1st time buyer of PCP Airgun disappointed

[BryceHale]

I had a similar hiccup with a different model a while back. Spent hours tinkering and troubleshooting, only to realize it just wasn't holding air properly. It can definitely leave you feeling disillusioned. But don't give up just yet! There are some great options out there once you find the right fit.

 

[Long_Gun_Dallas]

I read enough mixed reviews to steer clear of them for my first pcp as well. I’m sure some folks had good luck with em, but it seems to be hit and miss.

Very much the case. I've been inside and completely thru both of mine and could easily write a small book on all of the problems. Not a joke.

 

[BenjaminM]

Very much the case. I've been inside and completely thru both of mine and could easily write a small book on all of the problems. Not a joke.

Like most things if a guy likes to putter around and make them a polished gem I’m sure you could. But after some dabbling with more “budget” oriented air rifles I asked myself if I enjoyed shooting more or tinkering…to me having to repair something new is a bit annoying.

Overall I think I value reliability over another project…life and career has afforded me the opportunity to have a few nicer things, so I went that route.

If a person’s life situation doesn’t allow the higher end options then you kind of get forced into the lower price brackets… I can’t say my cheap used marauder wasn’t fun, but it sure was frustrating when I was trying to get it working right…

 

[Long_Gun_Dallas]

I am a tinkerer, admittedly, most of my guns are very nice. But I still have a hatsan nova star simply due to the sheer amount of work and $ I've put into it. Refinished, remolded, stain matched walnut stock, hw100 barrel. A substantial amount of corrective work to the action, hammer, cocking lever. I like the valve design of these guns, but the hammer system in my opinion is awful, spongy plastic trigger housing break is clean and crisp. But the gun just exudes cheapness and laziness.

I also have two snow peak guns that I like very much. Extremely accurate guns. Coming from someone that owns at least one sub 1/2 moa barrel, 2 fxs, an hw, multiple Lothar Walther barrels. Snow peak guns are very good for the $. Now, there is still a small chance you can get a bad barrel, and most of the holes on them are not deburred. Most all trigger assemblies are welded somewhat crooked. But triggers can still be made extremely nice. Barrels are mostly all extremely good. It's very hard to complain. I think I have $235 into my .25 pp800 with custom Cothran valve. And it will do 50fpe in 9" barrel and shoot a ragged hole at 30 yards.

I fully understand your sentiment, and would highly recommend anyone else save their $ if needed and invest it in a quality gun. Buy once cry once. Going the cheaper route, as is the case with my hatsan rifle can easily be far more expensive than just getting a nice gun. For all the time and $ into mine with custom barrels and what not I could have easily bought another fx crown and had a very good chunk of change left over.

Thing of it is, with most all of the cheaper guns, it doesn't matter how much $ or time or parts you sink into it. You are building on a cheap platform. It will have these Inherant flaws that cannot go away without almost the entire gun being redesigned from the ground up. Some of these things can be accounted for and compensated for. But will always be present in its character. A proper high end gun will always be better no matter what. That is almost exclusively the case. In my experience, anyhow.

 

[BenjaminM]

I am a tinkerer, admittedly, most of my guns are very nice. But I still have a hatsan nova star simply due to the sheer amount of work and $ I've put into it. Refinished, remolded, stain matched walnut stock, hw100 barrel. A substantial amount of corrective work to the action, hammer, cocking lever. I like the valve design of these guns, but the hammer system in my opinion is awful, spongy plastic trigger housing break is clean and crisp. But the gun just exudes cheapness and laziness.

I also have two snow peak guns that I like very much. Extremely accurate guns. Coming from someone that owns at least one sub 1/2 moa barrel, 2 fxs, an hw, multiple Lothar Walther barrels. Snow peak guns are very good for the $. Now, there is still a small chance you can get a bad barrel, and most of the holes on them are not deburred. Most all trigger assemblies are welded somewhat crooked. But triggers can still be made extremely nice. Barrels are mostly all extremely good. It's very hard to complain. I think I have $235 into my .25 pp800 with custom Cothran valve. And it will do 50fpe in 9" barrel and shoot a ragged hole at 30 yards.

I fully understand your sentiment, and would highly recommend anyone else save their $ if needed and invest it in a quality gun. Buy once cry once. Going the cheaper route, as is the case with my hatsan rifle can easily be far more expensive than just getting a nice gun. For all the time and $ into mine with custom barrels and what not I could have easily bought another fx crown and had a very good chunk of change left over.

Thing of it is, with most all of the cheaper guns, it doesn't matter how much $ or time or parts you sink into it. You are building on a cheap platform. It will have these Inherant flaws that cannot go away without almost the entire gun being redesigned from the ground up. Some of these things can be accounted for and compensated for. But will always be present in its character. A proper high end gun will always be better no matter what. That is almost exclusively the case. In my experience, anyhow.

I have been impressed with my Artemis made Diana bandit. The bolt handle needed upgrading other than that it’s been nothing but cheap accurate fun. There’s a huge amount of value at the price point with some of them.

Chinese manufacturing has come full circle and some of it is quite impressive. Just like the Yong Heng compressors, sure they have problems here and there, but how they can make a reasonably durable decently finished product at that price point….it’s amazing Chinese products used to be garbage kind of across the board, some still are-but there’s gems out there for sure!

I’m a recovering tinkerer, and still can’t stop myself from rolling up my sleeves and modding things from time to time.

Currently though I’m trying to step back from that and spend more time at the bench sending lead down range.

At risk of getting off topic I’ll say, the low price point with reasonable quality sure makes it easy to “dip your toes” in the sport. It also a bit too tempting for me to just try something new and cool!

 

[jland48]

Have used break barrels for a very longtime.
Decided I would go ahead and test the waters and buy the Hatsan Flash QE PCP air rifle .25 caliber.
Figured it was a small air tank purchased the hand pump and some ammo.
Only to find that it's not holding the air it's been a very unpleasant experience and has made me feel that these guns are not that great.
I've heard valve open needs a push of air from a tank ridiculous that is even necessary. This isn't a realistic way to get a new air gun working out of the box.
Sucks I really was happy about the purchase now it's going back. I'll stick with break barrels they actually work out of the box.

Wondering if anyone else has had same negative experience with these over priced guns? Funny reviewers praise these things because they have everything needed to set them up. For the average person these guns are quite terrible. Between the over priced junk hand pumps or buy a $2000 scuba tank to get them to work if they arrive with 0 pressure.

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The fact that you are not enthused about this first gun is probably going to save you a lot of money.

 

[coastal drifter]

Reality: high end pcp $1,700.00, decent scope $400.00, mid-range compressor $1,000.00, CF bottle with gauges and fill whip $700.00 and you should be good to go. These are not the highest or the lowest numbers just an average.