I agree with 22guy, you definately get what you pay for. Right now I use a Daisy multi pump air rifle to eliminate rabits out of the garden, but want to get a break action one for accuracy. I wouldn't be scared of spending $100 plus for a good setup
If I were to do it again I'd go Gamo.
I have a RWS .17 that shoots a 1000 fps. Even at 40 yards the pellet goes through one inch of wood. Plenty of power for the animals you mentioned, but I'm not certain what you mean by residential birds other than they are some form of pest doing damage? We must abide by all municipal rules and laws of course, as we eliminate those crittters and vermin that make our homes, their homes.
Gamo has plenty of package deals but I don't think your getting much below $175.00 for a medium quality set up; scope, mounts and gun.
I was looking at the Gamo series and noticed their top of the line model was the Hurricane Air shooting at 1250 FPS. I think that might be a little overkill since I live in the city, and also it's pricey enough with the scope. And after reading some reviews on it It seems you have to be very strong to cock the barrel, and I'm only 15.
Now is there anything differnt about using a variable power scope? It says its 3-12 power, so say I zero in my scope at 35 yards on 3x, if I have a target at 35 yards and I have my scope on 12x, will I have to aim above thw target or below? or can I have the crosshair right on the target as if I was in 3x? haha does it make sense what im trying to ask?
A different problem is a variable scope changing the point of impact at the different magnification, it is not normal or desirable. Take it back if it does.
Test your pellet drop at various yardage.
We used to set eggs on top of golf tee's and keep putting them out farther and farther until a champion was declared. A .17 at 1000 fps makes an egg splatter pretty good. We also tried paint balls on golf tees but they didn't explode as good as the eggs.
From what I remember with my .17 it is aimed dead on from 10 yards to 40 yards before I started to drop. I may be wrong, been awhile since I shot it. It was a very big drop at 100 yards though. Couple of feet?
the variable power scope is just magnification of the target area and has nothing to do with the aim of the rifle/scope combo.
p.s. put it on the 12 power to sight it in so you get the best magnification of your target and be able to get it that much closer to perfect sighting it in. you should always sight in a scope on as high of a power as you can.
Not sure. But sounds like new air gun terminology.
I also noticed something protruding like a second trigger almost. Very short.
Scope might be A Gamo? You can see something in red letters on side in middle, but none of their other gun/scope package deals have it.
Price for gun is what I paid for the RWS. But I did not get a scope. Not to ask a stupid question but you are aware of needing an AIR RIFLE SCOPE rather than any old scope right? Apparently a spring recoil is something fierce and will damage a regular scope.
I have never had a big game rifle scope move on me but I did with the air rifle. Need the scope stops for sure.
Adjustable objectives to my knowledge are only found on rifle scopes and then only on scopes that have adjustable magnification. Basically it's to make sure your crosshair is indeed focused correctly.
I've taken the following explanation of the problem PARALLAX which is what an adjustable objective corrects from Wikipedia (free internet encyclopedia):
Parallax, or more accurately motion parallax (Greek: παραλλαγή (parallagé) = alteration) is the change of angular position of two stationary points relative to each other as seen by an observer, due to the motion of an observer. Simply put, it is the apparent shift of an object against a background due to a change in observer position.
Target turrets are tall knobs on the scope to quickly adjust your crosshairs. You may not like them, they seem to get in the way, paticularly the windage turret. I'm not sure why they put them on a rifle they refer to as hunter model. I can see them on a competition target rifle yes.
Ammo...all I can say is experiment. I've tried a dozen and the best my rifle likes is Gamo target pellets (flat point).
I use my Gamo target pellets (flat point) for hunting. Yes a rounded or pointed pellet may be better suited for hunting but if I can't hit the lung area it does me no good. Usually those pellets are heavier to which means they will drop faster where as my little target pellet is still zipping along very fast and straight.
Just remember a .17 pellet at 1000 fps will kill a human if it hits the right artery inside the chest, and it definitely will go through a rib no problem, even at 40 yards.
I gotta run, leaving for bear hunt in morning. Look for posting in hunting forum, I'll post pictures of Yogi.
i have hunted cotton tails for 15 years or so with a veriaty of pellet guns,iprefur crossman pumpups in 22 but i've had good luck 177s at 25 to 30 yds. my faverite 177 is a daisy powerline 917 ive had sinse the early 80s i've taken bunnys at 35 yds or better with it.
the faster the better, higher KE that way, more thorough/quick kills, I would think 1000 fps plus, skunks are hard to kill though and generally you want to kill them dead or they will spray all over and stink the whole neighborhood....there is a 1600 fps pellet gun out there...
Last spring I bought an air pellet rifle from Wal-Mart. The package deal included: variable scope, up to 1000 fps velocity, both .177 pellets and BB's.
Cost less than $30 total.
I set up a bull's eye approx. 30 ft away from my back deck and zeroed in the scope. After removing the paper target I had plenty of BB's imbedded deeply in the oak tree bark which were difficult to dig out with my pocket knife.
Every shot was taken with me thinking about how well it would penetrate my neighbor's prowling cat which motivated me to make the purchase. So far I haven't had the right opportunity to pepper his back side.
What would be a good pellet rifle setup (rifle and scope preferably in a package) for hunting squirels, residential birds, and skunks?
I'm assuming I should get a 1000FPS break-barrel that shoots .177 pointed pellets?
I have a GAMO Hunter 220 break barrel. I would suggest getting a solid-barrel with the side-cocking option.
When you use the break-barrels a lot, the hinge can become loose, which means if you have a scope attached to the stock/solid-portion of the barrel, you lose your zero. This doesn't happen until you go through 700-1000 shots...but you would be suprised how quickly you can tally up that many shots.
Also, I have found that SOLID pellets work the best when your rifle exerts a higher speed or near speed of sound. The speed of sound varies between approximately 1050 and 1150 ft/second, depending on altitude and humidity, and it can vary a bit more when you take in account of the surroundings and wind. Pellets with hollow butts or faces are thrown around in the air when the sound-barrier is approached because of the vibrations and the air-resistance. SOLID pellets offer a bit more stability and can keep on course a bit better.
With my setup, an 8x32 Bushnell scope, GAMO Hunter 220 Break Barrel, I have kept mine at 2" MOA at 50-yards. Pretty good for a pellet rifle. But, the hinge is beginning to be a bit loose. I paid almost $300 for it, back when they first came out. You can probably get them now for $180.
Again, however, I would suggest getting a solid-barrel, spring engaged .177 or .22 pellet rifle with the side-cocking arm. A friend of mine has one, a .177, he paid about $200-5 years ago and it still is true and straight, more than mine.
It is good to clean the barrel in them after every 50 shots too with a standard rifle barrel-cleaning device and oil the hinges, safety and trigger a bit. I use common household oil, that 3-in-1 or whatever, it does good. I won't be using that on my new .223 Bushmaster rifle, but....it works for pellet rifles.
Also, I would suggest that if you are planning on mounting a scope on it, that you do 2 things. FIRST, you buy a scope-retainer. Some rifles come with them. It is basically a little stop with a rubber-bumper. Some people differ in their opinion of how to mount it, but I put it in front of the forward-most scope mount with the rubber-bumper facing back (facing the stock of the rifle) butting its rubber bumper against the forward scope-ring, therefore minimizing the jolt that spring-powered pellet rifles present upon firing. This will help keep the scope mount from sliding forward when you fire. It seems to work for me that way, but has been better being put in the back by a buddy of mine. SECOND, try to buy a scope designed for pellet rifles. These have been designed with that "jolt" in mind and will stay zeroed-in better and longer than others.
I think GAMO has a side-cocking rifle. I wanted to buy it, but the vendor said they were on back-order for 2 months at the time, so I went with the break barrel, my mistake.
I would disagree about "you get what you pay for" comment. I would say: "You get what you put into upkeeping it." I have an old 10-pump crossman air gun that I got when I was like 10 for $35. It has taken out a !!!! of a lot more squirells and birds than my GAMO has. I would attribute it to the fact that I only found out about the SOLID pellet thing about 2 years ago and that it is a break barrel and kinda screws up the 'zero' every time it is loaded.
Hope that helps...
I would also suggest disposing of any animals you kill, as their corpse can attract flies, which may carry any diseases they catch from eating on that corpse, and it can attract other unwanted animals. Use gloves and/or a shovel and wash off the shovel when you are done.
EDIT: I also just remembered the "Fixed-Barrel with the under-Barrel lever" ones, those would be good too...as long as the barrel is fixed or otherwise does not change orientation from the scope in any way.
I've owned several pellet rifles in my time and I don't think I would shoot a skunk with any of them in the city. The best one I ever owned was a Feinwerkbau 125 sporter. I still have it but it needs a new piston seal. I don't think these are made any more and is probably a collectors item now. The hottest one I have owned was a Gamo with an advertized velocity of 1,000 fps. but they defnitely won't get that speed with any reasonably heavy pellet. I even used plastic pellets with steel ball insert and the thing doesn't even come close to the advertized velocity. None of the pellet rifles I have owned will get 1,000 fps. My Gamo Hunter 220 will only get 873 fps with the 8 gr. Copperhead pellet. It is a sad day when modern advertising entered the gun market whether it be metallic cartridge guns or pellet guns. Seldom does a gun or cartridge do what the manufacturers claim. It is like automobile advertising where they claim to get "up to" so many miles per gallon. Means nothing. What iI actually get is what I'm intrested in. Not their sales propoganda.
Compressed air pellet rifles are more accurate to shoot than spring powered guns providing the same amount of compressed air is used each shot. With spring powered guns the recoil is a killer of accurate shooting unless one has one of the top grade opposed piston guns or some other means of compensating for the motion of the piston. These guns will set you back a thousand dollars or more. I have seen them with a price tag of over 2,400 dollars and that was thirty years ago. The most consistent shooting airgun I have is a pump up cheapie with the Remington name on it made by Crosman. I generally pump it five times and it is super accurate but I haven't chronographed it yet. I would guess it is getting somewhere in the neighborhood of 500 fps. One reason it shoots so well is no recoil. There is no need for a scope stop either.
As with any gun, high velocity translates into high recoil and that translates into poor shooting. Look at what the Olympic shooters use. They use guns that get around 550 fps. You will never see them using a fast pellet gun. Same when you go to Friendship, Indiana muzzle loading shoots or to one of the Scheutzen matches. Accuracy comes with light to moderate loads and velocities. I have a few of the cheap Chinese made pellet rifles and they are the sorriest pellet rifles I ever saw. I can't believe some pellet gun dealers are selling them for 50 or 60 dollars when they can be bought from Cummins Tools for 20 dollars. You get what you pay for too. I find nothing remarkable about the Gamo pellet rifles either. It is a reasonably accurate rifle but nothing spectacular like the Feinwerkbau but one has to look at the price diffrence too.
