Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns 22 Cal Rifle, Spring or Gas Piston Magnum.

Sounds lke you have been doing your research, many Air rifle loonies shortent their barrels. I never have.....but did have a full stock underlever cocking BSA Stutzen once in .22 cal. They had 14" barrels. It was not particular fast, it was a demo model, took me a year to get it after seeing it at a SHOT Show. Not many made, kick myself for selling it. Mainspring was broke in two likely from dry firing as a Demo. It was like new in box, but I was lucky to get a new Mainspring and the velocity went up.

It was harsh firing, Accuracy with Eley Wasps was fantastic, that and RWS Domes and Super Points were it's mainstay.......British bores tend to run on the large size and my former BSA Meteor .177 liked Benjamin roundnose, but I settled on RWS Superpoint in the mild powered springer.

A bit of trivia for folks who might not have heard of these rarities.

https://www.gunstar.co.uk/community/reviews/airguns-reviews/bsa-s-airsporter-stutzen

That's a neat looking air gun.

Yes it was quite unique, I enjoyed it, being in my college days, I often had to sell something to fund my next toy........not sure I have ever seen another. I was always a fan of Mannlicher stocks..........That rifle was around a 600 fps rifle, I like about 650-675 on the low side for 20 and 22 cal with 14.3's..........

This is what I refer to as the 'patio chair position'. I took a tip from kragman1, supporting the forend under the screws, with just the index finger.

From a 20 yard zero, I went out to 64 yards, holding 2 mils elevation. Managed a 4" 5-shot group....I'm sure there is room for improvement there. There was a light breeze blowing full value. Was shooting the Crosman 14.3gr HP.

New scope and mount arrived today. Hawke 3-9x40 AO Mildot, and RWS Lockdown base. Seems nice and solid.

Very nice, I think you are reaching the outer limit for killing performance. Nice looking rig. More likely you will do more killing stuff under 40 yds with this air rifle, is my guess. Beyond 50 you get more drop and drift, not that you cannot account for it, but 60-65 yds is a fair piece for a set up like this, IMHO.

Nice to have no ear plugs/muffs, no reloading...of cartridges....quite economical like the 22 LR. Oh, no blast and recoil so they are fun to shoot and you will learn a lot over time with that rifle.

Yeah, I wouldn't try to kill anything past about 40 yards. I'm just trying to work out the max effective range for plinking.

Here's a look at the trajectory/energy on the RWS 3500, 14.3gr Crosman at 857 fps.

The 20 yard zero keeps it pretty flat to 40 yards, where it's still delivering about 15 ft-lbs.

I found some BC data on various pellets here:

https://hardairmagazine.com/ballistic-coefficients/

40 yards with the Hatsan 125. Using a loose hold, forend resting atop on my gloved fist. Center hold at 40, with a 20 yards zero. Close enough.


This thing feels like it's hitting pretty hard. Ballistics table indicate 24 ft-lbs at 20 yards, and 21 ft-lbs at 40 yards.


At 20 yards the 18.13gr JSB blew through both pieces of ice.

OK, some progress here.

Thanks to Timbo. For his comment on another thread, I tried setting up this Hatsan like I would any other rifle for accurate bench shooting.

So I used the BR front rest, and beanbag aft.


Held it and shot it like any other rifle. At 40 yards, 10 shots. 9 well below 1". The flyer at 12 o'clock was the last round, and I pulled it, so I'll take credit for that.

Interesting stuff MM

If you were advising someone's first moves, would you have them start with the RWS or the Hatsan?

And I'm actually drawn by the weight, or lack thereof of the R7 .177.

6.1 lbs naked...
8 & 9 lbs for an air rifle seems heavy. I know they are built like tanks

Anyone know a a really good 6 lb gas piston air rifle? Showing my ignorance here...

I don't think I'm qualified to give any advice here. I'm very green when it comes to airguns.

I can say that I like the Hatsan 125 far better than the RWS 3500.

The Hatsan is a little rough around the edges, but it's accurate, powerful, and the screws are staying tight.

The RWS 3500 seems a bit temperamental, but in reality, that could just be me, still learning the ropes.

I need to put the RWS on the solid benchrest, and see how it responds.

Thank you

Johnw you are on the right track thinking R7 or R9 if you need a little more power.

MM you seem to be getting the hang of it! That bench groups is about what I expect from my R series Beemans. FWIW: more than one rock chuck has gone to the great rock pile in the sky at 60+ yards. Even though the muzzle velocity of my R9 is only 665fps it still more often than not will send a 14.3 Premier hollow point right through their head. Doesn't take much wind to screw up those longer shots though. I feel like anything under 40 yards is in big trouble.

Well that was fast....the RWS 3500 killed that scope in less than 50 shots. Reticle broke. Airgun Depot is giving a refund.

I wrongly believed all the Hawke scopes had etched reticles. That is not the case.

Hi MontanaMarine

When I called Hawke months ago, they told me that the Vantage line was not springer rated, and pointed me to their AirMax line. Guess they weren't just upselling me.

I know that a lot of people have good luck with Vantage on airguns, but magnum springers are a real test for a scope.

The Vantage 3-12x44 SF ($229) description says it's double-braced for magnum springers. We'll see how it holds up over time. So far so good.

The Vantage 3-9x40 AO ($109) is clearly a lesser product.

Took the Hatsan 125 out to 77 yards on paper. 28F, 2mph 6 o'clock.
JSB 18.13 gr
4-mil hold for drop.
5 shots medium hold.
6 shots hard hold.


It seems to like a hard hold. I was on the bench with BR front, beanbag rear.