Airarms compared to the others.

Got an old TX which obviously had a hard life with the previous owner … but still feels quality. Bought a new TX a few months ago which a had manufacturing fault so it went back, the replacement still not perfect but ok and doesn’t feel the same quality as my old one.
 
Don't think I'd buy a new one, but have three that date from about 20 years ago, and still in regular use. S200 Mark 1 that was a 177 and got converted to 22, S400 with the long export air tube in 177, and a much modified S410 carbine in 22 that is my LSR rifle.

Also had a Mark 1 EV2 when they first came out, it wasn't as consistent as I had hoped it would be. I sold a NJR100 to pay for it. Eeek!

Agree with the comments re AT.
 
i had a .177 tx200 30yrs ago, great gun, and would equal any groups i shot with my .177 falcon fn19, better than my hw77 and marginally better than my hw97.
i traded the falcon for a new .177 s400 classic 21yrs ago, still going strong (134,000 shots) :cool:
both these airams guns were great straight out of the box, however i bought a new .22 s400 a couple of years ago that was on a par with a relum tornado 😲
 
I've had a tx , 2 s400s and a hft500 love them all only qualm would be lack of adjustability and not beng able to turn up the power as it needs it in cold weather.
 
Yes I would agree with a few of the remarks on airarms models both PCP and spring. The designs haven't changed much. ( Ultimate springer) But there's a point in changing for changing sake. They are usually bomb proof and accurate. The anti tamper is a pia and would nice to see 20cal added to the list even for special order only. I would love a tdr in .25cal.
 
The growler said:
Yes I would agree with a few of the remarks on airarms models both PCP and spring. The designs haven't changed much. ( Ultimate springer) But there's a point in changing for changing sake. They are usually bomb proof and accurate. The anti tamper is a pia and would nice to see 20cal added to the list even for special order only. I would love a tdr in .25cal.
Click to expand...
Yes a TDR in .25 🤗
I asked them a while ago, but not interested ☹️
 
I don't find the AA security (anti tamper) measures are much of a problem, even the newest ones in the breech block.
 
Yep, I've done the TDR. Certainly not as straight forward as some would have you believe, although still doable.
 
I like Air Arms... Have done for donkey's years. They're solid, reliable and accurate rifles. Having said that, I think they've rested on their laurels to some extent with regards to their sporting actions.

They've put a lot of effort into their 'race guns' but the majority of their other rifles haven't changed much over the last 30 years. S3*0, S4*0 and S5*0 are all variations on the same theme. Given that so many of us are using side-focus scopes (compared to even 10 or 20 years ago), I think it's time for Air Arms to take that into consideration and give us a breech that loads from the right. 🙂
 
The criteria of any air gun is to propell a pellet from a stationary condition to the thing you are aiming at, accurately and consistently.

AA air rifles do just that and very well, I have found, and straight out of the box too. I don't mind paying for that and the bulld quality

Much like Theobens did/do. They got slagged off for lack of innovation back when. They still make them though in much the same guise but now with standardised thread types and albeit a different set of names.
A knowledgeable member once described The Rapids as the 'AK47 of the air rifle world'. Praise indeed.
I would add that they were more accurate than an AK47 but I think he was refering to the ruggedness and simplicity.
There was more to Theobens demise than lack of innovation as I recall.

I'd aver AA have a similar reputation. Yet get a similar comments about innovation, boringness, dining out on past reputation etc.

I had a conversation with a Hawke rep and when I asked what further innovation was going to be made with air rifles he stated 'nothing its all just bells and whistles that people want'. He also stated that AA were still using the best quality material specs for their guns hence why prices had gone up.
He made those statements just after Hawke had stopped being a AA distributor and had taken up with Airmaks. He was showing me Krait at a range. I was zeroing an S510 so he understood why I wouldn't be swapping

I'll stick with boring non innovated accurate consistency I think. The pellet boringly goes where I want it to in its non innovated way. Criteria of Air Rifle met thank you.
The anti tampers can all be easily removed if required. Depends if you wish to maintain a warranty or not.

I have both AA and Theoben by the way. In PCP, spring and ram formats.

Reading up on here and other forums about the plethora of innovated imports it seems a lot of fettling is required on these to get them performing anywhere like they should. Initial outlet may be less than some home grown product but what is the true cost after said fettles have had to be made?

Few of us would put hands up to say we had bought a bag of shite if we had sung it's praises so, no matter how much more had to he outlayed in money/time/effort to get it functioning as you want it to.

There is also another cost to supporting Turkish, Chinese, Eastern European innovation/perceived cheapness. Some on here may well have experienced it in their line of work too. They may well not be in that line of work now.

But each to their own. We are all individuals after all and what fits one may not fit another.

Go try the Air Arms stuff they may not suit you and for more than just a price reason.
Only you can tell.
 
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Safe bet, reliable and accurate, very pointable. My 2007 S510 has has one leak from the filler valve, simple fix. I traded it for a HW100, after a couple of weeks I saw the dealer had not sold it, so I bought it back, the HW100 went to my grandson! I've had plenty of the fashionable, latest models, most have been sold on. Have a HW100K much modified, but the S510 is my go to rifle, now rivaled by the S510 Ultimate sporter, and just added a S400

As Tsuobi says
There is also another cost to supporting Turkish, Chinese, Eastern European innovation/perceived cheapness. Some on here may well have experienced it in their line of work too. They may well not be in that line of work now.
Yes saturate the market with cheap imports, put the quality makers out of business then up the price when you have the monopoly. Like the Chinese car makers are doing. Seen it in the engineering side what next?
 
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