I live in a rather urban area currently and I am thinking of getting a pellet gun as a means of getting food if SHTF. Guns are great and I fully intend on getting one, but in an urban area they can attract a lot of attention and it can sometimes be difficult to find an area practice with them (shtf wise). Pellet guns are rather cheap (compared to most guns) as is the ammunition. Would this be a good investment or a waste of money?
AAAOA
Well what do you mean for getting food? I suppose you could shoot rats or small birds with it. I guess it's better than nothing, but I would most likely invest in at least a .22lr. You can get one for $100-$200 and the ammo is cheap, if you can find it.
I should also add, that if it came to a defense situation, I would much rather have a .22 than a pellet gun as well. Of course there are much better home defense options than the .22, but if it came down to that or a pellet...
Absolutely Fantastic for Training Wife nd Kids! No Hearing Protection required, Doesn't upset the Neighbors, and is CHEEEP To shoot! My German Springer FienwerkBau went more than 40 Years with only Cleaning and Oiling. May go another Fourty, if I can get the Piston Seal replaced!
Just Bought a New GAMO Whisper Stalker Rifle, Inert Gas System "Motor" - Doubt it will go 40+ Years, but then again, it only Cost ~$125 in 2015 Dollars, as Opposed to the ~$400 I spent in 1975 for the German.
You can shoot indoors to practice.
You can store 10,000 pellets in a Shoebox, for Not much Money!
For Food - Not so good, but if Everybody Knows how to hit a Sub-Mouse Sized Target at 30 feet with the Air Rifle, then they will be "One Shot, One Kill" with a Firearm, when It Counts!
Go for it! Maybe Two?
Just Bought a New GAMO Whisper Stalker Rifle, Inert Gas System "Motor" - Doubt it will go 40+ Years, but then again, it only Cost ~$125 in 2015 Dollars, as Opposed to the ~$400 I spent in 1975 for the German.
You can shoot indoors to practice.
You can store 10,000 pellets in a Shoebox, for Not much Money!
For Food - Not so good, but if Everybody Knows how to hit a Sub-Mouse Sized Target at 30 feet with the Air Rifle, then they will be "One Shot, One Kill" with a Firearm, when It Counts!
Go for it! Maybe Two?
A good quality pellet gun is a fantastic survival tool that is over looked by people. But it ain't gonna be cheap. A good air gun is going to cost more than a good firearm. But it will be way more useful in an urban environment. I lived most of my life in Washington D.C. and I used air guns to both practi ve my pistol marksmanship and to harvest pidgins and squirrel for the pot.
Attracting the well fed fat city pidgins with bread crumbs on the roof of an apartment building, I'd use my German made Feinwerkebau air gun to shoot one. Grab it and hide behind the big roof air-conditioning unit and they come back. Shoot another one. After a while you have a bunch of pigeon breasts to put on the hibachi! Fillet the brest, marinate for an hour in a mix of soy sauce and brown sugar and sprinkle a bit of paprika on, then grill.
Another advantage of a powerful air pistol is, it can be carried in a very inconspicuous bag from place to place for clandestine hunting expeditions. I don't use them for any defense role, but just small game for the pot.
Top; Feinwerkebau with Beeman scope. Accurite enough to pick witch eye you want to hit that fly in. Bottom a British Webley Huricane, with a rear traveling spring that duplicates mild recoil for realistic handgun practice. Also very accurate.
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Attracting the well fed fat city pidgins with bread crumbs on the roof of an apartment building, I'd use my German made Feinwerkebau air gun to shoot one. Grab it and hide behind the big roof air-conditioning unit and they come back. Shoot another one. After a while you have a bunch of pigeon breasts to put on the hibachi! Fillet the brest, marinate for an hour in a mix of soy sauce and brown sugar and sprinkle a bit of paprika on, then grill.
Another advantage of a powerful air pistol is, it can be carried in a very inconspicuous bag from place to place for clandestine hunting expeditions. I don't use them for any defense role, but just small game for the pot.
Top; Feinwerkebau with Beeman scope. Accurite enough to pick witch eye you want to hit that fly in. Bottom a British Webley Huricane, with a rear traveling spring that duplicates mild recoil for realistic handgun practice. Also very accurate.
When I was younger, I used to hunt a lot of small game with air rifles. The high powered .22 caliber ones are immensely more effective than the .177s. They'll even take the tough Texas jackrabbits reliably if you do your part. And squirrels, pigeons and other largish birds are no match.
An air gun is not a good replacement for a cartridge gun, but it does augment it and give useful options.
An air gun is not a good replacement for a cartridge gun, but it does augment it and give useful options.
Biggest advantages,
1) You can silence an air rifle and as long as the silencing 'parts' cannot be used on another firearm there is no legal fall out
2) .177 and .22 work well and are very widely available
3) Most of the things you would want to trap or shoot to eat for survival can be taken with most air rifles
4) A good quality air rifle shooting the right pellets can shoot hole in hole out to 25 yards with some going further than this (taking wind out of the equation)
5) Once you have a good air rifle, you can buy 1,000's of pellets which will keep you going for years before the air rifle will start to wear out
What you want to do is get the heaviest pellet you can easily get at or around 900-1,000fps. .22 is the easiest to pull this off and it hits hard enough to take most game.
As a kid I ran around with various air rifles shooting birds all day long. Even a Crossman 760 shooting pellets hits hard enough to stone doves 9 times out of 10. Once I got my RWS Diana it was possible to take those same doves at further ranges with confidence.
Lots of videos like this,...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZeyMf74sIk
If you setup right and have opportunities within 50 yards then you can take almost anything that you would want to eat.
As to self defense, no, it is not optimal at all but if you put a pellet in someone's thigh it could drain the fire out of them or give you a chance to get away.
1) You can silence an air rifle and as long as the silencing 'parts' cannot be used on another firearm there is no legal fall out
2) .177 and .22 work well and are very widely available
3) Most of the things you would want to trap or shoot to eat for survival can be taken with most air rifles
4) A good quality air rifle shooting the right pellets can shoot hole in hole out to 25 yards with some going further than this (taking wind out of the equation)
5) Once you have a good air rifle, you can buy 1,000's of pellets which will keep you going for years before the air rifle will start to wear out
What you want to do is get the heaviest pellet you can easily get at or around 900-1,000fps. .22 is the easiest to pull this off and it hits hard enough to take most game.
As a kid I ran around with various air rifles shooting birds all day long. Even a Crossman 760 shooting pellets hits hard enough to stone doves 9 times out of 10. Once I got my RWS Diana it was possible to take those same doves at further ranges with confidence.
Lots of videos like this,...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZeyMf74sIk
If you setup right and have opportunities within 50 yards then you can take almost anything that you would want to eat.
As to self defense, no, it is not optimal at all but if you put a pellet in someone's thigh it could drain the fire out of them or give you a chance to get away.
Any place outside your house you can shoot an air gun without a hassle you can shoot a real gun IMHO. CCI CB Long will work in any 22 long rifle unit. In a rifle they are nearly silent - you can hear the snap of the firing pin drop. They are quieter than most air rifles and hit way harder. More than enough for small game up to cat size at reasonable distances. The will feed fine threw a magazine like a 10-22 Ruger but you need to manually cycle the action. Pump action rifles that take s-l-lr work just fine.
The old pump up air guns often need rebuilt which you could do yourself. I repaired air guns foe years. Crossman, Benjamin, and Sheridan's were worth rebuilding. CO2 guns cost a lot more to operate. .117 aren't as effective on game as .22.
If you learn to reload and cast your own bullets you can make almost any firearm duplicate the performance level of an air gun. About a nickel a round for subsonic loads plus you can always drop in a full tilt round if needed.
Those new 3000 psi large caliber air guns look interesting and can take real game. Not cheap.
Lewis and Clark had an air rifle on their trip out west. One of them killed a deer with it and the other guy shot a goose out of the air with it. 1000 strokes to charge the tank. About 5 full power shot before the velocity started falling off - 45 or 50 cal. lead balls held in a 10 shot magazine.
The old pump up air guns often need rebuilt which you could do yourself. I repaired air guns foe years. Crossman, Benjamin, and Sheridan's were worth rebuilding. CO2 guns cost a lot more to operate. .117 aren't as effective on game as .22.
If you learn to reload and cast your own bullets you can make almost any firearm duplicate the performance level of an air gun. About a nickel a round for subsonic loads plus you can always drop in a full tilt round if needed.
Those new 3000 psi large caliber air guns look interesting and can take real game. Not cheap.
Lewis and Clark had an air rifle on their trip out west. One of them killed a deer with it and the other guy shot a goose out of the air with it. 1000 strokes to charge the tank. About 5 full power shot before the velocity started falling off - 45 or 50 cal. lead balls held in a 10 shot magazine.
Was just looking through the air rifle section on Midway and saw these,...
http://www.midwayusa.com/s?targetLo...A1%2Ccustomertypeid%3A1%29&Nrpp=72&Ns=p_metric_sales_velocity%7C1&Ntpc=1&Ntpr=1
H&N pellets. They have a 15-16gr .177 and an almost 26gr .22 pellet. Interesting take on the way they setup their use cases.
I would rather have a pump .22 air rifle shooting 26gr pellets that I can silence without drawing attention than try to stock up on quiet .22lr rounds.
Mainly, if someone sees you with an air rifle their reaction is way different than if they see you with a 'real' firearm and you can stock up on pellets 10x+ faster than .22lr now a days.
http://www.midwayusa.com/s?targetLo...A1%2Ccustomertypeid%3A1%29&Nrpp=72&Ns=p_metric_sales_velocity%7C1&Ntpc=1&Ntpr=1
H&N pellets. They have a 15-16gr .177 and an almost 26gr .22 pellet. Interesting take on the way they setup their use cases.
I would rather have a pump .22 air rifle shooting 26gr pellets that I can silence without drawing attention than try to stock up on quiet .22lr rounds.
Mainly, if someone sees you with an air rifle their reaction is way different than if they see you with a 'real' firearm and you can stock up on pellets 10x+ faster than .22lr now a days.
I have a 22lr and a pretty nice pellet gun. I have to say that my 22lr is actually a quieter shot than my pellet gun! I know this may not be the same for everyone, and as someone else said, you can legally silence a pellet gun most places. If I had the choice for only one I would definitely pick the 22. You have a much longer range, and can hit more of a variety of game.
I respect your opinions very much but it seems to me that some of you guys are forgetting the reason I am looking at a pellet gun. I live in an Urban area. A suburb to be exact. I CAN NOT fire of a gun without risk of hitting another person. I am less than 100 meters from a road. By law I can not discharge a weapon within 100 yards of a building. Yes a .22 is better than the average pellet gun, but if I can not use those advantages then it is a waste of money.
Don't be swayed away from a decent quality pellet gun. I opted for a middle of the road gun, .22 pellet, the RWS Diana. It's much heavier than the Gamo's, but you can feel the quality difference. For a little over $200, you get a quality air rifle and you can put great optics on it. I can shoot 3-pellets at 35 meters and cover the three holes with a dime. Squirrels, rabbits, chickens, raccoons, don't stand a chance. I'd be willing to shoot up to the size of a fox with a well placed head shot. The pointed pellets will go clean through squirrels and rabbits. It's quieter than a .22lr, safer in a neighborhood (I live in the middle of the woods), and you can practice in the house. I consider my .22 air rifle part of my preps (it helps me prep through practice, it's cheap to shoot, and it is as useful as a .22LR for taking small game).
Blow guns and sling shots and atlatls and "everything else' is of course an option but the main issue with suggesting these things is that they require specific skills/training to develop.
Yes, a firearm is something you have to develop as well however I bet that all of us here have plenty of firearms training so moving to an Air Rifle is 100% natural.
For the OP, if you want to go completely silent then get a pneumatic/pump and then work out a shroud for it. The only issue with springers and piston air rifles is that you won't be able to take the sound down enough due to the mechanics themselves making the majority of the noise. A pneumatic only makes very little noise and the only thing you are dealing with is the air volume.
And to clarify the velocity statements, you do not want your pellet to break the sound barrier. It makes unwanted noise, pellets do not stay supersonic for long and as it goes through the sound barrier and back down there is a destabilization of the pellet.
It will be hard to keep a PCP fed in a SHTF style situation but a standard pump rifle can go on forever if you get parts kits for them.
Yes, a firearm is something you have to develop as well however I bet that all of us here have plenty of firearms training so moving to an Air Rifle is 100% natural.
For the OP, if you want to go completely silent then get a pneumatic/pump and then work out a shroud for it. The only issue with springers and piston air rifles is that you won't be able to take the sound down enough due to the mechanics themselves making the majority of the noise. A pneumatic only makes very little noise and the only thing you are dealing with is the air volume.
And to clarify the velocity statements, you do not want your pellet to break the sound barrier. It makes unwanted noise, pellets do not stay supersonic for long and as it goes through the sound barrier and back down there is a destabilization of the pellet.
It will be hard to keep a PCP fed in a SHTF style situation but a standard pump rifle can go on forever if you get parts kits for them.
Air rifles are great
HW50s in 177 is an excellent choice for an all around air rifle. I've had them all from top to bottom. The more powerful they are the more difficult they are to shoot accurately, which is what is required. For rabbit, squirrel and birds the HW50s in 177 is all that is needed and is easy to shoot accurately. It will cost around $400 plus another hundred or so for a scope that will bring out the outstanding accuracy of the rifle.
Pay attention to an old coot who with the experience to save you time and trouble. You will have an air rifle that will provide you with a lifetime of pleasure and function.
HW50s in 177 is an excellent choice for an all around air rifle. I've had them all from top to bottom. The more powerful they are the more difficult they are to shoot accurately, which is what is required. For rabbit, squirrel and birds the HW50s in 177 is all that is needed and is easy to shoot accurately. It will cost around $400 plus another hundred or so for a scope that will bring out the outstanding accuracy of the rifle.
Pay attention to an old coot who with the experience to save you time and trouble. You will have an air rifle that will provide you with a lifetime of pleasure and function.
The Benjamin/Sheridan .22 pump is a classic design that's proven, and my friends way back when had the .177 and .20 cal versions. the .20 would snap squirrel out of a tree no problem with only 7 or 8 pumps(I think the max is 10-11?).
I picked up a Gamo Hornet in .177 a few years ago on holiday sale for $69 I believe, and it's a solid shooter, I just need a better scope. The Gamo scope is "OK", and it's holding zero but like any other rifle, if you go with an optic a better one is always more enjoyable to shoot.
With standard weight .177's (7.2-7.4gr) it chrono's around 975fps for a 10 shot avg, but it really likes the RWS 9.4gr(?) match pellets. It'll shoot the Gamo Hunter and Match pellets well too, but I only zero'd at 20yds.
It is LOUD, approaching .22lr levels so I can't even shoot in in my backyard in the neighborhood :/. If I buy another it'll be a gas/nitro piston with a sound dampener, or a PCP in .22.
I'd highly reccommend a Daisy 901 pump, it's dead accurate with JSP 7.4gr @ around 675fps(10 pumps).
Good luck!
I picked up a Gamo Hornet in .177 a few years ago on holiday sale for $69 I believe, and it's a solid shooter, I just need a better scope. The Gamo scope is "OK", and it's holding zero but like any other rifle, if you go with an optic a better one is always more enjoyable to shoot.
With standard weight .177's (7.2-7.4gr) it chrono's around 975fps for a 10 shot avg, but it really likes the RWS 9.4gr(?) match pellets. It'll shoot the Gamo Hunter and Match pellets well too, but I only zero'd at 20yds.
It is LOUD, approaching .22lr levels so I can't even shoot in in my backyard in the neighborhood :/. If I buy another it'll be a gas/nitro piston with a sound dampener, or a PCP in .22.
I'd highly reccommend a Daisy 901 pump, it's dead accurate with JSP 7.4gr @ around 675fps(10 pumps).
Good luck!
I have a safe full of firearms, plenty of .22 LR rifles and handguns, and my .22 pellet gun would be near the very top of my list for food procurement. Game up to squirrel/rabbit/duck size out to 40-50yds is perfect... slingshot is nowhere near a pellet gun in accuracy. Won't take larger game, but you hardly see them anyways. Still hard to find 22LR and I can't shoot it in my backyard, but I shoot the pellet gun all the time.
I would advise against that Benjamin 392 though.... it's a real PITA pumping each shot 5-10 times. Get a spring piston hunting .22 - one cock and your ready to go.
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I would advise against that Benjamin 392 though.... it's a real PITA pumping each shot 5-10 times. Get a spring piston hunting .22 - one cock and your ready to go.
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