The virtues of single shots:

How about single shot only?



Super fun to shoot, and the sound the bolt makes on this one when it locks in is heavenly. 14 fpe for 10, or up to 30 shots on lower power. Refill off a small bottle I can carry in a pack. Easy to reload off hand since it's a small platform. Single shot pellet rifles are a pain to load some times afield.

I would say its highly subjective, depending on the endeavor at hand. For targets, simply not an issue. For hunting or pesting, for myself? I prefer a repeater, for those times a quick follow up is needed…

I prefer single shot as in my many years of shooting single shot rifles and pistol like 1885 Winchester and Sharps rifles and my favorite is the 45-70 caliber as well as target .22 rifles and pistols. So I try and obtain single shot trays for all of my guns that I can. Charles

I treat a multi shot the same as a single shot, I only want to shoot 1 time at whatever I'm hunting. Everyone makes a bad hit every so often but trying to shoot fast only makes it worse. Same shooting targets etc, shooting fast accomplishes nothing but waste ammo for the most part.

I agree with most posts about the mentality of single shots. I prefer single shot for benchrest, even though all my PCP rifles are multi shot. But I learned pesting a few years back that one shot is not always enough - I took what I thought was the perfect head shot on a groundhog (no wind, at a good range and knew the distance , supported shot, and a still critter side on), and watched it do a backflip in the scope and land flat on it's back. It was still for second or two as I continued to watch it through the scope, then it popped up and darted off to cover before I could do anything - all because I was so focused on the shot and follow through that I had not bothered to cycle the gun for a follow up if needed. Not my proudest moment, but it happens and I learned my lesson - I cycle the gun as soon as the first shot is off, and if there is any movement after the shot I then send another. Even easier now with my Huben - I still definately try to put them down with one single headshot, but the lead keeps hitting them until I know they are anchored.

In the Pro Speed Silhouette at EBR, the single loading won all the years that I attended. The FX high capacity mag that you can take the cover off and pour them in probably would have won in 2021 but he had 1 pellet that went in backwards and jammed.
There's context here though... it's 20 shots at 4 distances as fast as you can FROM A BENCH and in this class, all pellets had to start from the tin... you had to load the mags on the timer while the clock was running. The fastest single loaders dumped a bunch onto a cloth on the bench to make them easier to pick up, also.
Red Wolfs are one of the easiest to single load and no cycling effort so have won most years since intro but others have been very close. I set mine up with a thumb cycled bolt(Kraford and Lypt... I love it) so finger never leaves the trigger. From the bench or anywhere pellets are easy to access, VERY fast. I qualified near the top but stumbled twice in the finals so didn't do well...
Anyway... I prefer single loading, even with my DW, but a mag is a bunch more convenient offhand or on the move...
Bob

I grew up with single shot airguns, so I'm not likely to turn my nose up at em today. In fact, though 2 of my PCPs are mag fed, I have and prefer single shot trays, even (particularly?) when hunting as the pellets tend to rattle in the magazine when you're walking about. My shooting is for relaxing. I take it slow and enjoy my time. Single shot trays help me in that regard.

I grew up with a single shot .22lr and a bolt action .410 shotgun. All my rifles now are single shot, spring piston and pump up air rifles and Thompson/Center powder burners. Not have a quick second shot has made me much more inclined to take a good shot.

Sleestak said:

Has anyone done a rounds per minute time comparison between a single shot VS. an average (non hi-cap) mag fed gun?

For some reason I can't help but feel that at the end of the day the #s might be closer than expected if you factor in your chill & fill time plus swapping mags.

& for me there is the issue of double feeds and then there is the whole maintenance/ reliability dealeo. I think we can all agree that multishot guns bring in more factors that can potentially become issues. But we won't let that harsh our mellow during this thought experiment.

What think you?

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Yep. Loved my Edgun R5 .30 No mags to lose. The only complaint was the bolt location. Other than that..for shooting ground squirrels it was pop and roll..one shot at a time.

I'll be the contrarian here. I just bought 2 more magazines and the Hatsan speedloader for my blitz. While fussy and fidgety the speed loader does work pretty well. So let's do the math 4 full magazines, the speedloader will refill the 4 magazines. Thus I could easily shoot 168 rounds in say one or two minutes.
While I too spend lots of time making tiny groups on paper I can also recommend accuracy via volume.

Sleestak said:

Has anyone done a rounds per minute time comparison between a single shot VS. an average (non hi-cap) mag fed gun?

For some reason I can't help but feel that at the end of the day the #s might be closer than expected if you factor in your chill & fill time plus swapping mags.

& for me there is the issue of double feeds and then there is the whole maintenance/ reliability dealeo. I think we can all agree that multishot guns bring in more factors that can potentially become issues. But we won't let that harsh our mellow during this thought experiment.

What think you?

Click to expand...

pellets last a lot longer when shooting my springer.

It depends on the magazine and the loading port. Some magazines are very fast and easy to load. Sidewinder/Mordax magazines are super easy. You just pull off the plate and drop the pellets in. I'd say those are faster than single loading. The internal magazines on Crosman 600s are pretty fast too and so are the Air Arms S4XX/5XX magazines. Then there are those awful ones where you have to wind them and push the first pellet in backwards. Those are slower than most single shot guns. That is unless you're talking about an underlever or a sidelever springer. A .177 TX200 with a big scope on top pretty much takes the cake for slow, difficult loading.

And the ultimate for quick loading are BB guns. For many you just pour the BB's in by the hundred while others use a speed loader to load large magazines in a few seconds.

I am strictly a single shot kind of guy, my latest rifle i think i have shot 2 magazines worth just to check the damn thing work.
Single shot i can easy shoot way over 1000 shots in a day during summer, i literally have to take a brak now and then to not get what i call scope eye.

I do like it when the manufacturer is thoughtful enough to provide a single shot tray. I do not recall seeing one for my Blitz at all. Seems like it can be fired single shot it is a PITA to load a cleaning pellet.

for me shooting my chaser pistol or my Trailscout with the single shot bridge has something, i feel like a sniper and i have full control how the pellet fits into the chamber. Then i hit a target after this "meditating" moment i feel more exited than hitting it with a pellet which was loaded via magazine. It has this "one and only" vibes every shot i made.

But, i think for safety reasons a magazine is better, because i normally don't get out of sight when reloading with a magazine, so the barrel directs always in the "near" of the safe target.

Well I don't need to keep a range rod handy when I use a single shot tray. I just might have pushed 4-5 pellets out the bore early on with PCP guns. My PB's all both shove the round in and remove it using the bolt and more than one simply will not fit.