Starting Collegiate Club team, looking for rifle suggestions

[hillbilly]

My name is Roy Hill.

I am an English instructor at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith and am an NRA appointed rifle coach, working on my full certification.

We are starting an air rifle club team here at UAFS, and incredibly enough we're getting some funding.

We do intend to compete against other schools, we just aren't ready for NCAA status yet, as our school is still NJCAA affiliated.

The club team mission is two-fold.....compete against other teams, and provide a recreational outlet as well as an outreach program for shooting sports in general.

We want to let folks who are serious about competing to compete.

We want to let folks who have never shot try out fun marksmanship for the first time.

I am looking for suggestions on rifle types to get.

Of course, the Anschutz CA 2002 is my goal for the competitive team, but we could afford maybe one of those. Not sure about one of those plus the sights yet.

I'm looking at the Walther LG300s from the CMP as well as the Avanti Sporters.

What other rifle suggestions could y'all make?

Again, I want some serious competitive equipment and some not-so-serious equipment.

I feel very comfortable about my sources for scopes, stands, jackets, gloves, offhand stands, etc.

But I really want to spend as much as we can on rifles first.

Thanks for any and all responses.

Roy Hill

aka "hillbilly"

[Don]

Hey, Hillbilly: One thing you might do is to check around your area, and some of the online sites, to see who has some good used equipment to sell. I got my 2002 at about 2/3 of the cost of a new one, and it works great - much better than me!!
Work on getting the best you can for the money you have to spend. You will be much further ahead in the long run. If you have to, the kids can share equipment for awhile until things get moving and you start to have some sort of success and can get more money. Good luck!!
I might mention that I have a large library of shooting sports info and I also run an air gun postal league every winter. Both are something that you and the kids should perhaps take advantage of if you can. Contact me by email at: bawilli@attglobal.net for more details. Hope to hear from you.
Don in Oregon

[Guest]

Thanks Don.

I have been searching the Internet for used rifles.

In fact, that's how I found this bulletin board.

I do plan on getting my team shooting in as many postal matches as possible, in addition to shoulder-to-shoulder matches.

Thanks for the response.

hillbilly

[Hans]

I'll probably take some heat on this one, but since you mentioned that recreational shooting will be a big part of it, have you considered some of the older US made smallbore guns? Something like a Mossberg 44 or 144 can be found in the range of around $200 sometimes (just bought one for that price a month ago). While not as capable as the current generation of competitive rifles they do shoot quite respectably and would allow you more equipment on a limited budget for the recreational aspect.

I know you mentioned mostly air rifle, and I don't know what facilities would be available to you, but I figured toss the suggestion out there as a possible alternative.

-Hans

[hillbilly]

Thanks Hans.

Smallbore is in my plans for the future.

But right now, we're going to do air rifle.

I'd love to have both, but we're going to get air rifle in first, as we can actually shoot that on campus.

And, I have some smallbore and other shooting events off-campus in the works.

Local gun club has an invitation for the club to go do .22 silhouettes.

And I'm taking them all plinking this Sunday.

hillbilly

[pdeal]

Have a close look also at Anschutz's offerings. I think they have come up with a club version of their 2002. It has a little more basic stock that is ambidexterous. I think they have taken a few bells and whistles off of it but it is still the same basic 2002. Looks like a very good choice to me. Also, at least in our area, now is a good time to raffle off a deer rifle as a fund raiser. You might consider this and possibly applying for an NRA foundation grant to get a bit more cash. Also, if you buy a rifle new or without sights keep in mind that Anschutz sights are pretty common on ebay. The old style rear sights work on the 2002's.

[Guest]

You may want to consider the TAU-200 (or 100) for your "air rifle plinking rifle". They are still target guns in weight and shape, but cheaper. Could be used for recreational shooting and still called into service for "real targets" if needed. Drawback is CO2, but I bet its easy enough to find a tank at a friendly weld shop.

[mikeschroeder]

Hi and welcome to shooting sports.

You should look up the different types of air rifles that you find on the internet on this site and check out the comments. If I remember correctly, the CMP air rifles weren't highly received. I don't remember if it was the Walther's or a different brand.

Don't buy the RWS field type air rifles. They're not all that accurate, and they can be too powerful for regular pellet traps. Since you've been through coach training I hope they already told you this, but better safe than sorry.

Mike

[Katy AKA Alaska Kate]

have you looked at neal johnsons used listings ( nealjguns.com )? I am on a college team in Texas. I will ask my coach if he has any advice. I did want to warn you about the avanti pnematics. My club bought 5 of them and I tried one once. Granted Im a precision shooter not sporter so im used to more refined rifles, but the trigger and cocking mechinism were so rough and hard to use that I took one shot and was finished. If you could spring for the compressed air thats another story.. Avantis compressed air are quite nice

[mikeschroeder]

Hi Katy

Have you seen any of the Avanti's other than the Valiant (compressed air)? We have one or two Valiants here, but none of the "better quality" Avanti's.

Wow, Alaska to Texas, bet that was a shock to the system.

Mike

Wichita KS

[Lucho]

You can get an FWB P700 Junior Universal rifle new for about $1700 and I think it comes with sights.

They shoot like the full size versions. My friends just a a butt plate spacer to get them to fit.


Good luck.

[Jay V]

My name is Roy Hill.

I am an English instructor at the University of Arkansas Fort Smith and am an NRA appointed rifle coach, working on my full certification.

We are starting an air rifle club team here at UAFS, and incredibly enough we're getting some funding.
(snip)
I am looking for suggestions on rifle types to get.

Of course, the Anschutz CA 2002 is my goal for the competitive team, but we could afford maybe one of those. Not sure about one of those plus the sights yet.

I'm looking at the Walther LG300s from the CMP as well as the Avanti Sporters.
(snip)

aka "hillbilly"

Congratulations on your efforts to get a new club going!

Our experience is mostly with sporter air rifle, but this year we have added precision air rifle and air pistol.

We have 2 FWB P-70 jrs and now 2 Walther LG-300 jrs, both through the CMP. The biggests advantage of getting them from the CMP is the price, curently $725 for the Walther. The drawback is that the guns are pretty small. We have made extensions for the buttplate and are working on a larger/heavier barrel weight. They are also ambidextrous, which is nice for a club. Our Walthers are pretty new, so I can't tell you about any problems (none so far). Adult FWBs and 2002s are a good choice for bigger, experienced, shooters that can afford to buy their own guns.

As far as "other" rifles go, depending on the age range you are dealing with, I would skip everything except true competitive sporter rifles. If you do have younger shooters that are starting out, having a non-competitive rifle is of no use when they want to start competing. Sporter is a great place to start, and you can compete in NRA matches as a junior basically until you are 20. The Valiant is OK (we have 10 of them), but I usually recommend the 888 (we have 6 of them). The 888 shoots better (more accurate) and is more durable, the Valiant is more of a target design with a pistol grip, adjustable buttplate and cheekpiece. That said, most of the top sporter teams use the 888 - plus it's about 1/2 the price of the Valiant. Dealing with CO2 isn't that bad, especially when they get about 200 shots on a good fill.

Try to start out simple. I feel it is a good idea to have as many of the same guns as possible and learn how to keep them going. Having different kinds of guns makes your job tougher. When you have guns of the same type if one breaks you can give the shooter another of the same (especially important for competitions).

My 2 cents...


Jay V
Arlington International Airgun Club (AIAC)
IL
www.aiac-airguns.org

[Joacim]

I am little behind on this thread, but hopefully my 2 cents is worth something.

I would recommend to get the best guns that you can get at your current budget and your aspirations. If your goal is to have a competitive college program you won't be able to pull it off with a sporter rifle(avant)or lower level gun like a TAU. If you would buy these to start with you will need to upgrade to a match grade gun by the time your shooters get better or when you start to short shoulder to shoulder with other teams and realize that the guns are your limit.

IMHO - I would go with used air rifles. The pneumatic guns are as accurate as the new compressed air guns and as college shooting is offhand air rifle it doesn't affect to much having to cock the gun for every shot. The difference in accuracy between a FWB 601, 603 or Anchutz 2001 and their new guns is so minimal(or at all) that it won't matter unless you are in the absolute world elite. I would avoid the FWB 600 as they sometimes get a ugly kick-back when you load them and with today's liability it is worth the extra little money to make sure it doesn't knock out a few teeth by misstake.

If you are opposed to the pneumatic you can always get the C-series FWB which are CO2 guns. They are great and you can sometimes find them at a bargain price.

Put a post up on this site that you are looking for used guns and browse the other message boards out there.

Bottom line - if you are serious about a college program I would avoid the Daisy, Avant, Tau and go for the little bit higher end match guns. I would also caution of getting many different brands and models as it is easier to maintain a few models so you can exchange parts and have a small storage of spare parts that will fit all your guns.

I hope this helped...

Joacim Trybom

[pdeal]

Roy: You should give a serious look at that FWB 601 in the classifieds (not mine). The pneumatic rifles are a real bargain. Very good for standing with little fuss. As your program grows you can sell or trade it off- it will stay at that value so you have nothing to loose. That is how I got started fooling with air guns.