What is your favorite Inexpensive (fun) Pellet / BB Gun

[a1rgunz]

For pistols, I have to go with the P17. Just some simple modifications make it even better.

I love my P17, so what are these simple modifications?  I've never heard of any.  Of  course all the recommendations on this thread are great fun guns.

I dislike the automatic safety, so that feature is the first to go. Doing so still allows you to manually operate the safety.

If your rear sight has a bit of wiggle, you can tighten your groups using shims made from aluminum cans.

When your P17 starts leaking, take it apart and give the valve a good cleaning. Go ahead and replace all orings while you're in there. Upgrade the piston oring to a 117. Use a sparing amount of Super Lube to help you get the piston back in. I lubricate the system with SAE 30 oil. A little goes a long ways.

To improve the trigger, slightly stretch the coil spring. Round the end of the trigger adjustment screw. Take a needle file and smooth all engagement surfaces. Take a fine stone and further polish those surfaces. I reassemble the trigger with a light smear of Super Lube on all polished surfaces and pins. Adjust your trigger screw to your liking. If you do it right, you'll have a trigger like mine:

Skip to the 36 second mark to see my trigger pull:

Of course, I went crazy on modifying mine. A trigger job and shimming a sloppy rear sight turns a great $30 pistol into a real dream gun.

For some good teardown pictures, check out this guy's blog: http://anotherairgunblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/derricks-on-beeman-p17-overhaul-part-1.html

Hope that gives you some ideas!

[Rcdyna]

Ted,

  Awesome info!  Thanks!  I have to learn to do better searching on our site.

[Bicycleman]

Late to this party, but . . . .
My favorite is the Maximus I got in June of 2016.  I am planning a hunting trip for next Tuesday.  So, this afternoon, I took it out to check the accuracy.  Three shots at 30 yards told me that not shooting the rifle for four and one-half months didn’t affect the its accuracy.  Each shot was no more than 1/4 inch off target.  That is acceptable for squirrel hunting.

[Acapulco]

p17 for me is both difficult to load and awkward to cock...so no go for me.

For pistols...Daisy 7 series.

For rifles....QB79

[Smaug2]

Probably my Stoeger X20. New, they're about a $170 gun or so. But this one is a used, home-tuned one. Worth maybe $50? The tuner turned off the front sight, which is a decision I wholeheartedly agree with. It's so much nicer of a cocking handle now.

Shooting at 12 FPE and chambered in .177, it's cheap to shoot, not too hard to cock, but enough power to take down a varmint if I needed to. It's only moderately accurate; you wouldn't mistake it for a Weihrauch, but as long as you're not out to win competitions with it, it's really fun.

I could see a Benji WildFire being a lot of fun too.

My Daisy 747 single pump pneumatic, I like for the same reason you guys like your P17s. One pump, great trigger, and a 7 gr. pellet goes downrange at 4xx fps. Nice long sight radius too.

[GumpIsrael]

Definitely my son’s Daisy 1200. We’ve had a ton of fun with that little pistol just plinking away and it only cost us $20 off CL.

[avator]

p17 for me is both difficult to load and awkward to cock...so no go for me.

For pistols...Daisy 7 series.

For rifles....QB79

That's disheartening to hear. I'll admit, Stalwart's champagne glass barrel mod makes it much easier to load.

[birdmove]

   I have an unfired P17, so can't say how much I Like it yet. My first one broke right out of the box, but did shoot well while it shot.
    I am a little embarassed to say that, for the money/enjoyment ratio, about half the time I grab my stock newer plastic model 760 Crosman smooth bore. With it's constantly verified favorite pellets, the Crosman Premier Super Match, it is giving very fine groups, though I have to move my pellet trap forward to 7 yards.
    I must also mention my Crosman Model 66, which extends it's good accuracy farther out than the 760.
    I like the 760's lines, handling, easy pumping (I use 8 pumps), and I have shot mine a lot, with no problems. I have a 4 power scope with AO on it. I often try other pellets, but none can group like the Crosman wad cutters mentioned above.
 

[the fuse]

I've got to throw in here with a couple oldies but goodies. For a rifle, I have alot of fun plinking with my Cr 180.......for a pistol, a Cr 38T is a blast. (yes I'm a vintage .22 cal. Co2 fan)

[the fuse]

Whoops. Forgot to mention that you can pick up both for well under $100, if you don't mind doing a reseal.

[Acapulco]

where does one find this mod on the p17??

[Theo98]

where does one find this mod on the p17??

Start with post #39, then post #40 above!

Ted

[Acapulco]

No thanks

[WyoMan]

where does one find this mod on the p17??

Start with post #39, then post #40 above!

Ted

Some of those mods are unsafe - imho. Leave the coil spring alone and make sure you have enough trigger travel for safe link engagement.
Think about it for a minute. You have a pellet loaded, the hammer is cocked, and you're compressing the firing charge. The forces that are involved will stretch the frame and the tolerances will change.

The trigger, as designed, will break like glass off the second stage. Most folks don't like the excessive amount of first stage travel (take-up) you need in order to make this happen. But you can reduce the first stage and still be safe with a second stage (that still breaks like glass) by doing this... (or something similar)...
https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=129587.0

I'm probably being overly concerned. But I've done every trigger mod to this platform that I've seen.. here and elsewhere. Zero creep and safe means you need two stages - so there is enough travel (engagement) of the latch (primary break being the trigger link to the sear)

Wyo

[Airjason]

Looking through my collection, the cheapest gun I have is an IZH61. It is a fun gun to shoot every now and then. I have the steel receiver and it cost me only about $60 back in 1987.

[rws_53]

I bought a couple of Baikal MP-651K's from Baikal Canada .  With the exchange rate they are $72 USD.  I have one set up as a carbine and the other a pistol.  Cheap fun gun.

[Sky]

Probably my Stoeger X20. New, they're about a $170 gun or so. But this one is a used, home-tuned one. Worth maybe $50? The tuner turned off the front sight, which is a decision I wholeheartedly agree with. It's so much nicer of a cocking handle now.

Shooting at 12 FPE and chambered in .177, it's cheap to shoot, not too hard to cock, but enough power to take down a varmint if I needed to. It's only moderately accurate; you wouldn't mistake it for a Weihrauch, but as long as you're not out to win competitions with it, it's really fun.

I could see a Benji WildFire being a lot of fun too.

My Daisy 747 single pump pneumatic, I like for the same reason you guys like your P17s. One pump, great trigger, and a 7 gr. pellet goes downrange at 4xx fps. Nice long sight radius too.

Those Stoeger rifles at 100$ at PA right now.
https://www.pyramydair.com/product/stoeger-arms-x20s2-suppressor-air-rifle?m=2406
I've been thinking of picking one up.

[Fondue]

You can't really top the American Classic, the Crosman 13xx.  So many kids cut their teeth on than gun since the 1970s.  Plus, what it lacks in the accuracy department compared to the P17, it more than makes up for it for power.  That gun awakened a passion inside of me that I never knew existed.  Sorry if I am waxing poetic.

[Theo98]

Picked up a Bear River BOA .177 BB pistol. Maybe my favorite BB pistol...actually, my 1st BB pistol!     Being the Bear River BOA is my first CO2 air gun, I found this 19 shot mag semi-auto .177 BB pistol a "blast" to shoot! For pure shooting fun and speed, the BOA is a lot of air gun. Got 400 rounds through it (2 CO2 cartridges) using Umarex precision steel 5.1g BB's and with a fresh CO2 cartridge, obtaining 409fps and over 400fps the first 4 clips. Even with the 10th 19-round full clip (190 bb's), velocity stayed up over 350fps, then dropped below 300 on the 11th full clip, with POI and penetration starting to suffer...Not Bad! It appears to be very similar to the Crosman C11, but hopefully has better long term reliability.

I Quickly became accustomed to the long trigger 2 stage pull and was able to hand hold 19 shot groupings within 2" C to C at 10 yds with the open "plastic" sights (no rest). Function wise, all worked perfectly, including the two additional Beretta 19-Shot Stick Magazines I added with the PA BOA purchase!! Once the clip emptied, the following shot cycle had a Distinctly Different sound, letting me know to reload another clip...Nice! The body is plastic, but solid. However, the rear sliding grip panel is somewhat loose fitting. Removed and set the u-shaped grip panel in my workbench soft vise, slowly added some heat gun air and lightly re-formed the shroud to hold tighter on the pistol grip housing. After a month of shooting, the rearward sliding shroud is keeping it's new tight fit on the hand grip. 

So far, shooting as is with the installed open sights. The 2nd stage trigger has too long a reset (1") and a hefty 6.5# pull, but still able to fire quick subsequent follow-up shots and keep them on target! I'll probably add an under barrel laser sight for my indoor target POI acquisition accuracy! Even off a rest, it can't touch my break barrel or SSP .177 pellet pistols for 10m accuracy, but does offer a lot of shooting convenience (like PCP's, but without the investment cost) . For what it does have (excellent shot count, consistent muzzle velocity, good accuracy, high fun factor and great value), IMHO the BR BOA has a lot going for it!! 

Ted