Thread: Airgun Interest

This is for posting reports, thoughts and questions about air rifles.

We’ll see how it goes, putting information and links of interest in one place so that good contributions don’t get lost among threads on all sorts of topics.

I’m not an expert on airguns but some forum members are, veterans of the current NZ Airgun forum ( http://www.kiwiairgunners.co.nz/ ) and a previous one.

I’ll start with some pics and notes on a classic well known air rifle.


BSA METEOR
This is the benchmark backyard airgun that others can be compared to, whether they are better or worse. The meteor has been around for many decades and a model is still in production (https://bsaguns.co.uk/air-rifles/spr...ns/meteor-evo/) although I couldn’t see them in NZ at the moment. A lot of shooters have used this gun and still have one in the cupboard. It’s for a bit of practice and a bit of learning all round fun. It’s a break barrel style, not really accurate enough for competitive target shooting, nor powerful enough for serious hunting. But it’s reliable, nice and easy to use. Back in the day a teenager could afford one from their paper round money or possum skins but now they’re priced more for nostalgic baby boomers.


I’ve been entrusted with one while arranging for it to be brought back into functioning order. I was going to get my mate a new scope anyway but one day, when I opened the safe, it fell out and “POP” the trusty 40 year old “Bisley” brand scope snapped in half !

However, on closer inspection it appeared as if the objective bell had been repaired back on with epoxy glue at some stage.

In fact, it felt as if the scope tube was made of plastic ! Certainly, the murky lens wasn’t made of glass.



So, wanting something rugged, springer rated and with close focus, I gave Ron Young a call and ordered a Hawke Vantage in 2-7x32. It’s got an adjustable objective for parallax. Modern construction, solid and simple. The rings are Sportsmatch. Again, solid, reliable and good for spring guns.



Various internal parts were replaced and relubricated and, although it’s not a new gun, it’s back in working order.

The end of the barrel is recessed, as you can see, so that no amount of abuse will damage the crown. It’s a .177 calibre back there somewhere. The gun is very easy to cock and the trigger is quite heavy, but crisp and stable. It’s quiet enough to shoot in the back yard without disturbing the neighbors.

Shooting at 10m, from sitting and other positions, this is what I got.

Interestingly, I had the same thing happen on another evening I had a shot with it. The first shot hit the centre dot and so did the second and then the later ones spread out somewhat. It’s difficult to tell if it’s just me. Time will tell. Certainly if I don’t hold it still, the shot will be way further out than it looked. I think this is a feature of spring air guns, which have a slow lock time and the pellet is in the barrel for quite a while.


So, there you have it. How does your 21st century Gamo or Stoeger compare to that ? Or an FX or Daystate PCP ?

I have an old BSA Mercury that was my first firearm (Not sure how diffferent from Meteor). I remember going up with dad to Harmony House in upper Queen street to get it. I must take it to Ron Young for a service and scope like that.

Funnily enough I just got my old one out recently as my nieces and nephews are now at an age that they are showing an interest, it got me all enthused again and found it quite good practice for less stable shooting positions

Using a air rifle got me too where i am today with a semi good shot.
I used to hunt with a .22 cometa fusion and it really helped me get the pellet into that 20cent piece area on rabbits. i now have my FAl and have sold up all the air rifles but i seriously believe they helped alot.
I had a crossman phantom which wasnt bad for hunting but not ideal , and many more air rifles.
thats my rant anyways.
One day i believe i shall go back to pcp air rifles.

Hah, seeing that massive counterbore brings it all back. My .22 BSA Meteor had that too. I reduced its noise (perceptively but not impressively) by rolling up a bit of nylon carpet and inserting it into the counterbore, hairy side towards the middle.

This one had a 22 cal barrel too but its been misplaced in 40 years of chaos.
May turn up yet I guess.

My Grandfather, fkd up and bought me a P rifle, single shot 22 short, was real cool as a 12 year old, but my father realised and back to Chas Norcross Henderson we went, swapped for a 177 Predom made in Poland weight about 9 pounds. Was extremely envious of my mates with the Meteors. Now 45 years on I own a WH80 great airgun but still damn heavy, happily wacks rabbits & possums.

When I was a kid the predominant air rifle around was the Meteor (introduced 1959) but also common were Gecados. Some Falkes also.

I was too young to own my own then so used to go around to an old couple (ha ha maybe in their 20's) who to let me use theirs in their backyard. Mmmm, basically unsupervised. The good old days of the long skinny 1/4 acre suburban section. Houses tended to be at the front of sections and everyone had fruit trees down the back so lots of birds to shoot at.

No one got upset with kids plinking away, safely, in backyards. There was no armed offenders to respond to trivial complaints like nowadays.

Currently have a 177 Weihrauch HW80 bought in 1985, and a 22 BSA Airsporter mk5 (made from 1971 - 1974).

Originally Posted by zimmer

When I was a kid the predominant air rifle around was the Meteor (introduced 1959) but also common were Gecados. Some Falkes also.

I was too young to own my own then so used to go around to an old couple (ha ha maybe in their 20's) who to let me use theirs in their backyard. Mmmm, basically unsupervised. The good old days of the long skinny 1/4 acre suburban section. Houses tended to be at the front of sections and everyone had fruit trees down the back so lots of birds to shoot at.

No one got upset with kids plinking away, safely, in backyards. There was no armed offenders to respond to trivial complaints like nowadays.

Currently have a 177 Weihrauch HW80 bought in 1985, and a 22 BSA Airsporter mk5 (made from 1971 - 1974).

I have one each of the first MK1 one's. A 177 and 22 dated from 1959. The familiar twang from the spring very evident of the Meteor is still present.

The following thread has good information on the merits of: Springer, PCP and low power 22LR. Plus a couple of good links from it .

Originally Posted by Jusepy

Using a air rifle got me too where i am today with a semi good shot.
I used to hunt with a .22 cometa fusion and it really helped me get the pellet into that 20cent piece area on rabbits. i now have my FAl and have sold up all the air rifles but i seriously believe they helped alot.
I had a crossman phantom which wasnt bad for hunting but not ideal , and many more air rifles.
thats my rant anyways.
One day i believe i shall go back to pcp air rifles.

I bought a variation of the Phantom (think it's the Extreme) back in the 90's. It has had many thousands of bits of lead through it on kids camps as an intro. Certainly accurate and now on it's second spring.

Couple of years ago I bought a Cannon 737 (copy of the Sharp Inova made under license) from Youngs. It's a multipump and a bit fiddly to load, but really accurate.

06-Feb-21

685.5
693.2
702.8
681.5
681.7
692.2
692.7
678.3
693.2
698.8


Average of 10 690f/s

ES10 24.5
SD10 8.0

Strelok prediction:
Range
(m) cm
10 1.1
20 0
30 1.5

Here's the group at 20m. It was shot prone, resting the foreend on a sandbag. Possibly not the recommended test technique for a spring gun but I had to make sure I didn't hit the Chrony.

Keep it going @Bagheera it will be good to have another interest area. Having owned BSA Meteors etc and the old BSA underlevers in the 70s, and multiple Weihrauchs in recent years from .177 to .25 I’ve settled on an AirArms TX 200 177 and a W 98 177. The AirArms continues to impress me, smooth and consistent, the Weihrauch maybe a little more fickle but not much in it...when I get the time photos will follow.. Charlie

Weihrauch make quite a range of air rifles but the HW95 is the biggest break barrel springer at present.
At the top end, they have the 85 and 95. 85 have a 500mm barrel vs 410mm for the 95 and the 85 weighs 100g more. But the nominal velocity for 22 cal pellets is the same (230m/s).
Models ending in X7, the 77 and 97, are underlever spring guns and look similar to the Air Arms TX200. K stands for Kurz (short) and is equivalent to the Air Arms Hunter Carbine.
I'd been advised this model was better suited to .177 but I wanted 22 for killing power on rabbits and possums.
It's a well aired debate whether 177 is big enough for fur. Furrther comments invited ...

Just having some fun today in the back yard:


Shooting at the head, I did 5 pellets sitting. This is recommended as the best position for checking zero and for accurate shooting.
The lowest shot and possibly the one next to it are the sort where you shoot them in the head and they fall over but then get up and run away before you can recover them. Had it happen a few times. 20m is a long way with an airgun if you're only an average shot like me.

Then there are 10 shots standing (I neeed even more practice there) and as you can see they would all be the proverbial "Dead Deer" with a chest shot but likely not if I was trying to head shoot a deer at 20m. Know your limits. Rabbit-wise, there would be 7 OK placements, two wounded and one fluke shot in the neck. Seven times out of 10, I would feel like a great marksman and twice I'd feel like a dork. My experience is that an airgun slug pencils through and doesn't cause widespread internal damage like the powder burner 22LR so bleeding is slow after a lung-only shot and a head shot is really needed, to recover an animal for meat.

Looks like its sitting and shoot at the chest for me past 20m but, at present, better to stalk closer and go for head shots.

Brought myself one of those cheap Chinese bam b50 pcp rifles last week in 177
Brand new from guncity $299
After getting it zeroed 1st 3 shots at 20y

Bloody happy with that

Not as accurate as my fx was but bloody good for a $300 rifle
Only downside for some is being pcp it requires a license
Not that that matters if you have got one already