Airgun VS Rimfire for hunting

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Few weeks ago I decided to head out to another remote location where I was able to film for a few videos. Terry, Marley and I loaded up the Jeep and headed several hours North where we planned to setup camp, do some hunting and scout a few new areas. The place we setup camp was a working cattle ranch during 1891 but years later was abandoned due to lack of water.

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This location was one of few that offered some shade from the sun, with temperatures getting up over 110 degrees. This area does have a natural spring that we later found was a huge blessing to be able to cool off after a long day of hiking.


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We did pack fairly minimal with each of us packing more as you would do for a backpacking trip, lightweight tents, dry foods and of coarse plenty of water. By 8:00am it was already into the high 80's with a nice breeze coming through the valley. For this trip I had brought the American Air Arms EVOL, the standard version in .22 caliber. To give some of you a backstory on this rifle it was part of the Airgun Survival Challenge where I took three high end Airguns and tortured them. This rifle had been drowned, dragged, run over and thrown off a cliff and survived with little more than cosmetic damage. The EVOL shoots the 20.3gr slugs at 980 producing just about 43FPE at the muzzle. I had been using the Redesigns but have found the slugs to be far superior with near twice the BC.

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Terry brought both his Edgun Lieshy Classic as well as his Tikka TX1 chambered in 17hmr, an excellent varmint rifle that produces just about 222 FPE at the muzzle and very capable to ranges out around 200 yards. This area has vast open terrain with steep rolling hills with patches of dense sagebrush, a very difficult place to hunt. I figured it would be interesting to see how each rifle performs under the same hunting environment.

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Terry, Marley and I set out on foot and headed North away from camp where we had encountered plenty of Jackrabbits in some past trips. This area has a ton of lava rock on the hillsides making it somewhat dangerous so much care needed to be taken while navigating this terrain.

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I spotted my first Jackrabbit at 48 yards moving through some sagebrush where I was able to get a shot off, these jacks can be tough animals and will run up to 60 or so yards before expiring. Having a dog like Marley is imperative in this type of rugged environment and she's about as professional as they come with what she does.

*NOTE I was willing and ready to do a full write up of my adventure but this new forum format won't allow me to attach more than 10 files, without the pictures I don't feel as though my story will come across very entertaining. Hopefully this problem can be resolved as the new forum progresses.

Not to waste any time I will list a few things out of our experience and leave the video link to check out for those interested to do so.

RIMFIRE PROS

  • Fairly inexpensive initial cost to purchase rifle
  • Capable of ranges out around 200 yards fairly easily
  • 200+ FPE
  • Lightweight
  • Excellent Durability
  • Low Maintenance
  • Higher velocity for moving targets

RIMFIRE CONS
  • Ammo can be limited, expensive and cannot be reloaded
  • Loud
  • Unreliable (rimfires prone to misfires) This happened several times on the trip
  • Depending on how much ammo you carry it can get heavy

AIRRIFLE PROS (This may only apply to the rifle used)
  • Pellets/Slugs inexpensive and easier to find over rimfire and can be made by the user
  • Capable of ranges out to 200+ yards
  • Lightweight and Short
  • Excellent Durability
  • Excellent Reliability
  • Quiet
AIRRIFLE CONS
  • Expensive Initial Cost
  • Limited Air Capacity (Need a hand pump or other reliable air source to fill in field)
  • Lower velocity requires a bit more leade ahead for moving targets
I'm sure I missed a few things, feel free to add to this list as I think it would be helpful. (Those of you wanting to bring politics or any of that into this thread please move along as I'm not interested)

Cheers,
Dana
 
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@Crosman999 Good photos as I have grown to expect from you. This is another good write up as well. I like the list of pros and cons. I do have some additional questions. How does the weight of the Tika compare to the Evol when carrying it across that terrain over your shoulder via a sling? Which one requires more frequent cleaning, preventative, or repair maintenance? Which has more parts readily available?

The way you describe that terrain I can see how having a dog to retrieve qurry is imperative. If the lava rock you’re speaking of out there is obsidian, that type of sharp glass-like rock can be hell on a dog’s pads as well. Thanks for sharing Dana.
 
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Ezana4CE said:
@Crosman999 Good photos as I have grown to expect from you. This is another good write up as well. I like the list of pros and cons. I do have some additional questions. How does the weight of the Tika compare to the Evol when carrying it across that terrain over your shoulder via a sling? Which one requires more frequent cleaning, preventative, or repair maintenance? Which has more parts readily available?

The way you describe that terrain I can see how having a dog to retrieve qurry is imperative. If the lava rock you’re speaking of out there is obsidian, that type of sharp glass-like rock can be hell on a dog’s pads as well. Thanks for sharing Dana.
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Thanks for the reply, as far as the weight goes I believe the Tikka fully loaded weighs a little more and is definitely longer. The cleaning is probably more with the Tikka, especially in the bolt area, some ammo may vary but we did encounter some misfires that in turn lost some opportunities.My overall impression was neither really had the advantage but if I had to pick one it would be the Evol for sure almost purely on it's quietness. Many of the extremely rocky areas we tried to avoid but Marley is pretty good about her routine and for the most part avoids rough areas. Her advantage is being able to climb so well and she's able to get under the sagebrush where larger dogs can't.
 
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Tikka is a pretty respected brand in the rimfire world. I don't have a 17 HMR, but I do have the same platform in .22 LR, MDT stock, and I have taken prairie dogs at about around 200 yds. In my world, .25 air gunning out to 60 yds or so, Tikka .22LR 60-200 yds. For me, life is too short to limit one's self to one platform. Not selling my airgun or my Tikka anytime soon.
 
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Mr.H said:
Tikka is a pretty respected brand in the rimfire world. I don't have a 17 HMR, but I do have the same platform in .22 LR, MDT stock, and I have taken prairie dogs at about around 200 yds. In my world, .25 air gunning out to 60 yds or so, Tikka .22LR 60-200 yds. For me, life is too short to limit one's self to one platform. Not selling my airgun or my Tikka anytime soon.
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For me I prefer Airguns only these days, as I've gotten older I can appreciate the quietness much more than I did.
 
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Benjamin 392 is good for small varmints, with 8 pumps it will drop squirrels or rabbits very effectively, groundhogs would be the upper range for humane kills, advantages are ease of handling, and extremely low noise.
Hatsan 95 or RWS 460 in .22 would give a bit more power, but are much heavier guns with some significant recoil due to the heavy spring piston, and quite loud for an air gun.
PCP’s are another option, but I don’t have experience with then to offer a good suggestion of one, however they’re the only way to go if you intend to shoot larger varmints with it.
 
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My hunting is almost exclusively for squirrels - the tree kind: fox and grey (aka branch managers, tree chickens). For the last seven years I have almost exclusively used an airgun. Nearly all my hunting shots are inside of about 40 yards, so an airgun is just as effective as a .22 rifle. Some public land I hunt still requires a shotgun, and I still don't think an air shotgun provides any kind of advantage to make me choose it over a firearm pump shotgun. I think of air shotgun more as a nice hobby, if you can afford it. :)
 
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Like most boys my first rifle was 22 cal Rem Nylon66 they hadn't been out long at that time "I just dated myself", and still have 8 22 powder burners. My brother gave me my first co2 a S&W .177 single shot pistol when I was 10. I shot dragon flies off the fence and literally hundreds of lizards in Wyoming. My reasoning for going into PCP is not just from old memories but how quiet and accurate they are when set up and dialed.
I can honestly say I am selling some of my powder burners soon not all of course a person needs to have a diversified tool box. I just ordered a used FX Impact MK2 from Utah Airguns .30cal and will be ordering the .35cal slug barrel kit for it.
I take squirrels right in my back yard on a 1/3 rd acre lot with my Brocock Commander .22 cal moderated and it barely makes a poof I used to shoot a .177 co2 in the house however my dogs hated it. I see using Airguns for doing 50% of my shooting and 90% of hunting from now on.
 
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imo airguns need alot of support, limited range and power .. but theyre quiet, you can adjust your strategy to make them work, but if noise and location isnt an issue, cant beat a powder burner .. they usually are an issue unless you travel to where it isnt though, hence the airgun ... a good pcp rivals a powder burner within its range for effectiveness ..
 
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In my state we have a daily limit of squirrels, it’s 6. I got tired of only being in the woods for 30-45 minutes with my .22lr and having to go home because I shot six. Last couple years I’ve been taking my airguns so I can at least eat my lunch in the woods. The only real advantage of an airgun for me comes at midday. When things get slow I can quietly just shoot at dumb occupy my time targets. I don’t generally do that with my rimfire because I don’t want some Nosey McNoserson to come see what all the shooting is about.
 
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Vetmx said:
In my state we have a daily limit of squirrels, it’s 6. I got tired of only being in the woods for 30-45 minutes with my .22lr and having to go home because I shot six. Last couple years I’ve been taking my airguns so I can at least eat my lunch in the woods. The only real advantage of an airgun for me comes at midday. When things get slow I can quietly just shoot at dumb occupy my time targets. I don’t generally do that with my rimfire because I don’t want some Nosey McNoserson to come see what all the shooting is about.
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Here you can shoot one squirrel a day for damaging your property year-round and I have lots of chewed up string lights and fences I also have to fix my buried landscape wiring from chip monks too. During dove season I plug'em by my fishpond and under bushes. I go in spells plugging one squirrel a day the problem with that is cleaning one fricken squirrel at a time.
 
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Crosman999 said:
For me I prefer Airguns only these days, as I've gotten older I can appreciate the quietness much more than I did.
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Totally agree with Dana. Less noice as possible but also less danger of a bullet traveling so far away and not knowing where it can get to hit.

Air rifles should prevail unless it is impossible to hunt with them.
 
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