Most of us shooters began our careers with an airgun. No matter how much we loved and shot that first Red Ryder, all but a few of us forgot about airguns the day we graduated to .22s and centerfires. We were perhaps too hasty. Airguns may make ideal first guns, but they're also perfect training rifles for adult shooters.
There are no shortcuts in learning to be a good rifle shot, only constant repetition. An airgun lets you practice and repeat the fundamentals of rifle shooting--breathing, squeezing, aiming, and holding a rifle--for a fraction of the cost of even a .22 rimfire, at a range no farther away than your basement.
According to Jim Bishop, product manager of Marksman airguns and a competitive airgun and firearms shooter, "Most Olympic shooters now compete in both .22 and airgun events. What they find is that air rifle shooting makes them better shots with the rimfire rifle." The reason, according to Bishop, is the length of time required for a pellet to travel down the barrel of an airgun. A pellet fired from a target rifle at 575 fps takes twice as long to exit the bore as a .22 rimfire at 1,140-1,255 fps. Any movement of the rifle during that long barrel time will throw the pellet far off target.
Airguns demand a steadier hold, better trigger habits, and a better follow-through than do rimfires. While airguns penalize bad technique, they also reward good shots with astounding short-range accuracy: Olympic-style 10 rings in the airgun events are literally the size of a pencil dot and the rifles and ammunition used by top shooters are capable of hitting that dot again and again. Many much less costly rifles will also shoot extremely well if the shooter applies good fundamentals.
Perhaps the single greatest advantage of airguns as trainers is that you can shoot them just about anywhere, anytime. There's little noise, no buildup of smoke, and only a pellet trap is required as a backstop. "Not very many of us live where we can shoot firearms off the back porch anymore, but almost anyone has a place in their home where they can set up an indoor range and shoot for 10 or 15 minutes when they get home from work.," says Beeman's general manager, John Clark. "We even sell rifles to professionals who have small ranges set up at their offices." All you need for an indoor range, according Clark, is a good pellet trap and a well-lit area 8 to 10 yards in length that will be clear from passing pets and family members.
"Even with a good pellet trap we always recommend proper eye protection be worn in the event of a ricochet," says Clark. And, as in firearms shooting, you should have a safe backstop behind your trap like, say, the cinderblock walls of the basement.
Outdoor airgunning gives you the opportunity to practice all the skills of long-range marksmanship on a scaled-down basis. "Long range" for an airgun means only 30 to 50 yards, yet you'll still have to solve all the problems of wind and holdover that confront centerfire shooters at 10 times that distance.
Clark, who shoots both silhouette and field target for his factory team, points out that an airgun sighted in at 10 yards will hit dead on again at 30, but strike one to two inches high at 20 yards and up to two inches low at 40 to 50 yards, more than enough to miss a metallic silhouette completely. Range estimation and holdover (and under) are vital to good long range shooting. By the same token, wind will deflect light, low-velocity airgun pellets off target. Competitors like Clark pay close attention to the wind, studying the movement of grass and leaves near the target, sometimes holding all the way off the silhouette or kill zone to make a hit.
Two formal games make up most outdoor air rifle competition: silhouette and field target.
Airgun Silhouette shooting is a scaled down version of the centerfire rifle shooter's game. Shooters fire at metal pigs, turkeys, sheep, and chickens 1/10 the size of those used by centerfire shooters, placed at 15, 20, 35, and 40 meters respectively. Shooting is done off-hand and scopes are permitted.
Field Target is sort of like 3-D archery shooting for airgunners. Metal targets in the shape of airgun quarry--rats, squirrels, crows, and so on, each with a metal kill zone disk that falls out of the target when hit, are set out in natural habitat at unknown ranges up to 50 yards away. Any shooting position is allowed, although most courses will be designed in such a way that a shooter will have to use a variety of positions in order to see the targets.
Formal silhouette matches are sanctioned by the NRA (11250 Waples Mill Rd., Fairfax, VA 22030-7400), while field target competition is administered by the American Airgun Field Target Association (5911 Cherokee Ave., Tampa, FL 33604-6713). Most airgun silhouette and field target shooters use special scoped rifles in the magnum (800-900 fps) range as a high-powered rifle is required to knock targets down for scoring hits at long range. Targets for both games are available, and there's no reason not to set up your own fun course, scaled to your abilities and the capabilities of your own airgun.
Given the quiet, short-range nature of airguns, informal shooting and plinking opportunities abound--one that I like while hunting with airguns is the air rifle equivalent of an archer's "stump shooting"--simply roaming the woods, picking targets like walnuts or leaves (checking, of course, for safe backstops) estimating range, holdover, and wind, while shooting offhand, sitting, or from whatever rest I can find.
Airguns, basically, come in three kinds--CO2, pump pneumatic, and spring piston. A fourth type, precharged pneumatic is becoming popular with serious shooters, although their prices rule them out as guns for casual plinkers.
CO2 airguns are powered by cartridges of compressed carbon dioxide. As such, they have the advantage of not needed to be cocked or pumped up by hand. Their drawbacks are the extra cost of CO2 cartridges (which adds a penny or more per shot to your cost) and the fact that velocity drops and point of impact changes as the cartridge runs low on gas and lower amounts of propellant reach the pellet. Some high-end precision target rifles solve the decreasing power problem with specially metered valves, but most rifles within the price range of the average shooter do not. That said, CO2 guns can be great fun to shoot. One especially enjoyable, inexpensive CO2 gun is Crosman's 1077 semi-auto, which makes use of a rotary 12-shot magazine to provide reliable semi-auto firepower. Another rifle of note in this category is the classic Benjamin Sheridan 397 in a new CO2 model.
Pump pneumatic airguns have been around for centuries in one form or another--today, they are best exemplified by the well-made, walnut-stocked Benjamin Sheridan line. Pump pneumatic guns require multiple pumps to charge their air reservoirs with compressed air. A pump pneumatic has the advantage of variable power--two or three pumps are enough for basement plinking, eight pumps will drive pellets at high velocity.
Although the multiple pumps give the rifle versatility, they can also be quite fatiguing during long target-shooting sessions. Benjamin Sheridan has added the 397C to their line recently, a scaled-down, lower-powered carbine that's easier to pump, making it perhaps the best choice for young shooters and extended plinking.
A notable variation on the pump pneumatic theme is Daisy's 753 and 853 target rifles, modestly priced (by target rifle standards), low-power, single-pump pneumatic rifles, easy to cock, with nice target triggers and adjustable stocks.
Spring piston guns are the best choice for the shooter who's serious about target practice. A single cock of the barrel or cocking lever compresses a spring which, when released by the trigger, pushes a column of air down the bore. Spring guns can be awesomely accurate, some are quite powerful, and, by and large, they cost a little more, are better made, and have much better triggers than the average CO2 or pneumatic rifle. My top choice of any airgun of any type in the $300 and below range is Beeman's R7, a .177-caliber of midpower and a delight to handle and shoot. Marksman's Biathlon Trainer is a surprisingly shootable inexpensive spring-piston rifle suitable for young shooters and adults. RWS and Daisy also offer good spring guns in the medium price range.
Shooters looking for an entry-level gun powerful enough for field target and silhouette should consider Beeman's new S-1, the Marksman 45, or the RWS 34.
The standard airgun caliber for target shooters is .177, although .20 caliber is growing increasingly popular for field target, and .22 and even .25 are made for some high-power hunting airguns. Airgun velocities range from 500-1,000 fps.
For indoor target shooting and all-around plinking, low power, .177 caliber airguns are probably best: less effort to cock; less vibration, noise, and recoil (airguns don't kick, exactly, but they bounce); and cheaper pellets. For field target, silhouette, and long-range plinking, higher velocity airguns (800 fps and above in .177 or .20) will shoot flatter, buck the wind better, and hit hard enough to knock down metal targets at 50 yards.
Whichever type of airgun you choose, you'll likely wind up shooting it more than any other rifle you own. When you finally pick up one of your firearms again, you might find it's mysteriously become more accurate as it sat in the rack while you were busy shooting your new airgun.
Airguns are accurate enough to merit a scope, especially if you plan to use the rifle as practice for shooting a scoped hunting rifle. However, you must use a scope designed specifically for airguns. The two-way snap of a spring gun's mechanism can wreck the toughest firearms scope, while airgun scopes can withstand this jolt. Moreover, they'll have fine reticles and parallax adjustments at ranges suitable for airgun use.
Receiver or peep sights, all but forgotten on firearms, are great for airguns and, in fact, required in Olympic competition. Beeman's sport sight is a nice peep suitable for any rifle with 3/8 grooves, and there's a special Williams sight available for the Benjamin Sheridan 397 series as well.
Paper targets, silhouettes, field and pellet traps are available from Beeman, Marksman, and Crosman. Beeman also sells targets for field target shooting.
Here are 14 low- and mid-priced guns suitable for practice target shooting and plinking:
Airguns--with their low recoil, noise, and power--are obviously ideal rifles for kids to begin shooting with. Any training program, says Marksman's Jim Bishop, must begin with safety: "Emphasize that these are real guns that can do real damage," he says, "and make sure all participants wear safety glasses in case of ricochets."
Once actual shooting begins, use targets that are challenging but hittable. Most important, says Bishop, is to keep practice sessions fun and short. However, resist the temptation to use "fun" targets like silhouettes, tin cans, spinners, and so on. Paper targets let a young shooter see exactly where his or her shots are going, making it easier to correct errors in aiming and shooting technique. Paper targets also provide a record you can keep and use to track improvement.
Bishop suggests iron sights might be better on a first rifle because they don't magnify shooter's shake the way a scope does. Beginner's airguns should be scaled to smaller shooters and not be too difficult to cock. A pump pneumatic or even a spring piston gun of high cocking effort can be quite fatiguing. CO2 guns, of course, require no cocking at all and are effortless to shoot. Obviously if the adult on hand is willing to do the pumping, cocking effort is less of a factor.
Daisy Manufacturing Co., Inc.
PO Box 220, Rogers, AR 72757
501-636-1200
Crosman/Benjamin Sheridan
Rts 5 & 20, E Bloomfield, NY 14443-0308
800-7-AIRGUN (in NY 716-657-6161)
Marksman
5482 Argosy Dr., Huntington Beach, CA 92649-1039
714-898-7535
RWS/Dynamit Nobel
81 Ruckman Rd, Closter, NJ 07624
201-767-RWS1
Beeman Precision Airguns
5454 Argosy Dr., Huntington Beach, CA 92649
714-890-4800
Home | Library | Hunting | Shooting Sports