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.177 and .22or .22 and .25 for small game? |
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-Ec 
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Joined: 02 Sep 2025 Location: Matamau Status: Offline Posts: 214 |
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 Posted: 22 Apr 2026 at 12:04pm |
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Spinners are great once you have your gun(s) dialled in but nothing beats paper for getting your gun dialled in. Even a large piece of cardboard with a simple cross in black marker pen works well. The big advantage with paper - as long as it is big enough, is that you can see if you are high, low ,left or right of you point of aim and adjust accordingly. Even when you have your guns zeroed at what ever range you prefer, paper is best for working out your hold-overs and hold unders at different ranges. Can't recall who came up with the bottle top challenge - Pauly5 I think? It's an easy way to test your accuracy is up to par
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Regards,
-Ec |
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kruzaroad
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Joined: 03 Jul 2022 Location: Hastings 4 now Status: Offline Posts: 3016 |
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Posted: 22 Apr 2026 at 9:17am |
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Why would the paper punches be smirking? Truthfully you'd be better off with targets than spinners as you can monitor your misses etc as you get use to gun. Checking wind drift of pellets etc.
Theres a cheap spinner target at gun city. A one inch and two inch circles . Push into ground. Page 102 of you got to be out there to see. Perfect for taking on your trip. Light compact enough to sit in backpack light and simple. |
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Ashman
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Joined: 11 Apr 2026 Location: Christchurch Status: Offline Posts: 95 |
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Posted: 22 Apr 2026 at 8:44am |
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EC the beer bottle top idea is a goodie. It'll have to be Ginger Beer though, probably a Bundie. Hitting one of those consistently at 40m should be a nice challenge.
The weather forecast for my camp site at Lake Heron looks pretty sh*te today so I'll head down to a local river bed and put some shots through and head off camping overnight tomorrow. There's bunnies in the river bed too. There are rimfire spinner self resetting targets/pellet traps that are around bottle top size, and I may pick up one of those today in my search for appropriate pellets. I'll get dialled in shooting technique wise and post what happens. Some of the paper punchers on here will be smirking, I'm guessing, but, so far, everyone on here has been really supportive, positive and helpful, even if my choice of a Gamo over other far more premium brands might leave some scratching their heads.
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-Ec
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Joined: 02 Sep 2025 Location: Matamau Status: Offline Posts: 214 |
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Posted: 21 Apr 2026 at 10:14pm |
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Great that you have a chance to fully test the .25 before making a decision - hopefully the weather gods will treat you well and you will be able to make the most of the time. Check out the bottle-top challenge/test basically a beer bottle top is about the size of a rabbit's brain so if you can consistently hit one at the ranges you want to be able to hunt, both you and the gun are good to go. I agree with you about wooden stocks for hunting - just too easy to scratch/mark. My Hassan has a beautiful Turkish Walnut stock and even though I don't use it much for hunting it already has a few marks. At just on 10 pounds it is too heavy to carry for too long, and at 30FPE it is a beast to cock and shoot. I do enjoy using it and is very accurate when I get everything right. It certainly hits hard! I can see the benefit of having 2 guns that are very similar to hold and shoot - has to be an advantage for achieving consistency with both guns. My 4 rifles are all completely different to shoot - which I enjoy. However what I want from my guns is not relevant to what you want. So enjoy your 3 days camping and keep us updated with your trip. Edited by -Ec - 22 Apr 2026 at 8:07am |
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-Ec |
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Ashman
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Posted: 21 Apr 2026 at 8:53pm |
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What I'm really looking for is a small game harvester, not a tack driver, though they need to be accurate to harvest game anyway and the .22, which I've shot out to 40 metres thus far, is. If the .25 can do the same, that would be superb.
Finesse is the same for me in rifles as it is in cars. I drive a Hilux. It's an A to B event and the drive doesn't have to be flash or particularly comfortable . The same with my rifles and guns over the years. What I do know is I don't want a wooden stock. And for hunting, repeatability in hold, trigger mech and optics always makes sense so that when you're accustomed to and effective with 1, it's innately transferrable to the other. Which is why in the last 20 years all I ever bought was T3 Tikkas, with the one exception being a Remington Tactical, which was a mistake. Had T3's in 7mm08, .223 and .204. The .25 is as new. The optics are identical and I was able to put some 33g slugs through it, but he had no pellets so I'm waiting till tomorrow to grab some of those and see what it can do grouping wise. Even with the slugs , the groups at 10 metres were...... acceptable, being that it is that I have never used slugs like that in an air rifle. Interesting experience. What I'm really looking for is longevity and, treated right, I should get that, given the all metal construction (mostly)and automotive quality plastics and polyethylenes plus fibre glass used in the stock. The scopes are aluminium and seem pretty robust, but I don't really know that yet, although I did drop the .22 off the yellow top wheelie bin I was using for sighting and garked it, yet even from that height, It still held the zero, surprisingly. It was a bit of a thump, on to concrete. Good sign, I suppose, even though the stupidity of allowing that to happen left me feeling like a bit of a dick. I've got three days off and I'm taking them both with me to a campsite I know. Betwixt fishing and firing, it'll be an interesting few days.
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kruzaroad
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Posted: 21 Apr 2026 at 6:50pm |
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Might work out better? Definitly works out ec.🙂
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kruzaroad
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Posted: 21 Apr 2026 at 6:46pm |
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I went from a gamo to tx200 to sig asp20 to a weihrauch hw97 and now a diama ar8. Two of those are raved about rifles on airgun circles.
I prefer the diana to all of them. Cost less second hand. My favorite gun is the 1322. A thousand bucks puts you a good.position to get a second hand gun with good build and known for accuracy. Id try before buy his gun. It may not be what your after. Jave you test d your gamo over distance? You may find you want a gun that shoots distance better than your current one. There are a lot of advantages to a standard power rifle. You can always buy replacement parts for storage. |
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-Ec
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Posted: 21 Apr 2026 at 6:44pm |
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I tend to put a a hand full of pellets in a pocket but something like this might work out better. I always ONLY have pellets in the particular pocket which makes grabbing the next round easy even in the dark. I've thought of the "quick load round holders" available on Trade me for around 10 bucks but not sure I would want to stick this on my stock(s) and not sure how well they would work out in the dark.
Edited by -Ec - 21 Apr 2026 at 6:51pm |
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-Ec |
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Ashman
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Posted: 21 Apr 2026 at 6:21pm |
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That is bloody brilliant. Rattles are for babies, not bunnies.
As an aside, a mate of mine heard I was getting back in too air rifles and has offered me a Swarm .25 Magnum with the same scope as I've got on the .22 with about 500 pellets through it (basically hes run it in for me) and it's a year old Gen 3 with the inertia fed Mag for $1000.
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kruzaroad
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Posted: 21 Apr 2026 at 5:57pm |
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If you do end up single shot, heres how I set my tins up. Stops damage. Stops noise, makes pellets easy to grab and they are facing the same direction. Do not fall out. I walk around with lid off in my shirt pocket. Its camping sleeping mat that ive poked a soldering iron into repeatedly. Think its around 65 pellets from memory.
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Ashman
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Posted: 21 Apr 2026 at 1:38pm |
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Kruzaroad, thank you for taking the tine for such a detailed answer. I appreciate it.
Outside of the gun will get a light spray with CRC Marine Grade 6-66. I've used that on all my guns/rifles/fishing gear/outdoor metal stuff, tools and knives ever since it first came out as %-56 Marine grade. Good viscosity without stickiness. I think I'll stick with gas piston rifles. The older springers I had, Milbro, BSA and Hatsan, all needed a bit of attention spring wise. The piston system on the Swarm also seems to have less rebound, which I appreciate. I hear what you say about the sport in small game hunting with an air rifle. It has always made for more exciting stalking with the need for closer proximity. Skills and senses need to be top class. The Hades arrived earlier today. They'll get tested tonight. If they're good, I've got 500 of them. If not, someone on here will get them cheap. The Crows and the Hornets are good enough anyway, but the Hades? I'll find out later. I really only wanted to try them because I mistakenly thought they were domed, not dimpled and because they review well in many .22 Magnum videos. I bought a spare mag. Easy enough to single load, as you say, but just something else to misplace. I like the inertia feed system though. No issues so far and no misfeeds or dry fires. Looking forward to the next three days off. Rabbits!! |
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kruzaroad
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Posted: 21 Apr 2026 at 7:24am |
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Important to use the right grease in the spring chamber area particularly.
Outside and trigger what you like, anything that is involed with pressure being built up. Plenty on the web about it. Spring rifles have pistons. Gas ram does too. Its just replacing the spring set up with a gas strut. If your hunting with a spring powered rifle you can't leave it cocked as the actual spring will lose its "springyness". Most recommended not leaving spring cocked more than hour. Id decock after 20 to 30min and recock. Gas piston no issues like that. 10 shot mag. You can buy a spare ten shot mag, and the ten shot mag set up. I had a gamo whisper 10 shot. What is the advantage of the mag? Dont have to pull another pellet out and load it for quick follow up. Disadvantage in my view. More parts to fail. Can damage pellets feeding. A tendancy to cock to fast at first. Movement of breaking the barrel is a huge movement after you fired a shot and critters are on alert. Fortunately it can be used as single shot as well. As for the pellets, ive always ended up back with the standard rounded nose. Springers do not have the power to expand pellets in flesh. You'll find example through the site of pellets extracted. Think pete did one series of pellet testing he did. Do not be miss lead by how your powder burners expand a bullet to an air rifle. No similarities. If your gun fires one of the fancy pellets most accurate, then so be it. If not i believe you are better off with a round nose. I currently have jsb jumbo heavy 18.13gr for my diana ar8. Furtherst shot 102m on rabbit. H&N field target trophy 14.66gr. wiehrach hw97.furthest rabbit 75m i think.furthest shot 180m at tin can size metal. No power of course but dented the tin. Also likes exact 16gr and aa 16gr. 1322 either hades or ftt. Short distance bird gun. Loves hades( which is the only expanding pellet i use as the 1322 loves them till about 30m. Ftt pellets for distance. Furthest shot 60m on starling fft 14.66gr. All of the furthest shots I've taken have been standard round nose pellets. Ive tested heaps of fancy pallets none have proved out over distance. Golden rule.... Gun decides pellet not you. Welcome to the world of air guns. Everything effects your shot from over greasing,wrong grease,pellets type, seals, hold type, trigger pull ,scope torch, bi pods, even resting on hard etc affect poi. Spring/gas ram pistons slamming forward causing the piston to bounce before it reaches the full stroke. Before the pellet even leaves the barrel. Mastery of an air rifle (which im still learning ) Has been way more intense than any powder burner ive used. I actually prefer air rifle to 22lr for rabbit shooting these days. 22lr Is boring in comparison in my view. Edited by kruzaroad - 21 Apr 2026 at 7:31am |
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Ashman
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Posted: 20 Apr 2026 at 9:34pm |
Thanks for the tip on the cleaners. Hadn't read that anywhere so that's a good tip. I'll be using my .22 pull through with appropriate patches. The Gamo has no spring. Its a piston. But I'll get spares of anything rubber. And I already have 2 very powerful sling shots. Handy. Deadly at the right distance on the right sky rats. Which, in good condition, make a very fine meal for one. I take your point about better guns for the same money and they may be out there. Very few of them with a 10 shot mag that I don't need an FAL for though. And interoperability is a key, so, if I do get the same calibre, it will be the same rifle In the same way, I have doubles of my best fish catchers in both rods and reels too. Harvesting longevity being the key dynamic. Spares of everything important.
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kruzaroad
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Posted: 20 Apr 2026 at 5:10pm |
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Yeah id hold off on buying another of same model till you see how it works for you. There are better quality guns than gamo for around the same price. Make sure its what you want before second perchase.
As for springs/ gas rams, seals they can all be brought separately. I have seals for noth my rifles brought online and spare.spring for the hw97. You know to keep away from the usual gun cleaners,greases as they cause dieseling? Better add a slingshot to your collection. |
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Ashman
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Posted: 20 Apr 2026 at 4:46pm |
Fair points on windage and accuracy. That's the same story for all the centre and rim fires I've owned, and there's been many of those. I'm getting more accurate and using Crown Magnums and Hornets. The grouping is getting better but I'll wait till I have 500 through it to determine which is the true preference. I've also got some Hades coming, which feature well in many of the videos I've watched. Small game is rabbits, hares, possums and some other pest species. I have access to a couple of spots where Canada Geese are a problem and I think the Hornets may be the go there, though I'll be sneaking close and looking for head shots on those big buggers anyway. For bigger game I'm going to a crossbow so goats are a no go for me with a pellet gun, irrespective of the power. Just my preference,, and I know there are folk that have done that, but they've only got to move their head half an inch and that's a very slow and painful death. It's also about making sure I don't have just the one option given how shaky things are in the world and, though I'm no prepper, I do want to be able to harvest food on an ongoing basis if it's needed so I'm also trying to build in fail safes. I've got 21 fishing rods and 18 reels plus enough tippet and fly tying material for about a decade. I may just end up buying another of what I've already got so I have a spare of everything. I'll find the pellets it likes and buy 5000 of them. I'm 66 so that should feed me till I don't need food any more.
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kruzaroad wrote: