Scroll to the end for a TLDR
I have been anti FX because even though it is genius , their marketing drives me up the wall, I just call it propaganda now lmao.
Now onto a little backstory
.... March 18th I went to NEAG to buy a bulldog Taurus from John, always wanted one but didn't want to spend the coin on a rifle with little to no knowledge documented about it here on the nation, but being able to handle it and having a retailer to fall back on changed my mind about not wanting to "pull the trigger". That same day I grabbed another Huben in .22 and an Airacuda Max .25 (love both and my original huben in .25) . At the same time John asked me to shoot at the North East Airgun Classic for him and I said hell yes and he proceeded to sign me up and get everything rolling , not much prep time here especially since the only rifle I am familiar with at this point that I owned was my Huben .25 and its only allowed on the bench (no semi allowed for PRS).
My plan was Huben .25 on the bench, Taurus for the squatchbomb, now what to do about PRS? After shooting the Taurus for the first time it was very anemic , shooting 840fps off the first shot vs the 945 advertised, long story short the rifle went back to Veradium to be inspected and sorted on March 20th, speaking with Brian on the phone I decided at that time to place an order for a custom Artemis M16A (CF Bottle swap, trigger work, valve and hammer work, and a custom slug barrel with muzzle break) with the agreement it would be done in two weeks so that I could practice with it.
Fast forward to April 5th the Taurus came back, I took it out and shot it , again, same thing as the first time... I called John at New England Airgun, told him that I did not want it and I want to exchange it for something as time was running out with only 15 days till the competition. Now I am somewhat panicking as my PRS build was still not here and wasn't sure when it would be and my squatchbomb rifle is being returned.
I exchanged it for a wildcat bt compact 30 caliber thinking well, squatchbomb I have friends who said I could borrow their rifles but I need to practice prs with something so a .30 cal pellet rifle in bullpup tickled me as I am a bullpup guy and sportsman are only shooting out to 99 yards to ring steel not group on paper so it fit what I wanted. I take it home April 7th and boom, air leaking right past the valve seat, bring it to John Tuesday the 10th (10 days from comp) and he inspects it and confirms the same thing .... FX said they were overnighting parts wednesday, nothing.... come friday, still nothing. Also my Artemis was going to go out to me Friday NDA Saturday delivery unfinished just so I had something to shoot BUT it did not make it out in time so I told Brian at Veradium just keep it till its finished I will have to figure something out . Feeling anxious but still thinking about everything and feeling the pressure of the time crunch lead me to call John and say hey, I need something, pull that 600mm .22 panthera and 4 boxes of ZANS I will be by Tomorrow afternoon to pick it up, I will keep the wildcat as well ( I really am excited about this rifle , it feels AMAZING... more on that another time).
I picked the Panthera up this past saturday, tuned it out my back door, slapped my PRS Scope on it and waited till sunday to shoot it.
First impressions, it is not built like an Impact, dreamline, maverick, or wildcat ... it has an EXTREMELY solid feel, the cocking lever is smooth and robust, very robust. The rifle was quite uncomfortable for me at first as I am not used to shooting with a verticle grip or rifle with the scope so close to the barrel but I started to get used to it.... its also definitely not a hunting rifle for walk and stalkers, while it palms very easy , it definitely has some forward length to it. Its very purpose oriented
Consistent? I am completely chuffed with its consistency.... the most consistent rifle I own. Very easy to tune and none of the tuning components feel fragile.
I stupidly grabbed the .217 33gr zans not .218 and I was still getting 1.25" full mag groups at 100 yards. I feel with more time, the right ammo, and a better shooting table I could easily cut this in half. Laid out golfballs at 25, 40, 55, 68 , 77, 85 and 90 yards and it just pegged them all over the place.
The rifle is also very smooth when being shot, its quiet with 0db moderator (which looks great with my tank wrap), little to no movement from the rifle at this powerlevel.
Being pretty anti fx , it took everything in my will to buy this but I am actually glad I did, I had intent on selling it after this competition but I don't think I will anymore.
TLDR; don't hate the panthera, still hate fx marketing, no time for prep, forced me to buy, can't wait to have fun this week at the NAC
Hope everyone had a good weekend. I did.
I have been anti FX because even though it is genius , their marketing drives me up the wall, I just call it propaganda now lmao.
Now onto a little backstory
.... March 18th I went to NEAG to buy a bulldog Taurus from John, always wanted one but didn't want to spend the coin on a rifle with little to no knowledge documented about it here on the nation, but being able to handle it and having a retailer to fall back on changed my mind about not wanting to "pull the trigger". That same day I grabbed another Huben in .22 and an Airacuda Max .25 (love both and my original huben in .25) . At the same time John asked me to shoot at the North East Airgun Classic for him and I said hell yes and he proceeded to sign me up and get everything rolling , not much prep time here especially since the only rifle I am familiar with at this point that I owned was my Huben .25 and its only allowed on the bench (no semi allowed for PRS).
My plan was Huben .25 on the bench, Taurus for the squatchbomb, now what to do about PRS? After shooting the Taurus for the first time it was very anemic , shooting 840fps off the first shot vs the 945 advertised, long story short the rifle went back to Veradium to be inspected and sorted on March 20th, speaking with Brian on the phone I decided at that time to place an order for a custom Artemis M16A (CF Bottle swap, trigger work, valve and hammer work, and a custom slug barrel with muzzle break) with the agreement it would be done in two weeks so that I could practice with it.
Fast forward to April 5th the Taurus came back, I took it out and shot it , again, same thing as the first time... I called John at New England Airgun, told him that I did not want it and I want to exchange it for something as time was running out with only 15 days till the competition. Now I am somewhat panicking as my PRS build was still not here and wasn't sure when it would be and my squatchbomb rifle is being returned.
I exchanged it for a wildcat bt compact 30 caliber thinking well, squatchbomb I have friends who said I could borrow their rifles but I need to practice prs with something so a .30 cal pellet rifle in bullpup tickled me as I am a bullpup guy and sportsman are only shooting out to 99 yards to ring steel not group on paper so it fit what I wanted. I take it home April 7th and boom, air leaking right past the valve seat, bring it to John Tuesday the 10th (10 days from comp) and he inspects it and confirms the same thing .... FX said they were overnighting parts wednesday, nothing.... come friday, still nothing. Also my Artemis was going to go out to me Friday NDA Saturday delivery unfinished just so I had something to shoot BUT it did not make it out in time so I told Brian at Veradium just keep it till its finished I will have to figure something out . Feeling anxious but still thinking about everything and feeling the pressure of the time crunch lead me to call John and say hey, I need something, pull that 600mm .22 panthera and 4 boxes of ZANS I will be by Tomorrow afternoon to pick it up, I will keep the wildcat as well ( I really am excited about this rifle , it feels AMAZING... more on that another time).
I picked the Panthera up this past saturday, tuned it out my back door, slapped my PRS Scope on it and waited till sunday to shoot it.
First impressions, it is not built like an Impact, dreamline, maverick, or wildcat ... it has an EXTREMELY solid feel, the cocking lever is smooth and robust, very robust. The rifle was quite uncomfortable for me at first as I am not used to shooting with a verticle grip or rifle with the scope so close to the barrel but I started to get used to it.... its also definitely not a hunting rifle for walk and stalkers, while it palms very easy , it definitely has some forward length to it. Its very purpose oriented
Consistent? I am completely chuffed with its consistency.... the most consistent rifle I own. Very easy to tune and none of the tuning components feel fragile.
I stupidly grabbed the .217 33gr zans not .218 and I was still getting 1.25" full mag groups at 100 yards. I feel with more time, the right ammo, and a better shooting table I could easily cut this in half. Laid out golfballs at 25, 40, 55, 68 , 77, 85 and 90 yards and it just pegged them all over the place.
The rifle is also very smooth when being shot, its quiet with 0db moderator (which looks great with my tank wrap), little to no movement from the rifle at this powerlevel.
Being pretty anti fx , it took everything in my will to buy this but I am actually glad I did, I had intent on selling it after this competition but I don't think I will anymore.
TLDR; don't hate the panthera, still hate fx marketing, no time for prep, forced me to buy, can't wait to have fun this week at the NAC
Hope everyone had a good weekend. I did.
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