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Education / Training 2011 Christmas gift ideas

2011 Christmas gift ideas

by B.B. Pelletier

This is a report I do every year to help wives and friends of airgunners with gift suggestions. There have been a lot of exciting new guns this year, and I’ll mention the ones I would pick, as well as a couple classics.

Dan Wesson revolver
One of the hottest, most desirable new guns is the Dan Wesson revolver. I’ve reported on the one that has an 8-inch barrel, but there are also revolvers with 6-inch, 4-inch and 2.5-inch barrels. These guns have the same mechanism and operate the same, but there are finish and slight design differences. Also, the shorter the barrel, the slower the velocity. They’re all priced the same, so ask your airgunner what he or she likes best and go for it. I haven’t seen a BB revolver this nice — ever! Be sure to also buy lots of CO2 cartridges and Daisy zinc-plated BBs so the fun will last. If your shooter doesn’t have a BB trap (a metal pellet trap will NOT work safely), get the Crosman 850/852 BB/pellet trap.

Crosman M4-177 multi-pump rifle
This is another new airgun that’s been a real doorbuster at Pyramyd AIR this year. Crosman’s M4-177 multi-pump pneumatic rifle is based on their classic model 760 Pumpmaster; but unlike that gun, this one features a rifled barrel. When I tested it a week ago, it was surprisingly accurate with lead pellets. It’s also good with steel BBs, but BBs are never as accurate as pellets. Like the Dan Wesson revolvers, the M4 is selling fast, so order soon to ensure you get one in time for the holidays. Keep in mind that the gun you’ll get will be marked M417, which was the original name. Beginning in January, Crosman will start shipping guns marked M4-177, making the M417-marked guns collector items.

Beeman P17 pistol
The Beeman P17 pistol is a classic! It’s a Chinese copy of the German-made Beeman P3 pistol, but in all our testing, this one has proven to be just as accurate and powerful. The price is incredible for what you get. I’ve owned two and find them stunning in performance. If your airgunner is a target shooter or just likes to plink in the yard, here’s a gun for under $40 that will thrill everyone who shoots it.

Air Venturi Bronco
The three guns listed so far are ideal for use in the house, as long as there’s a safe range. They’re relatively quiet, and their power is suited to target shooting at close range. There’s one more pellet rifle to add to this list, and that’s the Bronco from Air Venturi. It’s super-accurate, quiet, easy to cock and built for older youth and adults, alike. The straight comb of the Western-style stock makes sighting with the open sights a breeze because the rifle comes up so naturally. The Bronco is one of those “heirloom” airguns that your kids will hand down to their grandchildren in time, yet it’s surprisingly affordable. There isn’t a spring-piston air rifle at twice the price that’s as nice.

Non-airgun stuff that most airgunners need
If you really want to surprise your airgunner, give something unexpected. Most of us begrudge buying airgun accessories, yet we tend to use them for decades once we have them. By giving them as gifts, you overcome the shooter’s reluctance to treat himself to something he probably really needs.

Shooting bench
All airgunners need a table, or what we call a bench, to support our rifles when we sight in. Most of us shoot off a bench more than any other way, and for those shooters this item is ideal. The MTM Case-Gard Predator shooting table is lightweight, sturdy and highly portable so your shooter can use it wherever he shoots. Indoors and out, this is a very handy accessory for the shooter who’s hard to satisfy.

Rifle rest
The MTM Case Gard Predator rifle rest is one of the better deals in the non-airgun category. It’s priced for just a fraction of what rifle rests normally cost, yet I have found it works better than many rests costing $200 and up. It’s lightweight, highly portable, adjustable and easy to set up. The one thing it does not do is absorb recoil. If your shooter needs something to do that, this isn’t the rest to buy. But for all other rifle rest jobs, this is a good one.

Pellet trap
Here’s an item that airgunners won’t usually buy for themselves, yet they all need one! It’s a pellet trap. There are many grades of pellet traps; but if you just want one trap that does it all, get this Champion heavy-duty metal trap. It’ll stop bullets from rimfire rifles that are far more powerful than the most powerful smallbore air rifle, so there’s absolutely no worries if your shooter uses a trap like this. I’ve shot through several lesser traps in my career, but my heavy duty metal trap has taken over a quarter million hits and still works like new. It was some of the best money I ever spent.

Stocking stuffers
We always need those gifts that cost very little but mean a lot, and with airguns there are plenty of them. I’m not going to recommend pellets, because they need to be ordered by caliber, and it matters greatly from gun to gun what you use. So, pellets are best left to the airgunner to pick.

Targets
Can’t have too many targets. We need them for both rifles and pistols. There are different sizes for each because of accuracy and aiming issues. For air rifles, I like the Champion 12-bull air rifle target. They come in a pack of 100, but I cut them up with scissors and get many times the number of targets from a pack. For air pistols, I like the National Target single-bull air pistol target. I buy several packs of 100 at a time, because this is one of the most useful targets I have. I can also use them for air rifles out to 100 yards.

I also like the novel Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C targets that turn from black to green when hit. They are fun at close range for testing action pistols and at long range, where they show the hits more vividly than any other kind of target. They’re pricier than other kinds of targets but are excellent for rewarding yourself when you want to have extra fun at the range.

Other stuff
I like the Walther CSL50 rechargeable flashlight. It’s main value is that it lives in your car’s cigarette lighter, where it charges when the car is running (and doesn’t when your car is off) and is always there to grab. It’s bright enough for any task and probably the first thing you’ll reach for on that dark and stormy night when things go bad. You don’t even have to be an airgunner to want this one!

If you want a conventional tactical flashlight, try the Walther flashlight. It puts out 60 lumens of light, which is borderline for night defense, but it will turn night into day for anything you need. You can also inspect guns with this light. I even use one of similar brightness for “painting” my photos with light. It runs on 2 CR123A batteries and lasts a long time if used sparingly. I get about a year’s use from a set of batteries in mine. Again, this is a gift you can enjoy even if you’re not an airgunner.

I shouldn’t do this, but I also recommend the Walther black tactical folder. I like knives. Although this isn’t exactly my classic style, I got it because I couldn’t say no. It’s the coolest looking folding knife I own — and as a collector, I own quite a few folders. It just feels good and substantial in your hand; and if your airgunner likes knives, I think this one will please him or her.

Well, that’s my list for this year. Of course, there’s a lot more, but these are the things I think are universal enough to please even the most jaded airgunner. If you don’t have other ideas, this will give you a place to start.

author avatar
Tom Gaylord (B.B. Pelletier)
Tom Gaylord, also known as B.B. Pelletier, provides expert insights to airgunners all over the world on behalf of Pyramyd AIR. He has earned the title The Godfather of Airguns™ for his contributions to the industry, spending many years with AirForce Airguns and starting magazines dedicated to the sport such as Airgun Illustrated.

46 thoughts on “2011 Christmas gift ideas”

  1. The Champion heavy-duty metal trap is definitely money well spent. I’ve used it for both my magnum springers and my Ruger 10/22T. It absolutely does the job with no worries.

  2. Let’s see now….
    What do I want ? What do I want ?

    I need to repair and retread my pellet trap. More duct seal and steel plate.
    More pellets are on the way, so I don’t need them.
    Broken scope going back for replacement. That will be taken care of.
    Vortek for R9#2 on the way.
    Could use a Diana 34. Everyone should own one some time. Could use a AA S510 carbine. Everyone should have one some time. But what would I do with them.

    I guess I should just stock up on beer.

    twotalon

  3. I’ve had my eye on that Bronco for some time. I bought only one gun this year, an FWB 700 Alu, best purchase I ever made, so I’m really jonesing for a new AG. Got my eye on the new M417, the S&W M&P 45, and of course the Bronco.

    But alas, shooting season is over for the year. But I think next spring, Pyramyd is going to get a substantial portion of my savings!

    Also have my eye on the Air Force Edge. I’m a sucker for an accurate AG.

  4. Unfortunatly BB it looks like being a lean mean Christmas this side of the pond.
    Another tin of JSB’s would be good 🙂
    I had a terrible nightmare last night which helped put things in perspective though.
    I managed to destroy my HW99 by fitting a home made electronic silencer to it.
    Electronic silencer?….(it was a nightmare after all so anything is possible)
    This device generated so much heat it burned holes in the barrel and scorched the wood stock.
    I cannot describe my feelings as I disposed of the charred remains.Terrible.
    What inspired this awful dream I think was me last night watching an episode of ‘Son of Guns’,where they put a full fit suppressor onto an AK47/74 and are pooping it as to whether this thing will blow itself apart.
    Come morning I awoke with that lovely feeling of relief that you get when ‘It was only a dream’.
    I was going to say something deep and meaningful about not getting what you want but wanting what you have already got.
    Never mind that,just make sure you DON’T watch ‘Sons of Guns’ before bedtime is the lesson here.
    DaveUK

    • Dave,

      We really are living in a world community! You are seeing Sons of Guns? I can remember ten years ago when German visitors were telling me about the latest episodes of Dallas, which had been off the air here for 15 years.

      And I can remember trying to talk to UK friends about Fawlty Towers and they were telling me it had been cancelled ten years earlier!

      So, I bet you see Pawn Stars, also?

      As for enjoying what you already have, you bet that is the best way to be satisfied. I find I’ve reached a point in life where the acquisition of new guns isn’t as exciting as it once was. What I like is finding time to enjoy the guns I already have. A leisurely day at the range is like a week’s holiday for me.

      B.B.

      • BB:
        Pawn stars,American pickers,American restoration,Storage wars,Hardcore Pawn all currently being watched by Mrs UK and myself.
        At a recent Race night charity event I adopted the Storage Wars Dave Hestor ‘Yerp’ when bidding on a horse.
        Loads of folk at the venue recognised it,so safe to say these shows are pretty popular over here.
        DaveUK

        • DaveUK

          American ‘reality’ shows are making it over to jolly old England? On behalf of legions of Americans, I apologize. My favorite reality show is Antiques Roadshow. Yes, I think it qualifies. The best episodes are those from England, because you blokes have all the really cool old stuff. My least favorite reality show? “Jersey Shore.” I have never actually watched an episode, but you don’t have to open up a manhole to know what lies beneath.

          I hope that Father Christmas finds his way to the Peat estate this year. If memory serves correctly, I believe Saint Nicholas is the patron saint of pawn shops. really.

          I recently bought a Vortek kit (same as twotalon mentioned above) for my HW50S but wanted to shoot the gun a good bit before installing the kit so I could get a good baseline for comparison. The more I shoot the rifle, the smoother it gets.

          • Slinging Lead:
            You think ‘Jersey Shore’ might be bad,you wont want to watch our cut price version ‘Geordie Shore’ then.
            Set in Newcastle(north east England).
            Some of the girls on that show I wouldn’t know whether to ask them out or offer them out(fight).

            The best episodes of Antique road show UK is where the greedy relative gets his hopes built up by the expert and has to pretend to be happy when the price is not what he hoped for.
            ‘Oh £100,really? :(‘
            That will teach them for trying to sell the family silver lol

            Well as long my HW99/50s keeps doing what it’s doing no spanner of mine is going near it.
            Especially after that nightmare I had…..Ooh no.
            DaveUK

  5. I really like B.B.’s annual Christmas gift ideas. This list usually makes me aware of something that PA has carried for years but I still overlooked.

    This years item is the walther rechargable light. Not often that I need a flashlight when I’m in the car but when I do I usually realize too late that I don’t change the batteries often enough LOL! What a great idea.

    Edith,

    I went to PA’s website and tried to click on “specifications” and nothing came up. The item description doesn’t give the size. Based on that one little picture showing the flashlight charging in the cigarette lighter it appears to be about 3″-4″ long?

    kevin

    • Kevin,

      I never even noticed that link on the pages for the accessories. There’s no way to fill in any specs for accessories, so I’m not sure why that link is listed there. I’ve asked IT to remove it since it’ll only be confusing.

      The flashlight is very small. I just measured it, and it’s just 2″ long. When you add the cigarette lighter charging adapter, it’s 2-3/8″ long. I’ll add that info the product description. We bought 5 for family Christmas presents, plus I have the pink version in my car 🙂

      Edith

  6. This list is great, and it will help complete my upcoming role as B.B. I’ve found a young person who loves to shoot but has no money to get into firearms. Enter airguns! In addition to expense (which while smaller is still significant to her) she is knocking up against the prejudices of a firearms shooter against airguns. So, the thing to do is to besiege her with a list of high quality cheap airguns. The theory is that water will wear away a stone.

    Slinging Lead, congratulations on your amazing tennis lessons. I don’t know how the tennis itself fared, but you show all the signs of being a Russian commando. I’m told that part of the training of Spetsnaz (and the super-secret Special Operations Unit SOU) involves showing trainees scenes that are very psychologically disturbing, then asking them questions about insignificant details to hone their powers of observation and self-control. Think A Clockwork Orange. Well, for an even harder test, they should have movies of beautiful women and ask the same questions. I’d say anyone who notices the device for picking up tennis balls would go to the head of the class. And I’d also say that if your Adams apple was the only thing whose size you were concerned about, you got off easy. In any case, I’m sure even the memories are to treasure. My brother was failing a German class so he went to the office hours of the very hot German professor, but after awhile, she told him that he needed a tutor.

    Herb, I’m disseminating Harry’s video, such is its value. I think I would quibble with you that the chaotic spiral starts at different distances. From the video it looks like it starts at roughly the same point although the pellets go off in wildly different directions. This leads me to think that it would be possible to characterize the physics of the point at which the pellet falls off the stability cliff into chaos. PeteZ, the top analogy came to mind but not in a straightforward way. What causes a top to destabilize?…asks the person who never really understood the chapter on tops in the mechanics book. Surely, the answer has to do with the loss of angular velocity. But we know that is not the case here since I expect for both firearms bullets and airgun pellets, the rotational velocity stays fairly constant. The same is true of gravity throughout flight. Of course gravity will play some role in destabilizing the pellet, but it is more of a background than the active variable in bringing about the loss of stability. My candidate for this variable is forward velocity. I think this gets back to our question from long ago about exactly what forces reorient a projectile so that its nose follows the arc of its flight. The answer is not well understood, but buried in one of the papers that came up was a somewhat hand-waving argument that such a position minimized the energy state of the pellet. Intuitively, I would guess that this energy state has something to do with the oncoming wind blast experienced by the pellet which pressures it into the right orientation. Loss of velocity will reduce this wind blast to the point where the destabilizing top dynamics take over. So, perhaps the tipping point of instability is defined by an opposition between a velocity-based stabilizing effect and top dynamics. Once forward velocity falls below a certain appoint, the top goes into effect. Another candidate that would have nothing to do with pellet dynamics per se would be transsonic turbulence. As the pellet is falling down through the transsonic region, maybe it loses stability. However, I don’t see any sign of instability of the pellet going up through the transsonic region which it would have had to to fall back down through it, and there should have been something perceptible in that case.

    Flobert, I thought it was not possible to reload rimfire cartridges or was at least much more dangerous than centerfire. I would watch yourself with this. How do you seat the bullets/ammo/pellets anyway since there is no press made to do this?

    Matt61

    • Matt,

      In regard to distance I didn’t mean to imply that the distance at which the instability occurs is totally random. There is definitely something about gyroscopic forces causing a yaw for the pellet vs the drag force that wants to hold the pellet true that causes the instability.

      What I said poorly was that the distance at which the instability occurs isn’t predictable enough to be able to get an exact distance. So for a particular rifle and power setting the distance would be something like 40 +/- 5 feet. So group size would be good to about 35 feet, degrade from 35 to 50 feet or so, and after 60 feet group size would fall off a cliff.

      Not being able to predict an exact distance is the essence of chaotic systems. A little more weight, a little difference in aerodynamics, a bit of difference in the weight distribution and the pellet becomes unstable at a very different distance.

      All in all, I think Harry is absolutely right. It isn’t IF a spun pellet will fly in a chaotic spiral, the question is at what distance? The only thing we can do is spin the pellet slower so that we can increase the distance as much as possible. It also means that this is a “long distance” problem with pellets. So two pellets which have equally fine performance at 10 yards and 25 yards, might have much different performance at 75 yards.

      • Herb,
        I think as long as the pellet is spun fast enough to have any spin induced stability, it will begin to go unstable somewhere past the apex of its trajectory, when drag-induced stability in concert with gravity tries to pull the nose “down” and spin-induced stability tries to keep it at a constant attitude paralell to the bore line. My guess would be that the precession begins almost immediately past the apex and becomes worse as the angle of difference between bore line and drag induced orientation increases. I think someone should try a very slow twist (e.g. >= 1:48″) for a pellet. By “bullet” standards, I think we would want the pellet to be grossly “understabilized” in terms of spin, just enough to even out any irregularities in the pellet but not conflict with the drag stabilization, as we have discussed before, I believe.

        • Oh yes, by the way, I think this has been tested indirectly via the use of “dumbbell” bullets in slow twist barrels by Gary Barnes, if I remember what BB said correctly. The accuracy in the slow twist barrels was not good for conical bullets because they were not stabilized, but the drag-stabilized “dumbbells” shot well; my guess is that dumbbells would not shoot well in fast twist barrels. BB will correct me if I am remembering wrong.

        • BG_Farmer,

          Mostly agree. Two small points.

          First neither of us stated a fundamental truth. You can spin a pellet too fast out of the barrel. So as always there can be too much of a good thing. I’m now guessing something like 20 revolutions to the target is what you want.

          Second, I had thought that the apex was key, but I don’t think that any more. Imagine that you shoot the pellet perfectly horizontally, or slightly downward. There is no apex!

          I suspect that the pellet precesses out of the muzzle to so small degree. The drag of the tail not only pushes the tail back in-line with the pellet, but increases the precession speed. You get to the point where the gyroscopic force yawing the pellet becomes greater than the drag force trying to force tail back in line and a destabilizing feedback loop is created.

          —–

          As I write this I had what seems to be another insight. Imagine that you have a hemisphere and a cone connected by a very fine and very long spindle. Make the sphere and cone 1/2 inch in diameter and the spindle 10 feet in length to start. The drag of the hemisphere and cone are essentially independent in that the total drag would be the sum of a unconnected hemisphere and cone. As you bring the hemisphere and cone closer together, the cone will start to “draft” the sphere so that the total drag is less than the sum of the individual drags. So as the cone gets closer to the hemisphere, the total drag goes down. But as the cone touches the hemisphere the drag is still greater than the drag of the hemisphere alone.

          Consider a non-spinning pellet. If we introduce a slight yaw, we’ll create a torque that will try to push the tail behind the nose. However at some yaw angle the airflow will suddenly split and part will flow over the head, part over the narrower waist, and a third part over the tail. In this configuration the drag is less that at the slightly smaller yaw angle. In order to have the “same” drag, the pellet would have to yaw even more.

          So back to a spinning pellet, the yaw angle has been increasing slowly to say 10 degrees. At that point, the air stream splits, and the yaw angle suddenly goes to 25 degrees. Now the precession rate drops suddenly just like a ice-skater has throwing out her arms. At the slower precession rate the pellet can start to follow instantaneous yaw angle, and so the pellet starts to travel in a chaotic spiral.

          • Herb,
            I think you are right about precession starting as soon as the pellet leaves the muzzle, since the drag stabilization tends to keep the pellet oriented on a tangent to the parabolic arc of the trajectory, which diverges from the boreline, while the spin maintains an attitude parallel to the boreline. So, the apex is a red herring, but one that seemingly made visualization easier :)!

            I think I agree with your insight, but I’m slow processing today. Definitely there is a point at which the instability becomes “significant” (for lack of a better term), although it it probably there from the muzzle out.

    • Matt, today was ride-into-town day and I’m kinda worn out. I picked up some rolling papers, they sell ’em at 7-11! Anyway, since the patch-with-thin-paper idea looks so promising, might as well try something that’s consistent all across the US. Tomorrow I’ll stay here so I can work on Part 2 of my astonishing series Shooting Pellets Out Of A Ruger Single-Six on my otherwise very boring blog.

      Hehe I just took apart a large degaussing coil since no one uses degaussing coils any more, and boy is there a lot of beautiful #24 wire in there. Makes me want to build some kind of AM DX’ing antenna.

  7. I might add Ballistol,silicone gun wipes and cleaning pellets to the ideal stocking stuffer list.Maybe even folding hex key or Allen wrench sets……or a nice Chapman gun screwdriver set! Or a Boresnake or two……! A bottle of Tru-oil would also be nice.How ’bout one of those lens cleaner things with a solution sprayer on one end and a retractable brush on the other!Butler Creek lens caps too!That just leaves the part where you “pay for it all!”

  8. i am looking at getting the diana rws combo with the t06 trigger. i am totally disgusted with the long range performance of my camo silent stalker whisper thats only a week old that i think i’m gonna get something else. i’m getting it for rabbits and squirrels and would like to be confident that i can hit them at 40 to 50 yards.i’ve hunted all my life all over the world but airgunning is totally new to me. my budget is 250 to 400 dollers. Is the diana adequate for what i want the gun to do or is there better options. any comments would be appreciated. thanks, murdok.

    • murdok,

      You didn’t mention the model rifle you intend getting and there are many with those features, I believe. But at the price you quoted you could only mean the RWS Diana 34, which is a breakbarrel.

      Are they adequate? Well, here is the thing. A breakbarrel air rifle is much harder to shoot accurately than a centerfire rifle. A man who can put five rounds of 30-06 into 1.5 inches at 100 yards may only be able to put five pellets into a three-inch group at 50 yards. But another man who knows all the tricks of shooting a breakbarrel spring rifle may be able to reduce that group to one inch, even though he shoots the same or worse with the centerfire.

      Spring-piston air rifles require as much technique as Olympic target rifles. In fact, it is the same technique — follow through. Only we airgunners call it the artillery hold and there is a video that explains it here:

      /article/The_artillery_hold_June_2009/63

      So, the short answer to your question is, “Yes.” The long answer is, “It depends on you.”

      Now if learning this technique seems like too much you can bypass the learning curve by getting a precharged pneumatic. Pneumatics don’t have the same holding problems as spring-piston guns. The Benjamin Discovery fits into your budget, but the Bemjamin Marauder is the far better rifle. Either rifle will hold five shots in a half-inch at 50 yards on a calm day if you do your part. The Marauder has a fine trigger that you will fine is better than the best Timney you ever tried when it’s adjusted right. And it is very quiet. The Discovery has a heavier, creepier trigger and is louder.

      B.B.

      • thanks, i think i’m gonna do a lot more research before i buy anything. i might even come off my budget some and get a higher quality gun, just really don’t know where to start. most of my hunting guns are german or french but this is a totally new game to me. this sight has been most helpful. one other question? My gamo is as accurate as anything i have ever shot at 25 yds but at 50 its totally undependable. is this typical of air rifles? it also wants to jump to the right when fired so i adjusted my grip, but even then it didn’t help dramatically. murdok

        • murdok,

          It’s typical of spring guns — not of precharged pneumatics. Take a look at what I did at 50 yards with a precharged air PISTOL a couple weeks ago:

          /blog/2011/11/talonp-pcp-air-pistol-from-airforce-part-6/

          I sent the link to Part 6, which is the last report, but be sure to go back and read the whole report. Precharged airguns are easily the most accurate type of airguns there are. We are now seeing five-shot groups smaller than one inch at 100 yards in extreme cases. I still limit my testing to 50 yards, but the results are quite phenomenal.

          That Benjamin Marauder rifle I told you about is a super value in a precharged air rifle these days. It will shoot ten shots under one inch at 50 yards almost all the time, when the right pellets are used and if the day isn’t too windy.

          I usually shoot ten-shot groups, because it shows the true accuracy of an airgun much better. We have gotten into the habit of shooting five-shot groups, and I even see writers trying to get by with three-shot groups from time to time, but a ten-shot group will give you a much better idea of the true accuracy of the gun.

          B.B.

      • i just watched the artillery hold video, it never occurred to me about the pellet staying in the barrel longer. i been sucking the gun in tight. gonna have to practice this.

        • murdok,

          I also learned that the hard way. That was the way Robert Beeman advised everyone to shoot a springer in his catalog. One day I decided to see just how bad my Beeman C1 would shoot if I didn’t hold it tight at all and history was made. A rifle that was shooting a half-inch at 10 meters suddenly put five into 0.13″.

          Made a believer out of me!

          B.B.

        • Murdock,
          My experience with springer’s is that where you end up, ability-wise, can be very far from where you started. I was probably a slow learner, but the difference between where I started and where I ended up was truly dramatic. With that being said, this requires real patience.
          Victor

          • thank you BB Victor for your comments. I’m gonna look at several different guns before i make another purchase. the precharged guns are very appealing the only thing i worry about with them is being in the woods and run out of CO2 or air. Murdok

            • Murdok,

              If that’s your only concern, you can bring along a buddy bottle. Field target shooters have used them. Instead of lugging a big tank or using a hand pump, carry along a buddy bottle (like a mini-scuba tank) filled with air. It’s lightweight enough that it won’t stress you but still have enough air for a bunch more shots.

              Edith

            • Murdok,

              You can think of your air tank on the gun as a horn of black powder. It gives many shots, but is not unlimited. Most hunters would feel comfortable with one horn of powder for a day’s hunt.

              If you feel you need more, try a hand pump. It can be stored in the car or carried in the backpack as you hunt. An alternative is to carry a pigmy carbon fiber air than that is the equivalent of another couple horns of powder.

              So the hand pump is the general store that never runs out of powder and the carbon fiber tank is your several-horn supply and a gun full of air, let’s take a Marauder or Talon SS as examples, is a gun with one horn of powder. The Marauder will get 25 good shots on a fill, the Talon SS with an optional 24-inch barrel gets 30-40 good shots, depending on the power setting. The nice thing about the Talon SS is you can buy and carry extra air tanks — spare horns of powder, if you will.

              You know, I need to write a blog about all of this!

              Thanks,

              B.B.

  9. Gotta hand it to PA’s customer service! I rarely ever have a problem with a shipment, but this time my 4th, free tin of pellets was missing on my order. Emailed PA and they sent out the missing tin right away, no questions asked. Got it and all’s well. Thanks PA!! 🙂

    /Dave

  10. Head’s up if you are ordering the Dan Wesson CO2 Revolver for Christmas this year.

    The product from Pyramid Air did ship promptly, but extra speedloaders were not shipped.

    As shipped this product is not complete! WARNING FOR CHRISTMAS!! You need to order BB’s, CO2 and oil to make this a complete useable product. There are no sample BB’s nor CO2 cartridges included in the box.

    • curious,

      The extra speedloaders are out of stock, but all the guns come with a speedloader & cartridges. The airgun with the 8″ barrel comes with 12 cartridges & a speedloader. The others come with a speedloader & 6 cartridges.

      It’s very clear on the product page descriptions what is and is not included. None of them say they include Pellgunoil, CO2 or steel BBs.

      The extra speedloaders are expected to be in stock before Christmas. In the meantime, enjoy shooting the gun!

      Edith

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    It's important to know that due to state and local laws, there are certain restrictions for various products. It's up to you to research and comply with the laws in your state, county, and city. If you live in a state or city where air guns are treated as firearms you may be able to take advantage of our FFL special program.

    U.S. federal law requires that all airsoft guns are sold with a 1/4-inch blaze orange muzzle or an orange flash hider to avoid the guns being mistaken for firearms.

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  • Expert Service and Repair

    Get the most out of your equipment when you work with the expert technicians at Pyramyd AIR. With over 25 years of combined experience, we offer a range of comprehensive in-house services tailored to kickstart your next adventure.

    If you're picking up a new air gun, our team can test and tune the equipment before it leaves the warehouse. We can even set up an optic or other equipment so you can get out shooting without the hassle. For bowhunters, our certified master bow technicians provide services such as assembly, optics zeroing, and full equipment setup, which can maximize the potential of your purchase.

    By leveraging our expertise and precision, we ensure that your equipment is finely tuned to meet your specific needs and get you ready for your outdoor pursuits. So look out for our services when shopping for something new, and let our experts help you get the most from your outdoor adventures.

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  • Warranty Info

    Shop and purchase with confidence knowing that all of our air guns (except airsoft) are protected by a minimum 1-year manufacturer's warranty from the date of purchase unless otherwise noted on the product page.

    A warranty is provided by each manufacturer to ensure that your product is free of defect in both materials and workmanship.

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  • Exchanges / Refunds

    Didn't get what you wanted or have a problem? We understand that sometimes things aren't right and our team is serious about resolving these issues quickly. We can often help you fix small to medium issues over the phone or email.

    If you need to return an item please read our return policy.

    Learn About Returns

Get FREE shipping on qualifying orders! Any order $150+ with a shipping address in the contiguous US will receive the option for free ground shipping on items sold & shipped by Pyramyd AIR during checkout. Certain restrictions apply.

Free shipping may not be combined with a coupon unless stated otherwise.

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