No AMMO, Air Pistol? What to buy?

[no.cen.wa]

  I was looking to buy a 22 cal pistol, now they are more expensive than the 40 cal S/W I bought a few years ago! Plus getting ammo off shelf is hit and miss.
Plus, I don't want to mess with BIG BROTHER GOV tracking everything.
As I was trying to figure out how to keep my edge at shooting without blowing all my 40 cal ammo up and not being able to replace it,,,, I thought,, what about a air gun? Probably pellet, FPS is important, accuracy is important, and quality.
I've looked at a few, you know blah blah everyone's got the best. Do you guys have experience with these?
Just looking for comments from those that know.
Thanks
John G

[Fl0und3rz]

You looking to shoot/plink or use as a critter getter?


I bought and like a Crosman 2300S-like pistol from the Crosman Custom Shop, with a Lothar-Walther barrel.  Plenty accurate and you get quite a few shots out of a standard, commodity CO2 cartridge.  If the 2300S is too expensive, take a look at the 2300T.

https://www.crosman.com/product/crosman-2300s-silhouette-competition-co2-air-pistol-177-caliber/

https://www.crosman.com/product/crosman-2300t-competition-co2-air-pistol-177-caliber/

If you are looking for a critter getter, perhaps step up to a PCP gun, for which, I defer to others.

[no.cen.wa]

Thanks F10und3rz,
I plan on using it for all your thoughts, just want to keep to whole action of aiming, shooting etc to stay sharp.
without costing a ton or having to drive 30 miles for ammo. And like I said, don't need a trail for "big brother"
We know everything shooting powder will be costly soon, it was promised! So far air guns aren't. I've got plenty of firearms and more ammo than I need(although I buy more when I see it)
So, the CO2 canasters will shoot appx how many rounds?, and which bullet do you like best, alloy, lead? or maybe I should ask which bullet for shooting target, small game etc? and 22cal or 177?
Thanks again
John G

[KFhunter]

I seen lots of muzzleloader stuff on tbe shelves

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[Fl0und3rz]

Lots of reviews on the 2300s here.

https://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Crosman_2300S/928

Crosman claims 60 consistent velocity shots from a cartridge. I've found this to be true, but it is temperature dependent.

As far as which pellets, Crosman Premier (in the bulk-packed cardboard box) tend to be a good starting point pellet, but airguns, like firearms, tend to shoot some better than others. So experimentation can be useful for best results. For critter getting, I find that the Predator Polymag pellets provide good results, generally.

Frankly, for critter-getting, I would prefer more velocity behind a .177 caliber pellet than the ~500 fps the 2300s offers, and I would prefer it in a rifle.  But it is within the realm of possibilities with the 2300s for small pests. I have a couple rifle options, but my favorite is a Sheridan Blue Streak in .20 caliber.

If I were looking for target and critter-getting in a pistol, a PCP may be a better option. But price goes up from CO2 considerably.

I've never owned a .22 caliber airgun, although people rave about them and .25 caliber, especially in the PCPs.  I have been looking at the Diana 350 Magnum in .22 caliber for some time.


Good thoughts on the muzzle loader supplies.  Makes me wish I'd snapped one of those Ruger Old Army pistols on here some time back.

[turkeyfeather]

We have a Benjamin .22 cal air rifle. It's extremely accurate, and fun to plink with.

[JDHasty]

Pellets have been somewhat OK lately.  Not as bad as other ammo.  I have a P1 pistol, it will learn ya’ how to shoot.  Very accurate, and will shoot through a canned milk tin, but takes a fair amount of discipline to shoot well.  Good for head shots on cottontails out to twenty five yards.  But that is not legal in WA.

I have a HW80 in 22 and Beeman R10, RWS Pro Compact and HW30 in 177.  I don’t like the trigger action on the RWS, but the trigger is light, it’s an accurate hard hitting spring gun.  The HW80 is heavy, accurate and nice, the R10 is just a perfect hard hitting spring air rifle (they don’t make them any longer. HW95 is close), the HW30 is a sweet little rifle for target shooting. 

[Timberstalker]

Good golly, welcome , JD!

[Fl0und3rz]

[emac]

Good golly, welcome , JD!

He's a lurker anymore

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[no.cen.wa]

Thanks for info!

[JDHasty]

I stop in about once every four to six months or so, when I have a reason to do so.  When I said that I would make up my mind by January 1 ??2019?? I think, or maybe it was 2018 if I was going to stay or go, I was serious.  I set that as the day that I had to make my decision by and stuck to it. 

When it became 100% unequivocal that free and open discussion was never going to be possible here that was the clincher.  We get enough of that in politics.  When an individual of the same stripe is moderating a hunting forum and uses their position to control the debate by deleting posts that do not violate any rules whatsoever, but do not agree with the side that mod prefers and then locks threads thereby discontinuing any further debate when the position they side with is not fairing well...  See ya’ later alligator. 

I stopped by because we have an active back order for a Lock n Load AP that would be superfluous to our needs and before I cancelled the back order thought I might see if anyone here was looking for one.  Nobody who is likely to deliver is accepting back orders for Lock n Load AP presses right now.  I got one response, but the guy’s inbox is full and can’t respond to him. 

[JDHasty]

I mostly stop by to see if there are any updates on the little girl with leukemia we helped raise a little money for.  Bridget asks me how she is doing from time to time.  I never met the little girl, just donated ammo to benefit her Go Fund Me acct. 

[no.cen.wa]

Just wanted to get back about my post, thanks to all that replied with info. As I said, I wanted something to keep the mechanic's of shooting a pistol and rifle without the cost of bullets, just to stay sharper. I bought a breakbarrel rifle 22 cal 1050 fps, and a pistol bb 510 fps co2, spent a little over $200.00 and have shot 400-500 pellets/bb's, they both have long trigger pulls,,, just like my 40 cal s/w.
Nice part is it has cost me less than $10.00 in ammo. Good choice for what I wanted.
And the neighbors dog dosen't even care!
Thanks
John G