Real world difference between budget and top end PCP's

Its horses for courses isn't it.....

Any car will get you from A to B, but then there are particular "types" of car for specific purposes.
A normal car will get you from A to B, but will it lug 1 ton of logs up a farm track in winter? No, but a nice 4x4pickup will.
A normal car will get you form A to B, but will it do a nice track day, probably not as it won't have the tyres, brakes, suspension for it. Etc, Etc.

Its the same with guns, most guns, if working well with no issues will get you decent groups at 25-35m.
But once you start stretching the ranges, 50m, etc, or you want a proper BR gun or a HFT gun or a light weight hunting set-up, then you are getting more into specifics and so more specialist guns.

I don't specialise in anything, I garden plink, I shoot informal targets to 45m ish, I dabble with a bit of informal BR and thats about it. Pretty much all my various guns will do those tasks, and there's not much difference in it, (for me, when I'm shooting them).
 
Like many on here I've had a fair few PCPs over the past decade, and the one thing that you can put down to cost is not the accuracy (which does tend to be a bit better higher up the price band), but the feel of the rifles itself. Many people won't be good enough in real life (sorry) to benefit from a more accurate rifle, just in the same way having an F1 car would not make me a threat to Lewis Hamilton :oops: But the feel of the rifle at a higher price point can make all the difference to your enjoyment of it - if your that way inclined ;)

I had a Hatsan AT44 that was pretty accurate, not quite BR accurate, and the consistency let it down a bit, but on 5 shots it could embarrass a gun 3/4 times it's price, just don't ask it to do it on a full 25 shot card :ROFLMAO: It was rough as you like, I never enjoyed shooting it, and something like an HW100 was worlds apart from it, but you also have to look at the budget, there is no point in comparing £1000 guns to cheaper ones if you cant afford them, which I know we are often guilty of. So look at guns in your price bracket and get the best you can afford, whether that's £300 or £3k, because a gun you can afford is always better than one you can't (y)
 
ibo7 said:
I've owned many PCPs from many manufacturers over the last few years and I'm currently in the market for a PCP again after selling my TDR last week.
I'm currently thinking about whether to get budget PCP again as the guns I really want are out of budget and I can't add to that budget any time soon. So do I consider around £300 budget rifle and see how accurate I can get it to be?

Any PCP should be capable of one ragged hole groups at 30 yards, if it can't then there's an issue. So is it worth spending £1k+ if not that bothered about brand name?
IMO spending big money means generally better QC, better finishing and better magazines etc

Perhaps I'm just a bit bored of PCP's as I rarely keep one for longer than a year, many have lasted only a few months🤣

Can anyone with real experience of both ends of the market give insight into their findings?
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Simples; save, buy a rifle you really want &...



Wait for it...





Keep the darn thing.
 
jesim1 said:
Like many on here I've had a fair few PCPs over the past decade, and the one thing that you can put down to cost is not the accuracy (which does tend to be a bit better higher up the price band), but the feel of the rifles itself. Many people won't be good enough in real life (sorry) to benefit from a more accurate rifle, just in the same way having an F1 car would not make me a threat to Lewis Hamilton :oops: But the feel of the rifle at a higher price point can make all the difference to your enjoyment of it - if your that way inclined ;)

I had a Hatsan AT44 that was pretty accurate, not quite BR accurate, and the consistency let it down a bit, but on 5 shots it could embarrass a gun 3/4 times it's price, just don't ask it to do it on a full 25 shot card :ROFLMAO: It was rough as you like, I never enjoyed shooting it, and something like an HW100 was worlds apart from it, but you also have to look at the budget, there is no point in comparing £1000 guns to cheaper ones if you cant afford them, which I know we are often guilty of. So look at guns in your price bracket and get the best you can afford, whether that's £300 or £3k, because a gun you can afford is always better than one you can't (y)
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Very well put 👏👏.
 
jesim1 said:
But the feel of the rifle at a higher price point can make all the difference to your enjoyment of it - if your that way inclined
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Absolutely mate, the cheaper guns should perform just fine, but do they make you grin?
I was adjusting things today on the Goldstar and grinning like a Cheshire Cat 😁

I picked up a couple of cheaper guns and much dearer ones last week and just thought nope.
 
All that being said, I still get on well with my ol' budget single shot PCP though Hunting gif

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The "real world" is subjective: entirely your perception of what is going on around you. The answer to the OP depends on whether you want to hear from snobs or inverse snobs, or whether you want to do your own assessments.

Cheap usually means simplicity and wide tolerances. Expensive usually means narrow tolerances but more complexity, so more to go wrong. Are you feeling lucky? And would you notice the difference anyway? Shrug tt
 
I've owned and tested my share of airguns...
I use steyr lg110 now and have done for a decade or so, for the simple reason it fits me well and it's suited perfect for HFT use.
Its tweaked / modded for my needs.

My s200 cz will keep up with it just, but the steyr wins hands down on how it fits my body frame etc
 
Rules about buying a PCP

A) Ensure you get free air and lunch
ii) Don't let anyone call you FLN
3) Accuracy is relative. But as my relatives aren't accurate...you're on your own
IV) You dont need a shot count of 400... 70 ish is fine. I know this cos a mate recently admitted as much
E) 25 cal is the best, but as so many people like 177 cos it's "flatter" you will have no real choice. 22 is the compromise.
6) The BSA Lightning is a break barrel that's possibly the worst gun I ever shot. It's not a PCP and it's not on your list. I just feel so very strongly about this, that I typed it out to help you
G) The BSA Lightning truly is pants. I know that I stated this in No 6 but I feel stronlgy about it

Buy a gun... just buy a blummin' gun and get out with it.

//retires
 
I don't own a PCP, but have shot quite a few different ones this year at different price ranges. What I have found is the difference in build quality at different ends of the price range. Then you have are spares available for the mid to low end of the budget, probably not.

I have found that accuracy is very good on the budget end, but accuracy consistently and the consistency of the shot cycle is not the same as a higher end rifles.

Also you have to ask yourself what you want to use the gun for? If its just a bit of back garden plinking or paper punching then the budget end will suit you well, or if you want to shoot at a range at longer distances or at club level, then that's the higher end of the market.
 
I
Tricky-Dicky said:
Other than fit and finish and construction quality, I have found no great difference in the actual accuracy of £400 or 2k+ guns.
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If your premise was factual, it would not explain why the top shots spend top money - or their country's top money - on top-price guns.

I have yet to see any Chinese Olympic shooter using a Hongpan NewBrite Acme SnowGlobe rifle that they make themselves. They seem, for some reason, the prefer Walther, Feinwerkbau and Steyr......
 
All about opinions, if someone can afford a Roll's Royce it doesn't mean they can't Keep it locked in the a garage for 6 days a week if they wish to do so!.
Nothing whatsoever to do with snobbery in my opinion.
80% of my shooting is done on my own ground at present but this was never a factor in the budget i put aside for this particular hobbie.
 
tac said:
I

If your premise was factual, it would not explain why the top shots spend top money - or their country's top money - on top-price guns.

I have yet to see any Chinese Olympic shooter using a Hongpan NewBrite Acme SnowGlobe rifle that they make themselves. They seem, for some reason, the prefer Walther, Feinwerkbau and Steyr......
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That's not really the case though mate when you get to elite athlete shooters.

The majority will have risen through the ranks over decades and the top brands will have been watching them like football scouts do.

The 10m world has some pretty lucrative sponsorship deals going and actual professional shooters. That budget currently only comes from the top European brands that want to be scalping trophies.

If the Chinese or Indians wanted to put up the money I'd be surprised if they couldn't match the European stuff .... If they wanted too..

When you look at the prize money some countries give for their countrymen/women winning a medal ,you can understand why they let their best shooters go skim the money from Europe and claim the glory for the country.

***Edit... I kinda find it funny as it goes with the guns used. I can just imagine the Chinese government laughing at the silly westerners chucking money at their countries shooters, let them fund the development work and pay for the shooters upkeep and then china scalps the medal anyway for almost zero cost.

Pretty clever tbh as let's face it they could likely just copy an Fwb p8 ,import some barrels and do it themselves. But they let Europe pay for the pleasure of them getting the medals 😆
 
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tac said:
I

If your premise was factual, it would not explain why the top shots spend top money - or their country's top money - on top-price guns.

I have yet to see any Chinese Olympic shooter using a Hongpan NewBrite Acme SnowGlobe rifle that they make themselves. They seem, for some reason, the prefer Walther, Feinwerkbau and Steyr......
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He said no "great difference", not zero difference.

Obviously in a competition every tiny difference helps, hence the expensive guns with the tightest tolerances.
For the average shooter a few mm on a paper target has no real effect on how the rifle is used.
 
Quality of materials used. Accuracy can be almost as good to a point. Consistency. Design features.
 
I’d second what jay butts said the quality in parts does improve but the main thing iv noticed when down the range is most people spend money on a £1000+ rifle is purely for bragging rights/being one of the big boys

I convinced a bloke to have a shoot of my GX40 after I heard him saying it was a spanish plastic toy. it only took 1 mag for him to apologised and then shook my hand :ROFLMAO:
 
tac said:
I

If your premise was factual, it would not explain why the top shots spend top money - or their country's top money - on top-price guns.

I have yet to see any Chinese Olympic shooter using a Hongpan NewBrite Acme SnowGlobe rifle that they make themselves. They seem, for some reason, the prefer Walther, Feinwerkbau and Steyr......
Click to expand...
Can’t say much more than that!
Sums it up perfectly.👍
 
To a certain degree it depends on how good a shot you are. I've had an s400 and I now own a reximex myth, In my hands they are as accurate as each other. For a better shooter, the differences will possibly be apparent. For me, both guns are better than I will ever be.
 
tac said:
I

If your premise was factual, it would not explain why the top shots spend top money - or their country's top money - on top-price guns.

I have yet to see any Chinese Olympic shooter using a Hongpan NewBrite Acme SnowGlobe rifle that they make themselves. They seem, for some reason, the prefer Walther, Feinwerkbau and Steyr......
Click to expand...
That's totally off on a tangent really and not what the original question was about, Of course the top shooters use all kinds of high-end esoteric guns why wouldn't they! They have a reputation to keep up with and would look a bit daft turning up to a top competition sporting a Kral and besides the sponsorship deals make having and using top of the range rifles an easy option.
 
See I don't subscribe to the "buy cheap, buy twice" and "dearer guns are better built" since I've seen more FX and AGTs fail at our club than krals, also people slate Daystates reliability on here and they ain't cheap.
 
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