Nothing wrong with Chinese. Theres a ton of rebrands out there you would never know by the names on them.
Now you've messed up. Pretty soon you'll have fifty of them and you won't even know where Germany is any more. I'll stick with my Dianas and Weihrauch.
Well the wait is over, now for some gratuitous unboxing and impressions. The Chinese gun in question is........the envelope please.......
A Springfield M1A.
Huh what now????? I hear you saying. It is actually an under lever licensed replica air rifle of a SpringField M1A imported by and branded by Air Venturi. So on to my initial super quick out of the box thoughts.
First the bad.
-The first shot out of the rifle must have been going like 2500 fps.
I have never had a rifle diesel so loudly on the first shot. It was so loud I was starting to thing that this rifle might even settle in to being too loud for my normal comfort level of shooting. It did not and settled in just fine after the first shot but that first shot was LOUD!!! AND SCREAMING OUT OF THE BARREL.
-The cocking stroke, while very easy, is CRINGY as all get out. A little squeak, doesn't feel good, a little gritty and just......well just YUCK. I mean it does the job but does so a little bit like your average DMV worker, with complete and utter disdain for you.
-The safety, while stylistically just like the safety on an M1A or M1 Garand etc. is backwards. Pull INTO the trigger guard to fire.....push out to safe. It is not an automatic safety so its really not all that intrusive in any way but for such a nice looking replica that seems a mis-step to me.
Now the MEH.
-The trigger is very smooth but even though it is listed as a two stage trigger feels more like a long 6lbs single stage trigger. Its hard for me out of the box to get a feel for it. This is as much learning curve as anything else. I have certainly felt WAY WAY worse triggers but this one is going to take some getting used to.
-The anti bear trap release is the bolt stop button. It works fine its just in a different location that I am used to and is a little awkward at first.
-The stock feels thicker/beefier then an M1A/M14. I suspect this is simply a concession to the mechanics packaging.
-The butt plate "shoulder thing that goes up" HA!!! see there is an actual gun part for that, but I digress.....at any rate the recoil shoulder plate is for show only. It is not functional. No big deal just pointing it out. I don't use it on the real rifles.
-She was shooting WAAAAAAYYYYYY LEFT out of the box.
Now The Good
-By God this thing looks and feels like an honest to by God M1A. It's about a 9lb rifle.
-The stock is pretty darn nice. Has a nice walnut look to it and mine has a nice subtle tiger striping in it. I have to say the stock looks and feels good. Better then I expected.
-The cocking effort is very light. The cocking lever is the "gas tube" and can actually be extended out should you want more leverage. I don't find the extra leverage is necessary.
-The shot cycle and noise signature is very pleasant. After that first shot that came out like a railgun everything is just a nice satisfying thunk. Its not very loud at all. Actually much quieter then I expected given it is "RATED" as a 1000 fps .177 springer so even dropping that down a couple hundred FPS its a fairly powerful springer yet quieter then I expected.
-The sights are just like M1A/Garand peep sights. Adjustments are similar, sight picture is identical and you would be hard pressed to tell you were not behind the real rifle to be honest. Now that is a bit of a double edged sword as the front sight post is a little thick and makes precision air rifle shooting a little difficult. That said I don't plan to scope this rifle and I got it simply "to shoot an M1A in my basement" and it will do that in spades.
-The cocking handle moves. It does nothing but you can pull the charging handle. I know, know.....Its my monkey brain going "oooo button....oooo shiney."
-Packaging was secure and excellent.
So there you have it my first Chinese rifle and its an American Legend. Yeah that doesn't really compute with me either but lets move on.
Anyhoo here are a couple more pictures in my initial sight in stuff. If anything the trigger and the sights are what will make shooting this challenging but it seems to shoot fairly well mechanically so to speak. SO FAR I am getting a giggle out and that was the whole purpose and I am happy with the money I spent for what I got. That said I cannot help but wonder just how good of a rifle this could be if somebody like Diana had the rights to make it.
Sighting in part 1. You can see the pellet strikes WAY to the left as I got it moved over. Once there it seems like it will do what I want it to do. Shoot cheap pellets in my basement out of an M1A.
Sighting in part 2. Working towards dialing it in a bit.