Re: Training AIR rifles?
You bet... I shoot my EDgun Matador almost every day of the week and in the last 14 months of owning it I have used it more than any of my rimfires or centerfires. I use it primarily for varmint & critter control out in the orchard from typically 50-130 yards or so. it's been one heck of a learning experience because of the inherent and unforgiving ballistics of pellets (you need to be spot-on with your range & wind reading) and the lock time & pellet travel time makes follow though critical. Every little mistake is magnified even moreso than a rimfire. My Matador wears an FFP mil/mil scope just like all my other rifles. Great practical training because critter control is never a set range, position, or condition. I shoot quite a bit of targets with it too (dots & groups from varied positions.)
Fantastically accurate, lots of critter stopping power for an air rifle (32 ft/lbs), and plenty of shots on a fill (68-70 shots.) Great balance, nice and compact to lug around in a vehicle. It looks uncomfortable but because of the excellent balance it handles very well in prone/sitting/kneeling/offhand.
However, if I was buying a rifle strictly for training purposes and exclusively punching paper & targets I would get something with substantially less muzzle energy that can deliver more shots on a fill. Something like a Daystate Airwolf MCT in .22 set in "low power" mode for punching paper. At the 12 ft/lb setting the Airwolf will manage about 400 shots on a single fill. You can also crank it up to 40 ft/lbs for hunting smaller critters.
I nearly purchased an Airwolf but the EDgun's small bullpup size makes it so much handier than a standard rifle when getting in and out of a vehicle frequently for critter control.
The Airwolf, while very easy on air supply and amazingly consistent because of the electronically metered valving system also has some drawbacks because of that. Namely some reports of bad boards, defective battery packs, short life from the battery pack reported by some users, or owners just forgetting to charge it prior to shooting.
You can always sacrifice a little air use and velocity consistency by losing the electronics and getting an Air Ranger which is all-mechanical and will still manage about 300 shots per fill at 12 ft/lbs. Still a great rifle.
If you don't want to drop that much money (a lot of people have a heart attack when they find out there are air rifles that cost more than $150 at Big 5, not to mention the ones with 4-digit plus price tags) a Benjamin Marauder would do a fine job too-- even moreso after you send it to Mac-1 airguns for a tuneup (or just buy one direct from them already tuned, $550 I think.) A tuned Marauder is a damn good air rifle.
There are plenty of other great air rifles out there that would do what you have in mind but I only have experience with Daystate, EDgun, Theoben, Benjamin, and AirForce... oh, and my old Crosman 760 pumpmaster I got for Christmas when I was 7 but that doesn't really count.
Here's my EDgun...
