[Ruber]

We need more airgun....

I'll use airguns pretty frequently for pest control, so I kinda have favorites for this or for that depending depending on conditions. Among them are a 1077 with a red dot sight for handy small critter getter, a Benjamin Sheridan EB22 for more opportunistic settings, and my favorite- a Crosman 160 with a peep sight. Did I mention I like CO2 guns??

The 160 seems to work best with the heavier pellets and can pack a thumping for a fun little CO2 rifle, and it is plenty accurate for the job.

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[Ruber]

My 160 came from CMP and was "new old stock" and showed it. The cosmoline was pretty thick and tacky, like those surplus Mosin Nagants. But a decent cleaning revealed a pristine gun. My first shots were about 480 fps with the 14 gr pointed Crosman pellets. Replacing the seals and thorough valve cleaning got the velocity up to about 530.

It became my son's intro to target shooting until he got into a CZ 452 Scout, then he worked up his own 10/22. So I inherited the 160 and did the Archer valve and seal upgrade to get 600+ fps.

It is now a good thumper for small critters up to 2-3 lb (fox squirrels, Norwegian rats, large bullfrogs...). Lots of these small animals have been introduced in our area, are subsidized in the urban setting, and encroach on rural areas where they become problematic.

The muzzle blast is quite a bit more now too, I think my CZ 452 UL with the 28" barrel is actually quieter when used with subsonics.

The 1077 is pretty fun but comes nowhere close to the energy or accuracy of the 160. But it's good for a first run at an infested area where we have lots of quick close range shots.

 

[Ruber]

I like that Peep sight idea -seems like less can go wrong and possible easier to mount and sight in-maybe?!

Big thing for me is lack of parallax and focus. I might be going after something 10' back in an undercut or 50' out in the open. I'll use a red dot too, but find I'm more consistent with the peep (I think distance to the bore makes a difference there). Some shots can be like threading a needle and I'm not effective at that with a large scope mounted higher on the gun.

I've tried mounting the NEGC rear peeps to get even lower, but had a hard time pushing a square peg into a round hole...