I decided that I would trade a Daystate into AOA which I had just never really bonded with. With the price increases of new and used guns, they gave me a very fair trade in price on what I had wanted to buy: A Vixen Long in .22 cal. I wanted to see if this platform could be a challenger to my current squirrel hunting maching - M3 Compact in .22, tuned down to accurately shoot the Hades pellets. I really only use this gun for squirreling from about 50 yards and closer.
I knew that the Vixens were not known to be powerhouse guns like, for example, the Uragans. But that was alright with me as I intended to use mainly Hades pellets for hunting, and therefore could use the 15.89's when just shooting targets, as long as the wind wasn't too strong.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to me the Vixen looks great. It seems to be very well made and solid - yet it also felt as light as I wanted it to feel. I will likely change out the IWI pistol grip with a rubber coated AR grip, just because I like the feel a little better. The Vixen magazines aren't my favorite to load, but they are serviceable and function just fine. Plus it is nice you get 2 with the gun. Don't think I am going to pop for the magazine holder since I'm going to try and keep the weight down on this one for carrying, and shooting off hand.
I put on a Veyron 3-12x44 FFP due to its small size, low weight, good range of magnification for hunting, and I also think they have some pretty clear and bright glass for the price. Aired it up this morning (it had been delivered on Friday but I had been away all last weekend), and went out to zero at my 25 yard range. 5 shots got me zeroed and I proceeded to shoot 4 each 5-shot groups with JSB 15.89's. Seems very promising with all groups at about .4" or less, and my best being one ragged hole of about 0.15" CTC. Stick-on target dots are 1" in diameter.
Switched over to the Hades pellets and put one more shot onto the zeroing target to see where they would impact. Landed in one of the existing holes, so no re-zero for Hades. Shot 4 each 5-shot groups with the Hades, and groups were about .5" with my best about .3". Definitely will work for squirrel hunting inside 50 yards.
Then some shots over the chrony showing the 15.89's averaging 898 fps, and the Hades averaging 891 fps, both with about a 10fps ES. I'm just fine with 28 FPE at the muzzle. Seems that if AOA did any significant set-up with the gun, they did a good job.
Overall I'm really pleased with this little gun, especially the weight and balance and the accuracy potential. If it meets the potential need you have for it, I can definitely recommend it based on my initial experiences. And who knows how much better it might get as it begins to break in (although right off the bat the regulator seems to be functioning very well). The ground squirrels up at the range may have a new nemesis.
EDIT: A couple of things I forgot to mention initially. The shot cycle on this gun is very smooth, quiet and pleasant. And overall the shroud/moderator works very well. Some guns can have a really quiet report, which is then kind of ruined when the hammer striking open the valve makes so much noise. The Vixen is quiet on both fronts, and just overall really pleasurable to shoot. I haven't measured the break weight of the trigger, but I don't really intend to as the trigger feels just great to me out of the box.
I knew that the Vixens were not known to be powerhouse guns like, for example, the Uragans. But that was alright with me as I intended to use mainly Hades pellets for hunting, and therefore could use the 15.89's when just shooting targets, as long as the wind wasn't too strong.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but to me the Vixen looks great. It seems to be very well made and solid - yet it also felt as light as I wanted it to feel. I will likely change out the IWI pistol grip with a rubber coated AR grip, just because I like the feel a little better. The Vixen magazines aren't my favorite to load, but they are serviceable and function just fine. Plus it is nice you get 2 with the gun. Don't think I am going to pop for the magazine holder since I'm going to try and keep the weight down on this one for carrying, and shooting off hand.
I put on a Veyron 3-12x44 FFP due to its small size, low weight, good range of magnification for hunting, and I also think they have some pretty clear and bright glass for the price. Aired it up this morning (it had been delivered on Friday but I had been away all last weekend), and went out to zero at my 25 yard range. 5 shots got me zeroed and I proceeded to shoot 4 each 5-shot groups with JSB 15.89's. Seems very promising with all groups at about .4" or less, and my best being one ragged hole of about 0.15" CTC. Stick-on target dots are 1" in diameter.
Switched over to the Hades pellets and put one more shot onto the zeroing target to see where they would impact. Landed in one of the existing holes, so no re-zero for Hades. Shot 4 each 5-shot groups with the Hades, and groups were about .5" with my best about .3". Definitely will work for squirrel hunting inside 50 yards.
Then some shots over the chrony showing the 15.89's averaging 898 fps, and the Hades averaging 891 fps, both with about a 10fps ES. I'm just fine with 28 FPE at the muzzle. Seems that if AOA did any significant set-up with the gun, they did a good job.
Overall I'm really pleased with this little gun, especially the weight and balance and the accuracy potential. If it meets the potential need you have for it, I can definitely recommend it based on my initial experiences. And who knows how much better it might get as it begins to break in (although right off the bat the regulator seems to be functioning very well). The ground squirrels up at the range may have a new nemesis.
EDIT: A couple of things I forgot to mention initially. The shot cycle on this gun is very smooth, quiet and pleasant. And overall the shroud/moderator works very well. Some guns can have a really quiet report, which is then kind of ruined when the hammer striking open the valve makes so much noise. The Vixen is quiet on both fronts, and just overall really pleasurable to shoot. I haven't measured the break weight of the trigger, but I don't really intend to as the trigger feels just great to me out of the box.
