.177 air pistols are best for plinking. Seriously, a lot cheaper, more accurate, and overall great for that kind of stuff.
You can get "serious" air pistols like they use in the olympics like this one:
http://accurateshooter.net/Blog/anschutzair02.jpg (be warned these get pretty expensive if you go to "Olympic grade" levels)
or you can get something for fun like these ones:
http://www.dlairgun.com/Air-Pistols.html (they will shoot a .177 cal pellet at around 495-500 FPS (any higher and you will need a PAL)).