Been lurking around and see a lot of threads similar to mine but I have some specifics.... Like many others I am looking to pick off some house sparrows around my purple martin colony. Each year I start trapping before the martins arrive and then transition to the shot gun. Early on I can walk out and get close enough to shoot them as they fly away from my martin houses. By this time of year they have wised up and if I am anywhere in my yard they take off so I contend with several of them that are super skittish.
My martin housing is about 35 yards from my house where I could set up in a window. There are some perches around and a couple small bushes they use so my range would be 30-40 yards. I am seeking an air rifle that will shoot sparrows at that range. About 10 years ago when I moved to this house not knowing any better I bought a gun off the shelf from Wal Mart (I think it was a Gamo) or something like that, around 120.00 including a scope. I tried all different types of pellets and could never get it to group well enough to hit sparrows at that distance. I have hunted/shot weapons for 35 years but just couldn't get accurate with it.
I would like to keep my budget around $200-$300 (lowers is obviously fine) and would be fine buying used. Not picky about what type or brand it is. Just something that will take out the sparrows at that distance. Would love to hear your thoughts and if anyone has anything for sale I would be interested as well.
My opinion, for what its worth is to suggest one of the better but affordable Ruger air piston break barrels, as much rifle as you can afford in your price range (shop around online -- it can mean very sweet savings), with one of the better inexpensive scopes available on Amazon replacing the barely functional optic included with the rifle, if any. Search for an AO and other required doodads scope and sort the results by price from lowest to highest, then go with one of those with the highest number of buyers giving the scope 4-plus star ratings. Reading as many of the highest and lowest ratings you can stomach doesn't hurt either. Unless you go with something like the new Crosman 3622 PCP air rifle & hand pump combo (available at pyramidair.com at right around your price ceiling), you'll need the power of a spring or air piston break barrel to meet your distance and price requirements.
It's just a little over the top end of what you want to spend (shop around <grin> maybe you can find a return/reconditioned rifle), but I think the Norica Omnia ZRS -- it genuinely has no recoil whatsoever -- would be pretty nearly perfect for your situation! I love mine. It's super accurate using the very nice open sights, but you can mount a scope as delivered, which you'll need almost certainly, but I think it's a very good candidate for you. It has enough power that the harder hitting, more likely to result in a single shot kill .22 caliber model would be the way to go in my opinion, plus you'd have a better, more powerful air rifle capable of eliminating larger, four-legged garden pests as well, if that ever became the a problem. Although the .177 version might give you a slight edge in a flatter trajectory over a slighly longer distance, if that's a major consideration, either should be fine (but the .22 just a tiny bit finer).
I am VERY partial to variable pumpers myself and would love to suggest a few, the best of which easily would meet your your price range, but you really would be pushing their performance limits at those distances, even with better glass mounted. About the only pumpers you -might- consider would be the Seneca Dragonfly MK2's or Benjamin 397 or 392s. Both can be purchased in .177 and .22 caliber (I have all four) and each should be available somewhere online for about 180 to 230 bucks, leaving enough to add some decent glass and maybe have a bit left over. BUT! The Seneca pumpers are a bit more powerful than the Benjamin models and although the installed open sights are nice on all four, a scope can be mounted quickly and easily on the built-in Dragonfly rails, but there are lots of additional gew-gaws to be purchased and fairly significant hoops through which one must jump to put glass on the Benjamins. Furthermore, usually I wouldn't hesitate to choose .22 caliber over .177, nearly every time, but for birds, from the longer distances at which you'll be shooting, I think .177 might be the better choice. The extra fps should provide a flatter, more accurate trajectory at that distance, with enough power remaining to take care of business, with hollow point, domed and pointed pellets giving you the best results.
Okay, that's my two cents worth, and that's probably just about all it's worth too, but there it is.;-) Whatever you end up choosing, I'm pretty certain you'll make it work eventually, so let me simply wish you the best of luck with your up and coming adventure. I hope you'll consider sharing the results of what you end up choosing with us. I suspect if I was one of your alien avian invaders, it might be about time to start thinking about migrating north for the summer, or at least somewhere not too close to the mansion for Martins.
