How powerful can a PCP airgun be made?

[Laurence_13 7]

Hello - Haven't been on here in a while so I might as well update you on the situation. I never sent off my firearms and shotgun applications due to me only being 17 (I thought they'd be more likely to grant them if I was 18) I turned 18 last sunday, so I've got them all ready, just need the photos signed and the references. I still have around acres permission, crawling with rabbits and have a gamo shadow .22 air rifle to pick off the odd one or two. My dad has a Ruger 10-.22 and we go out shooting fairly regularly, if I got my firearms license, I'd share this gun with him until i found one I liked for around £200 (if thats possible)

 

Anyway - My questions are,

1 - I've just been offered a BSA PCP air rifle, not sure of the exact model, he's going to find out and he wants £200 for gun, pellets, scope, case and bipod. IF I was to buy this, then got my Firearms permit, is it possible to up the power of the gun, and if so what would it be comparible to? I remember when I was little one of dads friends had one, and he seemed to think it would be close competition to a .22 live, is that correct? Also, If I buy it, assuming the condition is good - what sort of price would i be able to sell it for?

 

2 - If I get my firearms permit, what sort of price would I be looking at for a half decent (preferable semi-auto) .22 live, without scope, with silencer and a gunbag?

 

(I appreciate this is in the airgun section, I can stick another one up in the firearm section if you think I'l get better answers there? )

 

Thanks...

Laurence.

[StevoSmith 147]

Hi Lauence i would think your more likely to get FAC after having held a SGC for a number or years but im not sure on this im sure others with experiance in FAC and SGC laws will be able to help you out more...On the subject of pcp's max power after tune up again i dont know due to the fact i dont use them...also what model is the BSA?

 

As for question 2 i would think anywhere between 400-over 1000 quid depending on make and so on..again others here will be able to help you out more with this....good luck mate

[8shot 192]

to be honest mate if you was going to up to fac on a air rifle . make sure it has a big air bottle. ie the super10 stealth . rapid etc.

[secretagentmole 1,701]

Benjamin Rogues look good, very powerful, but they are a .357...

[Extremetaz 15]

Eun Jin Sumatra is a 60J unit.

 

Power ain't everything though - the rifle still has to be capable of placing the shot in the same spot every time.

[tomburras 2,730]

£200 sounds good for a pcp set up, but as said it will need a fairish size air resevoir if you get power put up and put it on ticket, if its an bsa ultra i wouldent bother but if its a superten then great. i had my excalibre put up to 26 ftlb and put on ticket and it cost £60 and then also devalued the gun (was worth it tho) hope that helps atb.

[paulus 26]

the problems with fac air and power out put is two fold 1) the number of shots per charge 2) getting pellets that can take the power and be consistant with accuracy. a good few years ago stalker airrifles in leake staffordshire were making them up to 800flbs and in 7.62mm

[Phantom 631]

Hi Lawrence,

 

It is unlikely that any 'Standard PCP' can come close to putting out anywhere near the powere of a .22LR.

When I found out the power of my BSA Ultra I asked a friend of mine over in the states to chrono his small revolver (.22 short).

His little revolver was putting out 60ft/lbs so a .22LR would be much higher than that.

Of course some FAC Air are designed to put out that sort of energy, You will find though, that even the heaviest of standard pellets will not be too accurate at that energy and you would then have to go down the route of "Air Bullets"

 

As to how big a projectile can be fired from an air rifle, check out the Quackenbush jobs, .50 Cal designed for hunting big game and even then at incredibly short ranges!

 

If you go shooting with your old man, I can't see the Police having much of a problem issuing you an FAC, Good luck with it

 

Tony

[paulus 26]

this might be of use .177 caliber, 8 grain pellet @ 1000 fps = 17.8 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

.22 caliber, 14 grain pellet @ 1000 fps = 31.1 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

.22 caliber, 32 grain pellet @ 1000 fps = 71.1 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

.25 caliber, 30 grain pellet @ 1000 fps = 66.6 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

.25 caliber, 61 grain pellet @ 1000 fps = 135.5 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

9mm caliber, 100 grain pellet @ 1000 fps = 222.1 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

.45 caliber, 230 grain pellet @ 1000 fps = 510.8 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

 

For a comparison with various .22 cartridges I looked at several of CCI's .22 rimfire offerings.

.22 LR CCI Stinger (hyper-velocity, 32 grain bullet) - 191 ft-lbs of muzzle energy).

.22 LR CCI Minimag (high-velocity, 40 grain bullet) - 135 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

.22 LR Standard Velocity (40 grain bullet) - 102 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

.22 Short (29 grain bullet) - 75 ft-lbs of muzzle energy (nominally in a gun chambered solely in .22 short)

.22 CB Short (29 grain bullet) -32 ft-lbs of muzzle energy.

[Skot Ruthless Teale 1,701]

i used to know a few dodgy geezers and aparently one had a gunpower stealth all modified an it was said to be doing around 60- ftlb he used 21gr .22 pellets. dont know howw much of this was true but i fired it once and it seemed a bit of a monster. i dont know how accurate it would be because he didnt have it long and i didnt really ask all the questions. he was going to use it for fox and deer apparently.

also with 12ft lb stealth should get 200+ shots?.. this had 4-5 then needed filling again....

 

like i said total dodgy geezer haha

[Skot Ruthless Teale 1,701]

we should get si/zini to chrono his SA80

[StevoSmith 147]

Not 100% sure but i think The L85 SA80 5.56mm puts out about 2500ftlbs with NATO standard round for 5.56

[PLEDGEY 496]

Don't try and up power on a £200 PCP. You'll be spending money on something to get it to do what it's not designed to do. Plus you'll need some way of getting air into it. If you use a pump on a FAC PCP you'll have to be filling it often as they don't give as many shots as a sub 12ftlb, and air tanks are more money again. Just add a bit of extra cash to your £200 and get a 22lr or save up lots and get a purpose built FAC PCP.

[pro extreme hunter 10]

as i am using a tuned bsa s10 ,Hare is what i know about it,its doing 860 fps with 14.3 g pellets and is also very accurate it has a 125cc cylinder so it gives max 28 shots per fill and its 200cc cylinder gives 45 shots per fill.to tune it you must change the barrel with other changes to internals that i dont know much.and there are only few pcp airguns that can sort of come close to live.22 in .22 in my opinion Daystate airranger ,Sumatra,Evanix and some others but they need heavy pellets to achieve accuracy .

[robwelsh 354]

Air ranger , is 80ft lbs, but the price you pay for gun etc, just buy a normal rifle