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wingding12

Member
Dec 4, 2020
9
0
MD, United States
Hello everyone,

Thank you for stopping in I wanted to reach out an introduce myself. I've been researching air guns after watching some folks come to my neighbors and were shooting the squirrels out of his yard. They have barn yard chickens and the squirrels have been a nuisance over there. After talking with the folks that were doing pest control. I decided that I wanted to an air rifle. Been hunting since I was a kid, so I'm familiar with guns and such. Although I'm not entirely familiar of the world of air guns, I've been watching "Youtube" videos and reading as much as I can to gain some knowledge but its a bit overwhelming haha.

I ruled it down that I definitely want an air powered rifle and not C02 or break barrel. Over the weekend I bought a Ruger Targis Hunter break barrel that my kid has been using to knock out some of the squirrels we have. After using it it was a clear decision to go air power for me at least.

I went ahead and pre-ordered the FX Maverick and for the life of me I can't decide what option on the Maverick should I consider getting? The compact, sniper, or vp? They are within $200+/- of each other. My primary use is pest control and hunting (i.e. birds...doves, pigeons, quail, pheasant, chukar). Maybe some rabbit. I'm not sure what the distance range of guns will be and I know its dependent on what pellet I'm using. I would guess that my shooting will be in a range of 25-100 yards shots. Is .22 sufficient or .25 a better option here? 

Again I'm open to other suggestions as well for other makes of air rifles. keeping in mind I don't want to be over $2k. Still need a scope and a way to fill gun.

Thank you all!


 
Compact and 25. Or go with the Wildcat MKIII Compact and spend the money on a better scope and still keep within budget. And where can you hunt game birds with an air rifle? Also, if you can look at the Taipans, Edguns, Crickets IF you are looking for hunting rifles and want something that has been proven to take a beating.

All the fore mentioned are easily as accurate as FX. My Taipan compact in .25 cal with a DonnyFL Sumo on it makes the Impact Compact I have in .22 cal with the Sumo sound quite loud. Plus the Taipan is as accurate and I would feel far more comfortable dropping it than the Impact while hunting.
 
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Welcome on board! .22 should be more than enough for the type of critters you mentioned. Specially for a high powered Airgun like that. Your main concerns will be accuracy & air source. Speaking of which, what air source do you have? I personally don’t care for CO2, but do love me some Springers. I routinely take squirrels with my .177 Weihrauchs. I thought the same thing about break barrels after owning a Gamo, but I’m glad I gave them a second chance and now own several of them. Those low end “high speed” guns are crap in my book. 
 
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Compact and 25. Or go with the Wildcat MKIII Compact and spend the money on a better scope and still keep within budget. And where can you hunt game birds with an air rifle? Also, if you can look at the Taipans, Edguns, Crickets IF you are looking for hunting rifles and want something that has been proven to take a beating.

All the fore mentioned are easily as accurate as FX. My Taipan compact in .25 cal with a DonnyFL Sumo on it makes the Impact Compact I have in .22 cal with the Sumo sound quite loud. Plus the Taipan is as accurate and I would feel far more comfortable dropping it than the Impact while hunting.
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Blackpaw,

Thanks for the response! You were absolutely correct! Don't know where I read I could hunt game birds with one. Well in that case its noted and I'll still hunt with my12 gauge. But still needing an air rifle for pest control. I see you own a an FX Impact, are you not using it for hunting? Just targets? When looking around at the price point for Wildcat MKIII Compact, I'm not seeing a major price difference between that (Wildcat or Maverick) I see the Wildcat coming in $1300 and the Maverick coming $1600. Am I missing something? If you don't mind, what and where are you sourcing your air from?








 
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Welcome on board! .22 should be more than enough for the type of critters you mentioned. Specially for a high powered Airgun like that. Your main concerns will be accuracy & air source. Speaking of which, what air source do you have? I personally don’t care for CO2, but do love me some Springers. I routinely take squirrels with my .177 Weihrauchs. I thought the same thing about break barrels after owning a Gamo, but I’m glad I gave them a second chance and now own several of them. Those low end “high speed” guns are crap in my book. 

Thanks for the reply,

I don't have an air source as of yet. I'm trying to figure that out as to what I should be getting. Any and all suggestions are welcomed. I'm looking at bringing in a Sig Sauer Asp20, only because I think it will be easier to break open and and close the barrel. Not sure if any other brand has that type of piston. 

You refer to low end High Speed guns, which are you referring too?

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IMO it's the higher quality and less powerful springers that are nicer to shoot "for a springer that is". Yeah you can hunt smaller game closer in with them but the energy is low and trajectory is loopy past a certain point. As far as feel, I don't see much difference in the nasty lurching jump of the cheap or the higher quality springers, except for the RWS 54 which has a recoil-less system. Without going into a huge excerpt I'm basically suggesting you put your money towards the PCP realm. Die hard springer guys will of course disagree.

There are PCP's that are less prone to POI shifts, I would research that first. That annoying thing is more common in certain brands due to the fragile nature of their barrel system.

But pretty much every gun has faults or at least something that can be considered a reason not to own it which is often a personal thing. Again, research stuff, don't just go on a buying spree because you want a gun "right now". Patience - as long as you get a gun within 2 years time you'll be very saintly 😂. Okay, Just kidding, but you get the picture.

The more I go forward in my airgun journey, the more I see the value of buying used guns, especially ones tuned by KNOWN great tuners and honest guys. You pay less than new price, get the mods they did to make the gun perform well already, and come reselling time you get most of your money back. That vs buying new, there might be problems which require overcoming, you paying to fix them or shipping back and forth to the Co, then losing a bunch of dough come reselling time because you payed top dollar on a new gun. I bought a brand new FX Revolution for $1600 that was an absolute train wreck!!! I won't go into the nightmare that ensued......

I'll say this - a guy that is handy and likes the challenge of troubleshooting stuff, looks at things completely differently than someone that just wants to buy a gun and go shoot, the latter being me.






 
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Cheap fast guns like the Gamos or the Ruger you mentioned. Typically anything that advertises 1400fps! Etc, some guys love them, but it’s not what I like or recommend.

Check out the Weihrauch HW95, HW97. Walther LGV (if you can find one) or Air Arms TX200. These are quality Springers that are easy to work on & are very accurate.

I would definitely figure out the air source thing first before getting yourself a PCP. I use an Altaros booster, it’s very reliable, but slow. Perhaps a new Hill pump, don’t know how reliable yet, but the company is pretty solid & the compressor is fast. Air Venturi is importing those. I have my reservations about them, but...

As for a PCP, I would recommend the Taipan or a Kalibrgun, but that’s my bias. As mentioned above, research the brand before you buy it. There are some guns that are hand pump friendly as well, accurate, relatively reliable, and easy to work on. Get some feedback on those too. 
 
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$300 difference in the price point.

You can get the VP or Compact model and Hong Heng compressor, to keep it fed, and stay within your budget. You would go over a bit if you get the Sniper and the compressor. As for choice of gun goes the longer barrels can reach higher power levels so larger pests at longer distances. For inside a barn shooting or hunting in the brush a shorter gun is usually preferred.
 
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I would start with a $135 Benjamin Maximus and-or S299 Hatsan Flash specifically because they don't have regulators and always dead on first shot no matter how long stored and are super reliable then go buy the FX so you at least have a reliable trouble free backup gun to shoot.

Another suggestion is to buy the FX from Ken Hicks at SPAW. Don't ever try to tinker nor adjust ANYTHING PERIOD after Ken tunes it.
 
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Lots of good advice above so I have nothing more to add, good luck and happy hunting. Hopefully more states will allow Airguns for birds, Arizona does for some birds. Puzzling I can hunt Eurasian Doves with air rifle, but not morning or white wing. I can hunt turkeys if I have an arrow kit which I do and if it shoots above 250 fps which it does, but not with pellets and not any migratory birds. I’m trying to find out from game and fish what their concerns are and hopefully get hunter support to expand the use of air rifle hunting in Arizona. Lots of large game available if the caliber is .35 or larger. 
 
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That’s my point if my air rifle is lethal on Eurasian doves, it’s lethal on migratory birds. I’m allow to hunt quail with an air rifle. It does not make sense to only hunt migratory birds with shotguns. I can hunt turkey with my air rifle and arrow kit but not with pellets/slugs. Most big game in the state are legal to hunt with .35 cal and above air rifles. I would like to see the rest of small game opened up to air rifle pellet/slugs. 
 
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Hello all,

Wanted to thank all that chimed in and will review all the advice here. 

As much as 2020 is coming to a close, all I can say its been a really rough year.....

When Covid started, My job shifted and my work commutes became longer. Driving 2-3 hours to and from a job was painful,. My job afforded me the opportunity to rent a place and then come back for weekends. As luck would have it, we had contractors in our area clearing trees and advertently one such tree fell and impacted my roof. Dealing with insurance companies, contractors and so forth has been painful to say the least.

Planning ahead I went ahead and cancelled the FX Maverick order, the vendor wants to charge me a percentage fee to refund the money. (Awesome) Over 30 years in business and never once did I do that to any my customers. I guess to each their own, but it will definitely make me think twice before ordering something again from them. 😩




 
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