New hunter

Jump to latest Follow Reply
D

Dalym1985

Member
Aug 7, 2015
4
0
Hi there. 

I'm a new hunter all together. I bought a beeman wolverine .22 cal air rifle. I plan on using crossman premier hollow point .22 pellets. 

I I would ideally be hunting:
rabbits, turkeys, pigs, and small dear. 

Can an this gun and caliber do this successfully?

i plan on target practicing PLENTY before firing at animals. I want my aim to be sound

last question,

it came with a 4x32 scope, this decent?
 
Scope should be fine. The .22 should be ok for rabbits, turkeys, maybe small pigs. I think deer should probably be left to something a little bigger. A .25 at least. probably a .30 would be better. Properly aimed, a .22LR firearm will take down a deer, but you need really good aim and hit just right to cause massive bleeding in chest cavity. I posted a thread about hunting and caliber size a while ago relating to firearm projectiles. The slower speed of airguns changes that a bit, but I think it's mostly still accurate. The article stated that anything bigger than .25 that hits in the 'bread basket' area (the area where the heart and lungs are located) will likely take a deer down without requiring too much tracking. 

If you ask 10 hunters to answer this question, you'll probably get 10 different answers.
 
Upvote 0
Thanks for the reply. 

To to your knowledge is the beeman wolverine .22 a decent gun?

also, how are the crossman .22 hollow point pellets? These logically seemed ideal for hunting as they'll mushroom on impact of the target animal and will cause the most immediate damage, looking for a fast kill. 

I would love to hunt some pigs to roast, but also a nice warthog for trophies. 

what do you think? What's the largest animal this bad boy could take out? I thought that a good temple shot on smaller dear could be good kills with this gun. 

Thank you!
 
Upvote 0
Where are you? What kind of deer are you hunting? How big are they? I'm not allowed to hunt any game animals with an airgun here, but I've seen videos of people who have taken deer with a head shot using a .25, but you obviously need to be a good shot as your margin of error isn't very big. 

As for your gun, I can't really offer any information. I'm pretty new with airguns too.
 
Upvote 0
"Dalym1985"I'll be hunting in Vermont. 

Airgun hunting on all types of game are allowed. 

any insight on the .22 cal hollow points for hunting purposes?
Click to expand...
Hollow points hitting in the same kill zone as round nose pellets do a little more damage in their path and penetrate less.
So if you need lots of damage but don't need penetrating power, use the hollow points BUT ONLY IF they are accurate enough in your gun to get that pellet into the kill zone consistently. 
An animal gut shot with a hollow point will die a slow and agonizing death, compared to an animal popped in the heart/lung or brain with a round nose pellet. 

Summary : shot placement (a pellet that is accurate in your gun) is crucial and infinitely more important than any mushrooming behaviour of the pellet. 
 
Upvote 0
Great info. 

I I want a quick painless kill. 

Do do hollowpoints work better on medium or small game?

I want to do some hog hunting with my .22 but want to use the right ammunition. 

I I also would like to turkey hunt. So I want to use the right .22 ammo for that too. 

Obviously i I will try a variety of pellets in my beeman wolverine, and target practice extensively before turning my gun on an animal. 
 
Upvote 0
I have a Benjamin Break barrel spring rifle and I will say, I would be leery shooting at anything larger than a raccoon with it... Mine is pretty nice, Shoots "950" FPS in .22 and I shoot the Premiers out of it. I watched a crow take off after I hit it with a pretty well placed shot at the base of it's neck @ 46 yards. I watched the bird fall off my roof, flip around a bit AND THEN IT GOT UP AND POORLY FLEW AWAY. I know this bird died, but I don't know where or when. I was floored. I've thought about this shot for the last 3 weeks pretty constant since it's happened. Not because I am filled with remorse, but because I missed an incredible learning opportunity by not hitting "record". A million and one things could have happened here, but I know I saw that pellet travel and make pretty solid contact.

I will tell you, that your rifle is not going to maintain the ballistic coefficient needed past 30-40 yards to barely take down a raccoon let alone a "small deer". I would recommend downloading an app called Chairgun Pro and look at what all it has to offer. I am not quite sure how to use it yet 100%, but if I am doing it correctly your rifle IF SHOOTING AT 830FPS with 14.3 grain Premiers will have around 11fpe with a velocity of 570ish at 30 yards. This is a very different scenario, but my rifle won't penetrate (barely leave a mark) on a 20oz soda bottle at 100yds that is full and has never been opened (full of carbonation) which you would think would pop it like a balloon.

I would highly recommend you NOT try and shoot anything above the size of a raccoon with that rifle and even that is pushing it for a quick effective kill past 30yds.

I am sure others will come in with more accurate info, but after hanging out here for a short while I've learned A LOT and have just recently purchased a new bullpup PCP that can produce 50FPE at the muzzle which will be MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE at dispatching small to medium game than my Springer that would more than likely just maim anything bigger than a bird at yardage. 

I know sometimes you can't control how a shot ends up, but if you are wounding more than killing, that is NO GOOD. Do some more homework and really do the math on what you want to achieve. Obviously a lot of this came from trial and error as we didn't always have all these gadgets to tell us what the outcome will be before we pull the trigger, but wanting to be a better shooter involves more than just sighting your rifle and shooting paper. 

This is no way me "scolding" you or trying to be negative towards what you want to do. I just want to make sure you have a realistic idea of what your gun can and CAN'T do.
 
Upvote 0
Welcome! Hunting with air guns is loads of fun.For myself I do a lot of Jackrabbit hunting and prefer my .22 Marauder on most occasions.I prefer the most accurate pellet to use.My experience with using hollow points is they seem to work better out of larger calibers.I wouldn't attempt hunting anything over 25lbs with a .22,not to say it wouldn't do the job,just my own preference not to.I have had great luck with JSBs/H&Ns and some custom Swaged pellets.Helpful practice targets for me are plastic spoons set at various distances shot at offhand and in prone or kneeling positions. Good luck and can't wait to see your first kill on here.
 
Upvote 0
 I agree with Swing that nothing above a raccoon would be advisable with your gun. It should work really well on rabbits, turkeys, and small piglets (didn't no they had pigs in Vermont those suckers are everywhere now) as long as you are accurate and at a appropriate range. You should try Benjamin domed pellets people really like them for head shots on pigs they are of a harder lead alloy. Good luck and have fun. 
 
Upvote 0
Welcome to hunting with air guns, let the addiction begin! I have been pest controlling with air guns for a long time and just got into PCP type. I have both .22 and .25 Marauder and don't use the .22 on anything past about 50ish yards for birds and prefer the .25 for larger animals like ground hogs and squirrels. Anyway here is a link to Top air guns and their suggestions based on animal size. I think you will find yourself getting multiple guns over time if you enjoy the sport. http://www.topairgun.com/hunting-airguns/shop-by-weight-animal-type
 
Upvote 0
Welcome to hunting and I'm very glad to hear that you plan on practicing a bunch before moving to live targets! It is very satisfying to make clean shot on a game animal or bird and later make a meal from the results. I hope your experience with the Beeman wolverine is different from mine, I found it difficult to shoot accurately due to the very heavy trigger and rather harsh recoil. The scope that comes with it is so-so in my opinion but should be ok for 30 yards and closer. Try different pellets such as JSB domes, H&N field target trophy, Predator polymags, H&N Baracudas or Baracuda greens or Crosman domed to name some of my favorites. See which pellets give the tightest groups at 20 yards or so and then sight your gun in with that pellet. For most small game such as rabbits and squirrel you must be able to consistently hit a target the size of a quarter or even a bit smaller at the distances you hunt. One good way to sharpen your skills is "hunter plinking" where you walk about taking shots at leaves, bits of bark, etc. at random distances. This will develop your ranging skills and teach you how your rifle performs in the field. Only when your marksmanship is sound should you take to woods and hunt. I personally would not try for anything larger than a rabbit with that gun. Respect your quarry and practice, practice, practice!
John
 
Upvote 0
I am purchasing a .25 once the impact comes out and i've killed GS, starings, sparrows, rabbits and crows all out to 112 yards with very little issues. I say that because of shot placement, if you put the pellet in the head / neck or heart / lung area no worries with my .22 i would feel comfortable taking a racoon or small fox out to 80 yards if the opportunity presented itself. In the airgunning world placement is KING, and i can keep it within 1 inch at 100 yards with both my cricket and s510. The larger the calibre the greater allowable margin for poor placement.

And I have no idea why a member couldn't pop a soda can at 100 yards with a .22.
 
Upvote 0
Dalym1985: welcome to airgun hunting! The fun and challenge of hunting game with an airgun has been very satisfying for me, and I hope you find it to be the same. I have to agree with everything said so far. I often say that smaller calibers are ok for pesting, where I find "ideal" shots are more common. I've seen videos of hunters taking small piglets with .22 springers, and it seems very effective, as long as they get good placement on the head). As with any shot, placement is the key. Deer? Go big....30 cal minimum would be my suggestion, and a PCP at that! Springers are great for small game (squirrel and small game birds up to raccoon), but even the larger caliber springers lack the sheer power (and range) of even an inexpensive PCP. I bought a Discovery (in .22) last year, and am looking forward to taking it out in the field this season. Best of luck, and Good hunting! 
 
Upvote 0
I may be a bit conservative, but I have hunted deer, hogs and everything else since I was 6 years old and I'm 53 now. I wouldn't shoot a whitetail deer with anything smaller than a .22 Hornet (powder burner) and that would only be for a brain shot. My comfort for anything on the body would be a .243 nosler partition 100grain. I wouldn't consider a springer for anything larger than a cottontail rabbit. In a pcp .22 Jack rabbit or smaller. Pcp .25 raccoon to coyote preferably head shot. Hog .30up head, unless it is a 400lb russian boar which would move me back to powder burner. I don't mind shooting critters, but I don't use the minimum and try to squeeze by. I would rather leave margin for error and then if my shot is incredibly well placed be proud of that, but if it is slightly off you have a fudge factor built in. 
As an example, I knew of someone when I was 16 that used a .22magnum to spine shoot deer so they couldn't run, then walk over and shoot them in the head. They thought nothing of it because that's what their dad did. That's just not acceptable for me. Another example is I was given an 8mm mauser from an uncle that was a veteran. It had been sporterized by cutting the stock and making it a deer style rifle. All we could find at the time were 220 grain bullets. They punched a nice clean hole right through a deers chest and it would run 200 yards which made finding it in the woods very difficult. When I got older my now father-in-law introduced me to a .243 100 grain nosler partition that does massive damage from hydrostatic shock and incredible controlled expansion. Deer pile up quickly! , and if you make a neck shot they don't take a single step. The mauser could probably shoot through three deer standing side by side, but the .243 drops all of its energy in one and it goes down. Manny probably knows more about hog hunting with pcp's than anyone else, and he could give his minimum take, but I'm sure that's with INCREDIBLY precise shot placement. Practice, practice, practice! Then have a great time!
 
Upvote 0
Come on.
You never know via Internet but you sound a bit young and new to airgun.
The OP DID state I am a new airgun hunter" Understood. He seems to be somewhat looking for information, and advice.
I would hope EVERY poster on this thread (and come on one of you works for an airgun manufacturer, this is the type of "advise" you want to give, is this how your employer wants you to promote airgun hunting?) knows this "Beeman" "1,000fps" is likely NOT an excellent hunting tool. 

LEGAL to hunt with anything over .23 MAY (?) well be a VERY poorly written law, I am fairly certain a Game warden ( right or wrong ) WOULD have a problem with hunting Deer and Bear with a 20(or so) fpe AIRGUN. They do say ONLY in the pistol section of the (poorly) written Law 350fpe minimum. Yes poor wording in the regs, but it would just be a stupid idea to hurt Deer and Bear with a .22 Chinese Beeman airgun.

Hunters get enough flack of many places anyway, advising folks to use this airgun to hunt anything over say rabbits & squirrels is not going to help hunters out. WOUNDING animals does not help we hunters.

COULD THAT rifle kill Humanly) a Deer? Yes, 2 different ways, 1) Pressed flush against it's skull- a hard shot to get. 2)poking a tiny hole in it somewhere , bacteria getting in the wound and slow death setting in. Well okay three ways in you count beating it repeatedly in the head.



Dalym,
Once you have practiced enough to keep every shot you make one paper under 1" at any given range, your air rifle "should" be good for rabbits & squirrels. If you can keep all shots with that 1" at 50 (seems a stretch to me with that rig but it might after you got more than a thousand shots practice) both mentioned species I mentioned should go right down. To even consider shooting a Deer or Bear , come on friend REALLY?


John

 
  • Like
Reactions: ajshoots
Upvote 0
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned regulations. Make sure you find the regulations for your area and read them carefully. Not sure where you are, but very few US states allow hunting anything bigger than rabbits and squirrels with any kind of airgun. And those that do require larger calibers to ensure a clean kill. Arizona requires at least a .35 PCP to take deer, and our deer are scrawny compared to the whitetails back east.
 
Upvote 0
I just looked up this gun. It sells for $109. with a 4x scope. This gun is not powerful enough for what you want to hunt! It may not even be accurate enough either. Maybe, maybe not.
Its going to be a close range gun at best. These cheap spring guns can be very difficult to shoot well. They are almost more toys than serious hunting tools. The power ratings are usually over blown as well. Practice lots and decide if you think it is up to the task. If you are serious about hunting you should move up to something more suitable. Beeman does have serious hunting springers but of course they cost a lot more. Good luck and welcome!
 
Upvote 0
Also remember, your rifle IS NOT SHOOTING 1000fps. It clearly states 830fps in .22 cal and it does not specify that they used lead pellets which means they are using those hyper flight PBA pellets and still can only get 830fps... With 14.3 grain premiers I bet you are shooting in the 600's, so not a good start if you only have 10fpe to start

All this doesn't mean you can't go dispatch animals that are within regulation, it just means you need to be MUCH more aware of what you are doing. 
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu