Tag Archives: hunting

The advantages of hunting with an airgun

Posted on by ↓ 77 Comments

by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier

Today’s report is a guest blog about the advantages of airgun hunting by Pyramyd Air employee Derek Goins.

If you’d like to write a guest post for this blog, please email me. Now, over to you, Derek.

This report covers:

  • Introduction
  • Space
  • Noise level
  • Cost
  • Versatility
  • Some things to consider…

Introduction

Like a Carhartt-clad stone I sat motionless against a large oak tree, a rifle braced on my knees. The reluctant morning sun was just peeking into the horizon, bringing relief from the swirling fall winds biting at the back of my neck. A rain the night before left the ground soggy, the moist air heavy with the smell of earthworms and rotting leaves. Earwigs and tiny beetles fled through the humid dirt as I shifted my feet in an attempt to thaw my toes. read more

Advancing airgun accuracy

Posted on by ↓ 40 Comments

by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier

Several years ago, a big bore airgun manufacturer was heard to say that his hunting rifles were accurate enough to hit an Oreo cookie at 30 yards. He argued that it would be very hard for a deer to hide behind an Oreo cookie. So, the question is: Were his rifles accurate? He obviously thought they were, but most of the public disagreed. He had to improve the accuracy until his rifles could hit that Oreo at 100 yards. He managed to do that, and the sales were very good from that point on. True story.

Was this an issue of perception, or was the manufacturer right — that no deer can hide behind an Oreo? Well, here’s the deal. If he doesn’t sell any guns, nothing else really matters because he goes out of business, making his opinion as a manufacturer moot! Today, I’d like to talk about what drives practical airgun accuracy. read more

Where do I start?

Posted on by ↓ 73 Comments

by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier

“Hi! I am new to airguns and I have a question. I live near a farm that has lots of feral hogs. Around here, people hunt them with high-powered rifles and shotguns, but I want to try something different. I saw on TV where someone used a Gamo air rifle to kill a wild hog that they said weighed over 200 lbs. I would like to do that, too.

“I bought a Winchester 1250SS at a local discount store. What I want to know from you is, do I need to use the Gamo PBA pellets, or will any pellets work for this? Also, where in the head do I shoot the pig? And can I reuse the PBA pellets that I find? They are very expensive and this would help a lot with my hunting budget. Thank you for your answer. I’m looking forward to going out next week!“ read more

What firearm shooters need to know about airguns

Posted on by ↓ 61 Comments

by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier

This report is in response to what blog reader David Enoch said happened at this year’s Malvern airgun show. He said several firearm shooters attended — I assume for the first time — hoping to find out something about airguns, since firearms have recently become more difficult to shoot. That refers to the general difficulty of obtaining ammunition.

Presumably, these shooters want to know if airguns can augment their shooting experiences. That’s what I intend to address in this report.

The short answer is — YES — airguns can shoot just like firearms, but not out as far as you may want to shoot. But let’s qualify that, shall we? I shoot at a firearm range that has separate ranges for 15, 25, 50 and 100 yards. There’s a separate berm on the 100-yard range, where shooters can engage targets at 200 yards, if they desire. read more

Be careful what you say

Posted on by ↓ 89 Comments

by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier

Announcement: Do you read the blog comments via an RSS feed? Pyramyd Air has alerted me that Google’s RSS reader is on its way out. Here’s an online article with 5 good RSS readers that can replace Google’s.

Edith and I see a lot of things the average person never sees, such as reports about airguns that we cannot pass along. Today, I want to talk about that and give you an idea of what goes on behind the scenes. Everything I’m about to say is fictitious, unless I say otherwise. But all of it is based on truth.

The following is true. In the 1970s, there were stories in airgun magazines about people shooting the wild goats on Catalina island with .177-caliber FWB 124 rifles. In these stories, they claimed to be killing the goats with head shots. That started a heated discussion among airgunners about whether such behavior was — 1. Possible and 2. Sportsmanlike. read more

Nelson Lewis combination gun: Part 4

Posted on by ↓ 84 Comments

by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Nelson Lewis combination gun
Nelson Lewis combination gun is both a rifle and a shotgun.

It’s been a while since I last wrote about this gun. Blog reader Kevin asked if I was going to write anything more and I answered yes, but what I did not tell him or any of you was that in October of last year I blew up the gun.

Blew it up?
That’s not entirely accurate. What happened is the nipple that accepts the percussion cap was blown out of the barrel and right past my face. When it went, it sheared off the hammer lug that connects the exposed hammer to the sear. I never found the nipple, but the hammer was lying on the shooting bench next to the gun. When my shooting buddy, Otho, asked me if I was okay (he was standing behind me, having a premonition that something bad was about to occur), I answered, “NO” for the first time in my life. Usually, guys will say everything is okay right after they’ve sliced off their thumbs with a circular saw, but this event was so startling that I wasn’t really sure what my condition was. “No” just popped out. read more

AirForce Talon SS precharged pneumatic air rifle: Part 9

Posted on by ↓ 45 Comments

by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8


AirForce Talon SS is a whole shooting system.

We last looked at the .22-caliber Talon SS on June 13, when I told you that I had mistakenly shot the rifle with a standard air tank instead of a Micro-Meter tank in the previous test. I retested the rifle with an AirForce Micro-Meter air tank and the standard 12-inch barrel. Today, I want to finish the test with the optional 24-inch barrel.

You’ll recall in Part 8 that I shot the rifle 380 times on a single fill of the Micro-Meter tank. Today, we’ll see what difference, if any, we get from the 24-inch barrel. The only pellet used in this test was the .22-caliber Crosman Premier pellet. read more