Best Air Rifles Under A Grand?

[EyeSlayer]

My Marauder is 42" long and I'm looking at something shorter. What I cannot believe is how a $500 Marauder has better features than guns more than twice the cost. Tell me how a $500 Marauder has a better shroud in it than an Air Arms as well as most other high end guns I don't get it. Another thing I cannot comprehend is the Marauder has a magazine that does two things that most $1,000+ guns don't have and that's a shot indicator that lets you know exactly how many shots are left and also has a mag stop that doesn't allow you to fire on an empty mag. When you pay hundreds if not thousands more you expect these things as standard which sadly is not the case. You really do get a ton of gun for the money with the Marauder I'm glad I got it.

[LDP]

My Marauder is 42" long and I'm looking at something shorter. What I cannot believe is how a $500 Marauder has better features than guns more than twice the cost. Tell me how a $500 Marauder has a better shroud in it than an Air Arms as well as most other high end guns I don't get it. Another thing I cannot comprehend is the Marauder has a magazine that does two things that most $1,000+ guns don't have and that's a shot indicator that lets you know exactly how many shots are left and also has a mag stop that doesn't allow you to fire on an empty mag. When you pay hundreds if not thousands more you expect these things as standard which sadly is not the case. You really do get a ton of gun for the money with the Marauder I'm glad I got it.

the Maurader has a longer shroud and I think it might be slightly larger in diameter than the AA shroud also. The AA carbine is only 37" long without an additional ldc and the same length as my Marauder with the ldc and with the ldc on its as quiet as anything you will shoot. Depending on how quiet you need the factory shroud works good and is very good if you are not shooting at max. As far as the mag goes the Marauder has such a good mag because they stole the design um I mean copied the mag design of the Theoben. The new AA mags have an indicator to tell you when you are on the last shot. But you are correct the Marauder does have good features but the one thing you cannot get away from is that in order to be very quiet you have to add length to any pcp to achieve it. Some pcp designs allow you to keep that length to a minimum like the BSA rifles that have enough room to add a large diameter shroud. But you still have to add length past the barrel to get it done. the only way to remain very short and stay extremely quiet would be using a bullpup or a rifle with a short barrel like the Talon ss and BSA ultra.

 The Sumatra carbine is only 1.5" shorter than the S5xx carbine and it has no shroud so by the time you add an ldc its going to be as long as a Marauder. Theres no free lunch when you want to control noise.

[oldpro]

I have no idea why the Marauder isnt on the above list if it was Im sure it would have the most hits.

[Taso1000]

The OP has a .22 Marauder and was looking to see if there were better alternatives at double the cost of a Marauder basically.

[oldpro]

Got Ya my bad. Id go .25 Mrod tuned down to 800 FPS with SSG and barrel band and call it done. I know he said no .25 but detuned it will perform very very well and be almost silent.

[LDP]

The OP has a .22 Marauder and was looking to see if there were better alternatives at double the cost of a Marauder basically.

He also is looking for a rifle thats shorter than the Mrod

- Weight/Length (smaller the better for me aka carbine but not a must)

You could always put a bullpup kit on an Mrod.

[Taso1000]

Leland,

I forgot that part, "Weight/Length"

Sorry,

Taso

[EyeSlayer]

Good point LDP seems the only way to keep a carbine quiet is to extend it with an LDC which kind of defeats the purpose. Also with super short carbines like the Brocock & BSA Ultra you sacrifice power and possibly accuracy. That's why the Scorpion with a custom shrouded barrel really interests me but at the current price of the beach stock that would put it up near the $1,000 mark if not more.

Taso you are correct already got one looking for something different.

[LDP]

Good point LDP seems the only way to keep a carbine quiet is to extend it with an LDC which kind of defeats the purpose. Also with super short carbines like the Brocock & BSA Ultra you sacrifice power and possibly accuracy. That's why the Scorpion with a custom shrouded barrel really interests me but at the current price of the beach stock that would put it up near the $1,000 mark if not more.

Taso you are correct already got one looking for something different.

Scott with as many options out there it seems like there is always one piece of the puzzle missing If you wanted 13 fpe or less it would be simple to find what you are looking for. Its the FAC power that creates the big challenge of having a combination of power, short length and quiet.

[Nomadic Pirate]

The only way to have a powerful, quiet and short gun is the BullPup option.

If you take away one variable to the equation options open up, but if you set on all 3 than you better look into Pups.

[grimeszee]

I think the Air Force Condor SS .25 would fit that requirement as well. It would just shorten your max hunting distance. 

[EyeSlayer]

Excellent point guys. A bullpup makes a lot of sense for what I'm looking for. I've been doing quite a bit of research on bullpups and the Wildcat looks legit but has a few minor problems that need to be sorted out. Don't care for the look of the Cricket but that Vulcan looks like a pure beast of a gun that's got superior accuracy. Haven't looked at the Edguns to much but they look nice. Unfortunately they are all above my price range will have to save up some more to get one of those.

[LDP]

Excellent point guys. A bullpup makes a lot of sense for what I'm looking for. I've been doing quite a bit of research on bullpups and the Wildcat looks legit but has a few minor problems that need to be sorted out. Don't care for the look of the Cricket but that Vulcan looks like a pure beast of a gun that's got superior accuracy. Haven't looked at the Edguns to much but they look nice. Unfortunately they are all above my price range will have to save up some more to get one of those.

Or buy a used Mrod and put the pup kit on it. You already know you like them and it would keep you under $1,000 maybe even under $800.

[EyeSlayer]

I think the Air Force Condor SS .25 would fit that requirement as well. It would just shorten your max hunting distance.

Too loud from what I've heard.

[EyeSlayer]

Or buy a used Mrod and put the pup kit on it. You already know you like them and it would keep you under $1,000 maybe even under $800.

Again I'm not really looking for a used gun and even though it's a bullpup it's still a Marauder at heart.

[Dan H]

The only way to have a powerful, quiet and short gun is the BullPup option.

If you take away one variable to the equation options open up, but if you set on all 3 than you better look into Pups.

yep .... and this is the one I just bought ...quiet /power full/shorter   even though it's on the heavy side for a pup the Gladius long  feel's way lighter than my Mrod .25 when you shoulder them .... this Gladius .25 is shooting on par with my Mrod .25  shooting with in a dime size at 50 ... and if I really do my part hole in a hole ... 16 shots in the high 800's with .25.39 kings right out of the box no adjusting or even barrel clean ...$836 shipped ! gun case included ... I liked that part ...saved on buying another boyt case

[EyeSlayer]

That's awesome Dan!  I did not know those were so accurate. One thing I have noticed with a lot of bullpups especially .25 cal or higher is the length of them I don't think they are really true bullpups and more of a hybrid. If you look at any Vulcan or the .22 Wildcat I believe you see more of a true bullpup because of how compact they are. However look at the .25 cal Wildcat and you'll see it's actually quite a bit longer/bigger than the .22 model and now your at or near the length of a regular rifle which kinda defeats the purpose of buying one in the first place unless you just like the looks of pups in general.

[Dan H]

That's awesome Dan!  I did not know those were so accurate. One thing I have noticed with a lot of bullpups especially .25 cal or higher is the length of them I don't think they are really true bullpups and more of a hybrid. If you look at any Vulcan or the .22 Wildcat I believe you see more of a true bullpup because of how compact they are. However look at the .25 cal Wildcat and you'll see it's actually quite a bit longer/bigger than the .22 model and now your at or near the length of a regular rifle which kinda defeats the purpose of buying one in the first place unless you just like the looks of pups in general.

what I noticed was the weight being moved back with the action at the shoulder center's most of the weight closer to the body ... making the gun feel way lighter ... you don't have the longer weight distance from your body so there is way less leverage pulling on you.....so even if the .25 long 23 barrel  in the Gladius is 37 in ......air arms Galahad bullpup 35.5 in -short barrel 19 in ... compare to the Mrod gen 1 ...with light blaster stock is around 43 in....

my Mrod is lighter than the Gladius long ... but the gladius has better balance and lighter pull on the body .... air arms carbines are about 37in.. barrel 19in .. so the Gladius long's advantage over the carbine would be longer barrel  23in   vs  19in - 16in in most all brand carbines ..... the feel of these guns are pretty close due to the mass weight being moved close to the shoulder on the gladius  .... even though the carbine is lighter  ... Sumatra carbine is short and very light  cool gun ....the 16in barrel would be the disadvantage vs long barrel bullpup ....

so basically  you get the feel of a lighter carbine with the longer 23in barrel bullpup ...and the hatsan/fx bullpup guns have the cocking lever moved forward .... and that makes it very nice so you do not have to stop and reach back to cock the gun .... you are instead in a very rapid fire mod staying in the perfect aiming/shooting position   ......this is how it  shakes out to me ....
 

[EyeSlayer]

That makes sense for sure I've heard that from other people as well. I notice you get a lot of bang for your buck with that gun a lot like the MRod.