Junior Shooters

Posted by Junior Shooters

By: Brian Hamilton, Ashley Hunt (17), Ethan Hunt (16), Logan Hunt (14), and Kaitlin Hunt (12)

Brian:

I have always wanted to try out air rifles but never had enough interest in them to run out and pick one up. When Junior Shooters magazine received one for review, I figured it would be a great opportunity for me to try them out. Pulling it out of the box, I really liked the overall design of the rifle. The black synthetic stock, black matt suppressed barrel, and action, give it a cool, tactical look. The ASP20 also comes with a picatinny rail already mounted for your choice of scope. Another added feature is the smoot adjustable trigger ranging from 2.5 to 4 pounds and an easy break-action cocking mechanism (though some of the smaller juniors had difficulty with it.)

The Whiskey 3 4-12X40 scope that came with it was specifically designed for Sig Sauer airgun rifles. This is an outstanding scope making the overall package a delight to shoot.

When it came time to shoot the air rifle, I found it to be fun and accurate even out to 50 yards. With a .22 caliber 14.65 grain pellet, it can achieve a muzzle velocity of 841 FPS. Added to the accuracy, this thing is perfect for varmint shooting or whatever else your sport is. I have been shooting this air rifle for some time now and would recommend trying it out for yourself. One big advantage to the .22 air rifle, given the current struggle for ammunition, is that pellets are fully in stock and cheap to use.

Specifications:

• .22 Caliber
• Gas-Piston
• Break barrel
• Weaver/Picatinny Rail
• Black Synthetic Stock
• Integrated Suppressor
• 2-Stage Adjustable Match Lite® Trigger, 2.5-4 lbs. trigger pull
• Glide Lite™ Cocking Mechanism
• Wedge Lock Breech System eliminates barrel drop
• Up to 841 FPS with 14.65 grain lead pellet

A number of our juniors tested the ASP20 and were very impressed. We even had a brand new shooter hit a very small target out at 35 yards with his first shot. Here is what some of the juniors had to say:

Ashley (17):

This gun is unlike any other I’ve experienced!  When most people think about guns, they look kind of like a straight stick with a trigger.  With this gun though it may be a straight stick for a little bit, until you break the stick into two.  The barrel is made break open, not completely, but to the point where it feels like it’s barely hanging on.  It is like when you are breaking a stick with your knee, the whole front of the gun comes all the way down.  I was shocked to find that this once straight stick would turn into a boomerang. This is a break-action airgun.

Now, what is the use of this? This is how the gun is cocked, air pressure charged, and loaded – you break the barrel down with your hands, using a technique I could not get down.  It takes a lot of power to manipulate the Sig Sauer ASP20.  Once broken downwards, you put in a tiny little pellet right into the rear of the barrel.  Then close the barrel right back up! Turn off the safety, and you’re ready to fire! For a pellet gun, it packs a punch! It is dead on accurate and can kill a rat in a single shot!

The muzzle energy is stated as 23 Foot Pounds Energy (FPE). Compare this to the muzzle energy of a standard .22 Long Rifle out of a 22” barrel which is 116 FPE.

I could easily see the small target through the Sig Sauer Whiskey 3 4-12×40 scope at 35 yards and hit it with my first shot. Awesome!

Ethan Hunt (16):

The Sig Sauer ASP20 .22 pellet rifle is a great gun.  To load the gun, you want to put the stock on your leg.  Grab the top of the gun and pull down, be careful of where the barrel is pointing. Then put the pellet in with the flat end out.  Last pull the barrel up and it is loaded.

The gun can kill small animals with one shot so be super careful with it.  The gun takes some muscle to pull the barrel down and some long arms.  The gun is very accurate too.  So far, I haven’t missed a shot with it.  It also has a safety on it, a sweet trigger, and a really nice scope.

Logan Hunt (14) SIG SAUER  22 PELT RIFLE

The Sig Sauer 22. pellet rifle is an interesting gun that uses littles pellets.  It is very accurate and is easy to fire. I find this gun to be great. It is also powerful for shooting pellets and I like everything about this gun. It has enough power to kill a rat which is the same thing with a normal 22. rifle! The gun is also very precise, shooting very smoothly.

The really interesting thing about it is loading it. It is hard to load, you have to break the barrel down, making a weird ‘V’, which sounds like a super odd shape for a gun.  If you don’t know how to, or don’t have the strength to open the barrel and put a pellet, in you may want to reconsider to a different gun. My brother and I had a smooth time loading it, but I can’t say the same for my sister. I think it is a fun way to still go shooting, just cheaper. I would recommend this gun to someone who is about 13 or up, as it does take a lot of force to manipulate. I really enjoyed shooting this gun and hope I get another chance to in the future!

Kaitlin Hunt (12):

The Sig Sauer ASP20 Pellet Rifle is a very long rifle. To load the rifle, you take the barrel and you push down, basically half of the gun should split apart. It should stay together though. This rifle doesn’t take a normal cartridge it takes this little pellet that has no gunpowder in it. You stick the pellet in the barrel with the smaller part of the pellet in the front. Then put the barrel back together. Make sure when you do this you are very careful to keep the gun pointing down range, as it can be a little tricky to load.

The gun is loud and hard to load for someone who has short arms. I had a hard time loading this gun because I couldn’t find the right place to break the barrel. I really enjoyed shooting the gun. It is a very nice gun and I really liked the trigger and scope. It was very loud in my opinion. It doesn’t have any recoil. I hit the tiny target at 35 yards with my first shot.

 

The AIRGUN Depot (www.airgundepot.com) reviews a lot of airguns and contains a lot of information on the ASP20 here is an excerpt:

“ASP is an acronym for Advanced Sport Pellet and 20 refers to the power in foot-pounds that the.177 produces. (The.22 is advertised at 23fpe, but more on that below.) The ASP20 weighs 8.5 lbs, and is 45.6″ long, which is two to three inches shorter than most magnum break barrels.

Much of the noise from a spring gun comes from the action of the piston shooting forward and colliding with the front of the compression chamber, but a moderator does help with the downrange report, especially on magnum springers. That being said, like all magnum springers, the ASP20 is not a silent gun: in our testing, the highest sound reading was 93.3db, which is still backyard friendly for almost all backyards. The rubber butt pad on the other end of the gun will keep it settled securely in your shoulder without a lot of pressure and will keep it from slipping when you lean it up in a corner. The metal surfaces of the gun are ferritic nitrocarburized, which isn’t a coating that can wear off; instead, it is a sort of case-hardening process which toughens the metal and makes it resistant to scuffs and oxidation. It is non-reflective and doesn’t show fingerprints either. One of the most remarkable features of the ASP20 is its relatively light cocking effort. Instead of taking 50ish pounds of cocking effort like most magnum springers putting out this much power, its cocking weight is only 33 pounds, making it very pleasant for long shooting sessions. It achieves this with a number of innovations. One of these innovations, and one of the real standout features of the ASP20, is the breech lockup system that is unofficially being called the Keystone Breech Lock, because the breech locks up like a keystone in an arch. A wedge detent pulls the breech tight, and angled flanges on the breech match up with beveled shoulders to give perfect alignment each time. Of course, for this to work perfectly the pieces need to match up precisely, and that is exactly what they do. To ensure this, SIG match drills the breeches, that is, the breech and action forks are matched up, clamped together, and then drilled in one stroke. Those matched pieces are then assembled so that each gun comes out with absolutely precise lockup. And because of this design you never have to worry about it loosening up with time and wear; in fact, the breech is quite loose until you lock it up, which adds to the ease with which the gun can be cocked because you aren’t fighting the friction that most break barrels need to be accurate.”

Categories: Airgun, Olympics & USA, Plinking Fun, precision shooting, Product Reviews, Rifle
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