A little background on me. I have been shooting firearms since I was very small and currently collect firearms. I also have had a few cheap BB guns and currently still have a tech force sidelever 177 rifle and a tech force underlever 177 pistol both of which I have had for about 15 years and are very tired. I occasionally watch youtube guys shooting rats and birds and decided one day that I wanted to try pcp. Ive watched a ton of videos and understand how they work now and I love to tinker and every firearm I own has been modified by myself and I love to do it. After seeing how much some of those cost like any FX gun and lots of others it almost turned me off of them because for the price of that stuff I would rather add more firearms to my collection. But then I found lots of videos on cheaper ones that are shown to be accurate. I came across AEAC as well as other reviewers and have a couple in mind. I was originally set on the gauntlet because of the whole being regulated deal but after watching tons of videos on it it seems cheaply made and as steve said in one of his videos there's airgun builders and airgun manufacturers and the gauntlet definitely is from an airgun builder. I've switched over now to the hatsan flash as it has good power and all the videos I've seen show it to be accurate despite being unregulated, which I thought was a bigger deal. It will be for backyard shooting, noise isnt an issue as I shoot my firearms in my backyard, and dealing with birds that build nests in my gutters. So for about a $300 cap whats a good beginner pcp rifle? I know about the accessories that are needed and already have a hand pump on the way as I'm sticking with the whole setup being budget minded and I could use the exercise.
Help picking first pcp
- Thread starter Lee250
- Start date
I have the flash QE. The stock is not the best in my collection, but the rifle shoots very well with the vortex pellets and the Crosman premier hollow points (cphp) from Walmart. The flash qe is not overly loud, the more quiet the gun the less you will spoil the quarry. The flash has a good trigger that can be tuned for your taste.
To do over again, I would have gone with the flashpup. Of my 4 main line airgu s, I like the bullpup and the carbine length much more than the full size rifles. I shoot from the truck, from an atv, off hand and from a blind with a tripod. The flash does co.e with 2 magazines and the gun will shoot two full mags with OK consistency.
Tell us about your choice, and shoot'em good
To do over again, I would have gone with the flashpup. Of my 4 main line airgu s, I like the bullpup and the carbine length much more than the full size rifles. I shoot from the truck, from an atv, off hand and from a blind with a tripod. The flash does co.e with 2 magazines and the gun will shoot two full mags with OK consistency.
Tell us about your choice, and shoot'em good
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Give a look at the Gamo Urban. It can often be found for well under $300. The gun is not very sophisticated, but has a very good barrel. It is a .22 and should have enough power for what you want/need. Hand pumping should not be much of a problem either. AEAC has a review on it, as well as others on YouTube. Keep in mind that most cheap PCPs will feel Cheap. PCPs are not firearms and take a bit more to make, so they tend to cost more. Good luck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnUys-WWnak
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnUys-WWnak
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Forgot to add I was wanting a .22 caliber. And thanks for the respone Jim. In that price range the flash did seem like a good choice. Cant say I'm much of a fan of a bullpup so I would pick the flash over the flashpup. I do like the looks of the flashpups wooden stock and just found out the flash has a wood stock option that looks neat but I'm not opposed to a synthetic stock and I realize for that price range the stock wont be great and I'm ok with that.
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First try...go simple, go inexpensive.
.22 or .25 Benjamin Marauder would be my first choice. Powerful, multi-shot, quiet, bolt action and user friendly. If you like the sport, then you can upgrade because someone always wants a Marauder, and you won't lose an arm or leg when you resell it. Plus, it's not a bullpup.
Regards,
Kindly 'Ol Uncle Hoot
.22 or .25 Benjamin Marauder would be my first choice. Powerful, multi-shot, quiet, bolt action and user friendly. If you like the sport, then you can upgrade because someone always wants a Marauder, and you won't lose an arm or leg when you resell it. Plus, it's not a bullpup.
Regards,
Kindly 'Ol Uncle Hoot
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My first pcp was the bejenjamin marauder 22 cal. Enough power for what I need and accurate. It's very quiet and affordable. You don't need to spend thousands of dollars for an fx gun. It's just a brand name that make it cost so much. There are tons of guns 1/4 the price of a fx gun that will shoot really accurate up to 100 yards.
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You should wait for the Sig Saeur Virtus .22. They should be out this summer. MSRP says $350 but it should retail for under $300. It is a semi-auto, 30 round clip. You get around 150 shots. you get around 700 fps.Ihave the Gauntlet .25 and I really like it because it comes with a barrel band. It's very accurate and I shot rabbits out to 65 yard with it. I have also tested it with CO2 and got around 570 fps. It put a hole through a dove at 20 yards. It is extremely quiet with Co2.
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I started this black endless hole with a marauder in 25 and a hand pump. Loved the rifle !! I then found a Taipan in 25 on the classifieds here and bought that. I liked the taipan so much a friend bought the marauder and hand pump. Had to pick up a bottle to fill the taipan. Then I wanted an inexpensive 22 cal and bought the flashpup and it shoots great also. I go back and forth to the scuba shop so much that I am now looking at a compressor.
It is a dark hole you are going to fall down my friend
Tony P
It is a dark hole you are going to fall down my friend
Tony P
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When I was at where you are right now, there were no cheap pcp's. There was no way I was going to spend $1500 on a bb gun. So I bought a Hammerli 850 and converted it to HPA. I still have the 850 but now have three high dollar pcp's and all of the support equipment to support them. Be carful my friend, you are traveling down a dangerous road!
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I will cast another vote for the .22 Urban. It's essentially a BSA rifle that takes advantage of their Excellent cold hammer forged barrels. It's well built,lightweight,Accurate,short and handy. Easy to pump by hand and very solid feeling. Remove the barrel band and use its screw to replace the stock trigger adjustment screw. This will allow for a trigger thats light,safe and has zero creep.
I drilled a hole in the rear of the stock to allow for changes to the hammer preload with a 4 mm allen wrench...without having to remove the stock. This allows me to go from sub 20 ft lbs (Much quieter/more shots) to 29/30 ft lbs. GREAT little rifle for the money!
Hope this helps!!
Mike
I drilled a hole in the rear of the stock to allow for changes to the hammer preload with a 4 mm allen wrench...without having to remove the stock. This allows me to go from sub 20 ft lbs (Much quieter/more shots) to 29/30 ft lbs. GREAT little rifle for the money!
Hope this helps!!
Mike
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I think the hatsan flash is better if you only do hunting of racoon sized animals and below but I have a gamo urban and I can tell you that thing is well made! Both the urban and the flash are well made light and accurate. In fact I am buying the flash next month for hunting purposes only. Where I think the urban has the flash beat is in sound which you dont care about too much, I believe it has to be more accurate but I have no way of knowing this umtil i get the flash but I only say that because I can litterally put them in the same hole with no fliers if i wiegh and sort my pellets at 40 yards. In fact at short distances I am beating guys at my club using fx impacts although they cream me at 80 yards. Anyway the real advantage of urban is shotcount. I can shoot 30 times before refill and I could shoot longer but thats the curve. Also after installing a 35 dollar charlie da tuna trigger I have a crisp 1.5lb trigger that is every bit as good as my maurader. I love my marauder and can vouch for it but its heavy! Urban also has an awsome magazine but it is like 40 dollars for a spare which is not an advantage anyway hope this helps. I think either rifle will serve you well.
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Have a flashpup .22, a gauntlet .177, a flash .22, a bullboss .25, p-rod .22, and an urban .22. Flashpup is my hands down favorite by a long shot. Flash .22 was good enough i bought the flashpup in .22 as well and i like the pup that much more... Shoots the jsb 18.13s like a dream. My flash and flashpup outshoot my urban routinely, especially past 50 ( have a target dirt mound out @ 75 and 101 yrds for holdover validation fun).Trigger on the flash and flashpup is better out of the box imo than the urban is.Its also easy to handpump and good power to pumps ratio for me personally. I shoot 2 mags, then recharge to 2900 and repeat which takes about 65 pumps. Also have a donnyfl sumo on mine w adapter which makes it super quiet. Someone on one of the other forums makes baffle inserts for the qe's for pretty cheap as well i believe. Flashpup or flash w/o Donnyfl moderater is still quieter than my urban in side by side comparison. Just my personal experiences, hope this helps. If you do end up picking the flash/flashpup keep a lookout on hatsanusa in their refurb section for one.They come up about every week or two but seem to go quick in .22. This was a 50yrd 5 shot group the other day w/ flashpup i was pretty happy with!1/2 in. 50yrd groups pretty typical if i do my part
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Another vote for the Urban. I purchased one last year and absolutely love it. Ten shot groups at 25 yards inside of a dime with cheap Crosman Premier Domes.
My second vote would be the Nova Liberty sold by American Tactical. Probably the best bang for your buck right now since one can be had for well under $300 with the promo code HARDAIR20. The Liberty is regulated, has sidelever cocking, a very high shot count (300 bar fill), and generally very accurate. Not to mention it's compatible with inexpensive Marauder style magazines (Gauntlet magazines seem to fit best).
My second vote would be the Nova Liberty sold by American Tactical. Probably the best bang for your buck right now since one can be had for well under $300 with the promo code HARDAIR20. The Liberty is regulated, has sidelever cocking, a very high shot count (300 bar fill), and generally very accurate. Not to mention it's compatible with inexpensive Marauder style magazines (Gauntlet magazines seem to fit best).
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No love for the Gauntlet? It was my first PCP and I got a .22 delivered for $242.00 and I'm very happy with it, it shoots very well.
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Thanks for all the input. Still looking around but the urban has definitely peaked my interest at the moment. The liberty looks really nice with the side lever cocking and the power knob but not sure how that would work as far as getting parts if anything happened vs a bigger company like gamo or even hatsan. Badfinger the gauntlet was my first choice but after seeing some of these other ones it just seems to cheaply made for me. The fact that the barrel can move around so easy and the bottle shroud setup is a big turn off. I realize all of that can be modded but that barrel really bothers me. I'm used to high power rifles and magnum handguns that I can bang around and not worry about. The urban looks to have the most sturdy barrel and a nice barrel band setup. Still researching everything but the urban is the best looking currently.
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Don't believe everything you read, my forend doesn't touch my barrel even when resting on a bag, My barrel hasn't moved yet! Modders have to find reasons to mod 
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My entry pcp was a Hatsan AT44. Great gun for the money but too heavy. I wanted something light and ended up with an FX. I know you're in a $300 budget range but if you look around, you can pick up a used higher end gun below new cost and not be out much if any thing if you sell it. Given the options above I would do a Flash or Urban for the lighter weight. Too much hold over/under at different ranges with bullpups for me.
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Take a look at the classifieds. Just saw a 44QE with regulator installed. Only a little over your budget. Maybe you can talk him into a better deal.
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I would suggest the gauntlet. It's more than enough for what you plan to use it for. Plus it's hand pump friendly. You should get north of 60 regulated shots on a 3k psi fill.
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