Another repost… Newbie Guide to Airgunning

So I know that some of you here wont (or cant, you heathen) go to the Yellow so I figured I’d repost here a little post I did this afternoon upon getting home from work. Dont let the long post scare you off. I know there are no pics and it’s more than 3 sentences, but you can do it!

So you want to get into airgunning? You have a tendency to go outside the norm a bit, maybe you want to shoot in your backyard, perhaps you wish to hone your skills at shooting, or perhaps even relieve some stress…

If you’ve made it far enough to view this post, you have obviously gotten started by searching the Internet for information. You’ll soon realize that upon asking any question, you will be greeted with “Use search!” or “Google is your friend!”. Fear not… while it’s true that there is a lot of information out there, there still are those willing to entertain questions for you. I realized this first when researching a burning laser… I’d seen videos of guys using them to burn through paper and so forth and thought ‘wow, if I had one of those as a kid, I would have been burning ants and bugs all the time!’ So…what does a grown man want with a burning laser? To burn ants and bugs, of course! In any case, I went to a laser forum looking for information on how to build my own from a broken Blue Ray disc burner and some other bits. I was in unfamiliar territory and asked questions… I, too, was greeted with “Google is your friend!” Well, hell… I know about Google, but I’m asking HERE. I ended up finding the information I needed despite all this…and you will, too. Fear not.

That said, please note that in airgunning circles, there are some questions that DO generate responses, but have been hashed over and over and over. These include:

What airgun for the ‘Zombie Apocalypse?’
HW97 vs TX200
What is the best pellet for?

To save yourself time, here is the consolidated answers for the above.
1. Grow up
2. You wont go wrong either way
3. Test for yourself; each gun is different

But I digress… your first area of consideration with getting started in airgunning is to figure out your budget. After you’ve figured out your budget, double that. You may as well buy once, cry once. If possible, try some different guns from other airgunners in your area. Then TRIPLE your budget.
After figuring your budget and doubling or tripling accordingly, you’ll need to figure out how to hide the guns (yes, there will be more than one) from your significant other.
While doing that, think of your responses to those on the internet as to why you DON’T need to hide your purchases. For example, “my wife understands and dont care what I spend” or “I make the money, I will spend it on whatever I want”. …and if you truly DO have an understanding significant other (I have to learn to use that word over ‘wife’… political correctness and all… /sarcasm) then you will still want to hide your purchases. Why? Because it’s fun to be sneaky.

Familiarize yourself with the type of power plant for the airgun you wish to purchase. There is a wealth of information out there. Remember, Google is your friend. happy.gif Decide on your intended use for your airgun. While it’s cool to say you have a .25 caliber Condor putting out 80fpe, it’s not very practical for killing black dots on paper. Studies have shown that the fpe required on impact to kill a black dot is fairly low… and if you go the PCP route and bottle gun at that, you will not want to be continually pumping up the gun with a hand pump (which we will go into later)
Be prepared that if you ask ‘what gun should I buy’ on the forum, the ONLY correct response should be ‘what is your intended purpose’. Any other replies are fanbois for various manufacturers. If you decide that your intended purpose is hunting, then be realistic about power levels. For now, completely get velocity out of your head. Think in terms of FPE. Personally, I turn down the majority of my PCP’s in .22 to around 24fpe. It saves air and quite frankly, if I cannot kill it with 24fpe, I likely wont kill it with 30fpe. More is not often better. But I will admit it’s pretty cool to have a DAQ pumping out massive FPE numbers… but we are talking beginner stuff here.

A note here…if you’ve read up at all, you probably realize that spring piston airguns are not as accurate as many PCP airguns, right? WRONG! Spring piston airguns are typically harder to shoot more accurately than PCP airguns though. My advice is if you choose to buy a spring piston gun, then buy a good quality gun and if you want to scope it, invest in a good quality scope. …and then practice. A lot. You will get there.

Now when you read ‘good quality’ you are probably thinking big bucks. Not always. I am certainly not a scope snob. There are those who will poo poo all over some brands and you wont change that. For a decent rugged scope, I have had really good luck with the Leapers brand. Some have not. I have Leapers on some of my most powerful recoiling springers, a Beeman Kodiak, an RWS 54 and a Webley Patriot. I have not had a failure. Your mileage may vary.

To go along with your scope, don’t cheap out on rings. Save yourself a lot of time and trouble and get dedicated airgun rings. Buying .22 rimfire rings from Xmart is a recipe for frustration.

Pellet selection is another area for you to consider. Here is a tip. If you are buying a spring piston airgun, invest in a pellet sampler kit. Just do it. If you are buying anything else, you will likely be safe in trying JSB’s, Premiers, or H&N’s. For now, don’t worry about pellet shape. Gimmick pellets rarely live up to hype. Don’t be a complete noob and run out and buy Gamo PBA’s. They are gold plated rat turds. After you’re established in airgunning a while, pick some up so you can see just how useless they really are. For now, don’t be concerned with shape, weight, ballistic coefficient, voodoo or anything else… just concentrate on what shoots accurately in your gun. All else will fall into place.

Speaking of accuracy, set realistic goals for what you want to accomplish. Accuracy is a relative term. I have a cheapo $10 Chinese springer that I find to be exceedingly accurate for its intended purpose. Why? Because its intended purpose is shooting at cans thrown into the air to work on quick kill skills. Not that I think I will be attacked by flying cans, but it’s a challenge and just a fun party trick.
Accuracy in airguns depend on many factors and finding the balance can often be a chore. My personal benchmark for most gun is can I reliably hit a spoon spinner at 40 yards. If so, I’m generally happy. Now with some of my higher end guns, I want to do much better…but as a rule, if I can do that, I’m good. Set your own realistic expectations, but don’t be afraid to work on what is typically the most limiting factor with most mid to high end airguns (and some low end airguns) that is the loose nut behind the scope.

OK, we have some basics. Let’s now look at some more advance airgunning tools.
The chronograph is an absolute must have…if you want to constantly be chasing after velocity (remember you shouldn’t be speaking that word for right now) shot count, deviation, and extreme spread. Honestly, I was much happier in the beginning when I had no idea what velocity or shot count I was getting, and not running endless streams of chrony strings on my guns. Note I said ‘in the beginning’. As time progresses, you will learn the benefit of a chronograph. They are an invaluable tool in your airgunning endeavor.

Next is a carbon fiber tank rather than a hand pump. Obviously, this is if you choose to go the PCP route. Sure… do as most do and spend out the money for a hand pump. You will convince yourself that ‘It will be good exercise’ and it cant be that bad. Then go out and buy a carbon fiber tank. Look, let’s be honest here. I’ve been to multiple airgun shows. I’ve seen a lot of airgunners. I can tell you now that physical fitness is not foremost in the minds of most. Sure, there are some who will hand pump. Maybe they have a small tank on their airgun and pumping really isnt much of a chore. Maybe they really DO use it for exercise (though if hand pumping your airgun is the only exercise you get, you need to re-evaluate your lifestyle choices), maybe they are just being stubborn because someone told THEM in the beginning to buy a tank and dammit they aren’t going to cave! But airgunning is about enjoyment and the simple fact is…pumping up an airgun is not enjoyable. Get a tank. But… as a popular vendor here on the forum states in his website: DONT BUY MY TANKS…. until you know for sure you have a way to fill them! A dive shop, a fire station you are good with…something. And if you have more money than you know what to do with, screw it…just buy a HPA compressor. Bottom line is pumping sucks. Buy a tank.

Tinkering vs shooting. Hey, there are some of us who get as much enjoyment out of this hobby (some call it a sport…whatever… ) by tinkering with their guns as they do shooting them. I tend to fall into this category and I think most of us do at times. We will note an issue, perceived or real, and will go through the gun and tear it apart and back together again in hopes of more shots, better consistency, etc. If you go this route, congratulations! You are firmly hooked and there is no going back. If you do tend to be this type of person, go with a cheap gun you wont mind messing up. Buy a QB78 to tinker with… they are like the cheapo Mr. Potato head of the airgunning scene. You’ll learn a lot from one of these. First thing you’ll notice likely upon tearing it down is the mushed up transfer port where the air or gas comes from the valve up into the barrel to push the pellet out. You may look at this and wonder how can such a little ‘defect’ affect velocity. Think about it like this: When you wake up in the morning and have some dried crusties in your nose, how easy is it to breathe through said nose? Pretty difficult, right? Dig those suckers out and look how much easier it is. Same with a transfer port on an airgun. Make sure it is unobstructed and the results will be rewarding. Cleaning, polishing and deburring internals will also yield great results, just be careful with the cleaning agents used as many can damage seals.
For springers, the question often comes up on tuning. To tune or not to tune. No disrespect to the tuners out there… I have professionally tuned guns and I have guns that I have tuned. For ME, I can tell no difference. That said, there is a certain pride in ownership of a professionally tuned gun. If you are the type who don’t want to tinker, or just wants the utmost out of your equipment…sure, get it pro tuned. If you like to tinker, give it a go. There are many tutorials out there and strip down guides. Dont be intimidated if you don’t have a spring compressor. Put on your big boy britches and go for it. I have changed out springs in a Kodiak without a spring compressor. It can be done. Can it be done safely? Probably not. Not by me at least, but it ‘can’ be done. I’m sure if you don’t mind tinkering on a gun, you probably don’t mind building a simple spring compressor to tinker on your gun with.

Do you even need to have it tuned? Why tune a brand new gun? That depends on you. Most springers will calm down after a couple tins of pellets. Some do not. All will benefit from a tune. To what degree is open to interpretation. I’ve had guns that were very easy to shoot, but twangy as all hell. I’ve also had at least one gun that was professionally tuned and I STILL couldn’t hit anything with it. To tune or not to tune is a question that only you can answer because only you know your expectations, willingness to tinker, and budget.

So…speaking of the gun I had professionally tuned that I couldn’t hit with. Lets talk about another subject. Selling airguns. Think long and hard about this. Some people can sell airguns and not think a thing about it. Some people will buy a dog the day after theirs dies. Not judging, just saying. If you have doubts on selling a gun, just don’t. Wait a while before pressing the ‘post now’ button on the classifieds. I have regretted most guns I’ve sold. The one I referred to earlier was a beautiful walnut stocked Webley Tomahawk. Not the later crop made in Turkey, either. This was a stunning gun in .25 caliber. Some of you reading now are nodding because you know where I am going with this. I was fairly new to airgunning and certainly new to quality airguns and higher powered springers. I couldn’t hit squat with this gun. I ended up sending off to a well known tuner and got it back. I was expecting miracles. Guess what? I still couldn’t hit squat with it. I ended up selling that gun cheap and I’ve regretted it ever since. Especially now that I’m more seasoned and I KNOW I could shoot it well now.
Just think before you sell. Unless you have an English made Tomahawk in .25 caliber you want rid of cheap. In that case, hit me up. Walnut stock only, please.

There is so much more to get into here, but this is all the inspiration that I had while sitting in traffic on the way home from work today. With my inspiration running low and my stomach growling, I will now close by saying the following:
If you’ve made it this far in my drivel, you are either a true noob looking for information. In that case, please remember that the world is full of ‘sh_t house lawyers’. Take the information given on the web with a grain of salt. There are some good points in my post (I think) but the majority of it is sarcasm and poking fun…which leads me to my next and most likely audience, which is the seasoned airgunner who opened this post looking to learn something new or to poke holes in what was written. In either case, I hope you found some of it worthwhile and entertaining. Any advice herein is worth exactly what you paid for it. I do, however, commend you for getting this far and appreciate your reading it.