ruger air rifles?

[Mica_Hiebert]

Im kind of a ruger fan, 90% or my guns are rugers! My son is about that age I was at when I had my first pellet rifle and I see ruger has springers in 177 and 22 cal. Are they any good?

[PoisonIvyMagnet]

I had a Ruger Blackhawk 17 cal air rifle two years ago. Accuracy was horrible, even at close range. Even making sure all the screws were tight, the barrel wouldn't always line back up true after cocking. I ended up just giving it away to a friend's dad who wanted to play around with it. Picked up a Benjamin Genesis nitro piston in 22 cal, been a whole lot happier.

[Mica_Hiebert]

This is sad to hear.

[nagantguy]

Sad but true, first one I had was such junk I took it back to place of purchase, second one has been great, the cheap scope seemed to wander off zero if left sitting for any long period of time but once I upgraded it's been a very dependable little springer. Don't look e it like my old benjamin s but it shoots true, hits hard and has the "feel" of a hunting rifle which I like out to 50 yards or so Bluejays and garden pests are in mortal danger.

[Duster340]

I like mine. Good medicine for squirrels and rabbits. Has the heft annd feel a "real rifle "

[Mica_Hiebert]

I was kind of gravitating tward the 22 cal, I like the idea of the 1000 fps with the suppressor I kind of expected the scope to be garbage as long as the rifle was repeatable I could live with that. Problem I had and still have with entry level guns that dont shoot well is it does not install confodence on a biginner shooter if they dont know weather they missed because of the gun or because of their technique.

[mulespurs]

The 177 Ruger air hawk that lives at my house has killed cottentail rabbits at 40 steps repeatably. My record is 60 steps.
Pellet choice is a very big deal. Air rifles can be as fussy as 22lr about ammo type. I would suggest Crossman Premier hollow points. My walmart carries them and they are cheap. My Ruger.177 is interesting. Give it a chance.

[chutesnreloads]

Don't expect 1000 fps in .22 cal.But that's ok....you don't want pellets going above sonic only to drop below sonic soon after leaving the barrel.

[Mica_Hiebert]

Sub sonic was the key... Im not likely to shoot it across the chrony to see what its getting.

[aspangler]

I have a Blackhawk Elite. Squirls are DRT with head shots at 25 yards. Mine likes the RWS 8.5 grain Super Dome pellets for best acurracy But will shot the Crossman HP's almost as well. IF you get one be sure to get a .177 cleaning kit and USE it. Mine shoots better with a clean barrel.

[Kestrel4k]

A few folks have posted that Ruger will not even provide any customer support on these - IIRC they are mfg. in CN and are about as much "Ruger" as if I took my Diana Model 27 and wrote "Ruger" on the stock with a sharpie.

Edit: When people ask about purchasing beginner 'springers', many folks recommend a used German-mfg. Diana/RWS Model 34; they can often be found for ~$200 shipped. Depending on the vintage, you get a fair amount of steel parts unlike the new-production T06 RWS M34's.

[Kestrel4k]

BTW there is a beautiful Diana Model 36 (discontinued, and the upgraded version of the classic M34) on Gunbroker right now, no bids @ $175+$35 shipping.
http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/Vie...Item=533827867
Would be my very first choice, as the M36's are much less common than the base-model M34's and are very desirable.

Edit: Looking closely at the pics, it is a later model with the plastic trigger guard but it still has the steel front sight.
I can't ascertain the rear sight construction but the steel front sight is a 'must' IMO.

[jcwit]

I bought from Midway a Ruger AirHawk when they had the refurbished ones for $49.00. Not a bad shooter at all, for a plinker/pest rifle it's a winner.

While not in the same category as my Beeman R7 or R1, or my Anschutz Target Master, it was hundreds of dollars less.

Pellets used? Crosman premier from WallyWorld.

[grizzlyadams]

not sure how old your boy is yet, but i see you mentioned the 1000fps in 22. if you are referring to the airmagnum model, you may want to rethink that. they are a huge gun (48 inches long) and the cocking effort is not really for a beginner. also being a magnum they are hard on scopes, especially untuned.

[Silverboolit]

My 10 yr old grandson is just a little bit too small for my springers. They are too heavy, too long, and just too hard to cock. I purchased a Benjamin Discovery and use CO2 instead of HPA. It is still a little too long, but the weight is right and no cocking. I go the Disco off the internet and a 24 oz. bottle from Academy. We can now go and have a good time in the backyard.

[Kernbigo]

Got a air hawk 177 about 10 days ago, it is a tack driver. At 10 yrds in the bacsment, my best group was 6 shot .300 spread center to center.I did a trigger job on it got it down to 1# with the first stage down to 1/8" travel. Lot of information on the net how to do the trigger on a t05, great gun at $129. My friend has a rws 34 and mine out shot his, doing it himself.

[cbashooter]

I like the Stoeger X3.they shoot very nice up close and cock so easy.it's smallish but even a bigger kid up to about 5'4" won't have problems.

[Mica_Hiebert]

I didnt think about the size or cocking effort he is 8... so all shooting would be supervised but would be good if he could cock it him self. when I was a kid I had an old benjamin pump that was bolt action to feed the pellets but had a shorter length of pull, wish I could find some thing like that.

[cbashooter]

The x3 is perfect for that age.my kids had them and could cock them.auto safety as well.

[grizzlyadams]

agreed x3 or x5 would be better