What do I mean by "a good first choice"? - Buying an airgun that suits what you need and/or what you want from it. As Nunga said above, the higher powered units are not necessarily the best. Nowadays with advertising bombarding us from the left, right and centre, it is easy to lay your cash on the table thinking you got the latest state of the art technology for a moderate cost, when infact you may be getting real budget stuff relying on your purchase to keep them in business. Just because you saw in the side of the box it comes in - 1000fps - it does not mean you will get a minimum of 1000fps, more that you may get up to 1000fps with the very lightest pellets available,, at your own risk of course,, the risk of damaging the internals of your new technologically innovative airgun,, you know, the one that promised you so much but cost so little, yeah, that one. So take our word for it, these advertising quotes mean little as to your eventual enjoyment or disgust in airgunning. It seems that many airguns leave the factory in less than optimum condition to be used day in, day out, without eventual failure to one degree or another. With "some" of these 1000fps rated rifles, they also might live life on the ragged edge, as they are highly stressed and can be under done to handle those strains, not always but just every now and then. Just visit the forums and read of the pain and agony of unsuspecting new owners who have succumbed to the temptation of a new all-powerful first time air rifle without doing some homework first.

 

Even after you've made your purchase, you need to pick your pellets. This can be like almost walking the same minefield as you were in making your choice of rifles. There is no one single answer to the "which pellet" question. Each gun unto its own, is all I can add here. The only real way to find out is to try some out and hope to end getting a good accurate pellet for your gun, BUT, it hepls if you start off asking someone who might know. That might mean a chat to either the person who sold you the gun (hopefully you bought it from an airgun shop - as ordinary gun shop or sports shops sometimes know very little about airguns indeed and will sell you anything), or joining a forum - hey - just like the one you could be reading this in. Many times, the guys and gals can give you no end of good advice to at least get you off down the right path for pellet choice. While they may not be able to tell you of which exact one to use, they might be also able to tell you which one not to use...

 

Now you might also want a scope. Again, you must choose the correct type - ALWAYS buy only airgun rated scopes as spring airguns have their own unique type of recoil which can literally destroy orndinary, even expensive scopes in a very short time, and remember, the more powerful your rifle is, the quicker this can happen. Failure to remember will cost you. Choosing the correct scope(s) first up can save you time and patience as sometimes scope failure can be like a ligerring death, slowly manifesting itself bit by bit,, frustating day by frustrating day until its eventual total failure is obvious...

 

 

You hear the saying - "you get what you pay for" all the time nowadays and that's most likely because it becomes more and more true as time rolls on. Why?? Because many manufacturers tend to compete nowadays, not for top honours in quality, but for more sales and lower costs and that makes even some top end brands cut corners in a way that they never did before, introducing less exotic materials (often plain old plastic) into their more powerful gun lineups and even if these plastic parts can foot the bill, there are many people who just run for the hills when they hear about plastics being used in their favourite brands. It doesn't mean that the gun is doomed to fail, just what people perceive to be "less than desirable" makes them back off and look around for other brands or models. As a rule though, there are brands that are considered to be better than others. There is an unwritten hierarchy amongst the airgun manufacturers. I am not going to give you any info here as this can be seen by some differently than by others and can cause many friendly debates on forums - hahahaha...

 

At the end of the day, it's your call. You can do it the quick way and buy the first thing you see while your blood is hot from the sight of your possible new airgun,, or you can do it the more positive better way - ask in forums and do lots of reading in reviews and tests which litter the internet, just waiting for your eyes to roll over them. Believe me, you'll soon pick up on which airguns do what...

My first air gun was a c02 pistol that shot  ball bearings. ( well, it was my dads)

We gave my dad so much grief about wanting to use it and him hiding it again and again he ended up giving it away as he got sick of it.

 Well my first air rifle was a gamo cfx underleaver .22 

Wish I never sold it but I was flatting in town and couldn't use it so I sold it.

Next was a Crossman phantom , served its purpose shooting rabbits but was underpowered really for that job.

Umm  , then I swapped a co2 pistol (2240) for a Cometa Fusion .22 , which I still have and have rebuilt . It is a beast of a gun and does everything I ask of it. Has killed hundreds of rabbits , a handful of magpies and a chicken.

I have a scott and Webley .177 rifle as well which is my back up gun , It drops rabbits easily.

 So I think that perhaps a lot of research into the gun you are going to get is recommended and feel free to ask some of the gun wizzes on here.

Hopefully next is a PCP rifle when I get my FAL.

Chur thanks for reading my novel.

 cheers mike

 cheers mike

 dont have any real drawings for the revolver other than the few origional drawings i did some years ago and they pretty bassic mate,most of it in my head,so bit hard to explain,but you welcome to drop in next time you down,have look at it and i can pull it down and you can see how its made and we can take few measurements and make up some drawings to get you started,but warn you there is some pretty tricky machining needed to make some parts that requires some specilized tooling,most parts made on a mill,and you will need a rotery table to make them,but i do have an experimental bolt action pistol breech here thats lot easier to make that will take up to 38cal that might interst you,this is a very strong breech with a steel to steel lock up thats a little different to the usual bolt action breech and all easy machine work imade it using the mill but i could be made using a lathe with the right tooling,you should have look at it first but think you will like it,it will take maruader mags.which are cheap and readily available from youngs,i have 10in piece 22 barrel you can have as well.

 you proberly need to drop in next time you down mate.

 cheers mike

 cheers mike 

Went to the store and requested a rifle to deal with problem roosters (apparently this is a common request). I was shown an industry brand model B1 at which I said, "its a really big rooster".

I was well advised and left with a packaged Crosman for $320.

Rifle did the job including ongoing pest control.

A more robust Gamo scope and one piece mount for $160 soon replaced the supplied Centre Point 4x32.

I was impressed with how far the technology had evolved including power, accuracy and low maintenance.

Advertised at 100fps 18 ft/lb

Measured at 989fps 17.1 ft/lb

The power remained unchanged after >2000 pellets.

Learnings:

For general use get something with fixed sights.

Model with a  better trigger generally double the price.

Recommend:

 Yes, rabbits do not get up and possums fall from the trees.

 cheers mike

 

I forgot to mention that dad carried that old Ronson Lighter (with a big dent in the centre!) for the rest of his life and would tell the story to anyone who would listen!!! 

And that little BSA Cadet rifle started a 65-year love of Shooting that lead me to smallbore, fullbore and shotgun competitions, pest control and hunting trips around the world!

It's amazing what a little bit of air can do eh?!!! 

A Tale of Woe

Brought a Gamo Whisper Gas-Ram .177 for rabbit control. I had shot airrifles before but never pruchased one.

It had quite a bit of recoil and I had to check and tighten almost all the screws from time to time.

After about 2 tins its POI started to drift and then not even hold zero... so I took it apart.

I quickly found the stop pin on the scope was carving its way out of its mount. The Mounts stop pin was carving its way out of the barrel  and the barrels break bolt had also snapped at one end.

Soft metal all around. Lets say I would be very careful about buying too cheap.... and quite frankly I would take a Spinger over a Gas-Ram any day...

It all a learning curve. :)

This is the sad truth, in New Zealand Gamo is well overpriced - guessing because they are high margin guns for hunting stores they push sales of them more because they make more on them.

In USA they are much cheaper and this should likely be the price they should be here. GC pushing $999 fr a gamo multishot is madness - thats almost weihrauch / air arms money at the time.

Gamo had a vast % of market share and huge potential to launch a really good air rifle designed from the ground up, but they keep replacing steel with plastic and trying to put out the fastest FPS claim they can without building a rifle that will shoot the speed well or even last shooting that speed for any decent 'lifetime'..

Gamo rant over, if you have one and like it thats great, get an older Gamo CFX / CFR - thats about the best gamo you will get

 cheers mike