by B.B. Pelletier
Let’s look at some of the most powerful smallbore air rifles today. I’m talking about the big, powerful Korean repeaters.
In Korea, air rifles are serious business!
Koreans use them for hunting. Guns that are .22 and .25 caliber are stored most of the year in the local police station. A hunter can take his rifle out for hunting purposes. I’m not sure if that’s all they can do with them, but most of the time it is stored at the police station. The .177 and .20 caliber guns may be kept at home, as they’re not considered serious hunting guns. Get down on your knees and kiss the ground you’re standing on. It’s hallowed ground, and there is precious little of it remaining in the world!
The Air Rifle Specialists Hunting Master was first to be imported
The AR6, as it was known, was a six-shot revolver that fired either single-action by cocking the hammer or double-action by pulling the trigger. The trigger took 18 to 25 pounds to cycle, so it was actually a better single-action. It produced over 50 foot-pounds for many shots, and most shooters could shoot 1″ five-shot groups at 50 yards.
The Career 707 was No. 2 – but what a success!
Career 707s came over in lots of 50 starting in 1995, and I own one of the very first ones. They were raw and more powerful that any smallbore airguns we had ever seen. They originally had three power levels. Before the year was out, several airgunsmiths had modified them to have 12 and then 18 power levels! At 50 yards, I shot my first sub-inch group with my Career, using Crosman Premier pellets on low power (they still went 1,000 f.p.s.!).
Although the Career has a lever, the early ones were so hard to cock that they had to be cocked like a BB gun. Several hobbyists invented better triggers for them and the cocking effort became much easier. I can cock mine like Chuck Connors, The Rifleman.
The standard Career rifle was also sold as a carbine, but the Tanker Carbine is a different animal! It had a removable air reservoir. The thought was that shooters would buy extra reservoirs so they could carry a spare in the field.
The Career III 300 is a six-shot Career with a revolving cylinder instead of the linear magazine of the standard rifle. Where the linear magazine is best suited for domed pellets because they have to nestle in a straight line, the cylinder of the 300 accepts pellets of all shapes.
Sam Yang makes the Saver airguns
The Saver 7000 and Saver Carbine 505 are similar to the Career in that they feature in-line magazines, but they cock via a short lever on the right side of the receiver. Power is about the same as the Career, which is in excess of 50 foot-pounds for several shots.
Korea’s Eun Jin makes Sumatra airguns…
The Sumatra 2500 is very much like the Career 707 except that it’s a revolver. The lever is harder to cock because the hammer spring is very strong. A Sumatra 2500 Carbine is also available if you like shorter rifles.
…And they also make great pellets!
If you want to shoot diabolos, Eun Jin is the only pellet with 28 grains of weight in .22. Pyramyd AIR produces its own brand of solid pellet called the Predator. Currently they are only available in 23 grain weights, but when production resumes, they will be made up to a 35-grain weight. These Korean rifles and the Condor from AirForce are the only air rifles powerful enough to use solid pellets, which must be fired very fast to stabilize.
The prices of these powerful rifles is far less than their quality, accuracy and power dictate. They’re loud and raw. If you want the most bang for your buck in a smallbore, these guns are the ones to get!
So, korean makes good pcp guns. I’m about to get one but i still cant decide between a sumatra 2500 (the new one with continuous power dial) and a career III 300. Help me to choose. I personally prefer the career III 300’s side cocking lever better.
Boonching,
I would get the gun you prefer the most. They are all very nice.
B.B.
Hi B.B.
I currently have the Sumatra 2500 Carbine in .22 cal.
I love it & it IS a great gun, but I am VERY interested in the new Sumatra 2500 500cc Reservoir, in the .25 cal version.
So much i fact, that I'm thinking about selling my .22 & buying the .25 !
My reasons are mostly for the larger caliber, more power/knock down power, & hopefully more shots per fill.
I know there are a lot more types of pellets available in .22 but typically you're only going to use 2 or 3 different types in most guns, & in .25 cal I'd probably go with the Beeman Crow-Magnum, Beeman Kodiak Match Extra Heavy, SamYang/Eun Jin .25 Cal, 43 Grains Pointed, & maybe some round balls, so I'm not too worried about pellet selection.
I'm more concerned with power, & shots per fill.
The old 2500 carbine has only a 290cc reservoir & the new .25 cal has the 500cc reservoir
So, on full power (with both guns) would I get as many shots per fill, with the .25 cal, the same, or less?
What are the pros & cons of of these two guns, doing this, & if you already have the Ultra 707 9mm & 909S .45 would YOU do it?
Thanks in advance,
– The BBA –
BBA,
If you are REALLY concerned with power and shots per fill, you should look at the .25 caliber Condor that Airhog is making. I’m talking about the one with the hand-rifled 28-inch Lilja barrel. It gets 110 foot-pounds and stunning accuracy. I think the price is around $1,200.
I do not care for .25 caliber pellet rifle because nobody makes good pellets for them. A .22 will generally shoot rings around a .25.
Yes, the 500cc Sumatra should get more shots than the smaller reservoir. But you knew that.
B.B.
question, why did you guys discontinue the saver 7000? Sure does look like a sweet rifle to me 🙂
Vincent,
I’m pretty sure “us guys” didn’t discontinue the Saver 7000, but I’ve asked Pyramyd AIR about it for you.
Do you want to buy one?
B.B.
ah ok, thought pyramyd was the only importer of the saver 7000. By these websites it looks like they're still being produced;
http://sygun.en.ec21.com/
http://www.tbc-world.com/resprofile.asp?id=4769978&companytype=1
and yup, thinking about buying one 🙂 looking forward to the reply from pyramyd. thanks BB!
Vincent,
Pyramyd AIR says they stopped carrying the Saver 7000 because of poor sales.
B.B.
In days of past, a newcomer came to the table with the career 707. What it did was revolutionize the production air rifle. It had power, lot’s of it! It had accuracy to boot, even enough to beat firearms and the most elite airguns in the entire world…..
Things are different today, my rws 707 .25 that came with a lifetime warranty, well… that warranty is basically useless now. My old shinsung .22 is leaking, good luck finding parts anymore…….. Why is a legend like this abandoned?
Nobody sells these used anymore, when companies were asked questions, Umarex said “no parts”, another company seems to think that the sumatra is the same gun. I called all over the usa, and nobody has anything anymore! This is pitiful. Can’t anyone make o-ring kits? I feel like this gun was a big threat to every other manufacturer that somehow they banned it!! I’m serious……..
Pelletman made the ammo back in the day to smoke anything…. I still have tins of the slugs, but yet nobody will duplicate them, makes no sense.
There were only 3 people in the usa to get gold 707’s (all gold), Davis of ARS, Burroughs of Burroughs pneumatic, and Tom Gaylord. It seems that with time you can forget anything, yet the guns that ABSOLUTLEY changed the game are now forgotten, that is a real sad story….
RamboRob,
I remember most of what you talk about. But I never got an all-gold 707. John Burroughs probably did, as did Davis Schwesinger, because both of them handled the guns. But not me. I did have a 707 with gold-plated side panels, but all of them had that in the mid-to-late ’90s, so that wasn’t unusual.
And Pelletman was bought out by Pyramyd AIR, when he became too ill to continue. They continued to make his bullets for years, until people stopped buying them. It was a lack of demand that killed them.
Shin Sung stopped supplying parts for the guns. That’s why there are no parts. Yes, o-rings are universal, but not the specially designed parts. Shin Sung makes oil drilling equipment. The airguns were just a sideline for them and I guess they got tired of them after awhile. Many of their employees left the company to found competing companies of their own, so perhaps it was too much trouble to continue.
B.B.
Sorry B.B. about saying you got an all gold gun, either I read it online or possibly Burroughs told me.
My First career I got was an rws branded .25 gun in like the year 2000, after having a crow magnum I decided to go with the flow and try Pcp. It was simply amazing and still is (except for not being able to buy the bullets anymore). It still holds air! The rws lifetime warranty was one reason I got it besides the high power repeater. Now the warranty seems to be void.
In around 2003 or so I called Davis and bought a slightly used gold side gun in .22 with factory peep sights, factory soft case, 2 extra clips, scope rail, new adjustable pellet stop, and a new adjustable trigger. I never had the heart to modify that one as I believe it is the oldest of the 707’s. I think later they added the more variable power wheel (mine only has loud louder and loudest), then they switched to silver side, then all black and dull (rws).
Anyways the gold gun leaks and I could not find anyone in the states with the parts I wanted. I had replaced all the front end seals last year (got them at hardware stores), but it still leaks. The only place I found that has stuff is in the UK. I wanted the integral gauge seal and the fill valve seal (flat washer type) and some pellet probe seals and now they are on the way. I hope this time I get it fixed.
Predator In UK seems to be the only one to go to anymore. I guess I never thought when I got these that there could be an issue getting parts down the road as I think they made a lot of them.
Thanks for your replies B.B.