Pellet Gun for Survival, any suggestion?

[SF180A]

Lots of good information on this thread. Back in the late 70s while assigned to the 10th Special Forces Group, we taught survival and mountaineer training to West Point Cadets. We were given permission from the base Game Wardens to take local game (fish & fur) for the survival class. Several methods were used to include cross bow, traps & snares, and lastly a lowly old pump air rifle one of our team sergeants brought with him for plinking varmints around the camp. Believe it or not, this air rifle took more deer and made a believer out of our skeptics, let alone fed our camp with fresh venison (no one went hungry that summer!
Air rifles have been around for a long time, and even accompanied Lewis & Clark on their famous exploration as told from the history channel, referenced in the below link.

YouTube - Girandoni air rifle as used by Lewis and Clark. A National Firearms Museum Treasure Gun.

So given the right air rifle and pellet, I think you could easily find one to fit your needs quite well.

Safe shooting,
SF180A

 

[MotoShot10R]

YouTube - Benjamin Rogue .357 Air Rifle Shot Show Media Day 2011

 

[loutent]

I followed the "heads-up" from a fellow forum member last summer and bought a .177 Hammerli Storm Elite on sale from Midway for about $90 and added a Barska scope to it. Being my first pellet gun, I was amazed at the power - I wanted it mainly for garden pests in our suburban vegetable garden. Here's a few pics that I have already posted, but show what these are capable of:

A groundhog head shot from 15 yds:

 

[JOERM]

Thanks for all the great advice and data. I'm kind of leaning toward the Benjamin .22 Marauder.

http://www.crosman.com/airguns/benjamin/BP2263

Having a 10 shot mag is attractive and so is having a pressure tank so you don't have to pump it with every shot. Will be doing some more searching to see how many rounds can be fired before you need to hand pump more air into it. They claim that it is very quite which is a big plus for what I am looking for. Also, not having to pump with each shot will keep things quieter as well. It comes with a pressure gauge too.

The price is on the high end for sure but I'll look around on the web, there's always a better deal somewhere. The one draw back is the thought of packing a hand pump around in the woods. Hopefully it will fire off 3 or 4 dozen shots before refill, if that's the case then the pump stays back at camp.

thanks again for all the input. I really like the looks and features of this .22 Marauder.

-----
I just looked up the cost for the PCP pump, $200.00. I think I will re-think this and go back to the hand pump single shot search.

Joe

 

[geddylee10002000]

Maybe a tad bit more than you asked for but check out

Quackenbush Air Guns

 

[jimmyj]

Hi:
Consider a single shot bolt action .22RF rifle using CCI .22 CB short cartridges. Works for me.

 

[Gebe]

Sorry if I'm off-topic here but I've always loved air guns and in the past have had many Beemans, (and other brands), including the R-1, R-7, R-10 and many others including many air pistols.

They were all good but when I discovered sub-sonic .22 ammo, I sold off all of my air rifles except one and kept a couple of pistols.

Don't get me wrong, air rifles are fun and pellets are certainly cheaper than sub-sonic .22's but like others have said, a lot of sub-sonics are WAY quieter than most pellet guns and are more devastating on small game out to 50 yards and even more.

A good quality bolt action rimfire matched up with several bricks of Colibri, CCI CB's or other quality sub-sonic .22 ammo that your rifle shoots well, will cost you less than a quality air gun and serve you well for what you're looking for.

By the way, the only air rifle I kept was a Sheridan .20 cal., (when Sheridan was still Sheridan), that I purchased new from Mr. Beeman himself at the original Beeman brick & mortar store in the 1970's. It had been tuned and serviced by Beeman for maximum power and cost me a whopping $50.00! I liked it more than all my Beeman branded air rifles.

That said, if you enjoy air guns, go for what you want!

 

[sipowicz]

You'll shoot your eye out!

 

[Superflywimpy]

Rws makes a pretty darn good product.....

As you well know Germans over do it on alot of things they make. But I have a RWS magnum 350 that has almost replaced any 22 rimfire I own. Can take critters at about 60 yrds. Sends a 22 pellet about 990 fps with a single stroke. No noise to attract unwanted attention. Only drawback it weighs in at 9 lbs,so it's like lugging a m1 garand around. If I had to resort to eating all the flying rats I have downed with it,I would have put on at least 5 lbs. I Also have a Crossman 397PA in 22 good for short range 20 yrds. Which ran about 120.00 ,the RWS with out scope was 320.00 Pretty much you get what you pay for. Shop around as there so many to choose from.