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Pellet Rifles.

Jackalope

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I've been a pump up $35 pellet rifle guy since childhood. I finally decided to move up and buy a big boy pellet rifle. I have what appears to be a constant need to manage the squirrel and raccoon population around the house. I went and Purchased a Gamo Wildcat Whisper yesterday that won't see two sunrises at my house. Complete junk. Like any of them you might as well not take the scope out of the box but I gave it a shot. Adjustments were funky and hopped all over, no consistency, get the elevation right change windage one click and elevation would jump 2-3 inches. Junk. So I put a $250 rimfire scope on it that I had in the safe.

The rifle itself. Also junk. I sent 4 different brands of pellets through it and the best it could achieve wpuld be 6-8 inch MOA. Jumped all over the place. This was the best group it could manage at 30 yards. I can shoot better than that with a compound bow. 🤣 What good is a pellet rifle that only has a 50/50 chance of actually hitting a squirrel at 30 yards. 🤣 Junk, back to wence she came.

So what brand rifles have you guys found good accuracy out of?

20241007_125150.jpg
20241007_124918.jpg
 
I've often thought those would be an excellent idea for that survival rifle for plinking critters to eat but with that accuracy I guess I'll be sticking with my Daisy Red Ryder, I killed everything with that gun back in the day LOL!! Well, maybe it would only piss off a squirrel tho.
 
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GoetsTalon

Senior Member
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Walbridge oh
RWS Diana is what I have. No problems but I shoot it open sights. You can ruin a regular scope by putting it on a air rifle. Something about reverse recoil from the spring.
 
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Jackalope

Dignitary Member
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Better brake out the Benjamins to get a decent one….
I dont know man. My daisy powerline 880 will usually cover a quarter at 30 yards. Pump gun vs a piston gun I guess. Doing more reading my experience isn't unique. Crap QC and people saying Gamo produces more lemons than they do good guns.
Daisy-880.jpg
 

Stressless

Active Member
2,330
85
Keene, OH
Joe, got the same ish gun, put a good scope on it and had issues until I looked up the issue of parallax at close targets above 1 or 2 power.
20241007_144448.jpg

To fix it, parallax, your cheek weld and eye position must be damn near exactly the same shot after shot... I have the bags and KNEW I was a better shot than that.

Read the reviews online and guys w/o much ability( their words) were stacking pellets at 20yds with the same exact gear.

A knowledgeable fellow on this forum, mentioned form when I was having issues getting my broadbands to fly right. I took that to heart on the piston pellet gun and it dialed right the .. in. After I tried 2 scopes and a couple pellets.

my latest, 20 yrds. (Distance of my bird feeder)


20241007_144426.jpg

20240615_133527.jpg


Sighting in, first group low, second with 5, adjusted to high, divided the clicks and sent 4 into the bull and nicked with one. Those are .177" holes. After I got that settled in, I sent three to the head and three to the heart.

Suggest really seat that cheek, get the eye relief right and the same as much as possible and it should tighten up for you.

Pellet gun short range with med/high power scopes are much more unforgiving than mid range 100-250 yard shooting on MOA I've found.
 
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Jackalope

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RWS Diana is what I have. No problems but I shoot it open sights. You can ruin a regular scope by putting it on a air rifle. Something about reverse recoil from the spring.

Man I get it, but for $300+ I might as well buy a new Savage Mark II 22 bolt gun and shoot shorts. One would think for a couple hundred bucks a fella could get a decently accurate pellet rifle.
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
38,984
274
Joe, got the same ish gun, put a good scope on it and had issues until I looked up the issue of parallax at close targets above 1 or 2 power.
View attachment 200259
To fix it, parallax, your cheek weld and eye position must be damn near exactly the same shot after shot... I have the bags and KNEW I was a better shot than that.

I knowledgeable fellow on this forum, mentioned form when I was having issues getting my broadbands to fly right. I took that to heart on the piston pellet gun and it dialed right the .. in. After I tried 2 scopes and a couple pellets.

my latest, 20 yrds. (Distance of my bird feeder)


View attachment 200258
View attachment 200260

Sighting in, first group low, second with 5, adjusted to high, divided the clicks and sent 4 into the bull and nicked with one. Those are .177" holes. After I got that settled in, I sent three to the head and three to the heart.

Suggest really seat that cheek, get the eye relief right and the same as much as possible and it should tighten up for you.

Pellet gun short range with med/high power scopes are much more unforgiving than mid range 100-250 yard shooting on MOA I've found.

Hmm. Parallax could be something. It was on a bog field pod and it was rock solid in the rest, however my cheek weld hold was likely inconsistent.
 
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"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
58,413
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North Carolina
Man I get it, but for $300+ I might as well buy a new Savage Mark II 22 bolt gun and shoot shorts. One would think for a couple hundred bucks a fella could get a decently accurate pellet rifle.
They’ve become very popular in the last 10 years. The cheap ones are cheap. The expensive ones, well they’re still cheap, but more accurate.
You want sticker shock, look at the German made ones 😂
 

Stressless

Active Member
2,330
85
Keene, OH
This is the scope I set on mine, got my buddy one (squirrels have eaten the wiring in both our trucks so we declared Jihad on the rat bastards) Mounted the in box scope that came with his Gamo and it's a killer. So the scope I bought isn't really necessary, but it's an easier sight in and better glass. If you do get it, throw the rings that 'clamp' away and use whatever hard mount rings you like.