Avenge-X Classic Synthetic -- Initial impressions

[rdtricks]

A fellow in a big brown truck stopped by the house to drop off a long cardboard box yesterday evening.  Within that box was another box containing my long awaited Avenge-X Classic (synthetic) in .25cal.  With the sunlight waning there was just enough time to look the rifle over and then clean the barrel.  The barrel only took a dozen patches to clean, then it was time to apply silicon oil to the probe O-rings and figure out what was causing the cocking lever to feel rough.  Application of some moly grease onto the cocking lever hinge pins and the probe carrier lightened the roughness but it is still noticeable: something for a later date.

Today, after purging the air reservoir, mounting a Discovery VT-R 6-24X44 scope on medium high rings, installing a cheap bipod, resetting the regulator at 1/4 turn CC and turning the hammer spring from all the way out to 2 & 1/4 turns CW it was time to fill with air and get to shooting.  My furthest target is at 30 meters and I was shocked once things started printing on paper and I paid more attention to the handling of the rifle.  The stock fits my 5 ft 9 in husky frame just fine without adjustment on the bench, and the factory trigger pull is just about perfects for me.  Initially the regulator showed to be around 1,700 psi and all the pellets through the bore with the extended magazine were grouping nicely.  As I slowly adjusted the regulator towards 2,000 psi the groups just kept getting tighter and tighter.  I shot three types of pellets over the course of this initial shooting session: H&N Baracuda Hunter 27.47gr and sized at 6.35mm, JSB Hades 26.54gr right out of the tin, and Hatsan Vortex Strike 24.7gr and sized at 6.34mm.  My rifle seemed to group very well with each of these pellets; easily thumb nail 5 shot groups and I now look forward to the final tuning and break-in stages.

A big thank you to the people of Air Venturi for listening to your customers and building a rifle with all the currently desired features at a reasonable price point.  You have managed to produce a winner in my book.       

[naptemp]

Photos please