Because until you hit somewhere in the neighborhood of 1100 fps they are almost silent.

Crosman 2100 or Airmaster 77 should be available at Walmart. Local regulations could be a factor. The closest city to me has an ordinance for no air rifles. The other five cities around us sell them.

I have the Gamo Shadow 1000 Gamo Shadow 1000. It will easily kill squirrels and rabbits, shoots pretty accurately too. If I were to buy one today I would look hard at the new Gamo Whisper air rifle. Less noise means more meat on the table. I've heard it is pretty good at reducing the noise.

smitty

Airguns are very much an option for hunting. I have a Beeman R9 I use at my ranch for pest control. It'll definitely do the job on rabbits and squirrels out to 50-60 yards with one shot.

Spring piston is the way to go in this situation. The Sheridan/Benjamin Silver/Blue Streaks were good guns in their day (I have a real early Silver Streak). But they require many, many pumps to get up to hunting strength. Precharged pneumatics charge off SCUBA or special PCP tanks at 3000 to 4500 psi. They come in calibers up to .50, and can drop a bull elk at 100 yards. But they require a lot of peripheral gear and maintenance. A springer uses one stroke to cock a spring (sometimes an air piston) that can propel a pellet at around 1000 fps. Mine's .177, which is easier to find ammo for in wide varieties. For heavier hunting you can go to .20, .22, or even .25. But you tend to lose distance and speed with larger, heavier pellets.

Good quality pellets make a huge difference, too. I use hollow points or wadcutters when hunting. Every gun has it's own preference on pellets. They all shoot differently.

Shooting a springer is different from shooting a firearm, too. It recoils in both directions. Something to bear in mind when buying a scope. A springer will destroy a firearm scope very quickly. You have to use a scope designed for airguns. You also have to hold the gun differently. Don't try to prevent it from recoiling. Hold it lightly and let it spring back and forth naturally. Also, you have to practice. A body shot with an airgun is usually a bad thing. A wound that may or may not be fatal after a long period of suffering. If you can't do a head shot with reasonable confidence, don't take the shot. Basically you should be able to hit a nickel at 50 yards or you shouldn't be hunting with it.

Expect to spend real money on a real gun. The stuff they sell at WalMart, K-Mart, etc. is crap. It's OK for kids punching paper with BB's if they don't care about accuracy, but they're not real hunting weapons. Don't believe the hype about muzzle velocity, either. If it's not complete BS, it's measured with the lightest possible pellets that will travel in some random direction. FPE (foot pounds energy) is the only real way to compare relative power of the guns.

These guys have a good selection of "adult airguns." I've had some minor dealings with them and had good luck:

Straightshooters

Kevin B.

a couple links ....
Whiscombe air rifles springs

Barnes Pneumatic air pump needed


Yes, I know .... these are not cheap air guns ...

A jaunt into the deep wilderness still is based on certain plans of time and distance. I guess the question is how long are you trying to plan for? Granted, a gzillion rounds of air gun ammo is not that weight intensive. I just keep coming back to the anticipated length of time out in the wilds. I figure if you think you'll be out there for two weeeks, go ahead and plan for three or four.

I have a Daisy .22 cal pump-action. It will easily kill jackrabbits at 100 feet....easily. So extrapolate that to other animals and I think it would do just fine.

There was a thread here awhile back about airguns and the Sheridans were so highly touted I had to look them up. They aren;t much more expensive than a Daisy or Crossman (IF they're even AS expensive), so I might look into one someday.

You can get the Daisy's and Crossman's at Walmart. Don;t discount them, they're deadly. Especially the models like mine that allow you to pump up the weapon to increasing levels (up to 10 pumps I think). They don;t injure rabbits, they kill them dead, even with body shots (well, within reason). Get one that's pellet-capable, wether .177 or .22. I've had both and I like the .22 spear-point pellets.

Well I wouldn't recommend one for home defense, but they sure are deadly accurate. I watched a guy with one, I have forgotten the brand, but it held like a couple thousand pounds of presure in the tank. He had a special 3 stage pump to pump it up. He was shooting pretty much all through the same hole with a scope.

I have seen the same done with a .22, but with a lot of hop up parts.

Dave

The thing that makes a pellet rifle so great is the ammo is tiny and cheap, basically the same thing that makes a .22LR rifle great. Except, it's even smaller and cheaper. In the space of 50 .22LR rounds you could probably carry three to four times as much in pellets, if not more, for 1/3 of the price as well.

If you're planning on doing a three week backpacking trek, and packing space is limited, a good pellet rifle might be preferable to a .22LR if it can do the same function while taking up less space. Then if you're back packing trip some how turns into a test of your survival skills (where you don't know how long until you'll get back), you'll be glad to have all that extra ammo on hand.



That's my opinion anyway and I don't claim to expert. In my experience firearm selection is a very personal thing (just like knives), if something works for you and your comfortable using it, it's probably best to stick with it. Be it a cross-bow, air rifle, .22LR, or .30-06.

That's exactly my thinking. Always plan for the worst, and the worst means no one is coming to save you.