A little background on me. I have been shooting firearms since I was very small and currently collect firearms. I also have had a few cheap BB guns and currently still have a tech force sidelever 177 rifle and a tech force underlever 177 pistol both of which I have had for about 15 years and are very tired. I occasionally watch youtube guys shooting rats and birds and decided one day that I wanted to try pcp. Ive watched a ton of videos and understand how they work now and I love to tinker and every firearm I own has been modified by myself and I love to do it. After seeing how much some of those cost like any FX gun and lots of others it almost turned me off of them because for the price of that stuff I would rather add more firearms to my collection. But then I found lots of videos on cheaper ones that are shown to be accurate. I came across AEAC as well as other reviewers and have a couple in mind. I was originally set on the gauntlet because of the whole being regulated deal but after watching tons of videos on it it seems cheaply made and as steve said in one of his videos there's airgun builders and airgun manufacturers and the gauntlet definitely is from an airgun builder. I've switched over now to the hatsan flash as it has good power and all the videos I've seen show it to be accurate despite being unregulated, which I thought was a bigger deal. It will be for backyard shooting, noise isnt an issue as I shoot my firearms in my backyard, and dealing with birds that build nests in my gutters. So for about a $300 cap whats a good beginner pcp rifle? I know about the accessories that are needed and already have a hand pump on the way as I'm sticking with the whole setup being budget minded and I could use the exercise.