Other Best .22 PCP for the cost, avoiding buyer's remorse...

Another Taipan fan here, I’ve bought 5 used ones for myself and friends and all five have been rock solid, trouble free and as accurate as anything out there. There have some really good deals on the classifieds over the years, don’t let the rear cocking scare you, it’s not that big a deal. And the anti double feed of the Veteran 1 is fantastic for hunting.
 
There is an abundance of riches in air rifles these days, so there are lots of sure bets. I don't have wide experience with different airgun manufacturers, only because I started with Air Arms a decade ago on the advice from someone on this board, and have stayed with them--not out of brand loyalty per se so much as self interest: Pro Sport in .22, s510 in .22, and Ulimate Sporter in .25: all have been superb--beautiful to look at, problem free, and and a pleasure to shoot.
 
I’m not sure if it would be the best for woodchucks or raccoons
Certainly not ideal, but a Notos is capable.
Yesterday I encountered a groundhog.
Something was definately wrong with it...
For 5 minutes, I watched it walking in circles.
It would repeatively fall over, get back up, fall over again, and repeat the process.
At one point, it attempted to "climb" up, the base of a tree, before falling over onto its back.
It got back on its feet, and continued walking in circles, with no clear intended direction of travel, yet also getting even closer to my fenced in dogs, who were barking visciously at it, from 15 or 20 yards away.
Obviously, there was something seriously wrong with it.
My prefered rifle, a much more powerful and larger .25 FX Crown, has a brand new, recently installed scope on it, and the scope is not exactly dialed in yet.
My Notos on the other hand, was readily available, and I was confident that the scope on it was indeed dialed in.
One 15 yard head shot from my stock (no mods) .22 Notos, dispatched it quickly and humanely.
A follow up shot, insured it was out of its misery.
I live by railroad tracks, so groundhogs are quite common.
I usually do not shoot them without justification...., but in this case, it just kept getting closer and closer to my fenced in dogs, and I was very concerned about it being sick (rabies?) or something???
Far from an ideal situation, but my stock Notos, was indeed capable.
 
Certainly not ideal, but a Notos is capable.
Yesterday I encountered a groundhog.
Something was definately wrong with it...
For 5 minutes, I watched it walking in circles.
It would repeatively fall over, get back up, fall over again, and repeat the process.
At one point, it attempted to "climb" up, the base of a tree, before falling over onto its back.
It got back on its feet, and continued walking in circles, with no clear intended direction of travel, yet also getting even closer to my fenced in dogs, who were barking visciously at it, from 15 or 20 yards away.
Obviously, there was something seriously wrong with it.
My prefered rifle, a much more powerful and larger .25 FX Crown, has a brand new, recently installed scope on it, and the scope is not exactly dialed in yet.
My Notos on the other hand, was readily available, and I was confident that the scope on it was indeed dialed in.
One 15 yard head shot from my stock (no mods) .22 Notos, dispatched it quickly and humanely.
A follow up shot, insured it was out of its misery.
I live by railroad tracks, so groundhogs are quite common.
I usually do not shoot them without justification...., but in this case, it just kept getting closer and closer to my fenced in dogs, and I was very concerned about it being sick (rabies?) or something???
Far from an ideal situation, but my stock Notos, was indeed capable.
he probably found the still.
 
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Many good suggestions, I'm curious, I don't think anyone (except me) has mentioned Karma. These are a new line of PCP guns (I think backed by DonnyFL / Sabor Tactical) that have been doing very well in the competitions. I realize they are new and normally I wouldn't bring them up, but they are releasing a new gun in September 2024 called Karma EQ (https://karmaairguns.com/pages/karma-eq), it's going to be a $900ish purchase and claims to have the features of the $2k+ priced competitors. Does anyone have any firsthand experience with the brand or just an opinion as to if they think this would be worth a look?

I think the predominate opinion so far are Taipan Veteran. With Daystate and Krait getting many mentions. I'm currently leaning towards an Impact M4 Sniper but also thinking that I'd like to eventually have a Taipan Veteran (why not the II version?)...
 
Many good suggestions, I'm curious, I don't think anyone (except me) has mentioned Karma. These are a new line of PCP guns (I think backed by DonnyFL / Sabor Tactical) that have been doing very well in the competitions. I realize they are new and normally I wouldn't bring them up, but they are releasing a new gun in September 2024 called Karma EQ (https://karmaairguns.com/pages/karma-eq), it's going to be a $900ish purchase and claims to have the features of the $2k+ priced competitors. Does anyone have any firsthand experience with the brand or just an opinion as to if they think this would be worth a look?

I think the predominate opinion so far are Taipan Veteran. With Daystate and Krait getting many mentions. I'm currently leaning towards an Impact M4 Sniper but also thinking that I'd like to eventually have a Taipan Veteran (why not the II version?)...
I don't believe you could go wrong with a Taipan as a 1st or 2nd pcp. I've only been doing it for a year and now understand what a good rifle Taipan makes after playing with many others. I've had the Vet 1 standard and still have a Vet 2 tac 550mm in .25 cal. Both are accurate, solid rifles. I didn't care for the rear cocking on the V1 but LOTS of folks here don't mind it a bit. My shoulders suck and didn't work well with manipulating the lever at the rear. The V2 is a bottle gun and drives Hades with wonderful squirrel popping accuracy. The forward cocking is smoooooth and easy. Legendary triggers on all of them. Talon Tunes still has some new V1's and of course the newer V2's. Tony is great to deal with in my experience. Have fun!