Pellet rifle for grandson

[Archtek]

I am considering buying a pellet rifle for my grandson and, eventually, my granddaughter. The grandson is 7 years old. I know absolutely nothing about pellet rifles. What should I look for in a pellet rifle? I don't want to spend a lot of money because he can probably start using my .22 in a few years.

The shortest distance I can shoot at at the gun club I belong to is 25 yards; are pellet rifles reasonably accurate at that range? Does that determine what I have to buy?

[harvey lee]

Bought one for my granddaughter and it is a Gamo, one of the better ones and it was a bit pricy. Very accurate and easy to operate. The scope that came on it is not that high in the quality dept but it seems to have held up very well. The gun itself has been a 10 to date and she has used it for 3-4 years.

If you are looking at shooting longer distances, get a better grade, they have a higher muzzle velocity and will be much more accurate. The low velocity guns are not that accurate at longer distances.

Not fun if you shoot with not much in the accuracy department. I believe I paid about $200 for the model I purchased her and they have them still for more. yes, they have some less expensive I believe for a few bucks over a Hondo.

I do not know what your budget is but they do make numerous different models. The one I purchased is a bit faster than the others and shoots both BB and pellets. You will get what you pay for in a pellet rifle if you are looking for an accurate gun at or above 25 yards.

[Archtek]

Thanks for the response. Actually my budget is whatever it takes to get something that is reasonably accurate. Like you say, it won't be much fun if the grandson can't hit anything with it. Which Gamo do you have?

[LightningBG]

Do you or they live in an area where you could shoot a BB gun in the backyard? We had a crosman 760 when we were little. Under $50 and good enough to shoot pop cans at 15 yards or so if I had to guess. If you're going to the point of going to the range and spending up to $200, I'd consider jumping up to a youth .22. I just picked up a savage rascal for the little one (under $200). Although she hasn't used it yet, I've seen plenty of vids showing 6-7 year olds handling it with no problems. (of course with close supervision).

[Archtek]

No, they can't shoot even a BB gun in my yard as I understand it; I live in Minnetonka. I don't know about the city they live in, but it's well developed suburb, so I doubt they can either.

The primary reason I'm thinking pellet rifle right now is that if something goes terribly wrong with my supervision (it had better not!), a pellet is not likely to get over the berm that is about 130 yards away or outside the limits of the range's property, about 700 yards away.

BTW, does anyone know what is meant by the whisper rifles Gamo has? UIs that a silencer that would make it illegal to hunt with?

[harvey lee]

Stalker series. The whisper is just a quieter gun, the silencer on the end is really not that much of a silencer but it does help. I would see zero reasons why this would be illegal but a check with the DNR may be best.

These guns can be very quiet depending on what pellet you use. They have 2 different ones, one is much more accurate and faster and one is a bit noisier. I believe it explains that on their HSOforum or check out the reviews.

I would treat this pellet rifle just like a .22 as it is a accurate rifle for a pellet gun and it can shoot farther than what ones believes for a pellet rifle.

When I was a young lad, I had a BB gun but nothing like the pellet gun I bought my granddaughter. She is not allowed to even handle it without an adult around that is familiar with guns.

[Big Dave2]

Every kid should start out with a Red Ryder BB gun. My son is 14 and we have a bunch of BB and pellet guns but if he just wants to get one out and shoot at cans he still reaches for the Red Ryder.

[harvey lee]

They are nice Dave but if they are shooting at a minimum of 25 yards, the red Ryder may fall a bit short on the power end of things.

[Tom7227]

Many cities have ordinances that prohibit shooting firearms and anything mentioned here falls within the definition of a firearm. DNR won't have that info but you can get access to most ordinances on the city's HSOforum.

[Archtek]

Many cities have ordinances that prohibit shooting firearms and anything mentioned here falls within the definition of a firearm. DNR won't have that info but you can get access to most ordinances on the city's HSOforum.

The City I live in has ordinances for weapons that include BB guns, pellet guns, bows, even sling shots. I haven't looked yet, but I would bet the city in WI where my grandson lives is the same. How is a kid supposed to have fun these days?!

[Big Dave2]

They are nice Dave but if they are shooting at a minimum of 25 yards, the red Ryder may fall a bit short on the power end of things.

That's exactly why it is perfect for a 7 year old. Not much power needed for a few years.

[Archtek]

After a lot of research, I narrowed it down to Umarex and Gamo. I ended up getting a .177 Umarex Fusion. It's CO2 powered and came with a scope. Let me tell you, that thing is really accurate, even with the cheap (and I mean REALLY cheap!)scope it came with. At 25 yards, off the bench, I can hold about a 3/4" group using lead pellets. So far I am very happy with it and I know my grandson will love it when he gets here from WI and is able to shoot it next weekend.

I should add that it's a bit of a PIA loading that pellet with the scope on it. Maybe my grandson will have an easier time with his smaller fingers.

[harvey lee]

Good to hear u got one that is very accurate at the range u were looking at shooting. Anything underpowered and then inaccurate would have not filled the bill. Grandson more than likely could have lost interest with a rifle that was not accurate as it is a lot more fun to hit what one is shooting at.

[eyeguy 54]

hopefully the scope will hold up. pellet guns are rough on scopes if you shoot a lot. I put a good scope on my gamo big cat 2 years ago finally. it moved a bit so I drilled a screw in front on it to hold it in place, The best shooting 177 pellet I found is the beeman crow magnum hollow point. Very accurate and consistent.

[Archtek]

hopefully the scope will hold up. pellet guns are rough on scopes if you shoot a lot. I put a good scope on my gamo big cat 2 years ago finally. it moved a bit so I drilled a screw in front on it to hold it in place, The best shooting 177 pellet I found is the beeman crow magnum hollow point. Very accurate and consistent.

I'm curious, what would make a pellet rifle hard on a scope? The only thing I'm really wondering about is how well it will hold up to being moved from place to place while in a case.

[eyeguy 54]

pellet guns react different than rifles with bullets. I bought spendy rings and it still moved but not since I added the screw. probably depends on the gun also. found this online.. The scope is a BSA Air Rifle Scope.

When traditional firearm is fired, there is an explosion within the bullet casing that propels the bullet forward out of the barrel and in turn forces the stock of the gun into the shoulder of the shooter, producing felt recoil. This is essentially a unidirectional physical reaction, and from an engineering standpoint, relatively easy to design an optic to withstand.

A break barrel spring powered airgun is a vastly different process.

As the gun is cocked, a spring and plunger system compresses air that is held until the trigger is pulled, which is used to propel the pellet forward out of the barrel. The recoil of this reaction, felt by the shooter, is essentially non-existent, but there is some. Simultaneously the spring that used to compress the air is released and violently slams forward, in the opposite direction of tradition recoil. This “whip crack” reverse recoil affects the scope by pulling it back forward at the same time it is being pushed backward.

But once the spring has returned to its forward position, the adverse effects of reverse recoil are not complete. The scope must also deal with the tuning fork affect of the vibrations of the spring’s movement. While a traditional firearm only produces one type of recoil for optics to contend with, these adult precision airguns are producing three, unique, and challenging types of recoil, that non-airgun rated scopes cannot handle.

[delcecchi]

I think the point is correct only I think cocking just compresses the spring, which in turn, when released, pushes the piston and compresses the air. I don't think there is any compressed air in the system between cocking and firing.

[Archtek]

Being ignorant of how pellet rifles work, would it make a difference that this is a CO2 pellet rifle? In any case, I'll have to tell my grandson to check the zero every once in a while; a good idea on any rifle.