What is the ultimate CO2 rifle and what is the max range for CO2?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
TucsonAZ

TucsonAZ

Member
Dec 12, 2018
67
0
AZ, United States
I have a few guns that I really enjoy including a Hatsan AT44 Long QE which allows me to head shot English sparrows at 100 feet all day long. The issue is I hate, no I loath filling PCP for some reason. I already use CO2 from welding and filling tires offroad to carbonating beverages so I have tanks of it all over and it's a much easier fuel source for me. I'm also in Southern Arizona so I have a 350 day a year shooting season.



I do have a QB78S in .177 that I modded (shortened and re-crowned barrel) and really like, it's pretty dead on to roughly 25 yards without me having ever pushed beyond that.



But for the CO2 lovers, what is the best option for quality and accuracy and what is the max range you can expect from CO2 (in .177 and .22)? Is .25 just too large to be viable with CO2? Is it in something made for CO2? Is it a PCP running CO2? What are your thoughts on higher end CO2 rifles as I've been struggling to find my ideal for some time now. 



Ideally I want something that is easy to bulk fill, maybe a Gauntlet on CO2?



Thanks a lot to all of you!
 
The single biggest challenge with CO2 is the temperature sensitivity. Its pressure changes almost 100psi for every 10°F. Not a big deal for casually shooting targets but it matters for hunting and pest control where you have one chance to precisely place the pellet into the kill zone.

Getting it to use CO2 in a miserly way, akin to tuning a regulated PCP to the knee of the velocity curve, will make it more agnostic to temperature (read: pressure) changes.

That's about it. Otherwise an accurate airgun is an accurate airgun.

For example, I have a SPA CR600W (Mrodair Plinkster) that is running a leisurely 6fpe...570fps with 8.6gr H&N FTT. I got the gun mainly for relaxing backyard plinking but I've pressed it into pesting duty for house sparrows and chipmunks on occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDxLiw86DZ0

Using a bstaley O-ring buffer, shot count on a CO2 cartridge more than doubled from 25 to 54. Big time CO2 waster in stock form, like most CO2 guns which is why they have such a bad reputation for being unpredictable.

Tuned in this manner, it maintains a sufficiently stable velocity for pest control over a 20 - 30°F range out to at least 30 yards like you see in the video. Just takes a little experimentation.

https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=143793
 
Upvote 0
What he said and more. If memory serves back in the day like 20 years back several of us had our Crosman co2 rifles in .22 shooting 800+fps with 14.3 CP's at just over 70 deg some hit over 900 on a warm day. I built a 2240 up cut the breech end off of the barrel, cuz it was tight, and made it the crown end. I shot 1/2 inch groups at 50 yards but at a lowly speed of 630fps faster and it sprayed the pellets everywhere. On a decent day one can shoot at 75-100 yards with a co2 gun in .22. I built up many co2 .22 rifles, .25 carbines and pistols and even a 9mm they shot good but not long rangers and were gas hogs. Still as has been stated above these are fairly temperature sensitive guns and it seems to me there was a 10fps change in velocity for every 1deg change in temp. The Crosman 22xx guns are easy to mod and there are plenty of aftermarket parts available to make them what you want.



The 50 yard .22 pistol early in life



A .22 co2 rifle I put together 15 years or so back it shot 1.5-2inch groups at 100 yards moa every now and then.



A .25 carbine with folding stock and adjustable power mods one of several stolen guns.



The .25 and 9mm gas hog co2 pistols also stolen


 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu