TargetTalk

Hi all,

Since I live in Canada and air rifles are considered firearms if they shoot over 500 feet per second, all rifles brought in by Cibles Targets (the Canadian dealer for Feinwerkbau, Steyer, Walther) are de tuned to shoot at 495fps at the factory for the Canadian market. My question is, what impact would this make in competition? What is the standard velocity for these air rifles in the EU and the USA?

Cheers

560-580 fps. Just get a PAL, then you can have one that shoots at its designed velocity.

Thanks Richard.

I have a PAL, but then it becomes a firearm rather then an air rifle. Too may headaches!

Would the lower velocity impact the accuracy of these rifles?

Cheers

I don't have much experience with air rifles, but extensive air pistol testing has revealed no strong correlation of accuracy to velocity.

That said, you may find nodes of accuracy by varying the velocity. Light pellets (7 gr.) may give you an additional 45 f.p.s. to play with and are at least as accurate as heavier ones.

In three pistols tested, JSB Green (pistol) has given the best accuracy, but can only be tested by you and your gun. The velocity will be similar.

What pellet is used to determine this 495 fps limit any idea. The limit on velocity is pretty meaningless without a projectile weight also included in the regulation IMO.

Does this mean I can have an airgun shooting 9mm 115gr slugs at 495 fps generating 62+ ft lbs of energy. But I can't have a 7.9gr .177 pellet that goes 580 fps only generating 5.9 ft lbs of energy? This makes no sense.

Not to mention if the rifle was set using 8+gr pellets with fat heads and you use 7gr pellets that fit looser in the head you will be exceeding the 495 fps limit. The only way they could set that speed and know it will be good using any other pellet would be to use the skinniest, lightest pellets available. Which would mean if you tried a fatter, heavy pellet it would be even less perhaps down to 400 fps.