BB Gun Recommendation

no one should be shooting any critter with a RedRyder.....
Here is my English sparrow death ray. This old Daisy 880 has been with me for a long time. It did how ever take a good amount of time to get it shooting consistently. I dont recomend these for one reason is the trigger. You can not squeeze the trigger by design. Its like opening a valve slowly and you loose the valve pressure.
I needed to crown the barrel, custom seal the port to barrel and under the shroud is a barrel support I made. These barrels flop around inside the outer shell. It only likes the crosman premier match pellets. I used to have a big old scope on this and was fun target shooting out to 50 yards. with the red dot on it now english sparrows are easily taken at 25 yards...pellet guns are fun if I where to buy a all around semi do it all it would be a benjiman 392 with williams peep sight added.
with BBs this thing is just ok to shoot.
 
Why are we still talking about Red Rider? :D

Althouth it is a fun gun and could be accurate anough with cans at short distances, I would advise against shooting steel BBs in a non-controlled setup (without a trap). BBs will ricochet off of almost everything hard while pellets flatten and deform (pellet will ricochet sometimes as well, so caution is key)

You need about 6 ft pounds of energy *at the target* to penetrate fur and skin and still cause enough damage to humanely put down a small animal. Red Rider will produce less than 1fpe *at the muzzle*.

OP, get a Crosman 2240 (co2) or 1377 (multipump) for plinking - loads of fun. I am using a heavily modded one for target practice, it is more accurate than I will ever be :) careful, though, you will be modding it non-stop and will buy another one so you can mod it differently :)

Crosman 1077 is a nice co2 plinking rifle for summer fun with 12 pellet mags.

For pest control you are pretty much stuck with spring or gas ram powered rifles if you don't want to deal with PCP. A decent scope (with adjustable objective - a must if your distances vary wildely) with mounts will run you about $100 alone.

You may have good luck with a cheaper rifle and a stock scope, but shooting springers take a lot of practice, and anyone claiming consistent succesful kills at 50 yards are either GReat shots or... well, hiding the percentage of misses, let's put it that way :D. Consider this - you will need to be consistently within a quarter size group or better at your intended distance for head or a neck shot - try it out... practice until you can do it
 
If he wants BB's, and I will still stick with that, I'd suggest the Crosman 760.

If he would rather pellets, which have the advantage of better accuracy and stopping ability on living things, I'd suggest maybe a Tech Force, or Gamo, though many choices are available.

I went to compasseco.com and got a Tech Force 87 or 89 many moons ago. It is still pretty good. I got it in .22 because I thought that would be better for hunting. I mostly do plinking, and think a .177 would have served better in that case, only because that is more available everywhere.

I like the Gamo, because they have those quiet ones.
 
Coyote33 said:
If he wants BB's, and I will still stick with that, I'd suggest the Crosman 760.

If he would rather pellets, which have the advantage of better accuracy and stopping ability on living things, I'd suggest maybe a Tech Force, or Gamo, though many choices are available.

I went to compasseco.com and got a Tech Force 87 or 89 many moons ago. It is still pretty good. I got it in .22 because I thought that would be better for hunting. I mostly do plinking, and think a .177 would have served better in that case, only because that is more available everywhere.

I like the Gamo, because they have those quiet ones.
Click to expand...

TechForce may be a nice option if you know where it comes from. TechForce is the exact same factory as Industry Brand so parts are interchangeable. They no longer sell the TF78 CO2, but Industry still sells the QB78, which is the same gun

Going Chinese import route I would definitely suggest visiting Flying Dragon Air Rifles and checking out Xisico spring rifles.

http://flyingdragonairrifles.org/XISICO_XS25.html

This one is a copy of RWS model 34, and not a bad copy at that.

But consider getting at least the Basic tuning job from them to ensure you won't have to.

But then, again, it is $150 for the rifle with tuning job + a decent scope, you cannot escape the magic $250-$300 number for a decent gun
 
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Pardon, you mentioned the TF87/89, not the same as 78, but looks like a RWS Magnum clone. Xisico XS28 seems similar, might be the same gun...
 
Crosman 760 is a wonderful time proven gun. Very cheap by today's standards, shoots bbs and pellets out of a smooth bore.

Might I suggest a Daisy 953 Target Pro? An entry level target rifle (after a simple trigger job) will provide hours of fun with no CO2 or spring to worry about, might be powerful enough for small pests with a light pellet and a well placed shot
 
I have a Talon in .22. The pellets are easy to get and I fill the air tank with a scuba tank someone gave me. It is amazing. Well worth the money
 
fencer said:
I have a Crossman Quest that I bought for $100 about 5 years ago from K-Mart. Came with a cheap scope that holds zero just fine and fiberoptic sights that co- witness with the scope. 1000 ft/second and shoots .177 pellets, break barrel.

I have constantly knocked black birds out of trees 25-50 yards away. Dropped 3 this morning. The little bastards scoop poop out of their nests and drop it in my swimming pool. If they sit still long enough to shoulder the rifle, I can drop them.

My neighbor spent three times as much on a Gamo Whisper and has not had nearly as much success. I don't know if it is his rifle or that he just can't shoot.
Click to expand...

My Gamo has taken out 24 squirrels, so it must be him![grin]
 
if your going to get a 760 find one used pre 2000 with a rifled barrel....it will shoot better than the new smooth bores. parts are easy to find and its easy and cheap to rebuild the older ones.
 
Ok, one more suggestion for an "all-in" package

Benjamin Trail NP Nitro Piston Hardwood air rifle. Air rifles

a .22 with an AO scope on weaver rail that is at least half-decent, tighten stock screws and clean the bore, you should be good to go

Good thing about Crosman/Benjamin rifles is they love Crosman Premier pellets

These are a bit expensive but these come from the same die and generally more uniform and consistent:

Crosman Premier .22 Cal, 14.3 Grains, Domed, 625ct - air gun pellets

or cheaper "general purpose", but still good

Crosman Premier .22 Cal, 14.3 Grains, Domed, 500ct - air gun pellets
Crosman Premier .22 Cal, 14.3 Grains, Hollowpoint, 500ct - air gun pellets

You will get 4 cans for the price of 3 so it offsets shipping charges...
 
I get better accuracy from domed vs hollow points over all. As for the they are good but now that they are more expensive than jsb's I cant bring myself to spend 25$/625 when I can get JSB or alomost any other decent pellet for 30ish/1k
 
I've got a Sheridan pump pellet gun , has a rifled barrel and pretty accurate . About ten pumps and you can take down any small critter w/ in 100 ft. Still get pellets at police supply in Dedham I think.
 
I want to withdraw my recommendation of Benjamin Trail NP after reading some threads on GTA forum... has the same problems as the Venom but more expensive. A project gun for over $200, I would pass...
 
Once you get into the $200+ range there's some really interesting airguns out there. The .177 caliber is fine for plinking and the occasional chipmunk, for anything more substantial you want to go to .22; A good starter rifle would be the Benjamin 392 multi-pump pneumatic.

Unlike .22 rimfire ammo, you can actually get 22 pellets :)
 
Most pellet guns in your price range are single shot. For my Gamo, you grab the end of the barrel, and use it to cock the gun. While it is open, you place a pellet into the chamber. Close, aim, fire, repeat.



Telepathically uploaded via Google implants.
 
My neighbor has a Walther Talon Magnum air rifle. He regularly takes rabbits with it. It is almost as loud as a .22, and just about as powerful.
 

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