Need suggestions - twin 8 yo boys, both are fairly adept with the Daisy Red Rider. Looking for the next step up.

CMP-00- said:

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Need suggestions - twin 8 yo boys, both are fairly adept with the Daisy Red Rider. Looking for the next step up.

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Next step up would be a 10-22!

Benjamin

EagleFordEarl said:

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Benjamin

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For an 8 year old I'd get a Ruger Explorer youth model. They can learn the basics of handling a break barrel pellet gun, but it's designed to be easy to use for a kid. Runs about $70.

http://www.pyramydair.com/s/m/Ruger_Explorer/2016

Obvious next step is to strap a Nightforce 6.5-25x56mm scope with an illuminated reticle on the Red Ryder. Don't move them up to a pellet gun until they're ringing steel at 600 with BB's.

EagleFordEarl said:

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Benjamin

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That will get them some awesome biceps for 8 year olds!
I loved my Benjamin, but started with a Crossman 760 in the 1970s. Will still get them some nice biceps but easier.
I love the idea of a break barrel air gun though.

Where there's a will there's a way. I learned as a wormy little fart of a kid that you didn't have to pump it 10 times to kill sparrows and black birds, 3 was plenty if you took head shots.

A multi-pump pneumatic such as a Daisy 880 or Crosman 760 or Benjamin 397 will be lighter in weight than a spring-piston rifle, and tremendously safer too. These also have the advantage of being able to adjust the power level output to suit whatever it is you are shooting at the time.

Heh, I owned a crossman 760 and a Daisy 860. My cousin had an 880. Eventually he inherited a Sheridan 5mm, and I bought a Benjamin .22. We were deadly with those things. At 40 yards using iron sights you could hit a quarter every time with enough practice.

That old 860 wasn't a bad rifle either. Like the 880 it had a BB magazine, but you could load individual lead pellets too. It was pretty accurate. The crossman was less accurate, but also cheaper and lighter.

I still have a red Ryder I keep in my truck and if I feel like plinking something with a bb I'll pull it out.

Looks right up my alley! Thank you!

I ended p skipping the bb gun and just bought them a Savage Rascal

..price was good....good gun to learn on....

Remington air rifle on closeout for $69.99

For the sake of not starting a separate air gun thread, hope you don't mind me asking this here...

Any recs between the Benjamin NP Trail and an RWS Diana 34? Both in .177. Also, any reason to look at the 25 caliber? Started hunting squirrels recently with a 30 year old Benjamin Model 347 and would like to be able to reach out a little further.

And because pics are fun. Here's last weekends quarry

raidernarizona said:

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For the sake of not starting a separate air gun thread, hope you don't mind me asking this here...

Any recs between the Benjamin NP Trail and an RWS Diana 34? Both in .177. Also, any reason to look at the 25 caliber? Started hunting squirrels recently with a 30 year old Benjamin Model 347 and would like to be able to reach out a little further.

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The Diana is going to be a better build quality.

I have a Benjamin Marauder in 25 caliber and it is awesome, but you have to find a way to charge it. Hand pump gets old quick, and a high pressure compressor can get expensive. But, once you have a charging method, it can be used with other pre charged airguns.

raidernarizona said:

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For the sake of not starting a separate air gun thread, hope you don't mind me asking this here...

Any recs between the Benjamin NP Trail and an RWS Diana 34? Both in .177. Also, any reason to look at the 25 caliber? Started hunting squirrels recently with a 30 year old Benjamin Model 347 and would like to be able to reach out a little further.

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I would agree that the RWS will have a better build quality. The NP rifles have been known to leak, and AFAIK there is no way for the user to re-charge the gas. Of course the spring in a spring-piston gun can break, but overall, IMO the traditional springers are more reliable than the gas-piston guns.

A .25 will not allow you to reach out further, when comparing same powerplants. In fact, the .25 will have much more of a loopy trajectory. It will however allow you to put more energy into a target, as the pellet will retain more energy down range.

Thanks Gents!

Sorry Caladan, I wasn't clear. I meant in comparison to my old open sight 347. I'd like to get a scoped air rifle setup put together. I've gotten 1 squirrel at 25 yards, and I think that would be about my limit.

A 22 caliber may be good for your needs. You can stick with a break barrel and not worry about pre charged, but still get higher take down capability than 177. Also, ammo is widely available.

Benjamin pump.

Work for every shot, and make it count.

For the OP...My son will be 8 in 2 months as well. I think pumping a Benjamin 6-10/shot would be a beating on a kid that size. And no, I'm not raising a snowflake. He's a strong little kid that can bang out pull ups, but that's just my initial thought..

raidernarizona said:

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For the OP...My son will be 8 in 2 months as well. I think pumping a Benjamin 6-10/shot would be a beating on a kid that size. And no, I'm not raising a snowflake. He's a strong little kid that can bang out pull ups, but that's just my initial thought..

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I agree. Pumps are great guns, no doubt. But I would get a youth break barrel for an 8 year old. They're easy to handle and sized right for that age.

You'll shoot your eye out!

Techno and Caladan, I really appreciate your help!

Last question, there are several 34 options. What about the 34 Meisterschutze Pro Compact? Or to make it easy, if you had $350 to spend, which RWS would you pick up for the things I have mentioned? TIA!

raidernarizona said:

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Techno and Caladan, I really appreciate your help!

Last question, there are several 34 options. What about the 34 Meisterschutze Pro Compact? Or to make it easy, if you had $350 to spend, which RWS would you pick up for the things I have mentioned? TIA!

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Well OK Mr. Moneypants! If you have that much to spend on an air rifle - congrats, and welcome to the slippery slope of European adult airguns. Personally, I would go with the Weihrauch HW95 that you can get for $315 at the Airguns of Arizona website. It will have a higher build quality than the RWS, and is just nicer-looking as well.

If you just have to stay with the RWS 34 variants, I would just get a regular 34, but with the synthetic stock. The longer barrel will be more mechanically efficient when cocking.

C

Haha Caladan! Not even close, I just would prefer to spend a little more to get something quality that will last. I appreciate your help! I really like the looks of that rifle. Thank you for the rec!

Just wanted to post a safety reminder for break barrel air guns.
If you happen to pull the trigger (or a failure) while cocking/loading, the barrel will spring back and snap anything in the way. So always be safe around them.

Great post!

Another injury that has been seen with spring-piston rifles is the breakage of facial bones when the rifle is triggered prematurely, and the open barrel swings back up into the shooter's face. This, along with the reasons posted by Brad06ag, are why I would not recommend a spring-piston gun for young shooters.

Caladan said:

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Great post!

Another injury that has been seen with spring-piston rifles is the breakage of facial bones when the rifle is triggered prematurely, and the open barrel swings back up into the shooter's face. This, along with the reasons posted by Brad06ag, are why I would not recommend a spring-piston gun for young shooters.

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At risk of turning this into a circle jerk...

To be honest Caladan, I wasn't even aware of this risk until you pointed it out a ways back on a similar thread... I had only a little experience with break actions at that time and learned a whole lot after that. Thank you for pointing that out originally.

For the record, the youth model Ruger listed above, and similar ones, are very mild. They dont snap back and break kids fingers or anything like that. Of course you have to teach them to use caution in everything. They could shoot an eye out, after all.

Was thinking about getting a bb gun for my 8 year old. Was set on the Crosman 760, but there happened to be an open box in Academy and when I pumped it a few times, it seemed like it might be a bit difficult for him to pump more than 2-3 times. I think that is the same gun I got when I was 7 and remember it being a little difficult to pump at first. So it got me to thinking maybe I should just go with the Red Rider. I have two younger sons that could always use the Red Rider if we wanted to upgrade in the future for him.

We only have a couple of acres and a couple of houses/yards are fairly close, so more powerful may not be a good idea.

What's the OB suggestion?

I still enjoy plinking at cans with a little bb gun like a RR on occasion. If it's their first, it's a good way to start them

Married an Aggie Lady said:

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khkman22 said:

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Was thinking about getting a bb gun for my 8 year old. Was set on the Crosman 760, but there happened to be an open box in Academy and when I pumped it a few times, it seemed like it might be a bit difficult for him to pump more than 2-3 times. I think that is the same gun I got when I was 7 and remember it being a little difficult to pump at first. So it got me to thinking maybe I should just go with the Red Rider. I have two younger sons that could always use the Red Rider if we wanted to upgrade in the future for him.

We only have a couple of acres and a couple of houses/yards are fairly close, so more powerful may not be a good idea.

What's the OB suggestion?

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Just for goofing off? Red Ryder's are great! My daughter started with a pink one and now shoots expensive rifles/pistols and stacks up 4H medals with the best of them.

Want to introduce him to "real" shooting on a BB gun? Daisy model 499B is a single shot muzzleloader BB gun with peep sights that can take a kid to the Daisy 5m national championships.

Nothing at all wrong with a good BB gun.

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I have one of those somewhere. It was given to me to shoot 4h with years ago, if I can find it I need to pass it on.