Question for Airgun Enthusiasts

[Ezana4CE]

When purchasing new airguns or support equipment, is it reasonable to expect customers to pay MSRP (or a slightly discounted sale price) and have to alter products to get said products’ performance to an acceptable or optimal level to the consumer? I’m not talking about tuning airguns. I’m talking about new airguns, SCBA tanks, regulators, compressors, moderators, etc out of the box.

Edit: These are subjective terms, so allow me to clarify for added context.

“Acceptable” meaning to your expectations. “Optimal” meaning does the performance meet or exceed the manufacturer’s description of the product’s capabilities or performance?

 

[addison]

Nope but that's my opinion.

 

[MikeVV]

When purchasing new airguns or support equipment, is it reasonable to expect customers to pay MSRP (or a slightly discounted sale price) and have to alter products to get said products’ performance to an acceptable or optimal level? I’m not talking about tuning airguns. I’m talking about new airguns, SCBA tanks, regulators, compressors, moderators, etc out of the box.

First question / comment (should be somewhat obvious) -
WHAT'S acceptable or optimal (see in red above) to...you ?
These acceptable parameters to you, MAY...not be acceptable or optimal to others...right ? that's why many / most new guns with levers, dials, nuts, set screws (not worms), etc. for "others"...set their own...acceptable.

Mike

 

[Ezana4CE]

First question / comment (should be somewhat obvious) -
WHAT'S acceptable or optimal (see in red above) to...you ?
These acceptable parameters to you, MAY...not be acceptable or optimal to others...right ? that's why many / most new guns with levers, dials, nuts, set screws (not worms), etc. for "others"...set their own...acceptable.

Mike

@Mike VV “What’s acceptable to the consumer” since that is who is buying the product. I could’ve been more specific in my wording. See the edit in my initial post.

 

[Joekrooz]

My vote is no, after spending my hard earned money, it should be expected to work satisfactorily right out of the box with the exception of a barrel cleaning on a new airgun. With new airguns, I like the shops that take the time to go over the gun, test that it holds air and cycles properly etc. this can sometimes save some aggravation for the buyer as well as the retailer.

 

[Scotay42]

It should be functional and leak free if bought new. Acceptable is different for many like @Firewalker said.

 

[woogie_man]

Depends....do you want your FX to shoot like it did for the youtubers? Lol

 

[Florida_Man]

This is hard. Satisfactory is subjective to each owner. I think a premium product should come tuned to a specific pellet or slug and that in product information.

It’s hard because there are so many different use cases.

 

[rayroz]

No leaks ! Nothing loose !

 

[JEFFPPC]

It should works as advertised, will it always, no. As a guy I use to work with often said.....Suck it up buttercup, its life. If the company stands behind a faulty product, great, no harm no foul. If they don't you spend your money elsewhere going forward. If all else fails, read and follow the directions, you might end up pleasantly surprised.

 

[Richely]

It should perform as represented. I should not have to be the manufacturer’s QC.

That said one has to be realistic in expectations and honest with themselves about what they are buying. One cannot buy a budget airgun then expect the performance close to a higher end airgun without investing time and dollars into making improvements.

 

[L.Leon]

I voted no, I expect at the higher price points to have to do zero work on my PCP. Particularly, right out of the box. I have a full time job and a house and property to attend to. My useage of my PCPs is to help me briefly escape the feeling of “work”…

 

[Gerry52]

Reasonable to EXPECT out of box flawless performance, yes. Likely, in this day & age? Probably not, sad to say.

 

[Firewalker]

I guess I'm too much of a realist to think that anything made by man will satisfy everyone all the time.

Its been some years now but I was the buyer of a 5 axis CNC lathe/mill and I still needed to fly in a support guy from Korea to tweak the machine after it was installed. That machine was a cool $2M.

I only whine when there are *known defects that the company wont take care of and they blame the end user for the issue.

(*you know I'm talking to you TW!)

 

[Scotay42]

Depends....do you want your FX to shoot like it did for the youtubers? Lol

Experienced airgunners know, we have to tune and find what each gun likes, most can tune to about anything. I also shoot better than alot of youtubers, just proper fundamentals, Not Rick but definitely most others.lol

 

[daddypaddy]

it should be acceptable in that the new gun should perform at its advertised specifications without any aftermarket modifications done to it. i would go so far as to call it fraudulent if it didn’t.
it’s a purchase and the consumer should at least expect to get what they are paying for as advertised. i think this applies even more so for $600+ guns. $600 is not a small amount for a lot hobby airgunners from around the world.

 

[Struckat]

You said not talking tuning. What do you mean by alter? Cutting springs or adding items that didn’t come with it to make it shoot is unacceptable.

There may be a correlation between price and need for alteration. A $300-$500 gun you may have to do something like cut the hammer spring. I think that is unacceptable.

 

[Ezana4CE]

You said not talking tuning. What do you mean by alter? Cutting springs or adding items that didn’t come with it to make it shoot is unacceptable.

There may be a correlation between price and need for alteration. A $300-$500 gun you may have to do something like cut the hammer spring. I think that is unacceptable.

@Struckat “Altering” entails adding something to the gun that does not come with a new gun or changing the stock gun by reducing size or length of something that came with a new gun; think modification. Altering may include, but not be limited to, applying material to stiffen the barrel, cutting or replacing things like springs, shrouds, regulators, barrels, triggers, hammers, valves, etc.

“Tuning” in this context would be adjusting the regulator and hammer spring tension. For some guns that might including swapping out jets or porting devices that come with a new gun. If you have to buy something to tune it, you’re essentially altering the gun in the context of this discussion.

 

[Chukar60]

It all depends on what and how reasonable your expectations are.
I will cut to the chase here.
If you are buying an FX Impact and expect it to shoot like one of the highly modded YT guns straight out of the box, then your expectations are unreasonable. If you by an Impact and want it to sling slugs right out of the box then you need to understand that it can and will do it with lighter weight slugs with the STX liner but it will most likely not shoot anything over 30 gr without a slug liner.
Take an Impact out of the case straight from the factory and feed it pellets and all you have to do is tune it and shoot it. The beauty is that it will digest just about any weight of pellet within a caliber’s selection just as it was shipped to you.
Once again I will beat the drum. It is an absolute fallacy that an Impact needs any of the after market trinkets to make it a good gun. As long as you are willing to accept the limitations of the original design. The gun as it is shipped will shoot with any other gun in it’s price range while also offering infinitely variable alterations that will make it do a multitude of things it was never designed to do.

 

[Vetmx]

I know what you’re talking about. Things like buying a compressor and having to immediately upgrade the pump so it doesn’t burst into flames. Having to chop a spring so your shot string doesn’t look like a tire going flat. Getting a pic rail that’s way out of speck. Having to work over a bipod so it’s not all sloppy. Having to immediately address reg issues, barrel issues or clipping. Thats just the tip of the iceberg in this hobby but I’m sure you know how I voted. All of these things seem be accepted in the airgun community. My buddy recently made me aware that I was an idiot. So I changed the way I play the game.