Would a high power pellet gun be a good survival weapon?

Wow you kinda learn something new from time to time. I guess I always thought that pellet guns were at best first birds, but I came across some surprising info. I guess apparently some are powerful enough to hunt deer with.

I find that kinda interesting, because I was thinking that they might make for almost a perfect survival rifle. Would make for a very handy piece of equipment. Just that see in Cdn if you're caught with a actual rifle "anywhere", then you'd better have all your permits plus have a good reason for having it with you or you could get in some major crap. But I honestly don't think anyone would care if you just said you have a pellet gun and you're just target shooting for fun. They likely could care less, including authorities. Plus it's far more quiet than a rifle. You could shoot without the sound raising any alarm bells.

But I was mainly thinking more in terms of if the SHTF I think it would be a good option to have stashed away somewhere. As long as the gun is has it's own built in pump action then you'd just need a ton of pellets and it probably would last you a lifetime. I think it's almost as good or even possibly a better option than a rifle for both now and or if the SHTF and you needed a way to hunt.

What do you think???

reply to post by spartacus699


Hi there, well I have lived on a farm most of my life, and my trusty Webley Omega 22 rifle has been great for the last 15 years, I bought it new, it's right up to the legal limit 12 ft lb in the UK (without permit) that's needed in the UK for gun over 12 ft lb.
I have shot Rab Squrl, Crow, Ruck, etc with it, it will do a good job, it's not the gun mostly it's the shooter that makes things good, but any 22 rifle with enough poke will be a life saver in a country break-down if you need to protect yourself or family or keep your water and food safe for you to survive.
With a silencer and scope and sling like I have it is a nice hunting bit of kit for emergency.

Good for hunting in the quiet for smaller prey while conserving firearm ammo for bigger prey/humans would be my view in a survival situation

and it doesn't take much to mod a air rifle to serious power and aint there some large cal air rifles around?

Grew up on a farm and there were times we put horses and cattle down with the lowly .22...Did you see how big, heavy and loud that thing was!!!

They make subsonic rounds for the .22 that is much quieter than any pellet or BB gun you are likely to find useful IMO. Subsonic all the way up to 1720 fps the .22 again in my humble opinion is the way to go. You can carry a couple of thousand rounds of the .22 for negligible weight...If you are using the 1022 or an AR chambered in .22 or even an AR in 5.56 with a conversion kit that lets it shoot .22 you would be better off in a SHTF; true they are not 45 caliber but the .22 has been getting game since it was invented...But different strokes for different folks...We have a couple of dedicated .22 ARs and both my wife and I like them allot..Out to 50/75 yards...I have made shots on steel targets with one of them at 327 yards but the wind becomes very problematic at that range...4x scope 18" barrel.

Anyway I would rather have a Bow than a pellet gun if noise is something you are trying to avoid...or a subsonic .22... The silences they make for the AR actually work (not like the movies) but pretty darn well...I have never shot subsonic with a silencer but can only guess it would sound like a cat pissing on a piece of velvet??

reply to post by spartacus699


How exactly will you charge it in a survival scenario? I'm guessing this gun in the video either uses CO2 or compressed air. It'd probably be easier to find actual ammuniton for a firearm. I liked air rifles, think they're great. Just not so much in a survival situation unless you plan on ditching it after you run out of air.

reply to post by Auricom


Break barrel or pump action. Never run out of air.

The large bore air rifles suitable to deer hunting like the one in the video aren't really practical. All that I've ever seen required a dedicated charging station, usually involving a scuba tank, or an external air pump for the same purpose. I wouldn't bother.

On the other hand, the more typical .177 and .22 caliber pellet guns aren't a bad choice for small game. I'd still rather have a .22LR with subsonic ammunition, if noise was a concern. You get a good bit more consistency out of .22LR for larger-than-squirrel sized game, and even though its not a particularly good option, it could even be used for self-defense if necessary, something I'd never even consider with a typical pellet gun.

reply to post by Wide-Eyes


For small game, sure. But for large game, you need a more powerful air rifle. I know many of these can be filled via external manual pumps, I still think a regular rifle would do better. For starters, a regular rifle can withstand a lot of abuse. Many air rifles can't due to the internals that regulate air. I took a look at Crossman's Benjamin .357 air rifle and am impressed. But again, it's pretty advanced and I sincerely doubt it'll take what a simple rifle could take and continue firing.

More parts equals more breakdowns.

If anything, I'd go with a simple pump action air rifle that can take down small game before I'd go with something like the Benjamin. If I need stopping power, I'll take a rifle. If you want something that'll allow you to reuse your ammo and still be powerful, I'd go for a long bow or to a lesser extent, a crossbow.

for small game something like an RWS or Beemen would work well, but to go super air power would be pointless considering any projectile going over the speed of sound, is going to make the same amount of noise regardless of propulsion method.

i hunted everything from ground hogs on down with my 22 cal RWS air rifle at around 800-900 FPS

reply to post by 727Sky

They make subsonic rounds for the .22 that is much quieter than any pellet or BB gun you are likely to find useful IMO

totally agree here.

Well, I think it's got some potential anyway.

Might be good for those who have no freedom But looking at the price which is $500+ is ridiculous.

my Crossman American Classic pump pistol
is actually quite deadly with 5 or six pumps behind it.

My son is wanting abreak barrel .22 caliber air rifle.

It just sucks that here in Illinois you have to have a foid card to purchase and own one.

Thats alright though, grandma has ten acres and a foid.

I'm going to get him one. He is a crack shot and loves to shoot.

I think it is 1000 or 1200 fps.

If you have a .177 high powered air gun with a scope, you can take out medium sized game birds (grouse) with lead hunting pellets.

I used a pump action that didn't require CO2 canisters as a kid, which I think would be a good thing in a survival situation. I've never really seen any quality air guns that look like could take a beating though.

IMO, in a legit SHTF scenario a good wrist rocket slingshot would be just as beneficial as a rifle for hunting.
Plus there is always the truly old-school method of a good rock in a towel for a David vs Goliath style slingshot.

If you need a BOB for whatever reason your gun isn't gonna last long. Nor are your rounds of ammo. If you learn to be a slingshot marksman, that will last you a lifetime.

In fact, I would rather have a good bow instead of a rifle.

I still have my crosman break barrel .22 from when I was a kid still just as powerful and has never caused me grief. I'm 45 now so she's close to 35 years old. I've used it to hunt rabbit, squirrel, grouse and pheasant, takes them down quite nicely.

Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark west on their eponymous expedition in 1804 with some high tech stuff, including an air rifle. They didn't have to worry about powder getting wet, or carrying a large supply of powder just so they could hunt small game for ~2+ years.

100 rounds of .22 is maybe like 3g each so 300g or .3kg (.66lb), depending on what type. I'm looking at some Crossman copper coated steel bb's from Walmart and they weigh 5 grains each and so 1000 come out to a comparable weight, about 324g or .324kg (.72 lbs). Also they are only like $9 for 6000.

So they are cheap and lightweight. The weight would only really matter if you were going to be out there in the wild for a long time, like multiple months or more. That they're quiet is nice for hunting too.

Now that tech has moved beyond powder horns, the weather resistance edge is probably with regular guns. You have to worry about the seals on an air rifle in cold temps.

NLDelta9
Might be good for those who have no freedom

But looking at the price which is $500+ is ridiculous.

The Crosman Optimus is around a hundred US dollars, and the 22 version is as good as live ammo. Its up around a thousand feet per second. In the future they will start to bring in the legislation. In a survival scenario it would be wise to have a spare spring and seals as a long term backup. If you put a drop of light machine oil in the back of the pellet before you close the breach, the oxygen available is a constant and the shot diesels at a constant rate. It also seals and lubricates the barrel with unburnt oil. A silencer would be a good option with a telescopic sight as well in this scenario. I like the older BSA's as they have a leather washer that you can make out of old shoe leather. If you get one of these lubricate with 50% engine oil and Wynns lubricant, it stops all wear like it does in a car engine, and all you need to worry about is having a few spare springs, which should last a lifetime. Breach seals can be made out of O rings, if you squeeze a bit of silicon sealer into the breach cut out circle, then press the right size O ring in so its about a Millimetre proud, then let it set this lasts indefinitely. Springs can be re tempered, if you heat them up to red hot and then quench in cold water, then place on a barbeque till they take on the colour of dark straw, then let them air cool this re tempers them up to new. Ive played around with a few airguns, and noticed that the port hole from the compression chamber, should be the same diameter as the bore size, the old BSA meteor, gets a really big lift in power, if its drilled out to the same size as the bore, I hope these few tips help if the SHTF.

Would a high power pellet gun be a good survival weapon? In a word, no. In more words, the high powered ones that are over 1000 fps are loud unless you use a silencer and they are higher maintenance than a .22. Seals fail on an air rifle, but a .22 is very accurate and lasts for generations if kept clean.

My suggestion is learn how to make a primitive bow and arrows. They are quiet and very effective and don't really take that long to make. Blow guns are good for small game at short distances and they are also quiet. Keep a .40 on your side and a break down .22 in the pack for situations that require a firearm.

If you don't wan't to carry a firearm at all then we go back to archery. A bow is a great weapon. You can fire off arrows very fast if you practice. Check out this link for a speed archery demo... www.youtube.com...

Here's a lecture on speed archery. It's in Russian, which I don't speak but it's not hard to follow. At the end he even shows you how to change back from a Mongolian overhand type grip to a more conventional grip on the arrow. www.youtube.com...