Any version of a BSA Super Sport or Lightning XL or SE would get my vote.
Ended up gifting this one to my late brother. 16 fpe of .22 thump
Ended up gifting this one to my late brother. 16 fpe of .22 thump
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N/A What are some decent, more compact springers?
- Thread starter Dr. Kralenstein
- Start date
Yes... stock around 620fps. But great for small to medium sized game. All you have to do is get close enough for them to see the gun and while they are doubled over laughing at how ugly it is, you take the gun by the barrel and hit them over the head with it.
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Rabbits you can usually point at them and yell BOO and they'll kiel over. Squirrels usually need a bit more convincing.Upvote 0
Agree. I've never seen a powder burner hunter in the woods with a bull barrel rifle that weighs 8 - 10 lbs. And they tend to be sidelevers or underlevers that are too fiddley to load. I don't even hold the barrel on a break barrel when I load. Just cock and place your fingers like this.
BSA Supersport Magnum is a good choice
BSA Mercury Challenger Carbine
Webley Stingray Deluxe Carbine
HW50
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I tricked out a Chinese KL3B Fast Deer about 2 decades ago. They used to sell them for around $20 and there was an informal competition on the old Yellow Forum to see who could do the most ridiculous build of one of them. Anyway they also only produced around 6 fpe and their trigger was just a one piece sear that pivoted on a pin and caught the back of the piston. After adjusting the angle of its engagement, polishing it and lubricating it with moly grease I eventually got it down to a fairly smooth pull of around 6 lbs. I doubt I could have made it much lighter than that while still retaining any semblance of safety, but I'm pretty sure your Crosman trigger could be similarly improved.
I also refinished the stock, cut down the barrel, added a muzzle weight and added a 4x32 Barska scope. So it did end up being a lightweight, side lever carbine. I gave it away to a buddy of mine and he actually uses it to kill rats around his chicken coop.
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I use that tyro for basement plinking when I'm bored. It does okay if I concentrate on that trigger pull, but I've yet to hit anything on the fly with any sort of accuracy. I haven't really checked the trigger box to see what can be done, but I know it's not adjustable.
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Just looking at my stable of springers suitable for pesting. The shortest, lightest rifles are my pair of HW50S's in .177 and .22 cal. The .177 with the diopter sight I mounted is very light, just a few ounces over factory spec 6.8lbs. The .22 with a compact Bug Buster 3-9 up top weighs just south of 8lbs. Compared to my 98, D350 and D48, it's very light, sleek, and well balanced.
People's thoughts on weight are always interesting. For me, perspective has much to with with it. For a few years I carried a 22lb machine gun, and that's become my reference point for what a heavy gun is. My PB deer rifle weighs 10.5 pounds, as does my D48 squirrel gun with optics, steel mount, and muzzle weight. Those guns just don't register to me as heavy. It's all in what you're used to I suppose.
Anyway, the HW50S to me is a great combination of accuracy, power, and size/weight. Probably one of the best general purpose springers out there.
People's thoughts on weight are always interesting. For me, perspective has much to with with it. For a few years I carried a 22lb machine gun, and that's become my reference point for what a heavy gun is. My PB deer rifle weighs 10.5 pounds, as does my D48 squirrel gun with optics, steel mount, and muzzle weight. Those guns just don't register to me as heavy. It's all in what you're used to I suppose.
Anyway, the HW50S to me is a great combination of accuracy, power, and size/weight. Probably one of the best general purpose springers out there.
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I suspect you'll find it's also just a one piece spring loaded sear that catches a hook on the back of the piston. You can polish the mating surfaces with superfine sandpaper and lubricate them with moly grease and remove a coil or two from the trigger spring or swap it for a lighter spring and that should make a significant improvement. The thing that really makes a difference, but can also really mess things up is altering the angle that the sear engages at. I would do that as a last resort and proceed very slowly and with extreme caution.
I suspect the ideal angle is 90 degrees. More than 90 and you get an extremely heavy trigger that can feel like the safety is engaged. I've got a replica Brown Bess musket that came like that. Less than 90 and your trigger will want to release itself.
And I want put forth the disclaimer here that I'm not a gunsmith, airgunsmith, machinist or engineer and that everything I'm telling you is based on my own self learned experiences, so take it for what it's worth.
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Yeah, the AoA one with the nice wooden stock. I gotta weigh the trigger on it. Read it breaks at 4.5 but mine seems lighter than that. Unless its just extremely smooth. Was just shooting it again, man this thing is sweet…
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I'm a gunsmith, and your advice is sound. I would add for those who are making a first try at tuning, that anytime you polish sear surfaces, you should use the proper grades of stone, and if you want to do a final polish with really fine paper, the paper should be wrapped around and backed by a hard completely flat sanding block of some sort. Sear surfaces have to be absolutely flat and square, and only a hard backing can do that.
Changing a sear angle is indeed risky. But, depending on the gun, adding a tiny 45 degree chamfer to the existing hard edge of the sear can improve the "grinding" feel and eliminate much of the feel of creep. It's a cheat that can have the effect of changing the sear angle, without actually changing it. It can also slightly reduce sear engagement. It's a delicate balancing act.
Use a good light, go slow, and constantly check your work.
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Enough power for killing vermin at close range. Awesome and accurate. 5 round magazine Wish they made one with more power. IZH 61
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I carry a wood stock pre 64 model 70 with 3-9 Leopold .It's 9# plus and lays out like a hunny for field shooting.
I don't still hunt or road hunt,I hike all over. I have no complaints about hefting a man sized rifle at all.Prior to hunting season I hike hills with my rws48 scoped.When I was younger I was an 80 mile a week runner and now im a crippled old guy but I won't carry featherweight rifkes and don't understand the trend to do so.Get in physical shape enough to hunt,don't blame a heavy rifle making your shoulder and arm sore walking 100 feet from your quad or razor to your deer stand.
just my opinion and I'm sure others do just fine with 5# rifles.I'm sure there are valid arguments contrary to my experience.
but the R7 is one heck of a hiking companion.....
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I dont let a heavy deer rifle slow me down either, hiking miles in and around but a pellet gun competes with a 22lr which weighs much less than a deer rifle. Plus, if a youngster has to carry around a 10lb squirrel shooter, that isnt going to last long.
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600 fps in 22, with an OAL of 40.5". Nice guns, but I wouldn't consider that a hunting gun. The cometa USC is same length, silenced, and more powerful for over 100 bucks less. I'm leaning towards the cometa, and then an HW97K later down the road.
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HW50 vs Cometa?…..thats a tough one, I think they both have enough power for small game. Both really nice guns…
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The cometa is around 18 fpe, the hw50 is only 12. It'll work, but 12 fpe in 22 has a crappy trajectory.
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12 fpe in a springer really does make for an easily controllable gun. I detuned my TX200 from 17 fpe to 12 fpe and it made it much more shootable.
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