I've got a hankering for some PCP!!!!

[cslinger]

That's Pre Charged Pneumatic air rifles of course.

So I am thinking I want to move up to the world of PCP air rifles. I want a repeater and have a couple of questions.

First I am looking at Falcon products. They seem to make some mighty nice air rifles. Any experiences?

Second. Is the hand pump method really that bad? I mean are we talking pumping up for an hour or is it basically a short, although manual, process?

Third. I prefer .22 air rifles. Any reason not to go .22 with a PCP?

Thanks so much.

Chris

 

[cslinger]

I could have sworn we had at least a couple of air rifle nuts here.

Chris

 

[Harry Tuttle]

been here yet?

http://www.pyramydair.com/cgi-bin/show.pl?cmd_category=show&category_id=2

 

[WhiteKnight]

IMHO, hand pumps aren't bad at all. That is, if you are okay with doing only a little bit of shooting each day. Personally, though I lift weights about 6-7 hours every week, I am nowhere near being fit enough to pump the gun as often as is needed for me to blow through 400-500 rounds like I can do with my .22LR.

Your conclusion is pretty much dead on. To pump up most of the guns that I've shot, it takes about 60ish pumps, with each pump requiring about 3x as much effort as a bike pump. That's about as much of laymen's terms as I can specify.

IMHO, a the .22 caliber is MUCH preferable to the .177 when it comes to airguns.

Bearing my hypocrisy in mind (I bought an Air Arms s400e) I much preferred the .22LR version to it.

Trajectory comes into play MUCH more in reference to airguns, and that (as well as the price of pellets) would be the ONLY reason why I'd ever choose a .177 over a .22.
The fastest .177 (CPH of 10.5 grains going at about 997 fps) didn't perform 1/2 as well as a much slower .22LR CP (from an FX Timberwolf with the power turned down a mite).

If I were you, I'd definitely look into shrouded airguns. The FX (keeping my bias in mind) series immediately comes to mind...

From what I hear, the Falcon products are pretty darn good. Personally I like the lines as well as the simplicity of the Air Arms guns. No safety, no extra features. Ever fired a Benjamin airgun? You pump + pump + pump and then cock the bolt and load a pellet. Imagine simply cocking the bolt, inserting a pellet, and launching much higher velocities than a BS could ever dream of. That's what an Air Arms is like. No frills, just function.

If you're familar enough to know about high end guns like Falcons, I'm sure you've probably already browsed much of the existing information to death.
In case you haven't, be sure to check out:
Straightshooters (great service and wonderful selection)
Network 54 Airgun Forum (a must read)
Airguns of Arizona (great selection, great prices)
AirgunBBs (based in the UK, good source of info)

Sorry for ranting.

 

[JohnKSa]

The only ding I've seen against hand pumps is that they don't do as good a job of dehydrating the air as a compressor does.

Just to be clear, I have never heard of any hard evidence of anyone damaging a gun by getting water into the chamber by using a hand pump.

 

[MP-44]

Pumping is not hard at all. When I bought my first PCP I was expecting a major work out to pump the gun up. That is because of what I read on the airgun forums. The people making those posts must have been completely out of shape. I would compare pumping from 140-150 bar up to 200 ( about 50-55 strokes) in my S400H or S400E to doing about 5 push ups.

If the rifle is shooting over 20 fpe I prefer the .22. My S400E was .177 @ 23 fpe and would send standard weight pellets supersonic which didn't aid accuracy any. It was very accurate with Kodiaks and Crossman primier heavies.

S400 @ 40yds with .22 JSB Exacts. From a bench it will do even better.

 

[Otony]

I bought an English-spec Air Arms S400K. Did that on purpose, as even though these are set up for the 12 pound limit, the English versions have an adjusting screw to vary speed with different weights of pellets. This keeps the rifle within legal specs, and keeps the shooter out of gaol

With a bit of fiddling about with hammer springs, and tweaking the adjustments, I was able to get it well over 12 pounds, plus have the ability to tune it back for loooooong shooting sessions, even with the smaller air reservoir. Not all PCP's have external adjustments, something to consider, as higher power means less shots. Significantly less, so being able to adjust is a BIG feature in my book.

Mine is also a .22, BTW. I can't stress this enough, bigger calibers + PCP = better results. To put it simply, PCP's are more efficient as the caliber grows. More shots, better power. You WILL get more shots with a larger caliber in any given design.

The other comments are very true. Scuba tanks are much to be preferred over pumps. Pumping won't kill you. It also won't give to "dry" air, nor is it by any means to be considered convinient. It is simply put, cheaper to start out with. And a great cardio work out!

Range estimation, hold over, trajectory. All these will become learned art forms. You need to realize that your aiming point will change even within the confines of the average backyard. Make it a point to create trajectory charts, they will help you immensely. Invest in a quality scope that has AO, that helps a lot.

If you can do so, buy a shrouded version (Air Arms are available shrouded, Falcons are not). Makes the whole experience legally quiet. BTW, the "devices" available for Falcons are not legal here, if that matters to you.

For what it is worth, Falcons have some (all?) parts contracted to machine shops in Pakistan or India. It doesn't show in the guns, by which I mean to say that Falcons are not shoddy. They simply use those places for their "offshore" work, whereas we here in the States tend to go to China or Mexico. Air Arms are all English so far as I know, and the later ones are available with safeties as well.

Lots of rambling here, hope I made some sense.