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The Pellet Pistol

A pellet pistol is most often used for plinking and target practice. The typical pistols are not sufficiently powerful for much hunting. There are two main reasons for this. One the shorter barrels of most handguns limit the amount of energy which can be applied before the bullet or pellet leaves the barrel.

The second limiting factor in air pistols is their size. A compact handgun does not allow for a large power-plant. One reason CO2 power is popular in handguns is it fits in a smaller handgun.

You may want to read some of my other air gun pages: Air Rifle Hunting, The Best Air Gun, or Pellet Rifles

Air Pistol

Pictured are two of my old CO2 pellet pistols. The Mark 11 is at least thirty-five years old, and only recently failed to hold a charge. The 357 still shoots fine and it is more than fifteen years old. These guns show that quality does not have to be expensive. I've also owned another CO2 gun, a single shot bolt action, and a fine Beeman P1 spring air.

I'll discuss these four pellet pistols which may be typical of what you can expect from similar guns. I've fired various pellet and BB pistols, but the Crosman Mark 11 was the first I owned. It is a single shot, but looks like the popular Ruger .22 semi-auto handguns.

The Crosman Mk 11 was an incredible bargain in my opinion. Mine is a very accurate pellet pistol. It shoots at 400-430 fps,
common for most similar CO2 guns of this type. Within the
limited range I took numerous snakes, pest birds, mice, rats, grasshoppers... Not enough power for anything larger. Crosman CO2 Handgun

My second CO2 pistol was disappointing. It was considerably larger, a bolt action single shot with a longer barrel. Similar to today's Crosman model 2300T, but I don't remember exactly what it was. I bought it to have a more powerful pistol. It would shoot .177 pellets at 500-550 fps. But!

I tried numerous pellets and mine was not accurate enough to extend the range. I tried to get my money back from the gun shop, but ended up with my third CO2 gun. I traded for a six inch barreled Crosman model 357.

I didn't expect this revolver to be as accurate as the Mark 11, and it's not. It does shoot almost as hard, however.

A repeater, it uses six or ten shot removable cylinders. For an inexpensive gun of this type the 357 shoots very well. The trigger is not bad, for either single, or double action shooting. The gun is a dependable shooter. The power level
seems to drop rapidly because you can shoot pellets rapidly with it.

I remember using this revolver effectively on mice in a grain bin at about 10 - 15 feet . I'd open the door and mice would pop up like in a shooting gallery. I first used my P1 which really rolled them. Then I switched to the 357, it killed the tiny rodents without stopping to reload for every shot.

When I finally decided I couldn't live without a fine, powerful, pellet pistol, it was a big deal. It cost almost ten times as much as any air gun I'd bought up until that time.
Pellet Handgun

The Beeman P1 (mentioned above) is a great gun. It's a fairly compact, light weight, and easily cocked spring piston air pistol with good power. It is accurate, quiet, easy to shoot, carry, load, a great trigger... But! I made one mistake; the only P1 in stock was .22 caliber.

In .177 caliber the P1 will shoot light weight pellets up to 600 fps. That is similar to low end pellet rifles, and reasonable for very close range head shot squirrels or rabbits. Good for longer shots at smaller critters. But!

In .22 caliber the P1 shoots the heavier pellets a little over 400 fps. The same speed as my .177 caliber CO2 guns. Although I had more power, I couldn't extend my range much. The slow pellet dropped to quickly for consistent hits at longer range.

I'll go out on a limb and say buy a .177 caliber pellet pistol.
Only a few pre-charged pneumatic pistols produce enough power/velocity to really push larger pellets. They could be great, depending on your needs.

But! (There's that 'But!' again.) The pre-charged guns are somewhat expensive, often have a loud report, and need to be re-charged after a few shots. I would hate to run out of air when hunting, or at any time :-)

Click on the pistol to shop!

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