Most of the guys give you good advice on a hand pump...you gonna hate shooting
Why .30 cal? I notice lately all the "new" PCP guys go for .30cal, 35cal... I know most of you guys comes from PB world where bigger is better but with PCP's it's a different story, if you only target shooting .22cal or .25cal can be as good if not better than .30cal, less pumping and cheaper to shoot.
Impact it's a state of the art gun but I would never recommend to first time PCP owner, get something less complicated just to get you started, but if you set on M3 get it from someone that can set up for you the way you want it.
B
This is an excellent question. I am picking the .30 cal because I feel that based on what I've read and seen with my springers, it has the best overall performance for varminting and steel target plinking. While I'm still learning the limitations of air powered shooting, I have seen that PCPs vastly differs from powder burning center fire rifles in how they work, but the way the projectile travels does not. physics doesn't change, and I need enough mass moving at a certain speed to have enough energy on impact to generate the reaction I want. That might be steel or a pesky critter, either way, I've found that my .22 firing lighter pellets moves fast enough, but doesn't carry enough momentum. Heavier pellets just don't travel fast enough with my current .22s, and that's the case with rimfire (.22lr). The number of shots per charge is also a concern, but not the highest priority. If I'm shooting animals, regardless of how annoying or pesky, I want them to die quickly and as painless as possible.
I have been shooting custom built powder burning rifles for some time now, have shot pistol and shotgun competitions (both my wife and I have), and hunted for many years. I'm looking for a change of pace, something new/different I can tinker with. While I understand that PCPs are significantly more complicated than powder burning rifles, I don't see them as being above my abilities. I've been shooting and reloading for sometime, my biggest concern is IF a problem arises, being able to diagnose the problem and possibly figuring out the inner workings of smaller components, such as valves and ports. I know some have mentioned looking at other rifles and possibly finding something easier to start with. Let me try to explain my thoughts behind this, as some with other hobbies might also understand a bit better. My wife and I have been shooters for a while. I tend to tinker as a stress reliever from work. After I get the kids to bed, I am usually found in the garage cleaning guns, modifying something, or reloading. It's getting to a point where I can either take a turn to semi-custom rimfire rifles, or large caliber rifles. There are limitations with a .22lr, I know this, and my wife thinks its borderline idiotic to dump $5000 into a rimfire rifle that would be only marginally better than what my current rifles can do. To squeak more performance out of his rifle and ammo, a friend of a friend has been chucking ammo into a lathe and modifying bullets. I couldn't help but to both laugh and feel a bit concerned. I can get another custom rifle going in a center fire, but I'd be dipping into the ELR world. That in itself would be a significant investment in gear, but above all, time. I don't have many options to shoot over 2000 yards, so the payoff is much lower. So, while I've chatted with my wife about this, her question always remains the same, "what's next, then?" My solution was PCP rifles. The reason why I picked specifically the M3 was because I don't want to have to buy a rifle only to need to spend more than the initial cost of the rifle to upgrade it down the road. "Buy once, cry once" as they say. I've learned this from buying other types of guns and going down that very path. So my base rifle needed to be something that came out of the box a decent performer, and still have the aftermarket support that would allow modifying without getting into custom made components. FX has a big enough following and seems to be mainstream enough that if I ran into an issue, someone else has too, therefore a solution should exist. I have learned through experience that sometimes, the cheaper solution is not always the cheaper solution. What I mean is, yes, there are probably other rifles from very reputable companies. Those rifles might be better to start with, and at a lower price point. But as my history has repeated itself, when I take those options, I tend to either spend more time, or more money had I gone other routes.
I think I might end up getting a Nomad II or similar in terms of compressors. I've watched several videos and read a few reviews, and it seems to be relatively solid. When problems have happened, based on some of the threads here, they've been user error, and Air Venturi seemed to handle them quite well. There seem to be pros and cons for every compressor out there. For every good video or review, there seems to be a negative for them all. So really, its pretty much come down to who has the best support and are easiest to contact when and if something happens. I'd love to hear perspectives on this, as I'm sure there are favorites.
