Hi. I’m popping in here so that I can accumulate enough rep to be able to PM people in the For Sale section of the forum, so feel free to be chatty 

I haven't used an air rifle since I was a kid and don't even remember the brands of the couple that I had.

I moved back to NZ and bought a few acres beside about 18 odd acres of bush next door. Well, there are a few small pests wandering about that I would like to deal with and I can’t be bothered with the rigmarole of getting a FAL and a safe etc….so an Air Rifle it is.

Once I’ve dealt with a few of the pests, I’d also like something that is well made enough to be accurate so that I can amuse myself with some target shooting as well.

Anyhoo, I have a bit of reading to do it seems as there’s way more to it than the knackered old plinker dad gave me as a kid.

Hi and welcome to the forum.  Here you will find a group of very knowledgeable air gunners who will willingly share their knowledge - you need only ask.

There is a good mix of serious target shooters, plinkers, hunters and professional pest controllers within this group.

Sounds like you came into air gunning and ultimately this group along the same path as me.  A life sentence block with a pest problem.   In my case, mostly possums eating the veggies, fruit and even chook food. The final straw was breaking one of my daughter's favourite standard roses!   With little knowledge about air guns other than not needing a firearms license to buy anything other than a PCP, I purchased a Gamo .22 on Tradme only because it was the only .22 on TradeMe at the time that wasn't too expensive and was close enough away for  me to go and pick up rather than having to deal with mail-order forms and having it sent through the licenced dealer network.  While not a top quality air gun, my Gamo has dealt with the possums, hares and even a turkey that was starting to hang around my chickens.

I have caught the airgun bug and now have 4 air rifles and two pistols which mostly get used for plinking though some of them still used to keep the pest numbers down.

What part of the country are you from?  There may be other forum members who will be happy to meet with you and let you try their guns and help you find what suits you. 

Anyway - once again WELCOME.

Good that you are going to check things out.

 

Airguns are a great option for pest control and there are plenty of choices.

Look forward to future posts.

cheers

Welcome bro,

Living the dream.

If your in Dunedin I got a Prosport you can try, heavy but it's a mans gun, accurate as, last forever.

That's a very kind offer, but I'm about as far from you as I could get. I'm up in the Bay of Islands.

My Gamo is a .22 Wildcat whisper IGT that runs at around 15 FPE - so not a Magnum gun but it has dealt to the pests around here.  I have since bought a Hatsan Carnivore .30 that is an absolute beast. Very powerful and accurate for a break-barrel gun and a lot of fun to shoot - but my Gamo is much more practical for pest control.  So far I've restricted myself to a max of around 30 meters - I know the gun is capable of much more but at this stage I'm not. 

Don't know anything about the Benjamin Trail but it seems to have some good reviews and is running at about the same power as my Gamo so should be up to the task.  A UK spec sub 12FPE air rifle is capable of a clean kill on a rabbit at 80 m - the key is being able to hit it in the right place at that range.

I had a Benjamin Trail for a sort period (along with with several others budget models) but it was hopelessly inaccurate.  

Eventually (I'm a slow learner) I realised that the level of accuracy can be plotted on a simple graph with Dollars Spent along the X axis at the bottom and Gun Accuracy on the Y axis.

KiwiTR6, I completely agree, but at this stage I am still trying to determine where the line of diminishing returns really kicks in.

Thank you for sharing your experience with the Benjamin Trail though, much appreciated.

The HW50 was sold last week.

I have several Dianas, the smallest made in 1977 by Milbro in the UK.  Purchased from Collector Weapons, it's an absolute gem and highly accurate.

An Outlaw PCP, made in China, also a very accurate gun but had a few manufacturing issues when received. I was able to sort them myself and it's used by my niece for target shooting each week with good results.

Also, I recently purchased new a 340 N Tech followed by a Two Forty, both in .177,  The former is made in Germany, the latter in China.  The Two Forty is definitely not as well finished as a Weihrauch (to be expected at half the price) but it is equally as accurate as my HW30.  Not a high powered gun though.

The 340 N-Tec is a full sized gun that is equally as well finished as a Weihrauch and retails for around $750 new.

What I'm getting to is that regardless of where it's made, a Diana is going to be a much better and more accurate purchase than any Gamo/Norica/Benjamin et al. currently on the market.

IMHO

Ahh poop. 

So knowing what I am hoping to do with my air rifle (should I manage to get my hands on one), do you think your friend's TX200 is the sort of thing I should look at?

And in the Diana range 340NP vs 34EMS for a similar price. What's so different about them to bother having the seemingly similar two, at around the same price-point? I guess I mean to ask, which would be more suitable for me?

Oops, I need to remove that listing as well, that gun was sold a wee while back.  They are bloody heavy so probably wouldn't have suited anyway.

Please don't assume I'm an expert on this subject matter, I'm just a retired guy relatively new to the sport who is prepared to express an opinion and keen to add dialogue to this forum which does tend go a bit quiet at times.

That said, the 340 is a gas-ram type and the 34 a standard springer.  Both have the T06 two-stage trigger which I would rate as equal to the Weihrauch Rekord trigger, but a little more tricky to set up.  Once done, it's brilliant.

I'd suggest the 34 with synthetic stock over the other for what you've said you want to do.  I know Kruza has a Diana AR8 which he seems to like, perhaps he'll chip in with his thoughts.

As I usually rest my rifles on the nearest fence-post or tree when hunting - in order to use the Artillery Hold technique - I'm not sure the weight of an air rifle is an issue.

But if it is (for you), think about the Weihrauch HW95 - a superb, lighter weight, break barrel springer that is extremely accurate, powerful and incredibly well made.

I love mine.  I regularly knock golf balls off tees at 70yds with my .177 version, using the Element Helix scope on top.

A superb combination if you like longer range shooting and use the holdover/holdunder technique (the Element scopes have fabulous reticules).

You can't beat Weihrauchs in my opinion!  

my vote is the diana 34 or the 31 panther which is the same animal in a black stock, $750 at Youngs.

They like 13.4gr Jsb, AA pellets

They got a huge following in the US, checkout the Dianawerk collective forum on network 54 I think might be called GTA now, Im not sure

Hunting & Fishing in Dannevirke stocks "Rifle" and Gamo in 22.  Gamo are rubbish, Rifle seem better but my Gamo dosn't really like them, Havent tried them in the Diana.  The son-in-law's Gamo 177 does seem to shoot well with Rifle pellets.   The only other sports shop in Dannevirke only has Gamo and Stoeger in 22.   Both my guns shoot OK with the Stoeger, but are better with Accupells.

Myson gave me some H&N FTT and Air Arms Diabolos to try but neither was particularly good in either gun.  I would like to try JSBs to see if they are any better than Accupells and if so buy a bulk lot.   

I do have to go to Palmy this morning and will call into Gun City to see what they have.  Hunting & Fishing in Palmy didn't have any last week when I called in.  Also will be going to Napier either tomorrow or Thursday so I'll check both Napier and Hastings if Palmy doesn’t have any.  

Ultimately I'm after one pellet that performs well in both rifles then I will get a bulk lot.   Mail order does get expensive for one tin and no point getting more than one tin if neither rifle likes them.

I think most casual air gunners use what ever is cheapest and so gun shops only stock whatever has the best margins for them. Serious air gunners find what their gun(s) like and then buy them in bulk usually via mail order.  If I can settle on one pellet in each calibre for my guns I will approach the local shops and see if they will order them in for me.   Should cost about the same as mail order within NZ and I prefer to support local business when appropriate.

JSB is generally a good bet for most guns - obviously with exceptions.  Gun City in ChCh had none when I was down there - tried to sell me Gamo 

Magnum Sports in Stratford seem to have plenty of 16 gr and 18 gr in stock at the moment.

I import a lot of JTS pellets from Krale.  Not available in NZ but they seem to work better than anything else I've tried in most of my and my shooting colleagues guns (the reason I bring in so many).

Unfortunately they have been out of stock for several months in the sizes I buy, but that should be fixed in the next week or so apparently.

They're a great airgun - possibly the best.  You should be very happy with it.

Based on the price range you were indicating, no one (other than Myson) bothered suggesting the Weihrauchs.  Had pricing not been too much of an issue then pretty much all of us would have. 

Get rid of some pests and settle into some very accurate target sessions.

Our local club members regularly shoot sub 1/2 inch groups at 25 yards with Weihrauch Air Rifles.

There are several HW97 users who can front with the best pre-charged owners.

Most recently senior member Frank shot this target.

25 yards 4 pellets through same hole HW97.

The HW97 is an excellent air gun.  Many people don't like an under leaver for hunting as they find them slower to reload than a break-barrel.  However they are very very accurate and hitting what your shooting at is the most important thing with any gun.

A HW97K with the thumb hole beach stock is nearly $1700 from Youngs - so under a grand for the gun, the case some targets and some pellets is a very good price as the gun looks to be in near new condition.     

Kruzza , Gun City did not have any JSB pellets at all, nor did they have any 30 cal FX - which my Hatsan likes.   Not sure when or if I will be heading to Napier.  I was taking my daughter to the Palmy hospital for a procedure today and by the time we got home she was feeling like sh*t and has gone straight to bed.   Not sure how she will feel after a night's sleep - but I suspect I'll be staying close to home tomorrow.

I'll probably end up getting a couple of tins of JSB 30 cal from Youngs as the Hatsan likes them too  and get some .22 JSBs to try in my guns. THANKS for the offer though - we will have to have a meetup sometime to checkout each other's Dianas. 

FWIW I did buy a tin of Gun City .22 Javelin Hunter to try ($18 for tin of 200).  They look to be identical to the Stoeger X-Hunt pellets I've already found quite good in both my guns. Ive weighted a few and they are the same as the Stoegers - 16.4gr.  Be interesting to see how well they shoot.

Sadly, no scope comes with the gun. Apparently this scope is over 2k in price. That's the next thing I have to research now I guess. 

As for my budget KiwiTr6....I didn't really have one. I wasn't terribly sure what I wanted, but I was trying to restrain myself from being silly and just going all in.

I spoke to the guy on the phone. Seemed like a lovely fella, and after my own heart, appeared to be fastidious about caring for his things. He's included the gloves he uses while target shooting so as no not touch the metal, the barrel cleaning doodad, "non-stinky" oil and cleaning cloths. 

I notice the adjustable knob on the scope, i remember a vroup of us got some of them from the old forum nzairgunners.co.nz from a member Davey if i remember correctly, the seller might be from thar forum as those knobs are originally for use on fishing rods, I had them on every scope, Id put one on my hawke now if I could find one.

Very nice rifle, good choice, its not a beginners gun, it a purpose built tack driver and will be awesome for targetz and hunting, sniping birds

Mercs' target-face (above) says it all!  And what an excellent price too!

Hopefully it's the high-power version (like mine).  If it is - when you start to test for the best pellet in your particular barrel - do try the Air Arms Diabolo Field 8.4gr 4.52 headsize pellets.  They are the best in my barrel and maybe the best for your's too?

I'm not sure how much you know about airgunning but in case you're just starting out, the HW97KT is very hold sensitive and needs the Artillery Hold and Follow Through techniques to get best accuracy.  There's heaps on Youtube to show you what to do.

With the HW97KT you can shoot accurately out to 100yds (on a still day).  Hence I zero mine at 50yds (in case you need an idea for zero distance).

You're about to have years of fun with that rifle RObO!  Well done.... a great choice!  

PS:  My best shot with my HW97KT .177 was a blowfly on the target-face at 75yds!!!!  Probably got lucky but I like to think it was due to the precision of this exceptional rifle!  Enjoy!

I've just sent you a Private Message (PM) with my phone number.  Do call me if you need advice - there's a lot to discuss!  For example:

Finding your barrel's pellet preference, Artillery Hold, Follow Through, Leading your barrel, Wearing-in, Scope choice (preferred magnification, FFP/SFP, rating, focusing/parallax, etc), creating your ballistics chart, holdover/holdunder method, range-finders, wind effects, blah blah blah..... 

Lots of good stuff to learn over time!

For now, your scope requirements - look at Side Focus Hawke or Element models for starters.  They are all Air Rifle rated, good quality, great reticules, etc...  I personally shoot at x16 magnification so l'd suggest you look for models that include that level at least...  and always use Sportsmatch Rings to mount on your rifle.

Learning how to shoot Air Rifles well is a great journey!  Talk soon.... 

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/marketplace/sports/hunting-shooting/air-guns-parts/air-rifles/listing/5922452298

This is great buy. I would have pushed buy now if I had some spare cash. I love older well used guns.

KiwiTR6 I have sent you a PM (re JTS pellets).

I have just ordered this:

HELIX 4-16X44 FFP with the APR-1C MOA reticule. 

I found Ron Young has rings he thinks will be good on that scope. Sports match HO35c I think it was. 

I'll order those tomorrow.