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 ?