It Might be Time to Reconsider

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steelo32

Member
Jul 15, 2019
124
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South Dakota, United States
A couple years ago I grew weary of having to travel 15 miles to a friends farm to shoot my centerfire rifles. I have enough space and live rural enough that I can shoot out to 100 yards on my property. I love shooting. I started two years ago roughly, with a Hatsan break barrel as a whim something to just let me shoot in the back yard without having to load up a plethora of stuff and travel 15 miles to shoot. As I found this forum and others, I discovered FX. After seeing multiple videos and scouring forums one night, after way too many scotches, I ordered a crown Continuum and a NOMAD II. From there I was hooked. It was Accurate as hell. 100 yards blasting q-tip heads, killing gophers, squirrels and coons.... man this was a great purchase!!! Then I delved deeper into youtube and WOW, the impact is better than the crown. Ordered one of those in 30 cal... could not believe the accuracy. Now I'm killing coyotes with an air gun... Unprecedented!!! Year one was the honeymoon... year two hasn't been as fun. 

1. First Nomad 2 took a dive months after I had it. I have been through three in roughly 15 months. They always fail. It has taken Air Venturi customer service an average between all three failures 3 weeks to get back to me after contact, and another 3 weeks after that to either send me a new unit or repair the one I had to send back. Mind you shipping the unit to them has been on me.(93.50 each time) After the third one failed, I blew it up with a 338 lapua and tannerite and ordered a HILL 3000. It should be noted, that I also have tried to call PA several times and after 20 minutes on hold they basically hang up on you, text messages go unanswered as well and emails take about a week to get a response back from as well. The centerfire world would never accept the customer service that is so poorly rampant in the airgun world.

2. My impact in 30 which has been rock solid for a year, now has an air leak. I KNOW many of you are here like to tinker and change things and have no issue tearing apart a 2,100 gun. Here's the deal, for 2,100 I shouldn't have to. Further, with this many moving parts, it shouldn't be expected of the consumer. To the CREDIT of FX USA, I sent an email this morning and got one back by noon detailing what the time frame would be if I sent it for repair in etc etc.... FX USA seems to be solid on customer service. However, I expect another 100 bill will be required to get the gun to them. I was frankly shocked I got a response the same day. 

3. The wait time (even before covid) when it comes to this stuff is what I believe going to prevent massive growth in the space. I love shooting my airguns. So much so, lots of my centerfire guns haven't been shot in two years. However, you aren't going to win many firearm shooters over making them wait 3,4,5, and in the case of the 35 impact 6 months for a 2,200 gun when that same crowd can design their own rifle in the centerfire world from the ground up for around 3k..... My Crown Continuum took two months to get to me, my impact in 30 three months. Impact in 35 4.5 months and counting. Further, based on some of the photos on the facebook forums to which I subscribe, I am wondering if I want the 35 I have ordered based on the quality control issues FX seems to be having... it may seem rush them out the door with a backlog of pre-orders has taken precedence over quality. 

I got into this for convenience. Getting something that was as accurate or better than a rimfire or centerfire at relatively the same cost. What I am finding now, is that the cost is substantially higher long term and the customer service in the industry is considerably worse than the firearm world. Further, unlike the firearm world, there aren't many air gun gunsmiths which means when your unit has an issue you will likely be without it for months, not days. 

Maybe it's time to reconsider that 15 mile drive. 




 
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I hear ya. I’m about three years in and have had pretty good luck with the guns. I’ve sent a small fortune getting AIR. Sadly it’s taken about three years for the smoke to clear on compressors. We pretty much know now what is required to get a good reliable source of air.
Guns? I’m pretty committed to fixing what ever I can myself. I may eat my words but I think with youtube and help here in the forum and maybe some local help at least a percentage of the repairs are well within the abilities of most of us. Springs and “o” rings.
necessity is the mother of intervention. Shipping IS ugly .
This is NOT a money saver. If you stick to springers it would be but the PCP stuff gets costly quickly. 
 
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Oh, firearms are for sure cheaper and work better. Go get a Ruger 10/22 for $300 and be done with it. Get a six pack of Natural Light instead of brewing your own beer, it’s cheaper and less time consuming. You absolutely have a point. 


I, however enjoy playing and fiddling with my air guns tweaking this or that and seeing the results, sometimes good, sometimes bad. I also enjoy making my own beer and cooking for the same reason. I take pride and enjoy the hobby of these things. 
 
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Yeah you need to learn to love the tinkering part of it. I understand your frustration. I bought a marauder and an airforce condor as my first pcps. The marauder needed some tlc tk get running smooth but the condor is as powerful and sweet as the day it shipped to my door. The compressor issue however was dire. I went through 2 Yong hengs before buying an air venturi compressor. I have to say tho all airguns need new seals from time to time. If you use them heavily a reseal every couple years is likely. Or at least replacing bolt seals and such. Lol it's not as easy as all those forums make it think huh? 
 
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If I had financial restraints I would buy a young Heng with 4 year protection plan and keep buying trading it in forever because it's bound to fail in under 4 years. Just be sure to always buy the 4 year warranty or don't buy any sub $2500 compressor. Maybe the $1000 Hill but still unproven longevity wise and only one year warranty.

The Impact is a great gun but keep in mind many wear and service points but you should know that when you bought it by researching and reading forums doing searches read actual user stories good and bad before buying anything expensive. Even the $2000 Daystate compressor please do your due diligence before even thinking of this one. Know what you are getting yourself into.

I would do a search on most reliable PCPs.
 
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I also like the convenience of being able to shoot in my backyard and not have to pack up a bunch of stuff and drive out to a shooting range. That's the main thing I like about air guns. I do all my hunting with powder burners so I just stick with springers or CO2 when it comes to air guns.

Nothing wrong with tinkering. I enjoy it too but if your paying in the 2K range for a product it should not be constantly breaking down.
 
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Maybe is time to reconsider the choice of guns..they are..RAW -- edguns -- taipans -- crickets -- AAA -- many of them are not on YouTube..or in your face medida all the time ..but will give you years of trouble free enjoyment .. because me like you I hate to dismantle airguns I like to shoot..when I finally have the time to .. n doit accurately..
 
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I really enjoyed reading your post, I can relate to just about every point that you raised, with the exception of being one of those sorry souls that like to tinker as well as just shoot...

I was an early adopter of the Impact so I have literally experienced all of the problems that there could be! I shoot just about every day, so my guns get used more than most and it gets very irritating if the gun goes down. I had to accept that for me the love affair with the Impact was not going to fade so I committed to fixing it all myself! This is not an approach I recommend unless you really enjoy these types of projects.

However, this also got old, even though a love tinkering I love shooting more. I got myself a "working" gun that is an absolute hammer for power and a metronome for consistency and the Impact is the project gun. There are a lot of good guns out there, Ed, AAA, AGT seem to keep things current and offer most of the features that FX do. They will at some point also need "rings and springs".

Rather than reconsider the drive, maybe take a chance on a different brand of airgun to compliment the ones you already have? This post caught my eye as at one point I also had a Crown and 2 Impacts at the same time, my shooting time increased when I added the AGT to the collection, so did my appreciation of the Impact.
 
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I've been involved in the shooting sports for over 50 years, RF, CF, clay targets, rifle and pistol, about everything. Having lost a good bit of my hearing, and having a 30 minute trip to the gun club, I find air rifles attractive and relaxing. I shoot almost every day in the yard. I still go to the club, usually several times a week, as I like shooting longer distances, and it gives me a chance to get out with the dog. 

But, two things are clear, high quality air guns are expensive at initial purchase, and their routine maintenance is more intense and costly than firearms. Some of the "adjustamatics" that are the rage these days can be very problematic. But, if you like to tinker, there is unlimited opportunity. Currently, my air rifle collection is made up only of rifles that have proven both accurate, and reliable; RAW, Taipan Veteran, HW100, Red Wolf, and Royale 400 (the only FX platform that passes my reliability requirement). I agree, anyone considering air rifles as a simple and cheap way to supplement their firearm sports will be disappointed. For that person, I would recommend a good spring piston rifle, probably a 12 fpe model in .177, and tell them they can enjoy it in the back yard. It will be more accurate than they can shoot, simple, and easy to own. If the PCP thing is their attraction, I would tell them to figure the maximum they believe it will cost based on their considerations, multiply that number by 2, and then be prepared for a lot of research and learning. 


 
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Yes, i can relate to all of what you have said and have grown up with firearms and back in the USA I have a pretty good collection of powder burners and a couple of air guns. But I live in the Netherlands now and getting a firearm is more complicated and I love shooting, so I got my second ever PCP, a Brocock Compatto in .177 for HFT. Then I went bought and Impact Compact .22 cal (which is going out the door) and then a Taipan Compact .25 cal. Next is the Leshiy 2, who knows when it will arrive, but I can’t wait to get it.

I haven’t had issues so to speak with my Impact and it is an amazing gun, but every day I read of someone having issues with their Impact, yes I know it is a dose response relationship, aka there are a lot of impacts out there. However, after a long talk with my cousin who also owns and Impact we decided to both get L2s. I think long term the L2 will suit my needs better and EdGun seems to REALLY care about their customers and Ed is very much involved in keeping customers informed. So lets see what happens, usually I don’t buy the first edition, but I took the plung this time so lets see what happens.

And one of the comments I bought the Taipan is, one I am half Czech so I need a Czech made gun and two everyone is right, it is built like a tank and amazingly quiet and accurate.

Just can’t wait to take some of the PCP children back to the USA in the spring / summer for some pest control and hunting.
 
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I understand the post. I have always shot and have just now gotten in to air guns. I have four cheap rifles one is PCP. The springers are fun to shoot and two are very accuurte . The PCP is super accurte,

I would like a Bullpup style rifle but after reading the post on here and other sites I just don't know about buying one. The post lead me to belive that most all brands that i might afford gives problems. For that matter the brands I can't afford gives trouble. This ain't me just read the post.

One would think when paying big bucks one could shoot trouble free for now on. A pretty broken gun ain't much use. A gun at the gun smiths shop or in the mail going to get fixed ain't much good either. I have never bought a powder gun with a short life expectancy.

Maybe I should buy cheap, use it till it stops working, throw it away and buy another. I don't know.

Just how I see things.

God bless

Bobby


 
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Hi Bobby, I can recommend the Taipan if you don’t mind the rear cocking and it seems if any brand here has a religious following it is Taipan, but you are talking a gun which new is $1300 plus. However, there are used ones available now and then in the classified and not everyone has them, if you want unique. And like I said above in my previous post, my Taipan is built like a tank, even the single shot tray that comes with it is made of metal and with the Sumo moderator on it, even at 30 ft/lbs it is super quiet. The rifle is capable of 50 ft/lbs but still it isn’t “that” loud.
 
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I understand the post. I have always shot and have just now gotten in to air guns. I have four cheap rifles one is PCP. The springers are fun to shoot and two are very accuurte . The PCP is super accurte,

I would like a Bullpup style rifle but after reading the post on here and other sites I just don't know about buying one. The post lead me to belive that most all brands that i might afford gives problems. For that matter the brands I can't afford gives trouble. This ain't me just read the post.

One would think when paying big bucks one could shoot trouble free for now on. A pretty broken gun ain't much use. A gun at the gun smiths shop or in the mail going to get fixed ain't much good either. I have never bought a powder gun with a short life expectancy.

Maybe I should buy cheap, use it till it stops working, throw it away and buy another. I don't know.

Just how I see things.

God bless

Bobby

Click to expand...

Bobby, unfortunately maintenance is required with a PCP, some more than others, it's just inherent with the design. You can raise the odds in your favor by staying away from rifles with lots of adjustment features, and the designs using more O rings. The most robust rifle I have owned is the Taipan Veteran. And since it is a bull pup, it is the one I would recommend. It's not cheap, but it is still a good value. It's going to shoot with the minimum of maintenance, is very unlikely to break, is extremely accurate, and has arguably the best trigger of any bullpup. Yes, it is rear cocking, but you'll get used to that quickly. 
 
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Now that you've learned to love FX accuracy maybe you should try the most dependable & trouble free platform they've EVER made, that being the Royale, Boss, Bobcat platform. Yes, simpler, less adjustable but every bit as accurate as you'd expect them to be. I'm NOT a tinkerer, I'm a "depender". I depend on my guns being pinpoint accurate every time I pull them out of the case & when I pull them out they always deliver when I do my part. For some this dependable accuracy can be boring but not for me. I rarely, if ever, hear a complaint about what these guns have to deliver.

As far as compressors, I agree with Odoyle. Get a YH with a 4 year warranty & you're good to go ! Good luck & straight shooting! 
 
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Sell the Impacts to someone who is more handy with airgun mechanics, or has the $ to deal with the maintenance or breakdowns through the use of a gunsmith, and buy the rifles elh0102 suggested.

My Fx Royale just developed a slow leak after 9 years of use, also the breech seal needed replacing earlier this year, that's all that's been done to it, but I can't fault the gun because I should of had it rebuilt with new seals years ago!

My 17 year old USFT just got a slow leak, and breech seal replaced. Again, I can't fault the rifle.

My 20 year old Steyr LP5 is still trucking along except for the old air cylinders need replacing.

Heck the mainspring in my TX200 broke so springers of that power level aren't all that reliable. 

By contrast my Impact needed reg rebuilds, C3 oring replaced with delrin, probe loctited, etc, barrel came loose at times, all within 2 years time. 
 
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Another option for air is a booster pump. I am extremely pleased with my Altaros booster, and STO has a thread on the AGN forums that goes into great detail about the booster and why he chose it. You do need a shop compressor to provide air to any booster.



I hope you can find enjoyment with airguns again. Some of the underlever sprinters seem very impressive, but everything mechanical requires some level of maintenance and upkeep. Airguns being more complicated need more upkeep, which isn't in the packet you get when you join the club. You got the packet, right? 😀
 
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I’ve been around in the airgun world a while and I can tell you I would never bought a FX airgun without having a good and reliable backup gun, they are nice, accurate but tent to develop problems more often than others, like someone above said, get a Veteran, Matador, Cricket, Vulcan and you won’t have headaches, they are built like a tank and so easy to work on them.



Renz
 
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I think maybe you hit the nail on the head when you said that you thought about just buying cheaper PCP Rifles. A lot of people on this forum like the more expensive air guns and that is fine if you can’t afford them and you don’t mind tinkering on them. I myself don’t like tearing into airguns But will do small repairs. And so far I’ve had good luck with the cheaper air guns like Benjamin. Sometimes you don’t have to send the gun back to them because if it’s a easy fix they will just send you the part you need at no charge. And as far as Springers go I like the lower powered ones because they are easier to shoot for me. The last one I bought was the HW 50 and I really like it. It is so much easier to shoot then the more powerful ones.But I had the same thinking you did years ago. I wondered why these air guns cost so much. And like everybody says they are more complex. I have powder burners that my oldest one was made in 1874 and still works great. I have one from world war 1 that works great. I have others That are from the early 1900s that never gave me any problems. But you can find Vintage air guns from the 40s 50s and 60s that still work great. But that was before the PCP Rifles got popular.If it was me I would sell all those air guns and buy a Benjamin PCP air rifle And see how that goes. It just goes to show you no matter how much money you spend you can have problems and I would rather have problems on a $500 air rifle than a $2000 air rifle. And I’ve seen some of the cheaper air rifles get many years out of them. It’s like rolling the dice.
 
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