BEYOND PLINKING
Great for target practice, competition and youth training, today’s high-powered air rifles can also take down everything from cottontails to big game
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Air rifles offer an inexpensive way to hone shooting skills (Photo: Umarex)TARGET PRACTICE
Becoming a good shot does not happen by accident, at least for most of us. Air rifles offer one of the most practical and inexpensive methods of developing shooting skills, and keeping those skills honed to perfection all year-round. Many moons ago, for example, I purchased a Walther .177-calibre, side-cocking air rifle, mounted a scope on it and set up a shooting range in my basement. All I needed was a pellet trap and the space to shoot. Thanks to the low cost of pellets, I spent many a wintery hour punching holes in paper at 10 metres. The result not only improved my competitive shooting skills, but also my accuracy for hunting. In short, air rifles offer plenty of practice opportunities anywhere you can find a safe place to shoot.
RIFLE OPTIONS
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For serious target practice, I want consistent accuracy, low recoil, easy cocking and low noise, especially when shooting indoors. For cocking rifles, a .177-calibre gas-piston model would top my list, followed by a single pneumatic, or a PCP. For fun plinking, it would be hard to beat a .177-calibre C02 model offering multiple shots, as well as a semi-auto model. They are generally not as expensive as PCP models, and the C02 cartridges are easy to swap out.