Air Venturi New Avenger Owner

Well one of the members here had a great deal on a .177 avenger and I couldn't pass it up. I purchased this for pest control I do at a pig/cattle farm locally and I think once I tune it up, it will work perfect.

Currently I use a .22 FX Crown for all my pesting and it works great but is overkill at 30ftlbs for sparrows (mostly what I shoot). Most of the shots are 25-75y with the bulk being around 50y. Over the last couple years of being there I decided a powerful accurate. 177 would be my best bet...

Tuning... I looked all over for some type of guide for .177 with really no avail. Since I know these run super hot, I plan to use a 13+ grain pellet or slug. When I recieved the rifle, it was set with the reg at around 1600psi and no idea on the hammer spring..yet. however I couldn't get really decent groups with any weight pellet until I gave the reg a boost to 1800psi and the hammer spring a 1/4 turn in. Currently shooting 10.65gr Baracudas at 925fps (a little hot) but accurate to 50y.

I'm going to try to redneck document everything for the tuning process (within reason) due to the lack info out there on the 177 platform. I have a new shipment of projectiles I'm going to work on (and a new chrono) to hopefully get this thing launching some heavy pellets or slugs at a decent speed.


If anyone has suggestions on tuning settings for the 177, or what your getting, please let me know. Overall, I'm in love with the shot cycling and trigger weight. Such a fun rifle to shoot and with the Tatsu it's quiet, at least for now lol. PS: Don't mind the horrible mess in the picture I just took one quickly for the post!
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Had the .22 version, super accurate. I dont think you can have over kill when pesting unless you are shooting in a building and then even the Avenger would be too powerful. If I had my choice between the Avenger and a Crown Id pick the Crown every time.
While accurate the Avenger feels bulky/club like compared to a Crown(have a Crown MKII W/380 MK2 barrel).
With heavy pellets your going to be in the 23-25ftlb range I imagine so not far off from Crown.
Also why not just turn your Crowns power down and tune with lighter pellet.
 
Good points! My Crown as the 380mm barrel as well and it's fairly portable even with a 6.5in moderator. I do agree for the most part but some of the pesting I've done their with my .177 Sentry has just led me to like it more for what I do, at least at this permission. Time will tell I guess! Truthfully there's no fairness in comparing those guns but sure is fun to own both!
 
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Had the .22 version, super accurate. I dont think you can have over kill when pesting unless you are shooting in a building and then even the Avenger would be too powerful. If I had my choice between the Avenger and a Crown Id pick the Crown every time.
While accurate the Avenger feels bulky/club like compared to a Crown(have a Crown MKII W/380 MK2 barrel).
With heavy pellets your going to be in the 23-25ftlb range I imagine so not far off from Crown.
Also why not just turn your Crowns power down and tune with lighter pellet.
I use my Crown as my small game gun as well, if a groundhog or something is causing issues etc... Don't want to detune it but I have thought of it. Also the more powerful the better for reaching out on windy days so it's to useful to detune.
 
Well one of the members here had a great deal on a .177 avenger and I couldn't pass it up. I purchased this for pest control I do at a pig/cattle farm locally and I think once I tune it up, it will work perfect.

Currently I use a .22 FX Crown for all my pesting and it works great but is overkill at 30ftlbs for sparrows (mostly what I shoot). Most of the shots are 25-75y with the bulk being around 50y. Over the last couple years of being there I decided a powerful accurate. 177 would be my best bet...

Tuning... I looked all over for some type of guide for .177 with really no avail. Since I know these run super hot, I plan to use a 13+ grain pellet or slug. When I recieved the rifle, it was set with the reg at around 1600psi and no idea on the hammer spring..yet. however I couldn't get really decent groups with any weight pellet until I gave the reg a boost to 1800psi and the hammer spring a 1/4 turn in. Currently shooting 10.65gr Baracudas at 925fps (a little hot) but accurate to 50y.

I'm going to try to redneck document everything for the tuning process (within reason) due to the lack info out there on the 177 platform. I have a new shipment of projectiles I'm going to work on (and a new chrono) to hopefully get this thing launching some heavy pellets or slugs at a decent speed.


If anyone has suggestions on tuning settings for the 177, or what your getting, please let me know. Overall, I'm in love with the shot cycling and trigger weight. Such a fun rifle to shoot and with the Tatsu it's quiet, at least for now lol. PS: Don't mind the horrible mess in the picture I just took one quickly for the post! View attachment 517171
With those setting you should be good to go shooting the 10.03gr KO slugs. In my experience they love moving between 880 and 1010fps.

One pro of the barracudas is that they can be shot fast for a pellet. Hopefully your barrel isn't pellet/slug picky.
 
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With those setting you should be good to go shooting the 10.03gr KO slugs. In my experience they love moving between 880 and 1010fps.

One pro of the barracudas is that they can be shot fast for a pellet. Hopefully your barrel isn't pellet/slug picky.
I appreciate the info! I didn't know the baracudas liked higher speeds so maybe that's why they seem so happy at 925.
 
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I just got an Avenge-X tactical in .177. I'm using JSB Exact Beast Diablo 16.2g pellets, reg set to 2200psi. Shooting around 880 fps 28 fpe with excellent accuracy at my max 20yd backyard distance. Also 87db with a Buck Rail moderator.
Great info! I have some 16gr slugs I was going to try so this gives me an idea of where I may need to have the reg set. What's your shot count like?
 
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Newest UPDATE:
12/31/24

Well I have done some more testing and unfortunately no major breakthroughs…I tried the below listed ammo at all reg pressures and hammer adjustments I could possibly make. I am having a hard time finding something accurate at all ranges, which is a rarity for me. I consider this rifle capable of 75y shots however most would be 50y and under. Therefore I need to make sure it’s at least grouping at 50y. Instead of boring you with my thoughts here is what I’ve done:

JSB Redesigns- All speeds/ No luck
Wildman 13g slugs- All speeds/ No luck
H&N 16g slugs- All speeds/ No luck
Sig Sauer 10g pellets- 800-880 good to 25y, possibly further but havent tested.
JSB monster 13.43g - Laser to 30y after that opens up a lot. All speeds tested
H&N Baracuda 10.34g - Currently using these at 905 with insane accuracy at 25y, they seem to open up at 50y but I’ll be doing more testing.

Next on the list is JSB knockouts 10g, will update a full list when finished since there is little info on the .177 Avenger.

—————————————————————————


Well so far I have only tried a few things but currently I am shooting the JSB 13.43 at around 908. These get a bit swirly at range so I’m going to try getting them down to 880 or so. (settings below)
I really want to use the JSB Redesigns as I know they like faster speeds so I’m going to attempt to get them going good first, if that fails I’ll go back to the JSB 13.43s.

Current settings:
Reg: 2000
Hammer: 1/2 turn out
 
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I had an Aveng-X in .22 for a while, ended up selling it. Not because it was a bad gun, just that it was too large for what I needed (got a Notos to replace it).

I put just about every brand of pellet into that gun. The best groups I got was from the cheapest ammo I could get; 500 for $5 Crossman's at Wallmart. And even stranger is that they liked to shoot super fast. If I remember correctly I was shooting them at 1020-1050fps. Makes no sense but it worked for my gun.
 
Newest UPDATE:
12/31/24

Well I have done some more testing and unfortunately no major breakthroughs…I tried the below listed ammo at all reg pressures and hammer adjustments I could possibly make. I am having a hard time finding something accurate at all ranges, which is a rarity for me. I consider this rifle capable of 75y shots however most would be 50y and under. Therefore I need to make sure it’s at least grouping at 50y. Instead of boring you with my thoughts here is what I’ve done:

JSB Redesigns- All speeds/ No luck
Wildman 13g slugs- All speeds/ No luck
H&N 16g slugs- All speeds/ No luck
Sig Sauer 10g pellets- 800-880 good to 25y, possibly further but havent tested.
JSB monster 13.43g - Laser to 30y after that opens up a lot. All speeds tested
H&N Baracuda 10.34g - Currently using these at 905 with insane accuracy at 25y, they seem to open up at 50y but I’ll be doing more testing.

Next on the list is JSB knockouts 10g, will update a full list when finished since there is little info on the .177 Avenger.

—————————————————————————


Well so far I have only tried a few things but currently I am shooting the JSB 13.43 at around 908. These get a bit swirly at range so I’m going to try getting them down to 880 or so. (settings below)
I really want to use the JSB Redesigns as I know they like faster speeds so I’m going to attempt to get them going good first, if that fails I’ll go back to the JSB 13.43s.

Current settings:
Reg: 2000
Hammer: 1/2 turn out
I am shooting Crosman Premier domed 10.5 grains in my .177 Avenger.
Their speed is around 880-900FPS.
They are accurate to 50-60 yards.
Did not bother trying anything else.