Air Rifle Question

Pumps, pre-charged, springers and everything else pneumatic.
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bigdaddy
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Air Rifle Question

Post by bigdaddy »

Hi,

When people shoot air rifle silhouette, how much power is needed to get to the RAM target for a knockdown?

In other words, what is the minimum power rating that the rifle can/should have?


Again, sorry if this is off-forum, but I appreciate it greatly!

My daughter (9) does not like .22 noise, and ear muffs, etc., but keep asking to shoot air guns, so I thought I'd better jump on this chance... ; )



John
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Post by eeleater »

Others will know better than I, but I know the rams go down with the .177 pellets from target rifles at abut 550 FPS.

I think an air rifle would be a great choice- if it is not a spring piston design. The reason I say that is that they are harder to shoot. They are a great way to practice after you are a reasonable shot- but harder to learn on as they can be sensitive to variations in hold and form.

This does not mean to not get one or use one- but be aware of this factor. For example- the gun sighted in for you and your hold may not be sighted in for her and her hold. This is not a problem if you know that you may each need your own scope settings- but could be very frustrating if she dose exactly as you do and gets a miss. The same thing can happen shooting them off the bench. In my experience the windage does not change- but the elevation does.
atomicbrh
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Post by atomicbrh »

John, My son and I are in our sixth season of Smallbore Silhouette and are still very happy shooting it. My son started shooting Smallbore Silhouette just about the same time he turned nine. You are going to find that any Air Rifle except the Daisy Avante Valiant(same as Air Arms S200) and other similar youth competition rifles are too heavy for your daughter to shoot comfortably in the standing position. The Daisy Avante and any other air rifle that she could hold comfortably disappointed us even at the chickens with poor knock down power. I also had to shim the heck out of the scope to even get out to the chicken with the smaller Air Rifles. I know this is a rifle forum but I am going to suggest that you look into Air pistol Silhouette instead. In the past month on the suggestion of the guys who shoot Air Pistol Silhouette at Haltom City, Texas we have purchased two IZH 46Ms. We set one pistol up with "Taco Hold" Sights and we are waiting on the mounts and scope to set up the second IZH with a rifle scope. With the Taco Hold you hold the pistol up close to your eye but you cannot prop on your hips. The taco hold makes it very easy for the child to hold the pistol because of the way you hold the pistol with two hands. It is not noisy either. We can set up a Taco Sight IZH pistol complete ready to shoot for about what a Weaver Target scope costs. These pistols are not noisy. The ram is 18 yards away in air pistol Silhouette and the IZH knocks it down with authority. When you hit chickens it sounds like you are destroying them and this is at just a little over 400 feet/sec. velocity. The ammo is cheap. We are shooting Match Vogels at $80 for 5000 pellets. The great factor about the Air Pistol is that the sights or scope, size, length of pull, height of comb, eye relief etc. does not have to be fit to the shooter like a rifle. It has been a constant and expensive battle to keep my son in a correctly fitting Smallbore Rifle as he has experienced growth spurts. My son is fourteen years old and probably over 6 foot 2 inches now. I can not even attempt to shoot his Smallbore Rifle because the comb is too high, the scope is too for forward, and the length of pull is too long. He cannot shoot my rifle for the opposite reason. Everything is too short and too close to him including the trigger. But we both can shoot the same Taco Hold IZH. The only negative for your daughter to the IZH 46M is that you may have to pump the handle for her because it is a single stroke Pneumatic. Many kids are using the TAU 7 Co2 pistol for Silhouette because they do not have to operate the pump but the TAU is slightly more expensive. Just my two cents from someone who has gone down this path before.

Bobby R. Huddleston
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air rifle

Post by Jerry G »

I have an air rifle that squirts the pellet out at just about 500 fps and it takes the ram every time I hit it.
bigdaddy
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Post by bigdaddy »

Thanks everyone! Great advice...

I think we're either gonna go the way of the air pistol or move up to SBR and get used to some ear muffs...


Thanks a lot!


John
atomicbrh
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Post by atomicbrh »

We finally got a scope that will focus down to 10 yards(chickens)to set up our second IZH 46M for NRA Any Sight Silhouette and I can now give you some more input on air pistol. Our IZH 46M has a Bushnell 3 to 9 X 32 mm Adjustable Objective Sportsman Air Rifle Scope(not a pistol scope), Fenton Sandlin Aluminum Mount and BKL 257A Rings for the Taco Hold. I did not think the 32 mm objective would have very good image quality but I was wrong. The Scope also has resettable to zero target turrets and 1/4 MOA Clicks. For being very low priced the Scope is a really pleasant surprise. If you order a Fenton Sandlin mount be sure to tell him whether you want to use Weaver or BKL type mounts. NOW, the downside for your daughter: the whole setup is going to be too heavy for your daughter to hold the pistol with one hand and pump the single stroke required. I shot about 60 rounds yesterday and I can feel soreness in my dominant forearm. My son who pounds tennis balls as hard as he can 90 minutes a day 5 days a week or more did not notice the weight of the pistol and he shot about 150 rounds through it in one session. In contrast the IZH 46M that we have set up with Martens/Merit Sights now seems very light. The great thing is that both pistols are easy to two hand taco hold while actually shooting. As stated in my previous reply, I think some kids prefer the TAU CO2 Air Pistol because they do not get worn out holding the pistol while pumping. When time and conditions allow my next step is to test the repeatability of the scope.

Hope this helps,
Bobby R. Huddleston
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