Theory and application. I don't think its really disputable anymore that PCP airguns are adequate game getters. That debate ship has sailed with all of the many documented clean kills on video all over YouTube. The question is how practical is it to keep a PCP operating in less than ideal conditions. My answer is "pretty darn easy," and I'll assert I'll be firing my PCPs long after you've ran out of gun powder, primers, brass, arrows, or bowstring. All I need is silicone grease, o-rings, tire lead, a $20 .45 roundball mold, and a hand pump.

UMAREX® READYAIR™ FOR UNDER $550

This is new to the market and I have no experience with it.  It would make an excellent addition to preps.  

I looked into this but ultimately decided a bolt 22 and bulk pack of ammo was cheaper and easily a lifetime supply.

Seriously I can’t imagine a situation where I use every round of ammo I have for survival

Agreed.

I have quite a bit of .22. Keeping guns running that shoot it is a piece of cake.

I enjoy 22lr, and have a few also, as well as some ammo for them.  I also chose to purchase 3 Benjamin marauder pellet guns for my boys & I to practice shooting and critter control with.  Reasoning was largely safety related.  While we live rural, we have neighbors within 22lr range.  We do not have neighbors within .22 pellet range.  While I trust my boys, I remember that they are boys and sometimes to stupid things.  My wife believes it is an inherited issue.  I agree, however we don't always agree on from which side it comes.   In short, the money I invested and I do consider it an investment, I believe will pay it's self off in teaching firearm safety, firearm care, practical experience in determining when to shoot and not, and accuracy training.  Pellets are less expensive than 22lr, but not really all that much.  If it was not for the safety consideration, I would not have made the choice.

They are a pile of fun however, and it is nice to not need hearing protection with the boys.

Ever since I found out about these and that they were used to take Buffalo I’ve thought about getting something that can be used to hunt with

Prepping in depth is always a good thing. I live in a typical neighborhood so shooting anything unsurpressed would be less than optimal.

I went pellet rifle. I loaded up on inexpensive pellets then declared jihad on the squirrel population.

I've got plenty of options but I love options. The addition of the pellets just means I have several thousand dinner getting opportunities for less than $100

OP,  I had an AirForce Condor SS (.25) and it was stupid accurate.  FX is the next step up.  Limitation is the availability of the compressed air.

In the video one of my main thrusts is that compressed air is more available than firearm ammo and the components to reload it. For the .45 airgun I use in the video, its takes 40 pumps with a hand pump to replace one shot of 145 grain roundball fired around 850fps. If I told someone that 40 pumps on a hand pump would make the pump drop a fully loaded .45 subsonic firearm cartridge, people would think that was the prepper's cat's meow. Well, that's basically what the airgun and pump is equivocating. The pump is taking the place of powder, primer, and brass. Its as if your reloading components are growing on a tree with the airgun. The pump is easy to maintain and repair and at $45 or less, duplicates can be stockpiled.

I get it if a person is confident they have a lifetime supply of firearm ammo that's beyond compromise. My experience with storing ammo has been that it doesn't take much in the way of humidity or a leak on a rainy day to make it corrode. And I dread what a fire would do to my caches. Therefore it seems good to me to be able to rely upon something other than a firearm to quietly take game.

I've come around to loving Airforce guns for their simplicity. I've never owned an FX, primarily because I don't like their hype machine. They own a lot of the major airgun channels on YouTube. My understanding of their high end models like the Impact is that internally they can be complicated with their regulators. I own one high end airgun that's custom built and takes Benjamin Marauder and paintball parts. Its about as complicated as I'd want one to be for maintaining.

A single shot 12 gauge and a plethora of subcaliber inserts that nest one into the other would be my choice.  

A 50 caliber ammunition box full of .22, .38 special, 45 LC and .410 shotgun shells and another full of 12 gauge buck and or slug would get you through eons.

I like the airguns, but would also add that it is not difficult to keep ammo cool, dry, and corrosion free.  Plastic sheeting (4 or 6 mil) and an impulse sealer can be used to create a watertight pouch, surplus ammo boxes can be used, even a 5 gallon bucket with a sealed lid can be used to keep water and moisture away from ammo.  Basically you need to create a barrier to moisture exchange.  In a pressure neutral storage area (read as a somewhat temperature stable area), that is not difficult.  I have no doubt my children will find a partial box of 22LR in the barn long after I am dead, and it will still work just fine.

Its a cool idea.

I guess the question is:

-How long do O-rings last / store?

-How long will a hand pump last?

I collect lighters from the 60's-70's; 75%+ of them have developed leaks from o-ring failures.

If I had to guess, I'd imagine it's harder to store o-rings then .22lr long term.

For .22lr, you can just get a bunch of soda pre-forms, each of which can hold ~50-75rds .22lr. Throw in a moisture absorber, wrap the soda cap threads with some PTFE Teflon tape for better seal, and then screw down the cap. Then put them all in an ammo can. Even as you use the ammo in 50-75rd increments, the rest of the stash remains fully protected.



https://www.amazon.com/Soda-Bottle-Preforms-Caps-30/dp/B008MB1QNY

I'd recommend you employ a similar system for protecting your O-rings and silicone grease.

*edit* here's some info on O-ring shelf life; what type of rubber is used in an Airgun?

https://www.marcorubber.com/o-ring-shelf-life.htm

Well-reasoned.

I have 2 lifetimes supply of 30-06 as well as 556

40 pumps

That relegates that operation from an actual usable machine to a fun curiosity

A follow up shot with a break open .410 could be accomplished much faster than a follow up shot with something needing an air pump

PRecharging it is the only way to go, Or else a break over or spring assist time machine would seem to be much more beneficial as a supplement To your main armament, but not a replacement

You don’t have to do 40 pumps every shot. You can have 8-10 full powered shots before needing to recharge. So you can shoot once and follow up 9 times if you want to. To replace each shot would be 40 pumps a piece. So if hunting, you can say shoot it three times, then pump it up 120 times at home to top it off again.

I suggest 40 pumps in the video as a means to keep the gun always full and so that pumping isn’t a daunting task. If you shoot a deer with it once, go ahead and pump it up 40 times so its full again. It will take all of 80 seconds. Don’t go on 3 hunting trips where you’ve shot it down after 10 shots or else you’ll have a miserable time pumping it.

With my .308 airgun, my shot count for the same amount of air is doubled. So 40 pumps would replace the air for two shots at max power in the .308 instead of one. If I turned the power down to shoot light .30 ammo, my shot count may be quadrupled.

I’ve been into PCP airguns over a decade. Orings stored in a sheltered place indoors, but not necessarily climate controlled, seem to last for many years. I probably still have some original orings from my Benjamin Marauder that are a decade old. I’ve only ever noticed orings truely go bad when I’ve left them in hot storage, as in a tractor’s metal toolbox.

In the guns under pressure, two years is about how long I expect them to last. For some components they last on and I have many that have never been replaced. The component that’s the most consistent about needing a replacement every 2 years is the oring in a Foster quick connect fitting that most Airguns use as a fill nipple. Basically a standard paintball fill nipple. I replace them with Harbor Freight orings. 2 years is usually how long the factory orings last in the nipple in the Airforce guns. 5 years in the Crosman guns. Presumably the two companies use two different brands or materials of orings.

A hand pump should last around 2 years with heavy use in high humidity. Light use in ideal cool, dry areas should last longer.

Thanks for the clarification - i understand a bit better now .   :)

I debated PCP vs 22LR for many years.  I have both and will say both have their place in SHTF scenario.  The 22LR can be very quiet with subsonic ammo and suppressor, but generally speaking, PCP rifles are typically more accurate at the same ranges compared to 22LR.  PCP LDC/moderators are not regulated and they are very useful.

I have a SCBA tank, hand pump and I'll be getting an air compressor soon, so "fuel" will not be an issue for my PCPs.  PCP rifles make look heavy, but that are light compared to rifles.  I have .177 to 9mm PCPs, so don't rule them out as some hunt Elk with PCP rifles.  PCP rifles are typically expensive to purchase, but once you have the rifle and a way to fill the air tank, you are in business.

Wouldn't an uncaught leak or fire also destroy the airgun stuff?

I get that you like them and they are pretty cool, but I don't see the need personally. If we're at the point where we are shooting squirrels in the suburbs for food, all bets are off and the HOA won't mind your 22. A bolt 22 with a cheap can and decent scope is crazy accurate and very quiet. I may or may not have shot a rat in the garage with my wife in the kitchen and she heard nothing.

I think in a true survival situation a "lifetime" supply is much smaller than what many of us have. I have 120 rounds of good 300BO ammo as my battle rattle/EOTW set up. If I use those all up I'm either 1) already dead or 2) such a victor I am entitled to field pick ups.
550 rounds of 22 could be used to harvest thousands of pounds of meat. Especially knowing that you can take down bigger animals than squirrels with them, provided they aren't all hunted out of existence. If you're not set up to be self sufficient without hunting after 300+ animals I think you'd be in pretty big trouble.

OP, thanks for the post. The video is really well done and has great information. It's a good idea to keep in mind for something that you can use even during an ammo shortage.

I appreciate the insight that the Airforce models are fairly simple and straightforward to maintain, and inexpensive to use. What are your thoughts on the Benjamin Marauder? I picked up a 22 version about 8 years ago. I probably put about 1000 pellets through it. Picked it up so I could do some target work and plinking without going to the range. I can get away with using the Marauder in my yard, although I have not shot it as much in the last 2 years owing to my work schedule, but I always found it to be a solid air rifle. I did not really consider it beyond a trainer/plinker. How are these for maintenance and long term use? I've had no issues with mine in my modest use. Perhaps I should pick up some spare o-rings for it.

This is a neat concept.  The air rifle that can be kept "in commission" with minimal inputs..

However, I have to wonder.. The airguns typically suited to this sort of endeavor are, at best, frequently $1000 firearms.  And that does not include an optical sight.  The manual pump, o-rings, silicone oil/lube add expense.  If you aren't buying pellets, then its a mold, mold handles, melting pot, source of lead, mold lube, etc. etc.  All in we are talking something that likely approaches $1500 as "package"...

In many cases the various air rifles are generating 100, 150 ft-lbs of energy. Yes, there are those that will crank out 400, 500 ft lbs.  We are DEFINITELY into the $1500 "all in" expense for these higher levels of power.  

What crosses my mind it this...  I can, and I have, purchased some extremely inexpensive firearms in my day.  A $65 Mossberg plinkster semi auto .22 comes to mind.  As does a little tiny Savage Cub G single shot .22 kids rifle I purchased for about $150.    For $150 I bought what is functionally an equivalent to many decent air guns...   Its a single shot weapon capable of generating about 130-150 ft lbs of energy.   Unlike the air rifle, which is a long, heavy cumbersome firearm, this little single shot is light and handy.  Even with iron sights a tennis ball is in serious jeopardy out to 80 yards or so.  Even at scalpers prices, .22 bulk ammo isn't overly expensive...  And with an initial cost difference of over $1250.00, I can buy one hell of a lot of .22 LR!!!  No pumps, no molds, no o rings...  No charging a PCP tank after 10 rounds (for a big bore model).  Open the bolt, drop a round in, close the bolt.  The .22 will do that all day.

Longevity?  I know this...  Dad bought a Cooey bolt action, tube fed .22 in the late 1950's...early 1960's.  That rifle was used hard, largely abandoned, and left untended to corrode and rust away. My brother found it, restored it, and is giving it to me for Christmas.  Its done 60 years of neglect.  And while it was ugly (now looks better), its been entirely functional the whole time....  I suspect that you can find a used, ugly bolt .22 on the shelves at many pawn shops for a $100....  A new cricket .22 is sub $200....

One could make an argument about the higher end large caliber air guns.  However, I suspect that the same issue would apply:  Its a $1500 firearm. And this is for a PCP gun hat is going to need a refill after 8 or 10 shots... A lowly single shot NEF or Harrigton Richardson single shot break open rifle in .223, .357, .30-30 would definitely fill the same role. With less hassle.

I'd love to get into a decent PCP airgun.  If these were $300 firearms, they would be viable.  However, the prices currently charged for these firearms is pretty damned high. Once you get into $1000+, their practical use pretty much falls off.  Hunting use?  If we are reduced to hunting for the pot, traps and snares are far far more time and energy and cost effective.  And its really really hard to beat the economy, flexibility, usefulness and general utility of even the simple old .22 LR single shot rifle...

Its a nice concept, but the hugely inflated initial costs (for a decent quality PCP) mean the numbers just dont add up....

You can quiet down PCP with LDC/moderators.  You can buy them or print them, since they are not currently regulated.  My Benjamin PROD 22cal is really quiet with a LDC I bought from ebay.  I also have one for my AF Talon in 25 cal and my Avenger 25 cal.

They are fun but you could just as easily buy a simple .22 rifle and thousands of rounds of ammunition. Enough to kill enough game for the remainder of your life.


The .22lr will be quicker with follow up shots. Easier to carry a large amount of ammunition. Easier to scavenge ammunition. And if properly stored will easily last you longer then an air rifle and o rings with a pump/compressor.  Grew up shooting air rifles. They are a great item for in the city or areas where you don't want an actual rifle. But they aren't as practical a tool as a .22 rifle.


For the price its just a lot more economically feasible to get a large portion of .22 rounds as well. As opposed to buying an expensive PCP, a pump, o-rings, and stuff to maintain the gun/equipment.

Not that I've yet experienced. There's no powder to get wet or corrode. I've had my airguns out in very wet conditions with no ill effect and I even had a desiccant trap explode on several in a gun safe and it didn't do anything to mess up the guns or impede their functioning.

My first PCP was a .25 Marauder and I still have that gun a decade later. I've modified that gun extensively to increase its power potential. I also have a second Marauder in .177.

The high power mods stress the gun so I wouldn't recommend going that route. A standard .25 Marauder has plenty of power to brain shoot any animal in the lower 48 out to 50 yards. Since I reconverted the gun back to normal power levels its been a trooper. I also have a .177 that's unmodified except for a regulator and hammer debounce rod added and its been a very tough gun (actually I remember I also replaced the steel body with a aluminum one so its also pretty much rust proof and light weight). The thing about a Marauder that lends itself well to prepping is that its a common model and its easy to stockpile parts. I have a drawer full of Marauder parts that would keep me shooting probably for the rest of my life. It is more complicated than the Airforce guns, but overall its not complicated once you understand the design and strip it down a couple of times. Without exaggeration I'm sure I could strip and disassemble a depressurized Marauder blindfolded. I could probably put one back together blindfolded so long as I have the valve lined up right in the air tube.

So I'd say its a good platform for survival if you have one. What I don't like about it is that it has severe power limitations compared to an Airforce gun in the same caliber.

Ok, same can be said for “real” rifles. Spent plenty of time with my rifles wet and even under water and they still fire.

Suppose you have PCP rounds and 22LR ammo in a box. They get wet from a leak. The 22LR might get ruined. The airgun ammo definitely will be fine. All the airgun ammo is is lead. Worst case scenario is sometimes lead can oxidize on the surface but it doesn’t really effect the bullet itself, and the lead can also be recast if oxidation is a problem.

I dunno ...

Air rifles are cool and I have an old side-cocker .177 model I got decades ago. I attached a rear peep sight, zeroed it, and then proceeded to kill a lot of yard squirrels & chipmunks over the years. Kept it hung on the wall of the garage by its sling.   It was 'accurate enough' for the sniping task out to about 35-yds, but limited by a heavy trigger. I also never tried scoping it.

But it's louder than a .22 with shorts or subs, and certainly much louder than either of my suppressed .22s. It's less accurate as well since the suppressed rimfires are also scoped.

I guess keeping a few airgun rifles in the battery makes sense, and certainly as 'trainers' for the young.

But my .22s have more versatility and definitely get shot more often, being well-stocked on rimfire ammo.

sorry, I think this is a far fetched reach. If you are storing your stuff in an area that is prone to leaking and you don't check it, you have bigger problems in your life to worry about than airguns in the apocalypses.

Plus who says I don't have my 22 ammo in one of the following:
water tight ammo cans with desiccant
inside a humidity monitored safe room with leak detectors
plastic bags
plastic tupperware
high in an area with no windows or pipes
in my truck that's also water proof
inside a magpul waterproof stock
Stashed in multiple locations
In water proof match containers
mylar wrapped in a safe deposit box

and who says I don't have all of the above

I’m not saying you don’t. But I also know that real life happens, and that real life is often random, messy, and unexpected. That’s why practical redundancy is wise. I see no reason to put all my eggs in one basket, which is what I would be doing if I trusted entirely in stockpiling .22LR. No one who stockpiles anything with any effort and money involved believes failure of their cache is likely. But it does happen. Best laid plans...

And at the end of the day, my big bore air rifle is a more capable hunter than a .22LR. You can’t practically lung shoot and kill a whitetail deer at 100 yards with the small bore rimfire like I can the airgun.

I see no reason why .22LR stockpiling and a PCP airgun are mutually exclusive.

Not worried about lung shots on deer when my 22 will let me pick which eye the round goes in to...

If you can pick the eye, that means the deer is looking at you. If the deer is looking at you, an eye shot isn't a brain shot and all you're going to do with a little .22LR is blind the deer in one eye. If a deer is head-on to you, you need to draw an "X" between each eye and the opposite ear and the middle of the X will mark the spot of the brain, if the deer's head is down feeding. It its starting right at you, the brain is a couple inches between and above the eyes.

A brain shot on a whitetail is a low percentage shot. During the day they're jerking their heads all around. At night when you might be shining one, its hard to see the details of the head in the dark through a scope. The temptation is to shoot the bright eye and like I said that's not a brain shot from most angles and angle is hard to judge in the dark. With a larger caliber rifle you can get away with a less than perfect brain shot. Not so with the lowly .22LR. You need to pick the right spot or not even attempt the shot.

More power to you if you want to rely on that for survival. I can do it, but that's because I've been brain shooting animals with my airguns for a long time. Many people who plan to brain shoot animals in a survival situation have little to no practice doing it. That's why most if not all States don't give hunters the options of brain shooting deer with rimfires. In most real world hunting situations it doesn't work out like the shooter plans. Don't plan on doing it unless you can practice it, and its generally illegal to practice killing deer with rimfires just about everywhere. Airguns on the other hand are legal in many states and can accurately simulate the kind of precision and anatomy knowledge a hunter needs to brain shoot game with rimfires consistently good results.

Generally people need to be planning on lung shooting larger game for consistent kills when it counts.

Those were some pretty good size holes he put in that block of clay.

How far out are these things good to?

Generally, 250-300 yards.

My specific guns for the way they are set up,100 yards.

The main thing to know is they don’t shoot flat. My .308 airgun can handle a shot out to 85 yards flat and beyond that I need to aim up on my elevation to compensate for the drop.

About how much drop would you guesstimate you see between say 85 and 250 yards? An inch? Six inches? Does it still have that same punch out to 200-250 yards?

You’re talking several feet of drop between 85 yards and 250 yards if you’re zeroed at 100 yards. I won’t take shots that far for that reason.

Nonetheless, you’ll see guys on Youtube take 250 yard shots on big game or even small game and drill them using mildots and range finders. Airgun accuracy is very repeatable so if you have your calculations right you’ll hit your small target. The killing power is there out to 300 or further. But I generally want to be able to put my crosshairs on what I want to hit or at least dope it no more than a few inches.

I generally think airguns should be treated as 100-150 yard weapons.

For the killing potential you get out of them, they’re a lot safer to use in tighter environments. They make for great farm hunting implements for that reason.

PM sent

Airguns come in much more powerful forms than "squirrel guns". It's almost like you didn't even watch the video in the op.

9mm, 45 and 50 caliber airguns are commonplace and people use them to harvest deer and larger animals frequently.

A hand pump, some molds, and spare orings with silicone will keep someone shooting for decades.

What about a CO2 powered air gun? The cartridges can be stored and used for eons as well.

But why?

Snares and traps work while I sleep.
And are even more discrete.

The CO2 guns are weak, usually weaker than break barrel air rifles. I’m sure they’d be acceptable for squirrel or rabbit guns.

Ever see a snared deer? Its not pretty or discrete. Should someone come along either before you they could take the deer. If they come on the line after you, they’ll find the woods tore up to hell. Or you may arrive and find a rotted deer because it had already been there dead for 12 hours after slinging itself to death.

A snare like for big game is not going to be noticed only if no one is walking those woods to begin with, in which case discretion wouldn’t be as much of a concern. If you’re sharing the woods with others, your line is going to be found.

Slipping through the woods with a quiet gun, whether it be suppressed firearm shooting subsonics or an airgun, that person can slip in and out with minimal sign if they know what they are doing. And without wasting daily trips to check an empty trap or snare line.

But all that aside, I simply don’t want to kill my dogs.

once you pierce the co2 container, they often leak out.  They are not refillable, and not as common as they once were.  I do not believe this type of gun would be a wise choice.

HATSAN 135 Carnivore. 30cal

Gas piston springer for me.

Same. If you have a pump, grease and pellets you're good to go. Mine is tuned to be essentially a .22lr power wise. Puts a hurt on critters.

Tuned, regulated, .25 31gr Grizzley's, 875fps, night vision, took out 14 nuisance raccoons last year, between 20 and 50 yard shots.... every one of them DRT. Bird feeder refilling frequency dropped by about 85% in one week.



I don't think of it as a end times weapon.. but, I wouldn't want to be shot with it. I use a air bottle, $5 bottle fill, get about 40 rifle fills out of it, have a hand pump for backup. It's one of 4 PCP's in the house.

Springer