What airgun to buy?

I’m very torn between the new mk3 wildcat and the taipan veteran long. I would get a 25 caliber and for the last week i’ve been going over the pros and cons of both. This will be my first high end airgun (I own a discovery and used to have a hatsan bt65) and really want to make the right choice. I’ve heard so much good stuff about the taipan and I actually prefer the wood stock of it over the wildcat mk3 but it seems like the wildcat mk3 is shooting slugs super well which i’m not too sure about the taipan. I was planning on putting in my order tomorrow so any help would be much appreciated.
 
Do you think the mk3 will be better if the bugs get fixed or if I’m lucky enough to get one without any? I also heard taipan might be making a new gun but unfortunately i’m a very impatient person and really want to get a gun soon so I have something to shoot for majority of the summer. I was also told by utah airguns that it would be 2 weeks to a month before I could get one anyways which made me consider the taipan a lot more. 
 
I've owned lotsa air rifles: FWB(7), Beeman/HW(4), Air Arms(1), RAW(6). Cricket(2), Steyr (2), Crosman (10 or more), Daisy (2), RWS(1), Walther (3), Air Force (1), Benjamin (6), FX (2) and maybe some others. Of all of these, the FX guns had growing pains and had to be upgraded with newer parts and fiddled with before becoming reliable shooters. However, I like them for what they do. The rest shot reliably out of the box. Do-all rifles with all kinds of external adjustment whiz-bangs are more unreliable. IMO. It's too tempting to screw with all the knobs, then switching calibers requires all new tuning. If reliability is your need, buy a gun set up to your specs as far as caliber and power, then leave it alone and shoot. All of these guns shot well and accurately, maybe at different power levels, but they did their job. Have fun.
 


I've owned lotsa air rifles: FWB(7), Beeman/HW(4), Air Arms(1), RAW(6). Cricket(2), Steyr (2), Crosman (10 or more), Daisy (2), RWS(1), Walther (3), Air Force (1), Benjamin (6), FX (2) and maybe some others. Of all of these, the FX guns had growing pains and had to be upgraded with newer parts and fiddled with before becoming reliable shooters. However, I like them for what they do. The rest shot reliably out of the box. Do-all rifles with all kinds of external adjustment whiz-bangs are more unreliable. IMO. It's too tempting to screw with all the knobs, then switching calibers requires all new tuning. If reliability is your need, buy a gun set up to your specs as far as caliber and power, then leave it alone and shoot. All of these guns shot well and accurately, maybe at different power levels, but they did their job. Have fun.

Thank you, you don’t happen to think there are any better guns in that 1300 to 1600 price range do you?



My experience coming from owning a Wildcat Mk2 compact and Veteran long, if you want lighter weight go with the FX. If you want an heirloom quality, bulletproof piece of art go Taipan.

Thank you for your feedback, lightweight is nice but not at the price of worse quality. 








 
Thank you, you don’t happen to think there are any better guns in that 1300 to 1600 price range do you?

Yes, there are some really fine airguns in that price range.

Air Arms S500 and S510 starting around $1000. These rifles are top quality in terms of fit and finish and accuracy. They're worth more IMO.
FX Dreamine and variants starting at $1000
FX Crown VP $1349-all the features of topline FX rifles.
BSA R10-$1299
Brocock-$800 and up

There may be others that some would argue should be considered, but these are first rate rifles, not from third world countries.
 
Thank you, you don’t happen to think there are any better guns in that 1300 to 1600 price range do you?

Yes, there are some really fine airguns in that price range.

Air Arms S500 and S510 starting around $1000. These rifles are top quality in terms of fit and finish and accuracy. They're worth more IMO.
FX Dreamine and variants starting at $1000
FX Crown VP $1349-all the features of topline FX rifles.
BSA R10-$1299
Brocock-$800 and up

There may be others that some would argue should be considered, but these are first rate rifles, not from third world countries.

IMO from what I’ve heard the taipan is above all of those except the crown and the air arms, the crown was a gun I considered over the taipan potentially and I hadn’t really heard anything about the air arms so i’m not sure about that one.
 
Air Arms has been around for a long time and have a reputation for fine quality and competitive accuracy. Their TX200 is the king of Field Target shooting in the springer class and the S500 does well in the PCP class. I had an S510 and can't say enough about it. I've never owned a Taipan but I've had two Crickets. I'm just not crazy about bullpups. The Taipan and Crickets have excellent reputations and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one.
 
Air Arms has been around for a long time and have a reputation for fine quality and competitive accuracy. Their TX200 is the king of Field Target shooting in the springer class and the S500 does well in the PCP class. I had an S510 and can't say enough about it. I've never owned a Taipan but I've had two Crickets. I'm just not crazy about bullpups. The Taipan and Crickets have excellent reputations and I wouldn't hesitate to buy one.

I’m really looking for a bull pup so I think the taipan is for me, once again thanks for all the help. Everyone’s responses have helped me a lot in making my decision.
 
I'm an FX owner (Royale 500 & Boss), but even a staunch FX advocate like me would recommend the tried & true. 1st run guns have bugs to work out & for me, personally, I don't need more bells & whistles to fiddle with. Either gun is a quality piece but if I were in your position I'd get the Taipan. Good luck!

thank you that makes me feel a lot better about it.