Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Air Guns What are the best hunting Air rifles,

To further clarify the question. I recently bought a Uragan .25 and .30. My boy loves them. I am interesting in a deer legal caliber. I am looking at .35+ caliber and would really like a repeater. I don’t like to say price is not an issue but I am willing to go to $3,500 or so if it is super accurate and what I am looking for.

I am assuming that I don’t want a .35 shooting an 80 grain projectile as- what is the point.

My preferences?

Accurate
Repeater
Lighter is better
Quieter is better
Great trigger is a must
Accurate - I said that twice
I really don’t want a 5’ long gun either

Help?

I'm far from an airgun expert but I've been watching a lot of videos on airguns. The Airforce line has a lot of "Magnum" air rifles suitable for big game hunting. The bad is most are single shots if not all of them. I did a Google search, Airgun Hunting. and you can watch videos all day. There are lots of large caliber air rifles on the market today. Lots of choices. I'm looking for something a lot smaller for impromptu 10 meter targets at my club. Really like to find a nice used Marauder in 177.

Why wouldn’t you want to use a big game centerfire like 270/308/3006? Their a lot simpler, reliable and cheaper than an airgun? You could even use a centerfire revolver.

I have dozens of centerfire rifles. Customs and not. Now I am getting into air rifles. It’s just another addiction- but man it is fun.

Airguns are primarily for small game.

Legal for deer in VA?

35 caliber or larger- yes

Probably start here, a Daystate Bullpup maybe, I’ve not played around with HPA Guns in a bit.


https://www.airgunsofarizona.com/air-rifles/

Evanix Rex or FX Impact might be of interest. Both available in 357/9mm

It's been a year or two but Rockinbar was whacking pigs in Texas with a 357 Benjamin Bulldog, if I'm remembering correctly.
You might send a PM his way.

.35 cal or better at bow distances.

I killed plenty of wild hogs and coyotes on my ranch when I lived in CA. Used a .303 Daystate Wolverine, head shots only inside of 50 yards. 10 round magazine. A LOT quieter than a centerfire with a sound suppressor. Sounded about like a .22 LR without it.

I have several airguns. Three break barrels in .22. A Gauntlet PCP in .22. Marauder in.25. An AirForce TalonP in .25 and an AirForce Texan in .457. All are accurate and fun. The Texan will take a deer at 100 yds. The others will take smaller game. The TalonP has a 12' barrel and is suppressed. It gives about 45 ft-lbs with a 26 gr pellet. Can get a little more with a heavier pellet. Can get a lot more with a longer barrel and different set up on the hammer. I've got a friend who has one in .22 with an 18" barrel and gets close to 100 ft-lbs which is 22lr territory. There are several .357's and above out there. Cost is a lot lower than $3,500. But you would also need a compressor to pump it up.

I have a nice Bauer Oceanus compressor and that is a bit of over kill. A nice Bauer Junior is about 3K. Tank is 600 or so.
Like the guy above said, you have to budget air. I think those big bores are air hogs.

I’m intrigued by these big bore air rifles. What’s reasonable accuracy at 50 yards for a mid range large bore air rifle ?

A company in Phoenix makes a gun called the "bushbuck" it comes in 41 caliber i think. They're legit big game rifles. Airguns of AZ has a few in stock. $ 1800

They also make one in 45 caliber and its on sale for $1650.

Cant go wrong with one