New Member Intro & Caliber questions

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Tusk11

Tusk11

Member
Jan 8, 2025
18
13
North Carolina
New member here from NC. I will try to summarize briefly how I got here.

I'm an avid hunter and outdoorsmen and I've strictly used blackpowder weapons my entire life. Why you may ask? When I was 16 I was convicted of a felony and in NC it stays on your adult record for life( I am 35 now). I didn't let that stop me from getting outside and chasing wild game and plinking around.

I must admit I've been living under a rock, I had no idea how far the evolution of air rifles has come in the last decade.

I'm sold on the idea and ready to purchase my first air rifle. I have narrowed it down to the AirForce Texan (ss or lss) as I am a buy once cry once type of person.

My question is in regards to how versatile the .357 caliber is within the realm of hunting and predator dispatching. Im not looking to hunt deer with it as it seems like that's pushing it a bit, but I would be taking game anywhere from a squirrel up to a coyote.

Many thanks! And cant wait to get involved with the community.
 
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Squirrel with a Texan would create quite the mess...haha

Dont know where you're at in NC, but I cant get them much under 100 yards here in the mountains. If you can where you're at, the Texan will do its job. I have the 45 Texan and have had the long version as well, opted to keep the carbine. Have toyed with the idea of a 35 Texan, but have a .257 and a 9mm Impact so covered there (although the Impact isnt near as powerful as the Texan).

Assuming you've considered a way to fill that beast? If you're going to be hand pumping a big bore, you'll grow tired of that quickly.

Welcome!
 
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Rob_in_NC said:
Squirrel with a Texan would create quite the mess...haha

Dont know where you're at in NC, but I cant get them much under 100 yards here in the mountains. If you can where you're at, the Texan will do its job. I have the 45 Texan and have had the long version as well, opted to keep the carbine. Have toyed with the idea of a 35 Texan, but have a .257 and a 9mm Impact so covered there (although the Impact isnt near as powerful as the Texan).

Assuming you've considered a way to fill that beast? If you're going to be hand pumping a big bore, you'll grow tired of that quickly.

Welcome!
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I plan on buying a compressor. I live in south east NC around many standing pine plantations so it's teeming with squirrel. The .257 caliber initially caught my eye but I figured it might be a little light for Coyote/Bobcats
 
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This was actually one of the videos that helped sell me on the Texan. We have hogs within an hour of where I'm at but luckily nothing in my direct area lately. We do a little farming so that's the last thing I want running around here. We have the occasional black bear but they are usually just visiting and do no harm.

The .357 may be a little much for squirrel but that's something I can live with. The predators decimating my chickens is on the top of my list at the moment.
 
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Tusk11 said:
I appreciate that, I will keep an eye out for something used as I am not opposed to it and it will not be a closet queen. I'm still on the fence if I really want the suppressed version or not. Do they really make that big of a difference? The SS will lose velocity and the SSL is crazy long.
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Far as suppressed or not, I have a mod for my .45 carbine, but didnt make much difference to my ears so I run it loud n proud. Not a fan of a huge can on the end of a gun anyway, and as you mentioned, the LSS version is waaaay long. I even considered the standard version long, so I ended up with the carbine.
 
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Rob_in_NC said:
Far as suppressed or not, I have a mod for my .45 carbine, but didnt make much difference to my ears so I run it loud n proud. Not a fan of a huge can on the end of a gun anyway, and as you mentioned, the LSS version is waaaay long. I even considered the standard version long, so I ended up with the carbine.
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That helps alot thanks.
 
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Tusk11 said:
I'm also overwhelmed by the price tags lol
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Yes but in the long run it is cheaper. Why, well yes you will spend more of a quality air rifle, BUT you have virtually no maintenance, and the ammo is what makes them a lower cost. The other thing to realize is that you should always at a minimum shoot each once a month to keep the seals in good shape, thus it is often important to keep in mind your ability to do that.

The .357 is a good choice to have one caliber rifle that you can use to hunt hogs, etc. yet is also about as large of a caliber that you can get and realistically, moderate it to be quiet. Anything larger will end up being a range or hunting only. It is also a caliber to just have fun and plink. You might want to consider the new Mora .357 sniper, even the new M4 Impact .357 (the new M4 can get more FPS than the M3), Western Airguns Rattler .357. Those have large magazines which make them more fun to plink and target shoot instead of a single shot rifle.


 
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@Tusk11 Welcome to AGN. I hope I didn't miss the answer to this question but reading over this thread I'm wondering within what range do you wish to shoot? Or within which range do you usually shoot? Within which range are you comfortable shooting black powder? As for caliber, that will likely be largely dictated by your state DNR agency, regs, and/or laws regarding hunting with airguns.
 
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