A Little Spirited Debate
My friend K, from Planning and Foresight, and I were on the bus at school (ok... our college has a bus to take us to and from the parking lot that we pay an unholy amount of money to park in) the other day and we were discussing a pellet gun's role in a prepper's bag. He stated that he felt a pellet gun would make a fine addition to the 22, main rifle, and pistol. I raised an eyebrow and told him I felt that a quality pellet gun would make a fine replacement (YES! you read that correctly!!!) for a 22 in a prepper's gear.
K was a bit taken aback, though he is incredibly open minded and level headed. He asked me to support my argument, soooo.... I did. I doubt that I pulled him over to the dark side, but I feel that in the few moments we were on the bus I made a decent enough point. K made the comment toward the end of our conversation that he would like to see me post a discussion on the topic, support it, and see if I could sway anyone my way. That boys and girls, is EXACTLY what I intend to do.
First off, I don't much care where you stand on this subject. I don't care if you think I'm wrong, I encourage debate, just know before you post something, I am right... :) I don't say this because I'm arrogant, I say it because its true, and ok... I'm pretty arrogant. I have done the testing though, I have run the numbers, I have measured the velocities, I have done the penetration tests, I have collected the bullets and pellets and measured their weights. Its all been done, and guess what, I've done it. The reason I got into the "air gun scene" so intensely is because I had already compared them to 22s and I knew what they were capable of. I don't have most of that data anymore but I do intended to replace it. I learned a lot and I intended to learn you boys and girls up real nice.
Secondly, I dont care what you put in your bag. You know what the difference is between your bag and mine? Your ass has to deal with your bag, not me. My goal isn't to get you to pull that custom Tactical Solutions 10/22 with suppressor out of your bag. Hell, if you have that kind of coin I'm not sure that I'm even talking to you right now. My goal is to make you think and to give you a solution to a problem you might have, like for instance not having 1500 bucks to spend on a tricked out 22.
Thirdly, keep an open mind. Don't rush to your "my daddy said, or the man on the tv said, or the butt weasels from blah blah magazine said," just read, consider, contemplate, use your damn noggin! I will go ahead and say though, that what I present will not apply to everyone. I am using examples relevant to people in similar situations as myself. Now lets get started.
Lets talk about Range!
Lets move on to Ammo!
Got to have that Power!
The noise aspect, Silence!
So lets recap, the range category in all practicality is a tie, the 22lr wins in power, and pellet rifles take the noise, and ammo categories handily while retaining the needed power to bring down the same game you would hunt with 22lr. Lets not forget what all the ammo category entails as well, thats carrying capacity, diversity of rounds, square footage taken for storage, ability to produce your own, and cost per round.
I guess my overall point is this; If you don't have a good quality air gun in your "end of society" arsenal, you should. They just make sense. A few years ago, I don't think I would have felt so strongly on the subject, but with ammo prices the way they are (and don't be so naive as to expect them to come down) it has become nearly impossible to stockpile 22lr. The days of casually plinking with 22 are coming to an end. I hate to say it, I really do, but the 22 is no longer the plinker's choice, its becoming pellets more and more every day. If nothing else, you owe it to yourself to own an air gun for practice's sake.
You may own plenty of 22s, but how often do you shoot them? I don't shoot mine nearly enough, BUT I stay on my game with my air guns. As a matter of fact, thats how one of my uncles kept his skills up and even honed them during a very nasty divorce. He got me started into air guns and told me no matter how broke he was he always had enough money to buy a tin of pellets. For the first time in my life I am consistently broke and responsible enough to admit it, so, I shoot pellet guns. The timing, pull, and holds you perfect on a pellet gun transfers to the real thing.
Even if I haven't convinced you to get yourself a decent airgun for your prep. bag or as your new critter getter, you owe it to yourself to have one around to practice with. Your never too poor for two things in life, good toilet paper, and a tin of pellets.
As always, stay safe and keep it classy.
10 comments:
I don't mind some vulgarity, but inappropriate comments, attacks, and general ignorance are not things I tolerate. I encourage discussion and debate, I don't much care for hissy man fights. If I feel your not contributing to the education of others or the betterment of the website, you will be removed from it. Other than that, have fun and give me some feedback!
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I just reread your essay. Very well done, and entertaining at several points. I can still say that I'm not completely sold on the idea of replacing my 22LR with a pellet rifle, but rather adding on to my arsenal. Well done.
ReplyDeleteIt was never really my intention to sway opinions one way or the other, I just wanted to get you thinking K, thats all. It would seem as though I accomplished my goal, so I'm happy.
DeleteThe airgun enthusiast will tell you about the serious airguns all the way up to the .50 caliber range and proclaim their superiority. However you did put down the price tag thing which means you are NOT talking about those high end compressed air weapons. I am assuming you are speaking of the current line of high FPS but lower cost airguns that many companies are offering for around the $200.00 range.
ReplyDeleteIn many ways they can replace the .22 but my experience with the one I own does have some drawbacks. The size and weight of it to get that much power and FPS is prohibitively BIG and LONG. The ones I have seen are mostly break barrel designs therefore single shot only and not easily loaded with gloves on. Vibration tends to mess up the scope often and since it's break barrel you can't put a sling on it comfortably.
It's a huge hunk of plastic and metal to be carrying around.
On the plus side you could make a pellet mold easily and be using a pellet gun long after everyone runs out of .22 ammo.
I do have one rifle that is fairly heavy, my RWS 48, other than it though my rifles tend to weigh in the 6 lbs. range. The fastest rifle I have weighs less than 7 with scope.
DeleteAs far as scopes are concerned yes, they are often rattled to death, but that is usually not the fault of the scope OR the air gun. I suppose I will have to do a section on the physics behind this. Spring air guns recoil twice and in two different directions. Far too often people put rimfire scopes on air rifles and get upset when they break. The rimfire scope isn't designed for the amount of recoil delivered by a high power spring gun. My RWS 48 has a Hawke 2.5 to 10 power scope on it that ran me 160 at the time. Optics with air guns are no different than they are with powder burners, you can buy cheap crap and be disappointed OR you can buy good stuff the first time and never have to fool with it again.
Regarding what I am speaking of in terms of price, I would say between 200 and 600 is my target area. I have rifles that I paid 200 for, they have plenty of squirrels under their belt. I also have a 600 dollar 22 caliber that I can hit a golf ball size target at 100 yards with (http://cheapshooting.blogspot.com/2013/07/those-lovely-48s.html). My goal is simply to provide an alternative option. A few years ago I would never have paid that much for a pellet guy, but with the price of 22lr the way it is it really doesn't take long for the pellet rifle to break even and start being more cost effective.
On the making a mold note, perhaps not quite as easily as you may think; though that is an issue I addressed in the ammo section as well as provided a link to where they could be purchased. You see pellets require a diabolo shape in order to achieve maximum accuracy. This isn't a particularly easy thing to replicate, you also need to consider that pellets typically require swaging to achieve that shape, this isn't something that is going to be easy to make a mold for unless you have access to a much nicer machine shop than I do.
A mold could be made easily from rubber actually. I have made many of them from military sculpts in the 15 mm line. Conclave in the butt of the pellet would be a bit of a problem but its't needed.
DeleteThey wouldn't need to be swagged they would need to be sized and a .177 sizing die is available although hard to find.
Concave? Actually yes preppy, concavity is fairly important, thats what stabilizes the pellet in flight. Try shooting .177 bbs and compare the accuracy to a skirted pellet you will see what I mean.
DeleteTraining my two boys (8 and 7) you and K have brought up a good point. I had a pellet gun as a kid, along with a .22 rifle. They have a cricket they practice with now, shooting CB Shorts will get expensive as ammo goes up. I think I may investigate further into a pellet gun for them. Thanks for the weel written post.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Im glad to help!
DeleteThis is a great post. I've had several air guns over the years. One of the oldest is a Sheridan " Blue Streak " 5m/m cal. The other is a Crossman, don't remember what type, but it shot 177 cal pellets and/or BBs. I bought two kits years ago for both of them, for when the pumps, leather and things would finally give out. I've never had to replace them. They are still shooting. And shooting just as good, if not maybe better then the day they were bought.
ReplyDeleteThe newest one is a Remington Vantage 1200, break barrel, in 177 cal. It shoots real good. I've used all of these over the years. And like you, have taken lots of game. The Crossman has NEVER had a BB down the barrel.
Get some repair kits for you air guns, just in case. They are a great Idea. And should be in everyone's preps. Plus, check yard sales and such. Some times you can find a good deal on a older air rifle.
The old C series Sheridan rifles are on my list! I would LOVE to get ahold of one, I am envious sir, congratulations! The old leather seals have been done away with some years ago, its a shame really they worked quite well and with proper oiling they would stay good for years! The new trend is Delrin, I keep a few seals on hand just in case, a spring or two for the RWS, and I could literally build a Crosman 1377 from parts. I'm glad to see another air gun lover make his way onto my little corner of the internet, its nice to be in good company and thank you for the compliments!
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