I have a Stoeger X-20s in .22 on order. My BIL has a rat problem in his backyard during the summer, and has concerns about noise. This pellet rifle will go to him after I've worked any bugs out, but the "quiet" factor has me guessing. Anyone have one of these rifles? Who makes the quietest air rifle? Is this rifle a good choice for a fellow shooter surrounded by rat lovin', bunny huggin' , "special" people,- who happen to be his neighbors? His wish is to remain under the radar. Will this Stoeger be quiet enough ? Thanks, JB
Benjamin Marauder. Quiet as a mouse, massive hitting power in .22 and .25 caliber, accurate as a guy staring at a set of big boobs.
Almost 200 bucks a whack, but pretty neat. I use 120 conibears in box. About 40 of them sometimes. 160 size conibears where legal, ecspecially if you are a birder
It's about as hands free as you get. Don't have to worry about the family pet getting into the poison. The barn cats are happy too!
same, I think it's a pretty quiet rifle. I'm itching to move onto pcp. It's a steep investment with tanks,compressor.
Not sure if possible where you live, but I have been using Aquila super colibri .22 rounds in a bolt action CZ American rimfire rifle for squirrel and rabbit medicine. This system is definitely more quiet than my .20 caliber Sheridan air rifle. It also hits harder due to the larger projectile. I have the rifle dialed in to be accurate for head shots in typical backyard ranges. I have had some luck as well with wire snares as well, but they don't always kill gray squirrels very quickly...they are pretty tough critters to the extent that I only take head shots on them with the rifle, or very close range behind the shoulder shots. Cottontail are done quickly with either shoulder or head shots at the various ranges that I typically encounter in my pest control.
I liked the Benjamin Marauder, but for him I went with a springer. He's not going to use it much so not much of a learning curve. The Stoeger's will be here this week (yeah, got one for me also ), so after a good cleaning and screw check, I'll give my impression of noise. The suppressor has me really curious as the design is similar to rimfire suppresors I've dealt with in the past. I'll let you know. JB
FYI, some people report that they can be loud on the first few shots... maybe not with the suppressor on there...mine was quiet from the get go
On my springer I found the heaviest pellet possible to stay below the speed of sound. Same energy but no sonic boom!
Oh geez...no Suppressors in CO? A .22LR rifle with suppressor and subsonic ammo would be my choice. First round Pop is real. I usually notice with 9mm pistol. Put in a little water or gel first and it disappears completely. Top 5 quietest and they do not list the db? Was wondering how loud compared to .22 suppressed. My Sparrow is rated at ~113db. My spectre II is rated at 114db using standard subsonic cartridges. Edit: google shows the Maurader by Benjamin at 74db! That is very, very quiet!
air gun suppressor- doesn't take much to make one from plastic water tubing and a bit of plastic 1/8" sheet for baffles. used to be a vid on u tube do not know if still up. The other hack is a small oil filter. like on a garden tractor size wise.
Proceed with caution. BATFE doesn't mess about when it comes to NFA items. While I don't agree with the NFA & GCA, I will abide the Laws.
actually we call them lead dust collectors. batfe - antique law crafted in the 30's in response to Hollywood gangster type movies by a less than adequately informed individuals in congress ( what's new ? ) - always get a kick out some knuckle head screwing something on the end of a revolver and magically sounding like a Daisy red rider when fired. what you hear on a air gun is the burst of air escaping behind the pellet as it exits the barrel going super sonic in all directions as it no longer contained within the confines of the barrel cylinder. there several ways besides the terrible silencer to reduce the report prior to exit of the barrel , which is about what the mfg's are doing, which is legal as it is non removable as mfg. and shipped. this involves porting the barrel which then bleeds in to a shroud that allows expansion thus slowing the air stream velocity as it finally exits. the barrel od is fairly small with the shroud being as much as 2+ times id wise as the barrel od. also the barrel itself may only be 10-12" long even though externally it might look to be double or more than than that . Generally there are no baffles in these shrouds. ( that's a gottchya point with the batfe as well as being removable). basically a variation of the plastic soda bottle on the end of a .22 . non of this effects the sonic crack of a pill traveling faster than the speed of sound at your location when it passes you. Speed of sound varies with the atmospheric density. Generally at less than 750 fps there is no sonic crack from the pill in flight. In some locations in Europe a " silencer" is actually required by law in urban environments as well some larger game hunting scenarios. As far as I currently know air powered pistols, rifles and shotguns are not classified as a fire arm or a NFA item. Your local state and municipalities have other rules to be aware of though. Like a local one by me that says in a nut shell "anything that launches a single projectile is verboten" and yes that includes sling shots and soda straw spit ball rig technically. It is interesting to note that a shotgun which fires multiple projectiles is excluded in the same local ordinance, not if firing a single slug though. This is kinda like the ban on outdoor wood boilers, when an ordinance specifically states OWBoiler , technically a wood fired hot air furnace out side is excluded by their own definition.
Yup, from what I've read, BATFE does not classify air-guns as "firearms", so exempt from their oversight. Kinda' why I can buy a suppressed air rifle over the internet without restrictions. www.airgundepot.com- has a good illustration of the Stoeger suppressor. Just locate the X20S2 and multiple images are available. The design reminds me of a combination of standard design .22 baffles, and early design, centerfire spring/ported baffle designs. As I said, I'll be curious to see how these work (especially if I can take them apart). Reported DB ratio is- 94.2 DB. Curious if that goes down with a heavy pellet. They show up on Monday, post results after that. JB (Chris- love your posts, you know what you're talking about.)
