One of my favorite (backyard) hobbies always was and still is to do some target practice with air rifles, and all in all I am a mediocre marksmen. The other weeks I finally had enough of my unreliable and spraying 177 springer and I moved up to 22. First, and I bought that last fall a Crosman 2250B (should have bought the XT, but y'all know what they say about hindsight) and last week I finally (quietly so that SWMBO doesn't know until it's too late) bought a UMAREX 850.

After sighting that one in I found out that I am in fact better than I thought I am, in terms of marksmanship that is. This little 8 shot repeater is good for about 120-130 shot on one cartridge and is quite precise if loaded with the right pellets.

At first I was thinking of moving up all the way to PCP, but I am not certain I want to commit that much money just yet. Although there is a number of rifles and air pistols available that would be quite 'interesting' Until I started looking again I would not have thought that these days you can buy a 9mm or even a .50 cal AIR rifle. And then there is this one .22 match pistol that shoots a 22 pellet at 1000ft/sec ... repeater ... Hhmmmm now where do I get those $$$ from?

 

Does paintballing count as air? Thats gonna leave a mark.

 

i like to go out and shoot my ar-15

 

Does using a BB gun at the squirrels in my bird feeders count? I can pick-off those furry little tree rats with no problem now!

 

It most certainly does. Matter of fact, those rats are one of the two living targets I am aiming the air gun at. Unfortunately they seem to communicate with each other and every time I am at hime only the really bold ones come out.

 

I think it's ESP !
Smart little devils, too. They now listen for my backdoor opening & are out of the feeders as soon as they hear it.

 

Kind of like the kids in my neighborhood - they scatter as soon as they hear me working the bolt of my Remington.






OK, just kidding, and the kids in my neighborhood are not a problem.

I still have my Daisy pump air rifle from when I was a kid. The spring is just powerful enough to roll a BB out the barrel.

 

They're tough little bubbas too!

I've hit them in the pecan tree, watched them fall 15 feet, bounce off the ground and get up and run away

I'm thinking about upgrading from my Crosman 1077 to something with a little more oomph like the Winchester 1000 fps models

 

If you are looking for more oompf then go for a 22 ! The bigger caliber is almost always preferable to higher muzzle velocity. But even with a 22 you will have to go for a clean kill shot (head or heart) to humanly dispose of them. At least in my opinion a .177 cal is almost never suitable for hunting unless you go for very small birds only. That small projectile just passes through them and they run away. They WILL die later on but that is not the humane way. I'll try only to shoot if I can place a clean kill shot.

 

All AK variants here.

Wonder what my RPK will do to a "flying rat"?

 

Thanks - I've looked at upgrading to .22 - still undecided

I always go for a clean shot - even started using a scope since the eyes aren't quite what they used to be - I've never found one dead later from one of my misses

i think they just have extremely tough skin (compared to rabbits who I can always take in one shot) and unless you're above the 600-700 fps threshold it's hard to bag 'em with one shot every time.