Air powdered rifles

[STCM(SW)]

Wife got a Stoeger air rifle for me for Christmas. .177 caliber, model X20 with scope with red & green dot.
This thing is heavy and has lots of power with a MV about 1200FPS.
Any thoughts of how good it is and what to use it for...

 

[jessebogan]

I have several air powered guns, both rifles and pistols. I set up a one lane 10 meter (abt 40 feet) range in my shop. If there are no cars in the bay, I get some shooting practice in. The guns shoot differently, but the sight and squeeze techniques are the same. In the gun unfriendly Peoples Paradise of Maryland, county of Montgomery, I am not allowed to discharge an air rifle outdoors. They are cheap to shoot though, and can be a whole lot of fun.

 

[rwsmith]

Local pests...

....nasty dogs and nosy neighbors.

Seriously though, Air rifles are gangs of fun and don't have that awful 'firearm' stigma attached, though some will say it's still a GUN! I had a .22 air rifle that really had some SMACK to it.

 

[steelslaver]

Fun guns, some of the top of the line ones are amazing, both in accuracy and power. I have a cheapo pump up and I got the 2 step daughters one each to begin their firearms training.

One like yours can be used to hone skills, have informal matches in a relatively small area, varmint control, rabbit hunting etc.

Enjoy and don't put an eye out.

 

[Breakaway500]

They now make "air" rifles that shoot 150 grain bullets at 1200feet per second! That's no typo, and that is some serious power. They are very quiet too. I have a bunch of air guns...and still have my old S&W .22 single shot pump gun from my youth. Still shoots perfectly.

 

[Wee Hooker]

Air guns are one of my other passions. Like firearms, certain ones excel at certain things. I had the Steoger x20 for a bit and it is a decent price point gun. It's main attributes are price, ease of cocking, low recoil and relative quietness. It was decently accurate out to 15 yds or so but (like most airguns) had a over rated /misleading velocity rating. Not sure I would have hunted with it past 10 yards although I'm sure there are those who have. That said, it made for a great backyard plinker that could be shot all day without disturbing the neighbors. One suggestion would be to upgrade the factory trigger. Makes a BIG difference on that particular gun. No afiliation, yada, yada...
GRT-III Trigger - Airgun Triggers

 

[ralph7]

As mentioned above, the triggers on some of the airguns made today are worse than horrible.
Looking at the price of the triggers mentioned at less than $30, that is cheap for something that completely transforms a rifle's shootability.

 

[Iggy]

A Beeman R1 is the most accurate thing I own.

 

[Big Cholla]

I own 4 air rifles and 1 handgun. I have both 17 cal. and 22 cal. My fair city had the wisdom to make shooting pigeons with air powered guns legal as long as the pellet stays on one's property. My favorite rifle for this activity is a DANA 100 Olympic quality target rifle. It is a side lever 17 ca. and is so accurate (with no wind) out to 50 to 60' feet that its scary. In my former residence I was overwhelmed with pigeons because the next door neighbor lady insisted on feeding them. I killed way over 100 while at that address. In my present home I have been less bothered, but there is a fool that lives about 250 yds away that was feeding them until the city made him stop. However, the pigeons still come and roost on his roof. When one lands on my property I try to set up a good safe shot for the kill. I have killed about 18 here in 6 years and now have virtually no pigeon problem. A local manager of the Clark County Health Dept. is a friend of mine. He has a workup on the health problems spread by pigeons. He calls them "The rats of the sky."

 

[LouisianaJoe]

I have had a Feinwerkbau 124 for a few decades. I had it reconditioned a few years ago. It is a .177 with a muzzle velocity of 830 fps. It still has excellent accuracy. I also have a RWS 34P .22 which I have used to kill Nutria in the pond behind my house. I can no longer do this because there are no longer vacant lots behind my house. Several years ago, I was shooting Nutria when a Bald Eagle landed in my back yard. I rushed to get my camera just in time to take this shot with the eagle flying away with a baby nutria and an adult nutria looking up to watch it fly away.

 

[nodpete]

To the OP, with that rifle and lead pellets , you should be able to take small game up to rabbit size. That 1200 fps rating (as some else mentioned) is using lead free pellets. Although you may be able to get 1000fps with light weight lead. I think you'll find that using somewhere around a 10gr pellet will give you the most accuracy. Of course it takes a lot of searching to find the best pellet for that gun and each one is different. A good starting point are Crosman Primier Hollow Points 7.9gr or the brand I find best, JSB Diabolo exact 10.34 gr. And remember, shooting an air rifle is different than shooting a PB, there are 2 recoils with the air rifle, the first is when you pull the trigger and release the spring and then the second when the piston bottoms out. This is why experts say that the most effective way to shoot a springer air rifle is to use the 'artillery hold'. May I suggest that you take a lot over at Gateway to Airguns website. This is probably the best place to learn about any type of air gun.

GTA - Airguns & Guns Forum