Suggestions for first PCP without breaking the bank

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My pesting will be squirrels, crows and possibly a groundhog or two. Now, if I want to distance shoot, I have many guns setup for distance. I'm looking to keep things within 60yds max so I won't be popping things at 100yds with it. I am near Saratoga NY. ;) Lots of good info here as usual. I'm really leaning toward the Gaunlet in .25 at this point but still looking and listening before I make a final decision. Biohazardman put up some good ones I'm looking at as well. The weight of the gun doesn't bother me too much. I actually prefer a heavier rifle as I do alot of competitive shooting with a 17lb .22LR offhand. ;)
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The only thing I will say about 25 is, you don't have as wide a choice in pellets as you do with the smaller flavors, this really means you can't test as many pellets to see what your gun likes, and you being a rimfire shooter you know there is ammo a gun likes and then ammo that is like a shotgun pattern. IMHO the pesting you are talking about save the groundhog are easy with a 22, you CAN take a groundhog with one, but personally I don't see that as having much of a margin for error.

I can only speak to my gauntlet and it is really an amazing gun, I like it quite a bit and is my go to PCP 22. All of these guns are pretty porkey, but if you are good with a big rifle like you talk about then it should be no big deal.

You don't need to spend thousands to get a gun that will be crow accurate at 60-70 yards, my gauntlet will hit a Kennedy half at that distance all day.

And for you children out there a Kennedy half is a half dollar, it is a round thing that is used to buy stuff and is worth 50 cents us.....it has nothing to do with the JFK Dallas deal.

I got a ban on another site for saying this very thing.....it seems our education system is really lacking and those products are running boards now....shame.
 
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Air Venturi just came out with the Avenger that retails for around $300/ pretty badass gun for the money and extremely tunable. Been working on a review and am sofar impressed with the gun.
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Essentially a similar gun to the Nova Vista Alpha 900 / Liberty/ Freedom, same factory, just with a pressure gauge on the regulator, accurate little guns
 
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So i went down this very same road, but I did buy some high- end budgeted items .. well because I already them...I bought the . 22 Benjamin Marauder pistol....in .22 ....The current set up i have is the P rod, with ATN 5-20, and a Donny FL shogun .. This set up is SUPER silent and pushing JSB Hades at around 700-680 fps and at 30 yards, stacking them on the small hole or almost damn near it. This gun putts a hurting on the squirrels and chipmunks in the back yard. Now I do have an FX Impact in .25 (hence the Shogun),, Bu this gun has been a extreme joy to own....here is a link to some videos I have made with the Marauder Pistol.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-nrPPQ7sdk



Current Set Up



1591387847_14268696935edaa6c787fc69.70327549.jpg

 
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So i went down this very same road, but I did buy some high- end budgeted items .. well because I already them...I bought the . 22 Benjamin Marauder pistol....in .22 ....The current set up i have is the P rod, with ATN 5-20, and a Donny FL shogun .. This set up is SUPER silent and pushing JSB Hades at around 700-680 fps and at 30 yards, stacking them on the small hole or almost damn near it. This gun putts a hurting on the squirrels and chipmunks in the back yard. Now I do have an FX Impact in .25 (hence the Shogun),, Bu this gun has been a extreme joy to own....here is a link to some videos I have made with the Marauder Pistol.......



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-nrPPQ7sdk





Current Set Up



1591387847_14268696935edaa6c787fc69.70327549.jpg
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WOW!! Maybe sticking with .22 is the way to go. I have an airgun in .22 now but I haven't really done much with it nor shot it a bunch. It's a break barrel nitro piston style and it has surprised me to this point BUT I think the PCP has an edge over what I currently have and those few shots proved that. ;)
 
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Air Venturi just came out with the Avenger that retails for around $300/ pretty badass gun for the money and extremely tunable. Been working on a review and am sofar impressed with the gun.
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When will you have the review posted? I can't wait to see more about it other than shot show footage and reps that don't really seem to know anything. I have the .22 on pre order.
 
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I have some higher end and lower end PCPs. SPA PP700 pistol, PR900 rifle, a Maximus, a Leshiy, and a Lelya. All of them can do dime size groups at 25 yards. At 50, I've only shot the Max, the Lelya, and the Leshiy. All 3 are quite accurate considering the price disparity and vastly different shape. rifle versus folding carbine versus bullpup...

However, my first choice for an accurate, inexpensive, regulated, reliable, easy to shoot PCP would be my final PCP: the 2nd Gen fortitude. I paid $225 direct from Crosman after applying the AGNATION "code" and took 25% off the price. It wears a Tasco 2.5-10x Varmint scope and Saturday I was sniping horseflies and yellowfly at 45 yards. It likes JSB Jumbos, Crosman CP domes, AA domes, H&N Sniper Mags and Lights, RWS Superdomes, and (despite having to single-load) Polymags. My Fortitude is shooting ~ 705 FPS with most 14 to 15 grain pellets.
 
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Wanted to toss in Hatsan....I know I know....Hatsan you say...

At44 in .22 or .25 ( I would go .25).....Triggers can be made damn nice, easy to adjust and clean etc. 

Not regulated but can pick up a Huma as budget allows if you desire but really not needed....

Not pellet picky and great power...

I have a high end gun or two but still shoot mine regularly....


 
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I say look at the Liberty or Avenger. Probably the Avenger because distributors will be stocking on parts (from what I've heard). Either way, both guns are super accurate (MOA at 50 yards and, with a little bit of tuning and little to no winds, MOA or near MOA at 100 yards), have a high shot count, feature a sidelever, a nice safety, an OK stock, and are regulated. 4k psi is not too bad IMO to get too with a hand pump, if you're patient. You should give yourself at least 30 mins to slowly pump the gun up to 4k psi. I don't know how the Avenger shoots, but from what I've heard it should be pretty similar to the NVL. I just hope they fixed that darn poppet.

AK
 
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Air Venturi just came out with the Avenger that retails for around $300/ pretty badass gun for the money and extremely tunable. Been working on a review and am sofar impressed with the gun.
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Going to look at that one now. Many more in this $300-$400 range than I initially had thought. ARGH!!!
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...I dumped a Daystate and bought a Talon...still have that and been spending $$$ on it...

...I bought a .25 which was an error in that I cannot legally hunt state land with it in CT...

...if it were not for that I would not regret picking the .25 over the .22...

...there is some compromise but the same could be said of the .22 in comparison with a .17...

...IMHO the diminishing return factor really starts to kick in around .30...

...I am still trying to understand why I bought a .45 Texan...is it some Freudian thing...?!?...
 
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I purchased a Marauder probably 9 years ago now. Still have the gun. It's my tinkering platform. When I bought, none of the $300 guns existed. Marauder was the entry level, and it was and is a good gun. Advantage is that it is fully adjustable with hammer tension, hammer spring and transfer port adjustments. You can make it do whatever you want.

Real question is what you intend to do with the gun? if 100 yard target, not many entry guns will do the trick.

If plinking, accuracy under 50 yards isn't that important, any of the guns mentioned will do. Just pick one and run.

Understand that on most sub-$300 guns, the triggers suck big time. No other way to put it. They are just terrible. The avenger might have a good trigger. All the reviews say it does, and the gun is fully adjustable, so like the Marauder, you can tune it to do what you want, and it's regulated. If you can snag one, that's looking like one of the best choices available at the moment. It is several months out on shipping though. I intend to buy one just to play with when there's a track record and when they are more readily available.


 
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 I definitely recommend The Umarex Gauntlet "25 cal" . If you shop around you can get one for just over $200. I picked one up from Sportsmens guide for around $235 . It's pretty much the same price as the 177 caliber & the 22 caliber. I have 12 air rifles and this is by far the most consistent and accurate. I am able to consistently hit a penny size target At 50 yards and a quarter at 100. With a simple 5 minute/$20 regulator upgrade from "1900psi to 2200psi", my gauntlet is close to pushing big bore energy numbers " 70-85 FPE" 910-935fps with 44gr Seneca hunting pellets .For some reason the heavier slugs fly faster in this gun. It's hitting around 58FPE with the very accurate h&n .25 grizzly 31gr hallow points. For another 30 bucks you can put a bigger tank on it and shoot for hours off of one fill. So basically for under $300 you can have a super accurate upgraded .25 caliber PCP sledgehammer. I don't think anything else can touch it for that price! 
 
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