Available types of airguns

[Odoyle]

Be sure whatever cheap sub $1000 compressors you buy has a 4 year extended warranty option otherwise don't buy it because you may be very sorry after a little over a year to 2 years after it fails and as many repeatedly stated have paperweights.

You have to also figure if you are weak be mindful on the weight of the gun too. That's the other reason I suggest the Maximus Hunter due to its very light weight. I have several Marauders including the regulated higher end Field and Targets and to me they are a bit too heavy once scoped. Great guns but I grab my Maximus first super easy to carry.

If you simply can't decide after all of these suggestuons then be sure to buy from return friendly dealer and buy all of the ones you are unsure of find out for yourself and just return what you don't like.

I am personally waiting to see longevity reports of the Avengers before buying one since it only has a 1 year warranty compared to the Maximus 5 year warranty.

People really do have to learn the hard way though. It's just part of life and How you learn and unfortunately hundreds of dollars of paperweights might happen during the learning process.without extra years of added piece of mind warranty and that's a fact.

 

[gkenny]

What are you planning to hunt with this pcp? And at what ranges do you think?

Hi Locker50, Thank you!

I will mostly do what I have tried to do unsuccessfully with my Diana springers; Target practice and some hunting from my window to my back yard.

Most of my hunting will be Squirrels with the occasional Raccoon and Woodchuck.

The distances will mostly be between 20 and 40 yards with the occasional shot at up to 50 to 75 yards.

All shots will be from a hand-made, hard foam U-shaped rest, placed on my window sill.

Regards, gkenny.

 

[gkenny]

Be sure whatever cheap sub $1000 compressors you buy has a 4 year extended warranty option otherwise don't buy it because you may be very sorry after a little over a year to 2 years after it fails and as many repeatedly stated have paperweights.

You have to also figure if you are weak be mindful on the weight of the gun too. That's the other reason I suggest the Maximus Hunter due to its very light weight. I have several Marauders including the regulated higher end Field and Targets and to me they are a bit too heavy once scoped. Great guns but I grab my Maximus first super easy to carry.

If you simply can't decide after all of these suggestuons then be sure to buy from return friendly dealer and buy all of the ones you are unsure of find out for yourself and just return what you don't like.

I am personally waiting to see longevity reports of the Avengers before buying one since it only has a 1 year warranty compared to the Maximus 5 year warranty.

People really do have to learn the hard way though. It's just part of life and How you learn and unfortunately hundreds of dollars of paperweights might happen during the learning process.without extra years of added piece of mind warranty and that's a fact.

Hi Odoyle, thank you again for your input. All good, helpful reminders which are especially important to me because of my lack of knowledge on this subject.

I will take everything to heart that you have taught me here!

Regards, gkenny.

 

[gkenny]

I’m going to chime in here again only because I’m trying to save you some frustration. If you were going to go with a air compressor which is a good idea. But just keep in mind that I hear a lot of people on here having problems with the lower price compressors. But I bought a cheap $35 hand pump and it is still going strong after three years and it came with a rebuild kit also. Now I’m not trying to steer you towards a hand pump I’m just trying to state that sometimes you can spend a lower amount of money and get something reliable although it normally doesn’t turn out that way. But if you were going with the air compressor your best option in my opinion for a PCP rifle would be the Benjamin marauder then. It’s been around for a while with a lot of happy customers. It’s a little heavier than the maximus but is a little better made and also a multi shot. And keep in mind that Benjamin gives you a five year warranty with their air guns and have good customer service and plenty of parts available. And a lot of aftermarket support for Benjamins also. And just like What was already mentioned is you don’t have to pump it up to the maximum. I never pumped my PCPs all the way up to the top of the fill although you can if you want. I know you think $425 wouldn’t be a cheaper compressor but it seems like the more reliable ones are much more. But I’m only going by what I have been seeing here as far as air compressors. If you’re set on getting one I would ask some people one here what would be the best compressor for the money. And if you need to buy a scope just remember it don’t have to be a really expensive one on a PCP air rifle because there is no Recoil. Just don’t buy some offbrand scope.The main thing is you want it to hold zero.As far as the reticle goes, a Mil Dot Is nice because you can use the Dots to adjust for holdover on longer shots.

Thanks again Ripper! You have summed up your helpful thoughts very well and I appreciate your suggestions.

I will probably will not be able to use the hand pump because I am over 80 years old and in poor health. The choice of compressor/tank, or whatever it is that I will need to charge whatever gun is chosen, will be made soon and of course I would be happy to have any suggestions on which one is best.

The Benjamin Maximus and the Air Venturi Avenger are very popular and very effective for my purpose. As you have stated here the Avenger is new and somewhat unknown and with only a 1 year guarantee and both are mostly plastic and so are also very light.

That is why I am also considering stretching a little more in price for the well tried and true Benjamin Marauder. I also prefer a wooden stock in lieu of plastic.

The total weight is not much of a problem because I will never be carrying the gun around with me, just shots from my bedroom window.

I am also trying to decide whether to purchase a .22 caliber or a .25 caliber. Any thoughts here?

Thanks again, regards, gkenny.

 

[gkenny]

I am considering either an .25 Air Venturi Avenger PCP, a .25 Benjamin Maximus PCP, or if I want to splurge, a .25 Benjamin Marauder PCP with a wooden stock.

Re Avengers in general:

PROs: 

• Very strong reviews on multiple parameters including accuracy
• lightweight
• extremely easy to adjust/tune, and at a price where that's not usually possible
• PSI gauge is NOT right under the barrel so you don't have to risk your face/brain to check or monitor it
• good shot count
• fillable to 4500 PSI ... again the shot count thing
• single shot tray included, as well as magazines
• Scope rail can accommodate lots of different mounts
• Rail on fore-end for bipod/tripod
• Provision for sling studs 
• Supposedly the Benjamin Marauder rifle magazines fit it too; I have not checked.
• If you don't like it or bang it up, you are only out $300 USD; basically very inexpensive, especially for its virtues
• not as pellet-picky as many guns are
• DonnyFL moderator adaptor screws into barrel within the shroud to align it all together nicely

CONs: 

• Stock material feels thinner than a top-flight polymer and is not as strong as wood either. I don't get the "cheap" feeling, but your mileage may vary
• Air cylinder shroud is lightweight but probably pretty easy to dent too.
• No iron sights
• It's not short
• Placement of magazine cutting mounting rail roughly in half makes mounting a scope less flexible than it would be on a continuous rail
• Angled grip may or may not fit your hand/wrist flexibility
• If you don't care about tinkering/tuning much, then the boon of being able to do so easily might not matter much anyway
• Little or no aftermarket parts/mods available because it is brand new. Some other parts, like from the Nova Liberty or Benjamin Marauder, may fit, but I cannot confirm. This is a HUGE CONTRAST to the Benjamins(Crosman) because almost all of those have been around for years and there are tons of parts and mods and servicers available and probably will be for a long time into the future. The Avenger will very likely have something like that going for it, and sooner rather than later, but the Crosman Benjamins are a PROVEN commodity as regards parts, availability, mods, and service.
• DonnyFL moderator adaptor is substantially bigger and heavier than the usual ones, which are very small. This is more a cylinder etc. It's as long as a pencil and there's more metal in it.

This is the only one of your three I have any experience with(Marauder only in pistol form, quite different).

I do suggest you add the cost of a moderator into any airgun most likely but especially a .25. They can be less than neighborhood friendly. And not just the airgun being fired -- the noise of the pellet hitting the target. Whether a squirrel or a backboard/other target. I hate to say you gotta spend more money, but you probably do.

Now ... the Benjamin Marauder rifle(not the pistol) is widely acknowledged as being unusually quiet, so that might make a difference to those worried about neighborhood-friendly. It will STILL make noise at the target regardless, of course. But it might seem less pricey if you consider the quietness it provides. Less noise = less need for a moderator? I dunno, I don't own one; just trying to step through some of the logic of the $$$ involved.

Thank you very much again!

You have pretty much outlined what I have been trying to research myself, but yours is with a much better understanding of the facts, thank you!

I am getting pretty close to the Marauder for all the facts you have so clearly outlined here plus the unavailability of the Avenger until at least next month, and the Marauder wood stock. I still have to decide what caliber, .22 or .25., and what compressor.

Any help here will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again, regards, gkenny.

 

[Ripper]

A marauder in 22 caliber Is just big enough to shoot medium sized game. Like groundhogs , Possums and raccoons. You would want to use at least an 18 green pellet . But it just makes it in power. If you want to be more confident in a one shot kill I would go with the 25 caliber. And you would want to do head shots with either. The marauder would be accurate enough to do that easily within 50 yards. And could possibly a little further. It all depends on how good you become with it. But shooting that marauder would be easy as shooting a 22 Rimfire rifle. It’s got a real nice Trigger.Once you get one you would just have to clean the barrel and practice and see how good you can shoot it at different distances. The best pellets to start with is JSB and H&N.But some Marauders will shoot Crossman pellets accurately. Which would be cheaper.

 

[Imyourhuckleberry]

Gkenny, I can relate to your problems with the springers and pumps, as a motorcycle accident a while back left me struggling to cock the last springer I bought. The PCP was the answer for me, as I'm just a youngster at 75, and still wanted to shoot. The Marauder .22 was my first PCP gun, and it IS worth the money they get for it. It shoots well and different pellets don't seem to bother it much. The requirement for air left me getting a scuba tank and carrying it to the dive shop for fill ups. That worked fine, but the darned thing is really heavy, so I don't know if you'd like that. I bought a small, Benjamin Traveler compressor, and it worked fine for filling up the gun, with no problems. My second gun was the TalonP, which I set up as a carbine. A DonnyFL moderator quieted it down to a very satisfactory level, and it's my "travel gun" that I carry down to the lake for shooting ground hogs. Our lakefront lot is in a RV Resort, so it has to be quiet not to bother the neighbors. Powerful, accurate, small, light and deadly...and I haven't shot the Marauder since I got the TalonP. That would be my recommendation for you if you can satisfy your need for air! Hope that helps some.

 

[steve123]

For me the 22 cal is a plink more and hunt less rifle. 25 cal is hunt more plink less rifle. 25 cal typically has less in the tin, uses more air, is louder, and sounds louder at the target.

A 30fpe 22 cal (900-ish fps) with 18gr pellets is plenty of power for small game at normal airgun distances. I like to sit down and plink for an hour or two at a time so 22 cal gets my vote as an overall pick.

I really like 34gr 25 cal pellets at higher speeds like 940 fps, they hit hard! But I always end up selling my less powerful 25's, they just didn't enthuse me that much, got 75 fpe 30 cals instead for even more energy, something about that big thump makes me smile whether on steel or flesh, I also like being able to see the BIG holes easier on paper way out there. Just think, that extra info was free  Defintely not economical for constant plinking though.

 

[gkenny]

For me the 22 cal is a plink more and hunt less rifle. 25 cal is hunt more plink less rifle. 25 cal typically has less in the tin, uses more air, is louder, and sounds louder at the target.

A 30fpe 22 cal (900-ish fps) with 18gr pellets is plenty of power for small game at normal airgun distances. I like to sit down and plink for an hour or two at a time so 22 cal gets my vote as an overall pick.

I really like 34gr 25 cal pellets at higher speeds like 940 fps, they hit hard! But I always end up selling my less powerful 25's, they just didn't enthuse me that much, got 75 fpe 30 cals instead for even more energy, something about that big thump makes me smile whether on steel or flesh, I also like being able to see the BIG holes easier on paper way out there. Just think, that extra info was free  Defintely not economical for constant plinking though.

Thank you steve123, that is very helpful and will give me first-hand experience in what caliber to choose!

Regards, gkenny.

 

[gkenny]

Gkenny, I can relate to your problems with the springers and pumps, as a motorcycle accident a while back left me struggling to cock the last springer I bought. The PCP was the answer for me, as I'm just a youngster at 75, and still wanted to shoot. The Marauder .22 was my first PCP gun, and it IS worth the money they get for it. It shoots well and different pellets don't seem to bother it much. The requirement for air left me getting a scuba tank and carrying it to the dive shop for fill ups. That worked fine, but the darned thing is really heavy, so I don't know if you'd like that. I bought a small, Benjamin Traveler compressor, and it worked fine for filling up the gun, with no problems. My second gun was the TalonP, which I set up as a carbine. A DonnyFL moderator quieted it down to a very satisfactory level, and it's my "travel gun" that I carry down to the lake for shooting ground hogs. Our lakefront lot is in a RV Resort, so it has to be quiet not to bother the neighbors. Powerful, accurate, small, light and deadly...and I haven't shot the Marauder since I got the TalonP. That would be my recommendation for you if you can satisfy your need for air! Hope that helps some.

It sure does help Imyourhuckleberry!

That is exactly the experienced information that I need.

The good thing about this post is all the kind and informative assistance shown here!

I am confident that I will be well satisfied with the final equipment purchased.

Thank you, regards, gkenny.