Air Rifle (Pre charged pneumatic)?

Question

what pcp air rifle should i get to go small game hunting.
around 500$ or less.

Thank you all

Answer 1

The best air rifle for small game under 500$ would be the Benjamin Maruader, 1000 FPS in .22 and its quiter than a whisper. Producing around 30 FPE it is good for squirrels and rabbits out to 70-80 yards, and bigger game like racoons and groundhogs out to 40 with headshots. With a 10 round clip you can have a quick follow-up shot if needed.

Answer 2

Another vote for the Benjamin Discovery. As far as I know its the only option that comes with both the gun and charging equipment for under $500. And with 20-21 ft-lbs of muzzle energy its got plenty of power for small game hunting out to beyond 50 yards. Which is good because its accurate enough for shots on small game at those distances. Since $400 covers everything... I think its your best option.



The Eun Jin Sumatra 2500, Air Venturi Halestorm and Benjamin Katana, and Benjamin Marauder all four retail in the $400-$500 range for just the gun. If you can scrape up the money to buy the charging equipment (usually another $100) they'd also work nicely. The Marauder and Halestorm are 10 shot repeaters with around 30 ft-lbs of muzzle energy. The Katana is an upgraded Discovery (match triggers, choked barrel, no iron sights, and a stock designed to be more comfortable when using a scope). It should have the same energy as a standard Discovery but be a bit more accurate. The Sumatra 2500 is a 6 shot repeater that's an absolute powerhouse at 50+ ft-lbs of muzzle energy. Accuracy is good enough for shots out to at least 50 yards on most small game animals. Any one of those would be a dandy small game rifle, but I think that when you include the charging equipment you'll probably be looking at around $600.

Answer 3

The .22 caliber Benjamin Discovery($400) makes a nice small game air rifle.

http://www.pyramydair.com/p/benjamin-discovery-air-rifle.shtml

The $400 includes a hand pump. The Discovery should give you 35 shots at around(800fps to 835fps with 14.3gr pellets / 20-22ft-lbs)** per charge



**Tom Gaylord did report a string of 25 shots with his .22 caliber Discovery that averaged 856fps with 14.3gr pellets(23.3ft-lbs) >That's pretty impressive for a $250 PCP



The Discovery is accurate enough and powerful enough to make clean, humane kills on small game(rabbit, squirrel, etc) out to around 50 yards.



If you wanted to go just a bit higher, for $599 you can get one of the most powerful(65ft-lbs), high quality .22 caliber air rifles that I know of. The Evanix Hunting Master AR6

http://www.pyramydair.com/p/evanix-ar6-hunting-master-air-rifle.shtml

The $600 is just for the rifle, you would need to add a scope and pump>or HPA tank

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Added:



Benjamin Discovery vs Marauder



Marauder - for one thing you can't just take a manufacturers "claim of - up to maximum muzzle velocity-" then plug in any weight pellet you choose to come up with a "pipe dream" muzzle energy



The Marauder does have a much nicer trigger, along with some interesting technological advances over the Discovery and a 10rd magazine compared to the single shot Discovery ,but what it is not is significantly more powerful. The .177 caliber Discovery is around 19-20ft-lbs the .177 caliber Marauder is around 20-21ft-lbs. And while I don't have good numbers(chronograph) for a .22 caliber Marauder I can't see the performance just taking a wild leap forward, not when you're taking about the same powerplant for the .22 as the .177



Even "IF" the .22 Marauder did get 30ft-lbs of muzzle energy(fat chance) >It "might" top out at 24ft-lbs. It costs twice as much as the Discovery. Heck the .22 Evanix AR6(65ft-lbs) only costs $100 more than a Marauder, and it's a time tested high quality rifle.

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Later:



I see that "someone" found the TD button, but forgot to include a good(reliable) source showing the Marauder at 30ft-lbs



Tom Gaylord - one of the foremost airgun experts

http://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2009/06/benjamin-marauder-part-5.html

His article shows a 50 shot string(chronograph) for the .177 caliber Benjamin Marauder. The high water mark is a reading of 952fps with 10.5gr Crosman Premiers or 21.1ft-lbs

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Hammerli Pneuma - This will allow you to compare specs, side by side

http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/compare.pl?models=1796,1543,1774,942&model_type=models

As for the Pneuma, Straightshooters.com is very high on the rifle, and they're a fairly tough bunch to impress.

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"J Kirsch" has informed me that the Marauder does come with an adjustment tool that allows the user to set the power level high enough, so that the rifle can reach a muzzle energy of 30ft-lbs. So I stand corrected.

Answer 4

My wife and I have run across this amazing discount store and got one there. Not really remarkable upon their shipment speed however does save approximately 81% and very happy to have this discount. The quality is actually great and till now never find any issues.