-46 but Obummer stopped all arms imports from Russia and they are hard to find used.
 
4500 wow! I worked in a gas house when I was a young lad.
We filled our high pressure 300cf cyl, oxy, argon, nitrogen, helium, etc...
to 3600psi. That’s 3300psi with a 10% over fill. Which was legal
in the day. They can’t do that anymore.
You must need a serious compressor to get those pressures?

I use a hand pump.

Hill MK4 Hand Pump, Up to 4500

I only put 3500psi in my .308. I get 3 good shots and lose about 1000psi before There is significant bullet drop at 100 yards.

3500psi is tiring. Even getting it there from 2500 I sometimes pause at the half way mark.

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I have an Omega Supercharger air compressor along with one of Joe's tanks. I have a bunch of PCP's as well as some modified Drozd BB Full Autos.
I have a Mutant .25 standard and a Mutant .177 shorty that was converted for me. Kalibrgun Cricket shorty in .177 and a FX Wildcat in .22 to name a few.

I was going to get the Supercharger, but AoA had a sale. I got the Turbo for the same price. Love it. Quiet and fast. Also like the Cricket, it is on my list along with an EDgun Leshiy.
 
I was shooting at a club in MA (wont name it here). A truck pulls over, it is the president of the club. He pulls out this awesome air rifle and then tells me to look in the back of the truck. He had 2 dead coyotes he shot at 100 yards.

He told me to go take look. He had a dead cow behind a berm.

I love ther club. :)

And the rifle was impressive. I wish I remembered the brand, but I do remember that he modified it.
 
IZH 46 I use to shoot match until my elbow took to being a very painful use to shoot mid 500's
Sheridan silver streak 20 cal williams peep valve tune and mods by me
Sheridan blue streak 22 cal 8x 50x30 scope (iicrc) high performance tune by me
 
I got a Gamo .22 some dude let go cheap to pay for a new expensive hobby he got into...

Seriously though you ever find yourself north of the border I'd love see some of that big bore air action. Right off the back porch...
 
... would really like to find a Baikal IZH-46 but Obummer stopped all arms imports from Russia and they are hard to find used.
They are indeed awesome, picked one up a few years ago for only $200 and it is amazingly accurate.

For rifles and CMP-type practice to supplement 200-yd offhand shooting, I advise going low velocity, definitely staying well below 1000 FPS. This model from Archer Airguns is ideal and is ~$200: The AR2079A Chinese Air Rifle. CO2-powered wood and metal airgun. Uses any scope sight. Spare parts kits and accessories available.
 
When it comes to full auto pellet and BB guns probably tried them all. The SMG 22 was fun but the rate of fire was a little on the slow side having the Drozd shooting up to 2k. Kind of like shooting a Thompson.
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um, i thought i was into airguns? you guys are INTO airguns... Have 3 spring piston guns, Scoped RWS 45 from the 90s, 2 cheap Chinese plinkers probably from the 2000s. The one in .22 is fun, makes a nice THWAP! when it hits.
 
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