Precision Air Rifles

[tmwinds]

I own 14 spring air rifles with scopes of various brands. I have had only one scope failure over the years. I’m not convinced that the failure was caused by the air rifle. It wouldn’t hold point of impact and was immediately replaced by Bushnell.
I have several brands of air rifle rated scopes and find them all acceptable but the best scope for the money is the Vortex Crossfire II 6-18 for just over $200. Never a problem and has a lifetime warranty.

 

[dgeesaman]

LOL!! that's funny

Why?

Springers recoil twice before the pellet leaves the barrel: first when the spring pushes the piston forward (and the action is pushed back), then a split second later when the piston is stopped by the cushion of air building up behind the pellet. The physics is hardly controversial.

Most scope makes design their scopes to handle recoil in one direction only. While springer air guns don’t recoil violently, the two directions of recoil can destroy many scopes internals.

 

[bobm]

The scopes I have had on that 80 that were damaged as follows.

Three count Vortex CrossfireII 4-12X....broken crosswires....replaced each time under no BS warranty.

Same Leupold Vari-XIII EFR 6.5-20X failed twice. Would not hold verticle by inches at 25yds. first, then went black and rattled. Repaired each time with great lost use time. No cost repaired. Went back on a centerfire rifle.

Leupold M8-6X compact. Went black and rattled. Repaired at no cost. Back in the safe.
Leupold 4X rimfire compact......death rattle and blurred view...repaired free.
Burris 4x mini....no zero hold at all. Went back to normal on a .22LR
Weaver steel 16X for a half tin of shots, zero hold was questionable. Took it off.

Think about the money I spent on one way shipping with insurance for repairs. Using scopes with no short range focusing defeats the utility of an airgun.

I am running the Vortek high output main springs with their synthetic piston seals. It's much stronger than the factory original spring. Result is a smooth but strong recoiling shot cycle. Pellet on pellet accuracy, too.

Someday I may try out a SWFA product, but want close range focus ability. We are limited in that area.

For now my eyesight is like factory new. I can take advantage of those quality metal sights and hit what I want. Starlings at the top of a utility pole near my house at 40 yards drop every time.....offhand. I do not feel wanting for optics. Maybe someday I will try again.

 

[Jager]

When I posted my question about precision air guns to y'all three days ago, 'twas but an idle thought bouncing around inside my head. Innocent babes and all that, ya know?

Crikey.

Pulled the trigger on something today. Spent a bunch more money than I ever expected. I blame you guys.

Supposed to be here Friday. I have a (centerfire) benchrest match on Saturday, so not exactly sure when I'll get to it. But I'll post up some pics when I do.

 

[Adam in WI]

Don't blame us dude. All we did was answer your question lol

 

[DGP4]

Ingrate! now, TELL US WHAT YOU BOUGHT!

 

[Adam in WI]

All this talk inspired me to dust off the Turkish Tornado, the Eurasian Sensation, the uh... Christmas closeout $429 Hatsan Bullboss. It was on sale a few years ago with the pump. Including scope I have roughly $600 in this setup. I haven't fired it this year yet so I dug it out and checked the reservoir- 150 bar, right where I left it. Stuffed some 18.1 gr jsb into the mag and rested over my tonneau cover. Aiming point was the second knob from the top on the painted top of this steel fence post 46 yards off. Wind was about 3 mph from 10 o'clock. Took 3 shots. I'd say it's still on...

 

[markT]

Post #2, #55 and #70 ALL provided warnings...

 

[6MMsteve]

I put the Hawke on my BEnjamin trail, I have shot bout 1500x it's still working, not to bad a scope kinda like it, I destroyed a Bushnell Forge in about 50 shots the internals went bonkers, but the Hawke is tough

 

[Boilermaker]

I put the Hawke on my BEnjamin trail, I have shot bout 1500x it's still working, not to bad a scope kinda like it, I destroyed a Bushnell Forge in about 50 shots the internals went bonkers, but the Hawke is tough

What model Hawke are you using? A friend recommended the Hawke Airmax 2-7x32. It checks all the boxes for what I think I want in a pellet rifle scope. I never heard of Hawke scopes before the past weekend though.

 

[6MMsteve]

What model Hawke are you using? A friend recommended the Hawke Airmax 2-7x32. It checks all the boxes for what I think I want in a pellet rifle scope. I never heard of Hawke scopes before the past weekend though.

It's a 4x16x40 I got it at Air Guns of Arizona, Hawke Vantage IR

 

[MikeT49]

What model Hawke are you using? A friend recommended the Hawke Airmax 2-7x32. It checks all the boxes for what I think I want in a pellet rifle scope. I never heard of Hawke scopes before the past weekend though.

Hawke makes great scopes for air rifles. Most have side focus parallax adjustment. A bunch of them will focus down to 10 yards. If you want to aim small, miss small, go with at least a 16X. Hawke stands by their products. I recently sent a old (over 10 years) 4-16 SF in for repair. They couldn't fix it so they sent me their newest comparable scope in 4-16X SF.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

While youre checking out scopes look at the MTC. Ive had the other airgun scopes and the mtc is a step above

 

[Mark611]

geesaman, I will get back to you with a proper answer, my air rifles are not the standard version you buy off the shelf, mine are highly modified and tuned, for example a standard HW80 has a 20'' barrel and a K version has a 16'' barrel, both of my R1's same as the 80, have 12.2'' barrels, I have posted this question on the GTA in the GERMAN GATE, I will see what the guy's there have to say about the pellet still being in the barrel before the piston hits home, I have got a few reply's on this question already, stay tuned!

 

[Dusty Stevens]

I gotta get me another brocock. Sold mine yesterday

 

[dgeesaman]

geesaman, I will get back to you with a proper answer, my air rifles are not the standard version you buy off the shelf, mine are highly modified and tuned, for example a standard HW80 has a 20'' barrel and a K version has a 16'' barrel, both of my R1's same as the 80, have 12.2'' barrels, I have posted this question on the GTA in the GERMAN GATE, I will see what the guy's there have to say about the pellet still being in the barrel before the piston hits home, I have got a few reply's on this question already, stay tuned!

Hector Medina did some very good physics experiments and recorded clear traces of both the forward and rearward recoil pulses. He also determined the pellet exited the barrel during the second recoil pulse, as the piston is slowing down. This makes sense because there is no serious pressure behind the pellet until it reaches near max compression of the air chamber.

Shot cycle Dynamics in 3 Spring-Piston Airguns Chap 1

Spring piston air rifles are deceptively simple. They “just” use a spring to drive a piston down a compression chamber and that compressed air drives a pellet out of the barrel and towards the...

www.ctcustomairguns.com

It’s a long article but search for the keyword “.0768” seconds.

I need to sit down and read the full series in detail.

 

[JEFFPPC]

While youre checking out scopes look at the MTC. Ive had the other airgun scopes and the mtc is a step above

The scopes I have had on that 80 that were damaged as follows.

Three count Vortex CrossfireII 4-12X....broken crosswires....replaced each time under no BS warranty.

Same Leupold Vari-XIII EFR 6.5-20X failed twice. Would not hold verticle by inches at 25yds. first, then went black and rattled. Repaired each time with great lost use time. No cost repaired. Went back on a centerfire rifle.

Leupold M8-6X compact. Went black and rattled. Repaired at no cost. Back in the safe.
Leupold 4X rimfire compact......death rattle and blurred view...repaired free.
Burris 4x mini....no zero hold at all. Went back to normal on a .22LR
Weaver steel 16X for a half tin of shots, zero hold was questionable. Took it off.

Think about the money I spent on one way shipping with insurance for repairs. Using scopes with no short range focusing defeats the utility of an airgun.

I am running the Vortek high output main springs with their synthetic piston seals. It's much stronger than the factory original spring. Result is a smooth but strong recoiling shot cycle. Pellet on pellet accuracy, too.

Someday I may try out a SWFA product, but want close range focus ability. We are limited in that area.

For now my eyesight is like factory new. I can take advantage of those quality metal sights and hit what I want. Starlings at the top of a utility pole near my house at 40 yards drop every time.....offhand. I do not feel wanting for optics. Maybe someday I will try again.

Everytime.....more than once...offhand....Doubt it. I'm calling BS. You would fit it well with lots of guys I shoot with. Now I will give you a chance too call me out. Best shot I ever made. At a winter outdoor 100 yard offhand match a chipmunk ran up on an endpost of the target butt.. A guy said watch this....he missed offhand, chippy just sat there. Now he sat down at a bench, rested is elbows and missed again. Chippy started running across the top rail, I picked up my Kimber Varmint .223 and shot....chippy flew off the rail. I said, "I drilled him in the stripe on the front shooter", as that is where the dot was when the shot broke. My son and another shooter waded through the snow, had close a foot overnight, and returned with it.....yes drilled right through the stripe in the front shoulder. I guess I could make the same claim.....I shoot running chippys at 100 yards it's every time, lol. Oh, one of the guys had a camera in his truck, I have a pic holding chippy by the tail drilled through the shoulder.

 

[Adam in WI]

Oh, snap... Its on now

 

[bobm]

Everytime.....more than once...offhand....Doubt it. I'm calling BS. You would fit it well with lots of guys I shoot with. Now I will give you a chance too call me out.

I would be happy to, Jeff. But, let's keep this civil and short.

I've been a metallic silhouette rifle shooter for more than 40 years. In case you are unfamiliar, we shoot standing up, no support offhand. I have an NRA AAA class ranking in High Power centerfire, and a MASTER class ranking in smallbore .22 rimfire. Those rankings are well above general expert or master ranking of other rested type shooting. Rest? don't need no stinking rest. I am a rest.

As for airguns, been using them for decades for inexpensive offhand practice at home. I started off with Diana models for their feel, weight and decent accuracy. I went through a half dozen of them until they self destructed beyond repair. They were not designed to last forever. In fact, I now put all Diana RWS and Umerex products in the made in China category. Will not buy another one.

I will retract my every time starling hit to NINE out of TEN.

Best shot I ever made? Too many to list here. I do have a standout shot, though. My HW80 .22 when Leupold 6.5-20x was on it. Head shot on a prairie dog, lights out. 128 yards.....OFF HAND.

Sure, I will gladly toot my own horn. With years of dedicated practice I have developed extremely good off hand rifle shooting skill.

An airgun is hands down the best tool available to develop those skills

 

[Adam in WI]

I've been a metallic silhouette rifle shooter for more than 40 years.

I really wish that would've caught on around here. Always wanted to try it