About this blog

I recently decided to pick target shooting as a new hobby. I considered slings, bows, crossbows, airguns, and firearms. Each have their merits, but looking at size, convenience, cost, and safety, I decided to go with airguns. A new choice followed up according to the different ammunition used by airguns - this was a choice among airsoft, paintball, BB, and pellet guns. However, this one was a much easier choice, because the most suitable option for target shooting are pellet guns with their rifled barrels.

Once I made this choice, I started exploring the world of pellet guns. I will share on this blog what I find out, in the hope that it will help others to make smart decisions and to save time and money by leveraging my experience. In this post, I'll start by providing an overview of the choices available within the category of pellet guns.

Before we start, let me go over the basic rules of safety when handling airguns, which are the same as the rules for firearms:

1. Don't be stupid! (*)
2. Airguns are not toys
3. Always handle airguns as if they are loaded and ready to shoot
4. Always keep airguns pointed in a safe direction
5. Do not place the finger over the trigger unless you are ready to shoot
6. Always be aware of what is behind the target and what you may hit if you miss the target
7. Use the airgun's safety if it has one, but don't expect it to work - it is an additional measure, not a way to break the above rules
8. Read an airgun's manual before you start using it

(*) This rule cannot be printed by manufacturers, but here it is in all its glory.

These are common sense rules and following them will ensure that you will develop good habits of handling a gun and that you will thus avoid stupid accidents. So don't be stupid! The first symptom of being stupid is when you think you cannot be. So check yourself and be safe.

Pellet guns can be divided in several categories according to how they are powered. The name airgun is actually a bit misleading because not all of them use air - some use gas, so gasgun would have been a more appropriate generic term, but that's the way the vocabulary evolves, so we'll stick to its evolution and use "airguns" regardless of the nature of the gas used for projectile propulsion.

The main categories of airgun power sources are the following:

Pneumatic

Gas is compressed in a reservoir and each shot uses a portion of it to propel a pellet through the barrel. There are a few sub-categories here:

• using compressed air
• using a special pump (pcp - pre-crompressed pneumatic)
• using a pump integrated in the gun
• using a single pumping action (single pump pneumatic)
• using multiple pumping actions (multi pump pneumatic)
• using compressed gas
• taken from a larger gas reservoir (pcp - pre-compressed pneumatic)

Gas powerlet - CO2

These work like the airguns using compressed gas, except the steel reservoir is disposable and is purchased already charged. CO2 is the gas of choice for these guns. In general, handguns use 12g CO2 powerlets, while rifles use the larger 88g CO2 powerlets (some still use 12g ones).

Spring piston

Spring piston guns get their power from a spring that is compressed. When the spring is released, it pushes a piston that suddenly compresses air behind the pellet forcing it down the barrel.

Gas piston

The gas piston system is promoted as a better alternative to a spring piston. The role of the spring is taken by nitrogen getting compressed in a special chamber.

Each of these power sources has advantages and disadvantages. With reservoirs containing compressed gas for multiple shots (pcp/CO2), the challenge is one of using the same amount of gas for each shot - in practice, the power tends to decrease with each subsequent shot. Also, holding the reservoir under pressure for a longer period of time can stress the seals, so that needs to be avoided - with powerlets, one has to be used within a couple of days after it is pierced, while pcp reservoirs can just be decompressed. Single pump pneumatic guns can require a lot of force to pump for that single shot, while multi pump pneumatics offer more flexibility in controlling the power of a shot, but take more time to pump. Piston guns are easier to pump, but the movement of the piston provides a kick that makes it more challenging to shoot accurately. To avoid spring damage, spring pistons cannot be left compressed for long - gas pistons don't have this problem, but they are expensive to fix if they fail.

The power of each mechanism varies as well. Piston mechanisms can vary from low to high power. PCPs provide average to high power. CO2s provide low to average power. For target shooting, one just needs enough power to cut clean holes in the paper targets - 400-500 fps with caliber .177 pellets can do this job very well. BTW, caliber .177 is the best suited caliber for target shooting and it is the most common caliber; the next more common is caliber .22, after which everything else is used in just a few guns. And since we're talking pellets, the most appropriate pellet for target shooting is the wadcutter model - these are the main pellets that I will be using.

In time, I will probably explore all these mechanisms to get first hand experience with each of them. I will also provide updates on how well each gun mechanism holds up over time.