Air Venturi MicroStrike PCP air pistol
This report covers:
- O-rings
- But wait!
- Satisfied?
- Description
- Shots per fill
- Silencer
- Caliber change
- Sights
- Adjustable trigger
- Summary
With the release of the Air Venturi MicroStrike precharged pneumatic (PCP) air pistol it seems Air Venturi has done it again. If springers like the OmniStorm aren’t your cup of tea, they are bringing out this PCP pistol that of course turns into a carbine with the attachment of the separate adjustable buttstock.
The MicroStrike box shows the lines of the air pistol well…
O-rings
… and these are the o-rings the MicroStrike comes with. Not only are they numbered, the ID and OD are given on their packages!
Each o-ring baggie is separately marked with a number and its dimensions.
Let’s see, we could just dump a handful of o-rings into a plastic baggie because the customers should be grateful they’re getting them, or we could take the time to sort the rings by size and type and label each individual baggie. We’ll label them not just by what they are but also where they go in the airgun!
But wait!
And then we’ll show you where in the airgun each o-ring goes.
“Well, I don’t trust Chinese o-rings. I only use rings sold by Emperor O-Ring in Donkeysweat, Arkansas.” Okay, now you know which ones you need.
And here is exactly where each o-ring goes.
Satisfied?
Do I seem pleased? Well I am because I have not seen this kind of attention to detail in an airgun before. Maybe the high-end air rifles do it now, but my Air Arms S510 doesn’t have it, nor did the FX Dreamlite I tested years ago.
That still won’t change my mind about holding air. It has to do that or what’s the purpose? I intend watching the MicroStrike carefully in this area.
Description
The MicroStrike is a PCP pistol that has a detachable shoulder stock. It adjusts to six positions, giving a pull that varies between 13-3/4-inches / 34.93 cm to 17-1/4-inches / 43.82 cm. I hoped to attach it to the pistol with the one 3mm Allen wrench that came with the gun, but no. The two screws that attach the butt require either a 2.5mm or a 1/32-inch Allen wrench that’s just slightly smaller.
The detachable buttstock has two screws to clamp it tight to the pistol.
I was all set to praise Air Venturi for using just one tool for everything but they missed it. The one wrench they do provide is for degassing the airgun. The buttstock does swing to the left side of the gun when desired.
The pistol comes in .177, .22 and .25 calibers. It holds 80cc of air pressurized to 300 bar (4,351 psi) that Air Venturi says gives you up to 15 foot pounds in .177, 27 foot pounds in the .22 caliber that I am testing and 30 foot pounds in .25.
Shots per fill
The shot count per fill is 30, 26 and 24, respectively (.177—.25). But the regulator is user-adjustable via a unique control that I’ve not seen before. The air pressure does have to be released before adjustment. The hammer spring is also adjustable, so concerning the number of shots per fill—your mileage may vary.
The pistol fills with a removable probe that has a male Foster-type fitting on the end a fill hose connects to.
After releasing all the air turn the knurled reg adjuster ring in the direction you want the reg pressure to go. This test MicroStrike came with the reg set at 1,000 psi. I will leave it there until I test the velocity.
The action is a sidelever bolt (on the left side and not switchable) that accepts either a circular magazine holding 10 in .177, 10 in .22 and 8 in .25. There is also a single-shot tray. Two magazines come with the pistol and the tray comes installed.
Silencer
The muzzle is threaded 1/2X20 for a silencer and the threads are protected by a knurled cap the rest of the time. Isn’t that nicer than a separate adaptor that may not line up with the bore?
The muzzle is threaded for airgun silencers. The gauge seen here is for the reservoir.
Caliber change
Don’t like the caliber? Swap the barrel with a different one in less than 5 minutes. Just remember to also get the correct magazines and shot tray when you change over.
Sights
The pistol comes with open sights front and rear. The rear sight seems to adjust a bit left and right but not up and down.
Of course most shooters will mount some sort of optical sight on this airgun when it is in carbine form. A full Picatinney rail on top of the receiver permits this.
Adjustable trigger
There is an adjustable two-stage trigger but that information did not make it into the owner’s manual yet. The one adjustment screw (arrow in photo below) influences the release weight of the second stage. Clockwise will increase the release weight, and counter-clockwise will decrease the release weight. Adjust as you see fit but be sure to check for proper function of the trigger and the safety as you adjust.
The trigger adjustment screw (arrow) adjusts the release weight of the second stage.
Summary
The MicroStrike PCP pistol announces that Air Venturi came to play. It offers many upgrades to airguns on the market. It almost looks like they had a real airgunner look at the design! I hope the test airgun is as accurate as it looks!
You now have my attention….
So far so good.
Every Airgun manufacturer should do that with their seals.
Question, what’s the serial number of the test gun?
Just wondering.
Happy Friday everyone!
Ian.
Tom,
This chameleon of a PCP is definitely not going to be one to recommended to beginners with itchy fingers. They would twiddle all the screws just because they can and be left with a PCP that they won’t be able to shoot. Yes it seems like somebody who knew what they were we doing was involved from the get go until release of the product. The lack of instructions regarding the trigger adjustment was probably too appease the lawyer. Yet again, I think you better get your pompoms out.
Siraniko
B.B.,
On the O-Ring count…I can’t count that high!
Don’t forget to add a drop of silicone oil to the fill probe
You need to rrrroll your Rs ;^)
Erratum:
“Sights
The pistol comes with open sights front and rear. The rear sight seems to adjust a bit left and (r)tight but not up and down.
shootski
shootski,
Fixed it. Thanks,
BB
A very well balanced package. If it delivers what it says with decent accuracy then it’s a hit, to my eyes at least. Even with the 300 bars pressure, which I find high for a backpack/pump friendly airgun. It looks like a US-China cooperation can really work, sometimes.
A longer barrel swap would be a nice option to go along with the stock.
Bob M,
What is stopping you from buying a longer barrel?
RR,
I know the barrels are interchangeable, but they appear to be uniquely squared off and I don’t see any offer for a longer barrel.
Carbine, or light weight air rifles, are beginning to look more attractive in my old age.
I think the meds I’m on are making me weaker. I recently lost 10 lbs. without trying. Changed my diet some but the tired and weakness? Been the same weight for around 60 years.
Been looking at a shorter barrel and air tank for my Aveng-X to shave some weight there.
Bob M,
If you aren’t out in the Sun as much you may need more vitamin D.
You also need to pound more protein over your entire day. Breakfast protein is probably the most important.
If you can tolerate it Creatin Monohydrate helps with the energy level, brain fog, as well as muscle Mass loss as we get older.
The barrel on the MicroStrike is round look closer at silencer thread picture in Tom’s blog above.
shootski
Shootski,
I think it’s three phone calls in the middle of the night from my disabled ex asking for help for a few months and side effects from medication to fight cholesterol and high BP. Just flat out worn out. Nutrition is good. They are trying to prevent a stroke at all costs after having one already.
They sell the barrels as an assembly, everything above the air tube. Why would that be? There may be a long barrel out there someplace that happens to fit, perhaps as a free float, but Air Venturi does not offer it. No big deal, there are other light weight rifles.
GRITS 😉 I find myself “feeling” the weight of many things these days. Funny how it seems things just get heavier as we age. I know the buckets oil I routinely have to tote over hill and dale at work in a refinery weigh just over 40 .lbs but dang it they just feel heavier these days. Lately I often sing (to myself) The Band’s “The Weight”.
B.B.
Change calibers in minutes? Change barrel in minutes?
Yes, all those labeled o-rings are nice. I assume that they are necessary?
I assumed that PCP’s never leaked, lol….
Have a nice Halloween weekend everybody!
-Yogi
Yogi,
You win on the caliber/barrel thing. I changed the text.
As for the holiday, I’ll celebrate All Saints Day this weekend.
BB
Amen.
That is a lot of o-rings, although some of those may be cushioners/centerers rather than sealers. It would still be a good idea, as BB has suggested, to get some decent quality o-rings to replace these when the time comes. A drawing showing where to use what is a superb idea.
That is a pretty high fill pressure. With that small air reservoir, that thing would have to have a very high pressure to give you any shot count.
I will be following this review very closely. It has already given me a couple of ideas of what I could do with my recently acquired PRod. Now where did I put that round tuit?
Wow that’s a lot of o-rings. Would have given extra points too for at least reducing the different types and sizes needed. But I guess that’s the price to pay to play with a PCP with a lot of extra features like pressure gauge, removable fill probe, adjustable regulator, etc. Still, for $400, it’s a pretty compact package. Wish the pressure gauge was not at the end, near the muzzle. Looking forward to more reports.
PS, can anyone imagine swapping calibers? Wouldn’t you need to retune and re-zero the pistol? That seems like a solution without a problem to me. I guess if you wanted to play with this over the winter in your basement it might make sense to switch to .177 for the cheap practice and then switch back to a larger caliber to protect the garden from pests in the warmer months, but I can’t really envision swapping calibers at a whim.
Roamin,
Of course you need to re-zero the airgun after changing the barrel. What it gives you is another airgun for the price of the barrel. That’s like what the Avenger and AvengerX have already done.
You probably don’t swap calibers on a whim, but for the reasons you gave it’s ideal.
BB
I love the attention to detail as you outlined. One thing I am very interested to know is the overall length of the pistol itself sans stock. With so many makers using the term ‘pistol’ quite liberally, a true pistol sized pcp would be refreshing, think Huben GK1 size. (a gun I would LOVE to see reviewed even though PA doesn’t carry it) This still looks too long but not as bad as many like the PRod and others that hardly qualify as pistol length to me.
Bob
Bob
And then came the GK1 MINI! Now, this is even more interesting. The Velox is one pistol that comes close to your standards but I haven’t been able to persuade BB to test it, so I bought one. Very entertaining, reliable, but not very accurate, in my hands.
Bob,
I was surprised that PA doesn’t list just the pistol length in the description, since they do call this a pistol. It’s 16.5 inches overall.
BB
B.B.,
“I hope the test airgun is as accurate as it looks!”
But before you do that please shoot the MicroStrike in pistol form Off Hand and give the apparently interested readership your expert opinion on balance, grip ergonomics, and stability on Point Of Aim.
Maybe even a short range Off Hand group on paper.
shootski
shootski,
Don’t think so. Extremely muzzle heavy.
BB
B.B.,
I suspected that it would be muzzle heavy and that is a good reason to turn it into a stocked pistol.
According to PAir it ONLY weighs 4.5 lbs (2kg) NOT ALL that heavy! It also appears to have a removable base plate on the bottom of the grip; some weight added to that void (IF possible) would shift the balance point to the rear…just a thought and another thing for you to check on ;^)
shootski
PS: since it is an AR style grip it could be replaced by a Target Grip with a shelf to help with the balance/ergonomics of the free hold.
Nice! If I didn’t have a Notos already this would be high on my wish list. Hmm. Perhaps, I could make room for one of these in 0.177 to use it for winter/garage practice. Of course, I’d keep the compressor close to the bench – hand pumps at that pressure are out of the question for this old geezer.
In my opinion, the most remarkable thing about this product is not the assortment of O-rings – they can be sourced elsewhere – but the diagram with the location and size of the different seals. This is a first (as far as I know) that will allow, if and when needed, to overhaul the airgun completely. Well done AV!
Let’s hope it groups well. We will see in the the next blogs, but I confess to being optimistic on that front, the Asian manufacturers seem to have learned what it takes to make good barrels.
Henry
Henry_TX,
You wrote: “Of course, I’d keep the compressor close to the bench – hand pumps at that pressure are out of the question for this old geezer.”
You likely know all the rest of this reply but some readers don’t.
The regulator gauge appears to show 0 – 3,000 psi and the photograph above on Tom’s gun shows just shy of 1,000 psi.
You don’t need to fill any PCP (regulated or not) to the advertised Maximum Working/Fill Pressure to shoot it! So you could use a hand pump, small to giant off board cylinder, or a compressor near your bench or in your backpack to top it off. It all depends on how many shots you need between top ups.
Even with my obviously AIR HOG defining Quackenbush Big Bores (3,000-3,600 psi maximum fill) i can go with just a smallish pressure charge (300-500psi) above minimum fill pressure (in the 2,500+ psi range) to get off one full power shot. On some of the smaller caliber DAQ examples even a few full power shots. It just takes balancing the stryker/hammer preload on the gun and knowing the resulting external ballistics.
With a regulated airgun it is even less complex you just need to know your regulator’s preset pressure.
shootski
shootski,
I may test that.
BB
B.B.,
I use my adjustable BAUER® Off Board regulator: https://www.breathingair.com/415-Reducing-Regulator-0-6000PSI-HP-Breathing-Air-Regulator
to do that kind of Load Development for my DAQs as well as Ballistic Computation verification for new (slugs) bullets.
shootski
RidgeRunner,
The cut a Way drawing photograph is a bit blurry but best i can tell only four (maybe five) of those baggies of O-Rings are not directly pressure seal related.
Maybe more than one drop of silicone oil will be needed to keep all that rubber happy ;^)
shootski
Lol, yeah like half a bottle….
-Y
Yogi,
That depends on the size of the bottle you buy ;^)
shootski
B.B.,
Someone at PAir has added the dimensions…
In the Description drop-down: also Carbine length: 25.5″ – 29″
shootski
B.B. and Readership,
The HAM page has a message from Jake, General Manager at Barra Airguns covering their barrel making issues in China sourcing factories. It makes interesting reading. Technically NOT as good as the Quackenbush barrel making Technical Reading piece: https://quackenbushairguns.com/Airgun_barrels.htm
But Jake’s is still informative.
It is still always barrel lottery regardless; just that some are better fabricators than others.
shootski
If you scroll through WeChat short videos, you will find do many videos of Chinese airgun manufacturers making components of PCPs. And since a few years, “Western” airgun manufacturers are popping up, they basically kludge together the individual Chinese components and add a stock.
I’m not sure if this is a good or bad development. It allows small startups to quickly sell creative products. But in the end, it all comes from a big Chinese factory.
It is a relatively clear and windy Saturday here at RidgeRunner’s Home For Wayward Airguns. Today I mounted a 6X BugBuster on top of the .25 HW90 I was able to talk Fawltey Manuel out of. I took it out to my garage range and zeroed the scope and using the H&N FTT pellets (which I do not care for) I shot ten of them at a twenty-five-yard target while resting the HW90 directly on my bags.
Well, the HW90 managed to put the .25 FTT pellets in a 1.25-inch CTC group. Not too shabby. I cannot wait to get some JSB pellets.
I am also looking forward to what the AV OmniStorm will do.
Unlike the .22 and .177 FTTs, there does not seem to be a choice of pellet head sizes in .25.
If I were you, I would try the HN and JSB pellet samplers. That should get you started. Interested to know your results.
What kind of velocity is she putting out? The FTTs are among the lightest .25 pellets available.
Note to P.A.I.R.: the website filter for .25 cal. pellets hides all the HN .25 cal. pellets except for the sampler.
RG,
I really have no idea as to her speed as my chronograph has gone gaga. I have to save up and get a new one. I did try some RWS SHP that a dude gave me at the show, but they were really horrible in this air rifle. They were also loose and shot waaaaay low.
By the way, that should be a 1.125-inch CTC group.
Not shabby at all, RR – read your correction below stating a 1.125 CTC group was achieved. Much better than what FM was able to accomplish with that Lovely Beast. It will be wise for him to scope the HW30 and HW95 at Casa FM; seems this will require scope rings with grooved bases that can fit a half-inch/13mm dovetail. Any recommendations along these lines will be appreciated by AFM – Amateur FawltyManuel.
FM,
She does pretty good for a sproinger, but I would hate to lug that thing around all day.
As for me, I would leave the HW30 alone unless you wanted to put a Williams rear peep on her. That is the way I do mine. Now, as for the HW95 I would have to scope that gal. Now as for the rings, I have no idea what scope you are planning to use, so it would be hard to say what rings you should use. Send me an email and tell me which scope you are planning to use.
Appreciate the advice – as for a scope, leaning towards the Bug Buster family which many of you praise. Maybe that is something for Santa to put in FM’s stocking this year. And maybe a Williams “peeper,” to boot. 🙂
If it helps, here are chrony readings from a session with the .25 HW90 11/09/24. The test was done using H&N FT Trophy 20.06 gr and RWS Super H Point Field Line 25 “grainers.” The chronograph was a Prochrono DLX.
Results with the H&N pellets:
Shot 1 – 664 FPS 19.64 FPE
Shot 2 – 662 FPS 19.53 FPE
Shot 3 – 666 FPS 19.76 FPE
Shot 4 – 669 FPS 19.94 FPE
Shot 5 – 663 FPS 19.58 FPE
Results with the RWS pells:
Shot 1 – 568 FPS – 17.91 FPE
Shot 2 – 574 FPS – 18.29 FPE
Shot 3 – 576 FPS – 18.42 FPE
Shot 4 – same as Shot 3
Shot 5 – 562 FPS – 17.54 FPS
FM,
RG could use this info to answer his questions. When I get a pump, gauge and chronograph, I will likely post more.
Yep
Thanks, FM. That’s quite a lot of power for the velocity. Your 5 shot ES is pretty tight. Now I’m real curious what those FTTs could do at different piston pressures, but even at 20 FPE, those .25 pellets would really put the smack down on a critter….
B.B., you old enabler, you! Thanks to you, I have on order one:
“Remington Model 33 22LR Rifle – Used in Good Condition”
I’ve been looking for one ever since I read your reports on your two model 33s:
https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2018/01/remington-model-33-single-shot-rimfire-part-3-2/
I am really hoping mine is accurate like your first rusty one! 😉
Blessings to you,
dave
Yes, this pic you had really inspired me to want one of these. 🙂
Dave,
What can I say? I hope your new/old rifle is super accurate!
BB
Thanks, BB,
Due to Christmas and many other end-of-the-year upcoming expenses, my wife has us on a tight budget; but I saw this model 33 come up on the online site for a gun store that is near my brother’s house in NC, and I knew it would not be for sale for very long. Hence, I called them and found that they do 90-day lay-aways; that puts me past Christmas, into the New Year, and right at the time of my birthday…surely, my loving wife will not object to a little self-bought birthday present. 😉
I must have patience, but I can’t wait to test this model 33 out for accuracy. 🙂
Blessed Sunday to you!
dave
Surprised anyone is doing lay-away these days Dave, but glad that works in your favor.
Yes Sir, it surprised me as well; but it works to my advantage in this case, so I’ll take it. 😉
Today, Sunday for all of you keeping track of such, was not too bad temperature wise around RRHFWA and was as calm as is possible. For these reasons I broke out the .177 Maximus and Discovery this morning before church. I shot the Max first with a 3-9X BugBuster on it at 25 yards using JSB 8.44 grain pellets. I must apologize to Fawlty Manuel at this time because he will not be getting this Max to add to his collection. He should have grabbed it when he had the chance.
I then mounted that scope on the walnut stocked Discovery and tried her out also. This gal is going to require a little work on her before she is up to being shot again. That is OK fine by me. That walnut stocked Disco is not going anywhere anyway. I did pick up a big round tuit at the show.
FM knew you were hurting from parting with your Maximus and had promised to give you first dibs on the next one that showed up, so he did. FM keepeth his word. Enjoy it to the Max.
No pictures? :o(
RidgeRunner,
At least you did all that and still made it to church…good on you. 😉
What you said here:
“I shot the Max first with a 3-9X BugBuster on it at 25 yards…”
reminded me that I wish they still made fixed 6X Bug Busters…or that I had bought more of them!
Blessings to you,
dave