Henry Rifle Forums

Took a break from the rimfire daily plinkers and switched to one of my favorite air guns, my HW50 springer in 20 cal with a Leupold 3-9x Freedom EFR. Love my 177 cal air guns, too, but the 20 cal smacks those steel targets better.




This one also wears an HW moderator, not so much to reduce noise, though it does eliminate some noise, but more to extend the barrel length and add a fatter grip to make cocking, easier. I did this while recovering from heart surgery and it really helped. Makes for a longer less handy HW50, but since I'm just daily plinking with this one, I've left it on the gun.


Now, calling the air guns I shoot, plinkers, is a bit of a misnomer. At 25 yards in my backyard range, even my springer air guns outshoot even my rimfires. One of the reasons for this is that I can and do use the best ammo (pellets) with the air guns. Not so with the rimfires. With the rimfires, accuracy definitely takes a hit with the quiet ammo I have to use for the sake of keeping noise to a minimum.

There's also a matter of the triggers. My most used airguns have match grade, adjustable triggers. Not so with my backyard rimfire plinkers. At best, those have plinker grade triggers. Oh, I could pull out my Anchutz rimfires and have superb match grade triggers, but I won't shoot plinker grade ammo in those. Anchutz 22s aren't really plinking rifles, anyway.


To keep things more sporty and challenging with the air guns, I shoot mostly without a rest, though while sitting comfortably on the bench on our deck. By bracing a springer on the bench while I sit, it is also much easier for me to cock the gun compared to trying to cock it while standing.


Another plus for my plinking with air guns on our range is that we have a much greater selection of steel to shoot with air guns. We have a limited number of targets that are rated for rimfire use and I can still shoot those with the air guns. In other words, our range is a much more target rich environment for air guns.


Last, and certainly not least, is ammo cost. Even though I use the best and most expensive pellets, cost per shot with the air guns is still considerably less than cost per shot with the quiet rimfire ammo. No brass to clean up, either.


Lots of advantages to air guns for daily plinking. No doubt about it. So what are you waiting for? Get out and do some air gun plinking.

My airguns are crying for attention but I dont have one with me and even if I did I wouldnt have a place to shoot it.

Nice range NCG. You've inspired me to get off my ___, and shoot my new HW95 some more.

Al, you don't need much of a range or distance to shoot air guns. 10 yards with a portable bullet trap and air guns shooting 500 fps or less work very well. That 500 fps or less includes most air pistols, by the way. Single pump pneumatics such as my now discontinued Daisy 747 are very accurate, quiet and easy to shoot 10 meter air pistols. So are all those CO2 reproduction air pistols. Here's one of those. It's a CSG "Dan Wesson" CO2 in 177 (note the S&W cylinder latch ). Hubby got it cheap off of e-bay, brand new.


Mark, go for it with your HW. Remember, once you've mastered spring piston air rifle shooting, it's a skill you'll always have and it pays off in so many ways.

Great report. It makes me want to bring mine out although mine aren’t as good as yours. I like the backstop you built too.

Sir Henry wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 23, 2024 7:34 am

Great report. It makes me want to bring mine out although mine aren’t as good as yours. I like the backstop you built too.

Thanks, Gene. As far as quality, don't let that stop you. I have some inexpensive pump, PCP and CO2 air guns that are very accurate. With springers, though, it pays to invest in quality to get great triggers and construction quality. These features really help when you are learning to shoot springers. Very difficult to learn to shoot cheap springers accurately because on top of dealing with springer recoil, you also have to fight a lousy trigger. High end springers really have some of the finest triggers you can get on an air gun.

North Country Gal wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 22, 2024 1:49 pm

Al, you don't need much of a range or distance to shoot air guns. 10 yards with a portable bullet trap and air guns shooting 500 fps or less work very well. That 500 fps or less includes most air pistols, by the way. Single pump pneumatics such as my now discontinued Daisy 747 are very accurate, quiet and easy to shoot 10 meter air pistols. So are all those CO2 reproduction air pistols. Here's one of those. It's a CSG "Dan Wesson" CO2 in 177 (note the S&W cylinder latch ). Hubby got it cheap off of e-bay, brand new.


Mark, go for it with your HW. Remember, once you've mastered spring piston air rifle shooting, it's a skill you'll always have and it pays off in so many ways.

Nice Co2 shooter NCG! I have the older version that is black and shoots the 38 Special sized shells with the rubber bullets that hold the BB. I found out that a real 38 Special round will fit the cylinder and close up! I even made extra ammo for it using 38 Special brass and made my own hard rubber bullet tips.

Me Too!
I have an Air Venturi Avenger PCP in .25 cal that I shoot from my front porch steps. I have a few old circular saw blades hanging on trees out in the woods across the lawn, ranging from about 100 to about 140 yards. They make a very satisfying CLANG when hit.
I had a 10 meter target set up in my apartment (before the house) and would shoot a coupla-few times a week with that. I have some decent 10m pistols and a Daisy 753 for the 10m stuff. Definitely need to get that set up in the basement, it's great practice.

That's great, guys. Thanks for sharing. I'm in the mood to pull out some of my oldies to do some plinking from up on the deck. I have some very nice walnut era Sheridan and Benjamin pump ups that I need to shoot more, now that I have my strength back. They got put aside while recovering from heart surgery last year because I couldn't handle the pumping. This early 90s Benjamin 397 is especially accurate.

I mounted a red dot on my 397 just last week.
Found a mount here for $20.00.

https://buck-rail.com/product/benjamin- ... pe-mounts/