Hi All,
Have gotten a handful of folks reaching out for my opinions on the Sonoran .30 I have posted in the classifieds and why I am selling it, etc., so I wanted to do a brief write-up on my experience. I purchased from AoA a month or so ago. First, the good (which is a lot). It is out of the box, the most accurate airgun I have ever shot. I will admit, I did pay for the "power tune" and bottle upgrade, so out of the box in this case, maybe a bit different than an off-the-shelf, as AoA did do their massaging on it.
Pellet-wise, all of the below shot very well:
The 44.75, 50.15 JSB
The 45.06 JTS
The AEA 45, 50.50
ZAN 48 56
The 44.75 and 45 AEA were the most accurate, with the 48 and 50.15 a VERY close second. ALL were MOA or under at 50 yards (shot the best 50 yard group of my life with the 44.75).
At 100, the 44.75 averaged just over an inch with the 50.15 right in there as well. I did get numerous sub MOA groups with all the pellets mentioned above, but the 44/45 grain variants edged out the heavier pellets slightly, with the 56 grainers performing around 1.5 inches on average, and that was the worst tested, so hard to complain.
Shot count with the upgraded 700cc bottle I had installed is right around 50 shots per 300 bar fill, shooting the 44.75 right at 900 FPS. I adjusted the gun down to 820 with the 44.75, and accuracy was maintained. I will say 820-850 or 880-900 is the sweet spot, accuracy did deteriorate a bit in that 860- high 870 range.
I could see this being a contender for competition in the right hands (more on that in a minute).
It is not a light-weight gun; that SUB MOA barrel is hefty, and the larger bottle makes it a bench gun only in my opinion.
It is not "quiet" so a good moderator is needed to calm the bark, I am using the larger 0dB and it does a great job, in trying a few different brands and models the 0dB/STO/DonnyFL models all produced the same accuracy, the HUMA, Huggett while close did seem to open up the group size slightly.
Now-my gripe and why I am selling, I am 6'4" with long arms. The semi bullpup form factor is NOT made for us taller folks. While I can get the rifle in a position that is comfortable I do feel I am always "hunching" over it unlike the RAW or Red Wolf etc. with more traditional stocks that seem to fit me better. For this reason, it is not a keeper for me. I have chatted with a few folks about making me a custom stock, but at $2,000-$4,000 I just can't justify it, so it will be moving along. I will say I am now a firm believer in the .30 sub MOA barrel (at least in non Skout airguns, did not have the best luck with them, but there are enough threads out there on that so won't pile on). Next stop for me is the AAA EVOL.30, which is now sold with the SUB MOA barrel at AoA, from my conversations with them, will fit the long arm crowd much better.
Hope this helps folks on the fence about purchasing one, if you are under 6'2" this is one you owe it to yourself to check out.......
Have gotten a handful of folks reaching out for my opinions on the Sonoran .30 I have posted in the classifieds and why I am selling it, etc., so I wanted to do a brief write-up on my experience. I purchased from AoA a month or so ago. First, the good (which is a lot). It is out of the box, the most accurate airgun I have ever shot. I will admit, I did pay for the "power tune" and bottle upgrade, so out of the box in this case, maybe a bit different than an off-the-shelf, as AoA did do their massaging on it.
Pellet-wise, all of the below shot very well:
The 44.75, 50.15 JSB
The 45.06 JTS
The AEA 45, 50.50
ZAN 48 56
The 44.75 and 45 AEA were the most accurate, with the 48 and 50.15 a VERY close second. ALL were MOA or under at 50 yards (shot the best 50 yard group of my life with the 44.75).
At 100, the 44.75 averaged just over an inch with the 50.15 right in there as well. I did get numerous sub MOA groups with all the pellets mentioned above, but the 44/45 grain variants edged out the heavier pellets slightly, with the 56 grainers performing around 1.5 inches on average, and that was the worst tested, so hard to complain.
Shot count with the upgraded 700cc bottle I had installed is right around 50 shots per 300 bar fill, shooting the 44.75 right at 900 FPS. I adjusted the gun down to 820 with the 44.75, and accuracy was maintained. I will say 820-850 or 880-900 is the sweet spot, accuracy did deteriorate a bit in that 860- high 870 range.
I could see this being a contender for competition in the right hands (more on that in a minute).
It is not a light-weight gun; that SUB MOA barrel is hefty, and the larger bottle makes it a bench gun only in my opinion.
It is not "quiet" so a good moderator is needed to calm the bark, I am using the larger 0dB and it does a great job, in trying a few different brands and models the 0dB/STO/DonnyFL models all produced the same accuracy, the HUMA, Huggett while close did seem to open up the group size slightly.
Now-my gripe and why I am selling, I am 6'4" with long arms. The semi bullpup form factor is NOT made for us taller folks. While I can get the rifle in a position that is comfortable I do feel I am always "hunching" over it unlike the RAW or Red Wolf etc. with more traditional stocks that seem to fit me better. For this reason, it is not a keeper for me. I have chatted with a few folks about making me a custom stock, but at $2,000-$4,000 I just can't justify it, so it will be moving along. I will say I am now a firm believer in the .30 sub MOA barrel (at least in non Skout airguns, did not have the best luck with them, but there are enough threads out there on that so won't pile on). Next stop for me is the AAA EVOL.30, which is now sold with the SUB MOA barrel at AoA, from my conversations with them, will fit the long arm crowd much better.
Hope this helps folks on the fence about purchasing one, if you are under 6'2" this is one you owe it to yourself to check out.......
