AEA Challenger Bullpup .30 32 inch barrel

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gunfighter

gunfighter

Member
May 20, 2020
50
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WA, United States
I just bought one of these AEA Challenger Bullpup .30 with 32 inch barrel .... this looks to be a HOT shooter fps wise , Zack just put out a video on this gun he got about 1/2 inch groups at 50 yards in the wind and rain .... I bought mine from Bin sig shooter on you tube

aeaairguns.comAEA Air Rifle Challenger 32inches long barrel 30 Cal Special Bullpup(I – pcpcom 









https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_3JpEphU4k






 
Zack appears to puts a lot into AEA, I would hope they are on top to QC so that the innovative nature for their guns has a solid base, then he (and us) can reap the rewards.

ps, 32" ! a bit long (for me) for in the field. the Tac-650 (on paper) caught my eye.

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That's why I went with the Bullpup , to keep it short with a long barrel compared to a long rifle with this same barrel on it ... 
 
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I just got the .357 Compact with a 24" barrel. The thing is easy one inch at 50 yards. It is shooting 93grain NSA at crazy 920's fps! But, only gets 3 shots for a 100 yard range. For me, that shorter length is worth it the trade off's.
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I have the long rifle Challenger .357 with 24in barrel I like it a lot... pretty heavy spring ., and trigger but it does improve a bit with use and lubing it up a bit..... I got into the 960's fps with a 94g NOE mold pellet 8th shot was down to 830's using a prochrono .... I have new lighter hammer springs coming in , and I will use a lighter poppet spring so this gun will cock easier ,and put less pressure on the parts ... one of the guys at GTA did this he was able to get 930 fps so far with lighter springs ,... now I think with a bit lighter return spring than what he used we should be able to get the same power the gun came with from the factory with the heavy springs .... 
 
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I just got the .357 Compact with a 24" barrel. The thing is easy one inch at 50 yards. It is shooting 93grain NSA at crazy 920's fps! But, only gets 3 shots for a 100 yard range. For me, that shorter length is worth it the trade off's.
Click to expand...

I have the long rifle Challenger .357 with 24in barrel I like it a lot... pretty heavy spring ., and trigger but it does improve a bit with use and lubing it up a bit..... I got into the 960's fps with a 94g NOE mold pellet 8th shot was down to 830's using a prochrono .... I have new lighter hammer springs coming in , and I will use a lighter poppet spring so this gun will cock easier ,and put less pressure on the parts ... one of the guys at GTA did this he was able to get 930 fps so far with lighter springs ,... now I think with a bit lighter return spring than what he used we should be able to get the same power the gun came with from the factory with the heavy springs ....
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Sorry I did not see this until now. Yea, I was thinking about exchanging my .25 challenger spring with the .357 spring. The .25 will shoot crazy heavy slugs, and the .357 will shoot JSB nice and gently. I may try this for sh*Ts and giggles. I'll keep you updated. 
 
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I just got the .357 Compact with a 24" barrel. The thing is easy one inch at 50 yards. It is shooting 93grain NSA at crazy 920's fps! But, only gets 3 shots for a 100 yard range. For me, that shorter length is worth it the trade off's.
Click to expand...

I have the long rifle Challenger .357 with 24in barrel I like it a lot... pretty heavy spring ., and trigger but it does improve a bit with use and lubing it up a bit..... I got into the 960's fps with a 94g NOE mold pellet 8th shot was down to 830's using a prochrono .... I have new lighter hammer springs coming in , and I will use a lighter poppet spring so this gun will cock easier ,and put less pressure on the parts ... one of the guys at GTA did this he was able to get 930 fps so far with lighter springs ,... now I think with a bit lighter return spring than what he used we should be able to get the same power the gun came with from the factory with the heavy springs ....
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Hi where would you find the lighter hammer spring and poppet spring? I also heard of softer poppet material.
 
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I have had the Challenger .30 ... 32 inch barrel bullpup and it is a power -house ! ... I have the power adjuster turned down now to get the fps down to around 900 fps using the 46g hunter pellets first 7 shots from 910 fps down to 890 fps last 2 down to 856 fps on one full mag ... if you open the power up on this gun you can hit around 1200fps with pellets so with the high power spring 32inch barrel this gun has some power and handles very well , in fact this gun is about 1 1/2 inches shorter than my DAR gun which is a very short rifle that handle's well , so the Bullpup Challenger for having a 32inch barrel is a pretty slick high power set up when you need it like shooting heavier slugs , and handle pretty light for what it is when shooting off hand ... Trigger is a little heavy it could be better but it does break quick, and predictable after you get used to it it has a larger wood stock so bench shooting is pretty good for a bullpup , and I like the stock on the bullpup better than my .357 challenger got lucky ,and it's a nice piece of wood ... I bought a single shot tray off ebay that works good for .357 Challenger the guy off ebay is now building plus he has a barrel band also for 25 bucks ,,shot tray was 15 bucks ... 
 
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 So far this gun is shooting fantastic I had a couple moderator's that I used on .25's that is actually big enough for .30's also ,and this one with aluminum ends /carbon fiber tube is doing the trick keeping the noise down ....The cool thing is how short this bullpup is with a 32inch barrel , it is shorter than my DAR guns and those are pretty compact , so the gun feels a lot lighter than the traditional none bullpup challenger for sure , ... I liked the ,30 so much I did a preorder a new AEA .357 32inch barrel with new side lever action , and that gun should be here pretty soon ....
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After de-tuning mine now averages 1.06" five-shot groups at 100 yards, so is competitive in extreme field target competition.

AEA 30 and target.1632331740.jpg


That being the case, since adding a Huma reg and B Staley HDD (an o-ring between hammer and valve) Ching Kong gets 24 well-regulated shots per 280 BAR fill with 44.75 JSBs at 920 FPS/84 foot pounds.

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Did you use the Huma “universal” reg? What reg pressure is working for you? 
 
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Yes, Huma's universal reg turned by them to the diameter they now have for the AEA Challenger. I requested the highest-volume plenum, but I doubt they'd do otherwise anyway. As my gun is now tuned, my reg pressure is set to 130 BAR. When it falls off the reg, velocity plummets precipitously. 

Here's the target shown above before shooting the third, largest group-

AEA .59 and 1.2 at 100.1632357792.jpg


The five-shot group in blue measures .59" c-t-c, the red group 1.20". In fact all ten shots went into 1.20" c-t-c. 
 
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I would buy one , shouldered the bullpup feels much lighter in the same weight as the standard challenger just like my hatsan bullpups that are kind of heavy , but dont feel so heavy when shouldered since a lot of that weight is moved back closer to your body instead of hanging further out with more leverage pull on your body with the standard gun's /challenger ... ....
 
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I would buy one , shouldered the bullpup feels much lighter in the same weight as the standard challenger just like my hatsan bullpups that are kind of heavy , but dont feel so heavy when shouldered since a lot of that weight is moved back closer to your body instead of hanging further out with more leverage pull on your body with the standard gun's /challenger ... ....
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The listing for the .457 and .50 say 400+ FPE. Does anyone know what they are really capable of? I found a thread on the other forum saying these rifles support 4,000 psi, is that the same for the .457 or just the .30/.357? 
 
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I have personal experience only with .22 and .30 Challengers, and power claims were not inflated on either. However, understand that power claims on PCPs are almost invariably achieved with heaviest-for-caliber projectiles, and velocity claims achieved with lightest-for-caliber ammo. 

I think all the Challengers are rated to 300 BAR pressures, which is 4350 PSI.

FWIW, here's the latest 3 five-shot groups at 100 yards shot with my .30, Though having to re"build my house" after every 200 yard round-trip to mark each five-shot group in different colors, all FIFTEEN shots went into 1.47" center-to-center. 

AEA 15 at 100.1632765988.jpg



 
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I've had my Huma reg in my .30 Challenger Bullpup about three weeks now. 

After MUCH monkeying, detuning, and experimenting with number and sizes of o-rings and spacers between the hammer and valve spring, here are yesterday's results.

44.75 JSB, detuned, Huma regged, 3 o-rings & I spacer, 280 BAR fill, 34 shot powerband= Low-858, Hi-882, ES-24, SD-6, Avg- 870 FPS/75.2 FP

She WILL become more velocity-consistent as she settles into her new home.
 
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