Hunting with air rifles

[Merc]

The PA Game Commission recently approved air rifles for hunting in PA. Has anyone out there had any experience with air rifles? How do they compare with standard rifles? Accuracy? Recoil? Range? Max caliber?

They also approved semi automatic rifles for hunting.

[clintonhater]

Bad news for small game in Pa. But I suppose "real men" don't worry about shots that merely cripple & wound.

[leftyo]

ive never used them, but there are some large caliber air rifles on the market that are more than up to the task of killing deer sized animals.

[togor]

Took my first squirrel with a Sheridan air rifle, Racine Wisconsin. Not exactly a regulation hunt and in got I trouble for it with my dad. But the 5mm pellets are pretty accurate within 25 yards. Has also been used recently to quietly take out feral cats, but if the cat is big enough, shot placement becomes critical. The 8 strokes on the charger make for a good delay in the follow-up.

[RED]

I owned a Sheridan Blue Streak 5mm and found it was very accurate and I used it to kill rats, rabbits, and squirrels in my back yard. it was quieter than a .22 and that was it's only advantage. it was illegal in the city limits to shoot any gun and yes, that included an air rifle even if rabbits were destroying your spring lettuce and radishes. The rats were eating my homing pigeons food and their fledglings.

The MO Dep't of Cons have legalized air rifles for white tails as well as the alatl spears. Without going into details, the MO DOC (Cons=convicts). Why would you want to hunt with a air rifle when you could legally hunt with a firearm?

I used to shoot whitetails with head shots with centerfire rifles. My thinking was that a head shot equals a instant kill. Many years ago I helped a guy track down a deer in GA that had both lungs destroyed by a .243. The deer traveled over a 1/4 mile before dropping. That made me concentrate on head shots... then things changed, I took a head shot and missed by 3 or 4 inches. The .257 round removed the deer's lower jaw... I finally found him a week later, alive, laying in water and suffering terribly. Since then I have only used .308/30-06 and center mass aim points. The last 12 whitetails I have shot died within seconds and less than 20 yards.

[Oyaji]

Here's a hunting air rifle for ya..............


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pqFyKh-rUI

[clintonhater]

The MO Dep't of Cons have legalized air rifles for white tails as well as the alatl spears. Without going into details, the MO DOC (Cons=convicts). Why would you want to hunt with a air rifle when you could legally hunt with a firearm?

Why indeed? Because it's the newest gimmick on the block? No State so-called Conservation Dept., has ANY priority higher than selling licenses & special permit stamps. Ethics? It isn't in their vocabulary.

[clintonhater]

Has also been used recently to quietly take out feral cats, but if the cat is big enough, shot placement becomes critical.

Not only are feral cats not game animals, they're the mortal enemies of all small game, so remove them by any means necessary; still, I don't know why a sub-sonic .22 wouldn't do the job.

[barretcreek]

Think there's 28 ga. pneumatic shotgun. Theoben?

[Bill E]

I believe Lewis and Clark had an air rifle with them during their expedition.

[Liam]

They say ".22 for fur, .177 for feather" in reference to the smaller caliber air rifles. I have taken dozens of rats and chipmunks with a German-made Diana Model 34 in .177 with red dot scope mounted. The double "whack" of the piston as it rebounds can play havoc on lesser quality scopes. More damage than a traditional rifle because the initial slight push from the release of the piston is reversed as the piston stops abruptly. Scopes specifically made for air rifles tend to have crosshairs etched into the optical glass. My red dot does just fine at the limited ranges I shoot. They're fun and can be used in your home with a proper backstop or ballistic putty backer. They can keep you in your shooting hobby right through the snows, as well.

[m1ashooter]

Here's a hunting air rifle for ya..............


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pqFyKh-rUI

You beat me too it.

[Sunray]

The Atlatl doesn't use a spear.
"...compare with standard rifles..." Most compare with .22 LR's depending on the velocity. CF rifles, not so much, but they can. Air rifles were used during the late Middle Ages in a siege defence of a Swedish castle. So the power can be there. However, most air powered rifles are not anywhere near a CF rifle. Any that would be close would also be really friggin' expensive to buy. And the calibre makes little difference. It's the FPS and energy that matters.
"...Lewis and Clark..." Yep.

[Johnny P]

We had a huge overabundance of gray squirrels around our yard. They tore up the bird feeders, chewed holes in water hoses, and even cut the plastic tops on gas cans. Tried the subsonic .22 rounds and they still made too much noise in the neighborhood. Bought a Gamo .22 caliber and it was just the ticket. Over the past few years my count is in the 150/175 squirrel range and they still come, but not in the numbers as before. I sighted it in at 35 yards and learned how much hold over to give at longer ranges. Not super accurate, but shoots into an inch or less at 35 yards.

With the piston powered air rifle barrel length isn't important unless you are using open sights, or need the extra leverage to cock it.

[clintonhater]

The Atlatl doesn't use a spear.

Modern users call it a "dart," though that's as inapt as spear; and it's not a javelin, either. On one of the cable-TV survivalist shows ("Live Free or Die," on NatGeo, I think), there's a crackpot roaming the desert of Utah who's pretending to survive armed only with an atlatl. In one episode, it took him several attempts to hit a ground squirrel, which he succeeded only in wounding; finally killed it with a rock.

Once went to an atlatl demonstration put on by some anthropologists. Target was a round hay bale, which most of them missed at about 25 yds.

[AZshooter]

You amateurs are talking about spring piston, nitro cartridge/piston or multi pump rifles ... the kind of stuff I can afford.

If you're the big wallet in the room and want to show your air rifle is deadlier than mine, THIS is what you put on the table:

https://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/AirForce_Ultimate_Condor_PCP_Air_Rifle/1469
Max velocity of the .177 model is over 1400 fps.

You don,t pump it by hand or multi pump with a lever, but charge it from a hi-pressure SCUBA tank. Pyramydair.com has a lot of these for sale in a variety of calibers for the big spenders who don't want to burn powder to kill bambi, but still relish gnawing on hot steaming liver from their kill.

I've got a Benjamin Nitro in .22 and an older .177 Diana model 34, and the .22 is my first choice for destroying flying rats (pigeons).

[clintonhater]

...flying rats (pigeons).

That term should be reserved for the many species of Gulls, which live far from seashores, and are major predators of duck hatchlings and any other live food they can swallow--including smaller gulls! Pigeons, at least, can be eaten, and are better tasting that Mourning Doves.