Friend asking for advice on air rifle, did I steer him wrong?

[Balog]

Friend in a suburban neighborhood is having a pest problem and asked for advice on an air rifle. He has a safe backdrop and is legal to do so, but is trying to be discrete so the neighbors don't pitch a fit. Has a $150 budget. I mentioned the Gamo Whisper. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0018LB78E?pc_redir=1400596152&robot_redir=1

Not the best in the world I know, but from what I've heard it's decently powerful, acceptably accurate, comes with a scope, and a bit quieter than similar price point models.

Am I steering him wrong? I'm the goto "gun guy" for him, but I don't know much about the air rifle scene.

[roo_ster]

The Crosman 2400KT is handy.  It is on my short list.  Get even quieter with an aftermarket muzzle break.
http://www.crosman.com/custom-shop
http://tko22.com/index.html

Mine would dress out with aftermarket muzzle break at less than $200.  A smidge over $150 before shipping.

Supposed to be a good thumper in .22.

[Balog]

Interesting, I hadn't considered a Co2 model.

[French G.]

.22 rifle shooting colibris is quieter than a spring piston air gun. Especially if you fire from 6 ft. inside your window. Or so I've heard.

[mtnbkr]

.22 rifle shooting colibris is quieter than a spring piston air gun. Especially if you fire from 6 ft. inside your window. Or so I've heard.

Maybe, maybe not.  My BSA Supersport 22 air rifle had more thump (wish I hadn't sold it). Sorry, I imagined a comment about power  Also, you shouldn't shoot Colibris from a rifle.  Maybe Super Colibris, but not the regular ones.  Finally, if you were to fall afoul of the po po for shooting a gun on your property, you're more likely to successfully feign ignorance if it's an airgun.

I've never been a fan of Gamo because of how they inflate their velocity numbers using the lightest pellets possible, but they're supposed to be decent guns.  That said, if I were going to buy an airgun today, I'd probably go for a Benjamin pump gun.

CO2 can be loud.  I owned a Crosman 22cal similar to the K2300 Rooster linked to and it was shockingly loud.

Chris

[brimic]

.22 rifle shooting colibris is quieter than a spring piston air gun. Especially if you fire from 6 ft. inside your window. Or so I've heard.

That.
I have a Gamo spring rifle that is MUCH louder than the old 581 shooting CB caps.

[mtnbkr]

That.
I have a Gamo spring rifle that is MUCH louder than the old 581 shooting CB caps.

True, but in some areas it's verboten to shoot a firearm, but ok to shoot an air rifle.  Even if air rifles are verboten, you're more likely to successfully feign ignorance with airguns than actual powder rifles.  All this assumes you got caught in the first place...

Chris

[lee n. field]

Maybe, maybe not.  My BSA Supersport 22 air rifle had more thump (wish I hadn't sold it).

I've got a Supersport.  (My brother has it at his house.)  It's a thumper, and not all that quiet.  I put it about par with a .22 CB cap.

Sorry, I imagined a comment about power  Also, you shouldn't shoot Colibris from a rifle.  Maybe Super Colibris, but not the regular ones.  Finally, if you were to fall afoul of the po po for shooting a gun on your property, you're more likely to successfully feign ignorance if it's an airgun.

CB caps in a lever or bolt action, or single shot, would be quiet enough. 

I've never been a fan of Gamo because of how they inflate their velocity numbers using the lightest pellets possible,

They all do that.

 

That said, if I were going to buy an airgun today, I'd probably go for a Benjamin pump gun.

They no longer make the Sheridan Blue Streak .20.   I think they still make the same thing in .177 and .22 under the Benjamin name.

[mtnbkr]

I've got a Supersport.  (My brother has it at his house.)  It's a thumper, and not all that quiet.  I put it about par with a .22 CB cap.

CB caps in a lever or bolt action, or single shot, would be quiet enough. 

Agree, but I could get away shooting it in my parents' backyard when I'd visit.  The laws don't care about noise, only the propellant.

They all do that.

Gamo was more aggressive than the others (at the time, this was the late 90s) about that.  They were using pellets well below the commonly available weights.  The take-away for me is, don't rely on their velocity numbers as a comparison to other guns.  You don't want a pellet rifle that drives a pellet faster than sound in the first place.
 

They no longer make the Sheridan Blue Streak .20.   I think they still make the same thing in .177 and .22 under the Benjamin name.

If I got one, it would be the .177 or .22 anyway.  .20 pellets are kind of hard to find.

Chris

[lee n. field]

Gamo was more aggressive than the others (at the time, this was the late 90s) about that.

Precision Sales' Supersport promo?

[mtnbkr]

Precision Sales' Supersport promo?

Yup.

Chris

[tokugawa]

Yes.  Unless he just wants an excuse to have an air gun. Unless his pests are unusual, trapping is a more efficient way to get rid of them-traps work 24/7, don't require any visual sighting, and can be placed in multiple locations.

[230RN]

.22 rifle shooting colibris is quieter than a spring piston air gun. Especially if you fire from 6 ft. inside your window. Or so I've heard.

About half the noise from my ancient Feinwerkbau .177 seems to be from the piston spring and piston.  A minor amount of other noise is from the impact of the pellet.

I gave a 10-pump Crosman .177 to a friend so he could clear the squirrels from his veggie garden.  An advantage was that it could be pumped only four times for pretty stealthy squirrel popping.

(Just to add to the data pool, I've got a propane-powered "Airsoft" handgun which is pretty darned loud, almost like a .22 short out of a rifle.  I've also got an 80lb crossbow handgun whose mechanism makes a noise like a screen door slamming shut pretty hard.)

Terry, 230RN

[Balog]

Yes.  Unless he just wants an excuse to have an air gun. Unless his pests are unusual, trapping is a more efficient way to get rid of them-traps work 24/7, don't require any visual sighting, and can be placed in multiple locations.

Are there good traps for crows?

[Boomhauer]

Are there good traps for crows?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmOqigwEtEA

[zxcvbob]

I have a RWS 34, and it does a good job and is not too loud (it's a break-action springer)  A .177 doesn't kill a rabbit as cleanly as I'd like; I might shoulda bought the same gun in .22 caliber.  But I've started using hollow-point pellets and that helps quite a bit. 

[roo_ster]

I own a Beeman R1 in .177.  One heckuva air rifle.  But it sounds like a .22short.  And I do not like the way the break action rifles have to be held for good accuracy. 

The dude at Ted's Holdover youtube channel has a grand recommendation on a reasonable PCP .22 pellet rifle that comes with a bicycle pump like device that gets the PCP charged up sufficiently.

With scope the whole deal is sub $500, with better scope $550.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch2n1a4Q_Z0&list=PLDDE0912CE3A989AE&index=3

Or, $60 for a cheap pump.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3qHC7bzi-w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WyiaJy54DuY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THclcV-KcQg