Thought on AEA

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etbutter said:
Of the two I have, the accuracy is awful and the trigger is one of the grittiest I have felt. I don't think they are worth the money. The weight of the trigger isn't bad but the feel is awful.
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The triggers are pretty bad, but they are made for power and they deliver that for the price. I will say that accuracy isn’t always great but the majority of the ones I’ve had shot well. I’ve polished all my barrels which helped. I’ve even had to polish my fx liners to keep them from fouling up. I worked my challenger bullpup trigger and got it super light and crisp, no creep, better than my fx maverick trigger now. AEA guns do take work which I got into them knowing that so it doesn’t bother me too much unless they are super problematic like the hp max .357 I had
 
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I have the s45 and the .58 element max. Are the PSI air gauges on the rifles themselves accurate?. I bought a cheap compressor and the setting I had on the compressor was not showing the same on the aea rifle gauge. So I moved the pressure on the compressor up to get me to 4000 PSI on the two rifles. After only 12 rounds I blew a valve pin gasket on the s45. Wondering if it's a coincidence or am I overpressurizing the rifles. Any thoughts?
 
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I started making the valves out of PEEK. I have one in the gun since December and it is holding up well. Have to agree on parts availability. I need a sear for my Terminator since last summer. Despite several communications with Bin Tac and Bin at the pellet shop I cannot get a commitment to order me one. I ended up Tig welding the sear with A2 hardface rod and grinding it down to fit. Magazines are also a problem for the 30 cal Terminator. I have yet to see one for sale. AEA dealers are more focused on new sales than supplying parts to existing customers.
 
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I have a 357 big bore standard. It is heavy but powerful. 300fpe plus. I have shot woodchucks out to 144 yards with 125 gr slugs, clean pass thru and at 200 yards still have 200fpe. I have recently bought a Texan 257 which I think is going to give it a run for my favorite PCP. I have had zero problems with the 357 and I've had it over 2 years.
 
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jt-outta-cali said:
I got the .30 cal ss max or whatever, “bolt action”. Looks cool, front end heavy, loud, trigger nice break but breaks in the middle (lame) and… the deal breaker, after pulling the bolt back, you have to pull it back another half inch UNDER HEAVY TENSION to insert the magazine, meaning you have to use two hands plus your stomach or the floor at the same time. once in place it works as any normal pcp until time to remove the magazine and go through the same routine

I put less than 5 mags and sold it within 2 weeks at a big loss.
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I’m going to give my updated thoughts on AEA bc I just purchased a SF compact in .30 which is basically the same gun as before except it also has semi. Funny thing is, I don’t plan to shoot semi because I like quiet. The biggest gripe before with pulling the bolt back hard to insert mag is improved! The bolt is not only easier to pull back but there is a hold open switch so you’re not straining with both hands and toes to switch mags. I have a 6 section huma moderator in 40mm which is quieter than 50mm for some reason. It no longer clunks but sounds like a nail gun or line being bled, sounds like an Leshiy 2. A splash of air. Overall I think it’s the best value for affordable 30 cal with the select fire being a plus.

Also realised the buffer tube and stock are unbranded hence the cheaper price, but the body build quality feels great

If I were to change one thing I would say the mags
 
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Sicumj said:
I have two AEA's. A 25 cal Backpacker and a 30 cal Terminator. Accuracy is very good with the both but the Terminator needs .303 cal projectiles which limits pellet and slug availability. Both guns are built well and they are a solid gun, I carry the BP daily. IMO it is a tinkerers gun and not for someone new to the sport.

Downfall to these rifles are parts availability. Depending on shipments from China parts are unobtainable for the most part. I don't see me purchasing another AEA rifle until parts are better managed by USA AEA. distributors Trigger and magazines are less than ideal. Exploded views with parts nomenclature are not available that I can find. I don't know what they are hiding the guns have a simple design.

I really like these guns but for the cost they need to step up and focus some on present customers needs and not so much on selling new guns.
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I got the aea Challenger Pro last October and the only leak I had was where the gauge was screwed in for the main fill tank and once that was tightened I have no more leaks. I have literally put hundreds of rounds through this thing. It's in the 357 version and I have some Lyman molds and I bought ammo from several different vendors for testing. Griffin, Pro slugs, MrHollowPoint and some stuff from eBay and a couple thousand rounds from GT bullets. NSA 356-125 are good too. Just for the kicks I got some Missouri 115 grain round nose sized 356 and they seem to work okay also. They're pretty hard and smash bricks easily. I put together about 40 lb of rags soaked in water and they completely penetrated 15 in. All of the hollow points expand and stop within 8 or 10 in.
I've turned the regulator down to 2570 and added a few grams to the Hammer to make it heavier and open it a couple thousands of an inch more. Before I lowered the regulator I was getting 210 foot pounds with 120 grain hollow point slugs. In the current tune I'm getting about 185 to 190 ft lbs. Put a Ronin on it and while it's not neighbor friendly, I've actually shot down the hall and out the patio door from my town house living room. 25 yards, full power 😜.
I did have a problem with the probe arm for the side lever where the wrist pin is made by a roll pin. I was a little rough on it but I went to the hardware store and bought a piece of roll pan and cut it and put it in there and it's fine. I can shoot 9 and 10 rings all day at 125 yards. I don't bother with pellets unless I'm just doing some pesting then I'll turn the transfer port down to a little below the halfway point. In that configuration I get about 20 shots before I fall off the reg. At full power I'm getting 12 to 14 shots on the regulator.
I've been working on stuff like this for 40 years and I think this is actually a pretty decent design although there are some areas that could use some attention like the trigger. If I showed you pictures of the hatsan flash trigger and safety bar you'd freak. In comparison this is platinum.
I'm actually thinking about getting a 45 or a 51 Cal.
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Sicumj said:
I have the trigger on my carbine at 2.75 lb. To get there I had to polish to a bright chrome finish the contact area's of the trigger to sear and the sear to hammer catch. The hammer is a ring style contact so the whole ring needs polished. Chuck it up in a drill or something and use 1000 - 2000 wet or dry paper then use something like Flitz,

Changing springs should be done one at a time. The sear requires a stiffer spring than the trigger. I find springs similar to what is in the gun then shrink the length by heating the coil on the end of the spring to red hot then squash the spring one or two coils at a time. Try and repeat. If the gun doubles redo the spring. I ended up using slightly smaller wire size and squashing coils to get to 2.75.

You will notice the trigger pin hole is oblonged. That is to allow the trigger to toggle past the sear and reset. Sometimes on the bench you may get a doubling by "laying" on the trigger slightly after a shot. This hinders the toggle action and is noticeable when you have a lighter trigger spring. This can cause a doubling or a no cock.

I cannot get an answer on part availability from Bin Tac other than what is in their catalog. I have doubts that you could get a new sear or trigger blade so go slow on your polishing. Ace hardware had me covered on spring needs.

Jim
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I changed the spring in my challenger Pro 357 with Ace hardware but it's not big enough and slips into the rod hole. I made a washer from some nylon bushing and did a quick buffing to hammer and sear. I noticed that increasing the hammer weight and opening the valve and extra 2/10 of an inch would increase the trigger pull also. I can get over 200 ft lbs with 129 grain slug and hit soda cans at over 110 yards.
 
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