What PCP air rifle should i get ?

[pumbaa]

I am looking at getting back into Air rifle shooting . I fancy getting a pre charged pneumatic , but am unsure what would be a good buy .
I will probabley do a bit of target shooting aswell as rabbit etc. so am looking for a good accurate rifle . Any ideas ?
cheers
Pumbaa

 

[Ogri the trog]

Hi Pumbaa,
Take a trip over to Airgunbbs, plenty of good people on there too. Your question has been asked many times over with the advantage that members sell on their airguns when they trade up on equipment - so there are good bargains to be had.
There is an eternal arguement over the .177/.22 debate - have a browse, I'm sure you'll come away enlightened.

ATB

Ogri the trog

 

[pumbaa]

Cheers Ogri

 

[rapidboy]

The answer is ............ Rapid

All you ever wanted to know and more http://www.britishblades.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5829
rb

 

[Martyn]

Been looking myself for some time. It seems like the favorites are....

• Theoben - any of the Rapid range.
• Daystate - either the Harrier x2 or the Daystate Mk3
• AirArms - s400 or s410 range

Prices on the above range from about £350 to £1000 depending on extras and stuff. All of em seem to come very highly regarded and all are said to "shoot better than the owner".

As for calibre, the clever money seems to be moving towards .177 and away from .22 - the hunters as well, not just the target shooters.

Scopes are expensive too - budget for at least £100 for a cheap, but acceptable scope and mounts - up to £500 or more for a good scope.

Best buy seems to be:
Try to find a good condition, secondhand AirArms s410 classic fitted with a half decent scope and mounts.

 

[rapidboy]

I recently bought a wee S410 carbine.
Second hand but you can't tell as it's mint with less than a tin of pellets through it c/w a new Simmons 44 mag scope and a nice padded case for £280 (a new 44 mag is worth £270 on it's own) - so as Martyn say's second hand is probably the best way to go.
Loads of guns out there but best to stick with something proven and easy to sell on.
Best advice is to go along to your local FT club and talk to shooters ,99.9% will insist you try out their gun and you will soon find what type ,weight ,style of gun suits you.
Seriously ,FT shooters are usually good guy's and more than happy to give someone a shot or some advice.
I shoot quite a bit so if you have any questions ask away on here or by PM and i will do my best to help.

Cheers
rb

 

[pumbaa]

Cheers , there is a field target club near me (but i haven't managed to get an answer on the phone no. and there site is unavailable).
But what exactly is field target shooting ? Its not a term i have heard before and wondered what to expect !
Cheers
Pumbaa

 

[rapidboy]

Cheers , there is a field target club near me (but i haven't managed to get an answer on the phone no. and there site is unavailable).
But what exactly is field target shooting ? Its not a term i have heard before and wondered what to expect !
Cheers
Pumbaa

FT is about spending a small fortune on the latest high tech shooting equipment and then walking around saying "how the #### did i miss that ???"
Or maybe it just seems like that sometimes!

It started out as a hunting simulation / fun shoot and has evolved into a highly competitive sport.
If anyone is interested in seeing it at it's best then the World Championships are being held in England this year at the Midland Game Fair in September.
It involves shooting at steel knock down targets (animal silhouette's) that fall flat when the "kill" zone is hit.
Kill zones are 25 mm and 40mm and targets can be up to 55 yards away from the shooter.

rb

 

[marcja]

I've since sold mine to the other halfs's father, with the option to buy back whenever i want.

It was a Theoben Rapid 7 Mk1 with the TASCO Predator Mil-Dot sights (I forget what size..but they were the bigger size).

Not much help to you I know but I really enjoyed it's company so I thought it well worth a mention

 

[Goose]

It involves shooting at steel knock down targets (animal silhouette's) that fall flat when the "kill" zone is hit.
Kill zones are 25 mm and 40mm and targets can be up to 55 yards away from the shooter.

CQBR with rabbits!

 

[rapidboy]

Field Target / Hunter Field Target club's are also used by many as a means of keeping their eye in for hunting rather than for serious competition.

Single shot rifles in .177 reign supreme for the target disciplines but multishots are nice (but not essential) for hunting and the calibre debate continues.

A multishot PCP allows a quick second shot - anyone who believes that 1 shot is all you ever need is only fooling themselves and a quick second shot often prevents a wounded rabbit getting back to cover.

Pumbaa this is not aimed at you as you say that you are returning to airgun shooting but others who read this thread who are not shooters should realise that the goal should always be to dispatch the quarry as quickly and humanely as possible.
You should not buy a gun and head straight for the fields - instead spend a lot of time familiarising yourself with it and it's trajectory.
I can assure you it's horrible listening to a wounded rabbit squealing just out of reach in it's burrow.
You should not hunt until you can hit a 40mm steel kill zone every time at your intended killing distance.
Once you start missing a 40mm paper or steel target you know that this is beyond the range at which you should hunt.

Modern PCP airguns are very capable of putting food on the table and i choose to hunt with airguns rather than my .22 rimfire and my shotguns on almost all occasions.

rb

 

[Snufkin]

Sound advice from Rapidboy.
And don't forget .20 calibre

 

[pumbaa]

Cheers , going to a ft meet tommorrow morning , so should get to try a few out .
Pumbaa

 

[Spacemonkey]

"FT is about spending a small fortune on the latest high tech shooting equipment and then walking around saying "how the #### did i miss that ???"
Or maybe it just seems like that sometimes!"

Now that's the best description I've heard about FT ever! I think that nowadays you can't really go wrong with any of the top brands PCP's, and shouldn't need to spend a fortune on a scope either. Like all shooting sports, it's about correct tecnique and practice.

 

[Buckshot]

I took my son to a 'BASC Young shots' day on Saturday. They did a little of all sorts of stuff. Corse and fly fishing (Michael managed to tangle the line around the tutor and himself!), decoying (pigeon and goose) and camo/ concealment, Falcony (he held an Eagle owl and a Harris Hawk), shotgun, air rifle, meet the hounds (from the local fox pack) and they even had a demo of a punt gun
Anyway, I was talking to the chap teaching airguns, very nice bloke (let me have a go - they were using Airarms S410's) turns out he's won more FT comps than I've had hot dinners ! World FT champ TWICE !!! - and he's teaching my son. I'd better watch out
He's reteired now and unfortunately I didn't get his name but really nice people.
Excellent day!

Cheers

Mark

 

[Buckshot]

Oh btw Pumbaa, good question

 

[flibb]

I have one of these Falcon raptor lighthunter (think thats its full name). It has an 8 shot magazine is bolt operated, purchased about 5-6 years ago, and is still my favourite bit of kit. My one has a silencer and bipod, the scope I use is a simmons whitetail classic 3.5-10 X 50. Really good bit of optics, comes in to its own in low light and lamping.

Still remember the first time I shot her, we had a 30m range cobbled together at my parents. It had a series of pulleys attached to the washing line posts, and suspended targets on a length of string which could be moved up and down the garden, was areally good system and great fun. Anway setup a workbench as a rest and a chair and proceded to put 2 mags through the same hole. Problem with PCP rifles is that they remove many of the excuses for missing.

Before that I had a HW80, but I also had a full custom Venom HW80 on long term loan, think this was possibly the best springer I have ever shot.

 

[flibb]

Also echo what others have said, have a play with some before buying. As with all guns fit is essential, bad fit will make your life very difficult. Airgunbbs is very good for finding clubs near you, or you could ask if anybody knows of a shop with a range in your area.

 

[MartiniDave]

I've always had good results with my air arms s400 in .177, but I still enjoy getting out with my 25 yr old fwb Sport, a true classic springer if ever there was one. With a pcp remember to factor in the cost of getting air into it, be it a pump or a dive bottle.

With the poularity of pcp, there are some very good deals to be had on tasty second hand springers.

Handle as many different rifles as possible and get what YOU like and feel happy with.

Enjoy the sport

Dave

 

[Ed W]

I'm also having this problem of which pcp to get. I've got a spring gun and had a lot of practise with that at the local ft range and I've had a go with a couple of pcp's. So I don't know whether to get a air arms s410 or a logun axsor or gemini. If anyone has any experience with any of these I'd be very gratefull of the information and I'm open to other suggestions but I don't really want to spend over £400.

Does anyone know of a good place to get second hand pcp's from? I see rapid boy got a good deal on his S410.

Thanks