Budget Air rifle

[Ernfranhoo]

Hi. I'm coming back to shooting after a 50-year break. I used to have a meteor and paratrooper. They are long gone. I've been looking at the Remington Sabre .22 and the Remington Pest Controller, which are within my budget. I intend to use it for 20m target and small vermin. Any advice for either one of these or any other make in the price range will be gratefully received
Cheers
Ernie

[EricP]

Hatsan are worth looking at, they are a Turkish brand, nice stocks, generally well regarded by those who have shot them, though looked down on by those who haven’t. The 900x Breaker is about £120, there are a few models in the Hatsan range sub £200.
The first air rifle I has was a SMK XS-20. It was a good gun, the only reason I passed it on was because I was concentrating on .177 and the XS-20 is only available in .22.

[harvey_s]

Personally I'd have plumped for the Remington Express.
These are very good for the price and by removing a few washers from the trigger stack their triggers can be made near 'Rekord' quality.
I'm not sure the other Remingtons are as nice...

[gtfreight]

If the Remington is in your budget it's a good choice. It will match or better your old meteor for accuracy and the trigger is better (it can also be improved quite easily by removing a washer or 2). It will be what is known to as "full power" which equates to 11+ ft/lb, give or take.
If and when you come to upgrade you won't lose more than £50 on the gun unless it's been battered.

[CapitalBee]

Choice between the two you mention, I'd go for the Sabre. I believe they are the Remington Express in a different stock. They can shoot well out of the box, have a resettable safety and a good trigger (do follow the tip to take out two washers from the screw in front of the trigger blade). The Pest Controller may be a bit cheaper, as they are a derivitive of the BAM 19, which has a slightly less impressive trigger, but they can shoot nicely as well. I'd avoid anything in that price bracket with sealed gas rams, as they can have a habit of losing power with continued use.

[Blackrider]

First of all Ernie, a very warm welcome to the BBS Forum with an interesting first post !

Secondly, the two air rifles you mention are both a good choice to begin your "second coming" to Air gunning and it will be up to your personal choice but try to find a local stockiest and handle them first if you are able !

All the best !

[Neil54]

Remington Sabre has a nice stock. Probably has the better trigger.

Any of the Crosmans will be similar to the pest controller as is the kral N-01.

Hatsan 900x is also similar but with a revised trigger offering more adjustment.

[rapidresponse1]

hatsan 900x i used my mates what he bought for the allotment nice solid bit of kit

[laverdabru]

Welcome! A few suggestions...Was impressed with the Hatsan 900 I tried a while back. Couple of years back. bought an SMK B19, also sold as (I think) BAM19. A bit 'twangy'. but much better than I expected for the price.
The secondhand market can also prove useful. I picked up a hardly used 'modern' Meteor (2013?) from here. with gun bag & 'scope, for £120(?). I ended up preferring it to my much more expensive HW's. Nowt wrong with the HW's, but found the weight an issue.

HTH

Bru

[svendogg]

SMK SYNSG (or the 208 if you prefer wood stock) is a solid gun. Mine was my first gun and is very accurate. Did sell it at one point and got lucky in that I got to buy it back through pure luck. Won't be parting with it again. As mentioned the xs 19 can be made nice. Hatsan 55s or 60s are well built with excellent triggers. My local gunshop raves about the Remington express. Been recently reading very good reviews on some of the cometa range.

There's tons of choice for not a huge amount of money, is there a club near you that you could go and try some for size and maybe have a go?

[TonyL]

Welcome to the forum, Ernie.

Some excellent suggestions above, proving you can bag yourself a capable little rifle without spending too much money.

As John, Blackrider, advises, now try to get to handle and try as many of these as possible to see which one suits you best as regards weight, handling, balance etc.

[4end]

Welcome to the forum, Ernie.

Some excellent suggestions above, proving you can bag yourself a capable little rifle without spending too much money.

As John, Blackrider, advises, now try to get to handle and try as many of these as possible to see which one suits you best as regards weight, handling, balance etc.

Most of the guns recommended are in the lower end of the price bracket and originate from China. With that in mind, a quick look at the Chinese airgun forum will show reviews all of the models available and provide info as to how they perform and how they can be improved.

[Hsing-ee]

Again and again the Remington Express comes up as a good low-price air-rifle. I quite fancy one myself to enjoy exercising the diamond files and aluminium oxide paper on it.

However, I would recommed you purchase a secondhand fettled Weihrauch HW99S off one of the members of the BBS as you will then not have to upgrade it, and can start shooting with the best of beginners advantages, a decent trigger. They usually come with open sights and can be adapted to most air-rifle shooting purposes.

Here's one for example

https://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread...93-Hw-99-s-177

[TonyL]

I certainly wouldn't argue with the above.

[Neil54]

The OP hasn't stated what their budget is.
I would have thought that £250 would be over budget considering the models they are looking at.
Also we all like to buy new.
XS208 is a clone of the Diana 34 with a T05 trigger. More expensive than the Express.