Good Out of the Box Shooters (PCPs) - Share Your Experiences

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Ezana4CE

Ezana4CE

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Jan 15, 2021
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Texas, United States
After reading many threads where members ask questions seeking advice concerning which gun to purchase for hunting/pesting, a first PCP for backyard plinking, or wanting to tryout benchrest styled shooting I saw several posts where tinkerers, competitors, and mechanically inclined members are advising Rick Fat Thumb, Mr. Cubicle, and Joe Hammerfist to purchase their favorite first tinkerers’ toy. So it dawned on me this morning to search for a thread listing and detailing members’ experiences with good “out of the box shooters.” I didn’t find much in a quick search, so I felt compelled to create a thread for it.

In the context of this thread a good “out of the box shooter” should be a gun that is relatively easy to setup for a person completely new to PCP airguns, shoots with consistent accuracy, and maintains the potential for relatively reliable precision once the shooter learns what it takes to shoot more precisely. Considering that this is a thread that will likely benefit more people new to air gunning, let’s aim to keep the cost for rifles under $1200 and air pistols under $600. The suggested guns should meet the following criteria:

  1. The guns must be PCP airguns.
  2. After unboxing, affixing an optic or sights, maybe giving the barrel a decent cleaning to remove most of the manufacturer’s grease, gassing up, and sighting in your scope (if applicable), the gun should shoot accurately and relatively consistently within a reasonable distance for its build out of the box. This entails something like 10 yards for pistols, 25 -35 yards for low-powered compact carbines and bullpups (maybe < 20-25fpe), and 50 yards for moderately priced entry level and budget rifles on up into up into the lower middle-tiered PCPs. It should do this without having to be tuned by a distributor or gunsmith.
  3. It may be regulated or unregulated.
  4. It should be a gun built to last more than a year without the accuracy being compromised. Maybe share with us how it has held up after a year or two.
Other things that may be helpful-
  • Guns you’ve had your eye on for a while are great, but guns you have experience with are preferred.
  • Specify what the gun’s strengths and weaknesses are. Are there known issues or problematic parts?
  • Suggest what you believe good primary and secondary uses are (e.g. a good pesting tool for animals “xxx” size to “zzz” size, good basement paper target puncher, etc).
  • Be sure to discuss the sound level and weight.
  • Finally, parts and diagrams should be relatively easy to access.
 
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The Air Arms S500/S510 has to be on this list. Pyramyd Air has the S500 XS Xtra (regulated full length rifle) for $1200. Refurbed Ultimate Sporters go for $999.

Build quality is second to none, butter smooth action, and outstanding out of the box performance. I power-tuned my S510 but left my .22 S500 bone stock cause it was perfect. JSB 18.1s at 890 for ~70 shots. After a year and a half it still performs perfectly. My S400's are both ~20 years old and still perform excellently with very little maintenance.

The weakness of these guns is that they are difficult to tune. Hence, why they are among the best out of the box shooters. AA puts an awesome factory tune on these.

On the lower end of the budget spectrum, I've always liked the Turkish guns.
 
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Good post Dave. You know me, the "poster child" for the FX ROYALE/BOSS/BOBCAT platform. From day one til now I'm still amazed by the accuracy & dependability each of these guns exhibit time after time, year after year, EVERY single time I need them to perform. I really only hunt & paper punching is just for zeroing (which they all hold to an amazing degree) & it's not at all surprising to put my zeroing shots through the same hole at 50 yards. Cleaning & maintenance is the absolute minimum, usually once or twice a YEAR at most. The Bobcat (.22) & Royale 500 (.25) are amazingly quiet without added suppression. The Boss (.30) has a bit more bark, though I wouldn't say it's loud, & if needed I use my Donny Ronin on any or all of them. I think they each weigh in at under 8 lbs out of the box (Bobcat MIGHT be more). The traditional rifle styling of the Boss & Royale are surprisingly easy for me, at 70, to move around out in the field & the compactness of the Bobcat even more so. They are limited to PELLETS ONLY but that's not necessarily a negative as the Original Smooth Twist barrels are some of, if not THE most accurate pellet barrels ever made! My personal best is 178 yards with the Boss & I routinely make 100+ yard kills with the others.
For me, EVERY BOX GETS CHECKED with these guns. Had I the money I'd love to have a Taipan, Cricket, AGT Vulcan, etc (guns with the same reliability/accuracy factor) but I'm thrilled to be the proud owner of mine!!!
EDIT: I guess I missed the $1200 limit. My Royale 500 is the only gun I bought new at $1699. Got the Boss used for $1,000 & the Bobcat was a gift from a friend! (Forever grateful to Socaloldman-Nick). Hope those 2 still count!

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I bought an FX Wildcat over 5 years ago. I took it out of the box, put on a scope and sighted it in. Spot on accurate and since that time I have never even needed to clean the barrel. I've let it sit sometimes for a month or so, take it out to shoot and it's still right on the mark.
 
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Brocock Bantam .25 Cal. Filled it up, and it shot well. Until it fell off the table, but it's back to shooting well. Thanks AoA. All in at less than $1,000.
Than I bought a Red Wolf .22 HP, had some issues, mostly because I didn't shoot it for two years. I'll know if they are sorted hopefully this week
Than I bought a Brocock Sniper XR .25 cal, shoots amazing, and on sale at AoA.
 
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My best out of box PCP was the original FX Wildcat and the worst out of box PCP was my FX Impact 2 power plenum. My experience indicates the more adjustable the PCP, the lower the out of box experience. It seems manufactures do not take the time to put a good initial tune on fully adjustable PCPs. The ultimate experience may be great if the buyer is capable of tuning the adjustable PCP but it takes time and experience to get most out of an adjustable PCP.

The best out of box PCP that I have recently purchased is my Weihrauch HW100 carbine. All I did with the HW100 was mount a scope, load some JSB 10.3gr .177 pellets and sight in the scope. Very accurate out of the box. The HW100 barely meets the $1200 requirement limit but is the PCP I would recommend if a newbe was looking for the best quality, out of box experience in a carbine that would also last for a long time. No experience with bullpups under $1200 in today's money.
 
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My experience has been a little different. I’ve bought more guns used than new. For me the .357 Benjamin Bulldog has been reliable out of the box to the point that it was my first PCP and I now own several. Stock out of the box this thing is accurate and shoots relatively flat out to around 45-50 yards. It is unregulated and fills to a maximum pressure of 3000 psi. It’s good to have a carbon fiber SCBA tank or a compressor to pair with with this rifle. I can get 10 good shots from a fill which is two magazines. I know how to push it to 15 shots using holdovers shooting 81 grain JSB Diabolo pellets. I have also shot Nosler Extreme slugs and NSA 110 grain hollow tip slugs well with it. I’ve stacked pellets out to around 40-45 yards. When I say “stacked pellets” I mean the first two or three pellets are lodged into the wooden backstop and the following pellets will smash into them, fragment, and sometimes ricochet back through the front of the target. I can do this shooting from laying prone with the front bipod that came in the package. It came with a nylon case, sling, one magazine, a cheap bipod, CenterPoint scope, and a box of slugs for $999. Now I think they go for just under $1200 for the same package.

It is not backyard friendly even with a fairly long Donny FL Emperor moderator. But it will tame the bark some. The gun is easy to work on the main two things I would suggest adding are a depinger and barrel supports. I’ve used a Pitbull Airguns and Hill depinger. It’s pricier, but I prefer the Hill. Both take a lot of the twang out of the shots. I suggest adding barrel supports to help keep your accuracy consistent. The barrel can move and vibrate inside of the shroud as this gun produces a good amount of power. I’ve used barrel supports from Pitbull Airguns and Veradium Air. Both have worked for me in helping to keep my shots accurate. The Veradium Air barrel supports are much better quality, but I don’t know if @bthurman sells them separately.

As for weight the gun, it is well balanced and light enough to tote through the woods using a sling. It’s hollow plastic clamshell stock makes light enough to carry and shoot off-hand for a man in moderate physical shape. If you can shoot a .22 LR you’ll be fine with a Bulldog. I haven’t encountered any faulty parts that I can recall. BUT I do suggest looking into a steel cocking lever. The stock one can bend or break especially if you install a heavier hammer spring. Pitbull Airguns sells them for a reasonable price. I’m not a fan of the plastic safety or the noise that the clamshell plastic stock can makes when it creaks in the night. While hunting on a coyote stand when I grab the grip firmly to hold, to shoulder the rifle, or scan with my scope it makes unnecessary noise when the environment is pretty still and can give away my position. It’s a good hunting gun for medium sized varmints and game (e.g. raccoon, skunks, possum, ground hogs, coyotes, bobcats, wild hogs). I haven’t hunted any deer yet but I’ve seen others do it. I’m also getting into shooting airbolts (arrows) with the .357 Bulldog which is another plus. I have no experience with the .457 Bulldog.

In the photo below is a stock Benjamin Bulldog. I think I bought the scope rings and riser rail separately. Everything else in the photo came in the package plus a pretty nice soft nylon case. I bought it from Airgun Depot.
6FCE7841-205A-43C6-8AA2-50D9A312440D.jpeg
 
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The Taipan veteran hands down,

Its a PCP that is good right out of the box. Will shoot a multitude of pellets well. Reliable. And Boring. By boring I mean reliable, and by reliable I mean boring. It will literally do the same thing every single time you pull it out of whatever it is its stored in whether it be the box from new, the gun case, whatever, they just work.
 
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I refurb and sell PCPs in the San Diego area, mostly to horse ranchers in the Descanso area east of San Diego. I've had the best luck with:
.22 FX Streamline
.22 Cricket (bull pup or carbine)
.22 Daystate Renegade
All three of these guns I've bought used, refurbed and sold, with zero issues over the past three or four years. All are very reliable and when tuned to shoot the JSB 18.1 pellets at about 875 fps are super accurate. Clean the barrel once a year with a couple of patches is all that's required. Of the three (all are very good), the most reliable and easiest to maintain is the Daystate. Change out the 9v battery once a year is all that's required. No regulator to leak or creep. But I haven't had issues with regulators failing or leaking with the other two.
None of these were over $900 when I bought them, and all of them were under $1200 when I sold them.
 
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Agreed. Air rifles, today, should be accurate and reliable when we receive them from the manufacturer.

Two that have been like that, for me, are the Daystate RedWolf (the first one, in .22) and the Daystate Huntsman Revere-R (in 177)

I have absolutely no desire to "fix" something that was broken before I bought it; especially at the price air rifles are going for, today.

If enough air-gunners demanded the same, we would see the end of the unreliable "cr@p" being sold on the market.
 
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Hands down my AAA Evol standard, straight from the factory it shoots well without touching a thing. This rifle has been drowned in chlorine, dragged behind my Jeep, run over three times, thrown off a 200' cliff and still shoots great. Nothing on the market has that kind of proven performance or durability.

Screenshot_20220809-113350~2.png
 
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Crosman999 said:
Hands down my AAA Evol standard, straight from the factory it shoots well without touching a thing. This rifle has been drowned in chlorine, dragged behind my Jeep, run over three times, thrown off a 200' cliff and still shoots great. Nothing on the market has that kind of proven performance or durability.

View attachment 281909
Click to expand...


We gotta get you to do an endurance test on a taipan !!!!!!

Also im envious of your evol
 
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I have 5 PCPs now but three are P35s in each caliber offered. The only one I did not mess with the trigger on is my Prod. It may have the best trigger and I've not touched it. I've also retuned it to add power and built a different stock for it. But right out of the box it shot well and I could have just left it alone.

I consider my Avenger to not be overly needy but I did not like it's trigger until I put in a new sear screw and adjusted the trigger. The hammer spring was also not well set for it's regulator setting if I remember right. But that stuff is fun. My most accurate PCP, a P35 in 22, is the only regulated gun that did have the hammer spring reasonably balanced for the regulator setting. It shoots amazingly well for a less than $500 gun.

I did sent my Avenger back for a leak so that is probably also disqualifying. My 3 P35s needed tweaked but shot OK right out of the box. The hammer spring was a bit high but the 177 and 22 did not shoot smaller groups when I adjusted it (which the 22 did not really need, the 177 was WAY too high). I see a gun needing something to function (like the Avenger leak) differently than me wanting to change something because I don't like it (trigger pull on all but the Prod). PCPs would not be nearly as much fun if I could not tweak things to make them better (at least in my mind).
 
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