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Pellet Gun Setup

ricky racer

ricky racer

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2016
Messages
2,442
Location
Niles/Buchanan, MI
My wife purchased a pellet gun for me last year for my birthday. I'd wanted a good pellet gun for quite awhile but just never pulled the trigger on one :cool: (pun intended). I just wanted it for pest control around the farm. Using it is safer than using a .22 rifle.

The pellet gun, a Crosman Vantage-NP (nitrogen piston) .177 caliber, came with a cheap scope as most do and after trying to use it, I removed it from the gun. I used just the open sights for a while but I really wanted a decent scope. I couldn't see spending much money on one so I searched for quite awhile for a used but decent scope like a Weaver K4 but wasn't finding anything I liked.

Then I happened to remember that my sister had purchased a BSA red dot scope for me, most likely at a garage sale. She probably spent a dollar or two on it. It was brand new, still in the box but I knew that it was a cheap sight but I wondered how it would work on my pellet gun. The base of the red dot was a tip off mount which is larger than the grooves on the pellet gun. I found an adapter that would fit the reciever on the pellet gun and provide a mount for the tip off base on the red dot.
The combination has proved to be great together! In fact, I can't think of a better combination and I can't think of a better fit on the pellet gun. I think I'm happier with it than I would've been if I had found a decent scope for it.

Pellet Gun.jpg
 
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Air rifles are way underrated. I have two spring piston rifles each with well over 1000 pest birds to their credit, and quite a few squirrels. One is an English made rifle, a .22 Air Arms TX 200 and the other is a German Weirauch HW30s in .177. The TX200 is great for squirrels and I have taken a few crows at 70+ yards with it. The HW30s is just about the perfect pest bird rifle. Three shot groups you can cover with a dime are commonplace.

One thing to look out for with spring piston guns, they will destroy scopes that are not specifically designed for the back and forth recoil they produce. Regular rifle scopes are not designed to hand that sort of unusual recoil.
 
I killed racoon number 3 last night. They keep raiding my wife's bird feeders for the suet cakes. The motion light comes on and the window goes up and the coon goes down! :cool: I go for double lung shots and so far two out of three have sprinted out of the yard before expiring!;)
 
ricky racer said:
I killed racoon number 3 last night. They keep raiding my wife's bird feeders for the suet cakes. The motion light comes on and the window goes up and the coon goes down! :cool: I go for double lung shots and so far two out of three have sprinted out of the yard before expiring!;)
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I’m kicking around getting a high powered air rifle for Raccoons/armadillos. Have some that are driving me nuts :D
 
I always said that had I been a character on the Walking Dead my go to zombie weapon would have been a .22 cal air rifle. Quiet so won't attract more zombies, plenty of ammo available since everyone else wanted an AR. light and able to pack thousands of rounds, very accurate and based on how easily their heads are penetrated, head shots would be easy breezy.
 
I have several spring pistons (.22 and .25) and a bolt action PCP in .22, but i needed something for faster follow up shots on the tree rats attempting to get in the bird feeders and the attic. Picked up a SIG MCX in .177, pulled the red dot off my turkey gun, and have taken out 2 of the 8 or so attempting to move in. The rest seem to be sitting back plotting their next move.
 
I’ve got a couple rabbits in the freezer from a .22 pellet rifle… sneaking food from the kids’ garden.
 
I still have my Benjamin 397 I bought myself with grass cutting money back in 1998. The best pellet rifle I’ve ever owned to date and accurate to point that still blows my mind today. If this thing could tell stories, goodness it’d be a good time.
 
The_Fit_Ness_Monster said:
I still have my Benjamin 397 I bought myself with grass cutting money back in 1998. The best pellet rifle I’ve ever owned to date and accurate to point that still blows my mind today. If this thing could tell stories, goodness it’d be a good time.
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My first one was a Crossman 880 pump with a cheap fixed power tasco scope. I did work with that thing back in the early 80's. I'd love to know how many squirrels I killed with that thing. I got hauled home by the cops for "hunting in the city limits". I was in a city park on a cold winter day, no one else around, and was stacking 'em up. :tearsofjoy:
 
Glenn said:
My first one was a Crossman 880 pump with a cheap fixed power tasco scope. I did work with that thing back in the early 80's. I'd love to know how many squirrels I killed with that thing. I got hauled home by the cops for "hunting in the city limits". I was in a city park on a cold winter day, no one else around, and was stacking 'em up. :tearsofjoy:
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Oh yeah the things we killed to eat is off the charts. And I lost count of how many times town cops either took my gun for the day or brought me home for hunting within limits. Small town LA in the 90’s. Different world now.
 
Glenn said:
My first one was a Crossman 880 pump with a cheap fixed power tasco scope. I did work with that thing back in the early 80's. I'd love to know how many squirrels I killed with that thing. I got hauled home by the cops for "hunting in the city limits". I was in a city park on a cold winter day, no one else around, and was stacking 'em up. :tearsofjoy:
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3 of the backyards around our backyard were prime dove roost, me and a buddy kept the vacancy light on. The early 80's were awesome.
 
The_Fit_Ness_Monster said:
Oh yeah the things we killed to eat is off the charts. And I lost count of how many times town cops either took my gun for the day or brought me home for hunting within limits. Small town LA in the 90’s. Different world now.
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Oh yeah, I remember one time the preacher enlisted me to rid the church of a bunch of pigeons. They were roosting on the pediment on the front of the church, and they were "whitewashing" the front steps daily. I show up along with the preacher and I started head shooting them with an old Benjamin Franklin 22 pump that I had put tens of thousands of pellets through. Every time a pigeon would look over the ledge, I'd shoot it under the chin and out the top of its head. Well, the church was on main street. You see where this is going, right? It didn't take long for the police to show up. Luckily, they were members of the congregation, and the preacher quickly got them on the same page. I too loved the 80's.
 
I keep thinking about a PCP in .22 but I can't really justify it based of off how accurate this is and/or how much I shoot it... I do have a war with the chipmunks; and pre-kids, I had the screen out of the window in the (then) spare bedroom and a tripod setup with the air rifle by the window haha!

It's a RWS 48 .22 with a Hawke Airmax 4-16x and it absolutely loves the JSB Jumbo Exact 15.89gr pellets (to the point where it puts some .22LR rifles in the shade)!
 

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I grew up on the Po' side of town. We had a crew of about 8-10 of us from around the area of mixed races. We didn't care. We were all bonded by being south side rejects. We frequently had BB gun wars in the park and vacant wood lots. Most were packing red ryders and the like. Me being the only one from a hunting family and the only one having a scoped pellet/BB gun, I got to be the sniper. I'd sneak in, set up in a hide and lay in wait. I'd try and time my shots so it was hard for them to pinpoint the direction. Eventually after a few kills I'd get pegged and have to call in a QRF and bug out. To operate within the confines of the Geneva Street (real street name in our hood) convention all shots had to impact from the neck down. :tearsofjoy: Why we never died I'll never know!
 
brydan said:
This is the pistol I was thinking about getting.

www.pyramydair.com

AirForce TalonP | Spin-Loc PCP Air Pistol | Pyramyd AIR

We've got a great price on the AirForce TalonP PCP Air Pistol, Spin-Loc Tank. Get a great price and expert advice at Pyramyd for your next outdoor adventure!
www.pyramydair.com www.pyramydair.com
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I've had the Talon SS full size for about 15 years. The trigger was horrible and took a lot of work to smooth it out (still has lots of creep), but it's about as loud as an electric stapler. I'm way over scoped for squirrels in Missouri as It's still set up for Prairie Dogs in Colorado and 100yd+ shots
 
NMSbowhunter said:
Oh yeah, I remember one time the preacher enlisted me to rid the church of a bunch of pigeons. They were roosting on the pediment on the front of the church, and they were "whitewashing" the front steps daily. I show up along with the preacher and I started head shooting them with an old Benjamin Franklin 22 pump that I had put tens of thousands of pellets through. Every time a pigeon would look over the ledge, I'd shoot it under the chin and out the top of its head. Well, the church was on main street. You see where this is going, right? It didn't take long for the police to show up. Luckily, they were members of the congregation, and the preacher quickly got them on the same page. I too loved the 80's.
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Neighbor in college was an old retired guy that had a bunch of big trees in his yard. Blackbirds would try roost there in the fall. Got in from class one day and when I opened the car door a shotgun went off. Startled me a little but knew where it came from and went to investigate. Old guy was out there wagin war on the black birds. He asked if I had a shotgun and I said I did. He said go get it, I got a case of shells in the bed of the truck. I questioned the whole deal and said I wasnt looking to get fined or go to jail and he said he had his permit from the city to shoot the bird layin in the case of shells. I went for my gun and set in to helpin him the rest of the afternoon. The funny part of that whole deal was the parking lot for the girls dorm at the college was literally the other side of the street. It was a big parking lot but not so big that you couldnt pepper folks by the dorm. Cops showed up, checked his permit and told us to be careful. Cold beer and hot shotguns the rest of the day. Good freakin times. That was fall '87
 
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