Suggested Air Rifle for Garden Pest Protection

[Longfellow]

ATM, I have 2 air rifles laying on my dining room table that I use for garden pest protection:

1. A homemade Crosman 1389: i.e. a flat topped, whole 9 yards modded 1377 w/ a 12 inch barrel and an LDC. It has a Tasco 3-7X20mm scope.

2. A heavily modded Winchester 1977XS w/ a Barska 4X32mmAO scope and an LDC.

Those 2 are more than capable of taking anything that is likely to show up. 

You said some of your shots may be up to 40-50 yards? Here's an idea to cut that distance in half. 

Get a bird feeder. There are some excellent ideas in the current hunting thread at:

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/luring-in-english-house-sparrows-whats-a-good-seed-to-use/#post-1015535

A bird feeder will also attract certain birds that will eat the insects in your garden that would harm your plants.

The only air gun I've ever owned was a Crosman pump. Are there videos or threads of the mods done to the Winchester 1977XS? It might be a fun project whether it's the answer to my current problem or not!

I have 2 separate threads at AGN pertaining to the Winnie 1977XS. The 1st thread has the mods I did to mine.

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/winchester-1977xs-velocity-and-accuracy-testing-ggg/?view=all#post-962795

The 2nd thread: https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/daisy-880-vs-winchester-1977xs-full-review-by-airgun-detectives/

Has several links on how to mod it. Basically, everything that you can do to the Daisy 880 to mod it can be done to the Winnie 1977XS.

 

[Bill_in_TR]

A modestly powered, quality springer will do everything you need to do and be less difficult to learn to shoot well. You can get a Weihrauch HW50 or a Diana 34 to reach out that far with no problem. Or check Flying Dragon for one of his Chinese clones. You can get it tuned by them and still be well under $500. If you didn't need to reach out that far I would suggest an HW30S. That is a good quality, accurate springer that is easy to shoot for both you and the kids.

 

[buckyusn]

I concur with the theme so far: I would recommend a CO2 air rifle like the Diana Chaser (I have one in .22 cal) and put a cheap Amazon red dot on top of it. 

https://www.airgundepot.com/diana-chaser-pellet-pistol-rifle-kit.html#AGD-46139002

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PG7ZMD6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1



It has killed rats, pigeons, and sparrows without any problem (humanely). It is also a fun gun to plink with. My only issue with the carbine was that I had to use a small wooden dowel wrapped with some very fine grit emery cloth to smooth out the "leade" of the barrel (mouth of the barrel where the pellet feeds in. My rifle was shaving the pellet skirts before I did this, and the groups were not very good. After a little bit of this work, the rifle shoots great and didn't break the bank.

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/airmax-targetmaster-carbine-deforming-pellet-skirts/?referrer=1

If you don't want to deal with CO2 cartridges, then I second the recommendation to pick up a quality spring powered air rifle. The better quality rifles (Diana, Weihrauch, and Air Arms) all have great YouTube reviews, and seem more forgiving than the cheaper ones available at big-box stores.



Good luck!

 

[Reidy]

Diana 34 break barrel. High quality German air rifle. Great back yard pesting or plinking gun, and currently only $200. Only available in .177 for this price but more than capable.

https://www.gunpartscorp.com/products/1828970

 

[dirby]

That Diana 34 is enticing. I may go ahead and order that. I'm waffling between a quality break barrel or the Benjamin Marauder either pistol or rifle.

 

[survivor45]

For your first break barrel I think the Diana 34 is a great option. I myself got one used less than a month ago. Now mine has had some tuning done to it ( actually de - tuned ) But I think it is a good solid platform. And the trigger is better than any trigger you’ll get from any economy grade break barrel. 
Then if at a later date you realize you really want to get into the PCP game. You can still do that 
.

 

[dirby]

I went ahead and ordered the Diana 34. Seems like a good price, but I would rather have had a .22. Should still get the job done and pellets will be cheaper. I'm very excited to try it out!

I was really eyeing the Marauder, but the removal of the AGNATION discount code on the Crosman website sealed the deal for me. All of the inventory availability issues have really been crazy. I'm hoping stock will start to show up now that most everything is opening back up. I'm sure it will still take a bit for all the necessary resources to settle back in.