Looking to buy an inexpensive pcp to replace my breaker for squirrel hunting

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Will615

Member
Dec 24, 2023
11
11
Nashville, TN, USA
Hey everybody. I'm still in the middle of my learning curve when it comes to air gun hunting so thanks in advance for your advice. I bought a budget Stoeger break open gun and replaced the trigger (charliedatuna.com> great investment!). It's a .22 and I played with different pellets to find the ones this guns likes. Sitting at a bench, it is plenty accurate for anything I want to do. I read up on the recoil of a breaker, using the military grip, etc. However, if I'm walking around the yard, it's a very difficult gun to use to hit a squirrel in the head.
I want to switch to a pcp gun with 2 main concerns. I want to spend under $500 on the gun and I want to figure out how to refill the tank without buying a compressor or going to a dive store. Your thoughts please. Thanks,
Will
 
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I also like the idea of a Notos or the older Prod because they don't store a lot of air so refilling them from a hand pump is pretty easy. The contra point is they don't give you a lot of shots. Should be OK for hunting. My Prod gives me 20 good shots at about 18 fpe and I can at least finish the third magazine (24 shots) without a major drop off. Notos should be a little over 20 fpe and it's shot count a little higher too (it's regulated).

The contra point is that the amount of air used per shot is not a function of the amount of air in the cylinder. You could also buy a P35 or a Stoeger Bullshark (almost the same gun) and just fill it to a lower pressure with a handpump if you only need 25 shots. I really like my P35s and I've shot one Bullshark and I think it may be a little better. These guns are under $500 and capable of more power than the Notos or Prod. They also have good triggers once you reduce the first stage spring (means turning one grub screw one time). The Notos, P35 and Stoeger Bullshark are all made by Snowpeak (SPA). My P35-177 is tuned to about 18 fpe, my P35-22 is tuned to about 30 fpe and my P35-25 is at about 50 fpe. I wouldn't want to hand pump the 25 caliber, it uses more air per shot but I could hand pump the other two and still enjoy them. They are also accurate guns. I've killed about 40 squirrels with my P35s. They all work well but the 22 and 25 drop them a little quicker. My favorite PCP is my P35-22 which has a Vector Veyron 6-24 SFP scope. Nice light little rifle with plenty of power for squirrels. I killed a small raccoon with it.
 
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rangur1 said:
I forgot about this highly touted platform.
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you did mention the pp750.. the only major difference is the notos cocks on the left side and the pp750 on the right side. I have a notos and I don't know what went wrong 🤣🤣 everyone says the magazine is junk but I have 4 factory magazine and they work flawless.. course I also shorten the barrel and put a moderator from a friend inside the shroud.. so it is 16" long but I have never put the stock on, I used the open sights and pistol grips that were available for it..
 
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N2 Shooter said:
You can get the first generation Avenger and a compressor for around $500.
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I think you're on the right track here. I bought an original Avenger as my second PCP . I worked away from home for weeks at a time & looked forward to the time back home for a few days . Well , the brown truck had left a long brown box that was waiting for me ! I had a top of the line Hill handpump . After a shower I headed down to the Man Cave w/ my brown box and opened , inspected the gun , hooked up the air hose & started pumping . Now at that time I exercised regularly , including strength training and considered myself in good shape . After a lonnng break I resumed pumping to full fill , then set the gun in the shooting rest and went for another shower !!😅
 
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The trick with using a Hand pump is to refill often ,as in only shoot something like 15 rounds or 1/3 of your air supply then pump it back up to full . yes a bit inconvenient at first when your breaking in the gun on targets , but later when your pesting or hunting that same 15 shots is a few hours hunt.
Stan in KY.
 
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Hand pump gets old real quick , as pressures have risen since the early days of pcp. ( like around 2600 psi) Today it is about 3k on the low end and 4K on the high avg with a few units over that even. 3600 on a hand pump is do able -heck of a cardiovascular work out even spacing sessions apart, and gets challenging. Decent hand pump around $180 on up. Smallest pump ( electric ) GX unit is about $300. Gx is a mfg. and not a reseller so there is support vs a lot of the similar ones with none. Just to shift gears a bit. There are at least 2 rifles with a pump built into the rifle, so they operate like a pcp ( no piston or spring flying around when you shoot) both are under your max $ so you can add some glass. Just an option to look at.
The realm of 5000 psi is closing in on us fast in the pcp world, not that the units are operating on that pressure range but lengthing the shot string, particularly with the larger caliber units 25 cal on up. Which can be real air hogs ( 30, 35, 45, 50, 72 calibers + the air bows)
Back 30 years ago when I switched from CO2 to pcp I started with a hand pump, Then the shoebox compressor became available and I got one of those, Went though one season of competition of hand pumping ( lot of practice time also ) shoebox was a godsend.
Like every hobby - it is a black hole on your wallet. With that in mind- the old saying "Buy once Cry once" is still true. ( well a lot of the time anyway).
 
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$50 hand pump from amazon works better than the $200 rust-o-matics from hill. Pumping is not that hard and nobody says you have to pump to 4k psi. I run several of my 250 bar guns at 200 bar with plenty of shots. Just pump them back up while watching a tv show. Plus who couldn't use a little exercise these days. People be getting soft. 46 y/o 180 lbs training for my first Murph Challenge. 1 mile run, 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 air squats then 1 last mile run all for time.
 
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Joedirt199 said:
$50 hand pump from amazon works better than the $200 rust-o-matics from hill. Pumping is not that hard and nobody says you have to pump to 4k psi. I run several of my 250 bar guns at 200 bar with plenty of shots. Just pump them back up while watching a tv show. Plus who couldn't use a little exercise these days. People be getting soft. 46 y/o 180 lbs training for my first Murph Challenge. 1 mile run, 100 pullups, 200 pushups, 300 air squats then 1 last mile run all for time.
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Getting soft? Yes- guilty as charged! While I respect your perspective, when I reach back, the energy just ain't there. But your correct, certain platforms are designed to operate at 2600 psi. absolutely nothing wrong with that. I think the other member was just indicating that the increased pressures are what's pushing the higher power and more shots game that the latest platforms are doing to fight for one's dollar. While both of you are correct, the views are not really opposing each other. Your validating hand pump friendly platforms, the other member simply put it that more and more are going high power at affordable prices and your good with a shoebox pump without breaking the bank. Right?
 
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Back in the day the shoe box wasn't all that wallet friendly, It was, barring a catastrophic problem, completely rebuildable by the average person + it was just about the only game in town. On the old yellow forum there were all kinds of ways people were converting the hand pumps to electrification. Again another old still viable saying " work smarter , not harder". I do have a 1cfm Military 3k psi compressor which I use to fill scuba tanks. One of which went with me to various competitions. Dive shops and such were a hassle getting tanks filled. And then there were my boys with the paintball thing. Not knocking hand pumping at all. Still have my FWB 40, Walther KK rifle and an Annie 2025 rifle. Sold the Shoebox a number of years ago, hand pumps also. To put things a bit more in perspective I have a full complement of hand saws, but I prefer to use my band saw , skill saw , table saw in lieu of same. I heat my home with wood, I could hand split everything , but spliting 400 cubic feet( 3 cord a season . 1 cord = a stack of wood 8' x 4' x 4') by hand ain't gonna happen. )
 
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