AEA AEA purchase?

My advice would be to not get any semi auto AEA airgun. For this brand I would go for the simplest gun with the lowest power that will work for you. I don’t know how good their regulators are, but that seems like a questionable proposition so unregulated as well.

And be prepared for the possibility that you will have to replace parts a little more often than with your typical airgun. Do a little research and buy spares of the parts that are known to fail so you don’t have down time.

Others have had much better luck than me, but for me, it was 90% down time for the year I tried this platform.

If I knew what I now know I would avoid AEA air guns.
They are ridiculously expensive for what they offer (which is not much).

I have owned 2 AEAs:
-AEA Challenger Pro .22 caliber
-AEA HP SS semiauto

They have some of the worst triggers I have seen.

The AEA HP semiauto is the most unreliable airgun I have ever owned.
The semiauto just does not work reliably, so I converted mine to bolt action.

The magazines are absolute junk.
I spent 20 minutes on each magazine to get them to work.

I have spent the past few days (many shot strings) trying to tune the AEA HP SS.
I tried a weaker/stronger hammer spring, a stronger valve spring, various transfer port settings, etc.
I still cannot get 3 magazines (36 shots) with acceptable spread of less than 50 fps.

So, AEA can go and !#@$@$@

Look into FX or BRK/Brocock, The Crown or XR Sniper Magnum , both are accurate and reliable.

OK,
No skin in the game for AEA or Hatsan, however, after 3 years on this forum, both get more bad press than other brands, by far. Just something to consider. WM

I used to own an AEA airgun. Every bad thing you've heard about them in this thread is true.

Looking into FX or Brocock would be a good starting point.

I try not to get involved in bashing gun brands but, there are other excellent China made guns far cheaper than AEA....

I have 2 Challengers, and I think the build quality and design is actually pretty great for a budget pcp. The weak point is the mags and the trigger. There are lots of owner reports of issues with the more expensive models, but I think the Challenger Bullpup is a pretty good first bench pcp option. Its not the option I would suggest you start with though. I like to recommend the Gamo Urban or Coyote. They are a little underpowered compared to some newer pcps but they have a long proven history for accuracy and long term reliability. They have enough performance to take out squirrels at about ~60yds if you can keep up. Here is the cheapest online retailer I trust:

" I want to shoot targets off front porch and maybe some squirrel/small varmit hunting. "

Why go for a PCP? You need to charge a PCP. That would require extra stuff = extra money.

For your purpose you might consider a Weihrauch HW 77 in .22 . Comes with iron sights, adding a scope is possible.

I love my kral empire xs. Well put together from top to bottom as far as I can tell.

MrP said:

I love my kral empire xs. Well put together from top to bottom as far as I can tell.

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Sure, that is why Kral is in the top 1 of the " 2nd hand " listing all around the globe. Do not buy a Kral, they are a Turkish company with no QC whatsoever.

They are sh*t. For the same money I would recommend Snowpeak. Yes, it it is Chinese but QC is great as is the value for money.

If the wife is on board with this hobby Id skip the budget options all together. You can get an FX Wildcat BT, Arken Scope, and a decent compressor for about $3k. A side lever action is going to be the easiest to cycle, something else to keep in mind. Some of the rear bolt action, or break barrels can be challenging for some people to use.

okjoek said:

Thank you everyone for the information, I knew this was going to be a good forum. While I am going to check each of these companies you have suggested please don't stop with the thoughts and suggestions.

I was actually thinking of the HW 97, same gun as the HW 77 but with scope, I'm 70 and the eyes need a little help. I didn't really know anything about the PCP system and the AEA looked cool so I thought maybe I should go that route. My wife wants to learn to shoot better and I thought it would be easy for her. We live in the country and need to shoot racoons and coyotes and bobcats as they pick off our birds from time to time, we have free range chickens and guineas. I have other things I can use on them, just thought air rifle would be fun to use.

So far the one company I am not going to go with is AEA thanks, haha.

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I have a TX200, rival to the 97K and it is very accurate but low on fpe, great for targets and small game but not so much for medium game like you listed. Thats why I have the FX Maverick and you will need a pcp capable of making higher fpe. I would suggest .25 cal also and something that can make 50 fpe or higher.

Want to and feel good about tinkering/repair or not?
Not the tacitcool look but do consider a Benjamin Marauder, 5 year warranty if that sounds nice -and Low cost parts if needed- but seldom need work. Match trigger (once extra torsion spring removed) and in your price range.
Gauntlet tho most feel they are Long and Heavy, they shoot well, only a sigle stage trigger but can go to single ounces easy.
I've only held an Avenger once (and the wife liked it) bot a bad unit at all, quite and a nice (not quite as nice as my personal gauntlet but no idea how it was set) as a light single stage.
Think you need crazy power ( you dont ) Airforce -not the Texan model but maybe a condor or if wanting super light the Escape UL but limited shots and sigle shot.
My wife has an Air Arms 410 with the old true two stage trigger, She also likes the Escape but few shots takes a bit of fun out of it. Even tho not needed replace orings once every 10 years is all the maintenance needed.

Find a shooter (or fully stocking store) near you and learn more in a day that reading for a year.

Ignore at least 90% of youtube.

John

okjoek said:

I saw a AEA SF series. I wanted to know if this is a decent airgun. I am retired, live in the county and like to shoot. I want to shoot targets off front porch and maybe some squirrel/small varmit hunting. I used to shoot a lot of targets with center-fire rifles and don't enjoy guns that aren't accurate or ones I cannot make accurate. I'm pretty good at tinkering and working on things so not afraid of needing to tweak. In your opinion would this be a good rifle to get it would get shot a lot.

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I recommend a spring air rifle if you do not have an air source (compressor, pump, etc).
For PCPs you need a source of air.
With a springer, it is much more self contained.

okjoek said:

I thought going to an actual store was an excellent idea and talk to someone and look in person. I live about 20 minutes outside of a town of 500 so of course nothing there. I'm a little over an hour away from Tulsa and figured there would be a store there, nothing. Checked Oklahoma City and nothing there. Looked at some of the larger areas in Arkansas fairly close to me and again nothing. I'm out of luck I think.

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Can you find a local range that hosts air rifle matches? If so I can guarantee you there will be a pile of good ol boys that will be happy to show off their favorite pcps, and likely let you sit behind a couple to get a feel.

If you dont want to shell out the dough for an FX you can also check out the new AvengerX models and the JTS models. Both have side levers and are going to be good performing budget pcps.