Rifle suggestion for backyard plinking & pests?

[Stinger177]

Here are the links to Leapers site showing those two Amazon models:

https://leapers.com/index.php?act=prod_detail&itemno=SCP3-U312AOIEW

https://www.leapers.com/index.php?act=prod_detail&itemno=SCP3-U416AOIEW

That UTG 3-9X32 1" BugBuster Scope, AO (that you suggested) was the very first UTG I bought, although I went for the 36 color all-out bling model for a few bucks more. Today's price is about $20 less than I paid two years ago so that indeed is a great price, and in fact, I've been itching to buy something lately and looked at that very scope for one of my newer acquisitions. Unless you're going to do some midnight rodent sniping, I'd dispense with the 36 color bling, and even then you can get by with the RGB.

As far as I know, all UTG's are springer rated with their "True Strength Platform". I'm starting to sound like a UTG advert here. I have them on both my lighter fps (<600) and on my Prowler with no problems (yet) after a year of shooting.

One should give credence to what Bryan says as well though. Open sights are nice, and I'm discovering more and more members here who prefer opens over scopes on a springer, or any rifle for that matter. I'm not advocating scopes here, just my preference with my older eyes, and in fact, I'm messing around with peeps and globe sights on my better guns, but those for me will be more for match shooting (for as long as I can see through them, haha).

The Prowler packs a pretty good punch, so I'd make sure you have the proper scope mount with a stop screw in place, but any UTG should perform well if you choose to go that direction.

One other thing that Bryan said

Definitely return it and get something different.

.

If I had read that 2 years ago and was in your shoes, I'd give that some serious thought. Lots of nice stuff out there on the used scene, as screwwork just said.

And, (I know, getting long here)..as Paulus suggested above, try that route out. I have three 880's (one new, two restored) and they are all great shooters, and cheap. An HW30s is a great rifle to look forward to.

jmars is right on as well with that last comment.

Time for me to stop typing I think.

[subscriber]

the preferred way to chose a replacement spring is by Wire diameter, number of coils and spring guide diameter.

Don't forget coil spacing.   That and the number of coils is a direct measure of how long the spring is.  For a given wire thickness, that is what determines spring rate.   Coil spacing also affects how much load the spring can take before being coil bound.  And it affects how stressed the spring is when the air rifle is cocked; thus the likelihood of sagging or early fatigue failure.

Yes, if the spring has a tight fitting guide inside, then the ID is more important than the OD.  On the other hand, the OD is the ID plus two times the wire diameter... 

The difference between nominal diameter and actual diameter may be +- 0.005".  Worse for a cheap spring.

If the risk of spending $25 on the wrong spring seems too high, I would contact the vendor and ask them to measure the spring ID with a plug gauge; or at least a caliper...

[subscriber]

If the OP did not have a $200 limit, I would suggest an HW30S or HW50S.

They are pricey in the US, but can be bought for "just over $200" (+$30 shipping from Europe):

https://www.krale-schietsport.nl/en/weihrauch-hw30-s-9229.html
https://www.krale-schietsport.nl/en/weihrauch-hw50-s-9231.html

Many people on GTA have bought from Krale and are very happy with all aspects of the transaction.  Shipping to MA from overseas may need to be verified.

[Frankly]

Shoot what you’ve got until it breaks, but buy better quality pellets from Pyramyd Air or a good gun shop. Just getting another Walmart gun won’t necessarily be an improvement. There are plenty of cases where the $100 gun outperforms the $200 gun.

Save up for a quality gun and scope.

Find a local shooter to show you what a good gun feels like. Either search around here or go to one of the gatherings, etc. Shoot somebody’s gun that’s been properly tuned and see the difference for yourself.

You can make inexpensive guns work well but obviously you have to know what to aim for and what to do.

15 minutes with a good shooter will explain more than five years of fooling around, ask me how I learned this lesson!

[subscriber]

Piston seal and spring for Slavia 634: 
https://www.afg-defense.eu/piston-seal-slavia-634/
https://www.afg-defense.eu/airgun-standard-mainspring-for-slavia-634/

[RedAir]

Well, I couldn't resist a sale, and ordered the $78 "UTG 3-12X44 30mm Compact Scope, AO, 36-color Mil-dot, Rings". I figured the extra $20 vs the 3-9x32 was maybe worth it for the larger zoom range, and larger objective.

I will need to either get different rings, to mount it to the dovetail, or maybe a dovetail->Weaver mount. Amazon has a "UTG Leapers MNT-PMTOWL-A Inc, Dovetail to Picatinn Adaptor Mount, Black", which seems like it would work. With the comment about compact scope possibly creating mounting challenges, the dovetail->Weaver, with some extra length, might be helpful.

Hopefully this will at least reveal how much of my inaccuracy is from the cheap included scope. Unfortunately, this also eats up a chunk of what I'd like to spend. Maybe I'll find that the rifle is working well enough, and I'm just having scope trouble.

(Oh, PS: I did post in the Welcome area, but I'm still not allowed to post links yet. Maybe you need >10 posts or something.)

[avator]

You'll need 20 posts...

$200?  By all means, contact Mike at Flying Dragon and have him tune something up for you. You won't need to worry about available parts with his full warranty. He'll test several pellets and write the results inside the box.

[subscriber]

$200?  By all means, contact Mike at Flying Dragon and have him tune something up for you. You won't need to worry about available parts with his full warranty. He'll test several pellets and write the results inside the box.

Links might be useful:
http://flyingdragonairrifles.org/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=51
http://flyingdragonairrifles.org/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=53
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wa_6T4b2wv8

[Bryan Heimann]

$200?  By all means, contact Mike at Flying Dragon and have him tune something up for you. You won't need to worry about available parts with his full warranty. He'll test several pellets and write the results inside the box.

Links might be useful:
http://flyingdragonairrifles.org/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=51
http://flyingdragonairrifles.org/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=53

At the price, a fully tuned flying dragon rifle can’t be beat.  You’ll spend a lot more to get that much quality and performance anywhere else.  The full tune is the way to go for accuracy, shot cycle, longevity, and warranty.

[avator]

The XS-25 full tune is exactly what I had in mind. I've owned 2 of them and was very happy. I sold both to fund other interests but I would grab another in a heart beat if the niche was not already filled.

[Back_Roads]

Well, I couldn't resist a sale, and ordered the $78 "UTG 3-12X44 30mm Compact Scope, AO, 36-color Mil-dot, Rings". I figured the extra $20 vs the 3-9x32 was maybe worth it for the larger zoom range, and larger objective.

I will need to either get different rings, to mount it to the dovetail, or maybe a dovetail->Weaver mount. Amazon has a "UTG Leapers MNT-PMTOWL-A Inc, Dovetail to Picatinn Adaptor Mount, Black", which seems like it would work. With the comment about compact scope possibly creating mounting challenges, the dovetail->Weaver, with some extra length, might be helpful.

Hopefully this will at least reveal how much of my inaccuracy is from the cheap included scope. Unfortunately, this also eats up a chunk of what I'd like to spend. Maybe I'll find that the rifle is working well enough, and I'm just having scope trouble.

(Oh, PS: I did post in the Welcome area, but I'm still not allowed to post links yet. Maybe you need >10 posts or something.)

You did good on getting that scope, now as others have said, shoot the gun a few hundred more times , it should mellow out, and you will find dime size 10 yard groups in no time.

[HunterWhite]

You can get your 20 post minimum easily by welcoming new members to the GTA with a warm and friendly hello.

[Stinger177]

John - That scope is a good choice and will serve you well on whatever rifle you put it on.

Let us know how things progress after using it for a while.


Dennis

[RedAir]

Thank you guys, I appreciate all the help.

Can I ask if it's better to use replacement scope rings that allow mounting directly to the dovetail? Or to go with a dovetail to Weaver adapter rail?

It seems like the adapter rail would give more options for where to place the (compact) scope, if it was helpful to bring it closer to my eye. But it's another item which could loosen, and it would also make the scope sit higher, since it would mount underneath the included rings. I'm guessing you want the scope as close to the axis of the barrel as possible.

[Stinger177]

It seems like the adapter rail would give more options for where to place the (compact) scope, if it was helpful to bring it closer to my eye. But it's another item which could loosen, and it would also make the scope sit higher, since it would mount underneath the included rings. I'm guessing you want the scope as close to the axis of the barrel as possible.

Those are valid points John.

I prefer to use 30mm dovetail rings to lessen any play in the system as you mentioned. Rails however give you more mounting options on a shorter scope. Scope height is a personal preference and goes along with how your cheek fits to the weld and where your sight line falls in. After accumulating all the stuff (rifles/scopes) that I have, I now have a few to choose from. Before that though, I just made a guess based on the price and what I could afford. I've gone back to some of my earlier mounts and found them to be wrong, so I was just putting up with what I had to choose from at the time. I think UTG's are the best rings for their quality and price point, well made as is the scope.

I'm sure that some others here can give you a better guide as to what height to choose.

Hope this helps.


Dennis

[RedAir]

Thanks. I see that UTG makes a 1-piece dovetail mount for 30mm scopes. It's medium height, and one user said he's using it with the 3-12x44 scope. "UTG 1PC Medium Profile Airgun Mount with Stop Pin, 30mm Dia"

The 1 piece mounts are more robust than 2 separate rings , from what I've read, so I may go this route. Of course, somehow Amazon has it categorized as not shippable to Mass (other rings are ok), so I would need to work around that.

[Stinger177]

Check with Midway.com as well, but you'll be bombarded with emails afterward.

[Bryan Heimann]

I just received my RWS 34P from Cabela’s.

I can tell you without reservation, it is the best deal on a new air rifle under $300.

Will be posting a thread on my experience with this gun so far, later on tonight.

Sneak peak- the FIRST ten shots I fired out of this gun at 10 meters.  10.5 grain Crosman domes right out of the tin, unsorted.

Comes with a decent 4x32 AO scope and a dropper mount, for $150!  You can’t beat it.

[RedAir]

Wow, that's awesome! Is that the .177? Their ~$150 price on that one is fantastic. I just wish they could price the .22 similarly, or even just under $200. At nearly $300, it's a good bit more than I was hoping to spend. But I keep reading great things about them, enjoy it! What's a dropper mount?

[Bryan Heimann]

Forget about .22 cal brother.  It doesn’t have any advantages in piston guns at this power level.  Multipumps, sure.  Ultra Magnum springer, absolutely.  Under 17 fpe, usually balances out better in .177.

Just my opinion, return that thing and get this gun while the deal is available.

You’ll see disparaging posts about dry chambers, honking, grinding cocking- could apply to any breakbarrel.  From a weihrauch or fwb, to a Crosman optimus.

Get the 34, if Or when the spring or piston seal fails use the warranty or drop in a tune kit.