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Airgun/Air rifle questions and advice.


amateurstuntman

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I recently did a fun day at work to help with the integration of all the various civilian contractors and military staff that are part of the contract and one of the stands was a serial on the computerised indoor range.  I had tremendous fun and despite not shooting for at least 8 years I got the best score of our team which was the winning team <smug face>.

 

Anyway, it has made me strongly miss the sensation of shooting - the absolute focus, the precision and the mental arithmetic.

 

I want an air rifle.

 

 

I imagine that there are a lot of people on here who shoot air rifles often and I would like some advice.

 

Here's what I know:

I don't intend to shoot and eat animals but perhaps in the future?

I intend to shoot targets at as long a range as possible.

I am fairly sure that I want a .177 calibre.

I want a synthetic stock that will allow me to hold a position similar to the firing position with the LSW.  Prone with the off hand gripping the stock near the armpit of the shooting hand.

Provision for the attachment of a bipod.  I would also like recommendations for a bipod - something I can lean into fairly hard, that is my shooting style. If the rifle has a 20mm rail then I don't want a Harris - I hate the adapters and prefer a direct rail mount.

Free floating barrel is preferred.

PCP is preferred, I have SCUBA equipment and a fill station since I have a P* gearbox already.

Multi shot is preferred so that I can shoot 5 round groups with as little alteration to the position and hold of the rifle as possible.

Straight pull on the bolt is preferred but normal bolt action is not a deal breaker.

 

So, does anyone have any recommendations?  Thoughts, comments or suggestions?

 

I have seen this rifle on the internet:

http://www.fxairguns.com/rifle/the-cutlas-2/

 

The FX Cutlas, it is PCP, synthetic stock, multi-shot, straight pull and looks like it has a free-float barrel.

It has a little chunk of rail for a bipod and would therefore need a non-harris bipod that is good and strong.

 

Anybody have any experience with this rifle?

 

 

 

Well, thanks for looking.

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I would also go for a spring gun, which doesn't really help!

 

The tx200 is a brilliant gun, and anything by weirauch is good too. I've got a BSA lightning xl in the cupboard though, which is great for the money.

 

As said though, this is no help whatsoever!

 

Any reason for your choice of .177? Flatter trajectory?

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Yes, .177 it better for targets.  The only thing .22 is better for I think is close range varminting due to energy transfer/.177 overpenetrating.

 

 

I just don't like spring guns, the barrel being used as a lever makes my engineer gland spasm.

 

S200 is a fine gun but it isn't free float and I don't like wooden stocks.  I synthetic stock is available but it is a custom job and pricey.

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I went for a spring rifle and regret it every time I take it out of the slip, so I don't blame you for your criteria choices.

 

I assume you have considered rimfire and centrefire target shooting and ruled it out for some reason or another if you are set on an air rifle.

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I went for a spring rifle and regret it every time I take it out of the slip, so I don't blame you for your criteria choices.

 

I assume you have considered rimfire and centrefire target shooting and ruled it out for some reason or another if you are set on an air rifle.

 

what spring rifle do u have and why dont u like shooting it? spring air rifles are notoriously hard to shoot. 1 of the reasons they are hard to shoot is the huge chunk of metal moving about inside, heavier guns like the weirauchs mitigate some of the recoil at the cost of being, er heavy. i have a fairly lightweight bsa lightning (running around 10.5 ft/lbs) that took me several tins of pellets before i could get acceptable accuracy with it. if i did put a more powerful spring in it (to get it up to the limit of 12 ft/lbs) i think that it would be more or less unshootable. also as with any airgun, pellet choice is crucial, my springer is has adequate accuracy with 'rws superdomes' but if spend a bit more on 'falcon accuracy plus' pellets it is a tackdriver.

 

to the op, seems like you have pretty much made your mind up. looking at all of your criteria only a pcp will suffice, especially if you want to use a bipod. spring air rifles do not work terribly well with bipods as they tend to bounce around quite a bit. 100m shots are possible with a sub 12 ft/lb airgun, even more so with a .177 pcp.

 

gl with your purchse, let us know how u get on.

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what spring rifle do u have and why dont u like shooting it? spring air rifles are notoriously hard to shoot. 1 of the reasons they are hard to shoot is the huge chunk of metal moving about inside, heavier guns like the weirauchs mitigate some of the recoil at the cost of being, er heavy. i have a fairly lightweight bsa lightning (running around 10.5 ft/lbs) that took me several tins of pellets before i could get acceptable accuracy with it. if i did put a more powerful spring in it (to get it up to the limit of 12 ft/lbs) i think that it would be more or less unshootable. also as with any airgun, pellet choice is crucial, my springer is has adequate accuracy with 'rws superdomes' but if spend a bit more on 'falcon accuracy plus' pellets it is a tackdriver.

I have a Stoeger X20, it seemed to get fairly decent reviews, and the recommended it as a first air rifle at the shop I went to too. Anyway it's not a bad air rifle, I get fairly decent groupings. However I am lazy. I see other people down the club with pre-charged rifles and I wish I had spent a bit more for pre-charged rifle. I also mainly just shoot .22LR and just occasionally use the air rifle.

 

I've had the most luck with H&N Field target Trophy pellets, closely followed by WASP No.1 that most people slag off. I bought quite a few different pellets, and I had terrible results with the superdomes, annoyingly. They were rated by plenty of others, but it looked like I had been at the target with a shotgun.

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:) yes, thats how my groups were with my springer when i started, it literally took me 4 or 5 tins of superdomes (at least 2000 shots !!) to get my groups down to a 2p coin size at 30m. i had also tried a few types/brand of pellet, with the superdomes being about the most consistent until the discovery of the falcon accuracy plus pellets which mean that now in ideal conditions (ie bench rested on a calm day) my groups at 30m are about the size of a 5p coin

 

with my m8's pcp i can get 5p sized groups out a lot further, cant say exactly but im guessing i could achieve similar results at 40m or mebbe even 50m and thats with a gun i have only fired a few hundred times.. not a few thousand. however i have a few reasons for not owning a pcp. mainly bc they are not independent of a power source like a springer is and they always seem to me to be a lacking in 'character'. a good spring airgun usually has buckets of characer in a way that a good pcp just doesnt - ymmv  ;P

 

hope u get some good use out of your stoeger

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I went for a spring rifle and regret it every time I take it out of the slip, so I don't blame you for your criteria choices.

 

I assume you have considered rimfire and centrefire target shooting and ruled it out for some reason or another if you are set on an air rifle.

 

I would like to get a centre fire rifle but I can't be bothered to go through all the rigmarole.

Perhaps something to think about in the future...

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