School me on the Artemis M10-M11

[DrGunner]

Yeah- I joined to find a PCP for backyard NRA smallbore silhouette practice. I swore it was going to be “1 and done”.

Yeah, Right.

I LOVE my Regal XL .177. Super accurate, super quiet, perfect weight and balance for what I bought it for.

We have much more than a little pest problem where I live- on a wooded 3 acre lot in a suburban setting.
There are more raccoons than people, and they’re not afraid of us- because people actually FEED them. Not always intentionally, they feed the deer & squirrels & the coons steal most of it.
Yes- we have corn fed raccoons.
They’re unbelievably bold and destructive- and have torn their way through the deck on my house to den up underneath it. They tore through the blocked off cat door leading to my garage and got into my house, three times. The cat is no longer with us, so I was finally able to permanently seal the door.
There’s a 100+ acre wetland bird sanctuary in the valley below my house, which is home to at least 2 packs of coyotes. The DNR occasionally sends an officer to do a night shoot and cull the deer & coyote populations, but they haven’t for at least 3 years and the critters are WAY out of control.
I have an RWS 350M in .22, it does a fine job against the raccoons, but it’s HEAVY, follow shots require cocking and loading, and I’ve never taken a shot on a Yote with it because I firmly believe in humane hunting & I’m afraid it wouldn’t be powerful enough.

So- I’d like to pick up a PCP, .25 cal, with hunting accuracy and good power- with a max price of $500. I already have several scopes on hand that would be a decent match.

I’ve recently read a couple articles and threads on the Artemis M10 & M11, and I think I want one. Right now, Airgun Archery Fun.ca has it on Christmas special, with an extra mag for $304.

Couple questions-

1) Good choice for raccoons? How about the occasional coyote within 50 yards?

2) I’ve read that getting the full power potential out of the M10 requires some tweaking.
How much work?

3) I’ve got a VERY well stocked man cave & all the tools I might need except a mill & lathe.
Are the mods that are commonly done to the M10 something that can be done by me, with the help/guidance of the forum here?

Any help & advice will be appreciated, including suggestions for other PCPs I might consider for the role- with a $500 budget.
I have an air source, a 45cu/ft, 4500psi AV tank and 3 places nearby to fill it.

What Say You?

DrGunner

[VaporTrail]

Mine was supposed to be "two and I'm done". 5 guns later, I'm still scouring the classifieds and conniving with my wallet for the next purchase. Now it's "3 more and I'm done". No wait. Four. Four and I'm done. 

I say up your budget a tad more. A good out-of-the-box pester that'll take coons and yotes is going to be hard to find for that price. Sure you can order your Artemis, but from what I've read, they usually take some work to get shooting right. Absolute gems when they're sorted, though...at least that seems to be the consensus. The version you get from Wes is going to be a dialed down version. 12FPE it roundabouts. I asked him about shipping one out to me and he said he'd have to ship the low power version due to export restrictions. So there's that right off the bat you're going to have to sort.

I say increase the budget and go for a Sumatra. Long or carbine, up to you. The long is definitely long...but to me, she balances well. The carbine is on my short list. I'd also recommend getting a tune done by Mr. Piatt; I'm pretty sure you're not going to be disappointed. All said and done you're going to be about 300-350 over your current budget, but you're going to get a very versatile rifle. You can turn it down and have a good plinker to keep your skills sharp, and then turn it up and unleash absolute mayhem on whatever pest needs the medicine, be it a yote, coon or a hog. My long has a Piatt tune, and she's thundering 48gr BT HPs at 101 FPE. Accurate too...hole in hole at 30 and POI at 50 isn't much of a holdover.

To date she is my most expensive acquisition, but I have no regrets at all. I've looked at some .25 offerings, but often decide to pass...that's because she's the reigning queen in that caliber.

Of course, take this for whatever it's worth to you. It's merely my opinion. 

[Rob in NC]

The M10 is a very versatile platform. 
In it's stock form, though, I found the transfer port to be too big (for .22 at least) and while it generated some good power... pellets would fall in the transfer port and deform, destroying accuracy.  Easily fixed by rotating the insert and drilling another hole. 

I have three of the M10's.  I converted one to .30 running around 90fpe and another I converted to 35 caliber running around 118fpe. 
The third, I converted to a dedicated .25 slug gun and then later into an arrow shooter.

Fun guns for someone who likes to tinker.  If you do not, then I'd second the recommendation on a Sumatra.  I have the carbine version and love it.

[Rupertt]

I think the multi shot M11 is just the ticket for your price range Kevin.

Wes from Air Gun Archery Fun is now shipping the full power .25 cal M11 with an extra magazine to the USA
See here: https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=165717.0

At 48fpe the M11 will hammer raccoons and other small vermin. Order a few tins of Hades pellets and put them Down..!

Coyotes are tough, so with any Air Rifle accuracy is critical. I'm confident the M11 could do the job if I did my part.
I've had mine for a couple months and the accuracy is there; the coyotes aren't.

We can't buy them in Canada with the LDC, so it's loud..!
If you can, add one, and still be well within your budget...

[Madd Hatter]

I have the Sumatra in. 25 and wouldn't hesitate to take a coyote with it. It's a loud rifle right up there with a. 22 lr pb. You would need a ldc to tame the bark. As has been said, the m11 would need to be tuned to get the power needed for yots and it would need to be a. 25 IMHO plus you would still need a ldc for it also.

[Nomadic Pirate]

Up your budget a bit and get a great dedicated hunter, Sumatra .25 carbine

power wheel will let you shoot from -30 FPE to 80+ FPE,.....cover all hunting needs you'll have.

[desertplinker]

wow, corn fed Racoons, wonder how they would taste.

[Ribbonstone]

Have had a .22 M10 (single shot) for a few years...reliable rifle over that time so I've no complaints.
Certainly can make good power with heavy weight pellets (52-55foot pounds) and actually liked slugs (morelike 58-60 foot pounds).  If more power is a goal, go with the .25.

Also have an old full length Sumatra,which is also an excellet choice for making power....but much easier to dial it down when you'd rather have more shots than more power.

Neither of the two really needed mods to get higher energy...some adjusting, but no new parts or modded issue parts (although I did end up making a new transfer port to slow the M10 down a little and extend shot count).

[Wayne52]

Have had a .22 M10 (single shot) for a few years...reliable rifle over that time so I've no complaints.
Certainly can make good power with heavy weight pellets (52-55foot pounds) and actually liked slugs (morelike 58-60 foot pounds).  If more power is a goal, go with the .25.

Also have an old full length Sumatra,which is also an excellet choice for making power....but much easier to dial it down when you'd rather have more shots than more power.

Neither of the two really needed mods to get higher energy...some adjusting, but no new parts or modded issue parts (although I did end up making a new transfer port to slow the M10 down a little and extend shot count).

I've heard that the plenum in the M10/M11/M22 is plenty already to make a gob of power. The idea that I like about the M11MKII is the fact once you find where you like the results of what you're going to shoot out of it you set your regulator to the pressure for optimization then set the hammer spring accordingly.  Another thing that I really like about the MKII is the gauge for the regulator.  Also I might add that the new NOE slug molds that have come out recently and in the past would probably be great slugs for shooting out of these guns.

[DrGunner]

I appreciate the replies. Every time in my 40+ years of shooting that I thought a cheap solution would work- I enjoyed the learning curve & the tinkering.... But I almost always ended up buying the higher end dedicated rifle that was often recommended from the get go.
I’ll look at the Sumatra. I appreciate the input.
I didn’t even realize that PCPs could be overtuned to deform pellets. Cool stuff!

DrGunner

[Rob in NC]

I appreciate the replies. Every time in my 40+ years of shooting that I thought a cheap solution would work- I enjoyed the learning curve & the tinkering.... But I almost always ended up buying the higher end dedicated rifle that was often recommended from the get go.
I’ll look at the Sumatra. I appreciate the input.
I didn’t even realize that PCPs could be overtuned to deform pellets. Cool stuff!

DrGunner

To clarify so you dont get a wrong impression... it's not the overtuning, per say... but rather the transfer port.  The M10's I've dealt with had a 5mm transfer port. So when you push the pellet past this with the bolt, the head would drop down inside a little bit and deform the head as you pushed it past.  If I could draw it out, would make better sense.   In any case, that was in .22.  In .25, I didnt have that issue and certainly didnt in .30 or .35.

[3BI5]

The factory leaves the transfer port with sharp edges. Simple solution to this problem is to put a small radius on the t-port on the barrel side. Just break the edge and you will have no problems with t-port cutting the pellets. Not even with a 5mm t-port on a .22.

[Rob in NC]

The factory leaves the transfer port with sharp edges. Simple solution to this problem is to put a small radius on the t-port on the barrel side. Just break the edge and you will have no problems with t-port cutting the pellets. Not even with a 5mm t-port on a .22.

Thanks for the tip.  I just played around with it for a short time as I wanted to tinker with it and then convert to larger bores.

[DrGunner]

I appreciate the replies. Every time in my 40+ years of shooting that I thought a cheap solution would work- I enjoyed the learning curve & the tinkering.... But I almost always ended up buying the higher end dedicated rifle that was often recommended from the get go.
I’ll look at the Sumatra. I appreciate the input.
I didn’t even realize that PCPs could be overtuned to deform pellets. Cool stuff!

DrGunner

To clarify so you dont get a wrong impression... it's not the overtuning, per say... but rather the transfer port.  The M10's I've dealt with had a 5mm transfer port. So when you push the pellet past this with the bolt, the head would drop down inside a little bit and deform the head as you pushed it past.  If I could draw it out, would make better sense.   In any case, that was in .22.  In .25, I didnt have that issue and certainly didnt in .30 or .35.

Got it. Deburring is a common & simple fix in many firearms & airguns- I’m looking at minimum.25cal, so might not even encounter that issue.

[Nomadic Pirate]

Just remember one thing;

by far the most common comment after someone got his Sumatra is :

" Why didn't I do this before ? "

[Eddie_E]

If you can wait a few weeks, the new AEA HP Standard should be arriving in the US. We haven't seen the exact price yet, but $425 is a ballpark guess. I had a chance to demo the bottled version of this same gun (Varmit HP) in .22 and I was blown away by the accuracy and 7 lb weight.
The Spa / Diana guns used to be among the best deals around, but I have seen a few threads on these forums that show the Spa tooling is wearing and quality control has slipped a little. In my mind they are one of the  guns we call "the barrel lottery" guns now.

[Nomadic Pirate]

If you can wait a few weeks, the new AEA HP Standard should be arriving in the US. We haven't seen the exact price yet, but $425 is a ballpark guess. I had a chance to demo the bottled version of this same gun (Varmit HP) in .22 and I was blown away by the accuracy and 7 lb weight.
The Spa / Diana guns used to be among the best deals around, but I have seen a few threads on these forums that show the Spa tooling is wearing and quality control has slipped a little. In my mind they are one of the  guns we call "the barrel lottery" guns now.

Yeah those AEA guns are really interesting, I also think it would be worth the wait and see what develops as they get into the hands on people.


different matter if you want a gun right now tho.

[DrGunner]

I’m not in any hurry here- I learned long ago to take whatever time I need, to learn as much as it takes, to make a well informed purchase.
Buy once, cry once. I’d rather cry about a high price and be thoroughly satisfied with the acquisition like my Daystate, than buy something that falls short of my desires/expectations and have to start over anyway.

I’ll wait & check out the AEA offering. I have had great experiences with all my Diana’s, so I’m open minded where they’re concerned.

DrG

[Nomadic Pirate]

AEA is not Diana

.....and even the SPA guns that are sold under the Diana name aren't Diana after all

[DrGunner]

AEA is not Diana

.....and even the SPA guns that are sold under the Diana name aren't Diana after all

Good to know. Aren’t all the Diana labeled PCPs actually made in China?