Hog hunting with an airgun?

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

I ran upon this video the other day on a blog. It links back to GAMO's website. GAMO makes a decent air rifle; the one used here throws a .177 pellet at 1600 FPS (!!!)

http://www.gamousa.com/Videos/62_mov.htm

As for myself, I haven't used an air rifle on anything larger than squirrels and rabbits.

I'd be hoping for someone backing me up with a .44 carbine, to be quite honest.

Enjoy.

Regards,
Rabbit.

[Cosmoline]

No way would I trust a .117 pellet.  For hog hunting you should go back to something like the .30 caliber airgun Lewis used to take big game.  I wonder why they don't make medium bore air rifles.

[brimic]

Its great fun until you have a pissed off hog charging you after you irritate it with an air rifle. 


I'm actually amazed that it dropped the hog so fast. We used to butcher a hog every year at a friends farm, we would put the hog down by shooting it point balnk in the forehead with a .22 pistol. It didn't always kill them instantly- they would often times go nuts and slam themselves into things around them- you had to be quick on your feet.

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

I've heard of one hog, caught in a hogtrap, that took 5 .41mag hits to the head and neck from near contact distance before it quit the struggle.


http://www.pyramidair.com/cgi-bin/model.pl?model_id=771

Somebody wanted info on bigbore airguns?  How about a .50 in a production airgun?

Regards,
Rabbit.

[gunsmith]

for some reason I can't see the vid.
But I would think that a bowie knife would be better then a .177 pellet.

[Harold Tuttle]

There are some nice Korean air rifles in 9mm and larger

heres a 500fps, 200 grain, 50 caliber air rifle:
http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/model.pl?model_id=772

[mtnbkr]

I wonder why they don't make medium bore air rifles.

They do, but they're as expensive, if not moreso, than medium bore centerfire rifles.  They tend to be custom guns.  I can't remember the guy's name, but there's a custom airgun builder out there that makes airguns up to 50cal and has used them to take buffalo.  The Korean guns Harold Tuttle mentions are nice too.

My biggest beef with the larger caliber airguns is that you need to shoot them at regular firearms ranges with firearms backstops.  They cost about as much as a firearm and are nearly as loud.  What's the point unless you're just an airgun fan?

Just saw Rabbit's post, that's a new gun to me.  When I was "into" airguns, it wasn't around, at least in the US...

Chris

[roo_ster]

I have a beef with airguns, specifically the higher-end, higher-power models.

For some reason, manufacturers (& presumably buyers) feel the need to hang huge amounts of bulging, heavy wood all over them until they look like a distended & bloated example of Roy Weatherby's worst efforts. 

The above link is a case in point.  It looks like a sack of tumors.

Maybe the buyers feel they need something heavy & substantial after laying out enough $$$ to purchase a real firearm and only slinging a .177"-.22" pellet at sub 1000fps velocities.

FWIW, way back in the day I bought a Beeman R1, my first/last serious air gun.  What a chunkster.  It comes to the shoulder like a canoe paddle.

What I'd like is a HANDY, powerful air rifle.  Quiet would be nice, too.

[mtnbkr]

What I'd like is a HANDY, powerful air rifle.  Quiet would be nice, too

The BSA Supersport .22 I used to own was styled like a standard rifle and was fairly powerful.  It was tackdriver accurate and had a very nice adjustable trigger.  It was a springer, so you needed an airgun specific scope or a high end centerfire scope, not a cheap 22lr model.  Price when I bought it in 1999 was $170ish, I'm sure they're more these days if you can even find one (I think the only importer went out of business).  It was quiet enough to shoot in my basement without bugging my wife upstairs, but not so quiet that I could shoot it in my towhhome's backyard.

Since airguns over a certain power limit require a firearms certificate in GB, they have two models.  Being a resident of the US, I had the FAC version: http://www.bsaguns.co.uk/?ID=53&ProductID=579

Chris

[mtnbkr]

BTW, you might want to take a grain of salt with Gamo's velocity numbers.  A few years ago, it was fairly well known that they achieved their numbers with lighter than normal pellets.  Using commonly available pellets resulted in lower numbers.  Just something to think about when looking at their numbers compared to other companies...

Chris

[Sylvilagus Aquaticus]

Yeah, they're using some super pellet to get those velocity figures. The disclaimer states 1250 FPS with a lead pellet.

As far as asthetics, I still like my 20+ year old RWS 45.

Love the analogy, JF.

Regards,
Rabbit.

[Harold Tuttle]

what i would like to see would be a modern "re" creation of a CNC, Carbon fiber tanked Lewis & Clark air rifle

http://www.beemans.net/lewis%20assault%20rifle.htm