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This is intended to be a bit of a FAQ on Air rifles.
Things you might need to know when considering your first one.
For many folk, their first encounter with an air rifle is the shooting stand at a country show that uses an asthmatic chinese break barrel with crude open sights. If you're lucky, you might win that prize.
I know the last time I saw one of these shooting booths, the price had risen to a few bucks for 5 miserable pellets.
So you want to buy an Air rifle?
You head for the nearest gun shop and query the salesman on what's good.
That's your first mistake.
Fortunately you have the good sense to go online and at least do a little bit of research.
There's very few shops that specialise in air rifles and even less salesmen that know what they're talking about here in Australia.
If you have a specific question - then post a thread and we'll do our best to give you some straight answers.
As a rule of thumb look for something with British or German heritage.
Why - Beacause they've been fairly well refined over the last few decades in countries where a limitation on the power means they have learned to squeeze the last drop of performance from them.
There's two main kinds of air rifle getting around these days.
Spring powered and
Pre charged.
I'll start with Spring powered guns.
You can split this class into Break Barrel and Underlever (or sidelever)
With a Break Barrel, the gun is cocked by pulling on the barrel to cock the gun.
Pull it all the way back until the piston is latched by the trigger.
With an Underlever, the barrel remains fixed in position while the action is cocked using a separate lever. either under or to the side of the gun.
Pros - self contained action.
Cons - takes a bit of skill to shoot them well.
Precharged Pneumatic guns or PCPs for short.
Two main kinds
Those which are filled with high pressure air or CO2.
High pressure Air- how high you ask?
Well put it this way, your home compressor isn't even going to get you started.
Car tires are around 30 PSI.
Road bike tyre - around the 100 PSI mark.
Modern PCPs are measured in BAR and are typically around 200 bar or 3000PSI.
You need either a specialist high pressure pump or a Scuba tank from which the gun can be filled.
Pros - No recoil makes them easy to shoot, very accurate.
Cons - more expensive, requires pump / Scuba gear.
CO2
Simply put - these are charged up using CO2 as the high pressure gas.
I'll leave that intro there and I'm sure a few other knowledgeable Airgunners will chime in.
As to brands, If you do your research online, you'll find recurring themes of what's good.
Ammunition or Pellets
Well that's a whole other thread and a favourite topic amongst air gunners.
Don't buy anything out of a shop until you check back in here first.
Calibre???
The 2 main calibres that get thrown around are .177 and .22 and you're probably going to choose one of these two.
Comes down to what you intend to use it for.
The .177 is more a of a target oriented pellet - it shoots flatter, competition requires this size good for paper plinking and feathered game.
The .22 has a loopier trajectory - I think this makes it a touch harder to shoot well, however I think its a better choice for hunting larger rabbit sized game.
There's loads of other calibres - some you wouldn't even think of.
Other small calibres are .20 (in between the .177 & .22) and .25. Nothing wrong with either - a bit less mainstream is all.
Larger calibres are now becoming more readily available in air gun from .30 up to .50 but since this intended to be a beginners guide, I'll leave that subject there till we're ready to explore it.
Things you might need to know when considering your first one.
For many folk, their first encounter with an air rifle is the shooting stand at a country show that uses an asthmatic chinese break barrel with crude open sights. If you're lucky, you might win that prize.
I know the last time I saw one of these shooting booths, the price had risen to a few bucks for 5 miserable pellets.
So you want to buy an Air rifle?
You head for the nearest gun shop and query the salesman on what's good.
That's your first mistake.
Fortunately you have the good sense to go online and at least do a little bit of research.
There's very few shops that specialise in air rifles and even less salesmen that know what they're talking about here in Australia.
If you have a specific question - then post a thread and we'll do our best to give you some straight answers.
As a rule of thumb look for something with British or German heritage.
Why - Beacause they've been fairly well refined over the last few decades in countries where a limitation on the power means they have learned to squeeze the last drop of performance from them.
There's two main kinds of air rifle getting around these days.
Spring powered and
Pre charged.
I'll start with Spring powered guns.
You can split this class into Break Barrel and Underlever (or sidelever)
With a Break Barrel, the gun is cocked by pulling on the barrel to cock the gun.
Pull it all the way back until the piston is latched by the trigger.
With an Underlever, the barrel remains fixed in position while the action is cocked using a separate lever. either under or to the side of the gun.
Pros - self contained action.
Cons - takes a bit of skill to shoot them well.
Precharged Pneumatic guns or PCPs for short.
Two main kinds
Those which are filled with high pressure air or CO2.
High pressure Air- how high you ask?
Well put it this way, your home compressor isn't even going to get you started.
Car tires are around 30 PSI.
Road bike tyre - around the 100 PSI mark.
Modern PCPs are measured in BAR and are typically around 200 bar or 3000PSI.
You need either a specialist high pressure pump or a Scuba tank from which the gun can be filled.
Pros - No recoil makes them easy to shoot, very accurate.
Cons - more expensive, requires pump / Scuba gear.
CO2
Simply put - these are charged up using CO2 as the high pressure gas.
I'll leave that intro there and I'm sure a few other knowledgeable Airgunners will chime in.
As to brands, If you do your research online, you'll find recurring themes of what's good.
Ammunition or Pellets
Well that's a whole other thread and a favourite topic amongst air gunners.
Don't buy anything out of a shop until you check back in here first.
Calibre???
The 2 main calibres that get thrown around are .177 and .22 and you're probably going to choose one of these two.
Comes down to what you intend to use it for.
The .177 is more a of a target oriented pellet - it shoots flatter, competition requires this size good for paper plinking and feathered game.
The .22 has a loopier trajectory - I think this makes it a touch harder to shoot well, however I think its a better choice for hunting larger rabbit sized game.
There's loads of other calibres - some you wouldn't even think of.
Other small calibres are .20 (in between the .177 & .22) and .25. Nothing wrong with either - a bit less mainstream is all.
Larger calibres are now becoming more readily available in air gun from .30 up to .50 but since this intended to be a beginners guide, I'll leave that subject there till we're ready to explore it.
is before buying a rifle go out and equip yourselves with a really good book on the subject. 
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