AEA challlenger nova.177 loves seneca hunting pellets, whats everyone else using?

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oldmojo

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Nov 26, 2024
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Inwood Iowa USA
So I like to leave my unregulated guns on max power and try to find what's shoots the best starting from there, and of all things my 177 challlenger nova shoots the domed seneca hunting pellets the best, perfectly, and I've tried jsb 16gr pellets, zan 16gr slugs, nsa 15and 20gr, varmint knocker, Griffin, NSA was second place. I just had the occasional flyer leave the group. I was going to try a barrel band but it seems the nova has less gap between the shroud and air tube so the standard challlenger band lifted the barrel slightly and i didn't want to use it
Anyone else have a nova 177? What you use?
 
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OldVet said:
I use a FREE AI It's called
Chat GPT. It's not always right , but very informative.
You can use for medical advice , airgun related questions, or anything you need help with. OldVet.
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I find a lot of useless information with AI so I gave up using it. for example you told me NSA 15 gr are reported to be good, and my post says I tried them, they weren't horrible and maybe tuning down they'd be better but with max power nothing beat the seneca hunting pellets in that gun . And I probably won't have much good info, for me at least, come out of this post, because it seems like most aea shooters are tuning down where I try not to, and if that's the case im OK with the seneca. But I do appreciate you chiming in so thanks.
 
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We also had 20mph wind while I was shooting, maybe wind was pushing everything off target and the seneca on target? Have to try again in calmer weather.
I have to say I was shocked, my .25 does ok with seneca but loves apolo 33gr slugs, and my marauder in 177 shoots anything and does exceptionally well with nsa slugs, the seneca won't fit the magazine on the marauder.
 
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oldmojo said:
We also had 20mph wind while I was shooting, maybe wind was pushing everything off target and the seneca on target? Have to try again in calmer weather.
I have to say I was shocked, my .25 does ok with seneca but loves apolo 33gr slugs, and my marauder in 177 shoots anything and does exceptionally well with nsa slugs, the seneca won't fit the magazine on the marauder.
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I'm glad you found that Seneca that works. I have a little Crosman M4 .177 took me 6 months to find out it liked the JSB RS EXACT 7.33 with 10 pump's.
 
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MongooseV8 said:
Whoa where did you get your Nova from? Are they pretty new? Im curious if they are choked and what the bore specs are, that would help guide ammo selection.
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Aeaairguns.shop, the nova is newer, side lever, upgraded magazines and regulated, I took the regulator off though because I've had two fail and I didn't want to deal with it when it wasn't convenient. I didn't slug the barrel but I tested it first at close range with a 20gr 177 old Griffin dish base slug and a 20gr nsa 178 dish base slug, both look identical, I shot through 3/4" plywood leaned on a old steel folding chair , the Griffin went through the wood and dented the chair, the nsa almost went through the chair and the nsa did come in second place i just had the occasional flyer leave the group .I was going to try a barrel band but it seems the nova has a little less gap between the shroud and air tube so a band for the standard challlenger lifted the barrel slightly and I didn't want to use that.
For a 177 it's a powerhouse and quiet for the power, but for the money spent???
 
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OldVet said:
I'm glad you found that Seneca that works. I have a little Crosman M4 .177 took me 6 months to find out it liked the JSB RS EXACT 7.33 with 10 pump's.
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Wow that's a light pellet, I couldn't dream of using anything that light and probably so small I'd need a tweezers with my fat fingers. I got my kid a Diana chaser kit, set up as the rifle and it likes 8-10gr jsb, I can tell you advertised velocity just isn't the same with pcp vs pumps or springers, for example I have a gamo magnum nitro piston advertised at like 1600fps and a marauder pcp advertised at like 1100 and with the same pellet the gamo will sink a pellet into plywood, the marauder will go through multiple sheets of plywood.
 
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oldmojo said:
Wow that's a light pellet, I couldn't dream of using anything that light and probably so small I'd need a tweezers with my fat fingers. I got my kid a Diana chaser kit, set up as the rifle and it likes 8-10gr jsb, I can tell you advertised velocity just isn't the same with pcp vs pumps or springers, for example I have a gamo magnum nitro piston advertised at like 1600fps and a marauder pcp advertised at like 1100 and with the same pellet the gamo will sink a pellet into plywood, the marauder will go through multiple sheets of plywood.
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Yes I understand that PCP'S
are much more powerful. I have a Zelos , and tuned it as powerful as I could. I'm using 28g HP dish base slugs from Apolo. I'm shooting 860 fps.
That's 46 fpe. It's very very accurate. I would like to try a lighter slugs around 25g to see if I get up to 920-950 fps.
 
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OldVet said:
Yes I understand that PCP'S
are much more powerful. I have a Zelos , and tuned it as powerful as I could. I'm using 28g HP dish base slugs from Apolo. I'm shooting 860 fps.
That's 46 fpe. It's very very accurate. I would like to try a lighter slugs around 25g to see if I get up to 920-950 fps.
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Nice, I was considering a zelos but I need to hold off for now.
 
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oldmojo said:
Nice, I was considering a zelos but I need to hold off for now.
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They don't allow returns but Bud Gun shop , and Natchez are really good prices. I have been dealing with both places for like 15 years.
I would never but a Hatsan product from them because if you get a lemon ( Which a lot of people do ) then your stuck with it.) as Hatsan has the worst reputation in the Airgun industry.
 
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OldVet said:
They don't allow returns but Bud Gun shop , and Natchez are really good prices. I have been dealing with both places for like 15 years.
I would never but a Hatsan product from them because if you get a lemon ( Which a lot of people do ) then your stuck with it.) as Hatsan has the worst reputation in the Airgun industry.
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I've bought from Natchez, they were good, as far as Hatsan goes, I don't know but my Sig experience has been horrible, with the mcx co2, maybe pcp is better but that thing omg, and online there's alot of people with same experience, terrible customer service, seal kit just as much as new gun, then with that recent deal with the hand gun, I'll never buy a sig ever again.
 
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