Although snow and ice provide several alternative sporting activities, winter curtails a good number of favorite outdoor pastimes for Pine Tree sportsmen. Indoor hobbies for rod-and-gun enthusiasts, such as fly tying, rod building, shell reloading, canoe restoration and gun refinishing all help ward off cabin fever, but certain outdoor sporting diversions are difficult to replace. More than anything, I sorely miss my regular visits to the target range to practice with various long guns and handguns, or just to plink with my .22 rifle.

I’ve never been a proponent of cleaning and stowing guns the day after hunting season and not handling them again for several months, until a week or so before autumn’s big-game season opens. I enjoy shooting. I revel in the challenge of making bulls-eyes at long range and firmly believe only regular practice yields a true marksman. As an avid handgun hunter I’ve found, after a winter-long layoff, each spring it’s back to the fundamentals and regular practice to regain dependable shooting form and accuracy. Then last winter I learned of a way to shoot year-round regardless of weather and could even shoot indoors whenever I liked. I discovered pellet guns.

These modern, high-tech air rifles are a far cry from the Red Rider and Daisy BB guns of my youth. My parents never would let me own one, although I did get to shoot a friend’s BB gun a few times. When I was deemed old enough, like most Maine youngsters, my first shooting sessions were with a .22 rifle. After business hours at the local town dump, I became a veritable exterminator on the ample rat population. Sheepishly, I must admit, age aside, I’m having just as much fun shooting spinning discs, knockdown silhouettes and moving targets at my indoor range as I did at the dump, and I can shoot every day, any time, any weather.

Which weapon

The first BB rifle was invented in 1886. It used a spring piston for power and a round steel pellet 0.180 inches in diameter, referred to in shotgun loads as a BB. Daisy Co. patented and produced its first model in 1888, and while improvements occurred regularly over the next century and more companies manufactured their own brands of air guns, vast enhancements and technical leaps in style, accuracy, propulsion and projectiles have occurred the last decade or so. Pellet guns have four main applications: recreational target shooting, hunting, pest control and sanctioned competition shooting. These rifles and pistols offer four different methods of propulsion, four popular sizes of projectiles and are manufactured by more than a dozen well-known companies.

Selecting just the right pellet gun is no simple chore, and to be honest, one air gun won’t fit all shooting options, so be prepared to compromise. Break-barrel actions have leaped to the forefront in popularity for hunting and pest control. A strong hinge attaches barrel to receiver, and when the muzzle end of the barrel is gripped and forced downward to a 90-degree angle, a powerful piston pushes rearward. The piston compresses a strong spring which is locked in position by the sear. When the trigger releases the sear pin, the piston drives quickly forward, forcing compressed air through the cylinder. The high-pressure air flow can only release through the chamber behind the seated pellet, which in top-quality, break-action rifles can produce velocities of 1,000 feet per second or more.

Typically a force of 32 to 40 pounds is required to cock a break-action rifle delivering 1,000 FPS velocities – no simple task, especially for young shooters and small women. Crosman Corp. has a Benjamin Legacy model needing only 28 pounds of cocking force to retain the 1,000 FPS pellet speed. More speed will demand higher cocking forces, perhaps up to 50 pounds, and the heavy piston and spring release can affect consistent accuracy.

Multi-pump air guns utilize a levered fore-end grip to activate a piston to force and hold air into a chamber. Increasing the number of level strokes forces more air into a set space, increasing pressure and thereby producing higher projectile speed. There is a set limit to how many times a model can be pumped effectively and each additional pump requires a bit more effort. Average pellet velocities from pump-action rifles run 500-800 FPS. High-quality pumps and air reservoirs in some more expensive models deliver notably faster speeds and accuracy so fine they are prime pest and small-game guns.

The final choice in propulsion systems actually consists of two variants. One is a compact, preloaded CO2 cartridge which must be changed out after about 75 shots, while the second is a small, rechargeable air tank integrated into the handgrip or stock. Compressed gas guns need no pumping or barrel manipulation each shot, which is very convenient, but of course there is the extra, albeit fairly inexpensive, cost of replacement CO2 cartridges to consider. Also, cold temperatures will notably lower gas pressure and result in reduced pellet velocity. Indoor shooting yields speeds of 600-800 FPS, and although there are a handful of very good CO2 rifles, such as the Crosman 2260, the most prevalent use of CO2 is in pellet pistols.

Pellets and projectiles

Many air guns still use the round, steel BB as a projectile, partly because they are inexpensive and partly because many BBs may be loaded into a magazine for rapid and easy repeat shooting. For accuracy, however, only a well formed, aerodynamic pellet will do, and for marksmanship, sustained energy and penetration needed for small-game hunting or pest control, pellets are dependable shot after shot.

In general, pellets for air guns are larger at each end and narrow in the middle, a shape called diabolo. This shape creates less friction through the rifle barrel and creates more speed and stability through air. Also, since the base of the pellet is skirted and concave, and larger than the nose, it seals the bore allowing the blast of air pressure to yield better velocity. Of course, projectile speed and retained energy are weight-dependent, and there are many weights and compositions of pellets. Heavier pellets can’t be propelled as fast as lighter ones, but the heavier pellets retain their velocity, and therefore their energy, farther down range. This may not be crucial to target shooters, but is essential to hunters.

Finally we should discuss shapes of pellets. Wadcutters are flat-nosed and cut round, perfect holes in paper targets. These are good for indoor practice with target traps using paper, metal knockdown animals or spinning metal discs. Domed pellets have a rounded nose which offers less air resistance, faster speed and better penetration. Usable for paper targets inside, the domed pellets are better suited to plinking cans outdoors or hunting applications.

There are also pointed pellets, noticeably sharper than domed projectiles, but not sharp-ended like some rifle bullets. This ammo is faster still than the domed variety and provides better penetration, but only marginally. Finally we come to the hollow-point pellets which are concave in the center of the nose to facilitate expansion on impact. Not for target shooting, hollow points are great for pests when a heavy blow but minimal penetration is desired.

As for pellet composition, choices include a number of alloys and exterior finishes. Once again weight and air resistance are considerations dependent on paper target accuracy or hunting applications. Remember, while most air gun enthusiasts are target shooters, many hunt squirrels, rabbits, prairie dogs and even armadillos depending on geographical location. Rats, mice, pigeons and crows are common pest targets in various parts of the U.S. Among the many options are Gamo gold-coated Raptor power pellets, Beeman Field Target special round-nose match pellets, Crosman’s lead Premier Super Match competition-grade wadcutters and even lead-free, ultra high velocity Silver Eagle wadcutters by Crosman.

In regard to size, .177 are by far the most popular all-around pellets and garner great favor from target shooters for flat trajectory. The .20 and the .22 are the next larger sizes, with the .22 often considered the best all-around hunting pellet for small game. Compared to the .177, the .22 pellet delivers 81 percent more energy and travels farther at the same velocity. For larger fur-bearing animals (such as woodchuck, opossum and even raccoon) that require a high-powered air rifle and maximum pellet weight and knockdown force, the .25 caliber is the way to go.

Best of the bunch

After testing a bunch of pellet guns in varied shapes and sizes from several companies, a handful truly stood out for ease of use, durability, accuracy and value. Crosman’s Classic 2100 with a 4X scope is a pneumatic pump .177 rifle that sells for only $106. Synthetic wood makes it lightweight and easy to handle for youngsters and small-framed women, yet it delivers pellets at 725 FPS. Crosman’s 2260 model is a CO2-powered bolt action that fires .22 pellets at 600 FPS. Solid wood stock and fore-end give this gun the feel of a true hunting rifle for realistic indoor practice sessions and the cost is a reasonable $130. Check out www.crosman.com for these and other great air guns.

My favorite gun from Beeman is the Sportsman Series RS2 with break-barrel action, European walnut stock and velocities over 1,000 FPS. Best of all, this unit comes with two interchangeable barrels, a .177 and a .22, a 3×9-power scope, and a sturdy, compartmentalized soft carrying case. The cost is $209.99. Visit www.beeman.com for more info, to view more air guns or to make an order.

From Gamo precision air guns comes the Whisper .177 with a spring-piston power supply. This break-barrel gun requires only 30 pounds cocking pressure but spits a pellet out at well over 1,000 FPS and comes with a scope or fiberoptic sight, two-stage adjustable trigger and a unique muzzle noise dampener that reduces sound by 52 percent. Shoot down in the cellar, in the garage or in the backyard without bothering neighbors or the family. The Gamo’s Whisperer rifle is $280.

If you’re into handguns, try Gamo’s PT80 pistol. This is an eight-shot semi-auto .177 with single- or double-action trigger that shoots at 410 FPS and costs less than $50. Check out other long guns and handguns at www.Gamo.com.

I can’t tell you how much fun my friends and I are having with our new indoor shooting hobby. Our pellet gun practice has not only helped us endure a longer than normal winter, but we have enjoyed some great competition and become better all-around shooters. There’s an air rifle out there for everyone, ranging from a $40 Daisy to a single-shot, European-made, Olympic-style competition gun that sells for more than $2,000. Look into a pellet gun for yourself and shoot inside regardless of weather. It’s not your father’s BB gun.

bgravesoutdoors@ainop.com