Stoeger Air Guns: What I Use Them For And Why
- Gary R. Anderson
- Apr 5
- 14 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Stoeger air guns are perfect for target practice, and incredibly effective for small game hunting and pest control.
FYI, prices and ratings are accurate as of time of writing.
My name is Gary, and I'm a Certified NRA instructor, 07FFL holder, Certified Advanced Gunsmith, lifelong shooter, and all-around know-it-all. I tested several air guns by Stoeger, and here's my ranking, along with hands-on reviews and testing results. I also have a list covering the top air rifles by other makers, so feel free to check it out after you finish with this article.
In addition to my own research, I included feedback from colleagues who tested these products in a variety of real-world situations.
1. Stoeger XM1 - Stoeger Air Gun for Varmint Hunting
HIGHLIGHT:
Comes with a fixed power scope and rear open sights that can be used separately.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
Let me tell you why you need one of these air rifles. I opened the box; everything was packaged perfectly, nice and cozy in the foam packing. The rifle I have is finished in their REALTREE EDGE camo finish, and it is applied perfectly. This little rifle is a smidge on the heavy (for an air rifle, that is), and I am sure that is due to the whole thing being built out of metal and not cheap like some others.
STOCK:
The stock can change out the cheek riser and hand grip pieces, which are included and very simple to change out. With the pistol grip fashioned into the stock, the rifle's balance is very nice, just a bit forward of the grip, but easy to manage.
OPTICS:
The optics for this little rifle are my only hesitation about singing its praises as loud as possible, so maybe 8 out of 10. The front sight is a fiber optic fashioned on the barrel and very visible, perfect. The rear open sights are not as great. The mount has to fit on the 17mm dovetail; this mount is the same as the old Crosman BB gun type. The rear sight had to be adjusted so far to get the pellets on target that the screw would not stay in the threads. As far as dependable rear sights are concerned, this setup is a no-go in my book.
SCOPE MOUNT PROBLEMS:
The scope and mounts are another story, not a great one. Wait... Let me take that back. The scope is actually decent. It will perform with this rifle like a hand in a glove. The mounts are the problem! The scope mounts (rings) on my rifle were put on backward; not a problem; just loosen the Allen screw with the provided key and switch them around. The rifle shot about 6 inches low down the length of my gun shop, about 25 feet. After trying everything I could think of, I used the old-fashioned fix and applied some tape under the scope body. I had to apply four layers of carpet tape, so probably about six to seven layers of duct tape to get the gun hitting the bullseye. I have inserted a picture to show what I am talking about.
SHOOTING:
Other than that, this air rifle shoots a very tight, one-ragged-hole group; they all touch no matter where the pellets were hitting. When I say powerful, I mean very powerful. I had a doubled cardboard box as the target stand (I know, fancy) and my old heavy-duty jacket behind that. That jacket now has holes, so I changed it to a 2x6 piece of wood. The pellets sink halfway through the wood every time and stay together well enough to dig them out with a screwdriver.
LOADING:
The ammo is loaded into a gate or trough-like loading port that is removable so that you can use the included rotary magazine. This is my second and last issue with this air rifle. The loading port is held in place with a tiny magnet and will get knocked out nearly every time I load the pellets. If this loading trough was lost in the woods or the bushes as pigeons are “removed” from the neighborhood, the breach could still be accessed to load the gun.
AIR SYSTEM:
The compressed air that powers this mighty pellet gun is replaced by a simple bicycle pump in the onboard air chamber built into the gun. The filling adapter is supplied. The instructions say not to use a powered compressor due to an over-filling safety issue; the chamber only needs 100cc of volume and up to 38 psi.
NOISE & RECOIL:
I sighted this down the length of my shop. That was with the door closed and no hearing protection on. This gun is whisper-quiet until the pellet hits the 2x6, and then it sounds like a hammer. There is zero recoil felt when shooting the XM1, and it truly is a pleasure to shoot now that I have the scope issues worked out. Between the neighbor and I, if we can keep the adult children for taking it home when we are not looking, the pigeon population around here will be down to endangered soon.
Get it from Amazon now: $299.00 & FREE Returns
2. Stoeger XM1 Bullshark - Stoeger Air Gun for Pest Control
HIGHLIGHT:
A lot of power in a compact package.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS:
I cut the tape and opened the box, which was kind of heavy to hold an air rifle. Once I had it open and looked at the quality of the Bullshark I knew why it was heavy. This air rifle is .177 caliber and comes in a flat black finish. The Picatinny scope mount is installed and fixed in place and is long enough to mount just about any scope for this type of rifle. The package does not come with optics, and the Bullshark does not have an option for open iron sights.
STOCK:
The stock has options to change out to fit the shooter, which are included in the package. If the shooter has smaller hands, the grip quickly changes. The tools to perform the changeouts are included as well. The length-of-pull is very short. This is a bullpup-style air rifle after all, everything is made to be compact.
SCOPE AND MOUNTS:
The scope or optics mount is installed and will fit anything that sits on a Picatinny-style rail. I had a 1x power optic on the bench, so I figured why not just screw it on, and it worked perfectly. I also once upon a time bought a two-pack of laser “sights” for some pistol projects I was working on and attached one of those as well. The optic sighted in quickly, and the green dot reticle is my favorite when eliminating pigeons from the eaves of the house. The two-pack of lasers cost about seventeen bucks if I remember right, and there is a reason they were so cheap, they don’t adjust. The laser would be great for this compact pest control, so get a good one, that would allow a hip shot if you are not good at sneaking. If you're looking for a more serious optic for your Stoeger air rifle, I reviewed several budget rifle scopes that are both cheap and durable. My favorite is obviously the Vortex, but I have models by other brands reviewed on that list.
POWER:
I reviewed the full-size Stoeger XM1 in .22 caliber and was impressed with the power it offered; this air rifle is chambered in .177 and shoots faster but does not penetrate as deeply. I am sure the difference in penetrating my scientific test of shooting a 2x6 is due to the weight of the .177 pellets. The accuracy of the Bullshark is spot on and will shoot one ragged hole in the target, just like the longer barrel on the XM1. Be careful, though. The pellet will absolutely rid the area of pigeons, squirrels, and other pests, and it will also poke a hole in the soffit of the house if you miss. So, if you are shooting from an angle, make sure you know how to compensate, or you will be in the “doghouse” with me. The pellets will hit the 2x6 very hard and make a good divot but will not lodge deep into the wood. They do shoot right through the aluminum soffit, and when they travel through a pigeon, the soffit is safe.
LOADING:
The XM1 Bullshark does not have a feature to load ammo individually. The ammo must be loaded into the little rotating magazine. The magazine is held in the chamber area by tiny magnets, but it uses three of them and a retaining notch, I guess you would call it. The issue about losing the magazine is not as dire with the Bullshark when the loading rod is forward; the magazine is not going anywhere. The Bullshark comes with two magazines, and they hold ten pellets each. Loading the magazine took me the longest time to figure out. Read the directions twice, and don’t overthink it; that was my problem.
FEATURES:
The XM1 Bullshark comes with a couple of additional Picatinny rails to mount lights and other tacticool stuff to the air rifle; one mount has a place to hold the additional magazine. This magazine-holding nook thing is a good way to lose that magazine; I use my pocket. The little magazines are about the size of a quarter and about half an inch thick and weigh almost nothing. The Bullshark came with a compressed air gauge mounted on the end of the air chamber, very convenient to keep track of the charge. After shooting probably 65 pellets at all kinds of stuff, the gauge has not moved yet. All the air-fill adapters come in the box, and the air chamber is recharged with a bicycle pump. The directions warn about using an air compressor as the 100cc tank will overfill quickly and can damage the air gun.
COMPACT HANDLING:
My XM1 Bullshark is a favorite of mine, coming from a guy who does not like bullpup style. The compact nature of this little air rifle makes it easy to sneak around the yard and dispatch the vermin that need it, and for small-frame shooters, it is perfect. I shoot it in the garage to zero the scope and do not need earmuffs, and the Mrs. does not tell me it’s too loud when she is on the phone for work, so that is a good thing. The bolt is a straight pull lever on the right-hand side, so the left-handed crowd will need to make some shooting-style adaptations, but the pull is effortless and should be quick and easy to figure out. The Bullshark is small enough for children to shoot, but maybe too powerful to go without supervision.
Get it from Amazon now: $599.00 & FREE Returns
3. Stoeger S6000-E - Stoeger Air Gun for Target Practice
HIGHLIGHT:
Nearly silent outdoors shooting makes it the ultimate squirrel gun.
COCKING SYSTEM:
This single cock of the lever air gun is very serious business, and should not be taken lightly. The 22 caliber pellets scream downrange at 1200 fps; that is fast enough that the suppressor they built into the barrel actually has a job to do, not just look cool. This air gun is a true hunting rifle that does not qualify as, or is restricted as, a firearm.
RIFLE WEIGHT:
The first thing I will say right up front about this air gun is that it is heavy, so be ready. If you plan to carry this around all day, get a sling for it. The S6000-E punches in at 8.9 pounds, or get a wagon and pull it behind you; that was my first thought.
POLYMER STOCK:
So I need to get one thing off my chest before I talk about how amazing this air gun is: the stock is polymer and has a color name of 'hardwood'. I got all kinds of excited when I thought a hardwood stock pellet gun was on the way. The good part about the polymer stock is it will survive the standard abuse of kids and the way I used to treat the old Daisy BB Gun. Of course, this rifle is not child's play, but with the right training and mindset, it could go out into the woods and make a lot of memories for children and adults alike.
PELLET CALIBER:
The caliber is 22, and that really hammers the target, not only fast but heavy as pellets go. I can only imagine if this shot 25-caliber ammo, which may punch through the 2x6 stopping boards. The 177 pellets usually only dent the 2x6, but the 22 will bury halfway through it, so at least I don't worry about shooting the walls in my garage.
UNDERLEVER DESIGN:
Instead of the whole barrel being the lever to cock the gun, this one has an under-lug lever, so the barrel never shifts position. This would be the best choice for adding the included scope, but I just like shooting it with the fiber-optic open sights. For one, the fiber-optic inserts are amazing, and it just feels right to use the open sights.
SINGLE SHOT:
The drawback of this air gun is that it is a single-shot, like a break-action charger. This is the same design, just with a different charging handle. When the handle is cocked, the safety will move into position, the feeding tray will open, then drop in the pellet, push the tray closed, and it's ready to go.
ADJUSTABLE TRIGGER:
This air gun does come with an adjustable trigger, and if I used the included 4x power scope, that barrel will always be in the same place. This one would be a great contender for a target shooter. The hang-up with that over the PCP style guns is you have to move the entire air gun to charge it, and then go through the whole setting up to take the next shot. Now, for a new shooter, maybe going through all that setup again is a good thing; it will teach and reinforce all the basics.
STOCK GRIP:
One last thing about this package: it comes with a changeable grip for the stock. I left the checkered grip on the stock because I am old, and that's the way it should be. The other grip is an embossed unit that does look pretty cool, I will admit. The stock is also fitted with a recoil pad, and this air gun may actually have some felt recoil without it.
Get it from Amazon now: $239.00 & FREE Returns
4. Stoeger S4000-E - Stoeger Air Gun for Backyard Shooting
HIGHLIGHT:
Very powerful, so much so that it needs a suppressor.
TESTING APPROACH:
When I received the Stoeger airgun shipment for review, I had more than I could get to in a month. What a great problem to have. I sent this one with my neighbor to run through its paces and see if it worked as well as it should. From what I have heard from her, this thing has turned her away from a 22 firearm and into a 22 air rifle lover. I am not sure if that is actually a sin; I will have to research that transgression. I am going to talk about the reasons she gave me that report and whether it holds true for me when I took my turn shooting and reviewing the 4000.
INCLUDED SCOPE:
The optic that comes with it is a standard air rifle level 4 power scope. It works perfectly well when it comes to shooting in the backyard.
SUPPRESSOR PERFORMANCE:
Right out of the gate, the biggest thing she loved about this air gun was the lack of dirty ammo. When this air gun is fired, no cleaning fluid or oil cloud is produced, and the built-in suppressor makes shooting it even more enjoyable. The second thing she told me about shooting this rifle was the length of the stock; it fits like a real gun, not like the plastic toy BB guns from her youth. This air rifle actually has a recoil pad screwed to the buttstock. I don't think it needs one, but it makes holding this to her and my shoulder very comfortable.
BREAK ACTION:
The part she did not like was the barrel break to cock the pressure chamber; it's nearly a Bowflex workout to get that thing ready to shoot. The 4000 does not come with a magazine, so it is a single shooter, and that was just a mild or small issue for her, not that big of a deal to load the pellets after the workout to cock the gun. So I tried it myself, and she is right, that break action is stout, but doable, maybe not for youth, depending on strength and arm span. What I found so weird is the need to smack the barrel to open the action so I could cock it; that's not the new needing to be worn off, that is by design. Here is a nearly funny story, mostly because I was the guy not doing it right. I will review another one from this group with an under lug cocker handle in a few articles. After I pounded on that barrel for a few minutes and made zero progress, I read the directions and saw the simple drawing, and then I was back in the game. There are no videos of this left.
NOISE REDUCTION:
I also discovered something about this air gun: it has a silencer, and I thought that was for looks and price inflation. So I cocked it and shot it in the house, to see the air blast; it was loud. I did the same with another one, similar to this one, that didn't have the silencer, and that bugger made my ears ring for half an hour.
RIFLE APPEARANCE:
I would have never ordered one of these air guns in OD green; I don't like it, but when it is sent to ya, I deal with it. The color does grow on me a little. If I can get this rifle back from her, very unlikely, I will probably go nuts and make a tiger camo paint job on it, because I think that is cool, no other reason at all.
Get it from Amazon now: $239.00 & FREE Returns
5. Stoeger S3000-C - Stoeger Air Gun for Plinking
HIGHLIGHT:
Ideal for all-day shooting.
AIR RIFLE POWER:
I can list off the amazing parts and features of this air rifle for the next 500 words and still not cover how much fun this air gun is to shoot, but I am going to give it my best shot right now. The one thing I find most exciting about modern air rifles is the power they are capable of; I never thought I would see it. The hang up I have with the super powered air rifles is the need to have the specialty pumps, either powered or hand pumps, to recharge the pressure chamber.
ALL-DAY SHOOTING:
This rifle and others like it do not have that issue; they also don't have that much power. When I took this air gun to the field just up the street from my house, I must have spent the better part of two hours shooting the target I had into powder, then dirt clods, some trash that was left behind, and one lizard that had a bad day. I did all of that without having to worry about running short of air. I did use half a tin of pellets, so that much I can deal with.
RIFLE CONSTRUCTION:
This Stoeger is built like a tank, and by that I mean the barrel is steel, not fiberglass or composite, but actual steel. The stock is supposed to be a wood stock, but I am sure it's a composite that looks like wood. I did not chop my stock open to be sure, because I really like this little air gun. Being built like a tank is great for durability and abuse that I am sure will come soon from grandkids taking this on a secret squirrel-hunting expedition. The other tank feature this gun has is its weight; it's as heavy as my deer rifle, great for holding on target, but it makes an old guy's arms a bit tired.
BREAK ACTION:
The barrel break design is growing on me; I do like the massive power you can get with only one "pump," but that whole gun-moving thing is taking me some time to adapt to. The 800 fps it can generate isn't taking long to get used to; dang, this thing hits hard for a pellet gun. The literature states about 660 fps for lead pellets and 810 fps for alloy pellets. I am not going to chrono a pellet gun, but I can tell you from field experience (yes, I meant that pun) this thing has no mercy on targets.
LOADING PROCESS:
The break-action barrel opens the breech, the pellet is placed in there, then the barrel is closed. Very simple and single-action, so marksmanship becomes the value over firepower. I have not found many pellet magazines that I have faith in, anyway, so I prefer single shots, and somewhere in the sagebrush of Utah sit a couple of the revolver magazines waiting for future generations to discover.
CROSS-BOLT SAFETY:
The safety is a cross-bolt safety button of sorts that activates when the barrel breaks, and has to be placed into the firing position to shoot, obviously. This is done by the shooter's thumb of the firing hand, which makes this air rifle fully ambidextrous and ready for either-handed shooters.
FIBER-OPTIC SIGHTS:
The final thing I will mention are the amazing fiber-optic sights that come stock. Mine came with the 4x scope, but I did not use it, as this little air gun begs to be old school. I can say the scope is clear and would be amazing on this rifle; I think it's more suited for open sights. Stoeger also included a buttpad for recoil. I have not shot one of these without the recoil pad, so I don't know if it actually needs that, but it's a nice feature.
Get it from Amazon now: $179.00 & FREE Returns
