N/A Best sub $300 PCP

[cyclone88]

Hi all,
Long time lurker here, and I've seen other threads similar to this one but not the same. I am looking for a good first sub $300 PCP, probably in .25 cal, and I would like it to be able to take small to medium game. The best options I have found so far are the Hatsan Flash QE, Hatsan AT44 QE Long, and a little more expensive, the Airforce TalonP.
I have noticed how much people love the Notos. My question is what makes it so great? From what I can find online it doesn't generate very many ft/lbs.

 

[cyclone88]

Also for some background, I am in Highschool and I am starting to research PCPs, I would like to get one next year hopefully.

 

[Squirrel hunter]

I love my Notos. Its very light weight you can cary it for miles. Compact size make its easy to get on target quick. Regulated and accurate to 50 yards. Collapsable stock, side lever and magazine. Quiet and you can make it even more quiet with the CANCAN from Bravo3d.

 

[MongooseV8]

Hello and welcome. The Notos is a nice little starter because of its price, decent accuracy, and features such as side cocking. It does not have enough power to ethically take down pigeon sized pests or larger in my opinion. Great for squirrels rats and mice, but it will excel at hunting paper/steel targets.

A step up from that for just a few dollars more, or sometimes less if you can find one on sale; the Gamo Urban. Still on the lower power side of pcps but at 20fpe it is a jump up in power. The Urban is also a higher build quality with most owners enjoying several years of trouble free use, where as the Notos is still kinda of a new to the market entity. There are a lot of happy Notos owners here though so they have something to offer for sure.

One other pcp I would suggest you take a look at is the Stoeger XM1 Ranger or Scout. They are available in 25Cal and make decent power, and have shown so far to be very accurate. Stoeger offers a 5 year warranty as well, which is much longer than the norm. Normal price is just over your budget but you get a lot more rifle for the extra cost of a McDonalds burger meal. There are bound to be sales this week as well, and I bet you can get a Stoeger for under $300 if you shop around.

Overall I would recommend you get something that makes ~30fpe in 22Cal, as that will cover everything up to about racoon sized pests. 22Cal ammo is much cheaper and there is more variety of choices on the market as well. I have a monster of a slug rifle in 25Cal, but almost all my hunting is done with my 30-35fpe Impact in 22Cal. A Hades pellet going 850fps or faster is really all you need for pesting. And when I see skunk or whatever a Nielsen 17.5g doing 900fps or faster anchors them.

 

[WorriedMan]

Don't forget to budget for a method to fill the PCP and optics, since rare to find with sights. WM

 

[RabbitofCaerbannog]

I have a beeman chief .177 you can just have. It's un godly loud... However 10.3-10.65 pellets come out at just the right speed to be accurate. I have a scope I don't use. You're not gonna be winning RMAC but it's a cheap to feed PCP for next to free (shipping) with a free scope that despite its cost, does function well. This is a relatively small cylinder and only 2000psi(so it is reasonable to hand pump) I never use it. It's accurate.

 

[RabbitofCaerbannog]

I have a beeman chief .177 you can just have. It's un godly loud... However 10.3-10.65 pellets come out at just the right speed to be accurate. I have a scope I don't use. You're not gonna be winning RMAC but it's a cheap to feed PCP for next to free (shipping) with a free scope that despite its cost, does function well. This is a relatively small cylinder and only 2000psi(so it is reasonable to hand pump) I never use it. It's accurate.

This being said. At the immediate time Utah Air has hatsan flash qe synthetic stocks for $150

 

[JaceSpace1369]

Hello and welcome. The Notos is a nice little starter because of its price, decent accuracy, and features such as side cocking. It does not have enough power to ethically take down pigeon sized pests or larger in my opinion. Great for squirrels rats and mice, but it will excel at hunting paper/steel targets.

A step up from that for just a few dollars more, or sometimes less if you can find one on sale; the Gamo Urban. Still on the lower power side of pcps but at 20fpe it is a jump up in power. The Urban is also a higher build quality with most owners enjoying several years of trouble free use, where as the Notos is still kinda of a new to the market entity. There are a lot of happy Notos owners here though so they have something to offer for sure.

One other pcp I would suggest you take a look at is the Stoeger XM1 Ranger or Scout. They are available in 25Cal and make decent power, and have shown so far to be very accurate. Stoeger offers a 5 year warranty as well, which is much longer than the norm. Normal price is just over your budget but you get a lot more rifle for the extra cost of a McDonalds burger meal. There are bound to be sales this week as well, and I bet you can get a Stoeger for under $300 if you shop around.

Overall I would recommend you get something that makes ~30fpe in 22Cal, as that will cover everything up to about racoon sized pests. 22Cal ammo is much cheaper and there is more variety of choices on the market as well. I have a monster of a slug rifle in 25Cal, but almost all my hunting is done with my 30-35fpe Impact in 22Cal. A Hades pellet going 850fps or faster is really all you need for pesting. And when I see skunk or whatever a Nielsen 17.5g doing 900fps or faster anchors them.

I beg to differ on this matter, these are but a few out of the hundreds of iguanas I took with my notos in the short period of time I had it before trading with @ocpgunner95

 

[RabbitofCaerbannog]

I love my Notos. Its very light weight you can cary it for miles. Compact size make its easy to get on target quick. Regulated and accurate to 50 yards. Collapsable stock, side lever and magazine. Quiet and you can make it even more quiet with the CANCAN from Bravo3d.

View attachment 516311

I beg to differ on this matter, these are but a few out of the hundreds of iguanas I took with my notos in the short period of time I had it before trading with @ocpgunner95

View attachment 516323

View attachment 516324

I'm a big fan of my Notos. Because it can also grow with you, there are endless things you can do to improve the performance which are plug and play. Increase velocity with a plenum kit maybe a 380 mil barrel maybe 500, tons of aesthetics possible, can be shot as carbine or pistol. Out of the box 20fpe give or take 1.5., mine is now doing 30fpe, but, stock, can and will take game at distance. Slugs can make up for the energy shortage pellets from the notos have at distance. Then there is the conversation of opening up the ports. And adding heavier hammer spring.

 

[MongooseV8]

I beg to differ on this matter, these are but a few out of the hundreds of iguanas I took with my notos in the short period of time I had it before trading with @ocpgunner95

View attachment 516323

View attachment 516324

To be fair you are literally a professional hunter, and could wipe out a truck bed full of lizards with nothing but a sharp stick lol. The Notos is certainly capable of taking bigger pests, but 20fpe is borderline for some of the birds we have out here. Their feathers can really slow a pellet down fast, and they have the tiniest noggins that move around like a SF addict.

We have made some great hits on pigeons and black birbs with my Urban and watched them fly off over the hills. But a chunky 18" Norwegian Tree Rat doesnt stand a chance. Your target pests really make a difference with the smaller power pcps I have found. And I think for a new hunter something in the 30-40fpe range will allow for some less than ideal shots. Also what does he consider medium game? A fat racoon or opossum can be a tough critter.

That being said I think the Notos is still top 5 first pcps, just want people to be aware of its limitations. Its perfect for some pesting needs, but not enough for others. Pretty standard story for most budget pcps.

 

[cyclone88]

Thanks for all the replies! As for the way to fill, I would like to get a cheap hand pump from amazon. And I also have some scopes I could steal off my springers.

 

[MongooseV8]

Thanks for all the replies! As for the way to fill, I would like to get a cheap hand pump from amazon. And I also have some scopes I could steal off my springers.

I have a FourUncles brand that has been pretty good for like 8 years. Its a bit of a workout but Im old and fat so you probably will breeze through it lol.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

To be fair you are literally a professional hunter, and could wipe out a truck bed full of lizards with nothing but a sharp stick lol. The Notos is certainly capable of taking bigger pests, but 20fpe is borderline for some of the birds we have out here. Their feathers can really slow a pellet down fast, and they have the tiniest noggins that move around like a SF addict.

We have made some great hits on pigeons and black birbs with my Urban and watched them fly off over the hills. But a chunky 18" Norwegian Tree Rat doesnt stand a chance. Your target pests really make a difference with the smaller power pcps I have found. And I think for a new hunter something in the 30-40fpe range will allow for some less than ideal shots. Also what does he consider medium game? A fat racoon or opossum can be a tough critter.

That being said I think the Notos is still top 5 first pcps, just want people to be aware of its limitations. Its perfect for some pesting needs, but not enough for others. Pretty standard story for most budget pcps.

I appreciate the compliment! I will say I should've been more clear in what I disagreed with. I think that you could definitely make use of the projectiles we have available to work for what we need even at low power ranges for largerish game, as long as it's accurate. I do agree that there are WAY better options in terms of power, but you certainly cannot beat the notos for accuracy, at the price point it's at and the fact that you can find them for around $200.

 

[daddypaddy]

Hello and welcome. The Notos is a nice little starter because of its price, decent accuracy, and features such as side cocking. It does not have enough power to ethically take down pigeon sized pests or larger in my opinion. Great for squirrels rats and mice, but it will excel at hunting paper/steel targets.

A step up from that for just a few dollars more, or sometimes less if you can find one on sale; the Gamo Urban. Still on the lower power side of pcps but at 20fpe it is a jump up in power. The Urban is also a higher build quality with most owners enjoying several years of trouble free use, where as the Notos is still kinda of a new to the market entity. There are a lot of happy Notos owners here though so they have something to offer for sure.

One other pcp I would suggest you take a look at is the Stoeger XM1 Ranger or Scout. They are available in 25Cal and make decent power, and have shown so far to be very accurate. Stoeger offers a 5 year warranty as well, which is much longer than the norm. Normal price is just over your budget but you get a lot more rifle for the extra cost of a McDonalds burger meal. There are bound to be sales this week as well, and I bet you can get a Stoeger for under $300 if you shop around.

Overall I would recommend you get something that makes ~30fpe in 22Cal, as that will cover everything up to about racoon sized pests. 22Cal ammo is much cheaper and there is more variety of choices on the market as well. I have a monster of a slug rifle in 25Cal, but almost all my hunting is done with my 30-35fpe Impact in 22Cal. A Hades pellet going 850fps or faster is really all you need for pesting. And when I see skunk or whatever a Nielsen 17.5g doing 900fps or faster anchors them.

lol . i have a buddy that’s taken a small boar with a notos that i fully ported for him. 20-25 yard shot right in the forehead with nsa17.5gr. brains came out looking like pus.. i dont know what kind of pigeon you’re shooting at.

 

[RabbitofCaerbannog]

lol . i have a buddy that’s taken a small boar with a notos that i fully ported for him. 20-25 yard shot right in the forehead with nsa17.5gr. brains came out looking like pus.. i dont know what kind of pigeon you’re shooting at. View attachment 516337View attachment 516338

I used the little hollow wand that opens and closes blinds, shot a tailors pin. Now I'm an amputee.

 

[Firewalker]

Stolen from GTA:

This is what I think it SHOULD be:

1) Gray squirrel/Fox Squirrel - 6 FPE head, 9 FPE vitals
2) Eastern Cottontail/Swamp Rabbit - 5FPE head, 8 FPE vitals
3) Jack Rabbit White, Black, and Jack O' lope - 8 FPE head, 11 FPE vitals
4) Raccoon/ Bandit - 14 FPE head, 22 FPE vitals
5) Virginia Opossum/ Country Rat - 10 FPE head, 16 FPE vitals
6) Ground Hog/ Wood Chuck - 11 FPE head, 17 Vitals
7) Gray Fox - 11 FPE head, 18 vitals
8. Red Fox - 12 FPE head, 19 vitals
9) Bobcat - 15 FPE head, 25 vitals
10) Bullfrog - 5 FPE head or vitals
11) Snapping Turtle - 9 FPE head
12) Crow - 4 FPE head, 6 FPE vitals
13) Pigeon - 4 FPE head, 6 FPE vitals
14) Sparrow - 3 FPE head, 5 FPE vitals
15) Starling - 4 FPE head, 5 FPE vitals

 

[Firewalker]

20fpe in the Notos is plenty if you shoot well.

 

[Richely]

Stolen from GTA:

This is what I think it SHOULD be:

1) Gray squirrel/Fox Squirrel - 6 FPE head, 9 FPE vitals
2) Eastern Cottontail/Swamp Rabbit - 5FPE head, 8 FPE vitals
3) Jack Rabbit White, Black, and Jack O' lope - 8 FPE head, 11 FPE vitals
4) Raccoon/ Bandit - 14 FPE head, 22 FPE vitals
5) Virginia Opossum/ Country Rat - 10 FPE head, 16 FPE vitals
6) Ground Hog/ Wood Chuck - 11 FPE head, 17 Vitals
7) Gray Fox - 11 FPE head, 18 vitals
8. Red Fox - 12 FPE head, 19 vitals
9) Bobcat - 15 FPE head, 25 vitals
10) Bullfrog - 5 FPE head or vitals
11) Snapping Turtle - 9 FPE head
12) Crow - 4 FPE head, 6 FPE vitals
13) Pigeon - 4 FPE head, 6 FPE vitals
14) Sparrow - 3 FPE head, 5 FPE vitals
15) Starling - 4 FPE head, 5 FPE vitals

FPE at muzzle or at point of impact?

 

[JaceSpace1369]

FPE at muzzle or at point of impact?

POI

 

[Richely]

POI

So I assumed. Wanted to clarify for the record. Thanks.