I have never seen any air rifles at my range or anywhere so I do not know how loud they are for suburban shooting. I need to find out if its against the law to shoot air rifles in my Northern Va suburban area. My house adjoins a golf course and this is why I am asking. I am primarily looking at the Weihrauch HW95 (or some cheaper models than the HW95) and the RWS Model 34. I am interested in the .22 for shooting. I see some say that the "stated" fps is not the true fps so if the HW95 states up to 755 what deviation from that is considered normal.

I have seen a few crows in my yard and a few cats (probably someone's pet).

So are these truly quiet that I can plink and shoot some varmints?

It's common among many airgun manufacturers to publish velocities using ultra lightweight zinc alloy pellets. Using heavier lead alloy pellets results in lower velocities and less sensational advertising. Generally the faster the gun, the louder it is.
This is a good review of the HW95 and the velocities they achieved with different pellet weights.

http://www.straightshooters.com/ourtake/ourtakehw95.html

valad,

Check VDGIF for the rules, but I believe that air rifles are treated as firearms for the purposes of restrictions on discharge within a certain distance of another residence.

Also, none of those rifles are "quiet". In fact, most are louder than CB Shorts and all are louder than a .22 with a suppressor and subsonic ammo.

Can't help on the legality issues in your local, but have shot enough pellets to have an idea about sound levels.

Pellet guns aren't silent, and the "magnum" ones have a fairly loud report. That said, pellet guns don't sound like a firearm and hence you're unlikely to have a neighbor think you are firing a gun due to the sound. Now if they see you with a pellet rifle and they are of the easily offended sort, I have no doubt they'd call the cops on you.

I have a new Benjamin marauder in .25 that is surprisingly quiet. It makes less noise than the rws 48 (.177) or a Benjamin trail (.22) that I own.

No doubt in this day and age. Seems everyone needs to mind everyone business. Thank god I live where I live.

Valad,

I'm not bad mouthing the HW95 but I think the HW30 might be a better air rifle for your situation. It's certainly more quiet and it has fine accuracy at "backyard" distances. In 177 cal there are a ton of pellets available, the Crossman Prem. HP shoot very well in my HW30 and can be bought at Walmart. It kills crow sized birds easily and is excellent at "training" the cats to stay out of my yard. I try very hard to fly under my neighbors radar so I don't shoot outside in their view nor do I want them asking me what the noise was coming from my back yard.

Anyway, something to think about.

Or a pneumatic, a pump up. No spring crash noise, variable power and you can get a cheap one at Walmart or Pyramid Air instead of dropping more cash on an airloony's dream gun.

Thanks all for replying.

hangman,
I saw the HW30 and thought of that but thought since the published vel tends to be overstated the HW30 vel may come in lower than what its listed. This is why I looked at the HW95. I see folks mention 30 yards shooting these air rifles so my guess is HW30 will work also.

I do not know how loud these air guns can be so this is all a coin flip for me. But I definitely have lots of choice.

I read an article posted by an attorney who is a gun enthusiast and it sure is alot of information and I am going to have to go reread it again to make sense of the long-winded report.

want quiet look at the Benjamin Discovery in 22cal, there quiet and if you put a can on in they get really quiet, no BATF stamp is needed for a air gun can. Velocity up to 900 fps makes for a serious killer on pests. I shoot the Bemjamin Marauder in both 22 and 25 caliber. My buddy has a Discovery and its a lot quieter than my Marauder in 22 cal.

There's not BATFE stamp required for any firearm that a can is affixed to; the stamp is for the can itself.

If you're springing for the can already, just run a .22LR and subsonic LR ammo.

I mean for the can to put on a air rifle, cans for a air rifle depends on which one you buy are under $100.00.

http://www.tko22.com/

A suppressor is a suppressor. They require a stamp, and the device itself is what gets the stamp. To go through all that trouble for an air gun is, imho, stupid. Just get the .22LR can, run subsonics, and be done with it.

there called air strippers in the air gun world, they baffle and suppress the sound just like a firearm
suppressor


http://www.tko22.com/

And I'm well a wear of that I have a class 3

I see that the TW95 has the cheek piece on the stock and I'd really like to get an air rifle w/o the cheek piece. I think the TW30 also has the cheek piece.

Looking at the lineup of air rifles at arizona website I see the RWS 34 does not have the cheek piece. (I am a LH shooter but my son is a RH shooter so I plan to alternate between us with this rifle thus do not want a cheek piece). How critical is a cheek piece for an air rifle? And what is the quality of the RWS 34? These 34 are still german made air rifles.

Valad,

The HW30 has cheek rest on both sides and so does the HW50.

The HW95 has cheek rest on the left side for a right handed person.

hangman,

Are these cheek rest needed in air rifles? My guess is when I do buy one I can inquire whether this rifle I want has creek rest. This is not said in the rifle description.

What do you think of the RWS 34? These appear not to have the cheek rest and price is a bit lower than the HW line up and also gives more ftps for the 22 cal.

I have an HW50S and it does have a slight cheek rest on both sides. I shoot left handed and it fits me very well. If you upgrade to the HW95 Luxus it has a Monte Carlo comb but no cheek rests and is described by Weihrauch as "ambidextrous".

Whether a cheek rest is "needed" or not, is personal. What is more important is the height of the comb for the type of sights you want to use. I.e., iron vs telescope. Everyone's body shape is different and that also plays a big part in determining how well a particular rifle "fits". I've also found that the length of pull (distance from trigger to butt pad) is important to my rifle fit.
I've also found that the shape of the grip in relation to the trigger is important to me, many of the air rifles seem to made to fit NBA players.

I bought a RWS 34 a couple of months ago, have it set up with a Hawke 3-9 scope and probably have pretty close to 400 shots through it. I’m not sure how a cheek piece would make it any better but then I have several rifles without cheek pieces so maybe it’s what I’m used to. The rifle is accurate but like any springer there is a curve to learning to shoot it accurately.