Best BB Guns of 2023, Tested and Reviewed
BY PGF
1 year, 3 months ago
Outdoor Life has the list. We’ve discussed quiet hunting for non-permissive environments before. In searching for that prior article, I found a link to it, where another author discusses his experience with .17 and .22 air rifles. A good air gun is worth having, especially at a lower price than a rimfire or centerfire rifle. Of course, BBs don’t hunt well; pellet capability is what you need. The venerable and a personal favorite, the Crosman 760, made the list as the best squirrel hunter. BB guns are a great way to start children out learning the responsibility of gun ownership and use; most will quickly graduate to a rimfire.
Outdoor Life:
For many hunters, the BB gun was a distinct pillar of childhood. Generations of us learned basic marksmanship and firearms safety with a BB gun, and there was never a more formidable tool when tin cans or plastic army men were game. I often toted a lever-action or pump-up BB rifle across the handlebars of my ten-speed, and no other tool was as steadfast through my formative years. BB guns are great fun, and they can be great for teaching youngsters or new shooters the basics. They have some distinct advantages over real firearms in that application. They can be safely and legally fired in many areas where real rifles can’t. They can also be mailed straight to your door. Ammo is significantly cheaper too, and I can’t imagine the bills I’d have racked up if the milk-carton-style containers of BB’s—the small cardboard tubes were child’s play—were cases of 5.56 ammo.
My interest in BB guns has become reinvigorated as my children are growing into them, and I’m finding that the world of BB guns is so much cooler than when I was a kid. Many of the classics are still here, but now we have BB guns that even my fertile imagination couldn’t have fathomed. Here’s a look at some of the best BB guns you can get in 2023.
On August 17, 2023 at 1:05 pm, Latigo Morgan said:
I remember my first BB gun. I’d already been shooting a .22 for 3 years before my Dad gave me one. I kind of felt gypped with the BB gun, being as how underpowered it was compared to a .22. I couldn’t get cans to dance nearly as far, and the BBs just bounced off squirrels, if it even hit them to begin with and didn’t curve one direction or the other.
On August 17, 2023 at 1:11 pm, Rocketguy said:
Wore out a Red Rider and TWO Crosman 760’s when I was a kid. Untold pounds of BBs and pellets.
On August 18, 2023 at 3:44 am, Chris said:
I still have, and shoot, my dads crossman single shot 22 cal pellet pistol. It’s as heavy as any regular cartridge pistol I own.
We shot squirrels with it as a youth and cooked it over a fire in the woods when we were aloud to sleep out without an adult.
It still works.
Chris (CIII)
On August 18, 2023 at 4:52 am, jrg said:
My 1st high power pellet rifle was the Daisy 880. Scoped with a tip-off base 4x ’22 scope’, it did a fine job for sniping flying pests. I even killed my 1st rabbit with it, it at very close range.
Much later, when young adults, a Benjamin 397 (mine) and Sheridan Silver Streak (brothers) were used to eradicate mice when we stayed at the family ranch house. A single pump reduced richochet (didn’t entirely eliminate it) and untold ‘Mouse Safari’ were often the only animals harmed in this production. :^) These mice were often killed on the top wall plate ringing the cinder block structure.
Vermin eradication is important – they destroy vital equipment and foods meant for livestock. And these same pneumatics can supply enough small animals to sustain a person without weighing their pack down very much. Much less noise than even a rimfire round.
On August 23, 2023 at 8:24 pm, Chappyman66 said:
I used a Powerline 917 (similar to the 880 but a rifled .177 cal barrel, pellet only) for years. It mounted a cheap Tasco scope. Grackles, squirrels, and many rabbits were felled.
For quiet hunting, pick something with a rifled barrel and use pellets. Even the flat-faced standard pellets hit adequately at 500 FPS. The pneumatics are quiet with no recoil. Springers are also quiet but require a slightly different hold because of the spring recoil.