PCP First purchase, new or second hand?

[angrybear]

Plenty out there beats an S200, but it's personal viewpoints, for me it's physically far too small & far too light to be stable, frankly I hate them.

I'm confused as to you saying the pcp is attractive as you're not getting any younger, then follow it up with you can pump ok as the bod still works
Pumping is a damn site harder than cocking a break barrel.

I had an Artemis M10 in .25 it was 90% perfect, looked good, felt good, nice balance, sweet trigger, miserly on air, the missing 10% was accuracy, couldn't hit a barn door.

If you want a .25 sub 12 look for a BSA Scorpion or Ultra, I've got the Scorpion .25 stunningly accurate with every (smooth) pellet I've tried including lead-free JSB's.

[ChrisC]

I wouldn't touch a BSA with a barge pole. The S400 series all day long as they are accurate, easy to work on yourself and there are so many bits out there to upgrade if you decide to.

There is also a reason why some have fitted s200 barrels to high end target rifles in the past.....the s200 has a very, very good barrel, but agreed, is a tad small and agricultural.

[rapidresponse1]

there is some good second hand guns out there for the money you want to spend nice air arms 410

[Neil54]

I like my CO2 rifle. You do have to learn the idiosyncrasies of CO2, that's where many people fall down.

If you go privately and try before you buy, buying second hand is no problem.

A reputable shop usually gives some form of warranty.

Always nice to buy new.

There is nothing out there I would shy away from. The rifle I found the best value for money is the Nova Vista.

[gsxrman]

Lots of good mentions already.
Go and have a touchy feel of a few.
Low mag light sucking in scope and a 3-4ltr 3oobar bottle.
Im a .177 freak, but at short range and rats only It probably wont matter what calibre just a good deal on quality used rifle rather a cheap and nasty new one.
People will whinge at that but a Gamo is not in same league as Air Arms, Daystate, Theoben etc.
I would always but something that works and does the job really well, then you will enjoy the experience.

[Shed tuner]

secondhand, but keep it simple / tried and tested.
S200, S400, Ultra, rapid, hatsan, kral, even some of the chinese stuff is all good value and easy/cheap to maintain if needed.

[Antoni]

I'm confused as to you saying the pcp is attractive as you're not getting any younger, then follow it up with you can pump ok as the bod still works
Pumping is a damn site harder than cocking a break barrel.....

Time shift.

I'm a springer fan. The modest effort of cocking a springer will definitely raise your breathing and heart rate if you are shooting at paper. Less so when shooting at live quarry.

After using a stirrup pump there will be none of that cocking effort with its associated increased heart rate or heavy breathing and therefore loss of accuracy.

With a PCP all of that work has been done 5 hours before steadying yourself and squeezing the trigger.