How long can spring gun be left cocked?

[PeglegJones]

Have an old Daisy Powerline 856 that I use for squirrels from my deck. How long is it reasonable to leave it cocked and ready? If I have to pump it up when the aqirrel shows up the pumping noise runs them off.

 

[jmorris]

From my life time of dealing with springs the number of times they are cycled makes more difference than how long they sit in either state.

 

[Fast Frank]

Your question conflicts it's self.

"Springer" guns do not need pumping. They cock in a single motion.

"Pump Up" guns do not have springs. They work on compressed air and require multiple pumps to operate.

Springer guns tolerate sitting cocked better than pump up guns, but generally speaking safety dictates storing them in a "Fired" condition.

 

[rcmodel]

Yep.
You don't have a 'springer'.

You have a pump-up pneumatic air rifle.


Leaving it pumped up probably won't hurt the seals over a Period of an hour or two won't hurt it.

But it is likely to leak down to low power by then.

Any chance you can step around the corner, or back in the house to pump it up before taking the shot?

But, in my experience, squirrels don't give a tinkers darn what you do once they get used to you being around.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have ate the wire harness off my truck twice in the last few months.
To the tune of $1,000 damage.

I'm here to tell you, if you want rid of them, trap them.
They are dumber then a sack full of rocks when there is peanut butter & a trap involved!

rc

 

[GLOOB]

I think your gun is a multipump pneumatic? I wouldn't worry about a pneumatic. You are compressing the seals if you set it down and forget about it for days. And then it might leak at lower pressure. But as long as you don't forget it's loaded, just shoot it before you go to bed.

 

[PeglegJones]

Ok thanks to all...new to air guns and obviously screwed my question...takes 10 strokes to cock it and those strokes are quite noisy. Have done the sneak around the corner bit and do trap them. Guess I'll look at a barrel break, maybe that would be better...so one type cock a spring and the other type compresses nitrogen gas?

 

[MedWheeler]

The pneumatic muliti-pump compresses plain-old atmosheric air, not just nitrogen. However, being that nitrogen makes up 79 percent of air, I guess you'd be mostly right.

Yes, a springer draws a piston back against a spring when it's cocked, like a Daisy Red Ryder. Releasing the spring by pulling the trigger causes that piston to race forward, driving a column of air ahead of it; this air pushes the projectile out.

Springers can actually generate a double-recoil effect as the pellet is driven out, and as the piston snaps back into its "relaxed" state. This makes them a little more like shooting a "real" gun, but they should not be shot without an actual projectile to tame the air column and piston's forward movement.

By the way, there is a subforum for air guns down lower on THR's main page. Maybe a moderator will come along here shortly and move this thread there so you'll get some more air gun readers' input.

EDIT: I see where you've tried the airguns forum, and have had difficulties..

 

[ku4hx]

If you pump it, it compresses air. If it has a cartridge, all I've ever seen for this type application were CO2.

 

[danez71]

Ok thanks to all...new to air guns and obviously screwed my question...takes 10 strokes to cock it and those strokes are quite noisy. Have done the sneak around the corner bit and do trap them. Guess I'll look at a barrel break, maybe that would be better...so one type cock a spring and the other type compresses nitrogen gas?

I might be misreading and I don't know a lot about pellet guns.....

I think that in the single cock spinger world there are plain springer and spingers that compress nitrogen.

In the multipump world, those just compress air from the atmosphere that we all breath from

 

[PapaG]

A. Springers compress a spring attached to a piston. Shouldn't leave them cocked for long periods.
B. Nitro piston guns have a piston that compresses nitrogen behind it..no spring, operation is the same as a Springer.
C. Pump up pneumatic compress air with a number of strokes of a lever. Best to keep them stored with one or two pumps (recommendation by Mach one air guns).
D. PCP guns have a reservoir that holds very high pressure and allows a number of shots before needing a recharge.
I have all four and the nitro is quietest, the Springer the cheapest and hardest to shoot, the pump up the most variable and the PCP the easiest to shoot and by far the most expensive.
The nitro in .22 is my go to for backyard pests.

 

[230RN]

Any chance you can step around the corner, or back in the house to pump it up before taking the shot?

Friend of mine recons the yard's squirrel situation, quietly open his back door, takes his scoped Crosman 10-pump 760 to the front of the house, pumps it up, then sneaks back to the back door.

I asked him about his neighbors complaining, but he says they all like the idea of his yard being a "squirrel sink," as he puts it.

 

[danez71]

A. Springers compress a spring attached to a piston. Shouldn't leave them cocked for long periods.
B. Nitro piston guns have a piston that compresses nitrogen behind it..no spring, operation is the same as a Springer.
C. Pump up pneumatic compress air with a number of strokes of a lever. Best to keep them stored with one or two pumps (recommendation by Mach one air guns).
D. PCP guns have a reservoir that holds very high pressure and allows a number of shots before needing a recharge.
I have all four and the nitro is quietest, the Springer the cheapest and hardest to shoot, the pump up the most variable and the PCP the easiest to shoot and by far the most expensive.
The nitro in .22 is my go to for backyard pests.

Thanks for posting this clarification.

Crossman also recommends storing the multipumps with 1-2 pumps as well

 

[Kookla]

A multi stroke pneumatic like those offered by Daisy don't seem to hold air too long if you leave them pumped up. I don't remember where, but if I recall correctly, they are designed that way as a safety feature.

Most Crosman and Benjamin/Sheridan msp's are designed to hold air indefinitely and it's recommended to leave two pumps in them for storage.

I had a Daisy 856 that I used on squirrels long ago. I don't think air lasted overnight if pumped. If you really wanted something ready to go and didn't want to spend a bunch, you could look at a Crosman 2100. I had one and used it on squirrels and it worked good.

 

[Zeke/PA]

Yep.
You don't have a 'springer'.

You have a pump-up pneumatic air rifle.


Leaving it pumped up probably won't hurt the seals over a Period of an hour or two won't hurt it.

But it is likely to leak down to low power by then.

Any chance you can step around the corner, or back in the house to pump it up before taking the shot?

But, in my experience, squirrels don't give a tinkers darn what you do once they get used to you being around.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have ate the wire harness off my truck twice in the last few months.
To the tune of $1,000 damage.

I'm here to tell you, if you want rid of them, trap them.
They are dumber then a sack full of rocks when there is peanut butter & a trap involved!

rc

$ 1,000 worth of damage by squirrels?
And I get angry because the beasts ruin my bird feeders!

 

[PeglegJones]

My neighbor uses a shot gun. He had couple thousand in damage to his cedar deck while he was gone for the winter.