Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Airguns

scoundrel

scoundrel

six feet under(water)
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Jun 6, 2010
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here and there
I saw a reply on another thread as an opportunity to show off a couple of my airguns. Any of you Old-Timers who haven't picked up an air gun since your Daisy Red Ryder or Crosman 760 pump are going to be very surprised. I have a 25 caliber lever action air rifle that I fill with compressed air from a dive tank. It shoots everything from 15 grain pellets all the way up to 58 grain hollow point bullets. It has an adjustable Power Wheel. On its lowest setting, with a 25 grain hollow point pellets, it will take the face off of a rat. On the high setting, it puts out about 90 foot pounds of energy.
My other air rifle is a 45 caliber bull-pup. It's only 29 inches long. It shoots 200 grain hollow point 'pellets', but it really loves 143 grain round balls from Hornady. It puts out almost 200 ft pounds of energy. There are production airguns that put out over 500 ft lb of energy, and custom guns that go well over 1000 foot pounds. These are great for hunting and pesting when you can't bring in a firearm. The first picture of pellets are all 25 caliber except for the tiny one on the left which is a typical .177 pellet. The second picture is 45 caliber pellets and round ball. The mushroom to pellets in the third picture are 25 caliber hollow points hitting a jug of water at over a thousand feet per second.
 

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I've seen a few videos of people hunting deer with some of the larger caliber air rifles, that's some serious power there. Nice rifles!
 
PCP guns are the hot ticket if power is paramount. However, they aren't cheap, and short of scuba tanks or a Shoebox compressor they are labor intensive to fill (3000psi hand pumps require a lot of youthful energy).

In my neighborhood powder burners aren't a problem, so most of my pesting or hunting on larger critters is done with them or arrows. For smaller pests and/or short range work I have a Stoeger X20S Springer and a Stoeger ATAC Gas Ram, both in .22cal. They are both B-19 clones, and the stocks and power plants are the only real differences between them.

Stoeger-X20S_zps9cfr19sh.jpg


Stoeger-ATAC_zps2xnxoqcj.jpg
 
Air guns have been around for a long time. While most people think of them in .177 or .22 caliber, Louis and Clark had large caliber air guns used for hunting when they explored the Louisiana Purchase.
 
I seem to remember reading in the Louis and Clark journals that they took along an air rifle on their corps of discovery expedition?....Heavy caliber I believe! I think it was too troublesome to pump up or something...I remember reading the L&C journals about this back in the 70's, unless I'm completely confused, which is a great possibility...:?:.
 
Mud-puppy said:
I seem to remember reading in the Louis and Clark journals that they took along an air rifle on their corps of discovery expedition?....Heavy caliber I believe! I think it was too troublesome to pump up or something...I remember reading the L&C journals about this back in the 70's, unless I'm completely confused, which is a great possibility...:?:.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girandoni_air_rifle
 
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I have one of the .177 gammo rifles. I get 2 inch groups at 100 foot and that's because I'm not that good of a shot. I'd like to see what my Dad could do with it. He could drive nails with my Daisy. Used to tick me off as kid I would put smaller and smaller targets on the fence post and Dad would hit them damn near every time. I have taken up mouse hunting. I lay a couple of boards along the fence row behind the chicken coop in a V facing out and put chicken feed down for a couple of days. I set up about 10 yards away and camouflage myself as a middle-aged man drinking beer in a lawn chair. With the v it doesn't matter if I'm up or down a couple of inches it's still a kill shot. We live in town but have 10 acres of woods behind us and a trashed hoarder house two doors down so I have to keep up on rodent control. I won't use poison because I enjoy the hawks and owls nesting in the woods and am afraid I could end up killing them. I haven't seen him in awhile but one hawk would sit on the fence and wait for a mouse. It took awhile but I could get about 10 foot from him set a mouse on the fence and as soon as I backed off he'd hop over and get it then wait for me to shoot another.
 
Scooterjim said:
I have one of the .177 gammo rifles. I get 2 inch groups at 100 foot and that's because I'm not that good of a shot. I'd like to see what my Dad could do with it. He could drive nails with my Daisy. Used to tick me off as kid I would put smaller and smaller targets on the fence post and Dad would hit them damn near every time. I have taken up mouse hunting. I lay a couple of boards along the fence row behind the chicken coop in a V facing out and put chicken feed down for a couple of days. I set up about 10 yards away and camouflage myself as a middle-aged man drinking beer in a lawn chair. With the v it doesn't matter if I'm up or down a couple of inches it's still a kill shot. We live in town but have 10 acres of woods behind us and a trashed hoarder house two doors down so I have to keep up on rodent control. I won't use poison because I enjoy the hawks and owls nesting in the woods and am afraid I could end up killing them. I haven't seen him in awhile but one hawk would sit on the fence and wait for a mouse. It took awhile but I could get about 10 foot from him set a mouse on the fence and as soon as I backed off he'd hop over and get it then wait for me to shoot another.
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:laughing::laughing: I do the same thing here! Cheap old .17 single pumper! Out on the deck just a drinkin and shooting! Except instead of mice, my enemys are chipmunks! I call them 'Minibears' to make it sound more sporting! I bet I coulda made the Wife a fine coat! I nearly had my AO overrun a time or two... damned iron sights and single shot, half drunk a course...Munks a coming in from all quarters!...But, I held the high ground and delivered down range mercilessly on their strippity asses as they stopped to pick a strategically placed sunflower seed off the fence rail!...:laughing: Its these little pleasures in Life that make it all seem worth while...
 
Mud-puppy said:
:laughing::laughing: I do the same thing here! Cheap old .17 single pumper! Out on the deck just a drinkin and shooting! Except instead of mice, my enemys are chipmunks! I call them 'Minibears' to make it sound more sporting! I bet I coulda made the Wife a fine coat! I nearly had my AO overrun a time or two... damned iron sights and single shot, half drunk a course...Munks a coming in from all quarters!...But, I held the high ground and delivered down range mercilessly on their strippity asses as they stopped to pick a strategically placed sunflower seed off the fence rail!...:laughing: Its these little pleasures in Life that make it all seem worth while...
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You just need a few stray neighborhood cats! They will take care of those silly chipymunks in no time flat! Of course they will also take a few songbirds while waiting around for the munks to show up! LOL. We used to have a lot of flying squirrels around the Royal Castle and local ferrel cats cleaned them out in no time flat! Sadly they also finished off our local quail population about the same time.
 
KingTotsalot said:
You just need a few stray neighborhood cats! They will take care of those silly chipymunks in no time flat! Of course they will also take a few songbirds while waiting around for the munks to show up! LOL. We used to have a lot of flying squirrels around the Royal Castle and local ferrel cats cleaned them out in no time flat! Sadly they also finished off our local quail population about the same time.
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Flying Squirrels! Yeah! I got some around here! One came right inside the house last year during Shark Week! It was just a baby, it came in through one of those new fangled screen doors with the magnets down the middle, like you see on TV?...Anyway, me and my little killer dog were watching Shark Week, minding our own business, and all of a sudden, here was this baby flying squirrel flouncing along on the tile floor like an animated washcloth or a tiny magic carpet like off of Alladin!

So then the chase began! Luckily, after several go rounds, I snatched a glove out of the mitten basket and got the Squirrel before Pai Mei did! Then, I took him outside and let him go with a stern warning to be more respectful of going inside a strangers house etc...I wrote a post about it even, on account of not too many people I know have ever caught a Flying Squirrel during Shark Week and under these circumstances...Cats are definitely the #1 killer of songbirds and little furry folk, even more than pellet guns...
 

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I have been shooting airguns for many years...spring guns. Many PCP guns produce a firearm like sound once the sound barrier is broken. My neighbors don't get excited with mine, just a twang. No brag but my springrs wallow out holes at 60 yards from a bench rest.

My wildlife appears right at the targets sometimes, crows and squirrels dance in the trees right near me. I quit killing anything unless they do damage or are poisonous.

I slayed many-a blackbirds and crows during life. Now that I realize my life is shorter, my wildlife are my friends. This frustrates my buddies when we shoot targets. Mr Crow and Squirells almost seem to tease them, up close :laughing:
 
Mud-puppy said:
Flying Squirrels! Yeah! I got some around here! One came right inside the house last year during Shark Week! It was just a baby, it came in through one of those new fangled screen doors with the magnets down the middle, like you see on TV?...Anyway, me and my little killer dog were watching Shark Week, minding our own business, and all of a sudden, here was this baby flying squirrel flouncing along on the tile floor like an animated washcloth or a tiny magic carpet like off of Alladin!

So then the chase began! Luckily, after several go rounds, I snatched a glove out of the mitten basket and got the Squirrel before Pai Mei did! Then, I took him outside and let him go with a stern warning to be more respectful of going inside a strangers house etc...I wrote a post about it even, on account of not too many people I know have ever caught a Flying Squirrel during Shark Week and under these circumstances...Cats are definitely the #1 killer of songbirds and little furry folk, even more than pellet guns...
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Those flying squirrel's pretty common down your way Mud ?
I've only seen two in my life time.
 
I was told my rifle scope won't work with my air gun because piston air guns recoil in the opposite direction. It seems to be true because the scope seems to wander after 20 shots. Would any of the air gun experts recommend a decent scope that's not ridiculously expensive?
 
Scooterjim said:
I was told my rifle scope won't work with my air gun because piston air guns recoil in the opposite direction. It seems to be true because the scope seems to wander after 20 shots. Would any of the air gun experts recommend a decent scope that's not ridiculously expensive?
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I have a buddy who shoots air...and yes, he has told me this exact thing about scopes for Air rifles...I have no idea what to recommend, but somebody who knows something should be along shortly...
 
Scooterjim said:
I was told my rifle scope won't work with my air gun because piston air guns recoil in the opposite direction. It seems to be true because the scope seems to wander after 20 shots. Would any of the air gun experts recommend a decent scope that's not ridiculously expensive?
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It's actually a bi-directional recoil that kills scopes on springers.
UTG/Leapers scopes are pretty popular for inexpensive optics on airguns. They have a lifetime warranty in case you need it too.
 
Sod said:
Those flying squirrel's pretty common down your way Mud ?
I've only seen two in my life time.
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Hey Sod, I dont know if they are common, this is the first one I have ever seen, and I've been outdoors a lot! Since it was a baby, I assume theres a nesting pair out back...I've got a lot of Fox squirrels of all three color phases daily coming up on the deck, Red/Gray/Black...Nice big beautiful Squirrels, Fun to watch! I put out corn and sunflower seeds and they frequent this place...

I even saw a Jet Black one with a white tip on its tail the other day...that was a pretty squirrel!
 
Scooterjim said:
I was told my rifle scope won't work with my air gun because piston air guns recoil in the opposite direction. It seems to be true because the scope seems to wander after 20 shots. Would any of the air gun experts recommend a decent scope that's not ridiculously expensive?
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I have a Diana pellet gun with a Bushnell scope on it. I bought the gun about 25 years ago at Gander Mountain in Wilmont Wisconsin. I can't remember what I paid for the scope. You have to buy a scope made for air guns. I have not had any problem with scope or gun. You are right about the recoil.http://www.airgundepot.com/airgunscopes.html If you google airgun forum you will find many sites that deal with airguns just like metal detecting.
 
i've been looking at a hatsan pcp for awhile now....just too broke to get it
 
Snap On Man said:
I have a Diana pellet gun with a Bushnell scope on it. I bought the gun about 25 years ago at Gander Mountain in Wilmont Wisconsin. I can't remember what I paid for the scope. You have to buy a scope made for air guns. I have not had any problem with scope or gun. You are right about the recoil.http://www.airgundepot.com/airgunscopes.html If you google airgun forum you will find many sites that deal with airguns just like metal detecting.
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My first Diana, RWS42, killed my first scope. It was a 3x9 Sportsview by Bushnell. That springer and all springers throw a massive force FORWARD, not a recoil as the powder guns produce. Basic scope manufacturing builds for the recoil from firearms.

I still have a Diana, and two Air Arms TX200s, all equiped with Bushnell 6x18 Trophy scopes. I've shot them for 30 years and none have broken. They aren't AG rated, but recommend by the AG community for my needs/finances.

If you buy a Walmart special, you'll spend equal or more on a good scope. Kinda like buying into stereo equip. Speakers can cost equal to the core unit.

I bought my Trophy scopes as factory refurbs or special deals at the time. Each of my guns were $500 plus, so $150 on a known, strong scope was a no brainer for me.

It seems odd to me that us detectorists will spend $500-$800-$1500-$2500 on a detector, and then squirm about paying the same for a well engineered AG. Detector are really just relatively cheap electronics. Quality airguns will last a lifetime. Detectors can't say that. We all usually buy another machine at double the price, then another.

To add, PCP technology and pricing has come a long way. Any scopes work on those. The cost of air/co2/pumps etc adds more. Accuracy is greatly improved due to not needing to deal with hold sensitivity on springers. Gas ram power plant is a good middle ground.

You buy a $100 break barrel Walmart rifle....you'll be disappointed. It'll kill rats within 20 yards though.
 
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