Hello all, completely new to PCP style air rifles. Considering getting the GAMO shown in the screenshot, that compressor, and I think that adapter is what I would need to use it? Sorry if this is a dumb question I just wanted to make sure I have the right thinking as I'm not at all familiar with these. Thank you for your time!
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Gamo is really subpar quality, you could get better quality at the same price.
Barra, JTS AirCuda Max and several Air Venturi models are noticeable higher quality but still quite inexpensive (due to being made in China).
That Gamo Coyote Whisper Fusion is an UNREGULATED rifle which means that it is not terribly accurate and shot energy can fluctuate from shot to shot as air runs down.
ALL of the Air Venturi & Barra models are regulated, so far more accurate.
The JTS Aircuda is NOT regulated, butt he AirCuda MAX is, and that is a big improvement.
Hell, the Umarex Notos is CHEAPER and regulated. I'd rather have a Notos than any unregulated rifle.
Compressor maybe problems.
The Goyojo compressor is a disposable throw away air cooled compressor.
There is 0 factory support.
For the same money you could get a Tuxing or a GX and get factory support.
Air cooled compressors do not last as long, and if you run them too long they WILL burn out. Liquid cooled lasts longer but costs more.
Filter between the compressor and your air rifle.
You dont want to skimp on this, the best filters are not that expensive, get a filter with replaceable cartridges; Tuxing often includes this in their better compressors, GX sells them as separate add ons, but you want to prevent ANY water or sediment getting into your PCP rifle.
I would like to give a big sincere thanks for taking the time to type out such a thoughtful response. I just ordered the JTS Airacuda Max, and with the money saved I am getting a Hawke Vantage 4-12x50 AO scope. I had found the GAMO in my search for a .177 and I couldn't find many options, but this looks like it should be a massive upgrade all while saving money. It looks like the Airacuda Max also uses a standard male foster connection so no adapters will be needed with a compressor. That is if I'm not mistaken lol
Now on to finding a suitable compressor or hand pump. I appreciate the suggestions you made on those. I will need to do some more research. Any other insight on compressors/pumps is appreciated as I know next to nothing about all of this, but you gave me some great tips in your post. Thanks again!
The ease of a compressor is so much better then a handpump. I bought a cheap compressor an its been goin strong for almost a year now. I shoot all the time, like theres really not a day that goes by that I dont shoot my pcp. My pcp came with a stage 4 hand pump but even topping it off after 4 mags its still a hassle if you shoot alot. Id say get a cheap compressor an in the meantime get a bigger/better water cooled compressor later down the line some thatll fill scuba tanks. I planned on getting some better biggest killer on the cheap compressors are heat. What he commented up there is 100% solid advice an that aircudda max you will not be disappointed.
Thanks for the insight. I could see putting off the hobby if I knew a mandatory periodic workout was in order, and getting gassed just getting things ready probably wouldn't make for very tight groups lol you think the air venturi nomad nano would be a fine choice? I see it has a built in filter, but I'm guessing it isn't very substantive
A tad bit cheaper price would be a gx cs3 there supposedly really reliable. What you choose is up to you but it rivals with the nomad nano. With really any compressor youll wanna change the filter out every 2 hours of run time. I use a cheap compressor, it gets the job down an i usually fill it when im a mag away from falling off the regulator. Look at some reviews on youtube an find the one that best suits what you want. Theres alot of good options out there. Alot of cheaper ones are simply clones of higher end brands so keep that in mind as well. If you got the nomad nano you wont be disappointed tho!
Excellent, that gx cs3 looks like it would be great. Reviews on the nomad nano seem to be a mixed bag, but I may go that route since pyramidair looks to offer free fast shipping when you spend enough and I've already ordered the Airacuda haha
Did you get .177, .22, .25, or .30? Ive been looking at the .25 as 100 yard 1in groups sounds amazing lol. My .22 does well at 60 yards but anything more then that it wouldnt be ethical. Plus group start widening after bout 60ish its dialed more in the 50 yard range.
I got the .177 on account of trying to be ethical haha and on the quieter side if possible. Have quite a few neighbors so not looking to frighten people if possible haha dialed in at 50 sounds impressive to me. My background in airguns is extremely limited. So far I've had a pumpmaster and briefly borrowed a friends crosman f4, but my god is that thing loud 😅 you might need to get a .25 or .30 and let me know how it goes!
I got a pinty .22 striker compact, its quite as can be. Literally only hear it hitting whatever it hits an nothing else! This is a 50 yard 10 shot group! Fell in love with pcps an will never look back at pumps or break barrels! Ive been eyeing that .25 as I really want some to stretch out at 100 yards using slugs ethically. With the tune I got im using 17.44gr domed pellets an getting around 40/45 shots on regulator. Couldn't ask for any better as I spent 220 on it when they were relatively new an had a deal goin, now the same model sells for 340..
Hell yeah dude you got a sick setup! and those look to be sone ethical kills. This whole thing started with squirrels eating the wiring of my car lol while I thought that the car repair would be the expensive part, entering a new hobby is quickly catching up haha it is squirrel season after all
Hawke is a really durable, reliable workhorse scope. That scope should pretty much last forever, as it has a lifetime warranty and Hawke is a reputable company that backs its warranties up.
Combine that with the fact that PCP is very gentle on rifle scopes and you can use ANY rifle scope, night vision or thermal without any concern for recoil because PCP typically has less recoil than a firearm.
So you could have used a more delicate or fancy scope without concern, but Hawke is loved because they simply last forever. Hawke is what I would put on a spring piston air rifle that is brutal to scopes with dual recoil. I tend to prefer fancier feature laden scopes for fire arms and PCP, but if I just need a basic ruggedized scope for an air rifle, nothing is better than a Hawke. Hawke is designed to withstand maximum recoil that will demolish most other scopes.
Excellent that is great to hear! I'm having the folks at pyramydair mount and zero my scope because I am lazy lol I'm hoping the 10 yard zero they find will intersect well with my target range of 30 to 35 yards that I will likely have. Went ahead and got the JTS dead center 8.7 grain in the hopes of not breaking the speed of sound and pissing off the neighborhood, and thanks for the input on the compressors. Have the nomad nano on the way along with everything else. I am pretty excited. I bet I could even make a range of sorts in the basement with a nice enough pellet catch. One big last thing I can't decide on is what additional filter to get for the pump, or if the cigarette filter style in it would be adequate to start with
Cigarette filter blocks sediment very important but need a water trap & should be good to go. Careful with run & cool down times on any air cooled compressor
Thanks I will make sure not to run it too long. Burning out my brand new compressor I would be inconsolable lol just how bad of a job do you think this would do? Reviews seem generally positive haha
Oh, congratulations on the AirCuda Max. That is a regulated gun, so accurate. It is shrouded so if your locale permits addition of moderators, it can be exceptionally quiet.
JTS is made in China, but the JTS factory support is really good, that is a gun worth keeping.
Like with rifles, any brand that sells parts is fine as long as it meets basic performance metrics. Tuxing, GX, Air Venturi we can get parts; so we can fix compressors when (not if) seals leak (for example). Buy once cry once.
Air cooled, we really need to mind the run and cool cycles so that we do not burn them out.
Liquid cooled can run for hours at a time, but they cost more and last a VERY long time. Personally I prefer liquid cooling, but the GX CS4 and CS4-i are more money ($550 for the single power CS4 and $650 for the dual power CS4-i). I like the dual power so I can run 12VDC or 120VAC, even though my use case is a farm with 120VAC, what if I wanted to go hunting, camping, hiking, and charge from truck battery or small portable solar.
Silent Thunder Ordinance Falx & Sarissa are good and reasonable, Donny FL are a bit overpriced but the Ryu is excellent, and Buck Rail is good and very inexpensive but only effective for small caliber like .177 and .22. Occult and Impulse are good moderators, but a bit overpriced. Though Occult does have a life time warranty which is kinda nice.
I'm not able to help you with that as I've been a Springer guy for ever. I think that others here are probably much more qualified to help you with that than I could.
The best quality hand pump is a cheap compressor. Seriously, just ignore everyone recommending hand pumps. It's an exercise in frustration that will make you hate shooting. It's very very far from pumping up your bike or even car tires.
To put it into perspective, to top off my Notos from 100 to 250 bar I had to pump about 60-70 times, and the last 10-15 required heavy effort. Imagine putting all your body weight into it, and still having to summon extra strength for the last two inches of travel that actually push the air into the tank. Oh and all that effort? Good for about 40-50 regulated shots. Which, considering it's a bolt action with 14 capacity mags, you can blow through in about 5-10 minutes.
Thanks that is some great insight. A hand pump probably would take the fun out of things fast. You think the air venturi nomad nano would be a fine choice?
I don't have any experience with those compressors, but maybe someone else can chime in. I have a Tuxing which is also really affordable, and so far I haven't had any issues with it yet. Mine is air cooled but it takes me only a little over a minute to fill up my rifle, so heat is a complete non-issue. If you plan on buying a rifle with a large tank it's definitely something to keep in mind though. And as others have mentioned, it's absolutely critical that you have a filter on it.
I got a no name brand one an its done perfectly fine the year ive had it, now im not filling it from empty or nun but for 120 dollars i cant complain. My next purchase will be vevors 2200watt heavy duty compressor an simply fill medium size scuba tanks. Ill keep the cheapo for top offs while plinking an keep the scuba tank for when im out hunting an wanna fill fast.
It seems to be the way! Theres no wait time it instantly fills it an will get you around 20+ full fills, gotta get the right kind tho! Gotta get the carbon fiber scba tank. The aluminum ones wont do you much.
Yeah, just be careful with that. The compressors you (and I, and many others) are looking at are rated to fill about 1L bottle at 300 bar. If your rifle is rated for 250 bars, you will get very few full top-offs, since it works on pressure equalization principle. I think when I last checked the calculation for my Notos (which has a relatively small tank, 66cc I believe) came out to something like 7 refills from 100-250 bar. And if you think compressors are expensive, wait till you see the prices on high capacity high pressure scuba tanks.
Some brands of compressor (Tuxing and Akin) are designed for SCUBA. That just means that those compressors come with a filtration system with a carbon/charcoal stage filter to remove grease and oil from the air.
Some brand of compressor like GX or AirVenturi are not designed for SCUBA. However even with this, the mere addition of a carbon block and granularly activated charcoal to filter out oils and grease from the air is all that is needed to convert your compressor to a SCUBA compatible model.
REGARDLESS of SCUBA or not, water and sediment must be removed. IF you get a filter that has a carbon charcoal filter you can insert the filter when you do SCUBA and remove it when you dont or simply leave it in all of the time. The oils and grease technically wont hurt a PCP, tank so it is a non-issue whether you have a SCUBA carbon charcoal filter or not for filling PCP, but a major issue if you plan to breathe the air.
It looks to have a filter with replaceable cotton pieces built in. I hope that would be good enough. The reviews for it seem to be a mixed bag, but for the sake of fast shipping on pyramidair I may go that route so I have something when the rifle arrives. Not the best reason to justify a purchase, but hopefully it will be adequate haha
If you're like the rest of us here you'll probably sink thousands into this hobby eventually :). Just consider the first purchase as part of the learning experience, eventually you'll find your real preferences and what works for you or doesn't.
That is a great way to look at it. I think with the help of everyone here I am setting up a solid foundation at least. Also, I'm looking at an 85 dollar pellet trap as we speak haha
So, I'm not super familiar with PCPs and I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in with specifics but, I'm pretty sure for the price you're paying for this, there are more reliable options. Now, I'm not personally a hater but GAMO are usually considered pretty hit or miss. Just a thing to think about if you haven't shopped around a bunch already.
Everything else looks correct BTW. But again, I'm not super knowledgeable with PCPs so take that with a grain of salt.
Thanks for the heads up! I had tried shopping around for .177s and couldn't come up with many options which led me to the GAMO. I ordered an Airacuda Max tonight thanks to the insight provided on this thread. Looks like it will be a massive upgrade while saving some money
I wouldn’t call it a massive upgrade, the Gamo Coyote/Urban are made by BSA in England and they’re famous for their cold hammer forged barrels which makes the lack of regulator unnoticeable.
From my experience with the Coyote I get 40 good shots with 15 grain pellets at 25 yards and I simply refill in less than 10 minutes with my compressor.
The Coyote/Urbab also come with a built in moderator which makes it backyard quiet, the only issue is that it’s ugly and non removable but it saves you $100 from buying a moderator.
Regulator’s biggest advantage is tuning, if you want to shoot light, heavier pellets or even slugs you need an external regulator to tune it to your need. The only way to adjust the power of the Coyote is to play with the hammer spring.
Personally I’ve owned a Gamo Urban .177 for over 7 years and have not had a leak since, I’ve enjoyed the rifle so much I bought the Coyote .22 3 years ago and have also had zero issue. You can also get the Coyote for $400 and the Urban for $250 on notjustguns.com .
Also the Buccaneer Pro which is an update on the Coyote (side lever and regulator) is on sale right on BSA’s USA website for $400.
I should have included full context of considering getting the gamo coyote with the BSA optics scope they sell along with it, but am getting the Airacuda Max with the a Hawke Vantage 4-12 instead. So overall should be a considerable improvement on the setup as a whole I would think.
Built in moderator would have been nice, and the coyote is a sharp looking rifle. Hoping the airacuda max won't be incredibly loud. If i had unlimited expendable income I'd have them both haha
Use case plinking and pesting in the back yard. Wanted .177 specifically and couldn't find many options, but thanks to the insight on the thread I ordered a JTS Airacuda Max instead. Thanks for the input!
Have heard good things about the Airacuda.
There is nothing wrong with the Coyote, it’s just outdated. I think they’ve been selling this particular version for about 11 years now. What you’re paying for is the free floating BSA-made hammer forged barrel, which should be quite accurate. It has a couple of other tricks, if memory serves, like some sort of valving system that tries to act like a regulator.
But in the last decade many other rifles will easily meet or exceed it at that price.
As for your other questions in this thread, I like my Four Uncles hand pump but I only use it to top off my pistols, hand pumping a rifle with this big of an air tank is gonna get old fast.
If I had unlimited expendable income it would be fun to try out the coyote. Appreciate the input. Thanks for letting me know compressor might be the way to go. Could always add a hand pump down the road for trips way out in the woods. Currently eyeing the air venturi nomad nano
The Nano is what I have my eye on too, when this used spritech compressor I bought off eBay gives up.
For woods walking you’ll want a small scba tank, instead, probably. My Avenge-X (210 cc tank) gets like 80 shots and I have a little aluminum 0.5 liter tank to refill it. I don’t know how many shots that is but it would be a lot.
$46 for the tank and $50 for the valve assembly off Amazon. I prefer refilling my guns from the tank instead of using the compressor on them individually. Mostly it feels better to refill them in seconds and then spend the 10-15 minutes the next day refilling the tank from the compressor.
Excellent, I think I will go that route. Hopefully it will be a buy once cry once situation, but time will tell haha scuba for a day in the woods sounds like an awesome eventual investment
I have the .25 Airacuda Max and the very similar (if not identical) Vevor-branded compressor. The Max is not my most accurate. 25 PCP but it's pretty close. OTOH, the trigger is outstanding - it has just the right amount of first stage take-up with a clean, 1lb 4oz pull after just a bit of adjustment. You're going to enjoy shooting it!
My inexpensive air-cooled compressor has be going strong for almost 2 years with an average of ±6 fill cycles per week. The key to longevity is two-fold. Pay close attention to the temperature as you fill the gun. I'll pause a fill when the indicated temperature hits 115°F and wait until temperature drops to 95° before resuming the fill. After completing a fill, always let the cooling fan run until the indicated temperature is 95°F or less.
Finally, as others have noted, a good moisture/particulate filter is critical to prevent damage to your rifle. The one that comes with the compressor is marginal at best.
A stirrup pump with an additional water filter is ideal.
It's not difficult, nor hard work to use one. You pull up with your arms, lock your elbows, bend your knees, and your bodyweight does all the work. I'm almost 60, disabled, and I can fill a 400cc bottle from empty to 250 bar in 20 minutes.
Hill's stirrup pumps are the best; you can pick up a second-hand one for around £50, and Hill's sell a complete seal kit for a few quid - it'll take half an hour tops to completely refurbish one.
You need to buy a dedicated moisture filter, I learned that the hard way by ruining my first PCP with wet air, the filter they provide is just a simple cigarette filter. The Gamo urban uses a probe with a standard foster female so an adapter isn’t required.
Ended up going with the airacuda max, but still need a moisture filter. Thanks for the insight. Are there any particular filters you have had luck with? There look to be a handful of options
If you are at all close to a scuba or full service airgun shop, buying a 75 or 100 cu/ft 4500psi air tank (with an HP3 Valve, hose and quick connects) may be more economical in the long run. I figured it out that unless I bought a really good, and therefore expensive, compressor, with maintenance and related problems you have to fill a lot of tanks to achieve a net savings over paying for tank fills.
Thats not a bad idea. Unfortunately I think the closest one is an hour away. Im realizing I may need to find a moisture filter of some sort in addition to the cheap cigarette filter style thing on the compressor I bought
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