TargetTalk

Help,

I live in Minnesota, brrrrrr., BUT I have a heated shop I can clear a 10m area in and would love to start shooting targets. I want to get some of my buddies interested and see if we can form a league or something.

I hunt a little, shot LOTS of skeet so I am used to having an above average gun, know the difference in a good trigger and a sloppy one.

I have a freinds who have the Fienwerkbau 700 (not sure but think the Universal aluminum) .....

Will anybody give me some education on FPM, why 500 fpm or 1100 fpm?
How about guns like the Fienwerkbau that require a tank and charging of cylinders vs. something you just cock?

Do I have to spend over $2000 to be happy? I really do not want this to get over the budget of some of my buddies who are raising kids and fighting in a tough economy

Hi,

There are certainly a "few" options out there for air rifles. Generally most people don't go full on and get a real expensive air rifle after not shooting them much (although there are exceptions like myself! ;)). I think most people would advice getting an intermidiate type gun before laying down the big bucks to get something real good.

Pretty well all of the high end rifles are compressed air now. There are a few of the older feinwerkbaus (601 and 300 comes to mind I believe) that are crank. These rifles are still very accurate. With compressed air you will need a pump (few different makes out there - will run you about $250) or a scuba tank. I use a scuba tank personally as it is extremely easy to fill them up and refils only cost a couple dollars. I have shot literally 10's of thousands of shots through my air rilfe and have not had to fill up my scuba tank yet. My gun is a feinwerkbau 700 by the way. A full tank on the air rifle gives you about 250-300 consistent shots.

There are a few different variations of the feinwerkbau 700's including the aluminum, laminate, basic etc. The gun you are referring to could be the laminate or aluminum...

Regarding the FPM. I am unsure exactly what this is. Sounds like you could be mixing this up for FPS (feet per second). This simply just refers to the velocity (at muzzle) that the gun will give. Most of the high end air rilfes are in the 500-700 fps range. Some of the cheaper high powered air rilfes approach 1000fps. This does not mean it will be more accurate, in fact, most times it is the other way around.

I would take a look at a gun like a feinwerkbau 300. THey are well made, very accurate, good triggers, etc but do not cost nearly as much as the newer 700's. These are no longer manufactured so you will have to find one used but there are still a few floating around.

The other main air rifles are walther, anschutz, and the odd styer. Pretty wel all of these are very expensive however ($2000) and are generally bought my people who are very serious into their shooting.

Thanks for the feedback,

Something else I wanted to add, I am pushing 60 and find my eyesight, breath control, etc. is far less than it used to be.

Anybody feel qualified to talk about sights, scopes, etc.?

I have taken skeet shooting to the point of traveling to shoot registered events from Savannah, GA to Las Vegas, Northern MN to San Antonio. So not sure where this is air rifle thing is heading but know if I get the bug I hate to have invested in a gun I am not satisfied with. Also hate spending $2000 to $3000 and having it sit unused.

If I get serious I assume it is like the Krieghoff, Perazzi, Kolar debate, at some point Anschutz, Feinwerkbau, maybe some others become personal preference.

Well hopefully someone else can chime in here as well but in temrs of scopes. For ISSF type competition, only peep sights are allowed. So that rules out scopes of any type. If you do decide to shoot with a scope at home thought a site like www.rimfirecentral.com has tons of information on this. I personally like Leupold. The high end bushnells (4200's although the new 6500's look pretty neet) have served me well too. Again though, lots of info on "RFC"

Yes you will find eventually that the debate comes more to personal preference than anything. Feinwerkbau seems to be the one most used, but that doesn't necessarily mean its the best. I wouldn't hesitate buying the other makes - they are all going to shoot in the same hole at 10m!

Steyr used to have a entry level alu stock air rifle as well that had a lot less adjustments and of course cost a lot less called the LG30. Haven't seen it advertised on non-euro sites for a while. All the other brands have their entry level models as well. You might be able to find something second hand that is good though.

As far as using a crank, I suggest you don't at your age. It isn't that hard to crank the later model rifles but it does get tiring after a bit and some of the older rifles have really awkward or hard to crank levers.

Try a sporter class rifle. The Daisy 853 or 888 are great shooting rifles.
http://www.thecmp.org/airrifles.htm
Use it to find out your interest level. If you get hooked you can upgrade from there. There will always be a buyer for your sporter class gun.

If you are concerned about iron sights and need to use a scope, there are games that allow that. Field target for example.

Gene

I have a Gamo something or other and three Daisy 1000 rifles, all break barrels. Scopes differ slightly all have TruGlo sights as well. Not sure why but I did mount all of the scopes. This way when I have friends over there is always a potiential party. The Gamo was a close out at around $125, the Daisy's factory rebuilds at $85 each, so no huge investment.

These rifles are surprisingly accurate, triggers fair. Fun to shoot, they are dang powerful, rip the heck out of plywood. I also have one of the little Gamo green traps with the flip up targets.

I need to figure out something for a bigger backstop so my buddies with kids can let them shoot and I do not have to worry about their ability to hit such a small area.

I like the idea of field target, my kness are pretty beat up from motorcycles and sailboats so kneeling and prone tend to make me cringe. Kind of thinking about trying to get a "old Far-" league with some sort of competition organized. Winter gets long and cold, the skeet fields are only open three days a week and when it goes below 20 degrees the fun factor gets pretty small.

I think you should take a look at sporter class rifles. Rules limit them to $525 or under in price, with NO modifications. I have a Daisy Avanti 887 (same as the 888 but with a larger stock for adults) that is CO2. A lot of fun, easy to shoot, and can accept a scope, if you want to add one.

You may want to go ultra cheap. Take a look at the Cummins Tools B-3 air rifle. They are $20 each, plus shipping. The tool sale trucks come around to our local VFW 2x a year. I'm picking up another one next time they are in town. At this price you can buy several, for friends, kids, etc.

Make your own backstop with a 12 ga steel plate backstop. I build one that has three positions (heights) for 3P practice. The plans are available from the ODCMP.com website.

Although I have shot air pistol for a number of years, I just started shooting air rifle this year. I'm 60 also. I bought a used FWB 601. With the used jacket, scope stand, glove and inexpensive Konus spotting scope, I probably have around a grand tied up in equipment. The jacket does really help and the spotting scope is a necessity. I made a pellet tray and have a homemade rifle rest that fits on my scope stand. I put velcro on the back of a pellet shaker box and with the corresponding velcro on the stand, it holds securely. In other words, I have a 3 in 1 setup.

My air rifle does require some effort, and as an oldster, like me, it might wear you down during a 60 shot match. It is tiring, especially if you don't have a regular exercise program. I move the rifle to the left side when cocking. It does seem to throw off my natural point of aim a little and so I have to check my NPA for each shot. At this point, I must honestly say that the equipment doesn't seem to be holding me back. I am making slow progress.

I have a scuba tank for my air pistol and it is a very good setup. If you can afford a couple of grand for an air rifle which operates from pre-compressed air, then go for it. At this point, with my limited budget, I can't justify the expense.

We use FWB's and Anschutz at our club, both make olympic-quality rifles.

If you are interested in a left-handed model let me know! :) She's a blue FWB P70 model, very adjustable model which is nice when multiple shooters might use her and also in good shape.

Thanks for all the great responses. Still plodding along, waiting for an apportunity to shoot my buddies FWB 700 alum. before I purchase. His son has an Air Arms more entry level I can try too, lucky for me he had to add an inch to Juniors stock.

I hate to under spend and not be satisfied, been there and hate to over spend and have it sit unused. Been there too!

Left hander will do me no good, but if I can get this rolling I do have a couple left handed buddies that may jump at one. Just wish there was more available here right now,

I am really torn between something like an Air Arms and going all out for the FWB 700U

Put it this way, the money you spend on an Air Arms could go towards a high end rifle. If you buy the AA i guess you will want to move up later, every body does!! That's not to say the AA is no good, I've seen some high scores with this rifle but it really lacks all the adjustment that the best have, but then so does a FWB 700 Uni wooden stock rifle lack the adjustment of an alu 700.
So look at the overall costs of doing it both ways.
Get the best you can afford, and if not then be patient and save a bit more to get the best.

Check the "For Sale" section on this forum. You could pick up a used higher quality rifle for less money. If you don't like it, or want to upgrade more, you could list it and get what you paid for it. You shot it for free.

Don't forget to look at used CO2 match air rifles. Just because they are the previous generation of technology, there are some nice deals to be had. You'll need a CO2 tank, but that's easy to get from a weld shop or fire extinguisher place.