pellets cheaper than .22 LR

[talon7825]

Has any found or have a air riffle that they use for small game?

[rking22]

All the time! I have squirrel hunted with an R9, Theoben Classic, Blue Streak, and several pCPs. All were fully capable at reasonable range for their sights, 35 yards for the scoped guns, say,, 20 for the Blue Streak. I am talking brain/neck shots only. Some can give info on chest shots, but I only shoot squirrels in the brain, regardless of the rifle, or pistol for that matter, so have no data.

Buy a quality springer for accuracy, velocity sells but is pretty meaningless due to 1: they use super light pellets not good for hunting, 2: accuracy is rarely there above 900fps, 3: they just lie about it. Accuracy should be in the 1/4 inch realm at 25 yards for 5 shots rested. Note, you can’t rest a springer like a firearm, soft support like you could use in the woods. They break cheap scopes, near instantly and some expensive scopes as well.

PCP is becoming reasonable priced and more available. They are more like a subsonic 22 in firing behavior. They don’t break scopes and are much easier to shoot reasonably well. Same accuracy requirements.

I am referring to 20 and 22 caliber air guns, there are larger bores but those pellets cost more than 22LR.

[NSB]

I have a Daystate .22 pellet rifle that will shot nearly as well as my Anschutz 22lr out to fifty yards. It will put five shots into a quarter inch center-center with certain pellets. Velocity is around 850-875 FPS with 18-20 grain pellets.

[recumbent]

I have squirrel hunted with my Benjamin Marauder, the first gen wood stocked model.
But man is that thing heavy.

[rbuck351]

Tha daystate looks like a very nice pellet rifle but for $1700 it should be. There are a lot of older very good shooting target 22 rifles including Anshutz that cost less than that. My 1919 Savage NRA rifle will shoot the right bulk 22 in 1/2" at 50 yds. My cheap Beeman (Chinese) springer 22 does well to group under 1" at 20yds with RWS Meisterkuglen which are about $.08
each. These are the best shooters I have found for mu gun with RWS Hobby next and then Crosman premiers next. The Crosman are the only ones that are cheaper than 22 in my gun and aren't nearly as accurate.
No way I'm going to spend $2000 for a pellet gun and pump and expensive pellets to shoot almost as good as a decent 22lr.

[rking22]

One thing the air gun gives over the 22LR is safety radius. I have one area on my farm that is close to other houses. A bullet, glancing off a limb could find its way off my land. I hunt that area with my air guns, no chance of a 14 gr pellet getting away.

For my uses, any air gun that won’t pot five under a dime at 25 yards is not staying around. The Blue Streak will do that , actually both the 1961 vintage and the 95 vintage will. Less than 100$ each but the 5 mm is uncommon now. Suspect a nice cross man in 22 would do as well, no personal experience there.

[NSB]

Tha daystate looks like a very nice pellet rifle but for $1700 it should be. There are a lot of older very good shooting target 22 rifles including Anshutz that cost less than that. My 1919 Savage NRA rifle will shoot the right bulk 22 in 1/2" at 50 yds. My cheap Beeman (Chinese) springer 22 does well to group under 1" at 20yds with RWS Meisterkuglen which are about $.08
each. These are the best shooters I have found for mu gun with RWS Hobby next and then Crosman premiers next. The Crosman are the only ones that are cheaper than 22 in my gun and aren't nearly as accurate.
No way I'm going to spend $2000 for a pellet gun and pump and expensive pellets to shoot almost as good as a decent 22lr.
To bad you don’t know what you’re talking about. Yes, the Daystate is expensive, but it’s around $1,100 for the regulated top of the line model. I have no idea where you’re getting that info. For around $700 you can get a Benjamin Marauder with a Walther-Lothar barrel and a Huma regulator (same as the Daystate) and it will shoot almost as good. Check out Airguns of Arizona

[MT Chambers]

Most modern airguns are good for small game and seriously accurate, whether spring powered (most affordable) or PCP, you'll be hunting and shooting small game all you want and very accurately. I'd suggest that you check out some bigger airgun forums such as "gateway to airguns". I suggest that you don't cheap out on a new gun, it's prolly the only way you won't enjoy the experience. My Suggestions are: HW 95 springer if you can afford it, Diana 34 if you can't, you can't go wrong with any HW spring gun. Check out " airguns of Arizona".

[talon7825]

Thank you, I will look into. I learned to shoot on a bb gun, who knew that they would have come this far.

[talon7825]

Wow, was not expecting that kind of price tag. But will look into some of the less expensive ones

[elmacgyver0]

If you have a lot of money and don't mind spending it, there are a lot of high end air rifles you will be happy with.
If you want to shoot some squirrels and chucks and don't have a lot of money you can do well with a lot more inexpensive rifle.
I have a Hatsan Mod 135 QE Vortex that is about as high end as I ever want to get with an air rifle.
I got it from Midway, I think I paid about $235.00 for it. Put a Hammers 3 x 9 x 32 airgun scope on it for another $60.00 off the E-bay.
Cheap, effective and a hoot to shoot.
The .25 cal pellets cost a little more than the .177 or the .22 pellets but they sure hit hard.

[rbuck351]

I did a google search and that was the price that was shown from Arizona air guns which is the closest dealer to me at about 1000 miles. It was a Wolverine Hi lite for $1695 and then there is the pump. I have no idea if you can get them a lot cheaper or not but even $1100 is still quite a bit more than a good shooting 22lr.
I can understand getting a good shooting air gun for shooting where you have close neighbors. I have no need for one as I can shoot a 22lr or a 300mag in my front yard.
I do have an early blue streak that shoots fair and a newer crosman 177 version that is not so accurate but beyond 20/25 yds my Rem 700V in 223 works extremely well.
The ppc guns interest me but not at that kind of money.

[MT Chambers]

PCPs are costly because you need a scope, an air tank($700), fills,etc, prolly better off with a good springer.

[dverna]

PCPs are costly because you need a scope, an air tank($700), fills,etc, prolly better off with a good springer.

Yep...or stay with the .22LR unless noise and safety are primary concerns. Shooting critters is not ammunition intensive so it is difficult to justify a new toy to save money. And target shooting with a springer is a PITA...I have an RWS35 I rarely use as it is not fun to cock it for every shot. Good quality pellets will run about 50% of the cost of .22's (when you buy .22's on sale), have far less killing power. less range, and are more affected by wind.

BTW, nothing wrong with getting a new toy, but look at the numbers and if you have the chance, shoot both a springer and PCP first.

[LtFrankDrebbin]

My Diana 34 .177 tuned to 12ftlb does the trick quite well. Bought it 2nd hand a few years ago and it dates 1986 or 1988 (can't quite make it out)

266378

[GhostHawk]

I have shot many cottontails and squirrels up to 50 yards with the Sheridan Blue Streak.

I like that you get to control the power level. The vast majority of my shooting with it was done with 2 or 3 pumps. Going to fur I add one, 10=15 yards longer range I add one.

So where you were popping Grackles off a highline wire with head shots at 2 pumps. For Cottontail in momma's flower bed at double the distance I'd go to 4.
Granted changing power does change trajectory "some".

I always took head shots. I never had a rabbit fail to go belly up providing you do your part.

Sheridan Blue Streaks are still out there for 100-150$ and Benjamin makes a .22 that is a virtual clone of it. Maybe not quite the same level of workmanship as those old Sheridans. But not bad.

If you go to the Dark side (PCP) it will cost you more. And some of the manufactures spring and vortex guns are approaching .22lr speeds if not energy.
Like the Hatsan 135 QE which will do mid 900's fps with standart 14 g pellets.

[frkelly74]

I was making my pilgrimage into the Local Dunhams Store and noticed that they had gotten in some 22 Cal pellets, 500 for about $16, they are the Premier dome top hollow point pellets that I have been shooting and they seem to be pretty good for my purposes.

[35 shooter]

Like GhostHawk, I second the vote for an old Sheridan or a Benjamin 392 for small game hunting.
Light weight, accurate, plenty of power, carry all day hunters. I just sent a “new to me” 392 pa off to Mac1 airguns for the steroid treatment. Should come back to me a power house of a pump air rifle.
As far as squirrel hunting goes, i’ve Done a lot of that the last three years with my little $35.00 daisy 880’s out to 30 yds. or so. Don’t let the price fool you, with a couple of easy to do mods they can hold their own in the accuracy dept. I have 4 of them, my brother has 2 and not a bad bbl. in all 6.

[Woodnbow]

The Sheridan is a nice close range hunting arm. But I prefer my Weirauch HW97K in.22 or .20. It’s not the most powerful airgun, nor the lightest either but it is consistent and with good optics and pellets it likes is deadly to the extent of reasonable airgun range exactly as it comes from the factory. No expensive tunes, no tanks or pumps or so help me 1000 air compressors. Just easy cocking consistent accuracy and power in an arm that’s also nice to look at.

[Multigunner]

Like GhostHawk, I second the vote for an old Sheridan or a Benjamin 392 for small game hunting.
Light weight, accurate, plenty of power, carry all day hunters. I just sent a “new to me” 392 pa off to Mac1 airguns for the steroid treatment. Should come back to me a power house of a pump air rifle.
As far as squirrel hunting goes, i’ve Done a lot of that the last three years with my little $35.00 daisy 880’s out to 30 yds. or so. Don’t let the price fool you, with a couple of easy to do mods they can hold their own in the accuracy dept. I have 4 of them, my brother has 2 and not a bad bbl. in all 6.

I hear you. I cobbled together a custom 880 from a new plastic receiver version to which I mounted the metal receiver and pump arm from an old worn out early model.
By wrapping the barrel with tape to give it a snug fit in the barrel jacket I found sub dime sized groups at 25 yards to be the norm. I never use BBs in it, only high quality pellets to avoid damaging the rifling. I use 12 pumps rather than the recommended ten.

I found that one can get a good trigger pull by pressing the trigger while the safety is on to take out the slack then putting it in firing mode to take the shot.

I've only used it for pest control but it kills a large rat instantly with a body shot so taking rabbits with a head shot should be easy.
I use only Beeman coated wad cutters in this rifle.

[35 shooter]

Multigunner,

Yep, the bbl. tape mod works wonders on the 880’s. As far as the triggers on them, I use the credit card mod. which gives a nice light trigger with no take up.
You can google “the c/c trigger mod for the daisy 880” and find it. You probably already knew that, but just in case you did’nt, it works great.
Daisy has also come out with the Winchester 1977xs( not the old 77 Winchester)which is a beefed up 880 shooting 800 FPS. With 7.9 gr. Lead Pellets on 10 pumps.
$69.99 at Academy Sports stores.
It equals the 880 on 6 pumps. Not a bad deal for the money at all! I really like the thumbhole stock it comes with for offhand shooting too.

[jmorris]

I have, a good PCP costs more than a decent deer rifle, couple that with a carbon fiber tank and 4500 psi compressor and the set up cost more than the first 3 automobiles I owned but the pellet does cost less than a .22 round.

One can go a lot cheaper if they are willing to take a larger hit in effective range though.

[Sc0]

A tuned/quality springer is as accurate as you can hold it, can be recocked and loaded with one stroke of the lever and ready to go again. Weihrauch and Air Arms are at the top of the list for decent quality per dollar, Walther, RWS/Diana, and Air force/Cometa are slightly below those two. Maybe needing a seal or a spring after plenty of years of use, still have and use my RWS 48 IN .177 that is 1997 vintage. Gathered many more since then, for plinking or Target shooting it's .177 and for hunting I grab the .22 caliber.

PCP's are nice and require minimal effort to operate, depending on the rifle you can get at least 30 shots off before needing to recharge. Only drawback is the necessary costs and equipment needed to run one.

[frkelly74]

Speaking of the 880 Daisy. To look at it you would think " crude cheap toy " but it will perform. My neighbor gave me one that he couldn't get to work. It just needed to be cleaned up and a drop of oil here and there. It will shoot where you point it and has plenty of power. With steel BBs I set up a target in front of our steel lawn shed thinking it would be a good backstop. I hit the target and the BB went through two sides of the shed and embedded real nice in the wooden fence behind the shed. Not a toy after all. It would be good squirrel medicine I am certain.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

The biggest complaint I have about many quality air guns is the weight. I have an RWS48 .17, a Benjamin .22 springer and an inexpensive Hatsan 95 .25, all are very accurate but fairly heavy. I still enjoy the Sheridan .20 for carrying. The hunting springers are also difficult and tiring to cock for long practice sessions (40-50 shots).
I am considering a PCP, just haven't made the investment, and weight is still an issue. My hunting .358 Win only weighs 8 lbs, carrying a 10 lb pellet rifle doesn't track for me.

[W.R.Buchanan]

The biggest complaint I have about many quality air guns is the weight. I have an RWS48 .17, a Benjamin .22 springer and an inexpensive Hatsan 95 .25, all are very accurate but fairly heavy. I still enjoy the Sheridan .20 for carrying. The hunting springers are also difficult and tiring to cock for long practice sessions (40-50 shots).
I am considering a PCP, just haven't made the investment, and weight is still an issue. My hunting .358 Win only weighs 8 lbs, carrying a 10 lb pellet rifle doesn't track for me.

Yes the big ones are heavy. My Beeman R1 is 10 lbs.with the scope, but it is never far from the house or my car.

My HW35's weigh more like 7 lbs so they aren't as big a load, but they are 50 yard guns and the R1 will do 100 with 25 gr pellets (JSB Monsters)

There are trade offs and giving up a little weight for a lifetime of shooting is one way to look at it. Also the nice German guns are not cheap but you can find them in places you wouldn't expect being sold by people who don't know what they've got. My HW35E cost me $60! and whereas it did need to be cleaned up, it cleaned up easily and came out nice, and is now a $400 gun!

Also it is very accurate with any decent pellet I shoot .

Randy

[Mal Paso]

I'm shooting 22 pellets at 2 cents each. I remember 22LR cheaper but that was long ago. I'm glad I went with a side lever, I was thinking I'd get better accuracy without the barrel hinge but I can cock that RSW48 all day, the leverage makes it easy.

I've been adding a tin or 2 to all my orders and have been getting free freight so I'm shooting for less than a 44 primer (old price LOL).