....Im looking at getting my son an air rifle as a "starter gun"....Looking for suggestions/experiences with some of the rifles that are out there. Looking for the biggest bang for our buck w/o going crazy.

Son is 12 yrs old, very little rifle shooting experience and we will most likely be plinking with the open sights until he gets the fundamentals down, then using a scope, then maybe moving on shooting in the woods....I could spend up to $250 on a quality rifle that would last and use to train my youngest son when he is ready.

Ive been looking at Gamo, Benjamin....and so far, first impression is Gamo seems to have a huge selection of .177, Benjamin seems to be a better built rifle but much heavier.

Hard to beat a Benjamin.

Still have the one my ole man gave 15-20 years ago.

I've got a Gamo. I like it quite a bit. Picked it up when I moved out to the country. It's accurate with a decent trigger and I like the stock design. My only complaint is that I got one of the models that's supposed to be relatively quiet and it isn't at all. That's only a problem because I'm shooting it in a neighborhood full of 1.5 acre lots and I was hoping my neighbors wouldn't be able to hear it, but I'm sure they can. It's not as loud as a 22 LR rifle or anything, but it's much louder than I expected.

The standard by which air rifles are judged is the RWS model 34 in my opinion.


I have two higher end air rifles, and they are a blast to shoot. They also work great for squirrel hunting and pigeon eradication.

My dad taught me to shoot with an inexpensive Daisy lever BB gun. When I got older, he bought me a 10 pump Crossman 760. My buddy and I use to shoot bees off flowers or shoot flower stems out from under flowers with these inexpensive air rifles. We would go through those cardboard milk boxes of BBs fairly quickly.

The best **long term** buy is either the Beeman R7 (scoped) or the Weiharauch 30S (irons). They're the same rifle, but one is set up for scope use and the other is set up for iron sight use. They're low velocity ( ~600 fps ), quiet, neighbor friendly, have great triggers and are stone cold accurate. I doubt that you'll ever sell it, but they've also got **great** resale value, if you do.

RWS, everything else is a let down. this is one he can pass on down to his children.

This^^^^^^

How old is he? A Benjamin Discovery is a perfect choice. Buy the gun/pump kit. As he gets older he can learn how to trick it out to the point of killing hogs.

Since an airgun is not considered a firearm you can silence it and make it whisper quiet.

Benjamin won't break the bank

Well at $369 for the kit, that's out of my price range

Still have my Sheridan from 25 years so that my dad gave me and still works just fine. Probably has killed more critters than any other gun I own! Not to mention they shoot and operate much more like a real firearm and shoots 20 cal pellets as opposed to BB's. Over the years I've probably owned just about every BB or pellet gun Walmart ever sold (back when Walmart had an actual sporting goods dept), between cross mans, red Ryder's, Gamo, the Sheridan is by far my favorite. I will admit the gamo is easier due to the break open barrel vs having to pump. Either way ain't going to be a bird, cat, squirrel, or rabbit safe for miles!

Looks like the PCP design is gonna be out of my price range.

I got a Gamo whisperer @ 1300 fps for about 180 bucks. Came with a pretty good scope on it. Shoots really well. Cabelas.

Can't stand Gamo. Go with RWS.

Big fan of Benjamin/Sheridan

Well I can tell ya which one not to get and thats the Benjamin Titan GP. Never in my life have I felt a more worthless trigger.

Re-think the Disco. It can be used with co2 so you don't have to use high pressure air (HPA) at first. More importantly the gun can teach your child a lot more than how to shoot. If your son becomes interested in modifying the gun to make it more powerful he will teach himself about pneumatics, mechanics and the use of machine shop tools and equipment such as lathes and mills.

Here is a link to a thread I found that caught my interest in making my 135fpe 25 cal modified Benjamin Discovery.
http://www.airgunhome.com/agforum/viewtopic.php?t=6360

I've got the Gamo Whisper. Very accurate, but the quiet part is a joke.

get'em a benjamin/sheridan .22cal pump! no better starter gun, and that pump will help turn that boy into a man instead of a sissy crying for you to buy him more co2's or that his fancy gun is broke. Multi-pump is way more versitile for everything that a 12yo would want to do, from quietly plinking grasshoppers with 1 pump without bothering the neighbors to blasting bigger critters pumped up all the way when the opportunity presents. Very accurate, and will help learn him on irons the right way. 22cal is way more widely available & cheap than the 20 cal, and has way more killing power & range than the .177 . Forget about a scope - after he masters what the 22 benjamin can do with a pellet, he'll be ready for a 22lr with a scope.

Beeman R7, you'll appreciate the rekorg (sp) trigger, easy to break barrel and recoil friendly as it is a piston gun and very accurate, blows RWS out of the water. Oh worksmanship is higher quality.

Agreed. Ive shot them also and its near as loud as my .22.

QUOTE "and that pump will help turn that boy into a man instead of a sissy crying for you to buy him more co2's or that his fancy gun is broke"

For the life of me I can't figure out how buying him a Benjamin Discovery is going to turn a boy into a sissy? You want to enlighten us? You do realize that this gun can use a pump to pressurize it's air cylinder and Co2 is optional?

Now if you would have said it will turn him into an Engineer or Machinist then I would agree, but a sissy, Come-on man get a clue!

For anyone wanting to buy a less expensive airgun like one of those Walmart specials as in a Benjamin or Crossman Nitro piston models you can make it into a tack driver simply by adding a $35 drop in trigger.
I'll put my cheap old Crossman Titan against any of those $300 dollar rifles since I've replaced the trigger.
I shoot the tunas off cactus at the lease for target practice out to forty yards and beyond.
http://www.charliedatuna.com/GRT-III%20Trigger%20New.htm

Is not an opinion, but a fact.
I shoot a Gamo Young Hunter. It's discontinued now though.
Try visiting airgunsofarizona.com

Not opposing, but curious. How does the trigger improve accuracy? I know a smoother, lighter pull will lessen the forces that cause movement, but is there something else?

Edit: I clicked the link, and am finding the snwer to my question.