Took a .22 gamble on an AEA HP Varmint.
Here’s my take on the platform and brand based on this one sample.
My initial impression is it is a solid platform with good accuracy and solid features. Lightweight. Powerful. Good shot count. Accurate. Not pellet fussy (with a big caveat I’ll get to later.). It is plagued with build quality issues...none are insurmountable with good warranty support (another caveat I’ll talk about later) or rudimentary DIY skills.
Overview:
I would put the basic machining quality at a level of many mid to high end PCP's…considerably better than Umarex or Hatsan. The receiver looks to be a machined alloy casting, which avoids the sharp touch edges of many brands. The machining looks good...clean cuts, but sharp edges abound. I already snipped pieces off the fill probe o-rings. A lot of the assembly is held together with knurled press pins which might not bode well for disassembly and reassembly. The AEA logo and caliber are painted on the receiver instead of etched or stamped...looks cheap and unlikely to last long.
It didn’t come with an instruction manual or exploded view.
It arrived with the following quality issues.
Here’s my take on the platform and brand based on this one sample.
My initial impression is it is a solid platform with good accuracy and solid features. Lightweight. Powerful. Good shot count. Accurate. Not pellet fussy (with a big caveat I’ll get to later.). It is plagued with build quality issues...none are insurmountable with good warranty support (another caveat I’ll talk about later) or rudimentary DIY skills.
Overview:
I would put the basic machining quality at a level of many mid to high end PCP's…considerably better than Umarex or Hatsan. The receiver looks to be a machined alloy casting, which avoids the sharp touch edges of many brands. The machining looks good...clean cuts, but sharp edges abound. I already snipped pieces off the fill probe o-rings. A lot of the assembly is held together with knurled press pins which might not bode well for disassembly and reassembly. The AEA logo and caliber are painted on the receiver instead of etched or stamped...looks cheap and unlikely to last long.
It didn’t come with an instruction manual or exploded view.
It arrived with the following quality issues.
Wrong caliber magazine with broken detent ball plunger. To the seller’s credit that already sent me the proper replacement and it works fine. They said they’d send me a spare magazine for my troubles once China was back online. The supply chain is a big question mark in our current environment and there rocky start could complicate things.
Missing barrel locating pin (not a big deal considering other brands often do without these but might be handy when switching calibers/barrels.)
Loose stock tube. It has free play/wobble in the receiver. Not sure if this is typical. Will have to remove press pins to evaluate further and fix or replace.
Slowwwwww fill. Possibly snipped o-ring migrated into fill hole??? Will require some investigation and disassembly as well.
A few minor scratches and scuffs you wouldn’t expect on a new gun.
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11mm airgun scope rail.
Trigger break is clean and crisp but very heavy. Didn't measure but I'd guess up in the 4+ lb range. Probably an opportunity to improve it by swapping springs. There is an pop/over-center feel even when not cocked...perhaps an opportunity to work on the profile.
Noise level is very backyard friendly. Quite a bit lower than a Umarex Gauntlet. Maybe slightly louder than Taipan Veteran. There are 5 aluminum cups in the end of the shroud. It isn’t threaded for a mod but one isn’t really needed.
Cocking is straight back and efforts are not bad at all. Not smooth and silky like FX Impact but not heavy and scratchy like Umarex Gauntlet. There is no latch to hold cocking lever back which makes swapping magazines a two handed operation.
Adjustable folding stock is a nice feature.
500cc bottle is rated to 300 bar but fill is limited to a bit below 220 bar. The sweet spot is even lower…203 bar down to 134 bar. A reg would allow one to fill the bottle all the way up and increase the shot count though it doesn’t look like that would leave much plenum volume so it would probably be only good for lower power setting. As it is there might be 50-60 shots in the sweet spot but that depends on whether you are hunting or long range target shooting.
Magazine loading is your typical turn and load against spring then load the rest. Nice and deep. Polymags fit with no issues. The .22 mag holds 12 rounds.
It arrived set up very hot and there doesn’t appear to be any way to adjust the power short of swapping to a lighter spring.
15.89 gr. Hades: 1055 fps, 39.3 fpe.
16 gr. Polymags: 1038 fps, 38.3 fpe.
I shot groups at 41 yards (the length of my backyard range.). I still need to get used to the heavy trigger and the cold didn’t help me get comfortable so I think there is room for improvement. That, and I did not prep yet...not even a quick barrel cleaning. All groups were shot from the magazine, 12 at a time.
The Hades and Predator group sizes weren’t anything to brag about...1.2-1.5 inches. Probably need to try something heavier like JSB Kings to get velocities in a more pellet friendly range.
Given the power it was generating I tried some NSA .2165-.217 slugs in 17.5, 20.2 and 23 gr. They all did fairly well...in fact they tightened up from the pellets. There were some ragged one hole groups with a weird flyer here and there messing up the group.
17.5 gr. NSA 953 fps, 35.3 fpe
20.2 gr. NSA 900 fps, 36.3 fpe
23 gr. NSA 775 fps, 30.6 fpe
Here is the last group of the day (23 gr.) which was under ¾.” Note an example of a tight group with flyers below to the left. If I recall, there are 6-7 shots in that one ragged hole below. The other holes are various sighting in holes. Didn’t have time to change targets.
This gun has the potential to be a long range slug launcher.
