To leshiy or not to leshiy?

I agree that the Huben K1 and the LCS-19 are more accurate than the Leshiy 2, but not the AEA Carbine. As I have both the Leshiy 2 and the AEA Carbine, I can say unequivocally that the Leshiy 2 is more accurate.

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The AEA is a fun platform and the price is a huge selling point. Try taking the factory baffles out if you have the HP series without the removable moderator. If you have the carbine TD (formerly known as the assassin) remove the stock factory moderator all together and get a adapter that can take a moderator directly right after the factory barrel/shroud. You should get better accuracy out of them. We tested that this was the best way to improve the groupings on the gun, removing the factory silencing system improved the harmonics over all. Feel free to give us a call or DonnyFL a call and mention the direct adapter for the carbine TD. they will know you're talking about

The L2 in .25 is not only very powerful for its short barrel but the accuracy when rested is just as good as any .25 cal rifles I’ve shot in the past. I say go for it. 

@ thepelletshop 

I wish I’d known that earlier as I bought the adapter from DonnyFl which fitted over the OEM moderator and I added the Tanto. I’ll probably take your advice and remove the factory installed moderator and buy that direct adapter and purchase the Sumo because the Tanto is still louder than my likes. You’re totally correct that the AEA is a fun platform and at 1/3 the price of the L2 it’s even more fun. I’d really be interested in trading my L2 for an FX Crown or Impact or something comparable if anyone’s interested. Comes with three magazines, a hard case and two speed loaders.

I could buy whatever I wanted and just got an L2 and my reasons were.

I mostly ground stalk, walking and wanted something relatively slim, compact but powerful.

I like the folding capability to pack it in a handy size.

The included shroud/moderator on the 350mm is good enough for me.

I wanted the very solid construction and really like the unique design aspects of the valve and the other tech. My use is a true field gun that will get knocked around.

My distances are all <50yds for what I do, an MOA gun is plenty good enough.

I’ve only just got it, but it’s first day out I’ve got 7 chipmunks with it and the performance is just great. I’m very happy with it.

I compared to the Uragan/compact (very close call), the Kalibrgun models, the Ataman BP-17 (close call there) and the RTI Prophet compact. The Uragan and Ataman were probably closest because they have less things to snag on branches or get broken if knocked into. Exposed gauges, levers etc that protrude are likely to get broken walking in the woods.

I’d still like one of each of all of those too LOL, but now I really just need a compressor and to build a good stock of pellets.

I might suggest the Evol mini 22. Lightweight and accurate right out of the box.

L2 vs Vixen vs Cricket Tactical II

I've had the L2 350 .22 for a year now.

Just recently add 2 new guns, Cricket Tactical Compact in .22 and Vixen Compact .22. I hunt squirrels and plink with these so this is my opinion and my take on all 3, others will differ. Had a dozen bp & carbine prior but I'm only comparing the latest. All shooting JSB 18.13gr.

L2, modded 300cc tank + DonnyFL Ronin. Pros: Semi-auto, light weight, AR platform/unlimited customization & calibers, mid 30+fpe. Low 6lbs with scope. Cons: Trigger not as good as the other two, accuracy not as good as the other two, louder than the other two, not so great 50yd+. (Longer barrel may do better)

Vixen Compact, factory tune. Low 20+fpe, 250cc tank. Pros: Lightweight, Mid 5lbs with scope, hole in one gun, crisp trigger (very nice). Cons: Not so great 50yds+, no bottle/air upgrades. (The long version will do better).

Cricket Tactical. Tuned with DonnyFL Tanto, factory 477cc tank. Pros: Powerful gun (40+fpe)/adjustable trigger & power, crisp/very nice trigger, hole in one gun, 50yd+ gun, very accurate. Cons: Mid 8lbs with scope but very balanced.

Quiest to loudest: Tactical, Vixen, L2

Most powerful to least: Tactical, L2, Vixen

Most accurate to least: Tactical, Vixen, L2

Lightest to heaviest: Vixen, L2, Tactical 

If I could only keep one: Vixen

@ pcp Perry,

thank you for those in depth reviews. I‘ve been interested in the Cricket 2 Tactical 60 because of its extreme accuracy myself. I wonder why the one gun you would keep would be the Vixen since that gun has the least power and it’s not the most accurate?

All that being said as an owner of the L2, I have to agree completely with your review and it would seem like the L2 would be the first gun you’d part with if you had to. The Leishy2 is quite loud indeed with the OEM moderator thus I removed it for the DonnyFl Ronin and the trigger sucks although you could get used to it. Two other points that you didn’t mention is the cost factor. The Leishy2 is overly expensive in that you’ll need to purchase a better moderator and a carbon fiber bottle ( $300) which the other guns have one included. And another downside with the L2 is the customer service from EDgun West is lousy. I recently had a cylinder leak on my Leshiy2 and I sent it back for repair. I received it back about 3 weeks later and when it arrived the cylinder was empty….not a good sign. I filled it up and shot it with plenty of refills and it didn’t appear to leak but when I checked it in the morning it was empty. So obviously Brian did a half-ass repair. When I asked him about it, he told me that he fixed the leak, filled it and it sat awhile and wasn’t leaking. He told me to put the cylinder in water to determine the leak site. If he was serious about actually fixing the leak, he should have placed it in water himself to make sure it wasn’t leaking. I’ve heard other stories about EDgun West’s poor customer service on this forum as well so it’s not just me.

Bottom line, the Leshiy 2 is an overrated gun, too expensive for what you get and lacking in customer support. Would I recommend it. No, I’d advise others that there’s better guns out there for the money.

Sure seems to be a WIDE range of opinions on these guns.

@DMTman

Both gun, Tactical II & Vixen are extremely accurate, hole in one up to 40-50yds. Past that and the Tactical will outshine the Vixen because of it's power and longer barrel. In my years of hunting, I rarely see or shoot any squirrels past 40-50yds and don't need a whole lot of power to take critters. 22lr, 17hmr or pellet, you still need placement shots. Vixen is 12.50" barrel, Tactical is 17.7" barrel. Tactical does everything and more but for me, personally it's the lightweight, slim profile and practicality of the Vixen. I think the long/standard Vixen will be a better overall gun. Again, just my opinion. I wouldn't part ways with any of them at the moment because each has it's place.

Sorry, I didn't mention price, figured we all used credit cards and price wasn't an issue. Lol. I've learned if a gun is out of warranty, I don't send them to most shops anymore. Most of the times I end up fixing their problems which they claimed they've fixed. I've gone through many setups and could never quiet the L2, I just gave up and left it alone on the donnyfl Ronin because that was the best one. A friend has the mod40 and its the same so I didn't even bother burning money. I do love the gun when i need to rapid fire on a scared squirrel. 

I’m fairly certain that if someone were to spend some time you could reduce the dwell on the L2 to make it much quieter. I think you’d be hard pressed to find any other gun that would be quiet pushing 40+ FPE out of a 350mm barrel . Big jets and higher reg pressures would be my guess on how to quiet the gun down. 

I’m fairly certain that if someone were to spend some time you could reduce the dwell on the L2 to make it much quieter. I think you’d be hard pressed to find any other gun that would be quiet pushing 40+ FPE out of a 350mm barrel . Big jets and higher reg pressures would be my guess on how to quiet the gun down.

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The magazine slot should've came in an enclosed chamber. That will quiet this gun. I'll definitely keep a close eye on new setups.

And now there’s the options of using fx barrels, the options are limitless. Not to mention if someone made a .357 mag for it, we could have a 9mm leshiy 2 with an fx 800mm barrel. Semi auto big game gun? Yes please!

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Oh? There's now an option to use fx barrels? Do tell. Is it plug-and-play easy, or more involved? (My first post, greetings everyone!)

And now there’s the options of using fx barrels, the options are limitless. Not to mention if someone made a .357 mag for it, we could have a 9mm leshiy 2 with an fx 800mm barrel. Semi auto big game gun? Yes please!

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Oh? There's now an option to use fx barrels? Do tell. Is it plug-and-play easy, or more involved? (My first post, greetings everyone!)

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Not quite “Plug and Play”, but close enough for me. You have to get an adapter for the FX barrel, and only the barrels from the Impact/Wildcat/Maverick (and older Dreamlines) really work (with the outer shroud removed). The SuperLight barrels from the Crown and some Dreamline models will not work.

Here’s my post on the conversion I recently did. And yes, I say YES to the Lesh (to quote Yenniden



ChRiSiS

Member

United States

Accuracy: +20

So, after waiting a while, I finally took the jump and installed a FX STX barrel in my Leshiy 2 this afternoon.

As background, I have a L2 in .25 cal and a 350mm barrel, with the Valkyrie handguard and Huma Mod40. This combination was shooting the JSB 25.4 grain pellets at 891 FPS, for 44.8 FPE. After reading a couple of threads regarding Cross Platform options for the L2, including the info from GlemChally and BigHUN above, I reached out to Geoff from Sub-12 Airguns on the UK and purchased three of his adapters for FX. Barrels to use in the L2. I have a number of FX barrels, including a Dreamline .25 cal 600mm barrel, and this was the one I chose to use for this experiment.

Basically, I had to remove the brass transfer port portion of the FX barrel and screw in the adapter. This was a hell of a lot harder than I expected, but heat, brute fore, and ignorance eventually overcame good sense and I got it off. From there it was easy to screw on the adapter, replace the FX liner and reassemble the barrel. It slid in to the L2 like they were made for each other!

All that was left was testing for accuracy and speed. At 25 yards the gun was every bit as, and maybe a bit more, accurate than the original. Essentiallly one hole with Air Arms (JSB) 25.4 grain pellets. One hole over 5 shots. On the FX Chrono it gave an average of 990 FPS or 55.3 Foot Pounds Energy. This is without any change to the regulator, just the barrel swap! I gained 100 FPS and 11 Ft Lbs of energy.

This is a real game changer for me, since I have a number of FX guns, not to mention barrels in every length and caliber from .177 to .30, and from 380mm to 700mm. Unlike a lot of people, I love the FX Smooth Twist liner system, and they have always been superbly accurate for me. Being able to use these in the L2 gives me immense flexibility at almost no extra cost, just the price of a magazine.

I love the looks, especially after I put a carbon fiber barrel sleeve over the barrel. I used the Huma Mod40, but it really is quite long, and probably overkill, so I switched to a FX hollow moderate. I actually think the longer barrel may even be a bit quieter.

Chris

@ChRiSiS Thank you for such a quick response!

From the description, it sounds like swapping the barrel back and forth between an Impact and L2 is not practical because it includes this step - "remove the brass transfer port portion of the FX barrel and screw in the adapter" - which is described as quite painful (correct?). Tapping into the pool of barrel options from FX is still awesome though. Besides, it sounds like liners should be easily swappable between the two. That's really good. I did some online research on L2 but still couldn't figure whether it's slug-friendly. FX compatibility makes it less important. Good to know. Cheers!

@ChRiSiS Thank you for such a quick response!

From the description, it sounds like swapping the barrel back and forth between an Impact and L2 is not practical because it includes this step - "remove the brass transfer port portion of the FX barrel and screw in the adapter" - which is described as quite painful (correct?). Tapping into the pool of barrel options from FX is still awesome though. Besides, it sounds like liners should be easily swappable between the two. That's really good. I did some online research on L2 but still couldn't figure whether it's slug-friendly. FX compatibility makes it less important. Good to know. Cheers!

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@samoand, I wouldn’t call it painful, but its definitely not painless. Its a bit of a PITA, but probably only the first time. The issue is that the FX parts have Loctite on them, and need to be heated to remove them. To do that you first should take out the o-rings. Once you have them apart and cleaned up (I used a brass brush to remove the dried loctite) it is easy to put the parts back together and swap them around. I have never had an issue with them coming apart because I reassembled them without loctite.

Ah! Loctite. Got it, that's even better.

I have the L2 and love it. It’s an excellent Gun for walking through the woods hunting for quick snap shots on moving game.


I have a red dot on it and it’s setup exactly like my competition AR rifles.

I also use it for training for 3 Gun and have the same carbon fiber hand guard and grip and red dot on both the L2 and my competition rifle and have triggers that are very similar in both... the Trigger isn’t bad at all for a run and gun rifle but it’s definitely not bench rest quality either.


I got a .30 cal and it’s not much louder at all then my fx crown mark2 

Accuracy isn’t close to my crown or RAW hm1000 so If your looking for bench rest accuracy don’t get it.

It is an accurate gun and I’m getting about 2” to 2.5 inch groups at 100 yards but not bench rest accuracy my crown sabor tactical shoots consistently under an inch with sorted pellets.. 

so it comes down to what you want the gun to do. I’m super happy with mine but came into it with realistic expectations...

some things I didn’t think about as advantages for hunting is how you load and unload the gun.. if your out shooting a bunch of ground squirrels or pigeons you might shoot 3/4 of your mag but have already chambered a pellet so your not going to switch mags till you take your next shot. With the L2 you can switch mags any time and never double feed. You can have a few pellets in your pocket and your spare mags on the gun take a shot or two brake the gun and toss a few pellets back in that mag and keep going.. might not seem like a big deal but it’s pretty cool.. also as a truck gun of you see something you jump out but don’t get a shot you don’t have to just burn that round to clear your gun later.. 

I reached out to Geoff from Sub-12 Airguns on the UK and purchased three of his adapters for FX. Barrels to use in the L2.

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Can you please share contact details for sub-12 airguns? I tried to google them, but nothing relevant turned up. Sorry for adding noise to the topic, apparently being the new guy limits my PM options. Thanks!

I reached out to Geoff from Sub-12 Airguns on the UK and purchased three of his adapters for FX. Barrels to use in the L2.

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Can you please share contact details for sub-12 airguns? I tried to google them, but nothing relevant turned up. Sorry for adding noise to the topic, apparently being the new guy limits my PM options. Thanks!

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Reach out to Jeffman here on the forum. I don’t know any other way to reach him unfortunately. He is generally pretty responsive and I’ve been very happy in all my dealings with him.

Chris

This thread isn't new but I'll give some anecdotal thoughts. 



Definitely leshiy 2. But not the stock gun if you need to be very quiet. 

I have the short and it's accurate as hell at those ranges. The semi auto is useful on tough coons and possums if you need a follow up shot.

At 25 or 30.cal I think it's very useful to get the bottle. 



I have one of the first 100 so I am about to install the Repr. But it's plenty powerful without it. 



The gun is different than top of the line FX but stands out at the same level. The Leshiy 2 is a rugged airgun. No flimsy poop. I'd say if you smack and bang a gun around a lot then this is a good choice. 



My friend and I have had a lot of success with the L2. I'd rate it up there with a FX Impact but with different things going on. Solid is a good description. 



I also own FX Impact M3 @35, Brocock Bantam @177, Leshiy 1 @22, Marauder gen 2 @177, FX Wildcat MK3 @25, Daystate Revere @25, Jsar Raptor @22. It's as good or better than any of those.