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if you had to pick one (newbie's first PCP) to grow with...

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I started this little airgunning adventure about 3 years ago with a AA S510. I did a bunch of tuning on it and got some pretty good shots from it. Along the way I wanted more, couldn't afford the Impact and didn't want the headaches others have had. Picked up a Streamline in .25. Very nice gun, very accurate, good power, but oh so long.

Then a Silver .30 Impact became available from AOA and on an impulse I ordered it. Spent the next two years shooting the heck out of that thing, it became my favorite gun.

Also got a .45 Winchester. It went to the field twice before developing a massive leak. After a year of trying to get parts from the mfgr I sent it to Will Plaitt. He fixed it. Got it back and it's clipping the LDC so I've got more work to do on it.

Picked up an Edgun R5M in .177. I like it alot, but for one thing. It will shoot empty. There's no indication the mag is empty if you haven't counted to 11, you are shooting empty. It is a laser though.

Back to the Impact, it developed a leak so I sent it to FX USA for a leak fix and power tune. Came back flinging at 100fpe! Pretty quickly developed a leak. Sent it back, they upgraded to MKII parts and returned it. After a couple mags it developed a leak again on firing (puff on the cheek.) Turned out the pellet probe wasn't deep enough in the barrel. Easy enough to fix once you know how. Now, my .30 Impact has regained the title as 'favorite' and is flinging pellets at over 1000fps. It's a laser out to 100yds, it's cool looking, it's smooth cocking, it's got a ton of power.



If I had it to do all over again. The .30 Impact would be my first choice. 



Yea, it's expensive, yea it's complex, but it's the best performing compact rifle on the market, and it's the best by a pretty wide margin. IMHO there just isn't any better gun to start with, learn on, develop those shooting skills and have a ton of fun with.



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Buy once, cry once, - another take

When I was 16, had my father purchases a Ferrari instead of a '72 Ford Pinto for me to drive, the girls might have loved me, but the Ferrari would be a hunk of bent metal within a few weeks. Just couldn't have handled the power. The Ford Explosion Special (my Pinto) was a great learning care where I learned to do the needed maintenance and drive in the snow (lots and lots of snow). Donuts in the parking lot and everything else. It was an old beater but my pride and joy in those days. Great place to start.

The Impact is definitely my favorite gun, but I needed to grow into it. The Marauder was a great starting point. I learned the mechanics of shooting a PCP, the mechanics of the gun and applied it all to the Impact when I moved up.

Just depends on how you want to look at it
 
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+1 to what NoLandBeyond said about getting a Leshiy. Easy on you if your pumping. Can be set up anywhere from .177 up to .9mm. Incredible power for its size. Easy to work on if you need to, and thats a big if. I love mine and find it my go to airgun more often then then the rest. One thing ill say again like my earlier post. Keep away from FX. Understand im not saying that they are bad but until FX gets their issues under control you would just be asking for a giant headache if you picked one up. From my side I have handled a few. I was not impressed with the quality considering the price tag.
 
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I still think marauder is a good first choice but I forgot about edgun. I never shot one so take it with a grain of salt but edgun leshey is a beast of a gun for something so tiny. Check out the edgun leshy YouTube channel. That guy is a legend and his only job that I know of is to sell airguns and melt snowflakes. Fist full of squirrels is my favorite 
 
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I would have to agree with those that say start with a maurader, which I recommend .22 cal. It was my first PCP rifle, and I recently purchased another one with the Lothar-walther barrel and Picatinny rail. I would recommend the Lw over crossman barrel as it is more easily tuned to different pellets, and a little less picky. I have found out it will shoot the .217 .22cal NSA slugs pretty accurately once tuned to about 840 FPS which is about 30 ft-lbs in 19gr and 33 ft-lbs in 21 gr which are pretty devastating on squirrel and groundhog.

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I also found that I could tune for about 20 shots with regulator type consistency with only 10 FPS from high to Low and an standard deviation on 3 FPS . The maurader may not be the fanciest most expensive thing out there, but for what it is it can really put some work in. 

On another note, my initial spending to get into PCP was over $1500. This was because all the things that go with it when getting into the sport, but it will somewhat depend on your own need.

airgun, optic, bipod(harris), .22 rimfire champion trap, gun case, all kinds of pellets to try, Hill pump, laser rangefinder, chronograph ( competition electronic prochono).

I owned a .25 streamline in laminate, a .30 Bobcat Mk2, which where both great guns, but sold for no fault of theirs. I do own a airforce talonP which I have added longer barrel and have to shooting at about 58 ft-lbs, but it only gets about 7 or 8 very consistent shots before starting to drop off, but it has taken a couple of groundhogs at 125 yards. 

The problem that I see with the Fx guns seems to be their support. Not only is it sometimes hard to find guns unless your willing to wait, but getting repairs or barrel or other parts seems like not much stock available, and it feels that from the tone of some post that FX has shifted to more of a push the numbers company. If the maurader is not your thing, there is always the daystate Huntsman with huma reg or the brocock's that should get you hooked.

Here's a couple of recent threads posted about my new Lothar-walther Mrod. 

Warning 2nd link is to hunting thread and contains graphic images. 

1. 

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/slightly-surprised/

2.

https://www.airgunnation.com/topic/nsa-19-gr-in-maurader-lw-barrel/








 
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Every airgun brand has issues. Being FX outpaces others in sales numbers, you'll hear about their issues more than for the others.
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It may speak to the quality of the product, but can also have a negative effect. The pushing of FX rifles is one of the Reasons that AOA no longer carries the brand, as they appear to want their product pushed over other brands by the airgun businesses. As someone that is a Quality Inspector, when numbers get pushed past a certain point, the quality will and does suffer.

The biggest thing the OP needs to consider is what he will like, that will get him hooked on the Dark side, and if he has the patience to send any gun back and forth till it is right if some problem does arise, which when dealing with high pressure air and these guns can and does happen. I have seen my fair share of post with new gun one day and sending back for repair the next. This can happen with any brand they purchase.

One the other hand any problem that might happen will probably be trouble shot very quickly among members here.
 
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Every airgun brand has issues. Being FX outpaces others in sales numbers, you'll hear about their issues more than for the others.
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Im not totally going to agree with you. FX has serous issues in house. No doubt they have some cool things going for them but they need to fix their problems before sending out broken airguns. That is a whole issue in itself. I would trust any marauder over any FX. Especially for the long haul. Im sure that there are a few other less costly PcPs being sold far more then FX. Benjamin, Kral and Hatsan just for example. Sure, I dont have numbers on who sells more but those lower priced PCPs im sure sell a whole bunch more then FX airguns. You dont see to many complaints. Some here and there but not near to the extent of FX.
 
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Every airgun brand has issues. Being FX outpaces others in sales numbers, you'll hear about their issues more than for the others.
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They also outpace others with QC issues. Yes all PCPs will need some TLC at some point. But on any given week you see a lot of posts about nit picky thing with different FX PCPs. Brococks may not sell as much, yet. But they are solid, with very little complaints on the forums.
 
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Thanks for this first hand invaluable input everyone! I think that coming in to PCPs there's just so many options out there at various pricepoints. The Marauder synthetic stock was another one I was originally considering seriously. But you do tend to get caught up in it and wish for the latest thing out there more times than I should probably...

I do drool over those Impacts every once in a while. But that probably requires a nice chunk of land to really get the most of it. I do wish though...one day.

I think that for my situation I will actually go for the Leshiy .22 after all. Mostly for the size, accuracy and quietness of it (and generally great reviews). I like that it's unique. And also because I don't have free access to anything other than my relatively small back yard to play in. And yes, loading a pellet at a time is not that frustrating after all. Might even improve my skill at same time. Make every shot count!

Thanks for that curve ball! :)
 
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I have 3 fx rifle, each one has been a tack driver and personally I haven't any complaints which is why I bought 3.When I bought my impact I was a little hesitant because of the issues people posted and I voiced my concerns to Daren at AOA. He told me most problems with the Impact was user error. I have no regrets with mine and would highly recommend one to anyone who can afford one. PS.. I also own a leshiy in .22 and love it too!
 
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I see so many qc issues with FX. I have a kral and zero issues in 3 years. I worked on it myself, got it to shoot 900 fps with the 18 gr jsb and it's a stacker. Decided on the gauntlet in 25 and once again I worked on it and it's spot on out to 125 yards, after my luck I drove into the deep end and purchased the rti priest 2 in 25 and it has taken over. Will be getting the 22 cal kit for it shortly.
 
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I got the .177 stock barrel. It's very quiet!!!

I got extra barrels in .177, .22 & .25 in 350mm. Don't really need or want anything larger.

So far I'm really impressed with this one. 

I know any pcp would have provided a similar reaction coming from a breakbarrel. But still, this one is really nice. And it's really really compact!

FWIW everyone should own one! 😋
 
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