Experiences With Gas Spring Air Rifles

[yeahbub]

Greetings, Everyone!

I wanted to see what people have to say about gas-piston air rifles. Seems like a great idea but I had heard of accuracy issues and having to shoot several times before they settle in for accuracy. Not a good thing when hunting. I'm thinking about getting a .22 or.25 cal. under or side-lever for squirrels. I'd seen the breakbarrel types, but isn't accuracy affected over time with use? Back in the hey-day of surplus, I picked up a Chinese underlever .177 springer for like $25 and it came with 5000 pellets - sort of. None of them were round, but it was very accurate with Crossman pointed or wadcutter. Sort of tempted toward PCP, but the support stuff seems involved, so I lean toward the gas-spring types. I've seen them be very durable in the tool and die industry. What say you?

[centershot]

Greetings, Everyone!

I wanted to see what people have to say about gas-piston air rifles. Seems like a great idea but I had heard of accuracy issues and having to shoot several times before they settle in for accuracy. Not a good thing when hunting. I'm thinking about getting a .22 or.25 cal. under or side-lever for squirrels. I'd seen the breakbarrel types, but isn't accuracy affected over time with use? Back in the hey-day of surplus, I picked up a Chinese underlever .177 springer for like $25 and it came with 5000 pellets - sort of. None of them were round, but it was very accurate with Crossman pointed or wadcutter. Sort of tempted toward PCP, but the support stuff seems involved, so I lean toward the gas-spring types. I've seen them be very durable in the tool and die industry. What say you?

Well, first things first; There's nothing wrong with a Nitro-piston (gas piston) gun, inherently. There are good ones out there, look around at the various online dealers and compare specs. From what I've seen online, the piston will, eventually, need to be replaced. No big deal, spring pistons also get weak over time (loooong tiiiiime) and need servicing too.

Break-barrel or not? I challenge anyone to go head to head against a good break barrel for accuracy. Some break-barrel guns can develop what is called "barrel droop". Choosing the proper scope base initially can alleviate that. See link: https://www.airgundepot.com/vault/articles/scoping-the-rws-34-177/

My Weirauch 95 is as accurate a springer as any, capable of stacking shots on top of one another at 25 yards. 'Nuff said 'bout break-barrels!

$23 for an accurate springer that will HOLD UP over the long haul? In a word, NO! I've got a little over $700 into my '95 and that's not a lot of money when we're talking accurate, well built air rifles! Accuracy = A small hole into which you pour money, lots of money. You'll probably find accurate economy guns out there at Walmart and other places, nothing wrong with that. They won't hold up like an RWS or Weirauch will, but they're inexpensie and can get the job done, at least for a while. Again, go to the online vendors, look at the guns, CHECK OUT THE REVIEWS! Find out what owners are saying about the gun YOU are looking at. Spend the money that you need to spend to accomplish the task before you.

[rsterne]

I only have experience with one gas-spring airgun, and it broke two supposedly springer rated scopes.... It was harder to cock than the same gun with a coil spring, but did deliver a bit more velocity with the same pellet, but with much increased felt recoil.... out of proportion to the power increase, IMO.... They are over-rated hype, again, IMO....

Bob

[GhostHawk]

I have a pair of Hatsan's both with gas pistons.

First was the 135 QE in .22, 9 lb gun before scope. I put a reasonably priced hammers scope on it and have had zero issues.
The second is a 95 nitro, no QE, is about as loud as the 135. Less speed, but significantly easier to cock.

Both will shoot more accurate than I can hold.

I have one of those chinese B4 spring guns, underlever. It is noisy, twangs, jumps, and is not a lot of fun to shoot. But for 40$ it was a fair deal.

I also bought one of those 25$ .177 winchester guns this christmas. Its not bad, not as bad as the B4 at any rate.

If your going to get an airgun and use it, spend at least 2-300$ for it. You get what you pay for.

Field supply regularly has Hatsan Refurbs on sale.

If you need to go cheaper look for a good used Sheridan Blue streak or Crossman pumper.
5mm ammo for the streaks is harder to find and more expensive than the cheap Crossman Premier Hollow Points in .22. The later is most of what I shoot these days either in .177 or .22.

[chutesnreloads]

Likewise I've only had the one Benjamin "Nitro Piston". Likewise it has broken two air gun rated scopes. Strangely enough,
after breaking the 2nd scope I put the cheap 4x it came with back on it and shot it for years without trouble. Was wanting better
glass so did research and settled on a Hawke Airmax. Been using it about a year now, so far so good.
They may be a bit harder to cock than a spring but not a lot more. I'm no longer buying the hype of softer on the scope and it'll
stay cocked longer than a spring without issue.
It has been minute of squirrel head since I got it but the loooong trigger pull made it difficult to shoot really consistent tight groups.
Recently I did some work on the trigger and now can quite easily stack 10 shots into a group you can cover with a dime at 25 yards. .AND...
the POI doesn't keep shifting like my PCP does. Because of this, even after getting a PCP, the gas springer is still my go to back yard
critter gitter. It works and it's dependable. I still consider buying a higher end springer from time to time.

[yeahbub]

Thanks for the replies, gents. Come to think of it, a friend had one of those Benjamin gassers in .25, but he never could get the thing to hit where it was supposed to until he'd fired a few times. This foulng shots prep work wasn't good for very long either. A half hour later and it needed another shot string to get back to point of aim. It hit pretty hard and I was impressed with the power, but that initial scattering of shots kept it out of the squirrel woods. Maybe it was just that one, but I kept my money in my pocket. Now it's time to learn more about these things.

[ohen cepel]

I would buy a quality European rifle from the start. I had a gas ram and it was fine but not magical. Sold it when I replaced it with a nicer/more powerful EU rifle.

I also had the PCP's in the past and sold them all (and all the support kit) off. Not for me. Powerful, but mine were LOUD and I simply was not into all the extra stuff it took to feed them.

[dverna]

Like in most things, one size does not fit all. Factors such as ease of operation, weight, accuracy, power, hunting vs target work, number of shots per session, initial cost, operating costs, and gun fit all come into play when making a choice.

What matters is what works for your needs. But you may get more data from the folks at the Gateway to Airguns forum. I had great advice from NSB on this forum when I went with PCP's as well as the folds at the airgun forum.

Good luck.

[sparky45]

Donny FL sells excellent suppressors for Air Guns. Makes my Avenger quiet.

[centershot]

I did a lot of research before I bought my Weirauch 95. I also shot as many air rifles as I could get my hands on , nothing beats personal experience. Pumper, springer, PCP? I wanted a hunting rifle so power was important. That's power, as in foot pounds of energy, not high velocity. And, the gun had to be ready to go at a moment's notice, so I was leery of the warnings about leaving a springer cocked for any length of time. Initially, that's why I was leaning toward a gas piston, no problem leaing it cocked while hunting. Then I read this:

https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2006/05/how-long-does-a-mainspring-last-part-1/

That's when I bought the 95, with no qualms about the spring. Glad I did!