# Air Rifle



## jethro (Jan 24, 2011)

I just bought a Ruger Airhawk pellet gun to help with some pest around the house. My question is has anyone had trouble sighting in their air riffle? I don,t know if it is the ammo that I am using or the scope that came with the gun. any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

*Re: Air Riffle*

Bought my boy this exact gun. First thing you need to do is throw away those crappy scope mounts. They will not hold up. They slide and sheer off the sides that grip the dovetail. You absolutely need to replace it with a heavy duty 1 piece mount such as:

http://www.pyramydair.com/s/a/BKL_1_Pc_ ... Black/2913

Secondly, while very powerful, its not a terribly accurate gun with the pellets I've tried. I am still trying to find that "magic" pellet that gives those ragged 1 hole groups. I believe heavier pellets will be better than the lighter ones. Users online seem to say it takes 500'ish shots for the gun to settle in, and use heavier pellets with the heavy duty scope mount. The mount does make it alot better... if nothing else you wont have your scope suddenly pop off the barrel when shooting (happened to me a couple times).

I'd love to hear your results, if you choose to try some heavier pellets (10-12grn).

-DallanC


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## jethro (Jan 24, 2011)

*Re: Air Riffle*

Thanks Dallan, do you use the standard lead pellets that you by in a can or do you go for the high dollar pellets?


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

*Re: Air Riffle*

So far I've been trying the cheaper pellets for obvious reasons. Bought a 750 pack of Tomahawk's from cabelas, they are so so. Bought a smaller tin of 250 pellets of another brand (cant remember which), those were slightly better. Those seemed to be in the 5-6MOA range. Both were lighter pellets though ... I need to order up some heavier ones.

Now I dont want to give the opinion even the cheapies above wont kill stuff, we killed a ton of vermin out of the garden this year (even the wife started shooting birds raiding her rasberrys lol). Killed a few ECDs as well. I just want to find a pellet that shoots around 1MOA.

-DallanC


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## tofat (Dec 11, 2007)

*Re: Air Riffle*

I purchased a Gamo air rifle a couple of years ago and had the same problem in getting it to shoot accurate. I tried every pellet made. I am convenced that the match pellet shoots the most accurate. I know that sounds crazy that a flat top shoots better than a pointed but it works the best for me. At any rate don't give up, these modern air guns with rifled barrels shoot well you just have to find what they like.

Cheers...


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## Wind In His Hair (Dec 31, 2009)

*Re: Air Riffle*

I've been shooting PBA Raptor's out of my Ruger Airhawk with good results. I ditched the scope all together and just use the open sights. It's my pest gun.


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## DallanC (Jan 13, 2009)

*Re: Air Riffle*

What grain raptors?

-DallanC


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## Rusty Shacklford (Oct 24, 2008)

*Re: Air Riffle*

The Ruger Air Hawk is a very good copy of the RWS model 34. Most of the Air Hawks I've seen and worked on for others were very accurate guns. There is what I consider a few must does to a new air rifle to squeeze as much accuracy as possible from them. First and for most is take the action out of the stock and clean on the excess oil from all the screws, otherwise the will constantly loosen up and change your POI. The triggers on most out of the box guns are terrible but will get better with more shooting. I good barrel cleaning when new will go along way in getting tighter groups faster. Don't use anything to hard as the barrels in most are guns are extremely soft and easy to damage. A small rag coated with goo gone pushed through the barrel with some heavy duty weed eater string is what I use. Do it a few times to make sure you get the excess oil and grease out of the barrel. Make sure you keep the pivot bolt tight, after a while they all have a tendency to loosen up and just a little side to side play will wreck your chances of tight groups. As far as the scope and mounts go, clean the dove tail with rubbing alcohol and use a little blue loc tite when you mount the base to the receiver. That should help keep things put. And it goes without saying but make sure what ever scope you choose to is air gun rated. I've had great luck with the Centerpoint scopes sold at Wally World. Lastly make sure there is sufficient chamfer on the breach loading hole. Load a pellet and close the barrel, then open it back up and make sure the pellet skirt didn't get deformed during the closing. If it did take a little counter sink and remove just enough material to make sure the pellet can go in far enough to prevent skirt damage.

Then just shoot and shoot it until you learn what pellet your gun likes. I have several air guns and most of them do well with Crosman Premier Hollow Points.

Wow that turned into a long and rambling response but I'm fanatical about all my air guns, they have brought me countless hours of enjoyment and can really sharpen your big game hunting skills. I'd sure like to see some your guys posts about air rifle hunts.


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## Huge29 (Sep 17, 2007)

*Re: Air Riffle*

Good info Rusty! One question, how would oil on the forearm bolt or even a loose bolt make any difference since that would not move the sight or the barrel? Maybe I misunderstood that one??


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## Wind In His Hair (Dec 31, 2009)

*Re: Air Riffle*



DallanC said:


> What grain raptors?
> 
> -DallanC


5.4


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## Rusty Shacklford (Oct 24, 2008)

Good question Huge29. I should have been a little more clear. If the forearm bolts get loose the action will move a little inside the stock and that will affect accuracy. One day I was shooting ECD's with my B28 and hitting everything in sight. A few days later I was in the same spot and couldn't hit a thing. I shoot the gun to get it back on target and ended up chasing the POI all over the place. I changed air rifles and finished the hunt. Back at home I discovered the forearm bolts had loosened up alot and the slop was allowing the action to move a little with each shot. It's the little things that can wreck accurate shooting with high powered air rifles.


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## jethro (Jan 24, 2011)

Great info, 
thanks to all who posted


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