@ RUZZ-
I brought up a 35 cal only because at one time there were a few of them in the classifieds and I always wondered “why”. It’s bad enough shooting (a lot) using 30 cal at 150 to a tin at $15, I can’t imagine shooting 35 cal at about $18-$20/tin for 100 shots. When I decide to buy a pcp gun I want to have care free shooting and if I go thru two tins I don’t wanna worry about it. I’ve come up with methods of saving the good Ammo for important use, like when first trying to get on paper after a scope install I use the vortex strike pellets at $10 tin and once I’m close I move onto my better Ammo. Same goes for initial tuning to get to my chosen velocity areas.
But back at your choices- you’ve got a good budget start, actually a great one. You have tons of choices! But why use all that up when you can get what you need/like for less, right?
Going off of guns I’m familiar with either thru personal ownership, or have friends that have them, here’s my suggestion-
Light plinking and light pest control-
1. Benjamin Marauder
2. Gamo Urban
3. Daystate Regal/Revere(latter is regulated)
Best bang for the buck- well, that award goes to the avenger, of course. Accurate, and can be made to shoot just as powerful as a gun for raccoon/beaver type critters, or lowered for squirrel sized critters.
Larger pest control and strict target shooting the FX line of guns are the go to. So many choices and tons of topics to help guide you on which exact one. Understand though that the bottle fed guns in the FX line come with user adjustment knobs, dials, and regulator adjustment access. This means tweaking to your hearts content. If it’s bench shooting for accuracy the crown type block guns like the boss, crown, etc are good, for the hunt the impact and wildcat platforms(bullpup guns) and for the specislized PRS shooting the newly released Panthera, the die hard/work horse Impact are what’s out there currently. I got to shoot a Panthera recently and boy I was impressed. Very accurate right out of the box, literally, as a guy just bought it from utah Airguns and sighted it in at utah Airguns indoor range. It was there where he offered to let me shoot it.
Other top tier guns for super accuracy can be had with Skout, Daystate’s and Thomas guns. You like electronic controls? The Daystate and the Skout guns are good choices. Donny’s Panda gun is soon to be released if you want to hold out for a 17lb bench gun.(I have never owned any of these guns in this paragraph,just personally know of folks that own and love them).
For all out fun and speed in shot to shot, especially for run and gun practice along with dispatching the herd of raccoons invading your chicken coop, there’s the Sidewinders, the LCS guns, and the Western rattlers. All with semi and full auto at your fingertips. One knob to adjust for power(I don’t include the reg adjustment knob as it’s frowned upon adjustment by the manufacturers)
There are a ton more others that fit into the different breakdowns, but like I mentioned, only gonna offer input on what I’m most familiar with.
Here’s my biggest suggestion before you hit the buy button, and it’s the most important to consider- parts availability, parts diagrams, customer support being available at any 9-5 business day, and if it is important to you, resale value of the gun. To me a gun is crap if I can’t ever get a part to fix or modify it. If I can’t talk to someone or the selling vendor can’t help me it too is crap. If I decide to sell but have to go down to less than half of what it cost me initially, well, it, too, is crapolla
Just my opinions, hope this helps
