The last time I fired an air gun, I shot our Benjamin rifle from the edge of our driveway through the garage, pellets hitting my rimfire bullet trap, decades ago. And now Laurie is creating a garden. She will not permit me to expend my stash of .22LR shotshells, #12 shot aka dust, even on whitetail hind ends . . . which reverts to asking about air guns.


Since I am asking about air guns, I'm expanding the query to include occasional woods wandering during Montana's never ending open seasons on squirrels and rabbits. Available are .22 and .25 calibers; I'm ruling out .177 caliber as being inadequate. But if my ignorance is showing, please educate me. Unless it is integral with caliber selection, let's ignore what type of action to acquire. For my budget I ignore PCP devices. But I have an open mind in terms of rifle, pistol, or the unusual Crosman Drift Kit. At this point the best thing I can do is stop typing and ask for assistance.


Help with a useful decision.

Sheridan Streaks (blue streak and silver streak--same gun different finish) are .20 cal which to me is the best of both between .177 and .22. They are pump up and have plenty of zip and seem to last forever and are fairly cheap to buy. I have peep sight on mine and it's about as accurate as my scoped air rifles. Older Streaks were not drilled and taped for peep sight, but newer ones are. Only draw back is most big box stores don't carry .20 cal (5mm) pellets so they cost a little more than .22's. Then again cost of pellets not much of a factor.

Get a .22 Benjamin NP XL. You can get a package with a scope for under $300. Reasonable accuracy., adequate power.

Carpetman 1:

You touched on probably the only arcane air gun information I know. Sheridan brand and nearly all types of pellets are discontinued as of quite a while. I think their scarcity, collectability, and price rule them out for me. Since you recommend .20 caliber, are other air gun brands available that use it?

Naphtali--There are other .20 cal (5mm) rifles, but I'm not familiar with them.

look at springers, pumping gets old fast. Break barrel springers
are self contained, accurate and reliable. Great for roaming, all you need is a pocket full of pellets.

Instead of pocket full of pellets, try a Wilkins pellet holder.

Go to

www. pyramydair.com

They carry loads of stuff and a lot of different brands and calibers of pellets.

Hip

A Diana 34 would be all the gun you’d ever need. Try The Airgun Warriors classified ads. Diana made a million of em. Also, a Weihrauch HW95, or HW50/HW99 (same gun but different designation depending on country of sale) are equally quality hunters/pesters. Stick with .22 (or .20 if you can find one) in a full power springer as .177 becomes unstable at “magnum” (whatever that means) level speeds and .25 is far too loopy of a trajectory.