Alright, so I messed up and poked my nose into the PCP world. Watched a few videos and saw guys cutting single hole type groups at 50 yards with .22/.25 caliber PCP rifles. Quiet, CHEAP to run lead down the barrel (not so much initial setup, but pay to play and all that).
I very much enjoy reloading, I get to control my fps deviations that way, I know my rounds are good to go, so anything I see besides tight groups is me being a dumbass behind the trigger. I have a couple of rifles that are proofed and I've done the work and reloading to get them down to 1/8th to 1/4" groups at 100 yards IF I'm not a shaky mess that particular day. I have a Winchester 52C and a Rem 40-X in .22LR that absolutely highlight my shortcomings, however finding the green box Remington subsonic LRN those rifles like is getting tough. I have plenty of resources but my time anymore is worth the most.
So, back to the PCP rifles. I've seen quite a few vids where the 600/700mm barreled rifles are just stacking them at 50 yards. Watching the chrono that's often in a picture-in-picture in these videos I can see that the FPS numbers are quite often single-digit deviation(s) and that makes me yearn for that kind of consistency. Y'all know how much it costs, money and time, to buy top-slot brass, good bullets, good powder(if you can find the type you use) and primers and then all the fiddly work to get "identical" brass as a base(trimming, weighing, volume measurements...etc). Compared to buying 15 different tins of pellets and finding the weight/skirt combo that works and then stocking up them at 500 rounds for 25 bucks, it's obvious which route will garner the most trigger time vs. time invested in prepping. I'm not even going to sniff slugs at this point, I will likely eventually do so.
I have read that some of the older (2023-ish) FX rifles are prone to losing POI if handled with anything but the gentlest of intentions. I can hack that, hardcase and bench is about all the rifle would ever see anyway. My concern is longevity in a nutshell. Once I get rolling I can happily sit and punch 20 or 30 5 shot groups before I need to put a fresh target up, and I tend to shoot for 3 hours at a stretch. Hundreds of rounds, I have a wickedly active mind, being able to feed it one task for a long stretch of time is cathartic and shooting (and reloading) are great for that. I leave the range in a relaxed and awesome mood, even if I shot like crap.
Congrats if you've made it this far. Now the question.
I really (think) I like the FX DRS Tactical. 600/700 mm, the 700 has the "heavy" barrel and will play better with slugs, so more opportunity to screw around with options there. I have oodles of AR bits and pieces laying around, all my scopes are pic rail set ups (one T-36 on dovetail, but that's a vintage rifle) and I like ARs. From what I've seen that DRS is fully capable of tight groups, consistent FPS and has a huge HUGE aftermarket in that most anything AR will be compatible. I'm a little worried that the videos and articles I've read are maybe skewing the results some in that the people demoing these rifles know more than I about PCP setups and have tweaked the rifles with their mastery of the sport and I'm going to be sorely disappointed when I send lead downrange (50/100 yards). Will I wear it out and begin to hate o-rings and be chasing leaks? Is there another rifle out there that has a built-in aftermarket like the DRS Tac? Oh, I'm a lefty too, a dirty, dirty lefty. I can cope, have been for 50+ years but it's worth mentioning.
I very much enjoy reloading, I get to control my fps deviations that way, I know my rounds are good to go, so anything I see besides tight groups is me being a dumbass behind the trigger. I have a couple of rifles that are proofed and I've done the work and reloading to get them down to 1/8th to 1/4" groups at 100 yards IF I'm not a shaky mess that particular day. I have a Winchester 52C and a Rem 40-X in .22LR that absolutely highlight my shortcomings, however finding the green box Remington subsonic LRN those rifles like is getting tough. I have plenty of resources but my time anymore is worth the most.
So, back to the PCP rifles. I've seen quite a few vids where the 600/700mm barreled rifles are just stacking them at 50 yards. Watching the chrono that's often in a picture-in-picture in these videos I can see that the FPS numbers are quite often single-digit deviation(s) and that makes me yearn for that kind of consistency. Y'all know how much it costs, money and time, to buy top-slot brass, good bullets, good powder(if you can find the type you use) and primers and then all the fiddly work to get "identical" brass as a base(trimming, weighing, volume measurements...etc). Compared to buying 15 different tins of pellets and finding the weight/skirt combo that works and then stocking up them at 500 rounds for 25 bucks, it's obvious which route will garner the most trigger time vs. time invested in prepping. I'm not even going to sniff slugs at this point, I will likely eventually do so.
I have read that some of the older (2023-ish) FX rifles are prone to losing POI if handled with anything but the gentlest of intentions. I can hack that, hardcase and bench is about all the rifle would ever see anyway. My concern is longevity in a nutshell. Once I get rolling I can happily sit and punch 20 or 30 5 shot groups before I need to put a fresh target up, and I tend to shoot for 3 hours at a stretch. Hundreds of rounds, I have a wickedly active mind, being able to feed it one task for a long stretch of time is cathartic and shooting (and reloading) are great for that. I leave the range in a relaxed and awesome mood, even if I shot like crap.
Congrats if you've made it this far. Now the question.
I really (think) I like the FX DRS Tactical. 600/700 mm, the 700 has the "heavy" barrel and will play better with slugs, so more opportunity to screw around with options there. I have oodles of AR bits and pieces laying around, all my scopes are pic rail set ups (one T-36 on dovetail, but that's a vintage rifle) and I like ARs. From what I've seen that DRS is fully capable of tight groups, consistent FPS and has a huge HUGE aftermarket in that most anything AR will be compatible. I'm a little worried that the videos and articles I've read are maybe skewing the results some in that the people demoing these rifles know more than I about PCP setups and have tweaked the rifles with their mastery of the sport and I'm going to be sorely disappointed when I send lead downrange (50/100 yards). Will I wear it out and begin to hate o-rings and be chasing leaks? Is there another rifle out there that has a built-in aftermarket like the DRS Tac? Oh, I'm a lefty too, a dirty, dirty lefty. I can cope, have been for 50+ years but it's worth mentioning.
