Looking for a recommendation for a quality pellet rifle to thin out some birds around the farm and barn. This will be used when conditions are not right for the rimfire.
I know 2 steps from nothing about air rifles (other than my old Red Ryder years ago), so help steer me in the right direction and ask me all the questions you need to.
When wife wanted me to get a pellet rifle for mouse/rat control around the barn, I tested various break barrel and multi-pump in .177/.22 at 25 to 50 yards.
While my comparison sampling size was small for .22, my Beeman Kodiak with both .177/.22 barrels produced smaller groups at 25/50 yards due to faster .177 pellets producing flatter trajectory and smaller groups of around 1.5" at 25 yards and around 3" at 50 yards with a 4x scope. (In comparison, .22 pellets produced slightly larger groups)
Are 22's as easy to find as 17's? I only see 17 pellets sitting everywhere.
Is there certain brands to look at and certain ones to stay away from?
Walmart and various sporting goods store around me carry both .177 and .22 pellets with more .177 selection but you can readily find .22 pellets online like Amazon.
Like 22LR, different pellet rifles may be selective with different brand/weight/nose profile of pellets and you may need to conduct your own comparison test to determine which pellet produces smallest groups for your pellet rifle.
I tested all the brands and weights/nose profiles of .177/.22 pellets local Walmart and Bi-Mart carried in my pellet rifles and found Crosman Premier 7.9 grain hollow point pellets to produce consistently smaller groups than others (It was also the lowest cost) -
https://www.amazon.com/Crosman-Hollow-Point-Pellets-0-177-Calibre/dp/B002DM0ZIU/ref=sr_1_3?crid=26T7M3TFZ83ST&keywords=crosman+pellets+.177&qid=1638893757&s=sporting-goods&sprefix=crosman,sporting,248&sr=1-3
Is a break barrel model better than a multi-pumper?
This would depend on several factors:
- If you are going to shoot a lot, pumping 6-8 times on multi-pump to build up pressure can get tiresome and single break-barrel pump may be a better option.
- If you are going to occasionally shoot, then multi-pump would be OK. For me at 55, 4-5 pumps is easy to do for an afternoon plinking session and occasional 6-8 pumps for flatter/smaller groups is very doable.
- Another consideration is noise. Break-barrel with higher muzzle velocities produced definite "crack" and Swiss Arms .177 break-barrel was almost as loud as my 10/22 (But with 4x32 scope it came with, produced around 2" groups at 50 yards). With multi-pump, especially if you are shooting/hunting smaller birds inside the barn, 6-8 pumps will be much quieter.
Pre-charged pneumatic rifle uses cylinders filled with compressed air to eliminate break-barrel pump for each pellet and I believe comes in different calibers all the way to .50 caliber with 22LR or better accuracy. This is a good option if you have physical issues that prevents you from operating the pump lever/barrel. But benefit is faster follow up shots. Of course, PCP rifles cost significantly more at several hundred dollars while break-barrel rifles are around $100-$150+.
Daisy's may be cheap but even after shooting air rifles competitively I have a huge respect for the accuracy abilities with the 880. I've known shooters who could light strike anywhere match's with them at 25 yards. That is unbelievable performance ... and killed pests by the hundreds (sometimes 50+ pigeons per day) and it runs like a top.
Our kids grew up shooting Daisy 880s and many happy memories.
While recovering from a surgery, I wanted to plink from the back porch and found Crosman Legacy 1000 plenty accurate to 25 yards with around 2" groups using Crosman Premier hollow point pellets and 6-8 pumps which maybe enough for OP's purpose.
I am currently thinking about upgrading the Legacy 1000 with 2100 Classic model which is built with metal receiver (I do believe they both share the same barrel though).
BTW, 25 yard accuracy with Crosman 2100 and Crosman Premier 7.9 gr hollow point pellets (Shooting at 2:00 minute of video)