New air arms break barrel rifle

[Rapidnick]

The pro elite is a dinosaur introduced in the heyday where power was king. Take away its massive power potential (same design but smaller) and a very good quality sub 12 break barrel appears. The pro elite was a big money rifle. I bought my last one one in 2001 from CH Weston aat a cost of almost £400.
I have fond memories of the PE and wish I'd never sold my last one as it was a top quality rifle but way away from what is actually needed. Quality though is far in excess of anything produced by Herman.

I have owned and shot several examples of the PE and certainly didn't regard it as being made to a higher standard than the HW80. I looked seriously at buying a Venom tuned .177 PE but declined on the basis of both price and weight. It is important to judge both rifles on the basis of like for like- it is clearly unhelpful to compare a highly tuned example of one with a factory standard version of the other.
Just looking at the basic offering I remain of the view that the PE is just too large and heavy for a 12 ft lb rifle. For FAC I personally prefer the HW80 or if higher power is really needed, the Theoben Eliminator.
As for quality of build it is my understanding that several well known tuners in the USA refused to work on PE's as the cylinders just weren't concentric. I have never heard that said about the HW80.