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AirVenturi Bullpup Avenger Review Thread

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Smaug2:
My .22 "Bull-venger" landed Saturday. The plan is that this will replace my Air Arms S510 Extra FAC Superlight as the squirrel hunting gun, as the S510 is quite long, with the moderator fitted.

This thread will be ongoing until I've got all the topics covered, then I'll shoot a basic, one-take video to accompany this written review, and point back to this thread for the full detail. I bought this gun for myself with my own money, so this is a 100% un-sponsored review.

PACKING JOB FROM AIRGUN DEPOT - 7/10: I bought the gun from Airgun Depot, as Pyramyd was out of stock. It took a couple days for them to ship. The AirVenturi box was inside another box and the extra space in the outer box was taken up with thick paper, however there was no additional padding around the other 5 sides of the gun. I'd like to see them do a better job of cushioning the outer box for something like this that ships with 2,000 PSI. That said, they shipped FedEx, who tends to be more careful with packages than United Parcel Smashers. Nothing was damaged.

PACKING FROM AIRVENTURI: 10/10 (inner box) - There's one pic attached showing how the Bull-venger is packed in its inner box from AirVenturi. A couple things to note:
+ The gun is wrapped in plastic with two silica gel packs (red diamond) to protect it from humidity during storage and shipping.

+ The gun includes two magazines and a couple extra O-rings for the pellet probe/breech area. (lime hexagon) I'm sure these are the fastest-wearing O-rings on the whole gun, so that's a nice inclusion.

+ Note that the inner packing is fitted cardboard, not the annoying blocks of styrofoam that leave static-charged pills everywhere. Thank you!


PENNY-PINCHING: 10/10 - One pet peeve of mine is is penny-pinching by the manufacturers. For example, Gamo provides only one magazine with its Urban, and spares are $50 apiece, if you can find them. We know these only cost Gamo maybe a dollar apiece; don't get greedy and make that cash-grab. In contrast, AirVenturi, for the same price of gun, includes a spare mag at no extra cost, AND a couple spare breech O-rings. BRAVO! It is a breath of fresh air. It's almost as if someone at AirVenturi is listening to the airgun community. This kind of decision by management and marketing is what earns repeat purchases and brand loyalty. Customers become "net promoters" as we say at work.

I opted to buy one spare magazine, at a quite-reasonable $12. This will let me have one in the action and two spares in the stock.

The notes on the inner box seem pretty basic and realistic, without a lot of the optimistic marketing we'd find on a Crosman or Umarex package. For example, no super-high velocities are mentioned, with the little fine print qualifying that it's only with (inaccurate) tin pellets. I like it; it's refreshing. I am a little disappointed they only recommend this gun for hunting and target shooting. I had rather looked forward to doing some plinking with it as well.  ;) I jest, since with a low power tune this would make an EXCELLENT plinker.

BULLPUP PROS/CONS: The one disadvantage with a bullpup design is that the scope mounting has to be quite high off the barrel. This makes the trajectory curve interesting and makes any cant of the scope pretty important. Likewise, if the gun isn't held vertical, that error is going to show itself in POI changes. Take some time to get the scope level, and keep an eye on it as you tighten the scope rings. If you don't take it low, you'll find the scope is canted when you're done. In exchange for this drawback, we get a nice short, maneuverable gun with a full-length barrel. Any weight doesn't FEEL as heavy in the field, because it is further back instead of out by the muzzle.

SCOPE CHOICE & MOUNTING COMMENTS: Today, I un-boxed the gun and started the scope mounting. I'm putting a Hawke Vantage 3-9x50 AO scope on it. I'm probably going to just leave it at 9X, so I don't have to keep track of different mil dot hold-overs at each magnification. High picatinny rings are the minimum required here for the objective to clear the rail, I'd say it only clears the rail on the objective by about 1 mm. Extra high would have been better. High will be plenty for scopes with 40 mm objective lenses. If you mount something like a 4x32, you may get away with medium height rings, but you will also find that you can't get your cheek low enough for a comfortable view without craning your neck down so that your head is sideways.

FEEL OF THE PLASTIC STOCK: 7/10 - This is a basic plastic stock that is well-finished. There is some mold flashing where the halves are put together, but nothing too bad. It can be fixed with a few minutes and a light touch with a Dremel drum sander. The plastic doesn't seem to be glass-filled nylon, like Stoeger used to use on their X-series springers, nor has it got a soft-touch coating like FX has. It has a gentle pattern on the pistol grip and fore-end where your hands go, but it's not that grippy. I don't know about you, but I prefer a basic, well-executed plastic stock to a cheap wood stock with a cheap finish and pressed checkering. (Crosman)

Also, let's face it: this is one area in which AirVenturi saved some cost and it doesn't affect performance. I think it was a good call. If they do what they did with the original Avenger, they will eventually release a wood stock. If the gun proves to be as popular as I think it will be, I bet Boyds will jump in and make some stock options too. (If you think of it, send them an email asking them to do it. If they get enough demand, they will give us the supply.)

STOCK DESIGN (function): 10/10 - This, my friends is a masterpiece of engineering. Every detail has been thought-out, and it is one reason you may not want to go to a wood stock later. The magazine storage under the wrist of the stock is great. Why don't all repeaters have this?! The buttpad is height-adjustable without tools. The cheek rest can also be slid back and forth between four positions with just the most basic of tools. (even a stick you find in the woods could be used...)  The Picatinny rail under the fore-end is integrally-molded; this can't reasonably be done with wood.  (it would break off easily due to wood having grain) The side Pic rails are attached with screws, so they can be removed if not needed. Even if not needed, it's not necessary to detach them, as they're not where you'd want to grip the gun with your support hand anyway. (too far forward) There are holes for sling swivels to be installed; I'll have to look into that later, as this gun is going to have a sling. The pistol grip is ergonomically curved, and as my fellow reviewer Dennis at Baker Airguns points out, the trigger loop is big enough to accommodate gloved fingers safely.

The one thing I'd change would be to connect the bottom of the rear part of the stock to the bottom of the pistol grip, so that the gun could be carried here, dangling in one hand. It sounds silly maybe, but I find myself carrying my Brocock Compatto that way. Since they're so short, the barrel won't even hit the ground.

STOCK DESIGN (form): 2/10 - Let's face it: this is ONE. UGLY. STOCK. I almost didn't buy the gun because of it. It's just clunky-looking; no grace except in the handle shape. It reminds me of an 80s Volvo sedan: all blocky and whatnot. AirVenturi should study Brocock and FX bullpup stocks for some pointers here. Even some Hatsan thumbhole stocks look better. In the end, I decided that would be shallow of me and I should be open-minded, as the function of the stock appeared to be so good.

INSTRUCTION MANUAL: 10/10 - It's only in English (refreshing to this American) and is well-written with no Chenglish. Do resist the temptation to skip over some of the scary warnings. On some products, these are all common sense, but for this gun, some of those things would not be known. For example, one such warning says not to turn up the regulator pressure while there's any air in the gun; that could damage the regulator. I'm an experienced airgunner, but this is my first regulated gun, so I didn't know that. (turning it DOWN while there's air in the gun seems to be OK though...)

More to come soon!

azgman:
Good first post and I look forward to what you discover over time. My Avenger Bullpup should arrive on Weds from Baker Airguns. I might consider plasti-dip on the stock for more grip.

A moron:
Thanks ,  will hang in for more updates...👍

Booder98:

--- Quote from: Smaug2 on January 17, 2022, 05:49:34 PM --- <some text deleted>00000
INSTRUCTION MANUAL: 10/10 - It's only in English (refreshing to this American) and is well-written with no Chenglish. Do resist the temptation to skip over some of the scary warnings. On some products, these are all common sense, but for this gun, some of those things would not be known. For example, one such warning says not to turn up the regulator pressure while there's any air in the gun; that could damage the regulator. I'm an experienced airgunner, but this is my first regulated gun, so I didn't know that. (turning it DOWN while there's air in the gun seems to be OK though...)

--- End quote ---

On the Avenger (bullpup and standard), the gun has to be depressurized before decreasing the regulator's pressure setting.  Tightening the regulator's screw clockwise reduces the regulator's pressure.  SOP is to degas the gun, tighten the regulator screw clockwise all the way down, then turn it CCW a quarter turn.  Then all of the adjustments you make will be to increase the pressure by turning the screw CCW.  It's touchier than you think, and if you pass where you wanted to be, you'll have to degas the gun and start the process all over again.  Loosening the screw increases the regulator pressure, and vice versa.

Smaug2:
DANGIT, I meant to put this in the reviews subforum. Will contact a mod to get 'er moved.



--- Quote from: Booder98 on January 17, 2022, 07:00:24 PM ---
--- Quote from: Smaug2 on January 17, 2022, 05:49:34 PM --- <some text deleted>00000
INSTRUCTION MANUAL: 10/10 - It's only in English (refreshing to this American) and is well-written with no Chenglish. Do resist the temptation to skip over some of the scary warnings. On some products, these are all common sense, but for this gun, some of those things would not be known. For example, one such warning says not to turn up the regulator pressure while there's any air in the gun; that could damage the regulator. I'm an experienced airgunner, but this is my first regulated gun, so I didn't know that. (turning it DOWN while there's air in the gun seems to be OK though...)

--- End quote ---

On the Avenger (bullpup and standard), the gun has to be depressurized before decreasing the regulator's pressure setting.  Tightening the regulator's screw clockwise reduces the regulator's pressure.  SOP is to degas the gun, tighten the regulator screw clockwise all the way down, then turn it CCW a quarter turn.  Then all of the adjustments you make will be to increase the pressure by turning the screw CCW.  It's touchier than you think, and if you pass where you wanted to be, you'll have to degas the gun and start the process all over again.  Loosening the screw increases the regulator pressure, and vice versa.

--- End quote ---

Thanks Booder!

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