So the post question is "So how did you get into the world of PCP's"
Of course, some responses are arguing about how 'great' springers are. That's not what the guy asked.
So here's my story.
Years of shooting powder in all shapes and sizes, could never shoot in our back yard. Then ammo started getting scarce followed quickly by increasing in price. Sure, it's available now, if you want to buy one box at a time (limit) for 3 times the cost. I'm talking powder ammo.
I started thinking about air guns. I have a 30 year old CO2 Crossman 22 rifle that's pretty weak - understandably, by design. And it won't shoot if it's really cold out in the winter (Ohio). I brought it back out of storage, and was pretty disappointed, especially after shooting handgun and rifle powders for so long.
I did some research and got scared away from PCP. I didn't want to spend a lot, and I watched way too many Youtubes about guys complaining about hand pumping rifles like the Umarex Gauntlet. One guy looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger and he almost passed out before he hit 3,000psi hand pumping.
(Slight exaggeration). And a compressor? Just to shoot in the backyard? Maybe the air cylinder option. Nice, except there's no scuba shops where there isn't water. So I decided on what I thought was the best option. Gamo Swarm Gen 2, 22 cal break barrel. Before even buying it, it seemed crazy to me to expect accuracy from a barrel that pivots 120 degrees. But the Youtube reviews!!! Oh, the reviews were glorious. It's so accurate. It's so great. And so easy to 'cock' compared to the Magnum. Ok, I'm sold. I bought it on Amazon - (great return policy by the way).
2 Day shipping, came with a scope, and I ran (drove) over to my son's house to check it out.
He's ex military, I'm just an old guy (66) who thinks he's not old. We start shooting it.
What the heck? This thing is terrible. The 5 or 10 shot spread was really bad.
Back to Youtube that night. Oh, the barrel's dirty. Oh, I have to shoot 1,000 rounds through it. And Oh, I have to find a pellet that the gun 'Likes'!!! Wonderful. And the best of all. We're holding it all wrong. You can't 'hold the gun', you have to just lay it like a cloud, on your hands. DON'T GRAB IT. AND DON'T LET THE BUTT END REST ON YOUR SHOULDER. It's got to float. The Artillery hold is what they call it. Oh my god. And to make it worse, I paid $300 for this thing.
Ok, so I bought 7 or 8 different brands of pellets. Shot a good 500 rounds through it. Bought a tub of Ben Gay for my arm after cocking it so many times (I told you I'm old).
My son got disappointed very quickly and said, just forget about this air gun thing. I said I was going to look for a pcp option because I read so many good things about it.
Thanks to the great people on this forum, I read around Christmas time a few months ago about a great deal on the Benjamin Maximus for $145. What? That's too good to be true. And it pumps up to only 2,000psi so a hand pump is fine.
Well, we've been shooting that thing 2 or 3 times a week for a few months now. I put a silencer and a cheap scope on it, and although I don't have close up photos of a hole in a target where I can say I put 10 shots through that one hole, it's fairly accurate. Plenty accurate, very quiet, a really joy to shoot. No cocking, the air pumping is easy, it shoots all the kinds of pellets the break barrel didn't 'like', so I couldn't be happier.
The only reason I'm still sitting on only that one pcp rifle is that my wife and I are aggressively paying down our mortgage, to pay it off so we can both retire this summer. Once that happens, I'm getting a compressor, and then I'll be asking everyone which next rifle I should get. I'm looking at the Marauder bolt action, Air Venturi Avenger (I really like the reviews on this one), or maybe the Gauntlet.
Anyway, because you asked for opinions, I won't buy another air rifle or pistol that's not pcp. You can argue with that, which I'm sure you will. And show another closeup of a target from 12 inches away that you shot at from 200 yards.
But you won't convince me.
Oh, the Swarm Gen 2? It's back at Amazon, sitting on a shelf somewhere. You won't find it in my gun room.
