Looking for one under $150 to use on squirrels mostly, nothing too fancy.

Brands models, or even just reccomendations on fps and caliber

Sorry to say but you are not going to get much of a pellet rifle for $150 bucks. But I could be wrong: Squirrels have a taught hide. I have been watch a lot of video's on pellet rifles. They sure make so hi-teak gun's today.
Sorry I could not help more. One thing I do know, you will have to try several brand and types of pellets before you will be able to hit the target consistently. There is a lot of good information on the web.

I picked up a crosman at dicks sporting for like a 125 or so....I cant remember the model...its in the truck....anyway...I shoots 177 cal. pellets at 1200 fps and I have used it for for coons and other size animals ...I had dialed it in for 60 yards...and has driven tacs since....i'll run out to the truck to tell you what model

They make better nowa days...I seen a few for under 150 that look nice. The one I have is a G1 Extreme

I just bought a $325 benjamin .22 and my buddy
Bought a remington tyrant .177 for 100.00 and
His is quite a bit more accurate then mine.

Ya...My brother picked a .25 cal ben. maurader..and that thing drives tacs as well..

Have you tried other pellets..i hear those benjamins can be finiky

when I bought it about 4 years ago...it was 1200 FPS.. I shoot those pellets with the bb embedded in the tip

Theres many to choose from , these days

This topic is a current focus in WCT Magazine. For under $150, look for sales at discount sporting goods stores. Next, through the FPS stuff out the door. The ideal velocity for a pellet to maintain accuracy is 950 fps and below. Once you break the speed of sound, you have forces acting in multiple directions on it. While this may not be an issue for a 10 or 20 yard shot, it sure will be an issue at longer ranges.

In terms of caliber, you'll be limited with the price range as well and may have to go .177. While I'm not a fan of this caliber it doesn't matter if you're shooting .177 or .50, if you don't hit the animal where it needs it it doesn't matter. A brain shot for a squirrel takes about 5 to 7 fpe (foot pounds of energy) to kill it. A heart/lung shot takes about 10 fpe and in my experience, tracking a shot squirrel waiting for it to die (.177 leaves a very small wound channel and if you're off just a bit it can take follow up shots which is just one of many reasons I don't like it) can lead to the squirrel getting away.

If possible, see if you can go up to $200 or $250 for a break barrel air rifle. Makers like Gamo and Crosman will have specials for some of their rifles and at times will include a good starter scope for that price as well. Ideally, I'd say you should be looking at a .22, break barrel, gas-piston, shooting 750 - 900 fps. This will give you between 25 and 40 fps based on ammo. Again, accuracy is the most important item as you need to hit the animal in the right place and there are a lot of other factors that will determine this besides the caliber and velocity of the gun.

gamo rocket with crossman destroyer EX....... costs about $130 and the pellets are cheap too

I'd like to upgrade to a .22 or .25 caliber in the near future...but for now all I can tell you is...im shooting at 1200 FPS and this gun has always been dead nuts on... and still is today...I actually use it like a sniper rifle and pick spots within spots ...its nothing to take out sparrows at 60 yards or so with a rest ...but I needed to find the pellets to deliver this and ..I forget the name but they have a bb embedded in the tip of the pellet... Definetly worth the few bucks...All in all ...as every one of us know...it's all about shot placement, as WCT said...

swampdonkey,

The pellets should be the gamo rockets. I've tried them with my .177 Big Cat but they didn't group as good as some Gamo hollow points.

Out of curiosity, have you established an average FPS with a chronograph? Not saying you're not shooting 1200, and I'm not saying that your gun isn't one of the exceptions, just curious. Most air gun fps claims are done with super light pellets so they will post 1100 fps using something that weighs 5.6 grains versus the standard 8.8 grains. I've got air guns listed at 1200 fps that shoot 745 fps with 15.9 grain pellets and ones rated for 900 fps that shoot 856 fps with 16 grain pellets.

Throw Back,Dont listen to the hype about 1200 fps.Those velocities are achieved by using lightweight pellets that wont retain energy at the target.Advertised velocities are at the muzzle not at the target. Not saying those airguns are crap but you get what you pay for.Airguns are ridding a new wave of excitement now and the manufactures are spending a lot on advertising on the new products.For staying in your budget look at the Benjaman 392 pump up .It is in 22 cal,more than adequate for squirrels.Use crossman premier hp pellets.Dont use light pellets!The premiers weigh 14.3 gr and will give you aprox. 14.5 fpe.The legal limit in Britain is 12 fpe,without a FAC licence and all sorts of vermin are taken at this power level.
Pyramyd Air is a great place to look also your sporting good stores(Walley World etc.)Benjaman 392 is adjustable in power ,by amount of pumps.Example,3/4 pumps for plinking and 8 pumps for max power.
Also look at on line airgun forms to get a little info on airguns.So many to chose from.
Darn! if I could take out sparrows at 180 ft distance with a $125 crossman!!!!

No hype for me, I have heard that before.

I am looking at the hatsun 95, it got very good reviews on Amazon fwiw. Is 22 or 25 better

what you want is quit for city work........ adjustable trigger and a Picatinny rail......

Hatsan is a Turkish producer that makes some really good air guns. The 95 is a spring-piston air rifle which is considered the hardest type of air rifle to shoot accurately. The reason is that it produces bi-directional kick after the gun is fired. This usually means you have to hold it slightly different than other guns (very loose) and hold it in the same position for each shot. You also have to pay attention to how long the air rifle remains cocked as this puts additional stress on the spring, weakening it, so it may have to be replaced at some point. Another thing to note about spring-piston guns is that due to the heavy kick, they require air gun specific scopes and in this case a special type of scope mount on the dovetail. If you put a non standard scope on one, you run the risk of ruining the reticle and thus the scope. The reason is that while most magnum style guns are shot less than 100 times a year, while an air rifle tends to be shot several thousand times a year.

The .22 is rated at 800 fps while the .25 is rate for 650 fps. You can always increase FPS on these guns by getting a stiffer spring installed. Of the two choices, I'd go with the .22 even through I am really liking .25. This way, if the fps is lower than advertised (which should be expected) and as the spring wears it will naturally go down as well, you'll be good to go down to about 650 fps (which will give you about 13.5 fpe with a 14.3 grain pellet). Compared to the .25 which will only be good to about 500 fps (this will yield about 14 fpe with a 25.4 grain pellet).

Also, air guns require a barrel break in period. This will remove the oils from the manufacturing process causing something known as dieseling. You'll know this is happening because you'll see a bit of smoke coming out of the barrel. Dieseling is sometimes produced on purpose as it increases the pellets fps, but it also increases the noise of the air rifle. Some air rifles require about 100 pellets through it for the break in period while others will take a couple of hundred or more. The good thing is that as long as you're moving pellets at under 950 fps, you don't have to clean the bore as that velocity is too slow to leave lead residue behind. If you run a patch down the barrel it will appear "dirty", but that is actually caused by the lubricant (nowadays mainly graphite) that the pellets are coated in to stop oxidation.

And to think when I was 8 I killed a rabbit with a crossman 760.

I think i will play it safe and get a red ryder.

when did BB guns get so complicated, everytime i read a gun article some crafty salesman convinces me that how I used to kill things is impossible and now i need to pony up some dough on magnum shells, new rifles, and all the tacticool gear on the market