1st PCP Air Rifle

I've been eyeballing a PCP air gun for the last couple of years. I even went as far as to buy a manual PCP pump I saw at a Bargain Hunt for $25 with the intention of one day needing to use it. Models with the features I wanted started in the $500's and when the price would creep up that high I would always find a powder burner I would want instead. Son loves to shoot and we've been shooting a lot of air rifle lately. He has his full auto CO2 powered Crosman R1. I have a couple of springers he likes to shoot but he just isn't strong enough to cock them. The Crosman 1322 has seen a lot of use lately punching paper in the back yard. I've been eyeballing a PCP as a way for us to shoot without me having to manually cock the springers or watch him struggle putting more than 5 pumps in the 1322. Problem with most of the PCP rifles are they weigh a ton, 8+lbs before optics. Son just can't shoulder a rifle that heavy with any accuracy yet.

Sportsmans Guide had(s?) the Benjamin Fortitude Gen 2 PCP on sale with club membership for user $220. It's got a regulator and is light for a PCP in at just over 5lbs. With the regulator and the ability to adjust the hammer spring you can dial back the FPS get a huge jump in efficiency and get over 100 shots per refill which is important for me since I'll be hand pumping. Ordered one in 177 to try out.

Ordered a UTG 4x32AO for $45 from Amazon. It's OK but probably not one I would but again. Clear if you look through it right but gets wierd distortions when your eye is out of position and can get reflections from bright lights behind you. Was going to rely on the local Academy for rings but when I went to get some dovetail rings all of the rings that I wanted were opened taped together packages and were missing screws and parts. Ended up going to WalMart and picked up the Weaver medium rings. The scope would fit on the rifle with those rings but just barely. You couldn't slide a piece of paper between the optic and the magazine and was a tight fit under the bell of the scope. I added an aluminum can spacer under the scope to give me a few thousandths breathing room. The comb on the stock is so low I might just live with the tight scope clearance right now. Even now it could stand to be raised 3/8" at least. Scope is a little far back for my tastes for 3 position shooting but works fine in the standing and sitting for me. If I scoot it any farther forward my son would begin to have problems with the eyebox.



After rebuilding my pump so I could actually put air in it the son and I were able put 40 shots through it this morning. 1st 10 used to sight it in. Son and I split the rest. Son has no problems handling the rifle. Now I'll have to get the son to put another couple hundred more pellets through it to help break it in. Unsupported using a open doorway as a brace I put together a sub 1" group at 23 yards. My son was shooting at the "9" and was super excited when he hit is dead center. I'll have to break out a table and shoot it off a rest to see how well it can really shoot. It's very quiet, much quieter than any of my suppressed 22s or my moderated spring air rifles. Very back yard friendly. When I first pumped it up I dry fired it a couple of times upstairs in my office. I asked my son and wife how loud the rifle sounded (they were downstairs) and they said they didn't heard anything and didn't know I even fired it. I might have to set up an indoor range upstairs. I bet I could get a 15 yard firing line shooting from my son's room through the upstairs loft into the bonus room.