…but, I mean, most of us do, right? So hear me out.
Had my eye on a BRK Sniper Magnum with the laminate stock in .22 for a few months but haven’t had any luck finding a used one and really can’t justify a nee one. I’ve almost jumped on a few other Snipers with synthetic stocks but haven’t yet.
In the meantime, I picked up a Lelya 2.0. It was a semi-impulse purchase as I was still looking for that BRK, but I’ve known of EDgun and the Lelya for a few years and always thought they were cool so I got it. I’ve only shot it a handful of times so far as life’s thrown our family several significant challenges in the past month and I simply haven’t had time. And time without any shooting is the enemy because then I troll the forums, including the classifieds (see where I’m going here?)…
Enter the EDgun Matador R3. I’ve been watching a ton of videos on EDgun and have come to appreciate their overall simplicity and ease of maintenance, as well as their robust nature and unique Russian styling. There was an R3 in .30 here that I failed to jump on due to the aforementioned craziness in life, but I now have a line on an R3 in .22 and an R3M in .25 (both standard length) at what I think is a decent price. But I wanted to check in here first, so I have a few questions:
1) Current value in R3s seems to hover around the $900-1000 mark depending on a few things (condition, optic, etc.). Does that seem correct?
2) The .25 M models seem less valued as the mag advancement pawl is often the wrong one and you have to manually advance the mag or risk shaving pellets. Was a fix ever released, or am I stuck manually advancing the mag if “mine” is an earlier model with problems?
3) For those who’ve owned both an EDgun R3 and a BRK Sniper, which did/do you prefer and why?
4) Anything in particular I should be looking out for on the EDs? I know the .30s needed the 3mm valve stem, but does that hold true for the .22s and .25s?
5) Has anyone had luck shooting heavies/MRDs from the R3? I seem to recall reading somewhere that Ed used a tighter 1:16 LW barrel that should help with heavies, but I can’t seem to find it again to confirm.
Uses include hunting out to ~100y and target shooting/plinking out to ~150y. I value rugged simplicity, reliability, and no zero drift. I want to be able to pick the gun up and go shoot once it’s tuned and zeroed.
If I can secure the deal on these, then the BRK will have to be on hold for awhile. I still very much want one, but the R3s seem like classics with easy maintenance and I really like how they look, so if their performance matches my needs then I’ll be OK waiting a bit. Am I crazy for wanting these older PCPs over a newer BRK? And based on my questions, am I expecting too much from them? Thanks!