First off, this forum is for "Gun Owners" so no flaming me for adding an air rifle to my collection. Guns are tools and I wanted a different kind of tool to add to my collection. That said, on with my review.
The gun is a PCP (pre-charged pneumatic) air rifle. You fill it to 3000psi with a high pressure hand hump or an alternate high pressure air source such as a SCUBA tank of carbon fiber SCBA 4500psi air tank. (like fire fighters use) This likely turns off a lot of people and admittedly was something I was worried about. However, I've found that pumping from 2000psi to 3000psi takes only about 3-4 mins of slow deliberate pumping with a 1 second pause at the top and bottom of each stroke.
The gun's power band is from 3000psi to 2000psi, where each shot is about the same FPS. (around 850-900FPS). Shooting a 27.8 grain pellet at 850FPS will yield Muzzle Energy = 44.61 foot-pounds. It only takes 8 foot-pounds to dispatch small game, so this thing has some killer power. You can get even heavier pellets if you need to.
I spent most of the weekend shooting at targets and pennies stuck to 3/4" plywood. @ 25 yards the pellets would slice through the wood like butter and completely smash the cinder block I had used to prop it up. The cinder block was actually being broken by the pellets. The gun was also accurate enough that I was able to smack 3 out of 3 pennies and nearly achieved complete penetration. There is no doubt this will be an excellent short range varmint rifle. This thing is definitely NOT a toy!
Did I mention how quiet it is? The loudest sound you hear while shooting it, will be the pellet hitting the target. The barrel has 3 baffles and is fully shrouded. This is the best way to get backyard trigger time without pissing off your neighbors or breaking the law. (these aren't classified as guns remember, no laws, and no paperwork)
The barrels on the .25 cal models are made by Green Mountain, so you know they are good stuff. I shot an 8-shot .5 inch group at 25yrds. For most this may not be impressive, but this is a pellet gun... Not many pellet guns can do that. The nature of pellets and having occasional "flyers" is commonly accepted among the air gunning community. With this kind of accuracy and power, I'd have no reservations about dispatching something as large as a coyote within a reasonable distance. The gun's effective range is about 75 yards. After 75 yards you lose too much power and it would not be ethical to shoot anything but a target.
If you are looking for an excellent and virtually silent solution to pests and coyote sized game, this is the solution for you. Yes, it costs a considerable amount more than a .22, and yes, some .22 ammo is quiet, but not like this. To match this rifle in level of quiet you'd need to spend the extra money on a suppressor and shoot sub-sonics in a .22. As I said before, this is a different tool.
I'm super stoked to hit squirrel season in full force. My plan is to take my 10mo old retriever with me. I think this will be a good way to introduce him to hunting without making him gun shy right off the bat.
I'm posting this in hopes more of you guys will get into PCP air guns. The ammo is cheaper and the fun is endless. Some of the big bore air rifles have serious power and can take big game such as deer, elk, and even buffalo. Some sates have already changed their laws to allow big bore air rifle hunting on deer. Indiana only allows air rifles for small game. I'd like to see that change.
The notion of hunting deer with an air gun is not ludicrous and is very real:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcEUALgFdac
Image of my rig posted below:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8WkiLDT-3nNMWR5SnJoOUgzVkE
The gun is a PCP (pre-charged pneumatic) air rifle. You fill it to 3000psi with a high pressure hand hump or an alternate high pressure air source such as a SCUBA tank of carbon fiber SCBA 4500psi air tank. (like fire fighters use) This likely turns off a lot of people and admittedly was something I was worried about. However, I've found that pumping from 2000psi to 3000psi takes only about 3-4 mins of slow deliberate pumping with a 1 second pause at the top and bottom of each stroke.
The gun's power band is from 3000psi to 2000psi, where each shot is about the same FPS. (around 850-900FPS). Shooting a 27.8 grain pellet at 850FPS will yield Muzzle Energy = 44.61 foot-pounds. It only takes 8 foot-pounds to dispatch small game, so this thing has some killer power. You can get even heavier pellets if you need to.
I spent most of the weekend shooting at targets and pennies stuck to 3/4" plywood. @ 25 yards the pellets would slice through the wood like butter and completely smash the cinder block I had used to prop it up. The cinder block was actually being broken by the pellets. The gun was also accurate enough that I was able to smack 3 out of 3 pennies and nearly achieved complete penetration. There is no doubt this will be an excellent short range varmint rifle. This thing is definitely NOT a toy!
Did I mention how quiet it is? The loudest sound you hear while shooting it, will be the pellet hitting the target. The barrel has 3 baffles and is fully shrouded. This is the best way to get backyard trigger time without pissing off your neighbors or breaking the law. (these aren't classified as guns remember, no laws, and no paperwork)
The barrels on the .25 cal models are made by Green Mountain, so you know they are good stuff. I shot an 8-shot .5 inch group at 25yrds. For most this may not be impressive, but this is a pellet gun... Not many pellet guns can do that. The nature of pellets and having occasional "flyers" is commonly accepted among the air gunning community. With this kind of accuracy and power, I'd have no reservations about dispatching something as large as a coyote within a reasonable distance. The gun's effective range is about 75 yards. After 75 yards you lose too much power and it would not be ethical to shoot anything but a target.
If you are looking for an excellent and virtually silent solution to pests and coyote sized game, this is the solution for you. Yes, it costs a considerable amount more than a .22, and yes, some .22 ammo is quiet, but not like this. To match this rifle in level of quiet you'd need to spend the extra money on a suppressor and shoot sub-sonics in a .22. As I said before, this is a different tool.
I'm super stoked to hit squirrel season in full force. My plan is to take my 10mo old retriever with me. I think this will be a good way to introduce him to hunting without making him gun shy right off the bat.
I'm posting this in hopes more of you guys will get into PCP air guns. The ammo is cheaper and the fun is endless. Some of the big bore air rifles have serious power and can take big game such as deer, elk, and even buffalo. Some sates have already changed their laws to allow big bore air rifle hunting on deer. Indiana only allows air rifles for small game. I'd like to see that change.
The notion of hunting deer with an air gun is not ludicrous and is very real:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcEUALgFdac
Image of my rig posted below:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B8WkiLDT-3nNMWR5SnJoOUgzVkE
