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bbgun · New Member

Hello im from Wyoming. I love to target shoot. My son is 9yrs old and loves to shoot. we enjoy shooting our 22 caliber riffles but the ammo is expensive and hard to find so that makes it harder to have some fun plinking.

My son has a bb gun but I have been looking and trying to decide if that's what we want to do more of or look into the air riffle pellet guns? I have a big garage that's 60' feet long and saw some of those pellet gun back drop /catch boxes to trap the pellets.

I want to learn more about them and see if this is something we can get to do some indoor shooting in the winter time when its to nasty outside to go shooting. not sure if they make any for bb guns or pellets only so im looking to learn a lot more and buy us a couple of new guns
thanks for having me

oddtodd · Silver Status Member

You can buy an inexpensive gun for your son that shoots pellets that he will outgrow anyway for about 50 bucks. I'd recommend one in the 100-150 range for you, just starting out and all. Look at walmart. They have a pretty good selection for good starter guns. Welcome to the forum and don't be afraid to ask questions! Oh and we like lots of pics of airguns! lol

Edit: www.pyramydair.com has what seems like a million different types of airguns. I would stay away from CO2 if you want a cold weather gun. CO2 is temperature sensitive.

Slavia · Moderator

60' gives you a decent range - olympic type matches are shot at 10m (33'). I agree with oddtodd - CO2 is convenient, but temperature sensitive. Below 60 degrees F. the pressure falls off significantly. Precharged pneumatics (PCP's) are state of the art, but the initial investment for the gun, tanks, pumps, etc. is steep. A single stroke pneumatic (single "pump") gun like the Daisy 853 or 953 would fit the bill, but they're relatively low-powered. A multiple stroke pneumatic (many "pumps") gun like the Benjamin 397 would have more power, but to my mind you spend an awful lot of time pumping and not much shooting. (That's me - some really like them.) That leaves spring/piston guns ("springers"), which can be powerful enough to hunt small game, but are still usable indoors. The drawback with springers is that they are hold sensitive. With all that metal flying around inside you get vibration and bi-directional recoil, so you need to practice holding the gun as lightly as possible while still maintaining control (look up "artillery hold").

BB guns are fun, but an undersized steel ball bouncing down a smoothbore barrel doesn't help accuracy. Some are rated for BB's and pellets. If it has a smoothbore barrel then you won't get the accuracy a pellet is capable of. If it has a rifled barrel, you're better off using pellets only so the hard steel BB's don't scratch the bore.

I would go with a springer, but be mindful of the hold sensitivity issue. Also be aware that they could take 500-1000 rounds to break in, and that many individal airguns have a preference for a certain kind of pellet.

bbgun · New Member

hey guys thanks a lot for the great information. I really appreciate all the help you guys are giving me I know its cost a lot of money and time for you guys to check out and compare all these rifles etc.

I hope I can help return the favor some how? I love shooting and a lot more now that my son is older and we like doing it together. I also love to fish and make my own plastic baits for fishing. if I cant repay you guys with shooting info maybe I can send you guys some custom plastic baits for you to catch some fish on then go do some shooting the rest of the day Thumb Up!

Slavia · Moderator

Wyoming is beautiful. All 5,000 of us will be there first thing in the morning.

Seriously, the forum is a knowledge base assembled one bit at a time. Keep on posting with your progress.

bbgun · New Member

hey thanks again Slavia thanks for the nice welcome along with all the others Wyoming is a beautiful place BUT up here at 7000' elevation I have seen it SNOW every month of the year. YES I have seen it snow in the morning on the 4th of July and be down as low as 30 degs and then up to 90 degs by afternoon.

I was born and raised here and have a family now we all are used to the short summers and long winters. If any of you ever come up this way or are looking for a cool summer vacation I would recommend Yellowstone National Park its about 3 1/2hrs north of me and its beautiful and theres lots of places outside of the park that are wide open to do some shooting along the way. Smile

Oh it was 39degs here this morning at 6:45am summer is pretty much gone and snow will be falling anytime from now on

oddtodd · Silver Status Member

Yeah, you definitely don't want a CO2 under those conditions. Springers are definitely the way to go. PCPs under those conditions would be a nightmare with moisture. www.pyramydair.com has dadz and kidz combos that would probably work out pretty nice for you. Here's the page:

http://www.pyramydair.com/a/Air_guns/Air_rifles/Dadz_and_Kidz_combos/854

Hope this helps!

bbgun · New Member

hey thanks for the info and the website it looks like they have a lot of good choices to I will check them out some more

oddtodd · Silver Status Member

I bought all but three of my guns there. They are on it if you have a problem too. When the scope on my Beeman was broken on delivery, they had a new one to me in less than 3 days.

Slavia · Moderator

oddtodd · Silver Status Member

I keep an ice scraper in my car year round. Sometimes the bugs get so thick here that you have to scrape first before you can use the squeege at the gas station to get them all off.

bbgun · New Member

hey thanks oddtodd for the info they sound like a good company to go with and good customer service is always nice to hear to.

yup Slavia you never know up here in Wyoming what the weather is going to be. When I go different places and talk with other people they think im lying about snow every month of the year here at different times. I also know what you mean about using a make shift ice scraper the old cassette tapes in the truck used to work but hey are gone lol.

I just got off work and now im on my 4 days off before graveyard shift starts back up on Monday and its supposed to rain and possibly snow it says. Well this afternoon at work its was rain for a while then started to snow for a little bit and was sticking on top of the mountain but melted off fast a little bit later. its a cool 50 degs here right now with 10 to 15mph wind. Well summers gone time to finish cleaning the garage out do some air rifle and pellet trap shopping Cool