Accessories

The Best Airgun Accessories 2023

You just received your dream air rifle. What next? Shoot? Yes! And No… 

Owning a good air rifle increases your desire to get it right and be comfortable when shooting. What you need is a complete set of air rifle accessories to enhance your shooting experience.

There are tons of accessories out there. The Airgunmaniac team has compiled a list of the most important airgun accessories you need to better your shooting experience. First is a summarized list, followed by a detailed discussion on the most important accessory.

Weaver and Picatinny bases, rails – Used to mount your scope, laser, and other accessories and keep them secured so as not to fall when shooting.

Front Sights & Rear sights – Used to give you better focus on the target so as to improve your accuracy

Binoculars –  used to improve vision especially for shooters who hunt at night. Some are fitted with high power infrared illuminators to isolate the prey.

Flashlights – Allow you to lock on to your targets quick and easily, especially in dim light. Designed to cast the right amount of identifiable light without blinding the operator.

Cases – Usually made of thick wall construction and padded with high density foam to protect the air rifle when in transit.

Survivor’s multi-tool – Offers all essential tools that you may need during your hunting expedition in a compact unit that fits in the hand. 

Oil – Applied to the tip of every third CO2 cartridge before inserting into the chamber, and to the pump head of multi-pump pneumatic guns.

Quick cleaning pellets – Shot through PCP and CO2 air rifles to remove dirt, debris and lead build up.

Conversion accessories – Set of adapters designed to convert rifles and pistols from one body design to another.

Safety Glasses – Protects eyes against ricocheting pellets and BBs. They also usually have anti-fog ability and UV protection.

Hearing Protection – Compresses harmful noise beyond a certain decibel level to protect the ears. Also magnifies low sound to enable the hunter to converse seamlessly with his shooting partners.

Metal Traps – Designed with heavy-gauge, sheet steel to stop and hold air gun pellets after hitting target.

Paper targets – Marked with rings and bull’s eye in the center for target shooting practice.

Bipod/Monopod – Used to support air rifles for stability and longer focus time.

Shooting rest – Fitted with spirit bible. Includes a rubber pad to rest the rifle while shooting.

And finally… scopes!   

Types of air rifle scopes

Generally, the scope attaches to the top of your air rifle. The glass of the scope magnifies the target so that you can see it as far as it is and hit it accurately. 

We can broadly categorize airgun rifle scopes into two types – the fixed and the variable.

1. For the fixed scopes, the magnification is fixed, and you cannot change it in any way. These are specifically suited for short range applications such as fun plinking because they are normally set to a lower magnification.
2. On the other hand, the variable scopes have magnification power designed so that you can switch from a lower power to a higher power, say from 3x to 12x.

In addition to that, for both the fixed and variable scopes, we have the reticle type. The reticle is what you see when you peek through the scope. All the reticle types are designed to show you the centre of focus. The centre should ideally coincide with the exact point you are targeting. Here is a list of the main reticle types:

1. Fine Crosshair – Formed by two thin lines intersecting at right angles. This is the original crosshair. It is very ideal for target shooting. The rest are all modifications of this.
2. Duplex crosshair – Includes thicker lines towards the periphery and thin lines towards the centre. This is the perfect combination for hunters. 
3. Mil-dot – Features thickened outer lines and notched inner lines. Professional shooters use the notches to estimate bullet drop in long-range shots.
4. Target dot – Includes the two intersecting lines and a dot at the centre. This can be used for bigger targets. Sometimes the center dot turns out big enough to cover point targets. 
5. Circle – Includes a circle around the centre of the intersecting lines. It is meant to surround point targets.

For all the crosshair types, some scopes give you the option of illuminating them for better clarity. 

How to choose the best scope for your air rifle

There are as many brands, models and types of scopes as there are of air rifles. So, what do you consider when choosing a scope?

1. Consider your type of gun

For CO2 and PCP air rifles, you can use virtually any type of scope. However, for a break barrel air rifle, the scope you choose must match the recoil of the air rifle. The sudden backward jerk of the air rifle can really affect your shooting accuracy. The rigorous movement is also known to quickly damage the normal scopes. Choose a scope designed for springer airguns.

2. Consider tube size

25 mm diameter tubes are the most popular for scopes with 3 – 9 x 40 or similar magnification. Higher magnification scopes may have bodies with 30 mm diameters. The 25 mm tubes are usually more fairly priced and satisfy most shooters.

3. Consider magnification

Magnification allows you to see a bigger version of a small target that would otherwise be impossible to see with bare eyes. If your target is only 50 yards away, you may want to keep the magnification to around 3 – 9 times. When you choose so high a magnification, the image tends to be blurred. Leave higher magnifications for long range shootings.

4. Consider scope length

You need to keep some distance between your eye and the scope. Having a long scope tires you eye very quickly. Think of moving the scope forward along the rail if you are already having no eye relief.

5. Brand matters

The most popular brands are Hawke and Bushnell. And that is for a reason – value for money. They stock a wide range of scopes. You can always find a good match for all your needs. High end brands include Nightforce, Schmidt, Zeiss and Bender. Go for these if you have thousands of dollars to spare.    

6. What mount do you have?

Scopes can generally be mounted on 3 types of mount – the dovetail, weaver, and picatinny rails. Dovetails are the most basic. The weaver is designed to hold several accessories at once, including the flashlight, laser and red dot finder. The Picatinny rail is the cream of the crop. It features two parallel rails with several perpendicular slots for secure attachment of all sorts of accessories. 

7. What is your target use?

For pest elimination, all you mostly need is a 4×32 fixed scope. The same is a perfect choice for fun plinking in the backyard, as well as medium range target shooting. For small game hunting, you can consider a variable scope. 

For competition shooting, consider getting a scope with magnification between 4 and 20.

8. Mind parallax

One important rule – never use a firearm scope for an air rifle. The reason is simple. Firearms usually have a higher range than air rifles. Most air rifles are used for shooting in the range of 10 to 50 yards, and so are adjusted to that specific parallax. 

Contrary to this, most firearm scopes are adjusted to a parallax of between 50 and 100 yards. Picking a firearm scope and directly mounting it to an airgun may lead to inaccuracies due to blurred images. Some scopes are designed so you can adjust the parallax, but you need to know what you are doing. 

How to maintain your airgun scope

Hunters are rugged. No offense meant. That is the nature of the job. But even so, you should never underestimate the importance of looking after your air rifle and all the accessories. You have spent thousands of dollars investing on good shooting gear, so protect your investment.

1. Handle with care

Scopes are basically glass lenses enclosed in plastic bodies. Falling from a height can break the lens at once and you may never be able to use it again. Always handle your scope like a newborn babe that never gets old over the years.

2. Clean properly after every use.

Since they are used in the field, the lens is very likely to accumulate dirt and moisture. If stored that way, the lens coating can easily be damaged. This reduces the clarity of vision. 

Discipline yourself to always clean the lenses after every use. Invest in a good cleaning kit with a quality lens brush and make sure to use it often. Stay away from using a piece cloth to wipe the lenses since you are likely to rub the dirt onto the lenses and damage the coating.

3. Store in a clothes lens

Avoid the unknown by storing your scope in a soft lens cloth. 

You are now fully accessorized! The airgunmaniac team wishes you success in your shooting.