Being a rabid airgun tinkerer that has found certain Chinese airguns to be excellent canvases, I figured the irresistible Artemis PP750 would be an excellent platform to keep me occupied through the pandemic shut-in. Utterly smitten by the little pistol/carbine's awesome looks, features and possibilities, in stock form it pushes many of this airgun freak’s hot-buttons. If it possessed similar potentials to a couple other Chinese airguns I’ve written about, I’d be riding-out the pandemic shut-in in airgun Nirvana.
A buddy that tried to order a PP750 a few days after I did said he was told I got the last PP750 that Krale had in stock. Amazingly, the PP arrived on my Texas doorstep from the Netherlands two days after I placed the order! Unfortunately it slow-leaked through the firing valve from the get-go. Repressing my fear of diving into The Great Unknown, I found the PP750 not only an aweswomely simple and easily serviced design, but of excellent quality. After exchanging a few emails and photos with Bjorn at Krale, a replacement for the broken part responsible for my leak arrived just three days after our correspondence. BTW, the replacement part is beefier than the broken original; so apparently Snow Peak Airguns recognized the problem and corrected it early on.
With the leak corrected, velocity testing commenced with the hope for similar performance to a .22 MRodAir Airmax PCP pistol that embarrassed an eerily-similar designed HIGH-DOLLAR PCP pistol in an AWESOME AIR PISTOLS chapter titled Czech-Mate! Velocity testing proved the PP750 up to my power and shot-count hopes. Typical of most PCPs, the little carbine returned a bit more muzzle energy with 15.9 grain JSB Exact Jumbos than it did with a bit-faster 14.3 grain JSB Exact Express, that energy advantage growing at extended ranges.
With ballistic questions answered, I forged ahead to explore the PP’s accuracy capabilities. In the course of bench-rest testing it soon became apparent a rifle scope was in order. Wanting enough magnification to not compromise the testing but also not so huge and heavy an optic to physically and aesthetically overwhelm the cool little mini-carbine, being one of the smallest and lightest non-‘compact’ 3-9X rifle scopes I’ve found, a 3-9X32mm Weaver Classic Rimfire/Airgun scope proved a silver-slipper fit.
Considering the practical applications for a pistol-based mini-carbine, I decided to start accuracy testing at 35 yards. Though I had no plan to use the PP750 in field target, I was happy to see it achieve my personal accuracy standard for a field-target pistol; that being five-shot groups at 35 yards averaging 3/4” (center-to-center) or less. For longer-range work, a .70” average translates to 1” or less at 50 yards, mathematically and realistically. Rather, I should say realistically in no more than light wind conditions. A .22 caliber pellet launched with 14 foot-pounds of muzzle energy doesn’t exactly “buck the wind” well. But in little-to-no wind conditions, the little mini-carbine indeed averages 1” five-shot groups at 50 yards.
As the number of accuracy-testing sessions accumulated it became obvious the PP rig did not hold a zero well from day to day; no small handicap in a hunting gun. So as impressed as I was with the PP’s sliding front scope mount that clamps to the chamber-tube (connecting it to the shrouded barrel), I realized it had to go.
Thankfully I found the right solution in my ‘collection’ of scope mounts with a set of BKLs that include one offset mount and one non-offset. BINGO… problem solved! In the many bench-rest sessions since removing the offending factory scope mount in favor of two mounts anchored to the short grooved receiver, only once have I had to make a scope adjustment to bring point-of-impact back in line. That adjustment was only 3 clicks of elevation, and came after much monkeying with the gun during a two-week custom grips and cheekpiece project.
I'd found the least impressive part of shooting the PP came from making cheek contact with the steel rods of the retracting shoulder-stock. Besides a distinct “Oh, that’s cold” impression, the thin rods not only don’t give a comfortable ‘cheek weld’, but flex a bit in use; none of those distractions contributing to the level of concentration required for precise shooting.
Unfortunately after discovering a custom wooden cheekpiece solved the cheek-weld and flex issues, I also discovered a matching piece of Shedua large enough for a set of matching grips. DOH! Well, I was looking for a project to get me through the pandemic shut-in, and the shut-in is dragging on… and on. I’m pleased with the custom grips and cheek-piece; nice cherries atop my sweet, sweet 'Little Sidekick' pesting rig.
Since a retired game warden buddy educated me to the fact that some pest species I’ve previously given a pass have quite voracious appetites for ground-nesting game-bird eggs, I decided to set the PP750 up to thin out some of those same pests that also have a bad cat-food habit. The night-pesting rig having proven quite well-suited for practical offhand shooting, Little Sidekick has also proven perfect for the task at hand. She is also quite handy from the Polaris Ranger.
And easy on the eyes.
.22 Artemis PP750 sidelever PCP pistol/carbine
14.3 gr JSB, 235 BAR, 18 shots- Low= 637, Hi= 669, ES= 32, SD= 5, Avg= 653 FPS/13.5 FP
15.9 gr JSB, 235 BAR, 19 shots- Low= 620, Hi= 640, ES= 20, SD= 3, Avg= 630 FPS/14.0 FP
4/6/2020- Five consecutive 5-shot groups at 35 yards with 15.9 grain JSBs averaged .70” c-t-c.
4/242020- Six consecutive 5-shot groups at 35 yards with 15.9 grain JSBs averaged .73” c-t-c.
That often works for me.
