Market is flooded with cheap tack PCP's

nav2022 said:
Someone on here has my old 900PWR, I took that rifle which was indeed a sack of shit and I turned it into a ............... shinier sack of shit. It shot straight in the end but it still has a crimped cylinder holding the valve block in and the valve is still made from plastic parts you'd find in an cheap equatic water pump.
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I too had 2 PR900's.. shot them as standard, and then HPA'd them both... I tinkerted and fettled and I still have one of them...

They shot sweet and reasonably accurate ... As a 1st PCP for someone thay are hard to beat.. However the newer ones IMO are crap with the regulator.....

Before, during phase 1.. and after..
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deleted member said:
I too had 2 PR900's.. shot them as standard, and then HPA'd them both... I tinkerted and fettled and I still have one of them...

They shot sweet and reasonably accurate ... As a 1st PCP for someone thay are hard to beat.. However the newer ones IMO are crap with the regulator.....

Before, during phase 1.. and after..
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Did you get rid of that crimped cylinder end? Or did you rip the lot out?
That pup looks great.
 
I would put my Hatsans up against any sporting guns in the field..finely finished..no, pretty ..no... fashionable..no
Accurate, simple, reliable and built like tanks .yes.
125,135,60s/AT44 x2,BT65.
The .177 AT44 held its own against
my HFT 500 last time out to 55yds.
The .22 AT 44 did the same as a S400 out to 45yds.
 
It's a shame the British air rifle industry years ago allowed the accounts into the workplace.cost the average customer wanting a cheap air gun for there teenage son, remember when the Remington Express first appeared then a couple of years later they appear in the second hand market.cheap as chips Chinese xxxxxxx.buy European or British,leave the Chinese to make noodles
 
pjgtech said:
Have you actually owned/used any of them?
My Kral and Reximex both hold their own against my Air Arms and Weihrauchs.
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Yeah had 4, all but 1 leaked and only 1 could hit a barn door. Poor quality materials and workmanship with zero quality control. Your Air Arms and Weihrauch will still be going strong long after the Chinese / Turkish stuff is in thee bin.
 
personally i'd be very wary about buying a pcp from China. I doubt they are making to any standard at all and if they are i would like to know who is enforcing it. 200-300 bar in an air rifle - what could possibly go wrong? The trouble with this very cheap stuff is that it opens up the market to literally anyone with a few hundred quid in their pocket. Inevitably some will fall in to the hands of idiots as statistically the market for these rifles is soo much larger due to the price entry point. Sooner or later there will be an accident, or worse, especially as these rifles get older. I'm not against cheap rifles as such, any competition in the market is probably good, but at these prices it's probably asking for trouble and eventually even more regulation on ownership. Hope i'm wrong. :unsure:Shrug ttHead bang 65
 
The way a gun looks is completely immaterial as each individual likes different things, slagging off a manufacturer because of asthetics is pointless as a business may sell the same product worldwide and while it may be Pug ugly to some, to others it may be the Dogs danglies. If you consider that Artemis are,by far, the largest manufacturer of Airguns worldwide then you have to bow down to whatever marketing strategy that they follow. Slag off the Chinese all day long but be assured that they have the ability to take the western Airgun market whenever they see a financial benefit, take a look at companies such as QYS, virtually unheard of in this country till 5 years ago and now the go to ammo for many shooters.
 
nav2022 said:
Just been looking at all the different PCP's on the cheap end. Good grief, there's some crap out there. I think once you go below Gamo it turns pear shaped. Snowpeak, Diana, SMK, Beeman, Milbro and Crossman. Most of those selling the same rifle under a different name. Now, the Beeman commander at £200 is just a tank of a rifle. It weighs about 9lb unscoped and has a dirty great foresite moulded into the action half way down.
It's all Chinese stuff. I mean the Turks are putting some effort in and producing some decent stuff such as Kral, Benjamin, Reximex, Hatsan etc but these are something else. You gotta see the Milbro Guardian at £245, I swear to God its a chainsaw, WTF is that? The Snowpeak M50S, hell fire.
It's worse than when all the plastic stocked break barrels appeared on the scene 20 years since.
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Totally agree. It should be against the survival of humanity that rubbish should be allowed to be manufactured... complete waste of resources.
 
I had a brief Foray into the world of Kral. I was unlucky three times. The first two were empire x and then an NP02
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. I eventually got the gun shooting accurately but highly depressed about the whole thing I sold it. Its a Tinkerers gun and that is not me. I still like the gun very much and I cant rule out getting another but it will be a while. My nephew is very talented and he bought one just to see what he could make of it. I think it spends more time in bits on his bench trying this and that modifying this and that. Now it is an amazing little gun. The only thing is the number of shots is never going to be fantastic. This is why I like the simplicity of a springer I truly think that a Springer once you understand recoil and I only mean from a bench, off hand is another thing. I think it is as accurate as a PCP. Certainly at the short ranges that I have available.
 
chuggypop said:
The way a gun looks is completely immaterial as each individual likes different things, slagging off a manufacturer because of asthetics is pointless as a business may sell the same product worldwide and while it may be Pug ugly to some, to others it may be the Dogs danglies. If you consider that Artemis are,by far, the largest manufacturer of Airguns worldwide then you have to bow down to whatever marketing strategy that they follow. Slag off the Chinese all day long but be assured that they have the ability to take the western Airgun market whenever they see a financial benefit, take a look at companies such as QYS, virtually unheard of in this country till 5 years ago and now the go to ammo for many shooters.
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Agreed the Chinese can make high quality products as well as complete tatt, its commercial buyers worldwide that determine what product and price they need to sell at and the Chinese comply

That said the boxes of artemis/snowpeak stuff Ive seen at my local rfd waiting for collection to go back as faulty was scary, so nice to know the rfds check each one before selling and stopping the faulty guns going out to you or I, so imagine how many go back in total...
He had that many returns he stopped dealing with them as the hassle just wasn’t worth it, plus and this is a game changer, the importer didn’t/wouldn’t offer spares as they are almost disposable items at those prices I guess, thats why snowpeak make so many as they don’t get back up, Ive suffered the refusal of parts for a poorly p15 so Id never have another.

Lets hope a “buyer” opts for quality over quantity soon and we get a tidy bit of kit out of China that can stand alongside an AGT or AA and then people might see what they can make, after all its us that effect price and quality as our sellers cut more corners to give us cheap tatt
 
nav2022 said:
Did you get rid of that crimped cylinder end? Or did you rip the lot out?
That pup looks great.
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Heyup Nav, thanks..

I had absolutely no issues with the cylinder, front or back. After I cut the air tube to fit the drop block I had a 3 point mount for the it with 4 seals on the drop block spigot.. sealed as tight as a drum.. The hammer end of the cylinder was sweet and true so no issues there..
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Some of the snowpeak stuff is very good especially the M16 they are just as accurate as any high end pcp's the M20 is also a great performer.
 

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deleted member said:
Ohh.. and just whilst I think of it...

How many FX and Brocock owners have had to send their rifles back because of "issues"... ????

I know of at least 4 that I have spoken to...
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Until a couple of years ago I worked for a major UK Airgun retailer and my role (amongst others) was processing returns..

One month we returned 32 FX rifles to the importer with multiple issues (ASI at the time) 17 Daystates with low power, mag and accuracy issues and maybe a couple of other “top” brands.. At the same time it had coincided with our second delivery of Kral rifles and our 10th batch of Hatsan rifles totalling over 150 rifles.. out of all of those we only had 8 returns which incidentally came back repaired/replaced within a far shorter turnaround time than any of the other brands

Talking to my old colleagues last week I believe that FX have improved but still have multiple issues (especially the Impact), Daystate are massively improved but the damage has been done, and sales in the UK have tanked although I believe that sales in the US have ramped skywards, Brocock have played a blinder with the Ghost and seemed to have nailed that one at the first try..

The Turkish stuff has pretty much stayed the same and the Chinese stuff really is pot luck if you get a good one or not

Great there’s a choice for everyone at all budgets…
 
zogg364 said:
Until a couple of years ago I worked for a major UK Airgun retailer and my role (amongst others) was processing returns..

One month we returned 32 FX rifles to the importer with multiple issues (ASI at the time) 17 Daystates with low power, mag and accuracy issues and maybe a couple of other “top” brands.. At the same time it had coincided with our second delivery of Kral rifles and our 10th batch of Hatsan rifles totalling over 150 rifles.. out of all of those we only had 8 returns which incidentally came back repaired/replaced within a far shorter turnaround time than any of the other brands

Talking to my old colleagues last week I believe that FX have improved but still have multiple issues (especially the Impact), Daystate are massively improved but the damage has been done, and sales in the UK have tanked although I believe that sales in the US have ramped skywards, Brocock have played a blinder with the Ghost and seemed to have nailed that one at the first try..

The Turkish stuff has pretty much stayed the same and the Chinese stuff really is pot luck if you get a good one or not

Great there’s a choice for everyone at all budgets…
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Heyup Zogg, well that looks like a "fair and impartial" comment from someone with "first hand experience"..

I think we have all heard of "Friday afternoon & Monday morning" products and I do tend to agree, that sometimes it IS pot luck on when and how the particular item was made.
 
hants said:
personally i'd be very wary about buying a pcp from China. I doubt they are making to any standard at all and if they are i would like to know who is enforcing it. 200-300 bar in an air rifle - what could possibly go wrong? The trouble with this very cheap stuff is that it opens up the market to literally anyone with a few hundred quid in their pocket. Inevitably some will fall in to the hands of idiots as statistically the market for these rifles is soo much larger due to the price entry point. Sooner or later there will be an accident, or worse, especially as these rifles get older. I'm not against cheap rifles as such, any competition in the market is probably good, but at these prices it's probably asking for trouble and eventually even more regulation on ownership. Hope i'm wrong. :unsure:Shrug ttHead bang 65
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Also remember though, paying more doesn't mean its less likely too blow,

From what i can remember (anyone feel free to add too the list) in the last 3?ish years

Daystate bottle valve snapped and blew hole in a wall

Fenton hw100 cylinders blew

A&M cylinders blew

Fx cylinder with a manufacturing flaw which could have lead to a blow


Can anyone actually remember hearing if a chinese bottle or cylinder going bang? Yes they have leaked but iv seen no mentions of bangs
 
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