Adult air rifle for survival tool

G

ghcoe

New member
Was wondering if anyone here considered a adult air rifle as a survival tool. They are great for small game, you can carry and stock a lot of ammo, and they do not make much noise.
George.
 
Funny you should mention air guns:

I picked up a Crosman Phantom 1000x Air Rifle .177 w/4x32 Scope for $59 out of boredom a couple weeks ago. I know it's not a pistol, but boy was I pleasantly suprised. The little thing is a tac driver out to 50yds(ish). decent ammo for it runs $8 per 500 and it is pretty much maintenence free. It is fairly quiet and at 1000ft/sec it has some punch to it.

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Definitely a nice little rifle and a great deal at that price if it's in decent shape at all. I been considering acquiring one of the new nitro piston models.
 
I have a Gamo 1200fps Shadow Sport w/3x9 scope, I shoot Turtles two or three days a week. I sighted mine in at around 70 yds. I keep around 2500 .177 pellets on hand. Here I can shoot a gun with no problem, but I prefer shooting without so much noise. It will shoot thru a Turtle shell at 70 yds. I was sighted in at 100 yds which is what the book said to do, but this caused too much mid range height adjusting on a small target in the water. My dogs think Turtle shells are chew bones.
 
Yes, I was referring to the European air rifles. They seem to be of better construction. I am looking at the barrel cocking RWS model 34 in .22 cal.

The PCP air rifles look intriguing and the idea of some having multiple shot capability before recharging is interesting as well. Take a look at this video. These are PCP air rifles being shot at a competition. The guy with the noisy one is shooting a .454 cal pellet. These guns are attached to a SCUBA tank, but can be shot standalone.

YouTube - Luchtbuksfan's Channel

George
 
mpohio said:
Funny you should mention air guns:

I picked up a Crosman Phantom 1000x Air Rifle .177 w/4x32 Scope for $59 out of boredom a couple weeks ago. I know it's not a pistol, but boy was I pleasantly suprised. The little thing is a tac driver out to 50yds(ish). decent ammo for it runs $8 per 500 and it is pretty much maintenence free. It is fairly quiet and at 1000ft/sec it has some punch to it.

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Funny T-shirt

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WHAT! I laid out $80 for the same gun at Wallyworld! I hate shopping there, but my father in law borrowed my last one and fell in love with it so I told him keep it and bought that one.

I needed more eye relief for my Weatherby 300 mag so I bought a new Redfield for it, and put the one from it on the air gun. Squirrels don't have a prayer at 50 yards. :laugh: SWEET gun even at $80.

It's a little long and heavy for a survival gun though I think. I'll take my Ruger 10/22 carbine for that any day.
 
I bought a 1950 ish Crossman .22 cal pellet rifle at a yard sale for 20.00 bucks. It is bolt action type and uses two Co2 cartridges for power with a 14 round tubular magazine. The seals gave out shortly after I started shooting it so I sent it back and Crossman repaired and reconditioned it for 50.00 bucks. Its a fun gun to shoot but I was surprised as to how loud it was. Squirrels don't stand a chance with this rifle. By comparison, those .22 CB shorts made by CCI are nearly silent when fired from my Henry rifle and pack a more of a punch.
 
Yes! I forgot about that. The instructions warn that when they are new they are loud but will settle down after some use. The first t,me I shot it sounded like a .22. wow!

Sounds like you might have a collectors item there.
 
OldOwl said:
Yes! I forgot about that. The instructions warn that when they are new they are loud but will settle down after some use. The first t,me I shot it sounded like a .22. wow!

Sounds like you might have a collectors item there.
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I will upload a pic of the rifle in a few days. I have had it for around 15 years. The stock is solid wood and in very good shape. Its a heavy rifle.
 
OldOwl said:
WHAT! I laid out $80 for the same gun at Wallyworld! I hate shopping there, but my father in law borrowed my last one and fell in love with it so I told him keep it and bought that one.

I needed more eye relief for my Weatherby 300 mag so I bought a new Redfield for it, and put the one from it on the air gun. Squirrels don't have a prayer at 50 yards. :laugh: SWEET gun even at $80.

It's a little long and heavy for a survival gun though I think. I'll take my Ruger 10/22 carbine for that any day.
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Mine was remanned, but I couldn't find a scratch on it. I have read so many reviews that unless you dole out $200, your chances of getting a keeper are slim to none. Most are chinese made and the quality really suffers. I made it a point to shoot as much ammo I could/can through it under the "90"day warranty just to make sure it isn't a lemon.
 
ghcoe said:
Was wondering if anyone here considered a adult air rifle as a survival tool. They are great for small game, you can carry and stock a lot of ammo, and they do not make much noise.
George.
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I agree it's a great tool too few think about.
 
Thanks, I think it would be better to use a reusable propellant to take down small game for food and use the firearms to take out the larger animals....
 
Picked up an old benjamin .177 full real wood stock at an estate auction my great uncle rebuilt the "guts" and at five to seven pumps I would not want to be in front of it!
 
That's the very reason I got one, not to mention a stainless 10/22 and even a wrist supported sling shot among other things... I wonder where I can get anti-zombie slingshot ammo?
 
I'm almost of the mind now that a short-barreled .22 rifle with quiet CB long ammo is a more versatile way to go.
 
I bought a Gamo .17 air rifle about 18-20 years ago. It still works great and is more accurate than I am. One problem that many don't realize is that a conventional scope probably will not work for long on one of these. The characteristic of the recoil is different from a conventional rifle. I used a conventional scope on mine and after a couple of years of not very heavy use, an internal lens shattered. Supposedly the scopes specifically made for these rifles don't have that problem. Thing is, they can cost more than the rifle.
 
Not too proud to admit this one lol.. but as a kid I used to take my old Daisy pump and find diffenet boxes of nails spikes or whatever else would fit in the barrel you'd be very surprised at what will fly straight and accurate out those air guns even if ammo ran out.. I remember nailing a few rats to the ground up at the ol cabin...
 
Bad idea. It's not feasible to carry more than one longarm and the BOB that you don't dare get caught without. Small game is better taken with snares/traps. There are .22lr conversion units for some of the military style fighting rifles, did you know that? $150 or so, weight is 3/4 lb, the parts-swap takes 20 seconds, they group 2" or better at 50 yds. and they offer 30 rds of rapidfire. If you want them to be real quiet, use a CB CAp, and be ready to cycle the bolt manually, bringing up a .22lr rd if need rapidfire to finish off a fleeing cripple, etc.

The 5 lbs of air rifle weighs the same as 700 rds of .22lr. There won't be any game a few months after shtf. Poeple, dog packs and cats will have killed and eaten everything. So, by the time you need no longer fear looters (much, anyway) there will be no game to take with the air rifle. So why bother with it? it's not a trainer for the fighting rifle, like the .22 unit is. A rapidfiring 22 auto-rifle, especially with a silnceer mounted on it, is no joke in a fight, especially at night or in thick cover. When you can normally carry it with 223 softpoints at the ready, swap to .22lr for a specific need, then swap back to 223, that is no more of an "exposure" than cleaning the rifle is! In fact, it' sa lot LESS of an exposure than having a cleaning rod in the bore of your 308, etc. :-)
 
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