N/A First air rifle choice

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Cainmos

Member
May 6, 2024
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New York, United States
Looking for some experienced input on a first air rifle choice. Use case is quiet as possible backyard plink/pest control up to ground hogs ~50yd range. Leaning toward .22. Looking at used over new but all suggestions are welcome. Leaning toward bullpup for overall compactness while retaining barrel length. I don't mind tinkering and tuning but I want something that is durable and accurate that I overall won't have to worry about.

FX Crown MK1 with scope ~$1k
FX Wildcat MK3 ~$900
Taipan Veteran Long ~$1k
Kalibr Cricket 2 ~$1.2k

What would you choose?
 
Taipan Veteran Long such great guns. I've owned many airguns over the past almost decade and I recently came back to one and it might not have all the fancy stuff but they are rock solid. Slowly creeping in to maybe being my favorite overall even over my Evol Mini which has been the pinnacle of perfection for my needs airgunning.
20240509_062323.jpg
 
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I have had crowns, wildcats, and Taipans....All 3 were solid rifles for sure. I had a MKI and MKII crown the MKI was a hunting rig with a 380mm barrel in 22, my bench gun was an MKII in 25 cal. Both very accurate and pretty "robust" after you get them tuned how you like them.

The wildcat was an MKII compact in 25....Pretty much a truck gun, but you only got 3 mags and it was time to air up. Still a very nice hunting gun.

The gun I miss the most is the Taipan I owned. It was one of my first PCP's and I do miss it. Everytime I see one for sale I have a hard time not grabbing one.

Tony P.
 
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Cainmos said:
I've heard that. The are tough critters with a pretty thick skull. I was concerned that .25 might be louder. Thanks for the input.
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.25 pellets are more $$ considering air and pellets . .22 will do the job . you can always use a bit heavier pellet or lighter slug in .22
 
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I will also throw a vote towards the Taipan Vet.
I have a Vet I and a Vet II Standard and I will Never sell either one of them... trust me that is saying something because I will sell a gun at the drop of a hat if does Not do what it is supposed to do..

Be it a Vet I or Vet II.
The platform just does what it is supposed to do, go bang.
As stated, they are Very Robust, which translates to a tad on the heavy side but I will challenge you to find an owner that has owned,, or currently has one to say Anything negative about them.

If you buy the gun in .22 and shoot the 25.4gr pellets it should be More ample for what you are wanting.
 
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Cainmos said:
I've heard that. The are tough critters with a pretty thick skull. I was concerned that .25 might be louder. Thanks for the input.
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The .22 is perfectly fine for ground hogs at 50 yds. With modern pcp rifles you can get the same fpe from a .22 as you can a .25 with same weight pellets. Pellets do not expand or cause hydrostatic shock at sub sonic speeds so theres no benefit from the .25 other than a very small increase in diameter. At 50 yds and under its easy taking headshots and a .22 with an 18 gr. JSB will drop them on the spot.
 
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Cainmos said:
Looking for some experienced input on a first air rifle choice. Use case is quiet as possible backyard plink/pest control up to ground hogs ~50yd range. Leaning toward .22. Looking at used over new but all suggestions are welcome. Leaning toward bullpup for overall compactness while retaining barrel length. I don't mind tinkering and tuning but I want something that is durable and accurate that I overall won't have to worry about.

FX Crown MK1 with scope ~$1k
FX Wildcat MK3 ~$900
Taipan Veteran Long ~$1k
Kalibr Cricket 2 ~$1.2k

What would you choose?
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You used the word first which is exactly right because there will be more so don't agonize to much over the choice of your first pcp it looks like you have a good list get what your heart wants.
My first pcp was the Taipan vet std .22 and that would be my recommendation rock solid, accurate ( especially on a cold shot which is important for backyard pesting ), and quiet out of the box then put a donnyfl tanto or shogun on it and the only thing your neighbors will hear is the smack of the pellet.
 
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I suggest a new Stoeger Bullshark. Available new for under $500. Pretty quiet with the stock baffles and equipped for a thread on moderator. I tuned one recently for another member and his liked H&N Baracuda Match 21 grains and shot them at 850 fps when I turned the hammer spring down a little. It's a regulated gun and will get around 70 shots on a full 250 bar fill. I have three very similar P35s and the worst of any of them has done a 194 on the 30 yard challenge. The 22 has produced one 200 so far. The regulator should come set to 140 bar or so which produces low 30s fpe easily (in 22). It's light and short. About 6 lbs without scope and about 28 inches long. I also have a Air Maks Caiman and it's a nice gun but I still like my P35s too. Caiman cost about 3X as much.
 
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