This report includes:
- Differences
- Avenge-X
- Who is right?
- The deal
- Question
Today I will look at the state of airguns and more specifically, how accurate they have become in recent times. I’m not trying to make anyone angry, but this report might do that!
As you know, I have recently tested and am also in the process of testing a couple precharged pneumatics (PCP) that are extremely accurate. I dug out BB’s Goldie last week and we are about to see what she can do with the latest crop of hyper-accurate .22-caliber pellets. But in the past, the .22-caliber Air Arms S510XS Ultimate Sporter with Laminate stock was the most accurate PCP I had.
The Air Arms S510XS Ultimate Sporter with laminate stock was once my most accurate PCP.
Yes, the S510XS was my go-to air rifle. In the early (2019-2020) tests I shot many 25-yard 10-shot groups that were around a quarter-inch between centers. And the absolute best group, shot with a 16-grain Air Arms dome measured 0.181-inches between centers.
In 2020, the S510XS shot ten 16-grain Air Arms Field pellets into a 0.181-inch group with a called pull on the last shot.
More recently (2023), when the new crop of premium .22-caliber pellets came out the S510 posted a 25-yard 10-shot group of 18.1-grain JTS Dead Center domes that measured just 0.113-inches between centers. I thought that was excellent, though I also thought I had seen groups about as small from the Avenger and Avenge-X. To tell the truth, I sort of forgot how good the Avenger groups were when the Avenge-X hit the scene.
In 2023 the S510 gave me a 10-shot group of 18.1-grain JTS Dead Center pellets that measured 0.113-inches between centers at 25 yards.
And then I found BB’s Goldie, looking sad and forlorn. I decided to read about what she had done in the past and saw that in 2022 she had put ten 16-grain Air Arms domes into a 0.182-inch group at 25 yards. Goldie has never seen the latest batch of premium pellets we now have, so what might she do with them?
BB’s Goldie.
In 2022 BBs Goldie put ten 16-grain Air Arms domes into a 0.182-inch group at 25 yards.
Differences
Here is an Air Venturi Avenger with a base price of $350 shooting as well as an $1,800 PCP. But accuracy is only one point to evaluate. The S510 has an aluminum receiver and an adjustable laminated wood stock. Goldie’s receiver is cast aluminum covered in plastic and the non-adjustable stock is synthetic. The S510 trigger is perfection. From what I read in past reports, Goldie’s trigger is somewhat mushy. So there are differences — differences that will be important to some folks and not to others. But it doesn’t stop with Goldie, does it?
Avenge-X
In 2023 Air Venturi brought the Avenge-X to market. I have been an outspoken cheerleader for this rifle for a great many reasons, with accuracy being at the top. The other two rifles I’m referring to in this report are .22s but I haven’t yet shot the .22 Avenge-X enough to comment on its accuracy. I have worked more on the tune of the .22 than shooting for accuracy so far. The .177 Avenge-X did put ten Benjamin Single Die pellets into 0.087-inches at 25 yards though.
The .177-caliber Avenge-X put ten Benjamin Bullseye pellets into a 0.087-inch group at 25 yards.
The Avenge-X is more expensive than the Avenger. The wood-stocked rifle I’m testing retails for $570. It has a better trigger (I think) than the Avenger, but it’s nowhere near as nice as the trigger on the S510. It’s stock is wood, and the receiver is machined aluminum.
On the plus side, the Avenge-X has two power settings, is tunable, the regulator can be adjusted and the big one is you can change the caliber for just $70. My Avenge-X with the wood stock in all three calibers (.177, .22 and .25) retails for $710. That’s three rifles for less than half what the S510 sells for.
Who is right?
So, who is right when it comes to these three rifles — the extreme budget guys or the quality folks? How about both? For the budget guys the Avenger ticks off several of the boxes and gives you a lot of value. For the quality folks the S510 is the way to go, and far be it from me to say that the Air Arms S510 is the only way to go for quality. Certainly FX has some winners, I am assured, and Daystate is at the top, too. But there is a point to today’s report.
The deal
The deal is — manufacturers are discovering what shooters really want, and it isn’t flashy model names with skulls on the stock. It’s rifles like the Avenger and the Avenge-X that shooters are recognizing today. They aren’t the only two, by the way. They are just the two I am familiar with.
It’s no longer price, alone, that sells an air rifle today. It’s now price with features.
At the top end of the scale it’s not materials and finish that buyers want. It’s all that with the features these lower-priced airguns now offer.
Question
I’ll close with a question. Do I leave the MeoPro Optika6 3-18 scope attached to the S510, or should I move it to the Avenge-X?
No .B.B. give me that scope…
-Y
Tom,
I thought you found the Meopta MeoSport R 3-15X50RD in the same cabinet where you keep your other scopes as you described in https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2024/08/starting-over-with-bbs-goldie-part-one/ in the Section Goldie is Back? Or did something go wrong with the scope when you re-installed it?
Siraniko
Siraniko,
That scope still works fine and it’s on BB’s Goldie. This scope is on the S510 and I’m wondering whether I should move it to the Avenge-X.
BB
Tom,
Sorry I got confused because this is one of the few times you talking about more than one gun. So Goldie has a scope as does the S510. The UTG 4-16X44 Compact scope was what you used to shoot the ten Benjamin Bullseye pellets into a 0.087-inch group at 25 yards. In the interest of giving the Avenge-X the best chance I would opt to mount the Meopta MeoSport R 3-15X50RD on a temporary basis with the caveat that funds will be set aside for another Meopta if the Avenge-X is accurate enough to warrant one. The other choice would be to install Goldie’s scope on the Avenge-X and the UTG on Goldie.
Siraniko
BB,
I have a hard time thinking of the S510 sitting lost and forlorn looking, scope-less, in the gun room. I think that Avenge-X absolutely deserves the best quality scope that you can mount on it to do these tests.
The easy solution would be to mount a new Meopta on the Avenge-X, but I’m fairly confident that BB is not ‘made of money’.
I vote for mounting the Meopta from the S510 on the Avenge-X and let the pellets strike where they may. (You may still be forced into buying a new scope, out of pity for the forlorn looking S510)
I am sure that you will come to an equitable solution without my input. (but felt that I needed to give my input, anyway)
Bill
BB
If you had a Ferrari in your multi million cars’ garage would you take the race tyres she wears in order to use them on the latest and greatest Korean sports car? Even if this car makes the ‘Ring lap in the same time?
As long as you keep the AA try to enjoy it with that Meopta as much as possible.
I rest my case.
A quality product is one that exactly meets the needs of the user.
What is great these days is the range of choices in price point and performance that are available.
The ideal airgun to carry around while working the property is likely not the best one for the competition circuit and vice-versa.
Which provides us with the reason/excuse to have several airguns. 😉
Similar to airguns, there’s a lot of nice scopes available at reasonable prices. No need to have an airgun sitting scopeless in a corner.
Cheers!
Hank,
It is quite obvious that you have given this a good bit of thought, even if you do own some of the finest airguns ever made. 😉
RR,
I spent my career working in the high-tech product field – yeah, the balance of cost and quality was always on one’s mind. The Boss was very quick to remind anyone who forgot about that 🙂
As an airgunner I’ve been very lucky. I got some great AG deals when I liquidated my PB’s and I’ve made some good trades. My airgun collection is mostly a matter of exchanging one asset for another (think they loosely refer to that as “horse trading” LOL!).
Current case in point. FX, with their DRS, has come out with a light weight squirrel stalking rifle that I have been searching for and I already have a nice compact scope to mount on it. Turns out that a friend wanted a custom fishing kayak and was amenable to exchanging a new .22/60mm DRS for one. The kayak took me a week (lapsed time – actually about 20 hours) from materials that I already had in the garage. Funny how things like that happen.
The FX shipment of DRS rifles should be in Canada in a couple of weeks – plenty of time to mount the scope and break it in before the season opens.
Hank
You have indeed been most fortunate. Living where I do, there is not much movement of powder burners or airguns. Folks around here tend to hang on to such things, most especially since the government wants to take them from us.
BB
Advice from the incurable optics switcher is to borrow the scope and return it after you see what she can do. It will provide you with a baseline for comparing it to other scopes on the Avenge-X. Could be the subject of a new report series. Accuracy may or may not be the only virtues that matter.
Deck
BB
Have you tested the Air Arms S510XS Ultimate Sporter with the latest and greatest new pellets? If not, surely it deserves the same chance you plan to give “Goldie”.
Deck
Deck,
I’ve tested the S510XS with some of the new pellets but not with all of them. I see a new series coming! 🙂
BB
BB,
how about a contest? A fair shake between the AA and Goldie, and the best one gets to keep the scope. I know that means that you have to shoot those two a lot more, but you’d do that for us wouldn’t you? 🙂
CB
CB,
We shall see.
BB
I am a little bit different than most folks here. I am more into “collecting” how airguns evolved into what they are today, than trying to find the best that is offered today. Do not get me wrong. I have some very, very nice airguns here. Of the “modern” airguns, I do try to find some of the finest, not just in performance, but also in form or style.
What may surprise most folks is that many of the airguns around here have single stage triggers. Until more recent times, the single stage trigger was all that was available. Also, a properly made single stage trigger can be almost as nice as a fine two stage trigger. I do not know about you folks, but I have pulled some pretty lousy two stage triggers in my time. I do try to fix those, but quite often a sow’s ear is still a sow’s ear.
To those on the outside world, I do seem to be quite infatuated with accuracy. Surprisingly, that is not the highest of my priorities. If that were so, I would have unloaded my Webley Service MK II on some poor, unsuspecting soul years ago. It will almost shoot around corners. My .357 HM1000X that would shoot one inch at one hundred yards is living elsewhere right now.
I do not own a FX air rifle and I never have. I will likely never own one. They and others have become outrageous in their pricing. You do not need a big price tag to prove you are at the top. A Vette is faster than most drivers can stand and costs a good deal less than a Lamborghini.
On the subject of scopes, a Vette is faster than most drivers can stand and costs a good deal less than a Lamborghini.
I do enjoy this blog, by the way. It does keep the “old gray matter” ticking.
FM will share this with the friend whose Mrs. blames FM for getting him hooked on airguns; he started with the S510SX. Maybe he would like to experiment.
FM,
You really do want her to hate you, don’t you?
Oh, perish that thought! 😉
If’n yall don’t have any extra scopes of quality just laying unused in your scope closet. I’ll be surprised!
But the scope stays on the 510!
JMHO!
I vote to put the scope on the Avenge-X, at least for the time being. It appears to me that the two Meopta scopes being discussed are somewhat similar. This would fittingly place the more expensive scope on the more expensive rifle. And if we try to compare test results between the Avenger and the Avenge-X, they will have somewhat similar and appropriately priced optics (as related to the prices of the two rifles).
This seems like one of those rare instances where B.B. is doing an airgun to airgun competition. The recent FWB competition was another. In that vein, I humble suggest testing each airgun with the newest pellets with the same scope on each. Unless that’s too much trouble. Let the best airgun wear the best scope as a crown of victory.
Might be a good opportunity to try one of the short/zero eye relief airgun scopes. I have to admit I am intrigued by the massive field of view.
B.B.,
SIMPLE
Move the scope.
Shoot the gun.
If it is worthy of that level scope keep it on the Avenge X for now.
Save your $100 dollar bills and buy an even better scope for the Air Arms S510XS that looks good on it.
shootski
USA Readership,
Rule 13 from the playbook:
“Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it.”
Did you fall for it tonight?
shootski