Air rifle questions

jolofree

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Feb 19, 2012
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My old Crosman is worn out & can't cut the mustard anymore.
So I'm forced to enter the moderately priced (<$1000) air gun market to take care of some small vermin around the house.

1. Can a guy leave a PCP style air rifle like a Benjamin Marauder pressurized for a couple days to take care of a quick target of opportunity ?

2. Would the .22 cal pellet give a guy the best combination of accuracy, velocity, energy, availability/selection and cost ?

I have a budget limit of about $600-700 and pretty much have narrowed the search down to:

Benjamin Marauder_ - First choice
Seneca Sumatra 2500 - Second choice
or
Beeman R9
Air Venturi Avenger
HatsanBullboss QE

Am I way off in my thinking on this, I know More $$$ can buy better, but this just a pellet gun....LOL
Amazon or Walmart seems to have decent prices but I hear Wallyworld has a no return policy ?
Might just stick with PyramydAir or Airgundepot

Would anyone have an issue buying a used gun, ie seals, mechanism, action/barrel wear etc ?

Thanks
 
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I have a marauder I bought earlier this year. .22 cal. Shoots about the size of a dime at 30 yards with crossman 14.3 gr magnum pellets. Also just bought a Benjamin armada 25 cal for my thermal

I have the field and target model. Which is regulated

I always leave it charged. I believe you’re supposed to. If not with a hand pump it’s about 100 pumps to make it usable. Seems like 300 to fill it up. Just bought the setup to run off a scba tank. Gets about 80 shots between 3,000 to 1,000 psi where you’re in the “green” on the gauge

My .22 has developed a leak. Leaked down 1,000 psi in about 2 weeks time. I bought a depressurization tool for it and plan to tear apart this winter and replace orings and reseal it

Overall very happy with purchase. The gun, pellets, hand pump and cheaper scope would be around $1k.

Mainly use mine for pigeons. Works decent. I shot one at 92 yards a few months ago. Had to shoot again to finish off though
 
I leave my FX Maverick charged all the time. I've had it for almost two years now and no issues. I have no experience with any other PCP guns. I would pick the Avenger from your list though. From what I've read it's a good gun for the money.
 
Hand pumps work good for hunting or general plinking. Fill before you go type situation. But having to hump a pump during shooting sucks. Sweat you up while hunting and jack your heart rate while target shooting

But for hunting it’s good to go
 
I called the guys at pyramid air. Told them my criteria and they walked me through multiple options at multiple price points also the ins and outs of each. Super nice and knowledgeable. I highly suggest you do the same and maybe one will even be on sale. Have the credit card ready cause they will get you squared away.
 
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I have one of these...


I have killed starlings, skunks, raccoons and other birds and groundhogs with it. I put an airgun scope on it and it has held up well for several years. Good buy for the money IMHO and would serve you well. Shoots well with a variety of pellets...
 
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The Daystate Huntsman Revere Really Looks Good, I like it.
But like an AIAW or TacOps just too much $$ (1500) for me right now.
Unless I find one at a garage sale this weekend...LOL 🙂
Thanks j

I shoot my huntsman revere much more than my ais or tacops. The revere is good out to 150 if you know what youre doing. Anything 100 and in is money. Ive had it a couple months and have shot close to 100 pigeons and countless starlings at my farm. My sweet spot is wasting them at 40 to 60 yards
 
I notice that the Daystate Huntsman Revere is regulated.
I was advised that for mostly hunting varmints I should get a Non-regulated model to get all the velocity = KE possible vs more shots per charge, but I Don't know....
 
The revere has pretty high power for a 22. I get like 5 mags on a full pump up. So around 55 shots. But i usually pump at 4 mags so definitely 44 shots
 
I do like the
0dB Airgun Silencer 160S Black with 1/2 UNF

suppressor they have though
 
The Marauder (aka Mrod) is the M700 of the airgun world!

Ton's of mod's available and tuners too!

.22 is stoopid accurate and backyard friendly.

If you don't have a SCBA/SCUBA tank available, just go Hill Pump and go to town!
 
Thanks for all the info.
I'm looking hard at the Revere = AI $$$ & the Marauder = Rem700 $.
I don't think a guy can go wrong with either one. The Revere is just all around Awesome,
but the Marauder will probable do everything I need & then some
 
a 30 dollar daisy will kill tiny critters like cats just as dead as the more expensive air guns and way less of a mess , It's more a your preference . You could also trap ( non lethal traps) tried that with the neighbors cats I had a blast though they were less than happy about the whole thing . Best of luck
 
I have 2 marauder .25 call they are super reliable and accurate, but you almost have to get pellets online , none at the big box stores, as much as I love the marauder , the airventuri avenger is regulated and alot lighter, and 200 $ cheaper , my 25 cal is as accurate as the Benjamin and is easy to tune , the Sumatra is loud compared to both of the afore mentioned airguns , there's so many options out there today , just 7 years ago there was only a few pcp guns to choose from, another good entry level gun is the Barra 1100 I have one in 22 but I loaned it to a buddy and he won't bring it back the turd, says he's killed a dozen squirrels with it .
 
Anybody have actual first hand knowledge about using high pressure Nitrogen to charge a PCP air rifle,
will that really screw anything up or void the warranty etc ? Is it safe as long a it's filled carefully/slowly and not overpressured ?
 
I love my Daystate, but those wood stocks, while beautiful, are not practical. I hate dinging or scratching them. My FX Impact gets the most use, bullpup design allows for longer barrel, practical, large magazine capacity, modular and accurate as hell…
 
I have a Benjamin fortitude (shares a lot of marauder parts) it does eventually leak down over a period of months but it stays above the regulator pressure for a long time so it’s pretty serviceable, has claimed a lot of chipmunks. Pyramid air and air gun depot both occasionally sell refurbished marauders, might be worth looking into them. I really like hunting with moderated .22 air guns, they’re just so quiet.
 
I have used an RWS model 48 for many years. Shoots very well. but is a bit loud. I prefer the .17 cal version over the .22(had both).
It seems to kill small game better than the .22 even though most say the opposite.
 
Thanks for all the info:
I Finally got over analysis paralysis & pulled the trigger on a new Marauder .22, & caught the model I wanted on sale.
Got it because they actually answered their CS phone line, it's made in America (but use some foreign parts I think)
has lots of aftermarket parts & accessories, it's quiet & had pretty good accuracy reviews.
But I've already learned a lesson, all Benjamin PCP parts Are Not interchangeable, like Magazines, I got the Wrong :mad: 12 shot mag....
 
My old Crosman is worn out & can't cut the mustard anymore.
So I'm forced to enter the moderately priced (<$1000) air gun market to take care of some small vermin around the house.

1. Can a guy leave a PCP style air rifle like a Benjamin Marauder pressurized for a couple days to take care of a quick target of opportunity ?

2. Would the .22 cal pellet give a guy the best combination of accuracy, velocity, energy, availability/selection and cost ?

I have a budget limit of about $600-700 and pretty much have narrowed the search down to:

Benjamin Marauder_ - First choice
Seneca Sumatra 2500 - Second choice
or
Beeman R9
Air Venturi Avenger
HatsanBullboss QE

Am I way off in my thinking on this, I know More $$$ can buy better, but this just a pellet gun....LOL
Amazon or Walmart seems to have decent prices but I hear Wallyworld has a no return policy ?
Might just stick with PyramydAir or Airgundepot

Would anyone have an issue buying a used gun, ie seals, mechanism, action/barrel wear etc ?

Thanks
I bought my wife a Hatson Bullboss in .22. It shoots great up to 50 yrds with a red dot sight. I find myself grabbing it to back yard shoot often. It would be good for what you want in price range. I only have two issues with it though, Hatsan for some reason uses fill probes that you insert into a hole at the end of tank and the air is supposed to fill the chamber and push itself into a small valve in the chamber. Problem is that a lot of times it doesn't seal properly or the valve sticks and you mess around for a while trying to fill the tank. Slathering food grade silicone on the two "O" rings sometimes helps but it's an aggravation. Also, the pellet/slug probe has a tendency to try and push a miss aligned slug into the chamber which jams the slug between the mag and the chamber (ussually done by my wife who doesn't have a feel for mechanical things and thinks forcing it in will help) when this happens the fastest, easiest fix is to just cut the rotary mag out with an oscillating tool. So have extra mags available. I haven't shot the other choices but hopes this info helps.
 
I Really like the Daystate Huntsman Revere, but it's just not in the budget right now, maybe soon tho.
I bought a Benjamin Marauder .22 at walmart, it's very accurate and quiet too, been a blast to shoot.
Thanks, jf