N/A Another new shooter needs help

[Moe M.]

Hi I'm a long time lead shooter 50 years and still have a safe full of rifles, handguns, etc. I have to admit that this air rifle search/compare question is a lot harder than any of my previous guns. I generally shoot NRA lever action silhouette (although not very well) and would like to do the same with my air rifle. I am having a hard time thinking that I have to spend $500-600 on my first air rifle. So I finally saw an RWS 3400 in my LGS, and said I remember that company and put it back down. I went home and started reading reports and how they were marking them down $100-150 and thought I better avoid that model. Now my LGS (Cheyenne Mtn. Outfitters) is a very good store with a lot of leaded guns but only had about 8 models on the shelf.

I started thinking at first the Crosman's they showed me (Optimus and Vantage) looked & felt OK but were very low priced. I'm not too handy fixing guns anymore so I felt the break actions (I decided to avoid PCP's or one of those re-fillable models) were a good place to start. One other thing I have to mention is that I live in NJ, firearms hell and there are not too many stores to drive to. There's Bass pro shops in AC and I'm thinking of going on GB or just asking my LGS to order exactly what I want. Of course I did my homework about Hatsan and Gamo but they were absent, I could not believe they had nothing from Gamo. So I was thinking of spending around $300 or so, does anyone here have a good suggestion for me to start?

I have a dozen or so Air rifles, I got back into air guns during the Covid shutdowns and ammo increases of the last decade, I haven't shot any of my powder burners except for my EDC revolver in practice, of my air rifles a half dozen of them are medium priced and expensive models, three of them are the more popular Weirauch models.
Of my less expensive and budget priced air guns (all are great shooters) my favorite and most used rifles is my .177 cal. Crosman Vantage NP, while I did have to do a quick and uncomplicated trigger job on it it's proved to be one of my most accurate and powerful rifles and has been 100% reliable since I bought it new six years ago and allot of rounds sent down range.
I too was apprehensive about the price ( purchased mine from MidwayUSA for $119.00, but after watching a two part video review on the Crosman Vantage by Kenny Kormandy on myairgunreviews on U-Tube I pulled the trigger (pun intended) on one, in his fine review Kenny wrapped it up by saying that of the many air rifles that he has reviewed over the years this Crosman Vantage was a keeper and had a special place in his collection, he called it a genuine "Gem in the Rough".
If you are looking for a great all around air rifle that isn't pellets or hold friendly, is fairly light weight, easy to cock, and super accurate, but budget friendly, either the Crosman Vantage NP or the Crosman Optimus (the springer model) will get you smiling.

 

[drjjpdc78]

The comb on the current 77 stock is too high for most shooters to use the irons that come with the gun.. You'd very likely need to custom make risers for the front and rear sights. The rear are available commercially. A front riser is not.

Does it make a difference that I'm 6'5" tall? Or is the hw177 K any different than the hw177 except for the shorter barrel?

 

[drjjpdc78]

That would be a nice one. I prefer it over the 97 just for the sights myself . most hw's are a pre order item at the moment.
If you like the 77 maybe worth to get on the list ..

Hw77"k" in .177 only in stock here

Weihrauch HW77 K

Weihrauch air rifles are engineered and manufactured in Germany in accordance with the latest sporting arms technology. With decades of experience and a strive for perfection and innovation, Weihrauch is able to deliver top quality, for maximum performance and a long service life. The Weihrauch...

www.krale.shop

But...??? Will they deliver nj

Nope, nobody will. Even if they did, the USPS knows the Jersey laws. Same difference if you received a box without going thru an FFL.

 

[Northwoods22]

Nope, nobody will. Even if they did, the USPS knows the Jersey laws. Same difference if you received a box without going thru an FFL.

It may have been addressed already and I missed it, but out of curiosity, is it legal for a NJ resident to drive to another state, buy an airgun, and bring it back to NJ?

Ridiculous that NJ classifies airguns as firearms when the BATFE doesn't classify them as such or even regulate them.

 

[Hateful McNasty]

It may have been addressed already and I missed it, but out of curiosity, is it legal for a NJ resident to drive to another state, buy an airgun, and bring it back to NJ?

Ridiculous that NJ classifies airguns as firearms when the BATFE doesn't classify them as such or even regulate them.

The old saying

It's legal till you get caught..

 

[drjjpdc78]

I have a dozen or so Air rifles, I got back into air guns during the Covid shutdowns and ammo increases of the last decade, I haven't shot any of my powder burners except for my EDC revolver in practice, of my air rifles a half dozen of them are medium priced and expensive models, three of them are the more popular Weirauch models.
Of my less expensive and budget priced air guns (all are great shooters) my favorite and most used rifles is my .177 cal. Crosman Vantage NP, while I did have to do a quick and uncomplicated trigger job on it it's proved to be one of my most accurate and powerful rifles and has been 100% reliable since I bought it new six years ago and allot of rounds sent down range.
I too was apprehensive about the price ( purchased mine from MidwayUSA for $119.00, but after watching a two part video review on the Crosman Vantage by Kenny Kormandy on myairgunreviews on U-Tube I pulled the trigger (pun intended) on one, in his fine review Kenny wrapped it up by saying that of the many air rifles that he has reviewed over the years this Crosman Vantage was a keeper and had a special place in his collection, he called it a genuine "Gem in the Rough".
If you are looking for a great all around air rifle that isn't pellets or hold friendly, is fairly light weight, easy to cock, and super accurate, but budget friendly, either the Crosman Vantage NP or the Crosman Optimus (the springer model) will get you smiling.

Thanks for your review and advice, Moe. You do realize that you are the only one in 5 pages that recommended those crosman rifles.

 

[Moe M.]

Thanks for your review and advice, Moe. You do realize that you are the only one in 5 pages that recommended those crosman rifles.

I am aware of that fact, it's not the first time that I've taken an unpopular stand on budget air guns, my first time as a new member here I posted a positive review of my Ruger Impact Max .22 cal. gas piston break barrel air rifle, that was quite a few years ago and it still looks great and shoots better than it looks.
Seems I have a penchant for wood stocked budget priced air rifles, aside from the junk bundle scopes and lawyer triggers that they come with all of the "cheap" air rifles that I've chosen have performed way above their price point, but, I am careful about what I buy and only purchase after some research and careful consideration.
Usually when I draw fire for my posts on the subject it comes from a class of elitist who seem to believe that if an air gun doesn't carry an exclusive brand or come with a high end price tag it's junk and it's owner is an uneducated or inexperienced air gun shooter and not to be taken seriously.
I'm not trying to justify my choices, I can well afford and do own some high end air rifles, yet I'm more interested in quality and reliability over cost and branding, my advice as far as the Crosman Vantage NP or it's coil spring cousin the Crosman Optimus is that for the price they are a bargain, you will have to trash the bundle scope they come with and replace the trigger screw with a longer one (there are a bunch of U-Tube videos that show how to smooth out the triggers on those guns) I corrected mine in just a few minutes.
What ever course to chose to take, good luck with your search.

 

[drjjpdc78]

Moe,
I think like you do about bottles of wine. Have been drinking wine for 35 years and have been drinking famous 1st growths from Bordeaux/Burgundy and now sample $10-15 bottles. Wine snobs that are friends can't believe when I tell them what they are drinking.

One of my difficulties now is that I can't do a lot of fancy mechanical tuning up nowadays. As I said at the beginning I am into Air Silhouette and as long as I have a quality rifle that knocks down the chickens, pigs, turkey and rams I'm happy. I already have a .22 LR bullet trap and any hunting I do is purely a bonus. Moe you and I are living on the NE coast with their idiotic laws. What really sticks in my craw is that both our states had the bulk of battles in the Revolution. MA had the shot heard round the world. NJ had 6 major battles and about 200 skirmishes from Wildwood up to the NY border. I always think what would happen if Washington was riding on a horse today with a sidearm at the MA border. Or if Abraham Clark from NJ was told his liberties depended on his allegiance to the crown, he would have protested violently as one of the 5 signers of the D of I. Our states gave so much and could not believe today about the restrictions on firearms if our founding fathers showed up today.

 

[Orv]

Moe,
I think like you do about bottles of wine. Have been drinking wine for 35 years and have been drinking famous 1st growths from Bordeaux/Burgundy and now sample $10-15 bottles. Wine snobs that are friends can't believe when I tell them what they are drinking.

One of my difficulties now is that I can't do a lot of fancy mechanical tuning up nowadays. As I said at the beginning I am into Air Silhouette and as long as I have a quality rifle that knocks down the chickens, pigs, turkey and rams I'm happy. I already have a .22 LR bullet trap and any hunting I do is purely a bonus. Moe you and I are living on the NE coast with their idiotic laws. What really sticks in my craw is that both our states had the bulk of battles in the Revolution. MA had the shot heard round the world. NJ had 6 major battles and about 200 skirmishes from Wildwood up to the NY border. I always think what would happen if Washington was riding on a horse today with a sidearm at the MA border. Or if Abraham Clark from NJ was told his liberties depended on his allegiance to the crown, he would have protested violently as one of the 5 signers of the D of I. Our states gave so much and could not believe today about the restrictions on firearms if our founding fathers showed up today.

 

[Orv]

You know my friend, living out here on the left coast in the Peoples Republic of California, I can truly empathize with your difficulties in owning our favorite toys. I have another possible rifle for you in the Seneca Dragonfly MK2. I purchased mine 2 years ago when they first arrived in the US. I won't expound on it in detail here, but strongly suggest that you read the detailed reviews of this fine rifle done by Stephan Archer in Hardair Magazine as well as the blog review by Gaylord Maxwell. These are both respected reviewers of airguns. My Dragonfly in .22 cal is accurate, reliable and fun to shoot for this old coot of nearly 76 years.

 

[Hateful McNasty]

Pretty sure our founding fathers have rolled over in there graves so much by now there dizzy..

 

[phillip]

Always rember ... You voted for it ( and probably reelected them as well over and over ).

This is flat out BS.

I’m in California and under a relentless regime of one party rule. I can assure you, sir, that I have never once voted for ANY of the scoundrels who now revel in their power as our overlords. Were your comment not so outlandishly foolish, I wouldn’t have even justified it with a response.

And I would also like to point out that, without exception, every single person I know who has moved out of this hellhole, has done so to get away from the policies foisted upon them by the idiots in Sacramento. And they have absolutely no intention of ever recreating the mess that led them to leave in the first place.

Now, I know this may be a difficult concept for you, but try to use a little common sense before you press the POST REPLY button after you’ve written something so ridiculous that it defies all logic.

 

[Hateful McNasty]

This is flat out BS.

I’m in California and under a relentless regime of one party rule. I can assure you, sir, that I have never once voted for ANY of the scoundrels who now revel in their power as our overlords. Were your comment not so outlandishly foolish, I wouldn’t have even justified it with a response.

And I would also like to point out that, without exception, every single person I know who has moved out of this hellhole, has done so to get away from the policies foisted upon them by the idiots in Sacramento. And they have absolutely no intention of ever recreating the mess that led them to leave in the first place.

Now, I know this may be a difficult concept for you, but try to use a little common sense before you press the POST REPLY button after you’ve written something so ridiculous that it defies all logic.

Lol...lol. Probly with electronic voting on hooked up the internet you may have more then you realize..lol

You have no clue what that thing voted for you.. but hay you did get a I voted sticker to make you feel good about it .

 

[phillip]

Lol...lol. Probly with electronic voting on hooked up the internet you may have more then you realize..lol

You have no clue what that thing voted for you.. but hay you did get a I voted sticker to make you feel good about it .

I think you should go back and reread the last part of my response.

 

[Hateful McNasty]

I think you should go back and reread the last part of my response.

Naaa. I'll pass.

 

[Moe M.]

Moe,
I think like you do about bottles of wine. Have been drinking wine for 35 years and have been drinking famous 1st growths from Bordeaux/Burgundy and now sample $10-15 bottles. Wine snobs that are friends can't believe when I tell them what they are drinking.

One of my difficulties now is that I can't do a lot of fancy mechanical tuning up nowadays. As I said at the beginning I am into Air Silhouette and as long as I have a quality rifle that knocks down the chickens, pigs, turkey and rams I'm happy. I already have a .22 LR bullet trap and any hunting I do is purely a bonus. Moe you and I are living on the NE coast with their idiotic laws. What really sticks in my craw is that both our states had the bulk of battles in the Revolution. MA had the shot heard round the world. NJ had 6 major battles and about 200 skirmishes from Wildwood up to the NY border. I always think what would happen if Washington was riding on a horse today with a sidearm at the MA border. Or if Abraham Clark from NJ was told his liberties depended on his allegiance to the crown, he would have protested violently as one of the 5 signers of the D of I. Our states gave so much and could not believe today about the restrictions on firearms if our founding fathers showed up today.

We are pretty much in agreement Constitutionally, in my opinion my state is lost where individual rights are concerned, at the moment the wife and I and kids are looking seriously at Eastern TN.
But that's a discussion for another time, as far as fancy mechanical ability is concerned, if you choose carefully you don't need to get into any complicated projects, I have three air rifles that all suffered with junk scopes, if you can use a screwdriver or a couple of Allen wrenches you can change a scope and sight it in, most brans claim adjustable triggers, few are actually adjustable for pull weight.
My GAMO Swarm Bone Collector needed a trigger screw replacement, I ordered the kit from John at Air Gun Detectives for $10.00, it took me five minutes start to finish to go from a five pound trigger to one and a half pound pull, my Ruger Impact Max from the factory had a six pound pull a lighter trigger spring involved taking the action off the stock and changing the trigger spring, a 20 minute job after some direction from a forum member here, My Crosman Vantage NP had the worst trigger at seven ponds, again I had to remove the stock and punch out two small retaining pins, take out a bent wire spring and install a small plastic bearing that I cut from the barrel of a cheap ball point pen, then replace the pins and assemble the stock to the action, total job was 30 minutes, and again, with the help of a U-Tube tutorial video, you don't have to be a gunsmith.

 

[Bear-of-Grayling]

And they have absolutely no intention of ever recreating the mess that led them to leave in the first place.

I would hope this is true. If it were true, why are states like Arizona and Texas now purple from mass infiltration?

 

[Hateful McNasty]

I would hope this is true. If it were true, why are states like Arizona and Texas now purple from mass infiltration?

They claim they escaped but end up dragging what the escaped from right along with them and destroy your way of life and try to convert your way to the mess they claimed they ran away from cause it's better (??). Please just move back go away we don't really want you here .. lol

We are pretty much in agreement Constitutionally, in my opinion my state is lost where individual rights are concerned, at the moment the wife and I and kids are looking seriously at Eastern TN.
But that's a discussion for another time, as far as fancy mechanical ability is concerned, if you choose carefully you don't need to get into any complicated projects, I have three air rifles that all suffered with junk scopes, if you can use a screwdriver or a couple of Allen wrenches you can change a scope and sight it in, most brans claim adjustable triggers, few are actually adjustable for pull weight.
My GAMO Swarm Bone Collector needed a trigger screw replacement, I ordered the kit from John at Air Gun Detectives for $10.00, it took me five minutes start to finish to go from a five pound trigger to one and a half pound pull, my Ruger Impact Max from the factory had a six pound pull a lighter trigger spring involved taking the action off the stock and changing the trigger spring, a 20 minute job after some direction from a forum member here, My Crosman Vantage NP had the worst trigger at seven ponds, again I had to remove the stock and punch out two small retaining pins, take out a bent wire spring and install a small plastic bearing that I cut from the barrel of a cheap ball point pen, then replace the pins and assemble the stock to the action, total job was 30 minutes, and again, with the help of a U-Tube tutorial video, you don't have to be a gunsmith.

From my all these adjustable triggers you find really don't do much adjusting ... Unless you mod them. LoL.

 

[BCR#1]

I suggest calling Airguns of Arizona. They can set you up with a "Buy once, cry once" rifle". Not familiar with your state's laws but they should be able to help.

I suggest the HW95. Do some due diligence and watch a few youtube videos. The scope is actually very good. In car terms the HW95 is a Bavarian Hotrod. Perfect.

https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/spring-piston/weihrauch-hw95l-field-pro/

Really starting to like my HW95 and AOA IS the store to buy from.

HTH,
Bill

 

[SoCalAirrifles]

I am waiting for mine. An HW97K BL, in .20 cal.

View attachment 405429

How long you been waiting? Just ordered the HW 70 black arrow last week feels like 3-6 months wait on average these days. Upside it gives me plenty of time to pay off the CC purchase.