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Thread: Finally got a PCP !

  1. #1
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    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
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    Finally got a PCP !

    I finally found a PCP I liked. Air Venturi Avenger. I got a 25 cal version with the plastic stock. $350! it's available in .177,.22,.25 with either a plastic or wood stock. $429 with the wood stock. I got to shoot one a friend had bought and it seemed heavy so I went with the plastic stock. I will play with it until it works perfectly for me. The gun weighs 6 lbs.12 oz. and will be right at 7 lbs. with the moderator installed.

    I didn't just fall into this choice. I had talked to one of the guys at Pyramyd Air about PCP's and he recommended this gun. Not being one to believe everything I was told over the phone by a salesman I set out to research this thing.

    WOW!! I have never seen so much positive feedback on anything. There is a bunch of vids on YouTube and some of them were downright impressive. One guy had a .22 cal. one that was putting every pellet thru the same hole at 50 yards. He had a camera set up on the target and you could see the pellets actually going thru the hole! None of my .22 firearms will do that!

    I was buying this gun for hunting small game. I have 4 other Spring Powered guns that are very nice but none of them, even my Beeman R1 are remotely as powerful as this gun. I was blown away! This thing is firing 35 gr pellets at 900+ fps! It is also a Repeater with 8 rounds in the magazine and the action works like a Biathlon Rifle, fairly fast on follow up shots.

    The gun had some air in it when it arrived. (best to keep air in them when stored) So i fired off a few rounds just to see how loud it was. It is! I ordered a Moderator for it for $24.

    I mounted a 2-6X small Czech Made scope on it and with the scope the gun weighs 6lbs 12 oz.

    I then went to the shop and set up my pellet trap with phone books and other cardboard to stop pellets. It shot thru a 2" thick Phone book! Took 4 rounds to get close at 10 yards. I have a rock in my front yard that I shoot at sometimes. It has little black mark on it . First 2 shots at 50 yards were about 3" high so i came down, and now they are about 1" high but further refinement had to wait as I was out of air.

    My Compressor came last week It is a Spirit Tech brand I got off Amazon @$300. Very nicely made device and it took about 5 minutes to pump the guns reservoir back up to 3500 psi. This gun has a Regulator on it and it is set at 3000 psi and I will probably change that once I figure it out.

    I got two types of pellets with the gun. Both are JSB one is 25 gr and the other is 34 gr. I went directly to these as they were the most recommended on the net. I have had my best luck with JSB and H&N pellets thru out my Air Gunning Career. It looks like the gun is a Laser with the 25 gr pellets.

    One of the things that has kept me away from PCP guns was the cost of the gun and the need for a compressor. Both of those have now come down to the point that it is affordable for me and no doubt many others. I am into this setup $700. MY R1 cost me $600.

    This was my Birthday/Christmas present to myself and it's already a lot more fun than Slippers. Pretty happy so far,,, More Pics to follow.

    Randy
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails IMG_2300.jpg   IMG_2302.jpg   IMG_2303.jpg   IMG_2306.jpg  
    Last edited by W.R.Buchanan; 12-18-2022 at 04:11 PM.
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  2. #2
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    georgerkahn's Avatar
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    Happy birthday and Merry Christmas! I have, too, gifted myself items of -- to me -- greater potential than slippers . My love affair has been with the Marauders --in both rifle and pistol flavours, with a very strong preference to the pistols. All in .22 and (pistols) are adorned with Leupold scopes. Mine is the Nomad II (from Pyramid Air, as were the Marauders) compressor which has worked famously.
    BEST WISHES with your .25 Avenger and the compressor to fill it!
    geo

  3. #3
    Boolit Master

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    I just don't believe it.
    All your posts about your quality springers and now a PCP!
    Randy you have fallen into a deep quagmire.
    Welcome.
    To lazy to chase arrows.
    Clodhopper

  4. #4
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    SSGOldfart's Avatar
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    Not a bad deal I've just started my research,but PCP seems to be the best ideal. Please don't forget the pictures
    I started out with nothing and I still have most of it left.
    Paralyzed Veterans of America

    Looking for a Hensly &Gibbs #258 any thing from a two cavity to a 10cavityI found a new one from a member here

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master
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    Randy, you have come to the Dark Side!!!

    I suspect the gun will keep impressing you. I have no regrets moving most of my shooting to PCP's.

    The Avenger was a good choice as I have seen the same positive reviews and think it is a great option. I will be interested in how your compressor works out.

    I went with an air tank after getting advice from NSB here on the forum. It is not a cheap option, and it is a bother to get it filled as the place I go to is a 90 minute drive. At the time, all the "affordable" compressors were a crap shoot. In my case, the PCP's would be getting a lot of trigger time so a reliable air supply was a "must have".
    Don Verna


  6. #6
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    Told you in another thread it was all your fault I bought the same one but wood and the same 25 caliber. I bought the Yong Heng compressor and am slowly getting what I need as it is to damn cold here for me outside. So taking my time. I think I bought the same moderator as you also. My hang up now is the pcp and air/water filter. Looking at the 74 cu ft ones. The water separators are all over the place and one guy has them for about $400. States have to be well made or basically a bomb at those pressures. I have no clue so I keep researching. Keep us posted on how she works out for you and what you get for her. Thanks to you, my price was a bit lower than they are going for now. Timing and all.
    Ron

  7. #7
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    I love my AV Avenger, had it about ~2 years and the Tree Rats around here hate it!! To prove I'm not a Race-ist I "harvest both Red's and Grey's. I have the Yong Heng compressor and no problems so far. You'll enjoy the gun I'm sure. Get a quality scope on it and you'll be putting shot groups as Clover leafs in no time.

  8. #8
    Boolit Master elmacgyver0's Avatar
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    You are really going to have fun with that.
    I have a Hatsan QE Flashpup in .25 caliber, a Beeman underlever 1358 in .22 with a Buckrail moderator, and a Beeman 2027 pistol in .177 also with a Buckrail moderator.
    At this point I only have the hand pump but a 300-dollar compressor sounds tempting.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master chutesnreloads's Avatar
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    The biggest downside I've seen to the Avenger is POI shifts. I chose an Umarex Origin over the Avenger mainly because it is supposed to be more hand pump friendly and it came with a pump. The Origin also suffers from the shifting POI. The two are made closely enough the after market adapters and barrel bands work on both. If you start seeing POI shifts, I'd start with a barrel band or even two. If that doesn't fix the problem enough there is a barrel adapter that replaces the baffles at the muzzle end of your shroud and secures the barrel better. You'll need an after market moderator to quiet it back down if needed.
    My Origin still has slight POI shifts but is much improved after the two barrel bands and the adapter. I'm still impressed with its accuracy and power. Now looking for a new PCP with less power. The Origin has just a bit too much juice for my needs in the back yard even with the power level tuned all the way down. For the cost of shooting a fun and accurate rifle, these things just can't be beat.

  10. #10
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    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
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    I fired up my compressor yesterday, Everything went fine and it pumped the gun up to 3500 PSI from 2200psi in about 5-6 minutes. It also runs off 12VDC so I can take it to the range in the Jeep and run it there. We already have several guns like this in my Club and I plan on upping the ante on the Airgun Shoot so more people show up.

    Pretty excited about this acquisition and plan on shooting the hell out of it.

    Took a bunch of pics of it last night and then misplaced the camera? I'm an Idiot! Can't help it!

    Randy
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails IMG_2308.jpg  
    Last edited by W.R.Buchanan; 12-18-2022 at 07:43 PM.
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  11. #11
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    Shot the gun yesterday at the range. Wind was blowing 20MPH + sideways so no concrete accuracy figures yet. It did shoot 5 shots into about 1" at 25 yards with the 25 gr JSB Pellets but with the rest I was using and poor target I didn't expect anything better. I can see sub .5" at 25 pretty easily, and maybe even better with some tweaking on the air delivery.

    I was surprised to see a gun exactly like mine there too. We shot together. for an hour or so. His had a Moderator on it and made a "Puft" noise when fired. very quite. So far it appears that we have between 4 and 6 of them in my club already, and I am hearing about more and more people looking at buying them.

    I got 40+ shots with the fill to 3500psi but I don'[t know where the velocity was dropping off. All the shots were going close to where I was aiming.... I was killing a bunch of clay pigeons at 40 yards and all the resulting big chunks were destroyed as well. Still refining the zero?

    More to come.

    Randy
    Last edited by W.R.Buchanan; 12-19-2022 at 07:29 PM.
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  12. #12
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    I got the $24 Moderator the other day. It quiets the thing down a little, nothing spectacular but none of the $100 ones do any better. Threads right into the Barrel Shroud no adapter needed, took 30 seconds to install! Can't beat that.

    Came from www.Buck-Rail.coms

    I also installed one of my 1 1/2" Nylon Slings. Had to open the holes in the stock up so the Uncle Mikes QD Swivels would go thru It works well but due to the balance of the gun being top heavy I couldn't mount the sling for Cross Body Carry. Kind of Bummed me out as all my Tactical Rifles and Shotguns are set up this way. When I was sussing it out, I found that in order to balance correctly the front attachment would have to be @2" above the barrel and the rear one would have to be on top of the Comb of the stock. So I abandoned that idea and just mounted it conventionally. It will work just fine.

    Other than Tuning,,, This gun is ready for the Big Hunt.

    Randy
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails IMG_2311.jpg   IMG_2318.jpg  
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  13. #13
    Boolit Buddy sandog's Avatar
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    That Buck Rail without the taper sure looks better against your barrel than one that has a taper. Blends right in nicely.
    I didn't even know they sold them without the taper, every Buck Rail I've seen have been the tapered ones, and they look longer too.

    It's surprising how well some of these cheaper moderators perform. The longer aluminum one that came on my Diana Stormrider has 7 baffles/chambers in it and reduces the blast of air from near .22 LR noise to more like a pumper with 4 pumps in it.
    I bought a better moderator for the Stormrider (Huggett Belita) and wanted to put the old moderator on my Dragonfly Mk2 multipump.
    But the Dragonfly is already long with a 22" barrel, and I didn't want to make it 6 inches longer so I removed 2 chambers and got the moderator down to 4 inches. As it is about a 16 fp. rifle, the shortened moderator is adequate.

    The air tube on my Stormrider is just 100cc, so pumping it back up with a hand pump isn't a big chore. I was considering getting a Hill pump, but got a Chinese pump that had good reviews. It has worked fine, but seeing your $300 compressor has me considering one.
    That's not much more than what you'd pay for a Hill pump.
    And being able to run it off 12v is great as well.

    If I get one of those compressors, I'd probably still want to take along the hand pump for back up though if it was an extended camping trip.

  14. #14
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    Tony; That Moderator was $24! and it is just as quite as the one I saw at the range that was over $100. Also it doesn't require an adapter, it screws right into the barrel shroud. All the rest of them need a threaded adapter.

    I was thinking about a .22 cal. one because I have lots of .22 cal. pellets laying around, but when I saw that this thing with 25 gr pellets running 875 fps was at 42 ft lb, and with 34 gr pellets at 850 fps it's at 54.5 ft lb I was sold! That is the same as a .22 Short RF 29 gr at 920fps. And I could push that up higher if I wanted to. Also a 8 Shot Repeater.

    The Spiritech Compressor is a nicely made piece of equipment. I got it off Amazon. There are several others on there as well that are both Less and More Expensive.

    The one thing you want for sure is one that has Automatic Shutoff. That is when it gets to a preset point the thing shuts of on its own. Other wise you have to stand and watch it run.

    The Nomad Compressor from Pyramyd Air is $850! I don't know how much "Better" it is? But I doubt it is 2 1/2 times better?

    I was looking at a hand pump but when the guy asked how old I was, and told him 73,,, he recommended not doing it. YMMV I guess it would be a pretty serious workout to fully charge one.

    The good thing about the Avenger is that it has a regulator so once you have set it for your preferred pressure as long as the tank has more PSI's in it you will still get full power shots (until you bleed it off to below the Regulator set point.) Then velocity will decay. How fast I don't know?

    I am pretty pumped up over this gun and expect to get lots of use out of it. Everyone of my Springers is worth more than this gun, but performance wise this one tops them all.


    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  15. #15
    Boolit Buddy sandog's Avatar
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    The only time I felt overworked with the pump was when I first filled the 13 cu in. tank that screws onto the Beeman QB-79.
    On that initial fill, going from 0 to 2900 psi was a chore. Several hundred pumps, I lost count. But after every 50 slow pumps I let the pump cool for a few minutes before starting again.
    I made it a point to only shoot the pressure down to 2K, pumping from there to full wasn't bad.
    I sent that QB-79 to my son-in-law for a Christmas present, along with a Hawke 3-9x scope and a big box of pellets. He is young and strong if he needs to pump to fill it, and will probably end up shooting it in Co2 mode most of the time anyway.

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy
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    I am 74, and still pumping up my pcp, did not think it was that bad yet. maybe when I get old I will get a compressor.
    Barry

  17. #17
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    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
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    So I finally got my Gun, Compressor, Mounted the Scope, Sighted it in, installed the Moderator and Sling !

    And now it is raining here and My range is a Mud Pit.

    Yesterday I spent an hour on the roof smearing Henry's Roof Sealant around a Skylight that has been leaking. Today I found out it is leaking just as bad as it did before . Time to hire a professional I guess.

    Rain is ruining my life, any words of encouragement would be welcome.

    Thank You for your continued support.

    Randy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

  18. #18
    Boolit Buddy sandog's Avatar
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    The only encouragement I can give you is that the same rain that is keeping you from shooting is headed my way, rain and colder days for at least the next week in Arizona.
    I got out and did some shooting on Christmas Day, then explored a canyon north of here and found this, nice petroglyph panel on the center rock.

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy
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    A massive and BIG congrats both on the birthday of yours and the gun!

    Now for the fun part of this! IMO PCP´s, as air rifles, are about two things. Their inherent accuracy, and how it can be improved upon by both smaller jobs and selection of pills, and in turn the power level.

    As you´re aware i shoot a number of both 22 and 25cal PCP´s and IMO what´s a sound power level for a 25 is around the 55-70fpe mark or thereabouts.
    Rarely are these rifles so delivered why it is up to you to figure that part out. Let me put it this way, at that level you´ll have yourself a rather silent (read - extremely silent) sorts of 22lr gun. On every count, down to the recoil of it even.

    Be adviced that the same basic principles apply as for the counterpart powder burner. Attention to barrel detail is what does it..

  20. #20
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    W.R.Buchanan's Avatar
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    Tony: Cool on the Petroglyph discovery. When I lived in Bullhead City we'd go out in the Jeep and it was amazing how many of those places there are.

    Racing: took me a few read thru's to translate your version of the Queens English to mine ,,, but I got it!

    Got my "Pocket Worm Cleaning Kit" today from Airguns of AZ so I'll be cleaning the barrel out today. Pretty sure that will get me into the Ball Park as far as accuracy, then a little tuning and I'll be good to go.

    I'll report back after the next Range session. Like I said my Range is a Mud Pit right now and after two stints at the .25/$3.75 cent Car Wash to remove the mud from the wheel wells, I ain't takin' the Touareg back up there. It has to be the Jeep.

    Might shoot Skeet tomorrow so I'll take the Avenger with me?

    More later.

    RAndy
    "It's not how well you do what you know how to do,,,It's how well you do what you DON'T know how to do!"
    www.buchananprecisionmachine.com

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BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
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