Definative Prepper airgun?

[Moony]

I'm glad i started this one, so the other question i was pondering is (not the .177 or .22 battle of witts that seems to be on every airgun forum), does anyone put any stock in .20 or .25?

On a lot of Air Gun sites the general rule of thumb seems to be .177 for feather. .22 for fur. .177 has a flatter trajectory, therefore you can shoot further. .22 obviously hits harder due to the additional weight of the pellet.

Strictly speaking, with a legal limit 12ft lb. airgun a .177 and a .22 will both have exactly the same power, the .177 will have higher velocity and less weight. Energy on target will of course vary slightly depending on range etc, but in terms of physics the .22 is not more poweful than a .177.

[havoc]

you would only want a cheap air rifle with a few replacement parts which cost next to nothing anyway...but it will need to be good enough to get the job done..i bought a cheap smk b2 .177 upgraded it put a titan main spring in uped the power to 11.1ft lb also cut an inch off the barrel, but as long as it dose the job im happy...so id go for a spring powered air rifle instead of a gas or pcp...as you have to keep them topped up thats why id leave my hastan at home and take the cheaper spring powered smk with me

[Erik137]

Whoops, Guess I'm in trouble then as I know Nothing about Air Rifle/Pistols.
5 years ago, my weapon would have been SA80 20 Years ago SLR/SMG, but seeing as I'm now out of the RAF I'm stuffed.
My current is 80lb Cobra Mk2 Xbow pistol, but looking for decent Air Rifle. (ANY Direction will be gratefully accepted)

[northern bloke]

I have a Sheridan pump action .20 with a scope and silencer fitted its ancient but brilliantly accurate which I put down to no spring thump when it fires its sounds more like a fart than a air rifle, it relies on rubber seals that can perish through time that I found out as it sat on top of the wardrobe unused for about 8 years and one day I got it down to have a bit mess around with it to find the seals had gone so I took it apart to see what it was made of.

A cure for anyone with such a gun from a tight fisted prospective:

Looking on the net to try and find someone in the UK that supplies spares for this gun was pretty hard and expensive in my opinion and me being so tight I try to cry from only one eye if I must, I got my mate to ask a fitter at work for a selection of hydraulic O rings to see what I could do, the valve was awkward to get out as it needed a specialist tool to remove it but finding the right size steel tube I hit the end into a square shape and that got it out, I replaced the seals with what I had and came to the pump itself which was a kind of steel cup with a nugget of rubber in it that looked like it could only come from the manufacturer so as the cup was welded to the pump rod I toyed with the idea of removing it and making a new rod with a threaded end and doing a type of pump set up like in a Tilley lamp making a leather cup to fit the pump chamber.

I was rummaging round to see what I could knock up when I spotted a hoZelock male end connector the small end with a bit of force fitted in the cup of the pump with the original seal on the connector in place it held it in the cup then I cut the other end back until it fitted inside the air chamber and put another O ring onto seal the tube this gash up was more to see if I could pump the gun up to see if the valve held air and I'll make a better job later on if it worked and I never did get round to doing a better job that was 2 years ago the gun still works a treat and as good as it ever was and every time its fired it makes me smile knowing that one of the of the main parts operating this gun is a hoZelock garden hose fitting.

[munchh]

Whoops, Guess I'm in trouble then as I know Nothing about Air Rifle/Pistols.
5 years ago, my weapon would have been SA80 20 Years ago SLR/SMG, but seeing as I'm now out of the RAF I'm stuffed.
My current is 80lb Cobra Mk2 Xbow pistol, but looking for decent Air Rifle. (ANY Direction will be gratefully accepted)

This is exactly why i started this thread, have a look from the begining there is a definate trend to spring powered break barrel types.

[devonarcher]

any airgun over 10.8 ft lbs should be ok and the easier to maintain the better as for spares on a break barrel a breech seal ,piston seal and spring should be enough . years ago i bought a pellet mould in .22 cal and started experimenting with different metals for pellets and found the alloy used in die cast model cars made great pellets . low melting point , deforms into rifling as its a soft metal and gives good penetration on rabbits at 50 yards fired out of a diana 52

[Harley69]

Just thought I would add that the best rifle to get if you were in a survival situation would be a springer, as there seals last for years and don't need refilling like co2 or pcp's. Since you are restricted to 12ftlb legally in the uk, unless you own a FAC and have a spare slot for a fac air rifle any good springer will do the job, but I would recommend looking at only weihrauch and air arms. Other companys do some excellent guns, but these two are the best of them all, easiest to work on, and have the best quality control. If you want a rifle above all rifles then look at the HW80k, its a break barrel designed to be a FAC springer, so if things go wrong and you need to operate outside the law (or there is no law) this gun is designed to cope with the extra FAC power, other guns will either loose there accuracy at higher power or literally be shook to bits. Cheep guns like SMK are good starter guns, but I would recommend upgrading to something better, as the smk rifles (allthough they can be tuned alot) are not as accurate, well made or reliable, and due to the cheaper materials and quality control a lot of they can not take any levels of abuse and will break relatively quick.
I am not just using my personal opinions etc here, I have owned and tuned a number of air rifles, from the best to the cheapest so I know there characteristics well.

[Moony]

For all those North of the border: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-s ... s-20720203

Don't fancy their chances of collecting up 500,000+ airguns that will become illegal overnight. "legitimate reasons for owning an airgun ?", really ? come on this is nanny state too far. Airguns have been involved in 1 unfortunate death in the last 10 years, compare this to cars, drinking, smoking, even walking down the stairs ? (ban all stairs I say !)

If you remove the 12 ft lb. limit currently in place, how to choose what is and is not covered ? What about those little toy guns that shoot foam darts ? Is that an illegal airgun too ? Probably if these idiots get their way.

One benefit of this will be a huge drop in 2nd hand prices south of the border as loads of scots legally sell off their newly illegal 'weapons'.

[LimaCharlie]

Best air rifle for a prepper would be a springer without doubt, Im not a fan of BB air rifles but underlevers are great. Second hand weihrauch hw77 with scope are the dogs and you can pick them up for under 200 quid. Thats what i use, anything made by Weihrauch tho and you really cant go wrong.

[harlowmaverick]

Weihrauch springers all the way, whatever calibre !

.177 cal is faster and flatter trajectory in the air and can over penertrate if wrong pellets are used.
.22 cal pellets impart more of there energy into the quarry as they are larger and heavier and retain more energy than a .177 pellet, but because of their weight they drop in trajectory quicker.
Shot placement is everything!
Head shots all the way and that is why people are choosing the .177 cal , it takes a bitof the guess work out on shots over 25 -30 yards.
Practice makes perfect so alway make sure that you have ecome a reasonable shot before you even aim a gun at a living animal, no one likes a injured animal that's suffering.