I'd go with an RWS 34 in .22.
I'd go with an RWS 34 in .22.
I have a Benjamin Discovery precharged in 22 cal. Comes with a hand pump and you pump it up to 2000 psi and shoot 20 or more times before pumping up again. Very accurate and powerful. It is a little load though. I just leave it charged up and have had no problems with loosing pressure. Loaned it to a non shooting neighbor to thin out his gray diggers and he loved it.
That TX200 is gorgeous, and clearly gets the job done.
You could do worse than a Crosman Vantage NP in .22 cal. Mine is quite accurate and flings 14.3 gr. Crosmans at 750-800 fps. Buy 6 of them for the price of the TX200
I had too many woundings with air rifles this squirrel season. Head shots are really recommended. If it's a body shot make sure you get vital organs, grays are tough critturs and they will break your heart when they dive down a knothole wounded.
Last edited by Boolseye; 12-20-2017 at 06:28 PM.
Well I just order mine. A Hatsan Edge Vortex .22 , can wait to get it and sight it in.
Shoot Safe,
Mike
Retired Telephone Man
NRA Endowment Member
Marion Road Gun Club
( www.marionroad.com )
I am not going to kid you they are expensive. I work for hourly wages in a feed mill. It was a big investment. I have a couple of other air rifles. A Benjamin trail NP2 .22 cal and a Winchester 1000 .177 cal I also owned a Hatsan 125TH More about that later. The TX200 is leaps and bounds above them in every way. The stock is Italian Walnut and is both attractive and useful. The Blueing on the steel is deep and very attractive. it is better than any other rifle or shotgun I own. The trigger is the heart of the rifle. It is a two stage trigger. It has a light first stage and the second stage breaks clean at just over 1 pound.
While all of that was "nice" the one thing that sold me on this rifle was this video.
https://youtu.be/fg2U78vl67I
This video shows how to take the gun apart. It is the easiest rifle to disassemble of any I have watched. Many spring guns require special tools to work on the spring. The TX200 doesn't require any special tools.
Another thing that made me got this rifle is the accuracy. The TX200 is the #1 spring rifle in Field Target competitions.
The Hatsan I owned was a VERY powerful rifle. It was real, real fast. I put a scope on it and the rail that was welded on the top came off. I sent it back and that cured me of wanting a "magnum" springer. I wanted a rifle that was between 600 and 1000 fps. I wanted a good trigger and I wanted one easy to take apart. After a lot of consideration I bought the TX200. Again I know they are expensive but a guy can reduce cost by getting one with a beech stock. And sometimes they have refurbished rifles. If you think about it. The refurbished rifles are hand built rifles. It sounds bad but I think if I get another I will get a Air Arms Pro Sport .177 and look for a refurbished rifle.
The TX200 almost needs it's own thread.
Many inexpensive rifles have little compromises that come from keeping the manufacturing price low.
#1 a poor trigger. after that in no particular order, bedding, sights, durability of stock material, and just workmanship in fitting the parts together.
Being the most popular rifle for field target competitions tells a lot about how much it cost to put together a quality air rifle in a country other than China.
To lazy to chase arrows.
Clodhopper
I like my TX200 in .177 but don't count out the excellent German made HW rifles.(weirauch)
RayinNH you vastly underrate the killing power of a good spring or pump gun and the size of pest animals you can kill with them.
A gun is like a parachute: If you need one and don't have one, you won't be needing one again.
jh45 you may very well be right as I've never shot a critter with any of mine. At close range I'm sure they are very capable at killing. What I wouldn't like to see is someone thinking they can kill a larger critter like a raccoon at fifty yards as if they were shooting a rimfire. I just think if you are going to kill something you should be fair to the animal and get it done quickly with as little thrashing around as possible.
Proud member in the basket of deplorables.
I've got the itch, but don't got the scratch.
50 might be pushing it for most people.
25 to 30 yards, no doubt in my opinion.
If you can put 10 out of 10 into a golf ball at that range, and most can.
Then you can make 10 good head shots. In fact most can do about half that sized 10 shot group at 30.
But they are losing a lot of speed by 50.
No different than any other gun, takes skill and knowledge to know when you can make the shot with confidence, and when NOT to.
And that is ALL up to the user.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |