Air Rifles

[LostinTexas]

After spending many hours today speaking with every guns shop, chain store, roadside BBQ stand and bait shop within driving distance today, I came to a unsettling choice. I ordered a big bore air rifle and pump. Going to invest in pellets when I figure out which are best with it.

The phone conversations were too alike to be settling. I asked a few that I trade with what day shipments come in. I got, "normally it would be _____, and I'd give you a call, but we have been advised by our suppliers to not expect component. They are all being used to make ammo, that we can't get much of either". Every shop called had much the same story. Some shared it without a lot of fan fare, some had to be pressed, as best I could without leading them. Too may places in a 100 mile circle of my house to think one or two were blowing smoke. Some said February?, others said they didn't know when to start looking for them. All admitted to one level or another they had no idea, and neither did the people they buy from.

The air rifle I got is in the 45 Colt Carbine energy and velocity, so it should be substantial, and might be something to lean on in the lean years that look to be ahead. I'll be guarding my center fire ammo for a while and hope to have many years worth if just hunting, but had to make a choice, and right or wrong,  Here. We. Go.

Cheers.

[minervadoe]

14 minutes ago, LostinTexas said:

 

Wow.  Twenty two shots in the magazine.  It must have appeared to have and endless magic supply of ammo to the uninformed observer.  It makes me wonder what is available today. 

[minervadoe]

Geez.  There's a lot of really nice looking big bore airguns out there.

https://www.pyramydair.com/a/Air_guns/Air_rifles/150/calibers_0_45/calibers_0_5

[Swampfox762]

2 hours ago, minervadoe said:

A friend of mine picked up one of the lower end Beeman's (about $150).  it was a very impressive air rifle.  I imagine the one you have is a bit of a tack driver.

Thanks.  Like I said, I've only "Bore sited" it and shot it at a friends, who actually has a Back yard where people don't Freek the Fcuk Out if they see a dude shootin a BB or Pellet gun.  If I had the time to actually shoot and site it, ya might be right.  It's 700 FPS on a cock, or so it says.  Sure feels like it.  I know My Uncle Knocked alot of Squirrels off his Pecan tree with it!!!

[Swampfox762]

1 hour ago, LostinTexas said:

After spending many hours today speaking with every guns shop, chain store, roadside BBQ stand and bait shop within driving distance today, I came to a unsettling choice. I ordered a big bore air rifle and pump. Going to invest in pellets when I figure out which are best with it.

The phone conversations were too alike to be settling. I asked a few that I trade with what day shipments come in. I got, "normally it would be _____, and I'd give you a call, but we have been advised by our suppliers to not expect component. They are all being used to make ammo, that we can't get much of either". Every shop called had much the same story. Some shared it without a lot of fan fare, some had to be pressed, as best I could without leading them. Too may places in a 100 mile circle of my house to think one or two were blowing smoke. Some said February?, others said they didn't know when to start looking for them. All admitted to one level or another they had no idea, and neither did the people they buy from.

The air rifle I got is in the 45 Colt Carbine energy and velocity, so it should be substantial, and might be something to lean on in the lean years that look to be ahead. I'll be guarding my center fire ammo for a while and hope to have many years worth if just hunting, but had to make a choice, and right or wrong,  Here. We. Go.

Cheers.

Can ya send us the link, or show us a picture of what ya bought man?  would be cool.

[LostinTexas]

37 minutes ago, Swampfox762 said:

Can ya send us the link, or show us a picture of what ya bought man?  would be cool.

Be prepared to gasp. Airforce Texan

This is the low end, or least inexpensive of this brand. Options to suppress or lighten it add to the price tag. I searched until I was frustrated and almost every site had the same price for every model. No bargains I could find, but all of the higher end offering seemed to be pretty much the same price apples to apples. Only a couple hundred$$ between this and the top shelf. the pump and pellets get pricy as well. Pellets I found a good price it seems, so there is that.

Not happy with the price of admission, and still a bit uncomfortable, but LostWife says I squeak when I walk. I hope I feel better when it arrives and gets a shake down.

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by LostinTexas

[Swampfox762]

That really is somethin!!!  Sure lookin forward to a report on it when ya give it a run thru!!

[LostinTexas]

Here is a teaser. I won't be doing all of this, and have no idea about this character, but some things to look at.

 

Edited December 23, 2020 by LostinTexas

[LostinTexas]

Well, the Texan arrived today. Ordered Tuesday evening. WOW!

I've been anxious about all this and the rifle has calmed a lot of that. Accessories should be here Wednesday so I can pressure test it. Reviewers seemed to be agreed on making sure screws are tight. I found a few that weren't "tight", but don't think things need to be cranked down. I guess we'll see.

So far, I'm happy. I hope it stays that way.

[crockett]

1 hour ago, LostinTexas said:

Well, the Texan arrived today. Ordered Tuesday evening. WOW!

I've been anxious about all this and the rifle has calmed a lot of that. Accessories should be here Wednesday so I can pressure test it. Reviewers seemed to be agreed on making sure screws are tight. I found a few that weren't "tight", but don't think things need to be cranked down. I guess we'll see.

So far, I'm happy. I hope it stays that way.

PICTURES!

[Swampfox762]

On 12/23/2020 at 12:40 PM, LostinTexas said:

Here is a teaser. I won't be doing all of this, and have no idea about this character, but some things to look at.

 

Cool as Hell!!!  But WAY out of my wheel house.

[LostinTexas]

33 minutes ago, crockett said:

PICTURES!

Well, it looks just like the pictures in literature. Give me some time to get familiarized and get the scope and rings in.

I promise, there will be a review, FWIW and maybe some pics if I find something "interesting".

I don't know if this one will follow the MO, but pellet rifles can take a large (100-200+) shoot in. That is a lot of charging, and with an electric pump, could take a lot of trips. Let's hope it settles down quickly.

Edited December 27, 2020 by LostinTexas

[LostinTexas]

Double post

Edited December 27, 2020 by LostinTexas

[Maser]

Not meaning to be too much of an a$$hole here, but I am laughing right now at the thought of you having to manually pump up a .45 caliber PCP only to get like 4-5 full power shots before having to pump it up again.  A high pressure pump is not as easy as a bicycle pump.  You should have bought a small high pressure compressor. 

Edited December 30, 2020 by Maser

[Jack Ryan]

How does that compare to a 45-70?

[LostinTexas]

5 hours ago, Jack Ryan said:

How does that compare to a 45-70?

More 45 Colt out of a carbine velocity and energy. It may do better in life, and people claim 100+ yard shots with the thing, but I hope that is smaller game or paper. That is a stretch. Probably 75 yards to keep things in big game (Deer) ethical ballistics.

Without measuring at distance and with the enormous number of pellet/Slug offerings, barrel length, and regulated air energy, it is kind of an individual situation.

Looking at 870 (ish) FPS with a 348 grain slug in the 585 Ft/lb energy at the muzzle.

[LostinTexas]

Got my compressor, finally. Scope mounted, but may change it. The pic above show low/med mounts, medium is a little bit of a stretch for me. I may need to go with high rise, but have to wait. Just had some teeth pulled and LostWife is mother henning me. Probably for my own good.

Note: I just noticed the setup above is sporting a riser under the scope mounts. Yea, it is a high scope mount.

OK, what we have right now. It holds air. Had it charged to 2000PSI for 48 hours, and so far so good. I don't have a fancy bore sighter, because I could always look down the bore to get on paper with everything I have, It'll be starting from an unknown.

I'm waiting for some more pellets, but have plenty to start. See above, for the excuse. Hopefully I can get out next week and try it. With the 6 inches of rain in the area over the past few days, the range is closed for traffic. It will probably open back up tomorrow. There are several houses on the private road, and it is all weather for the most part, but gotta be good neighbors. It keep upkeep to a lower need too.

I did some ciphering, and 900 FPS MV calculates a 290 grain to 591Ft/lb energy. 456 Ft/lb at 100 yards, and 401 ft/lb at 200 yards. 401 Ft/lb is almost double what Texas requires at the muzzle. I'm impressed with those numbers, but still consider it a sub 100 yard gun. Not what we associate to big game energy by modern standards, but think old school. Many say to treat a hit like an archery hit. Sit there, have a drink of water, a snack and give it 30 minutes. Let things finish out. I practiced this with arrows and black powder, so it should be a decent transition.

When LostWife lets me out of the house and weather cooperates, more will come.n It is supposed to snow here tomorrow. Really? A couple more inches of prcip. is being forecast.

 

 

Edited January 10, 2021 by LostinTexas

[minervadoe]

My airforce talon has kept its charge for years.  These things are solid. 

[LostinTexas]

Finally!!

It was a beautiful weekend, despite some wind. My condolences to the northern brethren. My neighbor took me to his companies range and we got to run some lead through. It took a few shots to get on paper, thank goodness I had a spotter, and only a few rounds after that. I get 3-4 shots per charge, and it gives a nice smooth push for recoil. Never thought an air rifle would have recoil. Good news is, it isn't enough or sharp enough to bother the injuries.

Went with the high mounts for the scope. 25 and 50 yards is pretty much the same for POI. 100 yards it 12 inches low. Texan makes one step up on this one by putting a higher rated reservoir on it and a second generation regulator. They aren't adjustable as far as I can tell. This one can be upgraded for about $400, but I think I'll wait a while. I spent $300 of that on a second 25 caliber that is a gem. More on that one later, I'm still messing with adjustments, and thanks to the need to shoot my chronograph a few months ago, I don't know what speeds I'm getting on either gun.

The 25 is quiet enough to shoot in the back yard. The 45 definitely is an attention getter. Not ear plug loud, but enough it would be sketchy. The mail lady delivered some 143 grain round balls today. They say these do fine in this rifle but this will have to be verified. I hope so, I have 500 of them to go through, LOL, and should work nicely for medium to large vermin. I wouldn't want to deer hunt with one, but might consider in a pinch and if accurate enough. They make minimum energy for Texas law.

 

[jmohme]

I know this is kind of an old thread, but I wanted to chime in.

I don't have a Texan, but a .257 Texan is on my list to get. I do however have an Airforce TalonP .25 cal. I bring this up because I bought at Mad Dog stock for it and that really transforms the Aiforce guns into a much more accurate and consistent rifle. 

In their stock form using the tank as your stock, all Airforce guns tend to be a bit hold sensitive if you don't keep a loose connection between shoulder and butt stock plate. This stock makes the gun much more rigid and now the only contact with the tank is as a cheek rest.

before

after

BTW, The light is there because this is my gun to deal with late night trash pandas that like to kill my chickens.

[janice6]

On 12/19/2020 at 8:54 PM, LostinTexas said:

Anyone here use them. Not talking about pellet guns. I have a very nice pair of .177 and 22 cal adult power pellet rifles, and they are both great.

I'm talking about 357, 45, 50 cal air rifles capable of taking large game. The price of admission is steep, but seems to be something I may like. With the current events of the country, I think it may be a good time to try it.

Any experience, words of wisdom, recommendations?

Some time ago a friend got into target shooting with air rifles that had similar characteristics as the .22 caliber rifles.  He said at that time the cheapest and best entry was a Chinese rifle.

[LostinTexas]

53 minutes ago, janice6 said:

Some time ago a friend got into target shooting with air rifles that had similar characteristics as the .22 caliber rifles.  He said at that time the cheapest and best entry was a Chinese rifle.

Probably so. Many of the more reasonable big box store air rifles are Chinese made. That doesn't make them bad off the bat. Some are rather good, IF you bother to wrap your head around how a springer and nitro piston shoot. They are different than a powder gun, and need to be held loosely and allowed to cycle. It takes some practice. Springers are more sensitive, IMHO, than nitro pistons. Both are surprisingly accurate once mastered.

A break barrel nitro piston has served for decades in my yard for small vermin. Raccoons are fair game, if I can get close enough with it, but really are stretching it. They are tough and have odd skull angles. The .25 cal PCP is pretty tough on them, along with just about anything else, but I still grab that break barrel when in a hurry. My last was a Crossman, the current is a Benjamin. It is head and shoulders over the old Crossman for power, it is also many generations later, so it should be. 

[jmohme]

12 minutes ago, LostinTexas said:

Probably so. Many of the more reasonable big box store air rifles are Chinese made. That doesn't make them bad off the bat. Some are rather good, IF you bother to wrap your head around how a springer and nitro piston shoot. They are different than a powder gun, and need to be held loosely and allowed to cycle. It takes some practice. Springers are more sensitive, IMHO, than nitro pistons. Both are surprisingly accurate once mastered.

A break barrel nitro piston has served for decades in my yard for small vermin. Raccoons are fair game, if I can get close enough with it, but really are stretching it. They are tough and have odd skull angles. The .25 cal PCP is pretty tough on them, along with just about anything else, but I still grab that break barrel when in a hurry. My last was a Crossman, the current is a Benjamin. It is head and shoulders over the old Crossman for power, it is also many generations later, so it should be. 

I have had a couple springers. I just never could get comfortable with them.

PCPs on the other hand are my current addiction. 

[Wyzz Kydd]

I have been using a GAMO 1,000 in .17 for over a decade.  I've killed multiple raccoons with it, no problem.  Right now it's handy in case I see the stupid armadillo who has decided to make a home in my yard.