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This page contains information and links to websites that sell precision
high-powered air rifles and airgun supplies. Before you slap down your
$98 at Walmart for the Crosman RM377, there are a few other guns you
should look at first.
Good Places to Shop:
Be sure to consider shipping charges when hunting for the best price.
Although they don't have the lowest prices, with $7.00 flat rate shipping
and a very informative website, Airgun Express is a good starting point
when looking for something new. For scopes and a few guns D&R has
prices that are hard to beat. TJ General also has good prices for scopes
and RWS guns. I'll be updating this list based upon my in-process purchasing
experiences. The asterist (*) in the name indicates I have purchased
from this store.
- Airgun Express*
- Flat-rate shipping ($7 per total order) for most items. Guns ship
for about $13.
- TJ General*
- This is a regular gun store with some airgun products. Their airgun
and scope prices are excellent.
- Straight Shooters
- Near retail prices, but lots of choices, and good information.
- Airgun Warehouse
- Big selection of airgun products. Good prices on some things, pretty fair on most.
- Airguns USA
- The website is a little bit hard to navigate, but these folks carry lots of airgun products.
- BBgun Superstore
- Dispite the BB-gun name, they have lots of pellet-gun stuff.
- Airgun Depot
- Good scope prices, but a little high on the guns.
- Ultimate Outdoors
- Limited airgun supplies, but good prices for some items.
- On Target Sports
- Good prices on BSA air rifle scopes. That's about all they have for airguns.
- Ponoma Airguns
- Best prices for Beeman guns. Not a web store - phone only - no 1-800 numbers.
- Maccari Custom Airgun Shop - Tune kits and things for folks that are really into their airguns.
- D&R Sports Center*
- Excellent prices on airguns, scopes and pellets.
Popular Air Rifle Manufacturers:
The following is a list of links to some of the more popular airgun manufacturers.
Please note the interesting statement which appears on the Beeman repair
shop webpage: "Due to the lack of quality and/or parts, we generally
WILL NOT repair the following brands: Air Match, Benjamin, Sheridan,
Daisy, Crosman, EM-GE, FAS, Haenel, Healthways, Plainsman, Slavia, Smith
& Wesson, or Chinese, Russian, Indian, or other inexpensive airguns."
Air Rifle Scopes and Mounts:
Do not put a conventional rifle scope that is not rated for
break-barrel airguns on a high powered spring-recoil airgun. The two-way
shock from the spring's recoil can trash even the most expensive rifle
scope that is not designed to handle this two-way movement. This caution
does not apply to pneumatic (pump, piston, and CO2) airguns, which have
very little recoil. It isn't the kick that causes a problem, it is the
rapid two-way jolt from the spring. A spring-recoil airgun doesn't kick
the shooter, it just jolts the scope very intensely. You've been warned.
Besides being two-way shock resistant, there are two other things necessary
for a good air rifle scope: adjustable focus and finger adjustable target
turrets. An air rifle scopes must be able to focus down to 10 yards
or less. Normal hunting rifle scopes may not focus to less than 50 yds.
Good air rifle scopes have adjustable objectives (AO) which allow you
to focus on your target and can also give you range estimates. Target
turrets (TT) are easily accessed finger adjustable knobs for windage
and elevation adjustments. With an air rifle, you will need to adjust
elevation settings quite often - including when you change pellet types
or change the distance to your target. Just for an example, when I change
from one pellet type to another I usually have to adjust elevation 6
to 18 clicks for 10 meter target shooting.
Pellet Sellection:
The accuracy of your air rifle depends significantly upon your pellet selection. The process of
choosing the pellet that works best for your gun and your shooting conditions requires personal
experimentation. This may sound hard to believe, but I noticed the difference very quickly.
Shooting at standard 25-foot paper targets fom 40 feet with a scope, I routinely put 8 out of 10
shots in the black with good quality Beeman pellets. When I use really cheap pellets, I hit all
over the paper. Click here to
read the details about pellet selection from the Air Rifle Network.
Information to help you choose the right gun:
Precision air rifles are the most accurate close-range target guns in
the world, with many models capable of shooting target groups at 30
yards which span less than 1/10 of an inch center to center. A reasonably
good entry level model with scope can be purchased for less than $200,
but top of the line models run well over $2000. These are not the kind
of guns you will find at your local Walmart, and even most local gun
shops have a very limited selection. However, this is changing. According
to the National Rifle Association, Air Rifle Field Target Shooting is
one of only three classes of shooting competition events that has gained
in popularity in the past decade.
A further important point about accuracy is that some spring-recoil rifles have a substancial break-in period and may not smooth out until after 500 to 1000 shots have been fired. Now you know why used guns cost almost as much as new guns - they shoot better. Also, don't take the oil recommendations for your gun lightly. If too much oil or the wrong kind of oil gets into your spring-recoil compression chamber, it will cause an effect called dieseling. This is when the vapor from the oil detonates due to the sudden high compression. You can smell it and often see the smoke when this happen, even if you don't feel it. Also, your shots will loose power and go all over the target. Most spring-recoil guns require very little if any oil to be applied to the chamber. For example, many of the Beeman guns receive chamber lubricants only when factory serviced, and RWS guns specify a small drop every 2000 shots or so (with a special silicon based oil). Go ahead and spend the $4 to get the right stuff.
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