MRodAir Air Max Varmint in .22 - Nice rifle!

[NHGuide]

The rifle arrived within a week and the packaging was solid and plainly marked.


For the price they list of $275 shipped it is, at first glance, a great beginner PCP rifle. 
WOW is this thing LIGHT! My scale said 4.4 pounds a walking field gun, for sure.  The stock has a great feel when shouldering and the cheekpiece raises the eye to the level of a scope rather than the iron sights that are attached, but as most people will likely mount a scope, that should not be too much of a problem.
It appears to be well fitted wood-to-metal and the metalwork is, while not highly polished, smooth and free of machining marks often seen on Airguns from China. there was a fill adapter and a small plastic bag of O-Rings, presumably an entire rebuild set for that inevitable time when every PCP requires such a thing.
 Since the thermometer bottomed out at -3.8 this morning, I only stuck the barrel out the back door for a few quick test shots using the air that was already in it as it arrived.  The pressure showed about 2100psi and I shot 13 shots into the snowbank before seeing an appreciable POI drop.
The rifle is not as quiet as my Umarex Fusion (.177) but is not as loud as my Benjamin Discovery with no LDC...so for most people with neighbors closer than 100 yards, I would say 'not backyard quiet'. But it is NOT loud, which is good.
With the off-hand shots I made, at about 14 and then 27 yards, I was able to easily pick off pine cones and cut fallen branches in two that were sticking from the snow bank.  I am pleased with the first rounds from this rifle,  and my first thoughts were that this will be a much modified platform for many tinkerers...I expect this will be yet another 'gateway' rifle to the PCP world for a lot of folks.  The trigger is a bit rough, but very predictable and with a little work should be quite nice....as I said, I expect people will be modifying this rifle right out of the gate.
Now for the negative column:
 I noticed that the stock will be impossible to remove without unscrewing the pressure gauge because the wood is not milled completely through. This is likely a 'trick' the engineers used to keep joe-average from opening it up.  Crafty. though you can bet as soon as I find the right tool (none of my sockets seem to fit the gauge) I will be boring the stock through and through.
  The trigger does not seem to have an easily accessible adjustment...again perhaps this was designed in...but after the stock is off, I expect to find some adjustment of some kind. 
That is really it for the negatives from the first glance, the positive column is much larger.

As I play around with this more, I will add comments.

Here are two pictures from the initial box opening, one with my Umarex Fusion as a comparison for size.  I apologize for the manual being upside down... guess I was too excited to get the picture and hadn't had quite enough coffee. 

I forgot to add, the rifle comes with a really neat one shot tray and a 7 shot rotary magazine reminiscent of the Benjamin mags but smaller.
The tray and the rotary mags are held in place with a nifty  magnet similar to the Gamo Coyote that I have. it's a nice touch.

Added Saturday 13 Feb:
Velocity average for Crosman Premier14.3 grain pellets when charged to 2800PSI for one magazine worth of shots (7)  was 870 FPS ! 
*** NOTE THAT BELOW, The velocity was only above 870 for a few shots... ***
@ ~9 degrees and 15MPH winds, it was too cold to stay outside any longer than that!
That'll be it for a while, as there are far too many other projects going on here.

[Mrodair.com]

Thanks brother.

The pressure gauge is easily removed with no tools.

Once the air has been drained, simple thumb pressure is all it takes.

These puppies are over built for their size and the valve is on par with European quality.

Can't wait to get into the mods for this one.

"Stay Tuned"

We Are Mrodair"

[IguanaHunterReturns]

Hey mrod, wanted to ask a question about the new co2 rifles. What is their velocity in .177 and .22? I'm considering buying one for pigeons because I wouldn't need all the pcp stuff. Thanks!

[Gipper]

If you want to shoot Co2 get the plinkster....it is the Co2 version and about $100 cheaper!!

Gipper

[IguanaHunterReturns]

If you want to shoot Co2 get the plinkster....it is the Co2 version and about $100 cheaper!!

Gipperr

That's the one I asked about

[NHGuide]

Added velocity average for Crosman Premier14.3 grain pellets to the above report.

[2K1TJ]

Chrony results look good.

I was hoping it would be quieter than you seem to say it is. Is the factory LDC removable? Threaded barrel underneath?

Curious about the shot count too.

I think the sale ends this week. I'm just trying to get as much feedback as possible before pulling the trigger...

[Airgun.Sniper]

 Buy gun now ask question later 

 Cheers


 Jay

[NHGuide]

Chrony results look good.

I was hoping it would be quieter than you seem to say it is. Is the factory LDC removable? Threaded barrel underneath?

Curious about the shot count too.

I think the sale ends this week. I'm just trying to get as much feedback as possible before pulling the trigger...

one set-screw holds the muzzlebreak in place. the barrel is not threaded. I will not know the shot count or velocity averages , etc until I shoot it again ( Maybe tomorrow ?Saturday 20th...I have a few maple trees to get tapped... that will take up my day for the most part)

[Airgun.Sniper]

 Not that loud and I wonder how accuracy is an all

[NHGuide]

I will TRY to get some kind o accuracy report today after tapping more trees after Church.  So... later this afternoon (21st) 
I'll do a quick scope mount nd measure out some kind of a range that seems appropriate and go from there...if the daylight allows, and all that.

 UPDATE: All my trees are tapped and I had to rush around to get my chronograph and everything else set up, haphazard as it was, it worked out okay.

Accuracy: Here is the setup...40 yards: sitting in a chair, not resting on anything --shooting through chronograph-- and with a gentle breeze from 3 o'clock ( maybe 3-5 mph) I shot 18 of 25 in about 1 1/2 inches.  the other pulled horrid shots we won't discuss other than to say I called them all.
the next few weekends will entail boiling sap to make maple syrup so I will have time during that to set up a table and rest, making a much more appropriate example of the accuracy "out of the box".    I would say that this rifle is very capable but it MIGHT be a good candidate for the R. Sterne SSG. eking out a flatter shot string would be nice, although it looks like a fairly typical curve from what I see.  very good power and a decent amount of shots, this looks like a VERY decent starter gun for anyone interested in a first Multi-shot PCP.

As has been mentioned by someone else...replacement parts, should you ever need them, might not be as easy to get.  the rifle DOES come with what appears to be two sets of extra O-Rings...so it has at least THAT.
Here you go!  The first 20 shots seem to average 23 fpe.

shot number   velocity   pressure
1   812   3000
2   844   
3   849   
4   858   
5   862   
6   868   
7   870   
8   876   
9   869   
10   874   
11   874   
12   867   
13   862   
14   855   
15   851   
16   843   
17   839   
18   832   
19   822   
20   818   1880
21   811   
22   806   
23   798   
24   793   
25   786   1500

[2K1TJ]

Thanks for the update.

And thanks for making me hungry with all the maple syrup talk!! 

[Bicycleman]

Will, if you have the time, maybe you could post a couple of closeup pictures of the scope rings after the scope is mounted.  Just curious.  Thanks.

[NHGuide]

Will, if you have the time, maybe you could post a couple of closeup pictures of the scope rings after the scope is mounted.  Just curious.  Thanks.

I put this on another thread.
http://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=97008.0;attach=150852;image

I'll put better pictures up as soon as I can.

[Bicycleman]

Thanks Will; I was wondering about the height of those rings.  Nice!

[BigTinBoat]

Here you go!  The first 20 shots seem to average 23 fpe.

shot number   velocity   pressure
1   812   3000
2   844   
3   849   
4   858   
5   862   
6   868   
7   870   
8   876   
9   869   
10   874   
11   874   
12   867   
13   862   
14   855   
15   851   
16   843   
17   839   
18   832   
19   822   
20   818   1880
21   811   
22   806   
23   798   
24   793   
25   786   1500

How big is the air tube? I thought they advertised "30-35 shots". As set up your only getting 15 shots w/i 4%.

[NHGuide]

You're right about the small number of shots at that percentage spread. not exactly what I had hoped for, really.

I don't know what the capacity is... I can measure the outside dimensions this weekend...or maybe tonight, but that really won't give us much of an idea how big it is. That will take disassembly, and I'm not getting into that quite yet. it's not a HUGE tube
 and like the Discovery, I think the advertisement might be open to interpretation...(I'm certain ). But I bet you CAN get 30-35 shot but they won't be all usable :-)  but with the SSG  it might get all those shot s :-)

if it had cost 400-600 bucks, I would be more worried that it has only 15ish 'good' shots but I can live with the low shot count at the price point it's at....Because I will, no doubt, take it apart and tweak.

[NHGuide]

How big is the air tube? I thought they advertised "30-35 shots". As set up your only getting 15 shots w/i 4%.

Rob,
 since the outside diameter of the tube measures 22mm, I measured the length ( to the center of the pressure gauge) in mm as well.
length=375mm, outside diameter=22mm

Since I really don't know how deep the fill cap threads are, and the tube wall thickness, it would be hard to do anything but guesstimate the capacity.
I hope that helps and is enough info for you.

[BigTinBoat]

How big is the air tube? I thought they advertised "30-35 shots". As set up your only getting 15 shots w/i 4%.

Rob,
 since the outside diameter of the tube measures 22mm, I measured the length ( to the center of the pressure gauge) in mm as well.
length=375mm, outside diameter=22mm

Since I really don't know how deep the fill cap threads are, and the tube wall thickness, it would be hard to do anything but guesstimate the capacity.
I hope that helps and is enough info for you.

Using 375 and 20 (inside) the estimate would be 118 cc. On the Chinese-Airrifle website the other guns getting 70 shots are listed as 250cc, with the shot count of these at half that the cylinders are probably 125cc. Not sure why they don't list them.
Using 125cc and your first 20 shots (averaged about 850fps) the efficiency is only .78fpe/cuin so there should be some room for improvement in your shot count if you can tinker with the ports, hammer and/or spring.

[fly2mike]

Can you post some pics of groups you are getting on paper? Plus what type of pellets you are using? I'm interested in what kind of accuracy people are getting with these?