Air Rifle For Survival Weapon : Complete Guide

Does an air rifle has its place with today's modern survival weapons cache, or is it of use only to those who want to shoot holes in paper or hit tin cans? I personally believe that today air rifles have their place in a modern survival weapons cache. This weapon can be very well used in small game hunting to hunt doves and other birds, rabbits, squirrel, and other small game animals which are legal for killing by people.

There is also very well defined historical evidence that air rifles were used for ava ried number of purposes. For example, the Girandon air gun was used during the Lewis Expeditions ar Why you should own an air rifle ound 1780's these held 22 rounds of 40 caliber bullets in a bullet reservoir of varied differences.

Source : SurvivoPedia

This weapon had then to be pumped over 1200 times to supply the air pressure which was needed to fire all the bullets one at a time. The bullet velocity of this very powerful and efficient weapon was equal to black powder rifles of that period.

Why Should You Use an Air Gun in this era?

Here are some petty advantages associated with using an air rifle:

• Air rifles are very quiet - there are absolutely no loud bangs to scare off other game animals in the area.
• Very Easy to shoot with precision - this weapon points nicely, and is not really too heavy or large for the beginner or inexperienced shooter.
• It is an extremely well designed and excellent, low cost training rifle with a simple design and cheap pellets.
• Air rifles come with well developed iron sights and are very accuratewhen they come intoin shooting.When used with a scope, the shooter gets very tight groups and can get multiple and good shots out of these. (where multiple pellets hit). When hunting with a scoped air rifle, small game may be taken safely up to 50 yards away.
• They are legal to own and shoot in most states in India too . Because an air rifle uses only compressed air to fire the pellet (and not powder and a primer) most states do not classify them as rapid firearms.
• Air rifles make an ideal gun whether it be for security or for hunting game.It can be packed up in an air and water tight container with a couple of tins of cartridges and pellets and then easily retrieved at a later time.
• The Ammunition will not go bad never . The only ammunition an air rifle requires or moreover needs is a well developed pellet and absolutely nothing else. There are no headaches like powder, or primers to worry about

Basic Air Rifle Power Systems

There are three basic power systems in modern air rifles:

1. Spring and Piston: When the rifle is cocked and a spring is compressed. When the trigger is all pulled, the released spring pushes a piston forward that, in turn, compresses a column of air that fires out the pellet off of the barrel.
2. Air Cartridge/Tank: This system uses a pre-filled, high pressure air cartridge of air pellet or air tanks to push the pellet out of the barrel when fired.
3. Air Pump: The air pump is a system allows the shooter to pump out the air reservoir to the desired pellet air pressure. While Some other rifles need only one pump to fill the reservoir while anothers may need six or more.

In today's air rifle marketplace there are a lot many types of rifles:

• Some are just fire BB's and are considered by some to be nothing more than toys for kids (ex. Daisy Rough Rider with its low velocity and short range).
• Some air rifles can be used to shoot both BB's and pellets. The Crossman Air Rifle has a tad bit little higher velocity and a little better range with all types of pellets. These rifles are now considered to be the very best starters by most shooters to be training rifles.
• Competition rifles are very precise as well as accurate and can shoot in tight groups at the competition range of 15 yards in the front or back.
• Hunting rifles will give you some of the finest rifles such as the Gamo Silent Cat and can be used for small game and Depending up on the caliber and the pellet weight the velocity must be kept at least 650fps to about 1250fps to have enough energy to kill if its really for hunting

Things to Consider When Choosing an Air Rifle

Here are the basic things you need to look at for a perfect air rifle.

• .177 is a small and light as well as very fast with top out velocity of upto1250 fps. It is used mainly by trainers for target practice, competition type shooting, and small game hunting.
• 20 caliber - This is the medium weight of caliber with velocities of around 850fps to 1000fps. This is not a very popular caliber in the US and in other countries as well and obtaining pellets and other shooting equipment can be difficult in remote countries
• 22 caliber - This is the largest and the most used caliber and this is the heaviest pellet for air rifles. The velocity of this rifle can have a range between 650fps to 1250fps. It is usually used for hunting and practices of the same .

Getting a canister for yourself

E ven though pre-filled canisters can give you good velocity in the beginning, their power may and sooner or later will decrease after just a few shots. In a crisis scenario, you will find yourself in an awkward position and not be able to refill smaller CO2 canisters, and larger ones will require a non portable compressor and pump.Unfortunately these days the springs do not supply the kind of velocity you can get from a canister in an air tank system.

Most people may say today that pump systems offer the best choice because you do not need canisters at all at all times, and yet they will still offer descent velocity.

Regardless of the air sourcethat you have, test out the rifle at different temperatures so that you can understand how rifle coolingthing and air temperature will affect boththe pellet velocity and capacity to fire multiple air bb or pellet rounds at the target.

Selecting the perfect Air Rifle for Hunting

while selecting an air rifle for this purpose, it is really important to think about what is the kind of game that you wish to hunt in .

Usually, you can easily hunt rabbit, squirrel, or birds with a .177 or a 22 caliber . If you are going for larger animals such as raccoons, you will need heavier pellets such as the 56 caliber and In order to kill game efficiently, the pellet velocity must not be below 650 fps at all or you have no chance.