The Air Rifle Attraction

Air rifles offer several advantages that are worthy of consideration, partiucally by upland bird hunters who lack the aid of a good gun dog.

While I am an avid adult precision airgun enthusiast, am also an avid wing-shooter and shotgun sports enthusiast.  However, one of the aspects of wing-shooting that I have never warmed up to is the invariable bird that gets rolled in the air upon taking the shot, only to hit the ground wounded, subsequently running off for the security of thick, heavy brush, from which the dogless hunter has little chance of recovering the downed bird.  I cannot be the only wing-shooter who has experienced this unpleasant aspect of traditional upland hunting.  The fact that "stuff like this happens," however, doesn't make it any more plesant when it does.  No matter what I am hunting or what I am hunting with, I want my kills to be clean and quick.

With the air rifle, I either miss my birds completely or kill them clean.  There is no flopping, fluttering, flittering or flying.  They just die, right now, and right on the spot they stood upon when they took the hit.  My recovery rate in virtually 100% on game birds that I shoot with the air rifle because of this.  In eight seasons of using the air rifle, I've only failed to recover two birds that I've hit.  By contrast, my recovery rate isn't that high when wing-shooting, even with the aid of good gun dogs.

This, for me, is one of the major attractions that hunting with air rifles holds. I simply don't have the cripples that I sometimes get with the shotgun, and I am not leaving birds behind to die a lingering death.  I'm not leaving wounded game behind for coyotes or bobcats to feast on.

Since I normally hunt in fairly remote areas that are at least nine or ten miles from civilization, the advantages that air rifles offer in terms of discrete operation in the suburban / wilderness interface usually don't apply to me.  There are some areas of BLM land around Lake Isabella, however, where I do hunt in fairly close proximity to residential neighborhoods.  With the air rifle, I can do my thing in these areas without raising the ire of nearby householders.

My wife and I often take our kids -age 6 and 9- hunting with us.  Here, I also appreciate the quiet report of the air rifle.  On the morning hunt, my wife will take her shotgun and go off with wing-shooting friends while my kids and I head off in some other direction.  If a shot presents itself, I can take it with my air rifle without exposing little 6 and 9 year old ears to gunfire.  It also gives my kids a kind of "in your face" demonstration that airguns -which they are allowed to shoot in camp under supervision- are fun to use but aren't "toys."

A Sporting Proposition

I am absolutely not ashamed of the fact that I throughly enjoy hunting upland birds with air rifles, nor do I make any apologies for using air rifles in the field.  I have been hunting small game with them for over a quarter of a century, so I know that they are more than up to the task of acheiving humane kills on the small, edible animals that I pursue.  I also know how challangeing hunting with air rifles is, and that challenge is one of the main attractions I find in their use.

As the owner and administrator of a hunting website, I have been taken to task by some for an editorial stance that is fully in favor of the current regulations in California which allow air rifles to be used to take upland game birds.  I make no secret of my belief that other jurisdictions would do well to follow California's lead and legitimze the use of adult precision air rifles for the take of all resident small game species.  I believe that as our world becomes increasingly urbane, the advantages that air rifles possess will become more highly valued.

In taking this stand, I have been called a "poacher" by firearms enthusiasts,  in spite of the fact that air rifles are currently a lawful method of take for most resident upland game bird species in California, which is where I do this kind of hunting.  I've had people suggest that I try hunting with a "real gun," in spite of the fact that I do own and use plenty of firearms, including a .375 Holland and Holland Magunum rifle, which would seem to be about as "real" as a firearm gets.  I've had people call me a "slob hunter" for advocating the "ground sluicing" of upland game birds.  Others see my view as a threat to firearms ownership generally.

For the most part, comments like these are like water falling off of a duck's back to me, because they betray the ignorance and inexperience of the commentator much more than they reflect upon me.

That said, I can fully understand where this aversion to shooting game birds on the ground stems from.  Generations of ethical wing-shotoers have determined that the practice of shooting game birds on the ground with a shotgun is somewhat less than sporting.  It has been traditionally frowned upon in California, too, even though there is no regulation forbidding the practice.  This is right and proper, given that it is the rules by which the game is played which seperate sport hunting from a mere meat-gathering expedition.  Here at Uplandhunter.net, we do not condone the practice of "ground sluicing" game brids with a shotgun.

How is it, then, that we can advocate the use of air rifles for the take of upland game birds?

Well, it seems obvious to me, but there is a huge difference between shooting a valley quail on the ground with over 450 pellets from the discharge of a single shotgun shell and shooting a moving valley quail on the ground with a single, subsonic pellet from an adult precision air rifle.

In the first instance, accurate, pecise placement isn't a requirement.  In the second, it very much is.

It also seems obvious, at least to me, that the kill zone of a chukar is smaller than the whole bird, and the kill zone of a quail is even smaller yet.  The fact of the matter is that with an air rifle, you must place the pellet within a 1" to 1.5" kill zone in order achieve a quick, clean, one-shot kill.  This kill zone isn't highlighted in some contrasting day-glow or fluorescent color, either.  It also seems obvious that a game bird doesn't exactly stand a polite distance from the muzzle and stand perfectly still while allowing the air rifle shooter to "poof away" at it.  It moves, taking its kill zone along with it as it darts in and out of the scrub.

After locating birds, the air rifle shooter's first challenge is to get the crosshairs of the scope centered on the kill zone.  The next challenge is to keep them centered on it while the target moves through the brush.  If this doesn't sound too difficult, consider that the air rifle shooter will be using a scope with a magnification range of up to 3 or 4 times higher than what a rabbit hunter shooting a .22 LR firearm rifle might normally use.

The reason for this high level of scope magnifiaction is that precise placement of the pellet in the vital kill zone is crucial for achieving clean kills.  The higher the magnification of the scope, the more precise the shot placement is likely to be.  A rimfire firearm shooter can get away with less magnification because the .22 LR makes larger wound channels than airguns do, even if they are the same caliber, and these larger wound channels make perfection in shot placement less critical.

While tracking the moving kill zone through the brush, the next challenge that the air rifle shooter faces is determining the range and inclination to the target, as these things will determine how much, if any, correction in vertical hold must be factored in to the final sight picture.  In rimfire shooting, the difference between 45 and 50 yards, or between 50 and 53 yards, isn't very critical.  In air rifle shooting, however, these differences can be huge, and so the air rifle hunter must get very good at accurately estimating range in terms of feet, rather than yards.

A similar challenge to the above is accurately determining the speed and direction of the wind.  Air rifle pellets are far more susceptible to wind drift than bullets fired from a .22 LR firearm are.  This wind drift has to be corrected for, just as distance and inclination to the target does.

Once all of this is established, the shooter then patiently waits for the moment when the game is still enough for long enough to insure an accurately placed shot.

If that moment comes, then the shooter establishes the corrected aim point, which may or may not be in the center of the kill zone, how much windage or elevation compensation is required to make the shot.  In fact, the final aim point may not even be on the animal at all.  With that established, the next issue is determining that there is nothing in way of the pellet like a twig or grass blade that will deflect it off its course.

The tirgger can now be squeezed, but the shooter's job isn't over just yet.  He or she has to continue to hold the cross-hairs of the scope on the corrected aim point throughout the entire firing cycle.  This is called "follow through" in some circles and is vital because of the amount of dwell time that subsonic air rifle projectiles spend in the bore versus those of a .22 LR firearm.

Now, given the small size and the location of the kill zone of a game bird, the shooter has either killed it outright or missed it clean.  If the bird jumps that the sound of the shoot, there is a good chance that it will be a miss.

If any of this sounds like it is even remotely similar to the amount of thought and effort that a "ground sluicer" with a shotgun has to go through to set up a shot, then perhaps I am the one is ignorant and uninformed.  What I do know is that I don't put anywhere near as much thought into busting the rabbit targets on a sporting clays course as I do in piercing the kill zone of a quail with an air rifle.

If shooting upland birds with an air rifle really is as easy as those who've never done it would have us believe, then it would seem that the game bags of those of us who do actually do it would reflect this "fact."   In my own case, I have yet to limit out during a day of hunting when shooting the air rifle.  I have hunted part of a day with a shotgun and the other part with an air rifle and shot a limit that way, but never with the air rifle alone.  In general, my daily bag with the air rifle is about 2/3 of what it is when wing-shooting with a shotgun.

Since I enjoy wing-shooting as much as I enjoy hunting with an air rifle, there is no question in my mind as to whether one form of shooting is "better" than the other.  In my view, one is not better than the other, neither is easy in the strict sense of the word, and both are at least equally sporting, requiring a level of dedication to skill development that many firearm rifle and pistol shooters never bother with.

Ultimately, for me, it is the challenge of hunting upland game birds with air rifles that makes it the enjoyable pursuit that it is.  While the practical advantages can't be denied in my view, the converse is also true, in that there are some very real limitiations that must be fully understood and adequately compensated for.  This is not impossible to do, but it does require a level of devotion to craft that many in our modern age of instant gratification aren't willing to commit to.

Practice Makes Perfect

In my view, air rifle hunting is one of the most challenging tests of marksmanship that one will find in hunting sport.  I've hunted big game all over the western United States and in a few foriegn countries, and have yet to be faced with any shot that proved more challenging to make than those that I am routinely faced with when hunting small game with air rifles.  The amount of discipline required in field shooting with air rifles is frustrating for some and part of the fun for others.

In practice, I see a lot of game through the scope of my air rifle that I never wind up pulling the trigger on.

Any ability that I have to pull the trigger on any of the game I see through the scope of an air rifle is due to practice, practice, and more practice.  In order to use an air rifle effectively, the shooter must know its performance envelope intimately.  The only way to develop this level of intimacy is through shooting.

It is also the only way to determine what your personal maximum effecitve range with your scope-sighted air rifle is.  It could well be farther than mine is, or perhaps a little less, or maybe even a lot less.  For me, the limit is found when I can't put 10 out of 10 shots into a kill zone sized target at a given distance, under field conditions.    This limit, by the way, also varies with the rifle that I happen to be shooting.  With one of my rifles, it might be 50 yards.  With another, it might be 55.

I know some air rifle hunters who will not shoot targets on a windy day, but hunt in the wind.  I know some air rifle hunters who shoot game at ranges that are guesed at, yet they set targets out at exact distances.  One of my favorite practice targets is an empty, fired 12 or 20 gauge shotshell.  I set these out at random distances, which tend to increase as the hits accumulate, because they are reactive targets that move when hit.  I can whack these these with a high degree of regularity at 50 yards and beyond, but the ability to do this does not come naturally or easily.  I had to work to be as good as I am.  Since shooting is a degradeable skill, I have to continue to put the time in to stay as good as I am.

The point of all of this is that air rifle hunting isn't something that you're ready to do immediately after purchasing a suitable rifle any more than wing-shooting is something that merely purchasing a shotgun makes you ready for.  Both require practice, and plenty of it.

The Upland Hunter's Air Rifle

When I am hunting upland game birds with an air rifle, I am normally doing so in areas where I would also use a shotgun.  This means that I am hunting over the same sort of terrain.  Most my hunting occurs on the desert slope of Southern California's San Bernardino Mountains, or on the various mountain ranges of the vast High Desert.

Just as I prefer to tote a lightweight side-by-side when wing-shooting, I don't want to pack a lot of weight in an air rifle intended for use on upland game birds. 

I need light weight, portability, dynamic handling, flat trajectory, precision, and sufficient power.

One of my favorite air rifles for use on upland game birds is the now-discontinued .177 Gamo Shadow 1000.  While Gamo gets a bad rap from "serious" air rifle shooters all over the Internet, this air rifle enthusiast still thinks that the Shadow was and is one of the best air rifles out there for shooting upland game birds.  I wouldn't have this opinion, however, it weren't for the fact that one of the major drawbacks to Gamo air rifles -most notably their horribly heavy and crude trigger pulls- is easily and inexpensively cured with the installation of the GTX trigger blade developed and marketed by Bob Werner -a.k.a "Charlie da Tuna" of Charlie's Springer Works.

Once the truly terrible trigger of the rifle was corrected, the Shadow proved to have a lot going for it as an upland game bird rifle.  At a tick less than 6.5 pounds, sans scope and mounts, it was one of the lightest spring-piston air rifles of its power level available.  The 38 pounds of effort required to cock it is also light for the power it puts out.  It will actually exceed 1,000 ft/s of muzzle velocity with a couple of pellets, though it won't do so with any of the pellets that I hunt with.  Even with the pellets that I do hunt with, the Shadow still provides enough velocity to allow for a maximum point-blank range of 50 yards, assuming a 1" kill zone.  And, at 50 yards, with the right pellets, it will thwack a target with nearly 10 ft/lbs of thump.  In terms of accuracy, it will put 3 Beeman FTS pellets into a 1" circle at 50 yards with relative ease.  The Shadow is also delightly lacking in hold sensitivity -something that spring-piston air rifles are notorious for.  My wife an I shoot can shoot the same Shadow with entirely different holds and get the same results without having to alter scope adjustment.

I especially like the location of the Gamo safety.  It is located in the trigger gaurd, where it is instictively found by the finger.  It can be flicked off silently and it can be re-applied without having to go through a re-cocking motion to do it.  I also like the Shadow's synthetic stock.  It is as ugly as sin, but totally practical in use, with a non-slip surface with enough texture to provide a sure hold, yet not so much that it chews your face up when you shoot the thing.  The stock is futher enhanced with panels of raised bumps or "pimples" which further aid in maintaining a sure grip.  The butt is finsihed off with a ventilated recoil pad that makes shooting this rifle a generally pleasant experience.

I bought mine on a whim back when Wal-Mart was carrying them.  At around $125.00, it was one of the least expensive spring-piston air rifles on the market.  At first, it seemed like an expensive mistake.  It had the harshest, crudest, and most irritatingly twangy firing cycle of any spring-piston air rifle that I had ever shot.  It was so harsh and rough, in fact, that it totally destroyed the Simmons Pro-Air 4-12 power scope that I had mounted to it.  It dieseled badly, too.  And accuracy, which is everyhting in air rifle hunting, simply wasn't there.

I drove down the hill from the family hunting camp to the Wal-Mart in Hesperia and bought one of the Wal-Mart exclusive Bushnell Sportsman 4-12 A.O. scopes there for about $70.00.  This was originally a temporary thing, and I never expected a scope that cheap to be so satisfying to use.  Back at camp, I installed the new scope and continued shooting.

To make a long story short, the "Tin of Kodiaks" tune worked a miracle on this rifle.  After two tins of Beeman Kodiak pellets, the dieseling stopped, the firing behavior setteled down to a tolerable level, and the cocking stroke became "butter smooth."  Best of all, accuracy went from non-existent to shockingly precise -certainly better than I expected, and clearly good enough for most small game hunting use.  Later that afternoon, I went out and walked my fence line with the rifle and went back to the "barn" with two tasty cottontails -one of which was a 55 yard shot.  It went down like it was hit by the hammer of Thor.

Later, replacing the factory trigger with the GTX unit made the rifle much easier to shoot accurately.  Gone forever was the gritty 4.5 pound Gamo trigger pull.  It was replaced by a smooth, true two-stage pull which breaks crisp and clean at 1.5 pounds.

I also own a .177 Beeman R-9 "Goldfinger" which also makes for a nice upland game bird rifle, particularly for someone who knows next to nothing about adult precision air rifles and is looking to get something that is going to work and work well, right out of the box.

The R-9 weighs about a pound more than the Shadow does.  It also has a far less ergonomic safety, which cannot be re-applied without going through a re-cocking motion.  It is, however, made to a standard that the Gamo simply isn't.  As much as I enjoy the Gamo in the here and now, I have no illusions as to whether my great grandkids will be shooting the thing in the future.  The R-9, on the other hand, is a true "heirloom quality" piece of equipment that shoots great right out of the box.  There is no long, protracted break-in period as their was with the Shadow.  The Goldfinger version even comes with a scope that is already mounted and sighted in.  All you need to do is fine-tune the sighting with the pellets that you're going to shoot on the hunt. As with the Shadow, the R-9 has plenty of velocity to allow for a 50 yard point-blank range, and it delivers plenty of power at that range to drop quail, chukar, and cottontials in their tracks.

Unlike the Gamo, the R-9 comes with a great trigger that most users will find to need no adjustment or further tuning.  It is also available in .20 caliber.

I also own a .20 caliber R-9.  For general small game hunting use, the .20 is my favorite airgun caliber.  It shoots nearly as flat as the .177, provides most of the penetration that .177 is renowned for, and makes a wound channel as large in diameter as .22 caliber does.  The advantage that it offers over .177 is that it allows shot placement on rabbits in the heart / lung region that I don't always feel comfortable taking with the .177 due to its smaller diameter wound channel.  The .20 is also a more reliable instant killer of chukar on frontal chest shots than .177 is because of the larger wound channel that it makes  .20 caliber is also the minimum caliber required in California for taking turkey with air rifles, so if you have a .20 R-9, you can legally shoot everything that can be legally shot with air rifle in the Golden State.

Where quail are concerend, however, the .177 offers more ballistic authority in a rifle at the R-9's power level than you really need.  It shoots with a tractory that sufficiently flatter compared the .20 version to make hits at long range easier to make, particularly for those just getting in to air rifle hunting.

Accuracy-wise, the R-9 in either caliber is about as precise as spring-piston air rifles get.

There are, of course, other rifles out there to choose from.  Many are more powerful, too.  But the R-9 is powerful enough, shoots flat enough, and is accurate enough for any hunting use that you can put an air rifle to in California.  Some claim that the .20 R-9 is a little underpowered for turkey hunting, but in the limited amount of turkey hunting that I've done with mine, I've had no complaints with the end result when using Beeman FTS pellets.

I perfer spring-piston air rifles because I know that they are capable of functioning in the dusty envorionment and over the broad range of temperature extremes that I use them in.  I also like the fact that they are self-contained.  Unlike pre-charged pneumatics which are all the rage in the U.K., I don't need a scuba tank to decant high pressure air from in order to keep shooting my spring-piston guns.  I only need to store and transport the rifle, rather than the rifle and a bunch of aparatus to keep it shooting.  Spring-piston air rifles do require a disciplined, consitant shooting technique in order to harness all of the accuracy that they can deliver.  For me, that is part of the fun of using them.  One of the reasons that I recommend the R-9 is because it is a fairly mild mannered rifle and an easy one for the novice to master.  This isn't the case with the lighter and slightly more powerful Gamo Shadow.